(Thanks/credit to johijohi for the banner<3)

Welcome to my Renekton Solo-top-Offtank-Croc guide. As the title should explain, this is a guide for when you play Renekton, and go Solo-top when you have a jungler on your team.And this is how I build and play him, I was inspired by a few other guides, (Mainly http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/renekton-croc-chop-how-to-drive-a-movie-theater-64612 <---That-a-one made by Evil Dice I used his build for a long time before slightly ultering it to my tastes). In this guide I plan on explaining why I buy the items I do, and then explaining How I play him (As well as showing you how to use his slice and dice correctly)

Overall I find Renekton to be a very fun champion, and a very powerful off-tank, and I hope you will too :)

Pros:

• Amazing 2v1 capabilities once you hit 6
• Can soak up a bit of damage while dealing back quite a bit as well
• Easy to learn how to harass with him
• Can through certain walls as a escape mechanism
• Can down turrets and tank them fairly well by yourself (Although you really shouldn't be back dooring on him.)
• No mana worries since.. well Idunno he doesn't have any.
• High damage early game, and moderate to high damage late game.
• Can Stun (Even without 50 or more fury his .75 second stun can still interupt such moves as Death Lotus or Absolute Zero OR if a friend is being bullied by that mean old Malzahar's Nether Grasp you can save them.

Cons:

• Until you learn how to manage your rage you might be having problems sustaining yourself at top
• Takes a some time and practice to learn WHEN to harass with him
• His harass can be interrupted fairly easy by people like if they know what they're doing
• Vulnerable to CC
• If you get left to far behind in level's/farm You are going to be feeling pretty useless damage wise.

Now for the almighty runes.



greater mark of desolation - I go with armor pen. runes for early game damage (And of course it helps mid-late game as well) But the main reason I use them for is early game dominance espically if you're up against another solo.

greater glyph of sheilding - I'm pairing these together and going over them both at once because they both do the same thing. Keep. You. Alive. You would be amazed at how much this increase to your armor and Magic Res helps early on... Or maybe you wouldn't. Either way, this extra defense helps you out the entire game. (you know when you think you're about to die and then you live with 22 hp? Thank the armor... Although hopefully that won't happen to you too much.)

- This is mainly paired with your Armor Pen runes, for that extra damage early game (And of course throughout the rest of the game) What can I say other than you benefit from AD?

I put one point into this for the simple reason that I take exhaust with me. small things like -10 armor and a 0.5 increased duration don't seem like much, but it comes in very handy. mainly for the -armor, which works with your armor pen, which means you do even more damage in that time period.

/ - If reading the little tool-tips there doesn't give away why I get these then I don't know what else to say than.... Resistance gives you Magic Res. and hardiness gives you armor. And since this is an off-tank build, armor will indeed come in handy (As well as the Magic Res.)

/ - This dodge chance, although it seems small greatly helps. Weather you're running away from some gankers and the dodge procs or in the middle of a team fight and it goes off, it can be a life-saver. especially with the speed increase ( of course is more handy for the running away part).

/ - both of these simply work towards you staying alive longer (Like most masteries in defense.)

- I take this for the increased Attack Speed ofc, the ability power on the other hand doesn't help so much (Unless you went and built a Trinity Force in which case I guess it gives you a little boost on your ultimate).

-4% on all incoming damage? Yes please. Remember your job as a solo top is to Farm. Farm. Farm. Not die. Farm some more. And get double kills when you're jungle comes to gank (Unless one of the two following situations are in play 1: You are up against another solo in which case unless you got a visitor from their jungle or another lane at the same time obviously you wouldn't be able to get a double. Or 2: They decided to tower dive you post-6 while your ultimate is up. Even before 6 your stun, Cull the Meek and Slice and Dice might get you a kill or two.)

- while it is important for you to try and stay alive while soloing, it is not always possible there are those situations where there is just nothing you can do about it. You need to be back as soon as possible, and late game when you're only dead for 50 seconds instead of 60.. you'd be surprised how much a difference 10 seconds can make.

- Well unless you switch out exhaust/flash for ghost/teleport there is no reason to put a point in those two skills, so you might as well take the extra hp regen.

- As a solo-top you need all the exp you can get, especially if you're up against a duo lane who is denying you exp badly. you want to level up as fast as possible... this.. for obvious reasons.. helps with that.

