Before your read all this:

Please keep in mind to never rate a guide before trying it out first, unless you've already tried it.

Although it should already be implied, please don't rate my guide if you try to use this build to lane with Warwick. I'm not going to say Warwick can't lane, but this build is meant for jungling, ONLY JUNGLING.


Updates:

• Apr. 10, 2011 - Archived. Will properly overhaul onto a clean guide later.
• Apr. 9, 2011 - Swapped Sealed of "Resilience" for "Alacrity." Warwick does not need defense in the jungle. :)
• Apr. 9, 2011 - Added "Frozen Mallet" onto the Item-Sequence. Not needing Lizard buff is great, although getting it is always good extra dps.
• Apr. 9, 2011 - Added orange text disclaimer on Offtanks.
• Apr. 9, 2011 - Changed a few points in the description from tank to offtank for contextual accuracy.
• Mar. 23, 2011 - Changed skill sequence, Hunter's Call first, to reflect new Jungling routes.
• Mar. 23, 2011 - Changed my Jungling guide, utilizing a video from stonewall008, a very respectable and experienced jungler.
• Mar. 23, 2011 - Implemented "Wit's End." :3
• Mar. 23, 2011 - Changed Masteries to 15/0/15
• Mar. 22, 2011 - Swapped Sealed of "Evasion" for "Resilience." They're cheaper, and more versatile~
• Mar. 22, 2011 - Unarchived. Mneh.
• Jan. 25, 2011 - Archived this build. I'm not active enough to work on the planned improvements. Will return when time opens up.
• Jan. 12, 2011 - Updated the "Why Not Madred's Bloodrazors" below Wriggles. Sorry, I haven't been on LoL much recently; so, nothing new yet.
• Dec. 28, 2010 - Added some progress notes on Madred's Bloodrazor (under testing).
• Dec. 23, 2010 - Changed Glyphs to "Shielding" for Magic Resist. (Sorry, don't have the actual runes, so my evaulations were all in theory-crafting.)
• Dec. 23, 2010 - Added a "Heavy Note" about Dragon.
• Dec. 23, 2010 - There is now a "Situational Item" section. Check it out!
• Dec. 23, 2010 - Removed "Spirit Visage" as a Core item. It's just too cheap of an item, and too easily countered by Ignite to be effective.
• Dec. 21, 2010 - Posted a record of a winning streak from the day before.
• Dec. 20, 2010 - Added "Boots of Mobility" as an alternative in Core Items.
• Dec. 18, 2010 - Added "Frozen Mallet" to End Game item suggestions. (Can't believe I overlooked this perfectly good tanky item)
• Dec. 17, 2010 - Added a Discussion to WW's ult under Skills and Ordering Justification.
• Dec. 17, 2010 - Added a comment on "Final Comments."

Introduction

Overall, Warwick is an excellent champion. With aggressive self-healing skills and skills built for sticking to targets, he's the embodiment of a predator.

Sadly, his bloody glory always seems to stop cold as late-game sets in. His damage is just not sufficient to keep up with normal carries or nukes.
And so, ignoring the Summoners who sided with MageWick, Offtank Warwick was born.

With a jungled early game and powerful mid game, building Warwick into a tanky dps allows him to continue his bloody onslaughts without fear of a quick demise. For those who don't pick up on what I mean, Warwick is a decent powerhouse with offensive items, but I find he contributes to the team more effectively when he can tank the enemy while ripping faces off.

Note that building tanky means you become more dependent on your allies' performances as well. Tanks are useless on their own, but excel in a strong group.

Also, please be lenient on your criticism of how I build. Offtanks are essentially Tanky DPS champions. Building tanky is simple a necessity to you being a melee champion, and does not give you the full capacities of a true tank.

I have found various guides, including on this site, but eventually, I settled into my own niche which I'm willing to share.

Enjoy~


Here's a record of 4 games where Offtank Warwick was loads of fun when I had good teammates.



The last game, I died a good 5 times because the enemies seemed to take a liking to saving all their burst combos and multiple ignites just for me. Probably noticed my Spirit Visage and Wriggles.
Fine by me, the offtank will take it all! <3

Summoner Spells

Smite.
This is your main jungling tool.
A necessity for letting you move through the jungle camps quickly. Good for ensuring Dragon, and Barons aren't stolen as well.

