Amumu Build Guide : [S.5] The Infinite Chase [Amumu Jungle]

INTRODUCTION

First off, let me say that my summoners name has nothing to do with the fact that I play Amumu. Someone came up with the name for me when I first started playing a few years ago and it stuck. Secondly, welcome to my guide - or should I say MY ENCYCLOPEDIA on how to play Amumu, The Sad Mummy.
One of my pet peeves when reading through Mobafire Guides is that they all pretty much look the same w/the exception of the "top dog guides" (famous LoL players and teams), and to be completely honest it kind of aggravates me. Without going too into it, I will say that this guide is meant to be like nothing you guys have seen before. It doesn't copy paste the description of Amumu's abilities or explain what items do because, frankly, if you really wanted to see that you could visit League's website.
This guide is extremely detailed - to a fault. Enjoy it and memorize it like it's the League Bible and you'll be Golden. And for you critics, leave your negativity at the door because this is a Pancake Party of one and you are not invited, my friend.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hello, my summoner's name is Smellslikeamumu. At the end of Season 4 I had solo-queued it to Gold.
Amumu was one of the main champions I used to do that since he can easily help snowball a champion and secure objectives throughout the game. In my opinion, he's rather easy to play once you've gotten the hang of it.

If you want to investigate a little:

OPGG Profile

Ranked Match History

I also have a YouTube channel and a twitch but let's not talk about it... Needless to say there are videos of baby sloths that have more views than my channel.
Let's do this.

PROS AND CONS

Amumu is a tank, plain and simple. His kit allows him to gank successfully pre-6 but he is definitely a late-game oriented champion.
His versatility between building AP and Tanky is what makes him so viable in Season 5, where glass cannon junglers are being replaced by Tanky / AD champions (ie: , , ) and Tanky / AP junglers (ie: , , ).
Amumu used to be one of the top bans in Seasons 1-3 but due to the recent champion increase he's no longer an insta-ban champion. Here are some more reason why you should consider playing this little monster...

Pros:

Cons:

TANKMU VS AP-MU

Ultimately there are 2 general styles as to how you can build Amumu: Tankmu and Ap-mu. As much as we love to think it's our choice of which one we use, it depends on a massive amount of variables: What would work better with our team comp? Which will impact the enemy team more late game? Do we need another tank or can we sacrifice health w/damage? On that note, here are some things to consider when deciding which style to play him...

TANKMU: Amumu build as a tank (armor, health, MR)

Benefits:

• Works well w/his (E) , which lowers its CD each time he is hit and passively grants him reduced damage from enemy attacks

• Allows him to engage w/(Q) w/out being obligated to instantly blow his combo out of fear of being deleted (which allows for better positioning in teamfights)

• Once he has hit late game, Amumu can use his health to tank turrets and secure objectives

Detriments:

• Without damage his ultimate is nothing more than a giant snare, so unless you have an ally champion w/strong AOE damage to act w/it, you will potentially be setting up for nothing to happen

• Forget about carrying. Your lack of damage means you won't get kills and you won't be able to kill anyone alone. Tank Amumu is strictly a teamfight champion.

• Clearing jungle minions is torture at first. You'll need a hard leash to get you started.

AP-MU: Amumu built w/full ability power damage

Benefits:

• Clearing jungle minions becomes a lot easier; using the combo , , and head bumping will lower larger monsters to half health, giving you time to them for additional buffs.

• YOUR RELEVANT! Amumu's health is going to scale regardless of whether you build tanky items. You will still have more health than bursty mid champion but now you can dish out similar damage. Items like will help you maintain your health while still being able to trade in damage.

• Rushing Dragon at an early stage in the game as Ap-mu is easy; bring one ally along with you and, assuming you don't make it obvious, you should be able to secure it. AP-mu has damage to destroy it quickly where Tankmu struggles without a few friends.

Detriments:

• Get creative! You aren't as much of a meatshield as you could have been w/Tankmu, so be careful w/your engages. Look for opportunities that don't involve you just going back in forth in from of your team because doing that will get you poked down fast.

