Welcome to my Wukong guide! This being my first guide, I hope you'll be patient as I learn to code and take time to update things. I would like to emphasize that this guide is under construction. I hope you'll find this guide useful, and I would love to see your Wukong builds and scores! If you are a beginning Wukong player, I would suggest using the second build I've given here to help you succeed as you get used to playing the Monkey King.

Wukong is an AD Bruiser that uses high mobility and deception to beat his opponents. Highly skilled Wukong players can usually ensure a small number of deaths per game using a number of his tricks. Although Wukong is somewhat dependent on farm for items, he is a solid choice because of his ability to focus down carries in team fights and create chaos using his ultimate. He should be played in the top lane normally, although there are exceptions to this.

+ High Damage output without having to build all damage + ALL of his skills are fun to use and useful for yourself and your team. + Very Annoying in lane, in ganks, and in team fights + Passive Stone Skin is underestimated in team fights and ganks + Only champion able to use the "Stop" key for useful applications + Skilled players can easily turn a game around, even if they lost their lane + Large number of tricks for players to master

- Farm Dependent - Counterpicked easily (true for many champions) - No natural lane sustain (e.g. Gangplank's Remove Scurvy) - Badly timed Cyclone results in death - Turrets, Vision Ward, and Oracle's Elixir reveal the true Wukong - Using Warrior Trickster too early can leave you without an escape - Takes time to master

Runes

The runes I have selected for the main builds are pretty straightforward.

Marks- Armor Penetration is always nice to have because it allows you to do damage even if the enemy starts to build armor against you.
Seals- Armor is good to have because many times your top lane opponent will be another AD Bruiser, such as Riven.
Glyphs- Because you are an offtank, eventually you will end up taking some damage during team fights. This will help you survive against magic damage from their AP carry, who may decide that it is a good idea to take you out of the fight to avoid your knock-up and general face-bashing.
Quints- Physical Damage is also nice to have because it gives you more initial damage that will help you in laning phase.

---

Masteries
Defense Tree. Generally, Wukong should take at least 9 points in Defense even if you want 21 in Offense. This being said, you normally want to take at least 9 points in Offense for the extra armor penetration.

Passive: Stone Skin[/b]- Wukong gains bonus Armor and Magic Resist for each nearby enemy champion. Often overlooked, and now available as a mastery for S3, this ability will help you survive on countless occasions. This gives you a tiny bit of extra survivability in lane and ganks, but it helps enormously to survive a team fight. Because Wukong becomes a primary target during his ultimate, Stone Skin will help you shrug off damage in team fights.

Crushing Blow- Wukong's next basic attack gains attack range and smashes the enemy in the face, dealing moderate damage, lowering armor, resetting the attack counter and applying on-hit effects. To maximize your damage out-put, use this immediately after a basic attack before landing your other abilities. Using this on an AD Carry or AP Carry will make them very easy to take down afterwards. At high levels, the cooldown is very short but never costs any more mana.

Warrior Trickster- Wukong's signature ability grants him stealth while leaving behind a fake Monkey King directly where he was when W was pushed. After 1.5 seconds, the Decoy spins, dealing AoE magic Damage and revealing the real Wukong. Great way to finish a trade by allowing the Decoy to absorb damage and escape. If you initiate a team fight, this can be the difference because allowing the decoy to soak up damage will allow team members to fight without the fear of enemy abilities, who probably would have used them on the Decoy. See the Advance Techniques for even more fun.

Nimbus Strike- Wukong dashes with two clones to a nearby enemy, dealing damage to that enemy and 2 nearby ones. This also increases Wukong's attack speed following the dash. In lane, a basic trade combo is E, regular attack, Q, W. This allows you to get close and deal damage to an enemy without taking very much in return.

Cyclone- Wukong gains movement speed that decreases over a few seconds and spins in a circle, dealing AoE damage and knocking up nearby enemies one time during each ultimate. While in this form, Wukong cannot use any of his other abilities, exposing him to the enemy team. A really good team initiate is E, W, Q (on a carry), R because it will focus the enemy team onto the Decoy and then allow you to knock all of them up that are nearby.


Skill Priority

Grabbing E at level 1 will maximize your damage for a level 1 trade. Place points in your ultimate whenever possible. Putting points into Crushing Blow does not increase its damage, it only lowers the cooldown. Putting points into Nimbus Strike increases its damage, but also its mana cost. This means that the decision between putting points in Q or E first is challenging. Leveling up Warrior Trickster first is not advisable because it deals magic damage and scales with AP, even though it lowers the cooldown. Generally, I max both Q and E by level 13 and level them based on how my lane is progressing.

I'm not going to go into specific items very much in this section. I will say that brutilizer, Phage, and Sheen are the best damage items that you can buy for Wukong. With the main build, Black Cleaver will allow your Abilities to lower armor and deal tons of damage. Sheen works with Wukong's Q ability, letting it and some of your basic attacks deal tons of damage. Phage is always good for the slowing passive, as well as the health and AD.

Because of Wukong's Passive allows him to gain bonus armor and magic resist for entering a team fight. Therefore, stacking health on Wukong, rather than more Armor and Magic Resist, is highly beneficial. Although I did not include it in any of my builds, Atma's Impaler can be a useful item for a Wukong player that is stacking health. This being said, Wukong will never be as tanky as a champion like Amumu or Malphite while still building damage.

For Season 3, I have been using the first build because it gives you a lot of AoE damage in team fights. It also allows you to slow with your basic attacks with Frozen Mallet and slow enemies in an area with Iceborn Gauntlet.

