Hey guys, this is my first guide here. I'm a german girl, this is why my english is not good at all but I hope you will understand me.

I play League of Legends since 4 months and I tested a lot of champions. I've played high DPS champions (for example Tristana and Poppy ) and supports like Sona or Soraka. Since a short time ago I tried to play the tanks Rammus and Galio. Now I want to play a combination between healer/support and tank. This is why I'm playing...

Taric the Gem Knight

There is an ancient form of magic, forgotten by many and discarded by some. It is the magic of the earth, of the resonance of crystals and gems. Taric's father was a healer in their city, on a world far away. Taric was always interested in his father's pursuits, even from a young age. Despite his burgeoning understanding of herbs, plants, and animal medicines, it was the power of gems that most fascinated the growing boy. It wasn't long before Taric had exhausted his father's coveted library and set out on a path of his own. He wasn't to be a healer, but a defender - one who used the power of the earth to preserve and protect. Quickly, Taric became a wandering knight, renowned across the land. That is, until the day a spell of summoning grabbed him from his home and deposited him on Runeterra. Now, Taric misses his world, though he is happy to fight in the League, protecting all who are in need.

''As Taric's father taught him, every stone has its meaning. For Taric's enemies, they all mean trouble.''

In my opinion Taric is a funny playable champion.
He is usefull in laning phrases and in team fights, because he can heal, he has an aura for nearby champions and he can stun enemies.
(Teampartners like Annie will love you! xD)

Abilities

Imbue
Taric brings forth earthen energy to heal his target. As the magic flows through him he is healed for the same amount. If Taric heals only himself, the total effect will be 1.4X the base heal amount.
Taric brings forth earthen energy to heal a nearby ally and himself for 60/100/140/180/220 (+1.1). If Taric heals only himself, the heal will be 40% more effective. Taric's melee attacks decrease this spell's cooldown by 2 seconds per hit.

Your heal ability. :)
It's good for turret-diving, helping and supporting teampartners, and surviving a fight/teamfight.

Shatter
Taric is protected by a hardening aura, increasing the armor of himself and nearby allied champions. He may choose to splinter the enchanted rocks surrounding him to deal damage and decrease the armor of nearby enemies at the cost of the aura for a short time.
Passive: Taric gains an aura that increases the armor of nearby allies by 10/15/20/25/30 and increases his own armor by twice this amount.

Active: Taric deals 100/150/200/250/300 (+0.5) magic damage to nearby enemies and decreases their armor by 10/15/20/25/30 for 4 seconds. The aura portion of his passive is not in effect during the cooldown.

The reason why you have to buy more magic resist items instead of armor items. (In case of AP and AD enemies) The aura is great in combine with Aegis of Legion because your partners are very resiliently then.

Dazzle
Taric emits a brilliant ball of prismatic light from his gemmed shield, stunning and damaging his enemies.
Taric fires a sphere of prismatic light at an enemy, dealing 20/40/60/80/100 - 80/160/240/320/400 (+1) magic damage (lower damage the further the target is), and stunning them for 1 - 2 seconds (higher stun the further the target is).

Your mainly ability. It's good for ganking a lane and in case of Flash or Ghost used by an enemy it will be help for prevent the escape.
In teamfights it's so helpfully to stun a hard DPS champion. Your team should focus this champion so that your teams haven't got a threat anymore.

Radiance
Taric emits a brilliant light, healing himself and increasing physical damage for surrounding allied units.
Toggle: Taric emits brilliant light, healing himself for 30/40/50 (+0.2) a second and increasing his and nearby allies' attack damage by 30/60/90 (half effect for nearby allied champions). The cost to sustain Radiance increases by 4/7/10 each second.

A nice ultimate for teamfights or lane fights.
The other use is more damage to destroy a turret faster.
It will help a lot but watch out for your mana!

Greater Mark of Magic Resist
I choose it because Taric has already armor with and there are high DPS ability-power-champions. For example Katarina, Brand, Ryze, Aniviaand so on.

Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration
I really don't want to "waste" items for mana regeneration. Taric has extremly mana problems this is why you need Clarity AND these seals.

