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Wukong Build Guide by

Wukong: The monkey with a big stick

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55 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Brodienz

Wukong Build Guide By Updated on

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Choose Champion Build:

Spells:

Ignite

Ghost

Ability Order

Wukong Passive Ability

Introduction

So I guess a little bit about me first. To start with, I have been playing Lol for about a yearish. That might not seem a long time and for those long time pros it probably isn't. This is less of a guide to tell you what to do and more me writing down what I'm doing so that I can monitor how it adapts and changes. I have been playing Wukong for a while now, to the point where I would say he is my main champ. I'm positive 9 out of 10 games unless I'm having a really **** day or whatever reason.

PLEASE READ THE GUIDE BEFORE RATING.

I will change and adapt this as I learn from playing so don't take what I have here as gospel.....not that you would. Just to mention, this is mostly a SOLO TOP GUIDE but I do try and cover other situations as well.
Anyway...to the guide.

Wukong, the BEAST HIMSELF.

During the chaos of the Rune Wars, an enormous runestone was lost deep within the Plague Jungles. It remained there, untouched for centuries, emanating a potent magic which infused nearby wildlife with sentience and vitality. A group of monkeys who were particularly empowered by it came to worship the stone, and their leader - a wise sage - became convinced that he could harness its power to make the monkeys immortal. He performed an elaborate ritual, but things didn't go as he expected. The runestone was destroyed, and instead of granting immortality, it produced Kong, a monkey who carried in his heart the strength and power it had contained. Kong was driven by an unquenchable desire for greatness. He sought out every beast and monster the Plague Jungles could offer, eager to find a worthy opponent, but none offered the challenge he craved. He asked the sage for advice, and learned about a legend of hairless monkeys to the north who, with wits and might, had bent the world to their will.

Wukong left, journeying north, determined to discover if the legend was true. He crossed the Southern Wastes and then the Great Barrier. On his way, he happened upon Master Yi, who was deep in meditation. Kong asked him who the strongest warrior in the north was, and Yi told him about the League of Legends. The tale intoxicated Kong, a place where he could battle the strongest fighters in the world was, to him, paradise. Kong asked Yi to introduce him to this League, and to teach him the ways of humans, so that he could be a fitting champion. In return, he would honor Yi by using Yi's Wuju style to become the greatest warrior Runeterra had ever seen. Admiring his passion, Yi agreed, but under the condition that Kong would one day teach the lessons of Wuju to a pupil of his own. In the spirit of this agreement, he renamed Kong ''Wukong,'' and gave him a weapon suited to his unusual nature - an enchanted staff that the young Doran had crafted. The weapon was an unrivalled masterpiece. Guided by Yi, Wukong joined the League of Legends to prove himself as the best, and to show the world the true power of Wuju.

''Only in combat do you learn who you truly are.''
- Wukong

Stats:

Damage - 54.5 - (+3.2 / per level)
Health - 435 - (+85 / per level)
Mana - 202 - (+38 / per level)
Move Speed - 320
Armor - 15 - (+3.5 / per level)
Spell Block - 30 - (+1.25 / per level)
Health Regen - 1.02 - (+0.13 / per level)
Mana Regen - 1.39 - (+0.13 / per level)

Pros / Cons

Pros

Great burst damage
Good survivability
Good escape skills
Perfect for solo top
Good initiator
Can turn a game around if played well
Low cooldowns

SPACE

Cons

Item reliant
Mana hungry early game (particularly annoying vs non mana champs)
Ulti is surprisingly difficult to use. Can cause death if not used correctly.
Need to be clever to max out Wukongs potential

Wukong and his mad skills.

There are very few champs that I think are as exciting to play as Wukong. He can completely change a game if someone who knows what they're doing gets involved. He's also a monkey...which is cool. He's a burst damage character so your main priority is targeting those squishies because you will literally eat them. One of the reasons why I love Wukong is because you can jump in destroy someone and be out before the enemy even realise you have done it. He is a ad melee character so you will be building ad items, but we will be focusing on that burst. You want enough fire power to take someone down to nothing in one combo. You don't want to be sitting there pounding on their ad carry with your stick....they will destroy you.

Abilites

Stone Skin. Passve. This increases 's resistances depending on how many enemies surround him. Wukong is a great initiator because of his ulti. This passive means that the more enemy champs around him when he jumps in, the better his resistances are. It's nice not to jump in and instantly die...

Crushing BlowThis is a single hit melee attack that does damage and reduces their armour by 30%. This basically means you want to lead with this strike when in a one vs one as you instantly have an advantage. You usually use this after you have jumped on the enemy using Nimbus Strike, however if you are close enough, activate crushing blow first to make your Nimbus more effective.

Decoy. This creates a clone that is uncontrollable for 1.5 seconds and makes Wukong stealthed. This is your escape skill. There are so many ways you can utilise this to trick your opponents. Use it creatively to get the full benefits from it. Check out the Decoy section of this guide for more detail.

Nimbus Strike. This shoots Wukong forward as well as two other images of Wu to hit three opponents at once. On hit it increases attack speed by 30-50%. Nimbus strike means you can jump through all of their front line champs and gank those high damage/ low hp characters. Combo this ability with crushing blow to get a large amount of burst damage and use decoy to escape.

