This was written after the patch v100123

This was around the patch when Skarner was released. The significance of this patch was:
Spirit's Visage now affects lifesteal and spellvamp .

The date of first publication is August 14th 2011.

[update]: 17th August

After reading the comments about RoA I decided to look for a nice guide and try it out. I decided to go with this build here so nice buy it twice but with a few changes. See additional items section at the bottom for more details.

Hello, welcome to and thank you for choosing my Singed guide. I hope this guide will serve you well if you've picked Singed and are looking for an item build and advice in the loading screen or if you have been playing him and are just wondering what other people are doing.

If you want a quick look, check the cheat sheet for a typical item build. That is relatively cheap and will serve you well giving you all the stats Singed needs. You may also want to flick through and see the Additional Items section to see what else I recommend.

If you are after a detailed discussion about how I itemize Singed then that is provided.
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This guide builds Singed as a Chaser tank - which is probably how everyone else builds him. I am focusing deeply on items in this build.

The aims of this guide are :

• Build Singed as a tank
• Give him high movement speed
• To discuss a lot of useful items in depth, their pros and cons.
• To give some good item build combinations The one at the top is just a good example. There are more combinations in the Items section
• To give some basic tips for gameplay

If you have played Singed before I would say just read my Masteries and Runeset, and the item discussion. If you are new I would read everything.

Pros:

• Once you make the throw in a team fight that squishy is almost certainly dead.
• Extremely fast. You move across the map like a pro. You are as fast as Yi in his ultimate if you have yours on. As long as he hasn't activated Youmuu's and he doesn't have too much extra movement speed.
• He can farm and push a lane very quickly.
• He is not particularly farm dependant and he works well with a relatively cheap build and can easily make a comeback when below the poverty line which is something other tanks often struggle with.

Cons:

• Rather vulnerable to CC as he depends a lot on the fact he carries on moving and is not continuously hit after initial burst. Squishier than other tanks.
• Can have a very weak laning phase especially if with another melee champion.
• Unlike Yi's ultimate, he can be slowed which can be very frustrating.
  
  

I go for

• magic penetration reds
• Dodge yellows
• Magic resist per level blues
• And movespeed quintesences.

I like magic pen reds because I don't really build AP and I am a firm believer that even as a tank you can choose to be more survivable or to simply kill them faster. He is an AoE caster so your damage is very important.

You don't need move speed quints, they are optional but I love champions that move very quickly so I like these runes.

Up to magic pen in offence taking AP per level and improved exhaust.

Go down to reduced minion damage in defense with the dodge mastery and nimbleness.

And up to the XP mastery with points in reduced death time, and mana and health regen.

So 9 - 13 - 8 altogether.

You don't need full defensive tree, and I like the utility tree. Going that far down really doesn't benefit Singed very much other than the final 4% damage reduction, and I think the improved exhaust, magic penetration, improved ghost, reduced death time and XP mastery are more beneficial overall. The dodoge mastery is nice for that movement speed boost you get, which is why I like the dodge runes as well.

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SINGED REQUIRES THE FOLLOWING STATS:

• movement speed
• survivability
• a moderate mana pool

There are a great number of options for this.
The set in stone items for me with Singed are FoN and Boots of swiftness .

All the rest is optional as there are a lotta choices for armour and magic resist and mana and AP and other utility.
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THE ITEMS IN THE CHEAT SHEET ARE A TYPICAL BASE BUILD FOR SINGED.

Mana Crystal saphire crystal(should always be your starting item).
Believe me Singed's passive is the most useless in the game. He doesn't require a huge mana pool. Just one a moderate one, not much bigger than what you would expect on Amumu for instance. He can't spam skills for a tear of the goddess and as for going around building the other mana items, there are simply too many other mana items that are better.

In the end I don't normally have more than 2 items that contain a mana crystal.

Catalyst catalyst the protector (optional but 9/10 times a great shout)
Helps you stay in lane.

Glacial Shroud
Cooldown reduction is great for extra flings, armour is great, mana is great. This will give you just enough mana to be useful without a catalyst. But I would still recommend the catalyst because you may find yourself having to B a lot, which is fine because you scale the map like a pro but sometimes there is still more to be done after a team fight. Plus it builds into a Frozen Heart which is a great item, protects yourself and the whole team.

