This build has been archived by the author. They are no longer supporting nor updating this build and it may have become outdated. As such, voting and commenting have been disabled and it no longer appears in regular search results.
We recommend you take a look at this author's other builds.
This guide has not yet been updated for the current season. Please keep this in mind while reading. You can see the most recently updated guides on the browse guides page
Your votes and comments encourage our guide authors to continue
creating helpful guides for the League of Legends community.
Choose Champion Build:
- Solo Top
- Jungle
- AD Bruiser (any map)
- Gluttonous Warwick (any map)
- Twisted Treeline
- The Crystal Scar (Dominion)
- Howling Abyss (ARAM)
Recommended Items
Spells:
Flash
Ignite
Items
Ability Order
Eternal Hunger (PASSIVE)
Warwick Passive Ability
Introduction
If you are reading this guide, please note that the changes to 3.8 have more or less negated most of the builds I have presented. Until such a day I can find an effective solution, it will remain unfinished. Wit's End no longer offers bonus damage per swing. Even with the changes to Nashor's Tooth Warwick still won't have enough output in order to make it viable. I will most likely present an alternative solution focusing on the Gluttonous Warwick portion.
Summoner's RiftRanked
Normal
|
Twisted TreelineRanked
Normal
|
The Crystal ScarDominion
Howling AbyssARAM
|
...People, bring skill to the game.
Last update: June 2, 2013
Eternal Thirst is Warwick's passive and what our entire build is structured around. Every time you level up, each attack will passively do more 3-16 magic damage, stacking up to 3 times (9-48). Not only will this damage the enemy, but it will heal Warwick for the same amount! |
Hungering Strike is what truly makes Warwick someone to be feared. Fully maxed, in one little attack you can easily deal 20% of that lethal Miss Fortune's HP, while healing yourself for 80% of the damage dealt! Apart from our Ultimate and auto attack, this is our ONLY actual attack. Likewise, apart from our Ultimate, our only ranged attack. |
Hunter's Call | One of the best IAS buffs in the game Hunter's Call will increase your own IAS by 40-80% as well as your ally's by 20-40%! Watch our towers, they go down in a breeze! Note: If a champion gets a kill while under the effects of Hunter's Call, Warwick qualifies for an assist. |
As Warwick's telltale ability, Blood Scent, strikes fear to all within it's clutches. Got a single enemy below 50% HP around you? You'll match quick little Master Yi's Highlander. |
Infinite Duress is Warwick's own little make-or-break a team ability. With this, you'll completely suppress an enemy for 1.8 seconds while dealing 5 consecutive attacks (full Eternal Thirst). However, all those OHE's you've been stacking will now burn your target 5 times over. Attacking with Hungering Strike immediately after...goodnight Vayne. Caution!: YOU are immobilized on top of your target for the duration and can be interrupted! Take care to not throw away your ultimate! Note: Infinite Duress can be used to navigate from one side of a team fight to the other, shut down Miss Fortune's Bullet Time (or any channeled ability), or lock an enemy down giving an ally time to escape. |
Recommended
Don't be that jungler who claims "I can survive without Smite, thus I don't need it.This spell will help you fly through jungle monsters, kill or even steal blue/red, and secure the Dragon and Baron . |
Flash is one of the most useful Summoner Spells in anyone's arsenal. Combined with Infinite Duress, Flash will help in any ganking situation. However, Flash looses much of it's potency outside of Summoner's Rift and Twisted Treeline where brush and walls are not proportionately spaced. |
Ghost This spell is viable for Crystal Scar (Dominion). However, it becomes fairly lackluster on other maps, especially considering Blood Scent is usually all the movement you need. |
Exhaust is terrific all the way around. It will slow the enemy allowing for the team to finish him off or prevent an enemy from killing off a teammate. Furthermore, Exhaust reduces the enemy's IAS by 50% and damage by 30%, turning that pesky ADC into an afterthought. |
Ignite can come incredibly in handy. Everyone remembers a time when the enemy escaped with little to no hp, and just one more attack would have slain him. This spell is perfectly combined with Infinite Duress, dishing out even more damage in a short period of time. Plus, Warwick benefits from both the AD and AP bonus of Summoner's Wrath . |
Barrier is ideal for survivability. Although I usually use it during Infinite Duress for the extra health while I'm immobile, anytime you might receive a large chunk of damage is a viable time to use this spell. It's best on Crystal Scar (Dominion) and Howling Abyss (ARAM) since nigh on 100% of your fights are team-oriented. |
Heal is my preferred spell choice for Howling Abyss (ARAM) as the team is always in close quarters, and given Heal will heal multiple targets, it becomes the best defensive Summoner Spell in the game. Always combine this with Summoner's Resolve for an extra 5-90 HP. |
Not Recommended
Clairvoyance: Although vision is always nice, this summoner spell is better spent in a support's aresenal. As Warwick your primary goal is to kill others, and not be killed yourself.
