Garen Build Guide : Paul Chung's Master Garen Guide (WIP WITH MINI REWORK UPDATE)

Introduction & Who I Am

Greetings, my name is Paul Chung. I've mained Garen since Season 10 and peaked Masters in Season 13 Split 1.

I peaked as the rank 10 Garen in NA season 10 and I am here to teach you how you can also climb playing The Might of Demacia!

If you would like to see me play some Garen LIVE come check out my stream at twitch.tv/PaulWChung

If you are still not convinced you can feel free to check out my stats on my Main account LAN account and here are my stats on Garen in general.

PLEASE NOTE I AM CURRENTLY PLAYTESTING BUILDS WITH THE RECENT CHANGES TO GAREN IN 25.11! WILL BE UPDATING AS I GO!

WHY GAREN

So Paul Chung, why should I play Garen you may ask? Well, let us go over Garen's strengths and weaknesses.

GAREN'S STRENGTHS:
1. INCREDIBLY easy to execute kit.
2. His passive allows for a lot of leniency in lane when you make mistakes.
3. His ultimate ability is one of the most powerful execute tools in the game.

GAREN'S WEAKNESSES:
1. EXTREMELY KITEABLE - Garen relies heavily on his Q or to gap close.
2. NO UTILITY - If you can't out tank or kill your opponents then you might feel pretty useless (which is why it's important to get a lead in laning phase.)
3. EASILY COUNTERED - A lot of Garen's current counters such as , , and are all popular meta picks that can leave Garen vulnerable if you first pick him in a game.

Many people consider Garen to only be good at noob stomping, and this is fairly accurate because Garen thrives against lower the skill levels. A lot of times you can laugh as players on a flashy "high skill cap" champion try to "outplay" you but in reality they only outplay themselves!

However even players in the highest ELO brackets are susceptible to Garen and his simple kit. This is shown by many players consistently achieving high elo across multiple regions with as their primarily played champion. I will teach you how I personally hit the rank of Diamond with Garen as my most played champ in this guide.

So, what are you waiting for? Queue for top, read the guide, and try out Garen today!

RUNES

THE PHASE RUSH SETUP

★ I usually end up going around most of my games. Phase rush is currently the most consistent rune choce for and when you have you can easily proc it allowing you to chase or escape in a variety of situations. Because is so versatile in it's usage compared to conqueror I have been preferring the latter.

TRIUMPH

✦
I like running as it provides me with even more movement speed when I use my summoner spells, allowing me to chase or run even more effectively. doesnt really apply to top lane because most of your match ups are AD anyways and manaflow band is useless as Garen is a manaless champion.

TRANSCENDENCE

✦
is one of the best runes in this tree for Garen. It's pretty much free ability haste to use all your abilities faster and since Garen is gated only by cooldowns for his abilities its very Valuable. is useful as well and I do take it instead on certain match ups. Usually vs Melee I go transcendence and vs Ranged I take .

Gathering Storm

✦
For the final rune in this tree I always take as it is better than and in most scenarios. Garen can't apply scorch frequently in lane since he is a melee champion so it loses a lot of value. If you are playing top lane Garen you aren't going to be in the river too much either to make use of . Gathering storm is great because it gives you free AD as the game progresses, and if you can think back to all those times your games lasted into the late late game at 40minutes+ you should definitely see the value Gathering storm can provide for you.

★ I take secondary with either or for my phase rush page. Take bone plating against melee champions with short burst trades such as , and , and take second wind vs champions that can poke you with abilities such as , , and .

Always go double adaptive damage + scaling HP rune shards for maximum DPS.

THE CONQUEROR SETUP

★ is one of the most powerful keystones in the game and is one of the best champions at stacking it (Using E on a champion will instantly charge up your stacks.

TRIUMPH

✦
I like running as Garen has no other ways to use the other 2 runes in the tree being a Manaless champion that doesn't really build lifesteal.

