Ivern Build Guide by TricolorStar

Getting to the Root of Things: Ivern's Abilities

Passive: Friend of the Forest

Ivern loves jungle monsters and would never harm them. Instead, he sets them free! Clicking on any jungle camp creates a grove using some of Ivern's health and mana. The grove matures over time; when fully grown it can be clicked on again to free the camp's denizens, granting Ivern gold and XP. Smiting a camp with a grove on it instantly sends the monsters to safety.

After level five, the Green Father creates copies of the red and blue buff whenever he frees the Red Brambleback or Blue Sentinel—they'll leave behind a sapling which can be picked up by allies.

This passive is great for setting up jungle clearing but has some serious drawbacks. Because you use up most of your HP and mana by creating your groves, you are incredibly vulnerable to counter jungling after you've set a few up. A good strategy is to set up groves, claim them if possible, recall, then set up more groves. As you level up, the groves will take less and less time to grow (from 40 seconds at lvl 1 to only 6 seconds at lvl 18). Sharing buffs with your allies is very important, so after lvl 5 make sure they know you're leaving them a blue or red sapling. You can smite a camp to instantly claim the grove before it's done growing, and you should use that on the Red Brambleback to regain health and continue setting groves. Groves do not time out, so it is okay to set them up, recall, then claim them once you get back to the jungle.

Q: Rootcaller

Ivern shoots out a ropey root that deals magic damage and (as you'd expect) roots the first enemy it hits. Allies who use a basic attack on the rooted target will automatically dash to get within attack range.

This ability is very important to understand. When an ally clicks the root, they are immediately pulled into their current attack range. This means if Kayle has her Righteous Fury activated, she will be land farther away than normal since her attack range at that time is much larger than her regular range. The same goes for champions like Kog'Maw ( Bio-Arcane Barrage), Gnar ( Rage Gene), Jayce ( Mercury Hammer) or Twitch ( rat-ta-tat-tat). Tristana's Draw a Bead means that her pull range for Rootcaller will become increased over time.

W: Brushmaker

Passive: When hiding in brush, Ivern's basic attacks have increased magic damage and range. This effect lasts for a couple seconds after Ivern leaves the brush.

Active: Ivern creates a patch of brush, temporarily revealing the area around it. The amount of brush created is slightly greater if it's placed near a wall or any other brush. The Green Father's grassy patches disappear on their own after a moderate delay.

When Ivern creates brush with Brushmaker it behaves exactly like normal brush does. All units are stealthed when inside it unless warded. Slightly more brush will grow if Brushmaker is cast near walls or other patches of brush, creating a seamless forest. Up to three charges of Brushmaker can be stored to instantly grow an entire field of cover. Stealth-based abilities like Teemo's camouflage or Rengar's Unseen Predator operate normally.

When inside brush, Ivern's basic attacks gain a larger range and gain bonus magic damage. This lasts for approximately 2.5 seconds when you exit brush and will refresh upon reentry. Remember: You will not be pulled into your melee range by Rootcaller if you have recently exited brush due to your changed attack range.

E: Triggerseed

Ivern places a protective seed onto his ally, granting them a shield. After a short delay the seed explodes, damaging and slowing all nearby enemies.

Probably Ivern's most straight-forward ability, Triggerseed let's you peel effortlessly for allies due to it's shield and slow upon detonation. Like all shields, it works with Mikael's Crucible and Ardent Censer. Triggerseed can also be cast on Daisy! to make your enemy's life just a little harder. The shield and damage from the detonation can be very heavy mid/late-game, so use this ability often!

R: Daisy!

Ivern summons Daisy, an enormous sentinel who loves hugs. Daisy scampers around joyfully, knocking up Ivern's target after a few hits. Ivern can recast this ability to direct his boisterous friend toward new targets. She'll hang around until her hankering for hugs has been satisfied, or until her health bar is depleted.

Daisy! is the cutest monster ever made and she just loves hugs. She is very similar to Annie's Summon: Tibbers, and she lasts for 60 seconds or until she is destroyed by an enemy. She can be redirected like most summons by pressing R and a direction. Daisy!'s three-hit knockup can be used for Yasuo's Last Breath, but it does have a 1 second cooldown between knockups.

Advanced Technique 1: These Roots Were Made for Walking

When the match starts, you can easily steal the enemy's Red or Blue buff in less than a second using a combination of Rootcaller and Friend of the Forest. Decide which the enemy jungler needs more, Red or Blue, then wait behind the wall until it spawns. Ward to check for enemies, then Rootcaller into the camp, activate Friend of the Forest, Smite it, then leave. Boom, you just stole their most important camp.

Junglers that use Red: Shaco, Xin Zhao, Jax, Lee Sin, Master Yi, Pantheon, Shyvana, Tryndamere, Twitch, Udyr, Volibear, Warwick

Junglers that use Blue: Amumu, Morgana, Zyra, Taliyah, Kindred, Evelynn, Fiddlesticks, Elise

Advanced Technique 2: Crouching Ivern, Hidden Dragon

By using Brushmaker's 3 charges, Ivern can actually hide the dragon in his personal garden of brush. This forces the enemies to actually face check it and gives you the stealth advantage. Always be sure to hide the dragon when you're taking it so you can make it harder for the enemy team to contest. The same is true for Baron Nashor and Rift Herald.

Bark vs. Bite: Ivern's Pros and Cons

Pros:
- Very efficient jungle clearing after the first round
- Amazing peel potential with Triggerseed
- AoE knockup and disruption from Daisy!
- Can share buffs with Friend of the Forest
- Can hide allies and make escapes with Brushmaker
- Can make plays and engages with Rootcaller

Cons:
- Very prone to counter jungling
- Fairly squishy early on
- Brushmaker works for enemies too
- No movement abilities aside from Rootcaller's secondary effect (and that brings you closer to enemies)

Ivern has the advantage when his spells are rotated competently. You will always have the upper hand if you manage Friend of the Forest correctly. Careful placement of Brushmaker is key so your enemies to capitalize.

The Fruit Doesn't Fall Far: Itemization

Rylai's Crystal Scepter
This synergizes very well with either an aggressive Ivern player or a classic support-ish Ivern. Since your autoattacks count as abilities when empowered by Brushmaker, you can apply the slow many times over and lockdown opponents with Rootcaller and Triggerseed.

Lich Bane
This item suits an aggressive Ivern more than any other. The Spellblade passive applies to you Brushmaker autoattacks, dealing a lot of damage with every spell rotation.

Rod of Ages
A staple for the classic Ivern player. This item grants lots of tankiness and HP/MP, and is very cost effective. It pays for itself (literally). However, the downside to this item is that if you decide to buy it, you must prioritize it so you can get the stacks as quick as possible.

Luden's Echo
Increased movement speed and the AoE bounce passive is great when paired with Brushmaker.

Rabadon's Deathcap
Only for an aggressive Ivern player, and only if you're ahead and ready to rock. The extra AP makes your Brushmaker attacks hurt.

Locket of the Iron Solari
A nice item for classic Ivern. The Aegis aura helps during teamfights and the teamwide shield works very well with Triggerseed.

Banner of Command
Another nice classic Ivern item. Since you will be wandering through many lanes, this combined with Zz'Rot Portal let lanes push themselves while you worry about helping your teammates.

Feel free to mix and match offensive and defensive items depending on the situation!

WiP!