Hello all, and thanks for taking the time to read this :) As an AD carry player, it is strange that one of my favorite champions in the game is a support. Personally, I am not that big of a fan of supporting, so when I cannot carry, I play junglers. While this build is nothing new in terms of originality, it allows you to get his support items much quicker than you would if he was supporting.

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Pros + Amazing mana and hp sustain + Decent ganks with stun, heal for ally + Lots of armor for jungling + Shatter reduces jungle creeps armor

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Cons + Relatively slow jungle clear + First clear MAY leave low health + Susceptible to counter jungling + Your role may overlap with the support

Hello all, thanks for taking the time to view this. This is my first attempt at a guide so please give me ANY criticism you can!

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Okay, so for starters you may be wondering why Taric for the jungle:
Taric, while not having the best clear time, is in my opinion, a very viable option for the jungle. His passive Gemcraft allows for him to have almost infinite sustain in the jungle when paired with Imbue. I would argue that he is very similar to some champs in terms of utility, such as Maokai so it comes down to preference. If you are a support player who has to jungle in a solo queue game, you could pick Taric because you want to play someone familiar.

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Explanation: I chose 0/9/21 for a variety or reasons. Taric has no offensive capabilities (with this build) so no points in offense are needed. The 9 points in defense are the bare minimum needed to survive the jungle. Taric is a utility tank, so putting points there make sense to me. He is naturally tanky, so no need to spec far into defense. I have seen TheOddOne run heavy support masteries on Nunu & Willump on stream before. Same idea here.

• 10 gold for using smite Extra gold when using smite? Yes, please!
• 6 armor 6 extra armor is always nice in the jungle. Especially with Shatter on cooldown.
• Scaling hp/lvl 6-108 Health per level 108 at level 18. I am a fan of high health.
• +30 flat hp The extra health in the jungle is nice. Personal preference

Alternatives: iintoi iwithi or

Rather than speccing to the +30 health from Veteran's Scars you may choose Tough Skin and Bladed Armor . This does speed your jungle up by a little bit too, but the extra health from Veteran's Scars is for ganking. Personal choice, both work.

Since you are not speccing in to Veteran's Scars , you need just two points in the second tier to unlock Bladed Armor (plus two points in Tough Skin ,) so you have a choice of putting 2 points into Vigor or Durability . The result is either 54 health at level 18 or 2 hp/5 regen. The choice also depends on your opener. If you open my regen opener, you won't need the extra regen, but if you chose to open boots or cloth, the extra regen is nice, even though it isn't alot.

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• Flash cooldown -15seconds The game is balanced around flash. Having it up 15 seconds faster is worth it.
• Scaling mana/lvl 12-216 Extra late game mana is nice. Since no ad is built, only your base amount scaling will affect Gemcraft
• 4% Movespeed One of the most valuable, and hardest stats to itemize. +12.6(base), +14.6(lvl 1 boots), +15.4(lvl 2 boots).
• 2 gold/10 seconds Take these on all tank jungle's. philosopher's stone, Heart of Gold, Greater Quintessence of Gold, and Greed total 15 gold per 10.
• 20% increased neutral buff duration Increases crest of the ancient golem and blessing of the lizard elder duration from 2:30 to 3:00. Does not affect exalted with baron nashor
• 5% extra experience gained Benefits all junglers. More so for "gank" junglers than "carry" junglers. Awareness plus the 15 gp/10 make up for slow initial clear, and time spent ganking.
• 6% cooldown reduction Not alot, but it adds up. Need Intelligence to finish Mastermind .
• 15% Summoner Spell cooldown reduction Great 21st point. Reduced smite allows wraith to red with no down time. 15% reduced cooldown on flash is great. Synergizes with Summoner's Insight .

These are the masteries I have crafted to work best. You are welcome to try anything you want, however. If you find something that you think works better, please let me know!

These are pretty standard jungle runes. I use these for most jungle tanks. They provide the protection needed for jungling, and they lead into late game via scaling, and gold generation.

• Greater Mark of Attack Speed With the armor shred from Shatter and the on hit cdr passive of Imbue, attack speed is the best choice.
• Greater Seal of Armor Despite the armor from Shatter, you could use more armor if opening Regrowth Pendant.
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist Standard on almost all champions. Combined with Mercury's Treads and an Aegis of the Legion you can survive until Spirit Visage
• Greater Quintessence of Gold Best choice for tank jungles. Work well alone, but better with more gp/10.

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Marks

• greater mark of desolation No. You have armor pen on Shatter.
• Greater Mark of Attack Damage Okay with Shatter armor pen but Imbue passive works best with attack speed.
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration While he has decent ratios, you don't build AP, so the pen is wasted. Attack speed has higher overall dps, than adding a tiny chunk of damage to Shatter, and doing nothing to Imbue. Imbue has synergy with attack speed, and none with magic pen.

Seals

• Greater Seal of Armor Hard to find an alternative to Greater Seal of Armor. I have found that only AP mids do not run armor seals. You are not an AP mid. You do not need mana regen, flat mana, or anything else.

Glyphs

• Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction CDR is a nice stat. I value scaling MR over it, but some swear by CDR.
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power Like with magic pen, you build no AP, so it is wasted. You have good ratios, but MR is more important.
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist Too much MR early on. Scaling is better in the long run.

Quintessences

• Greater Quintessence of Health These are nice for early game if you prefer them.
• Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed A very close second choice. Great for ganking. I value gp/10 more than other players. If you are not a fan of gp/10 run these instead.

