Why Tryndamere?

Why Tryndy, you may ask? Well, I reply with, how does unending health sound; tower diving made easy. Or 1.3k crits when fully geared? He is an awesome hero to play, and if played right, will tear through the majority of enemy heroes you are likely to face. More than that, he is a fun hero to comandeer and can play a key role in team play of any kind.

This is my first build on MOBAfire and I'm new to this, so feedback is welcome. I've just seen too many tryndys fail miserably because of their lack of understanding in him. I thought I might just put my build out there as a bit of a guide, the way I play him.

Tryndamere in a Nutshell

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Tryndamere and any of his dynamics, basically he is a melee attack damage unit, designed to regular hit you like a truck. His spells are almost negligible and more designed to assist with this truck-hitting. There is one thing, in my belief, that sets aside Tryndamere aside from other hard-hitting meleers, such as Olaf, and this is his ultimate. It basically gives you unlimited life for a duration of time. This gives you enormous survivability (both in fight or flight) and unpredictability, think about it, no matter how much damage you take during this time, you can't die, that's incredible!

PROS

- He hits like a truck, will tear through squishies and tanks alike with ease.
- He has a reasonable amount of CC in Mocking shout, coupled with exhaust, and can keep enemies slowed for long periods of time, for more truck-hitting.
- Excellent in team fights for burning focus targets or just generally causing havoc.
- His ulti makes him a versatile unit, making escape possible, tower diving easy or just giving him extra time to finish off those enemy heroes.

CONS

- If you make a name for yourself by too much owning, you are more likely to be focused and targeted in teamfights, and stunlocked/CC'd until you die. If you have a good tank/team structure this is avoidable.
- Playing Tryndamere with a degree of skill requires timing, a great deal more than other heros, knowing when to pop your ulti is often the difference between success and failure.
- Tryndamere has very few defences and relies upon his crushing blows to best his opponent, he can be considered squishy in early game.

Basically, the rune selection of this build works to augment that which Tryndamere does best - hit like a truck. Raw attack damage runes, as well as crit damage and crit chance increasers are chosen for this role.

Again, the build of the masteries is fairly straightforward, working points into critical strike increasers, armour ignoring, damage increasing. A point in Cripple was used to further lower a unit's stats for more easy killing, particularly in early fighting, where Tryndamere may have less advantages than late game.

Points in Hardiness and Resistance in the defence tree were used to try to boost an otherwise nearly defenceless hero, particularly in early game.

Points in the utility tree are as follows: Good Hands was used, because the large death time late game sucks, and can often determine the outcome of close endgame matches, this is an effort to negate some of that effect. Perseverance was used to give a bit more health to an early, squishy Tryndamere. Awareness was used just as an extra booster to help gain the first levels quicker.

Feel free to interchange these mastery points, particularly in the defence and utility sections, as these are mainly fill-ins and you may find a combination that works better for you.

Now to the controversial section of the build. I see Tryndameres building a Phantom Dancer straight up in the game and I wonder why, this item is one of the most expensive to buy without staging and this leaves you unbuffed and vulnerable so early on in the game. I see others still starting out with lifesteal and trying to build aBloodthirster straight away, again there is no point to this, you are unbuffed, and lifesteal on a nearly defenceless character such as Tryndamere only benefits if you have a huge damage output, which you aren't going to at the start of a game. I see others trying to build defences with a Doran's Shield this is folly, as Tryndamere's best defence actually lies within his ability to deliver crushing criticals, which isnt going to occur if you buy tank gear for him.

Instead, I build three Avarice Blade and a pair of Berserker's Greaves. This provides similar stats to that of a Phantom Dancer for less cost, plus there is a nice unique gold bonus on one Avarice Blade.

From here, it is time to start stacking on damage and increasing crits, and what better way to do this than with an Infinity Edge? After this is built in, your damage output is now sufficient enough to benefit from the lifesteal a Bloodthirster gives.

By now, the game you are play should have well and truly progressed and you should be racking up kills. This provides opportunity for you to upgrade one of your avarice blades into a Youmuu's Ghostblade, this provides in extension on the already favourable Avarice blade stats, while giving a nice passive bonus, as well as a handy speed increase active.

If the game is still running at this point, it is wise to sell one of your two remaining Avarice Blades for an Atma's Impaler, this gives you an increase on critical strike, and a nice damage booster as well a little armour for some endgame resistance.

If the game is still not finished by this point \, it means its a close game, and this calls for a Phantom Dancer. This should replace the last of your Avarice blades and completes your set nicely.

Early Game Gear:


Mid Game Gear:



End Game Gear:



Completed Set:

The skill sequence is fairly simple, with only two points really worth discussing. Firstly, I myself allow one point into Spinning Slash to allow a bit of early burst damage and manoeuvrability in the very early, first or second level lane fights that always occur. Secondly, Bloodlust is a must to max first, as soon as possible, as this is the very essence of his entire build. Mocking shout should have a point by level four to allow CC to occur effectively versus enemies, and allow easier kills.

In summary, as I have said earlier, Tryndamere is definately a fun and useful hero to play and own. I am by no means claiming to be an absolute expert at League of Legends, by this is a tried and trustworthy Tryndy build and very effective. I invite you to try it out as well and feel free to leave comments or questions which I will attempt to answer, thank you!