Hello guys, Rengarisbooty here, and I'm excited to bring you a guide that will show you exactly how I personally prefer to play Rengar! I've been one-tricking this champion since season 5, and at one point was the rank 7 Rengar in NA and the rank 89 Rengar in the world. I know literally EVERYTHING there is to know about this champion, so believe me when I say that you can trust me. Now, I know that my profile says I'm diamond, but I'm actually a master-tier player. Sadly, I decayed back to diamond because I got too busy with work and school, but I'm going to get back on the grind once the second split for the ranked season starts, and when that happens I'll be pushing for grandmaster, and this is the build I'm going to be using to try to get there! Before we begin, as a disclaimer this guide is very in-depth, so grab some snacks, and be prepared to read gamer. Anyway, without further adieu, let's get into the meat and potatoes of this guide!

Rengar is notorious for being an assassin who will one-shot your carries when they least expect it, however this is actually much harder to do in practice than you might realize. See, there are so many items and team comps that hard counter Rengar, thus preventing him from ever being able to do his job. A lot of assassins have that problem, but your typical assassin will have escapes/mobility to help make up for their weaknesses. Rengar on the other hand does not have these things... his mobility is conditional, and he has virtually no escape tools. That said, he has to commit to the fight, and unless he's absurdly far ahead it's usually not going to go very well. That said, he struggles really hard in team fights, which forces him into a position where he has to split push, which he is admittedly quite good at on account of the fact that he can take towers very quickly and can typically get away no problem should he be getting collapsed on, but if you're jungling you're the one who's carrying smite, which means you're pressured to show up to objectives, and since Rengar sucks in teamfights it's a bit of a lose-lose situation. Some Rengar mains try to remedy this by going top lane instead of jungle, but if I'm to be completely honest Rengar sucks in top lane. He has far too many bad matchups to truly be considered a true top laner. That said, he only works against people who don't understand the matchup or as a situational counterpick. Otherwise, he functions much better in the jungle, which is what he was actually designed for.

Anyway, the aformentioned issues he has are going to be further exacerbated starting in patch 13.14. That said, the crit conversion ratio on his Q will be lowered from 95% down to 75%. Crit will still do more damage than lethality, but at the same time the damage will be noticably lower. Meanwhile, bruiser Rengar will be completely unaffected. In fact, the bruiser build is only going to be stronger next patch since Spirit Visage and Sterak's Gage are getting buffed along side Randuin's Omen. So while it's a huge nerf for assassin Rengar, it's a slight buff for bruiser Rengar. Speaking of which:

There are several reasons. First off, you get to take Conqueror as your keystone and you're also going to have a lot more HP, sustain, and resistances. Because of this, your early game becomes 10x better, you can skirmish more easily, AND you also become a monster in teamfights, which is where Rengar usually struggles the most. That said, this build opens up a ton of options that you otherwise wouldn't have. You can play front-to-back, dive the backline, engage, peel, stall for time, burn cooldowns while soaking damage for your allies, and on top of all of that you can STILL assassinate squishy targets as well as split push, meaning you can do everything assassin Rengar can plus much, much more. With this build, Rengar essentially becomes a superior version of Nocturne, hence the fact he's way more difficult to kill, doesn't fall off nearly as hard, and has a ton of outplay potential. Finally, while being behind on any champion is far from ideal, this version of Rengar isn't exactly feast or famine, meaning even if you're a tad bit behind you can still provide your team with a lot of value! Not to mention bruiser Rengar is arguably more snowbally than the assassin version, because he still does plenty of damage, but is also much harder to kill, which means it becomes harder for the enemy team to collect his shutdown bounty. Additionally, on average I deal more damage with bruiser Rengar than with the full-damage version by virtue of staying alive longer and being able to take more fights, and if you take the time to perfect this playstyle you'll probably be able to say the same thing. If all of this sounds appealing to you, I strongly suggest giving this build a shot!

