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Taric Build Guide by Black Suzaku

Support Tanking Support : Taric

Support Tanking Support : Taric

Updated on December 28, 2012
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Black Suzaku Build Guide By Black Suzaku 7 3 14,533 Views 22 Comments
7 3 14,533 Views 22 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Black Suzaku Taric Build Guide By Black Suzaku Updated on December 28, 2012
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Introduction



Greetings fellow Summoners! :)

This is my first guide in MobaFire, and I must say that this makes me a bit excited.

I have preferred to make my first guide about how to support and tank with Taric at the same time at the bottom lane, since that I've been recently doing a lot of supporting more than going to the top lane, or to the middle lane, or being the AD Carrier of the team - and whenever I do it, the AD Carriers that I lane with, always go away after the end of the game with a smile, so I thought that my ideas would be of help to another support picking summoners, who usually prefers to pick Taric. (alright, I know, I talk too much :P)

The purpose of this guide can only be understood completely if the reader reads the whole guide. This doesn't mean to quickly skim the "Items, Runes and the Masteries" section above, since that doing that will confuse the reader as "how am I supposed to buy ALL OF THOSE ITEMS?".

I hope that this guide would be of help to the summoners who read it. :) So, let's move on!

P.S : There are some abbreviations that are commonly used in the game and some other ones that I have made up. Let me make them clear below :

AD : Attack Damage

AD Carrier : The champion who deals physical damage with the AD points, with his basic attacks or skills.

AD Caster : The champion who deals magical damage with the AD points, mostly with his skills, such as Ezreal.

AP : Ability Points

AP Carrier : The champion who deals magical damage with the AP points used by his skills.

ATK SPD : The attacking speed of a champion.

MS : The movement speed of a champion.

CDR : The percentage of the reduction of the cooldown timing of a champion's skills.

HP : The life bar, simply.

MG Resist : The item type bought for preventing to have a lot of magic damage from a magic-damage skill.

CC : "Crowd Control" skills, which may stun/snare/slow/silence/polymorph/immobilize enemies. The "disabling" skills, as I refer usually.
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Why should I pick/not pick Taric?



This section will tell you if why you should prefer picking Taric if you're going to support your team in a round of League of Legends, with both what Taric is good at and what Taric lacks.

The Advantages


* Taric has all the skills that a support may need : Imbue for healing; Shatter armors both Taric and whoever's near him, which also applies some area damage to the enemies; Dazzle for stunning the enemies at risky situations.

* Taric can be made to the 3rd tank of your team along with the jungler and the top laner, at least by the means of absorbing the physical damage coming out from the enemy team.

* His stuns find their target automatically, which is better than the skill-shot based CC skills, in my opinion.



The Disadvantages


* Taric doesn't heal as much as Soraka would do.

* Taric's skills have a short range.

* Taric consumes a lot of mana because of his skills. Using his skills consecutively for harassing the enemy will increase his mana consumption rate.

* Taric's stuns don't last that much longer, in my opinion. Nevertheless, they're still satisfying.



Depending to our AD Carrier/Caster


Ezreal : These two are the best combination for the bottom lane. Taric stuns, Ezreal (catches and) harasses quickly with his Mystic Shots and Essence Flux.

Ashe : Viable, since that Taric would stun, and Ashe would harass/slow with her Volley or with the Frost Shot, and completely disable the enemy with her Enchanted Crystal Arrow and collect the kills on the bottom lane.

Varus : Preferrable, since that Taric would stun, and Varus would harass/slow with his Piercing Arrow or with the Hail of Arrows, and immobilize the enemy with his Chain of Corruption and with some possibility, get the double kill, due to his Chain of Corruption also jumping on to the other enemy champions.

Graves : Almost with the same reason for picking Ezreal, Graves additionally has his passive, the True Grit which grants him both some armor and MG Resist. This would mean that Graves would also temporarily tank a bit, when the True Grit and the Shatter's armor bonuses are combined.

Caitlyn : I wouldn't really choose her for this, since that she is the slowest AD Carrier that I know, both my means of MS and the channeling speed of her skills. Nevertheless, her once-in-6-shots critical chance may be useful with the Shatter and Dazzle of Taric.

