Galio Build Guide by fDiK-DooM

Introduction

...Frozen in stone by a magic spell for a thousand years.

That's what happened to Galio before S4 took part. With several item changes, new mastery trees and a stronger laneing phase, the spell is now broken!

Galio is a very versatile Champion. He boosts team movement with Righteous Gust, slows the enemy down with Resolute Smite, can protect allies with Bulwark or get a damage boost out of it via Runic Skin. His ultimate Idol of Durand can not only kill enemies and changes the tides of a fight, but can also safe you from burst with it's 50% damage reduction.

With masteries like Double-Edged Sword , Expose Weakness , Unyielding , Enchanted Armor and Oppression , Galio has gotten quiet a fine over all boost.

What make's Galio unique is his passive Runic Skin, wich allows him for a special item build and becoming a tanky AP carry with lots of utility and damage!

Pros / Cons

Runic Skin let's you counter most AP Champions and helps you carry. Quiet tanky thanks to Bulwark, Idol of Durand and item build. Beeing meele provides extra use of Double-Edged Sword and Unyielding . Overall good CC with Resolute Smite and Idol of Durand. Idol of Durand often changes fights to your teams favor.

Beeing meele can give you a hard time farming early Slow base movement speed. No instant gap closer / retreat skill. Your Idol of Durand can be exploited by tenacity effects. If you don't be careful, your Idol of Durand can be interrupted.

Runes

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Optional:

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For more Damage.

For even more Damage.

Helps a lot against AA harass, damage from minions and while channeling Idol of Durand.

Optional: Compensates the missing points in Recovery and low health gain from Bulwark in the beginning.

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Boost's MR and AP thanks to your Runic Skin.

Optional: Compensates the missing points in Fleet of Foot and Galio's low base movement speed.

Masteries

I advice to take 21/9/0 Masteries but with some nifty twists, cause after all, you are playing Galio.

Not putting 9 points in the Defense tree would be a terrible mistake. That's where u abuse the Masteries with Galio's Kit.

You do lose some nice Masteries like Runic Affinity , Fleet of Foot , Meditation or Recovery but the gains are just worth it.

Although, you can always trade one Greater Quintessence of Ability Power for a Greater Quintessence of Health Regeneration or a Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed. It's totally ok to adjust your setup to your needs.

And if you do, see it like--> The 5 or 10 Ability power you lose are giving you 3 points out of Fleet of Foot and 2 points out of Recovery . Now that you are picking 21 points in the offense tree, think of it, as if you have traded those 10 Ability power against 1 point in Havoc , 1 point in Arcane Blade and 3 points in Devastating Strikes . Pretty good deal ;)

I'm just gonna explain the argualable picks and those ones with a unique synergie towards Galio.
The other picks should be self explaining.

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Double-Edged Sword The fact that Galio is meele makes this a must pick. You don't rely on getting in close combat to make use of the +2% damage, wich most of the other meeles have to. If you face a ranged champion with Double-Edged Sword you do 0,5% more damage and get 0,5% less from him. And if he doesn't have Double-Edged Sword , you trade him for 1% Damage in your favor. Fair deal for 1 point.

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Expose Weakness Galio really shines in teamfights and persuits. And that's when you're not alone. His whole kit does aoe damage so you often apply the debuff to more then just one Champion. Imagine you're teamfighting 5 vs 5. You hit two enemy Champions with Resolute Smite, another two with Righteous Gust and then Bulwark, Idol of Durand. Let's say you get 3 of them in ult range, every one gets 1% more damage while your 4 teammates attack them. That summs up to a total of 12% more damage and you apply the debuff instantly again after the channeling. All for 1 skillpoint! Some people choose to swap this point into Sorcery though.

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Feast + Butcher These two help you in the early laning phase where Galio is weakest. If you need points for Sorcery i suggest you take them out of here, although i don't recommend it.

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Block + Unyielding Very important because of the possible AA harass you're gonna face. And again the fact that Galio is a meele Champion plays in your cards. Every time you get hit by an AA you get 4 damage less. Good for laning, perfect for Idol of Durand! Imagine 3 people hitting you with around ~12 AA's while channeling. That saves you 48 HP wich might just be enough.

