Here I will just post some changes done to this Guide because of Item, Champions or Rune changes in future patches.


April 17th, 2024 - Patch 14.8

With Patch 14.8 we just get some minor buffs to make laning phase and mobility a bit better for us. We get 5 more Movement Speed and 1 sec lower Winds of War cooldown on the first level.

I just changed the Bruiser builds a little bit, because there was some Mana missing, and I really began to like Liandry's Torment as an Item, thats why im adding this there.

Changed the [Bruiser Full Build #1] 3rd item from Cosmic Drive to Liandry's Torment. Not much to say here, Liandry's helps us fight longer and also deal some more DPS while we rotate our Abilities.

Changed the [Bruiser Full Build #2] 3rd item from Jak'Sho, The Protean to Fimbulwinter. Just to remove the Mana problems and also get a bit more bit more Ability Haste and Shield.

Changed the [Bruiser Full Build #3] 3rd item from Cosmic Drive to Fimbulwinter. Just to remove the Mana problems and also get a bit more tanky with the passive Shield.


April 3th, 2024 - Patch 14.7

Changed the [Peel Support] Build from Thornmail and Abyssal Mask as last item, into Redemption and Jak'Sho, The Protean as last item. The Reason is to fully commit for the protect ascpet of the build, since you should have enough defense stat from the first 3 items anyway.


Changed the 5th Item from the [AP FULL BUILD #1] Build from Void Staff to Stormsurge . Void Staff gives you just pure damage, which isnt bad per se, but Stormsurge, despite its nerf, still gives movement speed which makes it easier to catch enemies, and its passive Lightning Proc, still deals some good damage if you already have high AP Damage.


Changed the last 3 Items from the [AP FULL BUILD #2] Build from Rabadon's Deathcap -> Liandry's Torment -> Shadowflame into Liandry's Torment -> Rabadon's Deathcap -> Morellonomicon. This Build works pretty well against Bruisers and Tank like Illaoi or Ornn. For that Reason, I changed the Items to better play against these kind of champions. We build Oblivion Orb early into the game to reduce the healing these champs mostly have (for example: Darius, Illaoi, Volibear,etc.) and finish into Morellonomicon as last item. Against these Champs Liandry's Torment works pretty well, due to their high HP, but we need some Ability Haste first, to proc the passive consistently.


Changed the 4th Item from the [Bruiser #1] Build from Liandry's Torment to Cosmic Drive . With the new 14.7 changes Cosmic Drives works better into our Shield of Durand and honestly, its pretty much one of my most favourite items at this point. We get more Movement speed, HP, AP, and Ability Haste.


Changed the 3th Item from the [Full Tank #3] Build from Abyssal Mask to Jak'Sho, The Protean . Jaksho gives us some Armor for atleast 1 AD champion, Basic Attacks that everyone uses anyway, and reduce some Turret Damage along with it. It also increases Magic Resist anyway, so I see it more fitting into the Heavy AP enemies we build against.


Added the [AP ASSASSIN / FULL DAMAGE] Runepage to those who want to fully commit for pure damage. Im still not a fan of the Domination tree, but with the 14.7 Changes we get some pretty heavy damage increase on our Justice Punch and Colossal Smash so if you just care about pure damage and nothing else, you can pick this page.


Added the [FIGHTER / UTILITY] Runepage to the Build. This is my new go-to Build for almost any Game I build AP/HP into. Rod of Ages, Cosmic Drive and Phase Rush just feels so awesome to play with. This is basically a movement speed build, but it offers Utility into every scenario, from catching enemies to escaping certain death.





March 20, 2024 - Updated the whole Guide to 14.6 for the new Galio Changes.

Hi everybody! My name is Hexeria. Im a German Galio Main who hit Master in SoloQ and Grandmaster in Flex last season. I wanted to take some time to show you all how Ive been playing him and what I learned over the last few years. DISCLAIMER: Keep in mind, that everything I will mention here, from the Runes, to the Items, to the general Playstyle, is just how I like to play and what I had success with. Galio is a champ that can be played in many different ways, and it doesnt mean, your playstyle is wrong.

If you got any questions or would just like to discuss any topic or share your thoughts, dont hesitate to reach out to me.

Discord: https://discord.gg/ZTqDSYS

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/Hexeria

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/hexeria

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Hexeria

So lets start!

