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Garen Build Guide by JuiceBox#94991

Garen - The Demacian Balancing Act

Garen - The Demacian Balancing Act

Updated on July 24, 2011
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League of Legends Build Guide Author JuiceBox#94991 Build Guide By JuiceBox#94991 2,714 Views 7 Comments
2,714 Views 7 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author JuiceBox#94991 Garen Build Guide By JuiceBox#94991 Updated on July 24, 2011
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Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Garen
  • LoL Champion: Garen
  • LoL Champion: Garen
  • LoL Champion: Garen

Introduction

Hi there, I'm JuiceBox, and this is my guide to how I prefer to play Garen.
Garen has been one of my favorite champions since I started playing the game, but none of the guides I've found for him so far really appealed to my playstyle, so instead, I decided to make my own build(s) and refine them as I go.
First off, a little disclaimer: all of this is very much work-in-progress. I myself am a fairly new player, I don't play ranked games (yet) and I play mainly in a premade group with friends, so your mileage may vary with any of these builds.

There are four different builds I use with Garen:
  • Build 1 is my standard build, Balance Garen. This build's focus is CDR and it balances between damage and survivability, making it a great all-round choice.
  • Build 2 is Anti-Tank Garen, if my team is lacking tank killing power, this is what I'll play.
  • Build 3 is Tank Hybrid Garen, this build focuses on Survivability and only ramps up it's damage toward the mid-late game. A great choice as an off-tank.
  • Build 4 is Chaser Garen, if my team doesn't have an AD Carry, I can use this to turn Garen into a pseudo-carry and a scary chaser.
Once again, this is just my personal preference for playing Garen, and I'm definitely not trying to say I'm the best in the world or whatever.
If you like the builds or the guide, please feel free to comment and / or vote.
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Pros / Cons

Here's a brief list of Garen's main pros and cons, for those unfamiliar with him:

Pros:
  • Great survivability
  • Consistently high damage
  • Very adaptible, with many possible playstyles
  • Strong in both single target and AoE
  • No mana


Cons:
  • Prone to being kited
  • Very item dependant
  • Depending on build, can be almost entirely dependant on cooldowns for damage


With my builds I try to eliminate as many of the cons as possible while playing to Garen's strengths. My builds tend to focus on CDR while increasing overall damage output and survivability.
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Why Cooldown Reduction?

Cooldown Reduction is something I see being neglected on pretty much all the Garen builds I've looked at so far. So why should you choose to emphasize it?

- Garen has no mana, the only thing stopping him spamming his abilities, are the cooldowns.

- Garen is not designed as an auto-attack AD Carry like Vayne. Although attack speed is great for him, he has no abilities that make it more beneficial, like Silver Bolts.

- At 40% CDR, Judgment goes from a 10 sec to a 6 sec cooldown. That may not sound like much, but any good player knows that in LoL, every second counts.

- Lowering the cooldown on Courage lets you be more aggressive and survive in situations that would otherwise kill you.


Granted, you may not be able to hit 40% CDR every single game. Sometimes, items like Ionian Boots of Lucidity just aren't an option because you may need Ninja Tabi or Mercury's Treads, however, the Situational Items section of this guide gives you some suggestions as to how you can respond to these situations while still maintaining your core items. Also, my goal with the builds and runes is to bring every build - even the tanky one - to ~30% CDR fairly quickly. This is already a huge advantage for Garen, and you can boost it up that little bit more simply by picking up Elixir of Brilliance.
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Masteries

Okay, if you've read this far, the main thing you're probably thinking is 'What is up with those Masteries?!'
The Masteries are very deliberatly chosen to play up to certain major strengths with Garen: Movement and Cooldown Reduction.

Sinking 19 points into Utility allows me to grab an extra 6% CDR and 3% Movement Speed bonus right away at level 1, with the items I build, that 6% CDR provides the final boost needed to get me to 40%. For a champion like Garen, who is so dependant on cooldowns, that's a huge boost right away. The movement speed bonus lets me be mobile from the very start and also reduces the need to rush tier 2 boots, which allows me time to check my enemies and their item choices before selecting my boots, in some cases that can be a major advantage to have.
If you want, you could move the 4 points from Alacrity to Sorcery, this boosts you up to 15-20% CDR at level 1, depending on runes. By adding in Ionian Boots of Lucidity, you'll already nearly be capped. This is a great choice if you want a stronger early game as it allows for more harassment, but that extra 3% CDR will go to waste as you build into other CDR items.

