Hi everyone and welcome to my second guide on MOBAfire this one about Taric The Gem Knight. I play Taric for a very long time and i am pretty sure that he is the best support in game. Dont be mad at me if you are Soraka or Sona player :P. But he heals,gives armor,AD and AP to team and lets not say that he has pretty nice CC with his Dazzle.

PROS:
+Tanky support
+Good CC
+Can heal himself and his ally
+AOE spells
+Huge armor
CONS:
-Mana hungry
-Slow movespeed
-Dont have AOE cc

Lately this is not used very much on supports but i guess it still can be optional.



Great spell.Since Taric doesnt have any escape mechanism this is what you should pick.



This is what most supports pick these days this is great but if you already have ex in team i suggest you to pick something else

The rest of Summoner Spells shouldnt be used.

If your AD carry doesnt let you to atack minions and get some mana back this spell is uselles but try to hit full hp minions if you are out of mana.


This is your heal.Great thing about this heal is that it can heal both you and your ally so try to heal your ally always and you both will be healed.If you heal only yourself however the heal will be 40% more effective. When you hit minions cd on your heal will be reduced for 1 second per hit if you atack enemy champ cd will be reduced 3 seconds per hit that is really awesome.


A great spell.It will make you tanky and your lane partner wont be squishy tnx to this. Level it up first so your AD carry will take less dmg from atacks. You can also activate this spell to dmg all nearby enemies and reduce their armor.


This is why everyone hate to lane against Taric. Just sit in bush and wait for enemy to come close then pop out of it with Dazzle and Shatter and your AD carry will do his job. Only time an enemy AD carry can survive this is when support saves him.It is also good for interupting chanelling spells.


One hell out of ultimate.Once you activate it you will dmg all nearby enemies,you will get 70 AP and AD and your team half of this ammount. Cooldown is low so use it if you pushing tower or doing baron or dragon.

Sry for no images at this section but i am going to explain my masteries.

0/9/21

Why max Utility the most???

Summoner's Insight - This will reduce CD on your Flash and increase the duration of CV which is really great.

Good Hands - This will reduce your time spent dead for an incredible 10%. That is awesome.

Meditation - Some nice mana regeneration.

Swiftness - Combined with Quint of Swiftness this will give you great mobility.

Improved recall - I decided to remove Scout and put this instead cuz Scout is not rly usefull

Greed - Bonus gold every 10 sec.Combined with your Philo stone and Heart of Gold this is great.

Wealth - Increased starting gold. This is exactly 40 gold-same price of mana pot.

Awareness - Increased experience by 5%. This is really great since u wont get much kills.

MasterMind - Reduces CD on your Summoner Spells by incredibly 15%.

Why maxing Defense insead Offense tree???

A lot of Taric players would max Utility and Offense. Because of AP,CD reduction and Magic penetration. Your runes will give you AP and Magic penetration and you will have cd reduction with your Ionian Boots of Lucidity. And more tankiness is better in my opinion.

Resistance - Taric has great armor but Magic resistance? Not so much. This will give you even more tankiness.

Hardiness - Just some Bonus armor.

Durability,Veteran's Scars - Much needed health.With this masteries you will be rly tanky.

BOOTS:
Most used boots on supports.Give you MR and nice tenacity take this if their team has lot of cc or is ap heavy.

Personally i like this boots more then Merc early game cuz of cd reduction but once u have shurelya they are not really needed so if u build these boots u should replace them late game.

This can be looked at if enemy team is ad heavy and only if they are ad heavy.They are cheap and give u nice tankiness.

Like Ionian this is also good for early game u will have much mobility so u can stun enemies much easier.U will have much ms but u will lose it when u enter a fight so watch carefully.

Same as Mobility boots ,this will give u a little lower ms but in return it wont end when u enter a fight.

To be honest i am not sure about these boots but i think it can work.Magic penetration would be always welcome.

I wouldnt recommend you these boots on ranked cuz your team will probably think u troll :D i dont personaly build them but i think its not bad u will spam your heal in fights much more then with any other boots.


Other items:

This is a great item on Taric but dont build it unless enemy team has much AOE spells otherwise its not needed.

Also a good item on Taric u should make this or Randuins omen in almost any game.

This wouldnt be a bad iteam at all give u atack speed,cd reduction,mana regeneration and ability power take this if u feel like u need to spam your heal in fights.

As i said take this or Ionia's but chose this if you need help to survive late game and u gotta reduce enemies AS and MS.

This is what i just feel a must item.No matter what enemy team has this is always good.

This can be good sometimes but build it earlier in game.

This is not bad at all late game u will be much easier to disable and take down by AP's.

This is what u should take if you have two or more AD in team and if no one else have it.

Thats about that from items that u should build on support Taric.

-Greater mark of Insight- Just some nice magic penetration you will need this since you dont max offense tree.

-Greater seal of replenishment- Some much needed mana regeneration. This will help a lot if you cant hit the minions to get some mana back with your passive.

-Greater glyph of force- Take this cuz you dont build offense tree too. Will give you more dmg on your spells and a bigger heal.

-Greater quint of swiftness- Well if you pref bonus gold Quint take it,but i think that mobility is much more usefull but its players preference.

Taric is really an awesome lane partner cuz he can keep his AD carry in lane for a long time. This is what you should do at laning phase of a game.


-Protect your AD carry at all costs.
-Do not take minions or kills from your AD.
-Do not push.
-Be ready to sacrifice yourself to save your ally.
-And ofcourse put a lot of wards.

