Heyo! Imposture here. This happens to be my first guide so be gentle. I main support and found this gem during my supporting career. Taric has been a really great support but, he has been nearfed every time he seems to start doing good again. Let's hope he stays as support carry through Season 4!

A few things to note in this guide. This is a "guide" not a cookie cutter copy and paste. The things I post are what I believe to be overall effective build and show readers what they are looking for and the options they can take depending on their personal play style. I'm open for debate for any tweaks, tips, and other useful factoids anyone wishes to provide.

This guide is by no means complete. I will, within reason, try to adapt and update this guide as Season 4 meta's flesh out. (12/2/2013)

Pros + Amazing Ranged Stun / Peel with Dazzle + Dual Healing with Imbue + Amazing passive Gemcraft + Ally Armor Increasing Skill

Cons - Passive is hard to use on ranged champions - Dependant on Passive - Disappointing Ult - Slow Movement Speed

This is pretty much mandatory. It's your escape or the good old Flash ==> Dazzle combo securing your kill. It's basically your Get out of Jail Free Card. Flash is flash... What else is there to say?

This is IMO one of the best support summoner spells in the game. (Excluding Flash) This will slow your enemy, giving you time to get your passive off on all your skills. Reduce their damage. This basically renders the ADC to swinging a wet noodle for the duration. This helps secure your kill in a gank. Anyone exhausted will either die or burn all of their summoner spells trying to get out.

Ignite is an interesting choice. It will help kill anyone and reduce Life Steal/Spell Vamp Champions. Arguably it acts sort of like an exhaust except it has kill potential. It helps a 1v1 situation, however, you really shouldn't alone as a support.

Reduces the damage you take when you use Dazzle and your Iceborn Gauntlet. This will also works well if your ADC has any slow/stun/snare such as Jinx.

Good for reducing enemy peels and catching up to land a Dazzle which can catch one of those "slippery" champions.

Taric's passive is based on his armor and it only helps to have more of it. More armor means more damage and more armor out of Shatter.

This including Culinary Master increases your sustain in lane and I personally have had clutch moments with the extra hp/mp even if it looks small it's actually a pretty big boost early game.

This is your bread and butter. This stun is invaluable to level one invades. Take it at level one. It will do more damage the closer you are to the target and scales with AP. Your stun will be the punishment for the Support or ADC that happens to get to close or secure a gank. This can also be used to stun champions who tower dive under towers or to stun a target from kiting under an enemy tower.

Imbue. This is your heal. It scales with AP and Taric's Health. It can be used on Taric or an ally while still healing yourself. Take this at level two to gain sustain in lane with your ADC.

Shatter. This skill passively gives your teammates close to you a percentage of Taric's armor. The active will damage enemies around him lowering their armor. This skill is very hard to use effectively in a team fight. While it scales on Taric's armor, however, when this skill is on CD it reduces his armor and the armor passive is lost on your allies. It is important to keep this skill up for physical burst champions before shattering your armor.

Radiance. A rather disappointing Ult. The damage radius is far too small to be used in a team fight without being the center of attention. This skill will cause an AoE of epically small proportions that will do a fair amount of damage. The damage on support Taric is weak and nothing to be afraid of early game. The only redeeming quality is the passive aura after its activation. For the next 10 seconds you gain an aura for your allies that increases their damage. Make sure to get this off early in a team fight.

One of my favorite passives. This skill acts like Lich Bane dealing extra damage after every skill based on Taric's armor. It will also reduce the cooldowns on his skills for every successful hit on his passive. This allows Taric to quickly reset his cooldowns while autoattacking. What better way to combo this than to buy... Iceborn Gauntlet!

Dazzle - This will almost ALWAYS be the first skill you get. It's a stun to help harass or stop harassment. If the enemy team has a slow jungle such as Nautilus or any other slow clear champion that can't gank early effectively even with their bot lane's CC, you don't have to take Dazzle first. If you KNOW the Jungler is not going to gank bot first, you can grab Imbue and get your ADC safely and quickly to level two even if your ADC has to take a few hits, you heal them right up. Grab stun at level two and assume the level 2 gank while the enemy bot lane is still level 1.

If you're up against an ADC with AD support grab Shatter second and level it up over Imbue. You will need the armor aura for your ADC to win trades and negate the AD support. Such as Kayle and Alistar. I will later list some situations on which person to use your Dazzle on.

Items in LoL are all situational. Using the same build every time will be your downfall. Adaptation is key and you should reflect that in your build. I haven't explained much of my item build yet so I'll go over my general build first then go into detail about alternative items.