Rengar doesn't have the best early game, but that doesn't mean he's weak either, and with Conqueror as your keystone your early game will actually become quite potent! So much so that you can go toe-to-toe even which skirmishers such as Lee Sin, Xin Zhao, Graves, and etc. Champions that you otherwise couldn't touch, and because your early game will be deadlier than normal the opposing jungler will be forced to think twice before invading you. Anyway, with all that being established, you have 4 options during the early game: full clear, counter-gank, gank, or invade. If the matchup is favorable and you have prio, you can easily invade at level three. Most junglers won't stand a chance against you in a 1v1, so take advantage of this! Also, spam ping your teammates to follow you to guarentee a successful invade. That can easily lead to a kill or at the very least lead to a small advantage in the form of stealing a camp. However, if you don't have prio the best thing you can do is full clear. Just make sure you watch out for invades. With that being established, full-clearing and invading 9/10 are going to be your best options. However, while Rengar may not be the best at ganking pre-six, that doesn't mean you can't gank. For example, if you start red, do your krugs, then go to your raptors, you might be able to get 4 stacks, go straight mid, then buffer your bola with flash for a free kill. Rengar is also exceptionally good at lane-ganking top and bot lane due to his passive, so try to take advantage of lanes that are pushing up. Finally, Rengar is also great at counter ganking given the potency of his early game, so try to track the enemy jungler, evaluate your lane states, and attempt to predict where the enemy jungler is going to be. If you are able to predict correctly, that can easily net you a lead that you can snowball to victory!

This is when Rengar is at his strongest. By this point in the game you should have 3, 4, or even 5 stacks on your Bonetooth Necklace, which translates to lots of free attack damage. Not to mention you'll have your ultimate coupled with lots of ability haste, which means you can gank like crazy now! That said, try your best to secure objectives with your team, while also denying the enemy jungler of their camps. Once again, if you're invading and you have prio, communicate with your teammates and get them to help you for insurance. The same concept applies to objectives. Spam ping your teammates to help you if you have prio to maximize your chances of success. However, if you don't have prio, it's probably best to give up the objective in favor of farming or going for a pick. But the last thing you should do is throw your life away for an objective your team doesn't need which is especially true if you have a shutdown bounty. Not only will you likely be donating free resources to the enemy team, but that's also a great way to lose tempo, both of which are no bueno. That said, you should only attempt to steal game-winning objects (Baron, Elder Drake, and Dragon Soul). Otherwise, forget about it. As a side note, you should also try make a pick before trying to secure an objective, something which Rengar is exceptionally good at courtesy of his ultimate. You can also use it to gather information on where the enemy team is. Finally, don't forget to time your smite with your Q, as this can effectively increase your smite damage.

Ideally you would have taken full control of the map and ended the game by now, but let's just say the game has gone on longer than expected, which is bound to happen from time-to-time. What now? Well, you have two options friendino: either split push, or fight with your team. Normally you would always do the former, but with the bruiser build you can do both no problem! That said, try to get deep vision, and always watch your minimap in addition to paying attention to your team's pings. So long as your remain alert, you should never get collapsed on, and even if you do you should be able to get out no problem, unless of course you're facing someone like say Camille, who's super mobile and can lock you in place. Most of the time though, you can either get free towers, or at the very least force a response. If that happens, you can roam to your team with your ultimate for a temporary 4v5, and the only way the enemy can respond to you at that point is if they have teleport or are using someone who can match your rotations such as Pantheon, Galio, Twisted Fate, or Quinn. With that in mind, your team should be pushing mid while you push a side lane of your choice. However, you also have to keep in mind what objectives are up. For example, if the baron is up, it's probably not a good idea for you to push bot lane assuming you're on the red side of the map. And of course, if a major objective is up, DO NOT GET CAUGHT OUT!!! It's bad emough when that happens to anybody on your team, but it's especially bad when that happenes to the person who's carrying smite. Seriously, that's how games are thrown. Also, bear in mind that Rengar is really good at back-dooring, so if the enemy team is doing Baron for example, the correct play might be to try to end the game while your teammates stall for time rather than trying to contest it.

Anyway, now that we've touched on split pushing, let's talk teamfighting! As I explained earlier in this guide, bruiser Rengar is an absolute unit in teamfights. He may not immediately do as much damage as the assassin variant, but he still hurts quite a bit. Not to mention he can act as a front liner, diver, and assassin, and he can flex between these options depending on the situation at hand. Do note however that teamfighting with Rengar is best done in the jungle where he'll have access to brush, but of course if you have Senna or better yet Ivern on your team, you can effectively teamfight no matter where you are on the map!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this guide! If you would like to see this build in action, feel free to leave a comment saying that you would like to see me stream. I'm currently not streaming, but if that's what the people want then that's what the people shall get!