Tryndamere Build Guide by Alenena

Introduction

Welcome to my Tryndamere guide. This is my first guide on MOBAfire, so please, let loose the hounds of war and rip it to shreds so that I can build it back up better than before.

This is guide for Laning Tryndamere as a AD Melee Carry. If none of those words make sense to you or interest you, well, you're unlikely to want to actually read all of this.

Anyways, Stack Crit then use Undying Rage. GG, QQ.

I started playing Tryndamere because I saw some 'good' players (read 'they were playing trynd in low level 3v3s) and decided he was awesome. Yeah- not the best logic, but he got me through most of my wins (and most of my loses, but we ignore that). Since then I've read up on builds here, built rune pages, and experimented with different builds (someday you'll see an AP Trynd come out).

I have these sections in apParticular order. If you just want to play Tryndamere, and you're going to play against brain-dead-bots, build off the guide and don't look further. If you do want to go further look at the "How to Play Tryndamere Section". Once you get used to the character, or if you understand the other mechanics thoroughly, go ahead and read the other sections. Pro/Cons is to help you decide if Trynd is for you. The Further Explanation is to help clarify what I mean, and to help you make the decision if you aren't quite sure from playing.

All of the other sections have a disclaimer in there saying "Do it different than this if the situation calls for it". This is a guide. Not Law.


Notes about the Guide:
I'm going to redo a few sections and make important icons and words stick out.

Being Paid vs. White Collar Crime (Pros/Cons)

Pros

• Solid Farmer
• Easy to learn
• Hilarious Damage
• Can jungle if you're being zoned
• Anti-Carry capabilities
• Built in Flash
• Strong ability synergy
• Decent self heal
• Item Dependant

Cons

• Hard to get 'perfect' last hits with
• Hard to master (they all say it, but with trynd its true)
• Damage output is easy to counter
• Vulnerable when jungling
• Can be anti-carried himself
• Self heal is weak to start
• Very vulnerable to damage
• Item Dependent

Details on Pros/Cons

Argument/Counter Argument

Farming: With ranged champions, you can wait until a minion has a sliver of health, dancing back and forth before shooting it down. With a melee champ, you need to stay in melee range, and unless you are microing your character, you will auto attack. And even if you are, you might accidentally click-attack a minion early. Also, if you're up against a ranged character you won't be able to get close to minions without getting harassed- you will be zoned. Con: you might hit minions too early. However, with a high crit chance, you if you accidently hit a minion early there is a good chance you'll kill it anyways. Additionally, with Spinning Slash you can take down several low health minions at once. Pro: You're likely to kill it anyways.

Skill Required: Playing as Trynd you are going to get a lot of "Noob Champ" comments, no matter if you do well or poorly. This is because you are an auto-attack champ, so it appears as though you aren't putting in any real effort or skill.Pro: You auto-attack your way to victory. However, as a carry, you will get focused. Once Undying Rage is used, you're absolutely vulnerable to CC and damage.Con: You die easily, if not careful.

Damage Output: Even without completing the build, against an unmitigated opponent you'll be seeing huge amounts of damage. Pro: You can easily get 1k+ crits. However, if they stack armor especially Thornmail your damage is gone. Con: Your damage is easy to counter.

Jungling: If you get zoned, you can leave the lane to jungle and support yourself via Bloodlust. You can also get Red/Blue buff at around 5-6 without much issue and Dragon around 12-14 solo.Pro: You can easily jungle. However, once your use Bloodlust an enemy champ can gank you and one of your primary advantages is gone. Con: You are extremely vulnerable to ganks while jungling.

Anti-Carrying: Anti-Carrying is rushing into a team fight, eliminating their carry, and getting out again, giving your team 5-4 advantage as well as removing a large component of their damage. Tryndamere can do this using Spinning Slash, Undying Rage and Flash. Pro: You can kill an enemy carry in the middle of a teamfight. On the other hand, if you screw up or get suppressed, you will be killed. Tryndamere is also vulnerable to anti-carrying, but he can use Undying Rage to get out and survive. Con: Trynd is vulnerable.

