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26 kills 10 deaths 95 assists




"Tier 1: Ashe, Corki, Shen, Janna, Anivia, Taric, Amumu, Zilean, Annie, Warwick"

"Tier 1: These champions have proved time and time again that they deserve to be here. These champions are game changing if you can get them most of the time. Player skill combined with knowing how to use these champions correctly will ultimately result in success." -Elementz

Hello, I've played about ~350 games with Taric. When played properly you can expect to get a very high KDA Ratio. You can also expect to be a very valuable asset to your team, especially in ranked games.

First thing I want to tell you guys is that there's no single right way to play Taric. If you're looking for a simple item build that you can follow every game, then this isn't for you. This guide will challenge your thinking. If you don't want to think or adapt depending on your opponents, teammates, etc, don't expect to be good.

I'm not going into great detail on runes or ward placements, there is other sources on this site for that. You can find them here:

Rune tips

Ward placement tips

Build 1 - Tank Taric

Build 2 - Aura Taric

Build 3 - AP Taric

Viable options:

Red = AP/lvl or Attack Speed
Yellow = MP5/lvl or flat MP5
Blue = Flat Cooldown, Cooldown/lvl OR AP/lvl ..
Quints = Flat HP or AP/lvl ..

What I recommend, and why:

Attack speed Reds - Through the whole game the 15% attack speed will benefit Tarics DPS, IMBUE COOLDOWN, and MANA. This is much more useful than AP that scales horribly with reds.

MP5/lvl Yellow - Flat MP5 is viable if you're going for insane early lane harass, ie you and your lane partner both take mana manips. If not, per level MP5 is better. There will be no point during the game where you couldn't use some extra mana regen. You will be spamming heals and stuns constantly.

Flat Cooldown Blue - With a 9/0/21 setup and these runes you'll get 14.89% cooldown at level 1. That's amazing, buy ionian treads and a kindle gem for 39.89% cooldown within 10minutes of the game.

Magic Resist per lvl Blue - I recommend these over Flat Cooldowns Blues if you're going for a nashors, or Ionian + Soul shroud + Randuins.. etc, you NEVER want to hit over 40%, big waste. For most builds on Taric I would recommend these runes over Cooldown because Taric already has amazing armor, but can definitely use magic resist. The extra 24 at level 18 boosts it over 200, adding .5 seconds to randuins active.

Flat HP quints - These are good on basically every champion, and Taric is no different. The extra life early game will make you nearly impossible to kill if you get dorans ring first. And will keep you tanky enough even if you decide to get a mana manip, meki and 2 mana pots, or mana crystal, a mana and hp pot.

There's a couple viable mastery setups for Taric.

I would recommend a 9/0/21 for most people, however 0/7/23 does work great. I've tried some 21 defense tree setups, they do not work as well. Personally I find 0/7/23 to be better than 9/0/21 .. after trying both many times.

Ultimately try for yourself. They are both equally good, it depends on your play style. I like being able to harass early game very hard. The 7 points in defense allows that.

There is a huge variety of viable items for Taric. The items you get every game depend on who you're vsing, who you're teammates are, and who's getting the kills.

Let me start by listing some great items to buy as soon as the game starts:

Dorans Ring - A very cost effective item, every stat benefits Taric. You cannot go wrong with this item. Get it if you're in a solo lane for whatever reason. Or if you know you're going to be under heavy harass.

Mana Manip - Get this if you're laning with someone who is mana heavy, and can spam skills that will potentially get you guys a kill early. Such as lux. Make sure to build it into a Soul Shroud asap.

Meki pendant and 2 mana pots - I see lots of Tarics getting this, is a good choice if you're going more of an AP route.

Mana crystal and 1 mana pot, 1 hp pot - I recommend this highly if you try the 0/7/23 setup. You start the game with 13hp regen/5 .. it's quite insane. Mana is not a problem if you're a skilled Taric player. Use the HP pot defensively, or offensively. It's saved me many times during tower dives. Build the Mana crystal into Tear of the goddess ASAP.

Viable item combos through the rest of the game.

Boots:

Mercury Treads - Great item on anyone, especially Taric since he needs magic resistances (usually) .. if the other team has lots of crowd control.. get these.

Ionian Treads - Get these if you plan on going for more of a AP build. Less cooldown on your big heals is good. The 15% cooldown is massive for the cost.

Berserker Greaves - Wouldn't really recommend these, ever. They still can be viable though because Taric does benefit from Attack speed. This with the 15% from runes, and 50% from nashors is amusing.

Mana control items:

Chalice of Harmony - One of the best items in the game, and amazing for Taric. With this item you will never worry about low mana. At low mana you will regen fast enough to be able to get a heal or stun off every couple seconds. The magic resist is great as well.

Tear of the goddess - I would only recommend this if you're going 0/7/23 .. if not, chalice is always better.

Manamune - This is a low priority item. If you have Tear of the godess.. do not worry about rushing to manamune, there is other items you can get before that will benefit you and your team more.

Archangels - Only get if you're going AP build.

