Blitzcrank Build Guide by Weeznaz
Thank You!
Your votes and comments encourage our guide authors to continue
creating helpful guides for the League of Legends community.
Starting Items
Core Items
Mana oriented items
Situational items
Great Blitz items
Possible Boot options
Safe Build
U.R.F Mode Goodness
Ability Sequence
Not Updated For Current Season
The masteries shown here are not yet updated for the current season, the guide author needs to set up the new masteries. As such, they will be different than the masteries you see in-game.
Masteries
Introduction
Hello summoners, my name is Weeznaz. I am a level 30 in the NA region. I may not be a professional or be a god at this game, but Blitzcrank is my favorite support and I am writing this guide that in the hopes that you would like to learn how to play this champion. By no means is this the one true way to play, but it is my preferred method.
Introduction to Blitzcrank
Blitz is a kill lane support. Has strong CC(pull + knock up + silence). Blitz also has strong early game damage, which makes him a good kill lane support. however, Blitzcrank has no utility to speak of and is not very useful if your team gets behind when compared to almost every other support currently offered in LOL. Blitzcrank is equal parts a champion in need of skill and in need of game knowledge to use properly.
Pros and Cons of Blitzcrank
Pros
1. Amazing catch potential.
2. Mana Barrier is a good early level extra tank stat. This shield can help you push harder in early trades.
3. Fun to play as with lots of cool skins and a general fun feeling playstyle.
4. Blitzcrank is preceded by a terrifying reputation: Use that to push back the enemy.
Cons:
1. Terrible late game scaling: As a tank support he gets outscaled by all of them. Outside of Mana Barrier, you have no tank steroids whatsoever. Also since support Blitzcrank doesn't scale well with damage items, your late game is pretty bad relatively speaking. Remember: the longer the game goes the harder your life will become.
2. NO UTILITY: Similar to Leona and Annie, you offer no utility, only kill threat. This is fine if you get ahead, but if you get behind then you become useless.
3. Skill shot reliant: If you can't land your hooks, then you are 99% useless with this champion.
4. High early game mana costs: If you don't properly control your mana than you will run out after 3 pulls. Additionally, his pull and Overdrive cost a decent amount of mana for Blitz considering his low base mana pool.
Passive: Mana Barrier (The noob trap)
Mana Barrier is a widely inconsistent passive: Between it's cooldown and how it scales off of CURRENT mana, not max mana, that means supporting his passive means you build sup optimal items. Please don't build mana items to support his passive, just build reliable tank items. Note: Items which contain mana and are also appropriate support items include: 
Righteous Glory, 
Frozen Heart, and if you are ahead 
Iceborn Gauntlet.
Blitzcrank Abilities
Q: Rocket Grap: Key to blitz' entire kit and playstyle. You always max this spell first to decrease it's cooldown
W: Overdrive: This spell is a powerful short term burst of speed, good for closing the gap on close enemy. Warning, after using it you get slowed, so use this spell wisely.
E: Power Fist: Gives Blitz extra burst damage, however this spell doesn't get an increase in damage or a good decrease in cooldown if you put points into this spell, hence you always max this spell last.
R: Static Field: Gives good early burst damage, and silences enemies.
Leveling order: R>Q>W>E
Summoner Spells
There are only two good summoner spell combos worth considering for support Blitz:
Combo 1: 
Flash + 
Ignite: Flash is just mandatory for engages/disengages. Has too much power, can't afford to not run Flash. I prefer to take Ignite in order to help secure an early kill, and snowball my lane. However, Ignite is an inferior 5 v 5 teamfight spell, so just note Ignite doesn't scale as well as 
Exhaust does in the late game.
Combo 2: Flash + Exhaust: Flash is mandatory. Exhaust can be used to counter high damage champions, primarily effective against assassins. This is the superior late game spell.
