Heimerdinger is hands down my favorite champion. His potential is severely underestimated, and this is part of what makes him so powerful; His ability to take on multiple champions at once is unmatched. However, Heimer has a different play style from other champions; He's like a mobile defense system. Extremely high defensive potential, but somewhat lacks offensive power.

+ H-28G Evolution Turrets are gr8
+Underestimated
+Looks cool
+Great in lane

-Highly dependent on turrets
-Limited burst
-Takes time to set up turrets == decreased roam power

*Jungle will *try* to pick on you
This isn't a bad thing! I will explain later

Techmaturgical Repair Bots
Passive - Heimerdinger gives nearby allied H-28G Turrets and Champions increased Health Regeneration.

You might not notice it, but it really gives a lot of health regen. This lets you stay in lane a lot longer and saves you some money on Health Potion


H-28G Evolution Turret
Active - Heimerdinger lays down a machine gun turret equipped with a secondary pass-through beam attack. (Turrets deal half damage to towers).

Places a Turret at target location. Turret attacks prioritize Heimerdinger's targets and enemies attacking Heimerdinger. Their Health increases with Heimerdinger's champion level and they shut down if he moves out of the area. Heimerdinger generates a Turret Kit every 24/23/22/21/20 seconds and can hold 1/1/2/2/3 Kit(s) at once.

Cost: 20 Mana and Turret Kit
Range: 350
Health: 150/175/200/225/250/275/300/325/350/375/400/425/450/475/500/525/550/575
Attack - Cannon: 15/22/29/36/42 (+13% Ability Power) magic damage each attack.
Attack - Beam: 50/75/100/125/150 (+50% Ability Power) magic damage in a line every 12 seconds.
Maximum Turrets Placed: 3

This is Heimerdinger's bread and butter. Without turrets there is no Heimey. Turrets are most of Heimer's damage and many of his last hits. The best part about turrets is they will continue to attack when you are incapacitated, dead, or back (Though if you leave the immediate area they will "turn off" after a few seconds). This is why Zhonya's Hourglass is such a powerful item. While you're in stasis the enemy champions will drop like flies. Most people won't take this time to kill your turrets, you lucky dog. Turrets will generally assist what you are attacking.

Keep 3 turrets up at all times!

*Because Heimerdinger is so reliant on his turrets, facing an enemy champion that focuses on your turrets is a huge problem. If this is the case, place your turrets far enough back that they don't pose a threat, but are close enough to retreat to in case of a gank.


Hextech Micro-Rockets
Active - Heimerdinger fires long-range rockets that converge on his cursor.

Unleashes a barrage of 5 rockets that converge towards your cursor and fan out past it. Each rocket deals 60/90/120/150/180 (+45% Ability Power) magic damage.
Units hit multiple times take reduced damage:Champions and Monsters: 12/18/24/30/36 (+12% Ability Power) magic damage, max 108/162/216/270/324 (+93% Ability Power) damage.
Minions: 60% of base damage.Targeting the rockets closer to Heimerdinger increases their spread.

Cost: 70/80/90/100/110 Mana
Range: 1525

Very range. Such damage. Great burst, but it is Heimerdinger's most difficult skill to use. Spreading the rockets out is almost never worth it due to the long cooldown and high mana cost. A common strategy to help with your aim is to stun using CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade and following it up immediately with your rockets.


CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade

Active - Heimerdinger lobs a grenade at a location, dealing damage to enemy units as well as stunning anyone directly hit and slowing surrounding units.

Hurls a grenade that deals 60/100/140/180/220 (+60% Ability Power) magic damage to enemy units and slows their Movement Speed by 35% for 2 seconds. Enemies in the center of the blast are also stunned for 1.25 seconds.

Cost: 85 Mana
Range: 970

The sole purpose of this skill is the stun. The damage is generally unimpressice, and a long cooldown makes it unusable as a poke. Save this for when you are jumped in between your turrets. Keep them on your turrets as long as possible!

UPGRADE!!!

Active - Heimerdinger invents an upgrade, causing his next spell to have increased effects.

Makes next basic ability free and gives it bonus effects. Reactivate to cancel.
Cost: 100 Mana *Mana cost not refunded if cancelled

H-28Q Apex Turret: Places a Turret that deals 90/110/130 (+33% Ability Power) magic damage with its cannon and 225/300/375 (+80% Ability Power) magic damage with its beam for 8 seconds. It has splash damage, immunity to disables, its attacks slow targets for 25%, and it doesn't count toward the Turret limit.