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Enchanted Armor What makes Galio unique is his Runic Skin and this mastery helps you to scale in carrying even more. Those 5% end up around 15 MR and 10 AP. 12 MR from Runes + 30 Base MR at lvl 18 + 165 from Items + 90 from Bulwark = 297 MR => 14,85 MR => 7,42 AP + 30% Deathcap => 9,6 AP

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Oppression 2 out of 3 Offensive skills in Galio's kit do impare the enemies movement and both are aoe. That means that most likely at least one enemy champion you're dealing with has his movement impared. Those 3% less damage should be enough reason to don't pick Juggernaut . With full build at lvl 18 you have around 2415 HP, with +3% from Juggernaut => 2415 HP + 72,45 HP. But if someone wants to burst you from full HP he has to do 2415 HP without Juggernaut . And guess what, your Oppression absorbs exactly the same amount, a miricale! 2415 Damage -3% => 2415 Damage - 72,45 Damage from Oppression . Let's do the math for a Teamfight. In teamfights you do hit hard with Resolute Smite and taunt with Idol of Durand. Keeping in mind that you have 4 other team mates, suggest that: 4 out of 5 have impared movement somehow. 4 x 3% => 12% less Damage.

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Skill Sequence

You max Resolute Smite first. 2nd Point in Righteous Gust to finish of minions and flee from ganks. Point 4 and 8 in Bulwark to boost it's sustain. After that max Righteous Gust for more damage or Bulwark for mor tankyness and a bit more damage.

Spells

Runic Skin This is what makes Galio so unique. It allows for an item build wich makes you quiet tanky, covers you with tenacity from Mercury's Treads and still let's you carry really well. Giving you a heads up at start with ~21 AP from 30 base MR and ~12 MR from runes. Boosts your AP temporarily thanks to Bulwark.

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Resolute Smite Bread and Butter. Has good ground Damage and scales with 60% AP a lot! Try to don't use it much before you hit Lvl 3. Better last hit with AA for as long as your opponent is not ready to jump at you and safe the mana for when u might get pushed and harrast. After obtaining Chalice of Harmony you are able to spam this. Great harass and kill tool, the slow is a good opener and saves lifes while fleeing.

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Bulwark An excellent all-round tool. You can most likely pop it up in any situation when you are gonne get hurt. Exceptions are when you trying to lure someone in a trap or want to save the extra damage through Runic Skin for the counter. After having enough sustain through Athene's Unholy Grail it's no problem to pop up Bulwark before engaging to raise your damage. Make sure to doublecast quick or your opponent will except something. After reaching lvl 8 it also provides quiet good sustain through minionhits. It counters dot's like Toxic Shot or zone harass like Tormented Soil through it's life gain. In most of the times you wish to use Bulwark together with Idol of Durand. Make sure to doublecast quick. An exception might be when you have full health and playing for time so your team mates can catch up. Then better use the shield for MR, Armor and life gain after your ult, when your enemie's spells will be off cooldown again. Throw it on an allied Champion to boost his defense stats and regain life by yourself. When you pop up Bulwark with full build at Lvl 18, you end with ~290 Armor and ~310 MR while healing for ~200 HP per hit, descending by 20% HP for conclusive hits.

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Righteous Gust Also a more purpose tool. The base damage is a bit lower, the manacost is a bit higher and it scales for 10% AP less then Resolute Smite. The 50% Ap scale makes it still a good damage source. If you don't overcast, you should be able to cast it when ever you need it thanks to Athene's Unholy Grail. Second use is obvious --> hunting someone down, giving your team members movement speed, escape faster from danger and travel faster over all. Makes a bit up for his low base movement speed. Tha cast Range and missle collusion are quiet nice so you hit a lot while using Righteous Gust for utility.