But why not 9/0/21? Personally, I don't feel the last couple of points in Utility would give me any huge advantages, while moving them to Offense lets me max out the all-important Sunder for additional ArP. This is purely personal preference though.

And of course, you can easily play Garen with other builds such as 21/0/9; 21/9/0; 9/21/0 or even 0/21/9. Just understand that each mastery tree will give you different strengths and weaknesses, and choose or adapt your build accordingly.
As an example, any of the above builds can be played as 21/0/9 or 21/9/0, and the third and fourth builds - Hybrid Garen and Chaser Garen - gain stronger early game dominance with 21 points in the Defense tree.

Masteries are very flexible and largely up to personal taste. Utility is the one that works best for me most of the time, but I'm not afraid to change them around if I have to. After all, Riot lets us save 10 different Mastery pages at a time!
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Runes

Rune choices aren't quite as flexible as Masteries, but there are still some options for Garen, especially in Seals and Quints.

You'll note I take 9 Greater Mark of Desolation in every build, this is simply because in my honest opinion there is no other choice here for Garen. All of his spammable abilities deal physical damage, and increasing that damage or crit chance does nothing if you can't get past their armor. This also ensures that at lv 1 you're probably already tearing through most if not all of your enemy's armor, unless they start with a defensive item.

I choose Greater Seal of Vigor for a couple of reasons: Firstly, it gives me a great early game and allows me to lane very effectively all the way up to level 6 or 7 without needing to blue pill every few seconds. Secondly, it has fantastic synergy with Garen's passive, granting massive health regeneration from a very early stage. I don't feel that this choice sets me back too far defensively as Garen's passive ability Courage allows me to gain Armor and Resist quite quickly anyway.
Other solid choices here are or for defense and or for more offensive power.

For glyphs I prefer to stick with since Garen is so reliant on it for his ability spam. Another choice would be for more Magic Resist, but I prefer the CDR.

The Quints are probably the most flexible, almost any type of Quint is great for Garen. Here are some possibilities:
- if you intend to hit 40%, these give you a massive boost

Greater Quintessence of Desolation - as with the ArP Marks, these provide a huge increase to Garen's damage output

/ / Greater Quintessence of Vigor / / - for early game survivability, these Quints are particularly useful if you're soloing top

- Garen can be a very scary chaser, and these Quints boost that aspect further

- A good choice if you can't afford run speed but want to play Garen as a chaser
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Summoner Spells

Main Choices




I'll almost always use these two on Garen. Exhaust lets me push out easy kills on enemies that might otherwise get away while Flash allows me to tower dive and be aggressive and then Flash away to safety, or to avoid skill shots, or to escape ganks... Flash is just so versatile, I fell in love with it as soon as I unlocked it.

Other Choices




These are a bit more situational.

If you're using something like the Chaser Garen build above, Ignite can get you kills in the same way Exhaust does, and since that kind of build utilizes very high run speed, there's much less use for Exhaust. It's also very useful in the Anti-Tank build both against the tanks and any healers supporting them.

Ghost has similar uses to Flash, and some people prefer it, but I personally find it less useful for Garen. Decisive Strike already provides a speed boost while Judgment lets him easily cut through minion waves to reach opponents, making Flash generally the more valuable option. My one exception to this is in the Chaser build, where I tend to flit between Exhaust and Ghost depending on how I feel.

Cleanse should be taken if the enemy team is very heavy on CC, or if you're playing more defensively i.e. when off-tanking.

Teleport is great while laning in Top or Bottom to get you back quickly, or if you're playing the Anti-Tank or Chaser builds and need to be able to shoot around the map quickly for ganks.

Similarly, Rally can be used in both the Anti-Tank and Tank Hybrid builds when setting up ganks or supporting your teammates in a gank or team fight. Although it gets a lot of negativity from people due to it's relatively weak effect coupled with a long cooldown, I had great success using Rally while ganking before I got Flash.

Avoid




All of these spells are good and have their uses - just not for Garen.

Fortify is a great spell - when you're being overly defensive, laning solo vs 2, or losing. Although I do like it, I find it stupid to waste a slot on this over the likes of Exhaust or Flash. The only time I'd consider it would be if I was taking solo top and fighting near my turret, or in 3v3 matches where it's not uncommon to see a team try to 3 man rush a lane very early.

Smite goes without saying, you're not a jungler. The one and only use for this would be to possibly killsteal a Baron or Dragon kill, but you can accomplish that with Flash too, and it's way more versatile.

