Taric, the support Tank (and at time of typing broken) needs no introduction but I'll try to give him one anyway.

First off, when you play Taric you may hear your team bemoaning you for choosing the flavor of the month since he just got a rework and if you play enough you will see many Tarics that can't play well to save their teammates' lives.

Second, you need to remember that while you have decent damage you are first and foremost a support, your job is to make sure that your ADC/team stays alive to continue the fight not chase down those who flee.

Third, and finally, make sure you have fun with him. He's an easy champ to pick up and play so try him out you may find that the support role can be fun (at least it is for me).

I'm jumping right into runes since that is going to be the first point that people will call me crazy for using these ones.

Your spell scale with AP and Armor so those are the runes I was looking at so if you want to be spared a block of calculations just know there is little to no waste of any stat with this build and move on to the next chapter those who wish to look at my calculations may stay and look at the numbers with me.

Lets start with Starlight's Touch, while it can have three levels with the charges each charge has the same scaling to it so we just need to optimize to the level 1 charge. AP scaling on it is .2 which means we need 5 AP to gain 1 to the heal, yes I know this is basic math but it's important when we move on so just know that for the heal we want AP to be as close to divisible by 5 as possible.

I'll skip Bastion for the moment to move to Dazzle. Dazzle has a better AP scaling then Starlight's Touch at .5 so it's a 2 AP for one damage, that makes it easy for us since that means we want an even number for AP. The Armor scaling I'm purposing ignoring for two reasons, one Armor has a use outside of this spell and two you will be building armor so the scaling you get is a moot point.

Bastion has no AP scaling so we can ignore it on the basis of it doesn't factor into the runes.

Looking at the efficiency of the runes we can see Seals are pointless for AP since they offer a pitiful .59 AP compared to the 1 Armor.

Marks are just as bad at AP as seals while offering .91 Armor so for efficiency we will use the Armor Marks.

Glyphs offer the best non-quint AP at 1.19 to .7 Armor so we want a full set of AP glyphs if possible which gives us 10.71 AP, while that leaves a little left over we have our even number as well as divisible by five.

We are left with Quints AP quints offer 4.95 while Armor offer 4.26, looking this it seems either would be viable to use right well you're right I just happen to think that since Armor building is what you will be doing more of in game lets get the bonus to our heal and stun damage which gives us 2 AP quints giving 9.9 AP, which you might be thinking that gives us a number neither divisible by 5 or an even number but remember we have .71 over from our Glyphs which covers the small shortfall. Ok you might think but where does the Quint of Gold come in since you were talking about Armor before? Well reader when you are looking at the fact that you will be short gold from the lack of farm the little extra from the gold quint will offer enough gold in the game to cover the cost of the vision ward that you should have purchased which I think works out well for you.

So in conclusion for this section you will end up from runes with 20 AP, 17 Armor, and 1 Gold per 10. Although replacing the gold quint with an Armor Quint is also viable with this build.

Taric is a tank, Taric is a support, Taric is Mana hungry. These are what we need to remember with our masteries.

We need to get Bandit for our gold production:

Wanderer or Savagery to start, well getting back to the lane or getting to the fight to do what we do is what we need not a small bonus to our auto attacks (the only damage spell we have can/should hit multiple targets) so Wanderer wins in this category.

Runic Affinity/Secret Stash/Assassin, this level is useless for us but since we have to go through it to reach our Bandit I would take the only one that is even vaguely useful with Secret Stash since you may buy a potion at some point, however if you think you will be alone enough Assassin would also be a decent choice.

Merciless/Meditation, Point Three Taric is Mana hungry, Meditation is the clear choice here for the increased mana regen.

Bandit/Dangerous Game, Really did you forget what we were going down this tree for? Bandit no other option.

Taric is Support, Taric is Tank so we should have Bond of Stone reduced damage and ally reduced damage is always a good thing.

Recovery/Unyielding: with the fact that you have spells that have increased effects from armor Unyielding is the better option for this in my opinion.

Explorer/Tough Skin, this was a tough choice since both offer something you want, however I give the edge to explorer because you are going to want to be able to ward Dragon for your jungler.

Runic Armor/Veteran's Scars, This is another tough contest the first helps you survive to assist your allies but I have to give the edge to Veteran's Scars since Starlight's Tough scales with bonus HP and 45 bonus HP means you can give a little edge to your ally.

