The changes to passive and scaling affect taric very much. He is very strong right now.

Taric is a burst damage support that wins his lane with a properly executed - - -AA combo and zoning his enemies with the iminent danger of it. As his biggest weakness is his vulnerability to pokeing opponents that wither him down and prevent his success when execute said combo, this build tries to making him as resilient as possible to poke and to improve his early-mid game performance. Taric can be surprisingly resilient and will bait every AD carry for early kills - that just won't happen if you use my build. Even when conscious of the armor, greed and the concept of squishy supports will make them commit against reason. Well, and if the don't do anthing stupid, its an even farm lane and if you don't fall behind as a Taric lane, you should win mid-late anway. While the recent changes to Taric nerved the "normal" way to build him, my build got continually buffed by it...


Patch 3.8 introduced another buff to this build, cheaper and stronger Doran's Shield, cheaper Boots, Taric's early game is now stronger than it ever was.

Summoner Spells: take and . Go full defense masteries with some points into utility and offense for stuff like (-10 MR/Armor on ). Runes: take some MS Quints and even additional Armor . Fill in flat Armor and MR . If you know you won't take magic damage pre 6 you can also take scaling MR . I have been favour CDR Glyphs in games with small magic damage oponents. Marks are open for your free choice, you either go AD or get even more Armor with . Take one Crit Mark: this occasional lucky crit can really change bot lane.

My choice of runes and masteries will surprise Taric players because it deviates strongly from a more support and burst damage based 0/16/14 and MPen (reds) setup. While I agree that both utility masteries and MPen runes are generally better for Taric, they are relativly weak in the first crucial levels (1-3) where auto-attacks still contribute the majority of your damage and all the nice utility effects have no impact. My way, remember - don't let it stop you from doing what you think is right.

Wards allow you to stay in lane longer to build up your xp advantage, Pots allow you to stay full HP and zone with your presence. helps with vision control, but only take it if you really need it, the additional pots are really good on Taric.


Your first items should be bought according to your money when you are forced to back. Always aim for a and a Crysalline Flask first. And always have a in your inventory. Don't put it on the map, but have it ready for when you need vision control over a bush or dragon. If you can't get sightstone in one buy, take a , or .


Now you want to rush because it has all the upgrade paths taric could possibly wish for. But since Speed, Health and Armor are essential for Taric, you will get some minor items before you upgrade it. You buy and start stacking s. A can help a lot if you need HPreg and Armor, but it will slow down your build.



Even though you don't really need early, it is a very convenient upgrade, freeing your inventory and giving you more wards when your towers go down. Now make sure you ask your jungler if he can get , as it is the one defensive item that gives you the least health for the high price. You already have resistances and you should put your focus on HP items.

• Zeke's Herald - even without damage items you can already get yourself some kills, but with this item, you become a lot more dangerous. The big CDR boost will allow you to stun on a more regular level and makes sure your ult is up when you need it. The HP, AD and Lifesteal let you live through fights. Ok, and on top of that your team gets usefull AD and Lifesteal for around 1k global gold!
• - As a support, Taric has one gaping weakness, and that is his lack of mobility. Amend that weakness and get Shurelays. Pretty tempting option if you happen to already have a Philosopher's stone.
• - Call me stupid but I think that this item is pretty good on Taric. Its gold efficient without the passives - meaning you don't have to care wether you jungle with it or not. It gives tenacity and HP and you want both. This really makes you tanky but gives your team nothing... be carefull when to buy it.
• - this is a great defensive early choice, as it is really cheap and gives quite some HP. This is for when you want to be even tankier. Unfortunately, after the changed build-path its a long way to go to geth that shield.

I often delay my boots until after Zekes and even then I am reluctant. 650g for almost nothing. Armor shouldn't be an issue so it makes no sense to go now - in most cases that is. You need MR now and suddenly seem to be a very tempting option. Don't! Its an even bigger waste of gold. I present to you the solution to your MR and MS issues: . This item offers you even more MS than a higher tire boot would and it has far more MR than Mercs. The active and AP are very good at this stage of the game, too. If you need to be tankier instead you can go for - or , but someone else should have them already. One way or another you can always upgrade your remaining for a to get another Locket or a .




In late game fights you shouldn't try to initiate or tank any more now, because every other champion will have more farm, more items and more levels. It is futile to desperately try to get tank items, since you won't keep up here anyway. Therefore, when it comes down to upgradeing your boots, I really fancy . Lack of Attack Speed is the one thing that really starts to mess up your performance, you need it. And the fact that AS boots are by far your cheapest option makes them a decent path for you. Try them. You should delay selling your - if you bought one - until the last moment, it stays relevant. is a good final item for you but its hard to get, start with the to boost your aura and reduce enemy AS. Another option vs more magic damage teams is a , starting with the - but one of your AP's should have that already. I have to say that you will rarely - if ever - get to this point of the game.