Ignite.
I take this fun little spell to ensure kills. Warwick only has two offensive skills, so I like having the extra firepower.
After all, you're going to be building tanky with this guide, so you kind of need it.


Alternative Spells:

Flash is a good spell for Warwick. Often, you can get a speed boost from Blood Scent, so what you'll want is a Flash for disappearing behind walls, or to give you a gap-closer for surprise Infinite Duress attacks.

The boost from Ghost can really make you the ultimate chaser when you've got Red Buff or Frozen Mallet. Some people tend to think Ghost isn't necessary, but Blood Scent is very dependent on the enemy and is generally unlikely to be active if you're trying to run.

Clairvoyance takes experience to use, but if used properly, it can make counter jungling, and enemy-tracking much easier.

Teleport is an excellent spell if you intend to counter jungle.
If you have a ward placed beside an enemy buff, and spot them attempting to take it, you can recall really quick then teleport in for an easy Smite-steal or gank.

Having a team member bring teleport will further feed your team as well if you intend to counter jungle with good warding.

Runes and Masteries: Warwick Jungling build

Attack Speed Marks, for best synergy with your Passive.

Attack Speed Seals, because with more attack speed, you can make the most out of Eternal Thirst .

Magic Resist per Level Glyphs, for more tankiness. Being a Jungler, you don't necessarily have to enter combat until level6+, so you can spare the Flat MR runes for leveling ones.

or or Greater Quintessence of Desolation
Movement Speed, Attack Speed, or Armor Penetration.
Any of these are fine, they all make your jungling more efficient.


Masteries: 14/6/10

Pretty odd right?

Well, turns out Warwick doesn't need to proc too much down Defensive Masteries if he wants to tank; mostly because no matter what you do he ends up tanking.

Here are all the important points I go after.

Utility Mastery, Awareness
As a jungler, these are vital to your success.

Plentiful Bounty, Burning Embers
Basic Summoner spell masteries. 5 gold per Smite use, and 10 AP whenever Ignite is down.

Alacrity, Sunder, Offensive Mastery
These keep you strong in the Jungle. I don't go for cooldown, since you don't really need it when you have Golem buff.

Good Hands
A helpful little bit of death respawn reduction since Death Timers are quite long mid to late game.

Resistance and Hardiness
Small defensive stats for early-game.
The armor helps for jungling, and the magic-resist does help in the long run; you may never notice, since it's so implicit.

Skills and Ordering Justification:

Eternal Thirst:


This is why Warwick can jungle. With runes and Q or W, he can out heal their damage for an easy time wandering the Fog of War.
The stackablility of this passive means you should know your target before entering a fight, and stick to them.


Hungering Strike:


An excellent skill that furthers Warwick's survivability. I usually take this first, but Hunter's Call seems to be the popular choice. I'm not too familiar with why that is.

I max this out as soon as I can, for maximum damage+healing when entering a fight.


Hunters Call


This ally-buffing Attack Speed boost is great. You should always take this at level2, if not level1.
Good for pushing, jungling, and really ramping up your team's auto-hit damage in a fight.

Side Note: Isn't it "Hunter's Call" ? The site says otherwise.


Blood Scent:


This is your chaser.
Keep this off when you're jungling or lurking. You do NOT want this to tip off the enemy.

Put this up right before revealing yourself for a gank, when they go under 50% and try to run, the speed boost will let you keep up with them and finish the job.
I raise over Hunter's Call because chasing is a higher priority. You'll seldom have the chance to right-click spam an enemy.


Infinite Duress


This is a seriously fun skill! Flash right onto a target and rip their face off!
This is an excellent initiate or finisher, if you can reserve it for finishing/catching its a sign of a real experienced player.
As the Ultimate, always take it at avaliable levels: 6, 11, and 16.

However, like Malazhar's Nether Grasp it can leave much to be desired. It's one of the skills that I think could use a buff in certain aspects.
A lower cooldown? A passive effect? Maybe immunity to CC, so it can't be disrupted. I don't know, but it could definitely use a little seasoning to make Warwick more interactive. (I'm adamant to say it needs more power, since most people think it's a scary skill)

Discussion, this Ability's limits:
My main concern is people's perception of this skill's capacities.

Although it is very strong, like Nether Grasp, it does something even worse. On top of rooting yourself to deal damage, it sends you right in front of the enemy.
This is why Warwick has a bad late-game.