Miss Fortune : This crazy girl might do some awesome stuff with Taric, when Taric stuns the enemy. Her Double Up indeed deals a lot of damage in the early game, and not just to one enemy, that is. Along with Taric stunning and using his Shatter and MF using her Bullet Time, there might happen a bloody massacre at the bottom lane.

Vayne : If the Summoner of Vayne knows what he is doing, Taric and Vayne can be a good combo at the bottom lane, since that Vayne can dodge the enemy with her Tumble and even kite(hit and run) with it. A double-stun combo of Vayne and Taric would go lots of good, but as I've said above, the Summoner of Vayne should be skilled.

Corki : Almost the same reasons with Ezreal and Graves.

Sivir : The combo of Sivir and Taric may make the enemy tired and pissed off, if Taric stuns the enemy at the right time while Sivir tries to run away, and if the Summoner of Sivir knows how to use her Spell Shield. Risky as picking Vayne.

Kog'Maw : Kog'Maw's slow and Taric's stun may be useful together. Taric's stuns would again be useful if the Summoner of Kog'Maw knows how to use the Living Artillery, and of course, his passive Icathian Surprise. Not that preferrable, in my opinion.

Urgot : I wouldn't prefer it but it might be good. When Taric stuns the enemy, Urgot may poke the enemy with his Acid Hunter or Noxian Corrosive Charge. This combination would actually be very good when the jungler comes to the bottom lane and when Urgot uses his ultimate attack to swap locations with the enemy, and if Taric stuns the enemy unit. Still, it's risky in my opinion, though.

Draven : Draven and Taric would deal a lot of damage with Draven's Spinning Axe and Taric's Shatter and Radiance. The enemy may become disabled for twice with Draven's Stand Aside and Taric's Dazzle. A good option.

Twitch : Hmm... Twitch and Taric. Since that Twitch is one of the most squishy AD Carriers in the game, I wouldn't suggest the combo of Taric and Twitch. Nevertheless, it's still up to how effectively Twitch's Ambush and Venom Cask are used, along with the timing of Taric's Dazzle being used on an enemy unit. Also, after Taric uses his Shatter for reducting the armor of the enemy units, there we would encounter tons of damage output coming from Twitch, due to his passive, Deadly Venom, deals true damage, and expunge, dealing some damage every second, to the enemy unit that has expunge casted on.

Twisted Fate : TF, in my opinion, is one of the hardest champions to play with. If Twisted Fate is able to use his stun correctly which's embedded to his Pick A Card skill, both TF and Taric would make a double-stun combo, along with some damage with Taric's shatter and TF's bonus damage dealing skill, Stacked Deck, something nice may happen. Nevertheless, it would be better in my opinion, if Twisted Fate fights on the middle lane, and if he teleports to the bottom lane whenever necessary.

Jayce : It happens rarely to have Jayce as an AD Carrier at the bottom lane. With Jayce's To The Skies! / Shock Blast and Thundering Blow / Acceleration Gate and Taric's Dazzle, a good CC combo can be made. Nevertheless, since that Jayce can only use his CC skills when he's at the hammer mode, it will be a bit risky to pick Jayce for the bottom lane, in my opinion.

Teemo : Teemo and Taric together won't be able to make much of good stuff together, I think, because that Taric's Shatter won't be of use for Teemo that much, since that Teemo is mostly known for dealing some magic damage per second, thanks to his Toxic Shot - Teemo doesn't have much base AD, anyway, in my opinion. Something good "may" happen if Teemo uses his mushrooms correctly, and if Taric stuns at the right time, but still, this combination is not preferrable, in my opinion.

Kennen : Kennen's base attack statistics are indeed good for an AP Carrier, this and his Electrical Surge make him considerable as an AD Carrier for the bottom lane. Nevertheless, he has to be kind of offensive at the bottom lane, to stun his enemies with his passive, the Mark of the Storm. It may be a bit hard to time both the stun coming out from the Mark of the Storm and Dazzle. Since that Kennen's Electrical Surge deals a lot of physical damage with Kennen's AD, a lot of damage may come out from the Electrical Surge, along with Taric's Shatter.
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The Summoner Spells




The only thing that I'd say for the summoner spells to be picked up for Taric are Flash and Exhaust, without any doubts and "EXCEPTIONS" and with their provided reasons to be picked:
Flash : You should have Flash as your summoner spell for evading death, of course. Also, if you become tanky in the mid or late game as this guide is going to show you how, you may even initiate the combats simply by Flashing to the enemy and stunning them, and Exhausting them.