In this section I will attempt to explain why I pick each item that I do, and why. How successful will I be? Eh.. guess we'll find out.

I use this as a starting item simply because to me Doran's are the strongest starting items there are. The extra hp/Damage/Life steal will all benefit you nicely.

Everything about this item I love, It gives you hp, damage and the chance to slow enimies. And can later on be built into an even more useful item.

I tend to keep this item until end-game, if I happen to finish my build I upgrade it to a Youmuu's Ghostblade or if I have to I will sell it for something else (<---generally never happens...) It gives a very nice cool-down reduction for it's price AND it gives you some more damage and even more armor penetration as well. All in all it is one amazing item, Well in my opinion I'm sure some of you have different ones.

Well like any level two boots it gives you movement speed (Hurp Durp, right?) However these boots give you some Extra Cool-down Reduction as well, and trust me, while you're playing Renekton late game alls your going to be doing is spamming his abilities(Hopefully you'll be using them at the right time still though and not just mashing your keyboard.) That aside, the faster and more often your abilities are up the better.

I like this item for a few different reasons, the main one is Sunfire cape is basically doing what your ulti does except it's permanent and non-stop (Albeit less damage of course) not only that it gives you an extra 450 hp too! Come on now, ]who doesn't love a little extra HP.

By mid-late game (Depending on how well you farm and how well you are doing in teamfights/ganks etc. etc.) You will be able to upgrade your Phage to this lovely item. It is another +475 hp for you and phage's slow no longer becomes a chance but a on-hit effect everytime (Not only that but the slow is increased by 10%) The damage increase isn't all that super.. but it's a little extra damage either way.

By now you will have a very nice ammount of hp, adding this item in just further increases your damage(By a nice ammount I must say too), armor (and hey you get a little extra crit too isn't that nice?).

Build#2 same as the first except instead of I take....

This is an Item I actually don't see on other Renektons often (Then again I hardly see any other Renekton's these days...) I take this item for the same reason every other person does on every other champ. Attack Damage. Attack Speed. And the oh-so-fun Armor reduction on-hit effect.

The items here are the one I feel people have used effectively on him and can be used on him if you wish or replace something you don't like in my builds (or if you just need certain things stats)

Some people prefer to start off with these boots and 3x and I have no problem with that, I do it myself often.

People seem to love building this on him, along with Personally though I do not feel it is worth it, and unless you need that big boost in hp for some reason (4k+ hp....) I don't feel a need to get it. (HOWEVER THIS ITEM IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BY DUFFTIME.)

Whenever I find myself up against a team with a fair amount of AP I will tend to swap out for this item, seeing as how it still gives you attack speed, you're really only sacrificing extra damage for extra Magic Resist.

Well... I guess if you really need the armor/magic resist this'll do....

Read Guardians Angel, if you just really need that extra armor.

I have seen a few people build this on him, with reason I suppose it is an overall great item, I myself though find no real use for it, he can make use of the proc with his W fairly often, and it does give a little bit of everything that you could ever possibly want. The only real downside to this item is the mana, for which we of course do not have. So all in all if you have the gold and feel like switching something out with it mid-early game go for it. or if you want to go ahead and build this with your phage instead of FM.

Dang didn't know making a guide would take this long, and actual effort too.. Oh... You've already made it this far. Sigh, well then lets just keep on rollin then huh? You will notice everytime I say fury, from this point on it is in red and CAPITALIZED. That is because your FURY is very important and hopefully this will make you understand that.


Your passive, everytime you hit a enemy weather it be a champion minion creep... Well pretty much anything besides structures... You gain some FURY But what is FURY you ask? Well FURY is what goes into that empty bar below your hp bar.. As you gain more fury you'll notice it change from a grey bar to a red bar. This is good. When this happens your enemies should be scared. And they should be very cautious. Once the bar changes red (50+ FURY) Your Cull the Meek, Ruthless Predator, Slice and Dice, all again extra abilities, or get improved in someway. however once you use a super-awesome-FURY-filled move you will lose 50... That's where managing your FURY [comes in ;)

The move I max first. The move that lets you stay in lane longer. The main part of your harass. your farming move. All in all if you can't tell it is a very important skill. When you use this move you swing your... umm weapon. around you in a circle, hitting enimies and healing youself for each enemy hit, not only that but when you're lower than 50 FURY for every person it hits it gives you 5 FURY

When used with 50 or more fury, it first of all consumes 50 fury. But then it hits every-one around you for extra damage, and heals you for 10% for damage dealt, and the ammount healed is quadrupled against champions, if you don't know what that means. It means 4x as much. and if you don't know what that means... Go back to school.

