Welcome to my first guide on Mobafire. To be more exact, my first League of Legends guide ever. Since the release of Rumble, I've been playing him nearly non-stop. It was love at first sight. The only time I don't play him is when someone else picks him first or the team needs balance that Rumble can't offer.

This guide will be giving you my experience with Rumble, how I play him, how I build him, so on. I play him as an AP 'Nuke'. I use nuke rather loosely has he doesn't have burst but rather sustained damaged. Enough with this boring stuff. Lets get to the more boring... I mean interesting stuff!

Pros
-Good damage
-Good chaser
-Low cooldowns
-Good pusher
-Hard to catch
-Great ultimate
-Get to pilot a mecha named Tristy.

Cons
-Very, very susceptible to ranged attacks
-Weak first few levels.
-Can be squishy
-Needs to be close to deal the most damage
-If you're not careful, you can silence yourself at very bad times.
-Loves Yordle Snap Traps... Delicious cupcakes.

Junkyard Titan:

This is the passive that makes Rumble so unique. You don't use mana for your abilities. That's so last champion. We use heat. Or, rather, lack there of. Between 0 and 50 heat, your moves are simple and nothing special to them. After you hit 50, your once white bar will now turn yellow and you'll be in the Danger Zone.

While in the Danger Zone, each of your moves gain benefits. Like Renekton and his Rage but ours keeps going up. You will want to ride the Danger Zone. Stay at around 50 but don't push 100. Why? When you hit 100, you will get silenced. While you are silenced, you will make a cute noises, sirens will be going off, and you won't be able to use any of your moves until you hit zero heat. The benefit of this is, you will deal additional melee damage in the form of magic. You will only want to hit 100 hit when you are pushing after a runner or know you will kill the person without problems.

Flamespitter:

This is your bread and butter and your bane. This is your biggest damage dealer outside your ultimate. You will sear through most people without a second thought. In team fights, you will deal a good amount of area damage from this move. The problem is... it requires you to be close to deal the damage. You can be kited, out ran, or just simply out ranged. I will get more into this later.

Scrap Shield:

I have a love and a hate for this move. Right now, I feel it needs balance. Its shielding ability is lack luster. In most situations, you will use this to run after someone or run away to safety and not for the damage absorption. It is great for chasing down that runner with your Flamespitter. It is not good for soaking up that damage from a surprise gank.

Electro-Harpoon:

Mmmmmm... Yes. This is your skill shot. It also does something very, very important for our Yordle friend. It lets him close the gap. Let me explain. This move fires off a Harpoon at the location. Upon contact, the enemy takes damage and is slowed. You can fire the move again for no additional heat cost, even if you are over heating, and the slow stacks. Lets you keep the enemy nice and close so your Flamespitter can cook 'em up nicely. Don't forget you can check bushes with this as well. When it hits, it make a special animation. Fire into a bush... no animation, clear. Animation, either run or call down your Equalizer and Flamespitter your way in! I like option two. Option two may not be for everyone... some restrictions may apply. Living is not guaranteed. Just so you know.

The Equalizer:

This is... your ultimate! This move makes our yordle a great person to bring to a team fight. You call this move down in a line of your choosing. It deals direct damage before impact and leaves a burning trail for several seconds. Anyone who is 'brave' enough to stand on the line will be slowed and a DoT will be applied to them. Getting someone stunned in this move is a great way to watch them die.

This move requires a good deal of thought on how you execute it. Do you want to land it on all the enemies in a straight line? Do you want to use it to block off an escape route? Do you want to open with it? You need to consider the team. If you have someone else with a better initiation move, save it for a second. Let them open up for you then drop this to add to the confusion. You can also use this to catch a runner. Line it up with their path and let it go. This move has a mild skill requirement to execute it well. Keep that in mind.

If you looked at the cheat sheet, you'll have noticed two main differences between build one and build two. Those being the skilling order and mastery tree. One things I've noticed about his skilling order is that it is very situational. Under some circumstances you'll want to take Flamespitter first. Under other circumstances you'll want to take Electro-Harpoon. Most of the time I will begin with Flamespitter but let me explain some of the circumstances so you'll understand when to take it and when not to take it first...

