Rumble Build Guide by BlueArtist

Hey guys! Welcome to my first guide, Solo Top Rumble Guide: Scrapyard Barbecue. This guide has been reformatted to make it look better. This guide will cover all you want to know about Rumble, including the Runes, Items, Masteries, and even ways to play against certain enemies. Rumble, The Mechanized Menace, has been my favourite champion and the first champion I played. My item build is somewhat different from the others, and many people has thus questioned its effectiveness. I assure you that your time will not be put to waste.

Please read on and also, give me a thumbs-up if you find it great. Thanks! :)

Why, just why, should I pick Rumble?

Firstly, he is a counter to the majority of tradtional melee top laners, Nasus, Ekko and Darius to name a few. Now, your farming as Rumble isn't great. However, he makes up for it with the huge impact he can make with his kit in teamfights, where The Equalizer can serve as an engage tool or turn the tide of a fight. His potential is truly limitless.

Pros: +Large damage while being a semi-tank +No Mana! +Good farming tools and harass

Cons: -Prone to ganks -Easy to over extend -Hard to last hit

So guys, here's the point about Rumble: With his Flamespitter, he can easily over-extend and becomes prone to ganks. His slows are not enough for his escape, mainly because the junglers have slows too and Rumble's shield lasts too short. Rumble also has less health than the other common Top champions, which give him an disadvantage in solo fights although he does make up for it with more damage.

Regardless,

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Being able to manage your passive is truly the difference between a good Rumble player and a great Rumble player. It seriously makes or breaks your skirmishes/teamfights, which is why it deserves its own chapter. Read on for the other abilities before moving on to the next chapter. To give a short description, 50 heat brings you into the "Danger Zone" which grants your abilities bonus stats, while hitting 100 heat gives you bonus attack damage but silences you.


Description:
HEAT: Rumble gains 20 / 10 Heat every time he uses a basic ability, and loses 10 Heat per second after 4 seconds of not using his abilities, increased to 20 Heat per second 2.5 seconds after.
DANGER ZONE: Rumble's basic abilities are enhanced at 50 Heat or above.
OVERHEATING: At 100 Heat, Rumble Silence icon silences himself for 6 seconds, which he cannot mitigate or cancel by any means, but his basic attacks each deal 25 - 110 (based on level) (+ 30% AP) bonus magic damage for the duration, during which his Heat also decays to 0.

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Rumble's main damage tool - which, in the danger zone, does bonus damage. Ideally, it is necessary to activate the Flamespitter last in your combo to take advantage of the Danger Zone bonus damage. Depending on the situation, use your Flamespitter to clear a wave to push or use it for harass. In lane, this ability is the main culprit to your over-extension. As you last-hit, there really is no need to use the Flamespitter and should the need arise, you have to turn the Flamespitter away from the minions to prevent them from being damaged, which prevents your lane from being pushed. Watch the enemy champion's health trickle down as you harass and turn away before your Flamespitter duration ends - as your Flamespitter ends, it is a signal for the enemy champion to trade back and you do not want to be caught there.



Description:
ACTIVE: Rumble activates his flamethrower for 3 seconds, dealing magic damage every 0.25 seconds to all enemies in a cone in front of him.
DANGER ZONE: Flamespitter's damage is increased by 50%.

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This skill provides you with movement speed and shields a tiny bit of damage. It is still useful to absorb some minor pokes such as Trundle's Chomp, Olaf's Undertow, Gnar's Boomerang Throw etc. The focus is on the movement speed buff, which can help you get back to lane faster, pursue an enemy or o aid your escape. It is a pretty simple ability to be honest - shield the poke damage and run/chase if you need to.



Description:
ACTIVE: Rumble shields himself for 2 seconds and grants himself bonus movement speed for 1 second.
DANGER ZONE: Scrap Shield's effects are increased by 50%.

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Electro-Harpoon is a great way to last hit minions and with the update which made the skill charge-based, its purpose is further solidified. It can be used as a harass tool whenever you have a clear shot of the enemy. Use Electro-Harpoon's slow to set up a gank, slow an enemy for a full blast of Flamespitter and to escape enemies. Combining it with Scrap Shield will greatly help your escape or chase down enemies.



