- Throughout Valoran, the resolve of Demacia's military is alternately celebrated or despised, but always respected. Their "zero tolerance" moral code is strictly upheld by civilians and soldiers alike. In combat, this means Demacian troops may not make excuses, flee, or surrender by example. Garen, the valiant warrior who bears the title "the Might of Demacia", is the paradigm to which these leaders are compared. Thousands of great heroes have risen and fallen on the bloody battlefields between Demacia and its preeminent rival, Noxus. It was beneath their mighty banners of war that Garen first met steel with Katarina, the Sinister Blade. The infantrymen who beheld this event (and survived) commented that it seemed as though the two were locked in a mortal waltz set against a symphony of clashing blades.

- Garen, the pride of the Demacian military and the leader of the Dauntless Vanguard, returned from this battle breathless for the first time in his career, though some speculate this was due to reasons other than exhaustion. The plausibility of these rumors was bolstered when, in every instance thereafter, Garen seized the opportunity to encounter the Sinister Blade again. A paragon of Demacian ethic, Garen never entertained such allegations, for he knew others couldn't understand. Even simply the pursuit of a worthy opponent on the battlefield is, to a true warrior, the reason to rise each morning. The promise of one, particularly one so beautifully and diametrically opposed, is the validation of his existence.

† The Endless TankDPS Garen †

by Zneil

- Hi, welcome to my first guide on MobaFire, I made this build to help those who don't know how to build Garen as a successful Immortal TankDPS.
- The goal of this build is to make your Garen Immortal as becoming a durable tank and by doing a good amount of damage for the whole game.
- This build as been made to be SIMPLE and GOOD for those who don't want to read for hours and just play a successful Garen on their firsts games.
- This build is made mainly for Summoner's Rift 5v5 but work in Twisted Treeline 3v3 too.
- If you get some early kills, which is rather easy with this build, you will get incredibly durable and still hurt plenty.

This guide will get several updates in the next weeks.

I hope you will have A LOT of fun with this build. And please comment this build, even if you didn't liked it, I MUST KNOW !

Sorry for my bad English, i'm doing my best for you to understand ;)

"The most effective way to kill an opponent is to slice through the man next to him." - Garen, on front line strategy.

1- Garen is best with mixed tank and dps items (primarily crit for the DPS side to multiply the flat damage from judge/decisive).

2- Unlike many tanks he doesn't risk being ignored, as his silence and ult will always be major threats so getting tank stuff isn't a bad idea.

3- Without tank items, Garen can easily be focused down. Because he has no blink or teleport and only a two second sprint, and all his abilities are melee range, he needs to be able to take some focus.

4- Garen's damage abilities scale much worse with items than his survivability does. With damage items Garen's damage isn't a ton better and he can still do good damage without any damage items.

5- Nobody is ever going to try to stand toe-to-toe and melee you unless you are outnumbered or squishy, so your auto attacks really don't matter.

6- Personally I've done best going pretty much full on tank using synergy items like atma's for much needed AD and crit chance, As final item I always go for an inf edge to really pump up the damage but games practically never last that long.

7- Tank Garen is nearly impossible to kill, and still deals massive damage. That's why. Going dps just ends up wasting money on crit chance and attack speed, both stats Garen doesn't require to deal massive damage with judgement, which you should almost always be using.


But to be a successful tank you need Initiating abilities:

- Ghost will gives you a super speed boost to initiate fights <3

- Decisive Strike gives you a good speed boost plus a silence that is quite helpful when initiating (speed + CC).

- Boots of Swiftness make your base movement speed reliable enough to get you into a fight quickly.

And finally, your damage output will be enough to make the other team see you as a threat so making them Focus on you and you will never be ignored (that's what you want).

PROS

+ Great passive to stay in lane forever
+ Ultimate can assure kills
+ Has a silence <3
+ Damage Reduction Shield (tower diving at low lvl)
+ Great Champion early game and end game
+ Durable tank with good signifiant damage
+ Abilites can work as escaping mechanism
+ Uses no mana
+ Can solo top except against double ranged
+ Hunt down and kill fleeing champions with super speed
+ One of the best Off-Tank ever
+ Garen can solo mid, solo top or going bot lane with ease
+ Is yelling DEMACIA! a pros?