Galio - The Colossus Melee, Tank, Mage, Support What is Galio? Galio is a Support Heavy Champion that has the ability to sustain a lot of damage thanks to his tankiness, but also cause a lot of damage due to his high base Damage and Heavy AP Scaling. Furthermore, his Crowd Control is one of the best in the Game. You can lock down enemies, or protect your team pretty easily if done right. Where to play Galio? It depends which role you prefer, but the normal Lane choice would be either Mid or Support. Disclaimer: If you just want to play solely for fun you can pick him on Top lane but I wouldnt recommened it in Ranked games, or if you play to win. He has a harder time laning on top against heavy AD champions and Bruisers, while having less Impact on the rest of the Game due to your Position on the Map. You also deny your Team an important AD Bruiser or Tank Toplane pick by picking Galio Top. Also some people try Galio in Jungle, but i wont cover this here in this guide, because I simply havent really played Jungle Galio or Jungle at all at that matter. His kit comes in handy during ganks and roaming, but he has a hard time clearing camps, and his Passive reset doesnt work on normal jungle camps. How good is Galio in the current Meta? There are definetly champions that are better than Galio in many ways. The meta is pretty AD focused which causes a huge problem due to Galios low base armor and the uselessness of his Magic resistance against Physical Damage. Also because Galio is a melee champ, he has a harder time laning on Mid and Support against range champions, that can easily poke him to death, or are out of his reach to engage at all. That doesnt mean he is a weak champ, or useless at all. Thanks to Galio's kit, he will always be useful to his team no matter how far behind you think you are. Even if you just die constantly, you can be of value to your Team or even decide the entire game. Galio can adapt to many different playstyles and has many Items at his Disposal that help him win the game. I know that finding the right Build for every game is hard, but if you start to understand how to play in certain Team Comps, I guarentee you, you will win more games and have more fun in General. I will try to make Build variety more clear, later in the guide, but If you have a specific Question about a Champion or didnt understand something quite right, please dont be afraid to ask me however you like to. Sometimes its hard to put into words what your thought process is and then it gets easier to just talk to the person directly. I help whereever I can. What are Galios Strengths? Galio has a lot of Crowd Control at his disposal, the ability to push his lane pretty hard and therefore roam freely to help his teammates and he really shines in teamfight or Fights with more than 2 Persons involved in general. Despite Attack speed and armor, he has pretty good base HP, Mana and even AD for an AP champ. With his new changes to Colossal Smash he can reduce the cooldown of his next passive smash, when hitting an enemy with one of his other abilites. So if you want the most DPS possible, its smarter to slow down your Combo a bit to get that passive reset in. His Shield of Durand can taunt all 5 enemies at once for up to 1,5 seconds. His Justice Punch knocks the enemy up for 0,75 seconds And his Hero's Entrance can also knock up every Enemy caught within for 0,75 Seconds. His kit alone, if played right, allows you to keep and enemy stunned for a max of 3 whole seconds. Combine that with Ability haste items so you get your abilites up sooner to start the stun fiesta anew. So a full combo, in the best scenario possible would be something like this: Colossal Smash -> Justice Punch -> Colossal Smash -> Winds of War -> Colossal Smash -> Shield of Durand -> Colossal Smash. In most cases this wont work though, but you understand what im trying to say here. You need to work with your passive reset to get everything out of your champion. Just using every single ability without a Colossal Smash in between will lose you some damage. So a more realistic engage into a fight against enemies who arent standing inside you, would be something like this: Justice Punch -> Colossal Smash -> Shield of Durand -> Winds of War -> Colossal Smash His Colossal Smash and Winds of War alone lets you kill an entire minion wave in a few seconds. So pushing and securing minions isnt that of a problem. But whats even more important is to roam as soon as you see the potential and pushed a wave under the enemy turret. With his Hero's Entrance and the ability to protect your teammates from enemies, you alone can turn the tide of a fight and its outcome. What are Galios weaknessess? Unfortunately he also has some problems. Like i mentioned before, most champions counter you and youre not in a good position to win 1vs1 easily. His Shield of Durand and Justice Punch aswell as his Hero's Entrance have a pretty high cooldown. So as soon as you jump into action in early or mid game, your gonna stay there feeling like a minion who cant do much if his kit is on cooldown. Thats why Ability haste and the Colossal Smash reset is so important for us. Also because he has pretty good mix of both AP and Tank, he cant do one extremly good. There are Tanks that can take for damage than him, and there are Mages that do more damage than him. Again you are also a melee champ and have a harder time against ranged champions. How should you play Galio? Again keep in mind that this is my opinion. There are people who tell you to play as offensive as you can to quickly snowball the enemies themselves. But I like to play pretty safe and wait for Opportunities rather than forcing them. Try to lane as safe as you can. React to mistakes of your Enemies. Play with our Teammates (Jungle as Mid, and ADC as Support). And get as many gold as you can, to reach your Powerspike. Galio will, no matter his state in the game, always be of use to his teammates and become stronger the longer the game goes. In midlane I prefer to stay safe in the early game and just get as many minions as possible. I dont try to get into a 1vs1 with my enemy that often, because Galios early game is a bit weaker. You can try though, to get help from your jungle for a easy kill, thanks to your Stun Combo, or push the wave into the tower and look for a Roam to your Jungle, Top or Botlane. As Support I either look for engages against an enemy botlane that allows be to engage, protect my ADC and just peel him constantly, or if youre up against a counter lane, try to roam and be useful somewhere else in the Map. Every Game is different and you really need to adapt to different approaches. I try to explain a bit more later in the guide. You can also read the "Threaths and Synergies" Tab to see what you should do against who.