Exhaust : You should pick Exhaust for making it harder for the enemy to damage your team or to make it harder for the "almost dying or squishy" enemy to run away. You should also take the Exhaust spell for "protecting" your AD Carrier in the early game, if the bottom laners of the enemy charge towards you.




Now I will tell you the reasons for the following spells to NOT TO BE PICKED by you, since that picking them may not be that useful as Flash or Exhaust:



Heal : You should not pick Heal but you should ask for your AD Carrier to do so. Even though that you'll do everything to protect your AD Carrier throughout the game, it's still him to decide if he should Heal himself for a big amount in the early game, to avoid dying. Besides, you may not know what would happen to you while playing a round, your internet may crash, your client may crash, hell, you might even get crashed if you understand what I mean. So don't take the risk and let your AD Carrier pick Heal.

Clairvoyance : You may not need the Clairvoyance since that you'll have the Ruby Sightstone for warding in the mid/late game. However, if your team is going to invade the enemy's BLUE or RED buff at the enemy's jungle, Clairvoyance would come in handy.

Smite : Of course you'll not pick Smite since that you're not a jungler but a support. Nevertheless, if you do so, jump into the "Stream of Consciousness". (Google it by the way, it's a very nice song. :P)

Ghost : You don't really have to pick Ghost since that you won't have to chase the enemy in a 1v1 combat, or to run for your abandoned turret to protect it, or for running away from the enemy, since that you'll have Dazzle to stun your enemies and run away. You can also buy the Rylai's Crystal Scepter and use the offensive skills of Taric to run away from the enemy.


Revive : I have doubts about picking Revive as one of the summoner spells. You might need it to not to abandon your AD Carrier at the bottom lane, but still, I wouldn't pick Revive, since that I'd instead try protecting my AD Carrier from danger to the utmost limit that I can. You know the drill, protect the AD Carrier, win the game.


Cleanse : It won't be that necessary to pick Cleanse since that there is an item called as the Quicksilver Sash, which does almost the same thing that Cleanse does. If the enemy team has a lot of CC skills embedded to their champions, a Quicksilver Sash will deal with them. Nevertheless, I doubt that the enemy team would be in such a situation to benefit from a lot of CC skills since that they won't be having that much of them, thanks to the champion banning phase.


Teleport : Hmm... Might be good to not to abandon the turret at the bottom lane, and also to protect your AD Carrier. Depending on your playing style, you "may" consider picking Teleport instead of Flash or Exhaust. Nevertheless, if you pick Teleport instead of Exhaust, your probability of having your AD Carrier getting fed will decrease.


Ignite : Not really viable... Pick Ignite instead of Flash and you won't be able to run away, or if you're fed enough to be a tank, you won't be able to initiate any team fights if the enemy is at a distance. Also, pick Ignite instead of Exhaust so that your AD Carrier won't be able to get the kills that easily, or you may not be able to protect him from extreme charges of the enemy. Also, you might even get the kills instead of your other team mates if you pick Ignite.

But also... you might also counter the Health Regen of an enemy unit, which is under attack, with the Ignite. I don't think that it will be that much worth it, though.
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Taric's Spells




This section aims to examine the spells that are embedded to Taric.


Gemcraft (Passive) : Based on how much damage Taric deals on an enemy unit based on his AD, he will replenish a bit of his mana.


Imbue : Taric will heal his ally based on his AP. Taric can also heal himself with Imbue, and can also decrease its CD by making a basic attack on an enemy unit.


Shatter : Taric will provide armor for himself and for his ally who is near him, as the passive ability of this spell. Activating Shatter will destroy the gem armor around Taric to deal damage to the enemy units based on his AP, also providing armor reduction against the enemy troops around Taric.


Dazzle : When used, Taric will stun an enemy unit, with dealing a little damage based on his AP. The time the enemy will be stunned is based on the distance between the enemy unit and Taric.


Radiance : When used, Taric will deal area damage to the enemies around him, by increasing his current AD and AP (some players claim that the AD and the AP is increased at the amount that the buff from the Baron gives). (Useful for destroying the enemy turrets, killing the Dragon and the Baron in my opinion.
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Skill Sequence



To summarize the ideology for the skill upgrades line-up that is provided for Taric, it is to: "Maximize the armor output first, and then to maximize the healing output of Taric as the second thing to do."

