I am a Huge fan and very frequent league of legends player. I am not claiming to be a pro at League of Legends or even a Garen pro but i have spent a very large amount of time playing this champion and have experimented with a lot of different builds and from what I've found this build has worked out more often then not. Enjoy =)

Pros
- Good Sustain
- Easy to trade
- Strong Dueler
- Strong Pusher
- Resourceless

Cons
- Susceptible to Stuns, binds, roots, etc
- Easily poked
- Only escape is movement
- Is Demacian ( Just Kidding )

With Garen I have found that these spells are usually the best in most situations.

Other Viable Spells


- Exhaust: This is a replacement for either ignite or Flash if you prefer, it will help you in ganks to secure kills and help catch/escape from SINGLE targets which is where it falls short to ghost because with ghost you can get away/catch up to several different targets, but it is more versatile in team fights as it cripples the enemy ADC making it easy for everyone to catch and tear them limb from limb.

I personally like to build Garen really tanky as apposed to the damage path because Garen already deals decent damage without many, if any damage items due to the way his kit works, This is the reason i have gone 9/21/0, I put the 9 in offence because while tank is good i think that nothing in the utility tree offers him the early game strength that it does in the offence which all together works well with his 21 in defense giving him easy lane survivability plus if you get into an early duel you should usually be able to get the kill or at least escape.

The runes I use are nothing special. I believe this gives him good early stats to build upon, mixing Damage with defense and good chase/escape potential.

Quintessences-Movement speed x3

Marks-Attack Damage x9

Seals-Armour x9

Glyphs-Magic Resist Per LvL x9

Other Optional Runes Are:

-Attack Damage Quints
-Magic Resist Glyphs
-Health Quints
-Armour/Magic Resist Quints
-Armour Pen Marks

Garen is a very strong champion and he does not need perfect itemisation to wreck, but to get the most put of him there are items that work really well with him and i will talk about these now.

-This Item is great with Garen because it gives you good stats for for absorbing alot of damage and making you a spunge which is garens job , combined with the low cost and the fact that the passive applies while you are in your E which increases your dps, makes this a fantastic item for him all round.

-The Spirit Visage is a great item when going against AP threats, this is because of its Magic Resist and Health factors making you much harder to kill, but it also serves other purposes. Spirit Visage also gives you Cool Down Reduction which is really good on Garen because he has no mana/energy etc so the only thing limiting him are his cool downs, the passive of the Spirit Visage also increases your passive and gives you MORE health regeneration meaning in between trades and teamfights you will heal stupidly fast causing you to be able to push when others have to back or win a 1v1 easily because you have healed where as they haven't because don't have anything to heal them.

- Warmogs is an item which i feel is not as good as the two mentioned above but is still an amazing choice on Garen as it once again makes you so much harder to kill and like the spirit visage gives you yet MORE insane regeneration with its passive and the health increases your passive meaning you really don't need to go back to base to heal and can keep farming until the next teamfight/Gank.

I start with a point in my Q for a few reasons, one being the speed buff can be used to get places faster ensuring you'll get to lane on time if you need to leash or fail an invade.It also means farming until LvL 2 is easy because it gives you an auto attack reset meaning after an auto attack if you hit q immediately you get his q straight away and by the time you have used that your next auto attack would only just be coming up so it helps you secure two creeps in quick succession or get a creep you miss timed your last hit with.I max E because it gives you alot of damage in trades and good AOE in teamfights ensuring max damage output, it can also be used to clear waves and push extremely fast if you find the need to. I max Q second for increased damage output, trade capability and escapability, i find it also helps you get to the enemy back lines alot faster and do s much damage as possible faster. I max the W last just because while it gives you increased time for reduced damage it doesn't increases the passive at all so i just don't think it's as worth but its personal preference i guess. Quite obviously put a point in ult at LvLs 6/11/16 because it is great for securing kills and moving on in quick succession.

During laning phase Garen's job is to just farm, push and apply ALOT of pressure until lvl 6. Garen has alot of natural pressure because of his kit and how easy it is to push so you will draw alot of attention from the jungler so warding is essential. If you are getting camped thats good because if gives your team alot of time and space to make a play or take an objective like dragon, tower, etc. Garen has a very simple trade that can be duplicated often until your ready to kill your lane opponent: You Q into E and then back off and repeat. this will allow you to keep control of the lane and always have an edge ( As long as you ward ). With Garen you don't need a jungler to tower dive, i usually use the trade combo to get them just below half health then push your minions to their tower, you then get next to them and Q, E and W into an ignite ult and 95% of the time you get a kill but use common sense, for example if you are low and they have alot of cc dont dive it will mean your death, or if you know their jungler is in the area it would be a stupid , preventable death that could cost you the game.

To finish, all i want to say is I had good fun making this and i hope it can help you against your opponents you encounter on the rift. Any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is much appreciated and will be taken into consideration so please leave comments, rate and have a good time!
Thank you for reading :D