Clarity: With Crest of the Ancient Golem , there should be no need for extra mana. Don't waste your mana and assume this spell will save you. If you're top on Summoner's Rift or on a different map, buy a couple Mana Potions if you need to. Don't waste Hungering Strike; it won't be up when you need it, and it's a mana drain.
Cleanse: Simply put, there are better spells out there.
Garrison: This spell is worth it if you intend to turret dive for a gank early on. However, it looses much of it's potency mid-late game as armor will automatically mitigate turret damage.
Revive: If you find yourself dieing a lot, play more defensively; don't rely on a spell to mitigate death time.
Teleport: This spell is great for an ADC, but we aren't an ADC now are we? I've heard it argued for laning, but even then it looses value mid-late game when fights become more team-oriented.
Runes
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration is the best offensive mark for Warwick, and since Marks are best used offensively, you'd be hard pressed to choose anything else. Although we are AP, more AP will only boost Hungering Strike by 14.85. |
Although IAS is exceptionally good for Warwick, it is much easier to obtain than Magic Pen, thus severely lessening the value of Greater Mark of Attack Speed |
Everyone gets hit, thus everyone needs armor. Greater Seal of Armor is generally wins the Seal of Choice award with how important Armor is on every map as well as how pitiful it's scaling counterpart is early on. |
Although stronger late game, Greater Seal of Scaling Armor does not surpass it's counterpart until level 10. |
Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist is the default favored glyph among many Summoners as AP becomes much more of a threat late game and you surpass the rigid counterpart by level 9. |
If you find yourself up against a strong AP champion ( Nidalee / Teemo) early on, the extra early magic resistance from Greater Glyph of Magic Resist may be viable. |
For stronger early dps, Greater Glyph of Attack Speed will give 5.76% IAS off the bat. |
As Warwick doesn't care much for either AP or AD, you are left with either Utility, Defensive, or sub-par Offensive Quintessences to go for. Simply put, Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed scales best. |
Greater Quintessence of Scaling Health is the best defensive Quintessence for Warwick. However, I personally would rather have 4.5% movement speed at level 18 than 145.8 HP, especially when I can enjoy that movement speed throughout the entire game. |
Summoner's RiftSolo Top |
Twisted TreelineTwisted Treeline |
For the rest of this section, this will be the default build, as every other build is a slight derivative of it:
Even with Blood Scent activated wielding a Frozen Mallet will be able to chase you down if they managed a single strike. Reducing these slows can easily make the difference between life and death. Without having Mercury's Treads as our default boots, Tenacious becomes vital for combating those heavy cc champions and teams. I've heard arguments for Juggernaut , but that will only give us about 110-130 more health and you'll loose much more than that if you find yourself trapped in the middle of an enemy team. Take up Defender and Legendary Armor in order to maximize you defensive capabilities and Reinforced Armor to make Ashe cry. 3% health for 1 talent? If you skimp out on Honor Guard after reaching this far, please stop wasting your time playing League of Legends.
