Hello and welcome to my (first) guide on, in my opinion, one of the best AP Tanks in the game, Amumu the sad mummy. I bought Amumu mainly because I needed a good jungle, but also because I enjoyed playing him. However I saw his incredible potential on the top lane, and have never looked back. Itemization is key if you decide to play this way, so experienced Amumu players could go straight there. I also want to stress that Amumu is a perfect jungle, and that I understand that. This guide is just to point out that he is also a powerful top laner too ^^

Again, this is my first guide, so I apologize if it is a little rough around the edges. I hope you'll find it useful.

Pros + Quite tanky + High dmg aoe abilities + Good engages/sticky + Great TF utility + Passive MR shredder + E allows for powerful trades

Cons - Little harass - Weak to ranged attacks - Weak pre lvl 4 - Difficult to farm early/with AA's - Can be quite mana-intensive - No real escapes/Relies on Q

Many of Amumu's weaknesses are similar to Rumble's, weakish early (pre 6) game, struggles to farm with just basic attacks, no (major) escapes etc. Play around them and your powerful skillset will shine through.

EDIT My old runes that you may have seen were very much (as I stated) "make-do" since they were all I had at the time. After actually grinding IP and not being tempted by champions for about a week I managed to scrounge these slightly more tanky runes, and threw in some AP to round it off which works pretty well on Amumu.

Quintessence: Two Greater Quintessence of Health give you additional tankyness where it counts, and a single Greater Quintessence of Ability Power to round off your AP total. Pretty straight forward choices, with the AP giving you a little more presence in lane.

Marks: With the Greater Seal of Armor nerf I personally think Greater Mark of Armor are increasingly the better choice for tank laners. By having 9 Greater Mark of Armor you only lost 1 total armour vs the seals (0.91x9 = 8.19 total) which now provide only 1 Armour each. This means you can use those now empty Seal slots for...

Seals: Greater Seal of Health. While max health items and champions are experience a power spike with the BORK changes having additional health on lane is still very useful, especially for Amumu to counteract his weak early game. Having 72 more hp will possibly save you from a lvl 2 ignite engage, and you still have you Tantrum passive to offset losing the Greater Seal of Armor.

Glyphs: These are mainly personally preference, since I like having a little more AP in lane, but i'm unwilling to commit to a full AP glyph layout. You could easily switch the Greater Glyph of Ability Power for Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power instead, or just go for a full set of Greater Glyph of Magic Resist. It really depends on how confidant you are in your little mummy ^^

Gold. Utility softens the weak early game with increased mana regen and additional gold for an item advantage which allows you to get a good setup for the late game. I cannot count the amount of times just having Total Biscuit of Rejuvenations instead of Health Potions have saved my life from a close engage, and that first blood gold could be everything. Of course this is purely based on my playstyle, and if you really wanted the extra defensive stats (and they are quite useful) then I would recommend a 0/15/15 build, as you really need that extra GP per sec over anything else.

Ignite
The purpose built "kill secure" spell, and that's all that I need to say about it. Why should you take it on Amumu? The gold potential from an jungler gank or first blood (something I achieve more than I should, and I'll get to that in a sec) should not be underrated, so potentially missing out should be avoided if possible. Amumu's damage early isn't exactly dunky Darius high, but it's higher than most people think, so getting that first lane kill will completely throw your opponent off their game, and that effect is worth more GP/10 than a Ancient Coin In one incident I caught my opposing Akali out by hitting lvl 2 as she came up river and Bandage Tossed to her, at which point she predictably though "lulz easy kill". With only a lvl 1 Tantrum I got her down to 75 hp with half health remaining, then a q-ignite got me the first blood after which she raged, left and I ended 15/0. This doesn't happen often, but when it does Ignite will make sure of it.

Flash
The free escape, and something all champs can benefit from. Nice on Amumu in lane, as your typical escape method of Bandage Toss to the nearest jungle camp won't always be available, so a flash could be a lifesaver. Plus makes a backup engage is you fluff the Bandage Toss.

Teleport
Useful for getting back to lane quickly for the extra CS or to defend a objective. Really strong with Amumu but sadly we can only have two spells ¬_¬ Personal choice as to if reckon you could survive without Flash, so take this and Ignite to maximize gold potential or if you feel Teleport would benefit the team more than you having the kills and assists from Ignite, in which case drop it and keep Flash for the escapes/backup engage.

