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"What doesn't kill you... just hasn't finished yet."

This guide will help you finish that.

Firstly, this is my second guide published to MobaFIRE. I enjoy making guides but as you can see they are not viewed by the public for some reason. If you would like to view my other guide visit my profile and have a look at it. Anyway, thanks to jhoijhoi for making the guide template I first looked at to help me make some awesome guides.

The champion: Twitch is under appreciated. He is an awesome AD Carry who excels in bot lane with many supports because of the way they can get Deadly Venom stacks on the enemy. Maxing out purely damage first can help you and your lane endeavours.

It seems as though after his visual update, he has come back into the meta... filthy casuals!

Be sure to know that this is in ranked as well as in normal. I am good as Twitch, people just don't appreciate him and think of him as a smelly useless rat. Here you are to prove them otherwise.

For some reason, I have lost many ranked games as Twitch but mind you those have positive KDA's and it was mainly in my Silver-Gold days :).

Good luck apprentice!

Disclaimer:

Thanks to jhoijhoi for the line separators! Check out her profile if you haven't already!

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Obviously the Pros beat the Cons and Twitch has a lot of Pros. Unfortunately the team might rely on you too much and you might have to rush a GA if the team fights are getting a bit too rough for you and even then...

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[/runes]

These runes are what I personally use or what I would prefer if I don't have enough IP. Use these at your own peril or victory and feel free to use your own runes if you feel that these runes are missing something. You are not entitled to use these runes, these are just my personal prefernces.

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If you want some other awesome runes then get one of these sets. I don't recommend getting shielding for every single type of rune otherwise you will turn into a tank not an AD Carry. Be weary of what you are doing and choose wisely. Get these runes if you feel you need more AD late game or more sustainability etc.

Greater Seal of Attack Damage, I wouldn't recommend this unless you are extremely desperate for 4 ad. This is really useless but useful rune to have around when you don't have the others. Greater Seal of Health is good when you need some health so you can stay longer and also die less often. Also the Greater Seal of Scaling Magic Resist is a good rune but don't get this if you already have Shielding Marks.

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction is a great rune although quite expensive it can give you some great cooldown reduction. Greater Glyph of Armor is a nice rune if their team if quite focused on AD. Greater Glyph of Magic Resist, don't get this unless you don't have the shielding rune. No one should have really high AP early game but if you really don't have any. Grab this.

Greater Quintessence of Armor Penetration is a nice bit of armor penetration and I am sure I have explained everything else in this section of other runes in other sections of this particular section. Remember not to get flat armor for each rune, magic resist etc. Balance it out.
Greater Quintessence of Life Steal is excellent, especially if you are starting with Doran's Blade. It lets you auto attack minions and get a lot more health back so you can stay in lane longer!

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Main Masteries

Offence:

Fury x4, why not increase your attack speed further with this mastery?
Butcher x1, helps you get CS.
Brute Force x3, +10 damage is really good, it may not seem like much but at level 18 it can actually mean something.
Martial Mastery x1, gives you some early game damage so you can secure CS or get more damage on the enemies.
Executioner x1, really useful especially with your Contaminate.
Warlord x3, this mastery is great because say you have a Bloodthirster fully stacked, then you get 10 extra damage!
Dangerous Game x1, I don't know why it's called dangerous game. All I know is that it is a great mastery.
Frenzy x1, this is a great mastery especially once you get Phantom Dancer and Infinity Edge.
Devastating Strikes x3, really good if you don't have a Last Whisper or if the enemy support is really tanky early game.
Havoc x1, gives +3% increased damage for 1 mastery point.

Defence:

Block x2, just a bit of survivability in the early game against hard harass Marksmen such as Caitlyn.
Enchanted Armor x2, used to increase your initial resistance again to defend from high harass Marksmen.
Unyielding x1, for the same reasons above.
Veteran Scars x3, gives a high amount health for a mastery.
Juggernaut x1, really good if you decide to go for a health item and also scales per levels.

Optional

[color=Utility:

Phasewalker x1, great if you want to do the Ambush, Recall combo at earlier levels of Ambush.
Fleet of Foot (However many you want), if you want to move around quickly.

These masteries are an example if you are feelin' lucky:

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(If the items above do not show up properly, the first item is a Doran's Blade)

I start with a Doran's Blade because it gives me early damage and it helps my Contaminate for that finishing hit. I then go into a rushed Bloodthirster, if I don't have enough money I finish my Berserker's Greaves first. I then build straight into an Infinity Edge and a Phantom Dancer for that awesome attack speed and critical chance and hit. Once I am done with that I build a Last Whisper then a Guardian Angel or switch depending on the situation. My build is basically:
Boots, Damage, Crit Damage, AS-MS-Crit, Situational Item, Situational Item. In the second version, I go for a Banshee's Veil and switch the order of the Bloodthirster and Infinity Edge.