The second build is the build that I used to use before the change to Black Cleaver. Trinity Force, the main item of this build, is an excellent item for Wukong. However, I personally do not like having to wait for over 4000 gold to come in before getting the rest of my build rolling.


Generally, the third build is not recommended at all unless you can guarantee that you will farm well and/or get fed easily. Youmuu's Ghostblade and Infinity Edge will make your damage output insane, but there is no guarantee that you will have the gold you need to make these items AND have some survivability.

AP Wukong is not recommended because most of his abilities are based on AD and you cannot spam Decoy to win.

Flash - great escape/kill securer

Ghost - same as flash, but requires time. good for tankier builds

Ignite - a small amount of extra TRUE damage never hurt

Exhaust - great for a team, bring this if no one else does (aka, if your support brings Heal, Clairvoyance or any other spell)

Teleport - good for ganking and returning to lane or against champions that excel at pushing, such as Mordekaiser

Before minions spawn:

Help your jungler get started before heading to lane if their starting path is on your side. If his path is not on your side, stand in a safe place with an eye on your other buff to alert your team to an invade. Once leashing/protecting is complete, head to lane.


Laning:

Generally, it is not a good idea to trade often as Wukong because he is somewhat mana hungry during the early game. In addition, he is also dependent on farm, so if you cannot kill your lane opponent, you will begin to fall behind. This is especially true of champions that are less item dependent, such as Darius. Skilled players can whittle down opponents without taking any damage before going in for a final burst.


Ganks:

When your jungler is ready to gank, you can trade with your opponent without using your abilities. Many times, this will make it so that Wukong will start to lose the trade, which will allow the jungler to come in for the kill. By using your abilities after the enemy begins to run, you can catch them with Nimbus Strike and maximize your combined output with crushng blow. If the enemy decides to secure the kill on you before dying, simply pop your Warrior Trickster and wait for the jungler to start some damage.

When you are getting ganked, it is a good idea NOT to panic. Saving your Warrior Trickster in lane can really pay off in a situation like this. If you are balls deep and it looks like you are going to die, remember you have Warrior Trickster and Flash. Using Nimbus Strike from the bush to minions can often work as well as using your Warrior Trickster inside of a bush. These tricks can often save you your Flash/ Ghost abilities for later use. See the Advanced Techniques section for more tricks to help you.


Team Fights:

Wukong excels at initiating team fights as well as cleaning up scraps or escaping a losing team fight. Often teams focus down the first enemy possible, which could be your Warrior Trickster if you play it right. Remember that your Stone Skin will help you survive, should you use your ultimate to allow your team to go in. Champions on your team with large AoE abilities such as Veigar, Amumu, Gangplank, or Nunu & Willump can help you if one of them initiates instead. Always use Crushing Blow on high priority targets like ezrael to help your team win the fight.

Baron/Dragon:
Unless your Jungler is Shaco or some other squishy, you should generally not be tanking Baron. Wukong can easily steal Baron by dashing to an enemy champion, popping Warrior Trickster, and using Crushing Blow on Baron at the appropriate time.
Unless your laning phases is over, you should generally not help take dragon with your team.

General:
Wukong can be used as a Jungler or a Mid Champ to counter certain opponents. His lack of sustain makes both of these roles difficult for him, however.

Crushing Blow:
1. Using Q immediately after a basic attack maximizes your damage. At higher levels during laning, it can be used to last hit in order to push the lane and allow yourself to gank mid.
2. Using Q can be a good way to escape a single opponent if you have built Frozen Mallet or Iceborn Gauntlet. The range on Q as well as the slow from your items can give you the small edge to escape.

Warrior Trickster:
1. By putting the Decoy in a bush, you become invisible with to everyone and can E/Q/R out of nowhere to catch enemies off guard and start a large burst.
2. After top laning is over, a skilled player can use Warrior Trickster to enter a bush unseen from your turret's side.
3. Putting down the Decoy and running in the direct opposite direction is often a better way of escaping than just putting it down and continuing to run.
4. The "Stop" key looks exactly the same as if you had used W, so it can be used to trick opponents into thinking the real Wukong is running away somewhere. After 1.5 seconds, you can simply walk away.
5. Decoy can be used to block certain skill shots such as Morgana's Dark Binding or Ahri's Charm, which can often be the difference between life and death.
6. If the enemy jungler comes in to dive you underneath your turret, leading with the Stop trick and then actually using the Decoy can grant you a kill, or even a Double Kill if you are lucky.

Nimbus Strike:
1. Using Nimbus Strike after a basic attack at mid levels can be used to easily farm/push a lane.
2. When running away, Nimbus Strike can be used on minions to create an extra gap between you and the enemy team.
3. If you are in the jungle and you have puchased a sight ward, throwing the ward over a wall to a jungle camp can allow you to dash to it, nearly the same as an extra Flash. An example of this is running away from Baron towards your Red Buff on the purple side. Throwing the ward over to the Double Golems will let you dash to them, possibly letting you escape. This is similar but much more limited than Lee Sin's, Jax's as well as others' advanced escapes.

Cyclone:
1. I would only use Cyclone to escape in lane from a gank IF NECESSARY. It allows you to knock up enemy champions and get a little bit of extra movement speed to get away, but then you must wait for it to go on cooldown once more.
2. Cyclone with Flash is a very effective way to get to enemy carries, especially those with gap closers like Corki, Ezreal, and Fizz.