Self Heal:One of the first abilities you should pick up is Bloodlust. When activated, it heals you for 10*Ability Level per stack. At max, this is a 400 point heal. At 18, Tryndamere can heal for 25% of his total HP in the push of a button. However, at lower levels, crits and last hits are harder to come by as well as having a weaker heal. Con: The heal is not reliable at low levels.

Item Dependant: Without any items, Tryndamere doesn't crit and his auto-attacks hit like a soggy noodle. Con: You need items to become powerful. However, if you can get an early kill this will push you ahead and it becomes easier and easier to further that lead. Pro: Once you have items, it is easier to get more.

Straight Up Pros/Cons

(No counter arguments)
Built in Flash: Spinning Slash can be used as a mini-flash. It isn't as powerful as the summoner spell, but it can get you through many walls and away from enemies.
Ability Synergy: Trynd's Innate ( Battle Fury) gives him critical. His Q ( Bloodlust) stacks on criticals and improves critical damage. His E ( Spinning Slash) gets a lower CD on criticals. Crit makes Tryndamere's world go round. You don't have to worry about what to stack. It's there in all the tooltips.
Vulnerability: I'll put it plainly. Tryndamere is squishy. If not played carefully, he will die easily.

Getting Skills in the Right Order

Before I start there are a few things that I want to cover.

1. There is no right order to getting skills
2. But there is a wrong way
3. Pay attention and don't be stupid.

You want to Max out your ultimate, Undying Rage. That much is pretty much always a given with most Champs, and continues to be true with Tryndamere, even though you may think you'll never need it. So at 6, 11 and 16, your choice has already been made. That was easy.

The next tip is too not really bother with Spinning Slash. Get a rank in it early, as it is great for maneuvering, but after that, don't worry about it until it's all you have left. The only benefit you get from it is being able to kill minions a tiny bit faster- but if you auto-attacked you'd do better.

I normally suggest maxing Bloodlust as it helps in so many ways. The CrD and the AD are both great- with a max stack you have 40 AD and 36% more CrD, as well as a 400 point heal ready to go on your command.

If you're ready to gank or the opponent overextends, throw points into Mocking Shout.

There isn't too much to worry about with this, as long as you follow this basic practicalities.

Summoner Spells

I've listed all the summoner spells available, in order from best to worst (in general for Tryndamere).

Excellent

These abilities will allow you to get a kill or escape from one.
Exhaust: This is Trynd's top pick because of its versatility. It can be used to chase down an enemy, slow an enemy trying to gank you, or neutralize another physical champion attacking you. If an opponent overextends and you use Undying Rage and they try to flee, you can slow them getting the kill or allowing an ally to finish them off.
Flash: Lets you escape from pretty much anywhere. While the total distance gained is worse than what you get out of Ghost, you can jump over a wall for a large delay and it gets you out immediately. You can escape Absolute Zero or an opposing Mocking Shout.
Ghost: Personally, I don't like it as much as flash- it has much the same utility, and, is overall, more efficient, but oftimes you need the power now, not over the course of a few seconds.

Good

There are arguments for these, but they are for several general scenarios. In the vast majority of all games the previous three will be better.
Cleanse: This is popular among many Tryndamere's because it allows you to break CC- something that is very powerful. However, to me, this is planning for failure. If you can burst down your opponent before they can CC you or before the CC has a significant effect, you don't need cleanse. I know that this is faulty, because in team fights you won't be able to kill them all before you get CC'd. But it is a reactionary ability, not a progressive one.
Teleport: This allows you to get back into the field a lot faster. This can be useful early game if you need to purchase/heal up and then get back to your lane without losing much ground. It can also be used late game to get to a team fight across the map. If you're in Twisted Treeline (where Tryndamere is generally considered strongest) don't take this- the map is small enough and Spinning Slash makes quick work of the jungle.
Ignite: This is a completely aggressive ability. While it may allow you to get the kill, it will never hit for much. While the Healing Debuff is strong you can get that from Executioner's Calling, which has a much short CD. Additionally, you can't use Ignite to escape from an enemy.
Heal: Take Heal/Exhaust if you are learning how to play Tryndamere. It will let you stay in the lane longer and allows for you to make a few more mistakes early game, where Tryndamere is weakest.

