Hey what's up? This is my guide for support Galio. Galio isn't a very commonly played champ, but one of the most interesting nonetheless. While he's usually played as a mage tank top or mid, his kit offers some great options for support. With a ranged poke with slow, a shield (ish), a speed buff, and an AoE taunt, Galio can poke, run, and engage effectively while protecting his team.

He's not usually played support, and that's definitely for a reason. He is a SITUATIONALLY good support. Due to his passive, Runic Skin's conversion of MR into AP, Galio is best when playing against ADCs who are partially AP-based. This means folks like Corki, Ezreal, Kog'Maw, stuff like that. Another instance in which to pick him is if the enemy team has a lot (like a LOT a lot) of AP. We're talking top laners like Rumble and Kennen, junglers like Diana and Fiddlesticks, any mid mage, and an AP support. Galio is very good at protecting his ADC, engaging, and chasing and running.

Pros

+ Bulwark gives temporary armor and MR to an ally while healing you + Easy to land poke in Resolute Smite + Get allies out or in with Righteous Gust + Idol of Durand is an AMAZING teamfight or lane killing ultimate + Runic Skin doesn't require you to build AP to do damage + Great against mostly-AP teams + Good roamability

Cons

+ Doesn't focus on building armor, so bad against mostly-AD teams + Ultimate can be interrupted if placed badly + Mana problems early + Shield doesn't give grey health + Abilities have pretty long cooldowns

Exhaust

A standard support spell. Although you do have a slow in Resolute Smite, it is relatively short lasting and Resolute Smite has a pretty hefty cooldown. Exhaust provides a longer, more reliable slow.

Flash

Standard for most champions. On Galio, its most useful purpose is to get in position for Idol of Durand, and a Flash-ult engage on Galio is deadly.

Ignite

This is good if you're with an ADC with low burst. Upon engaging, just Ignite the target to get rid of that little notch of heath that the ADC is unable to get due to low burst.

Heal

Basically take if your ADC doesn't take Heal, which they almost always should.



Very rare. Only take this if your team has low mobility AND no one else took Teleport.

Passive: Runic Skin
Half of your MR gets converted into AP. This is an amazing passive, as you can build as a tanky, anti-mage support while simultaneously building up AP due to the Magic Resist that you gain from such items as Locket of the Iron Solari and Mikael's Blessing. This also makes him one of the best champs, if not the best, against a majority AP team.

Q: Resolute Smite
This "skillshot" is amazing for poke, as it is a ground-target AoE cast (compare to [{Twitch]]'s Venom Cask, or Lux's Lucent Singularity. This makes it easier to land on enemies for more reliable poke. It also slows whoever it lands on (40% at max rank), which makes it a good tool for kiting or chasing.

W: Bulwark
Although it's not a "shield" in the traditional sense (that sense being like Eye of the Storm or Help, Pix!), it is just as effective. This ability boosts the MR and armor of a targeted allied champion (even yourself). It also heals you for a percentage of damage taken by the shielded ally. This provides you (and your ADC) with great lane sustain and defense, as well as insurance for engaging. LIVE MY SON! (Note: since it gives MR, at max rank it also give you (if cast on yourself) 45 AP for the duration!)

E: Righteous Gust
Don't take it for the damage. Take it for the movespeed. This pass-through skillshot leaves behind a trail (of wind) that buffs the movespeed of allies who pass in it in the direction that it went (I.E. if you shoot it up, allies in the stream will get movespeed buffs moving up). This is a great tool for getting in and out of fights, and is great for roam mobility.

R: Idol of Durand
Bread and butter, baby. A channeled AoE taunt that is absolutely terrifying in teamfights. The good news is, you don't even need to do damage to win a teamfight! All your team needs to do is kill the enemy carries during the ult and bam. However, be wary when you ult. Its cooldown is relatively long compared to other support ults, and it can be interrupted by anything from a Blitzcrank pull to a Janna tornado.

eye of the equinox Eye of the Equinox
This allows you to have more items while combining the stats of Face of the Mountain with the utility of Sightstone.

face of the mountain Face of the Mountain
You already have a protective spell in Bulwark, but take this if you feel that you need that extra protection for your team.

Boots of Mobility
These combined with Righteous Gust gives your mobility and roam a huge boost.

Boots of Swiftness
Probably the best boots for consistent speed. Also reduces slows, which enemy supports/some ADCs are prone to having.

Mercury's Treads
Some nice MR to help Runic Skin convert.

Ruby Sightstone
You should't upgrade your Sightstone until later in the game, but still remember to utilize it and ward regularly while in lane and while roaming. Hotspots include the area between the dragon pit and the bot side river brush, the place between the blue/red buffs and gromp (for blue) or raptors (for red), and the tri-brushes.

Locket of the Iron Solari
Note: Do not take if your jungler has one. The health is always useful, as is the MR (especially on Galio, but the real benefits of Locket of the Iron Solari are the Aegis of the Legion passive (which gives MR to nearby teammates), and the active team-wide shield. If your team keeps getting blown up before your eyes, take it and remember to activate it in teamfights.

Banner of Command
Similar to Locket of the Iron Solari, take Banner of Command if your team is pretty squishy with low wave clear or push power. You don't have to be the primary tank to take this item.

Righteous Glory
This helps a lot with your mana problems (which are not to be underestimated) due to the Catalyst the Protector aspect, and it also helps immensely with tanking up as well as with your already strong engage, disengage, chase and run.

Zeke's Harbinger
If your ADC is doing well and can scale well throughout the mid or late game, take this to help with that (remember to bind to your ADC). It also gives armor to help against the enemy ADC, and AP to help with your poke and survivability.