LEGEND TENACITY

✦
is the best stat for Garen to have. Tenacity means slows and stuns have less effect which helps you reach your target easier. Since Garen's E doesn't benefit from nor does he auto attack frequently enough to make good use of Tenacity is your go-to rune every time you are running the Tree.

LAST STAND

✦
As for the last rune, I usually end up going as it is better than in most scenarios. However, if you are up against 4-5 VERY squishy champions you can definitely consider running coup. I never run as Garen almost always has more hp than his key targets during a game (usually enemy mid laner or ADC).

★ For my secondary runes I like to go run the tree and take and . These runes go very well together because I tend to run for more kill pressure in lane. When you use Ignite, your will give you more movement speed and you can use this to both kill or run away from your opponent! On top of that will boost the movement speed you get from . Celerity also boosts the movement speed bonus from which is also very nice. Movement speed on Garen is very important as Garen is a champion with 0 dashes. I run this set up pretty much 100% of my games when I am smurfing because this is the most powerful set up in getting solo kills.

OR

★ If I am against a rough match up, or want to run instead of (usually better for a competitive 5v5 team environment a.k.a. Tournaments and Clash) I take secondary with either or . Take bone plating against melee champions with short burst trades such as , and , and take second wind vs champions that can poke you with abilities such as , , and .

Always go double adaptive damage + scaling HP rune shards for maximum DPS.

OTHER OPTIONAL SETUPS

Here I will be listing rune pages that have their niche against some opponents and are completely viable choices. However, I do find myself taking conqueror regardless in some matchups where grasp can be better for lane just because Conqueror is the better rune outside of laning phase. You can experiment with these pages if you wish to see how it goes in your games, but overall I would say conqueror is the most consistent Keystone just because of how it functions with Garen's kit and if you don't have an idea on what to take in a match up you can't go wrong with it.

Fleet setup

This is the build I opt for whenever I find myself against a Marksman top laner such as , , , and or a squishy ranged mage such as , , , and . It is extremely difficult for Garen to trade at all with these champions. gives you some health back from minions and you can farm without dying. This will help get you to level 6 without dying when you want to all in with and . You may still have to give up creeps but the most important part is to be in range to get experience. You can choose to go this rune if it looks like the enemy laner is playing a poke mage champion such as , , and in the top lane as well. I do find in most of my games that I still find myself going for Phase rush rather than fleet just due to phase rush being better in more situations outside of lan.

Grasp setup

I take these runes when I'm playing vs something like and when Garen has a very hard time using after hitting your target with because Jayce can knock you away and Akali can just hide in shroud. Therefore, against these 2 champions it is better to go as you will only look for trades with Q whenever your Grasp is active. You can apply this to many other off meta top champions you may come across that have a similar playstyle. Champions such as , pretty much melee champions that have a tool to disengage and deny your from getting full value. You can also use this set up if you are having difficulty playing against tanks as it is easier to trade using Grasp with them. Take to get those extra tower plates, or depending on match up, and then for extra HP since Garen doesn't benefit from and I personally think currently the extra HP is better than conditional tenacity from . Take and in the secondary tree for the all in pressure.

ITEMS

ITEMS TO RUSH

The most optimal Rush items for Garen currently is Stridebreaker. I personally think in 95% of your games you really can't go wrong with building Stridebreaker. There may be times where another items might be marginally better to rush but the item itself offers so much good stats and utility as well as waveclear it is just a no brainer item to build if you aren't sure what to build. However there are other items you can consider rushing and there are so many items to build after your core with situations for all of them and I will explain that all below.

is my go-to rush item currently because of it's consistency in the game. It gives you all the stats Garen wants (AD,HP and AS), and then adds movement speed during the active effecr as well as a slow + damage. Stridebreaker really shines against bruisers such as , , and who have a lot of mobility in their kit. I suggest rushing and a or a if you do not have enough gold to buy the item fully for powerspikes. I love going second item as my core. These two items give you the most DPS with the least amount of gold in the early game. The active from Stridebreaker combined with the raw attack speed + crit of will usually allow you to catch up to and then 1 shot combo most high priority targets. Another item I really enjoy going is . Sterak's gage is gerat if you need to withstand more damage during teamfights because it will give you some HP, and a passive that gives you a shield when your HP goes below 30%. This item combined with Deadman's plate as your 3rd item gives Garen a LOT of durability as well as mobility in a teamfight.

