My Guide On Playing Rammus

Welcome to my first guide ever written down. I have played rammus quite a few times and i would like to share how i play with him. In this guide i don't focus much on one specific way to build Rammus, but rather sharing ways to build him and maybe more importantly how to play him.
I think one of the most important thing in League of Legends is to find your own way to play champions, that works for you, and not only copy builds other players have made. Remember that it's no "correct way" to build or play champions. (Which is what i love about LoL). And you might just find something that works much better for you than a build that works for another guy does.

I hope you will take your time to, not only read the guide, but also comment and/or discuss on it.
Do you find my guide good or bad and why? Anything I should try to do diffrently?
Please don't rate my guide without commenting.
I am very open to constructive critics as i believe it can make me a better player.
-Thanks :)

Edit:
-Thanks to Kuniv, I now use dodge with Rammus since the damage you dodge will still be returned!

-Added how to jungle with Rammus.

-Made a few changes and added a few new chapters :)

9 Greater Marks of Desolation which gives me armor penetration for a greater damage output, especially early game. These are also awesome any AD champion, so it's easily worth the IP.
9 Greater Seals of Resilience for more armor which helps a lot especially early game. I chose armor instead of health and dodge because armor also boosts Rammus' damage.
9 Greater Glyph of Shielding for magic resistance which i find really helpfull as Rammus is much weaker to magic damage. The reason i choose the "per lvl" rune instead of the flat mag.res is because it would give 24 Magic resistance at level 18 instead of 13. It's not better than the flat mag.res runes before lvl 10, but you won't be hit with to much magic damage early game anyway :)
3 Greater Quintessences of Fortitude for more health is mandatory. I also use it on every single hero i play and it have saved me quite a few times (love these).

What runes you want to use is entirely up to you ofcourse, as Rammus benefints from almost everything. Other great runes could be Dodge or health Seals, Cooldown Reduction Glyphs ect.

I have chosen and usually choose 9/21/0.
As I play Rammus as a tank I always have 21 points in defence. You will benefit a lot on this..
Where you want the other 9 is up to you. I have chosen Offence for a little extra damage and cooldown reduction, but it's also very nice to have extra mana and health regeneration with Utility.

There is a lot of summoner spells Rammus can benefit from, but here are, after much back and forth, my favorites:
Flash: (The flash and taunt combo is sooo awesome! Also it's as always a great escaping tool which have saved me a million times)
Ignite: (This spell will probably get you or your team a few extra kills early game, and also prevents the targetet champion to be healed by those damned Sorakas and rainbow riding Tarics! It's great)

Other Summoner spells that works great with Rammus:

Ghost: (Ghost and Powerball combined makes you a cannomball of death! Really fun to use to save your teammates, gank escaping champions or just to make an intimidating and awesome entrance in teamfights! You're never far away with this)
Cleanse: I just hate being stunned or slowed when I'm trying to escape or chase someone. With this, you become unstoppable!)

I usually start with Puncturing Taunt if I'm laning together with a good DPS champion. If I'm not i usually start with Defensive Ball Curl to prevent losing huge amount of health due harrassing early.
As you can see i get one of each skill as soon as possible. It's really nice to have them all early as you can move around where ever you need to be with Powerball, can take more hits when using Defensive Ball Curl and help kill enemies, or more importantly save your friends with the Puncturing Taunt.

After I have got all the 3 skills i usually pretty much rush Puncturing Taunt since this is the most important skill. It's just great to prevent enemies from running and using skills. After this i usually just level up Defensive Ball Curl and Powerball as i please. Doesn't really matter which order, but I usually like to have Defensive Ball Curl at a higher level than Powerball.
Rammus' ultimate, Tremors, I pick every time available.

As said earlier there is not the "correct" way to buy items for Rammus. I want to share it with you what items i use with Rammus so you might get a few ideas for what to use yourself.
What build i go with is depending heavily on the other team. No point in stacking armor if there are only casters on the other team, and no point is stacking magic resistance when there are only physical champions.