Cyclone. Wukong spins his rod in a circle around himself knocking enemies in the air and dealing DPS. The longer Wukong is in Cyclone mode, the faster he gets. Your role on the team is often the initiator. If you jump in with Nimbus strike you can follow it up with cyclone allowing the rest of your team to pick off the enemies.

Ability Sequence.

Ok so for my abilities I tend to go:

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

But it's entirely up to you and your playstyle with . When I jump in with Nimbus stike I like to get off my and get a few hits off with the last of my armour reduction before running away with either or if they're slow, just....run away. So I max out Crushing blow first. You may want to do the opposite and max out . Having said that, there is nothing more satisfying than watching their health bar go down when you get your and have maxed out .

If you maxed out your first, you will probably get this.

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

It's up to you as the player. One recommendation would be, no matter how you play, to have a point in at level 3. It's your escape skill and as soon as the jungler hits level 3ish, he will start ganking you. means you can get away.

How to use Decoy (w)

I decided to add this section because escaping using is fun and can also be challenging. The idea is to be unpredictable. It's a horrible feeling when you activate decoy, run away and they know exactly where you are going. Here are a few tricks to use and things to think about when using this skill.

FIRST

Your W is your escape. When you activate it, you have 1.5 seconds to get to a place they don't expect you to be. The jungle is the easiest place to escape because there are so many bushes and directions you can take. If you are being chased, activate and run in the direction the enemies came from. They will be expecting you to be running back to base and if you double the distance away from them because they're running away from you. Get to a bush and recall. Alternatively try and predict the way they think you will run and run in a different direction. Look at where you your team is as well, if you can reach team mates in time, they may be able to turn your imminent death in to a gank.

SECOND

Use it as a means of attack. If you're in a bush, activate and get closer to the champ in order to use nimbus strike. Only do this if you're fed. Otherwise you just lose your escape.

THIRD

Use it to escape from stuns, skill shots and grabs like . It's all about timing, but you usually have a second or so to notice they're about to grab/stun you. When they have definitely activated the ability, activate your and run in a different direction.

FOURTH

When you use it produces an uncontrollable copy of you. Usually the enemy knows it's a copy because you're moving and then stop dead still. You replicate this image by using the 's' key on your keyboard. When you do this, you stop dead in your tracks and the enemy thinks you have activated . They will run away and look for you and you can either activate decoy to prolong the deception or run away in the opposite direction to the enemy.

FIFTH

This is difficult to do, but you can use it to absolutely screw up the enemy team after initiating. If you jump in using your and then use your decoy, chances are they will immediately jump on it. Especially if your team is attacking them as well. You then have 1.5 seconds to position yourself and use your ulti to your teams best advantage.

There are loads more, so be creative in the way you use it. Think about clever ways that you can use it to create unusual situations that the enemy won't expect.

Masteries

The masteries I use vary a lot. I tend to use offensive because I like to play Wukong very aggressively but others may prefer a bit more defense or utility. It's entirely up to you and how you play. If you go offensively here is the route I take.

Level 6

Attack damage=6 +6% to champs lower than 40% hp
Attack speed=4%
Cooldowns=4%
Armour penetration=10% +6
Lifesteal=3%
Armour=6
Magic resist=6

SPACE

Level 18

Attack damage=12 +6% to champs lower than 40% hp
Attack speed=4%
Cooldowns=4%
Armour penetration=10% +6
Lifesteal=3%
Armour=6
Magic resist=6

I know there isn't that much of a difference between the two but it's still good to see what you will have when considering items etc.

If you choose to go down a slightly more defensive route (as with my third build) then you will get slightly different stats.

Level 6

Attack damage=3
Cooldowns=6.7%
Armour penetration=10%
Armour=6
Magic resist=6
Health=66
Health regen (5 sec)=3
Reduced damage from aoe=3%

SPACE

Level 18

Attack damage=3
Cooldowns=12.1%
Armour penetration=10%
Armour=6
Magic resist=6
Health=138
Health regen (5 sec)=3
Reduced damage from aoe=3%

Which gives you a decent chunk of defense to keep you solid against a fair amount of damage.

Runes

With my runes I tend to go down the traditional route of.....armour penetration (SHOCK!) Who would have thought that with my incredible skills I would have been able to think of having armour pen with an AD champ! Anyway....I do like to mix things up a bit depending on what mood I'm in....crazy..

The two combinations I use are:

Greater Mark of desolation Greater Mark of desolation x9
x9
x9
x3

Which gives us a grand total of:

Armour Pen=15
Attack damage=6.8
Armour=13
Magic resistance=13

Greater Mark of desolation Greater Mark of desolation x9
x9
x9
Greater Quintessence of desolation Greater Quintessence of desolationx3

Which gives us a grand total of:

Armour Pen=25
Armour=13
Magic resistance=13

I can't think of many other combos that would work as well as these two. I suppose you could go for cooldown and more armour but you would lose out on that initial burst damage and would only be useful as a tank....well a fairly **** tank....but still. Possibly mana runes if you really don't have any of the above, but again, that initial penetration and damage combined with resistances means, more damage for you less damage for them....it's a game winner.

