Hey, this is my first build I have posted, so comments are welcome. Ive been playing Garen for a while as my main character and my go-to tank, so I decided I would post a build, from what I have learned. I started off using a basic build I never changed, but have learned alot on my road to success and hope to help you on your road to spinning your opponent to death.

Edit - I did a little more research, and Atma's Impaler only helps if you get a full DPS item with it, or warmogs, which I usually do, so was moved to the situational items

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Changes - Garens laning presence has been increased furthermore, so he is making them turret hug all the time, no matter who they are now (Unless its a normal game, then they just die lol)

Realistically there are a few other choices. I personally use this because the Dodge helps with your nimbleness, and we all know garen likes to move fast :). The armor penetration is nice to have, as it makes you more of a threat with your judgement. The extra health allows me to start off with boots instead of a Dorans Shield (Unless I am solo lane or with somebody that cant do much for laning start game, which sometimes ill start with boots still because I cant get potions with a dorans now.) The magic resist allows me to less focus my MR and stick to Garen's core items which are mostly Armor items.

I personally use 21 9 0, and I put a point into the Magic Penetration instead of the bonus point into Attack Speed, because the increase in his ultimate is much better than attack speed. Remember, AS doesnt increase your Spin to Win power.

Top Choices -

- Great for chasing, and makes your Judgement more deadly because they cannot escape it, even those pesky teleport characters will regret coming into contact with you.

- Garen lacks any slows, so this is my top choice for sure. I could never live without it on garen. You can use it to escape, decrease the damage output on there pesky carry, save an ally or stop somebody from running.

Alright choices -

- Pop judgement then teleport into them from the bush? Awesome. I dont find it as good as Ghost, because the range it covers is nothing that garen cant move to quickly with his Boots of Swiftness and decisive.

- Works wonders when using in combination with your ultimate. I dont bother with it because, you dont want to just kill steal with your ultimate, leave the kills for your carry. Use it to catch people that would either get away otherwise or, to speed up a team fight that isnt looking good for you so your DPS can start focusing somebody else quicker.) I find no other real use for Ignite other than with your ult, so leave this skill for the DPS.

I start off with Boots and Health Potionx3. If you are solo lane, or just need that boost with your specific lane partner, then a Doran's Shield and a Health Potion would be alright too. I then start building my Sunfire Aegis, usually grabbing the Giant's Belt first. After, I go for my Boots of Swiftness. It gives you escape and chasing capabilities. Along with that, exhaust, ghost, decisive, and judgement, ganks wont even be an issue much, and you can chase down easily. After that I finish my Sunfire, and build a Guardian Angel. I mainly like it because it allows me to help finish a turret when I would die otherwise, and it allows me to stay even when at low life and possibly save a few allies without as much risk. It also adds a solid ammount of armor and Magic Resist, Everything Garen wants. Now, the rest is all situational:

Force of Nature - A nice, solid item with a very high amount of Magic Resist and a nice ammount of health regen. This can allow a garen, when stacked with his passive, to stay in a fight for a much longer time by just laying low and regenerating his health back up quickly.

Warmog's Armor - A nice, set ammount of health, which helps alot with your Atma's Impaler. If your getting a chance to farm minions, I would recommend this item after your Atma's to increase your overal Damage with judgement, making you a bigger threat.

Infinity Edge - This will massively increase your damage with your Spin, making your enemies run in fear! This item is very nice to pick up, as Critical % and AD increase your Judgement's damage.

Aegis of the Legion - A nice support tank item. If there is nobody on your team better suited to grab it, it is nice to have if you have the room. Increasing your physical carry's damage and making everybody less squishy is always nice.

Phage - Slows? Count me in. This makes you less lacking in saving your teammates, since prior all you can do is silence them and exhaust them to stop them from getting away.

Atma's Impaler - Crit chance, armor, and attack damage based on your health? Awesome. (Dont pick up unless your also picking up a Warmog's or an IE)

The skill sequence above is just a general skill sequence with the Decisive Strike and the Courage. Just after your judgement is maxed, rank up your Courage every time you can after you get your armor/MR buff from it capped. Other than that, its all just typical.

Pros-
- Destroy things quickly, and often get targetted in normals (Not as often in ranked)
- With a CC lane partner, should easily be able to harass them hard or get a kill even early game
- Very hard to kill
- Can somewhat backdoor with Decisive Strike
- Bush Control character
- Not a hard to play character
- CC doesnt effect you alot (Your judgement and sunfire will still be doing damage)
- Has a pretty good silence
- No mana
- Passive allows him to stay in a lane for a long time
- Underestimated commonly.
- Helps feed your carries really easily (Side lane carries) and denies enemy's xp

Cons

- Lacks CC
- No ranged skills
- If CC'd before you get into the fight, as possibly somebody else engaged, you cannot really get out of it fast because you dont pick up Mercury Treads.
- My build lacks much for defense start game, so you cant continue to farm much when your under half life and need to let your passive bring you back up a bit.
- Can basically be ignored late game

Garen is supposed to lane with a carry. You should not put him with a support or another tank, but he is a very viable solo lane (He can pick off people solo lane if they are squishy champs/lack CC. Pick your biggest non mid carry (Especually if they have a CC) and throw them with him, reach bushes first and if they try and facecheck that brush you or the carry will get some first blood >:)

Early game -
Early game your Judgement hurts bad. Try and keep control of the bushes. Use decisive to run in and silence judgement them to harass. Do this especually if your lane partner gets in a stun or snare. Communicate well and you will do great. Try and avoid sight skills (Anivia's wall, Lux's light orb) to see you. Try and keep your opponents under 60% life, then you and your teammate can target kill them. If your lane partner has a close range CC, try and let them initiate for the kill first, because you can get in there really quick with your boots and Decisive If solo lane, just stay close to your turret, Judgemen to kill minions, and if your lane enemies aren't very high CC then you can start to harass them fairly well. Dont overextend yourself, diving is a bad idea this early. You can do a lot of that later game.

Mid game -
Turret diving starts to become viable, but still hurts. Your Judgement now should be rank 5, and you may have started on your Cloak of agility making it hit even harder. Start trying to bait them into your teammates, and if they fall for it catch them trying to escape with your ult if you can. In team fights try and silence their AP carry, or if thats not an issue then their support/CC. Exhaust to help your teammates escape or catch up to somebody, and you can stay in combat for a while due to GA and ghost/decisive. Try and get into bushes if you know they are going to start pushing a lane (Non middle in summoners rift) so if they facecheck a bush if you have somebody else with you that person is doomed. Dont overextend yourself, you can't take all 5 yet (Unless they fed you really bad).

Late game -
Your VERY tanky. You should try and mostly initiate fights for your team, because you have no CC so your other tank should not take the initial burst (If you have one). Your damage starts becoming less noticable, and you will be ignored alot. Don't worry, you can still backdoor turrets, save people by finishing off people that would otherwise kill them, slow with your exhaust, chip at peoples life and silence to save the day.

So there you have it. Thanks for reading, comment, vote, and Remember, SPIN TO WIN!