Early/Mid-Game, enemies are still laning most of the time. They're separated, so blinking right onto a target is ideal. It ensures their death.
Sadly, Late-game is much different. Team fights break out... In this scenario, Infinite Duress is more of a weakness then an asset for an AD Warwick. Suppressing 1 target does not mean you suppress then others. You have to deal with 2~4 enemies attacking you, while your target is probably only targeted by 1~2.

That is why I think Tanky Warwick is better suited for advanced LoL gameplay. Infinite Duress demands it.

Core Items:

Start: Cloth Armor + 2 Health Potions
I only need 1 potion to get golem buff, the 2nd one is a cautious purchase.

Madred's and Boots. When you clear the jungle, hopefully, you'll have participated in a fight to make good use for your Lizard buff.

If it went well, you have enough for both of these items.

Note: If you acquire 1.3k+ gold before recalling. Purchase a Wriggle's Lantern over Boots. This will make your team's map control much easier.

Wriggle's Lanthern. This item is the bee's knees of jungling.
The armor and life-steal mean you can out-heal an entire wave of minion aggro at lower levels. Ward dragon for easy ganks and save lots of ward-gold for later items.
It'll also mean you can tank an enemy's damage just by right-clicking with the Hunter's Call buff.

Discussion, Why not Madred's Bloodrazors?
This is because Madred's Bloodrazor is an offensive item. Wriggle's life steal properties offer more for a tank build. It is also immensely cheaper, and cost-effective, having the potential to always save you over 1k in wards!

However:
I am considering Madred's Bloodrazor's as an mid-game item. See "Under Testing" for more details.

Team-Note:
Please make sure that as mid-game sets in, your allies buy some wards as well.
Warding key points can often prevent deaths and lead in more ganks; notable points are Dragon Entrance, and Baron entrance, also the brushes to Brushes beside Golem Buff and Wraiths are high-traffic points as well.


Mercury Treads. Being both melee-dps AND having an Ult that puts you right in front of the enemy, you'll be targeted for CC very often. This is necessary~
Boots of Mobility are a viable choice if the enemy has no hard cc; those stuns, taunts, and roots. As a jungler/ganker, this will let you get around better.

Wit's End: A lovely mana-burning item for Warwick.

I've found that if you don't build Madred's Bloodrazors, the thing people fill most is the attack speed. Warwick doesn't feel natural with that low base attack speed animation.
This divine item also packs attack speed, and will stack an extra 210 damage on your Ultimates, which is quite significant mid-game.

But what truly made this a fine pick is it has Magic Resist too! That means combined with Wriggle's Lantern , you're already semi-tanky in terms of stats. :)

Sunfire Cape.
Armor is the chronologically vital stat to build for.

Purchase some Magic Resist before working on your Sunfire if Casters and general magic damage is an issue.

I've come to notice that at the end of every game, despite many wins... My minion count is very low.
If early ganks aren't successful, I can fall way behind. Sunfire helps immensely.

Banshee's Veil.
Because your Ult puts you right into the frying pan of fights, you want ways to max out your life span. The bubble spell-block means any immediate reflex click will be wasted, and you can Ult freely.
The HP, Mana, and MR are certainly no laughing matter either.

Note: On smooth games or games against high AD champions, just get the Catalyst Catalyst the Protector for the health since you're already wielding a Wit's End.

Situational:

Thornmail.
The classic counter to those right-click fiends. Yi, Tryndamere, etc.
It'll send back 30% of their damage into their faces. With your own healing and Wriggle's life steal, you're liable to out damage any normal carry.
Take this instead of Sunfire if the need arises.

Aegis of the Legion...
There's one thing I can repeat enough when the team has 2~3 squishies.
Your tank should have this...
Your tank should have this...!
YOUR TANK SHOULD HAVE THIS!!
Scroll down below, and check out firerebel's 2nd post. His team's Rammus is packing an Aegis, the aura is showing on Warwick's buff icons!
I don't care how much I'm assuming, that is a GOOD Rammus!! I'd want to play with him on my team!

But, sadly, if your tank is too stupid to get it... You get it. It'll help, auras are always helpful.
Unless of course, the enemy is too slanted to AP or AD. Then start padding yourself with Magic Resist or Armor, and get your allies to grab a Force of Nature or Thornmail of their own.
(If they don't listen... Prepare a hefty "I told you so" in case of an unsightly loss.)