Statistically the item gives Garen the best stats for 1v1'ing the enemy top laner and split pushing. I have ran many many MANY dps checks and trinity force is just so effective at what it does. When I want to constantly pressure the enemy through splitting sides as well as raw 1v1 power, Trinity force really enables that playstyle. The downside to triforce is that you miss out on the utility of having a AOE slow and a easier way to apply Phase rush when you are running it, but the item makes up for it with the additional damage to both champions and towers. I would say unless you are against you will find that building Trinity Force while you have a lead will really allow you to snowball by being able to constantly 1v1 the enemy top laner while also taking down towers much faster. The burst through the spellblade passive is really nice as well as it allows for some surprise kills as some people will not expect the amount of damage you can do.

Have you ever just wanted to never group with your team and play league in a completely new way where all you do is hit the enemy towers and eventually win the game? Well, hullbreaker will literally enable you to do just that. This build tech was originally created by a Garen main known as “I am Sunlight” who has hit 1000LP consistently playing mainly Garen in the NA server. I saw this build and changed the rune setup a bit to fit my own playstyle, but it's absolutely insane how fast you melt towers when you have and hullbreaker.

Items to build after your Core

A must when you are against any armor stacking opponent, but the item has so much value overall that you really can't go wrong with building this item in most games. Just keep in mind you can only have 1 armor shred item so this directly competes with . The carve effect from not only allows you to do more AD damage, but enables your allies as well. On top of that each stack gives you movement speed so you are also able to stick onto your targets even better. You can apply the armor shred debuff to multiple targets simultaneously if you manage to get your onto multiple enemies during a teamfight which is so valuable when you have an adc or ad assassin who want to go in with you. If you are not sure what to go next in your build and you haven't built this and the enemy frontline has 3+ armor items, just build it.

AD Bruisers will always be popular in Top Lane and DMP is one of the best armor items in the game for Garen. It gives you movement speed and a bit of burst as well with the passive auto attack. Consider building this item when you feel like you need more chase, and you are needing to match AD champions in a side lane.

I enjoy going this item when the enemy comp is all AD, but they're not crit based. When all the champions utilize crit it'smost likely better to go . This item does a lot of work against assassins' such as , , and or even bruisers that rely on combo's such as and because it reduces the burst done in their combos, and if you score a take down the blled effect is immediately gone. On top of that it gives armor, ability haste, and ad which are all very solid stats for Garen. Try going this item when the enemy team comp has 4-5 AD based champions.

This item is amazing for Garen because it provides you % movement speed and a ton magic resistance both of which are amazing stats to have against heavy AP compositions. I would go this item 3rd instead of Deadman's Plate in scenarios where you are against something like a AP match up + AP jungler, or you need to match a AP champion in the sidelane. This item is currently the one of the best item for Garen against AP threats. When you have this item + Deadman's you get a nice boost in movement speed which makes it almost impossible for most champions to outrun you, but the downside is that you may lack damage to kill some targets. At the end of the day this is a defensive item, and it doesnt have a damage boost like Deadman's Plate does so make sure to consider that before incorporating it into your builds.

In general I don't usually build this item because there are better items you can build on Garen. I build this item if I think the next teamfight will decide whether we win or lose the game and I don't have enough gold for a better item, or I feel that having 1 extra life will win me the teamfight that will be game winning. Situationally this item could be very strong, also you could build this item if you built a stopwatch for a teamfight and you don't wan that gold to go wasted.

it is no secret that this item is currently very powerful not only just to split push and hit towers, but the damage to champions is really slept on as well as the movement speed. You may think the passive effect is harder to use as Garen, but because hullbreaker doesn't apply on minions If you're just last hitting you are edfecrively building up the passive for that damage on hit effect. You could consider rushing Hullbreaker vs any sort of AP or Tank top laner you can rush this item to make waveclearing a lot more difficult. I usually build Hullbreaker 3rd after Stridebreaker and Phantom Dancer to really make use of all the attack speed and tower damage potential, however when running the Sunlight Grasp build I rush hullbreaker to maximize tower plates take down and split push power. I would also recommend building this item vs any other champion that may be looking to rush hullbreaker to match the powerspike such as and .

