About Me

Hey reader, my name is Ilynx, and this is my first guide on Mobafire. Though I don't have much experience with guides I have been playing league for quite a while (Silver II). I have also been on Mobafire for a while. I chose to make this Rammus guide because Rammus is and has always been my favorite champion as well as the first champion I bought.

Why Rammus? Rammus is a strong tank, ganker, chaser, and jungler in general. He excels with his superior mobility with powerball and his strong taunt that can change a team fight. Rammus is a champion that is underused and underestimated and a great jungler to play if you need a reliable tank.

This guide is pretty unfinished so I will try to answer as many questions as you have about the guide. Please vote and comment.

Without further introduction I present to you my guide. Hope you enjoy!

Pros

+ A great ganker + Nice mobility + Good in One v One + Good Teamfighter + Has a good escape + Has a large amount of cc

Rammus is a decent champion to jungle with usually. He can score easy kills for your team and lead enemies away from allies in danger. He can get around the map easily with Powerball, and all of this combined with his tanky attributes makes him not only a good champion to play as, but a fun champion.

Cons

+ Slow early game + Easily counter jungled + Slow without Powerball + Slow base attack speed + Cannot counter jungle easily

Rammus, though a fun champion to play, can have a really hard early game. He is reliant on health pots and a good leash, and most often his buffs are taken by counter junglers(which is why I recommend a sight stone sometimes).He also has a hard early game due to his low attack speed. If you don't pay attention to your cs, you can often have a hard time catching up because of your low attack speed.

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Spiked Shell

Spiked shell is a passive that's main use is to make Rammus an actual jungler as you build armor through your early game. You can clear buffs faster with less health taken away and pull off most team fights with significant damage dealt.

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Powerball

Powerball is an interesting skill. It can allow Rammus to reach speeds near 1000 with some buffs. It is your tool for ganking, escaping, initiating, and quicker jungling in general. There are a bunch of tricks with this skill, making Rammus a skillful champion to have. Max this skill last because it does not scale your movement speed, only its slow and its magic damage, which is not what you're really relying on.

When you have blue buff just Powerball into the creeps when its up, then turn it on again and Powerball to the next camp.

Whenever you leave base, put on powerball immediately. This will give you a head start almost equivalent to the homeguard enchantment and you will regenerate your lost mana as soon as you get to the outer turret or so.

This skill can also disrupt ultimates like Katarina's Death Lotus or Nunu's Absolute Zero due to its knock back.

Powerball can hit enemies in stealth like Evelynn, Teemo, or Kha'zix

If you are very confident in your abilities, try starting up powerball then teleporting near an enemy champion to surprise them with an immediate cc. Kind of like an Ashe ult with teleport.

Flash can be used with powerball to surprise enemies when you jump over a minion wave.

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Defensive Ball Curl

This is one of the skills that makes many people hate Rammus as a champion, mainly because this skill has the ability to make you into a super tank and deal damage back to whomever's attacking you without attacking them. You always use this skill whenever you're against someone one v one or right after you taunt them. This will help you get cs and easy kills so be sure to max it second.

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puncturing taunt

Puncturing Taunt

Rammus' taunt is what he's known for in league, mainly because its how Rammus kills targets with full health. You can pull people into turret fire or pull a carry into your team if they are overextended beyond the enemy tank. Try to initiate team fights with a combination of taunt and powerball to score an easy kill immediately. This will also reduce the armor of the taunted champion, so make sure most of your team will focus the champion you have chosen to taunt. Sometime's it is useful when taking larger camps like dragon or baron to move the creep's attention to you instead of your team. I always max this first so you can easily score your team some kills in lane. It's similar to Fiddlesticks maxing his fear first.

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Tremors

: Tremors is your main team fighting skill. You should also try to use it whenever you're ganking or in a 1 v 1 situation. However, with its low mana cost and cool down, sometimes it can be a good idea to use it to clear buffs faster only when your lanes are pushed. This skill also deals damage to structures, causing Rammus to take turrets like no one's business. Thought this is a good skill, I must warn you; It will steal kills. And as a jungler always try to give kills to your carries, especially as Rammus who can't use the kills well at all.

I know it's a bit different including this section for a jungler but there are actually quite a few champions that Rammus can "counter," because they can easily be ganked or they are often killed by Rammus. There are also champions that counter Rammus. Just as well, Rammus works very well with other champions on a team. Most champions that synergize well with Rammus are usually nukers with skill shot cc's and good speed boosts. This section will give some of my insight on who works well with Rammus and who usually dies to him.

Nidalee is an interesting champion to synergize with Rammus. If you didn't know, Nidalee's poke, Javelin Toss can be a really effective weapon against squishier champions. If you are good enough with your taunt, you can pull an enemy further away from Nidalee when using her toss and position the enemy correctly so that they will be hit with great damage by her, possibly scoring the kill. She also has a good amount of attack speed after using Aspect Of The Cougar that can allow her to easily score kills with the armor reduction caused by taunt (Her Takedown scales 300% ad).