Clairvoyance is a different matter. It is a great spell and I know that it can be popular with ranked players - which I'm not one of. The thing is, there are better Champions to take this spell on. Garen is a melee fighter, he's made to be aggressive. Taking Clairvoyance cuts into that somewhat. However, it CAN prevent ganks, it CAN mess with enemy junglers and it CAN scout good ganks out for you, so if no-one else on your team is taking it, it's a perfectly valid and acceptable choice.

I like to take Heal when learning new characters as it helps to recover from mistakes and prevent stupid deaths, however once you become accustomed to Garen, Heal becomes less useful as you get used to utilizing the regen from his passive Perseverance to regenerate your health between fights. Of course, if you're tanking and there are several melee champs on your team meaning you're always close together, Heal becomes a solid choice.

As far as Revive, well no matter how good you are, sometimes you die. It can be awfully tempting to take Revive so you can jump back into the fray quicker but consider this: If you had another spell, like Exhaust, Flash or Ghost, you might not have died in the first place! Also, Revive as a spell only becomes truely valuable towards the end of a match when respawn timers get longer, so up until that point it's more a question of 'convenience' than 'necessity.'

And Clarity - well, do you have mana? No? Why are you even looking at this spell then?!
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Skill Sequence

The exact skill sequence varies depending on the build and occasionally even depending on who you're laning against.
In general, the priority list will look like this:

> > >


Always start with Judgment at level 1 and use it to start farming and harassing your lane opponent, after grabbing one rank in each of your basic abilities, prioritize Judgment when possible, while adding ranks of Demacian Justice as they become available.
The exact order will depend on your situation:

- If your opponent is melee consider grabbing Courage straight away at lv 2 to make it easier to keep harassing them around their minions.

- When laning against a caster, prioritize Decisive Strike instead at level 2, however after that prioritize Courage over Decisive Strike, as the silence on DS doesn't increase with its ranks.

- If you're being fed and in little danger, maximize your damaging abilities before focusing on Courage, this way you can continue to apply massive pressure to your opponent.
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Core Items

Ah, the good stuff. I'll talk in-depth about the various item builds for each of the four builds in turn, but first, these are the items I use on Garen almost every game:



Ionian Boots of Lucidity are the tier 2 boots I'll use in most games. The extra 15% CDR at such a low cost makes me very scary from a low level. However, there are other options to consider:

- Mercury's Treads are an option if casters and CC effects are giving you grief. The boost to magic resist and the CC reduction makes them an all around solid choice.

- If you're being fed and just dominating your opponent, or if they're playing a champ with high mobility, consider grabbing Boots of Swiftness to run them down.

- If the enemy team has mainly AD Champions, get yourself a Ninja Tabi instead for better survivability.

- If they have little to no CC or their CCs are slows, and you need additional damage, grab Berserker's Greaves. These are also a good choice if you're not being focused and in a position to play more aggressively.

Youmuu's Ghostblade is one of Garen's best items. More damage, more crit, more ArP, CDR and a great active, this item should be a priority for you in every game. It can be a real tideturner as well - if you're getting pushed harder and having trouble farming, try rushing Youmuu's to grab the initiative back from your opponent.

You'll want to grab an Infinity Edge in pretty much every game at some point. If you're really fed or getting lots of successful ganks you may want to grab it even before Youmuu's Ghostblade. Once you have the Edge, Garen becomes a beast, and Judgment will start cutting through things like they're made of paper.

Last Whisper is a generally all-round solid item and a great choice on Garen. I like to take it as my final item to give me that little bit extra kick at the end of a match, but it can also be useful to grab it before completing Infinity Edge if you're having trouble getting enough gold.
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Build One - Demacian Balance

This build focuses on balancing Garen's strengths, while reducing the weaknesses.

Pros:
  • Consistently high damage throughout the match
  • Good survivability
  • Great laner
  • Easy to adapt the item build to the situation

Cons:
  • Not as much survivability as a tankier build
  • Slowest Atk Speed
  • Cooldown dependant, CDR items are a must

Early Game


Start with a or .
This is mostly personal preference, I usually make my choice based on who I think I'll be laning against or where I'm laning: in mid I prefer the Blade so I can be more aggressive, while in Top or Bottom I prefer the Shield to give me staying power.

If all goes well and you're holding your lane, you should be able to stay out until level 6 or 7, at level 6 you should try and push a kill with Demacian Justice, especially if you haven't had a kill up to that point.
If you have to return to base early, pick up then, otherwise stay in lane as long as possible before returning but NOT longer than level 7. Why? because level 6 is usually when people start looking for ganking opportunities, and you need to be prepared for that.
Once you BP back, prioritize in that order. If you have enough gold left, buy one or two wards as well.