Circumstance 1: Flamespitter

You are laning against a melee based champion. Here you will want to take Flamespitter. You'll be able to keep good harass on them with Flamespitter and keep good control of your lane. Even better when it's two melee based champions.

Circumstance 2: Electro-Harpoon

You are solo laning against a ranged based character or a in a lane against two ranged characters. Do not take Flamespitter first. I can not stress this enough. Do not. Do not. Do not. You will be laughed at. You will be pushed around. You will be bullied. Remember Flamespitter means you have to get close to deal damage. While you are closing that gap early game you will be shot full of holes and your health bar will disappear like magic. You just can't do it. Here you will take Electro-Harpoon and just focus on last hitting. Don't put yourself in harms way. You'll get your revenge when you are six. That will let you show them. Show them all!

Circumstance 3: No Jungler

This one may sound a bit odd but I have found it really nice early game. If you do not have a jungler... Did you read that? If you do not have a jungler then take Flamespitter first. Why? Rumble has strong level 1 damage with Flamespitter. Strong enough that he can take on any jungle pack outside the big buffs.

At level one, what I do if no jungler is present on our team, I will start at wolves. It's the easiest of the three and gives good experience. The hardest to start with is Golems and Wraiths are so-so. With wolves, you will only be missing two or three bars of life and be nearly level 2. You will open up with a Danger Zone buffed Flamespitter. Keep using it until the pack is dead then return to your lane. Simple as that. After you are in lane, go back to referring to the other two circumstances when deciding what to level next. I will go more into the jungle aspect of Rumble later on in the guide. Check there for a more in depth analysis of how he works away from lane.

Runes, runes, runes. Seems everyone has their own personal preference as to which runes are best. This is my preferred set up. I will explain why I choose each rune over others below. This is not the only way to rune Rumble and be good. It's one of many.

Greater Mark of Insight:

This one is pretty obvious. You are a magic damage based champion. Magic penetration simply means more damage coming out. Even when you over heat, you are dealing additional magic damage. More damage is never a bad thing.

Greater Seal of Vitality

Greater Seal of Vitality:

This rune you can swap out for a survivability rune of your choice. Evasion would work. Flat health would work. I go for health per level because it's my security blanket. More health is more damage you can take. It works equally well for AP and AD damage. And since you will have to be in the front line to attack, more health may end up saving you.

Greater Glyph of Force:

Another rune you could swap. Cooldown reduction is viable as well as flat AP. My reasoning for AP per level is that it is already really hard to have a good first few levels because of the possible distance between you and the enemy. Since I'm only really focused on living and leveling until around four to six, AP per level works for me. Also, since we already have really low cooldowns, I don't go for a cooldown reduction setup.

Greater Quintessence of Insight:

I'm torn on this one. Part of me wants to go flat health quints since it's so easy to be harassed as cute little Rumble but the other part just wants to set everyone on fire. And I haven't run into a problem with the latter yet. (^_^). If you feel you are being focused too much and need more survivability, change up the quints and see if that helps. Otherwise, try going with these and pump out that damage.

Couldn't pass up the chance to use that quote. Back on topic. Summoner spells... This is another one of those things where people who have played for awhile just know which spells they want and have their own reasons for them. Let me begin with what I use.

My skills:

Exhaust:

Distance closer. Put this on the poor guy... or girl... and with Improved Exhaust, they will be slowed and taking more damage. What is not to love?

Ghost:

Run! Very important for escaping. When things aren't going your way, this helps you live to fight another battle. Can also be used to close the distance on a fleeing enemy. It may not be a good use of the move... but we have all done it.

Viable skills:

Ignite:

Replace Exhaust with this if you are facing a team that likes to heal or if you just want that extra damage to kill the enemy faster.

Flash:

Another nice escape move. You can replace either Exhaust or Ghost with this. Depends on what you are doing. Can be used as an escape or a distance closer.

Teleport:

For those times when you just don't want to be out of action. I recommend replacing Exhaust for this if you want it. Lets your lane presence be felt even more since you won't be gone from lane but for a few seconds.

Clairvoyance:

It's a good utility move. Replacing Exhaust for this is okay if you are mostly just wanting to keep an eye on the map and don't want to buy as many wards.

