Wukong Build Guide by TheZwift

Introduction

(English isn't my native language, please excuse any spelling or grammatical errors)

Hello and welcome to my Wukong guide, my first guide on Mobafire! I've played quite a bit of Wukong recently (normals mostly, trying to organize a ranked team and I hate solo-queueing ranked) and I've noticed that Wukong is very underplayed considering how powerful he is. I decided to make this guide in order to show the LoL community how fun and powerful Wukong is. This guide is mostly aimed at top lane and pre lvl30(no meta), but I intend to add Jungle Wukong eventually.

Pros / Cons

Pros Strong Harass Underplayed, not that many know how to properly counter Powerful Ult with a decent CD Low CD gapcloser Autoattack reset Decoy jukes are hilarious

Pros/Cons

Cons Low mana early on No sustain without items Experienced players can tell when you use decoy and when you fake When jungling, poor sustain and speed early on Only physical damage, can be countered by armor(Q and Last Whisper remedy this)

Abilities

Stone Skin
Wukong's armor and magic resistance are increased by 4 / 6 / 8 for each nearby enemy champion.
Pretty straightforward passive: when you're in the middle of the fray beating stuff with a stick, you get some free tankiness. At max level, it will give you 40 armor and magic resist when 5 enemies are nearby.

Crushing Blow
Wukong's next attack, within 5 seconds, gains 125 range, deals physical damage and reduces the enemy's armor by 30% for 3 seconds.
Your next attack deals some extra damage and reduced armor. Remember that it resets your autoattack timer, so try to use it immediately after a basic attack. The autoattack reset and %armor reduction keeps this ability relevant all game, but the burst is especially nasty earlier in the game, or mid game if you're fed(15 min Crushing Blow crits with a The Bloodthirster ftw<3(Don't actually get a The Bloodthirster unless you're ridiculously fed)).
Decoy
Wukong becomes stealthed for 1.5 seconds and leaves an uncontrollable decoy that doesn't attack or move from the place he activated it. The decoy will deal magic damage to nearby enemies after 1.5 seconds.
This ability is very, very useful. When laning, you can use it to disengage after landing your combo, but it remains very useful for getting out of sticky situations later in the game. I don't know how many times I've survived 4-man ganks midgame by E'ing to minions and juking with Decoy. You can also use it to get away with landing a few attacks on the carry when his teammates arrive, or use it to run away after hitting the enemy team with your ultimate when on low health(remember to deactivate your ultimate and immediately decoy when they hit the ground, if you keep spinning you'll die). You can also use the invisiblity to get close to an enemy, just make sure that you won't need it to escape(very useful when ganking while jungling).
Nimbus Strike
Wukong dashes on a cloud toward a target enemy and sends out images to attack up to 2 additional enemies near his target, dealing physical damage to each enemy struck. He also gains an attack speed bonus for 4 seconds after hitting a target with this skill.
This ability has 3 important uses: Nuke, gapcloser and Attack Speed steroid. Even if you're standing right next to someone, you can use it just for the burst damage and attack speed as long as you make sure they have their escapes on cooldown. This ability, combined with the slow from Trinity Force/ Frozen Mallet and the movement speed from Youmuu's Ghostblade/ Trinity Force makes Wukong good at chasing, even without Ghost. You can also use it to clear minions, dealing damage to 3 targets and using the extra attack speed to finish them off (especially useful while jungling). Also remember that you can use it on minions to catch up to/get away from enemies.
Cyclone
Wukong's staff grows outward and he spins it around for up to 4 seconds, dealing damage every second and knocking up enemies once per cast. Wukong gains 5% movement speed bonus every half second for the duration of the spell, with the bonus disappearing once he stops spinning. Wukong cannot attack or use other abilities while Cyclone is on, but he can deactivate it at any time.
This ability does a lot of damage, and has a knockup. In a teamfight, you'll want to hit as many enemies as possible to the knockup, but try to stick close to the squishies as it deals a lot of damage to enemies without armor. It is very useful for getting a kill at level 6: harass with your combo until they're low enough, Nimbus Strike, Crushing Blow, Cyclone, Ignite, done. You can ignite while spinning, but you can't use any other abilities. If you think spinning to long will kill you, deactivate the ability and Decoy away. The bonus movement speed isn't even remotely noticable, so don't rely on it. Use Nimbus Strike to get close to your target instead.
Thanks to jhoijhoi's guide-making guide for letting me borrow templates.



I start with Nimbus Strike and pick up Crushing Blow at level 2 and Decoy at level 3. With most champions I go QWQE or something, but when playing Wukong you want all 3 abilities as soon as possible so you can start harassing.

