Hiya darlings! I go by raindropscyn on these corners of the internet, and I love Renata Glasc. I also love being unconventional (I get it from my dad), but I didn't wanna just slap her up Top lane, roam, and call it a day. She has a shield, she has a root, and she has one of the best ults in the game, provided she lives long enough to cast it at the enemy's faces - why not build her tanky and send her top lane? Inspired by the many a Karma guide, this is my guide to the Glasc of the Undying.

Karma.

But in all seriousness, the thing about Renata's kit that stands out to me is her AP ratios - or lack thereof. The important parts of her kit (the root on Q, the buffs on W, the slow on E, and the everything on R) have little to none in terms of AP scalings, so you don't need ability power. What you need...is speed. Or in this case, Ability Haste. Now, when it comes to Ability Haste without raw stats, you have two real options: Enchanter items (which provide AH, AP, and a beneficial effect) or Tank items (which provide AH, Defensive stats, and a beneficial effect). It's all starting to come together now.

Basically, instead of supporting the team by spending all my abilities and then walking around autoing things for a smidgen of passive damage, I'd rather spend all my abilities, do a similar amount of passive damage, but also be able to live and prevent me and my teammates from dying. If that requires me to go top lane (it doesn't, you can play tank renata support) then so be it.

This applies to top and support - you play Renata Glasc when your team (or the enemy team) has multiple carries that benefit from her W (or give her R insane value). Do not play Renata with a team full of mages and tanks. Do not play Renata against a team full of mages and tanks. When in doubt, pick Karma instead. She's more versatile but not as good at enabling hyper carries. If you're playing draft, feel free to blind pick Renata Glasc. It will only help you improve. If you're trying to rank up, I cannot recommend picking Renata Glasc early. If you're early in the picking order, Karma is safer.

Y'all know how to read - I'm not gonna restate exactly what each ability does. I will instead offer you a brief description and a guide to usage.

Passive - Leverage
Renata's autos do percent max health magic damage, and when an ally strikes the same unit after you autoed it, they do percent max health magic damage. Well, isn't this ability worthless in a solo lane? Absofruitly not! Whenever you switch targets, the passive reapplies, disappearing from the old target. That means if you auto a champ, auto a minion, and then auto a champ, they get hit with two procs of this damage. This is great, especially combined with the damage from Grasp of the Undying. You can really surprise some of the squishier top laners out there, and the tankier ones will try and fail to shrug off this damage.


Q - Handshake
A short-range root, but with a twist. This ability is so fun to use, because once you land it, you can cast it again and the rooted target will schlide in the direction of your cursor. If you schlide them into another enemy (or four), they all get stunned for half a second or so and it deals the damage again. This is her strongest ability damage-wise, but we don't want damage, so we max it last. This can be a lovely ability for invading, if you're into that sort of thing, and can also stop your laner from engaging on you.


W - Bailout
Let's call it what it is - this steroid gives a sizable boost to attack and movement speed, ramps up over a couple seconds, and lasts for five entire seconds. That's ridiculous, and that's just on the surface. If an ally dies while under the effect of Bailout, they revive with rapidly decaying gray health that disappears over three seconds. If they get a takedown in that time, the grey health stops ticking down and they are fully revived. It's pretty sweet, hence why this ability has such a long cooldown - and why Ability Haste is so important. I personally prefer to use this ability early in a fight, especially if I have an auto-attacking hypercarry on my team. If I toss this on a Jinx and she runs in, she can almost guaranteed gun down a squishy or two before going down - and if she times it right, she can get a free revive out of it. Then, by the time the fight is winding down, you have it up again for cleanup purposes.


E - Loyalty Program
My personal favorite, Loyalty Program swirls around you, shoots in a short line, and explodes in a circle. If you hit a champion with any part of this ability, they get one of two things: allies get shielded, and enemies get damaged and slowed. It's pretty nice, especially for early trading, but it can chunk your mana something fierce. This is why that early tear helps so much, especially because you get a doubled mana charge even if you hit an ally with Loyalty Program. This is your main poke tool alongside your autos, and helps you clear wave - by level 5, with three points in the ability, you can two shot the caster minions.


R - Hostile Takeover
The bread and butter of Renata players everywhere. This wave (not unlike a very slow Seraphine ult) inflicts any enemies hit with Berserk, doubling their attack speed and causing them to attack their allies instead. This also hits minions, so if an enemy is low but not low enough for you to finish them off, you can use it in laning phase if you really need the gold or a shutdown. This ability is the reason why so many of Renata Glasc's synergies - Yi, Kindred, Viego, Jinx - are also the champions you want to pick Renata into. An unslowable Hail of Blades Yi with Duskblade attacking his own squishies is pretty nasty if you ask me. Yes, you can chain your flash into R and it will shoot out instantly from wherever you flash to.

When it comes to runes, I find Grasp to be the only "real" option for tank Renata Glasc. It's just too strong in laning phase with the bonus damage, health, and HP restore.

