Singed Build Guide by argentangel

Introduction

Welcome to my Singed guide. This guide can be used for either Dominion or SR, but I usually play this build on Dominion.

Remember These Things:

1. Bind laugh to an easily reachable key
2. Know your limits. Singed is pretty tough, but you can't survive everything
3. You are going to have to use your judgement in game to make sure that you are getting the best items for what you need at different points in the game
4. You will be getting a lot of assists, so don't worry if you don't get too many kills
5. Watch where you are Flinging people as you can kill your team easily if you throw the wrong champion in the wrong direction
6. Turn off your Poison Trail when you aren't using it as it will just drain mana
7. Go mid when you can as it will allow you to get Mega Adhesive before you reach the windmill. Always make sure to save your Ghost until after you have capped the point and are trying to get to the windmill

Revision Notes

In this section I'll tell you how I edited the guide so you don't have to search to find out what has been changed. Suggestions, corrections, and constructive criticism are always welcome!

• 01-Aug-12: Masteries have been slightly altered due to advice from a fellow Singed player. Also, edited Karthus' entry in the "Annoying Enemies" section, as I accidentally confused Lay Waste with Defile a few times. I caught a few grammatical errors as well, and have corrected them. My friend also informed me that I misread the text on Randuin's Omen entry for the information about Rylai's Crystal Scepter: Rylai's Crystal Scepter does not reduce ATTACK speed, but rather MOVEMENT speed. Randuin's Omen, however, reduces both and, thus, is still listed as a viable alternative
  
• 10-Aug-12: Moved Revision Notes Section to a better location in the guide so now it is more of a quick reference and you don't have to scroll all the way through just to see what's been changed! (Plus some more grammar revisions)

Choices Choices

As I said before, you will be having to make decisions on the fly as Singed. One of the best decision makers I have found has been the Death Recap. If you look at it you can see a brief overview of the damage that killed you so you can choose whether you are going to be building Frozen Heart or Force of Nature first.

Another good way to choose is, of course, try to plan out your build on the loading screen. You should have plenty of time to get a good look at who you are facing so you can plan ahead.

True damage you shouldn't have to worry too much about due to the fact that you should have enough health with the help of Empowered Bulwark and a Rod of Ages early game to keep true damage at bay.

Runes

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration - Don't get me wrong, this is a tanky build, but I really like having that little extra damage too and this helps out with that.

Greater Seal of Armor - This, makes it so that you can go ahead and work on your Rod of Ages and not have to mess with armor at the very beginning of the game. Getting that RoA early is key to this guide!

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist - What makes this nice is that while you are working on your Frozen Heart you still have that bit of magic resist going up every level.

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed - Ah these. They may be expensive but they are well worth it. Combined with full boots, masteries, speed shrines, Ghost, and Insanity Potion you can get anywhere fast and along with Mega Adhesive you can catch up with almost any champion to Fling them right into your Poison Trail or even to your teammates that are behind you!

Viable Alternatives

• Greater Mark of Mana can be used if you don't mind losing the magic penetration. Due to Empowered Bulwark it should also help with survivablitly

Masteries

Almost all of the masteries I chose deal with the following:

• Health
• Armor
• Magic Resist
• Movespeed
• And other such survival masteries

Viable Alternatives

• Summoner's Resolve is good for its boost to your Garrison. You will be doing a lot of standing around turrets playing defense, so that splash damage can come in handy

Items

In Dominion you have a lot of starting gold, so I recommend starting off with a Ruby Crystal, Sapphire Crystal (to get you going on your catalyst the protector), Boots of Speed, a Health Potion, and a Mana Potion. Until you get around level 12 you may find yourself buying Mana Potions, but that's okay. Poison Trail can be a mana drainer, so make sure you turn it off when you're not using it!

By the time you go back to base you should have enough for your catalyst the protector (which is great for sustain) and your Mercury's Treads. Though I should mention that if you are taking a lot ofphysical damage you may consider investing in Ninja Tabi instead. I would recommend selling your Ninja Tabi after you get your Frozen Heart, though, as the tenacity from Mercury's Treads is much more useful at that point. Plus, you get a boost to your magic resist until you can get your Force of Nature.

Save up and get your Rod of Ages as soon as you can. I usually get mine by around level 9. I know that Dominion is a short game, but it's not that short. By the time the game ends it will likely be fully stacked.

Once your Rod of Ages is complete you should analyze your situation. If you are taking more physical damage than magic damage then you should get Frozen Heart first. The cooldown reduction is also nice. If you are taking more magic damage, though, Force of Nature is a great item. You should build those in whatever order you need.

The next items are also variable in the order you get them. Generally, I go with Rylai's Crystal Scepter for the kiting power and the ability power. Now, if you are having major problems with magic damage you should invest in Abyssal Mask first. The magic penetration is nice too. If you are having any issues with physical damage then you should buy Randuin's Omen.