I max Nimbus Strike first, as it gains more damage per level and a stronger attack speed boost, while Crushing Blow gets slighty less damage per level (most of the damage comes from the 1.0 total AD ratio since it's essentialy an autoattack) and lower cooldown. The lower cooldown on Crushing Blow isn't as useful earlier in the game, where most engagements consist of short bursts (you generally don't stick around long enough for the ability to become available again), so I max Nimbus Strike first and Crushing Blow second. Decoy gets a slight damage increase, even though you rarely use it for the damage, and a small cooldown reduction, so I take a point early and max it last.

Cyclone, like most ultimates, should be picked whenever available, at levl 6, 11 and 18.

Remember that your Q resets your auto-attack timer, so try to use it immediately aftar a basic attack. Your standard harass combo in lane should be E-Auto-Q-W, and then back off while stealthed. E-Auto-Q-Cyclone-Ignite is useful to get at kill at level 6.

Summoner Spells

Ignite deals true damage and reduces healing and regeneration effects by 50%. The extra damage is nice, and the Grievous Wounds is handy against champions like Dr. Mundo.


Flash in my mind is mandatory on all champions except Shaco and Olaf. It can help you escape by jumping over walls, get you in range for Nimbus Strike or Cyclone or help you dodge skillshots.

These 2 are my preferred summoners, below is a list of other, viable summoner spells.


Wukong has both a low cooldown gapcloser and plenty of movement speed through items, so chasing usually isn't an issue. I prefer Flash, but feel free to pick Ghost if you want.


I used to run Exhaust on all solo top offtanks without slows until I realized how powerful Ignite is for getting kills. The damage reduction is still very useful if the enemy AD Carry get out of hand, but I like Ignite better for kills->snowball.


Teleport is always a solid choice for top lane, but I don't think being able to go B and return to lane quickly is powerful enough to swap out Flash or Ignite. Teleporting to wards to gank across the map quickly can be pretty powerful, but I don't think that you get to do that very often. If you think you'll have to go B a lot(if you're up against someone like Yorick or Darius for example), feel free to pick it.


Cleanse is decent, but as an offtank you typically won't be shutdown by a single stun as you're more tanky than an AD Carry, and you usually have Mercury Treads. It can be useful if you know you're up against a lot of CC, but like the above summoners, I don't feel that it's powerful enough to justify changing from Flash or Ignite.


Smite is a must have when jungling, but is useless when laning. Never pick Smite if you're not jungling. Always pick Smite when jungling.

I do not recommend picking any of the Summoner Spells not listed here, only pick them if you know what you're doing.

Runes

Runes are pretty standard offtank/bruiser runes. Flat AD marks, flat armor seals, magic resist per level glyphs and movement speed quintessences. The quints could be swapped for flat AD or armor penetration if you prefer more offense. I am not sure whether flat AD or armor penetration is the best choice for marks, I run AD because I don't have armor penetration marks atm. If you disagree, feel free to let me know in the comments.

Masteries

I have 2 mastery pages that I usually use when playing Wukong, one 21/9/0, and one 9/21/0.

This mastery page is more defensive, with 9 points in Offense and the rest in Defense. I'm not a big fan of the Summoners Wrath/Resolve/Insight masteries so I put 3 points in Brute Force and the last point in Butcher to improve my last-hitting, and then go stratight for the 10% armor penetration. I put 3 points in resistance, since magic resist is harder to get than armor, and get the extra health and minion damage reduction masteries in order to decrease the damage taken by minions when harassing or freezing the lane. I spend my last points in movement speed, CDR and Juggernaut .

This one is a more offensive mastery page, with 21 points in Offense and only 9 points in Defense. I usually go with the 9/21/0 one, as i think Executioner isn't as good as Juggernaut . This mastery page is a bit more risky: either you carry hard, or you're a lot less tanky, making you less powerful since you won't be fed. If you're not doing well, pick up a few more defensive items.

Items

Like most offtanks, Wukong has a large range of items to choose from. While on most offtanks I pick up an early Brutalizer if I'm doing well, I almost always get Brutalizer into Ghostblade on Wukong. Phage into Trinity Force, Maw, and Atmas gives you a nice mix of offensive and defensive stats. I usually finish with a Guardian Angel, it has a good passive and both armor and magic resist. Always remember to adjust your build according to the game, the above build is my favorite build if everything is going really well. You'll usually want more defense in your average game.

For boots, I pick either Mercury's Treads or Ninja Tabi, depending on whether I need CC reduction and magic resist or armor and auto-attack reduction. I rarely even consider Berserker's Greaves since I think that picking Berserker's Greaves gives up too much defense for too little offense.