This is the build i usually go with as it gives me lots of armor (which is Rammus' thing tbh), a good amount of health and also a few really good items for ganking. I use this build if there is 3 or more physical champions on the other team. Or 2 if they're main carry is physical.

Ruby Crystal:

I usually start the game buying a Ryby Crystal. This makes me able to rush Hart of Gold really fast it shouldn't take more than 4-5 minutes before you get it. (You only need 500 more gold). Regrowth pendant is also a good choice if you don't have anyone that can harrass the other team because, at least I find Rammus weak against harrassing from the other team. With no ranged attacks to counter with, he is an easy target to harrass early game. Regrowth pendant keeps you on the lane for an much extended period of time and I usually don't have to go back before i can buy the next item.

Hart of Gold:

I like to get this item early (about 4-5 minutes into the game preferably) to gain gold faster for items later. I must say i don't usually buy gold items, but this works nicely on Rammus since it gives you more durability so early in the game and pretty much boosting him a lot compared to the gold cost. (I also only get one of these. Have seen people stack up on them, but I wouldn't recommend it tbh). This can also be build into Randuin's Omen which is a great item if you want to be able to tank more, but i never buy it since the enemy will get reduced attackspeed, which means they will take less damage from hitting me. I usually sell this if it's so lategame i can buy the 6th big item.

Mercury's Threads:

This boots are very effective when you're playing against casters and lots of stuns and slows. And hHe is already in powerball form the fastest champion there is.
However, if the other team have only or almost only have physical champions you might be better off buying Ninja Tabi as the damage will be returned even if you dodge.

Thornmail:

When you have Thornmail combined with Defensive Ball Curl physical heroes will basicly kill them selves while hitting you. Which is how i get most of my kills lategame. This item is a must for Rammus! (Unless ofc, the other team is or is almost only casters, then I usually want to buy Force of Nature or Quicksilver Sash instead.)

Guardian Angel:

This item is great on almost any champion. Especially on a guy like Rammus. Gives good armor, good magic resist and revives you when you die. This item has saved me countless times. Get it! (Doesn't really matter on how the setup on the other team is like, this covers pretty much all you need).

Frozen Mallet:

This is one of my favorite items in League of Legends! The other champions can forget trying to escape when you first have gotten that first hit with slow, which is pretty easy with rammus (But they will die trying). This will get your team so many more kills. Frozen Mallet is also giving you a little damage boost and lots of health to keep you up and running as long as it takes. If you don't feel you need this you could get Sunfire Cape which also works great on Rammus.

Warmong's Armor:

Ok, so you should have stacked up some armor (or/and magic resist) by now, but and is an unexpendable champion when ganking or fighting in team fights. But you cannot quite tank and kill the whole other team by your self yet.
Rammus does good damage (insane damage against physical champions if you got Thornmail), but you won't be able to do it for long enough to kill of the enemy team just yet. Get Warmong's armor! I know this will be pretty late in the game and the ability to gain more health and health regen by killing minions probably won't be maxed before the game ends, but it will keep you alive for so much longer and make you able to gank, tank and kill 3-5 people alone if played right! Yes Rammus can become that insane. (depends ofc on the other team).

Atma's Impaler:

If the game is taking this long (rarely do), this is a great item to finish it with. 45 armor extra is always good on Rammus, also if you've followed this build you should have more than 4000 health. This will give you about 90 more damage (combined with Rammus's passive and the armor Atma's Impaler gives).


However, if the other team is very caster heavy, and don't have a lot of physical I usually buy diffrent items as the items i usually buy won't be as effective.
This is a build i use against a AP-teams:


As you can see, i use many of the same items, only the main armor items are switched out with Magic Resistance. Quicksilver Sash is not a must, but i find it really awesome if the other team has a lot of stuns and slows as this works as an extra Cleanse combined with good Magic Resistance.
Force of nature is also insane against casters and heals you a lot once you get Frozen Mallet and Warmongs Armor.