Runes
As Blitzcrank you will get in the enemy's face. To do this as safely as possible, you need to build tank on this champion. I build pure tank in terms of runes just because he doesn't work nearly as well with damage. In SOLO QUE I take Armor quints and armor marks in order to mitigate the enemy ADC damage. I take flat health seals because the armor seals aren't as good as they used to be, and health helps deal with any form of damage. For glyphs, I take scaling magic resistance simply because for a tank these are the strongest glyphs, and it is very likely you will be facing at least one person with high AP damage. Alternatively, you can run flat CDR glyphs for an extra 5% CDR combined with magic resistance glyphs.
Masteries
As a Keystone Mastery you need to choose between
Thunderlord's Decree
or
Bond of Stone
. T. Decree= access to more early game damage which supports his kill lane playstyle. Alternatively,
Bond of Stone
helps Blitz' lane partner take less damage.
The Unseen Threat
As Blitz you have one of the most terrifying spells, Rocket Grab, and you can make use of this wonderful spell by not always using it. To clarify that previous statement, possessing the threat of a Blitz pull can be used to simply force players to back off. Simply walking closer and closer to them while you still have hook up should intimidate the enemies. You can achieve free pressure without using any mana or spells. The other benefit of not spamming your hook is that your hook has a long cooldown without any CDR items. If you miss the hook. The enemies have 20 free seconds to harass you and your ADC down. Just remember, the threat of having your hook can offer just as much pressure as correctly using your hook.
Level 1 Tactics
When you level up your Rocket Grab, you have a lot of influence. Go for a jungle invade (as long as your teammates are willing)! Bot lane is where you will probably find the enemy jungler, due to hard leashes being favorable. Go into their jungle, lead the charge and attempt to accomplish on of the following things: Grab the ADC or Mid laner. With 3-4 people backing you up you will likely force him to blow his flash or you will kill him. This strategy can really be done to any of the members of the enemy team, but it would be most effective against the enemy team carries. An important sidenote to this strategy: if you find an enemy LeBlanc during your jungle adventure, just know that her distortion is faster than your Rocket Grab. Since most LeBlancs take Distortion at Level 1, she will most likely either Distortion dodge your grab or Distortion away at the sight of you. Save your Rocket grab for a less mobile target. Or, on the chance you pull her, she has a Flash and Distortion= the odds of you getting a kill are lower than getting a kill on other champions.
One way or another you are now in laning phase with your ADC. It is important that you picked up 
Relic Shield in order to help heal your ADC and yourself after trading damage. What is the best thing you can do with your Rocket Grab? Ironically, a level 1 Rocket Grab won’t accomplish as much as you think. Without your Power Fist, you don’t have optimal follow up CC and damage. The best thing you can do at level 1 is just walk up to the enemy team, and scare them away. See the above paragraph The Unseen Threat
Level 2 Tactics
Congratulations: you now have your Rocket Grab and Power Fist. At this point your ADC should be level 2 as well. Time to land a Grab. To do this you will need good positioning, bush control, and possibly your flash. Best way to land a pull, be in one of the side bushes and go for an angle pull. Landing pulls may take a couple of games to get down properly, but I recommend using normal cast on your Rocket Grab. It gives you a better sense of control and a better sense of if the grab will connect. Make sure your ADC is on the same page, follow up your Q + E combo and if the ADC does damage to the target you will either chunk out one of the bot laners, or you will get a kill. Landing a pull from the side brush is not the only effective means of getting massive level 2 damage. This next tactic can be very hard to achieve and most likely requires cooperation form your ADC: getting a head pull when minions are present. A smart enemy duo will try to nullify a Blitzcrank by getting brush control and standing behind the minions. You need to find a window when an enemy minion dies and you have a direct line of pull to the enemy. The best way to do this is to ping a minion blocking the enemies, and get your ADC to kill it, then IMMEDIATELY PULL! This level of cooperation can be rare in solo que, and this tactic is just hard to pull off. Very likely this tactic will throw your enemies for surprise. If you land this tactic: Pull + Power Fist + friendly minion agro/damage + ADC damage should kill early level and low health enemies.