Cleanse:

An escape tool. Stuns got you locked? Pop this, pop your Scrap Shield, pop Ghost, and drop your Equalizer on your path. This will allow you to escape most encounters with minimal wounds. Replace Exhaust. See a pattern here?

Heal:

A security net. It's good for some situations. You just can't be cooldown happy with it and blow it every time it comes up. Then you won't have it when your team could really use it. Replace with... do I have to say it? Exhaust.

Smite:

Those Tibbers got you terrified? Those Voidlings giving your nightmares? Heimerdinger's turrets pushing you against the wall? Fear not! Smite is here! Okay, joking aside... Do not take smite unless you intend to jungle. I will go over jungling shortly.

As an experience League of Legends player will know... item builds are situational. You get what you need to get to win. There is no "Get this build and win" build. You will have to decide on what items you need as the game progresses. That being said, I've given you a fairly rounded build I like to use. Let me begin with the early game build.

->

Note: In regard to selling the Doran's Shield later on in the game. Do this normally when you are working on your first defensive item. I will sell this to get the last bit of gold to finish the item.

Start off with a Doran's Shield. Let me explain why. (1) It gives health. Health is important since you are open for easy harass early. (2) It gives you health per five. You will need this as minions as well as champions will be giving you a bit of pain this early on.

From here, I move on to boots. Let me make a quick note... Potions. Buy Potions when you can. Buy Wards when you can. If you have to port back for what ever reason, buy something so it doesn't happen again. Potions. Wards to see the gank coming. Whatever. Make it happen. Back to the boots. I will rush boots first after the shield. Mainly because I like speed and the faster I am, the longer I can keep people in range of me. See how that works? As for what boots... It's a decision you have to make. Let me give you a few good choices.


--- --- ---

Pick which one suites you. If you feel you are going to need the added speed to stay with the enemy, go Boots of Swiftness. After all, you may not get the magic penetration but less damage is better than no damage. If you see they have a lot of stuns, go for the Mercury's Treads. When you are stunned, you can't do the damage you need to be doing. Ionian Boots of Lucidity is more for those who just like really, really short cooldowns. I don't see the need for them, but you might. When the stars align and all is in your favor, go for the Sorcerer's Shoes. More damage is always a good thing.


+ + =

Next item I start working on is Rylai's Crystal Scepter. Why? Because it slows. Simple as that. The health is nice but that slow will make you a very, very happy Yordle. However, don't ask how fire freezes them. It just does. You have some really cold fire. I don't have any one piece I like to start with on this. I build this depending on how often I recall. If I have to recall and only have enough for an Amplifying Tome, I'll get it. If I go back and have enough for a Giant's Belt first, I'll get it instead. Some times if I have enough for, say, a Blasting Wand and only a Blasting Wand, I will skip it, get an Amplifying Tome with Potions and a Ward. Just remember to play smart and use your head to pick what will suite you best.


OR

Note the "OR". You will picking one defensive item for now and moving on. Do not build more just yet unless you just really can't survive without it.

Here is where it begins to get situational. If you are fighting an AD heavy squad, grab that Zhonya's Hourglass first. If you are fighting a magic heavy team, Abyssal Scepter will serve you nicely. Note: If you are fighting a Karthus, I would recommend the a Zhonya's Hourglass instead of the MR item. Why? When you see his Requiem being cast, you can shield yourself from it with the effect of Zhonya's Hourglass.

Like with the last item, use your head when building it. Build it as you can depending on how often you have to go back to base. If you are fighting a balanced team, you will be getting both of these. If you are fighting a more one sided team, you may need to alter the build to reflect that. If there is no real AP to worry about, you won't need the Abyssal Scepter as much and can focus on either another item in the build or an additional defensive item for AD. Up to you. Play smart.


---- Optional:

After you get your first defensive item, under most circumstances I'll build my first straight AP item. Rabadon's Deathcap is the best choice in this field. It gives AP and a passive increase to AP as well. I added the Void Staff as an optional choice in this slot if you are finding the enemy stacking MR. You will still get a Eabadon's Deathcap. You'll just postpone it for now. Once again, when building these items, build smart. That is very important for any champion you play.