Summoner Spells

Fairly simple section.

My primary choice for summoner spells is and or .

+

I think whether you choose ghost or flash is entirely up to you. If you love to be able to jump away through trees etc then flash. If you love to decoy then speed the f**k away, then ghost. It works either way. I tend to take ignite because I will harass away at the guy and then with one final burst, get him low enough to ignite and get the kill. It saves me having to dive and die.

Other useful spells.

- is another useful spell if you don't like ignite. Exhaust gives you those precious few seconds for your cooldowns to refresh and lowers their damage to almost nothing, meaning you gain time to attack again without losing too much HP.

- is great if you're against an opponent who has a better early game than you or if you tend to struggle early game. This allows yo to go back in those early levels without losing any time. Time=minions=precious, sweet moniesssss.

- seems to have made a comeback lately, ever since it got that slight buff. I don't deny that it's useful to have it in the middle of a battle, but I would still rather have an exhaust that minimises their damage in the first place. The heal is only useful early game whereas the other spells are, for the most part, useful the entire game.

I don't think any of the other spells are particularly viable for Wukong.

The Build.

The most common build I use in my games with Wukong is:

Item Sequence

But I will attempt to break it down and show just how varied your build with can be.

First Item:

OR + x 1 OR OR + x 3

The way I see it, your first item determines how you want to play the game. If you plan on being very aggressive early game you should start with a . The extra damage and health give you the extra 'bang' to take your enemy down. I like this item just because I harass a lot so this just adds a little extra to my attacks.

If you like sustainability and play to stay in lane as long as possible and just farm, you should go for a . The health regen gives you the extra boost, allowing you to stay in your lane where you would normally have to go all the way back and leave your turret unprotected.

Another option for sustainability is a . This gives you an extra 80 health over the 100 health the . It's not the best start item but it is a part of the and so is a fairly useful starting item for confident Wukong players.

Finally, you can start with and potions. This gives you a bit of sustainability and speed. Good for escaping if their jungler ganks or if you want to chase their top down.

My personal choice is either of the first two but it's up to you.

First Recall:

+
Assuming of course that you didn't buy boots of speed as your first item, you will need to get them as your second item. It's not always possible, but if you have managed to stay in lane long enough to get the 1610 gold needed for both items, then pick up your sheen as well. The beauty of sheen is that it essentially doubles your damage. When you press 'Q' it activates which in turn activates . When you hit with your crushing blow, you hit with all the might of the as well.

Second Recall:

OR OR

Your next item should be your full boots. Now each player will have their own preference as to which boots they go for. The way I see it, you have 3 choices. Other players might disagree, but I rarely use anything other than the 3 boots above. I almost always go for the . The reduction in CC gives you more survivability. End of. Of course not everyone thinks that way so you may prefer to have the cooldown reduction that give you. Cooldown reduction means more attacks. A good option if you're fed and it's just a case of killing them over and over again. Or, if you find yourself in the rare situation where your opponents have gone pure AD, enjoy them failing miserably, take and watch as they cry over their destroyed nexus. Different situations require different items so think carefully and plan according to their team and their items.

Third Recall:

and then if you can

At this point in the game you want to get your as quickly as you can. Getting that allows you to eat through their squishies within seconds. You have to play according to your game though. Don't go rushing your if you are getting killed over and over again, instead start building your armour or magic resistance depending on who is dominating on their team. Once you have your sheen you will be doing a decent enough chunk of damage that you don't NEED to build more damage if you're getting eaten. Better to find a way to stay alive. Assuming you are doing well, you will have your and can start moving on to your next item. Never stop farming. Ever.

Fourth Recall:

Once you have your boots and your Trinity force you need to decide what route you are going to take. If you are massively fed, going for defense items may not be necessary so soon and you may want to get some AD items early. If that's the case, see my AD item section for some ideas or look at my second build in the items section at the top of the guide. However if your game is taking the usual route, you may want to think about your defensive items next. After taking the advice of my voters, I decided to update this part. When I first published this guide, I said that you should either go for a or a at this point in the game. However after considering the options and recommendations from my voters, I think the best item to get at this point is and then follow it with an . Getting a this early in the game makes it far less effective as the damage boost is greater after getting that boost from and the armour penetration will be more noticeable when the enemy has built more armour late game. Your damage output at this point in the game is already significant, so it's not necessary to rush damage items (unless of course you are taking a straight AD route because you are fed like a king).

Fifth Recall:

When you have bought your the most viable option is to get your next. The damage boost is great and gives you a fair chunk of armor as well. Add that to the crit chance and you have yourself a great item

Sixth Recall:

====>

After playing a bit more, I have come to the conclusion that getting the and then the before getting the means that your survivability is increased tenfold. I will still get my at this point if I am doing ridiculously well, but if you get that early, your health regen is insane. It's up to you to decide, but you are already doing a ton of burst damage and the force of nature means that in a good team fight, you will hardly get hurt (passives, armour, MR etc) and if you do, move to the side with wait for your health to go up and then engage again. Beautiful.

