This is my first shot at a guide here on Mobafire and I figured I would write about my favorite champion: Singed, The Mad Chemist. This is a non-standard build IMO because it doesn't take Rod of Ages (an item usually considered to be of greatest importance on pretty much any Singed build). The reason for this is that health becomes less and less important (in higher ELO games) without armor and magic resist to stop incoming damage. This build attempts to get Singed more MR and Armor faster.

I prefer to level Poison Trail as quickly as possible to help with my farming. I grab one rank in Mega Adhesive at Lv. 4 and it is usually enough to last until late game.

There really isn't much variety if you want to be a true tank. Defensive Mastery isn't for laning tanks (which Singed very much is), Ardor is no longer viable with the changes to Insanity Potion, Perseverance's benefit is so minimal that it isn't even worth it, Greed gives you 360 gold in an hour (not even enough to buy an oracle), and there is no point in taking Utility Mastery since you should rarly ever have either red or blue buff. The one place where there is room for change is between Awareness and Expanded Mind. I prefer Expanded Mind to help boost my mana and health a little but if you find yourself leveling more slowly, try Awareness.

These are the runes that I have found work best for me and how I play Singed.

Mark of Insight (Flat Magic Pen): Singed deals the majority of his damage with his Fling and Poison Trail Abilities. Without taking a Rod of Ages, Singed lacks some of his damage output so these marks help him get as much bang for his buck.

Seal of Evasion (Flat Dodge): Before the Insanity Potion change, I took Ardor over the dodge masteries to help push down towers (leaving a Lv. 6+ Singed alone for too long meant losing a tower). Since the change, I now take the dodge masteries instead of Ardor and these seals help augment those.

Glyph of Intellect (Flat Mana): Flat mana glyphs offer more mana up until level 8 where Knowledge (Mana/Lv.) just barely overtake them. Singed dosen't really need alot of mana late game to be played effectivly (as long as you're not runing cross map with Poison Trail on). Early game, these flat mana runes will give you a 101.25 Mana Boost and a ~25.31 Health Boost thanks to your passive.

Quintessences: I take two Fortitude and one Swiftness Quintessence for two reasons: 1.) Singed gains approximately one Quintessence of Fortitude worth of health from his mana glyphs. 2.) Early game Singed (before Boots of Swiftness) is very slow and the extra speed boost is nice for harassing against ranged opponents.

And here we are, the part where I show you how a Singed without a Rod of Ages could possibly work. The above item list is a very generic template that is sort of a "Jack-of-all-trades" build. It excels at nothing but is acceptable at everything. It really isn't the best build because tanks need to be more flexible in their mid to late game builds to better deal with the metagame. First I will go over the first few items that I think you definitely need, then I'll go into some ways to plan for the late game. It is mostly preference when it comes to which Armor or MR item you buy.

To Start: Regrowth Pendant and a Health Potion - With these items, and being a little stingy with your mana, Singed can stay in lane for a VERY long time. I would only recommend going back if you have enough to buy Boots of Swiftness

First Time Back: Boots of Swiftness - These are what I take on Singed 95% of the time. You need to be fast to Fling the opponents and to keep them in your Poison Trail. The only other real options are Mercury Tread (which I only recommend against heavy cc teams) and Ninja Tabi (if you like to be a troll).

Early Game: Force of Nature - This is a lot of MR right off the bat, but it also comes with Health Regen and Speed. I have yet to play a game where this item has let me down (even an AD heavy team will have 1 or 2 AP Champs). AD champs can head shot "squishies" at level 18, but AP champs can really dominate early and mid game.

Late Game:

If opposing AD champs were fed or are just very painful Frozen Heart, Sunfire Cape, or Randuin's Omen are all very good choices. I prefer Randuin's because its use ability can be used offensively as well as defensively. Frozen Heart is nice because it adds to your mana pool (never a bad thing) and lets you flip a sooner. Sunfire Cape can help if your team is a little lacking in damage output. Another good choice is Thornmail, if the opposing team has a strong right-click champion such as Ashe or Tristana.

If your opponent's AP are still giving you trouble beyond what your Force of Nature can deal with, a Banshee's Veil or Abyssal Scepter can help mitigate some of the damage. The Banshee's Veil has a hefty amount of MR, can stop pretty much any spell every 45 sec, and has a bit of health and mana to boot. The Abyssal Scepter is great, not only for the MR boost, but also for its AP component and the MR reduction effect on your opponents.

There are three items that I believe should carry a special mention (though they don't really fit into Armor or MR) as they can be very helpful in certain situations.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter: This is a very powerful item on Singed. It is not a tank item, strictly speaking, but can dramatically increase your damage output. I sometimes take this if a game is heavily in my favor or if there is another dedicated tank on my team.

Guardian Angel: This item is troll worthy, and Singed is nothing if not a troll. Its a good item if the damage against you is 50/50. Its also a good item if you find yourself dying early in team fights. Guardian Angel allows you to get back in and cause more chaos.

Moonflair Spellblade: This is one of the new Tenacity items out and I think it works well with Singed. If I get a lucky kill or two, I will sometimes take this after my Boots of Swiftness. It is nice to have the slightly increased damage as well as some Tenacity, without sacrificing any of your speed.