Hello, my name is Kevin, aka Smuttly/Smuttypoonmonsta. This is my first guide on Mobafire but it is for a champion I have played extensively and tried numerous builds on, both of my own creation and for some of the top guides on Mobafire. I decided to write a guide for Taric due to the fact that every guide I followed when I started him seemed to not take advantage of all of his capabilities and left me wanting. So, over a few weeks of experimenting in ranked and normal games, I finally formulated a build that I feel encompasses Taric while also adapting a playstyle of "in your face support". This guide is about how to play Taric as a very strong Hybrid Support/Tank. You will be able to sustain channeled abilities and heal sufficiently while also doubling as a secondary tank to your team.

If you have any questions or comments, please, feel free to post them here. Any and all criticism will be taken to heart and if I feel an adjustment could be made, I will make it.

I would to give credit where it is due and credit Searz for his guide and base template that I used to construct my first guide here. Thank you Searz :)

The overall goal in the runes here is to make you tanky enough early game to help soak harassment damage away from your AD carry which you should be paired with. The more you can allow your carry to farm freely, the better off you will be. When the time comes, you will be able to do a short tower dive or dive directly into the enemy for a kill without the weight of no defense bearing on you.

Taric has the ability to be a very, very powerful support in early and late game if played and built properly. It is important to know that you should never KS and only go for the killing blow if you are the only one who can make it. Get that in your head before you even consider playing him. As for how to play him effectively, it is all about protecting your carry early on and supporting/protecting your team in the late game.

During the laning phase, you want to get your heal first to start warding off harassment from your carry and to help stop any possible early gank. Following heal, you go into Shatter for armor and some damage dealing then into the stun. From here, it’s alternating Shatter and Imbue alongside Radiance when it becomes available. Now, for how to use these abilities to their fullest.

Gemcraft Passive: Your melee attacks restore 7.5% of the damage done as mana and reduce the cooldown on your Imbue by two seconds per hit. This is very important both in team fights and laning. Take advantage of your early game durability and heal strength to get onto minions to keep the cooldown low and mana high while harassing. End game, with my build you are durable enough to be on the front line putting in some swings to get the timer down as much as possible to heal as often as you can. Do not forget about this passive!

Imbue: This is the bread and butter of Taric. Early, this is going to make your lane sustainable but try not to heal to full all the time if you’re going against a weak laning team. The reason for this is that keeping you and your carry around 75% health can lead to the enemy team taking chances which you can turn against them. Remember however, keep yourself full if you suspect an enemy gank or if the opposing team is capable of a quick shut down on you or your laning partner. A double stun combo is very capable of taking one of you out if you aren’t careful, regardless of your stun, heals and defense.

Shatter: Early on, use this to help your lane partner get a kill once you get an enemy low. After the stun, go in and shatter on them and start whacking on them with your hammer while your carry is dealing the damage to kill them. Early, Shatter can do a very good amount of damage. Later in the game, use this only if you’re not being focused or if a squishy on the team is not being focused down by melee. Do not use it in a panic either. If you get jumped by melee, you’re best off to leave the passive aura on to increase your chances of surviving. Knowing when and where and when not to use Shatter is a pivotal part of playing Taric and a part you must learn quickly to make yourself effective at the job at hand.

Dazzle: Another great ability for Taric in team fights. Ultimate abilities from the likes of Katarina, Fiddlesticks and other strong AOE champions can be shut down in the face if you are quick on the draw and can quickly turn the tide of a battle. It is also an excellent spell to use in an escape, chase or cutting off a chase against a teammate. Do not use Dazzle on minions, it is wasted. It should only ever be used on Champions to insure a kill or survivability. Also, remember, the further away the champion is when the spell lands, the longer the stun (up to 2 seconds) by the damage is weaker and vice versa.

Radiance: This is where you become the best friend of a strong AD carry. Giving them a huge AD boost throughout the game is going to make a difference many, many times. That is not to take away from the other side of the passive, which is the strong healing per 5 applied to your champion. This is great to use when you are forced into to tanking or being targeted. It is also great to use in an escape and hoping the enemy chases you down if your HP is low. With your ultimate + additional HP5, you can easily escape an enemy team with ghost and a stun while being able to regen more health than they can do with ranged auto attacks. The big thing with Radiance is the mana management aspect. Do not run this for too long because its cost will continuously increase and so, only activate it when you really need it and deactivate it once the need for it passes.