This is my first guide here on mobafire. I am making it, both to share my early experiences with Renekton with the LoL community and so a couple friends who asked about my build have an easy way to see it.

I can't promise the best guide ever but I will try to get the basics covered so you can pick up the champ and have a solid build to start playing him with. I am sure everyone will have their own way of playing him, as with any champ, but I believe this build is forgiving for someone who is new to him and will give them a chance to see what he is capable of while still holding a positive score at game end.

If anyone has any questions about this guide, feel free to ask. I can't promise I will check the page every day, but I will try and get back here at least a couple times a week while I am actively working on the guide. Criticisms and thoughts are welcome also.

Remember to be map aware and have fun!

Quints: I was on a movement speed kick the week before I wrote this. I didn't know what to expect from the new champ so I actually used a rune set I had been using for Caitlyn on my first game. I ended up really liking the speed on this character so I have movement speed quints in this build.

Reds: I started with Atk Speed runes, which I think serve him quite well in the laning phase. I graduated to using Armor Pen after a couple games and believe they give better performance throughout the game. If you have Atk Speed runes, give them a try. I felt stronger pre-ultimate with them. Flat Armor Pen just seem to work better though for the long haul.

Yellows: Flat Armor for some early survivability. I feel they help a lot with laning phase fights and allow for a level 6 lizard buff when you are heading back to town or returning to lane.

Blues: Flat Magic Resist, providing some early pvp staying power. Not only do these help with a caster in your lane, but I also take great pleasure in seeing a Karthus rage because he didn't calculate for magic resist when deciding to blow his ult. Must have in my opinion as the only other useful blues I can think of would be CDR but that gets maxed with the items/masteries.

Why not xx per levels? Don't have them so I can't give an honest assessment. Flats have worked well for me so far. If you have per levels, I would appreciate you giving them a try with this build and leave a comment about your experience with flat vs per levels.

I was using masteries from another char when I first played Renekton. Ended up liking an offensive mastery setup, did some tweaking, and here you have it. I think the offensive masteries, combined with the rune and item choices, makes for a potent combination. There is some lacking in the damage department from the item build and I feel that the masteries help to make up for it. In my opinion, the flat runes with Doran's Shield and these masteries all adds up to making for a great first blood spec also. Even without first blood, you have a combination of staying power and harassment potential, two things you desperately need as a melee in the early game.

The mastery choices should be fairly straightforward. A couple notable ones are:

3/4 Sorcery - Need 3 with items to get max CDR.

3/3 Lethality - This build gives you a decent crit rate and I can't think of a more useful spot to put the points.

1/2 Utility Mastery - Neutral buffs are not a big deal on Renekton (aside from Baron) but I do tend to pick up red quite often, frequently pick up buffs from player kills, and I will grab enemy blue camp earlier in the game for the CDR. Feel free to stick this point in something else like Greed.

Alright, for the items, my build is a focus on CDR with some hp, tank stats, and finally some damage to give a nice survivable character that can still hurt someone. You can serve as a tank for your group, act as initiator, or just enjoy being hard to kill while still being able to dish out some damage.

Brutalizer early is important. Get is before the basic boots if you have the 1337 gold. It makes lizard easily soloable at lower levels. You should get a noticeable damage output boost in pvp when you get it because of how well Renekton utilizes armor pen and cdr.

For boots, I found the cdr to be best. CDR is king on Renekton and they, with the brutalizer, help get you over halfway to max in the early game. I found no other boots that seemed as useful.

The Ghostblade activate is very nice for chases and makes you a threat as a solo pusher at an enemy tower.

The Omen is your second activation item and gives you some control in teamfights. You lack any aoe control (short of going an ap build with Rylai's for the slow on your ultimate) so I feel the activate is pretty big for Renekton in teamfights.

No Spirit Visage?! Tried it, didn't like it. His self heal is minimal and 20% of minimal is, well, you do the math. If this wasn't a tanky build, I might consider it, but it seems like very little bang for your buck. We get all the stats Spirit Visage provides from other items.

