Hey, I'm Flammos. I'm a Challenger Warwick Top OTP and peaked with 1249LP. I'm also known for having one of the strongest mentals in the game. I NEVER tilt, no matter the situation.

I started my League of Legends journey in Season 10, experimenting with many champions across different roles. But once I discovered Warwick, I knew I had found my champion. I loved how versatile his builds could be, ranging from Tankwick, Warriorwick even to APwick.

At first, I thought of him as nothing more than a niche cheese pick with Barrier, baiting opponents into bad trades. But the deeper I went, the more I realized just how high his skill ceiling really is.

I played Warwick casually since Season 11, but I got serious in Seasons 14. I played Warwick every single game. Over the course of more than 3000 games, I learned every limit, every trick, and every way to squeeze out an advantage.

Many people will tell you that Warwick is bad in high elo because he gets outscaled, is easily counterpicked and falls off in the late game. But to me, Warwick has various tools to stay relevant throughout every stage of the game, if played and built correctly.

This guide is the culmination of hundreds of games and their matchup knowledge. It's here to help you unlock Warwick's true potential and to be just as the Uncaged Wrath of Zaun that he is!

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/flammos_twitch (streaming almost daily)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@flammoss

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/z4e9x5SH7d

The only really viable trees for Toplane Warwick are the Precision and Resolve tree.
Precision helps you with extended trades and Resolve makes sure, that you stay healthy during them.

Press the Attack SITUATIONAL	Lethal Tempo RECOMMENDED	Fleet Footwork SITUATIONAL
Good alternative to Lethal Tempo, when you're in a matchup, where you can't fully stack up Lethal Tempo or going full damage, where you kill the enemy before you stack up Lethal Tempo. Useful either in squishy ranged matchups or against enemies with dash+CC combo, where you want to go for short trades. (e. g. Riven, Renekton, Gragas)	Best overall keystone for Warwick. It synergizes with his auto-attack/on-hit heavy playstyle and the on-hit damage (when stacked up) is huge due to his high attackspeed from his Blood Hunt. It gives you insane dueling power at every stage of the game.	More of a niche pick against ranged toplaners. You're rather taking this keystone for its movementspeed, rather than the healing it grants, so you can stay on top of your opponent more easily. But I don't like it that much, as it doesn't grant you any damage and reduces your dueling power in the later stages of the game a lot.

Absorb Life NEVER PLAY THIS	Triumph SITUATIONAL	Presence of Mind RECOMMENDED
Really bad rune for Warwick, as you're healing way more of the wave with your auto attacks than with this rune.	Good rune, when you feel confident on your mana-usage or you can't use Presence of Mind, because the enemy is playing a ranged toplaner. It also has better scaling than Presence of Mind into lategame.	Very good rune, as Toplane Warwick struggles with mana in the early game if he spams his Q too many times. Especially good for an aggresive playstyle or newcomers, who don't know their limits yet.

Legend: Alacrity RECOMMENDED	Legend: Haste NOT RECOMMENDED	Legend: Bloodline NOT RECOMMENDED
Best one in this row, as it grants you attackspeed, which your kit synergizes with very well.	Not really that great, as Warwick utilizes basic ability haste very poorly. His Q has pretty low CD already, his W has high CD, but it's more of a passive anyways and his E CD only starts after the fear. Maybe viable, but Legend: Alacrity is simply a better alternative.	Not that useful on Warwick, as it grants a minimal amount of lifesteal. Its healing is miniscule compared to how much we heal from our kit alone.

Coup de Grace SITUATIONAL	Cut Down SITUATIONAL	Last Stand RECOMMENDED
It's a good alternative to Last Stand, when you're playing a high DPS build and oneshot people, as you don't get low in the process and rather benefit from this rune.	Similiar to Coup de Grace, as it helps you oneshot a target quicker, rather than helping you in close fights.	Best choice in this row, as Warwick's playstyle revolves around him being low the whole time. So in fights, you're always getting good value from this rune.

Aftershock NEVER PLAY THIS	Grasp of the Undying RECOMMENDED	Guardian NEVER PLAY THIS
Very bad, as Warwick usually disenegages or closes out the fight with his E, which is where he would be getting value from Aftershock. Maybe viable, when he engages with his Infinite Duress in teamfights and has to tank a lot. But aside from that, pretty useless.	Good alternative to Press the Attack, when you rather like to go more of a tanky build than DPS-heavy one. Also good into matchups, where you can't really stack up your Lethal Tempo. It makes your short trades really effective with your Q Jaws of the Beast and even scales as you're getting +5 health every time you proc it.	Maybe good for when playing support, but very useless on toplane.

