Garen is a very good champion in my opinion, he is fairly easy and a good start for new top lane players in league. He is strong and fun to play, and currently sits at a pretty high winrate.

There are many reasons why I play him, first of all he is an easy champion and not too hard to play, since in my opinion I am not the kind of guy who wants to pick these hard champs that are hard to master, so I can simply pick Garen instead.

Second reason is the fact that you can build alot of different stuff with him which I personally like with a champion, I can build tank, damage or a bit of the two while like

Tryndamere I can only build damage for example.

Third reason is because he is not ban alot in high elo, and also in low elo which makes you play him more without the fear of getting your champion ban, which is pretty fun while in some cases like Yasuo is always banned in all the other elo's.

The last and obvious reasons is because of how strong Garen is, even if tank he does ALOT of damage, and has a very efficient passive also. He has a very powerful execute ability and for some reason I find very cool and also very cool to use, which makes Garen, a very fun champion in my opinion.

In the end of all this, Garen is a very fun champion and one you should really give a try in the toplane, with this champion, Riste, a professional Garen player got to Master, which is very good for such a standard champion like Garen.


About me: I started league in 2015, which means im kind of "new" to the game. Im a Garen/ Yasuo main and I have almost hit 150,000 mastery points with Garen now and also Yasuo. I will wait to see how good this guide gets, if it reaches 25,000 views, I will try to do a Yasuo guide for you guys. Well, thats pretty much it. Have fun reading this!

If Garen has not recently been struck by damage or enemy abilities, he regenerates a percentage of his total health each second. Minion damage does not stop Perseverance.





Cost: No cost
Range: 20


Garen gains a burst of movement speed, breaking free of all slows affecting him. His next attack strikes a vital area oh his foe, dealing bonus damage and silencing them. Garen breaks free of all slows affecting him and gains 30% movement speed for 1.5/2/2.5/3/3.5 seconds. His next basic within 4.5 seconds deals 30/60/90/120/150 (+140% Attack Damage) physical damage and silences his target for 1.5 seconds.





Cost: No cost
Range: 20


Garen passively increases his armor and magic resist by killing ennemies. He may also activate this ability to give him a huge burst of tenacity and damage reduction for a brief moment followed by a lesser amount of damage reduction for a longer duration.Passive:Killing units permanently grants 0 armor and magic resists, up to a maximum of 50. Current bonus: 0Active: Garen steels his courage for 2/2.75/3.5/4.75/5 seconds. For the first 0.75 seconds, he takes 60% less damage and gains 60% tenacity.For the remaining duration he takes 30% less damage.







Cost: No cost
Range: 325


Garen performs a dance of death with his sword, dealing damage around him for the duration and shredding the armor of enemy champions hit. Garen rapidly spins his sword around his body for 3 seconds, dealing 0 physical damage to nearby enemies-- 14/18/22/26/30 plus 36/37/38/39/40% of his attack damage (+0),0 times (increased by 1 every 3 champion levels)-- over the duration. Enemy champions hit by 4 spins lose 25% of their armor for 6 seconds. Judgment deals 33% increased damage when striking only one enemy. Cancelling Judgment returns cooldown equal to the remaining duration. Judgment can critically strike for bonus damage.





Cost: No cost
Range: 400


The enemy champion with the msot recent kills is the Villain. Garen attacks deals additional true damage to that champion. Garen can call upon the might of Demacia to deal a finishing blow to an enemy champion thats deals damage based upon how much health his target has missing. This damage is true damage against the Villain. Passive:The enemy champion with the most recent kills is the Villain. Judgment and basic attacks deals an additional 1% of its maximum health as true damage. Active: Garen calls upon the might of Demacia to attempt to execute an enemy champion, dealing magic damage equal to 175/350/525 plus 28/33/40% of the targets missing health. Deals true damage to the Villain.

Pros:

Easy to learn

Has an execute

Quite tanky

Has a good health regen passive

Great bully in the early game

Can be hard to ganked

Fun to play with

Good in 1v1's

Not ban alot

___________________________________




Cons:

Easily Countered

Gets kited easily

Weak when ganked

As only one escape

Not the best in teamfights

Banned alot in lower elo

As only one cc (silence is not enough!)

