Hello everyone, and welcome to my guide about Rumble, the Mechanized Menace. I'm TheShak3r, a player currently in platinum division. Rumble is the champion I fell in love with, he is incredibly fun to play and can turn out huge even when falling behind. In this guide I will teach you how to be a pain for the enemy team and completely change team fights with the little yordle. Feel free to give me feedback and point out my spelling/grammar mistakes i surely did throughout writing this guide. This is my personal way of playing Rumble, so please don't downvote based on the build. You can also head over to my LolKing page if you want to have a proof who I am.

Pros + Good sustain + Amazing slow with Electro-Harpoon + Uses heat, so no mana problems + Can avoid harass with Scrap Shield + Gamechanging ultimate + Great poke and all-ins

Cons - Weak early game - Last hitting needs practise - Hard to master The Equalizer - Relies on kills - Heat system can silence you - Lacks skins

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Flash: The best summoner spell in the game. You can escape sticky situations, catch an overextending enemy with a Flash- Electro-Harpoon combo or get that last Flamespitter tick onto them. In gold+ ranked games, you can often see 10/10 summoners picking Flash. You should take this spell every game.

Ignite: So that enemy Wukong is low health, and you just need one last Electro-Harpoon to get him. But unfortunately, he decoys and flashes right after. Well, there goes your kill. Wouldn't have happened if you had Ignite. This spell is just so good for finishing off low health foes and securing you some sweet gold in your piggy bank. Ignite is the best option beside Flash for Rumble, as it gives you kill pressure and synergizes well with The Equalizer. It is a MUST against healing champions like Soraka or Dr. Mundo.

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Ghost: This is an okay summoner spell. It is arguably the best spell for chasing, but there is honestly no situation where I would prioritize it over Flash. It can be a pretty strong extra movements speed to chase down enemies when combined with Electro-Harpoon, Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed. If you prefer it, feel free to pick it up.

Exhaust:In top lane this is very situational. Although Ignite is better in most cases, I would pick this if my team already has a couple of Ignites AND I am against a heavy auto attacker such as Tryndamere. For overly manly solo queue stomping, + are your spells of choice.

Teleport:Taking Teleport is an option, though i have never tried it and i have never seen any pro player picking Teleport on Rumble. If you are challenger and want to carry your buddy from bronze, then np bro go Singed mode and kill everything and everyone while still getting huge loads of farm through split pushing.

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This is the mastery page I currently use. Wait what?20/10/0 not 21/9/0? NOOB!... That's what you probably think at the first look. I simply do this because I think Havoc is not worth spending a point, but we will come to that later. In season 3, I used to run 9/21/0 more often, but you can really use Rumbles strengths to your advantage if you put the most points into offense.

• Double-Edged Sword : Rumble is melee, so you deal 2% more damage and receive 1% more. That's basically 1% extra damage for 1 mastery point, really worth it.
  
• Sorcery: CDR is not that great on Rumble, but Riot buffed it from 1% to 1.25% CDR per point, so you really get something out of it. Only put 2 or 3 points into Sorcery, there are other better choices.
  
• Butcher : Makes last-hitting easier, which is important.
  
• Mental Force : Simply put, AP is always useful. Same counts for Arcane Mastery.
  
• Executioner : Now this is one very strong mastery, the 3 points in it are definitely worth it. 5% extra damage to enemies under 50% is really good and can be the deciding factor in killing an enemy.
  
• Dangerous Game : Hands down, this mastery is GREAT. 5% hp and mana restoration may not be too useful overall, but imagine this situation: you are top lane and both you and your enemy are low. You both use your Ignite on each other. Normally, both die and it's an even trade. Now you take Dangerous Game , and after killing the enemy you instantly get 5% health, making you survive the ignite. You come out ahead 300g on your enemy and can push the wave to his tower, making him lose even more. So by putting this one little point into Dangerous Game , you can win your lane and snowball ahead. (For those interested, an Ignite trade where both die happens to me once every 5 games)
  
• Archmage : You will buy AP with almost every item on Rumble, making this mastery really useful.
  
