Galio Build Guide by warlag

Introduction

First, please keep in mind the builds/runes/masteries in this guide are not ABSOLUTE, you can switch out some depending on your playstyle/preferences. With that being said, In this guide you will find some tips using the gargoyle as a support, item builds etc. Feel free to post some feedback of the guide, your opinions, questions or anything else. Every feedback is welcomed and appreciated!

Galio is a champion that does not get played too much, he is considered to be best in mid lane as an AP mid counter, but this champion can actually work pretty good as the support of the team, he has a nice kit built in to protect your allies, chase and CC the enemy team. He has it's strenghts, and of course it's weaknesses, but then again, so does every champion.

I'm no pro here, but I've played support Galio a lot in my current Platinum division and I can say it's a viable pick, of course depending on the enemy team comp he could do better or worse, but it is a good pick overall and will get the support job done properly. Feel free to try it out and give your opinions.

Pros / Cons

Pros Tanky. Great poke for early laning harrass. Can buff up the armor/MR of your squishy allies by 90 with Bulwark at max rank. Good Base damage. Good sustain in lane. Bulwark. Good teamfight initiation with Flash Idol of Durand. Great MS buff with Righteous Gust. Can make CS for your ADC easier if synchronized.

Cons No real way to heal your ADC. Skill shot based poke. Poking enemy champions might cause your wave to push. Idol of Durand could be interrupted as soon as it is activated if careless.

Masteries

Offense

• 0 points: We will be running Utility and Defensive masteries.

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Defense

• 2 points Block : This will help us survive longer in the lane as it will reduce enemies basic attack damage.
• 2 points Enchanted Armor : We will build resistances so the bonus armor and magic resist will be useful.
• 1 point Unyielding : We are a melee champion so we can benefit more from this mastery.
• 3 points Veteran Scars : The extra 36 HP will help us survive longer in the lane.
• 1 point Juggernaut : We will also build lots of health so this mastery comes in handy.
• 1 point Oppression : Resolute Smite and Idol of Durand make enemies movement impaired so you will recieve less damage.
• 3 points Hardiness : 5 extra armor will help us resist more the enemy ADC basic attacks.
• 3 points Perseverance : This will increase our health regen in the game.
• 1 point Swiftness : Will reduce the effectiveness of enemy slows to position better.
• 1 point Reinforced Armor : Will reduce critical strike damages from the enemy ADC or currently popular AD mid assasins.
• 1 point Second Wind : Will amplify our health regen and Bulwark healing effects at low HP.
• 1 point Legendary Guardian : In the best case scenario, during teamfights we will gain 10 extra armor and 5 magic resist, and Galio's Runic Skin will give you an extra INSANE 2.5 ability power.

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Utility

• 3 points Meditation : Galio is mana hungry, so this early mana regen is useful.
• 2 points Fleet of Foot: Gives us a nice movement speed bonus for quick warding or positioning.
• 3 points Summoner's Insight : This allows us to use both Exhaust against enemies and Flash for teamfight positioning more often.
• 1 point Strength of Spirit : This will increase our health regen with extra mana.

Runes

• x3 Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: We will start of with an extra 15 AP, this will make our poke with Resolute Smite stronger.

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• x6 Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: Galio's main damage comes from magic damage, so having magic penetration helps our damage be more efficient.
  
• x3 greater mark of hybrid penetration: We need magic penetration as we just mentioned, but we will throw in a couple of autoattacks every now and then so the armor penetration does not hurt.

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• x6 Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: We need magic resistance, the enemy support will probably deal some magic so with this we can survive longer, we also need it for the late game so make sure you take at least some. Remember Runic Skin will also grant you some ability power.
  
• x3 Greater Glyph of Armor: A bit of armor to resist the early exposure to physical damage from the enemy ADC.

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• x9 Greater Seal of Armor: Must have, will help you survive longer in the game overall, besides AD mid assasin are popular in season 4 so having armor is really good

Items

Support Galio has many different item options, below I'll list some items that work good with the gargoyle. Items with an * are my preffered ones.