Mallet gives the slow but also gives some hp. This, combined with the other items, gives enough hp to make Atma's a more useful choice and give Force of Nature a boost to the regen passive, making it a better Magic Resist choice than Visage, in my opinion.

You should have a nice bit of Magic Resist and enough Armor to tank towers without sweating. Your crit helps make up for the lack of high damage items and your movement speed quints, slice and dice, ghost, and ghostblade should give you excellent mobility.

I kind of fell into this skill sequence after a few games. I am sure there is a better way to do it, but this is working for me so far. If I pick it apart at some point, I will come back and edit.

I do prioritize Cull The Week in the early game because of its help in keeping hp up and good minion farming capability.

Ghost for more speed. I feel speed is a highly beneficial focus on this character. It helps with chases, getting to team fights, and the occasional time that fleeing is the best option.

Ignite for first blood. Getting first blood in your lane is much easier with ignite. Ignite also serves throughout the game against teams with healers or champs that have their survivability severely crippled by the debuff, such as Vlad and Olaf.

Other Spells

Exhaust has its uses, and may be a good choice if you have a different build, but I didn't see the need for it in this build. You are more than tanky enough to not care about getting hit and you are fast enough, with a mallet to slow, that its slowing effect isn't a huge benefit.

For every other summoner spell, I will just say that I don't see a use for them that comes even close to Ignite and Ghost. If you have a question about another summoner spell that you think is better, just ask and I will give an explanation as to why I don't use it with this build.

I do not jungle with this character, I just thought it important to mention a few things about picking up neutral buffs and exp'ing out of lane at times.

Lizard Buff can be gotten easily at level 6 with a Brutalizer, without the use of your ult. Grab it if you don't have a jungler. You will make great use of it pre-mallet.

Golem Buff is great real early, but this build maxes CDR fairly fast. Grab blue if your teammates don't need it before maxing your CDR. I do aggressively grab enemy blue even after getting the Omen if a teammate isn't doing it. The buff is pretty much wasted on you but better that than having it be useful to an enemy anivia, swain, or amumu.

Any time you push creeps past the halfway point, jump to the nearest small neutral camp to get exp while you are waiting for the lane to get pushed back. I know for some this is basic knowledge but I thought it worth mentioning.

When going after dragon with your team, you are a great tanking choice. The debuff has less impact on you than most physical damage champs because of your light reliance on auto-attacks. You also are a using a tanky build and should see minimal hp loss from a dragon kill.

Try to get in a lane with someone who can harass the enemy easy to keep them off the minions. Ideally, get someone such as Kennan as your laning partner so you aren't being pushed off minion gold and have double stun for easy kills on squishies.

I have had a few slow starts where I was kept off minions by bs comps. I was worried that it would hurt me a lot but as long as you play smart and don't feed, you still should have a strong mid and late game. If you are getting starved for gold and don't have a jungler on your team, spend some extra time in the jungle, killing the minor camps before brutalizer, and doing them all once you have it.

In teamfights, you can act as soft tank or initiator. This build gives the survivability you need to fill either role. You won't tank as well as a real tank, but you can get by as one if your team has good focus or heavy cc. Remember to use your stun wisely!

I may add more information about the skills later, but for now...

Tip for Slice and Dice

Slice lets you rush in a direction you want, similar to Shen's taunt in its distance and ability to move through units without collision. If you hit an enemy, you can use Dice, which lets you rush again, like if you jumped with LeBlanc and then activated her ult to use the ability again. I have found this exceptionally nice for early laning.

If you are standing behind your minions and an enemy champ is behind theirs, you can slice into their minions, getting your hit, then hit the skill again to dice past their minions and to the enemy champ. From there you can attack, stun, /dance, whatever you want. This works exceptionally well if your laning partner is on vent/skype with you so you can let them know what you are doing.

Tip for Dominus

Characters that have finishers that you can see coming, Karthus ult and Caitlyn ult come to mind, can be (partially) negated by your ultimate. Dominus gives you hp when you use it. If you are low enough that you think they may finish you off, you can use your ult to save yourself from a death.