• Devastating Strikes : Armor and Magic Penetration are in one mastery now. You deal mostly magic damage, but as Rumble you depend on auto attacks, thus the ArPen is helpful as well.
  
• Arcane Blade : BEST mastery in the offense tree for the little yordle. The melee form forces him to auto-attack a lot, making Arcane Blade a strong tool.

• Block : Top lane is full of bruisers. And what do bruisers normally? Right. They auto-attack.
  
• Unyielding : Basically the upgraded form of Block . Gives you some nice survivability.
  
• Recovery : Many top laners have some sort of regeneration, or buy a Vampiric Scepter later in the game. Rumble does neither, so investing in hp regen is useful to stay in lane longer.
  
• Veteran Scars : Free health? SWEET. Always take this on Rumble, your early game is bad and the extra health can help you to survive enemies with strong lvl 1-3 (e.g Riven, Kha'Zix). Together with Doran's Shield you are much less squishy. Same counts for Juggernaut .
  
• Hardiness : This is where the point from Havoc goes. 2 armor is great for early game, but remember to switch it to Resistance when the enemy top laner is AP!

• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: The best marks for Rumble, since all of his spells deal magic damage. If you have these runes and build Liandry's Torment and Sorcerer's Shoes, you will have a ton of Magic Penetration.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: These runes are a MUST if you play Rumble solo top, as you will most likely face bruisers who deal physical damage. Even if you have an AP enemy such as Kennen, you can still reduce the damage of his auto attacks. The runes also help against the enemy jungler.
  
• Greater Seal of Health: Health runes got buffed some time ago, taking these is generally more effective than going full armor. Especially when facing an enemy with a lot of Armor Penetration, some extra health can help you survive the early game.
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: After getting armor, we still need magic resistance. These glyphs round up Rumbles stats. He doesn't really need the extra AP from Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power; he already profits from his base damages. If you want you can also take Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: Here we have multiple options. Overall AP is the best choice for beginners and balanced players. I used to run Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed, but i think Rumble is already mobile enough with Scrap Shield and slowing down the enemy with Electro-Harpoon. We could also take Greater Quintessence of Health Regeneration, giving us more sustain in lane.

Junkyard Titan (Passive): When Rumble reaches 100 Heat he overheats for 6 seconds. While overheated Rumble cannot use his own spells, but his basic attacks deal an additional 20 + (5 × level) (+ 25% AP) magic damage. Rumble's Heat is reset to 0 after the overheat effect ends.

This passive allows you to spam your spells which is a huge advantage over mana depending champions. However, every spell (not the ultimate!) adds 20 heat to the heat bar. When it reaches 100, Rumble turns red and is unable to cast spells for 6 seconds. He also gets empowered basic attacks. Heat automatically decreases after not using any spell for some seconds. While this sounds very bad on the first look, you may also consider the bonus damage from the danger zone. Each abillity except The Equalizer deals more damage and has stronger effects. Use this to your advantage.

Flamespitter (Q) : Rumble activates his flamethrower for 3 seconds, dealing magic damage every 0.5 seconds to enemy units in a cone in front of him (dealing half damage to minions). Rumble can perform other actions while Flamespitter is active.

Danger Zone Bonus: Damage increased by 50%

Scrap Shield (W) : Rumble pulls up a shield, protecting him from damage for up to 2 seconds. In addition, he gains a quick burst of speed for 1 second.

Danger Zone Bonus: Shield strength and movement speed bonus increased by 50%

Electro-Harpoon (E) : Rumble shoots a taser that deals magic damage and applies a slow on the first enemy it hits for 3 seconds. A second shot can be fired for no additional cost within the next 3 seconds, even if Rumble overheats. If the second taser slows an enemy that has been slowed by the first, the slow is refreshed and its movement speed reduction is doubled.

Danger Zone Bonus: Damage and slow increased by 50%

The Equalizer (R) : Rumble calls down a line of rockets over the target linear location, using a click and drag targeting system. The rockets leave a trail of destruction for 5 seconds, dealing magic damage every second and slowing all enemies standing on the area by 35%.

When is the best time to overheat ?

There are two scenarios when overheating is useful:

1.)