|
Starting
+ |
2 Mana Potions and Doran's Ring: 15 damage + 12 more healing from Hungering Strike as well as 4 mana per kill and 60 health will help keep you in lane just that much longer. With 200 more effective mana, Warwick has a ton more early sustain. The 2-3 extra Hungering Strikes alone will give roughly 225-300 more health before you're first back. Note: Eternal Thirst will help offset some of the extra damage Doran's Blade offers for last hitting. |
+ |
5 Health Potions and Hunter's Machete: If you are jungling, this is the only viable starting rotation. Season 3 made jungle minions stronger, thus Hunter's Machete is necessary for the increased damage output (clearing speed) and Health Potions for 625 effective health. |
+ |
+ |
2 Mana Potions, Doran's Ring, and Boots: As with the Top build, Doran's Ring offers extra damage and sustain necessary for early game. Boots, despite being necessary in every build, offer a huge movement speed increase vital for survival in Twisted Treeline starting out. |
+ |
+ |
2 Health Potions, Prospector's Ring, and Boots: Prospector's Ring is the only thing unique about this start, but who cannot love 200 health, 30 extra damage to Hungering Strike, and all the mana regen needed throughout the game? |
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
22 Health Potions and Mana Potions, Doran's Ring, Doran's Shield, and Boots: This gives a huge fighting chance early on. |
Early - Mid Game
Wit's End: This is our first damage item. In fact, Wit's End synergies so well with Warwick, you won't have any need of an additional dps item for a while. Adding 42 magic damage to Eternal Thirst as well as reducing the target's MR by...and here is where I stop. This build is getting Archived as the changes to Patch 3.8 have more or less completely negated it. |
Glacial Shroud: Apart from being a core item in Frozen Heart, Glacial Shroud offers much needed armor, mana, and 10% CDR. |
Spirit Visage: I think Riot may have had Warwick in mind when they created Spirit Visage. 20% more to our already obnoxious sustain? Health? Magic Resistance? |
Frozen Heart: Bigger is usually better in League of Legends, and Frozen Heart is no exception. More or less, you get a second Glacial Shroud with a passive enough to make Gangplank, Teemo, Vayne...well anyone who auto attacks...hope you completely ignore team fights. |
Spirit of the Ancient Golem: Jungling Only! Although this item can be used by any role, increased minion damage is a junger's specialty. This can be built defensively for anyone else if needed if your Warwick is lacking Mercury's Treads. |
Boots
Sorcerer's Shoes: Sorcerer's Shoes are Warwick's best offensive boot option. Even built with physical damage in mind, these will increase the damage of Eternal Thirst and Hungering Strike. |
Mercury's Treads: The default melee boot for it's tankiness and how Tenacity saves lives. |
Ninja Tabi: Now here's something worth looking into! If you have to deal with a fed Tryndamere, 10% less damage is one of the best buffs in the game! |
Boot Enchantments
Enchantment: Furor: Although this can be useful for chasing down opponents, it becomes fairly redundant with Blood Scent. Additionally, you first have to land a hit to make use of this, and Warwick is quite lackluster in range. |
Enchantment: Alacrity: In Dominion, Alacrity is very useful. Summoners tend to pick champions that can run like no other. Although Warwick joins their ranks, we don't have control of when to take a speed boost. Passive running in general helps get around the map period. |
Enchantment: Captain: To be honest, I've never tried using this enchantment. However, it would go well with a Bruiser build, as you jump in and allies can run faster, scoring another 1-2 hits, saving lives, killing foes. |
Enchantment: Distortion: It's always nice to have Flash up, but you shouldn't be relying on the Summoner Spell. Use it when needed. With that said, Flash + Infinite Duress makes a great combo. |