Now for secondaries, first row I take Shield Bash. This is the supreme rune of choice for laning phase, and it scales (rather poorly, but it scales) with level, granting you bonus resistances while shielded. Demolish is definitely an option, but you're very gank prone, so shoving is not usually the ideal choice. Font of Life is definitely a good choice if you want to provide a bit of healing for your team, I just prefer Shield Bash. If you go with Font, take Second Wind and Revitalize.

For the second row, my default is Conditioning if I'm solo tank, Bone Plating if I'm sharing the frontline/if I think laning will be particularly rough. Second Wind works great with Revitalize and the aforementioned Font of Life to heal yourself and your team, but it's not enough to warrant the choice for me personally.

Finally, for the third row, we have Overgrowth, Revitalize, and Unflinching. I don't take Revitalize unless I take Second Wind and Font as mentioned before, and I only take Unflinching if there's some nasty CC on the enemy team. Overgrowth is my default for that bit of extra HP.

Secondaries are very flexible, but my personal preference is Sorcery.
I go Manaflow Band first for additional laning pressure and a small bonus to mana for Winter's Approach. Transcendence I consider to be a must in the Sorcery tree for the incredible cooldown reduction on takedown at level 11. Other runes in this tree you can take include Nullifying Orb against at least 2 AP threats, Nimbus Cloak for dash after flash, or Waterwalking, which is quite nice for a more objective-focused playstyle. That Rift Herald won't know what hit him.

Domination secondaries are definitely usable as well. If you go Domination secondary, Ultimate Hunter is a must, and I recommend Cheap Shot for your other choice, but Taste of Blood can be used for extra lane sustain. Inspiration is feasible with things like Biscuit Delivery, Magical Footwear, Approach Velocity and Cosmic Insight, but it's lacking in straight up Ability Haste or raw stats that we so appreciate. Precision has mana regen in Presence of Mind and tenacity with Legend: Tenacity, but nothing really speaks to me here. It's a very damage-oriented tree.

Finally, for the little dudes hangin out in the bottom right corner, I always go Ability Haste > Armor > Magic Resist, but the last two are adjustable based on enemy team comp. I usually take Attack Speed, even on my spellcasters, but if you're playing tanky, AH is frankly more important, especially for a champ like Renata.

Oh lord. Let's get into it.

Check the notes for details on the mythics, Winter's Approach/Fimbulwinter, Boots, and Cosmic Drive. Here, we'll be discussing the legendary options you have as you build tank.

ANATHEMA'S CHAINS
I love this item. If the enemy has a fed carry, you might want to even rush this before you finish your Winter's Approach. It's so good at helping you survive that major threat, letting you get close enough to Q and R before they can kill you. It's a pretty great item.

ABYSSAL MASK
I hate this item. As Renata, even though you're building tank, you're a ranged tank. You don't want to be close enough to give them the magic resist removal. If your team is full of AP champs, it's definitely worth considering, but considering that most of Renata's best partners are AD, it's not usually something I pick up.

DEAD MAN'S PLATE
I honestly don't know how I feel about this item. The momentum is nice, but it doesn't really do anything for you during combat. The auto attack is also nice, but you already have a ton of CC in your kit, so the slow from a fully charged auto isn't super necessary. However, it is an excellent armor item regardless, and should always be considered.

DEMONIC EMBRACE
If you're literally the only AP on your team and the enemy starts building armor, this is the item for you. However, keep in mind that this does not proc on two of your abilities - W and R deal no damage. It does proc on your empowered autos though, which is nice. It's definitely worth considering if your team needs more AP pressure.

FORCE OF NATURE
My absolute favorite item for Tank Renata. Unless the enemy team is literally 5 AD (or 4 AD and an enchanter) I scoop this item. The extra movement speed after you take magic damage is delightful and makes you a kiting QUEEN. If I want this item, I always build it third, it's just that useful.

FROZEN HEART
This is good if the enemy team has a lot of hypercarries, which Renata already likes. Generally, if most incoming damage is through auto attacks, you want this item. The Rock Solid passive that lowers post-mitigation damage by 7 is also quite nice, especially against champions that deal damage over time. Keep in mind that you're only getting armor, haste, and mana out of this item.

GARGOYLE STONEPLATE
A good balanced item for equally split threats. The shield is nice as well, especially having it on an active to pair with Fimbulwinter's passive shield, and the bonus resists on taking damage is nothing to sneeze at. I have nothing bad to say about this item!

RANDUIN'S OMEN
Amazing against 2+ Infinity Edges, this item has it all (except magic resist). The active is quite nice against something like a Jinx or a Viego - it lets you get close enough to ult them and make them assassinate their teammates like they'll try to do to you. Even if you don't like active items, it shares the Rock Solid passive with Frozen Heart and gives Armor and Health. It's quite nice overall.

SPIRIT VISAGE
Not as useful as it is on tank Karma, but it's nice, especially if your botlane support is a healer like Soraka or even Senna. Also works quite well with Second Wind and Revitalize, but imo, it's not a noticeable difference worth running those runes just for this item. Lacking any actual heals in her kit, I can't recommend Spirit Visage on its own, but if they have a lot of magic damage, it can beef up your shields and add some protection.