Demolish RECOMMENDED	Font of Life NEVER PLAY THIS	Shieldbash NEVER PLAY THIS
Good for a tanky build, as the damage scales with your maximum HP. Go for this, when you have a free lane and can perma crash the wave into the enemy turret and proc it. (e. g. Malphite)	Not really worth it on a solo-lane and it doesn't really have that good scaling into lategame.	You don't have a shield in your kit, so it's pretty much useless unless you build Eclipse.

Conditioning SITUATIONAL	Second Wind RECOMMENDED	Bone Plating SITUATIONAL
If the lane is free (e. g. tank), then you can take this rune and get around 500g worth of gold after 12mins, as you probably won't struggle in lane.	Really good rune, as its healing is based off of missing health, meaning that you heal even more while low on HP, which fits perfectly to Warwick's playstyle.	It's strong against champions, who either have a strong all in (e. g. Riven) or an ability, that deals multiple instances of damage (e. g. Renekton W).

Overgrowth NOT RECOMMENDED	Revitalize RECOMMENDED	Unflinching NOT RECOMMENDED
Pretty fine rune, as it gives you better scaling into the late game by increasing your maximum HP. But it's not really worth to take instead of Revitalize.	The best one out of this row, as it heavily synergizes with the huge amounts of healing Warwick has in his kit.	I haven't really tested this one out, but it could be good against cc-heavy matchups like Zac or K'Sante, as it gives you around 500g worth of resistances, which is pretty good in the early game. But I still think that Revitalize is the better option.

As of shards, I always recommend going Attack Speed and Adaptive Force in the 1st and 2nd row, as they synergize well with Warwick's kit.

If I'm going a Precision Keystone, I'll go for Flat Health, as it allow me to be more aggresive in the early game

If I'm going a Resolve Keystone, I'll go for Health Scaling, because you don't have that strong of an early game and allows you to scale better into the late game.



10% Attack Speed
9 Adaptive Force (5.4 AD)
65 Health



10% Attack Speed
9 Adaptive Force (5.4 AD)
10-180 Health (+10 per lvl)

These boots give you the most Movement Speed out of all and grant you slow resistance, which makes you less kiteable. They are also the cheapest ones, making them generally a great buy for Warwick.

Helps against a lot of CC on the enemy team with its 30% Tenacity. I wouldn't recommend buying them solely for the MR, as it doesn't grant too much of it for its gold value.

Helps you against opponents, who deal most of their damage through autoattacks and against AD in general.

In my opinion, you should view T3 Boots as Elixirs. You're getting a nice powerspike for only 500g, but you're also delaying your item powerspike for 500g. So, if you know that a game deciding teamfight is coming up, you should prioritize being as strong as possible and buy T3 boots, otherwise you're completely fine finishing boots very late into game.

Don't get baited by their passive granting you more Adaptive Force the more Movement Speed you have. All of Warwick's movement speed is out of combat, meaning that in a fight, you don't have any bonus movement speed.

Good idea to upgrade, when enemy has 3+ sources of magic damage.

Good idea to upgrade, when enemy has 3+ sources of AD damage.

I sorted and ranked the items here from S to D Tier. The ranking is based on the item's usefulness to help Warwick flatten out his weaknesses or to increase his strengths (specifically for toplane).

Blade of the Ruined King is single-handedly the best On-Hit item for Warwick, as not only does it grant you an insane dueling powerspike once you get it, making you win almost any 1v1, it's also the best option for the late game compared to others like Kraken Slayer or Statikk Shiv. The passive slow also helps you at chasing down enemies.

Stridebreaker is a great pickup, as getting kited is one of your main concerns. The slow from its active helps you stick to the enemies. It also provides waveclear, which is good, as Warwick lacks AoE damage and has a rather hard time pushing out waves.

Statikk Shiv is here, as it finds a balance between the damage of Bork and the waveclear of Stridebreaker with its passive. It works really good in teamfights, as the passive can jump to multiple targets and resets after takedown. It also offers great combat stats for only 2700 Gold. You're going to reach your powerspike way faster than other champions, which makes this a very snowball heavy item. The only downside is, that the damage doesn't scale, meaning that it will fall of hard in the late game.

Death's Dance is one of the best bruiser items in the game right now. It's one of the two items in the entire game that grants AD and Armor (Besides GA ). And this is good, as Warwick can keep building damage, while also gaining tankiness. Especially the passive "Ignore Pain" makes you practically impossible to one shot. With that you have enough time to react and use your kit to heal up from lethal damage.

Eclipse is more of a niche item, but I liked it the few times I've played it. The passive makes you really strong at short trades, which is very useful when playing against champions, you can't stick to and force into an extended fight and want to poke down (e.g. Renekton, Riven, Urgot). The shield is useful in soaking up damage while disengaging, helping you to stay healthy.