The final build:

This is a great final item. It takes your burst damage from devastating to just straight out rape. You can take almost any of their champs if you have your full build as long as you play smart and don't initiate stupid fights. The 40% armour pen and the 40 damage just means you rip through them. Perfect finish.

Don't restrict yourself though. There are so many items that work with Wukong and it's all situational. I rarely use the same build every time, it varies depending on who I'm up against. For instance if there was a fed on their team, I would probably get the to break up her combo rather than a . If there was an exceptionally fed AD carry on their team, I would get to counter it. It's all about playing to your teams strengths and your enemies weaknesses.

An Important Note.

Something that I forgot to mention is the importance of getting elixirs if you get to that ridiculously late game stage. They give you a nice boost in all the areas you need, AS, AD, HP, cooldown etc. which may just give you the advantage in a stalemate game. will also help your team get rid of the enemy wards, giving your team an instant ganking advantage.

Situational Items to consider

The reality is, every single defensive and AD item is an option for . I will try and break it down a little bit.

Armour Items.

You are going to want to build more armour if the enemy team is AD heavy or if their AD champs are particularly fed. Other than the you have a few options that could also work. You may even want to replace one of your items with more armour to counter the AD.

- is a great item for those AD heavy teams or when their team is literally being carried by a fed AD champ. Its passive means that the more damage they do to you, the more damage they do to themselves. Particularly useful when they are squishy and you are not. They will do enough damage to themselves to give you the edge in jumping on them and totally destroying them.

- is perfect if you are the only tanky champ on your team. Because of the active, you can jump in, ulti, activate and then you're team has an instant advantage. The knock up and the slow/loss off attack speed means they're going to take maximum damage from and will be doing far less dps to your team.

- Cooldown, heavy armour, mana and reduced attack speed. What more could you want when you have a fed AD champ on their team?

- gives a decent chunk of MR and armour. It also has the revive feature so that if you go down during an initiate, you can come back and escape as your team clean up the scraps. It takes away from the fear factor if your team isn't very good at picking up on your engages. There is nothing worse than jumping in dying and watching as your team run around aimlessly hitting the enemy tank.

- gives you a health bonus of 450, 45 armour and does 35 magic damage to surrounding enemies. The perfect item for an initiator when combined with or just simply when you're in a team fight, you're presence is hurting them. This item is best saved for when you really have to take a tanky role. It's not the best item on but don't dismiss it outright.

- is an ok all round item. If you find yourself in the rare situation where you have chosen and then someone decides that they're taking solo top at the last second and you can't change, you may have to go bot lane with the carry and play a semi support role (it's a bit more complicated than that, but I've done it 2 or 3 times). This item is great for it's aura, health bonus and resistances. Other than that, you may want to take it if it helps you with your playstyle, but I think there are better items out there that fit 's role.

- is a good item if you find yourself struggling up top. I have never really needed to take this item, but if you find yourself against an enemy with lots of armour and high damage output early game, you don't want to be going back to your base every 2 seconds. This item gives you lifesteal, damage, armour and the ability to farm far more effectively with its random 500 damage passive. It also means you never have to go back for wards. However, if you find yourself winning in your top lane, don't bother buying it unless you really feel the need.

Magic Resist Items

- is one of the best defensive items to get to counter a fed AP character. If you have this item, suddenly AP combo characters like and or nukers like and lose their sting a little bit. With a hefty amount of HP, mana and 50 MR you will be able to tank those burst mage attacks a little better.

- is amazing when you have those suppression champs against you. That is probably the only time it is useful though. Other than that, there are better uses you can put that item slot to.

- See the Armour section.

- This is a new addition to the League of Legends item selection and what a great addition it is. A good amount of MR and AD, a shield that takes up to 400 magic damage and a passive that makes you more powerful the lower HP you have. Very useful if you're against a champ like .

- This item is an odd one. It gives you 30 MR, 10% cooldowns and a 15% increase to all healing, whether regen, abilities or lifesteal. This means that, combined with and you have quite a hefty regen rate! If you then got yourself you would find it very difficult to lose health. Great for an AP heavy team.

- See the Armour section.

AD Items

Your AD items will be dependent on what you need in your game. There are only a few that I would recommend with anyway as he is all about that burst damage.

- This is the most popular AD item because of it's high damage and crit chance. Generally, when combined with phantom dancer, your carry will eat people with their crits. With we have our which also gives us crit chance so it's not a bad idea to get this if you've had a good game and are getting fed early.

- is a great damage item. It gives lifesteal and damage, both of which are increased per minion kill and now with the recent patch you only lose half the stacks on dying. Of course, you get slightly less lifesteal too, but it's still a good item for sustainability and damage.

- This item is great. On its own you get 30 AD, 15 crit chance, 15% cooldown reduction and 20 armor pen. Then you have the active giving you 20% movement speed and 50% attack speed. Chasing down enemies becomes pretty easy.

- See MR section, but just as an additional comment. As an extra item, this is fantastic. The damage boost AND the shield mean you are covering two bases at once with a fairly hefty amount of each.

That is basically it for my build items. I'm sure that I have missed some so please do comment and let me know. Play to YOUR strengths. I know these items work with but you might play differently to me. Don't be afraid to experiment, it's worth it for when you find a situation that works with you.

