Welcome my dear,

This is my first guide here on Mobafire, feauturing Twitch, The Plague Rat.

Twitch is such a weak champion (they say). Well, in my opinion any hero could be really weak or really strong, depending on the summoner. Of course, there are some champions with greater potential (like Trinity Tank Irelia OMG she's uncatchable even after the last nerf on her ultimate O_O).

To play this fragile champion, you must understand his inner needs, what to do and not to do.
Twitch...is a rat...so....START THINKING LIKE A RAT! :D You must be clever, you must be evil, cruel and coward, maybe worts than Kassadin! :o

Of course, try to play him honestly, and don't ks >:(, but if your friends are letting you, then do it, you need it because YOU are the carry! and an underfed Twitch is fresh meat for the enemy team.

This guide is mainly for 5vs5, and normal matches, but i will provide a little section talking about the other game types ( 3vs3, ranked ((NOT RECOMMENDED WITH TWITCH)) )

I noticed that many summoners use their champs unnaturally. I will explain this concept (forgive me for my english ç_ç):
Gving Xin initial attack damage is good, but not the best choice. Brutalizer is ok, but early-game Black Cleaver is not working in sinergy with his passive. Cause of this I think the best choice for Xin early game is Sword of Divine,due to the massive AS it gives, AS that works realy good with his passive.

Reguarding Twitch: I see many summmoners building early Phantom Dancer, Frozen Mallet , STARK'S FERVOR (fail o_O i will explain later why). I mean, this is good, but not the best choice for Twitch! Twitch doesn't really need early speed, cause his Q (ambush) will provide enough. Of course giving him mid/late game speed is AWSOME but not in early game.
I can clearly see what the early-Phantom Dancer Twitch is thinking: ''AHAH, SUPER CRITICAL NO ONE CAN BEAT ME!'' :D. Well, if you are laning against a Choggy Choggy Cho with some (and not too much) armor, your plans will be screwed.
Frozen Mallet is...ehm...good...providing a slow, PHEW attack damage points and 700 hp...but hey, you already have a slow, your W! (debilitating poison) and you can always trust the red buff. And you don't really need those 700 hp, cause twitch is not made to stack any defense or resistance. A well skilled Nidalee will burn those extra 700hp with a single spear! 700hp are good if you are stacking some defense to protect them, but tanky play is not really for Twitchy Twitchy <3 :D. And if you are building a stark's Fervor you are kind of masochist ^_^ because negative aura items are not Twitchy's best friends. They will apply a negative aura on enemies, giving them the clue that you are near them...REALLY near, because Stark's range is not 9000 range.
To be a good Twitch, build some early lifesteal and damage, that's all. ''Ambush'' will provide the necessary speed to gank and harrass enemies. You will be given to build speed just in mid/late game!

I normally use:

Marks: Flat Armor Pen.
Seals: Flat Armor
Glyphs: lv18 Magic Res.
Quints: Flat HP OR Flat Armor Pen.

Why flat armor and scaling magic defense? Early game damage rocks, that's the key. Flat armor Seals provide greater (EARLY)-damage reduction than scaling Seals. We all can see that scaling Seals gives more final armor, but you need early game laning presence so you can farm, flat armor is better. But, of course, if you are feeling confident, go on and try different combinations :D

Of course, you can change and discuss many things about masteries

I normally use 21/0/9, because i love the exp bonus, and the extra durabilty of red/blue buff
I also take the improved teleport summoner spell ( I love support summoner spells)

I see many people using 21/9/0 for more laning ( as it's said in the ''Twitch: Let the bodies hit the floor'' guide here on mobafire. I'd like to thank its writer, his guide was....simply awsome and inspired me to write mine *_*), but if you are playing safe enough and just focus on farming minions early game you won't need those 9 defense points :) (IMHO)

Teleport
Exahust
Flash
Cleance
Ignite
Heal (maybe...)

and no other

these are the useful summoner spells for Twitch. As i said before i love support summoner spells, I usually go for Flash and Teleport. Flash is a 99% success escape for twitch (CC excluded).