Something that I think applies to most, if not all offtanks, but is especially important on Wukong due to his offensive nature:


If you're behind, it's better to build tankier than getting instagibbed.

Don't get Bloodthirster as your second item when you've fed their Rumble 4 kills on top lane, it will just get you killed. If you're behind, consider building an early Frozen Heart or Banshees Veil, substituting your Trinity Force for a Frozen Mallet, or skipping your ghostblade altogether for other defensive items. Building AD won't help you if you die instantly, it's better to stay alive and be able to do something than blowing up in half a second and not being able to do anything at all. You can also consider helping your team out with items like Shurelia's Reverie and Zeke's Herald.

The above build is what I usually shoot for, here are a couple of optional items:

The Bloodthirster
If you get really fed, really early, The Bloodthirster is a great item for maximizing your damage.

Frozen Heart
If physical damage becomes a problem, Frozen Heart is my item of choice. Lots of armor, great aura and some CDR and mana for a reasonable price.

Frozen Mallet
If you're behind, upgrade your Phage into a Frozen Mallet instead of a Trinity Force, the extra HP and permaslow will help you survive, and slow down targets for your team.

Last Whisper
Get this item if you feel that you can afford some more damage when the enemy has stacked a lot of armor. Just be careful, since sometimes you can't swap out a defensive item just to get Last Whisper, it doesn't to much against non-squishies.

Wriggle's Lantern
A great solo top item, you can get it if you're having trouble with physical damage( Riven, Garen, Renekton). Besides the armor and AD, it gives some lifesteal for extra sustain and a free ward. I usually start Cloth Armor 5 and rush this item while jungling.

Warmog's Armor
I usually prefer resistances to pure health, but it can be considered if you already have lots of resistances and want a bit more damage through Atma's Impaler.

Aegis of the Legion
Great item for a cheap price, just make sure that your support doesn't get it.

Force of Nature
Lots of magic resist and some yummy movement speed and health regen. Great against magic damage.

Banshee's Veil
Another great anti-AP item. The health increases the AD on your Atma's Impaler and the spell shield is great against mages who rely on bursting with a combo. Force of Nature is better against enemies with consistent spell damage ( Karthus, Ryze, Cassiopeia).

Early Game

The first few levels you should only be last-hitting, go for a Nimbus Strike and a Crushing Blow if your opponent sticks his neck out, but otherwise just keep on last-hitting.

At level 3 you can start doing your combo, E-Auto-Q-W-Back off. Depending on who you're up against, you might have to be careful when using you combo. Darius for example can usually land a Decimate before you can get away, even if you're stealthed, so you'll want to jump in when Decimate is on cooldown. Try to attack spontaneously when last-hitting, if you start running towards your opponent he'll know that you're about to jump him, and might retaliate before you can stealth.

If your opponent is low enough, you can go for a kill at lvl 6 with E-Auto-Q-R-Ignite.

On you first B, depending on how much money you have, you should get either a The Brutalizer, 2 Dorans Blades or a Phage. If you have problems with physical damage, go for Wriggle's Lantern or Ninja Tabi, if you need magic resist, get a Hexdrinker.

Mid Game

Mid game you'll want to assess how well you're doing compared to the enemy team. If you're doing well, you can usually 1v1 most people on the enemy team, so don't be afraid to pick up some more kills.

When teamfights start to erupt, you'll want to be the second guy in if you have a proper initiator. If you don't Wukong can initate at a decent level with Nimbus Strike into cyclone. Either way, you'll want to hit as many as you can with the knockup from Cyclone, and then go for the squishies with the rest of your abilities.

Late Game

Late Game is all about teamwork. It's also important to judge how well you've been doing. If you're scoring triple kills left and right, try to put some pressure on the other teams towers, since you can most likely win the teamfight. Only splitpush on your own when you know where the enemy team is.

Try to stick with your team as much as you can, but remember that if anyone sticks their head out, you can attack them(and possibly kill them depending on how fed you are), since you can easily run away with Decoy if the rest of his team shows up.

If you're going for Baron Nashor try to have the tri-bush and the small intersection by the top teams wratihs warded if you're the bottom team, or the entrance through the Blue Buff and the brush to the left of the Mid lane if you're the top team. It's a lot easier to take baron if you see them coming, as you can easily turn around and fight or call it off when you know they're there. Another tip is to take baron after an ace. If you ace, try to push down a tower or 2 and then go straight for Baron.

Summary

This is the end of my guide. I hope that you've learned a thing or two, and that I've inspired some of you to give the monkey a chance. Have fun playing Wukong, and see you on the Fields of Justice!

Constructive criticism would be appreciated, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.


Thanks to Jhoijhoi's great guide-making guide for helping me make this guide and lending me templates for the Abilities section.