The best 2 Rune Pages for Galio, no matter which build you go, is without doubt Resolve and Sorcery. While the other Key Runes like Conqueror, Electrocute or even Glacial Augment definetly work in some way and change the Way you can play Galio, overall the Subrunes in Precision, Domination and Inspiration are much weaker.

Phase Rush Phase Rush works actually pretty well on Galio. It gives him a short movement speed after he gets his combo out which also gives slow resistance. This works awesome for your Shield of Durand where you get slowed during the channel. You can use phase rush to either go further in and catch ADC's or Carries in the enemy backline or use the movement speed to quickly get back out of a trade or certain death.

Arcane Comet Arcane Comet can work for poke builds or when you want to stay behind and blast them do death with your Winds of War to get damage out. Its also works awesome for a One-Shot full damage build, because the comet is guaranteed after you stunned your enemy.

Summon Aery Aery can work against some Matches where you maybe go a burn build, if the enemies got 3 or more Champs with high HP. The shield only triggeres on Allies if you target them with your Hero's Entrance but overall it is not recommened!

Nullifying Orb Nullifying Orb can work in some scenarios, where you face a lot of AP Damage but the value you get from the other 2 subrunes in this category are much higher, so it is not recommended!

Manaflow Band This Rune can completly solve all your mana problems, if you dont go a Mana item that is. Galio doesnt need that much mana but either an item like Rod of Ages, Luden's Companion or even Frozen Heart should give you all the mana you need.

Nimbus Cloak Nimbus Cloak is by far my most liked subrune. It gives you a quick movement speed after using Flash, Ghost, Exhaust or Ignite to quickly catch enemies with your Shield of Durand or to escape. This rune alone can decide entire fights and even game outcomes. This should be your standard subrune in almost every build and is highly recommended!

Transcendence Transcendence is the most important rune on Galio. It gives 10 Ability Haste, as well as reducing your cooldown if you manage to takedown an enemy alone or with your teammates. Due to his long cooldowns and the value of getting them back up quickly, this rune is highly recommended!

Celerity Celerity can be niche in some scenarios to catch really mobile champs, in combination with Nimbus Cloak or Predator but with Nimbus Cloak and Ghost you already have enough movement speed. So its rather weak compared to Transcendence and is not recommended!

Absolute Focus It makes no sense to give up Transcendence for a max of 30 AP, if you are above 70% Health. This happenes rather rarely, because you need to get close to enemies to get damage in, so you lose HP anyway. It is not recommended!

Scorch Scorch works pretty well, if you want to get as much damage as possible out from the beginning, or to snowball an easy matchup quickly. It works well with full damage builds.

Waterwalking Some people will now argue, that waterwalking is good for Galio to better roam from Mid to Bot or Top and from Bot to Mid and Top, but its just 10 Movement Speed in the river, which is pretty useless, aswell as max 30 AP if u happen to fight in the river, so its really situational, and rather weak. Just go either Scorch or Gathering Storm. This rune is not recommended!

Gathering Storm This is the opposite of Scorch where you want to scale better into late game, or got matchups, you cant do much in early game anyway. It just gives you more AP the longer the game goes. This helps your damage aswell as your tankiness, due to how Shield of Durand works.

Grasp of the Undying This is my most used rune for tank builds. Galio already has pretty high base HP and in combination with Heartsteel and other tank items can stack an insane amount of max HP overall. Even if youre playing against a ranged matchup, you can go Grasp because it scales with your %HP anyway, so it will work even without stacking it in the early game. It helps you stay longer in the Heat of battle, until your long cooldowns are back up again. In combination with your Colossal Smash and Heartsteel it can do some serious burst damage. This rune is highly recommened if youre going a tank build.