Items you can't go wrong with

Mejais soulstealer - This is an amazing item on Taric. If you notice your team and you getting kills / assists grab this ASAP. Taric rarely dies, and gets tons of assists. This is the only AP item you'll need for huge heals.

Aegis of the Legion - This item benefits you, and everyone around you. It's arguably the most cost effective item in the game. You cannot go wrong with this, someone on your team should have it every game.

Soul Shroud - Another item like Aegis except it gives you and everyone around you mp5 and 10% cooldown.

If your team has lots of AD

Starks Fervor - If you're getting this, try to build towards a manamune to get further benefits from the Attack Speed. Chances are someone on your team will of gotten this already if your team is AD heavy. If not, it's a definite buy.

If your team has lots of AP

Abyssal scepter - This is a no brainer. Much needed magic resist, ability power, and a debuff on the enemy teams magic resistance. Allowing your team to hit harder.

Will of the ancients - Another viable choice, I recommend Abyssal scepter over this, unless your team is tanky enough.

If your opponents have lots of AD

Randuins Omen - Depending on what build you went.. 0/7/23 or 9/0/21 this could be a better or worse choice than Frozen heart. I recommend this if you went 9/0/21.

Frozen Heart - If you went 0/7/23 get this. The mana benefits you. And gives you much needed cooldown.

If your opponents have lots of AP

Force of Nature - A definite buy for Taric in almost any game. The movespeed helps you catch opponents to pull off clutch stuns. The Magic resist is huge to get over the 150-200 barrier. And the life regen has a really good synergy with your already high hp5.

Banshees Veil - Every stat on this is amazing. If the enemy team has a Malz, or a champion with devastating ults then get this for its passive.

Default I would recommend Stun first always, after that, you have a choice, usually heal is the best, but if you feel at level two you can get a kill, go for it. Many times I've been in a lane with sion vsing a squishy, I know that the extra 100dmg from shatter will get us the kill, so I get shatter 2nd, and we get the kill.

Get radiance as soon as you're 6, don't level it anymore unless it's between that and dazzle.

Max shatter first. Then imbue, then radiance, then dazzle. That is what I recommend. Although you can max imbue first.

When using imbue unless you're about to die, and you're the only one that's missing hp NEVER.... EVER heal yourself only. 200% vs 140% .. Healing others is much more cost effective.

The only viable choices I can possibly see are:

Ghost - Clairvoyance .. Use this, I know the mana from clarity is awesome, believe me I've used it lots. Clairvoyance is better.

Ghost - Clarity .. It's nice, I've done some awesome fakes with it before, hugging my tower with no mana, as soon as someone pops in to dive me, clarity, stun, shatter.. dead. Early game it's amazing, late game it loses lots of value. Clairvoyance however keeps its value through the whole game.

Ghost - Flash .. I wouldn't recommend it over the first two choices at all. Maybe if you're trying some AP Taric, it wouldn't end your game or anything though, Flash is a amazing skill.

- When convenient and safe, quickly take out the wraiths. Taric can easily do this by targeting the big wraith, then shatter, dazzle, depending on what point in the game, they will ALL die, with the big Wraith 1 hit left, or they will all be alive, needing 1 more smack.

- Get blue golem asap with this build as the cooldown from blue will give you its full potential. Unless you wanna waste time, get help when convenient.. unless it's later in game and you have manamune, then it should be easy.

- Early game make sure to Clairvoyance their jungle (assuming they have a jungler) at their starting position, if possible steal their golem. I've done it a few times with a 20 dmg dazzle, it's great.

- When you do the first Clairvoyance of the game you should wait about 5-8 seconds THEN use it inbetween their nexus and spawn.

- Never keep Radiance on for periods longer than ~6 seconds. The cooldown on it is not very long, do not waste all your mana using this skill. During a big initial team fight activate it so your AD teammates can get that boost on their initial attacks, and so you can survive initial attacks on you. After that disable it so you can keep healing and stunning. If you're in a situation where you have no mana for a stun or heal, and are running away from someone.. activate it. It could save you.

- When chasing someone for a dazzle make sure to keep spamming E and re-clicking on them. Your movement speed may be slightly faster, you will not be able to tell with your eye if you're in range.. keep spamming it, you'll be surprised how often you'll pull off stuns that have huge range.

- If the enemy team has lots of AD it's smart to not use shatter in a big team fight, the armor benefits you guys more. However if your team has lots of AD it may be a wise choice to use it to lower the enemies armor. Just make sure you get at least 2-3 enemies with it.

- Early game Taric is actually very powerful damage wise. If the opponents you're laning vs are squishy, get a sheen. Kills and maximum luls will ensue.

If you take in all this information and practice some games with Taric you will become a very good player. He's a fun, fast paced champion. Your teammates will love you. Your opponents will hate you.

*UPDATING CONSTANTLY*

- Made the guide more pretty
- Changed guide to vote on comment.. after 3 downvotes in a row with no good reason, I decided to do this.


- Will not be updating anymore, will check back maybe once every couple weeks or whenever I remember that I even made a guide. People seem to want content, even if worthless over good information. I'm not going to spend hours doing that.