• Your tower pushing still hasn't improved (sorry ). Unfortunately as much as you want to head butt that tower into oblivium, you need allies to help you push.

• Amumu's ult scales with AP, meaning that toggling prior to entering the fight, then using should mess them up relatively bad.

SPELL COMBINATIONS

General Overview:

Passive: : Used to lower opponent's MR

• (Q): : Used to stun enemy champions for one second

• (W): : Used to deal damage over time (Slow w/ )

• (E): : Used to dish out AOE damage

• (R): : Used to stun multiple opponents at once

Actual Spell Combinations:

• Clearing Jungle Camps: Amumu has the advantage of using his (Q) to manipulate and work his way around the jungle. Engage w/, immediately following up w/ (E) and toggling (W) while you basic attack monsters.

• Effective Ganking: Run around to initate with (E) , followed by toggling (W) . Stun target using (Q) and following up w/(R) if needed (after Q stun has ended)

• Escaping Ganks: As previously mentioned, Amumu can use his (Q) to avoid jungle ganks. Use your surroundings (minions, monsters) to escape through walls but be sure to toss a ward to the other side before you do.

JUNGLING

General Concept: The jungle has definitely changed for the better in Season 5 and let me tell you why.

1) Additional Gold: Jungle minions give you more gold - which was a big dilemma in Season 3 and 4.

2) More Experience: Junglers literally HAVE to gank now which means we will be seeing less Godirs and Warwicks jungle farming a Feral Flare, and showing up mid game w/enough damage to kill a small child. The concept is simple: the longer you are in the jungle, the further behind in levels you are going to be.

3) Smite Changes / Buffs: The new jungle camps are incredibly versatile. Smite has become more than just an ability to last hit minions, it now determines which additional buffs you get. Each side of the map has 4 possible buffs that you can have - and you only have between 1-2 smites. Choose wisely.

4) Vision: AKA skuttle bucket (yes the little tank monster on both sides of the river). Believe it or not, he's a big deal. As junglers compete to get vision of the map, it really opens players' eyes to the enemy junglers presence. (Yes, the other Jungler is going to affect YOU and YOUR opportunity to secure objectives. He isn't just a myth that recently ganked lanes made up to insist you help their lane.)

5) Dragon and Baron: Securing objectives (especially Dragon and Baron) have become more important. The buffs they give you will literally be your ride or fall within the game - and its up to you, as a Jungler, to make that happen. It's a lot of pressure, really. Which is why I wanted to specify a bit more on jungle dinamic and open your eyes to the balance junglers must create for other players throughout the match.

Buffs and Stuffs:

Blue Buff grants the Crest of Insight:

• 25 flat mana regeneration per 5 seconds

• regenerates 0.5% of their maximum mana (or energy) per second

• 10% cooldown reduction on abilities

• Smite Priority: Low

Starting Blue: Viable but not recommended - Starting Blue decreases your chances of clearing the left side of the jungle w/out dying

Red Buff grants the Crest of Cinders:

• Applies a debuff that slows the target's movement speed by8 / 16 / 24% (5 / 10 / 15% for ranged attacks) for 3 seconds

• DoT that deals 8 + (2 × level) bonus true damage twice

• Smiting the Brambleback instantly restores 20 percent of your maximum health

• Smite Priority: Medium [If you are low health]

Starting Red: Not recommended for Amumu.

Smiting the Krugs grants Gift of Heavy Hands:

• Stuns minions and monsters every 1st and 5th hit

• Your first attack against a turret deals 50 (+15 per level) true damage but consumes this buff

• Lasts 90 seconds

• Smite Priority: Medium [Attack speed junglers benefit more from this buff]

Starting Krugs: Not recommended for Amumu.

Smiting Gromp will grant you the Gift of Toadstool:

• Attackers are poisoned for 6 (+ 6 per level) magic damage over 3 seconds

• Lasts 90 seconds

• Smite Priority: High [Works great with his (W)]

Starting Gromp: Highly recommended. With the poison Gromp gives you, clearing Blue Buff becomes an easy task and helps you clear the left side of the jungle efficiently.

