Rammus Build Guide by EventHorizon610

Introduction

Rammus, an armordillo of few words. OK? He also is quite possibly one of the most difficult Tank champions put up with when played correctly. The goal of this guide is to provide everything outside of playing the game for you that will be needed to play this champion correctly. Runes, Masteries, Skill Sequence, and Item Selection all play their important role in the fun that is to be had while playing this particular toon. His mobility is often spoken of as well as his sustainability, but what is it that makes this tank so incredible? The answer?

The answer

This passive is widely known as being one of the most overpowered passive abilities ever created. The general rule of thumb for tanks is as follows:

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• Not doing an incredible amount of damage
• Being able to withstand an onslaught of attacks from multiple enemies
• Not very mobile
• Lacking ability to take down enemies alone

Luckily with a passive such as Spiked Shell, we remedy the first of these downplays that plague the majority of tank characters. What about the rest of the list from above? No worries we will go over those as well in the next section.

Pros and cons of Rammus

Pros

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+Pulls aggro off of other Friendly champions
+Incredible passive ability
+High damage output while still building tanky
+Mobility, nuff said.
+Good stable combo
+Great team fight sustainability
+Not easy to ignore
+Cool guy voice
+Awesome Skins

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Cons

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-Focussed by everyone
-Global taunt comprised of pure league player hatred
-Prone to kill steal on accident in team fights due to Tremors
-Trouble Staying with the team due to mobility
-Makes other champions jealous
-No stealth
-Obnoxious abilities that draw attention

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Mastery Tree

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Listed in the masteries above, picking up the points in these appropriate levels of the mastery trees is the best way to build this champ extra tanky. Using twenty-one points in defense, you access Juggernaut . Nuff Said. As a tank, this mastery level is awesome.

No points in offense because Duh!!!

The points in utility are mainly to access the movement speed increaser, Swiftness . Although it is not that much, every little bit helps. :)

Skill Sequence and Ability Description

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Just a small recap on this ability, this is his passive, not an ability you can activate. Just a heads up.


An amazing ability that helps in navigating the late game map and in use of emergency rescue missions when your team is in trouble. This is useful in early game and can make you everyone's favorite team mate if you come when you are called. This will be covered further in the section labelled "Working well with your team".


Definitely the shining moments in any game involving Rammus was achieved while using this ability. The increased armor and magic resist as well as the DOT or damage over time are incredible and there is a very interesting feature tied to this ability. On activation, the armor provided stacks to your actual armor even though it is temporary, therefore it provides additional attack damage as well and can be that extra little damage need for early or late game havoc.

Puncturing Taunt
Although this ability deals no damage on its own, this ability is interestingly what Rammus is known for the most. His taunt does lower the armor of the enemy champion that is taunted and can provide the extra time your DPS (Damage per second) or other form of carry (anyone who can feasibly "carry" the team to victory late game) needs to hear those glorious words. "An enemy has been Swain", or rather slain if you do not get that joke yet. Provided is a video helping to understand Rammus's uncanny ability to taunt enemy champions on an expert level. Enjoy.


Rammus's ultimate ability is interesting and actually deals damage based on ability power. Your build focusses primarily on armor and magic resist which in turn increases your attack damage. Building ability power into this guide is not quite the point and is not what will make you win games. His ultimate does however deal a pretty decent DOT to enemies near him while the tremors surge. This ability also hits structures such as inhibitors and turrets, yes even the enemy nexus. It does not throw out a whole lot of damage, but it gets the job done regardless.

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Combos with Rammus

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Most of the time your combo is Powerball until colliding with an enemy champion at which point you activate Tremors, then Puncturing Taunt, followed quickly by Defensive Ball Curl. This will acquire the most damage you could produce to a champion, but once your ultimate stops, if they are not dead yet, it is probably a good assumption they will be leaving you alone for a while.


>>Puncturing Taunt>=One Annoyed/Dead Champion


Another very interesting combo is combining Flash with your Powerball to gain the extra distance on an enemy champion which could have yielded an otherwise excessive gap.

The video below is the official League of Legends champion spotlight for Rammus. This is how Phreak built this champion at the time. Due to recent champions such as Darius and Draven, the build calls for a bit more armor than before.

Summoner Spells

These next summoner spells are so effective for Rammus because they have dual purpose. Used in their own respective way, these spells have a way to become an escape mechanic as well as a tool while chasing down an enemy champion. Below, further explanation has been provided.

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Has a combo that is a great gap closer using this and Powerball as well as the normal utility of it as a fantastic escape tool and it is because using this summoner spell does not force Rammus to exit Powerball. Pretty cool if you ask me, takes some time to master the combo though so practice at it a while.

Assuming you are travelling alongside a Riven, Vayne, or Fiora...this summoner spell is great for allowing extra hits from your ad carry. It is also a useful tool for escaping from an oncoming pursuer as well as ensuring your carry's escape.

