Rammus Build Guide by Viraemia

Introduction

Okay, so i really like junglers and jungling. If you check the builds i've put up so far, they're all for junglers. Anywho, my favorite one so far is Rammus. We all know that his ganks are frightening, and that he can tank extremely hard. But did you know you can DPS their AD carries to death? Yessir, read on and ill teach you how.

Pros / Cons

PROS

Some of the best ganks ever
Smooth jungling
Can counter jungle well
OP taunt
OP defense curl
OP movement speed

CONS

Not a fast jungler

Skill Sequence

Spiked Shell
This is a rather interesting passive. Become tankier -> do more damage. Hmm... How do we abuse this to our advantage?

Powerball
This ability is AWESOME. It makes you feel like a real badass. You just Powerball anywhere on the map because it's so much fun to see your champ go that fast around the map. Or maybe it's because we get flash backs to playing Sonic as a kid. Who knows. It also comes equipped with an AoE knock up and slow.

Defensive Ball Curl
This is your jungling ability. It's also your main damage output until endgame. It gives you a Thornmail so most of the time you don't need to buy one. Besides, Randuin's Omen is a superior choice.

puncturing tauntPuncturing Taunt
This is what makes Rammus feared. At rank 5 of this ability, you will have an enemy auto-attacking you for 3 full seconds. And endgame, this means pick their AD carry, pop this on them and pop Defensive Ball Curl and watch them die before the taunt ends.

Tremors
Well, thankfully his main abilities are OP when all combined. Because this isn't that great of an ultimate. But you can use it to do AoE damage to a team and backdoor turrets by yourself. Remember that, it deals damage to turrets.

PRIORITY

-> -> puncturing taunt ->

Runes

Marks

Greater Mark of Attack Speed - Take these so can take out the jungle faster. Wouldn't armor pen be better? No. You attack damage is based off of how much armor you have. So you do attack harder than most other champs at level 1 with just a Cloth Armor.

Seals

Greater Seal of Armor - You want armor to jungle as any melee jungler. Accept it. But with Rammus and his Spiked Shell passive, you will have more attack damage now.

Glyphs

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist - Magic resist per level. You are a tank and your priority is armor. Get this so you can scale into the game as it progresses and go for more armor.

Quints

I find that the quintessences on Rammus are entirely preference. So Greater Quintessence of Health, Greater Quintessence of Armor or Greater Quintessence of Scaling Magic Resist are all good picks.

Masteries

Important Mastery Points

Summoner's Resolve
You are jungling. You need the improved Smite. Do not argue against it. Do not think "well, endgame exhaust is better durrr." Because you are wrong. Endgame i will steal your baron with Smite and Powerball away laughing.

Bladed Armor
Increase the effectiveness of your Defensive Ball Curl in the jungle. Not by much, nor do you need it. But it makes the jungling faster.

Initiator
Make Powerball faster. Close those gaps without it, too. Taunt their carry, proceed facerolling. Very easy to see why you would get this on Rammus or any tank for that matter.

Juggernaut
YEEEEAAH IT'S THE JUGGERNAUT BEOTCH! Even MORE tenacity AND health? GIMME GIMME GIMME.

Runic Affinity
Albeit that you don't really need to have lots of mana to jungle with Rammus but it does help clear the jungle a lot easier as well gank easier afterwards.

Items

What Items to Get and When

and Cloth Armor and 5 Health Pots
This is the best way to dominate the jungle as Rammus and be able to gank early at level 2-4. I suggest going this way so you will hit harder in the jungle with Spiked Shell.

and Boots and Madred's Razors
Make your jungle faster by moving and clearing the camps faster. Your ganks will become easier too. If your first gank was successful, then you more than likely will have enough money for both.

and Wriggle's Lantern and Mercury's Treads
Again, this is to keep your jungle and and ganks faster and better. You will also have tenacity and a free ward. Yay.

Sunfire Cape
A good item for most tanks. Deal more damage, while having more health and armor. You hit a lot harder now as Rammus and are tankier in the game.

Wit's End
Why get attack speed on Rammus? Well, this is mainly for magic resist. There are better magic resist items, sure. But this gives you a lot of offensive stats as well. You attack faster, as well as deal magic damage with every auto attack. Because you have Wriggle's Lantern you will heal faster from clearing creep waves or jungle camps. As well as be able to start DPSing their team too.

Force of Nature
Why not get more armor? Because, while in defensive ball curve your defensive needs should be more than covered for team fights. However, that's not the best reason to get this. It's actually the movement speed. Yup. Tankier and move faster. Que the epic music.

Randuin's Omen
Lots and lots of armor. And an amazing active. It's better than Thornmail or Frozen Heart. The only other option you have is Thornmail but you should only get that if they have a Tryndamere.

Atma's Impaler
You will get a lot of passives working for you after getting this. More armor -> more attack damage. You have health -> more attack damage. You crit now -> take their AD carries on toe toe. They won't be able to touch you and will hit them really hard and fast.

Jungling/Ganking

Because you have a lot of starting armor, and attack speed. You should very well be able to take out the jungle pretty quickly. Start at blue or wolves if your team is going to give you a hard leash. All you have to do is use Defensive Ball Curl and attack the biggest of the monsters at the camp. After blue and wolves go over to wraiths and Powerball into them and bring up your Defensive Ball Curl. Move onto either red or double golems after wraiths depending on the cooldown of your Smite. If it's over 15 seconds move onto golems. If it's lower, do red. Chug a health potion at every camp. You don't really need to, but it definitely help you gank with more health.

When you're going to gank a lane, be sure to communicate with your teammates. Always do this, it helps infinitely. If you pop Powerball before presenting yourself you will come out of the brush faster and the enemy will have less time to react. I suggest being in the brush with Powerball active for a "2 Mississippi" count. Avoid minions while you're in your ball form and try to hit the enemy. After which taunt them, and go into Defensive Ball Curl. If your ally has any CC at all, this will usually result in a kill.

Team Work

For team fights the only thing you should remember is that you are the initiator and the tank. You can only benefit by taunting their AD/AP carry with all your abilities. Your team will always love you eternally because you will keep an enemy in place for 3 seconds and max rank. If you are in between your low health carry and an enemy, just Powerball into them and protect your team that way. A large portion of Rammus' success does come from team work. It isn't going to be until endgame with full build that yo will be able to take down a Caitlyn or Ezreal. Don't you forget about your ultimate either. Albeit that Tremors is actually one of his less attractive abilities, it still can ruin a team by doing a lot of AoE damage. So keep that in mind.

My Success With This Build

As you can see, my win ratio with this build on Rammus is currently 90%. I'm not saying it's a good or effective build. But that's what my match history seems to say. :P

Summary

Rammus is by far one of the most feared junglers in the game. It is because he can counter jungle just as easily as he can jungle and ruin an enemy team. His Powerball is awesome and makes you feel awesome too. You take almost no damage with his Defensive Ball Curl. And puncturing taunt is just super super OP. But i don't want them to nerf it anytime soon.

Well, good luck with the build guys! Enjoy.