Utility

Don't take these unless you have a very good reason to think that they will be needed.
Smite: Only take this if you are going to be your teams jungler. If you think that there will be a vital Baron battle, you can grab it to Spinning Slash into Smite on Baron Nashor . (Hint: Its not gonna happen).
Clairvoyance: I have a friend named Claire. She has blue hair, kinda like picture's glow. That is the only reason I placed it this high. This should be taken by a support. Wards are more effective for you.
Rally: This only will really help if you have an all AD team. If you do, you've probably done something wrong. Also, since it can be killed by incidental AoE abilties, Judgement, Spinning Slash, anything Miss Fortune does... it won't last long in a team fight. If you are playing vs. bots and you want to have fun, grab five of these. No- wait. Don't. That is stupid. And Stupid is bad. Or Funny. So try it and tell me how it works out.
Fortify: It does give you a tiny extra bit against minions. But if you do 1009 damage on a crit instead of 1000, no one is going to care- that minion is dead.

Bad

Don't take these. They're worse than an AP stacking Garen.
Revive: Generally considered one of the worst Summoner Spells available, and for the same reasons why I don't like cleanse. It essentially means that you are planning to die. And if you're good and you don't die then this was wasted on something that could have gotten you an extra kill. If you do die, it can be argued (and successfully) that you could have taken something that would have kept you from dying.
Trynd doesn't use mana. I'm not going to even give it the privilege of having its name typed out.

Runes

Suggested Runes

• 9x Greater Mark of Desolation: Armor Penetration (ArP) helps Tryndamere because all of his attacks (except Spinning Slash) deal pure physical damage. Since all players have a base armor built in, the ArP from the runes is not wasted, even at level 1. I believe these have the most value because the other stats you can get from marks are easily obtained through items.
• 9x Greater Seal of Critical Chance: The Crit Chance (CrC) found in the Seals of Malice is admittedly, secondary. However, as an aggressive carry, getting defensive stats- which is what most seals offer, isn't that appetizing. This CrC helps Tryndamere get Bloodlust stacks early, as well as getting huge chunks of enemy HP at low levels- often surprising them into a retreat, where you can use Exhaust for the kill.
• 9x Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction: Cooldown Reduction (CDR) is very useful for Tryndamere. At higher levels, when you stack up Bloodlust quickly, you can use it more often in a 1v1 or 2v2 healing yourself more often. It also allows more Mocking Shout casts, especially when an enemy Flashes out right after you hit it. Finally, it lets you use Undying Rage in pretty much every major encounter. I chose Focus (static CDR) over Celerity (CDR per level) because Focus remains superior until level 13. In most cases, the most important part of the game will be over by 13 so the advantage is there.
• 3x Greater Quintessence of Desolation I picked these for the same reason as the Marks.

Replacement Options

• Replacement Marks
  • Greater Mark of Critical Chance: Grants huge amounts of Crit Chance. I don't take these because I feel strong enough early game and late game Battle Fury and items make up the difference. If you don't get enough crits, grab these.
  • Greater Mark of Critical Damage: These are solid, as they grant more damage than CrC runes if you have a high enough CrC to begin with. If you never see opponents going for armor, consider these, but I still think that ArP is better.
• Replacement Seals
  • Greater Seal of Evasion: Dodge is acceptable, and if you pair it with the bonus in the Defensive Mastery Tree it can help you get the hell out of dodge.
  • Greater Seal of Critical Damage: Same Reasons as under Marks of Furor.
  • Greater Seal of Health: Straight HP- decent at low level but bad at max.
  • Greater Seal of Vitality: Scaling HP- also decent at low level and scales past Fortitude at around level 6.
• Replacement Glyphs
  • Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction See the Suggested Runes section on why I picked Focus over Celerity.
  • Greater Glyph of Critical Chance Again, CrC. This is really bad. .28% compared to .42% for seals and .93% for Marks. Since CDR is primary for Glyphs it is much better unless you can never get a crit to save your life.
• Replacement Quints
  • Greater Quintessence of Critical Chance: These are probably your top choice after Desolation. If you don't see much armor, you can go with these.
  • Greater Quintessence of Critical Damage: If you don't see much armor and you cap crit (or close enough) easily from items, making those crits hit harder is always good.
  • Greater Quintessence of Cooldown Reduction: If you can't get off enough Bloodlusts early game, grab a couple of these.
  • Greater Quintessence of Scaling Cooldown Reduction: If your issue is Bloodlusts, Mocking Shout or Undying Rage for team battles, grab these, as they will have more effect during team battles.
  • Greater Quintessence of Health: This is one of the two defensive quints I'll recommend because it is good for everyone. The others don't real make sense for an offensive carry, but HP works for any champ.
  • Greater Quintessence of Vitality: This is one of the two defensive quints I'll recommend because it is good for everyone. The others don't real make sense for an offensive carry, but HP works for any champ. This surpasses Fortitude at level 5, so grab these if you can.