(Passive) Cursed Touch
Reducing MR on every basic attack allows Amumu to deal deceptively high damage in all of his trades, something that will often surprise your lane counterpart. At lvl 4, Kha'Zix will have exactly 35 MR with no items or MR runes. By taking out 15 of that you will be dealing higher damage than they expected, and that alone gives you the upper hand.

(Q) Bandage Toss
This is your primary engage to any fight, and part of Amumu's lane dominance. With a high early cooldown, don't expect to (nor should you ever) be spamming it. However the high CD isn't as restrictive, as Amumu's trades aren't fast, but rather wearing down your opponent with rapid Tantrum's and constant Despair whilst having naturally more HP than them until they finally realise they are too weak to continue, at which point a final Bandage Toss is all you need.
Other uses involve escapes in fights inside the jungle (jumping to camps over the walls), initiating a TF with a Q-R combo or catching a low health carry in the clean up. This ability is Amumu's most known, and his most rightly feared.

(W) Despair
An aoe max %health drain ability? Don't mind if I do. This is one of the strongest top lane abilities any champ could ask for, and it allows Amumu to fight all those Dr. Mundo's and Shen's. At its first rank it drains 2.5% max health a second plus 8 flat damage and with this build at max rank it is 4%. I'll just let that sink in... Early game it might not appear that powerful but since it works of health at late game that 5000 hp Garen will be crying with you, while losing 230 hp a second ^^
Best part? No cap to monsters or minons. Solo baron anyone?

(E) Tantrum
Your best ability, and also your most underrated. With 3 key components to it, flat physical damage reduction, high aoe damage and a cooldown that drops each time you get hit, Tantrum allows you to farm highly efficiently, without running oom, plus it is your primary trading tool. Most Amumu trades go along the lines of spamming tantrum until they try to run, since a 8 second cooldown at lvl 3 seems a long time, but with a 0.5 second drop on each hit (which works out to more like a second in real terms) the cooldown might as well be 3 seconds, which really adds up.

(R) Curse of the Sad Mummy
To me, this is possibly the best team fight ult in the game for freezing an entire team (sorry Lissandra) in its tracks, and can turn a stomp into a rout instantly. Not really much to say that most league players won't know, lead with a Bandage Toss, pop your ult and start running around catching everyone in your aoe's range ( Despair, Sunfire Aegis etc) and watch that ace appear.
One word of warning is make sure the rest of your team is in a position to follow up, many of them won't be able to comprehend Amumu's glory and may blame you for "trying to 1v5 omg n00b report" Avoid this situation and communicate with your team beforehand via pings or chat.

The most important part of Amumu in the top lane is your item choices, so this will be the core of the guide.
Firstly, we must look at what Amumu needs at all stages of the game not wants, he needs Health, Armour/MR and AP. At different stages these will become more or less useful, but for now these will be our deciding factors when choosing items. Another thing before we launch into each individual item is that anything with an Aura is a major plus point for Amumu, because it stacks with Despair and his tendency it be in the middle of fights, so consider this as well.

Core Items
Rod of Ages
This is your primary lane item, and it should be your first finished item except in extremely unusual circumstances. The passive works best when you get it early, as maxed it gives the third most health in the game (after Frozen Mallet and of course Warmog's Armor) so this will set you up well for those early engages as well as the mid game teamfights. It also gives you mana which in laning phase is very useful. Amumu has quite high mana costs on his Bandage Toss and ult, and Despair can quickly add up if overused so the extra mana is appreciated. Also having as much AP as a Needlessly Large Rod is never a bad thing.

Sunfire cape
Great item on most tanks, and Amumu is no exception. A passive 40 dmg a second stacks well with his Despair, 450 health is never amiss and the armour works well with his tendency to dive onto the ADCs. I personally rush this after my RoA, for those first major teamfights.

Spirit Visage
An item I see more and more these days, and with good reason too. Providing a healthy amount of HP, 20 health regen, a good does of MR and some CDR, for shaving seconds off that last ditch Bandage Toss. Depending on how the game is going, I would only get this 3rd if the opposing mid laner was becoming a problem, otherwise I would take either Randuin's Omen or Rylai's Crystal Scepter depending on how the game was going.

