Pro +Very good passive +Great stun for level 6 ganks +Not so hard to use +He can be build verry tanky and still do tons of damage +He can be used in every team composition +Great to 1v1 people +No real mana problems from level 8 +Can jungle very easy

SPACE

Con -No area of effect spells -His ult can be stopped easy -High mana cost on his Q and ult -Has no ranged spells exept for his ult -Hard to gank with if you don't have ghost red or ult -Can be countered with some cc -Can be killed fast if he hasn't been farming

I love warwick, i play him in ranked all the time and get wonderful scores. I hate it when people play warwick and buy these weird items that make him a horrible champ late game. This is why i created this guide. To show people that are not so good with him how to completely dominate your games. Or at least help your team get a victory screen witch are always nicer to look at. This guide might also help those of you who are good but just want a new look at warwick.

Build one:
This build is the one i use most of the time. I came up with it when i was jungling with warwick and we had no really tanky champions. so i went tanky i was surprised of how well it worked and how much damage i could still do with only Madred's Bloodrazorand a Frozen Mallet.

Build two:
This one is a build that has just a bit more damage to it also works well on dominion if you change the
Wriggle's Lantern and the Bloodthirster with Executioner's Calling and Sanguines blade. This is also a viable solo top lane build since it has that slow early on and some life steal to keep you going.

Build three:
This is practically the same build as the first one but it has no
Phage at the start. The reason is that you don't really need it to gank you are probably the one with the first 2 red buffs so you already have a nice slow.

why did i use these runes? well.
This I one of my favorite runes the reason is fairly simple they give you almost 9 extra attack damage at level 1. You will probably see people use them on attack damage carry's like Ashe or Caitlyne.

But like a commenter pointed out they will lose there edge once you start to get some items. He is totally right they will but in my opinion runes are for getting true the first 6 levels without any problems.
He did however recommend these --> Greater mark of desolation
These are more aimed towards doing more damage mid game. Why you would pick them is a personal preference they are both good runes to have/use.
The Greater Seal of Armor will help you do 2 things.
-They will allow you to jungle with Boots
This is because they give you in combination with your masteries 19 armor at level 1
This will reduce the damage the monster's do to you and allows you to gank safer or even counter jungle.
These runes can be swapped with the flat magic resist runes --> Greater Glyph of Magic Resist
I do recommend using at least one of these since you will be ganking mid and ability power champions tend to do high damage if you don't have magic resistance. And you do not want to die in a gank you will probably lose a buff. It will also make you fall behind in level and in farm. This can not happen for a jungler. They are very important in helping the lane's that are having a hard time.
For your Quintessences you can also use the Greater Quintessences of desolation They are just like the Marks better in mid game the at level 1 but this is again personal preference.

Pro +These are the most commenly used runes so you will probably have them. +It is a good mix of damage and resistance's +they are great if you whant to do a lot of ganking, and you will. +They help you clear the jungle a lot faster this also means you can gank more. +They are very cheap +They allow you to jungle with Boots very easy

SPACE

con -They lose there strength at around level 6 -They don't give you a lot of magic resist at level 1 unless you take Greater Glyph of Magic Resist

I recommend these masteries but they really don't matter that much you can always change them if you don't like these. They are ordinary ad off-tank masteries and for the dps basic ad masteries.

You really need these items if you want to play Warwick like a off-tank. And be successful.

You start off with Boots the reason is that you really do not need any other item to complete your jungle. That is if you have a pull and picked the right spell to start. These will also help you gank better. it also speeds up your jungle time. From about 4 minutes to 3:55 so only 5 sec but it sometimes makes the difference between a kill and someone of your team dying. If you do not want boots of speed or don't need to be faster for example all your lanes have a good amount of crowd control.
Here are some examples:
Nasus top with : Wither
Ryze mid with : Rune Prison
Alistar bot with: Pulverize
But This will hardly be the case. But if you do get a team like that You should go for.

It will increase the jungle time more then 5 seconds but more important it will help get enemy's down faster.

you can change the Berserker's Greaves but i like the attack speed that they give you. But! If you need some more armor or magic resist do not hesitate to buy Ninja Tabi or mercury's threads instead! League of legends is not a game where you can do everything exactly the same way every time. You will improve as a player if you look at the enemy and act accordingly.

At this time you go back for the first or second time if it was hard. If you lane you probably have no Red buff so you could use a nice slow to chase down enemy's since you only have your ulty as crowd control. This is why you buy the Phage. If you don't lane skip this item for now unless your red buff's are constantly stolen.

If you jungle you normally have the Red buff or ghost up for getting those easy kills. so instead of a Phage you go for some ad and armor in the form of Madred's Razors. The Madred's Razors also help you get the buffs faster do more damage on gank's and take less yourself.

By this time you should be about 6 to 8 min in game depending on how good your ganks were.
You should also be covering the lanes if one of teammates has to b. You do not want to lose that tower or the exp. the gold income on a lane is also a bit higher then in the jungle so last hit if you can. Don't forget you may not push or your friend at top is likely to get ganked or has to play very dangerous.

Your next item is the best item on warwick! (In my opinion of course) After this item no tank is to tanky and no ad carry can really hurt you at tis moment. This is still to soon for a non fed ad carry like Caitlyne to shine.