Aftershock When in doubt, go Aftershock. Its the best overall rune for Galio in every scenario. You can build Tank or AP with it, doesnt matter. It gives him everything he needs and works on Mid and Support. The downside is its long cooldown, but overall this rune works every time.

Guardian Personally I like to go Guardian if we got a hyper carry as ADC that needs a lot of peel to get damage out, like Vayne or Samira. In combination with Font of Life + Knight's Vow + Locket of the Iron Solari you can just glue yourself to your Carry and keep the enemies away with your Justice Punch and Shield of Durand.

Demolish It can work if you got an easy matchup you can constantly push, but Galio is stronger in teamfights and shouldnt be played as a splitpush champion. It can be useful, if you play agressive with your ADC to get the first turret quickly but Font of Life and Shield Bash give more value overall, so this rune is not recommended!

Font of life It can help champions that auto attack alot to stay alive in a fight, due to Font of Life's healing that scales with your HP. My standard support rune if I want to peel my ADC which isnt a champion that uses few auto attacks, like Jhin or Ziggs.

Shield Bash Also an extremly good rune for Galio because it gives you the resistance buff, as long as your Shield of Durand shield stays active. Great for Mid and Support to keep that extra Armor and Magic Resist constantly up while also adding a little bit of extra damage after your Shield of Durand shield is recharged. This rune is highly recommended!

Conditioning Great Rune if you know you can survive past the 12 minute mark to get extra more resistance into your build which again works together with your Colossal Smash and Shield of Durand. Also works well if youre going a Tank build with items like Thornmail and Abyssal Mask. If you got a difficult matchup where you get a lot of damage early, go Second Wind instead.

Second Wind Also a standard Rune for me I almost go every match. Galio is weak in his early game, so surviving that part is crucial. Lets you heal some crazy amount of life if paired with Doran's Shield. Overall this Rune is highly recommended!

Bone Plating Im not a big fan of this Rune, because it gets triggered to easily on you, because you need to get close to farm minions, or stack your World Atlas and after that its on a long cooldown. It can work if you get into a fight and try to reduce the damage your getting, but just go Second Wind its almost the same, just better in every aspect. This rune is not recommended!

Overgrowth Your go to rune in also almost every build and matchup. Having MAX HP is always nice, but it also works into your Shield of Durand aswell as Grasp of the Undying, Heartsteel, Abyssal Mask, Sunfire Aegis or Hollow Radiance, etc. Overall this is a very important Rune in many scenarios and is highly recommended!

Revitalize Works for a "Peel" Build as Support to protect your ADC. But on Midlane it loses some value. It works with your Shield of Durand passive shield, and also with Font of Life and Grasp of the Undying, aswell as Unending Despair and Fimbulwinter. It can be of use, but overall the MAX HP provided by Overgrowth increases all these values anyway, so you can just go that.

Unflinching This rune got absolutely gutted in the last changes. The highest Value it can now give you is 10 Armor and 10 Magic Resist but only if youre stunned and 2 seconds after that. Overgrowth and even Revitalize are just better in every way. If the enemy has a full stun team, you can try this rune, but overall it is not recommended! for either tank or damage builds.

Disclaimer: The Item listed here (despite Boots and World Atlas options) are ranked from S to C tier. This means I ranked them by their Value they offer Galio just as a champ. So for Example just because a Malignance is listed in C tier, doesnt mean the items is bad, perse. It just means that this single item doesnt offer Galio that much of value compared to other items.

Ionian Boots

Ionian Boots - Cheap and are a huge power spike for Galio and his long cooldown.

Mercury's Tread

Mercury Treads - Against a lot of CC and slow or in general to counter AP.

Sorcerer's Shoes

Sorcerer Shoes - Your standard boots if you want to build pure damage.

Plated Steelcaps

Plated Steelcaps - Against enemies who use a lot of basic attack or to counter AD in general.

Boots of Swiftness

Boots of Swiftness - Great for enemies that slow quite hard and it also decreases your self slow from Shield of Durand.

Bloodsong

Bloodsong - Your standard Support item if youre going for a "Damage Amplify Build", so for example where you buy Abyssal Mask or Imperial Mandate to increase the damage the enemies take. You also take this when building Heartsteel as Support, because it deals a massive amount of damage in Combination with Aftershock and your Colossal Smash.