Head back into lane and continue to push your opponent. If you're in mid, pay attention in case your team needs help, otherwise, just keep laning.
If you were unable to buy all the items at once last time, blue pill back once you have enugh gold for your next item.

Finish early game with your .

Mid-Game


Get a ASAP in order to give your damage a much needed boost, then rush .

With the Ghostblade up, start looking for ganking opportunities and co-ordinate with your team for fights and tower pushes.

Wrap up your mid-game with .

Late Game


Depending on how good you and your opponents are, or how aggressively you tower push, you may not even reach this point.

Regardless, get to add some survivability and make up for Garen's lack of a slow and finish up with .

For very long games, you can also sell whatever Doran's item you picked to grab one last item. See the list of situational items below for possibilities.
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Build Two - Demacian Justice

This build is designed as an Anti-Tank build. The combination of high ArP, Madred's Bloodrazor allow Garen to simply walk right through most opponents.

Pros:
  • Crushes other champions in the mid-late game
  • Great ganker and initiator

Cons:

  • Weaker early game than the basic build
  • Very item dependant, less flexible item build
  • Expensive items, can be difficult to build up if you're being pushed hard

Early Game


Start out with and plenty of
Once your health pots are exhausted, BP back and get and . If you can only get one, prioritize the Razors first.

As before, continue to lane until around level 6-7, then return for and your .

Finish your early game with .

Mid-Game



Rush and as quickly as you can.

At this point, you should be looking almost exclusively for opportunites to kill Champions. Grab wards if needed and co-ordinate with your team for ganks.

Wrap up your mid-game with a and enjoy crushing Champions.

Late Game


This should be more or less a continuation of your mid-game. Continue to gank, initiate teamfights if there's no tank doing it and keep building into your final two items.

and will complete your item build, although if you're sufficiently fed and already eating your opponents' tanks for breakfast, you can get instead of one of those two for even more damage output.
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Build Three - Demacian Courage

The third build is about tanking. This build turns Garen into a great off-tank and is best used when laning with a Carry or a Supporter with good damage output, like Morgana and Lux.

This time, I choose Greater Seal of Vitality and Greater Quintessence of Vitality to support Atma's Impaler.

Pros:
  • Massive Health pool
  • High late game damage
  • Great initiator

Cons:
  • Can be easy to counter
  • Vulnerable to Anti-Tank builds
  • Weakest damage in the early-mid game

Early Game


Take note of your opponent's Champions and which could potentially be tank killers. Their item choices will influence yours.

Start out with a and head into lane with your partner. This time, try to stay in lane until you can afford the next 3-4 items.
If you have to return early, prioritize .

Grab first, then OR depending on the situation. The Cloak will give you a small damage boost while the Vest will provide some additional protection against AD heavy teams. Get if you didn't need to return up to this point.

Finish early game with or and .

Mid-Game


First, take a moment to try and get a look at any dangerous Champions you had noted earlier. Are any of them building particular anti-tank gear? If one of them is building Madred's Bloodrazor or they have a champion like Vayne; do NOT build into Warmog's Armor, instead choose new tanking items from the situational items below, and skip the Atma's Impaler step. Alternatively, build a Thornmail first and then continue through Warmog's Armor and Atma's Impaler, this will result in them possibly killing themselves just trying to take you down.
If everything's fine, continue with the build as listed.

Keep laning with your partner, or solo if they left to gank. Build into and quickly and be ready to participate in team fights as needed.

Get your and enjoy finally having high damage.

Late Game


By now you'll have either pushed your lane up, or you'll be fighting exclusively with the rest of your team. Save up for an , , or both.

If you had to avoid Warmog's Armor due to anti-tank shenanigans, consider getting to increase your staying power.
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Build Four - Demacian Might

The final build pours everything into damage. The combination of high damage, high attack speed and run speed make Garen a scary Carry and Chaser.

Pros:
  • Scary damage
  • Fastest run speed
  • Amazing ganker, very mobile

Cons:


Early Game


Try to lane with someone reliable. If you must go solo, try to get mid and play carefully, for now farming is more important than kills.

Start with and build into quickly. Lane until level 6 and push for a kill with Demacian Justice before returning.

Grab and to finish your early game build.

Mid-Game


Gank, gank, gank!

Use your superior speed to stay mobile, switching lanes and dropping wards as needed.
Aim to be killing someone every single time Demacian Justice is off cooldown and rush out and .

