Hi everyone, Soulknife here to bring you my take on the savage Pridehunter Rengar. This is my first guide so I'd appreciate any feedback.

Rengar is by far, my favorite champion to date. He is an excellent solo top-laner and all around really fun to play. This guide will explain how I get ahead and stay ahead all while pulverizing my opponent and eventually his entire team.

So without further adieu...

---

Pros No Resource Strong Duelist Powerful Sustain Difficult to Escape From

Cons: Cooldown Dependent Urge to Over-Commit Commonly Focused if Snowballing, and Susceptible to CC Poor Escape Ability (doesn't handle ganks well)

---

To be quite frank, a lot of this is personal preference. About the only thing I'm going to tell you is required is : Rengar needs Flash. He has no multi-chaser escape. Bola Strike can be used... maybe... to escape one foe. But unless he surprises you at low health you can probably take him 1v1.

Viable Alternatives to Exhaust

Any of these are fine, I just prefer Exhaust.

Barrier can be used to win duels and counter Ignite. The main thing to do would be to put up your barrier and try to spam-out abilities to ready your enhanced Battle Roar as soon as Ignite drops off. This is difficult to do and I really don't recommend it.

Ignite can give you a little helping hand in winning duels or kill fleeing fradycats, although Rengar should have no problem with either. The extra damage is decent, but nothing to change a summoner spell for.

Teleport this can be useful if you're playing draft pick and know who your enemy lane and jungle are. If they're likely to poke, prod, and repetedly gank, this can be a good way to go back without losing much XP. Aside from that, I'd try to avoid it.

---

Rengar's kit is pretty straight forward if you're going top. Unless you're absolutely CREAMING the enemy laner, max your Battle Roar for epic sustain. If you're DECIMATING, consider dropping a rank or two extra into your Savagery to maintain your lead, but never rank it higher than 3 before maxing Battle Roar.

When approaching an enemy who knows you're coming (meaning your Thrill of the Hunt is on CD, you don't have it yet, or they have pink wards) use the following skill order:


These are in decreasing range increments, of course. You want to pop them ASAP so they can build your fury and begin cooling down for a second use.

Proceed to use any ability that comes off CD, right when it comes up. Once you have 5 fury, nearly always use Battle Roar for damage and healing both. If your enemy is completely ignoring you and not likely to return fire, use Bola Strike to keep them around (only do this if your health is solid enough to take their full burst).

When approaching an enemy with low health (30% or lower) or one that doesn't know you're coming, always lead in with Thrill of the Hunt, preferably from the fog of war so they don't know it's coming. Thrill of the Hunt has a short CD to begin with, and our CDR from our build makes it that much shorter. This single ability sets good Rengar players apart from great ones. Wait until your fury is capped, then pounce.

Use the same decreasing range increments listed above, and the same sequence of "it's up, use it." Follow the same directions about Fury-Skill-Selection as denoted above, even when fighting someone whose death is assured. You never know when another enemy might show, especially their jungle.



All these champions have an ultimate or ability with a very long range. Do not prioritize damage over health unless you are nearly full. I cannot stress this enough.

---

Since this guide is focused on early game power, my choices are:

These are pretty straight forward. If you're planning on following this guide, try not to deviate from this selection.

Why not armor pen runes?

Since the armor penetration change, the greater mark of desolation and quints are pretty good late game. That's not the idea with this guide. Get ahead, stay ahead. You shouldn't need those. With champs like Rengar who have a 1-to-1 AD ratio, flat damage is a lot better damage potential until fairly late game.

But what about Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist?

You're top lane against another AD. Plus, you get a good amount of MR from your build, and you can get more if you really need it. Don't gimp yourself unless you have to. The extra sustain from Battle Roar will be a godsend.

---

As Mobafire has not yet updated its mastery trees, here's a screenshot of my recommended spec:

Let me explain my reasoning for this odd division of points.

Offense Tree

Summoner's Wrath should make sense to most everyone. If you choose to run Ignite, it's free damage. If you run Exhaust it turns your enemy into a Rengar sammich.

Why Sorcery over Fury ? Rengar is a fairly CD-oriented champ. His damage, CC, and sustain all come from the use of his abilities. Fury does not benefit you as a top laner very much; it's a talent more oriented for ADC's or junglers. If you really want Fury , move the three points from Havoc over to it.

Brute Force : the entire aspect of this guide is about getting ahead and STAYING ahead. The more early-game steroids you can get, the better off you'll be. Rengar's Savagery has a 1-to-1 AD ratio, so it's even tastier.

So why the split?

Rengar is a unique champion in that he lacks a resource AND doesn't really lean towards full-throttle AD or full-beef Tank. Rengar is a champion that excels early game, but typically tends to level off later. If you want to avoid that, snowball by power-housing through early and mid game.

While I really like Sunder from offense, grabbing the tenacity from Tenacious in defense is a have-to on Rengar. When combined with Mercury's Treads this talent allows you to doggedly pursue your enemy without having to worry about them barely slipping away.

Statistically speaking, Executioner does not add much potential to Rengar. If you slip in a lucky crit for 600 damage, this talent is only adding a measly 30 damage to your hit. Not factoring in abilities, you need to hit someone 20 times before you've benefited from a "free hit"'s worth of damage, and it shouldn't be taking you that long to down anyone. In team fights, which rarely last more than three minutes, this talent contributes nearly nothing. If it were lower in the tree, sure. As it stands, it's not worth dropping another 6 points when Tenacious helps you out soooo much more.