I have also seen lots of people buying Sunfire cape, Banshee's Veil, Aegis of The Legion ect. These are also very good items who can work well with Rammus, even though as i only have room for 6 items i will hardly ever buy them. The reason is that i don't think Sunfire Cape is doing enough damage at all now that it doesn't stack, and is pretty much useless lategame as it will take about a minute to do 2000 damage which is a really squishy champion at lvl 18 (Usually much longer because of health regen and magic restistance). Banshee's Veil is the only one here i mught buy, if the other team have to many stuns and slows, but i usually don't as it is easy to remove the spellshield with a **** spell first, and also I don't think it boosts the Magic Rasistance enough for it's cost. Aegis of The Legion is a very good support item. Tanks like Taric, Shen ect. is awesome with this, but i don't hardly ever use it with Rammus.

Pros:
- Nearly impossible to kill without the whole enemy team.
- Awesome at ganking with teammates.
- Insane in teamfights.
- Easy to jungle.
- Almost no enemies can escape you (espacially if you bought Frozen Mallet).
- Probably one of the easiest champions to escape with.

Cons:
- Hard to gank enemies alose.
- Hard to farm minions early.

Ok, so here comes the fun and maybe the important part of my guide :) Again, this is not the only "correct way" to play him. As no way is :)

One important thing to keep in mind is that Rammus is quite squishy for a tank early game (specially if you're used to play with Shen, Cho Gath, Nunu ect). He doesn't have a huge amounts of health or armor early. Not a lot of damage either. Rammus is an extremely item based champion as he benefints from armor items more than only getting more armor, but also more damage (which is his passive skill).
A lot of Rammuses I've seen is playing very agressive mid and early game, charging into more champions than they can handle and getting them selves killed over and over. Be carefull, play defensively and you will be rewarded in the end.

Laning:

First of all, you should never solo lane ever as you might be the worst solo laner in the game, with no ways to harass effectively or counter the harass from the other team.
While laning before level 6 you might not get many minion kills if the other team can harass you easily. But be patient and get the few you can. When you get your ultimate (Tremors) you will farm those minion waves and push those towers really easy! Don't be afraid to use Tremors all the time to farm as it has a farily low cooldown and as you depend so much on items you will need the gold. Also you will push towers quickly enough that the enemies will have to stay at the tower at all times or loose it. Just remember to be carefull when the other team is missing (as always with all heroes), though you should be able to escape almost every time with powerball (and flash if needed).

Jungle:

Laning is what this guide and itembuild is meant for, but if you want to jungle early it's pretty easy really. You should start the game difrently though. Buy Cloth Armor and 4-5 health potions, get Defensive Ball Curl and run up to Blue buff-Ancient Golem and work your way trough the jungle. If you want to do this you should use smite and put a few points in utility for exp boost and an extended golem and lizard buff time. After killing Golem, Wolves, Wraiths, Lizard and the other golems (Made a map below). Before the latest patch you could easily kill Dragon at this time being lvl 4, but that is no longer an option, so then it's time to either gank or go help on the solo lane. Repeat once the monsters spawn.

The map i made (even though it should be pretty easy):

Ganking:

The fun part in playing Rammus is ganking! You are a carry's best friend as you come rolling in 800 m/s, slowing and taunting the enemy target untill they are dead.
You can usually easily gank the enemy mid champion together with your team's mid champion at a fairly low level. Team up with carry champions like Evelynn, Shaco, Twitch ect. for maximum power! The enemy won't know what happen. Prepare to get a lot of assists and quite a few kills as well.
Repeat this over and over every time an opportunity comes. But remember not to charge into more champions than you can handle.

