Rengar Build Guide by BasedGodHanazawa

Introduction

Hello fellow potential viewers, my name is Brian or also know in-game as "BasedGodHanazawa". This is my first ever and probably my last guide I'll ever make due to my lack of knowledge on other champs and the fact that I literally only play Rengar. This guide is heavily influenced by (if you haven't noticed already) Ryan Choi and they way he plays/builds Rengar. I reached low Plat as of season 4 and am currently in the mids of Silver due to disgusting placement matches, going 2/8 and am honestly ok with such rankings. I hope you get to learn a thing or two from this guide as I did put lots of effort into the makings of this guide solely to help/educate other players who has an interest in playing Rengo. By no means, nor do I dare to label this guide as a "professional" guide as I'm just any ordinary player who happens to love a certain Champion enough to right about said Champion. Rengar has been my "go-to"/favourite Champion ever since summer of 2013; I have been playing him exclusively ever since and I don't see myself stopping from playing this Champion anytime soon.

Some of my Rengar statistics for those who are interested:
Season 3Season 4
Season 4 (Silver Smurf)

(**The following explanations/advice is mostly based off of my opinion (with Ryan Choi's influence), never did I say these were the "correct" choices but this is what I deem most fruitful during my time with Rengar**)

Pros / Cons

Pros

+ Absurd Late Game if things are relatively under control + Amazing outplay potential with Unseen Predator + Crazy lane pressure if played correctly + Strong global presence + Thrill of the Hunt is a great scouter tool and reveals enemies within a large proximity + 5 - 12 seconds of Invisibility when using Thrill of the Hunt + Great additional stats when building stacks towards [[Bonetooth Necklace (Yellow)]] + Arguably the quickest killer in all of League of Legends (~2400+ DMG under 1 second) + EASY TO LEARN

Cons

- Somewhat lackluster laning phase against most Champions especially when under their Jungler's mercy - Susceptible to ranged poke with nothing he can do back asides - Has no real Teamfight qualities a team would benefit from - A well timed knockback/knockup or displacements such as Flay, Howling Gale, and Monsoon can nullify Rengar's Unseen Predator alongside Thrill of the Hunt - Heavily item dependent - Extremely vulnerable to ganks pre-6 - Ferocity management reflects his prowess - Rengar's ability to "Cheese" his targets past the 30 minute mark heavily relies on surprises and isolation from other potential enemies for he is, as I would call him, a Gimmick that relies on Thrill of the Hunt more than anything - HARD TO MASTER

Runes

• 1x Greater Mark of Critical Chance: Sneaking in a Critical Strike while trading during the Early Game can severely turn the tides of a fight.
  
  
• 8x Greater Mark of Attack Damage: Standard AD Marks for most Top Laners. Extra AD helps making CS'ing much easier and is a great boost during the Early Game.
  
  
• 9x Greater Seal of Armor: Standard Armor Seals vs Physical Damage Dealers Top Lane
  
  
• 6x Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction: The 5% CDR goes a long way when trying to reach 40% CDR, with this build you won't be actually getting 40% but 35% instead.
  
  
• 1x Greater Glyph of Attack Damage: The 0.28 AD rounds your overall AD to 15 which is standard. Replacing this with Magic Resistance will leave you with 14 AD but 1 more Magic Resistance
  
  
• 2x Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: A little is better than none right? If you want more CDR go for it.
  
  
• 3x Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: Same explanation applies with Greater Mark of Attack Damage. Better Early Game.

Masteries

Since Rengar is an AD Caster, opting for the extra points in Sorcery would be most beneficial in every aspect when comparing to Fury
The 5% Cooldown Reduction goes a long way towards achieving maximum Cooldown Reduction, but with this build you only reach 35%.

Summoners

Honestly not much to say here, Ignite + Flash is pretty standard.
Ignite plus Rengar's immense Lv 2 power spike burst can easily grant you First Blood which not many people are aware of. Flash is Flash

For the Creative few:

You could experiment with swapping out Ignite for Exhaust for a safer laning phase and could potentially net you some sweet outplays with the DMG reduction and Movespeed reduction. Rengar also has an arguable weak (?) early game especially when one's inexperienced with this Champion. Exhaust could save a life.

