Singed is my favorite character in the League so I figured I would share how I play him with the world. This guide focuses on Solo Top lane and playing as the main tank. I build Singed many different ways depending on the match. If you just follow the above build without reading this guide you may not experience much success. Please don't down vote because you did that. Anyway on to the guide.

9/8/2011 - Guide Published + Minor Changes based on immediate feedback

Pros

Strong Damage from a tank
Huge Defensive steroid from Ult
Immortal Late game
Strong Laner
Powerful slow

Cons

Mana is terrible early game
Wrong use of your abilities will likely cost you the team fight
Can't Jungle
Requires solo lane to be truly effective

As you can see he lacks the typical jungling tank feel. He also suffers from a weak early game and a good counter can make your life miserable. You should also notice that his abilities while powerful are required to be used correctly for a blown ability will likely cost you dearly.

Reds are Flat Magic Pen. No negotiation.

Yellows you have 3 options: Flat Armor, Armor per Level, or Dodge. I strongly recommend dodge. Dodge stacks additively with any Armor you accumulate within the game. So that means it will affect your late game for than Flat armor or Armor @18. It also gives you better chances to proc nimbleness which is really nice on Singed.

Blues, I feel Flat MR is the best choice but again you can go with MR@18.

Quints also have a wide variety of options. You can go Dodge to continue the dodge stacking of your yellows or you can take Flat health to help your early game as you won't be starting with a Doran's item. You can also take Magic Pen to assist on your damage. Movement speed is also a viable option but I feel it is a small boost compared to the other choices. This choice is mostly preference, however I do feel like dodge is the best choice.

1/21/8, I picked each one for a reason which I will go through step by step.

Offense: 1

Cripple: Improves your exhaust.

Defense: 21

Resistance: A nice chunk or free MR.

Hardiness: Same as above except it is armor.

Evasion: More dodge which is just great.

Strength of Spirit: Why not add some regen that scales with your mana pool?

Nimbleness: All that dodge adds up to a nice speed boost.

Hardened Skin: Only one point because I feel 3 points to reduce 2 damage is a waste. The first point is the most efficient and thus that is all I invest in it.

Veteran's Scars: More health, Why not?

Ardor: AP and AS boost. Helps push turrets down and gives a nice edge on your AP. (If you don't like this ability, as I know many don't, then invest the points in Strength of Spirit and Hardened Skin.)

Tenacity: Damage reduction. I feel this is necessary for any main tank.

Utility: 8

Haste: Improves ghost, plain and simple and also mandatory.

Perseverance: Some nice health and mana regen.

Awareness: Increased Exp. Good on almost any champion. Mandatory.

Suggested
Ghost: Such a good spell on Singed. I don't think any other spell can even hold a candle to ghost. Just take it and thank me later. If you need more of a reason to take it: it allows for awesome engages with Ghost + Ult combo, powerful tool in lane and can score you kills as well as save your life, and can even help cross the map very quickly to save you team that is about to be engaged upon.

Exhaust: I feel it gives you can extra peel in a team fight as well as severely crippling an enemy. Nice ability in lane as well as it really hinders jungle ganks as well as turret dives.

Other Options
Teleport: Increases your map presence and can help you backdoor a turret but I feel it takes away from your team fight presence as you lose you exhaust. Also back dooring as main tank Singed is a bad idea because your team will probably suffer without you.

Ignite: Only time you should ever take is if no one else on your team has it and you need to counter a heal. Other wise you really don't need it.

Clarity: Overall this spell is a waste to take but it has some shining uses. Bringing it can significantly increase your lane presence as well as continue on a long push as you can bring up both you and your team's mana. Overall this spell is still distant to exhaust.

Flash: Some people use it but I honestly think this spell is terrible on Singed. Your ghost will do everything flash does and then some. If you prefer flash go ahead and take it but I just feel it is no good.

The Others:
Fort is just a no on Singed. The spell isn't really good enough to justify bringing it.