End your mid-game with .

Late Game


Finish up with and .

Utilize Brush and Fog Of War when joining team fights, wait for your tank to initiate then rush straight for the main target. Be aware of heavy damage Ultimates like Katarina's or Fiddlesticks', wait for them to be fired off before engaging if needed.
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Situational Items

These items aren't required, but may be useful in certain situations.

Damage Items



If you find yourself struggling to gain early game control, or you didn't take Exhaust and opponents keep escaping, consider picking one of these up as they're quite cheap to make. The downside is that the only thing it builds into is Hextech Gunblade, which is expensive and doesn't benefit Garen as much as some other items in the same cost range.


If enemy mages are giving you grief early on, this is an easy and cost efficient solution. Solid stats and a decent passive that can turn the tables and net you a kill if they open up heavily on you right away.


When you're getting fed a lot, Sword of the Occult is a great little item that makes you very strong very fast. It's a great choice while tanking for a carry too, as you'll be getting lots of assists.


Although it has mana regen, Tiamat is still a good choice for Garen if you're being pushed back and can't afford the more expensive damage items. The extra health regen and splash damage may just be enough to push enemies back from your turret and give you some breathing room.


This is the best item to pick up if you need CC reduction but don't want to sacrifice the CDR from Ionian Boots of Lucidity. The stats are great for Garen, it gives Tenacity, and it's quite cheap to build.


This item is a great choice for Anti-Tank Garen, increasing survivability while adding an Ignite style effect.


If you're being heavily harrassed and having trouble farming, consider building one instead of The Brutalizer when working towards Youmuu's Ghostblade. The extra crit will help you harrass back as well as kill minions quicker and the gold generation will help you rush into Youmuu's Ghostblade. Even though they don't stack, sometimes it may be worth picking up a second one of these just to maintain the gold boost even after building into Youmuu's.


Again, if you were unable to take Ionian Boots of Lucidity, this is a good choice to add some more CDR.


Remember what I said about Garen's lack of an ability that makes Atk Speed better? This item provides that, and goes great with the Anti-Tank or Chaser builds.


If you're trying to be aggressive but mages are annoying you, this is the one to take. Great when laning against the likes of Ryze or Annie, as it improves your survivability even while you're smacking them around.

Defensive Items



Here's a list of the items to aim for in the above Tanking build if you can't go into Warmog's:



Choose items from this list to replace the Warmog's and Atma's portions of the above build based on your situation. If they only have a single Champion that deals high damage to targets with lots of health, then grab Aegis of the Legion; if they're going all-out anti health stacking, use the pure armor / resist / health regen items instead.

Other good defensive items are:


Let's you disintegrate minion waves. Great if your job is to push a lane up.


Adds survivability as well as CDR, an all-round solid item.


I know it's in the list above, but it deserves special mention in regards to the Anti-Tank and Chaser builds as it lets you drop a free ward every few minutes. Keep this in mind if your team is having trouble with warding.
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Consumables and Buffs

Buffs


The only creature buff you should really be concerned with on Garen is the Lizard buff. Grabbing it early provides you with a much-needed slow, allowing you to harass much more effectively. Try and get it between levels 8 and 10 while working towards Frozen Mallet.
You CAN take the blue buff from the Ancient Golem if somehow literally no-one else on your team needs it, but all it does for you is cooldown reduction. Keep it in mind if you want to deny the enemy team from getting it.

Consumables


Grab Elixir of Fortitude often. It gives useful stats that are great for Garen in any situation, whether laning, ganking or participating in team fights.

Elixir of Agility should be taken when being aggressive, particularly while ganking in the Anti-Tank and Chaser builds.

Elixir of Brilliance can be used to cap your cooldown reduction if you can't hard cap it with items. However, that's all it does for Garen so be wary of wasting gold on it.

During the early-mid game, if you find yourself being pushed back a lot, stock up on Health Potions to try and regain some momentum. Don't bother with them anymore after you get a few items built though, instead rely on Perseverance and your runes for regen.

Wards


It's generally a good idea to always carry at least 1-2 wards at all times when you have an item slot free.
While laning, use them to ward your own lane to prevent ganks and while ganking use them to keep an eye on the lane while you're away from it.
If playing the Chaser build and your team has no jungler, you should be the one warding the river and neutral buffs since your superior run speed will make it fairly easy for you to do while looking for ganks.
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Tips for Garen's Skills


Perseverance is a strong passive that allows Garen to lane very effectively, and also helps top you up if you're switching between lanes to set up ganks. It has great synergy with any other forms of health regen you can get since just a few seconds out of combat will allow Garen to regen most or all of his health back. Playing aggressively to force your lane opponent back will allow you to sit back and regen health without ever having to blue pill.