You are farming and want to get a difficult cs. This works best when you are pushed to your tower. Rumbles auto attacks are kinda weak, so you have to use your abilities to farm effectively. When you overheat, your basic attacks deal bonus magic damage and make farming much easier. Note that the bonus damage does not apply to towers.

2.)

You want to fight with the enemy champion. Make sure that you use all your abilities before overheating. The best situation would be if you hit your enemy with Electro-Harpoon, shield some of his damage and move closer to him with Scrap Shield, and overheat with Flamespitter. Now all your abilities are on cooldown (I don't include the ult in this example). You can not cast spells anyway, and all abilities have a cooldown of at least 6 seconds. So why not overheat in that time window? Don't be afraid to make use of the passive if you burned everything before.

When should I NOT overheat?

Using the passive at the wrong time can and often will be the difference between securing a kill and getting killed yourself. Wrong situations can be:

1.)

During a teamfight. You generally never want to overheat in a 5v5 fight, as it makes you vulnerable to the enemy team. When you plan to go in, always check how much heat you have. 0 heat? You can go in, but none of your abilities will have the danger zone bonus. 30 heat? Perfect, you can burn everything and still get out without overheating. More than 60 heat? Think twice if you want to go in, it could lead to your quick death if you don't pay attention.

2.)

When you are in lane and have NOT used all of your abilities. When you reach 100 heat on accident for whatever reason, you can bet that a smart enemy will engage on you. You could aswell carry a sign with the letters 'KILL ME', because that is basically what you tell the enemy by overheating for no reason.

Doran's Shield

This is the best start 90% of the time. Doran's Shield gives you great amount of sustain against long range harassers such as Kennen or auto-attack dependent champions like Tryndamere. The additional health is great as well. This item gives you everything you need to survive the weak early game of Rumble.

Cloth armor

Are you against Riven? Buy Cloth Armor. Are you against Jayce? Buy Cloth Armor. Are you against Zed? Buy Cloth Armor. i think you get the idea, if you are against an AD champ with strong early game, take this start.

Amplifying Tome

You want to play aggressive early on or just need some AP to trade better with your opponent? Buy Amplifying Tome, though it is not a common start.

Null-Magic Mantle

I don't like this start. Of course the Null-Magic Mantle gives you some nice MR, but you are kinda forced to build Mercury's Treads later on because it does not build into anything else beneficial for Rumble. Only take this vs AP Top + Jungler or if you want to rush Mercury's Treads.

Haunting guise

Haunting Guise will make you so much stronger. The best early game item you can get for Rumble. AP + Health, that's what we want. If you died early or don't have enough money, just buy the Ruby Crystal or Amplifying Tome depending on what you need and build it into Haunting Guise later.

Seeker's Armguard

Very cost-effective item. If you have trouble with the enemy top laner, buy this and farm until it's passive is stacked up. You should have much more durability and the extra AP helps as well. You can upgrade it later into a Zhonya's Hourglass.

Sorcerer's Shoes

#1 Choice. Since Rumble deal almost exclusively magic damage, these boots help you to cut through the enemies MR they might stack. You will be a killing machine in mid game if you have Greater Mark of Magic Penetration, Haunting Guise and Sorcerer's Shoes.

Ninja Tabi

Cheap, useful boots. Buy these if you are on the frontline of your team or the enemy has many AD champs. I sometimes rush Ninja Tabi as first item when i started Cloth Armor and sell them later if necessary.

Mercury's Treads

Do NOT buy these only for the MR. Mercury's Treads are very expensive and you should only buy them against a strong CC team. If your opponents have champions like Alistar and Lux, the boots are a really good choice. If you only look for Magic Resistance, simply buy a Negatron Cloak.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter

Get this before teamfights start. Rylai's is the item that probably synergizes best with Rumble. First of all it provides AP and Health, the two stats the yordle loves most. And then there's that passive that makes you such a threat that even a Nidalee flashes from your Electro-Harpoon. In short, every ability gets empowered with slows. Flamespitter slows now for 15%, Electro-Harpoon gets +35% and even The Equalizer reduces movement speed by 50% now. So basically, once you catch a target, you can chase them forever until they have to use a summoner spell or die.

