I. Preface
II. Introduction
III. Skill Explanations
IV. Summoner Spell Explanations
-- Considerable Summoner Spells
V. Rune Explanations
VI. Mastery Explanations
-- Utility Tree
-- Offense Tree
VII. Core Item Build Sequence
-- Situational Items
VIII. Laning & Play Style
-- Early Game Phase
-- Mid Game Phase
-- Late Game Phase
-- Late Game Summarized
IX. Tricks & Strategies
X. Closing
XI. FAQs
XII. Changelog




Abbreviated Terms
AA = Auto-attack [Basic Attacks]
CC = Crowd Control [Stun, fear, slow, snare, etc]
FB = First Blood
AP = Ability Power
AD = Attack Damage
MD = Magic Damage
AS = Attack Speed
MS = Movement Speed
MR = Magic Resistance
ArPen = Armor Penetration
MPen = Magic Penetration
LS = Life Steal
SV = Spell Vamp
DPS = Strong Auto-attacker
MDPS = Strong spells; casters
CDR = Cooldown Reduction
OOM = Out of Mana
MP = Mana
HP = Health
MP Regen = Mana Regeneration per 5 seconds
HP Regen = Health Regeneration per 5 seconds

Let's face it ladies and gentlemen, Warwick is as close as you can get to a gnoll. He runs about, he's hungry and he hates everyone, and with the Hyena skin he is a gnoll. The point of this guide is to not only explore Warwick as a character but to provide my experience on playing warwick. I am currently at 14XX elo working my way up and a majority of my games are as a solo top player. Many people call Warwick a jungler, I believe that's his worst position. He doesn't hold a hair to better junglers in speed (nocturne, udyr, skarner) and because of this he has trouble not only getting into position for quick ganks he has trouble keeping his levels up. Additionally his gank doesn't really start to be effective till level 6.

The biggest thing about warwick is his sustain, and with both builds (ap and attack speed) you want to emphasize that sustain and resilience to confound the enemy at the end-game. His end-game role is to be an extremely resilience anti-carry who helps with knocking down towers, and supports your AD carry with 40% attack speed buff. He will latch onto someone who overextends or their carry and take them out of the fight, reducing incoming damage and also being at the center where his frozen heart will make a difference.

Pros:
- Extremely resilience
- Strong Laning Phase
- Built to Farm
- An effective Anti-Carry (described later)
- Strong Team Support

Cons:
- Cannot carry a game
- Has problems versus energy/CD based heroes (garen, tryndmere, etc).
- Is not about straight damage
- When underfarmed can be extremely useless
- Requires ult timing to be effective


Throughout the course of the guide keep an eye out for our friend Minitoof popping in, while he loves coffee, he also is a huge fan of Warwick and will have little tips that came up during the course of my games and thoughts by reviewing players. Keep in mind that anything that Minitoof says is up for speculation and may or may not change in the future.

Warwicks role in solo top and in the game overall is to be super resilient, but he needs to not only survive top but farm effective. For this reason in standard classic games I am of the opinion that his rune selection should follow that train of thought but be specifically tailored to his abilities (more on those below).

MARKS

For Marks I take Greater Marks of Alacrity for Attack speed as he needs the initial attack speed for farming and staying alive via his passive, . An alternative build to counter normally low MR heroes who you will poke at to win the lane are Greater Marks of Insight, for the magic pen.

Garen for example is a primary example of hero that some Marks of insight will push you over the resistence runes he normally takes and let you push back when he bullies you.

SEALS

For Seals I go with Greater Seal of Resilience for flat armor, because you are going to be absorbing damage in lane from minions and your opponent. Armor is what lets Warwick stay in lane here and absorb minion blows when paired with masteries and passive. I tend to grab more armor as early as possible (Cloth armor) as you need to be able to not only adsorb the lane champion but the minions. These runes are irreplaceable in my opinion.

GLYPHS

For Glyphs I take Greater Glyphs of Shielding for Magic Resist per level, as the extra resist early and late is fantastic. Alternatives might be cooldown reduction (against a top that has little to no magic damage, like Tryndamere), or straight magic resist if you prefer that.

Quintessences: The Odd Ball

For Quints I have run everything from Attack speed, to MP, to armor, to run speed. But I have settled on 1 attack speed/Magic Pen quint and 2 run speed quints. The extra run speed makes a big difference in my opinion both in running away and chasing, and the attack speed and Magic Pen each have their uses in lane. Look to quints to fill out your rune-page build and give you a little something depending on if you are leaning towards more magic pen or more attack speed based.