Ahri works well with Rammus mainly because the double taunt is op. If she can land her Charm immediately after the taunt ends, she can easily nuke her enemy and catch up with them if she has her ult. A well placed orb of deception can at least burn their flash and set them out of lane.

I know it isn't always the best idea to have two tanks on one team, however, the combo of Shen and Rammus gets to be hilarious late game because of the double taunt. If both the Shen and Rammus buy thornmail, it can greatly hurt the enemy team.

Caitlyn is one of my favorite champions to have on a team with Rammus. She has two abilities that really work well with Rammus' taunt, Yordle Snap Trap and Ace in the Hole. It's really fun to gank bot and taunt the enemy right into a snap trap, and late game its even funnier to taunt enemies out of the way of Caitlyn's ult so they can't take the hit for their dying ally.

I normally am not a fan of Teemo and his infinite wards, however he does synergize well with Rammus. Try to gank teemo's lane when he gets past six, if you are doing well enough you should have your taunt raised to at least level two. Then just powerball in and drag the opponent through the shrooms while teemo starts shooting.

Rammus works well against most any mele champion due to his pull( puncturing taunt). He is also very potent against squishy champions that wouldn't be able to survive being dragged into a team fight. He is pretty much a counter to mele characters that build adc.

Most players of Yi exclaim that Rammus counters them entirely, and I can understand how. Yi is a squishy mele champion that has high speed. Normally if he is taunted, his high base speed will bring him far enough to the team, however, if you catch him with his ult on, taunt with a high level, and powerball towards the carry, he will be forced to follow you the whole way there. Rammus' taunt can completely shut down yi's ult like a Fiddlesticks fear when trynd is ulting.

Fiora, once again a high speed, squishy, ad champion, can easily be brought into a teamfight. If you can kill her or even just taunt her before her ult, the team fight may be easily lost for the other team.

Tryndamere is pretty much a mele adc. He has an extreme high attack speed like the rest of the listed champions and with a Thornmail combined with Defensive Ball Curl, he's pretty much done before he can even have time to use his ult.

For runes, I go with a standard ap build with seals and marks of armor for his early game damage and survivability and glyphs of scaling magic resist for late game tankiness against ap champions. If you start marks of magic pen, it will only help your Powerball magic damage and Soaring Slam damage which isn't exactly what you are relying on early game. Quints are a bit different with Rammus. I prefer Movement Speed for faster jungle times but there are still alternatives like armor. Many people get attack speed quints for faster jungle times, which is decent, but I never thought they helped enough with early ganks. I know that a lot of Rammus junglers like to build ad for Rammus with attack damage marks and such, but there is a problem; Not one of his abilities scales ad while all of his abilities scale ap. This will lead to a very ineffective position with poor ganks and jungle times.

Summoner Spells

Always take smite as a jungler. Will allow you to jungle faster, take buffs more easily, and smite steal if you really need to.

I sometimes prefer ghost with Rammus mainly for the moments when your powerball isn't up yet. It can also make for some amazingly quick ganks if used right. The reason I actually use this as opposed to flash sometimes is because ghost increases movement speed by percentage, so combined with powerball you are moving about 165% faster for a while.

Flash is a common pick for Rammus. It can allow you to jump over minion waves while chasing someone with powerball, and it can also confuse your enemy when you are being chased. I mainly picked this for the strategy it offers. Flashing over minions waves and timing it during your powerball or right before a taunt can really define your versatility as a player.

What not to pick:

-- Rammus already has a good defensive ability
-- Support ability
-- Just get the blue buff
-- Carry ability. Its okay if Rammus gets cc'ed.
-- You have enough cc with your taunt.
-- There usually aren't enough champs around you for this to be useful
-- Rammus is not a carry

Spirit of the Ancient Golem should always be your first main item on Rammus. It gives amazing regen bonuses and allows you to jungle faster, which is much more useful early game than late.

Thornmail should be purchased second or third depending on if the enemy team has a high amount of ad or ap. If their adc is doing really well or they are just composed of ad champions, try to get this item quickly after Spirit of the Ancient Golem. It is a good early game item, helping you jungle with its passive ability of damage return and armor boost(which in turn helps your passive).

Aegis of the Legion is a really great item on Rammus, however it is somewhat ineffective if your support already has it. The added armor, health, and magic resist are overall helpful, and the passive is great to have in teamfights. Go for a locket of the iron solari if your support is building aegis. I also recommend upgrading it late game for the help in teamfights.