Inifinity Edge

Do you want to do damage? A lot of damage? The most damage you can do? Look no further than infinity edge. If you want to maximize your DPS this item is number 1 as it increases your crit chance but also the crit damage of your E! Just keep in mind it's very expensive and doesn't offer you any defensive stats.

Against a champion with lots of healing built in such as , , and I would go a in your build. This will give much needed grevious along with a significant DPS increase. I prefer this item to because it gives you crit, AD, and armor penetration which is significantly better than 200 health and 15 ability haste for . Even just a early executioner's can be very valuable as well as the grievous wound % never changes regardless of upgrading it.

Phantom dancer offers a massive boost in attack speed which is nice for adding more spins to E for more dps and taking down towers. It also gives you a ghost effect even without using E (meaning you can go through minions after autoing) as well as 25% crit. On top of everything it gives you a whopping 12% movement speed which is the most movement speed a single item offers you in the game. I am currently going Phantom Dancer second whenever I am not playing the Grasp Hullbreaker build. This item is the best powerspike item in the game at a cheap gold cost of 2600, and you can’t go wrong building phantom dancer in any Garen game.

This is the item you want to go when you see more than 2 champions that builds heavy crit such as , , , and crit based ADC's. The passive effect is very nice against auto attackers, and the active not only slows but reduces damage done by critical attacks as well.

RFC is currently a very niche item with some upsides for Garen. The attack damage range increase is cool but doesn't have too much value because of the amount of gold required to invest in the item. If you built 2 Zeal for the DPS spike, I would recommend going for first and then build the second zeal into RFC if you feel like you need more damage. However you will find that in most cases it is better to sell the second zeal in lieu of a different item entirely.

This item is only good if you are ahead with lots of gold and you are trying to really maximize your DPS in teamfights and you are building tons of lethality. The main problem with this item is that it is very expensive to build and that it gives no durability. It also requires you to have at least 2 lethality items to even make use of the passive effect. Full lethality Garen isn't very viable meaning Serylda isn't very good on Garen as well. It also competes with Mortal Reminder, Black Cleaver, and even Lord Dominiks Regard which are all items that just offer Garen more usable and better stats.

When I'm being constantly suppressed by a enemy , , , and this is the item you should go for when it's finally time to upgrade your quicksilver sash. Remember that you can also use this item to cleanse stuns and slows such as 's , 's , and 's and not just suppressions. You should keep it at just a for the cleanse effect until you have all your completed items as this item doesn't really give Garen a power spike but rather just better stats on a item that gives your a cleanse effect. It may even be better to just not upgrade it to the scimitar and sell for a item like Sterak's Gage or Jaksho the Protean for more durability.

Garen has a lot of innate healing from his passive especially when we bring as well. This item not only boosts the healing done by those two, but also any heals and shields you receive from your allies! One of the best items for Garen in general but especially when you are against AP.

This is the item you want to go if you know you will be teamfighting often, and you are the main Tank for your team and need extra durability. The main downside of this item is that the only stat you get is HP AD and passive shielding, so I don't recommend building this until you build at least 1 resistance item. Garen has a very high base attack stat so this item is very good on him as well as providing you some 1v1 ability against champions with a powerful burst such as Darius ultimate.

If I am against multiple ADC's that you can't reach at all I will usually choose to go this item for grievous wounds instead of as mortal reminder can only apply the debuff when you apply physical damage. By going thornmail you will be able to apply grievous wounds without needing to damage the opponent, which means you are not required to be in melee range to apply it. You can also choose to go this item (or at least a ) if you are losing lane to a champion that builds a lot of lifesteal or has lots of self sustain in it's kit such as , , , and .