OR

Look familiar? Should. This is where I get my second defensive item. What ever you need, take it. Fighting the ideal team, you'll be grabbing the one you didn't grab before. If things aren't so ideal, pick an item that will best counter what you are fighting. Get armor if you need it or magic resist if that will help you win. Remember, staying alive is important. If you die, you are no help to your team. Defensive items will win games.

IF you are stomping the enemy team and can't be stopped due to an early feed you can, in some situations, skip this for now and get another AP item. This is rare and should not be done often but can be done. Refer to the last item step in this situation and just build both of them or a second Rabadon's Deathcap.


OR OR

A Guardian Angel is ALWAYS nice to have. One free revive can turn a fight around in some situations... or just make you die twice in others. It's alright though, you have the best death animation in game, so it's still nice to have. For this last slot, if you skipped your second defensive item, you need to finish off your build with a defensive item. If you got both of the prior defensive items, you can either get a third if you feel you need it or just beef up your AP for the final haul. You have to decide what will help you most with the team you are facing and what your team has to aid you.

---

Below I'm going to list a few acceptable defensive items you may decide to take when the situation is right.

Magic Resist:

If you are fighting a magic heavy team, pick up one of these as your second or even third defensive item. Do it based on your need. Force of Nature will give you MR and run speed. Banshee's Veil will give you MR, a shield and health. Quicksilver Sash will give you MR and another way to get out of those pesky debuffs.

I have been asked why I don't take a Banshee's Veil in my main build. I will answer that here. I prefer the effects of Zhonya's Hourglass. You can choose when it pops and it blocks all damage. And with the health you get from Rylai's Crystal Scepter you are okay without it. Does this make Banshee's Veil bad? By no means. Just a preference thing.

Armor:

Like the above items, you can pick one of these as your second or even third defensive item depending on your needs. Heavy AD team? These will all work wonders. Randuin's Omen will help if you are being focused. Give you a chance to slow the enemy on melee hit and a cooldown to pop to force the enemy to be slowed in both movement and attack. Sunfire Cape gives you a little extra fire. You know you love fire. And it gives health and armor. All around solid item. Thornmail is just a rather obvious one. High armor, pretty cheap, and a decent effect. If you are in need, pick which one will suite your need the best.

Rotations

Before I go into early game, I want to touch briefly on rotations for Rumble when it comes to the mid to late game. The thing with Rumble is... there is no real rotation you can use. It's mainly a 'Use as you need' set up. You should be keeping Flamespitter running while keeping an eye on your heat. Using Scrap Shield to get closer, absorb a hit, or run away as needed. And using Electro-Harpoon to slow the enemy. I will normally keep it for the slow to prevent anyone from escaping my wrath. That being said and out of the way, on to the game phases.

Early Game:

I consider the early game for Rumble to be up until he hits level six. At that point, he is able to fight as full potential. Until then though, he can be lack luster if the stars aren't in your favor. If you have no jungler, starting at wolves does help to improve your very early game. It will give you a slight level advantage in lane and you can't believe how much that will help Rumble shine.

Do not go out of your way to harass enemies this early. It's not your job and it will get you killed. If a melee champ champion goes in for last hits, you should turn on the Flamespitter and make them take some damage but do not over commit. Hurt them while taking minimal damage to yourself. A war of paper cuts, so-to-speak. Make them feel your presence without making yourself a large robotic target. If you are facing double ranged, this is a lot harder. In that situation, you'll be focusing on last hits until you are able to reach the next phase.

Remember, one big key to playing any champion right is playing smart at all times. Do not go in for a kill when you know you will likely die for it. Yes, you scored 300 gold but guess what? So did they. Keep it safe. You want to make gold without funding them as well. Counter productive to make your enemy stronger. This early on in the game, it can take as much time to teleport back to base and have to walk back as it is to die and walk back. Denial of experience is great be it death or just forcing them out of lane. So just remember to play safe. Don't tower dive for a kill to just kill them then die to them thanks to the tower. I am trying to stress this hard. Are you feeling it yet?

Mid to Late Game:

Now you are level six and the real fun begins. Here is where you can get a little more brazen when it comes to tower dives. With Equalizer, Scrap Shield, and Ghost you will in most situations be able to finish off one low person and get out. Just remember to play smart. If you see they have an Exhaust and you haven't seen it used recently, don't rush under that tower when they are low. It won't end well. If you have low health, don't do it. Use your noggin'.