Then I rush FoN.
I know, feels a bit weird having a catalyst and a negatron cloak and not going for a banshee's veil.

Now Singed has enough mana to farm and push like a baws, to go through a team fight, and enough survivability and movement speed to be effective. (Just don't forget to finish frozen heart whenever appropriate).

CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE ACHIEVED THE CORE BUILD

So by now you've got the core build and you're like WTF do I do now and have ALT+TAB'ed back to my guide to see what to buy next.

Flick through to see my suggestions. Or if you've taken the time to read this before the game starts then you can read what I've written discussing the benefits of the items.

Now that Singed has enough mana to farm and push like a baws, to go through a team fight, and enough survivability and movement speed to be effective. (Just don't forget to finish frozen heart whenever appropriate).

OTHER ITEMS


Spirit's Visage:
A great item. Works nicely with his passive. The CDR is nice.

WoTA:
If you go for a spirit's Visage this is definitely the AP item of choice. If you don't want to spend that much gold on AP and spell vamp you could simply get the hextech revolver and finish it off later. This is actually a very gold efficient choice with some very nice stats.

These two items work very well together and would recommend both together

Rylai's:
This doesn't really need much explanation does it? AoE slow. On top of your Mega Adhesive, that gets an aditional slow.

Thornmail:
Cheap and effective armour with a great passive that can destroy (stupid) AD carries who don't have enough lifesteal. Plus you have magic penetration so it will be very potent. Also, on top of that you have very high health and regen for them to keep trying to chip away at killing themselves.

Haunting Guise:
This is what I get when I know the game will end soon and I want a nice sexy gold efficient damage boost when I only have 1500 gold or whatever it costs. With this amount of gold it's gonna improve your damage output the most and gives some tasty health. I wouldn't normally build this though unless you know the game is definitely not gonna drag on coz it takes up the item slot of something more expensive and more potent overall.

Abyssal Scepter:
Survivability and extra damage all under the same roof. If you want magic penetration and AP and are willing to spend the extra from hautning guise it's a great shout.


Either an Eleisa's Miracle or Moonflair spell blade :
One or two slows are usually negligible and barely affect Singed. But combine Ashe with Anivia and you may feel a bit useless trying to grab anyone.


Banshee's Veil:
Removes a pesky bit of CC stopping you throw a carry, gives a lotta survivability. Gives mana and health which both add to Singed's survivability. Go if they are caster or CC heavy.

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POPULAR ITEMS THAT I DON'T INCLUDE IN MY CORE BUILD

Well it's just the one.

Rod of Ages


Firstly, let me explain why I don't put it in my build. I usually run my main build as the pure tank. This just makes me not want to go for rod of ages.

I think the catalyst is enough. The AP is nice but not necessary. It delays your Force of nature too much. This item is just so perfect for Singed. As RoA is an item you have to rush I just don't think it delaying your tankiness and movespeed by 1600 gold is a great idea.

I simply take the catalyst, a glacial shroud and RUSH MY FoN for Mana. You can then get a BV with the catalyst later. And then if you want AP and health Rylai's is a much better shout.


However, Rod of Ages can and does have a place on Singed under the right circumstances. So if you have a main tank and want to go off tank and want to build a rod of ages you should do it like this.


The specific set of circumstances are:

• You have a main tank
• You have solo top lane and are farming well

The benefits of this build are:

• You probably quadruple your damage output - last time I played I had the second highest damage dealt on the whole team after a very fed Caitlyn.
• You become harder to ignore in team fights.
• Singed has great AP ratios. His poison trail has a 0.3, which lasts for 3 seconds amounting to the equivalent of a 0.9 ratio. Not only is it DoT but it is AoE and you can continuously, for a whole fight poison everyone at once.

The cons are:

• It is an expensive build
  [*} Requires free farm in a solo lane
  [*} Combine a champion who rushes Madred's Razor with someone with continuous CC and you will totally get a **** up your incontinent little ***, no vaseline. (Ashe and Udyr combo can bring you down really quickly.
• Delays your FoN, which is such a good item on Singed I can't stress it enough.