Tips on ganking: Take your time and wait for the perfect opportunity. Be patient and don't ruin a chance by charging out to soon. Also charge powerball a while before rushing out to kill you enemies. Charge at least for 50% of the duration of the spell. The reason is that you will come out much faster and suprising, making it even harder to escape or get into tower range before you taunt them. Also you flash to get through the mobs without hitting them with Powerball :)
When ganking you should also check if the target has summoner abilities that could help them escape.
- If they have flash you should taunt them as quickly as possible and hope they will die before they can flash away to safety (if not, i prefer to wait as long as possible with the taunt as i can drag them back from within tower range into my friends. Also they will be slowed by my powerball, take adavantage of that before taunting if you can).
- If they have summoner heal, use ignite (unless you think you can take them don even if they heal at 100%). Also works great with with if you know there's an enemy soraka on the map (Her ulti heals all her team mates across the map for a good amount of health).
- Ghost will be pretty much useless if you hit them with slow and taunt.

Late game you thrive in teamfights as you will be almost invinsible. Keep taunting the champions with the highest physical dps and watch them kill them selves (bye bye Jax, Warwick, Olaf, Shaco ect). If played right you should be able to tank the whole other team, kill them off pretty easily with some help from your team. (have done it alone, but it usually won't work xD).

You will get mostly assists, since the other champions on your team probably have more damage than you, but you should be able to get a few kills yourself as well. Also, try to "give" your team's carry the kill if you can. The whole team will benefit more from this.

Champions Rammus is good against:

Ok, this would be almost all physical dps champions out there. The faster and harder they hit the better.

Some of the champions I think you will do great against as Rammus:

• Physical dps champions like Master Yi, Jax, warwick ect. They are hitting fast and dies fast, just remember to taunt Yi or he will run away since you can't slow him. He will usually die before the taunt ends if you're both high level. Also jax, might dodge your attacks, but not the damage returned from his own hits :)
• Carries like Shaco, Twitch, Akali ect. As far as they don't go only AP he won't stand a chance. You're also very good against AP carries because you can taunt them, making them unable to run, target your squishy friends or casting spells.

Champions you should be carefull with:

Do not misunderstand me. As Rammus, you shouldn't fear many champions 1v1, but some takes more damage of you than others. That would be casters mainly, and you should be carefull with basicly everyone with slows, taunts and stuns, when the whole other team comes running, you better hope they can't slow or stun you enough to jump you.
If the other team have a lot of stunners and slowers, buy Mercury's Threads and Quicksilver Sash as I said before.

Some of the champions i think you should be carefull around (even though you can probably kill most of them)

Be carefull around:

• Disablelrs (Stunning/slowing casters) like Veigar, Annie, Lux, Anivia ect. They will not (unless extremely fed) hurt you enough to kill you by themselves, but their stuns will make you an easy prey for the rest of their team if they're close. Keep in mind that they will hardly ever focus you if a squishy teammate of yours is close as well. Sometimes you will have to force them to focus you to save your friends (because you can take the hits and live, and they can't, which is pretty much the job of a tank anyway).
• Tanks like Shen, Taric, Rammus, Nunu, Cho gath, Alistair, Garen ect. They will most likely not be able to kill you alone, but you will rarely kill them by yourself either. The one with the most backup usually wins the fight in this case. Ignore them and keep taunting those carries in teamfights. If you want to gank them, you should have a few teammates with you as you idealy always should.
• Supports like Soraka and Sona. Not really a threat to you, but they can deny your kills annoying amount of times. Target them fast and hit them hard in teamfights if possible. A taunt should be enough time for your team to finish her off.
• Tryndamere is the only real threat to Rammus i can think of. He is by far the most dangerous champion against Rammus because he has an OP ultimate which makes him immortal long enough to kill you. Also he has a pretty stong slow. Your best bet might be to force him to use his ultimate and powerball away to fight another day. Remember to taunt him to avoid his slow if he gets a lot of backup.

Here is three matches i played to show you what stats i usually get with this build:

Anyway, that's how i play Rammus. I hope you found this guide interesting and learned something from it. If not exactly how to play Rammus, maybe some key ideas on how to handle this awesome champion :)
If I have forgotten anything, you want to ask me something or you want to give me advises please leave a comment :) It would be much apprecitated.