ABILITIES

Everything you need to know about Garen's abilities

does not use mana, health or energy in order to cast spells which means you're only gated by your cooldowns. The only thing about Garen you have to worry about during the game is the whether or not an ability is on cooldown. This makes Garen incredibly beginner friendly. Even though he seems easy there can be lot of depth to how and why you use your skills.

Passive - Garen restores 1.5−10.1% of his maximum health every 5 seconds (depending on level). is interrupted for 8 seconds if Garen takes damage from epic monsters, turrets, champions, or if he is hit by an enemy ability.

This is one of Garen's biggest strengths as it makes his lane phase very forgiving. You should use your health as a resource by forcing the enemy laner to back while you regen health freely. It is extremely important to not take damage from the enemy when laning if you are not trying to trade so that you keep your passive active. Be wary of the AoE (area of effect) and DoT (Damage over time) champions as they will constantly turn off your passive. Main examples are / poison, bleed, and turrets.

Q- Garen removes all slows on him and gains 30% bonus movement speed for 1 / 1.65 / 2.3 / 2.95 / 3.6 seconds. His next melee attack within 4.5 seconds will deal 30 / 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 (+0.5 per attack damage) bonus physical damage and silence his target for 1.5 seconds. This attack can critically strike.

This is Garen's only cc but more importantly it grants a movement speed steroid. Always try to think about why you are using Q during lane or while split pushing as wasting it leaves you defenseless. It's almost always better to save Q rather than using it for farming.You should always try to use before using so that enemies cannot save themselves from the incoming execute damage.

W-Passive: Garen permanently gains 0.25 bonus armor and bonus magic resistance every time he kills an enemy unit, up to a maximum of 30 bonus resistances at 120 unit kills. At max resistances from enemy kills, Garen increases his bonus armor and magic resist by 10%.
Active: Garen reduces incoming damage by 30% for 2 / 2.75 / 3.5 / 4.25 / 5 seconds. Additionally, for the first 0.75 seconds, Garen also gains a 70 / 95 / 120 / 145 / 170 (+0.2 bonus health) shield and 60% Tenacity.

How you use your W is your only form of skill expression. Misusing your W can result in taking unfavorable trades, getting cc'd for too long. Ideally you want to use this spell when you are trading in lane, see a incoming CC ability, or to tank a turret shot. The timing for turret shots can be a little tricky so I suggest practicing it in practice tool until you get the timing down.

E- Garen rapidly spins his sword around his body 7 (+1 per 25% attack speed) times over 3 seconds, ignoring unit collision and dealing 4 / 8 / 12 / 16 / 20 (+0-8.2 depending on level) (+0.32 / 0.34 / 0.36 / 0.38 / 0.4 per attack damage) physical damage per spin to nearby enemies. This damage is increased by 25% on Garen's nearest enemy. Judgment can critically strike for 33% bonus damage. The total damage is increased by 50% against non-epic monsters. Enemy champions hit 6 times have their armor reduced by 25% for 6 seconds (hits after the 6th refresh the duration). Garen can deactivate Judgement early by activating the ability again after 1 second, which reduces the cooldown by the remaining duration of the spin.

This is Garen's signature ability and where the phrase "spin to win" comes from. Garen's E is his main DPS and pushing tool (3 points in E lets you instant clear a wave.) A neat feature of Garen's E is that he will remain spinning even while cc'd. This is why it's so important to predict your enemy and use E while trading when you see incoming cc abilities. Some of the important spells to remember are 's , 's , 's , and 's . Whenever you use your E to trade in lane, you're also probably going to damage the minion wave as a result. So just be careful whenever you are using E to make sure your lane is in a good spot. Also, remember that you can cancel early your E to put it into a lower CD. Some reasons you cancel early are: you were trading but the enemy dashed out of range, you cleared all minions. As you get more experience with Garen you will begin to see more situations where you should be cancelling E early.