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Idol of Durand One of the most funniest Ultimates in game! Use it with care but don't wait 3 cd times, because you are afraid of screwing the ult or think that one target is to less for such a precios ult. Popping up Bulwark before using Idol of Durand significally strenghtens the spell over all. You do more damage, you get less damage and even heal up! As Galio you have! to watch your opponents items. Any Mercury's Treads mean that your opponent can walk out of your ult before you finished channeling. Also be aware of other Tenacity effetcs like Legendary Guardian or Remove Scurvy.Break your ult before finishing channeling to still harm those players. Be aware of Champions that can interrupt you (Stun, Silence, etc.) while channeling. Wait till there CD is up and ult afterwards. Pay special attention to Udyr Stance's. Don t ult when he's in Bear Stance or out of range. Same for Garen with his Decisive Strike. There are situations where it's wise to use Idol of Durand just for it's burst damage and then move on quickly. You still do most of the damage! Also keep in mind that you get 2 sec of 53% (3% from Oppression ) overall damage reduction. Don't hesitate to use it as a defensive mechanism against bursts.

Items

Athene's Unholy Grail Absolut amazing item on Galio! It provides 20 CDR, 40 Mr, 80 AP (20 from MR] and endless mana. Overall with 2600 Gold its really cheap and Faerie Charm or Null-Magic Mantle are your start items and Chalice of Harmony is your "first back" item. Nearly half way done!

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Mercury's Treads You gonna use these in 95% of all games. 25 MR, wich are 12,5 AP + tenacity. Quiet good for boots.

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Rabadon's Deathcap Essential item for most AP Champions. The AP gain from Runic Skin makes it a good choice for your 3rd pick. Other Champs have to wait till they got more AP to benefit from the +30% AP, makes it there 4th choice, from wich you should profit.

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Abyssal Mask Another item just made for Galio. 45 MR, 92,5 AP (22,5 from MR) and 20 flat MP for 2560 make's you gonna dominate your lane. A range of 700 isn't that good, but it's an aura so it helps your whole team, especially while Idol of Duranding.

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Void Staff Grab this when enemy starts stacking MR or facing another Galio

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Frozen Heart Let's you reach the CD cap and provides huge amount of armor Nice Aura and with Warden's Mail as a part of it a useful choice even while building.

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Randuin's Omen Grab this when you're not planning to take another/different item with HP later. Huge amount of armor. Nice Passive and with Warden's Mail as a part of it a useful choice even while building. The active can last till 8 sec. thanks to your Bulwark

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Banshee's Veil And yet another item made for galio. 450 HP, 55 MR and both passives makes you more a tank while u still get 27,5 AP from the MR. Have to mention that spellshield really rocks, especially when blocking a spell meant to interrupt your Idol of Durand!

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Locket of the Iron Solari Fair pick if no one else got it, otherwise don't pick it unless you really want to. All stats and the use contribute well to Galio, especially if you don't have Frozen Heart because of the missing CD. But you can get quiet more out of the slot.

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Spirit Visage A legit pick if you don't have Frozen Heart. It compensates your low CD, provides HP and let's you take more advantage of Bulwark

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Zhonya's Hourglass Always a good choice. Pick it and use it when you get burst focused a lot. Don't forget to use it though! Expansive but has useful building componets.

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Guardian Angel Legit pick. I would prefer Zhonya's Hourglass. Face it, in 80% of the times when Guardian Angel procs, you don't make it out alive or be of great help to your team mates. Zhonya's use comes in more handy, for example by negating huge amounts of burst damage.

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Twin Shadows The last of the "made for Galio" items. Sadly it should be late game when u pick your last item and ther's not much use left to Twin Shadows. The use makes you a CC-Beast. The speed multiplier compensates your slow base movement speed and you get 40 MR and 90 AP (20 from MR). It's not an expansive item, so i suggest when you want to play with it, pick it 3rd and make use of the active when ganking other lanes.

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Liandry's Torment Take Liandyr's when having problems with tanks. It should meld down their HP quiet easy. The chances for doing double damage are good, thanks to Resolute Smite

Gameplay

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Getting started:

Choose your summoner skills depending on your opponents and the way you play.

You always want to have Flash. It's a great opener, especially in combination with Idol of Durand and a great life safer.

Your second summoner spell should be Ignite or Teleport.

Take Ignite when you are facing someone like Vladimir or someone like Dr. Mundo plays top on the enemy side and none of your teammates took Ignite

Otherwise take Teleport. The laning face and sustain are kinda key for winning in S4. After or before your "first back", check if u can get a kill or assist by teleporting into the bushes at top or bot. If it's possible give it a try and 'B' afterwards / go back to your lane. Keep looking for chances when your cd is off, a well timed Teleport can push your whole team!
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Early-Game:

After helping your Jungler with one Resolute Smite over the tree line, return to your lane und kill the 2 remaining meele minions with AA's.