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Survivability:
Banshee's Veil, just a small spell shield. You don't really need this, maybe get it early for Catalyst the Protector.
Guardian Angel, obviously if you get targeted. Also if you are about to die press ambush and you will cloak as you come out of the death animation.
Thornmail, against a full ad team is good. Only useful if you have health from a warmogs or a frozen mallet.
Quicksilver Sash/ Mercurial Scimitar, as this will let you get away from CC.


Situational:
Statikk Shiv works well with Infinity Edge giving you crit chance instead of Runaans.
Mercury's Treads, if they have way too much CC and you think you are being mega targeted grab these boots to reduce the duration of the CC.
Runaan's Hurricane, if you want to try something crazy!
Mercurial Scimitar, build this from Quicksilver Sash. This is a good item if you don't have cleanse and you are being feared/stunned in fights.
Frozen Mallet, get this is you are getting absolutely melted. The slow really helps because when you Rat-Ta-Tat-Tat it applies slow to all targets. It also gives a fair amount of health and damage.
Phantom Dancer, building this allows crit and attack speed but does not apply your passive to other champions. If you like depending on your ult for AoE damage then get this.
Trinity Force, this is really good on anyone so use it if you want to chase and get the really good stats from it.

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The only real difference is the cloak and Contaminate were switched. Although it doesn't seem like much of a difference, the cloak effect can have quite a big influence to how your enemy team will play. This will make them buy some Vision Wards or upgrade their Sweeping Lens to an Oracle's Lens.

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PASSIVE - Deadly Venom: This is a cool little ability, it does true damage each time you hit. Although the damage is quite small, it does it over time and increases per hit and works with your Contaminate to do damage. True damage increases over levels.

[Q] - Ambush: It cloaks twitch, the cloak use to be incredibly long which I use to love, like when he wasn't nerfed it could get up to 50 seconds cloak. That's enough time to get from your base to the middle of the map WITHOUT boots. It gives Twitch attack speed depending on how long he was stealthing for. This is useful for as the name suggests. Ambushing.
Tips & Tricks:

• Once Twitch's Q reaches level 3 or 4, he can stealth recall which is really useful for getting away and such. Simply press Q first then press B. It will recall while cloaking then eventually you will be teleported into the fountain.
• You can use this before GA activates allowing for a stealthy escape.
• You can no longer use this to escape a fight immediately, it takes a long time to cloak when fighting to use it wisely!

[W] - Venom Cask: Slows units in an AoE and applies two stacks of your passive. This is great for when there is another Twitch or Evelynn as you can estimate where they are with it and throw it. The downfall is in the old Twitch you could use a slow in an AoE. This is good as well though.
Tips & Tricks:

• Use this as a gap closer or to get away. This ability is useful in both those ways. Even if they get away but get hit they take damage due to the 2 stacks of your passive.
• You can harass the enemy with this and Contaminate. Simply throw it, maybe land a few basic attacks and then use Contaminate. This will do a bit of damage but not recommended if your planning to kill someone.
• You can use this to help you clear a wave though it does little damage early.

[E] - Contaminate: Does damage according to how many deadly venom stacks are on the enemy unit. AD and AP scale off this. The ratio is sort of small, I mean when I had 300 AD the bonus damage from AD was around 30-50. But the thing is it is per stack so if you have 6 stacks then this will do a lot of damage.
Tips & Tricks:

• Use this to finish off enemies. Deadly Venom stays on the target so say they get away from your basic attack range you should be able to use Contaminate to finish them off or do some damage outside your range.
• You can harass the enemy with this and Venom Cask. Simply throw it, maybe land a few basic attacks and then use Comtaminate. This will do a bit of damage but not recommended if your planning to kill someone as it uses a lot of mana.

[R - ULTIMATE] - Rat-Ta-Tat-Tat: Extend your attack range, gives you attack damage and your attacks penetrate through targets meaning units in a line get damaged. This is an amazing skill in teamfights. You use to be able to stack Tiamat on Twitch and you would do a tonne of damage due to the AoE Splashing everywhere.
Tips & Tricks:

• When a teamfight erupts use Ambush and get in a position where you cannot be targeted, then unleash your attacks and you will do a lot of damage especially if you have Runaan's Hurricane. I'm not sure if it stacks though as in each unit hit by your ultimate gets 2 bolts to other targets.
• You easily outrange turrets with this ability making Twitch a great backdoorer. Use this to finish off turrets that are low.
• Use your Youmuu's Ghostblade item to speed up your attack speed further
• DO NOT USE THIS TO ATTACK INHIBITORS OR NEXUS as it will not do ANY damage!

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Barrier is used for self protection as it is now better than heal in terms of damage taken (will not take all ignite ticks). Heal is for if you and your support are going to go HAM early and will need to heal so that you can keep fighting. Ignite is very situational and I would only use it if they had a kill lane I could win.