Liandry's Torment

Since this item has been released, i haven't played a single ranked game without it. The bonuses Liandry's Torment provides are great for Rumble. Now our abilities also burn 6% of the enemies current health. I recommend you to always finish Rylai's Crystal Scepter before Liandry's, because the burn percentage is doubled if the enemy is slowed. O SNAP, and after buying those two items we ALWAYS slow enemies and we ALWAYS get the doubled passive bonus! That is just huge, so use it to your advantage.

Abyssal Scepter

Great if you have double AP or against a strong AP top laner. You should buy Abyssal Mask in mid game, since the aura can help your team to win fights.

Zhonya's Hourglass

This item is very well-known for it's active. You often see it on AP carrys, but I like it on Rumble too. The main idea behind buying this is that you are in the frontline, but still no tank, and thus you die quickly if the enemy team focuses you. With Zhonya's Hourglass, just use the active, wait for your cooldowns to refresh and you should be fine.

Warmog's Armor

I recently discovered the strengths of this item. It is most effective to buy as last item, when you already have all damage and utility you need. Explaining the advantages of Warmog's Armor is not too hard: you get a bunch of health. Now the enemy team has a serious problem: If they focus you, they will need some time and your team can deal free damage, and when you are low you can use Zhonya's Hourglass. But if they DON'T focus you, you will deal tons of damage.

Will of the Ancients

Good if you need sustain in your lane through spellvamp (e.g. vs Yorick) and there is at least one more champion who can benefit from the aura.If you are the only AP champ on your team, Will of the Ancients is simply not worth it.

Randuin's Omen

Is that enemy Caitlyn already 4/0/5? Are there mainly auto attackers on the enemy team? Then Randuin's Omen is the right choice for you. It also has a great active that you can pop in the middle of a group.

Rabadon's Deathcap

Rabadon's Deathcap is a good choise if you are snowballing heavily or your team lacks overall AP damage. You will lack sustain, so think about if your team needs you to deal damage before buying this.

Guardian Angel

GA is always useful. The second life you get can sweep team fights in your favor. It also gives some nice armor and MR, which is great against balanced teams.

Void Staff

If you did well throughout the game, your opponents might have stacked some Magic Resistance. If this is the case, you really should consider Void Staff. 35% MPen ? Yes please. I recommend to buy this late game, because it is most effective when the enemy already has a lot of MR.

Banshee's Veil

Perfect against a poke composition. If your team gets poked down until you have to give up a tower, the spell shield really comes in handy.

The blue trinket is basically a non-global Clairvoyance. The biggest downside in my opinion is that it only reveals the area for one second, even after upgrading it. So as a top laner, I would never take this until very late game, when it becomes useful because everyone is roaming around the map.

Take this early game. Sometimes you can't afford a ward when you go to lane or just want to check a brush without running into it. It lasts only 60 seconds, so either upgrade it as soon as you can afford it, or get Sweeping Lens at level 9.

The basic form is pretty bad. The reveal time is really short and it has a high cooldown, so I wouldn't prioritize it over Stealth Ward pre-9. At level 9, however, it becomes much more effective.

The Stealth Ward does only pay off early game, you should buy Stealth Wards anyway. You want to switch it out when you hit level 9 and go back to base. The Sweeping Lens is much better from that point on because you will roam a lot more and denying vision is far more important than having a 1-2 minutes ward in mid game. The red trinket is also good against traps from Teemo, Shaco and against stealthed units.

TIP: To be as efficient as possible, place your totem just before you sell it in the shop. That way you still get its effect one more time and it would go on CD anyway.

Early game (Level 1-5)

The weakest phase of Rumble is the very early game and especially level 1 to 3. At the first level you really can't do much. You have no tool for invades, your damage to buffs is minimal and almost every top laner can zone you from the beginning on. Don't look for trades, if the enemy doesn't fail hard you will lose them. It is better to focus on farming with auto-attacks and Electro-Harpoons until you hit level 4. Rumble is very vulnerable to early ganks because he has no real escape tool. So if you didn't buy a ward, let the lane push to your side just outside of the turret range. Don't farm with Flamespitter, first it makes last hitting harder and second you will push the lane.