Other Builds

I'm going to add some other builds here later, focusing on just getting crits (GOGO Malice) and some AD focus. And maybe that AP Tryndamere that I promised earlier.

Masteries

Since Tryndamere is not mana reliant and you are a carry, you're going to go down the Offense tree.

There are no real surprises in that tree- avoid the buffs to Summoner Spells you don't use, avoid magic damage stuff and you're good.

The last nine points is where the options come in.

You can dive into the Defensive Tree to Grab Nimbleness. I would split the points 2/2 in the first tier, as both MR and Armor have diminishing returns. Getting nimbleness as well as selecting a few Dodge Runes (Seals/Quints) and you can get a pretty decent dodge chance pretty quickly. If you build Ninja Tabi instead of the standard Berserker Greaves you'll be nigh untouchable. Actually, you won't be, but you'll have a strong defense. However, it will be based off RNG (like your attacks) so it isn't always the best route.

In the Utility tree, you can either go in for 9 points with either Greed or Utility Master as your final goal (thats 1gp/10 or +15% duration on Neutral Buffs).

Items

Core Items

I start with a Brawler's Gloves and two Health Potion. The potions are incredibly useful as it allows you to stay in the lane until you hit level two and get Bloodlust. After you have a few levels of Bloodlust, don't bother getting any more potions, they're nowhere near as effective as Bloodlust is. After this point I often digress from the plan.

I've laid out a precise progression path which can tell you what you should get first if everything is going in your favor. If you're having trouble getting last hits, but no issues with chasing or fleeing, grab a Dagger before Boots of Speed. The only item on the list that is "Sacred" is Infinity Edge. Many AD Carries go for IE and that aren't nearly as tied to Crits as Tryndamere is. So while you're building, try to get B. F. Sword as soon as you can- that AD will be priceless to you. Then in the IE quest chain, you want to get a Cloak of Agility. I go with this over the Pickaxe because the CrC at this point is more effective than an equivalent amount of AD, which is essentially the choice. The final three items The Black Cleaver, Blood Thirster and Phantom Dancer are all about the same in priority. I usually take PD last as the first two grant AD and Utility.

Go BC if they're stacking armor and BT if you're not dying a lot.

Defensive Items

If you followed the above build, you're running out of space- you probably have only one spot left, and you don't want to be stuck with no defensive options if you feel like you'll need them.
Banshee's Veil: If you're fighting an Ashe, Malzhar or Warwick (among others) grab this. Its very powerful and can save you from an ult (if they play badly). In any case, it is a strong MR item and gives you some resistance to CC.
Spirit Visage: This is particularly good for Tryndamere, especially once you pick up a [Bloodthirster]]. The +15% to heals will affect you Bloodlust as well as any lifesteal you have. If you're building it as a precaution, go with the Kindlegem first so you can get the advantage of the 5g/10. If you're building it reactively to massive amounts of magic damage killing you repeatedly, build the Null-Magic Mantle first.
Randuin's Omen: This is great for slowing down enemies and stopping other AD champs. If you're building it as a precaution, go with the Heart of Gold first, followed up by the Warden's Mail. Otherwise Go Warden's Mail --> Cloth Armor --> Heart of Gold.
Frozen Mallet: This doesn't give you any stats beyond health, but it also makes your auto-attacks more dangerous. With the way slows work if you hit them with this slow, they'll be slowed by 40%- which is pretty good. If you hit them with a maxed Mocking Shout alone, they'll be slowed by 60% which is great. If you hit them with both, you get the greater slow (60%) plus half of the lesser slow (1/2 40% or 20%) and add them together for an 80% slow. With a decent amount of CDR you could essentially have a 80% slow on a 10s CD which is ridiculous.
Cloak and Dagger: I haven't done much research with C&D but having 35 tenacity along with CrC and AtS? I'll take it, no questions asked.