Abilities + Bonetooth Necklace

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Unseen Predator: While in brush or in stealth, Rengar gains bonus attack range and his basic attacks cause him to leap at the target's location.
This bonus lasts for 0.5 seconds upon exiting brush or stealth. Unseen Predator will happen regardless of whether or not his target has sight of him.
RANGE: 600 (725 with 6 Trophies on Bonetooth Necklace (Yellow))

• A good habit to get into after landing from Unseen Predator is to walk in front of your target, doing so will allow you walk ahead of your enemy and lets you register in an extra Auto-Attack before they run out of range to do so.
• 0.5 seconds upon exiting brush may not seem like a lot but it can be manipulated into creating beneficial situations for yourself. This can be used to "Psyche" your Lane Opponent by walking towards them from the brush seeming like you want to leap onto them but you're actually going to CS by clicking onto the Creeps to the left or right of you. Playing Mind Games with your Lane Opponent can make you very unpredictable with your decision on when to jump your Opponent or not and can potentially give you the "Upper Hand" in lane which naturally Zones your Opponent away from brushes and even the Creeps.

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Savagery: Rengar's next basic attack within the next 3 seconds deals bonus physical damage.
BONUS PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 30 / 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 (+ 0 / 5 / 10 / 15 / 20% AD)

Empowered Savagery: Rengar's next basic attack in the next 3 seconds deals bonus physical damage equal to 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 / 105 / 120 / 135 / 150 / 160 / 170 / 180 / 190 / 200 / 210 / 220 / 230 / 240 (15 + 15 / 10 at each level) (+ 50% AD). Additionally, Savagery grants Rengar 47 + (3 × Rengar's level)% bonus attack speed and increases his attack damage by 10% for 5 seconds.

• This isn't stated in the Tool-Tip but activating Savagery grants Rengar ~30% bonus Attack Speed on his NEXT Auto-Attack. If Savagery is activated after the use of Empowered Savagery, the bonus Attack Speeds will accumulate but will only increase by ~20% rather than ~30%. This means that Rengar can potentially have a total of ~121% bonus Attack Speed at Lv 18. Since the Buff from Empowered Savagery lasts 5 seconds, a maximum of 2 reactivations can be pulled off granted you have achieved 40% CDR.
• Because Savagery is an Auto-Attack Reset, Rengar can leap out of a brush with Unseen Predator, Auto-Attack and follow up with Savagery resulting in a quick trade with the enemy with little time for them to react.

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Battle Roar: Rengar lets out a battle roar, dealing magic damage to nearby enemies and increasing his armor and magic resist for 4 seconds.
MAGIC DAMAGE: 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+ 80% AP)
ARMOR & MAGIC RESISTANCE: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30
Rengar gains additional armor and magic resist for each enemy champion or large monster hit.
BONUS PER CHAMPION/MONSTER HIT: 5 / 7.5 / 10 / 12.5 / 15

Empowered Battle Roar: Battle Roar deals modified magic damage equal to 40 / 55 / 70 / 85 / 100 / 115 / 130 / 145 / 160 / 170 / 180 / 190 / 200 / 210 / 220 / 230 / 240 / 250 (25 + 15 / 10 at each level) (+ 80% AP). Additionally, Battle Roar heals [Rengar] for 8 + (4 × [Rengar]'s level) health, increased by 6.25% for every 1% of [Rengar]'s missing health, for up to 50 + (25 × [Rengar]'s level) health.
Battle Roar's and Empowered Battle Roar's bonus defenses do not stack with each other.

• To maximize healing through Empowered Battle Roar, make sure you activate Empowered Battle Roar before chugging Health Potions.

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Bola Strike: Rengar throws a bola in the target direction, dealing physical damage and Slow icon slowing the first enemy hit for 2.5 seconds. The Slow icon slow decays over its duration.
PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 50 / 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 (+ 70% bonus AD)
SLOW: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80%

Empowered Bola Strike: Bola Strike deals modified physical damage equal to 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 / 175 / 200 / 225 / 250 / 260 / 270 / 280 / 290 / 300 / 310 / 320 / 330 / 340 (25 + 25 / 10 at each level) (+ 70% bonus AD). Additionally, it Root icon roots the target for 1.75 seconds.

• Despite Bola Strike having a cast time, Bola Strike can be cast mid-air while leaping with Unseen Predator without disrupting Champion movements.

