Hello everyone!

This is my Season 12 Guide on Garen Top, as well as his Off-Meta Jungle Role.
I focus mainly on Builds and Runes to show Synergies between them.
Let me know if you need clarification on certain things!

Garen is a strong Carry Juggernaut, that works in many Situations.
He is a Freight Train Juggernaut like Volibear or Udyr. That means he has means of increased Speed with high Impact Damage. He has good Anti-CC measures in his Kit, as well as an execute Ultimate.

My Builds are following 3 Philosophies in this Guide - Dueling=D, Takedown=TD and Mobility=M:

• D = Dueling Path - uses Conqueror and as Nieche Rune Grasp of the Undying.
  It will make you a Duelist with good DPS and Sustain as well as measures like Armor Shred / Anti Heal against Melee Enemies
• TD = Takedown Path - uses Predator in Mid and Jungle.
  This path turns you into a Hunter with Damage Enhancement and good Mobility / Tankiness to go for low Health / Vulnerable Targets and take them down, even behind Enemy Lines. You want to be be as tanky and resistant to CC as much as possible and inflict high Impact Damage on Contact with the Target - before they can escape or retaliate.
• M = Mobility Path - uses Phase Rush
  This path is against ranged and high Mobility Targets - it gives you the highest Amount of Sticking Power and Anti-Kiting Capabilities to apply your Damage over the longest time possible.

For an Overview of the Champion have a look at these Guides by Mobalytics:

Play Video

For a more in-depth Guide on Garen watch this Video by The Glacierr:

Play Video

You can follow me on Twitter, Reddit and Youtube for regular Content Updates!

General Abbrevations:
- CQ = Conqueror
- FF = Fleet Footwork
- PTA = Press the Attack
- LT = Lethal Tempo
- PR = Phase Rush
- D = Dueling Build
- TD = Takedown Build
- M = Mobility Build
- MS = Movement Speed
- LS = Lifesteal
- AD = Attack Damage
- AS = Attack Speed
- AP = Ability Power
- HP = Health Points
- AR = Armor
- MR = Magical Restistance
- Res = Resistances
- AdD = Adaptive Damage
- AA = Auto Attack
- AoE = Area of Effect
- DoT = Damage over Time

List:

• The best Introduction to Basic League Concepts I know is made by Phroxzon from UNSWLOLSOC (the makers of the original Leaguecraft 101).
  If you want to learn League in the most efficient way, check out his great Content HERE.

  
  
• Garen Wiki Page
• Garen LoLAlytics Page
• Have a look at riste's Youtube Channel with great Educational Content on Garen.
• Garen Content by The Glacierr Gaming and his Primary Channel.
• Garen Coachings by Neace and on his 2nd Coaching Channel.
• Garen high Elo Replays:
  - domisumReplay
  - KoreanProReplays
  - leagueofgraphs.com
• My own Garen YT Playlist with lots of Content.
• Have a look at my ULTIMATE Link List for League of Legends, with many more resources like Builds, Guides, Ingame Apps, Matchups / Counters, Training Tools etc.!

Abilities:

Have a look at this Overview of Garen's Kit by TiltShades:

Play Video

Have a look at Garen's Abilities:

• P: Perseverance
  Garen's Passive gives him great Sustain in Lane - he needs only HP since he is manaless - so it is better to fall back sometimes, than get your passive canceled all the time until you have to recall.
• Q: Decisive Strike
  His Q Ability gives him Move Speed and an enhanced Damage Attack. It is an Auto Attack Reset. More Important - Activating the Ability removes Slows from Garen - use it wisely!
• W: Courage
  Another Anti-CC and Anti-Burst Measure is his W. It gives him high Tenacity for 0.75 sec, practically removing CC on Impact. You also get a Shield and Damage Reduction. Learning when to use Q and W is the difference between shredding an Enemy and being kited to death.
• E: Judgment
  Since E shreds Armor, E into Q deals potentially more damage. E scales with Attack Speed, Attack Damage and can crit.
• R: Demacian Justice
  His Ult is a True Damage Execute in that way, that it deals damage relative to the target's missing HP - It works well with Coup de Grace when enemies are low HP and with Last Stand when Garen is losing HP due to Dueling or Poke Damage.

General Mechanics Concepts:

For more insights into League's Micro Mechanics have a look at my YT Micro Playlist HERE!

For Basic Movement Concepts for Melee Champions look at the Mechanics Section of my Udyr Phoenix Guide HERE.