Level 3
Now you have one of the best movement/roaming spells in the game: This spell also helps you conserve mana on your Pulls. In terms of initiation, the best way to utilize this spell is to turn on your speed boost, walk up and power fist the enemy. The enemies expect you to primarily be initiating with your pull, and think they are always safe behind the minion line. Also, W can help get you in pull range. One of the best ways to use W + Q combo is to not use W just to get into max Q range. Use W to get pretty close to the enemy and then you have a guaranteed pull.
The Turrets: Blitz’s partner in damage.
Despite the terror that Blitz may instill into the enemy's nightmares, Blitzcrank support on his own doesn’t possess a lot of damage. You really need your team mates for their damage to make your picks work. However, there is one damage source you can make use of better than any other champions: the Towers. The towers of course do tons of damage, but in turret diving situations, if the enemy team is smart, the turret damage is primarily soaked up by someone other than the squishy carry. The carries, if they played the dive properly, can ignore most of the tower damage. Your pull is pretty far range, if you are being pushed up to your tower, pull them into the tower + knock up for intense damage. This strategy is most effective in the early game and the laning phase, but can be used at any point you are backed up to a friendly turret and find an enemy squishy out of position. Pull + Power fist, and if you are level 6, + Static Field= CC lockdown and tower chunking. This strategy can be a great deterrent to taking a tower if you are alone and the enemy team is attempting to siege you.
Pick Potential and Initiation
As Blitzcrank you have amazing pick potential at all times in the game. Be ready to use your Rocker Grab the moment a player is out of position. You can also serve as a source of teamfight initiation. Combining your OverDrive with Static Shield, you can pull a “Garen” and run into the enemy team and silence someone. Or, more unexpectedly, you can flash into the team + Static Field + Power Fist + Rocket Grag and you team can follow up and kill the poor soul you silenced, knocked up, and pulled. Don’t underestimate the power of your AOE silence.
To Pull or Not to Pull
So, you have now mained Blitzcrank. You have learned how to land pulls with a 100% hit rate. Does this mean you should always pull an enemy champion towards your team? NO, this is the hardest thing to lean as Blitzcrank. There are situations where not only can pulling an enemy champion be a bad idea, but it can loose your team the game. Here are some general rules for Blitz pulls.
1: If your squishy team mate is low on health, don’t pull a full health enemy champion. Odds are the enemy champion can kill your ADC before the two of you kill him. Remember, without someone to follow up your catch, support Blitz doesn't do a ton of damage.
2: Don’t pull a tank into your team. Tanks are the least optimal people to grab. They’re harder to kill, and most come with CC/Damage/ a way to start a teamfight. In many cases you are doing half their job by bringing them close to you.
It is a more optimal use of your pull to bring in a squishy target.
Item Discussion
Relic Shield: This item is core as your first item pickup. It gives you a tad bit of health, and can help you sustain after trading with the ADC.
Face of the Mountain: Pre pathc 5.5 I would have said that this was a core item. However with the buff to Righteous Glory this item is not as appealing. Not a bad pick up on Blitz, just not my recommended pickup at this state of the game.
Boots: There are three pairs of shoes I find acceptable with Blitzcrank. The first pair are my new favorite 
Boots of Swiftness: If you didn't read the long explanation under the Overdrive paragraph.. long story short: The post Patch 5.7 Overdrive makes 
Boots of Mobility garbage on Blitz and Boots of Swiftness is now preferable. Alternatively, if you need to survive longer I recommend 
Ninja Tabi if the enemy AD is causing problems. Or you can buy 
Mercury's Treads if there is a large amount of crowd control/ Ability Power you need to deal with. While I prefer Boots of Swiftness these two alternatives are acceptable.
Sightstone: This item is mandatory. It gives you a tad bit health, helping your be a tank, and helping you gain vision control. This should be your first major purchase.
Eye of Equinox: A consolidation of vision control, early tank stats, and gold generation. A very strong first item for a tank support.
Vision Ward: A good way to deny enemy vision control and fight against stealthed champions.