Solstice Sleigh

Solstice Sleigh - Your go to Support item, if your main goal is to keep your ADC or Carry in your Team Alive. So a good "Peel" Build could something be like Solstice Sleigh, Guardian, Font of Life, Revitalize, Locket of the Iron Solari and Knight's Vow. If played right, you can protect your Carry from any danger coming his way.

Celestial Opposition

Celestial Opposition - Your standard "Engage" Build Item. Works well for big teamfights, or secure some kills on Botlane if played with your Jungler. Not only lets you tank more damage in combination with Aftershock, it also slows enemies after the Damage Reduction is over which again works into your Shield of Durand for some easy kills.

Abyssal Mask

Abyssal Mask - Super cheap, all its stats work into your kit ( Colossal Smash, Shield of Durand), aswell as reducing the Magic Resist of nearby enemies, which not only increases the Damage you deal with abilites, but also the Damage from Sunfire Aegis / Hollow Radiance or Thornmail for example.

Cosmic Drive

Cosmic Drive - Overall, one of my favourite items for Galio. It gives AP, Ability haste, HP and Movement speed which all have a pretty high value on Galio. Gives everything you need, while also reducing your cooldowns which you need to cycle trough your Abilities to reset Colossal Smash over and over again.

Fimbulwinter

Fimbulwinter - Extremly cheap, solves all your mana problems by just buying Tear of the Goddess early, gives HP which works into your Shield of Durand again, aswell as Ability haste to cycle trough abilities. It also gives you a Shield when stunning someone with Shield of Durand, Justice Punch or Hero's Entrance. Works well for teamfights, since the shield increases if there is more than 1 enemy around.

Heartsteel

Heartsteel - I love this Item so f*cking much. If there is no enemy who does %MAX HP damage like a Fiora, Vayne or Blade of the Ruined King User, you will feel unstoppable if you get to stack this item early in the game. It lets you survive against many different Champions, mostly Assassins, but also increases everything from your Shield of Durand to Abyssal Mask to Sunfire Aegis/ Hollow Radiance to Riftmaker, etc. You can also SMASH enemies litearly in combination with Grasp of the Undying and Colossal Smash.

Jak'Sho, The Protean

Jak'Sho, The Protean - A pretty solid Item for almost every scenario you can face. Gives you every stat you need to be more tanky, aswell as increasing Armor and Magic Resist even more, when fighting. The stats again work into your Colossal Smash, Shield of Durand, Thornmail and Aftershock.

Lich Bane

Lich Bane - Gives your Colossal Smash a serious damage increase, and can one shot an enemy really quickly, if you hit a full combo. You also get a big amount of AP, ability haste and movement speed which all are imporant stats for Galio.

Locket of the Iron Solari

Locket of the Iron Solari - A good item for Support overall and always valueable, no matter which game you are in. Gives you your most desired stats, which are Armor, Magic Resist (flows into your Colossal Smash and Shield of Durand, Ability Haste to get your Abilites back more often, awell as HP, which again flows into your Shield of Durand. The Passive Shield also helps you and your teammates to survive some deadly scenarios.

Rod of Ages

Rod of Ages - Super cheap, good as first item for almost any build and also works great for scaling. Solves your Mana problem, gives you HP for Shield of Durand aswell as AP for the rest of your abilites. Always a solid choice.

Riftmaker

Riftmaker - Awesome Fighter Item. Lets you stay in the heat of battle, due to the stacking passive and Omnivamp, aswell as giving you even more AP if you already got other HP items, like Heartsteel, Rod of Ages, Abyssal Mask, Sunfire Aegis, etc. Works great into a Tank or Bruiser build.

Sunfire Aegis

Sunfire Aegis - Awesome damage if you stay close to enemies aswell as counter AD Champs. synergies well with Heartsteel and other HP items, aswell as profiting from Abyssal Mask to deal even more damage. The reason this item is better than Hollow Radiance, is that it deals much more damage than its counter part.

Banshee's Veil

Banshee Veil - Gives you all the stats you need, increase your damage output in 2 factors: first the AP and second the MR it gives your Colossal Smash aswell as the damage reduction on your Shield of Durand, while also letting you block a spell for free and reduce the AP damage you take.

Cryptbloom

Cryptbloom - Better version of Void Staff. Gives you everything you need to deal some good damage. AP, Ability Haste, Magic Penetration. Also its passive works well for bigger fights, and can help your Team stay in a battle, due to its healing mechanic.