Smiting the Murkwolves spawns a Rift Spirit:

• Summons a Rift Spirit that watches over a portion of the jungle

• Lasts 90 seconds, but that timer goes down when the spirit chases enemies

• Smite Priority: Low in your own jungle, high in enemy jungle.

Starting Murkwolves: Not recommended. Quite pointless.

Smiting the Raptors grants Razor Sharp:

• Gives you a warning and magical sight for 10 seconds when an enemy ward spots you

• Lasts 90 seconds, with 1 charge

• Smite Priority: Very High [Getting rid of wards is a key component to jungling, make presence known while counter jungling or gank lane to activate.]

Starting Raptors: Not recommended.

Killing Dragon grants you Dragon Stayer Buff:

• Dragon's Might (1 stack): +8% total attack damage and ability power
• Dragon's Dominance (2 stacks): +15% damage to minions and monsters
• Dragon's Flight (3 stacks): +5% movement speed
• Dragon's Wrath (4 stacks): +15% damage to turrets and buildings
• Aspect of the Dragon (5 stacks, repeatable): Doubles all other bonuses and your attacks burn enemies for 150 true damage over 5 seconds. Lasts 180 seconds.

*Deals his damage in an AOE Cone that burns nearby enemies, tank facing away from team.

Killing Baron Nashor now grants Hand of Baron buff:

Hand of Baron grants up to 40 attack power and ability power (scaling with game time)

• Hand of Baron grants an aura that empowers nearby minions:

All Minions:

- Now match 90% of average movement speed of nearby champions, up to a limit of 500 movement speed

- Are resistant to slow effects

- Non-super minions have 75% damage reduction versus area of effect, damage over time, and persistent effects
Melee Minions:

- Gain +50% movement speed when within 800 units of enemy minions or turrets

- Size is increased

- +75 attack range

- 75% damage reduction versus champions and minions

- 30% damage reduction versus turrets (similar to cannon minions)
Ranged Minions:

- +20 attack damage

- +50% missile speed

- +100 attack range
Cannon Minions:

- +600 Attack Range

- +50 Attack Damage, but Attack Speed is halved

- Attacks are now Area of Effect (200 range) and deal 2x damage to Turrets.
Super Minions:

- +25% Attack Speed.

- Gain +50% Movement Speed when within 800 units of enemy minion or Turret.

• Baron buff reduces recall channel by 4 seconds.

• A successful recall heals 50% a champion's maximum health / mana

• A successful recall grants +50% movement speed for 8 seconds

*It is now imperative to watch out for Baron's attacks, they are now dodge-able.

Strategist, Organizing your Jungle:

Many guides try to explain to players that there is only one way to rotate through the jungle. However, that is impossible because League is highly dependent on circumstances. If a player makes a decision, it impacts the entire game like a butterfly effect. By me telling you to direct yourself around the jungle in a strict way, I’m setting you up for failure. For all we know, someone could counter gank you or put you behind and you don’t want to be super confused on what to do. With that said, here are a few different paths you can use to jungle Amumu…

“Super Aggressive”: When you want to counter gank the enemy jungler (as Amumu?! They’ll never see it coming!)

Step 1: Clear Gromp
Step 2: Take Blue Buff
Step 3: Clear Murkwolves
Step 4: Clear Skuttle (Gains vision)
Step 5: (Only if enemy jungler starts Gromp/Blue) Gank at enemy Red
*Wait for opponent to kill their red, then initiate
Step 6: Go back (Hopefully with a decent amount of gold)
Step 7: Gank a lane

*Side Note: I don’t usually counter gank unless the jungler is a weak start (IE: , )

“General Clear”: If you want to be efficient without endangering yourself… Keep reading.
Step 1: Clear Gromp
Step 2: Take Blue Buff
Step 3: Clear Murkwolves
Step 4: Clear Skuttle (Gains vision)
Step 5: Gank Mid / Top
Step 6: Go back and buy

“Playing it Safe”: When the enemy team saw you picked Amumu and pretty much insta-locked , you’re in big trouble. Keep calm and cry on.