Summoner's are a pretty no-brainer here. Nothing compares to Smite and Flash.


Flash is your all in one offensive and defensive positional spell. It goes over most walls. The possibilities are endless. Flash offensively with a Dazzle. Defensively to save yourself from abilities like Soul Shackles or Cataclysm. Or even a combination like flashing to be in range to stun an enemy to allow a team mate to escape.

You are jungling. Take Smite. I don't care if you "can" jungle with out it. Although in this case you really cannot. Its importance goes past early clears, it also provides excellent dragon and baron control.

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Ghost has a shorter cooldown than Flash, and can be used to chase very effectively. But you have no way to get over a wall with it to escape. Also, it is easier to see someone ghosting, but a quick flash Dazzle can really catch someone by surprise.
A viable choice on some junglers such as Lee Sin or Shyvana but not Taric. Taric does not have another ability to jump walls like Lee Sin or Shyvana, but he does have CC to lock someone down, and they do not.
An excellent summoner that is great to have on a tank. The only issue is since you have Smite you cannot afford to take Teleport over Flash.

Overall I would say Tarics kit is not very synergized to fit a particular role. His passive and the passive on Imbue fit with jungling, which is the only role where you can consistently auto attack and not worry about pushing the lane. But Shatter seems to be 100% for supporting. The rest of his kit works well for both, but not stellar in each.

Gemcraft:(Innate): Taric loves to socket magical gems into all of his weapons, resulting in his basic attacks replenishing his Mana based on the damage dealt. Taric's autoattacks replenish his mana for 7.5% of the damage dealt.

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Imbue: Taric brings forth earthen energy to heal a target ally and himself for 60/100/140/180/220 (+0.6). If he targets himself, the heal increases by 40% restoring 84/140/196/252/308 (+0.84) health. Taric's basic attacks reduce Imbue's cooldown by 1 second (3 seconds if attacking an enemy champion). 80/95/110/125/140 Mana Range: 750 Cooldown: 20 Seconds

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Shatter:Passive: Taric's gemstones increase the Armor of nearby allied champions by 10/15/20/25/30. Taric gains an additional 10/15/20/25/30 Armor for himself. Active: Taric shatters his armor, dealing 60/105/150/195/240 (+0.6) magic damage to nearby enemies and reducing their Armor by 10/15/20/25/30 for 4 seconds. Taric loses 10/15/20/25/30 Armor while Shatter is on cooldown. 50/60/70/80/90 Mana Range: 400 Cooldown: 10 Seconds

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Dazzle: Taric fires a prismatic sphere at a target enemy, stunning them for 1.5 seconds and dealing between 40/70/100/130/160 (+0.4) and 80/140/200/260/320 (+0.8) magic damage. Dazzle's damage increases the closer Taric is to the target. 95 Mana Range: 625 Cooldown: 14/13/12/11/10 Seconds

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Radiance: Taric slams his hammer into the ground, dealing 150/250/350 (+0.7) magic damage to nearby enemies. For the next 10 seconds, Taric's gems radiate energy, granting him 30/50/70 Attack Damage and Ability Power and his nearby allies half of the bonuses. 100 Mana Range: 400 Cooldown: 60 seconds

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Skill Priority for Jungle

• Radiance when available at levels 6, 11, and 16.
• Shatter for the extra dps, armor, and armor shred in the jungle.
• Imbue for the higher heal. Sustain for you, and allies in lanes you gank.
• Dazzle last because it improves the damage and cd by one second, not the stun duration.

• Use Radiance first in your combo as the bonus AP will affect all your other spells.
• Radiance extra AP actually affects it's own ratio, doing more damage.
• When jumping on a squishy target, your full combo does a suprising amount of burst damage.
• Don't be afraid to use Radiance when taking Dragon, Baron, or even an important turret if needed. The cooldown is low enough where it can be used.
• Taric synergizes with CC and burst in lanes. Stun locking someone during a gank is an almost guaranteed kill.

In this section I will be going into the item build for jungle Taric, explaining why I chose those items, and alternatives. One important thing to note: I have two "builds" in this guide, both involving the same opener, but branching off from. Upon further thought, I decided it is always smarter to go for the items in build 1 first, but if the game goes on long enough, sell some of those items for the more expensive tank items in build two.

This is the best opener for getting your gold per 10's up. With this build you focus on gp/10, and getting philosopher's stone up as early as possible is ideal. This also let's you comfortably clear the

jungle.

Cloth Armor with 5 Health Potions is the safest route in terms of health. This is the "common opener" for many carry junglers for the sustain,and because it turns into Madred's Razors into

Wriggle's Lantern, but Taric is not building those or Ninja Tabi.

A solid opener for ganking, as the speed helps. Only having the 3 Health Potions and not having the 18 armor from Cloth Armor or rejen from Regrowth Pendant will require a better pull to open this

route, so it is not recommended for solo queue. Also, it set back your philosopher's stone.

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Your "core" before choosing one of the build paths will always be philosopher's stone, Heart of Gold, and Mercury's Treads. The boots in the middle are listed to show that you should get Boots before finishing Heart of Gold but upgrading to Mercury's Treads after. This sets up a good gp/10 value, and gets you the regen, health, and MR you need for the early game One of the few times I will say there are no alternatives. On tank, jungle tank Taric, open this. Just do it.