Garen's Combos:

Garen's Moves

Sticking correctly, together with Garen's Combos and Abilities (see below) is extremely Important.
You don't want to just right click an opponent and let Garen walk after him.
You want to combine Attack Commands and Movement Commands as well as your Combos for maximum Efficiency.

• The Foundation of all Combos: The Animation Cancel

  
  An Auto Attack consists of 3 Parts:
  

  Wind Up [==========]

  Attack Hit [==========]

  Wind down [==========]

  
  - NOW, if you just right click or Attack Move onto an Opponent, even if you reach him and start hitting, your Champion will go through all Phases of the Auto Attack.
  
  - BUT - as you can see - the Wind Down does nothing for us. It has no Damage!
  It is wasting Time.
  How can we use this time better? ... YES - by moving in between Attacks or using an Auto Attack Resert / an Ability.
  
  - So - to correctly Kite as a Ranged Champion or Stick as a Melee Champion you input a Movement Command right after your Attack hits the opponent (that means your Hand, Hammer, Sword smacks the Enemy etc. or, in case of Ranged Champs - your Projectile leaves your Weapone - )
  - and therefore deny the Wind down its time!
  
  You CANCEL THE ANIMATION!
  
  - Have a look at this AA Analysis by LoL Analyst for insights into the Concept:
  
  Play Video
  
  - I would advise you to turn on Damage Numbers in League, so you get a Visual Feedback when your Attack has dealt its Damage.
  Click here for a Screenshot of the needed Option.
  
  

• The Next Step: Garen's Combos

  
  

  Garen Combo Overview on Mobalytics.

  
  

  1. Your standard Melee Combo:

     • AA + Q Reset
     • E ínto instant AA
     • R

  2. Your E-Q Combo:

     • E onto Enemy
     • Cancel E for instant AA + Q Reset
     • R
     • Alt.: Activate Q during E for Move Speed and instant Q after E
     
     

     More Combo Resources:

     • For the above Combos look at this Video Guide by
       LoL Dobby:

       
       Play Video
       

     • Another one by Bav Bros:

       
       Play Video
       

     • And one by Hoompty:

       
       Play Video

Item Philosophy

These are the main Items for the three Paths.

You can download my premade Rune-Book File for LoL Rune Changer HERE.
To import the Item Sets after you downloaded them:
- Go to the extracted LoL Rune Changer Folder - be Sure the App is closed!
- Backup your old "RuneChangerRuneBook.dat"
- Paste my Rune Book File you downloaded above into the Rune Changer Folder
- Start the App again - my Runes are now available.
- Click on the Plus Signs right to the rune Pages to import them into your LoL Client
- for more information about LoL Rune Changer look at their Wiki

Rune Philosophy:

As mentioned in the Intro Section these Builds follow 3 Philosophies:

• D - Dueling:

  • Conqueror
  • Grasp of the Undying

• TD - Takedown

  • Predator

• Mobility

  • Phase Rush

Main Runes:

• Dueling Runes:

  
  - Precision:
  - Conqueror
  - Triumph
  - Legend: Alacrity
  - Last Stand
  
  - Resolve:
  - Grasp of the Undying
  - Demolish
  - Second Wind
  - Overgrowth
  
  - Secondary Dueling Runes:
  
  - Precision
  - Triumph
  - Legend: Alacrity Legend: Tenacity
  - Domination:
  - Taste of Blood Eyeball Collection Zombie Ward[J]
  - Sorcery:
  - Gathering Storm Waterwalking
  - Resolve:
  - Second Wind Overgrowth Bone Plating against Combos
  
  

• Takedown Runes [J] / [Mid]:

  
  - Predator
  - Taste of Blood
  - Eyeball Collection Zombie Ward[J]
  - Relentless Hunter Ultimate Hunter
  
  - Secondary Takedown Runes:
  
  - Precision:
  - Triumph Legend: Alacrity Coup de Grace
  - Sorcery:
  - Celerity Transcendence, Gathering Storm
  - Waterwalking[J]
  
  

• Mobility Runes:

  
  - Phase Rush
  - Nimbus Cloak
  - Celerity / Transcendence
  - Gathering Storm
  
  Alt.: Waterwalking[J]
  
  - Secondary Kite Runes:
  
  - Precision:
  - Legend: Tenacity Last Stand
  - Resolve:
  - Second Wind Unflinching Conditioning Overgrowth
  - Domination:
  - Taste of Blood Eyeball Collection Zombie Ward[J] Relentless Hunter Ultimate Hunter

General Runes Advise:

Runes:
- Conqueror for sustained Trades, Heal Synergy with Revitalize / Damage Buffs
- Phase Rush / Nimbus Cloak + Celerity for Mobility
- Predator is for Mobility between Lanes / Jungle Ganks. The whole Domination Setup is for Games where you are going for Roaming Power and Takedowns for Damage Scaling.
- Grasp of the Undying for HP Scaling, Q-Poke Damage and Sustain. Best for short Trades in Lane.