Predictable

Lacks off in the late game

Grasp of the undying is your main rune with Garen, it offers you alot of survibility and Q poke damage which is awesome, since you are a tank and you have the ability to still do tons of damage with this (mostly in the early game) This rune also synergizes pretty well with Sheen, which means its good while using triforcebuild also. Why it works so well is because of sheens passive, yes it gives manabut heres the combo, your Sheen gives you extra damage on one of your ability upon casting it, while you farm and gain your graspstacks, this means I can gain my grasp stack PLUSmy Sheen stacks, which does one heck of a poke. Basically this rune is made for Garen, since I think its just too good for him and suits the Garen playstyle pretty well, this rune is also viable in so many other builds with him, and a safe/poke rune you can use whenever you feel you are playing a harder matchup, to end this, this is my go to rune with Garen for sure and a must use in higher elos.



Demolishis your second go two rune, all the other secondary runes are mostly for supports, while demolish is the only one left. Anyways I think its a great rune and really helps with early pressure, it also allows you to play a splitpush Garen (which is rare) and get turret platings early which is VERY important if you wanna beat your opponent most of the time. Therefore, this is the rune you must use if not playing support Garen (which is troll) and the secondary rune you will always take if running grasp.



Conditioningis an optionnal rune, but is great if playing a tank champion just like Garen. Why I run this rune is because of how good it actually is in the late game. Yes Second Wind and Bone Plating are both very good runes but I think it doesn`t compare to Conditioning, the difference is you can choose between getting more heals, passive shield or tankiness. The other runes will perform better early but Conditioning will get better and better over time. It also works well in my cdr build which is tanky, and also does a great amount of damage, which really helps the tank size to the build. As you might of realized this build is very good mostly in the late game and not so much in the early game, which why I choosed it and why I like it aswell.



There is not much to say here, Overgrowth is simply better than Revitalize since Revitalize healing does not work on Garen and Unflinching is clearly a more situanional rune and a rune which I think is based on someones personnal likes and how you want Garen to be. I think Overgrowth is better since it gives exactly what Garen need, tankiness, and also is a perfect rune for my semi-tank cdr build.



Very simple, without Transcendence there is not cdr build, it is the rune that kinda converts your cdr to damage, and the rune that makes up the build entirely.



I choose Gathering Storm since it is the rune that makes the cdr build a more of a late game build, it also helps with the fact you are a semi-tank and gives you all the extra damage at the end which is partially what makes this build unstopable. This rune is also great while playing a more tanky build with Garen, which is why I choose this rune. Just saying, you can also use this rune in my tank rune set and switch it up, its really good aswell and will give you more adaptive damage which is great for a tank build.


Alternative Runes




Phase Rush is a pretty good rune with Garen, I kinda used to use it when they released the runes, it was pretty good for a spin build at the time. These days it is not as efficient but is still very good since it solves Garen problem with mobility, and can be good against certain matchups like Darius or Renekton. Riste, a proffesional Garen player will sometimes use Phase Rush agaisnt certain matchups, like the ones I said earlier or range matchups. In the end of all this, Phase Rush is pretty good, but I think it needs some testing, the only good synergie with it is using bami`s cinder which procs your Phase Rush, but yet so, it stays a good rune.



Its great if you use Predator if playing Garen in the jungle. Using it in the lane is pretty rare but also works, but does not work as good using it in the jungle to simply catch up faster to your enemys and pull off a good gank. Some people will use Predator mid also, but I still think Garen is not a jungle nor a mid laner. Its a great rune but is not recommended in my top runes personally, and more of a cheese rune to use while building like lethality Garen or crit Garen.



Not the usual, this rune is VERY SPECIAL.It was brought here by Riste, a very good Garen player. This rune is very situational and is mostly used if playing agaisnt a range toplaner since of the slows Glacial Augment gives. Riste will sometimes use it and he plays in Master, the thing is, he uses a specific build which I don`t know. In the end, it does need some testing and I will try to find the build he uses as fast as possible and try it out, and tell you guys the results. You can use it and im pretty sure its good if Riste uses it, just make up a build that fits with it which I think he puts speed iems to catch up and slow.




Second Wind is very good with Garen. It gives you insane heals early and is very good with dorans shield+your passive. Most of the runes used with Garen will include Second Wind because of its ability to give you insane survibility early. It is good versus poke matchups or any strong and difficult matchups.