I got this idea from Vaank and his guide is here. I've made some modifications and I wouldn't deviate from the build I posted personally. But check his out.
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OTHER ITEM BUILDS
The cheat sheat build has the advantages of being fairly cheap and survivable with excellent regeneration. The spell vamp combined with FoN and spirit's Visage and Singed's ulty makes him really great.

So remember always get a mana crystal to start with, boots of swiftness, a FoN, and something the mana crystal builds into so either glacial shroud or catalyst the protector or both which is what I usually go for.


After that you could get

• Frozen heart, Thornmail, Rylai's, Banshee's Veil for armour focus.
  
  
• Frozen heart, Rylai's, Abysal Sceptre, Haunting guise for magic damage maximization.
  
  
• Eleisa's Miracle, Banshee's Veil, spirit's Visage, Frozen Heart for crowd control reduction.
  
  This is also a suitable build for if you are very low on gold as it builds from a philosopher's stone philosopher's stone and spirit's visage is a very useful and cheap item. Also, glacial shroud is not too expensive but provides many very useful stats and to upgrade it the components are not very expensive.

Priorities:

R > Q > W > E

Start with E usually unless you are solo top. It's great to throw someone into a partner and minions making them take minion agro and your allie's aggro.

Start with Q in solo top, if not second.

Then get another point in Q or a point in W depending on whether you think you can get a kill. Get Q if you are just harrassing and have no problem grabbing them but know you cannot kill them. Get W if you feel you might need it or if you want to go for a kill.

Exhaust:
Just goes so well with the slow and his extra movement speed. Run in, throw them at your team, slow them to cut off their escape if you haven't used it already to catch them (as you don't always need to) with your W and exhaust them and it's nearly a guaranteed kill. Can occasionally help you escape.


Ghost:
Combined with his ulty you will catch anyone. Especially with Boots of Swiftness and a FoN. A great escape mechanism.

LANING

Take fling first. Try to throw a squishy into the middle of your minions, with 4 bars of health, when minion blocked and being attacked by your partner this is sometimes enough for first blood. It's always enough to force them to pot.

When you have your poison trail, you can easily take first blood like this.

If you are facing a melee, wait 'til level 3. Have one point in each skill and just play very passively, only running up to minions to last hit. Even hit minions close to the target enemy without attacking. Then suddenly out of nowhere turn on your poison, fling him, exhaust him and cut off his escape with mega adhesive. Only ever use your mega adhesive to make the fling if you have to as it's better to cut off their escape with it. Then simply run in front of them so they have to breathe in your poison as they run for their tower.

If you are fighting someone you can't kill and there is no jungler push them to their tower the whole time so that they lose CS to the tower. Even skilled players cannot last hit as well at the tower because the rules for last hitting are broken by minion damage.

At level 4 you might want to roam. Go gank mid. You will have to initiate with your slow unless they can be stunned or slowed by your mid.
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TEAM FIGHTS

You can initiate but you are not the most effective person.
Try to wait for an Ashe or Amumu ultimate. Or something along those lines. Then grab the squishy and cut off their escape.

Remember when going for the squishy you want to avoid initiating with your Megaadhesive if possible because you can keep them behind you for longer if you cut off their escape. By all means if you will not get the grab otherwise then use it, but if they overextend then just run up to them.

Save your exhaust for a massive nuke like the Fiddles ultimate or an Annie wanting to use her Tibbers stun or to destroy a DPS carry.

You can use your Mega Adhesive if everyone is on top of each other as it is a massive AoE slow so it will probably help your team a lot.

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SPLIT PUSHING

This is very important as it is normally your primary source of farm. Singed doesn't farm that well in lane. Firstly pushing often exposes you to jungle ganks. Secondly he is often zoned if his lane partner is not strong.

Singed pushes a minion wave faster than most champions. He doesn't deal much damage to the tower but you can clear three minion waves very quickly and very safely as he is so hard to bring down which will pile minions onto a tower. If there is no team fight imminent and you have ghost and your ultimate up, go to top or bottom lane, clear as many minion waves as possible with your poison trail and hit the tower as much as possible. Remember you get across the map at great speeds so if a team fight does break out you should just about get there in time. Unless it happens on the other side of the map, in which case you will earn your team a free tower or even 2 and yourself about 50 creep.