- Triumph / Treasure Hunter - increased Income on Takedown Focus
- Coup de Grace against Squishy Teams.
- Last Stand for Damage increase when getting low - good for Dueling with Conqueror and Mobility Pages to deal increased Damage after taking Damage while approaching a Target.
- Legend: Alacrity against Dueling Matchups
- Legend: Tenacity / Unflinching for Anti CC / Anti Kite
- Second Wind against Poke
- Bone Plating against Burst Combos
- Conditioning for Resistance Scaling when building a lot of Tank Items
- Overgrowth for HP Scaling for Sunfire / Demolish / Passive
- Demolish + Overgrowth for Split pushing [L] - good with Triforce
- Taste of Blood - for Dueling Setups with Scaling some AD / AP, Synergizes with Revitalize / Spirit Visage
- Zombie Ward / Eyeball Collection - for fast AD / AP Scaling when ahead, feeds into FF, CQ, Blade of the ruined King LS. Indirectly Supports PTA, Last Stand, Coup de Grace.
- Transcendence for Ability Uptime
- Gathering Storm for Late Game raw Damage Scaling for Dueling / Takedown / Moblity Builds
- Nimbus Cloak / Celerity / Waterwalking / Relentless Hunter for Mobility Builds

You can download my premade Build Files for the LoL Client HERE.
To import the Item Sets after you downloaded them:
- Go to your Collection
- Click on Items
- Click on the Downward Arrow Button called "Import Item Sets" left of the Search
- Select my Build File on your Hard-Drive Location and click OK.
- The Build is now available in your Client and In-Game

I collect Off-Meta Build Ideas for my Champion Roster in my Experimental Builds Guide! Have a look!

Build Philosophy:

As explained in the Intro Chapter, I categorize the Builds into the Categories:

• Dueling
• Takedown
• Mobility

Table of Contents:

1. General Hints
2. Triforce Builds
3. Stridebreaker Builds
4. Sun-/Frostfire Builds

---

General Hints:

Starting Items:
- Doran's Shield with Second Wind against Poke Lanes / Ranged
(- Doran's Blade for Melee Trades with Bone Plating against Combos.) - atm rather Nieche with bad WR.
- Take Red Smite against Close Range Burst and Melee Damage Dealers. Take Blue Smite against Ranged or for Nimbus Cloak Synergy.
- If you go for mobile Takedown Builds with E max over W, take Flash, especially if the Enemy can scale Walls well. If you go for more immobile Trading Builds against Melee Comps, take Ghost.

Boots:
- Boots in all Builds are situational.
- Be aware, that Boots of Swiftness and Unflinching decrease the Amount of Slow you receive, while Tenacity reduces the Duration of Slows.

Anti Heal:
- get Bramble + Steelcaps against Enemies that Autoattack you a lot, get Executioner's against Enemies that avoid attacking you with Auto Attacks / you want to all in.
Be aware, that the Thornmail Return Damage will also give you a Phase Rush Stack and feeds into Omnivamp!

CC / Kite:
- get Quicksilver against Suppression Ults (Morde, WW...) or high CC amounts.
- Your Options against high Mobility / Kiting are:

• Items: Stridebreaker, Triforce, Black Cleaver, Force of Nature, Dead Man's Plate, Randuin's Omen
• Boots: Mercury's Treads, Boots of Swiftness
  
• Runes:
  - Anti Slow / CC: Legend: Tenacity, Unflinching
  - Speed Buff: Phase Rush, Nimbus Cloak, Celerity, Waterwalking
  - Sustain: Second Wind, Revitallize (with D-Shield)
• Spells: Blue Smite, Ghost

Build Paths:
- You can always go full Tank after your Mythic Item and Mortal Reminder. In General you want to avoid dying as much as possible when ahead, while going for some more damage for Comeback Plays when behind. Stridebreaker is safer than Triforce, because it gives you Utility for Comebacks together with your Team when behind.
- Look for Synergies for Mobility / Anti Kite in Mobility oriented Builds and Sustain / De-Buff / Damage Synergies in Dueling Builds.
- Trinity Force and Sterak's stack Base AD into Bonus AD together, also against Towers! Hullbreaker and Demolish will give you even more Pushing Power.