Banshee's Veil is a great item on Rammus. Offers a great health boost and a passive that will save you sometimes. Go ahead and get it before runic bulwark if your enemy team doesn't have much ad because this item doesn't offer any armor. I would call it a post-thornmail item mainly because of that fact. However, it is a great idea to get this early if the enemy team is high ap or has a fed ap carry.

Boots in core items explained in next section

Mercury's treads are a situational core item on Rammus. Try to only get them if the enemy team has a great amount of cc(stuns, slows, snares) or if the enemy team is comprised of almost all ap champions.

Ninja Tabi is a great item on Rammus if the enemy team has ad or if their adc is doing very well. I personally get this most often because of the added armor that will contribute to your passive.

Boots of mobility is a very good item on Rammus. It offers him a good amount of utility and mobility that works well with chases and escapes if needed. I personally think that powerball gives him enough mobility as it is but it it your decision.

This is a great late game item with the 3.9 patch, much better as Rammus because you can easily navigate around the map with your powerball destroying wards for your team. This item can easily sabotage the enemy victory (Wards win games).

This will hurt your enemies greatly in teamfights. Its armor bonus will also help your passive and let you deal even more damage. My problem with Rammus' passive though is that it doesn't help much in team fights because if Rammus is going to deal any significant damage to the other team it will be through his ult which is ap based.

Warmog's is a great tank item with the largest health bonus in game. It will make it really hard for anyone to kill you when the entire team is focusing you(taunt). Get this if your team is really squishy or if you are missing an off tank.

Randuin's Omen is a good item for a team that is too squishy or one that is building magic resist more than health. The passive combined with taunt can make for interesting chases.

This item is great to have if your support has already built aegis. You may forget about the active ability but the item still gives a good amount of health and armor.

If the enemy team is marauding around everywhere and your support isn't warding much, get this. Wards will win a game for you if used in the right situations. Also the health is nice.

I actually don't like Spirit Visage on Rammus as much as Banshee's Veil in terms of mr, mainly because Rammus has no heal, so the passive is completely useless unless you get something like Warmog's Armor or you have a healing based support like Soraka or Sona. This item, though it offers some good mr, cdr, and health, should only be considered as a late game item.

Captain is a standard enchantment for Rammus. Get it as a last item if you are in team fights usually.

Alacrity is good if your team is winning and you need some offense.

Homeguard is an interesting enchantment on Rammus because it adds on to the mobility that powerball gives you. It's also a decent mid game item if you feel that you need it to hold lanes. I like to get it after thornmail most of the time.

Guardian Angel if a decent item. It gives Rammus some added tankiness late game, but there is a major problem with it that was very well explained in Fuggernought's Dr. Mundo guide which can be found here. Guardian Angel is a carry item, not a tank item, mainly because it causes people not to focus you. Why focus someone who will just comeback with 1/3 of their health right after you kill them? That's the problem. As a tank you want people to focus you. I suppose you could argue that if people focus you to much then your team will have no tank and all, but the problem with that argument is that you shouldn't be dying(at least with my build) in team fights if the enemy team focuses you. And if you do, great! Now the enemies will be low enough for your carries to clean up.

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Route

As Rammus, a blue buff dependent champion, you will start at the blue buff. Constantly activate your defensive ball curl as soon as camps like blue start attacking you. Please note that if you powerball while using defensive ball curl, it cuts off the ability, wasting health, mana, and cooldown time. Try to get your leash to back off early so you can get the experience that you need for your second skill (Powerball). Then powerball into the wolves, this will knock them back and deal a bit over 100 damage, activating defensive ball curl right afterwards. Then powerball at the end of the left jungle (blue jungle) and smash into the wraiths and activate your ball curl while they return from the knock back. Your defensive ball curl will most likely kill the smaller wraiths if you hit them at the correct angle with Powerball. After this, move onto the red buff if your smite is up, if not, go to the golems. After you've gone to red, hit wraiths again and you have a decision to gank or not. Check for factors in lanes that will determine the fate of your gank. These factors include

An unpushed lane An enemy low on health An enemy low on mana An enemy who has used their ult An enemy with poor escape An ally with a good cc An unwarded lane To the right you can see an Early Jungle route for Rammus that I made to show his route while the blue buff is still active. Explains a bit better where you should go after taking the golems, which is pretty much either to mid or bot or back into the jungle to possibly gank top later. This map also demonstrates a bit better how often powerball should be used when you have blue. If you're on purple team it is almost the same concept, just switch the amount of convenience in ganking top and bot.

If you see some of these factors(especially the pushed lane), try to go in and gank.

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Ganking

When ganking as Rammus, always come in from behind your enemy with powerball. Try to time your gank so that there is no minion wave to block your path. Then proceed to powerball into your enemy and taunt them. NOTE: If your taunt is greater than or equal to level two, move backwards after taunting to pull your enemy. If your enemy is ranged don't even try that strategy unless you have full levels on taunt. Immediately after taunting, activate defensive ball curl. This is about the time for your lane to activate their cc and score the kill. I stress, always give the kill to your lanes. Don't be a greedy jungler.