End Game Items:

You have an ample supply of both defenses, but of course, late game is coming. Time to bring in the big-guns.

Frozen Mallet.
If things are going well, but you find yourself always chasing running (even with Blood Scent) then this is the item you want.
With a hefty HP boost, and light attack padding, the slow effect really makes you impossible to escape from.
Note: To be blunt, this is my most recommended item for the 5th slot.

Force of Nature.
Buy this item if AP users are your bane.
With excellent regeneration, and MR, it also offers a slight speed boost, which means with Blood Scent, you'll always be able to catch those squishies.

Randuin's Omen.
Randuin's Omen would be a good choice for late-game tanking. Good HP, armor, regen; the Passive will deter auto-hits, while the Active helps shut down your enemies like a normal tank can.

Guardian Angel.
A balanced tank item that will let our werewolf come back from the dead.
Warwick is one of the champions with better GA synergy, upon the revive Hungering Strike will almost always be off cooldown, giving him a chance to heal and continue fighting or fleeing.
This is the item you want as a 6th-slot filler when the game is going well, and you want to keep your howling beast rolling.

Abyssal Scepter.
If the enemy has a lot of Magic Resist as well as some strong AP champs, this is a viable choice.

The AP gives your Q a little extra punch, it has MR, and the enemy Magic Resist reduction means your team can hit that much harder with their AP skills.


~Under Testing:

Madred's Bloodrazor.
A powerful item well worth its price.
Since Moba's only Moderator is so vehement on it, I'll see how this goes. Although, I will miss the free-warding.
Update - Dec. 26, 2010: As disturbing as this may seem, I've yet to have a game where I had the time to buy Madred's Bloodrazor despite not build Razors into Wriggles. Always one extreme or the other; really well, and their surrender at 25~35min, or really bad, and we end up losing a nexus.
- Dec. 28, 2010: I would like to think Bloodrazor will work as a mid-game item when enemies start building HP or defenses, but I'll need to get into a good mid-game where I can farm it up, and still don't think it's necessary for WW's early game.
- Mar. 22, 2011: Perhaps I'll stick it in as a late-game item. Madred's + Wriggle's means easy Baron kills, right? lol

Atma's Impaler.
With Banshee's Veil, Sunfire, and Frozen Mallet, that brings you up to... 3.7k HP?
This brings out a whopping 77 Att if that's the case; people who feel AD-deprived may enjoy this.

Jungling:

Warwick is one of the best Junglers; where Udyr reigns as King, Warwick reigns as the Beast.

Warwick can start almost anywhere in the jungle, just make the effort to do the research.

This video shows one of the safest methods. Being able to buy a ward early game means you have choices in where to guard your jungle.
Play Video
Upon finishing, you can proceed to 1 of 3 options:

1. Ganking a lane.
   Make use of your Lizard Buff, and score some gold or lane-minion kills. This is the ideal action to take as it ensures you level up while your jungle creeps respawn.
2. Proceed to enemy jungle to refresh your Golem buff.
   Not possible if there is an enemy jungler.
3. Recall, purchase items and proceed to the small golem camp to continue farming.
   The last resort if enemies aren't prime for ganking AND there's an enemy jungler.

Ideally, you will have 1k+ gold and be level4 now.
Recall to base, and purchase Madred's and Boots. If you have 1.3k+ gold (good for you!), purchase a Wriggle's Lantern.

Head for a gank, or give a weak ally some relief by babysitting their lane.

From here, remember to reclaim Golem Buff whenever it comes out (every 5 minutes after the camp is cleared) and to clear your jungle when you're not farming a lane.
Remember to head for Dragon around level7~10

Keep up the map awareness, keep up with ganking, push the lanes, and win!

~ ~ Final Comments ~ ~

So, there you have it. That's my Warwick. Arooo~

He's a very fun jungler, who brings out the predator in all of us. >:3
This build is also very cheap.
Wriggles, Merc Treads, B-Veil, and you're done your mid-game set up. Ready to slash down anyone who comes your way.

I only have one reminder for those who try this build. As a tank, your success is dependent on your Carry's skill as well. It doesn't matter how well you can tank if your main carries aren't doing their job too.

I hope this guide was helpful. If you see anything wrong with it, leave a comment and I will try my best to justify myself or fix it.

Happy Hunting! Woof!~ >:P