Always look at your opponents gear before building items. If they're stacking armor, build ArP items. If they're stacking HP, build AD and CrC items. If they're stacking AD, get some armor yourself.

Actually Playing Tryndamere

And here you were, thinking that this guide was all about Jax. Poor fool you...

Skill Usage

Bloodlust

• Having a full stack of Bloodlust is very powerful, especially early game.
• If you have a full stack of Bloodlust, it is ok to begin a fight at 50% or less, especially because of Battle Fury.
• Don't let Bloodlust stacks fall off if you're injured. Instead use the active, even if you only have 2-3 stacks.
• Attack minions or neutral mobs before engaging the enemy so you have the extra AD and CrD when starting the fight.

Mocking Shout

• Mocking Shout will hit concealed enemies, including enemies in brush and stealthed.
• Mocking Shout reduces AD of nearby enemies, so using it at the beginning of a battle is sometimes a good choice. However if they are likely to flee, have Spinning Slash or an appropriate Summoner Spell available.
• A chicken appears over the head of the enemies who are afflicted. Because they're cowards. Because all chickens are all cowards you know.
• This pops Banshee's Veil and it is an AoE affect on a low CD that you don't mind saving for later.

Spinning Slash

• Slash ignore unit and wall collision. Use this to chase down enemies through walls and minion waves. Do note that if you hit a mob, it may aggro to you.
• Slash ignores slows on you- you can use it to get away or to close on a fleeing enemy.
• If you're chasing an enemy, Slash to the far side of them so that you can continue to Auto-Attack them longer.
• Sometimes its a good choice to attack a minion to recharge Spinning Slash before you continue to chase someone who is out of Melee range.
• If the enemies' nexus turret is down in Twisted Treeline, you can Slash through the wall behind the Nexus and finish it off before they realize you are there.

Undying Rage

• Wait until you're at 30% or less before using it. At low levels or in smaller battles wait until 10-20%.
• Using UR, SS and a Summoner Spell can get you safely out of a nasty furball. (Don't tell Nidalee I said that)
• Using UR you can tower dive for a kill or tank a turret. Be careful about the timing on it though.

The following sections are details on how to play in each section of the game.

Gank and First Blood

If your team is going for the gank and first blood, see if you have any CC. If you don't grab Mocking Shout, if you do, like Annie's Incinerate, go for Spinning Slash instead. If you don't think you're going to gank or fight the other champs any time soon, go for Bloodlust. I normally pick up Slash first anyways, as I have exhaust ready.

If conflict happens, or appears to be about to happen, get ready to react. Use Shout on as many enemies as you can get. It does light up if there are invisible enemies, so you don't have to face-check brush (Thanks CAD). Anyways... if you don't have shout, don't slash into the middle of a group unless someone else as initiated. Use slash to get to an isolated member of the opposing team or someone low on health. Don't try to AoE at this point in the game.

Laning Phase

This is the early part of the game when Tryndamere is at his weakest. Go up to the line of battle and start throwing in your last-hits. If you're being harassed, play it safe and stay out of range. If you can, Slash in to grab multiple last hits. If you can get three caster minions for one hit, it is an acceptable trade. Once you get Bloodlust you can be a bit more aggressive. However at lower levels, while you still have low crit chance, use your BL stacks whenever you retreat from the line of battle, so as to not waste them.

If you have Shout, use it once in a while to scare the opponent, if they begin to run, it lets you either farm or chase them. If they have been successful in harassing you, I would suggest farming. Rinse and repeat until you can get Infinity Edge, then you move onto the mid-game phase.

Mid-Game Strategies

When you get your Infinity Edge its time to begin moving towards the mid-game. This is when you are going to see more pushes, more mia's and more team clumping. Probably not team fights in 5v5, but definitely team fights in 3v3.

