Hello, this is my guide to playing Taric in the top lane. Taric is a very easy champion to play as all you have to build is armour, and he becomes practically un-killable, this is because his 'w' - Shatter, increases his armour even further passively.

Here I will be teaching you how to win early level trades all the way through to late game, and how to dominate against lane bullies like Renekton and Teemo. I will be showing you which build is best, depending on the situation of the game and whether or not you need more health, or more armour.

I hope you enjoy this guide to playing Taric top lane!

Early game for Taric is a struggle, as he does not have the damage to out trade enemy champions like Renekton or Riven. Luckily, at these low levels, minions deal quite a bit of damage, I am going to explain how you can win early trades using minions and simple baiting techniques.

A lot of champions have a dash e.g Fiora, Renekton and Riven all have a pretty nasty dash that deals a lot of damage. You can use this dash to your advantage by baiting them to dash into your allied minion wave, then stunning them once they've dealt damage to you (if they don't deal damage to you, your allied minions will not attack the enemy champion). You will find that most of the time, you can win those first couple of trades using this technique.

Farming: farming with Taric is difficult, as his damage is low, and so last hitting minions is harder to accomplish. Fortunately, you will not need to farm as much as any other champion, as Thornmail is a cheap starting item to build.

Now, you CANNOT let the lane push towards the enemy tower, if you do this, you could get ganked and die very easily, and without Thornmail you won't be able to deal as much damage as the enemy champion. I tend to let the lane push under my tower, and farm under turret, so I don't get harassed as much by champs such as Teemo.

Once Thornmail has been completed, it will be easier to farm as you won't take anywhere near as much damage from the enemy champion and you should be able to win trades too.

From here on, it's plain sailing, just as long as you haven't fed the enemy champion any kills what so ever. My method is to stop hyper carries like Jax and Nasus from dominating the lane, and the whole rest of the game. By playing the lane safe like this and farming under turret, they won't be able to kill you, ever.

After building Thornmail, it's best to rush Sunfire Aegis, this is due to it's high health and armour properties, and although the damage it deals seems low, it will benefit greatly in 1v1's against your enemy laner.

I feel that, because nobody plays Taric top lane anymore, nobody knows how to counter/play against him, after beating Renekton, Jax, Riven, Teemo, Fiora and Nasus, I can safely say that Taric is a genuinely good champ to play in the top lane, as long as you play safe before Thornmail is built.

Because nobody knows how to play against him, I usually get enemies that dive straight in to try and kill me, thinking that I won't damage to them, but then coming out of a fight with a quarter of their health left, meanwhile I'm still way over 3/4 of my health. This is because most people build damage right away, and Thornmail's passive is to deal a percentage of the damage they do to you, back to them. This, added with the damage you will be doing to them with abilities and auto attacks, added with the Sunfire Aegis, will be an immense amount of damage more than they'll be dealing.

Taking ignite, you can kill the enemy champion, pretty easily. Ignite is one of the main factors for doing this, without ignite, you might not be able to kill them as they could run away from you. Make sure you use your ultimate towards the end of the fight (almost like an execute) to surprise your enemy - this is perfect for fighting against a Renekton or a Nasus, as both of their ultimates bring them greater health, and if they haven't used their ultimates yet, you can kill them before they do use them.

When going into a fight, you really don't have to do much, just let them auto attack you (as it will deal damage back to them), let your Sunfire Aegis and Thornmail do all the work, and then, when you're ready, use Shatter to deal more damage and then your ultimate and ignite in a quick combo, and it should finish them off.

I have been ganked when both enemies were at full health, and got a double kill simply because they thought I was an easy kill, but didn't realise that Thornmail and Sunfire Aegis did more damage to them, than they were doing to me.

Without those two items, you will not be able to get any kills.

This is pretty basic stuff, supporting other members of the team whilst taking a lot of damage.

So, after laning phase you're pretty much helping other members of your team, just like you would be if you were playing support Taric. Engaging in team fights is simple, walk into the wall of enemies and let them surround and focus you, help your ADC out by stunning the enemies that focus her/him, and Imbue others where needed.

Using Randuin's Omen you can disengage from team fights, it also helps for when you're getting chased by 3 or more members of the enemy team.

Pros:
+ Un-killable, pain in the *******s for the enemy.
+ Underestimated damage.
+ Armour passively, for you and your team. Gems.
+ Resistance to hyper-carrys.
+ Easy to playerino.


Cons
- Doesn't have massive amounts of base damage.
- True damage will kill you, if you're dumb enough to stick around.
- No harass.
- Lesbian Ezreal doesn't seem to be attracted to you as much as you are to him.