The next item is Spirit Visage this can be less useful if you need the slow from Phage more but normallyOverall you don't. This will give you that mr you need and hp and a bit of cd reduction. Overall a good item on warwick. It even has a really handy passive.

Frozen maled is one of the most common off-tank items. But it is so thanks to it's wonderful stats. a slow a big peace of hp and some ad that is always handy.

You now have the most important items. If you have a decent farm and a good amount of kills this is the moment warwick is at his best. Make use of this fact.

If the game is still not won this is weird. But no worry's you are now losing your power but not by a lot. This is also the time where your ad carry is going to the damage. So your ad carry takes it over and you role into a tank role. You will still do loads of damage. You will always die to the enemy team unless you got yourself a Guardian Angel. This will also give you more resistances.

Dps items
the reason you buy these is for there damage obviously but also for at least a bit of resistance. You should not go for these items if you are always getting focused and drying in team fights.

First of all I promice you do not need Smite!
Ignite helps you get the kill on blue just as easy.

Everyone will say you need it for baron and dragon is lying. They say they can steal it bla bla bla. Just ignore them there wrong. Besides if your smart you don't go for dragon or baron when 4 of them are gone. And Ignite is awsome. It can be cast while you do your ult.

And most of the time that ignite almost doubles your ult damage and means a kill more.

Ghost is good for those fast ganks and compliments your movementspeed for people who think they can run from you.

Flash is also an exelent summoner spell for getting away and using your ult more agesevely.

The first time you gank is after a blue buff . If the anemy has not pushed yet go for wolves then gank. It helps if you ask mid or top not to push and wait for your gank. If you see the mid has no flash this will be your first kill you could use your Ghost if nesecery. but since you have Boots in some cases it in not needed.

If someone is pushed realy hard punish the enemy team!

The second gank is after your red and golems. You gank mid or the lane that is pushed but don't stand in the bush for longer then a minute your wasting farm and your red buff. By now your ignite is also up so use it.

After those ganks try to get atleast one camp before you gank again.
Then if you have the gold for you lvl 2 boots get them and if your doing good you can also get your madered's razors.

Remeber to go b and buy some times, don't be running around with 2000 gold all the time.
It can happen but I whould say having about 2000 gold is a good time to b.

Dps Warwick is good in those teams where you have 2 off-tanks. I prefer not to build him like this but it is still verry viable. You are still a bit tanky but you do more damage. The change in gameplay is that you are now better at killing there carrys then there tanks.
I also strongly advise not to use your ult to ingage but to wait for your tank and then go in. if you see that there one of them is out of positioning go for them with your ult.
You can also use your ult to save teammate.
For example you Caitlyn is focused by a Akali just ult her she will probably die to you and you ad carry.

For beginners it good to know that if your jungling but you do not have the runes i recommended not to start whith Boots it might be harder to jungle. If you are not shure you can do a good jungle a good way to test this is to do a custom game and see if you can take clear the whole jungle once. You will get no pull but this will compare to the damage you take while ganking. If you are new to jungling Warwick is a great champion to try jungling with. His passive and Hunters Call are great for jungling.

Ganking for low level playes.
the safest way to gank is to make shure your at 3/4 hp or higher. This is no problem if you use the 3 health pots. You as a jungler are the one to go in first but make shure your teammember knows that your there. ping a few times and then go in. Never try to go for a gank when you have less then 1/2 of your hp. Good players sometimes do this and it ends well but if your not shure don't! You are only feeding.

A succesfull gank is a gank where you get a kill, the enemy has to flash, use ghost or has to go b for hp. Note that if he stays with low hp you can grab a camp and gank again.

Ask your team members if they know where the enemy has placed wards and where. If they do you can still gank them but you need to run in imediately and not wait in the bush. This needs good cooperation so be shere they know your comming.

Urly game
You need to know who will probably need the most help. who will probably lose the lane. these will need a whole lot of attention. For example a Pantheon vs a Mordekaiser top. The Pantheon will certenly lose his lane unless the Mordekaiser is realy bad. So you need to take care of this lane so Mordekaiser can't snowball the game into a loss.

If the Mordekaiser is on your team and you know he will win you the lane. This lane will not need a lot of attention. This is still no excuse to not gank a lane if it is pushed. Or if you are able to get a kill. go for it.
If you see that a teammate has to go back to buy, fall in for him. But do not push his lane! As with most junglers the best time is to gank with the double buff just make shure you don't lose them.

Mid game
Warwick is extreamly good at this time. You should be getting kills or loads of assists. You shouldn't use your ult Infinite Duress as soon you gank try to wait untill they use there Flash or Ghost.
You do this so that your teammate can follow him again and your ult has a good range so it can counter flashes good. Get dragon with the botlane or toplane after a good gank it will give your team a better advantage.

Late game
You are now a tank killer if went go for the first or last build(they have the same items but a diferent order). Your role in teamfights is to do your ult on there ad carry/fed champ and then afther that one died go for the off-tanks and then the tanks. Your Madred's Bloodrazor will take care of them. Note that you are tanky but have no real ingagement tools. Your ult is just used to suppres a champ. For ingaging battles you have a tank like Malphite and his ult.