Enchantment: Homeguard: Summoner's Rift and Twisted Treeline only! This seems to be a Summoner favorite. Saving up to 10 seconds per callback in healing and offering up to 16 seconds of saved run time. You do the math. |
Offensive Options
Kitae's Bloodrazor: Crystal Scar (Dominion) and Howling Abyss (ARAM) only! Kitae's Bloodrazor is the best dps item in Season 3 for Warwick, single-handedly dealing 12.5% of the champion's maximum health as additional damage during Infinite Duress! |
Blade of the Ruined King: This is a mid-late item in the Bruiser and Pure DPS builds. In every map other than Dominion, Blade of the Ruined King becomes the top tog dps item for Warwick. However, it's pricey and looses nearly all of it's potency on enemies with low health. Then again, they have low health; who cares? The activation alone has won many battles for me. |
Nashor's Tooth: Not a typical item in Warwick's Arsenal, but there isn't a single wasted stat. Especially with the Gluttonous Build, this will offer a large chunk of damage per melee swing. However, zero defensive stats is hardly appealing for a melee champion. |
Abyssal Mask: If you prefer to make that Hungering Strike even more lethal and need even more magic resistance, Abyssal Mask is for you. |
Rod of Ages: Rod of Ages gives extra AP, health, and mana...yes please. |
Defensive Options
Runic Bulwark: This is a early-mid item in the Bruiser Build. An item usually built by either the support or top champion, Runic Bulwark offers the best team defensive stats per gold in the game. |
Warmog's Armor: Warmog's Armor boasts the highest health per item in the game, and with 1000 of it, it can single handedly add nearly 50% more hp. |
Randuin's Omen: High Health. High Armor. And a slow Aura that kills or saves lives. Maybe Riot should change the name to Divine Omen. |
Frozen Mallet: Even with Blood Scent enemy champions can still escape Warwick's grasp. Frozen Mallet will make it as if they stand still while your team pounds them into oblivion. |
Sunfire Aegis: People swear by this for Warwick so I included it. However, you won't be standing in the middle of the team long enough for this to do any real damage. Nonetheless, it's a reasonable dps alternative to Randuin's Omen. |
Gluttonous Warwick Specialized Items
Void Staff: Gluttonous Warwick stacks AP for exceptionally deadly Hungering Strikes. With increased AP, magic pen becomes even more important. |
Blackfire Torch: Twisted Treeline and Crystal Scar (Dominion) only! I cannot begin to explain just how valuable this item is, it alone makes Hungering Strike do 3.5% + 80 more damage, offers 20% CDR, and health! |
Deathfire Grasp: The active on this item makes for an insanely powerful combo with Hungering Strike, roughly doubling the amount of damage dealt. |
Rabadon's Deathcap: Summoner's Rift and Howling Abyss (ARAM) only! The highest AP item in the game, scaling with all other AP items, runes, and masteries in your inventory. |
Wooglet's Witchcap: Twisted Treeline and Crystal Scar (Dominion) only! If you're on a map that can't get Rabadon's Deathcap or Zhonya's Hourglass, this item gives the best of both worlds! |
Zhonya's Hourglass: Summoner's Rift and Howling Abyss (ARAM) only! Dueling a champion and need another couple seconds before activating Hungering Strike or about to die during a team fight? Worry no more for your invincibility is here! |
Know Your Jungle Minions:
Ancient Golem
(blue) . . . . .♦ 20 / 6 Armor . . . . .♦ 1:55 initial spawn . . . . .♦ 5:00 respawn Lizard Elder (red) . . . . .♦ 20 / 6 Armor . . . . .♦ 1:55 initial spawn . . . . .♦ 5:00 respawn Golems . . . . .♦ 12 Armor . . . . .♦ 1:40 respawn . . . . .♦ 1:40 respawn Wolves . . . . .♦ 9 / 6 Armor . . . . .♦ 1:40 initial spawn . . . . .♦ 1:40 respawn Wraiths . . . . .♦ 15 / 5 Armor . . . . .♦ 1:40 inital spawn . . . . .♦ 1:40 respawn |
Dragon