I-) The first skill to be unlocked should be the Dazzle, since that it will help you and your AD Carrier harass your enemy at the bottom lane.

II-) The second skill to be unlocked should be the Shatter, since that it is one of the elements that will make Taric tanky. Besides, it also provides some armor for your AD Carrier when he's near you.

III-) The third skill to be unlocked should be the Imbue, because that both Taric and the AD Carrier will have received some damage so far. Someone needs to heal back a part of it.

IV-) The ultimate skill, Radiance should be unlocked and upgraded respectively at LV6, LV11 and LV16. You might not need to upgrade that skill on LV11 or on LV16 but later, for the reason of upgrading Imbue or Dazzle faster.

V-) No matter what the situation is, you should upgrade Shatter to its maximum level, first of all.

VI-) After you're done with maximizing Shatter, upgrade Imbue to its utmost limit.
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Runes



Well I don't have much to say for this part, as it should be pretty obvious from the rune line-up that I have provided above.

Greater Mark of Armor : For the Marks, I've lined up the Greater Mark of Armor runes, for tanking the damage that the AD Carrier of our enemy outputs / may output.

Greater Seal of Armor : The same logic follows for the Seals, all the yellow slots are filled with the Greater Seal of Armor runes.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist : Glyphs provide the best MG Resist, so I've preferred to use the Greater Glyph of Magic Resist runes at the Glyphs part. MG Resist won't be that much necessary for a support in the early game phase, since that the enemy will mostly deal physical damage to you, unless if you have Ezreal or Corki at the bottom lane as your enemy.

Greater Quintessence of Gold : Since that we will be needing some cash, I've preferred to use the runes of Greater Quintessence of Gold for earning some gold, at the Quintessences.
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Masteries



I think that there won't be any explanation needed for the masteries line-up that I have used for this guide.

But to summarize, I'll tell you why I have only 1 point on the "Offensive" part and the 29 other points on the "Utility" part, but no any points on the "Defensive" part.

Summoner's Wrath : This mastery slot must be filled with 1 point, since that it's going to be useful for our Exhaust spell, because of the Armor /MG Resist reduction it provides to the Exhaust spell.

The other 29 points shall be distributed in the "Utility" section for having more mana regen, CDR, some gold per some seconds, MS, an "extra ward" which lasts only for a minute, and for the Total Biscuit of Rejuvenation.

Since that the rune line-up I've provided above will already fulfill what we want in the means of defense, I didn't have the needing to pay some points for the "Defensive" mastery slots.
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Items



I will divide the "Items" section to exactly three parts, each for the different phases of a round.





All right, so let's have our Taric's inventory filled with the items that we're going to need.




Total Biscuit of Rejuvenation : This item becomes pretty useful when Taric has received some damage while tanking the bottom lane, and when also he uses a lot of mana. Get it by sparing a point to it from the Masteries.



Faerie Charm : The item that every support buys at the beginning. We will be needing it, since that we will stun the enemy and heal our AD Carrier, maybe a bit frequently, for survivability and harassment reasons. :P



Vision Ward : Blowing up the wards of the enemy will be of a lot of help to your lane, since that you'll be providing access to your jungler by doing this, or to anyone else who feels like they have to gank your lane. I usually place my wards to the very corner of the bushes (where the mouse icon becomes green) that is at the intersection of the bottom lane and the river.



sight ward Sight Ward x2 : I prefer buying 2 Sight Wards because I like warding both of the bushes at the bottom lane, or I at least ward the one that I don't stand inside. It's always good to see where the enemy is and what would they be doing, when they're in the bushes. Alternatively, when my Vision Ward becomes worn off, I place the remaining one Sight Ward into the bush at the river for some time.



Mana Potion x2 : Well, since that I heal and stun and harass a lot with Shatter, I consume a lot of mana. This is why I feel like I need to buy 2 Mana Potions. You can alternatively buy Health Potions as well.





Assuming that we have at least 300 Gold in our pockets (even better if it's even more than 300 Gold), we should now consider starting to buy the following items due to the reasons explained near them.