If you want to play aggressive: Exahust/Ignite (expecially with Vlad, he hates Ignite)
/ / / to be everywhere(my favorite play): Teleport/Flash (this will let you gank easily)
/ / / to play safe: Flash/Cleance


I used to play Twitch with Heal when i was lv 10-20...well...no one is perfect xD but it worked good against noobies. When you harrass them mid by getting out of stealth they usually decide to face you 1vs1 until one of you 2 is dead. They didn't understand Twitch MU-AH-AH

Twitch is an awsome chaser: 1 vs 1 for ex. against Teemo is easy, because 2 sec blind apart you can stack you posion on him and you can hit REALLY harder than him, You can have your hp back from blind by using heal,cast exahust and when a noobie sees that his hp are running low he will escape as hell. So now, W immediately, deal the last hits until the slow wears off, and deal the final hit with expugne, the perfect last hitting tool.

This though is not really possible against lv30 summoners, they will pay really attention to you when you are stealthed, and they know to not face you in those 8 seconds of post-stealthing due to extra speed :)

The sequence focuses on maxing Expunge first. That's fair, because Expunge is the main nuke (AD apart) for the rat. You just need one lv5 Debilitating Poison to double posion stacks on enemies and then max the other two abilities.

Ambush, 2-3 attack, Debilitating Poison and Expunge. If you are playing against noobies, and they don't focus you, continue attacking for a while, but keep the alert alarm on! If they are focusing you (of course, you are Twitch) then immediately ''Q'' and then Flash, for a safe escape.That's the sequence for a good Twitch in team fights.

Reguarding 1vs1 always try to find easy kills, ALWAYS! You are the stealther AND the carry! so go trough bushes trying to find weak enemy champions with few hp while teleporting back to base, and smash them to death (they will spam insults in chat, but it's ok, you have jsut done your stealther job xD).That's why I give you Boots of mobility and not Berserker's. You are the ganker.

Always choose your opponent with intelligence, choose low health enemies and squishy enemies, both 1vs1 and in team fight. This char is damn fragile, so aim people more fragile than you!

I can't stress it enough. As Twitch You MUST solo mid. This build is focused on obtaining the best results on solo mid Twitch because of his ganking great potential!
This will make you farm, (depending on your minion last hitting, obviously) and being 2 level or more higher then other laners, and this is pretty important for Twitchy, the squishy one.

[*] Ooooook now let's discuss our purchase order:

EARLI GAME

Starter: Doran's Blade 475g

or

Boots of Speed 350g
3 x Hpotion

or

Vampyric Scepter 450g
1x Hption (by waiting 10 secs.)

It's up to you, really. If you know you are going to face fast character with vector (and not target) abilities like Ezreal, I suggest taking boots, but you will be squishy without Doran's Hp.
If you are taking Vamp Scepter I also suggest waiting 10 seconds at the nexus for an extra Hpotion. (not bad I think :) )

But i usuallly start with Doran's.

If you are laning good, and even gettin some kills, go on with the build, by buying those items you didn't buy before (boots, vamp scept. etc...)

If you have some trouble farming, because the enemy is a great zoner, I suggest trying the double/triple Doran's Blade Tactic for more laning presence and more life. This will slow the overall build, but will prevent you from not farming! Buy 2 additional Doran's Blade and boots, (exclude the vamp scep for a while, you won't need it due to the 3 Doran's lifesteal) and then farm to build your items.

In the case you are not farming well, and get zoned by that annoying rival midder xD as an alternative of the double/triple doran's blade strategy, you could also try to buff in an early Heart of Gold (for extra HP and money).This will be pretty good also if you manage to build a Randuin's Omen as defense item

Now that you have your B.F. Sword and you Boots of Mobility comes the funny part of Twitchy's must. Gank like a Chupacabra!!! Your boots won't let you get underfed, because mov 5 will let you change lane pretty fast without letting the mid enemy farm a lot without your annoying presence.

