Hey! I'm Predator726 and today I'm gonna go into depth on my guide for Taric The Gem Paladin. Let me go ahead and say this is my first guide. This guide is a little different as i play Taric as i play him very aggressivly. I personally think that this build gives taric the tools to be a strong assist to the ADC and a viable threat later on.

Who am I?
As i said before my name is Predator726 and I play on the NA server. I don't play alot of ranked games so i'm limited to lower-ELO games and i have only solo-queued.

Taric is a very versatile champ that can be played very aggressively and dish out dat damage or he can be played passively and just keep his ADC alive. Both of these methods of playing are fine, The key is knowing when to use them. The Gem Paladin is very underrated and should be feared as a support.

I know what you are thinking, fear the support why? Because he dishes out that damage now. with this build Taric is what i call a Hybrid support (Not a full support because he does damage but he still buffs the team and heals).

PROS
[*] Reliable targeted stun with Dazzle
[+] Provides allies with additional armour using Shatter passive
[+] Decent heals with Imbue which heal both you and your partner
[+] Naturally tanky with Shatter
[+] Incredible burst damage to help secure kills and game objectives

CONS

[-] Melee champion and can be kited by ranged harass
[-] Slow base movement speed
[-] Consumes mana quickly when forced to spam abilities
[-] His passive Gemcraft only benefits himself
[-] Relatively long cooldowns
[-] You often have to initiate teamfights with Dazzle

Personally for runes i like to keep it tailored for support with a twist. Instead of the magic penetration runes that most supports run i like mana runes. After all you will be doing a mix of magic and attack damage so unless you wanna run hybrid runes this may be better. BTW Hybrid runes not really advised but it can be done.

As I'm sure you've noticed with the items some are support and some are for more Mana or AD. I'll skip on the mostly support items as most people know why they are here.

The reason that we kinda rush Tear of The Goddess is because you can take all game to fill it and upgrade it later if you like and it is still good. Even if you are not doing good in your lane you or you choose not to upgrade it you still get the mana upgrade which with Tarics passive translates into more Attack Damage.

Chalice of Harmony is in this build to help fix Taric's mana hungry tendancies (hey no one is perfect.) I'm sure some of you are reading this and thinking, "why do i need more mana after level 10?" The reason for that is a very simple equation.

MORE MANA = MORE SUSTAIN
pretty much this means that you have more mana to heal yourself and stay in teamfights longer or dissapear for a sec and come back. It also stops the worst time to be a support (In a teamfight when you run out of mana and no real action has taken place.)

Sheen should be an obvious fit but i'll go into it. Sheen pretty much gives you a little more AP (Which makes your abilities hit harder or you heal more) and more mana (Which with Taric's Passive we know means more AD).

Lich Bane (REFER TO SHEEN JUST BETTER)

Aegis Aegis Aegis if for some reason that your tank gets Aegis go get Locket of the Iron Solari or Shurelya's Reverie.

I know this is kind of a weird topic to have in a Support build but I want to explain something to anyone new to supporting. There are two scenarios that you need to know what to do in and im gong to explain them.

WHEN YOUR ADC IS IN LANE (SCENARIO 1)

Hit the minions (DO NOT KILL THEM LET YOUR ADC)
Harrass the enemy ADC and support (LET ADC KILL UNLESS THEY ARE UNABLE)
LAY THOSE WARDS (THEY SAVE LIVES MAINLY YOURS AND THE ADC's)
IF THERE IS A CHANCE WHERE YOU CAN SAVE THE ADC FROM DYING BUT YOU WILL DIE TAKE THE DEATH SAVE THE ADC (HES MORE IMPORTANT)

WHEN YOUR ADC IS AWAY (SCENARIO 2)

Kill the minions dont let them to abuse your turret (WHEN THE ADC IS AWAY TARIC MAY PLAY)
Harass the enemy ADC and support (TAKE THAT KILL NO ONE ELSE IS)
LAY THOSE WARDS (THEY SAVE LIVES MAINLY YOURS)

Taric is one of the greates supports in the game. As stated above he has the ability to be played very aggressively and dish out dat damage or he can be played passively and just keep his ADC alive. Both of these methods of playing are fine, The key is knowing when to use them.

I hope you enjoy reading this guide, I enjoyed writing it. Please don't downvote this guide without trying it and I look forward to youy feedback.