Ruby Sightstone : Thanks to "Laggermeister" and "Sirell" for warning me about how essential the Ruby Sightstone is, and thanks for the spare time I've had after my exams, I've decided to take their word into account and wanted to try it to examine how Taric and the team will benefit from it. After some trials, I can only say this the Ruby Sightstone IS - A - MUST. This item shall be completed before completing the Randuin's Omen, for the reason of more map control always brings more survivability than any armor. Besides, I've also changed my mind about the slot it would fill in the inventory, it's not much, and it's just worth it. Like, how many tank items would we have even if the game lasts in 50 minutes, anyway? Nevertheless if you're way too successful and if you feel like you wanna tank more but if all the slots in your inventory are full, you may sell the Ruby Sightstone if you wish... This won't be a good idea though. Your team shall not lose the map control, that's why.



Cloth Armor : To start building the Randuin's Omen, we have to buy the most essential item of it, which is the Cloth Armor itself. You can consider buying 2 of them if you have more than 600 Gold in your inventory. Might as well you can spend the rest of your money for wards or for the Boots, which, I would prefer do, when I have less than 1000 Gold and when I'm just out of the 1st phase items.



Boots of Speed : You should buy the Boots whenever you can afford them, since that you may need to run away from the enemy forces plenty of times. After buying a piece of the Cloth Armor, it's ideal to buy the Boots, in my opinion.



Null-Magic Mantle : Don't be in such a rush to buy this item, if both the enemy support and the AD Carrier doesn't have many CC skills. You can also buy this item after you and your AD Carrier wins at the bottom lane, and also complete the Mercury's Treads if you can.



Mercury's Treads : As I've told above for the Null-Magic Mantle, don't also be in such a rush to buy this item, if both the enemy support and the AD Carrier doesn't have many CC skills. You shall ESPECIALLY buy this item after you and your AD Carrier wins at the bottom lane. If you have the money to afford the +15 Movement Enhancement for the Mercury's Treads, go for it too. :)



Giant's Belt : This is the item that you should, in my opinion, buy after buying 2 pieces of the Cloth Armor. After the 2 Cloth Armors and the Giant's Belt and upgrading the skill level of Shatter to some level, we can assume that the enemy AD Carrier won't be able to hurt you that much - if he's not that much fed, of course.



Warden's Mail : Nothing much to be said about it, complete it to complete the Randuin's Omen.



Randuin's Omen : Now, why would I have chosen to buy the Randuin's Omen, instead of buying the Frozen Heart, whereas they both drop the ATK SPD percentage of the AD Carrier? The answer is pretty simple : I'm also interested in dropping the MS of the members of the enemy team during teamfights or in any kind of fight, to prevent them from running away. Nevertheless, if you suffer a lot from the lack of mana, you can also go for the Frozen Heart, but you'd lack health this time.



Vision Wards : You may place some vision wards near the dragon or the baron, to destroy the enemy's wards around those points, if they have any, though.



Elixir of Brilliance : I "rarely" buy the Elixir of Brilliance if my AD Carrier needs to be healed a lot, at one time.





If the round is still not over, then we shall tank and ward more.




Giant's Belt : It won't hurt us to have much health since that we're also to tank damage, so, when you can afford it, buy one. We will decide what to do with it, depending to the flow of the game. You don't really have to go for this item that quickly if you're not that rich.



Ruby Crystal : It won't hurt us to have much health since that we're also to tank damage, so, when you can afford it, buy one. We will decide what to do with it, depending to the flow of the game. You should buy this little guy, no matter if you're rich or not, since that this one would quickly become upgraded to various items that we might need.



Sapphire Crystal : Let's buy a Sapphire Crystal for more mana, and to shape it up to the Banshee's Veil for more HP, Mana, Magic Resist and for a spell eating shield. Another option to upgrade the Sapphire Crystal would be the Mikael's Blessing, since that it provides Mana, a bit of Magic Resist, Mana Regen. It also applies the effect of Cleanse, and heals the ally, when it's used.



Negatron Cloak : Well, we will be needing some magic resist for the remaining entirety of the round - assuming that the enemy's AP Carrier at the mid lane is at least a bit fed. We will decide what to do with the Negatron Cloak later on. Buy it when you can afford it.



Mikael's Crucible : This item's going to be useful if your AP/AD Carriers have a lot of vendetta on them, I mean if the enemy team always tries to focus on them, first (which is, actually, something that has to be done for the win). Whenever you see that your AP/AD Carriers are under attack and if they are disabled, simply, use the Mikael's Blessing on them, to protect them.