Righteous Glory: The item gives health, mana, and helps give Blitz an extra way to close the gap on a target. I like to build this item second, after my gold gen item.
Talisman of Ascension: This is an alternative to 
Eye of the Equinox, my biggest problem with the item is it doesn't give you early tank stats. You need to build tank items, and building this item early seriously hurts your laning phase sustain. If you want to pick up this item, I recommend pairing it with a 
Ruby Sightstone.
Randuin's Omen: A strong tank item against AD carries. It's a little on the expensive side, but I like to build it when I get the chance. Usually a 3rd or 4th item for me.
Banner of Command: This item gives your team a stronger ability to deal with side wave manipulation. While being low on tank stats, this item has helped me crawl back from many games when behind.
Banshee's Veil: I usually don't pick up this item early. Not as rock solid as Randoin's Omen, but if I am against a triple of quadra AP team with one ADC, I will replace Randoin's Omen with Banshee's Veil. This is an excellent selfish- tanky item. However, if might better for the team if you buy 
Locket of the Iron Solari.
Warmog's Armor: I don't usually recommend this item. I prefer Banshee's Veil or Randuin's Omen for tank items. I will usually only pick up this item under two circumstances: I am truly the only tank on the team, or if we are loosing and having an initiation item isn't as valuable as surviving. In either case, odds are your Talisman of Ascension will have to be sold if you are seriously considering this item.
Locket of the Iron Solari: With patch 5.5 being released, and my love for Righteous Glory + Talisman of Ascension being very high, I find myself not buying this item early. This item is still a great pickup if the enemy team has two or more credible AP threats.
Mikael's Crucible: This item is great is the enemy has one form of hard hitting CC or damage that can kill your squishies.
Elixir of Iron: If you have managed to get to this point in the game, six full items, this is my recommended elixir. It helps you intercept skill shots meant for squishies, gives you tenacity, and is the most fun of the elixirs to use.
Best and Worst ADC to work with
Blitz has amazing catch potential: but what many people may not realize is that without a good AD Carry backing you up, you are useless. You have little damage in the game with this tank build. With Blitz, you want an ADC with a great early game or mid game power spike. You preferably want to get a level 2 or 3 kill, so late game scalers aren’t good in this department.
Worst ADC
1. Kog Maw: While Kog Maw is a late game scaling god, he has a weak early game. He doesn’t respond to your pulls and knockups with optimal damge. Kog Maw is also one of the most immobile champions in the game, if he gets caught in a bad position, there is little you can do to help him.
2. Vayne: Every single time I have played with a Vayne, they just don't do well. They don't capitalize on my pulls unless I pull a champ right next to the wall. They are usually poked down so hard and I can't sustain them enough to where they get shoved out of lane and loose lane slowly but surely.
3. Varus: He has great Q poke, but that’s about it. Pre 6 he doesn’t have great follow up to your pulls, also is extremely immobile. Doesn’t “all in” very well.
4. Quinn: Quinn is just in a weird place as a ranged champion. Is she a top laner, is she an ADC? Well if you use her as an ADC, she has low auto range and mediocre burst without late game prowlness. I don’t recommend this champion even be bought.
5. Twitch: Probably the best fit for Blitz on this worst list. Twtich has a decent amount of burst at level 6. Problem is he has a bit of weak laning phase, and his kit doesn’t have a lot of level 2 or 3 power, optimally when you want to get a kill. His main attack steroid/escape tool takes a couple of seconds to charge up, if you are not on the same page, you can mistime your initiation and miss a kill opportunity. In addition, Twitch has no hard escapes and smart enemies will try and counter his surprise burst with pink wards and upgraded sweepers. Twitch’s Ambush can be postponed by the enemy with even the smallest amount of damage.
6: Ashe: Ashe just isn't a burst champion. While Ashe has a great slow, she doesn't have great pre 6 burst. I just don't think Ashe is a strong enough laner to capitalize on Blitz's pulls. Also, Ashe is extremely immobile and really lacks in the late game damage department, as well as having no real mid game powerspike. Ashe for all intents and purposes is one step down from Caitlyn.