Of course, you are the stealther, so you will be watched really a lot. Everytime you are MIA mid, the enemy will know so be prepared and do not cry if weaks champions play safe and are not pushing near your turret (as you would like xD)

THE REAL CORE GAME

Ok, you have farmed a little more and got an executioner's calling for good lifesteal, but what do you do with your B.F.Sword?

Now ake a look at the enemies:

Are they stacking more AP or AD? Are the enemy carries more AP or AD ( of course, always mind the difference from a normal AP/AD users (Sion,Eve etc...) from CARRIES (Trynd,Cait etc..), cause THEY will do the REAL damage)

Are they stacking Armor? REALLY important!
Are they stacking HP? Are they stacking HP AND ARMOR?, are they stacking HP and AD/AP?




Basically the items I focus on are Infinity, Madred, Black C. and P. Dancer and a defense item. The important thing is chosing the purchase order with intelligence.

TWITCH n.1:
FOR MAINLY SQUISHY/CARRY TEAM(0/1 tanks + 1/2 off tanks): this build focus mainly on early buffing the Infinity and its INSANE AD and crit. After that, you can easily build a madred, OR if you see they are stacking defense, you can change the Madred for a Black Cleaver after the IE.This won't be a problem, cause carry team will focus on building damage, so they key is dealing more damage then them.

TWITCH n.2:
FOR TAKNY TEAMS (1 tank+ 1/2 off-tanks):
This build focus on early Black Cleaver, for neautralizing their armor. After that, buff in the IE for dealing massive damage! Of course, i'm not stressing it enough, aim the squishiet first, surely not Mordekaiser (tank/off tank) or Ailstar!

TWITCH n.3:
FOR TANKY AND HP TEAM (1 tank+ 1/2/3 off-tanks AND/OR tanky mages ((Vlad, Ryze, Swain)) ):
ok, they have a REAL defense, and they have TONS of HP. For this, after taking the Black Cleaver i'm giving you the Madred for the bonus damage from their insane HP!
note, I consider Ryze a tanky mage not for his Hp, but because he will mainly focus on building defense items like frozen heart or banshee's. These items will boost his damage by giving him mana, and make him more resistent due to Armor/Magic Res.


You see I'm giving you the main speed item only in the end, it's just a plus! Your main goal is buff attack damage weapons.


Soooo, let's take a look on the items:

Well we have a Doran's, an Executioner's Calling, an Infinity, a Black Cleaver, a defense item, a Madred, a Phantom Dancer.....what....? 7 items? aren't they too many?
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Of course my dear, infact i assume that when you are building your defense item (or maybe the second AD item if you are feeling confident) you will sell your Doran's, and when you are building your last item, you are selling your Executioner's Calling.

That's pretty sad, I know.That lifesteal saved my *** too many times xD. Let's say you are in a team fight. You are stealthed. It's not your job to initiate, then when the battle begins you wait a few seconds to see and hit weak enemies. You will be targeted, of course, this is the time to use your ultimate, Spray and Pray. This AoE skill (if you are lucky) will hit 2/3 or maybe 4/5 enemies + minions. Before nerf, it was Hell in Heart because of his OP (overpowered) scaling with your AD. If you are hitting that number of enemies while they target you, you will restore HUGE amount of health due to you Lifesteal! Of course, you don't have high defense nore resistance , so you will be screwed if u get targeted, but this will let you survive the necessary amount of time to kill 1, 2 or 3 people (with a lot of luck). I didn't mention critical, well...YUM YUM :P spray and pray on more than 1 enemy + lifesteal+ crit.....what an headhacke ç_ç

Let's see now this phantomatic defense item.

I told you before to look what was the main damage source or the enemy team.