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Thrill of the Hunt: Rengar activates his predatory instincts, gaining stealth after 1 second (delayed up to 3 seconds if taking damage) and true sight of all nearby enemy champions for 7 / 12 seconds or until Rengar damages an enemy with one of his abilities or basic attacks.
VISION RADIUS: 2000 / 3000 / 4000
While stealthed, Rengar gains 15% / 30% bonus movement speed while moving toward an enemy champion. Enemies are made aware that Rengar is nearby if he is less than 1250-units away.
Upon exiting stealth, Rengar gains bonus movement speed and generates 5 FEROCITY over the next 5 seconds.
MOVEMENT SPEED: 25 / 35 / 45%

• Players will often-time split up to look for you if you have used Thrill of the Hunt to escape ganks. This is great for you; not only are they further away from each other but you can even net yourself an easy kill. Players often underestimate the Gankee's Damage just because they are the ones Ganking, use this to your advantage and Slay one of your Opponents before you actually backing off.

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Bonetooth Necklace: UNIQUE PASSIVE - MEMENTOS OF THE HUNT: Rengar collects trophies when killing champions and gains bonus effects based on how many trophies he has. Rengar gains one Trophy whenever he scores a kill or assist.

Bonetooth Necklace 3 TROPHIES - Rengar gains 25 flat movement speed while out of combat or while in brush.

Bonetooth Necklace 6 TROPHIES - Unseen Predator's range is increased by 125.

Bonetooth Necklace 12 TROPHIES - Thrill of the Hunt's stealth duration is increased by 5 seconds.

Bonetooth Necklace 20 TROPHIES - Thrill of the Hunt's bonus movement speed while stealthed is doubled.


**12 Stacks on Bonetooth Necklace (Yellow) is essential to your ability to Chase/Re-position/Flee. Gather 12 Stacks ASAP. You know you did something wrong if you still have yet to reach 12 Stacks if the "Teamfighting" phase has already began.**

Ability Sequence Order

Pretty self explanatory; points in Thrill of the Hunt whenever possible. Max Savagery, Rengar's "Bread & Butter" skill second. Bola Strike third and Battle Roar last. Bola Strike at Rank 5 is an 80% slow that decays over 2.5 seconds, that's insane. If you land Bola Strike on your target whom you're jumping from Thrill of the Hunt, your target isn't going to go anywhere (unless they Flash or get help). You can't really miss your Empowered Bola Strike if you've already tagged them with Bola Strike.

Items

One of the greatest items Rengar could rush. Completing just the Tiamat component in lane gives Rengar an absurd PowerSpike and completing Ravenous Hydra only increases the PowerSpike but is generally unadvised to rush Ravenous Hydra. The active component is most beneficial when activated while leaping with Unseen Predator. Whether you activate Tiamat right when you initiate your jump or right before landing, the AOE DMG will be calculated as if you were right beside your target.

This item has every State Rengar could ever ask for: CDR, ArmorPen, AD, and some very nice Critical Strike Chance. But the greatest part of Youmuu's Ghostblade is the fabulous Active that grants you a major Attackspeed and slight Movespeed Buff for 6 seconds. Use the Active to Chase/Flee.

Last Whisper scales extremely well into Late Game and if completed fairy early on, practically grants you True Damage to targets with low Armor/not building Armor at all in combination with the other items in this build.

Slight boost in Health, AD, CDR, and ArmorPen. All stats that are beneficial on Rengar. If you still have yet to realize, this build places heavy emphasis on ArmorPen.

More AD, Critical Strike Chance, and the beloved Passive. By the time you finish completing Infinity Edge, your Savagery (assuming it Critically Strikes) will deal ~1.4k DMG and ~2k DMG for Empowered Savagery. That's CRAZY. Infinity Edge pretty much ensures a swift death if you land even one Critical Strike.

**Only Optional** Trinity Force can replace Boots of Mobility when you get around to completing your 6th item. This does come at the cost of Movespeed for more Burst DMG but since with only 3 Stacks on Bonetooth Necklace (Yellow)the lost Movespeed can be made up for. With this build and assuming you have the 3 Stacks on your Bonetooth Necklace (Yellow) you'll have 400 Movespeed without the Boots of Mobility.

Item Purchase Order

This is generally how your Build Order should look like. Please keep in mind that I was pretty much spoon-fed kills in lane so don't pay too much attention to the Time-Stamps.
A rule of thumb to decipher whether your on-time with your build or just a bit behind is the 23:00 minute mark. By the 23:00 minute mark you should have already completed The Core Three items: Tiamat, Youmuu's Ghostblade, and Last Whisper.