Caitlyn
This is a champion that is not the worst pairing with Blitz, but also not the best. Caitlyn has great auto attack poke and Q poke, but she doesn’t like all in’s. Blitz is more about all in situations. Caitlyn can follow up on a Blitz pull with her trap, keeping the enemy in CC lock, but her Q while being damaging has a long charge time. Caitlyn’s ultimate is also kind of useless in all in situations. A Caitlyn and Blitzcrank lane can work, I just don’t find it the most optimal use of Bltiz’s time.
Top ADC
1. Jinx: this is by far the best pairing with Blitz. Jinx on her own is a bit of a lane bully that turns into a hyper scaler. Her flame chompers and Zapper make a great follow up to a Bltiz combo. This champion is the most likely to get a level 2 kill with Blitz
2. Graves: Graves is also a powerful lane bully. His buckshot and Quickdraw can deal immense damge to an ADC in the early game. Bltizcrank also solves a problem Graves has: his low auto attack range. When Blitz pulls someone into Graves, it doesn’t matter if he is short ranged, his shotgun range burst will hurt. Only issue is his CC follow up is much softer than Jinx’s, and with Graves you are more looking for a level 6 Collateral Damage kill than a level 2 kill. Still, Graves is a powerful pick with Blitz
3. Corki: While Corki has absolutely no CC to follow up your initiation, Corki has god poking and bullying tools. Corki has amazing level 6 burst. Corki takes great advantage of this kill lane.
4. Lucian: Similar to Graves, only lower auto attack range. Lucian has better pre 6 burst than Graves, and with Lucian’s early E mobility can snowball with even 1 kill.
5. Draven: one of the original kill lane ADC. He has lots of trading power and a knock back to follow up a Bltiz combo. Becareful though, Draven has no hard escapes.
6. Kalista: A very powerful ADC in the early game. At a level 2 engage, she offers great follow up CC with activating Rend and burst with her W passive. At Level 6 she can throw you into the enemy team, Blitz thrives on getting to the enemy team backline and causing chaos. Additionally, Kalista’s 
Sentinel offers early vision control, making it more safe to go all in at level 2.
Champions not to pull
Now that we’ve got some general rules out of the way: lets talk specific champion interactions. They’re are certain champions you should not pull into your team at certain times. Knowing when and not to pull these champions requires learning the cooldowns on these champions abilities.
1. Annie: At level 6 she has Tibbers stun. Pulling her into your team is making half of her problematic kit easier: Now in shotgun range of your team, unless you use heavy CC to lock her down she can live long enough to get off a teamwide stun. Doesn’t matter if she dies after this point, she’s done her job. Working around Tibbers is crucial.
2. Allistar: if he is relatively healthy, don’t pull him at all. He will pulverize then headbut a teammate once he gets out of your CC. If he uses his ultimate, he will break out of your CC and carry out the combo anyway, except he may not die at all. Only pull this champ if you see that pulverize and headbut are on cooldown. 9 times out of 10, don’t pull this champ.
3.Braum: Similar to Allistar: he can get of a teamwide knockup and proc off several teamwide stuns.
4. Fizz: Congradulations, you have now put Fizz into shotgun range of your squishies. His Shark will almost certainly land and Fizz can Playful Trickster away to safety. Generally a bad idea to pull this champion into your team.
5. Galio: If his ult is up, you’ve just given him a free teamwide stun.
6. Gnar: If he is about to transform into mega Gnar, DON’T PULL HIM. If he is in mini Gnar form, he is a lot safer to pull, but work around his transformation times.
7. Katarina: This requires knowing if her cooldowns are up. If she has her spells, and if you have a low health squishy, pulling them into you team may end up in a multikill. If the Katarina is fast she can Shun Poe away from your Powerfist. Only pull this champ if you know her ult is down and you feel comfortable you can land the powerfist.
