*Minor Adjustments made to Items section
*Updated Skill Sequence
*Updated Skill Sequence section


---Updates from Jan 25th - 2011---
*Added an Updates section
*Added many a sweet icon
*Random grammatical adjustments
*Removed "Require comment to vote"
*Edited Introduction section
*Edited Summoner Spells section

This is a Rammus build I'm putting together for my own personal reference mostly, but is obviously available to the public for comments and suggestions. It's in it's infancy, but will be constantly under construction.

Let the flame war begin!

Clarity: I typically use Clarity when tanking with Rammus. I don't see many Rammus builds using Clarity, but I find that Clarity works well for me as I play aggressively in the beginning of the game allowing me to use my Powerball and Puncturing Taunt at will. Throughout the rest of the game I play mainly in a utility role, so having Clarity allows me to not only tank/taunt/stun for my teammates longer, but provide them with a bit more mana mid-fight which in some cases can turn the tides. This also saves me the trouble of having to load up on more Mana+/ Mana Regeneration items.




Ghost: The use of Ghost is pretty much self explanatory. Specifically, I use Ghost (in most cases) a few seconds before I use my Powerball if I'm coming in to attack from a distance. This gives me an early boost to speed when Powerball isn't at it's peak of speed and you really start to haul *** when Powerball tails off. You can of course use this for situations where you need to run away, tower dive or chase someone down.

Other spells I've seen most commonly in other Rammus builds are Heal, Flash and Exhaust. I'll explain why I don't use these spells.




Heal: The use of Heal is pretty obvious, this will allow you to tank longer and provide additional health to teammates around you during heated battles which probably makes this the most useful out of the bunch. However, by end game, it's not very helpful so I tend to stay away from this one.




Exhaust: Exhaust is good for slowing down opponents, but between Puncturing Taunt, Powerball and the activate ability on Randuin's Omen, there are few instances I find the need to slow someone down more then I already can. Outside of Puncturing Taunt, Powerball and Randuin's Omen, I leave the slowing down to my teammates for the most part.




Flash: Flash can also be useful, but when tanking, ducking out of a battle to survive is not my top priority. I find myself staying in most battles until it's over, either we win or I die. Flash can be useful if you find yourself in a bad situation (i.e. an ambush) but it doesn't happen often enough for me to use this.

There of course other spells that you can make an argument about in terms of usefulness, but I'll leave that up to you.

My Runes are the basic generic runes. Boosts towards Armor, Health and Magic Resistance. I still don't have all of mine at this point, so I'm still working on tailoring them appropriately.

I've confirmed my skill sequence for the most part. As Puncturing Taunt is insanely overpowered, I build that up as quickly as possible. The more I play I'm finding Defensive Ball Curl to be more and more effective with my play style and this build, so that is my second priority. If I'm in a game with a lot of quicker enemies, I may put more into leveling up Powerball rather then Defensive Ball Curl but in most cases, I'm only using it for the speed, so it's not a high priority. Soaring Slam, as expected, is leveled when it's available.

I like having a lot of cheaper items to start when using any character. This is why I opt for the Regrowth Pendant into the Philosopher's Stone to start. The stone also provides a bit of increase in income which is always helpful.

I immediately start building up my armor once I get my Boots. Being a tank, it's pretty obvious that having a high level of armor is important. In most of my experiences, Magic Resistance doesn't be come overly necessary till mid game and a cheap item such a Negatron Cloak is usually sufficient to start. As for armor, I pick up Heart of Gold and Warden's Mail for the extra money and they're both needed for Randuin's Omen. Randuin's Omen, I feel, is the key item for Rammus, at least with this particular build. It gives you the needed health, health regeneration and armor you need to start tanking effectively.

At mid-game, my item build becomes dependent on how the game is shaping up. First I'll typically pick up a Catalyst The Protector for a small bonus to HP and Mana. Next, I'll grab a Giant's Belt for the added health and Negatron Cloak for the Magic Resistance. If needed, I'll then use the Negatron Cloak and the Catalyst The Protector to upgrade to a Banshee's Veil, if magic isn't a problem quite yet, I'll save the Negatron Cloak for Force of Nature later.

Lastly, I upgrade the Giant's Belt to a Sunfire Aegis, then grab Force of Nature for the added resistance, speed and health regeneration.

There will always be cases where I need to deviate from the build, especially mid-game. In these situations, I use the following general end game builds...

If I'm going against a lot of DPS, I'll grab the Giant's Belt , then Sunfire Aegis followed by Thornmail and finally a Guardian Angel

If I'm going against a lot of magic, I'll go for the Giant's Belt, Banshee's Veil, then a Force of Nature.

Simple as that! In most cases, there is a pretty good mix of Magic/DPS so the item build provided should suffice.

Game Start (Levels 1-8):
-Teamwork- I typically do not try to ambush anyone in the beginning of a game and I always try to lane with someone. Ideally with someone who has high DPS melee or DPS Ranged damage ( Warwick, Caitlyn, Master Yi, etc...). I try to avoid being in the same lane as another tank.

-Attack Strategy- I'll usually start harassing early in the game. I'll use my Powerball and Puncturing Taunt to try and catch someone who has wandered to close to my teams minions off guard. At 6, I'll start freely using Soaring Slam to farm some minions and use it to help take out a tower if the opportunity is there. I'll continue the same Powerball / Puncturing Taunt on enemy characters until 8.

-Items- At Level 8 I have at least have a Philosopher's Stone and Boots and working on my Heart of Gold.

Mid-Game (Levels 9-14):

-Teamwork- This is when I start following around the top DPSer on the team or hiding somewhere near by them. Basically the idea is to stop them from getting away or pulling them towards my DPS lane partner with Puncturing Taunt. This typically doesn't get me a lot of kills, but I get a ton of assists.

-Attack Strategy- Typical strategy at this point is to roll in with Power Ball, immediately followed by Puncturing Taunt and Defensive Ball Curl. I use Defensive Ball Curl more often from this point on as my Puncturing Taunt has some lasting power and I have the armor to stay in the middle of a fight longer to reflect more damage back. I start to focus more on their DPS characters at this point, pulling them towards me with Puncturing Taunt and reflecting their damage with Defensive Ball Curl.

-Items- By the time I'm 15, I have at least Randuin's Omen, pieces for the Banshee's Veil (or the Banshee's Veil if the game dictates) and a Giant's Belt.

End Game (Levels 15-18):

-Teamwork- If the game has made it this far, I'm one of the stronger if not the strongest tank on the field. I stay with the group making sure to come in right as a fight is initiated to start taunting. I'm also using Clarity as I can at this point to give my teammates back some mana.

-Attack Strategy- My attack strategy through this whole phase is taunt, taunt, and more taunt. Dragging people into towers, off of my "squishies", away from my team attacking towers, if they're in our base, I'm dragging them into our spawn to get them with the laser blast. Rammus's Puncturing Taunt is insanely OP at this point, so I can pretty much do what I want with any enemy going forward.

-Items- Assuming this is normal game with a split of Normal Damage and Magic Damage, I immediately get another Negatron Cloak (if I got a Banshee's Viel) then Sunfire Aegis and will have Force of Nature by the time I'm 18 if not sooner. If the game is STILL going, and I have all my main build items, I'll go for Guardian Angel, Thornmail and maybe even Warmog's Armor (which offers no armor surprisingly enough).

It's nice having such a variety of builds available for Rammus especially since I took a bit from each to come up with my own. Also, MOBAFIRE's Guide Creator is incredibly intuitive and easy to use. If you haven't made a guide yet, give it a try, I've killed a whole day of work doing this!