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Garen - Main Tank/Pseudo-Tank (Post-Sunfire Cape Nerf)
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Spells:
Flash
Exhaust
Ability Order
Perseverance (PASSIVE)
Garen Passive Ability
Chapter 1
12/14/10- EPIC Sunfire nerf, no longer viable to stack capes so Garen can actually main tank with this build, offtank or go with just slightly beefy DPS.
NOTE: DISREGARD ANYTHING THAT IS ITALICIZED, IT IS OBSOLETE AND THUS CANNOT BE INCLUDED FOR A PROPER GUIDE. It was left to give ideas as to what Garen was before and how he has changed to now.
Change Log
12/14/10 - Added Change Log :P and To Do List
12/14/10 - Complete revamp of runes, added and changed introduction, added patch notes with appropriate changes to Garen, changed Summoner spells but not in guide
1/26/11 - Updated Item build, still need to write explanations.
To Do List
-Finish writing Items part of Guide
-Add list of other appropriate summoner spells
-Change images and descriptions for new summoner spells
-Completely revamp items
Patch Notes
12/14/10
-Decisive Strike attack damage ratio increased to 120% from 100%
-Decisive Strike base damage reduced to 30/45/60/75/90 from 40/60/80/100/120
Judgment
-Base damage per second changed to 60/90/120/150/180 from 30/70/110/150/190
-Scaling increased to 100% per second from 70%
-Now scales off of only bonus attack damage rather than all attack damage
Sunfire Cape
-Upgrade cost increased to 800 from 700
-Passive is now unique
Table of Contents
(Use Ctrl+F and enter the code before the certain heading to find what you want)
Pkt. Masteries
Msd. Skills
Zjd. Choosing Skills and Your Combo
Uwd. Runes
Rau. Summoner Skills
Wos. Items!!!
Pkt. Masteries
9/21/0Rationale: Garen really shines when he can take a lot of damage, while being able to dish out a lot himself. With 21 in the defense tree, he's pretty tanky and his



Msd. Skills

Notes: 2.5% HP/5sec = Major lane staying power in the beginning, especially when it is coupled with the three


Notes: Primarily used to initiate or get away, you generally want to use this on the closest person to get the other team's attention, then follow it with a


(Active): Garen places a defensive shield on himself, decreasing all damage taken by 10/15/20/25/30%.
Notes: Makes Garen very beefy, the added magic resist and armor can help you hold off on some items until later, while the damage reduction screams "I'm a fiery tank!"

Notes: Still your main damage attack, not as effective anymore due to the loss of sunfire capes and other changes to him... But it does more damage now!
Notes: Main damage attack, stacked with your 1-3


Notes: For you WoW players, this is your

Zjd. Choosing Skills and Your Combo
Always, always, always get






Uwd. Runes
Armor penetration remains, but yellow is replaced with dodge and blue with flat magic resist! Why? I've grown as a player and don't use Garen with crit anymore... Besides dodging things is always nice and magic resistance helps you with pesky casters.
Italicized is old stuff
Right now, you may be thinking the following:
You: Hey this guy has armor penetration and critical strike! He's not a tank... He's secretly a melee dps!
Me: Oh you, you are quite the saucy fellow. Garen is tanky enough throughout the entire game that these just help with murdering other people who try to defy me.
You: But I'm defying you
-End Anecdote-
Remember, you are a pseudo-tank, you are big, buff and fiery, but you can also do damage since Garen's skills do enough damage by themselves with your

Rau. Summoner Skills


Other spells: Nope, these two are just so awesome
Wos. Items!!!
Quick Note: I give you the starting items and after that it is whatever you can afford, meaning that for the next item I only show a Warmog's but you should purchase whatever you can afford on your trip back, whether it be a Giant's belt or the health crystal.

Health Potion: Just let's you lane longer and I like it's glow.

CHOICE POINT:



Usually I would go with the Mercury Treads (~60-70% of the time) while all the other times I go with the Ionian boots. My thought process on this is that I hate getting CC'd, even if I am a tank and supposed to be soaking up the damage. As for the CDR boots, it makes your ult's cooldown faster and allows you to execute people more. If you really need the speed, Swiftness will do very well for you, but personally I stick between Merc and Ionian CDR.


After this point, you can go willy nilly on the items you want, the ones above provide all the damage and health you could want. I really didn't know what to put beyond this point because it depends upon your game and the people you are playing against, so use below items with discretion.


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