Corki This guy is just great to play with.When u stun he can easily use his Q and his gatlling gun.This together with your shatter will **** enemy armor.If enemy survive this he can use Valkyrie to get close and finish him off with Missile barrage.But he is really squishy char so u gotta protect him.

This is not very easy lane for Taric.He can shred your armor which means your Shatter wont help you with tanking very much,he can reveal you when u hide in bush with his bomb,and he has great escape mechanism.But if he charges in with Valkyrie u must stun him and if u use your combo and your AD carry atacks him too he will probably be dead cuz he has no escape mechanism left just maybe if he has flash or heal.


Vayne Great partner too.Although she is very squishy at start and u cant play too much offensive u gotta try to stun someone near a wall so she can stun his *** too.If you succeed in this u will probably take a kill.

You must zone her if you play against her,also u must not let her farm she is very squishy but stay off the walls but i played vs vayne many times and i dont really find her a big threat.


Ashe When playing with her u must not overextend with atacking since she only has her slow and volley and other carry will probably have some more usefull skills earlier however stun + slow combo can be really nice.And ofcourse once she get her ult u become deadly combo.Once u stun she can hit with her arrow really easily and making a kill in most cases

You must be aggressive vs her just dont let her farm too much early game and dont stay in the bush for too long cuz she can see you with E and if she do so u will get really damaged before u get out of her range.


Twitch This maybe seem a little strange for you but this is actually a great combo.Just keep him safe by destroying all vision wards close which means u gotta buy vision ward on beginning of a game cuz if enemy support has a little brain in his head he will buy a vision right away.When u stun he will pop out of stealth,venom cask and expunge this can deal a insane damage with your burst.

Playing vs him however is not really hard just put those vision wards on lane and u will make him play extremely defensive,if you dont have any vision wards just stun him when he pop out of stealth.


Graves This guy is great with you on lane.When you stun he can easily dash and use buckshot for some nice damage,he can also smoke stunned enemy.And on 6 level his ulti is just great for finishing off low hp enemies.

Playing against him depends on his support.If he has support like soraka,just play aggressive and he probably wont win in 2v2 fight specially if your ad carry has ignite.If he has some aggressive support like alistar or blitz try to zone him or ask your jungler to help.Also if u see use him his dash to iniciate immediately stun him and u maybe get a kill.


Urgot Well many people dont like this guy but i do.In early game he is one of the best harassing champs in game specially with Taric.Just stay in bush and after u land a stun he will easily land his bomb and then Q as much as possible.Also on level 6 its almost impossible to escape from you once u activate your swap+stun combo.

This is a battle of zones.This guy is pretty strong early game but if you cut out his farm he will suck later.Just remember if u get hit by a bomb DO NOT RUN in fact turn around and stun him or if you think u can kill him go for kill.Also u can interrupt his ult with your stun.

This section is about teamwork.What you should do in fights.


When a teamfight begin dont go in first. Taric is tanky but not that much. Your priority is to protect your ad carry by all costs. You must be near your ad cuz he will be focused first and if they kill him that gives great advantage to the enemy team. Dont waste your stun on tanks, use it for enemy ad and ap carry and heal all the fuc*in time. Dont forget to activate your items in battles.Shatter + Aegis combo helps more to your team then you can imagine. Dont try to go in middle of enemy team so you can hit them with Radiance, in fact activate it when team fight starts.It doesnt matter will you hit anyone what really matters is that you will buff your team. Most important spells are used at beginning of a fight and u should activate Radiance to improve them. Many people dont know this but in my opinion supports are the key to victory. If you protect your carries with success you will see what will happen :P

I copied this image from Tanerens Taric build cuz i found those places best to ward as well.Please dont say i am stealing something cuz i appreciate Tanerens build. From it i learned to play Taric like a pro. Now lets talk about warding.
Green wards that are placed near your bot lane is to protect you and your AD carry from ganks. This will be enough to see a enemy jungler and escape in time. The rest of the green wards are just for better map awareness. Pink wards are placed at baron and dragon cuz this way you will see if an enemy champion places a ward there too. This will make you easy to destroy it.

Early game wards:
Early game ward only bushes on your lane cuz some champs will hide in it a lot like Blitz who will wait for a chance to pull. This will counter him a lot, also ward in the bushes near your bot lane in case of ganks. If you and your carry push lane a lot warding these bushes and watching mini-map is a must. You can also ward dragon if you think your enemies can go for it.Dragon is very important early game since it gives +190 gold to whole team. If possible take some vision wards to destroy enemy wards early and your jungler can gank a lot easier.

Mid game wards:
In mid phase of a game you wont be on your lanes often and u gotta ward whole river. Dragon and Baron are the spots that must be warded but warding in the bushes in the rivers is also smart. If you have Oracle's Elixir go search for enemy wards to destroy them so u will screw their map awareness.

Late game wards:
In this phase u gotta ward jungle. Of course if you are losing game and pushed back to your base u can't ward enemy jungle. But u MUST ward yours. If you are pushed at your inhi towers your enemy probably wont dive and will wait you in bushes in your jungle to come. So you gotta see where are they. Also ward your red and blue buffs cuz enemy will probably go steal them first. If you are winning game howewer u will push your enemies back and u must ward their jungle. This way you can know where are they and are they taking red or blue. Map awareness in jungle really helps a lot.

This guide isnt finished. If you have some ideas feel free to tell them to me. Of course critisism is allowed. If you liked my guide tell me why and also tell me why you didnt liked it. Any good ideas will be tested and i will try to reply on all your comments. Hope you enjoyed reading my guide same as i did making it. Thank you for reading.