Greater Glyph of Ability Power
It's just for improving your DPS and your heal. When you want to play Taric full tank you can buy 9 x Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction
Tarics Imbue and Dazzle has long cooldowns. Later game you have items like Ionian Boots of Lucidity but in earlier game it's helpfull to heal or stun when needed.
I just think runes are better for early game because later you will get those cdr items.
This is a pure tank guide, but you can also take 9 x Greater Glyph of Ability Power if you think DPS and heals are more important.

Greater Quintessence of Defense
I choose only one rune for armor. You should buy Thornmail or Frozen Heart and this gives a lot of armor. Taric is a good tower diver with his Imbue sooo armor isn't all. This rune is just for "beeing sure that I have enough armor". xD
It's also possible to take 3 x Greater Quintessence of Scaling Magic Resist.

Greater Quintessence of Scaling Magic Resist
It's the same reason as for Greater Mark of Magic Resist.

another choice is :
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power
I think this one also a good idea to improve the Tarics abilities.

Greater Quintessence of Health
In my opinion this is still a very expensive rune and 26 health isn't much. For early game its good to have 78 health more but nothing else. This is why I'm choosing A or MR runes instead of health runes.

First I should say you can't start with the same item all the time. I mean it depended on the other team with which item you start a game. Aegis of the Legion is a very powerfull aura. So start with one of these items: Ruby Crystal, Null-Magic Mantle or Cloth Armor.

First recall:
Logically you buy the Aegis of Legion first out of the choosen item.
When you have enough money buy a Kindlegem.
Another possibility is Boots if you haven't got enough money.

Spirit Visage is a nice item for Taric, I think. It gives health, magic resist and more healing. :) But in some guides, I've read, they say you should buy an AP item for more heal. This is why another choice can be Archangel's Staff. But please buy Tear of the Goddess first to farm mana. This is good because of Tarics mana problems. Archangel's Staff will be your last item when you choose this instead of Spirit Visage.

Now you have to take a look at your enemy team. Ionian Boots of Lucidity is a good idea but sometimes Mercury's Treads is the better choice. The passive is nice against champions like Sion with his Cryptic Gaze which stuns a long time. Its also bad for Taric to be silenced of Sigil of Silence Infuse Null Sphere and so on. Other stuns and lows are very annoying. It's also a good item because of the magic resist.

Next item will be Banshee's Veil. It is good for enemies like (for example) Morgana. Dark Binding for a better position of Tormented Shadow is hard for every tank because of the reducing of the magic resist. Banshee's Veil will prevent this. But it's an expensive item so buy a Negatron Cloak or Catalyst the Protecterfirst and after the next recall buy the Banshee's Veil.

So then you have to look at the enemies again. You can choose between...
... 1. Frozen Heart. The 99 armor is good against AD champions and also for tower diving. You can stun a champion with low hp and stand in front of a turret while your lane partner is doing the last hit. With your Imbue you can survive this.
The passive of this item is very helpfull. Reducing the attack speed of the nearby champions is good to get a kill. Another good choice would be Thornmail. When your lane partner is very agressiv and died a few times because you can't even help with your heals or stuns. Then the enemies are "feeded" and can do a lot of dmg.
Then Thornmail would be the better choice.

...2. Force of Nature
It's a good item against AP champions and it gives you life regeneration + movement speed.

For the last item you can choose between 3 items :

1. Guardian Angel
It's good to underline your "invulnerability". It's good for every tank.

2. Lich Bane
I know it is a tank guide, but this item gives magic resist and movement speed too.
I think Lich Bance is one of the best items in League of Legends. It will give more AD for the next attack. For example: Starting with Dazzle and then attack an enemy. Some people say the dmg will be missing when you have a tank in your team. This is why you can choose this item to "remove" this rumor.

3. Abyssal Mask
I'm not sure whether this is a good idea.
But it gives also magic resist and AP to improve your abilities. And the important thing : Your active Shatter decreases armor of enemies. This item would also decrease the magic resist of the enemies.
So why not?

Regard your lane and team parnters, watch out for your mana, take a look at your enemy team and infer out of this what items are best for each game.

I think Taric is a very important champion for a team. It's pity that he isn't a popular champion in League of Legends.

Try this guide if you want, and please give me a feedback for this guide. :)
I'm glad about help for this guide and for my translations ! I appreciate your opinions so describe please.

Thank you for reading my guide and have fun with playing Taric,

Leya.