95% of the time this is my go to. People like to gang up on Heimer for an "easy kill," but this cannon will shut down your foes real quick. The splash damage, laser beam, and slow make this perfect for fighting multiple enemies at once, and it deals MASSIVE damage over the 8 second duration. Bait the gank, drop this bad boy, Zhonya's Hourglass and enjoy the double kill.


Hextech Rocket Swarm: Fires 4 waves of rockets that deal 135/180/225 (+45% Ability Power) magic damage each. Champions and Monsters hit by multiple rockets take reduced damage, max 500/690/865 (+183% Ability Power).

These rockets are powerful. Like REALLY powerful. But I almost never use them. They're relatively difficult to get full effectiveness and it shares a cooldown with normal Hextech Micro-Rockets. I only use this in a 1v1 situation where I can guarantee all 4 waves will hit and it is guaranteed to kill them. Ultimate turret will still do more damage over the duration

CH-3X Lightning Grenade: Throws a bouncing grenade that discharges three times, dealing 150/200/250 (+60% Ability Power) magic damage. Both the stun and slow areas are larger and the slow is improved to 80%.

Grenade is purely utility. With the bounces, this move has a huge range and improved potential to stun. Use this as your getaway against multiple enemies or to catch up to an enemy that is just out of range. Shares cooldown with CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade, very situational

Doran's Ring Health Potion Warding Totem (Trinket)
Pretty self explanatory, I won't go into detail

Zhonya's Hourglass
There is no item more powerful on Heimer than this one. It's almost too easy to drop all your turrets then pop Zhonya's and watch your gankers drop like flies. This with a well placed stun will protect you from damage for quite a long time while your turrets go to town. Always rush this item first

Rabadon's Deathcap
Always get deathcap second. If you get any other item I've found that Heimer's damage isn't able to keep up with enemy champions, especially if one of them is fed. Zhonya's and your grenade have a limited amount of time they can protect you; You need to drop them before you hit this time limit. Deathcap lets this happen


Sorcerer's Shoes
Shoes really aren't that important on Heimer. I often leave him with grade 1 boots until after my next item. Heimerdinger fights on his turrets, he doesn't chase.


Rod of Ages
At this point in the game you should have enough damage, and start thinking about survivability. Rod of Ages is generally what comes next for me. Health for survivability, AP to keep your damage scaling well, and mana so you never have to worry about being oom again. Well rounded item +1


Rylai's Crystal Scepter
Again, more survivability, more AP to keep scaling well. The slow will help keep enemies under your turrets longer


Abyssal Mask
This is optional, but generally my item of choice. Magic resist for survivability, and a great amount of damage. People will fear you.


Frozen Heart
I will only pick this when the enemy team is AD heavy and your team doesn't already have a frozen heart. Frozen heart's 20% aspd reduction can have a huge impact on the game, and the armor gives great survivability against AD. The cooldown reduction is nice, but not required as Heimerdinger

So now you know the Why, it's time for the How.

Early Game:
Get your items QUICK and run down your lane to start setting up turrets. If you don't start with 3 turrets on the field it can be really easy to kill your turrets 1 at a time and tough to build your defenses back up. Set up your turrets in a line just behind the center of the map. Close enough to hit the enemy minions but far enough back that your minions will tank for the turrets. Don't worry, you'll still have time to leash for your jungle

How it should look:
* The safest spot is the center where all three turrets can reach you

If the opponent is aggressive in taking your turrets down, place them further back so they do not pose a threat to the opponent, but still close enough that you can retreat back to them in case of a gank.


Once your turrets are set it's just a waiting game for them to jump on you. Do what you can to bait, but as always with baits: Be careful



My general strategy when jumped is to drop my big turret immediately then follow up with Zhonya's Hourglass. Once Zhonya's active wears off grenade directly onto the enemy. With the slow from the big turret they probably won't outrange your turrets if they try to run. Missile and profit. Barrier as needed. If they still think they can kill you at this point, pretend to run away, then Flash over them behind your turrets and kite.

tl;dr
UPGRADE!!! -> H-28G Evolution Turret -> Zhonya's Hourglass -> CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade -> Hextech Micro-Rockets -> Win


While Heimerdinger is very powerful once you get the hang of him, don't get too aggressive. Remember that Heimerdinger is a defensive champion, and is not immortal. Going 3v1, while possible, is not advised. Play smart and never go anywhere without your turrets.