Back on task. When you have your Equalizer, you can start ganking when your lane isn't in dire need. With its massive range you are able to land it past the middle of the lanes from just the bush. Nice set up for getting in and mopping up a kill. Also your Equalizer can be used for an escape tool and used to save your allies. Don't be stingy. It has a low cooldown. Dropping this on the path of a fleeing ally will force the enemy to either take the slow and the damage to get the kill or push back. If they go for the kill, you are set up for kill now. If they don't, you just saved an ally. Team player!

Team Fights:

Now team fights have started breaking out. Are you front liner? Eh... sort of. You need to be in the front line to deal damage, yes. You do not want to rush in first. Play smart. If you are dead, you aren't a help to your team. You are not Karthus. Stand back. When you see the fight breaking begin, use your Equalizer. You may have to use it to initiate depending on the tank. If you have a tank like Amumu of Galio, you won't need to and can line it up to work with their ultimate. If you have more more like Mordekaiser as soon as you see him going for it give him your aid by dropping the Equalizer on the enemy. This will slow them and give them damage. Letting the rest of the team get in on the action.

Once you feel it is safe, you need to join the battle. Try to go after the squishy targets. Harass them and keep them from doing their job. If you can't do that, then you need to focus on dealing as much area damage with Flamespitter as possible. You can also task yourself with defending your squishy friends. It's not as appealing to kill that Ashe if you are going to be chased by a fire flinging robot bent on ending your existence for trying it. If things go bad, do not be afraid to run. Don't just chicken out because you are at half health but if something happened and there is no chance of winning this fight, try to escape. If you see a team mate running as well, try to help cover them using your Electo-Harpoon to slow anyone chasing them and anyone chasing you. Team. Player.

Between team fights, you should be one of the people clearing out lanes of add waves. Why? Your Scrap Shield will give you the run speed potential to get there and back much faster than much and no major cooldowns have to be blown to do so. If you get caught by a surprise gank, you also have the potential to escape with your life or even turn it around on the enemy depending on how many and who.

Note: Rumble is a team champion. He does much better in a duo-environment than a solo environment as your team will give you the added crowd control you need to keep the enemy in place so your Flamespitter can do its job. He can solo but just know his full potential is fighting along side friends, not by himself.

1v1:

Can you do it? Yes. It's just not easy. Other champions are a much better fit for mid or a jungle lane but if your team has no one you can cover it and still be effective. Let me rephrase it a bit. It's not easy against a ranged champion. If it's a melee champion, you'll be perfect for it.

I'm not going to really touch on the melee champion perspective as I'm sure if you read the guide, you get the idea of what to do. Flamespitter when they going in for last hits and play smart. Have I said that enough?

In the case of a ranged champion, what you will need to do is focus on build two and work that Harpoon for those last hits. Don't over extend yourself and... you know what I'm about to say... play smart. You will focus on farming up and getting level six so you can turn this fight around in your favor. Until then though, you'll be pushed against your tower. You'll be holding to it tight. What is good about this is, that ranged champion isn't going to be expecting the sudden aggressive turn when you hit six.

Once they have you against the tower and you get six, you now have power to make them regret their life choices. Dropping your Equalizer on them and aim it toward their escape path then advancing on them with Flamespitter will catch most by surprise and net you a kill. You will have to use your own judgement if you can pull it off. If you can't, just use your Equalizer to put out some harass and get the lane back in balance until team fights start breaking out.

1v2:

For the love of all that is League of Legends... this is not a fun thing for a Rumble to deal with. I have had my experience with it thanks to AFKers, Leavers, Disconnects, and no one wanting the Jungle lane. It is extremely hard to do anything in this set up. Your main goal will be to make friends with your tower and keep the minions from tearing it down. Until six, you will be bullied to near death. The best advice I can give here is, don't do it unless you have to. If you do have to do it, play extremely smart. Even after six, you aren't going to be able to switch to offensive unless they are playing dumb. If they ignore you and go for the tower after six you can drop your Equalizer and Exhaust and in most situations net a kill and push out. Other than that, you are going to be hard pressed to hold your lane.