If u can see in their inventory stuff like Void Staff, Rabadon's, Rilay's, and pther magical things then go ****ing for MAGIC RESIST: BANSHEE'S VEIL or FORCE of NATURE (i will discuss them later)

If u are facing a DPS/AD team with lots of Phantom Dancers, Black Cleavers etc... i would recommend protecion like Guardian Angel, Randuin's Omen ( I'll discuss also Frozen Heart)

weeeelllll...my favorite one is Banshee's veil of course. Note: i usually do not take Banshee's primarly for the 50 magic resist (and note that you scaling magic res. glyphs grants you 25 MR)
but for the UNIQUE PASSIVE that prevent you every amount of time from taking damage and negative effects from a spell. This spell could really be a stun, or a snare, or a slow, or Amumu's ultimate, Crow Control spells. And if u don't take Cleance with you, you are dead. Note the extra hp and mana, nice bonus.


Force of Nature is more like a tankish magic resist item: Twitch doesn't have really great affinity with it, because his hp are too low to grant him a real extra HP regen from the passive.But knowing this, it's pretty fun having 75 magic resist, 40 hp regen(!), and 8% movement speed (really usefull on boots of mobility Twitch!!!), and a little extra hp regen from the passive.But note that you are not protected by CCs.

Other magic resist item are useless, at least I don't recommend them (see Abyssal Scepter trololololol xD)

As for the Banshee's, i don't take Guardian Angel PRIMARLY for Defense, but for the unique passive: Rebirth. But, you know, if the enemy is clever he/she won't let you escape, and stay there where you are to definetely cut off your head

Randuin's is a smart item with 75 armor, and you can have an early defense from that, building Warden's Mail before, for early 50 defense, or even Heart of Gold early game if u get zoned by the enemy and can't farm enough. Its passive is a 20% chance slow on those who hit you, and the active is a 100% chance slow for more then 2 secs.Let's say there is a Caitlyn annoying you with her insane range. this item will stop her chasing you when you are low hp by slowing her, then flash and ''Q'' or just'' Q'', depending on the situation.
THIS IS THE EVANGELION'S ENCHANTED SHIELD OF VIRTUE xD

Frozen Heart: wellllll.....mhhhh....hard choice....it's 99 armor is wonderful, BUT it has as unique passive a NEGATIVE AURA, so you will give the enemy a real clue that you are in a range of 1000 around them, so you won't be able to chase people in the grass while they are recalling ( if they are smart....noobies are out there somewhere xD)

DO NOT GO THORNMAIL xD PUAH!! AWFUL ON TWITCH,

Pretty intresting in 3vs3, but many people don't really recommend him.

I usually take Doran's, and then my first skill (Ambush). U must be organized with your team.
I usually go first and make my fellows follow me, going down for first blood.
I get stealthed, and see who is in the bushes, and highlight them with my presence so my teammates can target them with any of their AoE spell. If not, I let ranged attack them. When the enemies see that they are hit they go out, and then i start smashing them in the bush they have just left. I saw many times people confused, because they didn't know who to target(=our first blood) .But remember, smart people will target you, you are the carry, and one of the squishiet carries!
After this starting phase just go up and farm minions, alternate farming, harrassing, gankin bot. Remember the golden rule, FOCUS THE WEAK AND LOW HEALTH

That's all for 3vs3, unfortunately i'm not really intrested in 3vs so i can't give you more information on this game type

I don't recommend you this character in ranked. It's too weak, they have nerfed him too much and people in ranked is soooooo mad, and won't forgive you for playing Twitch, they know you, they will buy oracle, they will neutralize you and you will be under fed (= fresh meat). My favorite Chupacabra is not a good champ in ranked so don't bother using him.

It's a hard truth, the only thing we can do is loving him more and more because he is so cute and he has one of the best /j in the game <3

''OOOOOOUH, WHAT'S THIS SMELL?!?!!??! Ah, it's me!.....'' *_* j'adore

Well, hope you will enjoy this guide! Soon i will add a laning section, with every char to lain against.

I'd like to thank Xaioli and his awsome guide: ''Twitch: Let the Bodies Hit the Floor'',really :D

Oh and forgive me for errors or other things you may don't like about my english! Italians and English language are not best friends xD

CIAO!!!!!!!!! GOOD TROLLING TO EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!