Rally is just lol.

Heal does very little to justify it.

CV, it is not your job to bring it but if you really have to you can technically bring it but i still think that loss of exhaust hurts.

Revive: You don't die.

Smite: You aren't Jungling.

Cleanse isn't a bad option but I feel like your ult and if you really need it, merc treads, will cover the CCs.

R > Q > (E or W)*

Obviously taking a point in your ultimate every chance you get is best. You ultimate makes you a tanking Machine. Its a defensive steriod and gives you some nice movement speed. It is also on a rather low cooldown which makes spamming this pretty nice. This is what allows you to survive ganks and just run into the enemy team without tanking much damage.

You want to max your poison trail first because this is your main farming ability as well as your main damage ability. When combined with Rylai's you will also be spreading a 15% slow with this.

Your second max depends on how the game is playing out. Will you be laning until at least 16? Then Max E. Will team fights be breaking out any minute? Then Max W.

Maxing E allows you to 1v1 very effectively and pretty much dominate any lane you are in. It does a ton of damage as well as throw them into your poisons for additional damage.

Maxing W allows you to peel like a mad man. Throw this for your carry to kite through. It is a very powerful slow which can really save your teammates in a pinch.

I start with Regrowth + Health Pot. This allows me to stay in lane for a very long time. However, this prevents spamming of abilities. This especially means fling. You shouldn't really be using abilities anyway. Just last hit and use you poison in pulses to help you get those last hits. If you must an alternate is Mana Crystal.

I want to stay in lane as long as I can but I don't want to back until I can atleast get Catalyst. Catalyst is incredible on Singed and will allow you to farm like a monster.

Boots of Speed is the next item built.

Rod of Ages as soon as you can afford it. This item is just incredible on Singed. Get it ASAP so you can start the growths.

Now you have your first choice. Upgrade your Boots into Boots of Swiftness, Ninja Tabi, or Merc Treads. You take Boots of Swiftness if you are against a team with little CC. Ninja Tabi if they are packing some serious AD, and Merc Treads to counter CC.

Keep on Farming until you can buy Rylai's. This will really help your team fight presence. If your team insists on team fighting don't be afraid to fight with out this item. You still can do just fine without it. You are done your Core when finished this item.

After Rylai's you have another choice. Are they packing AD that is tearing your team apart? Grab a Frozen Heart. AP giving you a problem? Grab a Force of Nature.


Additional Info:
When playing Singed one of my favorite items is Force of Nature. It helps me keep up in a long push as well as just keep up pressure while my team backs. The movement speed is also really nice.

Why Rylai's?
The slow helps your team fight presence. You peel better when you have a constant slow up. Granted it is only 15% it is still something that is nice to have out there.

Why Frozen Heart and not Sunfire Cape?
Frozen Heart provides a really great aura so that even if the enemy is not attacking you, (which they probably won't do anyway) they are being hindered. Sunfire cape also is lacking to me. The damage was nerfed and I just don't find it to be a great buy. However this isn't to say it doesn't synergize with Singed. It is also a great item to buy when Frozen Heart is too expensive. It is also a good replacement should someone else on your team build Frozen Heart.

Are you walking all over the enemy team?

Build your core then grab a FoN and a Thornmail. I love doing this because you are unkillable, can pressure forever, and punishes anyone who dares touch you. However this is only to add insult to injury.

If you started with a regrowth your mana won't sustain for you to fling, however you can still use your poisons as long as you don't forget about it. Use your poisons to harass and assist in last hitting. If you don't last hit on Singed you WILL not do well on him.

By level 9 you will be able to clear minion waves with your poison trail alone. If you have Catalyst and Boots begin to do this. This will push the minion wave into the enemy's turret. However you should not follow it. Only go back up to push it when the next wave arrived. With Catalyst and Boots you should be able to survive a jungler gank pretty easily but don't push it if you survived one. If you are uninterrupted your minions will eventually push the turret down unless you are against a pusher (ie: Galio, Sivir, Singed, ect.)

