Hello guys! This is my first build and it's on my favorite tank! I made this build so it can help the unexperienced or new Singed players but also to share my point of view on my favorite champ to Singed experts. Feel free to comment and please do. I am always willing to try out new builds and strategies. Normally this guide will answer any questions you have for this champion but if you want to ask me something I haven't covered here go ahead and ask. Just remember, this is not the only way to play Singed but for me it is the best as it supports your team in any situation.

Singed is usually an underestimated tank compared to Mundo, Malphite or Rammus because he doesn't scale as well as them when it comes to health or armor. But he is one of the best tanks. Why? Because in my build not only will you rarely die but you will also severely punish those that dare chase you looking for a kill.

This build for The Mad Chemist is meant to make him as versatile as dangerous. If you manage to play singed well then this build will let you be very tanky, initiate combat with ease, support your allies with an impressive 75% area-of-effect slow, keep your fragile carries and mages safe with a fling and deal some heavy poison damage that will keep your enemies at bay. I did say that this build is for a tank. But a tank is not there to just take up all the damage while tower-diving. Singed is the tank that will clear the battlefield of any champion too unwary of a deadly toss into a poisonous path.

For runes I take an unusual tank build. I know, most of you are fans of tanky runes or more ability power for Poison Trail but I have rarely seen a Singed who blows up the utility runes (and masteries, but we'll get to that in a second). Movement speed is THE CORE of your build! Why on a tank you might ask? Running to the front of war, catching those squishy enemies (Fling that Teemo to his grave!) or reaching your allies in time to fling the enemy away from your carry and especially above all tempting your enemies to catch you while you are low on health with Poison Trail killing them softly. Hello double (even triple) kill!

This is where the magic penetration comes in. Poison Trail is great. But it scales rather poorly with your ability power. To do more damage you should and must take the magic penetration. You might say that Fling will do more damage with more ability power runes. Yes but that is not your job with Fling. You are the tank, not the mage.

Mana regeneration is pretty obvious so I will skip that part. On to the magic resist glyphs. Singed is a tank but his magic resist starts at 30 and doesnt move unlike his armor. Getting some extra magic resist early will keep you safe and tanky until you have enough gold for those Mercury's Treads.

On to the Masteries!

Utility on Singed? Have you lost your mind? Certainly not. Grab that extra mana for extra life (don't ever forget his passive) and more purple gas choking your enemies! The mana regeneration is there to keep you in lane. A Singed without mana is a sitting duck. Can't do enough damage alone, can't throw any champion toward a turret to do the damage for you and can't lay down a slow to run away if a Warwick feels like chasing you down. Yes, you really do need the mana regeneration.

Back to my favorite movement speed! Again this is your CORE purpose : mobility. You will start of the game with a swooping 341 movement speed without the boots. After your full build with Mercury's Treads and Force of Nature your movement speed will go up to 432 (if my memory is correct that is my speed in game without Insanity Potion on). This lets you chase and be chased with very few champions matching your speed (like our favorite Master Yi!). I will go into further detail in the Items chapter.

Next we have the gold and experience boosts. Why on Singed? Simply because your build isnt very cheap and you have to outlevel any enemy you lane against. Your poison trail early is good but not great meaning you don't have early farming power and the experience bonus scales perfectly with the Catalyst you'll be getting no later than level 5 (2-3 if you can pick up a first blood or an assist letting you farm peacefully), that is if you are in lane against big-time harrassers stopping you from farming. This is also a great reason to get the gold and experience bonus. If you are in trouble, at least you have something backing you up in lane.

Then comes the health regeneration. Being a champ who likes mana this is a great investment even for a tank. As for the cooldown reduction, you need it to toss those champs into towers more often! No, seriously cooldown is essential for any champion. Singed has almost no cooldown when it comes to Poison Trail (it's a toggle) but Mega Adhesive and Fling should be used quite frequently in team fights when chasing or trying to save an ally (and even yourself!). The final point in utility is pretty much for the same reason, only this time its for your Ghost and Exhaust (again chasing/running scenarios).