Let's be frank, when you use this move at level 3, or 2 or 1, depending weather you follow my skill sequence or not. You will be amazed at how much damage it does, ESPICALLY with 50+ fury, but the damage is more or less a secondary thing to me(Yes it's important but I am a man that loves CC) The primary effect of this move is the stun. Why is this the primary effect of the skill to me? Because it can cancel things, anything from Infinite Duress to Ace in the Hole Note: even if someone interupts you as long as you got the first hit of the skill off the person you hit will still be stunned.) Don't get me wrong about the damage though, early on this move will wreck whoever your laning against, I don't care who it is, you hit them once with this and they'll lose a nice chunk of their hp a very nice chunk. But trust me late-game you'll love it for the stun, not the damage.

Well.. The buffed of version of this move is easy to explain... More damage... longer stun...

...

Yup.

Moving on

This skill.. so much usefullness... without it you are nothing, NOTHING. I kid of course, it is extremely usefull though. When used right it allows you to

the enraged version of this move is slightly different than the other, Slice does not get increased damage, or any bonus effects, however the second part Dice does deal extra damage and reduces the opponents armor slightly(I would personally never use dice with more than 50 rage unless I felt like wasting it for some reason or had no other choice.)

1. slice through walls, making for a quick escape and/or making a quick intervention to save a friend.
2. IT allows you to chase down enemies.
3. Lastly it allows you to harass very effectivly.

Well lets cover that wall slicing thing first, sounds fun right? I was un-lazy enough to bother and make a custom game, take a few screen shots and do a horrible job of pointing things out using paint. (And bear with me I am no great artist).

Legend for these pictoors

Green = You can slice through the wall both ways (Or from both sides rather).
Yellow = You can slice through it one way but not the other
Red = You can not slice through this

This first one is Golems obviously you can use slice from either side of this skinny part and slide through, most people know about this one.
This is Dragon, As the yellow arrow indicates you can slice through that point in the wall to dragon, and if you read the legend you would know that you can't slice back. Then there's a point you can slice through both ways farther over. However you can not slice in between those two places.

These walls I have personally used many times to escape from pursuers, and to save a friend being chased.

Most people know about slicing through this area already but in case you don't... here it is.. more helpful than you think.

As you can hopefully Tell This is Baron, or at least where he would be, and I hope my very poorly drawn arrows and lines show you where you can slice in from and out from. (Note: you can also slice through the rocks to the river on the other side but that saves like 2 seconds of walking at most, and unless your flash is up and you're being chased no point in doing it.)

This one just shows a few places you can slice through when running away from purple team or to your base if you are purple (Note if the wraiths are up you should be able to slice in and dice out the other end where I have it marked green) And then the Red buff area.. Not all that useful in my opinion but it's there and it's possible so yea.

Most people I see don't know about these two cutting paths (I don't know why though it's completely obvious right?) Just more reasons for people to fear the jungle when your in it I guess. or another reason for why they won't catch you.

This one is very simple I hardly ever use it because there is hardly ever a case for me to use it, but like the red buff one... It's there and it's possible so have fun.

Went and tested the Base walls, at both purple and blue, one of the walls you can pass through the other however you cannot
Above is the wall you cannot pass through, below is the wall you can (Except for at the very end apprently)

Well I think I covered all the spots I am aware of As a last note: Keep in mind the purple and blue sides are reversed(Except for in the case of the base walls) so I only went through and showed half on purple half on blue, they all work on either side.




Well covered that for the most part... now it's time for..

Build#1
If you are following the first build, then you will end up maxxing Ruthless Predator first. This was suggested by Wayne3100, And I decided to add it in, because personally it is just another way to play him. (that I have tried, it just doesn't suit all my tastes perfectly) But that doesn't mean it won't suit yours.

