Blitzcrank/Strategy

Skill usage

 * can be a great source of survivability if itemized for, and its low cooldown ensures it is almost always up for skirmishes.
 * Do not rely on in the laning phase, due to  low base mana and high costs.
 * During a gank/fight, consider conserving your mana, to increase the effectiveness of.
 * is signature skill, with immense utility when used well.
 * has a distinctive cast sound; try casting it out of enemy sight to avoid them hearing it.
 * Aim your shots from unexpected angles to increase their chances of landing, such as through an enemy minion about to die.
 * can allow your team to invade the enemy jungle at the start of the match due to the threat you pose with.
 * Avoid hitting certain champions that would benefit from getting pulled into your team as a free initiation, such as, , or.
 * At level 2, and  crowd control can easily help your lane get kills. You can also use this combination to punish enemies who towerdive.
 * Use to get  on top of priority targets to lock them down with.
 * passive damage is deceptively high over the course of a fight, so try to not use the active until necessary.
 * You will want to use active when you can hit most of the enemy team, when the silence is needed to interrupt an enemy channeled spell, or when it can finish off a foe.
 * players will generally want to max their and  as priorities;  does its job at rank 1 by pulling enemies into  melee range, where his other two basic abilities make him very difficult to escape.
 * If your team has long-range crowd control such as, it can sometimes pay off to put points into to greatly increase the damage, as well as a much-desired cooldown decrease.
 * As support you will want to either max or  first.  should be maxed for shorter cooldowns and higher damage, and  should be maxed if you need to move faster. Maxing  first means you can skip boots early, and go for your GP/10 items faster. Maxing  on support  is almost useless, since you won't build AD, and it only shortens the cooldown.
 * When playing support against a squishy bot laner or a bot laner with low CC, you can walk up to the enemy AD carry or support instead of initiating with . This can be done by activating  and using  when you are in range of your target. Then when your target tries to escape, use  to pull the target back in. This is almost always a secure kill, or at least a force of the enemy's summoner spells. When you do this, make sure your AD carry follows up. If your AD carry doesn't go in with you, you will most likely lose the trade and maybe even die.
 * If you know that an enemy champion plans to dodge your with  or a dash ability, activate  to silence them before grabbing.

Build usage

 * Stacking mana with items like and  will increase the effectiveness of his.
 * can be effective at tank, DPS, and support roles. A tank should get items that give mana and survivability, a DPS should get and  (and later a,  ), and a support should get cooldown reduction to put out as much crowd control as possible.
 * Building as a support consider getting  as it will moderately boost your supporting capabilities.
 * synergizes with extremely well. It increases his attack damage, and the potential 1350 mana increases the effectiveness of . This item is universal in nearly every  build.
 * Alternatively, can be replaced with  and on an AP/Tank hybrid with other AP + HP items such as  and.
 * , and later can greatly increase the damage output of  standard combo, as well as increase the strength of his  and.
 * and are great items for a Tanky-Support, as they provide mana for your  and . This gives increased survivability (from the armor, magic resistance, and synergy with ), decent amounts of attack damage, and helpful cooldown reduction.
 * Since has trouble farming for gold,  can be used as a cheap and effective way to increase his survivability and usefulness to his team, especially if he's being built as a tanky-support role.

Countering

 * Staying behind minions is a great way to protect yourself against during the laning phase.
 * It is possible to dodge a by moving perpendicular to the extended arm as it launches, causing it to miss you.
 * Be wary of location when he is in the bushes. He will more than likely try to initiate with.
 * Grabbing a ward for vision in the brush counters this tactic well.
 * When fighting a support, his damage will be much lower than his allied AD carry. Don't be afraid to force a fight if he has used and/or  recently.
 * Be careful not to over-commit when attacking . He will gain shield through his when his health gets low. This can either result in  managing to escape from or kill you.
 * The best way to counter this is to wait until he drains his mana through his spells.
 * If you see has low mana, try to go after him. He only gains a shield equal to 50% of his current mana.
 * Some bottom picks, such as, or  effectively counter  by being ablw to avoid or block his  or by being tankier and harder hitting than he is; study what champions counter and suffer against  to better your laning phase.
 * Save your channeled spells as will briefly silence you and end your channeled spell.
 * Beware of trying to bait you. Be sure you know his  is not up before you chase him down.
 * Champions that can poke well without putting themselves in much danger, such as or  are able to harass while being considerably safer from  than others.
 * When goes for an unexpected grab, usually his allies are close by. Use this to your advantage and have teammates purposefully get pulled and have teammates follow the initiate as usually the enemies swarm the person getting grabbed.

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