Talk:Olaf/@comment-26040142-20150225025201/@comment-24073465-20150225060303

Generally, whether or not to get E first is usually dependent on what the enemy laner is....I find that if the enemy laner is mostly an auto-attacker, or needs to get up close to do something personal (such as Jax, Irelia, Cho Gath, Garen, etc), I usually take E first, then Q and W, and max it first.....

In a few cases where despite them being an upclose and personal guy (think Darius...his early game >> Olaf's Early, so until I finish afew items, fighting with him is dangerous in the best of cases and suicide in the worst), I can't afford to get close, so I take E at level 1, but max Q usually...

The times when I take and max Q first are when I am against kiters and pokers such as Rumble, Kennen, Ryze, Jayce, etc. Because they can easily run away, I usually need Q to poke them back as much as they can poke me...

Otherwise, the only other reason for maxing Q is if your jungling, as you'll need it for the possible permaslow...that is possibly the only time when I take W first....and there are no scenarios I can think of where I'd probably max W over others...

For what to build on the guy, I'd say it depends on your role, enemy laner and team composition.....Hydra is great on him, but I suggest that if you're against an AP laner, it might be better to rush Hexdrinker on him, and get hydra later....other good offensive items are BOTRK, Youmuus, upgrading Hexdrinker to Maw, or if you're THAT far ahead that anything coming close has a >70% chance of death if alone, something cheesy like Infinity Edge....As for defensive items, Olaf has tons of options....Sunfire (against guys like Garen/Darius/whoever doesn't need DPS as much as squishy bursting), Randuins (best for DPS), SV (beast on Olaf), Banshee's (I personally don't prefer it to SV, but can't deny it's pretty nice on the guy), or things like Thornmail/FH (if they have a high AD team....for a high AP team or their AP laner is fed, stack MR items like BV,SV and Maw)

All in all, choosing which items to get, as well as the order to get them in depends on who your enemies are and how balls-to-the-wall crazy you will act (or "how offensive you will be towards the other team" for a neutral term)