Randuin's Omen
Again, a powerful and increasingly popular item for the decent amout of health and armour it provides. Synergises well with Amumu especially because the active is around the range of Despair and other Auras. I normally would get this after Sunfire Aegis if the enemy ADC was the priority target or an AD mid ( Talon, Zed etc) was out of control.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter
The Frozen Mallet for AP tanks, and a rather underrated item in comparison. Works great on Amumu for the passive slow procing on either Despair or Bandage Toss plus a large health boost and a nice amount of AP to boot. I only get this as my 3rd item choice if I am either stomping hard or every lane is winning really well. Remember, as the primary tank for the team you don't require kills, so stacking those Rabadon's Deathcaps likes it's TF2 isn't your goal. Play for the team not for yourself.

Boot Choices
Mercury Treads
My personal favorite boots for Amumu as it gives you a second MR item, covering that potential weakness, and the passive CC reduction effect is so valuable on any champion, but especially Amumu to cripple any attempts to stop him initiating that important team fight.

Ninja Tabi
Giving 25 armour, and passively ignoring 10% of all ad damage as well, these boots are often the default choice for 90% of top laners. With Amumu they fit right in with your Tantrums passive, meaning you negate a lot of early game damage for a comparatively low cost. It's personal preference when deciding between this or Mercury's Treads in any game. Sometimes I will buy these early, to counter certain early game champs ("cough" Pantheon "cough") and switch them out for merc treads in the late game.

Ionian boots of lucidity
15% CDR is nothing to be ignored, although it means you will probably have to play more aggressive than usual to get the most use out of it. More of a playstyle choice than a statistical one, although with the recent nerf to Spirit Visages CDR component these boots have risen slightly in my favour although you will have 15% CDR already with masteries so I personally wouldn't take them. You only need to have your cooldowns up for the initiation, and the only ability that really benefits from it is Bandage Toss, and buying boots to benefit one ability isn't that effective tbh.

Alternative Items
Abyssal Scepter
Providing a high amount of AP and MR respectively, Abyssal is a strong item on Amumu and something that works great on him. I don't usually build it whilst playing him top as I don't like sacrificing any of my core items for it however I have used it before, when you need to shut down that fed Ahri or another AP caster and a Spirit Visage isn't cutting it. If you feel that you could afford the loss of health from a rylai's or even a Banshee's Veil then go ahead. If there is more than one enemy lane doing well, say bot lane, then make sure to not neglect that potential threat. Spending all your GP on MR might seem wise to hunt down Ziggs, but you'll be kicking yourself come the Caitlyn pentakill.

Thornmail
With the massive buff to Frozen Heart this item has fall out of my favour. Still quite powerful, esperically against certain champs ( Fiora, Rengar etc) but often Frozen Heart will be more useful in teamfights. Unless someone like a Yasuo is massively fed you probably don't need this.

Warmogs
The "king" of tankyness, holding the esteemed title of "Most health item" and packing an often ignored but almost equally powerful passive, gab this if you just want to be a complete tank, nothing else. I would only get this with 21 defense masteries for the extra armour and MR, otherwise you could be left unprotected.

Frozen Heart
Gives high armour stats, plenty of mana, CDR and an attack speed debuff to nearby enemies. Whilst I didn't often take this item myself, after the semi-recent buff to it I now take this almost every game, often as a replacement for Thornmail. Works as a hard counter in lane, while the mana gives sustain. Overall a great item, but be careful on losing the HP you would get from a Sunfire Aegis or similar.

zeke's herald Zeke's Herald
Not an item I've ever seen the need to get on Amumu but I still felt I should address. Not a good amount of health for the cost, decent CDR and an AD/LS buff that only really helps the ADC. Not useful in practice, since you will be at the front of the attack and the adc will be at the back, so they won't always benefit from it. You certainty won't benefit from the ad or life steal yourself, so I wouldn't consider getting this.

Banshees Veil
Gives health, MR and a spellshield passive. Could be useful against a CC heavy team that tries to freeze you in place, otherwise grab Spirit Visage over this for the health regan and CDR.