Note how i didn't touch Tryndamere a single time until level 4, only focusing on last hits.



As soon as you hit level 4, start playing more aggressive. Your Flamespitter starts getting stronger and you can effectively poke your opponent. Engage when you hit him with your first Electro-Harpoon and follow up with Flamespitter. If the enemy moves closer to you to trade back, fire your second harpoon and retreat. If he runs, chase him until your Q times out. If done right, you should have burned half of the enemies hp or even got a kill before you hit 6.

"Time for a Bandle City beatdown !" (Level 6)

You just hit level 6 ? Your impact on the game just increased by 100%. The Equalizer makes Rumble a lot scarier and in 2 of 10 games I manage to get a double kill when the enemy jungler comes to gank and I am 6. As long as your ultimate is up you don't have to be scared of engaging. Wait for casting The Equalizer until the enemy champion fully commits to the fight. Then either cast it over you so he has to stay in the AoE to fight you, or block his escape path and kill him with Flamespitter. As long as he stays on your ult, you have a clear advantage.

Level 7 to 11

Before mid game and it's teamfights start, you want to get as strong as you can. To give your team as much control as possible, you have two options. You can either push your lane and get a tower, or you roam down mid lane and try to get dragon or steal the enemy buffs. As with every top laner, you should always be near your team when a big team fight is approaching or split pushing. Since Rumble pushes towers reeeeeeaaaaly slow, you should stay with your team and help them pushing their lanes out or help secure dragons.

Many people have no idea what to do in teamfights and what their job is. Know your role, and know what your teammates expect from you. As Rumble, you are no ranged melee tanky dps assassin mage tank support jungler (click me!). Consider yourself as a tanky initiator. And initiating with Rumble is not that hard ! The only thing you have to do is to hit as many people as possible with The Equalizer. Sometimes you have to be the initiator, sometimes you have to follow up after your jungler initiates (e.g. Jarvan IV or Fiddlesticks ultimate). But you should always use it at the beginning of a fight. Why ? The Equalizer is an AoE spell, and the more people it hits the more effective it gets. There are different things you can do with your ultimate and different things YOU can do during a teamfight:

In this chapter I listed all the champions I like to have in my team as Rumble, generally because the ultimates synergize. Note that in most cases you have to wait until your teammate engages until you follow up with your own ultimate, for the best synergy.




Kennen is the champion i love to play the most with. The combination of Slicing Maelstrom and The Equalizer is a huge AoE burst. Let kennen engage, and as soon as he pops Zhonya's Hourglass or stuns a target, follow up with your own ultimate. With your ad's follow up damage you can almost melt your enemies.




Cataclysm is unpassable terrain, so as long as nobody dashes or flashes, there is no escape from The Equalizer if placed right in the Cataclysm. Very strong initiation and when Jarvan IV manages to catch a carry, you are able to shut him down quickly.




When Amumu uses Curse of the Sad Mummy, he stuns everyone in a circle around him. This is the perfect time to use The Equalizer! Stunned enemies can't run, so they are basically forced to stay in your ultimate. Great synergy if you time your ults right.




Command: Shockwave pulls enemies together, and the more they are grouped, the better you can hit them with The Equalizer. This is not a great synergy because Command: Shockwave has a low range, but it is still good.




With Fiddlesticks you can totally surprise the enemy from over the wall. When he channels Crowstorm, immediately throw out The Equalizer so both ultimates hit at the same time. When the enemy has no vision on you, this combo can be very surprising.




The good ol' Malphite - Rumble combo. If he hits at least 3 people with Unstoppable Force then immediately follow up with The Equalizer. You should win almost every teamfight if you time the ultimates right (assuming both teams are even in gold).




This one is harder to pull off. Nunu & Willump has to walk into the middle of the fight to channel Absolute Zero, and he can easily get interrupted. It can be a good idea to slow the enemies with The Equalizer until Nunu & Willump gets in position.

Here you can find different strategies against specific champions. I also added difficulties to each champion. Note that I don't cover every possible top lane matchup, only the ones I have faced multiple times. I will keep this section always updated with the meta and add more champions from time to time, so stick with this guide.

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