Bone Plating is also a very good rune. I think its a rune made for the early game, since the shields in the late game will not do a huge difference. In the EARLY GAMEtho it is extremelly good. This shield doesn`t have the highest cooldown and can save you from lethal damage. This is a go to rune if playing against a range matchup like Vayne or Quinn. Beside using conditioning in my cdr build, this is the secondary rune I will take most of the time.



Tenacity is something very important with Garen, well this rune gives you exactly what you need. Unflinching is great but you only put this rune if running Ignite, since if you Ignite an enemy you will gain extra tenacity and a slow resistance which helps you catch up to an enemy easily. You also gain permanent buffs over time, tenacity mostly. This rune is great and what I usually run if I play triforce Garen.



Fairly simple, this rune gives you additional movement speed which really helps Garen problem with mobility. This rune got nerfed not so long ago, but it still can be good if running triforce Garen.



Just like Celerity, this rune got nerfed,but it is still good if playing triforce Garen, since you got your Sheen proc plusgraspand that little Scorch which helps you deal additional damage which is great. Scorch and Celerity are the two runes you put together in the sorcery tree to build a triforce Garen.



Basically the rune you will always run if running precision tree, it beats Overheal which sucks on Garen and beats Presence of Mind since its a rune made for champions using mana.Its just so good, beating someone while he ignited you and you were gonna die, but instead it gives you extra goldand healthwhich stops you from dying and giving the enemy an advantage. There is not much to say, if running precision tree you MUST run this at all time.



Its a very good rune and probably the most used in league. It allows you to do more damage on low health enemys which is very helpful and in 1v1 lanes like toplane AND for a solo melee laner like Garen. Triumph & Coup de Grace are two runes you will always put together in most of the Garen rune sets. It fits every champions and can even be use if running tank Garen.



Like I said, Tenacity is a must have on Garen and this rune gives it all. It says it by the name, and it gives you extra tenacity over time, which is awesome. It is currently being used pretty much in all the tank garen runes sets and also in the highest winrate/popular Garen runes sets. It is a very good rune if playing tank/classic Garen and is the traditional rune for Garen.

We will be honest, Garen is fairly easy and doesn`t have too much hard combos to pull off, but they`re are some that are easy to pull off and are pretty effcient, so there they are: First combo is Decisive Strike + Judgment + Courage (auto attacks in between or Demacian Justice eo end it) A mini combo which is pretty good during laning phase also is auto attack+ Decisive Strike, with of course the Sheen grasp proc which does quite alot of damage while your Q gives you enough movement speed after to run away which allows you to not get damaged which is great.Another combo which is awesome is that you can hide your Decisive Strike in Judgment. So basically you Decisive Strike in your Judgment,which can sometimes bait him then smack him right in the face. Or you can use Courage before against a range matchup then cancel your Judgment and smack him in the face. Another trick is the Flash Q combo. All you have to do is point your mouse at the enemy, get close to him to hit a succesful Decisive Strike while you use Flash at the same time. It will automatically hit the enemy with your Decisive Strike while you can use Ignite aswell if he dosen`t die. You can pull of the same combo but instead use your Demacian Justice to pull him off. Early game combos: They're are a few early game combos with Garen aswell. An easy one for example is using your [Q] plus the proc with grasp, and Sheen if you have it. The second one, which, is the easiest one, is activating Decisive Strike and hittin someone than activate your [E] and [W]. Therefore, your [W] should be activated if your opponent uses is main source of damage or if he is using a slow on you. The other one is the better one which is the one where you hide your Decisive Strike into Judgment which is already featured up there, but you should use it alot since its very good early and an unpredictable move.

Teleport is a very good summoner spell, well, not until it got nerfed. I think it still is a safe pick against any kind of matchups but I personally think Ignite is better. It can be good if you use it properly, since it got a higher cooldown, and you can definetly gank the other lanes for free kills with this, or simply comeback to your lane and save yout tower. Its pretty good and a good summoner spell to use with Garen.



Flash is a must have on any champion. It allows you to survive ganks, get ahead of someone, escape dangerous situations and way more. Flash is the summoner spell you will ALWAYS use everytime. And the last reason is you can`t do any flash tricks without Flash, ofc. Btw, not taking Flash is super risky, and a bad move in general, since you have no escape or catch up ability.