The part you have all been waiting for. Or maybe not since most people tend to shun the idea of the Rumble in the jungle. It is viable! I have spent a good bit of time refining it. Original build of mine began with cloth armor and I just didn't like that. It was a wasted item since you didn't use it for anything. So I altered the build, changed the runes, and got a build I'm happy with that works. You will not be the best jungler but you also won't be the worst. I like Rumble's jungle potential.

Summoner Skills

The standard setup works here. You need Smite but as for Ghost, you can refer to the earlier section for other acceptable skills.

Runes

I won't go into much detail here since you already got a rune rundown earlier. I will give you a rundown on the new rune though.

Greater Seal of Resilience:

This is NOT optional. You will need this for my build to work. I tried it several different ways without these runes and it just didn't end well. These runes make starting with Boots of speed and Potions viable. If you do not have these runes, you will need to start with Cloth armor and Potions. No exceptions.

Items

For my preferred build, you start with Boots of speed and three Potions. On your first trip back, you will buy three to four more Potions. On your second trip back you will buy an Amplifying Tome and Potions. From here, work on your Sorcerer's Shoes or what ever boots you need to counter the enemy team and Rylai's Crystal Scepter while keeping a stock of two to four Potions. After this point, you simply make your normal build.

Jungle path

You will start at Wolves. Once at Wolves, you will want to build up your heat to around 50-70 with your Flamespitter before they even spawn. You want your first attack and the rest of the attacks afterwards to be Danger Zone buffed. Do not Smite here. Pop your first potion. This pack should fall fast as long as you are making sure the Flamespitter is hitting all the Wolves. I try not to over heat as the area damage of Flamespitter is better than the single target of the buffed melee. If you are one on one with the final creep, go ahead and push the heat to max.

Next up is Wraiths. As you walk over, try to keep your heat in the danger zone like with the Wolves. Open up with Smite on the blue Wraith. Put your first point into Electo-Harpoon and Flamespitter/Harpoon the other three Wraiths down fast. Pop potions as needed.

Once done here, go to Golems. Like the last two, try to stay in the danger zone but not going into the silence. You can go into the silence here as you want to kill one of the Golems as quick as possible to lower damage. As soon as you are out, however, pop both Flamespitter and Electro-Harpoon. When you finish this pack, return to base and prepare for trip two.

Trip two you will start at Blue. One potion is enough to keep you up here from my experience. With your 50 heat buff, stand on the edge of the bush and pull them with your Flamespitter. Your Flamespitter should be hitting everyone. You can once again go into silence here if it happens but I prefer to stay riding the Danger Zone line so my Flamespitter keeps damaging the other two smaller creeps. Smite when low enough.

After this point you do the same as your first path. Wolves -> Wraiths -> Golems. From here you have free roam of your jungle. Nothing can really stop you other than low health. After you are six, you can start letting your team have the buffs. Give them to people who will benefit most. This is up to you since as a Jungler, it is your jungle, but I don't find I need the buffs to do my job and let the laners have it for added benefit to them.

Dragon

You can do Dragon at level 6 with help. You will need your Equalizer, Smite, and Potions to do it but it can be done. If you want to do it solo, you'll have to wait until you have your Giant's Belt for the survivability. I will get more exact details on the earliest you can solo dragon soon.

Ganks

With the range of your Equalizer, the slow of Electro-Harpoon, and the speed boost of Scrap Shield you actually have really strong ganks. Drop your Equalizer on the unsuspecting champions, speed in with your Scrap Shield, turn on the Flamespitter and use the Electo-Harpoon to slow down the runners. Pre-level six, your ganks aren't horrible but the enemies will need to be playing dumb and be extended at low health. Your post-six ganks are much, much better.

I know this is a pretty long guide and I apologize for that. I congratulate you if you made it to the end and actually read everything. As I said, this is the first guide I have ever created for League of Legends. After playing Rumble, I knew I had to contribute to helping people play him to his fullest. I would love some feedback on how I did.

See something I did wrong? Tell me.
Could I improve on a certain area? Please point it out to me. I would love to improve.
Does something just not make sense? Show me so I can fix it.

I hope to hear from others on how this guide works for them. I would like to add more visuals to make it more appealing to the eye. I will work on that for a future update.

Happy Rumbling!