Step 1: Clear Gromp
Step 2: Take Blue Buff
Step 3: Clear Murkwolves
Step 4: Go back and buy

“Ganked again… and again… and – well look at that! again”: So your team has no map awareness. Let’s find a solution for you.

This, of course, depends on the location in which you were ganked. If you were ganked while your buffs were up, assume they are now gone (unless your team managed to defend them during your death).

Ganked at Gromp: That’s just unfair to be ganked at your starting point. Go back and start over at Murkwolves
Ganked at Blue / Skuttle / Murkwolves: Rotate over to Red Buff, clear right side of jungle. Go back and buy

*Side Note: Buy some wards already, you’ve been ganked so much it’s going to take you out of early game completely if this continues.

Final Tips to Jungling:

1 - The Skuttle located in both sides of the river can be "guided" around. By stepping in front of him to block his path, a player can zone him into a small area and avoid ganks.

2 - You will not have timer on dragon unless a player on your team witnessed it's death. Sometimes it is worth the suicide to get that exact timer for your team.

3 - Baron Nashor now can damage players standing by the wall behind him. Did you think you were clever? Not really.

COMPATIBILITY / TEAM COMPOSITION

Compatibility [ALL LANES]

*These are not the only LoL champions compatible with Amumu. I'm only listing a select few.

* Why are they compatible? Amumu and Annie both have AOE as well as single target stuns, which makes ganking and team fighting more effective and harder to escape from.

* Spell Combinations:
Ganking Mid Lane: Amumu ganks through river (either side), engaging with (Q) , immediately following up with E and toggling (W) . When Amumu's stun times out, Annie stuns the Target with Q , following with (W) . Either teammates may ult if necessary saving flash in case the Target gets out of range.

Team Fighting: Amumu engages on the enemy team w/his (Q) , immediately ulting and stunning multiple targets. Annie follows up (stun charged up) with her ult , stunning multiple targets. This gives the rest of the team time to use their ultimates and focus certain champions. Using Annie's E , Tibbers becomes speed boosted and is sent out to Target the enemy ADC dealing damage with each basic attack done by Tibbers.

Link to LOL Champion Database

* Why are they compatible? Fiddle has the 2 things that Amumu lacks: a fear and a silence. Between the two of them they have 2 stuns, 1 fear and 1 silence. That's enough to change the game entirely.

* Spell Combinations:
Ganking Bot Lane: Since Fiddle is relatively useless Mid Lane, he would have to be supporting. Fid engages w/, giving Amumu time to run into lane, following up with . Meanwhile Fid is using to lower health while the ally ADC engages. A final by Fiddle can bring the opponent down if he flashes by bouncing between minions.

Team Fighting: Amumu's stares all surrounding enemies, giving Fiddle a chance to ult in with and to safety. (Fid's ult must be cast prior to Amumu's engage and requires intense coordination between teammates)

Link to LOL Champion Database

* Why are they compatible? Morgana's snare and ultimate coincide with Amumu's abilities with ease. Similar to the Amumu/Fid combination, it is hard to escape this bot lane's synergy either.

* Spell Combinations:
Ganking Bot Lane: Morgana can simply use her (Q) / (W) to prepare Amumu's initiate. Amumu follows up with as usual, toggling his and immediately using to lower opponent's health. This combination requires cooperation from the ADC to secure the kill.

Team Fighting: Amumu engages by running around enemy team w/Morg nearby, ulting multiple targets with . This gives Morgana the chance to use to bind her opponents further and (Q) any stragglers in their group.

Link to LOL Champion Database

* Why are they compatible? Amumu stuns multiple targets, setting Katarina up with the perfect opportunity to ult.

* Spell Combinations: Amumu ulted with , Katarina ults with . Pretty simple.

Link to LOL Champion Database

GAME STAGES

Early Game / Organizing the Jungle:

• Starting Gromp: Highly recommended. The leash on Gromp let's you finish him w/out him killing you and smiting him grants you the much needed poison to kill blue buff. Smite first so that your teammates know how much of a leash to give you (effects are immediate) and by time you rotate to Murkwolves, you'll have Smite again.