Description:
ACTIVE: Rumble shoots a harpoon that deals magic damage to the first enemy it hits and slows them for 2 seconds. Charges of Electro-Harpoon stored prior to overheating can be used even while overheated. The slow is enhanced if used on the same target.
DANGER ZONE: Electro-Harpoon's effects are increased by 50%.

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Here we come, the deadliest skill of Rumble. The Equalizer has a AoE slow, damage, and its effect can be tremendous. A perfectly placed Equalizer would undoubtedly give your team a huge egde in the fight. The click-and-drag casting is something you need to know beforehand: consider a line A to B, simply left-click point A and drag your mouse to point B and release. In every fight, visualise the enemy team as individual dots and try to place your Equalizer in a "best fit line" which allows you to hit the most enemies. This means that teamfights in the jungle favours Rumble greatly. Also, you can use your Equalizer to zone the enemy from an escape route. A perfectly placed Equalizer will allow your team to collapse on the enemies as you trap them in an area, or more commonly cause the enemy to scatter as they move away from the scorched ground. A great tool in your kit and definitely do not mis-cast it.



Description:
ACTIVE: Rumble calls down a line of rockets down the target path which remains for 5 seconds, dealing magic damage every second to all enemies within and slowing them by 35%. The Equalizer can be fired in any direction from any point within range.

50 Heat:

Basically the magic number you should maintain in lane. 50 Heat allows you to cast all your spells before overheating, which gives you the chance to dish out extra damage with auto attacks as you're silenced - your abilities were on cooldown anyway.

Also the number you need to keep before a fight.

Try to use Scrap Shield or Electro-Harpoon periodically to maintain at this amount of heat.

80-95 Heat:

The number you absolutely do NOT want to have before a fight, or in lane. When your heat hits 100 and you become silenced, it will put you in a bad spot and make you vulnerable should it happen at the beginning of a trade.

Even though last hitting is made easier, if you are against an all-in bursty champion such as Riven or Jax, this opens a door for them to go ham on you and you have no escape tools.

Do not cast any spell while having this amount of heat and wait for it to drop, unless you are pursuing an enemy and it would definitely kill.

100 Heat:

Overheating. You cannot cast any spells, but you deal bonus AA damage. Usually occurs in teamfights after maximum two spell rotations. Back off and wait for your cooldown as you will be easily kited, unless you're already having an edge in the fight. As you back off, the enemies may give chase and you can then turn around on them and catch them off-guard. It's good to overheat if you're hard pushing a lane as the bonus damage helps you clear faster.

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M A R K S

Mark For the Mark, I take the Greater Mark of Magic Penetration, which is basically the norm for Mages. You really need this to counter the inevitable Magic Resist on the enemies and yeah, it's essential.

M A R K S

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S E A L S

Seal For the Seal, I'd bring the Greater Seal of Armor, to just have more defence against opponents as Rumble does not have as good of a stat in health as other common top laners. It helps you bulk up as the item build does not help with much health.

S E A L S

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G L Y P H S

Glyph For the Glyph, I would use Scaling CDR, which is common on mages and Rumble benefits from lower ability cooldowns, helping him trade and cs with his Electro-Harpoon. At the same time, it helps you to do more damage in teamfights late game by having your abilities up sooner.

G L Y P H S

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Q U I N T E S S E N C E

Quintessence For the Mark, I take the Greater Quintessence of Ability Power. This goes without saying but you will always need the AP Quints. Not much explanation is needed here.

Q U I N T E S S E N C E

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Ferocity Tree

Rumble's prone to pokes, so this is necessary to help with sustain in lane.

Take as much AP as you can get with 4 points here, but there are cases where you'd rather put all 5 points into Vampirism instead.

1 point in Vampirism gives you the tiny bit of spell vamp.

There really are arguments to all 3 masteries in this level. However, I am not a fan of Double Edged Sword and Bounty Hunter requires you to kill unique champions for the bonus, which isn't as reliable on Rumble as Battle Trance , which is guaranteed to give you the full bonus as Rumble definitely will stay in prolonged fights.

Again, Rumble's tendency to stay in stretched out fights makes DFT incredibly favourable, as Flamespitter's damage over time helps to repeatedly refresh the DFT to do damage in lane or in fights, which also allow DFT to proc on multiple targets.

Defensive Tree

With Rumble's low AD, this mastery helps with last hitting in lane during the early game.

You're in a solo lane - Runic Affinity is moot and Secret Stash doesn't benefit you as much as Assassin does.