Insight/Perseverance, This is the one I'm most conflicted about since reduced cooldowns on your flash and other summoner spell is good but perseverance allows you to stay in lane/a team fight longer so I would say use whichever you feel better about.

Swiftness/Legendary Guardian, Without question Legendary Guardian is the better option, Bastion gets better and your stun does more damage just because you are near your opponents.

Grasp of the Undying/Strength of the Ages/Bond of Stone, Again really this is why we went down this path Bond of Stone is your best and only choice here.

Dazzle is your core spell is this build if you have a chance to level this spell up and it doesn't interfere with Cosmic Radiance do so, the stun duration is increased, damage goes up but the cost stays the same.

Cosmic Radiance, your ult, like most ults you take at each opportunity that is presented to you.

Your last two Skills are needed at levels two and three but which order depends on how your ADC is playing, are they playing slow and cautious the take Bastion at level two and cover them as soon as possible, if they are playing fast and loose then Starlight's touch is needed more. once you have both however ranking them is a lower priority, since the ranks in Bastion gives only 2.5% shared increased armor and starlight's touch has increased mana costs for only a minimum increase in healing, none of them get reduced cooldowns,

Starting out.
You are a support, you need a support item, which is right for you? Rhetorical question since you can see it in the build, Relic shield, you gain passive gold and you can smack a minion around for some bonus gold for you and your ADC.

Bead vs. Biscuits
This is a personal opinion but I feel that giving yourself a leg up on your upgraded item is a little better then the benefit that the biscuits will give especially if you are playing the early laning phase safe, a.k.a. until you get your heal.

Iceborn Gauntlet
This has served me very well in the game, giving me more mana for my spells, half the cap on cooldown reduction, a good boost to armor and a great passive that works with my own passive. It also builds out of a very good laning item of the Glacial Shroud and if you can build the heavy armor build the AOE slow can give a big boost to your allies in a team fight.

Honestly Taric is one of the best champions that you can go full tank on and still be enough of an annoyance that your opponents will be forced to deal with you.

Taric has a fun time in lane since his rework, before it was a complete surprise who was getting a stun and unless you could coordinate with you lane partner, and they would listen, you could be left out of place just ripe for the picking. Now since not only is the stun clearly shown you can cast it from your lane partner so they can position themselves where they want to come in from. Another fun thing you can do is since it's clearly visible you can force you lane opponents from farm or suffer a stun followed by a couple of hard hits from you, both of which help you come out ahead.

Laning otherwise is keep your ADC alive and sometimes hit a minion with your relic shield, also make sure you ward, specifically Dragon, the river bush, and the bushes by your turret for a backdoor jungle attack although if you are feeling brave warding your opponents jungle can help not only your jungler but also top lane since they know they won't have a gank coming for them,

In team fights you should lead with your ult followed immediately by your stun, if timed right when your stun ends your team should be invulnerable just as the stun ends and unless you are playing an experienced team they will burn valuable spells in quick succession panicking as the stun ends giving your team time to dish out some damage to them. Otherwise just heal when you see someone getting low and Bastion to get some extra damage from your Iceborn and Bravado and you just might be able to get a second stun off at the end of the fight.

If the opponents recognize the threat that you represent and burn you dead right as the fight begins just remember you have built supertank and they had to burn how many spells to take you out leaving them vulnerable to your teammates to mop up.

Pros
+ Looks Fabulous
+ Can build pure tank and still dish out damage
+ Has a good heal that affects self and teammates at the same time
+ Looks Fabulous
+ Is an underestimated champion
+ Can initiate team fights
+ Looks Fabulous
+ Is easy to learn
+ Can cast other spells to help the recharge of your heal
+ Can make sure that your color complements your ADC

Cons
- Is weak until level three
- If facing mages your damage will suffer
- Is very Mana hungry early game (You will often have to go back to base earlier then most supports)
- Ult is hard to time properly
- Spells are heavily telegraphed so easier to avoid
- May be expected to always be in Armor of the Fifth Age

If you are looking for a fun support champion that is forgiving to a new player Taric may be right up your alley since he can be a full tank and still make a difference. For a player who is looking for someone that can be useful no matter how bad the game is going Taric is also right up your alley. If you are looking for a champion that can work in multiple roles well unfortunately Taric is too locked down in his support/tank role to really be a jack-of-all-trades.