Build #2
As you can plainly see ( I hope that you can anyways). I max out q first, Why? you ask? Because your Q is your sustain, it is why you can stay it lane. It keeps you alive and if you use it right (Which is not hard) It will be a nice farming move as well.

At level 2 I put a point into Slice and Dice [Because I like to get a little harass in early. Your e is what makes harassing on this character possible (But I'll go over that in detail later).

Then level 3 I put one into Ruthless Predator for the stun, and increased potential harassing damage (Note that combo will only work on another solo lane or a lane with no cc though).

Moving on, as you can see after I max Cull the Meek I go ahead and max out Ruthless Predator. Now why not put any points into Slice and Dice ?

1. it's damage is minimal, and the only thing you get with increased level is a lower cooldown.
2. I'm not saying it's bad to raise your E first, but that's just not how I play him. Don't get me wrong Slice and Dice is an amazing move however...
3. I just find that with The Brutalizer and Ionian Boots of Lucidity I have more than enough Cool-Down Reduction to use it as I please.

And then of course I put a point into my ultimate( Dominus every chance I get.

- Honestly the easiest top lane I generally fight on my croc But that's just me. Early game you can be pretty confident in a 1v1 fight against her, when you have 50+ fury slice in Ruthless Predator her and half her life is gone. She will be afraid. (Until late game where your damage drops off and hers picks up extremely well.) So, during the laning phase assuming that they're jungle isn't constantly raping you and the Akali isn't fed You will have the advantage all the way.

- It's the mancow that everyone fears and with reason. His CC is something to be feared and he has a heal that a good Alistar will be constantly using. Honestly you will be able to hurt him early game but around level 5 He will start to hurt you. Get one or two good ganks from you're jungler on him and you'll be fine though. Be careful while harassing him, if you mess up he will gladly take the opportunity to W+Q (Or Q+W) combo you.

- Personally I have only fought a Cho solo-top once and he sucked. I however have solo'd as him many times. He's similar to Alistar He has some nice cc and if he knows what he's doing you won't be able to harass him without taking a far bit of damage yourself. So try to force him back and deny him exp early on, around 7-8 He'll be able to start pushing you back fairly easy unless you are dominating him.

- I hardly ever see this guy as a solo-top but he is so meh. He will most likely be harassing you from afar the entire laning phase, focus on last hitting minions and waiting for an opportune moment to gank him with your jungler.

- Deny him farm, if he pokes you poke his *** right back Early-game You easily deal more damage than him with Ruthless Predator (UNLESS He's critting your *** like a mad man in which case poking him back is not a good idea.) Try to make him waste his oranges just before you're jungle comes to gank him keep in mind it has about a 20 second cd this early on.

- What a royal pain in the ***. Honestly I find him to be on pretty even terms with you once you learn what you're doing which just annoys me to hell and back for some reason. If he silences you then Judgment You're going to be taking a hefty amount of damage. However if he does not silence you, you can easily stun him then slice away making the damage minimal. Other than that It's going to be a very tense lane unless you and your jungle gank him early on.

- I have honestly never fought against him in top lane so I can honestly say I have no real idea what to do about this guy.

- She's alright, early game you will have the advantdge just be wary of her Equilibrium Strike And you'll be fine your stun is longer than hers and deals the same/more damage. And if you have lower hp than her then she can't stun you anyways.

- I don't see him in top lanes anymore, I mean I hardly see him at all and I have never fought him in a solo top lane either.. So if you do come across him just be wary of his Dragon Strike pokes and his Demacian Standard. Over all you should be able to out-damage and out-live him easily.

- This is one of the few champions that can out damage you early game, so last hit minions set up a nice gank or two and you should be fine.

- You can out damage her, however she does have a bit more tankiness and hp than you so don't get too over confident while taking her on.

- He will be constantly poking you with his q, Malphite is also very strong against AD's early game you will have the advantage. Later on though he will take it back.

- FFFFFFFF I HATE YOU BURN IN A FIRE. He can cancel your harass and hit you back for a nice amount of damage while throwing saplings at you from afar. He is possibly the one solo-top champion that I hate going up against more than any other. Farm. Farm. Farm. Gank him as soon as you can. If you can get a1-2 levels over him you will be able to win your lane.