8. Kennen: See Galio
9. Leona: Teamwide stun and an individual stun. She’ll lock down your team and turn on her tank steroid: you will probably not even kill her if the enemy team follows up on her initiation properly.
10. Wukong: you have just got him in range for using his Cyclone: you give him a free teamwide knock up
11. Zed: if he has his ult up, and if you have a squishy target congratulations, you just got them killed.
Who to and who not to pick Blitz into
Who to not Pick Blitz into
1. Thresh: Has more utility, poke, and playmaking opportunities than Blitz. This is kind of a mirror matchup, takes skill for a Blitz to get ahead in this lane.
2. Morganna: Has better poke, teamfight initiation/lock down, and het black shield can completely negate your pulls.
3. Sivir: Her spell shield can completely negate your pulls.
4. Ezreal: Ezreal Archane Shift is a blink, which can cause some frustrating interactions. Its hard to explain, but Archane Shift when timed properly, can 100% negate your pull in such a way it looks like bug. Just watch this video.
5. Kalista: Amazing kiting potential which can ignore your Static Field’s silence.
6. Allistar: Scales into a stronger tank with hard disengage/initiation. Accidentally pulling him can be the biggest mistake of your day.
7. Lulu: Has many tools to deal with a Blitz: A speed boost and shield that can be given to a team mate. She alternatively has a Polymorph(silence) which can be used against you, and her Wild Growth can counter your all in initiation.
8. Braum: Has more poke than Blitz, his unbreakable completely counters blitz’s hooks, and he is similar to Allistar in the sense that pulling him in can be a bad idea.
Who to Pick Blitz into
1. Caitlyn: She may have long range poke, but she hold still during her Peacemaker charging. This is a perfect opportunity to get in position and pull her.
2. Jinx: Really immobile
3. Varus: Really immobile
4. Sona: Immobile, and no hard response to initiation pre 6.
5. Soraka: Identical to Sona, except no hard response to initiation at all.
6. Annie: Pre 6 she is a squishy, Tibber-less target: she makes a nice meal for the ADC once you pull her in and knock her up.
You Messed Up
Congradulations, you have successfully picked Blitzcrank into one of the ADC’s or supports I advised you not pick blitz into/ he has a bad matchup against. Don’t give up, with hard work and skill any champion can outperform another. How do you deal with these “counterpicks” to Blitz?
1. Thresh: Thresh may have god like pick potential and some great utility, but he is deceptively squishy. He walks onto the game with no armor. In many ways, Thresh is like Blitz: they both have devastating hooks and both need their team to do critical damage. Biggest difference is Thresh isn’t usually going “balls deep” for initiations like Bltiz might. If you pull Thresh in the early game, if you stand in front of your ADC you can chunk him down to health and deny him the hook onto your carry. Alternatively, pull his carry and make Thresh have to back off. Just don’t take too much Thresh poke and win brush vision early Thresh doesn’t hook your carry.
2. Morganna: Her black shield can make puling the enemy carry difficult and her poke can force you out of lane early. Best way to deal with a Morganna lane is not to hook the carry, but go for Morganna. Most Morganna’s are trained to put their balck shield on the carry, and not themselves. Overdrive into the enemy duo laner, when she black shields the ADC, kill her.
3. Sivir/Ezreal: aim your hooks for the support: Make sivir weaker by having a lack of a partner for presence.
4. Allistar: Don’t engage in mele fights, be CAREFUL when hooking so you don’t bring a mad cow into you ADC’s range. If Allistar gets aggressive onto your ADC, get close to the enemy ADC, zone him away from the cow so your ADC doesn’t take much damage.
5. Kalista: Best thing to do is glash into close range, silence her so she can’t get her Q off. Powerfist her, and save your hook til the end. Leading with hook will mean you don’t have any followup to your fist+ silence.
6. Braum: Ward the bushes, deny vision control to them, avoid his Winter Bite harass, and don’t pull him in.
|
|
|
Guide Discussion (10)
You must be logged in to comment. Please login or register.