So why put a few points in defense and offense? Simple, you are a tank, hence the armor and magic resist. One point for the offensive summoner-spell mastery so you can chase and escape easier with Ghost and Exhaust lowering armor and magic resist helps your turret and allies maul any champion you throw.

I really have much to explain here. I want to point out many mistakes I've seen other Singed players make, especially in their builds late game.

Rod of Ages is an absolute must-have item on Singed.
Health + Mana + Empowered Bluwark(his passive) = LOTS OF Health + Mana.
This is the basic formula for any Singed build. The same applies to Banshee's Veil and Frozen Heart due to their large mana capacities. Think of the ability power as bonus farm material. The armor and magic resist along with the extra spell shield and attack speed reduction aura are there to complete your role as a tank.

Mistake not to be made :
Please, whatever you do, don't go thinking that only mana will make you tanky. Only 25% of your mana is converted into health. If you take items like Archangel's Staff you will get in the end 350 bonus health if you manage to get all the 1000 mana bonus. Rod of Ages grants you a generous 630 health alone and 156 bonus health with Empowered Bulwark for a total of 786 health. That's more than twice what Archangel's Staff offers.
Another reason why Archangel's Staff is a very bad idea on Singed is that you do not cast spells that often. Poison Trail is a toggle and it does not count as a "spell". Turning it on and off and on and off and on and off won't give you even 1 point of bonus mana so don't try it. You will only regret the idea. Singed's other spells have a fairly large cooldown and mana cost compared to other mages and can't be spammed like Kassadin's Null Sphere for example.

"Why Mercury's Treads and not Boots of Swiftness?" you may ask. Because the latter don't give you any crowd-control (CC) reduction and any self-respecting tank wants CC reduction! Imagine you get stunned and watch your allies get torn apart in front of you yelling : "Singed, why didn't you take CC reduction and just ran up to the fight to get stunned?" Plus you need the extra magic resist as I explained before.

IMPORTANT : You must always adapt your build according to each game. The items that are necessary in every game are Mercury's Treads, Rod of Ages and Force of Nature in that order. You need the extra magic resist no matter what and it boosts your movement speed so you can roam around flinging squishies back for kills and assists. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of movement speed for Singed.
The items I put up in the build are the most general ones Singed needs. Don't think they work for every game!

Now, after you finished Rod of Ages and Mercury's, observe who is the most dangerous enemy. If it is magic damage you fear, take Force of Nature of Banshee's Veil, it is up to you to decide. If it is mostly armor you need, buy a Frozen Heart or Thornmail for high attack speed opponents. A Sunfire Cape is worth it as it stacks pretty well with your Poison Trail when farming and running.
I won't be there to make the choice for you! It really depends on the game :)

Finally, you may ask me : "What do I do if the game goes on for ever and I have over 3k gold but don't know what to buy?" My answer is this : the best item in my opinion is a second Rod of Ages. You will be so tanky at the end the enemies won't know how to take you down, not to mention all the damage your Poison Trail will do.
Poison Trail has a 0.3 AP coefficient, meaning that with 80 AP it will deal 94 damage per second and with 160 AP it will deal 118. It's not much but remember this : you are not the mage.

I've seen builds where Rylai's Crystal Scepter is recommended as a final item. I do agree it gives Singed a ton of health and slow but it is really not necessary. You can find yourself short of mana late game if you buy Rylai's and taking the blue buff will only result in leaving your mage less helpful. It is up to you to to decide but Singed's spells will only benefit from a 15% slow (except Fling, it gets the full 35%) and a mage like Xerath or Malzahar will do so much more with Rylai's than you.

The skills are easy. Max out Poison Trail and Mega Adhesive first. Take only one level of Fling at level 1 and leave it there! Fling is not a high damage spell. It is meant to position the enemy for and organized attack or gank. Your toxic gas is your coup de grâce but Fling and Mega Adhesive are your bread and butter. You will find yourself picking up more kills than you would expect by placing a huge slow in front of the opponent (not directly on him) to block his path and then run up with Poison Trail on to toss him back so your ally can deal his share of damage on them too. This is why I suggest placing only 1 point in Fling and Mega Adhesive before level 6 and build up Poison Trail fast. Alternate between damage per second and CC until level 14.