Rylai's Crystal Scepter : If you feel like you have to heal your allies for a lot of HP at one time, you might go for the Rylai's Crystal Scepter. Another advantage of the Rylai's Crystal Scepter will be its passive - just use the Shatter skill when the enemy starts retreating from a team fight. Not enough? Use the Randuin's Omen you've bought earlier.



Abyssal Scepter : : This item would help us about healing our allies and having some MG Resist against the enemy. Oh, and if our AP Carriers can't deal the damage they expect to deal, the Abyssal Mask will be your deal as a support - if no one in your team buys it.



Warmog's Armor : Go for the Warmog's Armor if the jungler in your team and if the top laner in your team are not tanky enough.



Spirit Visage : Go for the Spirit Visage if you need some MG Resist and some CDR, for your healing and stunning mostly. Spirit Visage might be useful if you have the Rylai's Crystal Scepter but if your team still really has difficulties with catching the enemy or killing them while the enemy runaways are low on HP.



Sunfire Cape : The Sunfire Aegis will "rarely" become necessary to you, if the enemy's jungler / AD Carrier or the top laner deals a lot of physical damage to you and to your team, and also, in a way, to prevent the enemy from running away with very low HP, since that it deals some magic damage each second the enemy touches you.



Quicksilver Sash : If the enemy team has a lot of CC skills to use on your team, you may need to buy the Quicksilver Sash to prevent your team members to be disabled. Might as well you can buy the Banshee's Veil for that purpose, either. Buying them both will double the effect, of course. Depending to the flow of the game, you may consider buying this item at the 2nd phase of the game, too, if your team gets stuck in deep.



Banshee's Veil : If the enemy team has a lot of CC skills to use on your team, you may need to buy the Banshee's Veil to prevent your team members to be disabled. Might as well you can buy the Quicksilver Sash for that purpose, either. Buying them both will double the effect, of course. Depending to the flow of the game, you may consider buying this item at the 2nd phase of the game, too, if your team gets stuck in deep.
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How To Play



This section aims to talk about how I usually play when I support my team with Taric. It will be pretty easy to explain it, since that, what to do is actually obvious.

Right after the game begins, we shall of course buy our first items which are:



Faerie Charm

Vision Ward

sight ward Sight Ward x2

Mana Potion x2 OR Health Potion x2


After the minions are spawned and we are at the bottom lane, we shall ward around, first of all, of course. The best warding option, for me, is illustrated below. The green circle represents the place where I usually put my sight ward, and the purple circle represents the place where I place my Vision Ward to. Then I stand in the bushes which I didn't place ward, and wait for protecting the AD Carrier from any danger.

Note that the team we're on is assumed to be the BLUE team. If that's not the case, you shall place your sight ward to the other bush.





Nevertheless, you may consider placing both of your sight wards to both of the bushes if the support of the enemy team is a bit pushy, or if the support of the enemy is especially Blitzcrank, Leona, Nautilus, Shen or Zyra.

I ward one of the bushes that are in the lane, also for the purpose of calling any ally for help which has the Teleport, or to call Shen, if he's not banned.

I would suggest you to not to place your Vision Ward to where I have said, until the time you see the enemy support placing a ward at some location on the river, or before 1-2 minutes pass after both of the AD Carriers on the bottom lane start to farm.

If the enemy's support goes into the river and comes back a bit late, you may think that he has placed his ward near the Dragon. Do the likewise, and destroy his ward - safely.

IF the enemy's jungler is a champion which does not use mana, such as Lee Sin, Shen, Rengar or Renekton or else, you shall place any of your wards near the Dragon to prevent the risk of having a very early gank to your lane. This action will save a lot of lives.






After we're done with the warding process, we should stand in one of the bushes (I prefer the one that's closest to our turret) to protect our AD Carrier and to wait for a nice position to stun and harass the AD Carrier of our enemy.

If our AD Carrier gets in sudden danger, get out of the bushes and stun the enemy to protect your AD Carrier, and use Exhaust on the AD Carrier/jungler of the enemy (whoever deals the most damage to our AD Carrier) to protect our AD Carrier. Exhausting the enemy might not be necessary if we have Ezreal or Corki as our AD Casters or Graves or Caitlyn or Tristana as our AD Carriers, since that they can jump away from the battlefield.