- Oh yes.. the famous brothers fighting at solo-top.. I wonder who will win... WELL GUESS WHAT YOU DO. Renekton > Nasus during the entire laning phase. and if you're not you're either doing it wrong or that Nasus is some kind of god. You can out-damage him and deny him his Q farm just be wary for ganks because of his Wither

- Not many solo-top with him (But now that Duff has finally made a guide that might change....) Either way, it's a pretty simple fight as long as you're denying him farm and get a gank or two on him you will be fine. Until level 7 at the latest he will start to wreck you with his E. so early on you > him later him > you.

- Real pain in the *** champion. However early on you have the advantage. Later on she will rape you, much like Olaf. Keep her farm denied and gank her and you should be fine.

- I have only played against 2 Rumbles solo-top they were both alright. You easily dish out more damage than him at the early levels, but his Flamespitter will start to take its toll later on. You shouldn't have to many problems against him, fairly easy ganks.

- Have not fought her Yet.. But apprently she does a good amount of damage, But I'm not going to give advice on a character I have no real knowledge on.

- It's going to be a real on-off with this guy. You'll stun him He'll fling you into some poison You'll slice out. he'll slow you you'll stun him again. Honestly it's a pretty even fight, just be wary around his turret and beware of him flinging you into ganks.

- Early game your damage is pretty even (If he's AD, AP will win against you once he gets his shield and stun) But after awhile he will start to out-damage you and soon he will start to rape your face.

- Alright, (Thanks to Fox for letting me fight his Skarner <3) The buff did a lot more for him than I expected. Level 1-5, You will have to be aggressive, don't let him farm, and you will need to farm as much as possible. IF possible get your jungler to gank him at level 2(Obviously this would be best done by Xin/Shaco People like that.) That should give you a big advantage as he doesn't have all of his skills, and either won't be able to sheild and run or heal. If you can gain a level or two advantdge over him, the lane will go somewhat smoothly. However if he farms enough level 7+ He'll start to take the lane back. (Unless your jungler is ganking him every time he pops up there.) So remember. DON'T LET HIM FARM.

Have never gone against one solo-top.. You can easily slice past his nevermore and you can probably out-damage him pretty easily most of the game.

- Well Early on you'll dominate him. Late game He'll dominate you simple as that. Just don't feed him or anything stupid. (As in don't let him farm either, farm = rage, rage = crit, crit = oh **** your dead.)

- If he starts maxxing tiger first, He'll be even and in some cases out damage you. If he's maxxing turtle first you will easily outdamage him and his shield. Farm. Gank. and then your lane is won.

- Eh.. It's hard to say.. Some WW's I come across and they're easily dealt with... others Not so much. You will have an advantage early game just watch out for his Hungering Strike and be careful for his Infinite Duress if they are ganking you.

- Haven't fought him, can't say. All's I know is he will be trying to Transfusion you all day.

- ^^^Have never encountered one solo-top they're always jungling.

- Annoys me almost as much as Maokai except he can't stop your harass that easily and you can hurt him pretty bad with your Ruthless Predator.

As a solo-top croc your job is the same as just about every other solo-top champion. Get that Farm. Get that level advantage. And set up them ganks for you're jungler as simple as that.

First thing to talk about here, Last hitting minions. I am pretty sure everyone knows what this is, but in case that you don't it means NOT auto-attacking minions. It means letting your minions fight and then when one of their minions get low go in and hit him once for the kill/gold. Thankfully you have a good move for last hitting any minions within your range (Given that they're low enough). Which is your Cull the Meek Really this just comes with experience from using Renekton though. You'll want to have the minions you are planning to Cull the Meek on below half hp and if possible you'll want the person you're up against near them as well (But that isn't always possible so just take the farm don't sit around and wait for them to be standing all together!).

Now for the fun part... your harass.

It is a pretty simple combo. Here's what you do against another solo laner (Note: I would recommend doing this only with 50 FURY or more, if you have 100 that's great. use it like this for some nice damage and a little heal)
--> --> --> And dice out, very simple right?