Force of Nature

Force of Nature - Best Tank Item to counter AP champions completly. Against a heavy AP enemy team, you can go this item and should already be way too hard to kill. Its Magic Resist and HP again plays into your Shield of Durand and Colossal Smash.

Frozen Heart

Frozen Heart - Best Tank Item to counter AD champions aswell as basic attackers, like Yasuo, Yone, Irelia, Tristana, etc. Also solves your Mana problem and is extremly cheap. Works well if you are looking to counter said champions, by building Plated Steelcaps next, into Thornmail to also deal some high damage.

Hextech Rocketbelt

Hextech Rocketbelt - Cheap item and also gives you a quick dash to better catch enemies with your Shield of Durand or Justice Punch. Its stats also give you AP, Ability Haste and HP, which again benefits your Shield of Durand.

Hollow Radiance

Hollow Radiance - Good item to not only counter AP champions, but also deal some damage that scales with your Max HP, so Heartsteel, Abyssal Mask and other HP items, increase your damage. Sunfire Aegis is a bit better than this item, because Sunfire deals more damage and has a better HP scaling than Hollow Radiance. Since you already got a good wave clear as Galio, you dont really need its passive against minions.

Imperial Mandate

Imperial Mandate - Underrated Item in my eyes. Galio has so much CC and you go a full out Damage amplify build with Bloodsong, Heartsteel and Abyssal Mask to deal some nasty damage.

Kaenic Rookern

Kaenic Rookern - Awesome Magic Resist Item that gives you whopping 80 Magic resist and 400 HP which is huge for your Shield of Durand and Colossal Smash. It also add its passive magic shield on top of your Shield of Durand magic shield, which lets you shield massive amount of AP damage.

Knight's Vow

Knight's Vow - Awesome item if you want to keep your ADC or Carry alive, while also receiving some heals when they deal damage. Works well with a "Peel" build in combination with Guardian, Font of Life and Locket of the Iron Solari.

Liandry's Torment

Liandry's Torment - Nice item against enemies who have a lot of HP like Tank or Bruisers. Adds a burning effect to your damaging spells and can counter some champions. Only downside is that it only gives HP and AP but no Mana or Ability Haste. Works well against Champions who also have some Heal if paired with Morellonomicon.

Luden's Companion

Luden's Companion - Good item to keep your distance against enemies, you dont really want close in your face, such as Renekton, Illaoi or Riven. Solves your mana problem and also gives you bit 95 AP and 25 Ability haste while also allowing you to poke enemies consistantly. Only downside is, that it gives no HP so you are rather Squishy with it.

Morellonomicon

Morellonomicon - cheap option for anti heal against enemies like Sylas, Vladimir or Soraka for example. For 2200 gold it also gives 15 Ability Haste and 90 AP, which is pretty huge.

Rabadon's Deathcap

Rabadon Deathcap - Dont need so say much here, just plays into your high AP scaling and gives you extremly high AP. KEEP IN MIND: it just increases your Damage, so you get no other benefit from it, so its an item that should be bought later.

Shadowflame

Shadowflame - Awesome Item for pure Damage. It grants you massive 120 AP and 12 Magic Penetration, aswell as adding crits to your Abilities if the enemy is below 35% HP. Downside is no HP, Mana or Ability Haste, though.

Shurelya's Battlesong

Shurelya's Battlesong - Cheap item that gives Galio everything he needs. works for either Mid or Support. It gives you Mana Regen, aswell as AP, Ability Haste and movement speed. Its active is also a movement speed increase that also benefits teammates around you. So its great for catching enemies or escaping together with your teammates.

Thornmail

Thornmail - Best item to counter everything that works with basic attacks. Build this against champs like Yone, Yasuo, Irelia or ADC's in general. Synergies well with Frozen Heart and Jak'Sho, The Protean to increase its passive damage.

Trailblazer

Trailblazer - Again a movement speed Item that can help you catch enemies and even slow them with a Colossal Smash. Your teammates are also faster, if they follow your path, but its stats are overall a bit on the weaker side. It gives no Magic Resist or Ability Haste and the Armor and HP isnt that high to begin with.

Zeke's Convergence

Zeke's Convergence - cheap, wide variety of stats that are all valuable for Galio and also gives you a AOE Aura that slows and deals damage after landing your Hero's Entrance to catch enemies more easily with Shield of Durand which can decide entire fights if played correctly.