Sightstone This is mandatory for the sheer vision. I can't even count how many experienced players echo the same saying. "Vision is key." Since Pre-Season the Sightstone can place three wards this time around from the normal two. This means you do no have to get the Ruby Sightstone until you have nothing else to build. Talisman of Ascension This will make you early game gold. People argue the Relic Shield but I think it's too risky to last hit as Taric with his low movement speed and harass from the enemy ADC. This gives Taric Mana Regen which he NEEDS early game for sustain. Otherwise The CDR is amazing along side the active. It will save your team or help push with your Dazzle combo making plays like a pro. Iceborn Gauntlet Here is your Core item. This works amazingly well with your passive. Weaving with Taric's passive Gemcraft and the passive on Iceborn Gauntlet synergies so well it's dumb to not get it. This allows you to capitalize on your passive. You also get some CDR! Randuin's Omen This just stacks Taric pancakes. The armor scales with his Shatter and his passive Gemcraft. The HP scales with his Imbue and the Active slow effect further allows Taric to get his combo off. Perfect item for Taric to stack. Spirit Visage Another valuable item for Taric. The CDR is awesome. The HP is Awesome. The MR is awesome. Not to leave out the best part... The passive! 20% increasing self healing means Taric isn't going to die. You'll heal truck loads of HP. Weave correctly and Taric gains a lot of 1v1 potential. Boots Boots: I can't honestly say what is best. It very much depends on the team comp to determine the correct boot setup. Ninja Tabi I tend to rock these in bot lane making the enemy ADC's poke less effective overall reducing the AA champions from destroying Taric. This also gives Taric 1v1 potential to the AA Champions with this. Also armor stacks with Shatter and Gemcraft Boots of Swiftness Self explanatory. Use this to chase and shut down with Dazzle combo. Mercury's Treads Granted there is a lot of CC on the enemy team not a bad idea to pick this up. Mobility Boots This can really speed Taric up when he falls behind in groups. Otherwise he has much more potential with the other two boots. Ionian Boots of Lucidity Following my Taric guide you should not need this CDR and is a waste. Berserker's Greaves No. Your damage is from your skills, items and passive. Your base autoattack doesn't do squat. Sorcerer's Shoes Not a good idea. You don't build AP enough for this to matter on support.

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Warmog's Armor This is a huge boost to Taric's Imbue. I do not find it as effective as Spirit Visage unless you plan on soloing Baron. Locket of the Iron Solari Great support item. Useful if your team needs the boost. Possible AoE shield can block killing blows to squishy Champions. Mikael's Blessing Another good support item. I personally only build it if the enemy team has a lot of CC and I need to keep our carry from dieing. Twin Shadows Great on a lot of champions, but Taric has the situation under control will Dazzle and Iceborn Gauntlet. The CD is quite long and Taric's build order will be building this late and the odds of catching late game Champions out without a team fight is low. Guardian Angel Personally, I find it only useful on everyone but supports. Can't go wrong with the even Armor and MR. Thornmail One of the few Champions that can pull this off with high sustain late game and a massive HP pool. Taric will have people kill themselves. Do not buy if there are no real AA Champions in game.

The more problematic Support to lane against. With this Champion you must watch his skills. Thresh can use Death Sentence to pull you in or pull himself to you which usually follows suit with Flay. Dark Passage will shield and pull teammates to him. Whether or not to save or pull a friend to gank, watch out. At level 6 if he pulls you in, stun him before his Flay and The Box combo. It's better to stun him and stop his CC than stun the ADC. Do not let him pull you under tower. He has enough CC to make you take atleast 4-6 tower hits if well timed. Quick Notes: Death Sentence will reduce the CD by 3secs if the hook lands on a Minion or Champion. Flay Can be used to push you into tower range. Dark Passage Can be used as a ward. The Box The walls will Damage AND Slow. If running away, flash out of the box then peel.

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This is always the interesting match up. Nami will continue to harass with Aqua Prison. While her stun can miss it has the potential to stun both you and the ADC. After a successful land of Aqua Prison the ADC will attempt to land a few AAs onto the victim. Dazzle the ADC and return the trade. Her passive Surging Tides is something to take into account. Any skill she puts onto her ADC will boost their movement speed. This stacks well with Tidecaller's Blessing which will speed her ADC up and Slow you down. Ebb and Flow will be her poke that will bounce between close targets. Same with her Aqua Prison do not stay grouped up to minimize the poke. Her Tidal Wave Does a surprising amount of Damage and Slow on top of a stun. This will speed up her allies who walk with it. It's better to play passive with this match up since her CC will get you ganked. Quick Notes: Aqua Prison Can catch your entire team in a stun. Do not group up. Tidal Wave Same as Above. Nami Has the some of the best initiation and disengagement CC.

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Sona is IMO the most balanced Support. There is a huge difference between average and pro Sona users who effectively use Power Chord. 99% Sona's start with Hymn of Valor which has amazing poke. Anytime she attempts to use this skill or Blue Power Chord while her ADC is not near punish her with Dazzle to catch her out. The more MP she uses on her Aria of Perseverance the less Hymn of Valor you get. Aria of Perseverance is the very much like Imbue except it is not targetable. Song of Celerity Is her movement speed buff that will help catchup to fleeing champions or peel. Crescendo is straight cone stun. Not much to say about it. Quick Notes: Sona Is useless when she has no MP. (Other than her active Aura) Power Chord has three different effects depending on her ACTIVE Aura. Song of Celerity Allows her team to respond quickly. Sona Has very high sustain in lane.

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