Ignite is my favourite summoner spell on Garen. Allows you to finish off someone, higher chance of winning a 1v1, which Garen is already good at because of his ultimate, ( Demacian Justice) and pull off sick combos. This summoner spell gives everything Garen needs and is still very good after its nerf.



Not much to say here, Ghost is great on Garen, but will depend on the matchups, example if I take against any range champions, Ghost is a good idea to catch up on them. Also, Ghost is great if you are playing Garen mid lane or jungle. (midlane is full of range champions while jungle is for the gank efficency) Its a pretty good summoner spell but yes, I do not use it often since it is very rare that I play Garen in the midlane or jungle, and that range matchups are easily counterable.

Thornmail is a very situational item on Garen. I will only use it if I play against heavy ad tanks or assasins/range tops with great damage potential. Highly recommended to matchups like Jayce or Darius, other similar matchups will be a good reason to use Thornmail also.



Just like Thornmail but agaisnt heavy crit damage adcs instead. Will be against matchups or adcs like Vayne, Jinx Twitch and so on.



By far one of Garen best item, tanky, damage and cc is literally everything Garen needs in is build and this item can single handely do that. I will use this item if against any hard matchups and also to play the game safer. If building Black Cleaver don`t build Trinity Force, if building Black Cleaver it will also mean you will build a juggernaut Garen, which means you will build tanky for the game and don`t change your build in any kind of ways. This item is also great if your behind.



The item you will take if fed. Trinity Force replaces Black Cleaver if not building tank and actually building of a more splitpush build and or damage build. Its also good since of the passive it gives you for the extra Q damage plus the Q grasp proc. Don`t take this item if behind and only use it if winning the lane.



It is a very good item if playing against a ap lane, ofc. It really combos well with Sterak's Gage and is often use in most of my Garen builds. Works well, and can use in any kind of builds, just don't take it if behind tho.



ALWAYS use this item. It is your core item with Garen. It gives health, passive damage, and an incredibely good passive which fits perfectly with Garen tenacity and health/tankiness. You will combo it with Black Cleaver or Trinity Force most of the time, depending on the matchup your against. This item is great anywhere and at any time, it is good if behind or also if you have advantage over the enemy, therefore, never take sterak's as your first item.



This item is VERY good with Garen also. It gives Garen health, armor and speed, which is AWESOME for Garen. It also gives you a power up attack which is great with your Q synergized with Sheen and both grasp while running triforce. This item will replace steraks as your second item, but this is if you build a classic tank Garen, therefore you can make this item in almost any Garen build. Just don't take this as your first item.



Good item with Garen. This item will basically replace Perseverance into a better one, and augment your survibility. Take this item if against heavy poke/damage champions, building warmog's will most likely end up building tank, but you can still build differently like I do in some of my builds.



I personally don't like this item on Garen, but it is still useful. Can be helpful for making a more of a spitpush build, since it makes you harder to kill and also gives a great bonus of health and armor, plus the fact that its passive makes easier clears. Yes, sunfires passive is great with phase rush but the main problem is that sunfires bad with the build, which makes it kind of bad to use. Can still be good for splitpush and building a high tank/low damage build.



Quite a special item for Garen. Youmuu's is very good with Garen mostly because of its damage/lethality that gives you the ability to pierce enemy tanks, and also its great movement speed passive which helps Garen problem with mobility. A great combo is Black Cleaver, Dead Man's Plate and then Youmuu's. These three items combined makes him unstoppable and very quick, tanky and strong in the early game. Its also good if playing troll (crit garen) or my personnal favorite tank build which is up in my builds sections up there.



Great item in general. Gives mana but really has a useful passive in game and gives a bit of armor and health. I personally don't use this item alot but it can be great if agaisnt certain speed matchups that are hard to catchup on, and also used in my racecar Garen build, which is in my builds section if you wanna check it out.



Is kind of discontinued with Garen, but can still be great if playing a more of a splitpush build with Garen, and mostly used in the titan Garen setup which I don't use at all, and currently discontinued.



Great item and gives a fair amount of health and damage. I mostly use this item since of its passive that slows enemy down, which I mostly use agaisnt range toplaners, therefore, I also use it in my semi-tank build which is up there in my builds section.