Experimental Hexplate became a really good item for Warwick after its buffs in [25.16]. It offers great stats but its passive is the main reason you're buying this item. You will have your ult up every 60s and receive insane amounts of attack speed and movementspeed, which helps you to clean up fights.

Guardian Angel is a really good late-game pickup, as you're going to be part of the frontline, want to live as long as possible and threaten the enemy backline. The armor and stasis help you to achieve all that. The AD that it grants, is also a nice benefit.

Hullbreaker is a very good item for split pushing. You can proc the passive pretty often with your high Attack Speed . This item also provides a good mixture of damage, tankiness and even movement speed and Warwick loves all of those stats.

Kraken Slayer is a good early game competitor to Bork . It offers valuable stats, especially the 4% movement speed and deals massive execute damage. I recommend building it when enemy team has a lot of squishies and pair it with PTA for huge one-shot potential. Only downside is, that it falls off in late and deals neglectable damage against non-squishies.

Maw of Malmortius provides a good amount of MR and AD . It helps you a lot against high-magic-damage comps with its shield and omnivamp.

Wit's End is a good pickup for MR and Tenacity . Its On-Hit synergizes well with Warwick's high Attack Speed, making it a good damage item, altough it doesn't provide you with any AD

Zhonya's Hourglass is similiar to GA , as it makes sure that you stay alive longer in a fight. You can use the stasis to wait until you have your cooldowns back. And the AP actually has its use with 10% on your passive and 100% on your Q.

Frozen Heart is very useful if the enemy team consists of many autoattackers. The Armor and the passive really help you to stay alive while tanking a lot of autoattacks. And it's also pretty cheap for 2500g. But aside from making you tanky, it doesn't pose any additional benefits.

Guinsoo's Rageblade synergizes well with your passive and your build, as it grants you Attack Speed and applies on-hit multiple times. I would only build this in an full on-hit setup, so it's pretty niche. Downside is that you're going to be very squishy and one CC would most of the times get you killed.

Kaenic Rookern is the best "Tank MR Item" in the game as it grants you 80 MR and on top of that a magic shield. If the enemy team consist mostly of magic damage, then this is your choice if you build Tankwick. If you're going damage, then I would suggest building other options like Wit's End or Maw of Malmortius.

Randuin's Omen provides good Armor and utility with its 70% slow for 2 seconds (not decaying btw). The item is highly situational, as you usually want to counter champions who crit a lot. So if you see enemy team has 2+ champions who crit , you should consider this item.

Spirit Visage sounds like a good item for Warwick on paper. It enhances all your healing and provides you with good stats as Health and MR . But after the "Arcane Rework", I feel like that Warwick has lost a lot of innate damage, meaning that if you don't build damage, you won't deal damage, thus also not healing that much. I would consider building this, if enemies have a lot of magic damage and I have an enchanter like Soraka or Karma

Sterak's Gage is a decent item. The Tenacity and Health are good, but the AD scales off your base AD, which kinda sucks, as Warwick has one of the lowest base AD out of all bruisers. I would only buy this item when building a lot of health, as the shield scales with it and grants you a lot of extra sustain in fights.

Terminus looks like a great item for Warwick on paper, as it grants you both Armor Pen and Magic Pen which Warwick can use both. It also grants Resistances, making it also a good item to frontline with. But everytime I tried this item I didn't feel a difference in damage to tanks or any tankiness. This item should help you against tanks, but in my opinion, Warwick should rather focus squishies and lock them down, while their ADC can focus the tank. Not a really great item, unless you're the only one who has enough DPS to kill the enemies' tank.

Titanic Hydra is great if the enemy team is mostly melee and don't kite that much, as you can deal massive burst damage with its active. But buying this instead of Stridebreaker will make you highly immobile and leave you vulnerable to getting kited. I would only build this item in an full-tank setup, as the damage scales of Health .

Abyssal Mask should only be bought, if your team consist of mostly AP damage. Please don't think that it's worth buying it for yourself, as the stats aren't that great and the item itself isn't the best MR option as well.

Dead Man's Plate is good against teams with a lot of slows and AD. But in my opinion, it isn't that great of an item for Warwick, as it only makes you tanky as the damage scales of your base AD, which Warwick has one of the lowest in the game out of all bruisers. You're going to be immune to gettin oneshot, but you'll definitely also won't be dealing damage to enemies either.

Jak'Sho, The Protean is one of the few items in the game that grants both Armor and MR . It works really well when you're ahead, but the item got nerfed over and over, that only resistance stacking tanks like K'Sante are really able to build this item now.

Rest of C and D-Tier coming soon!