I try to lane for a long time on Singed. If you are still in lane then this is the section for you if not move on to the next. This is where things get fun. You will likely have your rod of ages built and your selected boots. You'd be surprised what you can do now. If you get ganked from pushing don't just run away. Spread your poisons and throw them around. You might just get a kill. Don't be cocky and get yourself killed however. A good Singed knows when he can take the opposition and when he can't. Remember because you are laning for a long time it is worth it to max fling for the damage because that is how you can 1v1 or 1v2 champions.

It is likely that an early turret kill or just alot of lane hopping forced early team fights in the mid game. If you see this happening start to max your glue after your poison trail. You won't have Rylai's yet so this is the hardest part of the game for tanking. Because you lack a key item your only 2 tanking abilities are Fling and Mega Adhesive. Now that's plenty to do your job but you have choices. You can you both of those either offensively or defensively.

Offensive use would mean you used your fling to engage the fight. That means you flung back one of their carries to have your team blow them up. NEVER fling an enemy tank back into your team. If you do this you just blew a major cooldown to allow the enemy team to engage. Offensive use of your glue is usually a bad idea. This use is to slow the carry you are aiming to fling. The problem with this is that you blew both of your cool downs to engage and you now have nothing to peel with.

Defensive use would mean you used you fling to get an enemy off one of your carries. I usually follow this up with glue between the enemy and my carry. If you don't have fling, probably because you engaged with it, you can easily use your glue to peel. Throw your glue at your carry's feet to give them something to kite through. This of course relies on your carry paying attention so try to communicate that to your team at some point. Your glue at rank 5 is so powerful that any champion without a gap closer or a flash will not get out of it soon enough to touch your carry before they either have to retreat or get killed.

You are for the most part immortal. Your ult accounts for alot of this so be very careful about engaging without it. Your Rylai's will now assist your tanking as it keeps a constant 15% slow on pretty much their entire team. Peel for your carries and do your job and you should win the game. Of course you still need good teammates that take advantage of your tanking.

If you start to become unstoppable very early you can have some fun. Building a FoN and Thornmail after your Rylai's will make the enemy team hate you. Finish up with a Deathcap and laugh as you basically solo their team. But of course this is a rare scenario and should not be done every game. Frozen Heart provides alot more benefit for your team than thornmail. I figured I would include this section because after all it is a game and you should have some fun.

A couple champions will give Singed trouble.

Teemo is a strong counter to Singed. Teemo runs up poisons you and then runs away. He is very fast and just is unlikely to get caught in your fling or even your poison trail. I don't recommend picking Singed if the enemy team has a Teemo. Your best bet when laning against a Teemo is to ask for early ganks and try your best to get your farm.

Galio is a good choice for beating Singed. Galio benefits alot from MR so he will often build it thus weakening your poison trail and your fling. He also has a speed increase and a slow. On top of that he can push just as fast as Singed so you won't be able to push the turret down as long as Galio is in lane. When Laning against a Galio focus on your farming and avoid his harass. Don't go out of your way to harass Galio but take the opportunity if he gives it to you.

Lux is annoying. She will likely harass you with he lucent singularity. You should be able to tank those hits pretty well as long as you have a regrowth and MR runes but it still sucks. You can't go in on her because of her Light Binding and you are also in a lot more trouble if you get ganked. Best bet when laning against he is to avoid all the harass you can and expect the binding if you see her acting suspicious.

Most ranged champs can be annoying but you shouldn't have much of a problem. Just remember to focus on your farming and if they dare put a melee against you, laugh as you force him out of lane.

This is my first guide and I want to hear back from you guys. Please if you read the whole guide give me feedback and let me know where I need improvement. I am an avid Singed player so if you have any tips and tricks I don't know about let me know. So please rate and tell me if I was unclear or lacked in an area. Thank you and good luck out there. And remember keep /l'ing.