Hello all, this is my first build on mobafire, and I hope it is successful. I have been playing Rammus now for a while and I have realized that in 3v3, he is one of the best tanks because his ability to completely shut down one person on the enemy team. Also, when you build him as a straight tank, he has the ability to survive even 3v1 against the hardest hitting champs because of his defense ball curl which adds 150 additional armor and MR. This makes Rammus an ideal tank for twisted treeline.

I use armor pen marks because as Rammus gets more armor, his basic attack increases. By the time you build your thornmail, his attack should be over 100, and as the game goes on, your attack will continually rise eventually coming to a stop around 200 in defensive ball curl. The armor pen marks help you do a decent amount of damage, especially since you are a tank, and people do not expect that.

I use the armor per level seals because you can never have too much armor, and with Rammus's passive and defensive ball building off of armor, I feel that every little bit helps.

I use the CDR per level glyphs, because any good tank should be able to incapacitate enemy champions often. I feel that CDR per level is more effective because most of the team fights happen later game, so you will be able to spam your taunt more often.

I use flat health quints because early game, like any character, there are some hazards. Since I start by building gp5 items first, my survivability tends to suffer slightly, so that additional 78 health does wonders, especially during the pregame team fight. You will be a lot tankier than most pregame.

These masteries are basically for getting the most damage reduction you possibly can, while grabbing 3 points in mercenary to gain that additional gold for the many assists you will have.

I start out with gp5 items so that I can allow my lane partner to pick up all of the minion kills without having to worry about being gold deprived myself. This allows my lane partner to farm gold off of minions while I still get the gold I need.

After the first two gp5 items, the build sequence is very flexible. You have to look at what their main sources of damage output are because building a thornmail early when they have no physical damage is highly ineffective.

So the key points are to build according to what is needed, so don't look at my item order as set in stone, because I change the order in which I build things from game to game. However, I feel that thornmail is a very effective item against any champions because when they are taunted, they have to auto attack, therefore you get maximum damage output from the taunt, defensive ball, tremors combo.

I also wait to buy boots for a little while, because with your powerball, you already have a very efficient way to get across the map quickly. You can also get out of some very sticky situations by using powerball and rolling away.

Main point: be very flexible with item build order, and you should be fine. Also, I know these items are expensive for a match of twisted treeline, so don't ever expect to build all of the items I have listed.

I start with powerball because that is your movement skill, also the slow debuff from running into enemies is good for preventing enemies from escaping pregame fight. I max this last, because I feel that it is the least essential skill, although the debuff is nothing to underestimate.

I then get defensive ball to get that additional armor and magic resist early game so that you start to take on the role of tank. I max it second after taunt.

I then move into taunt, maxing it by level 9 because it is the most essential skill for shutting down an enemy champion for the team fights.

For summoner spells,I take ghost because I like the feeling of my speed reaching 900 when I need to get to team fights fast. I take exhaust because in team fights, I taunt the highest damage output, then I exhaust the second highest, leaving it to an almost 3v1 team fight. This combination of exhaust and taunt leaves the enemy team helpless while you pound away at them.

Any summoner spells are ok as long as you have a reason for choosing them, but my personal preference happens to be the ghost/exhaust combo.

Pros:

relatively high damage output for tank
really tanky
able to shutdown 2 of the 3 enemy champions when exhaust is up
can take down a turret with no help with tremors
can get speed up to about 900 while in powerball (with ghost)

Cons:

not extremely tanky until you get past the gp5 items
true damage is killer

Your carry's life is more important than yours. Run in to save your carry even if you won't be able to get back out. That being said, know when your carry is gone with or without your help. You don't want the enemy team getting a double kill when they only should have gotten one.

Mainly focus on getting the gp5 items early and once you get those, leave all the farming to your lane buddy.