Pretty obvious here - Meditation restores mana. Need I say more?

Now, Dangerous Game is always good and it's really up to you. I find that I am able to make use of Greenfather's Gift more as can step into the brush and Electro-Harpoon the opponent laner for more damage, or to help to with last hitting. I really do find it more versatile, but it's up to you.

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Start with either:









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Your first recall should be situational. In an even lane, you'd want the Hextech Gunblade and when you're ahead, you can choose to go for the Needlessly Large Rod for more damage output early. When you're behind, Seeker's Armguard gives your Armor and helps you survive in lane against AD Champions in most cases, and against AP Champions you can choose to go for Mercury Treads or Negatron Cloak.


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If all goes well, and you got a kill or so, You should be able to get these two items. Protobelt alone gives you an early power spike and you can now initiate fights in several cases, while Rylai's is just a further extension of your power in lane.

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Hourglass really helps with your survivability in fights and you can go for a Danger Zone Flamespitter into the hourglass to zone enemies away. Should the enemy not be building Magic Resist - fatal mistake for them, Liandry's help you cut through tanks with more ease and otherwise, Void Staff is always good.

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Complete your last item. This slot is situational, and you should pick according to the game. In most cases, you'd have Void Staff built early. Otherwise, you can complete Abyssal if you face some heavy AP champions, Randuin's against fed AD champions and Rabadon's if you're really ahead.

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Summary

In the early game phase, taking a point early in Electro-Harpoon can help with last hitting until level 2. However, a Flamespitter early can force the opponent away from early cs and you'd hit level 2 earlier, so it wouldn't matter in the end. Maxing Flamespitter is obvious, Harpoon second before the Shield is also obvious as remember, the "Shield" is really more for the bonus speed.

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**R Means Repeat the combo until overheated and basic attack thereafter.



That combo is for the harass you should make in laning phase, after the enemy has made their move. For example, after the Nasus has used Wither and combo'd you with whatever, you turn around with the movement speed buff and Harpoon them, slowing them for you to then use Flamespitter to do damage.


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When charged by an enemy and you are in a face-to-face fight with your enemy, make use of this combo - Q before E, as you can still Auto-Attack during your Flamespitter which maximises your damage output. But this really is provided that you're in auto attack range of the enemy.


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The "All-In" combo. Movement speed to catch up with your target, stacking the slow on him before using Equalizer to make it harder for opponents to escape the Equalizer zone and finally Flamespitter and overheat for the bonus attack damage. Remember to begin with 50 Heat.


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The "GTFO" combo, where you slow, boost your movement speed and slow 'em again to escape. If need be, use the Equalizer for even more slow on the enemy.

Use it wisely. Clearing waves under your turret is what you'll mostly use it for in laning phase and seriously avoid hitting the enemy wave in the middle of the lane with it, as it will definitely push your lane, which isn't always a good thing early.

Abuse it. Just abuse it. Use Scrap Shield to get back in lane faster. When returning to lane, use your Flamespitter to put yourself into the danger zone and Scrap Shield to move faster then ever. Same concept with chasing, or running.

Again, the update to the Harpoon is great. In the past, using the harpoon to farm is unreliable due to its 6/7 seconds cooldown early game. With 2 charges stored, you can space out your harpoons and it is easier to last hit from a safe distance with it now.

Dr. Mundo

To add some credentials to this guide - my scores with Rumble in Season 3 to 6 are as follows. My KDA each season were 3.0, 3.4, 3.2 and 2.6(oops). I finished Season 6 in Platinum II.

Season 6:

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Season 5:

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Season 4:

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Season 3:

This is my very first guide, and I did feel tiring making this guide. Considering the large amount of school work, this guide has really taken a long time to finish. Trying to beat the other guides on rating :) Which is also progressing very slowly. Here I want to thank the following people for my success on this guide, thanks a lot whether you could see this or not;

-jhoijhoi, for teaching me how to code the guide.

-kyogre29, my friend who introduced me to the Runes, Masteries and Items etc. which I improvised on. There are still his ideas in this guide :)

And to whom I want to thank most,

-MissMaw for providing me the awesome banner at the start, and also helped me in more advanced coding of the guide.

-Emikadon, providing me with the Headers in my guide.

Thanks to all the people who supported me throughout this guide, which includes my dear friends who said I'm crazy spending time making this guide :) A thousand thanks to all of you!