Defense Tree

Tough Skin helps more than you can possibly imagine. When top-laning, trades with your opponent bring in a ton of minion damage; often enough to decide the victor. This will help you stay alive in duels, as well as allow you to protect your turret and sustain.

Unyielding : same principle of early-game domination here. You're stripping your opponent of 2 AD or more (unless his ratios are higher than 1-to-1).

Consider Block if your choice in summoner spells is different than mine (take the point out of Summoner's Wrath to do so). I know many top laners are beginning to favor both Teleport and Barrier, so consider this change if you favor those spells.

Alternative Tree

Use this if you seem to be fine on your damage output but consistently take a beating... or if you're OCD and don't like split builds:

---

As with most champions, WHAT you build if often more important than the order in which you build them. Rengar has a lot of wiggle-room in his construction table that allows wonderful adjustment based on how you and your team are doing.

The finished build will look something like:

---

My standard build sequence and explanations are as follows:
Even after the changes I still prefer this starter kit. Lots of sustain and being able to out-maneuver your opponent is what playing Rengar is all about.

The new one, of course. This allows you to capitalize both your sustain from Battle Roar and your damage.

Pinning down your prey, forcing them to waste Flash or Ghost, all with extra health and damage for a very low cost.

If you're doing well, get this before your rank 2 boots. If not, get it after your rank 2 boot enchantment.

The MR is purely bonus. It's the tenacity we're shooting for.

This is how you perma-stick to your focus target. This + Phage and eventually Zeal will seal the deal and get you your keelz.

A better buy option than Sheen before finishing your T-force.

Your Savagery will now be a devastating damage output, and everything preexisting just got better.
The new one, of course. Extra beef, superior shred, and the CDR Rengar craves. If you're having zero trouble keeping up with fleeing enemies, but the enemy team is fairly bulky, consider buying this before Zeal.

More CDR and health? Yes sir. The real kicker it what it does to your enhanced Battle Roar, which will now heal you for 600+!! If you find yourself laning against a poke-heavy tryhard, consider buying this right after The Brutalizer.

The final middle-finger to your enemy team. If they've lasted this long, you're going to need it. Make sure to capatilize on your % regen by maxing out the duration of your Thrill of the Hunt before re-engaging. The ton of bonus health makes your % Heal on Battle Roar all the more potent.

---

Why no life steal?

Rengar really doesn't do the majority of his damage via attacking. He needs CDR and survivability more than lifesteal. He gets an incredible amount of healing and sustain from Battle Roar, and his damage is burst-oriented rather than sustained (making lifesteal an additional urge to over commit).

---

Other Items
I would consider buying this in place of Spirit Visage if you're getting focused and punished, or if the enemy team is AP heavy. Rengar's volatile health pool makes this item considerably too inconsistent for my taste.

I really don't recommend this for Rengar. Some people say it has synergy with Trinity Force but again, Rengar relies heavily on the above listed picks. If you had to get this, I would sub out bonetooth necklace. Perhaps that would make your build less kill-reliant... but then why are you playing Rengar?

The ONLY reason I'm putting this here is because I haven't play-tested it yet. It doesn't look promising for Rengar.

After the changes, I really hate this.

Instead of Trinity Force?? No. You really don't need this at all.

After the new changes to Armor Pen, this look promising again. But the new Black Cleaver is strictly better for Rengar, and you really don't need 73% armor pen (30 from cleaver, 8 from masteries) even against rammus.

With your available tenacity, stealth from your ultimate, and beefy build you shouldn't need this. Take Maw of Malmortius instead of this if you need MR. Wait to join group fights if it's the CC you're timid of. About the only reason I would ever consider purchasing this is if you're against an enemy Wukong, Malzahar, or warwic so you can get free of their debilitating ultimates.

Ha ha ha, no.

---

• Thrill of the Hunt is what makes Rengar so potent. He can choose which enemy to engage in a team fight, force enemies to CC a tank, and regenerate or move into/out of threatened zones effectively and without notice.
  
• Always go for the AD Carry on the enemy team, unless the AP is below 30%. You have MR from your build, so their AP likely won't cripple you. Securing your place on top of the AD keeps you from being kited and lets YOU do the kiting. If you're really worried about the enemy AP, try to stay stealthed until they use some of their abilities...or die.
  
• If you spot the enemy jungle, make note of where they are. If they are ganking bot lane and your lane opponent is past the midpoint of the lane (closer to his base than yours), go into the enemy jungle without alerting your lane opponent. Check the enemy Red Buff. If it's there, take it! The only enemy close enough to stop you is likely your lane opponent, and that's if they've warded Red. If the Lizard is not there, help your midlane out and gank with Thrill of the Hunt, even if you're not likely to get the kill. Force the enemy mid to go back so yours can, too. Or better yet, 2-person push the mid tower.
  
• If an enemy is pushing your tower while you're gone, take the extra time to go around behind him. Cut off his escape. With this build, Rengar is difficult to flee from, and fighting him on his tower is a death wish.
  
• If the enemy jungle is really hammering you consistently, consider taking a short dip in profit and purchase a Ruby Sightstone to help keep you more safe and survivable.
  

  ---

All in all, I think Rengar is a very fun and very competitive champion. I hope you enjoyed my guide, and I hope you have a wonderful time playing League.

Good Hunting

~Soulknife