Zhonya's Hourglass

Zhonyas Hourglass - Gives you high AP and Armor to counter some AD champs aswell as the ability to be untargetable for 2 seoncds to wait till your cooldowns are up again, or your teammates join the fight and finish off your target.

Anathema's Chains

Anathema's Chains - Can work against some serious damage source aswell as increasing your Taunt Duration to your marked target from Shield of Durand. There are some rare scenarios where I buy this item to counter just one AD or AP champ, while the rest of the enemy team deals the opposite Damage type. So lets say the enemy team has 4 AP champions but one Hecarim. You can mark Hecarim with your Anathema's and build full Magic Resist after, but thats rarely the case.

Dead Man's Plate

Dead Man's Plate - The stats are not all too great for Galio but its passive gives you some crazy movement speed, aswell as a big smack after reaching 100 stacks. Increases Smash damage even more, when paired with Heartsteel, Grasp of the Undying and somethinh like Iceborn Gauntlet or Bloodsong.

Iceborn Gauntlet

Iceborn Gauntlet - Overall great stats and a nice passive that increases your Colossal Smash damage aswell as slowing enemies in its Area. But the stats arent too high at all and its Armor only works into AD champions and not AP champions. You also still have some longer cooldowns which doesnt get that passive up more than a few times in a fight. Not bad as Item but very Situational.

Mejai's Soulstealer

Mejai's Soulstealer - I personally dont like playing with luck in my games. Dark Seal alone is pretty cheap and gives you good stats and the possibility to stack some AP, but I wouldnt finish it into Mejai's Soulstealer. It takes away one important Item Slot and if you unlucky die 1 or 2 Times you basically lost all its value. Just spend your gold on complete AP items that offer you more Options without gambling.

Randuin's Omen

Randuin's Omen - Must have against a lot of Crit based Champions like Yone, Yasuo, Lucian, Caitlyn and other ADC's that use Crit. It only really shines though, if the enemies have around 3 of these Champions. In most cases Frozen Heart is just the better version of the 2. It gives Ability Haste, reduces attack speed and is cheaper than Randuin's.

Spirit Visage

Spirit Visage - Good overall Stats, that give you everything you need. Not only does it increase your Shield of Durand passive shield, but with the right Build it can increase many different shields and heals, such as Grasp of the Undying, Rod of Ages, Fimbulwinter, Unending Despair,etc.

Stormsurge

Stormsurge - This item, unfortunately, got nerfed way too hard. Its stats are still pretty nice, but overall you got better AP options with Lich Bane and Shadowflame. Its not good enough too build early in the game. If you want full damage and the game takes long enough you can build it later after you purchased Rabadon's Deathcap.

Void Staff

Void Staff - Increases your damage potential a lot and makes you able to oneshot squishys, but Cryptbloom is just the better version. Void Staff only adds raw damage, while Cryptbloom also gives you Ability Haste and a AOE Heal of Elimination. KEEP IN MIND: It only adds damage and nothing else, so build it later into the game.

Unending Despair

Unending Despair - Not a bad item perse, it just doesnt offer that much compared to other options like Jak'Sho, The Protean or Thornmail. If you want a heavy Bruiser build with a lot of healing and sustain, it can definetly work, but its passive cooldown is 7 seconds, which is quite long, when you are in the heat of battle.

Malignance

Malignance - Yes it solves your Mana Problems. Yes It gives 80 Ability Power and 25 Ability haste which is huge. Yes it also reduces your Hero's Entrance cooldown. But its passive doesnt really benefit from your Ult. You wont deal that much damage with the AOE. Just buy Luden's Companion which is almost the same, but gives more Value.

Redemption

Redemption - Yes its more an enchanter Item, but if you want to fully keep your teammates alive and peel your ADC pretty hard, you can buy this Item last, if the game is already that long. It Works pretty well, if you got Revitalize, Guardian, Locket of the Iron Solari, Font of Life and Knight's Vow, so its an option.

Warmog's Armor

Warmog's Armor - Its just straight up HP. Yes it works into your Shield of Durand and items like Sunfire Aegis/ Hollow Radiance, etc. but its passive effect is not useful in any Scenarios really. The difference between Heartsteel and this item is, that Heartsteel lets you stack even more HP aswell as letting you smash enemies for a lot of damage, while Warmog just gives HP and nothing really else. You need some resistances in your Game or you will just melt like butter.

Here im gonna show you some Games I had and my thought process which Build I went and why.