Health, armor and health regen, all things that fit the Garen playstyle pretty well.It ss a very special item and rarely used. Can be good for early kills and works well for under tower dives. Great against range or melee toplaners, which dosen't really matter. And it is used in my semi-tank build which is up there, I also saw a guy use it in a more tanky build, which he build Black Cleaver, Warmog's Armor then Ohmwrecker, which does need a bit of testing.



Very good with Garen. Gives health and mr, which I use as an advantage to build agaisnt any ap team comps or plain strong ap champs. It also gives you additional health regen and bonus health received which really boosts up your passive in the early game. What I usually build if im against an ap laner will be Black Cleaver, boots (depending if the jungle is ap or ad) then Spirit Visage for the early ­­­"warmog" passive. If against ad I will build the same thing but except I will switch Spirit Visage to Dead Man's Plate and the boots will depend on the enemy jungle. One of Garen core tank item and a must use if playing tank.



Weird but good. This item is pure splitpush use in my opinion and very good if your team is falling off in the late game, mostly for the splitpush since of its passive. Gives fair amount of mr and armor which helps it too, this item is very situational and rarely used, but can be a great item if you use it properly and also if you like playing a more splitpush Garen which is a bit boring in my opinion. Still stays a good item, but is optional.



This item is optional, is really just use if your agaisnt high damage matchups, and an item that goes with the survibility build, besides that, its an item you can use in any build and also in any game, even if agaisnt tanks, its your choice at this point and what you like building and what you like best, its all that matters.



Your choice of boot against an ad matchup.



Your choice of boot against an ap matchup.



Good against slows and hard to catch up champions, its also good in my racecar Garen and is useful if building crit Garen.



This is really if building a racecar Garen or trolling, its really not has good has swiftess boots and not a very good choice of item on Garen, therefore, it can still do be useful if playing jungle or toplane, but mostly jungle.



An item I rarely use with Garen. It is good if playing against an ap lane or having difficulty's dealing with some ap champs from the other team. Its a good item and a viable pick with Garen.



Not very good on Garen anymore. This is pure raw damage and the heals are not effective on you, I don't recommend building this item since its pricey and isn't as good as other items on Garen such as Sterak's Gage for example.



If your team is dealing with high damage champions. It is great since of its shield which should block quite alot of damage and gives you a fair amount of mr and armor, this item is pretty good but must be used situationally and properly in game. Use this if playing tank Garen.



Good item if playing tank. Its also good agaisnt high damage and great if your team has no tank. Use its passive properly tho, it can really be useful at some point. Great item, but I think its very situational and its passive must be use extremelly well to be effecient.



This is your go to start almost every game, it really synergizes well with Perseverance and is just the best start with him.

longsword

Only if sure winning the lane or playing crit/lethality Garen, good survibility start since you have 3 pots but its very situational and not recommended personally.



If playing agaisnt super poke champions or tank ad champs. For example, Jayce and Darius are one of these champs that will be in this list. Helps with the 4 pots and armor but is situational.



Riste uses it, but I don't recommend it, still good against pokes and high damage bruisers, beside that, its not the best.



Don't forget to buy these, they can give your team a HUGE advantage early and late game and always good against incoming ganks.



Its situational but great. It works well if your team is about to do the dragon, rift or baron. Its also good for certain champions like Teemo or Evelynn for example.



Don't ask, just take it, its the main trinket for every league champs and so it is for you.



Good for incoming ganks. A good player who as mastered the use of this ward will be extremelly good, since you will almost always avoid ganks and also for your allie midlaner, its also good if want to know if the enemy team is doing dragon or baron.



Its always the item I will take on my second back, its great and allows you to save money and survive lanes easier. Therefore, remove it when you reach lvl 11 since your Perseverance will beat your potions and heal you back faster.



The most useful early game item, let you survive any lanes and is super good. I usually buy refillable early on tho.



Never take this except if playing troll cheese build, it will simply allow you to get a bit more money and build up your items faster, really don't recommend and should never be used on Garen personally.

READ THIS: Soon enough, this guide is gonna receive a MAJOR update. All runes & builds might be changed and things are gonna change all over the guide. Please understand my exams are coming up, and this might take some time, since I have study's to do also. I hope you understand and I promise your patience will be greatly rewarded. Thank you and be patient, I will be back soon. CYA!