Viable Alternatives

First, if the team is doing basically all physical damage you may want to use the following instead of Force of Nature and Abyssal Mask:

• Randuin's Omen is also great because the movement speed reduction stacks with Rylai's Crystal Scepter, plus it has attack speed reduction, so you can really mess up an AD carry's day
• Sunfire Cape is nice because you will likely be close to enemies anyway so you can do some extra damage
• Thornmail is specifically for use if you are having problems with auto-attackers

If the enemy has a lot of magic damage you can replace your Rylai's Crystal Scepter with either of the following:

• Odyn's Veil also has that nice little nuke active if you need it
• Spirit Visage will also help you stay alive by boosting your heal from Insanity Potion
• Athene's Unholy Grail - This new item can prove extremely useful for Singed as it has magic resist, ability power, some cooldown reduction, and a lot of mana regeneration (as it not only has basic mana regen, but also the regen of Chalice of Harmony and you get mana every time you get a kill or assist. You may want to replace Rylai's Crystal Scepter with this if you need that little extra magic resist

If you're having trouble with mixed damage:

• Guardian Angel has both armor and magic resist so it's pretty helpful. It's also pretty nice if you die

Skill Sequence

You are going to want to level up Poison Trail first, as this is your main source of damage. After that you should take one rank in Fling as the mana to damage ratio doesn't make it worth taking more than to throw your enemies. When you aren't leveling Poison Trail or Insanity Potion you should level Mega Adhesive as the slow makes it easier to catch up with champions.

Now, I'd like to take a moment to talk about Insanity Potion. This skill can be used at almost anytime that you need a boost. Don't be afraid to use it. The cooldown is fairly low and with Frozen Heart you can use it even more often. I use it anytime that I need: a boost to speed, to heal, to get mana, or if I am in a team fight. The great thing about Insanity Potion is that it is useful in a wide range of situations.

Summoner Spells

Garrison is great for both offense and defense. Offensively it allows you to tank turrets more effectively and it will also show your team that you are going in to tank. Defensively it is great because a lot of the time you will be (read: should be) fighting on your own turret and using the turret to help with your damage.

Ghost is non-negotiable for Singed. You are going to be using it very very often.

Viable Alternatives

• Exhaust is nice for helping to chase, but if you land your Mega Adhesive well then you likely won't need it too much. I take this on Summoner's Rift due to Garrison not being available
• Cleanse is decent for removing Exhaust and Ignite, but Insanity Potion and Mercury's Treads should help with the disables

Non-Viable Options

• Heal is not useful late game as you will have so much health that it will barely make a dent toward healing you
• Revive is okay, but there are generally better options out there. I don't take it on Dominion, for the most part, as you only can use it maybe twice in a game
• Smite is mostly for junglers and this isn't a jungle guide
• Surge's AP boost might seem good, but you won't be auto attacking so half of the spell is wasted
• Clarity is not needed as long as you make sure to turn off your poison when you're not using it. You'll have plenty of mana and mana regeneration as soon as you get catalyst the protector and Insanity Potion
• Ignite is a bit redundant as you are pretty much a walking ignite. The healing reduction is nice, but there are far more useful spells
• Clairvoyance is rather useless in Dominion as you can see most of the map. If someone needs to take this spell leave it to the support (if there are any)
• Flash is okay, but Ghost is much better, as you are going to want a lot of mobility

Playstyle

Now we get down into Singed's playstyle. In order to play Singed you have to be brave. You have to go into situations that most other champions won't survive. Your job is to be a damage soak and to help make sure that the enemies are where they need to be. A great way to do this, of course, is by using Fling, but another good way is by corralling your enemies with your placements of Mega Adhesive. It is very useful to separate the enemy team as well as to force them to go where you want them to.

Another job you have is defense. A lot of the time you will be sitting on your hands while defending. Defense is key to Dominion. Generally I sit up at the Windmill while the rest of my team works on other things. A lot of the time the fight is brought to me. Now, don't get me wrong, you should always go help out a teammate in need, but sticking by a turret is great due to the boost to damage it can give you. Not to mention that usually you can soak enough damage that you can hold the turret until your team gets there to help.

Once again you should use your judgement as far as where you should be at any given time in the game.

Annoying Enemies

Now, this list of people you generally don't want to be around is by no means comprehensive, but this is from my own personal experience:

• Olaf counters Singed with his Ragnarok as no disables means no Flings
• Sivir's Spell Shield also makes it so that you cannot flip her, but if you manage to get close enough, your Poison Trail goes right through her shield
• Morgana's Black Shield can be extremely annoying as you can't throw whomever she sheilds
• Karthus makes it hard to get close to him because of his Wall of Pain and Defile while he can poke you with his Lay Waste. You should be mobile enough to avoid Lay Waste most of the time and if you do manage to get close enough to flip him he generally falls pretty easily
• Cassiopeia is also a champ that is difficult to get close to. Do your best to stay out of her poisons and, much like Karthus, if you can get close enough to flip her you should be good

Summary

Singed is very much a damage sponge and you should use that to your team's advantage. Enemies will tend to chase you just to finish off your last little bit of health, but generally this winds up badly for them as you are damaging them as you run and, if you are careful, you can get out of most situations.

Just be aware that you should not fall into the same trap of following enemies. Know when to end your chase.

Go crazy, and, as always, have fun!