One more thing... Don't be pushy (both you and the AD Carrier), so the enemy can come closer to you, and you'd provide a safe access for your jungler to gank your lane and collect the kills.







No matter if our situation on the bottom lane is perfect or not, after some time passes and after some successful ganks/combats resulting with victory (if that happens), try to complete the Ruby Sightstone first for making it easier for you to ward around and to save cash, then buy the first piece of the Cloth Armor. (also consider buying Vision Wards to ward the dragon and the baron, if the enemy's support is a spoilsport and if he's destroying all your wards.)

If you have so much gold collected in your pockets, you may consider buying 2 pieces of the Cloth Armor or even the Giant's Belt if you're that rich. Buying the Giant's Belt will definitely scare the enemy a bit, though (I'm talking about the new HP bar you're going to have). It's up to your decision to buy the Giant's Belt or not, depending on the situation at the lane.

Don't forget to buy the Boots if you're receiving some more damage than you're expected, or if you can't quickly avoid the skill-shot based skills of the enemy's AD Carrier. You will eventually need the Boots, anyway, so try to buy it ASAP, don't waste your money on being tanky that quickly, if you can't avoid the enemy the way you've expected to do so.








Assuming that we had a spot of luck and we've done everything I've explained above and we've destroyed the enemy's turret at the bottom lane, we will be almost done with completing the Randuin's Omen, since that we should right now be having the Warden's Mail and the Giant's Belt in our inventory.

If you don't have much gold to complete the Randuin's Omen, try to complete the Mercury's Treads first, since that it's going to provide you some tenacity and some MG resist.

Nevertheless, if the enemy's turret at the bot lane is not still down, it'd still be for our advantage to try to complete the Randuin's Omen first, instead of Mercury's Treads, since that we're supposed to absorb the damage coming out from the enemy's AD Carrier, and to slow him down, by means of MS and ATK SPD, of course. Once these happen, the enemy's AD Carrier will lose his effect and we'll be able to get our AD Carrier easily fed and have the enemy's turret destroyed.






After the enemy's turret at the bottom lane is destroyed, if your AD Carrier is not going to roam and keep on defending the turret and farm, he should at least do it safely because now you have to roam and ward.

Try to ward these locations frequently after the bottom lane is won and whenever you're available:






This means that you have to ward every bush that "you can", you see, and you suspect that the enemy's passing over from. The most important ones to be warded are below:

* The River : For everyone's safety while checking the Dragon and the Baron.

* All of the RED and the BLUE buffs, even the wolves and the wraiths and the golems, if possible. This is to see if anyone from the enemy team has sneaked into our turf, or to see if they're just hanging around in their turt, trying to get some buffs alone, so we can gank them.

You may consider placing Vision Wards both to the Dragon and the Baron to destroy the wards of the enemy, or you may consider buying an Oracle's Elixir instead, to spot the wards of the enemy and destroy them whereever and whenever you see them.







The round usually ends for me after completing the Randuin's Omen and the Mercury's Treads and before buying the second Giant's Belt.

The round will last before the 30th or the 35th minute at most, which means that you may not need the tanking related items I've mentioned below.

BUT if that's not the case, continue warding until the end of the game as I have told you above, and try to buy the second Giant's Belt and a Ruby Crystal, and the Sapphire Crystal if you can. You don't have to buy them all at once. Before or after the Giant's Belt you may either consider buying the Negatron Cloak.

These will make you more tanky, especially after you get the Negatron Cloak so that you'll even be able to initiate the team fights by stunning the most squishy member of the enemy team, which is, the AD Carrier. Don't forget to run away after you eat some damage from the enemy though, you might be tanky, but not as our top laner or our jungler would be. (that's the case most of the time)



You may consider upgrading the Faerie Charm to the Mikael's Blessing, if you need some more Mana, a little bit of Magic Resist and Mana Regen, and most importantly, if the enemy has a nerve against your AP/AD Carriers and if the enemy always focus to your Carriers in the first place, you can use the Mikael's Blessing on your Carriers-under-attack, and help them get rid of any kind of CC spells by providing them some health.



You may consider upgrading the Giant's Belt to the items I've mentioned above, according to the situation:



Rylai's Crystal Scepter : Provides more HP for Taric, bursts the output of the Imbue, and will slow down the enemies when Shatter is activated.