Runes

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Just some more armor because it is not like you can have too much.

This magic resist allows for enough of a buffer to fight off any ability power champs until you can build more magic resist.

Greater Mark of Desolation No champion stacks armor like Rammus does, so having some armor penetration can go a long way by far. These marks are very perfect for catching squishy champions off guard.

Easily the best seals for any tank and therefore necessary for this build as well as the additional damage offered because of Spiked Shell.

Having a defense against mages is so important as a tank. Grabbing these glyphs will make the perfect rap up to your rune set and will be a good investment for champions you purchase in the future.

Items

Building items for Rammus in game is all about counter building the other team. You always want to try to build armor, but which armor should you build? I will cover the final six items you should end up with to avoid any massive walls of text that no one is ever gonna read.

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Enhanced movement speed to making catching stragglers of team fights not too difficult.

Armor, Mana, Cooldown reduc? where can this item go wrong?

The idea of coming back to life is too good to pass up

This is the only health item you are probably gonna need, ever

AD carries kinda get dunked by this plus Defensive Ball Curl

Movement speed boost plus the final bit of magic resist you will need in a predicted match.

NOTE: I am fully aware that the circumstances are going to sometimes call for different builds, please do not down vote based on the cheat sheets when we all know that not every game is going to be super damage heavy, thus the build is always subject to change.

Team Work

Working well with your team is key to successful ganks and overall gameplay. Some ways you can aid your team is going to be during the laning phase where you are supporting an ad carry of some sort.

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-Some Scenarios include something like this: A half-health Ashe is head your way and you are supporting a Riven.

-Using your combo listed in the Skill Sequence chapter, you Powerball the enemy then, because you are supporting, skip using your Tremors and instead use Puncturing Taunt followed quickly by Defensive Ball Curl and cease auto-attacking ensuring that your carry can leap out of the bush and slay the champion.

-This will accomplish a few important tasks.

You fed your carry
You got an assist
Saved your carry some health
Forced a Heal or even a Flash to be used


Being there for your team in this way can make you a team favorite and also widely respected by the enemy team for doing your job correctly as a support tank.

Also Farming is often a concern for players, but really you should need to farm. Allow your carry to farm minions and build incredible damage based items and you will gain plenty of gold from assists by helping your carry. The common phrase I share with people is "Protect the Kog'Maw". This just means as a tank, do everything you can to keep your carry, whoever it is, alive.

Champions to Beware

This section is important in knowing how you will help your team in a tight spot. This is a list of the champions that, based on the characters statistics and attributes, tend to give Rammus a bit of trouble.

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• :Burst damage, difficult to taunt because of Twilight Shroud
• :Builds a stun based on ability usage, heavy burst damage
• :Usually goes middle lane, tends to be fed and has a DOT from Blaze
• :High burst damage and its all poison damage. -_-
• : Infected Cleaver is a good slow, never 1v1 fight
• :You target to taunt, Blade Waltz makes this difficult
• : Requiem is an issue for all champions, including Rammus
• :Incredible burst damage, never 1v1 fight
• :Packs a snare, a slow and a huge rainbow laser, take sunglasses
• :Has a suppress, Nether Grasp, deals tons of damage
• :ensnares opponents and can shield her friendly champions, bad news
• :Has stealth and Backstab deals additional damage
• :Ultimate allows him to teleport to any friendly champion, bad news
• :Poison champion and tends to be pretty healthy, take a friend
• : Spell Shield works like Banshee's Veil, can block Rammus' Taunt
• :Incredible health steal provided by Ravenous Flock, very dangerous
• : Toxic Shot, POISON!!!!! Very dangerous, taunt if necessary, bad news
• : Undying Rage, you may not get away from a 1v1 fight, bad news
• : Deadly Venom, might as well be poison
• : Death Ray, bad news, deals a ton of damage and it hurts...a lot
• : Eternal Thirst is his built in life steal, bad news
• : Decoy, try not to accidentally Puncturing Taunt the decoy
• : Time Bomb makes you one sad panda
• : Rise of the Thorns is only bad if you were low health when you killed her, do not make that mistake

Rammus Skin Spotlights

Often times I try to help everyone see the full potential of the level of fun there is to be had from playing any specific champion. So here are some Rammus skin spotlights to maybe aid in your decision to stick with this champion for a while. P.S. Full Metal Rammus alone is a great reason to invest time in this champion.

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Summary

It was my pleasure to provide this guide for the masses that encircle this well esteemed website and I have a few shout outs to give.

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Many thanks to Cardslafter for providing the real life scenario provided in the team work portion of this guide. Lots of great fun is to be had from playing tank based champions, but patience is a virtue and being a tank, if done well, makes you the crowd favorite and can make games with your friends much more enjoyable. Have a great time and enjoy this guide and the guides that i will make in the months to come.