Decisive Strike can be a game changing ability, in both 1v1 situations and teamfights, however using it effectively requires a little forethought. Even with the speed boost, you shouldn't just pop it to dash up to enemy casters like Annie; instead, pay attention to what they're doing, for instance if you see her use her spells on minions, pop Decisive Strike and run like hell to smack her in the face for the silence when she can't react. In teamfights, single out dangerous enemies like Supporters or Ranged Carrys who lurk in the back, and use your summoner spells and Decisive Strike to close the gap quickly and eliminate them. You can also use it to quite literally erupt from the Jungle or Brush, making Garen a solid ganker.


One of my favorite abilities and the main reason to play Garen aggressively. Try to last hit things as much as possible to build up stacks on this, if you're laning with someone ask them to let you get last hits in until its fully stacked. Courage's active should be used often in order to lower incoming damage, particularly when fighting someone in or around their minion line; or if you're the one initiating team fights. It can also be used for Tower Diving, just make sure you have a Flash or something else ready to get you back out again. You can even use it when you know a gank is coming, if you think you can turn the tables or just to stay alive long enough to run away.


Hands-down my favorite ability on Garen, and definitely the thing you should be grabbing at lv 1 every time. Judgment has so many uses:
    - Punch a few minions to get their health down then Judgment the whole lot for multiple last hits at low levels.
    - Harass your lane opponent with its high damage output or punish them for overcomitting: a full judgment hit even at lv 1 can outright kill some champions.
    - Use it to cut through the first row of minions then position yourself between the melee minions and the ranged minions to farm both at the same time
    - If you find yourself chasing someone and you can speed ahead of them, try using Judgment just in front of them: if they keep running forwards they're almost certainly going to die, and even if they try to run back or to the sides, you can still move with them.
    - You can even use Judgment to initiate on champions and minion waves if your job is to act as a tank for one of your carrys, setting up easy kills for them.


Garen's Ultimate, and one of the most devastating single-target Ultimates in the game. You should use this ability often, practically on cooldown, but there are some ground rules you should be aware of:
    - NEVER initiate with Demacian Justice. Should be pretty obvious, but you'd be surprised how many people make this mistake, especially new players or those new to Garen.
    - Try to use it when you're at range of an opponent - such as when they're running away. Garen is a melee champion and this is his only real ranged attack, if someone's nearly dead and still in melee range of you, why waste Demacian Justice on them?
    - As a follow-up to the above, pay attention when the match is loading to what Summoner Spells your opponents have. If you're fighting someone with Flash it's better to drop your Ultimate for a guaranteed kill than have them Flash away.
    - Pay attention to shields and be aware of any healers on the enemy team - don't waste Demacian Justice if it's going to get eaten up by a shield or heal.
    - In teamfights, choose your targets carefully. Demacian Justice should be used to murder any Carrys or Supporters that are low on health, don't waste it on Tanks unless everything else is already dead or gone and you're just mopping up.
    - DON'T use it just to killsteal from your teammates! Unless you're playing with a bunch of friends or have a valid need for kills and your teammates are aware of this (i.e. if you've been getting spanked by your lane opponent - an underfed and itemless Garen is a joke). That being said, if it looks like the opponent might escape, it's better to drop a Demacian Justice on them and risk being called a killstealer than let them get away - kind of a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' situation.
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Closing Statements

I hope you enjoyed the guide or found it helpful. If you did, please comment and vote! I'll be adding to the guide as I continue to play and develop Garen.

Updates:

24th July 2011 - Updated some of the info and clarified a few things.

Things to add

  • Screenshots! The EU server split just happened and at the moment it's almost impossible to launch practice games to get some informative screenshots. Once I get some i'll get them added.
  • Guide for Warding as Garen. I consider this important, as many people STILL don't ward even their own lanes in the games I play. Again, once I can launch some practice games to get the screen caps, they'll be added.
  • Gameplay videos. This one's actually cos of my PC, i'm hoping to upgrade it soon and then I should be able to get some nice vids from my games.
  • Match results / ranked play section. As I said, I'm a fairly new player, so if anyone wants to leave their match results from normal or ranked play for me to post, go ahead!
  • Overall tidying up. This is my first Mobafire guide so I'm still learning how to make them look better. I'll keep improving the look and flow of the guide whenever I can.
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