Keep trying to last hit as many minions as possible in the early phase till Lvl 3 but do spend some mana. 100% mana helps no one.

When u spend mana you want to do that efficient. That means in most cases last hitting minions and your enemy at once. So when your enemy is near a minion und you can last hit the minion and hit your enemy, do so. Denying a big minion kill to your opponent is also mana efficient ;)

Try to don't harass to much before Chalice of Harmony or you will run out of mana. Also the first meeting with your lane opponent after your 'B' will be even more shocking for him this way.

Try to keep vision of the river at all times.
In most cases it's better to put the wards near the slopes at the river instead of in the bushes next to your lane. Many Champions do engage from the cliff behind your bushes. Exceptions could be Champions like Rengar or Kha'Zix from whom some game mechanism work with bushes.
Analyse your enemies, be aware of their item loadout at any time and react to that accordingly with your choice of items.

When u get ganked, pop up Bulwark, slow the enemy with Resolute Smite in order to take advantage of Oppression and escape via Righteous Gust.

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Mid-Game:

Mid game farming is a joke for you. If you want to push early, make sure to AA hit the meele minions that dont get hit by your minions and finish all three of with Righteous Gust, hitting the ranged minions behind. Those minions can now be killed any time with Resolute Smite, preferably when you hit your enemy too.

Resolute Smite and Righteous Gust both hit enemies under the turret, without getting in turret range.

If you don't want to push, just last hit with your AA. Your enemy should have enough respect about your zoneing potential with all of your CD's ready to lose some cs. And if he doesn't, pop up Bulwark and hit with hard. If he somehow leaped at you, and you want to return to your turret, try to still hit him with Righteous Gust. The more damage he get's, the more he thinks about, to maybe not do it again.

Make sure to take your wraith camp regularly and the 2nd blue buff if that's ok with your jungler.

Keep your Idol of Durand ready for your jungler and make sure to have enough mana for your ult + other spells if needed.
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Late-Game:

Late game is mostly teamfights and that's where you excal! You have a lot of AP, MR, Armor, propably max CDR and descent HP. And if you done it right, your mid counter part, one of their damage dealers, is behind.

All of your offensive skills do aoe damage wich often results in an enemy team with less HP than your team, when the fight starts. Keep calm in teamfights and watch the CD's that are dangerous for you (Stun, Silence, etc.) and the position/stance of Champions like Udyr.

Sometimes it's nice to use Flash and Idol of Durand as an opener, especially when the enemy team doesn't expect it. But in most cases, you want to split them apart using Idol of Durand, make some run away frightend and the taunted ones running towards you and attacking you. Also use it to take the aggro away from important players, like your adc or to survive a hard burst.

Make sure to pop up Bulwark before you use Idol of Durand and be ready to last hit after channeling with Resolute Smite and Righteous Gust.

Ignite champions that are trying to regain HP.

Focus correctly!

Summary

After playing some rounds you will notice the excellent damage scaling of Galio, paired with a good amount of tankynes.

Just play safe early and push your tower mid-game. Help out other lanes and keep up the pressure on your lane opponent. Win late-game.

Often you end up with statistics like 2/0/19, thats when u did everything right!

Thanks for reading and all the fish!
fDiK-DooM

Glossar

Some extra informations:

Base Stats

Gain per Lvl

Stats at Lvl 1

Stats at Lvl 18

Health regeneration. Mana regeneration. Attack Speed. Attack Damage. Health. Mana. Armor. Magic Resistance. Movement Speed. Range.

7,45 7 0,638 56,3 435 235 17 30 335 125

+ 0,75 +0,7 + 1,2% +3.375 85 50 3,5 + 0 + 0 + 0

8,2 7,7 0,646 59,675 520 285 20,5 30 335 125

20,95 29,6 0,768 + 271,6 % for cap 117,05 1965 1135 80 30 335 125

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Thx goes out to Kit4nzt and Drumlol 4 hocking me up with this game and [fDiK] [WVW] [HN] [SOHO] for pure pwnge!