Builds 2+3 (Experimental Builds)

There have been a couple of comments about the second and third builds at the top of my guide, wondering what they are and why they're in the order they are. Those two builds are experimental builds. I like to keep myself up to date with and to do so requires me to play around with items and different methods that work. Sometimes there are roles other than solo top that you have to play in the team if players autolock or choose at the last second so these item choices might also help when you've got an unusual team composition.

Item Build 2: The AD Build.

Item Sequence

In my experience, this is a much harder role to play because you lack the toughness to be able to jump in, kill and jump out again. I would only recommend this role if your team is all tank and so you have to take a more offensive route or if you are so incredibly fed you just want to have fun. It is satisfying to watch your attacks take away half someone's health in one hit, but all it takes is one good player on their team and they will focus you down.

Item Build 3: The Tanky Route.

Item Sequence

This build is for those times when your team has taken all squishies. You may be required to take a slightly more tanky role in the team. It's annoying, but it does happen. The conversation might go like this:

"We're all squishy"
"Nah it's ok, we have , he can just tank out more"
"Yay, let's go tower dive"
"yeah!"

Luckily the higher elo you get....the less you have to encounter complete idiots.

This build also helps when your team is feeding a lot and you find that getting any kills, let alone enough to get your early, is impossible. Building some armour and MR first might help you to get that extra boost in early defense to bring back the game.
The idea here isn't necessarily that you have to build those items in that order, but to get across the idea that you need to build to your current situation.

These builds won't necessarily be perfect. In fact, I can guarantee they aren't. That's not what they're there for. They're there to open up experimentation with .I have played both item sets and they have worked with varying degrees of success. He's a fun champ to play, but there is always more than one way to play the same monkey. Fact.

If you know of better items, or orders, or have any other suggestions to improve these last two builds, PLEASE COMMENT!

It would be great to find two other builds that definitely work with allowing him to counter different situations.

Playing Solo Top.

As I said in my introduction, is a great solo top champ. I never play him anywhere else unless some unforeseen circumstance has meant that I can't go top.

Solo Top: 1 V 1

If you're playing in a game where each team knows what they're doing, you will most likely end up with one champ in your lane up top. This is the best scenario because it means that you can farm and harass without fear of being killed.

When I play solo top, my main priority is farming until I get my decoy at level 3. As soon as this happens, I will continue to farm as much as possible, but will also jump in to get a few 's off as often as possible to scare the champ away from the farm. The reason I wait for is so that if the jump in goes badly or their jungler unexpectedly appears, you have an escape without having to waste your or . There is nothing worse than jumping in, expecting to a load of damage and then dying or having fly in from the bush and tear you a new one.

The most important thing to remember is, unless you are going for their turret, try not to push your minions past the middle. If you push too far and get ganked, it's a lot more difficult to escape. It's also a lot easier for your jungler to gank if they are pushing harder than you as THEY have further to go to escape. If you have scared them off with your harassing, you will probably end up pushing your lane, which is fine, back off a bit and sit in the bush in the river so that you can see their jungler coming and move away before they get there. It's close enough that you're still getting the xp from the minion kills, but when they are that close to their turret, it's very difficult to get the CS without getting shot by the turret or hit by the enemy champ. It also means a gank is impossible for your jungler. Having said that, there will come a point, after a gank or when the enemy has gone back, where you want to start hitting their turret. The earlier you get their turret, the earlier you can start roaming and ganking. You are a scary force when you jump on the mid champ or the bot lane champs and ulti. If your team has any skills, they will be able to pick up kills almost every time.

If you find your turret is being pushed a little too hard, start using to get those multiple minion kills. You don't want to lose out on farm to your turret whilst your jungler is farming the bottom jungle and no ganks in sight for a while. Don't be afraid to use your abilities to get those last hits, just don't do it so often that when it comes to a gank, you're out of mana and can barely do anything.

Pick your moments to go back. Don't go back if your turret is getting pushed (unless you are going to die). Don't go back if you know that their champ has just returned and will quickly push your turret either. The best time to go back is just after your jungler has ganked. You have either damaged them enough for them to go back, killed them, or they are too scared for the moment to venture past their turret. This should give you ample time to recall and get back to your turret. Remember to let your team know you are going back so that they can keep an eye on your turret and watch to see if your enemy champ has disappeared.

Remember to SS! Top lane champs are usually great initiators so if yours disappears you need to let your team know. It also gives your jungler the chance to engage them as they go along the river or to check dragon/buffs. Also, remember to buy sight wards or vision wards. Knowing when their jungler is coming is invaluable to a top lane champ. Because of the team layout, you will probably get ganked as much or more than mid. Particularly if you're doing well.

Most importantly, don't stop farming. In your laning phase, your job is to keep the top lane occupied until you've either taken their turret or until the laning phase is over. During that time you need to constantly farm. When you get your core items, you become a huge damage dealer so you need to make sure you are getting the gold to buy them. At the very least you need to keep up with their top lane champ. When laning phase is over, you need to carry on farming at every opportunity, farm the jungle, farm the lanes etc. The quicker you get your items, the more of a force you are in team fights.