Mikael's Crucible
Take this is enemy CC keeps on locking down your carries. Examples when this is useful are if someone gets hit by such abilities as Nautilus' Depth Charge, Zyra's Stranglethorns, or other types of enemy knockups or stuns. Also gives MR and Mana Regen, both are amazing on Galio.

Banshee's Veil
Another good item on Galio, take Banshee's Veil which tanks you up nicely, gives some MR for your Runic Skin, and its passive gives some sweet insurance from executes.

Zz'Rot Portal
A good defensive item as well as a good offensive one. The MR and Armor both help immensely with your defense, and the active is great for either trolling or split pushing.

Randuin's Omen
Good for a nice chunk of health and armor, which helps your tank factor. Also, the active helps during chases and teamfights, and the passive decreases crit damage.

Warmog's Armor
Giant chunk of health. Take this if you end up having to tank a lot or have carries that require a lot of peel to do anything in a fight.

Abyssal Scepter
Take this if the enemy team has a lot of AP (which they likely will if you chose Galio, or if they're building a lot of MR. The passive from Abyssal Mask helps out your mages a lot in chunking down enemies.

Great This synergy comes from Ezreal's amazing ability to reposition with Arcane Shift. With this, he can shift into position (to focus down an enemy ADC when you ult, for example, or when you get a Resolute Smite or Exhaust slow when chasing) to get kills. Also, with Iceborn Gauntlet, his chase synergizes well with yours.

Great Like Ezreal, Lucian can reposition fast with Relentless Pursuit, and his ultimate, The Culling, is great to use when chasing or ulting. Also, he has a lot of follow up damage to ensure kills when you can lock someone down.

Great Unlike Ezreal and Lucian, Kog'Maw can't reposition very well. However, Galio can make up for this with a Righteous Gust, enabling him to get into a position to completely destroy the competition when Galio uses Idol of Durand. MELTEDDDDD. His chase is also strong with Void Ooze.

Good Your ult and his ult ( Chain of Corruption) synergize really well together. In more cases than not, it leads to a perma-CC and death. However, without any CDR items, Piercing Arrow will be on cooldown too long to secure the kills. Unlike Lucian and Ezreal, he has little follow up without CDR, so he should be sure to get an Essence Reaver or Youmuu's Ghostblade.

Good Like Varus, her ultimate, the aptly named Enchanted Crystal Arrow (probably because it's a giant crystal arrow that's probably enchanted), works amazingly with yours. They can be used in either order, but while it's probably easier to land Ashe's first, that could result in you getting the kills, which we don't want, so try to land yours. She has low mobility and escape, however.

Good Wait! Her ult doesn't synergize perfectly with yours? What's that? Her E? That's right. She just needs to lay Flame Chompers! down underneath the taunted enemy and whittle them down. This allows for an easy kill, or maybe one needing to be secured with a Super Mega Death Rocket!. Be sure to let her know to wait for after a possible enemy flash to shoot it. Her movespeed buff thanks to Get Excited! helps with chase/run, but other than that, she's immobile.

Good Her ultimate, Fate's Call, obviously works well with yours. Thank goodness, because without an enemy wave to jump up, she doesn't have a ton of mobility. But anyway, she just needs to auto into your ult and Rend when the end is nigh.

Good Unless she Buster Shots someone into you, it'll be mostly on you to get Idol of Durand off. Once you do though, Explosive Charge can chunk the taunted targets really effectively. Remember to target the ADC!

Good This synergy basically lies in her ult's ability to dismantle everybody (MF ULT OP). Her E, Make it Rain, actually helps you get in range for your ultimate a lot (MF E + Exhaust or Resolute Smite = easy ult. After that though, she doesn't have a lot of follow up.

Good Yet again, ult synergy. Rat-Ta-Tat-Tat can dismantle the already taunted enemy, and after Idol of Durand ends, Twitch can just Contaminate to execute. You also make his chase strong.

Good Within the duration of a taunt, Graves can probably get off both autos, End of the Line, and Collateral Damage (which is to be used as an execute). Be sure that the enemy is already fairly low before engaging, or your burst may not kill. Also, a Smoke Screen onto a taunted target can really wreak havoc.

Good Her wombo on Idol of Durand is great. Just throw a Piltover Peacemaker, drop a Yordle Snap Trap to get a headshot, shoot the 90 Caliber Net for ANOTHER headshot, and Ace in the Hole to execute. However, her chase, where Galio is strong, is fairly weak without an ult.

Good On The Hunt can get you into position for a good ult, which in turn can help her skillshot and subsequent autos land. Yay kills! Without her ult, though, her chase/run is weak and she's a tad weaker than other, more hypercarry-ish ADCs.

Good His burst is great, so he can get a lot of damage off during Idol of Durand. With [{Valkyrie]], he's good at securing kills and chasing (like you!). His Special Delivery can also set up your ultimate well.

Ok She can do damage thanks to the auto-marks from Blinding Assault and Vault, but once those are burned, it's usually hard to get off a Behind Enemy Lines to continue to chase, which makes her securing of kills pretty eh. Good engage, but low follow-up, all in all.

Ok If your ult had more position-moving peel, Vayne would be great. However, it's hard to Condemn someone into a wall if they could just be pushed out of the taunt by it.

Ok His Q chunks, but to be honest it's better when he's chasing or kiting, as the catches aren't all over the place, so he'll have a hard time doing damage during Idol of Durand. Your chase can get kills for him, but unless your Draven is a god at duel wielding Spinning Axes, you'll have a pretty tough time.