Insanity Potion, like almost every ultimate, should be upgraded at levels 6, 11 and 16.

Ghost and Exhaust are a classic combo. They are particularly great for Singed as they scale perfectly with his sharpest tool : movement speed. You can run away or catch up. They are really fit the versatile style of gameplay Singed is meant for. I don't recommend Ignite as you won't find it as useful as Exhaust. Flash can be quite handy from time to time but the cooldown is a great detriment and besides, you are meant for running not popping out of battle. Flash makes you lose that chance of taking 1 or 2 enemies (even a whole team) down while being chased. You will be surprised at how many people are determined to follow you blindly to a red timer in the left corner.

First and foremost, be careful while using Fling. It can totally backfire. For example you can accidentally toss a tank in the middle of your team (don't do that). A Malphite or Alistar will simply pop your whole team airborne and your carry, mage and support will get killed instantly. You must always focus to offensively toss a squishy Teemo or Tristana so your team can have the upper hand when it comes to damage output. For this you have to run toward the enemy and make sure your team is right behind you. If not, then you are probably just being suicidal!
Now you can also defensively toss an enemy behind you by running toward your team and grabbing the enemy that is attacking your squishy Veigar or Ashe for example. Throw a Mega Adhesive down so you can secure your team's escape or in order to regroup for a counter attack.

In general, Singed works great in lane with a AD champion like Shyvana or Ashe for example. Please note that the other champion you lane with should be a ranged attacker or at least have ranged damage spells. Why do I insist on a ranged AD champ? Simply because Singed is very weak when it comes to attack power but is perfect for setting up the kill. This allows you to even up and even dominate the lane early game.

This is a mini strategy meant to explain some yet unrevealed tactics I've tried with my friends. Cassiopeia is an excellent lane partner for Singed because her Twin Fang spell has 0.5 second cooldown if the target is poisoned. Singed's Poison Trail not only damages the enemy but also marks them with poison so the two make a great harrass tool. However, note that this combo is very mana-demanding so don't over-extend.

When it comes to farming with Singed, please remember not to spam Poison Trail everywhere. Use it as little as possible as it can quickly leave you with no mana, especially early game. Singed is a great farmer without a doubt but dont over-farm. There are 2 reasons for avoiding heavy farming with Singed.

1. You will find yourself manaless and open for ganks far away from your turret.
2. You won't have enough mana to land a Fling and/or a Mega Adhesive at a crutial moment (saving an ally or setting up the kill).

Find the right balance in your lane between Poison Trail farming and Fling/Mega Adhesive. Normally the Runes and Masteries build should be enough to cover early game mana dependency but don't push the one and only Mad Chemist too far!

Singed is a great tank because he can absorb damage while avoiding it when it simply becomes too much to handle. A tank's job is disrupting the other team's formation. If a low-hp DPS or mage is running away, slow them so your team can catch up and make the screen go gray. If an angry carry starts picking on one of your friends, throw them far away from your team and in to your poison where they will suffer for their bad choice!

Remember, you are not the mage in your team. Your job is not to deal all the magic damage (even if in the end you pretty much will be doing just that). I just find it sad when a Singed takes almost no defensive items and goes full ability power but dies in a second. Why can't Singed go AP? He can but he must be very careful and it isn't worth the risk. Unlike mages, he has no burst damage and Singed's spells require him to be at melee range, making him vulnerable. By the end of the game only complete fools or suicidal champs will walk into your Poison Trail and keep chasing you. Mega Adhesive is his only spell that can be cast further away but it does no damage. It is, however, excellent CC material.

I hope you enjoyed my guide to Singed, The Mad Chemist. Make sure you try it out before commenting!

IMPORTANT : I don't know why but the stats shown at the top are much lower than the actual in-game stats. As I've mentioned, my movement speed is usually capped at around 432 and not 407. I reach roughly 4k health and not 3.1k at level 18. I'm not fully aware of all the statistics but they are much higher than what is shown. Besides that, go ahead and enjoy Singed!