To be more specific with the Build Order,
Pickaxe> Tiamat> The Brutalizer> Youmuu's Ghostblade> Pickaxe> Last Whisper> The Brutalizer> The Black Cleaver> Vampiric Scepter> Ravenous Hydra> B. F. Sword> Infinity Edge

Boots of Mobility or your choice of Boots could be built anywhere in-between Youmuu's Ghostblade and The Black Cleaver. The reason why Boots is being built so late is because of the 3 Stacks on Bonetooth Necklace (Yellow), it grants 25 Movespeed which is more than enough until you start Assassinating your target at Full Speed.

Why not Finish Ravenous Hydra??

In my opinion, Ravenous Hydra is often completed for the 12% LifeSteal and to be honest, I don't feel like Rengar needs any.
Here's my theory on WHY LifeSteal not as beneficial on Rengar than lets say Zed:
What does LifeSteal do for you? It heals you for Attacking things. But why would you need get Health back? Because you are getting hurt, potentially even killing you. Now here's where Rengar comes in, since Rengar practically 100-0's his target in under 1 second (2 seconds max) when and where does his target get time to hit him back? The answer is pretty much never, they never get the chance to before their screen goes Black. And that is why Rengar does not benefit from LifeSteal as much as other "Duelers".

The One-Shot Combo and Lv 2

The Rengar Assassination Combo isn't anything mechanically challenging, it only requires a bit of knwolege some practice and patience and you'll be Deleting people faster than you telling someone to type "Good Bye" in All Chat.
The gist of the Combo is just to use every Skill and Active Item and Ignite (if deem necessary) all-while you're leaping from either a brush or from Thrill of the Hunt.

It looks a little like:
Thrill of the Hunt>Identify Target> Youmuu's Ghostblade>Charge Empowered Savagery>Jump> Bola Strike> Battle Roar> Tiamat(or Ravenous Hydra)>Land

Because Tiamat's Cast Animation is of higher priority amongst Rengar's Skillset, it is of paramount importance that Tiamat is activated after the rotation of skills. Activating Tiamat early will result in the Skills which were casted AFTER Tiamat to not activate all-together (typically Bola Strike and Battle Roar).

Casting Savagery, Bola Strike, and Battle Roar all before Tiamat while leaping with Unseen Predator is something that should become "Muscle Memory" but will require practice and dedication. Even with years of experience, I often screw up the order and Bola Strike before even jumping which nullifies the initiation and puts you in an awkward position. Rengar does have "Clunky" Cast Animations which can be avoided with just enough practice.

Lv 2 Cheese

Rengar's Lv 2 "Cheese" is basically Rengar Lv'ing up to Lv 2 and killing his Lane Opponent. At Lv 2 Bola Strike should be learned and you can now "set-up" the "Cheese". Generally, you'd want to generate at least 3 if not 4 Ferocity Points before you jump your Lane Opponent.

Prior to Lv 2, you'd want to Attack your Lane Opponent with Savagery 2-3 times and Auto-Attack him till around 50% (the lower the better). This should all happen during the First Wave of Creeps because the 7th Creep is when you reach Lv 2. Try to CS all of the first wave and Attack the 7th Creep just enough that it doesn't die before you reach the brush (you most likely won't be CS'ing this creep). The 7th Creep should die just as you're in the brush and ready to leap with Unseen Predator onto your Lane Opponent. Because you Lv'ed Up out of sight of your Lane Opponent, he/she probably didn't realize you've Lv'ed Up. With this you leap at him/her: Start off with just an Auto-Attack and Reset your Auto-Attack with Savagery, at this point you should have 4 if not 5 Ferocity Stacks, then from Analyzing the situation you'd want to either use Empowered Savagery for a quick Burst or Root them with Empowered Bola Strike. 9 times out of 10 you'd want to pick the Root over the Burst unless you are sure you won't be landing the Empowered Bola Strike. From here on your Lane Opponent should be Rooted and sitting at around 25%-35% Health. While Rooted, walk in front of him/her and Auto-Attack, Bola Strike and Finish him/her off with Savagery (it should be off Cooldown by now) and Ignite (assuming it's needed). In case this doesn't Kill your Lane Opponent because he/she either Flash'd or just wasn't enough DMG, follow their Flash with your own Flash and deal the Finishing Blow, ALWAYS anticipate their Flash because this Lv 2 "Cheese" is not something everyone is aware of and could cause them to Panic Flash.

**This "Cheese" Combo will not work on every Lane Opponent you are matched up against. This works on most if not all "Squishy" Top Laners and will be very difficult performing this on someone like Malphite, Dr. Mundo, and Shen. It is also advised to do some of your own "testing" on which Champions you know you can pull off on, don't try doing this if you know your Opponent can "out All-In" you, for example, Riven, Jax, Jarvan IV, Tryndamere, Renekton, Pantheon and so on.**

What to do after you Successfully "Cheesed" your Lane Opponent?