Note that Enchantments are not really balanced yet, they are very expensive and you should stick to the most used options: and . I hope will get some changes yet, it is the best of them overall and really profits certain champions with pets ( Annie), the others also need some tweaks.

HH Gemcraft (Passive) AD, AS, APen: After the change, Taric now gets even more damage for free. Very nice for you, but please don't build mana items just because of this, it makes you weak.
HH Imbue (Q) AS, CDR, AP: Having a heal is good. But if you overdo it, or rank it up, it will drain your mana and make you completely useless - or require extensive and extensive itemization. One rank is exactly what it takes to bring you savely through the laneing phase and to rescue your mates, sometimes I take another point if I loose my lane. Btw, its the next reason why smashing enemies is so incredibly profitable. The amount of healing this gives you in late game is insane. There is really no battle where you won't have it ready in the heat of battle, exactly when its needed most. And if an engagement prolongs - this will make sure you come out alife. Consider one or two points early when you need sustain in lane.
HH Shatter (W) AP, CDR, MPen -> AD/AS: Both passive and active are made for tanking. You will easily reach +200 Armor due to this (thanks to it, Taric has the highest base Armor of any champion). Free armor for you and your lane-mate means less damage taken - awesome. The active is the truely astonishing part about it. 30 Armor reduction combined with heavy physical damage burst during debuff time can obliterate entire teams. So make sure you hit many people at the right time and further increase damage dealt with ing (for ) crucial targets. Max it first and invest into + + + and sometimes - it summs up to make you very, very - resilient against physical damage. Since they buffed the ratio and nerfed the base damage, its pretty much unchanged, maybe a little stronger late game.
HH Dazzle (E) CDR, AP, MPen: To strike down your enemies with all the glorious AA-enhancements you are provided with, you want them to stand still: Stun them and hit them. To get all your heavy tanking gear out of harm's way delay them a little: Stun them and run. To annoy your enemies with disrupting abilities and farming: Stun them and dance. Do not - I repeat - do not, ever stun for free. If you lane agains a Sivir or Ezreal that dodge your stun, just don't care and stun them still - their dodgeing abilities have a longer CD than your stun, so you can initiate on them when it comes of CD. Obvioulsy max it second for increased stun duration. As the mana cost is now only 75 you can be more liberal with it in the lane. Save your stun for assasins like or berserkers like and avoid stuning a rageing .


HH Radiance (R) AP, CDR, MPen -> AS: Your ultimate's base damage is very high, because the AP aura is taken into account. Aura range and stats are great for supporting. Converting your Aura into gold would yield 4800/5304/11202 global gold if your entire team profits from it (!!! For you: 1200/2668/3734 g - For one ally without AP ratios: 500/834/1167 g !!!). This means that you shouldn't use the damage only, you can also use it from range just to boost your team's DPS. Remember that minions are enhanced with your aura and if you bait your enemies into fighting you near minions - surprise them, 5 minions with +15 damage can let you 1v2 them! This also helps you push towers on your own.

Don't rank it up to early, because both Shatter and Dazzle can be really good. If your team invades the enemy or a jungler wants to gank your lane at lvl 2, it is important you have your stun ready. However, in terms of pure burst and resilience Shatter is very good, do not underestimate its level one potential. It doesn't need a stun to kill an unsuspecting enemy, + can easily get you a kill if your AD Carry is in the right position. It also helps a lot with tradeing damage, you will come out ahead, and if you get level 2 first - wich I suggest you try to do by leeching some jungle xp or with golems - its a guaranteed kill or blown summoner packet that will give you a huge advantage.

• A very general remark to get the gist of this guide: Its all about makeing your enemies underestimate your power. Make them try to kill the usual squishy wannabe Taric - and make them pay for it. You need full defense for that, you need flat runes, you need dorans and tabi.
  This may not be the best way to play him, but it works wonders in succeeding with him.
• You can never go wrong with .
• Allthough its tempting to get a , don't do it, upgrades are horrible for a support.
• Taric's Strength are his base stats. He needs levels and xp, not gold. Get every xp you can therefore, it is vital if you want to succeed with him.
• Stacking gold items are terrible on Taric because they make his strong early-mid game weaker. Even though you build items with gp5 parts, play to your strenghts and delay them! Abuse your early dominance with cheap tank items. The should take care of your income issues and gives you HP - always get it.
• If you fall behind with my build, you will probably not be able to tank any damage and turn in an obstacle rather than an asset if you go rambo-mode. Recognize this before you loose and start buying MReg, ranking heal and active items, buying more wards and working more as a ranged caster with utility.

Thanks for reading and credits to JhoiJhoi. Feel free to post your feedback.