What you want to do is get as many buffs as you feel comfortable handling on your way back to your lane, or to another lane if you see an opportunity. Don't steal the buffs from your jungler and if there is a carry who is doing better than you (and can use the buff) let them take it. Blue Buff is nice, but we don't benefit from the mana/energy gain, so it is usually best to leave that for casters. Red Buff is great for us as it adds another slow to our repertoire as well as more damage on hit. And we hit on things a lot (Right Ashe? A man's not going change because you married him).

In Twisted Treeline, getting green (from wolves) is solid as it gives you 10% AtS and 20% CDR, which is very comparable to Blue Buff. White (or grey) is meh. Its a 30% Movement speed buff which does help in the greater sense, but team fights won't be dependent on it. It does allow you to move across the map faster, and to chase down enemies, but if there is a drawn out conflict, it will be getting no use. If you have someone who roams more than you, have them take it.

Finally, you have Dragon. I both maps it is important to get him. In Twisted Treeline you can solo him around level 10 and about the same in Summoner's Rift. If you are going to solo it make sure the other team hasn't warded him, otherwise you are likely to find yourself against 3 or more players.

When approaching towers, always do so under the careful guise of minions. If there is no enemy champion around, and no minions, wail on the tower. If there are minions, you have to determine if killing the enemy minions will grant your minions time equal to the amount of time it would take you to kill them. Once you have IE you two-shot basic minions so the investment is worth it. Once there are no minions, take down the tower.

When towers are down, and teams start to clump up, its time to switch gears.

Team Fights and Late Game Tactics

This is when a good Tryndamere shines and a bad Tryndamere alt-tabs out to read guides on how to play.

Meaning, if you're good, you can easily get double and triple kills and if you're bad, you'll spend all of your time waiting to respawn.

Now more than ever it is important to know what your opponent is building. I remember one of my early games with Tryndamere, back before I learned how to effectively play him when I didn't have any armor pen against a Mordekaiser with 2x Thornmail. Yeah, that didn't end well for me. If no one else on your team has built Zeke's Harbinger I highly recommend it, even as a standard part of your build. The debuff is an aura, so it doesn't just affect you. The Black Cleaver applies a debuff to the enemy, not a buff to you, so it also helps your allies.

Having a few defensive items is important because you don't want to be globaled or shot down while affected by a 1.5s stun. It is not your job to initiate, let someone else, preferably someone with a powerful or debilitating ranged attack go first. They'll draw attention and you go in and lay down the hurt on those who deserve it most.

Once you get into the fight, if there are several Banshee's Veil, use Mocking Shout to pop them so that your teammates can use their abilities. Use Spinning Slash to damage several of them and to get close to your target. Save Bloodlust(if you're safe from CC) until about 40%. Then when you hit 40$ again, if it isn't up, blow UR and get the hell out of dodge if your opponents haven't begun to crumble. If they have, save UR and press your advantage, but keep your finger ready so that you won't die to a combination of Ults from Lux and Karthus.

Playing Against Ranged Champs

Before we get to Mid-Game, lets talk about something important for Tryndamere- and all melee champs.

Tryndamere doesn't have any targeted ranged attacks. He can't Alpha Strike or Audacious Charge. What he does have however is a dash-like with Spinning Slash and a very powerful slow with Mocking Shout. If you can get into melee range without using any of your abilities, that is the best way to start. Then use Slash to catch up first, as it has a lower CD and gets reduced with crits. Use Shout to slow them if they are nearing a tower or SS isn't off CD as they begin to get away. Ideally you go something like this.

Auto-Attack --> --> Auto-Attack --> --> Auto-Attack -->

If they're very nervous and you can't get into Auto-Attack range, start with the slash instead:

--> Auto-Attack --> --> Auto-Attack -->

If they are low on health and out of range of SS or its on CD and they're about to get out of range, use Flash to get next to (or better yet) ahead of them to get in a few attacks and finish them off.

If you're playing against a champ with a blind Teemo or a root Lux, Morgana, Ryze etc... don't. Seriously. Ask a teammate to switch with you. You can beat them, but you are easily stopped by any of those champions.

Summary

Damn. I wrote a lot. Sorry about that.

TL;DR, be smart about your choice and don't suicide yourself. Undying Rage does not mean you are immortal.

Please leave a comment below.

Next up: Garen, Cuckoo for Critical 2: The Age of Kings