This is a question I always ask myself; should I go Back to Buy right away? Or should I shove another wave? If I Back now won't my Lane Opponent just come back with a full wave waiting for him at his tower? Won't he be Lv 2 by then?
The answer is quite simple; from all my experience of successfully "Cheesing" my Lane Opponent and drawing First Blood off of that, you normally would want to shove out (preferably if you CS all the Creeps) to your Lane Opponent's Tower (even if they have Teleport) and hit Lv 3. With the First Blood Gold and 2-some waves of CS, you should be able to afford a Pickaxe, some Health Potions, and a Stealth Ward or two. (Please refer to "First Possible Buys")

Getting Ganked during Laning Phase?

First of all, I'd like to commemorate the very First Step to "Countering" Rengar and preventing him from going Free-Roam and murdering everyone. (This is how to Counter Rengar, simply camp his lane.)

Ok, so you find yourself getting ganked. Boo-Hoo right? FML? Not necessarily.

Step One: The very first step you should take into consideration is WHO their Jungler is/who's ganking you (it doesn't have to be their Jungler) Is your Ganker Healthy? (Anything under 40% should be enough for you to deal with before dying)

Step Two: Quickly go through the Pros and Cons of said Ganker, EVERY Champion has downsides (Do they have CC? Do they have Crest of Cinders (Red Buff)? Items?)

Step Three: With a quick analysis of the Ganker, now think about your Lane Opponent. Are they walking a little too close to me? Is their Flash up? Can you kill him before the Ganker gets to you?

Step Four: Now look at you. Do you have any Abilities off Cooldown? Do you BELIEVE you can outplay them? (You often-time can't do something you don't think you can do so stay optimistic) How many Ferocity Stacks do you have? Can you get off a rotation of skills to get the 5 Ferocity Stacks to cast Empowered Battle Roar, Empowered Bola Strike, or Empowered Savagery?

Step Five: With all of the aforementioned information that you've gathered, think of who you can Kill first (If you can't, then that's unfortunate and that's actually too bad) and lure preferably one of them towards the brush.

Step Six: Unleash your Burst onto one target and take him/her down ASAP before moving onto the Second target (If you have enough Health to do so that is).

Step Seven: Try Juking the remaining Opponent by leaping back and forth between brushes with Unseen Predator, try having one brush warded while you hop back and forth.

Step Eight: Slay the last man standing. Even if you die at this point you already did your job and you most definitely outplayed the **** outta them. Good Job :)

Step Nine: Profit.


Please keep in mind that if you're Lv 3, then the Jungler is probably also Lv 3. EVERY Jungler this early on in the game is Squishy, take advantage of that.
Some Jungler whom are surprisingly easy to Outplay off the top of my head:
Jarvan IV, Vi, Master Yi, Kha'Zix, and Nautilus if you can dodge his Dredge Line

Teamfighting

In my honest opinion, Rengar is almost just as Selfish of a Champion as Shaco.
They are "Anti-Teamfight" Champions because they lack every Teamfighting Quality you could ever think of.
But what they DO have and excel at is at "Sniping People Out", a term I made up (?) to describe such qualities. Rengar is not a type of Champion that'd hold hands with your ADC or Front Line (Especially in Solo Queue) because they don't fall under either category.
I believe that Rengar doesn't ever want to Teamfight because of his Lack of Disengage. I'd like to think that an Assassin (greatest example I can think of is Zed) who can run in alongside their Front Line, do their "Magic" and get out is only capable of Teamfighting.

But that's perfectly fine, Rengar doesn't have to Teamfight to win fights. If he does what he does best then Rengar can easily decide whether they win the fight or not. By the time Teamfights start breaking out, Rengar should be able to "Pop" him targets.
Rengar should be sitting on the outskirts of the battle and "Beeline" straight for the ADC/APC.

Summary

All in all Rengar is a SUPER DUPER FUN Champion to play that can absolutely obliterate the Enemy carries if in the right hands. He has amazing outplay potential and is supremely versatile. He lacks Disengage but his Disadvantages are overshadowed by his Positives and at the end of Day I'd highly recommend people to try this Champion out. The first time around it might not be so perfect but with time; time will solve all the problems. :)

Thank you very much for reading this Guide and truly Hope you learned something off of this, it was really fun writing this and I hope you have a wonderful day. Good Luck in Solo Queue!