I read the comments and I agree with one of the posters. Ignite is definitely better on Twitch than heal. Heal has turned into more of a support spell instead of a heal-bait spell. Barrier is a good spell as it lets you survive a bit of burst for 2 seconds. Heal is now great!



Alternative Spells:
Cleanse although I've never used this spell as Twitch I have used it on people such as Ezreal and Corki and I do think that is provides a decent ability. If you don't get this then I recommend getting a Guardian Angel or a Quicksilver Sash.
Exhaust, an okay spell if you plan on 1v1ing people by Ambushing them.
Ghost, if you want to be super fast, it can be useful with Ambush.

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Supports:

Good Supports
Some good supports that work well with Twitch are: Alistar, Braum, Taric, Soraka, Janna, Thresh, Leona, Lulu and also Blitzcrank.

OKAY Supports
Some not good and not bad supports with Twitch include: Sona, Fiddlesticks, Zilean, Kayle, Zyra, Nami, Nunu & Willump, Lux, Cho'Gath and including for some particular reason Nidalee as her attack speed helps.

Bad Supports
Some bad supports with Twitch (not bad entirely but those that I would rather not play with) are Volibear, Singed, Maokai and any other person that feel they can support but wasn't made for it.

Laning:

Your support should support you. They should either give you heals, shields, movement speed boost or attack speed boost. Without any of these buffs it will be hard to succeed in lane. For some harass, try using Venom Cask then Contaminate for 2 stacks of Deadly Venom and a little Contaminate damage. It will do a little bit but it is a decent harass. Auto attack the enemy champions and Deadly Venom will do the rest. If you plan to tower dive use Ambush and Rat-Ta-Tat-Tat to get the maximum damage from your ulti's damage and range boost.

Teamfights:

Wait for your tank to initiate, never initiate as Twitch. I can guarantee that you will die in less than 3 seconds. As soon as the tank initiates start attacking (this is implying that you were in Ambush before the fight). Use Rat-Ta-Tat-Tat when you think you are in line with most of their team. You will do a lot of damage especially if you have Infinity Edge, Bloodthirster and Black Cleaver. These will affect your enemies horribly causing you to get a QUADRA KILL. I have never gotten a PENTA KILL as Twitch.
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Support Explanations

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Lots of CC, can peel for you early and has amazing synergy with Twitch in teamfights. What I mean by that is he can use Glacial Fissure and Twitch can combo with his ultimate to make the enemy MELT.
This guy is an amazing support. His Crowd Control will help you a lot and disable their support. He can Headbutt and Pulverize to do a Malphite ultimate or he can do the other way to knock back the target to you.
This guy is a good support too. He has a stun which allows you to put on some Deadly Venom and gives you armor with his passive from Shatter. His ultimate is also really good giving you a sort of Exalted with Baron Nashor buff for a short time. He also has a heal which also heals himself and gets mana from his passive.
I've stayed in lane so long with Soraka. I once stayed for around 15 minutes and had a lot of money to spend on items when I recalled. It was amazing. She gives you mana with Infuse every 10 seconds and Astral Blessing is a huge heal with bonus armor gives. Not to mention she can save you from fountain with Wish.
She has a crowd control, she has a heal, she has a shield and she has a slow. Granted her heal is ultimate Monsoon but her shield is good enough. It gives you attack damage until it is gone or has run out. Also her tornado goes longer and higher the more it is charged leading more great initiations. She can also slow with Zephyr and gives movement speed with her passive.
This guy is amazing. He doesn't need to get Ability Power because his passive gives him ability power as long as you can last hit. Death Sentence is sort of like Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab except it can also be an Amumu Bandage Toss. It also disables the unit not allowing them to move or do anything. Dark Passage is a great ability if your going into our out of a battle. Just click on it and you move to him. He can combo with Death Sentence and The Box allowing for easy kills.
One of the classics. Blitzcrank excels at initiating for the ADC with his Rocket Grab. He can use his ultimate to silence them so they are unable to flash away and also knock them up with Power Fist for that further CC. He also has a movement and attack speed boost for getting away and pushing lanes as well. He is a support you need.
She is full of CC. Her abilities Shield of Daybreak, Zenith Blade and Solar Flare all have some sort of disable. Although with no heal her cc makes up for it. Almost all her abilities give a stun or root. She is a great initiator and helps a lot in teamfights. Let her tank all the damage and you will be fine.
She is a great support. Once she gets level 6 you will live forever. She has her ultimate Wild Growth and the shield from Help, Pix!. She even gives either a poly morph or a movement speed boost with Whimsy. She has a slow from Glitterlance. Lulu? Why not?
He has stealth bombing... he has a speedup... he has a Guardian Angel for free late game that is up every 30 seconds! He may not help you survive the early game but he can be a huge asset for your team in the late game.