CONS

- Not as much damage as a DPS build (of course)
- Slow with no Movement speed increasing items
- None of your abilities are that good at protecting people(No taunt, Snare etc.)
- You may end up hating Cooldowns
- Cant jungle, cant solo dragon
- Weak against double ranged lane
- Not so great for initiating fights

+ + +

These Runes will grant you a good basis for damage output and resistance against AP and AD Champions.


Greater Quintessence of Desolation: ArP Runes will grant to your auto-attacks and Judgement more effectiveness (damage).

Greater Mark of Desolation: Again.. ArP Runes will grant your auto-attacks and Judgement more effectiveness (damage).

Greater Seal of Resilience: Armor Runes, reason is simple.. Grant more resistance against AD Champions.

Greater Glyph of Warding: Magic Resist Runes, Again, reason is simple.. More resistance against AP Champions and because there are few good item choices for that (force of nature).

The DEMACIA's choices

Ghost :
Ghost. You need Ghost! No matter what other summoner spell you take, Ghost is essential. It is the summoner spell that lets you chase, stay on target, and escape. Unknown to many people, movement speed is actually one of the most important factors. I used to replace the "Teleport" summoner spell by Ghost since in 50% of the time I use it to move to other lanes/team fights or my own lane (Teleport can do it much better), but the other 50% I use it to chase, stay on target, and escape (what Teleport CAN'T do).


Exhaust :
This summoner spell is honestly amazing. It helps you and your team shut down enemy carries and catch them. Also, it gives you an additional CC you need to tank, and keeps people in your judgement and team's attacks. Recommended.


Ignite :
Ignite is also a very good summoner spell. Exhaust can be perfectly replaced by Ignite. This is a spell only if you feel like you won't do enough damage to completely finish them off; therefore, you use ignite to reduce enemy's healing and to make sure they wont run away with 5% hp left.


Flash :
Oh, the metagame summoner spell. It doesn't bring team utility and you can't really do very good initiations with it on Garen. Sure, it's great for escaping and tower diving, but Garen should already be able to escape with Ghost and his Judgement. Should be used only in 3v3 Twisted Treeline.


Teleport :
Your team doesn't need any more Exhaust or Ignite? Then it should be replaced with Teleport, as you can to go to your allies quickly and be able to help in any given situation. Generally great for any Tank.


Heal :
Helps on every tank, because you can stay in the fight longer to take the hits. I personally don't recommend it.

There are several ways to build Garen as a successful TankDPS, depending on the situations.

Early Game:

First item should be, depending on what you like:

OR

Regrowth Pendant:
Already getting an item of your Warmog's Armor build (getting Warmog's faster), giving you 15 extra Health Regeneration to add to your passive and Vigor mastery. Great to keep yourself in lanes.

OR

Doran's Shield:
Gives you 120 health, 10 armor and 8 health regeneration to add to your passive and Vigor mastery. Also very good to keep yourself in your lanes and can be sold later. But Warmog's Armor will wait a bit :(

Mid Game:

Your build should look like this:



Or at least have Warmog's Armor and going on your Atma's.

Late Game:

-

Playing against a Balanced Team:

This is the original build, works against all kind of team but mainly against a Balanced Team.



-

Playing against a Physical (AD) Team:

This build is the right one if you face a Physical (AD) Team. (don't forget the active of Randuin's Omen)



-

Playing againts a Magic (AP) Team:

This build is the right one if you face a Magical (AP) Team. Guardian Angel will resurrect you if u suddenly get nuked.



-

The TankDPS Fun Build (Warmog stacking):

This build works well (very good damage and over 6k health) and should be used when the opposite team is getting DESTROYED and you are 100% sure to win ONLY !

Item to consider:

Frozen Mallet: This item keeps people from running away with some more CC that slow while adding some nice health and damage. This should be used when your team needs more CC.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to look at my first build on Moba.

I hope you had/will have A LOT of fun with this build. And please comment this build, even if you didn't liked it, I MUST KNOW so I will be able to try new builds and post my results with YOUR help !


And again sorry for my bad English, i'm doing my best for you to understand ;)


-Thanks again, Zneil