---

The Builds:

1. Sheen Builds

   
   

   [D] Triforce Build 1 [L]+[J]

   
   Primary Runes:

   ---

   Conqueror Triumph Legend: Tenacity Legend: Alacrity Last Stand Coup de Grace

   Grasp of the Undying Demolish Second Wind Overgrowth

   
   Secondary Runes:

   ---

   
   Resolve Tree:
   Conditioning + Unflinching for late Game Scaling / TF Mobility
   Second Wind + Unflinching Revitalize against Ranged
   Bone Plating + Unflinching against Combo Damage
   Conditioning + Overgrowth for Late Game Scaling
   Demolish + Overgrowth for Split Pushing [L]
   
   Sorcery Tree:
   Nimbus Cloak+ Celerity
   Transcendence+ Gathering Storm
   
   
   Item Builds

   ---

   Trinity Force
   Berserker's Greaves
   Mortal Reminder
   Dead Man's Plate
   Force of Nature
   Thornmail
   
   

   Damage Options: Black Cleaver Sterak's Gage Chempunk Chainsword Hullbreaker Silvermere Dawn Guardian Angel Maw of Malmortius

   Defense Options: Randuin's Omen Spirit Visage - -

   
   

2. Whip Builds

   
   

   Stridebreaker Build 1 [L]+[J]

   
   Primary Runes:

   ---

   Conqueror Triumph Legend: Tenacity Legend: Alacrity Last Stand Coup de Grace

   Phase Rush [L] Nimbus Cloak Celerity Gathering Storm Waterwalking[J]

   
   Predator [Mid]+[J]
   Taste of Blood
   Eyeball Collection Zombie Ward[J]
   Ultimate Hunter Relentless Hunter[J]
   
   
   Secondary Runes:

   ---

   
   Resolve Tree:
   Conditioning Unflinching for late Game Scaling / TF Mobility
   Second Wind Unflinching Revitalize against Ranged
   Bone Plating Unflinching against Combo Damage
   Conditioning Overgrowth for Late Game Scaling
   Demolish Overgrowth for Split Pushing [L]
   
   Sorcery Tree:
   Nimbus Cloak Celerity
   Transcendence Gathering Storm
   Waterwalking [J]
   
   Precision Tree:
   Triumph
   Legend: Tenacity Legend: Alacrity
   Last Stand Coup de Grace
   
   Domination Tree:
   Taste of Blood
   Eyeball Collection Zombie Ward [J]
   Relentless Hunter Ultimate Hunter
   
   Item Builds

   ---

   Stridebreaker
   Berserker's Greaves
   Mortal Reminder
   Dead Man's Plate
   Force of Nature
   Black Cleaver
   
   

   Damage Options: Chempunk Chainsword Hullbreaker Silvermere Dawn Guardian Angel Maw of Malmortius

   Defense Options: Gargoyle Stoneplate Thornmail Spirit Visage - -

   
   

3. Fire Builds

   
   

   Sunfire Build 1 [L]

   
   Primary Runes:

   ---

   Grasp of the Undying
   Demolish
   Conditioning Bone Plating
   Overgrowth Unflinching
   
   Secondary Runes:

   ---

   
   Precision Tree:
   Triumph
   Legend: Tenacity
   Last Stand
   
   Item Builds

   ---

   Sunfire Aegis
   Plated Steelcaps
   Black Cleaver
   Sterak's Gage
   Thornmail
   Spirit Visage
   
   

   Damage Options: Hullbreaker - - - -

   Defense Options: Gargoyle Stoneplate Warmog's Armor Dead Man's Plate Randuin's Omen Force of Nature

   
   

   Frostfire Build 1 [L]

   
   Runes:

   ---

   - GU / PR as above with Demolish
   
   Item Builds

   ---

   Iceborn Gauntlet
   Mercury's Treads
   Titanic Hydra
   Sterak's Gage
   Dead Man's Plate
   Spirit Visage
   
   

   Damage Options: Black Cleaver (Good with PR) Chempunk Chainsword Hullbreaker Youmuu's Ghostblade [Mid] -

   Defense Options: Gargoyle Stoneplate Warmog's Armor Randuin's Omen Thornmail Force of Nature

General Matchup Tips:

- For specific Matchup Guides have a look at the enemy Champion's Mobalytics Page and Counterstats.net Page for Advise.

- You can also use the LoLAlytics Matchup Stats via their Search Engine from Garen's Main Page.
Just go to his page there and then enter your enemy champion matchup into the Search bar in the upper right corner. On the right side of the list you can click on the "vs." Matchup result.
For example against Dr. Mundo:

• Mobalytics Counter Guide
• LolAlytics Matchup Stats

- Another great Resource is Solokill. It offers 1v1 Clips for all Champion Matchups.