• Starting Blue: Not necessary anymore. This should be your second stop.

• Starting Red: Not recommended. Amumu needs the mana regen more than CD reduction.

• Starting Gollums: No...

• Clearing Skuttle: High priority. You should always be clearing these buffs to grant your Top and Bot Lane the vision they need to avoid unnecessary ganks.

Mid Game / Stacking the Assists:

• Ganking Bot Lane: If they are behind but responsive, asking your mid to roam bot with you might be more productive. If they are blind to the map, don't gank. I usually gank bot after clearing skuttle bucket (post-red clear) to give me additional vision of the enemy jungler.

• Securing Dragon: If you can clear it prior to 6 secretly, do it. Otherwise, the only dragon engages should be when a) your entire team is present and your team comp is superior, b) their jungler has gone back / died and does not have , and c) you have just aced or killed the majority of their team. ONLY attempt dragon when Smite is off CD. I usually attempt it after ganking bot lane successfully or after bot has gone back and their jungler has rotated top lane.

• Ganking Top: Ideally you want to make sure it's not warded so using sweeper on top lane river bush prior to engaging or going the long way around is a good idea. If top lane is fed out of their mind, you probably should have ganked earlier and may need some assistance from mid lane before attempting a gank. Be sure to clear skuttle for vision. Ideally, clearing the buff that Gromp gives can also help you during your engage.

• Ganking Mid Lane: When in doubt, gank mid. Finished clearing skuttle on either side? Gank mid. Secured dragon? Gank mid. Bored? Gank mid. Do this as many times as possible during your match unless your mid lane is unresponsive - then ping uncontrollably to get their attention.

• Clearing Rift Skuttler: As important as this little vision ward is, you need to time it correctly. The vision lasts 75 seconds so you ideally want to clear it and begin prepping for Dragon 1 minute prior to spawn time. That way you not only get vision on it during the attempt but after the fact as well. Be sure to bring a Pink Ward along with your support to be used with your sweeper to clear wards.

• Stealing Enemy Blue: After a successfully engage bot lane or when the enemy has been assasinated in an attempt to take Dragon, Blue Buff (assuming it's there) is all yours. I mean, it's yours in theory but give it to your mid.

Late Game / Ultra Mega Tank-mu:

• Securing Baron: I cannot stress this enough. There is nothing more noobish than attempting Baron Nashor without Smite. Shoot, I save both Smites for Baron, to initiate and to finish him off. Expect the enemy team to engage on you. That double smite could be used to zone their Jungler away from the buff. Baron timing is tricky, usually it is attempted after an ace if the game is going well - but if it's not, be prepared for the enemy to try and steal it. Clear all wards in the area as well as Rift Skuttler. This will prep you just in case.

• Item Trading: Once you have hit full build, take a look at what the enemy team has built to counter you. Boots can be later replaced with items that grant movement speed as well as damage or health. This is situational. It is rare when a game makes it to this stage.

• Consumables: If you have finished all of your items and cannot buy anything else, buy . It grants 25% increased Size, Slow Resistance, Tenacity and Path of Iron for 3 minutes. Moving leaves a path behind that boosts allied champion's Movement Speed by 15%.

SITUATIONAL BUILDING

In this section I wanted to go over what most MobaFire Builds don't touch: what to build when you're being counter built (or, to explain it better, when someone is building against you). Obviously if you've become a total beast in the jungle (like I've intended for you to be by using this guide), you need to expect people to build against you. Fortunately there are only so many MR items so we can go over them here. Sometimes the key to success is to prepare for people to counter you and always be one step ahead.

• What most Tanks try to build: ,

• What ADC's build:

• What their Mid Lane is building: or

Realistically, if you are building Tankmu, you have no reason to worry about any of these items, unless they have , in which case make sure you don't initiate w/your (basic attack them first).

If you are going Ap-mu, however, be very worried. It's times like these that you need magic penetration. Be sure to build as soon as possible, following up with .