Laning phase, in my opinion, can be almost divided into 3 sections; Farming, Harassing/Trades and Engaging

Amumu's abilities work wonderfully in the jungle, and they work equally well in lane, or perhaps better, since you can use Tantrum more often with more targets to kill. In lane Amumu will want to be hiding behind minions looking sad until you suddenly kill half a wave in one E. At its 2nd rank Tantrum gets an impressive power spike in lane, for both farming and trades.

Harass
Amumu's weakest section, and despite how much I try to sidestep this Amumu is easily harassed by most ranged abilities and he can do very little to stop this (all together now, Teemo) Happily however, most top laners have little harass themselves, and you at least have your Tantrum passive to offset some of the damage. If they are playing, say Vayne or Teemo top to do serious damage to you they would be forced to build flat deeps to kill you, allowing you to take advantage of that in teamfights. As to Amumu's own harassing powers, he is surprisingly adapt at this. Similar to Garens Judgment with his Despair and Tantrum passing through creeps. It isn't expectational, but against a melee champion it forces them to be taking damage while farming while you are relatively safe behind your wave. Successfully avoiding their harass will allow you to make powerful...

Trades
Possibly Amumu's best aspect, his trades are efficient and long lasting, so the longer they engage you the better you get (anyone who has fought Jax understands this all too well...). Tantrum passive is obviously effective in this, with reduced cooldowns when hit. If you can position the fight in a creep wave then GL to your opponent. Of course a good trade could lead on to...

Engaging
I lied earlier, Amumu's greatest aspect is his engages. Already well known for this in a jungle role, so I won't heavily elaborate, your Bandage Toss reaches as far as a Blitzcrank pull, expect working the other way round thankfully, as it allows a follow up Curse of the Sad Mummy. This is an effective 3 second lockdown, and combine with your Cursed Touch will deal surprisingly amplified damage. When Amumu latches onto you, escape is difficult with the lowish cooldown of Bandage Toss you can expect to use this twice in most fights, once to start, and once to finish ^^

This will be updated semi-regularly as I encounter new champs. In the meantime here is a small section on general counters and a few specific ones. Please feel free to msg me with your own games and tell me how they went (Lolking screenshots would be nice), and I'll post a synopsis here with your name attached. Green for good match-up, Yellow for average and Red for bad :D

NOTE: With the Season 4 focus on "bruisers" ie tanks with power (see OP tanks ^^) such as Shyvana, Renekton and Darius, Amumu top is currantly at its weakest point as that sub-breed of tank is the best counter to Amumu against squishy champs such as Kha'Zix or Fiora he excels, allowing him to enter teamfights and give the entire team that early/mid game boost towards victory. If, for some reason, you only read the last 5 words of a section Amumu Is an Assassin Counter.

Kha'Zix
I've had a string of successes against this champ, so I'm basing this counter on this. He'll typically try to land early poke on you for a lvl 3 engage, with Doran's Shield and health pots this won't be too much of an issue but use minion cover anyway. Farm until 4, watch him make a (poor) engage and watch the Flash get popped (or equally first blood) From 6 onwards he won't bother you, farm and use Despair and Tantrum to zone him.

Yasuo
Crit damage sucks, and hes mobile as hell, but as long as you dodge his Steel Tempest and Sweeping Blades you'll be fine. Wind Wall is a good counter engagement tool, but simple to move around. Plus you can easily bait him to attack you, or just Curse of the Sad Mummy first then walk up and Bandage Toss him. Another, smaller, positive upside is your Despair will pop his passive, and you can do this easily while farming, as that shield is a pain to deal with otherwise. EDIT While all this is still true, if you have the misfortune to go against a Diamond 1 Yasuo when you still haven't ranked, the skill difference will destroy you if they tryhard... Speaking from personal experience, although this will probably never happen.

This concludes the build, I will be returning to this regularly to update (counters, items etc) but for now I'd just like to throw this out into the ether that is Mobafire and watch the general reaction to this shockingly non-meta madness ^^ Anyhow I hope you enjoyed it, remember it is my first guide so it may go on a little at times. In the future I'll try to get some videos on it, or even record one my self 0.o as there is a saddening absence of top Amumu videos. Can't imagine why...