To sum up

Focus on farming, but don't be afraid to harass a little whilst your there.
Don't push your lane if it can be avoided
Time pushing or being pushed with your jungler to coordinate ganks.
Farm.
Take care finding out about your opposing top lane champ and whether or not you can burst him down easily.
Time your going back with when their champ has had to go back.
Farm
Remember to SS!
Buy wards.
When your turret is down, or if you have pushed the lane, feel free to roam and gank.

Solo Top: 1 V 2

My best advice for playing 1v2 is DON'T GO NEAR THEM. You will get eaten alive. Particularly pay attention when there are champs who have stuns like . All it takes is one stun and quite often the game will snowball from there. Right from the start, stand far enough away that the champs can't reach you, but close enough that you gain the XP from your minions. When they come closer to your turret, HUG IT LIKE IT'S YOUR MOTHER. Try and get the minion kills just outside of turret range so that you don't lose any, but if the enemy is aggressive, you will probably not be able to and will lose a bit of farm to turrets. Use your abilities to get as many as you can. If the champs come in to try and do a bit of damage to your turret, attack them, if they're stupid enough to attack you back, you're pretty much guaranteed at least one kill.

One of the best parts about 1v2 is that you level faster than them. This means that when your jungler comes to gank, which should be often, they will have pushed the lane, you will be stronger than them and they will die quickly. Once you have a couple of kills and a few levels on them, they will back off and you will be able to farm more efficiently. Don't think that you can definitely take them 1v2 though, you may still die against those stuns, but you can certainly start to harass.

If I have missed anything or need to expand, comment and let me know.

Solo Top Matchups A-D

So I thought I would add this section as a way of having some information on the most common champs you will see up top and how to counter them. It's not going to be perfect, there are bound to be times when you come up against someone who knows a trick you don't, but knowing the abilities and what they do of the different solo top champs is extremely useful. I can only rely on my knowledge so far, it will hopefully become more advanced as I learn more.

Alphabetical seems to be the easiest way to organise this....

Akali

Base Stats

Damage 53 (+3.2 / per level)
Health 425 (+85 / per level)
Mana 200 (+0 / per level)
Move Speed 325
Armor 13.5 (+3.5 / per level)
Spell Block 30 (+1.25 / per level)
Health Regen 1.45 (+0.13 / per level)
Mana Regen 10 (+0 / per level)

Abilities

Akali is another one of those champs that is great at burst harassment. She is different to in that most players build her with AP. Pre level 6, she is not too much trouble. If she gets her on you, don't let her get her second hit off on you. If she does, she will do a large amount of damage and her harassment will beat yours. If you can avoid her getting that double hit, your harassment will be far more powerful than hers.

To avoid that early damage, to her then straight away and avoid the second by activating .

Once she reaches level 6 she will become a lot more powerful. Her burst is faster and stronger than yours. She will eat you if you let her. Having said that, she is not as good at farming as you so you can outfarm her quite easily if you concentrate.

Most Akali players build her AP so naturally, to counter her, you should build MR. This will hopefully counter her insane extra burst. For that early advantage, I would recommend .

Cho'Gath

Base Stats

Damage 54.1 (+4.2 / per level)
Health 440 (+80 / per level)
Mana 205 (+40 / per level)
Move Speed 315
Armor 19 (+3.5 / per level)
Spell Block 30 (+0 / per level)
Health Regen 1.5 (+0.17 / per level)
Mana Regen 1.29 (+0.09 / per level)

Abilities

I hate playing against Cho'Gath. He has a silence, an AOE knock up, a ranged attack and deals true damage with his ulti. It's a fairly scary combo. One of the worst parts about playing against Cho is that he is so damn hard to kill. Pre level 6 you have a chance, if you farm well, to burst him down or maybe get a successful gank off with your jungler. After level 6, he can start ing on creeps and get himself a big chunk of extra HP.

To counter him.....well supposing you don't get an early gank off pre level 6 and have an easy snowball game, the smartest thing to do would be, don't try and kill him. Keep harassing so that you don't allow him to just stay in lane, he will definitely try and harass you, but don't commit yourself to try to kill him unless you are 100% sure you will get it. Farm, farm and farm some more to build up your items. The best you can hope for is that you keep up in your farm and then when the lane is pushed, gank the other lanes. You can get yourself a few kills and suddenly you are on top and even falls under your mighty rod....

Watch for . If you see the stomp, move as quickly as you can. He will be trying to anticipate your movement so don't move in the expected direction unless you have no choice.

His passive means that he can basically sit in lane all day long and never go back. It also means that your harassment is pretty much useless. If you can keep him scared and away from minions, hey presto, problem solved. How to do that? Good question...

A lot of 's like to build AP items so he does a good chunk of damage as well. He doesn't need HP items so much as he gets all that beautiful HP from . This means he CAN get AP without necessarily sacrificing his tankiness. Buy MR to counter that and you should be fine. This is when come in handy early game.

Dr. Mundo

Base Stats

Damage 56.23 (+3 / per level)
Health 433 (+89 / per level)
Mana 0 (+0 / per level)
Move Speed 320
Armor 17 (+3.5 / per level)
Spell Block 30 (+1.25 / per level)
Health Regen 1.3 (+0.15 / per level)
Mana Regen 0 (+0 / per level)

Abilities

Another irritating solo champ. Not one that I see very often these days, I have tried to play him a few times and he takes a certain flare and skill that I imagine puts people off.