AVOIDING COUNTER JUNGLERS

Amumu struggles to recover when he's been ganked in his jungle. Here are some ways to avoid that from happening:

Wards:

Map Awareness:

Team Cooperation:

TEAMFIGHTS

Amumu is one of the most effective team fight champions. There are very few champions who do not work well with his engages, making him an important member of the crew. If you've read the title, you can make your own deduction as to what this section is about.

Positioning:

Front Lines: (Intended for Tankmu, not recommended for AP-mu) Staying in the front of the group, engaging with (Q) when the opportunity arises and immediately ulting with . Toggling (W) with rylai's crystal sceptor on hand help slow opponents prior to ulting for maximum effect.

• Surprise Bush Bomb: (Intended for Ap-mu, not recommended for Tankmu) Staying away from the group, looking for a chance to engage from behind a wall or in a bush gives Amumu the highest chance of landing his ultimate , which scales with AP. By going around the enemy team and staying out of range of fire, your team must cooperate with you entirely - because you're optimizing your engage but risking separating yourself from the team. It's an art, really...

• The Need for Speed: Build Rylai's crystal sceptor and , then go in with , toggling in the process. Not only will you damage opponents, but you will also be slowing them for your teammates to follow up with you. Build liandrys torment for increased effect.

Effective Engages:

• Focusing the AD Carry: Getting on their ADC like white on rice prior to him/her destroying your team is essential. Amumu has 2 stuns (Q) and (R) . Use Q to initiate, ult with their ADC in range and then stick to them like glue.

• Shutting down their fed top lane / jungle: Same concept, different target.

• General Team Fight Engage: Same concept. (Amumu pretty much has one initiate so be clever)

Avoid:

• Getting poked prior to engaging - Amumu is a mele champion w/very little escape, meaning you don't poke and then go in. You just GO!
• Wasting your mana - toggling for too long during chases can leave you wishing you had bought an
• Getting shut down too early - tanks cannot die too early in team fights. Plain and simple

WHY NOT SUPPORT AMUMU?

Now that I have given you an in depth idea of the prospect that Amumu holds on Summoner's Rift, it's time to talk about other possibilities. Support Amumu is not a bad concept. Although his kit is designed to manipulate his way through the jungle, it can also be used in different lanes... and by "different lanes" I'm referring to Bot Lane. (Let's be realistic, here, he could never mid or top lane)

Let's break this down logically. What is really stopping Amumu from supporting?
• His (E) has it's CD lowered each time he is attacked
• His (Q) and (R) are both great stun engages
• There are 2 bushes bottom lane that Amumu can use to successfully stun opponents and engage without being suspected

So what is preventing him from being a bot lane champion? Probably just a matter of comparison with other recent champions. To be honest, Amumu COULD support... but then again, so can , and but that doesn't mean we play them bot lane consistently. There are so many other relevant supports out there , , that Amumu just falls of the map in general as a bottom lane support. Amumu has stuns, yes, but that definitely doesn't make him a bot lane champion.

OTHER LOL GUIDES

Unfortunately I don't have an entire list of new and exciting builds to show you. As the list builds, however, I will keep this updated.

• [S.5] Tibbers the Terrible: AP Carry Mid : CLICK

CREDITS

I don't own the rights to any of images used for this presentation. The unmodified versions can be found on the following links:

ARTICLE - SCRIPTED

Champion Icons - UNEDITED

Banner Background - EDITED

Little Knight Amumu Render - EDITED

UPDATES

03/26/2015 - Rough Draft completed
04/26/2015 8:55 am - Guide posted
04/26/2015 8:58 am - Ok wow, I missed an entire section. WELP I'll get back to it eventually.

[S.5] The Infinite Chase [Amumu Jungle]

[S.5] The Infinite Chase [Amumu Jungle]

Recommended Items

Spells:

Smite

Flash

Items

Ability Order

Cursed Touch (PASSIVE)

Bandage Toss (Q)

Despair (W)

Tantrum (E)

Curse of the Sad Mummy (R)