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Mid game jungling

After you have gone back for your first time, keep farming, I have seen so many junglers that keep ganking lanes ineffectively and not getting any cs. A good mark of level should be about one level or more above the support. Don't take this as a suggestion to not gank at all, I just want you to be aware of your cs throughout the game. Also at about 7:00 your blue should be up to give to your ap carry, who usually has a much smaller mana pool than you. Don't give them blue if they don't have mana though.

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Warding

As a jungler it is pretty important to ward. Rammus benefits from the item sight stone because of its health boost mainly. When warding, you must first decide if your jungler is a counter jungler. Some champions like Nunu will just make your jungle their own, so it's sometimes a good idea to ward your buffs (I don't suggest counterjungling with Rammus). Otherwise ward the river to ruin their jungler's ganking effectiveness as well as their other lanes.

Rammus Late Game

Rammus plays a very active early game that requires you to think about where to gank and when you should farm or not, but it is his late game that gives you and your team a great advantage. Rammus late game is powerful, but there are a few tips that can easily make your team win a fight that involve simply knowing the role of a tank. The role of jungler gives you the role of the global decision maker.

Initiation

As a tank, you play the role of initiator.Be sure to stay in front of your carries. If they over extend, they will take damage from pokes and die in the team fight faster than anyone else (and if your carry is building more health than attack damage or ability power they are not a carry). As Rammus, you should be constantly checking for openings for a powerball into their team. The moment when they get to close and you think that your team will survive the team fight, jump in. But please be careful of a poor initiation into the fight. A lot of times what will happen is you powerball in and they all back off, sending you far closer to their team than yours. Most of the time this will kill you if it is a five v five team fight. Sometimes it's a good idea to ping as soon as you begin your powerball to ready your team for the fight. As soon as you powerball into a champion you must decide first whether the champion is a tank, off-tank, or carry. Try not to hit tanks because the damage you do to them will simply waste your teams skills for a fraction of the enemy's health. If it is an off tank, consider pulling them in if they are really fed or you have blue buff. If it is a carry, don't pull them but keep them taunted because they are most likely ranged. Immediately put on your Defensive Ball Curl and Soaring Slam.

When the fight Begins

The main idea of the team fight with Rammus is to direct the carry attention away from your carries. Taunt their most fed or weakest carry at the time and activate Defensive Ball Curl so they will only deal damage to you and not your carries. If your team is focusing them, the armor reduction should score you the kill soon.

Later in the fight

At this point you will be winning or losing the team fight. If winning you should start powerballing for the chase on their tank and off tanks. These champions are usually mele so you should pull them into your team for some of your carries to pick up the kill while others move on. If you are losing things will be a bit more tactical. Firstly, try to powerball the enemies back and away from the escaping carries. If others are still chasing, try to taunt them away. And if you are dead...buy some items from the shop? Possibly consider more health and armor.

Thank you so much for reading. This has been my first guide on Mobafire, and I had a great time making it to help the community. As a supporter of league and Mobafire I greatly appreciate the time you spent to learn more about the precise science of strategy through communal insight. I greatly appreciate comments and I will always try to respond to the best of my ability. Thank you once again.

Thanks to jhoijhoi for the guide on making a guide and fazie69 on deviantart.com for the picture above.

7/2/13 Published
7/2/13 Added section on Frozen Heart
7/2/13 Added onto rune description
7/3/13 Adjusted quints
7/3/13 Changed summoner spells
7/3/13 Added section on team fights
7/5/13 Added additional information on Spirit Visage
7/5/13 Took off Twitch from synergy section and added Caitlyn and Nidalee
7/5/13 Changed marks from magic penetration to armor
7/6/13 Added picture to introduction
7/6/13 Added section to items(What not to buy)
7/6/13 Added Banshee's Veil
7/8/13 Fixed Frozen Heart Section
7/8/13 Revised Route Section
7/10/13 Took Shyvana off synergies with patch 3.9
7/10/13 Changed Quintessences to Movement Speed from Armor.
7/13/13 Oracle's Elixir added to items section with patch 3.9
7/14/13 Reformatted items and match ups section
7/14/13 Created section for powerball
7/14/13 Fixed rune page
7/14/13 Changed Name "Tremor at his Presence" --> "They See me Rollin'"
7/14/13 Revised jungle route picture and added picture to conclusion.
7/20/13 Switched from mr glyphs to scaling mr glyphs
8/11/13 Added Teemo and Shen to synergies, took off xerath
8/25/13 Changed Boots of Mobility description and added section on smiteless
8/25/13 Changed Frozen Heart Description