* Frost Queen's Claim: Your main income comes from this item, gives you passive gold and gold each time you hit an enemy champion. Since all of your abilities have AoE damage, hitting multiple enemies will trigger the passive multiple times, making the best out of it. Will give you a nice 50 AP boost for your abilities to get stronger and mana regen so you can use them regularly without going oom too soon. Besides if you land it's active it helps you to land Resolute Smite easier or position for Idol of Durand

* Sightstone: For obvious reasons, you need this, the team needs that vision on the map and there is no better item than this. Upgrade to Ruby Sightstone in late game for some extra health.

* Mercury's Treads: You need the 45 movement speed bonus, it also gives you 25 MR which makes Runic Skin give you an extra 12.5 ability power, AMAZING I know, and the passive tenacity it gives you makes you less susceptible to CC.

* Rod of Ages: This item is great, gives you 80 ability power, 650 mana which doesn't hurt because Galio is pretty mana hungry, and the 600 health makes you tankier which is nice. {This stats are when fully stacked, 20 mins after the item is purchased)

* Spirit Visage: Gives you an extra 10% CDR which is good to use your abilities more often, 400 health makes you tankier, 20 health regen which combined with your masteries gives you a really high health regen, and with it's 55 MR Runic Skin will give you an additional 27.5 ability power. Besides, it's passive will amplify your Bulwark healing capacity and your health regen from the masteries you picked by 20%.

* Zhonya's Hourglass: Gives you 50 armor which you are lacking with this build and the 120 ability power it gives you makes all your abilities stronger, plus it's passive makes you untargetable for a few seconds, which you can use after Idol of Durand has finished it's taunt duration.

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Is your team lacking damage? Help out with these items:
Rabadon's Deathcap: Gives you 120 ability power plus an extra 30%, it is a really good item, what people might not consider is that Bulwark scales with ability power, so more ability power = more healing from Bulwark. Basically, ability power also makes you tankier in a way.

Abyssal Mask: This item is great for Galio gives you MR and AP, and Runic Skin gives you extra AP. It's passive works perfectly with Idol of Durand.

Liandry's Torment: Resolute Smite will trigger liandrys passive with double damage, can deal some serious damage to enemy tanks.

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Is the enemy team AD heavy? Here are some good armor-giving items for Galio
Iceborn Gauntlet: Mana, 10% CDR, some AP, and decent armor. It's passive will make your autoattacks more useful as they will slow down enemies with an AoE.

Thornmail: Makes you really tanky against physical damage, besides it works well with Idol of Durand as it will force enemies to attack you for a few seconds.

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This are ideas I came up with and there are many more examples, remember this options are not ABSOLUTE, keep in mind certain items benefit you more in certain situations.

Laning Phase

Galio works well when it comes to poking down the enemy ADC/Support with Resolute Smite, which can lead you to zone them out, denying them exp and farm, or force them out of lane to back up, which will get your ADC gold advantage and yourself exp advantage, getting level 6 faster than them and look for a good opportunity to get some kills with Idol of Durand.

When the enemy ADC/Support begin a trade or all-in, be sure to use Bulwark on your ADC ASAP, to reduce as much damage as possible with the armor/mr buff, meanwhile you can get close to throw in a couple of autoattacks since you will get healed a bit if they attack your ADC, be careful though, if they switch focus to you, you can suffer serious damage, get close to do autoattacks when it is safer for you to do so, if not, use [resolute smite]] and back up with your ADC.

Forcing enemies back

Resolute Smite can be a hard skillshot to land, but you can deal serious damage with it and with practice it could really annoy the enemy ADC/Support.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPoDLNG2qPE&index=1&list=UU3CtTXNFJd95m_I92WPetOA

(TIP: watch your minions health, when you feel the enemy ADC is going to stop moving in order to last hit it, that's the perfect time to use Resolute Smite, this can help you almost guarantee you will hit them and have a more constant poke.)

In this video Resolute Smite is level 1, at level 3 it gets pretty devastating.

Closing it up

Galio can be a really strong support pick if used properly, can force enemies back early game, protect your squishy allies and is great at teamfights. He can be a bursty support while still being tanky so be sure to practice those skillshots and annoy your enemies until they rage and hopefully afk.
That would be awesome wouldn't it?