. . . . .♦ 2:30 initial spawn . . . . .♦ 6:00 respawn . . . . .♦ OHE: 60 true damage over 4 . . . . . .seconds and reduces attack . . . . . .speed by 20% . . . . .♦ Grants team 190g each Baron . . . . .♦ 15:00 initial spawn . . . . .♦ 7:00 respawn . . . . .♦ Grants team 300g, 900 exp and . . . . . . Exalted with Baron Nashor |
Starting Jungle Rotations
Passive, no ganks or invasions, starting blue
1)
Wolves
2) Ancient Golem (blue) 3) Wraiths 4) Lizard Elder (red) 5) Golems 6) Wolves 7) Wraiths 8) First Back |
Blue |
Purple |
Passive, no ganks or invasions, starting red
1)
Wraiths
2) Lizard Elder (red) 3) Golems 4) Wolves 5) Ancient Golem (blue) 6) Wraiths 7) Golems 8) First Back |
Blue |
Purple |
Steal enemy Red with Gank
1) Invade:
Wraiths
2) Invade: Lizard Elder (red) 3) Gank: Either Adjacent Lane 4) Ancient Golem (blue) 5) Wolves 6) Lizard Elder (red) 7) Golems 8) Wraiths 9) First Back |
Blue |
Purple |
First Blood
1)
Wraiths
2) Lizard Elder (red) 3) Gank: Lizard Elder (red) (bring mid) 4) Ancient Golem (blue) (give to mid if you already have buff) 5) Wolves 6) Wraiths 7) Golems 8) First Back |
Blue |
Purple |
The Game. . . . .♦ Average Length: 30-60 minutes . . . . .♦ Objective: Fight your way into the enemy base, . . . . . .destroying their nexus. Tips and TricksHungering Strike: Although it can be used to secure a last hit on a minion and/or for the healing off a minion, reserve your (Q) for champion trades. Warwick is a huge mana hog early on, so don't waste it. |
Blood Scent:
When keeping Blood Scent in mind, Summoner's Rift is approximately 17,000 units long from corner to corner. With 5 points into Blood Scent standing on the platform would reach every turret in your base. If Warwick is standing in the center of the map, Blood Scent ranges out to the second turret in on both sides.
Dragon and Baron :
Make your enemies learn to fear you absence! Warwick is very capable of soloing the dragon early on and even Baron at level 18. Caution! Keep track of enemy movements, as you don't want to be ganked mid-objective.
Warwick's role in Summoner's Rift is usually soloing the top lane or jungling.
The Game
. . . . .♦ Average Length: 20-40 minutes
. . . . .♦ Objective: Fight your way into the enemy base, destroying their nexus.
Tips and Tricks
The Jungle:
Although Warwick is rather weak against champions early on, he still boasts the best natural sustain in the game. Feel free to stay in the jungle, roaming between top and bottom at will. This will give both allies 100% cs as well as ganking potential post-6.
The Game. . ♦ Average Length: 15-25 minutes . . ♦ Objective: Maintain superiority . . . over towers in a king-of-the-hill . . . like setting. The fewer towers . . . owned, the greater your nexus' . . . health drops. Nexus start off . . . ♦with 500 hp and do not heal. |
Tips and Tricks
Capturing Towers:
Although not as fun as a kill, capturing towers takes precedence over kills. The nexuses' hp degeneration is determined by how many towers one's team owns, not how many champions are on the Field of Justice.
Movement Speed:
Movement speed is extremely important in Dominion. As such, this is the only map I have included a boot enchantment into the build.
The Game. . ♦ Average Length: . . . 20-30 minutes . . ♦ Objective: . . . Fight your way . . . into the enemy . . . base, destroying . . . their nexus. All . . . Champions are . . . randomly . . . generated! |
Tips and Tricks
Early Game:
Be thankful this doesn't last very long, because as Warwick you will have no real poke. Normally you can trade blows with Hungering Strike, but when you have up to 5 enemies attacking you to/from range, you would be a fool to assume you can survive.
- DeadlyDave: Making me aware of a Mislabel on the notes for Starting Items between "Top" and "Jungler."
- Laggermeister: For your input on the Meister/Maister controversy.
- Zandthee: After considering your comment, there are few exceptions where Doran's Blade surpasses Doran's Ring for Warwick.
To every member who has contributed or read the guide, Thank you!
You must be logged in to comment. Please login or register.