- You can find even more Matchup Statistics Sites on my ULTIMATE Link List for League of Legends.

- It is also always a good Idea to watch some High Elo Games of the Matchup you are interested in via Youtube.
Here is a Search Example for Dr. Mundo.

Matchup Lists on Reddit:

• Reddit Thread with Spreadsheet Link

Great Video Guide for all Top Lane Matchups for Garen by The Glacierr:

Play Video
He covers Matchups for Season 12 in the Video Guide in my Intro Section.

Top Lane Guide:

• The best Introduction to Basic League Concepts I know is made by Phroxzon from UNSWLOLSOC (the makers of the original Leaguecraft 101).
  If you want to learn League in the most efficient way, check out his great Content HERE.
  
  

• For a quick Guide on Garen Top, have a look at his Mobalytics Guide Page!

  
  
• My own Garen YT Playlist with lots of Content.
• For general Top Lane Guides / Macro have a look at my own Youtube Top Lane Playlist and Youtube Macro Playlist!

Intro Guide to Garen Top by GameLeap:

Play Video

Intro Coaching Session for Garen by LS - Oldie but Goldie:

Play Video

Neace Guide for Garen Top:

Play Video

3 Hour Masterclass for Garen Top by The Glacierr:

Play Video

Jungle Guide:

• Garen Jungle Guide with Clear by Mobalytics: LINK

  
  
• My own Garen YT Playlist with lots of Content.
• For general Jungle Guides / Macro have a look at my own Youtube Jungle Playlist and Youtube Macro Playlist!

Have a look at these Jungle Coachings by Neace:

Play Video Play Video

The Jungle Clear:

Basics:

• Most Times you want to full Clear and reach Level 6 as fast as possible!
  
  
• Do my Ward Swap Trick in the beginning to get Sweeper rdy for Ganks and protect your Buff from Invades.
  
  

  Video from my Youtube Channel on how to do it:

  
  Play Video
  
• Always try to spot the Enemy Jungler's Starting Point from paying attention to which Enemy Lane is late to Lane after their Leash.
  
  For a Guide about Basic Tracking watch this Video by ProGuides:
  
  Play Video
  
• While you clear, train yourself to always move the camera to your closest lane while moving from one Camp to the other (in your downtime so to say).
  
  
• In General, look at the Minimap every 10 seconds.
  You can use a Metronome at 6 bpm for that. Look here for an Online Version: LINK.
  
  

  For a little Guide about Map awareness, have a look at this Video from my Youtube Channel:

  
  Play Video
  
• Whenever you are not behind, get a Pink Ward on every Back to protect your Jungle / Lanes. You also want to get Sweeper early on for ganking / Clearing Enemy Vision in your Jungle. Only swap back to Trinket Wards if your Team gets very behind and you need the Vision Protection.
  
  
• Practice to always do "Cross Map Actions" - Whenever you spot the Enemy Jungler doing something on the other side of the map condition yourself to do sth too.
  Invade his Camps, Gank, get Tower / Herald / Drake etc.
  
  
• To not lose Aggro while kiting Camps, have a look at Phylaris' Jungle Monster Patience Guide:
  
  Play Video
  
• For optimal Camp Kiting for time and HP efficiency study these Phylaris Guides:
  
  • Standard Kiting:
    
    Play Video
    
  • Advanced Kiting:
    
    Play Video

Now to Garen's Clear Routes.

For Jungle Full Clears level E-Q-E-W for the first 4 Levels.

• Red Start - Jungle Full Clear Video by Zen'Kih:

  
  Play Video
  

• Red Start - Jungle Full clear Video by Phylaris:

  
  Play Video

That's it for now folks!

Thank you for reading my guide and I hope you got something out of it.

If you want sth added to the guide, let me know too! I will see what I can do :).

Also, have a look at my other Content:

MOBAFire Guides:

• IN DEPTH Guides:
  • Garen Guide
  • Darius Guide
  • Maokai Guide
  • Trundle Guide
  • Udyr Guide
  • Volibear Guide
• FULL Guides
  • Dr. Mundo Guide
  • Nautilus Guide
  • Olaf Guide
  • Poppy Guide
  • Shyvana Guide

Tutorials and Collections:

• Ultimate LoL Link List

• Anti Tilt Settings Guide for LoL
• My Youtube Channel with Playlist Collections and Video Content for League of Legends!

You can also follow me on Twitter, Reddit and Youtube!

Have a great Time in the rift!!!