Warmog's Armor : Nothing but tons of health only. As I've said above, it won't be that necessary if our top laner and if our jungler are tanky enough. Don't forget that it's not cheap, either.

Sunfire Cape : HP and armor and damage-per-second properties all together in it, nevertheless, the less necessary item for us become tanky, due to the reasons I've told above.


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You may consider upgrading the Negatron Cloak to the items I've mentioned above, according to the situation:


Quicksilver Sash : For eating and absorbing the CC skills of the enemy.

Banshee's Veil : More CC absorb, along with HP and mana.

Spirit Visage : CDR, MG Resist and a bit of health.

Abyssal Scepter : Taric's heal will be a bit more burst, and our AP Carriers shall now easily deal more damage than before.


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The result of using the information on this guide will be something like this or something less than this but still similar, if your teammates are good and if you of course have built some skills about supporting and tanking until so far :





This example might be taken as a weird one, though, since that the enemy team didn't have a supporting member, the game has taken a bit long to end, and the count of kills and the critter score(minion kills) that I have.

Supports do unwittingly get kills or increase their critter scores too, it will of course happen sometime. Instead of being sad for getting accidental kills or instead of being busy with the people who claims that you've stolen their kill, make use of the kills that you've earned.

My inventory was almost full also because of the time the round had lasted. Nevertheless, if the round had finished before the 47th minute, say, at some period between the 25th - 35th minute, I would still have completed the Ruby Sightstone, Randuin's Omen and the Mercury's Treads, thanks to my assist count, and the amount of the Dragons my team has executed.
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Last Words



To summarize everything that was mentioned of in this guide, Taric is definitely a strong supporting champion, with his pure potential to be offensive and to be tanky.

Although he lacks a little of things, such as his Imbue not being that burst or his Dazzle not stunning for long, Taric would still be the first support champion that I would still pick, thanks to his pure potential of becoming tanky.

I'm hoping that my guide would be of help to anyone who's looking forward to learn how to play with Taric! :)


One last P.S : I'm looking forward for any kind of comments and criticism, so that I can update my guide accordingly... and, accept my sincere apologies if there are some missing points in the guide, or if it has unwittingly become a wall of text. I tried to do my best to make it look very good, but I don't really have much time since that I'm a mere student :) :)


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I'd like to pay my thanks for the people below:


* "Akakakushi" (I've had the idea of making a guide after I've read Akakakushi's guides)


* "DaggerOfPast" (he has taught me how to play as the tanky Alistar, and I've tried his style with Taric, making him more tanky)


* "SpecifDewil" (for correcting me about the Shatter skill of Taric)


* "Sousuke511" (for correcting me about the Imbue skill of Taric)


* "Ju5tice" (for reminding me about Twitch and Jayce)


* "sirell" (for his various remindings)


* "Laggermeister" (for his remindings about the Ruby Sightstone)


* "MobaFire Staff" (for this great site that had helped me share my guide with its existence)


* "Dream Theater" (I hereby thank to the awesome Dream Theater for their awesome music, which I had listened to all the time while preparing this guide, and also for their song "Stream of Consciousness", which I had made a quote/reference with its name in my guide)


* "Riot Games" (for their great game, League of Legends, of course)


* Taric for being a preferrable support champion.
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Updates



* On 28.12.2012 - 20.05 PM : The information about the Clairvoyance and the Ignite are updated for informing the reader about how will those Summoner spells result in different cases. Thanks again to "Sirell" for reminding me about those.



* On 28.12.2012 - 19.41 PM : The Mikael's Blessing and the Ruby Sightstone were added to the guide. I would like to thank to "Sirell" and "Laggermeister" for their advices.



* On 28.12.2012 - 19.09 PM : The "disadvantages" sub-section under "why should I pick/not pick Taric?" section has been updated.



* On 26.12.2012 - 19.20 PM : Twitch, Twisted Fate], Jayce, Teemo and Kennen were added to the guide, under the "why, why not?" section. Thanks to "Ju5tice" for reminding me about Twitch and Jayce.



* On 26.12.2012 - 18.44 PM : The explanation of Imbue, Shatter, and Dazzle are fixed. Many thanks to "SpecifDewil" and "Sousuke511".
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