Game Example #1:



Here I was filled Top against a Garen and of course I picked Galio. The enemy team has quite a lot of % Max Health Damage in form of Garen's Demacian Justice, Anivia with Liandry's Torment, Kaisa with Second Skin and Maokai with Bramble Smash. Therefore a Tank build wouldnt make that much of a sense here. I looked at my team and saw that we had enough frontline potential already with Thresh, Jarvan IV and Swain. So I decided to go AP. I dont really want a Garen too close to me, so I took Arcane Comet and build Luden's Companion first, to poke him from a distance with Winds of War and kept my Justice Punch and Shield of Durand if he got too close.

My team was doing fine with their lanes so I decided to not roam that much, and just deny the push Garen forced on my Lane. With my Build here I could keep the minions away from my tower, without getting melted my a Garen Combo. Eventually Garen had to leave the Lane to defend his base. I pushed quickly, got the tower, and joined my Mates in the teamfight. In the end, my team was too strong, Garen couldnt splitpush anymore and we just had one big last teamfight where we focused Kaisa and Anivia and this won us the Game.


Game Example #2:



Here I laned against a Katarina. The enemy team has no Anti Tank Champion despite Maokais Bramble Smash and laning against a Katarina is pretty easy. Therefore I can easily go my standard Full Tank Build and get stacks on Heartsteel and Grasp of the Undying without too much effort. We might be lacking some AP damage, but with my Sunfire Aegis and Abyssal Mask in combination with the damage Karma on botlane, we had enough AP damage anyways.

Not much to say here. I bullied Katarina pretty hard by just using Colossal Smash + Heartsteel + Grasp of the Undying and kept either my Shield of Durand or Justice Punch to interupt her Death Lotus. I got fed too hard and couldnt be killed rather early in the game. In the End I just charged in the fight, tanked pretty much everything and my team just had to follow and kill them while I absorbed most of the damage.


Game Example #3:



Here I was put on Support with a Ryze as ADC (for some reason). The lane matchup against Smolder and Janna is pretty hard, since Smolder just stacks his Dragon Practice from a safe distance, while Janna can keep me at distance with her Howling Gale and Monsoon.

Because there wasnt much I could do here, I told Ryze to just farm and keep the wave away from our Turret and started roaming pretty early as soon as I hit level 3 to get all my abilites. At first I roamed Mid and got my Taliyah a kill since the Stun combo between Galio and Taliyah is just too much for Cassiopeia. After that I helped my Kha'Zix with the Scuttle Crab and managed to kill Viego as he tried to contest it. I recalled and instantly went Top, as soon as my Olaf hit Level 6, and we managed to kill Aatrox too.

At this point the game was pretty much done. Ryze could easily farm on bot, I rotated between each lane every now and then, placed Vision in the enemy jungle and catched everyone who wasnt directly under their Turret.


Game Example #4:



Here I was once again filled on Toplane, but that wont stop me from playing my Boy. As soon as I saw the Lucian Top though, I knew this game will be disgusting. Despite Blitzcranks base Damage and the Hybird Build on Azir Midlane, they were full AD with Lucian and Tristana as ADC and Kha'Zix as Assassin. So I went for the Frozen Heart, Plated Steelcaps and Thornmail Strat.

Early game against Lucian is pretty hard. He will deny most of your Farm and can kill you pretty quickly with his DPS while also keeping the Distance due to Relentless Pursuit. I didnt even tried to fight or poke him, and solely focused on getting as much Gold as possible without dying unnecessary. I started with Doran's Shield and Second Wind and just bought my items.

As soon as I finished my Frozen Heart first, I could start playing a bit less defensive. The Mana allowed me to poke Lucian just a bit and push my wave so I could start roaming or help my team in general. My Volibear was doing the Void Grubs and Lucian was moving to him, aswell as Kha'zix. I Hero's Entrance Volibear and could easily force them both of this Objective, since they couldnt kill me so fast with Frozen Heart and Plated Steelcaps. Volibear joined the fight and we easily could kill both, with me getting both kills. I could finish my Thornmail and at this point I could just run Lucian down without much effort. I pushed and got both Top Turrets and joined my team for Dragon fights and pushing the other lanes. Azir was kept out of the game, so now there was no one who could deal that much damage to me so we just ran them down and finished the game easily at this point.


In General, if you are uncertain what to do in your Game, I would recommend rather playing safe and getting as much Gold as possible, or start roaming, if the game allows it, than forcing yourself into a matchup youre uncertain with. Its better to just Recall back in base, and playing Safe then feeding your enemy and making it harder for your team. Have patience. As I mentioned before, no matter which part of the game your in, you will always be useful.