User blog comment:Zeowolf0/Champion Appreciation Week - Garen/@comment-134.224.220.1-20121206003603/@comment-83.196.94.64-20121207011010

honestly garen is stronger in s3 than in S2:

black cleaver gives him   30% armor reduction and it goes quickly with AA+Q+E

and it gives him hp and CDR

add to that  a runic bullwark and with your W passive you have big resists and lots of hp while giving an usefull aura to your team

tried him twice this season and both  were huge success!

dorans shield  first item  ( yeah i like doran first on garen with his passive and hp regen quints, 720 hp + hugeregen is awesome)

i ALWAYS get   black cleaver > runic bullwark (  all garen needs,  huge damage, resists , HP  and aura for mid game teamfights)

after it depends,  last whisper/IE/frozen mallet/ sunfire cape/ mercurial scimitar  depends on teams