THORNMAIL
Buy if you need grievous, don't if you don't. Bramble Vest can be a great situational first back against things like Illaoi or Warwick who will heal a lot in lane when they trade with you. I still wouldn't finish this item until at least after your mythic unless they have 3+ major sources of healing on their team, and even then, ehhhhhhhh I dunno about that one chief.

WARMOG'S ARMOR
I am a sucker for this item. As a ranged tank, you will be surviving. A lot. If you go in, take a fair bit of damage, use your skills, and then back away somewhat, if you're careful about it, you can heal a lot with this item, potentially even back to full before you re-engage. You can build it before Fimbulwinter and still get the passive if you so desire, but I don't find it incredibly necessary until maybe 2nd but usually 3rd legendary.

AP ITEMS
You can absolutely build some AP - a lot of them come with health or defensive stats, so you're not going to be losing out on thickness entirely, but you definitely want to come online as a tank first. Of the AP items, besides the aforementioned Cosmic Drive, my favorites are the ones with useful passives - Renata's scalings kinda blow. Things like Zhonya's Hourglass or Banshee's Veil provide defensive stats and a form of invulnerability to certain effects. They can be quite nice if you absolutely need a stasis effect or a spellshield, but I wouldn't recommend buying them every game. I wouldn't even recommend them most games, especially Zhonya's, because as a tank, why do you need a stasis when you can just live? Still can be useful if they have something like a Karthus or someone else who does big targeted damage - but you can also just buy a stopwatch to help you survive until you get tankier and then sell it later. Just some options to think about~

People will underestimate Renata Glasc. That's the last mistake they'll ever make.

In lane, your harass is unmatched (except by Karma - you can't outchunk her empowered Q). With your passive-empowered Grasp autos, a shield that does damage, and a root and shove, you absolutely can survive almost any trade against almost any champ. Spacing is crucial. If you walk too close to something like a Fiora, you will be creamed. At that point, you may as well just Alt+F4.

If your laner is roaming to the max, I would personally wait until 6 to match them. Most laners at least stay until level 3, so you get about halfway there with a chance to harass and get Grasp stacks, but be careful you don't get ganked. They're not going to try to shove, so just freeze the wave the best you can - don't attack minions until they're about to die.

Once you hit 6 against a roamer, bot lane will be your best friend. Hopefully you'll have enough for boots (whether you go AH or Mobis in this situation is up to you) and tear, and once you have ult, I can guarantee that the roaming enemy will be trying to help their bot lane, turning it into a 3 or 4v2. As a tank, you gotta give your team some backup! 4 enemies in one Renata Glasc R is any support player's dream, and it's no different for top lane. If you have the gamesense, you can easily outvalue a Janna or a Bard in terms of pure CC and utility. Roaming tops love tower diving with hypercarries, so Q is gonna be your best friend.

As a top laner, you are the queen of Rift Herald - always have vision of this beast. When your laner backs or their jungler dies, it is prime time to take Herald because your passive with a jungler autoing it will do huge damage. The same also applies to Drake - if you can find the time for that early roam around 5-6 minutes, your pressure will almost guarantee that first Drake. Then, you can stick around and ult bot lane! It's pretty great.

Generally, if you take one thing away from this guide - being top lane does not mean you can just stop focusing on objectives. They are what will help you win. Go for that early herald, roam for early drakes. I cannot stress this enough: Renata Glasc is the best objective champion in the game. Change my mind. If you do anything, get an early Herald so you can get a second Herald before Baron spawns. The tower pushing potential twice in one game is to die for.

Once you come online as a tank with at least your mythic, you should start making your presence felt elsewhere. Mid is a great candidate for this - especially if you have an assassin mid-laner, you can throw W on them and tower dive for a (hopefully) easy kill. If you're playing with a mage mid-lane, I would recommend ganking with your jungler - if neither of them are hypercarries, cite section "When do I play Renata Glasc?"

If you take teleport, after 14 minutes, bot lane is your playground (if they're still there). Especially because you almost always have a laner who benefits from your W bonuses and a second champ who is either peeling for them or damaging with them already. All you bring to the table is power.

Ideally, you are unkillable. Realistically, you still have to play somewhat safe, but you now have enough defensive tools to keep yourself alive so you can get in, burn all your abilities, and get out in order to peel for any ranged carries or squishies you may have. If you've been playing for objectives (which you have, you're Renata Glasc), you might not even make it here every game. 2 Rift Heralds, especially in lower elos, can often close out games if the first dragon doesn't die until ten minutes or so. Then you don't even need to worry about soul - but you have it anyway because you have the amazing objective pressure of Renata Glasc.

Take anything I say with a grain of salt. I'm not in your house, I can't see what you build. Please leave comments and let me know what y'all think about my opinions - this is my first guide ever, and I really love Renata Glasc, so I want to do right by her and her playerbase. Finally, let me know if you guys have fun with my method! It's a game at the end of the day - it's not about winning, it's about enjoying yourself. Stay tilt-free and spread some joy today.