Early game he is relatively easy to burst down but difficult to kill. His skills USE his HP ( and ) so the more he tries to harass you, the more HP he uses up.

One of his most irritating skills is . It does a good chunk of damage (A percentage of your health) and applies a slow....and the cooldown is low. He basically sits there and chucks it at you until he has no hp....which considering his passive, is very rarely. Dodge the cleaver by standing behind minions. If you're really good, feint a move so that he chucks his and wastes his HP and the ability. If not, just stay safe behind the minions and let him throw it as much as he wants.

When you see him switch on his burning agony, don't be afraid to jump in and apply some extra damage. He's hurting himself and the damage you do extra will be greater than the damage you take. A good exchange.

An important point to remember is, DON'T FALL FOR HIS LURE POST LEVEL 6! As I said earlier, he is relatively easy to burst down. The problem is his ultimate . So many times I have seen a champ tower dive a only for him to activate his ulti and heal at that ridiculous rate whilst your player tanks the turret. Not smart. Unless you KNOW he hasn't got his ulti, don't bother ganking.

Watch for his late game. I have owned early game and still seen him dominating the late game. His damage isn't excessive and so he shouldn't be focuses, but just watch for those cleavers and don't stand in his AOE.

For the most part, Mundo applies magic damage early game so getting that MR to counter his cleavers and his AOE is not a bad idea. He does have which increases his physical damage by a hefty amount, but using you should be able to kite him for that 5 seconds and then carry on bursting him down. In late game, most players will have a few AD items like so you will need some armour to counter him. In terms of 1v1....you will beat him, it will just take time.

is soooooo damn useful here. We know about its 50% reduction of healing.....well as is basically all about the heal, if you can time your ignite with his ulti, suddenly he becomes far less effective.

He has great sustainability. Even if you burst him down, his passive will have him back in the game after a very short while.

Solo Top Matchups E-H

Fiora

Base Stats

Damage 54.5 (+3.2 / per level)
Health 450 (+85 / per level)
Mana 220 (+40 / per level)
Move Speed 325
Armor 15 (+3.5 / per level)
Spell Block 30 (+1.25 / per level)
Health Regen 1.1 (+0.16 / per level)
Mana Regen 1.35 (+0.1 / per level)

Very rare to see a top instead of mid, but when you do, he's quite a tricky opponent. He can tank out pretty well and his abilities are all ranged. That means it's hard to do damage to him and he can chuck those barrels at you all day long (until he runs out mana), making it very difficult to farm effectively. Watch for when he runs out of mana. That's your time to jump in and harass the **** out of him. He has an escape in his as he can run very quickly to a point so if he has that, he can get away fairly easily. If he does let him go back, farm away and get to a higher level for when he comes back. is also a good initiating skill so watch out if he charges towards you, it probably means the jungler is coming to gank you.

His is really annoying. He can farm really well with it and he can harass you. It affects a certain area so try and guess where it will stop and stay out of its range. If you can manage to avoid that damage, you'll be ok.

His passive gives him great HP sustain and his means he won't run out of mana easily either. He doesn't really have to leave the lane very often...

I counter by keeping my harassment up. He won't be able to build full AP and full tank so depending on which route he takes, you will either be able to take his damage easily or burst him down easily. Either way you shouldn't have too much of an issue with the drunken barrel thrower.

His ulti, , is...odd. It basically throws a bomb cask at you that explodes, deals AOE damage and knocks you around. If aimed right, it can knock you right towards him or his turret. If he manages that, you will probably go down, so if you know he has his ulti up, move unexpectedly so that he can't target you as well.

Build to resist his barrels and farm as well as you can. If you need to, let him push and get your jungler to gank. He isn't a fast champ so you should be able to take him down, particularly if his is on CD.

Solo Top Matchups I-L

Irelia

Base Stats

Damage 53 (+3.3 / per level)
Health 430 (+85 / per level)
Mana 230 (+35 / per level)
Move Speed 320
Armor 15 (+3.75 / per level)
Spell Block 30 (+1.25 / per level)
Health Regen 1.3 (+0.13 / per level)
Mana Regen 1.4 (+0.13 / per level)

Abilities

Malphite is an interesting character play against. I would say he's not often seen in games these days but, then again, I've played against him quite a few times. He's not hard equalise with. If you're and you're against him, chances are, who wins will all be down the the jungle ganks. has a lot of CC so you will find yourself slowed and harassed down quite easily. His abilities do a fair amount of damage early game and his passive means that your harass isn't as effective. It leaves you at a kind of stalemate where you will probably end up pushing your lane as Wukong is easy to farm with.

I would recommend that you don't let have 10 seconds where you don't hit him. His passive recharges after that time and it nullifys your burst. It means that you can't get that constant harass and lower him to a point where you can explode in his face to kill him. It takes methodical hitting to slowly get him down. If he's smart, he will back off when it's coming to the 10 second mark to get that shield back up. Do your best to jump on him when you see him backing off.