Here is what you do if you're up against two people, Get 50 FURY or more slice in,Then (This is where the FURY is used, and if possible get in range of both of enemy for your Cull the Meek (I don't mean waste time by running close to them, if you didn't get close enough with the slice just hit minions for the extra hp and then...) You guess it out

Now the problem with people who are new to our favorite Croc is that they don't know WHEN to use it. Like I had previously said it is nice if you get in range of both enemy champions to use Cull the Meek on them HOWEVERRRRRRRR If you are up against a person with some hard-cc
like...[/color]

1. Caitlyn who can set a trap at the end of your slice and get you caught
2. Taric who can stun you when you go in. Then you need to know when to do it.
3. Maokai god I hate his snare...
4. also be wary of people like Morgana and Singed with their pools of death.

I wasn't really sure weather to put this section in or not but I finally decided Hell, why not.

The reason why I was undecided is because it is very simple what you do in teamfights,

(So sadly I am going to be lazy here.)

Wait for your main tank to go in (Hurp) Then you being an off-tank should go in next (Durp) Make sure you pop your ulti before you run in, the continuous damage does a lot more than you would expect. Once the fight has started, you should exhaust their AD carry, and then slice over to their AP (Or another high damage dealing champ) And stun them and then Cull the Meek Of course, dice over the the exhausted person if they aren't dead yet, and if they are just dice through the Guy you're already fighting rinse and repeat, without the exhaust obviously as it will be on cooldown.

Next There are certain moments where you do not simply do the above, Usually most games don't go exactly the same way everytime. Not every enemy team will have the same comp.

What I use:

Flash, combined with your E it can make you impossible to catch in the jungle. not only that, but when you e can't get you close enough to an escaping minion I bet you a Slice and Dice + a Flash will = Caught, unless you know they're ridiculously far away.

I would be lying if I said I didn't love this skill. In team fights it severely hinders the enemies carries and when you're 1v1-ing early game or 2v1-ing using this move at the right time guarantees victory or in the case you can't win it also can give you an extra chance at surviving.

What I consider alright/viable

Some people just like this move, I used to myself it has some very nice benefits, and if you feel like you don't need flash. or just don't want exhaust go ahead and switch it out for this.

Someone said sometime ago in a guide that I read that Flash is eventually going to be removed, confirmed by someone or another. Personally I don't know if this is true but if that does Happen I will definitely be switching over to this skill. It allows you to get away from a gank and get into teamfights if you aren't already there. And.. some people just prefer this move over flash already.. I can't say I do yet though.

If you think you are going to be picking up kills early game with this than go for it, or if you are up against some people with pesky heals it'll also help out, again I just prefer exhaust over this move for Renekton.

What I would NOT recommend.

...... You. Don't. Have. Mana.

If you are going full tank Renek then sure why not... But since you are not with this guide I would not recommend it, let your main tank take this.

Same as with fortify except switch tank with Support. Most if not all support should be taking this. (Unless someone else on the team took it for some reason).

Some people say renekton is a jungler, I don't see it... this guide/build isn't made for jungling and I don't jungle on him. Ever.

would only have a use end-game, but with a nine minute cooldown it really isn't worth it (Although I have seen it used effectively on 3v3's.. but this isn't really made for 3v3's)

If you are THAT worried about getting CC'd then get a Quicksilver Sash

I suppose this move has it's benefits... especially if you're not used to soloing top... But late game I feel it's usefulness take a very big drop, which is why I don't take it.

Everyone has told me since the first time I've played this game that this move sucks and isn't worth it etc. etc. I have personally never used it for this reason, nor seen anyone else use it so I don't know if it does actually have a use or not, but it probably isn't as usefull as some other spells.

Well... That's my guide.. For the moment anyways, and it is my first one, Hope you enjoy, hope it helped, Lots and lots of hope.

Also since this IS my first guide I would greatly appreciate it if you could kindly point out any mistakes I made, or anything I could do to improve it Because I do plan on editing/improving it over time.

(Will be greatly appreciated :D)

10/25/2011 - Switched the info about the skills and the skill sequencing around and switched out Black Cleaver for Force of Nature, changed out Flat Magic Resist runes for Per level ones, You were right Calibern/Wayne :) Also tested out slicing through the base walls and added another SS to show where you can.

11/5/2011 - added in two more sections and some other optional builds.

11/7/2011 - Added in some banners (Thanks and credit goes to Johijohi!)

11/10/2011 - Made some minor changes, added onto the skarner sections after reading DokBam's post of the who you'll be up against section.

11/16/2011 - Changed masteries up These are currently what I am using but I am still experimenting around with the new stuff so they might be changed in the near future.