R- Garen gains vision of his target for 1 second and brings down Demacian Justice on them after a 0.5 second delay, dealing true damage to them equal to 150 / 300 / 450 plus 20 / 25 / 30% of the target's missing health.

This is Garen's most powerful tool, and the reason why he has so much kill pressure once he hits level 6. This ability means any champion around 30% hp within melee range is at risk of execution. The range of is just about the range of so even if the enemy tries to flash away as long as you've pressed R and the animation is going through it will execute. Don't just use your R because someone is in the kill range, be sure you are targeting the most important enemies. Also keep in mind to not use R when the enemy is under a revive effect such as Chronoshift and Guardian Angel and always keep track of shield passive items/ skills. There's currently no execution indicator for Garen so you have to play games until you can predict the execute range.

Champions to ban as Garen

1.

Camille is frustrating to go against because of her ability to always win short trades through utilization of + . Her kit also outscale's Garen later it gets into the game after 2 - 3 items making it even harder for Garen to deal with. Combined with this, and the fact that she is a very frequently picked meta champion, I have currently chosen Camille as my number 1 ban champion in solo queue as it's the champion I see most often and have the most problem with. Pretty much every game that I intend to blind Garen I ban Camille.

2.

has a very difficult kit for Garen to go against. Her constant poke and movement speed from vitals and her healing is very obnxious both in lane and the 1v1. On top of that she has an ability that can either nullify your Q or R entirely. Usually against Fiora your best bet is to hope she makes a mistake or misuses her W and look for a kill window around the cd. If someone else already banned Camille, I ban Fiora.

3.

If all the champions above are banned I suggest banning as she is by far the hardest champion in the game for Garen to deal with. Access to true damage, insane mobility with , and access to invisibility makes a good positioning Vayne impossible to 1v1. The reason I do not ban her over other champions usually is due to her playrate but if you don't have an idea what to ban and the champions listed above are banned you can feel free to do so.

A general guideline for bans is at the end of the day what YOU as the player don't want to play against. That could mean a polarizing lane match up, an OP pick that is strong in the meta, or an annoying champion that you don't want to deal with. It's important that you as the player figure out what ban you want to proceed with and make plans accordingly depending on what the enemy team chooses. Bans are recommendations only and should never be an "absolute" as the game is dynamic and always changing.

Ending remarks

Thank you so much for reading my guide! If you liked it please consider upvoting the guide, every upvotes help me become a better content creator! Also if you have any questions feel free to comment below or ask my during my stream and I will do my best to answer them!

Paul Chung's Master Garen Guide (WIP WITH MINI REWORK UPDATE)

Paul Chung's Master Garen Guide (WIP WITH MINI REWORK UPDATE)

Recommended Items

Runes: Phase Rush

Spells:

Flash

Ignite

Flash

Ghost

Flash

Teleport

Items

Ability Order vs Melee

Perseverance (PASSIVE)

Decisive Strike (Q)

Courage (W)

Judgment (E)

Demacian Justice (R)

Perseverance (PASSIVE)

Decisive Strike (Q)

Courage (W)

Judgment (E)

Demacian Justice (R)

Threats & Synergies

Aatrox

Akali

Akshan

Camille

Cho'Gath

Darius

Dr. Mundo

Fiora

Gangplank

Garen

Gnar

Gwen

Hecarim

Heimerdinger

Illaoi

Irelia

Jax

Jayce

Kayle

Kennen

Kled

Lucian

Lulu

Malphite

Maokai

Mordekaiser

Nasus

Olaf

Ornn

Poppy

Quinn

Renekton

Rengar

Riven

Rumble

Ryze

Sett

Shen

Singed

Sion

Sylas

Tahm Kench

Teemo

Tristana

Trundle

Tryndamere

Urgot

Vayne

Vladimir

Volibear

Warwick

Wukong

Yasuo

Yone

Yorick

Zac