Items that I would recommend are and . Sustain, armour and CC reduction. It means that their jungler ganking isn't an instant loss. The won't be necessary if you get enough early kills, but if you're struggling or your jungler won't gank, that's the way to go.

Most of his abilities are initiating/tank abilities, so you will mostly see him building defensive items. He will probably go for a to give him some damage output. To counter his ulti , don't group together. If he ulti's one person, they will probably die, but your team has the chance to focus down the squishies. If you're good, make him ulti you and therefore your decoy. You only have a short time, but when it looks like that ulti is going to go off, decoy away and laugh as their team annihilate the fake you.

Coming Soon!

Solo Top Matchups Q-T

Coming Soon!

Solo Top Matchups U-W

Coming Soon!

Solo Top Matchups X-Z

Coming Soon!

Farming

I usually find that a section on farming is good. Wukong is quite easy to farm with which means it's quite easy to push the lane. You only want to last hit if you can. Don;t be afraid to chuck in a if you feel like there are too many getting low and being killed by your minions. Also if there is one minion left and you have a ton of minions, you will probably miss the last hit, use your to make sure you get it.

Another important point is to never STOP farming. I find that so often it gets to the late game and people have only gained 20 or 30 minions since their laning phase has stopped. You need to be constantly farming, constantly getting that gold. The more gold you have the more items you have and therefore the more kills you get.

In Game Language Explanation

Throughout a game of LOL you might encounter a number of letters or words that have meanings that aren't always obvious. Sometimes it's difficult to know what they are, particularly if you are a new player. I use a few in my guide so I thought I would add this section to make it clear what they are. So in alphabetical order:

AD-Attack Damage

AFK-Used when a player is not active in a game, abbreviated from Away From Keyboard

AOE-Area of Effect

AP-Ability Power

AP carry-Ability Power Carry, referring to your mid lane AP champ. Similar to your AD carry, they will be your primary AP damage dealer

AS-Attack Speed

Blue-Blue buff located in the jungle

Carry-Referring to the AD carry on your team, usually a ranged champ who is your primary damage dealer.

CC-Crowd Control, referring to skills that stun, silence, slow etc.

CDR-Cooldown Reduction

CS-Creep Score (minion kills)

DOT-Damage over Time

Farm-Killing minions and getting gold.

Gank-Used when a player is going to surprise attack an enemy champ. For example, your jungler will gank top lane with you to get a kill.

HP-Health Points

Initiator-Referring to the player or skill that initiates a team fight.

Jungler-Referring to the player on your team who does not stay in a lane with your other team members, but instead roams the jungle and farms the monsters in the jungle.

MP-Mana Points

MR-Magic Resist

Offtank-Referring, usually, to your solo top champ who is slightly hardier than other champs but still deals a good chunk of damage

OP-Overpowered

Pull-The player would like a pull on his starting point in the jungle. This requires a single hit from you and then for you to leave.

RE-Used when an enemy has returned to your lane, shortened from RETURN

Red-Red buff located in the jungle

SS-Used when an enemy is missing from your lane, shortened from MISS

Support-Referring to the player on your team whose abilities and items help aid your entire team.

Tank-Referring to the player on your team who builds primarily defensive items

The Evidence.

I guess it would be useful to post up some of my scores with this build, so here they are:

Second Lot of Evidence.

PLEASE SEND ME YOUR RESULTS WITH THIS BUILD!

I would love to see whether you have similar success in your games! I will post the results here!

Credit Where Credit is Due.

First of all I have to thank jhoijhoi for her amazing BBcode guide. I think every new guide with any BBcoding in it has to credit her as it's the best out there! Here is the link for those who would like to use it. Making A Guide-By jhoijhoi

I also have to credit BlackIceT for his incredible guide on that helped teach me to play him well and also how to create a good guide for the monkey king in the first place. You can find his guide at the top of the list when you look for ....or just click here

Many thanks to those who have voted so far, it's greatly appreciated. I am just waiting for the drop once I get past those first 20 votes, but hey, haters gon' hate.

Closing Words.

So here it is. I hope that I have covered everything relatively well but I may have missed something. If I have, please message me or comment to let me know, I will edit straight away. This is a work in progress, so please treat it as such and help me to improve it.
Don't forget that, is easy to pick up and play, but to get really good with him takes time and practice.

TRY BEFORE YOU RATE

I hope you enjoy!

Changelog.

10/04/2012- Changed build order to have last whisper as the last item. Changed Solo Top explanation to have less colour.

11/04/2012- Added Builds 2 + 3 explanations, also added credits section.

12/04/2012- Minor changes to text and coding. Added colour to other sections.

13/04/2012- Working on a matchups section. Minor changes in text, wording, coding etc. Added another block of scores as evidence.

14/04/2012- Working on an in game language section to help explain abbreviations used in my guide and in game.

15/04/2012- First 2 sections of matchups published. More on their way. In game language section also published.

15/04/2012- Edited 3rd build, changed build order slightly. Edited text and layout of skills.

22/04/2012- Edited code to fix bug where AP items were showing instead of my actual items. Started to finish work on matchups section, hoping to have it done by the end of the week.