hey all, this is my garren build that i have found to maximise his early game OP damage... but keep that survivability later, which is hard to find.

the build is about rushing max level on judgement.

it may seem silly to get so much HP, but you dont need any extra damage, but if you have that extra HP to get that 2nd rotation of your skills off, your damage, i find is greater than buying damage items.

i can't say enough how important it is for garren to be the one laning with the support, he needs hs sunfire cape fast, and allows others more freedom since he wont be taking thier minion kills with judgement.

this build is not a full tank garren, since he has little disrupt, my team usually play him with a disrupt character such as rammus or alister, having him tanky gives them freedom to jungle.

garren is powerfull early game, never forget this. with the right laning partner. FB should usually be no problem. i would recommend waiting for level 2 till attacking, having a 3 sec silence level 2 is crazy... xD

SUNFIRE CAPEas i say later, garrens damage doesnt need boosting early game, sunfire cape boosts his jugdement by double early game. rushing this i find to be most effective early game. as its a cheaper option than youmouu's, keeping his damage up; out of judgement.

boots of swiftness the other option of mercury's treads is i suppose good too, but you should be aiming to reduce CC through your judgement, and the extra speed is needed to have that little edge for chasing and/or getting away.

warmog's the most controverial part of the build, you buy this mid game. your other tank/disrupt should be starting to become tanky.. or just before hand. your damage is at its peak or relitivly starting to wane. this is to keep you alive late game for a 2nd rotation. mid game, a 2nd rotation is extraordinaryly painfull for the other team, also they will be focusing you due to earlier aggression... yes play garren VERY agressive.

atmas now you make up for your slight lapse in damage 10 fold. crit chance for your judgement... armour... 2% of hp to damage... what more could you want. right now. you end with 180-190 damage. its nice to have a janna too... her shield giving you 250 damage. which is crazy for someone before late game to have... especially with 4k+ hp...

the other 2 slots are explained later

the good

Ghost,

exhaust, - allows those extra auto attacks after a rotation to kill someone. disables the phys carry in a teamfight, which is nice when you also silence the ap nuke.

teleport, mobility is the key. i can not describe how many times i have saved a tower or a team mate by teleporting, eg. ward in a bush... teleport to it. instant 2v3 situation... need i say more

flash if they getting away from your judgement.... or just to nip in and get off your ulti... for escaping its nice too

the bad

the rest xD

this is m personal opinion. i find anything else to be wasted, since the summoner spells are needed throughout the game, imediatley knocking out heal...etc.

i prefereably take teleport and ghost.

my reasoning:

clarity - ******ed... dont take it, garren doesnt use mana lol

rally - useless generally, late game its even worse

revive - you should be playing to win, not to die

fortify - you're on the front lines, let your support take it (if they really have to)

smite - as i said... dont jungle garren... (my team usualy jungles our rammus)

cleanse - dont need. judgement pretty much has same effect.

ignite - i played around with this.... thought since i sometimes cant kill someone on a full rotation and they get away with low hp. that it would be good... but found exhaust to be more effective as a few more auto attacks did more damage than ignite.

promote - seriously riot??

who you WANT to lane with

janna - look down a bit
olaf - great nuke in early game if he maxes his reckless swing. its an intimidating combo since you are both so tanky. this is a ganky combo, but easily countered if they have ranged.
viegar - stun....niiiice..... makes me drool
no-one (can solo effectively, but depends who you are against, this is if you have a jungler)

who you dont want to lane with

any tank - rammus - alister - shen...(hes ****)

garren, is a character who does alot of damage, but highly hurt by his CD. strike and judgement takes them to about 1/3 - 1/2 hp... laning with someone who can then take up that slack, or hold them till CD is done. is nice. my laning partner is generaly janna. since i can take minion kills, get fed... and her shield allows me to kill them in one usually. sona is nice too.... but better for her to lane with someone else. eg Jarvan.

YOU, you and your disrupt character are the initiator, you must silence that AP nuke. ghost/decisive strike in silence, pop courage and spin. by now they should be focusing you, at the end of this build you should have roughly 4k hp, if they focus you GOOD, but you will find, against good teams, they ignore you.... untill they realise the damage you are dealing, get a 2nd rotation off. usually you can silence and kill the AP nuke, even if the team separate to get away from your judgement, FOLLOW HIM! use justice to finnish, and move on. (he should be dead from your Q,E,R once)

i am not here to tell you how to play garren, this build is for experianced players, and no1 can fully understand a build till you have at least played him a few times. just trying to share some experiance to shorten others learning curve.


(P.S) never jungle garren xD, and dont take that phys carry's kills... let him have them, judgement has alot of ticks.

these are for the situation. garren is a very versitile character.

force of nature is good, nice MR and regen.

infinity edge is good.

thornmail for that phys carry.

banshee's veil - not really needed, no-one targets you with heavy nukage really over a that squishy. they stun you. judgement does this for you, wasted item... sometimes.

youmuu's ghostblade is a deffinate, very few circumstances where i WOULDNT take this allows you to pump out damage when not spinning :) also good for chasing.

GARREN - dont check his bush.

this guide is from playing garren for a good few months now with solid tweaking. i know there will be differing arguments, but this is what WORKS. try it before you say OH NO! no damage early game.... you dont need it...its where the armour pen runes come in :)

cheers for reading all, you've been a wonderfull audience