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Shes a good support, don't get me wrong but I personally prefer not to lane with a Sona if I don't need to. She has a heal, a damage boost and a movement boost and an AoE stun but personally I prefer the other supports above. If you can find a way to do better than me then feel free to with Sona.
I know what your thinking. What? Fiddle is an AP mid. That he is, but he has a fear that lasts 3 seconds meaning you can get 6 stacks of your passive on their adc and can tank damage with his Bountiful Harvest. He can initiate for you with his Crowstorm and stop that annoying Caitlyn with a silence.
The reason he is here as well is because if a person who is going First Time Zilean then he will not be as good as a person who is an experienced Zilean. It's still the same concept but it may be harder to lane with a noob Zilean.
Kayle is a good support but might be a little weak later. Her heal isn't that great but it does give movement speed. She can slow with Reckoning and get a ranged attack with Righteous Fury. She can also use Intervention to make you invulnerable which is useful for running or attacking.
Zyra turns out to be a great support because most of them go some sort of AP. This allows you to kill them quicker and not do as much damage yourself. She can snare in a line which is useful and has a knockup ult. If a Zyra can land all her skillshots then feel free to consider her as a good support.
I had great expectations for Nami but she just was not the support I needed. She has a sort of stun/knockup which is good for you and your basic attacks. She also has a heal/damage ability and a basic attack amplifier. She can ultimate to allow a small knockup in a long distance. She just does not do damage, her heals are decent but you'll end up a lot of the time just almost killing the enemy because Nami does no damage.
Nunu is a pretty good support. He can slow, sustain so long in lane, give you an attack speed boost and not to mention an AoE ult that does 'tons of damage'. He doesn't deserve good support though because the lack of peel he can give you. He may be able to block some skills but he can't heal you or anything.
Lux is like Zyra and Fiddlesticks. Most of them go AP late game. She's okay but not the best support, she can snare 2 people at a time and has a slow which can be useful for chasing. She has incredibly long range and with her ult Final Spark and your ult you can do a lot of damage. She can also shield you twice which will frustrate the enemy team. She is very squishy and has no way to heal you downgrading her down here.
Cho'Gath has the longest silence in the game. He has a really good knockup skillshot AoE which is really cool. He has a quite useless E most of the time in lane, he does have Feast which will be mostly used to take minions and not lower down the enemy champions health instead. Cho'Gath is not recommended but if your partner doesn't have anyone else than take him.
Nidalee is a strong support. Much like Lux, Fiddlesticks and Zyra she is usually ap. Her heal is very strong if ap and her spears can do devastating damage both early and late game. She will sometimes take kills which is why I don't really like her. She can place 'traps' which give vision when someone step onto them. There is also her cougar form which is a more offensive skill set. Nidalee's tend to take your kills but if they don't consider them as a 'Good Support'.

Twitch excels in ranked play, that is if your team even lets you play as him.

A lot changes, this includes the way you farm. The way you build and what summoner spells you take. You can also change your masteries, items and sometimes runes.

I will categorise everything into different elos, I'm not sure what Platinum, Diamond and Challenger Tier players play but I will judge on some of the pro player streams I have seen. This includes Voyboy, Dyrus, WildTurtle etc.

Bronze Elo

I honestly haven't played in Bronze in a long time but here is what I can remember about it. Play really aggressive, I'm not sure why but some people tend to play like they are in Diamond and play really defensively and just farm. If you play the offensive, they won't know what to do... and hey, if you don't know what you're doing then how will they right?

Silver Elo and Gold Elo

Low silver is like bronze so just follow that (Silver V and IV). Silver III and II is a lot different. Some people may actually know what you are doing and buy Vision Wards to counter. If you are ahead in lane and it is past laning phase as well as their marksman is farming then you need to kill them. You can't let them get back into the gaming and Twitch can carry really hard in these elos. In Silver I and Gold you need to start playing more safe. Just farm and after the laning phase if you are only a little behind or ahead then try to kill their marksman IF they are alone.

Platinum and Low Diamond Elo

Twitch has the potential to carry really hard in this. If you win the laning phase severely then you can decimate their whole team with your Youmuu's Ghostblade and Infinity Edge and Ultimate. If you are behind however, it is going to be REALLY difficult to catch up because their Marksman will know better than to not buy Vision Wards or go alone into lane to farm.

To be completed

4/09/2014: Updated the Guide, it is a lot more relevant now!
29/04/2014: Updated the guide for Season 4!
20/10/2013: Changed a few things
30/03/2013: Finished OK Supports
4/02/2013 (Australian): Added community suggested items and also changed a few minor things.
3/02/2013: Made a few changes to items and abilities and supports.
3/02/2013: Guide released.