Taric Build Guide by Hethrus

Why taric top lane?

Awhile back while messing around with Taric in a bot game I realized a hidden gem. His passive Gemcraft. When I came across Iceborn Gauntlet and Muramana it hit me like a train. This is Taric's calling. Upon realizing this little trick I hit mobiafire to see if a more detailed build had been made and what people through of it, but I saw none. So I decided I should share my idea with everyone else. This is how I've come to play him in top lane and I would love feed back on what you think.

build focuses on the usefulness of Iceborn Gauntlet with armor, AP and mana to all increase Taric's damage and how it synergies with the Gemcraft Muramana combo which I will explain later.

Taric works well as a top lane champion because of his ability to work as a tank/support/hybrid bruiser all at the same time. With this build you're tanky enough to survive the front lines, have both burst and sustained damage and can still support your team with Imbue Shatter and Radiance.

Pros and Cons

Runes

Runes
Greater Mark of Attack Damage 9	Greater Seal of Armor 9	Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist 9	Greater Quintessence of Precision 3

Masteries

Masteries
2/5	4/1	3/5	4/1	3/1	3/5	1/1	3/1	3/	1/	3/1

Meditation

Sorcery

Fury

Masteries

2/5

4/1

4/1

4/5

1/1

1/1

3/1

1/1

1/

4/1

3/1

1/5

1/1

Summoner spells

One of my top two choices for summoner spells. Helps Taric chase people down to tag them with Dazzle or to help with escapes.

Great for extra damage, finishing off kills and stopping regen freaks like Dr. Mundo

Good replacement for Ignite in lanes again strong AD burst like Zed or Pantheon to help keep you alive.

A waste of a spell, if you need more sustain put early points in Imbue.

Another wasted spot, if you need mana just get Chalice of Harmony.

Taric's spells and what they do

Passive:Gemcraft.Taric's basic attacks deal bonus magic damage equal to 2% of his maximum mana. This bonus damage is doubled against champions. Similar to how ryze but in basic attacks. Makes a big difference late game.
Imbue.Active: Taric channels earthen energy to heal his target ally. As the magic flows through them he is healed for the same amount. If Taric heals only himself, the heal will be 40% more effective.His autoattacks on champions decrease this spell's cooldown by 3 seconds each or by 1 second if hitting non-champions. Its as straight forward as it sounds, use it on yourself for a big deal and hitting people makes it come back up quickly. Great for 1 on 1 duels.
Shatter.Passive: Taric has increased armor while Shatter is off cooldown. He also has a 500-range aura increasing his armor and allied champions' armor by 12% of his total armor.Active: Taric damages and reduces the armor for 4 seconds of enemies within 200 range. For walking all over AD champions in top lane. Increases his armor like crazy, does AOE burst and reduces the armor of enemies. But using the spell takes away the bonus armor for a time.
Dazzle.Taric fires a prismatic sphere at a target enemy, stunning them and dealing magic damage (lower damage the farther the target is). Point, click, stun. Couldn't be more simple. It has a pretty short CD and mana cost too so dazzle away.
Radiance.Taric damages enemies within range. For 10 seconds, Taric has increased attack damage and ability power, and allies within 500 range have half of those bonuses. AOE magic damage and highly increased AD and AP on a short CD. Use at the start of a fight to increase the damage of your other spells.

Why these items? Why Muramana and iceborn gauntlet?

Early Items

Needed to get Muramana and is best stacked early, the increasing mana adds damage to Gemcraft.

Much needed mana regen and magic resist, so you can spam abilities.

Has AP to increase your spell damage and mana for Gemcraftplus a dangerous proc.

Gives damage through Shatter and Gemcraft plus armor and CDR.

Good item to get if you need to get more tanky and has three strong build options Warmog's Armor Sunfire Cape Rylai's Crystal Scepter.

A must have for this Taric build. The passive and toggle will stack well with the other mana items. Combined with Gemcraft and a sheen proc it normally harmless basic attacks now do heavy physical and magic damage.

Another must for this built. It has everything Taric needs damage wise. Mana for Muramana and Gemcraft AP for Shatter Dazzle and Radiance and armor for Shatter and on top of it all sheen procs, CDR and a slow.

While this item isn't required for this build I highly suggest it. Between spamming your abilities and the toggle on Muramana you would constantly be out of mana. This item will not only grant near infinite mana but CDR, MR and more AP.

A great Taric item if you need health and armor, the armor and passive also contribute damage.

If you're dying a lot and just need more health to survive.

A great all around item, gives health, AP and a good slow.

Great item if you're going against heavy AP.

Only get this if your support doesn't or you find yourself being focused and playing as the only tank.

If you need a lot of AP then this is where you get it. Not only will it stack off Iceborn Gauntlet and Muramana but it will also feed back into the damage of Muramana and Gemcraft. Plus later it will give you a strong shield with Seraph's Embrace.

Goes hand in hand with Gemcraft. Attack speed so you proc Gemcraft and a MR debuff so it does more damage.

Great for team fights. Adds plenty of damage to Shatter with the DOT and magic pen.

Great overall item, adds both AD and AP while giving added sustain plus some easy damage and a slow.

For those times when you feel like your basic attacks aren't doing enough damage and you want to be more physical. 55 AD plus some nice armor reduction to help the toggle on Muramana get through.

Attack speed for more Gemcraft and Muramana procs, CDR for more spell spamming and AP for more spell power.

So you're probably wondering why Muramana and Iceborn Gauntlet? Well because Muramana and Taric's passive Gemcraft both have one thing in common. They both deal damage based on a percentage of mana. With my sample build at level 18 you have 144 AD, not very much. But the passive on Muramana adds 2% of your max mana as bonus AD, which is about 50. Also Gemcraft deals 2% of your max mana on hit, double against champions. With this build at level 18 you have 2763, 4% of that is 110. Well now we're going somewhere. But lets not forget Muramana. Now it consumes 3% of current mana to deal 6% worth as physical damage. So if you're at full mana when it first procs it will do a bonus 165. Add in the proc from Iceborn Gauntlet and you get the picture. If you were smart and grabbed Athene's Unholy Grail then you will always have high enough mana for strong Muramana procs.

Now lets put all together in a fight..

Early game- Once you have Shatter and Dazzle you have a pretty strong poke. Get as close as possible before hitting them with Dazzle so it does the most damage then Shatter before backing off out of range of counter attack.
Once you get Sheen your poke becomes even more painful. Do the same as before, running up close for a Dazzle Shatter combo before hitting with a basic attack for a Gemcraft Sheen combo.

Team fights- This is where this Taric build shines. Try to place yourself in the middle/back of the teamfight, so that your abilities can hit most of the enemy team while while keeping you out of the crossfire of skillshots. Hit Radiance first because it will increase the damage of Shatter which you should use right after. Then focus the biggest source of damage, hitting them with Dazzle before turning on the Muramana toggle and beating them senseless. Imbue will be more then enough to keep you alive, especially with the reduced CD with basic attacks.

Thats all folks!

And thats how I play Taric has a top lane tank/hybrid bruiser. This build may not work for everyone but I've found it extremely effective for me. So post your comments and let me know what you think.