Talk:Garen the Night of Demacia/@comment-4134334-20110710201515

I realise I'm stating the obvious, but none-the-less I'm putting this out there for anyone that DOESN'T understand Garen, or is under the illusion that he is OP/UP.

Tanky Garen is fine as long as you have capable teammates laning with you. His Decisive Strike shuts down carries and mages long enough for your team to focus fire them (and is an excellent tool for pushing towers), Courage allows him to take one hell of a beating, Judgement does enough damage to squishies to scare them (and remove/reduce slows so he can keep harrasing the enemy team) and Demacian Justice helps finish off wounded enemies (especially tanks and any enemy trying to escape). You just have to remember that Garen is a team player and not a solo star.

Here is how I play Garen.

Skill-wise I take Decisive Strike first level (for the movement speed), Judgement second level (for the damage ouput) and then I throw all my points into Courage (and Demencian Justice whenever possible). This allows me to build up the passive Armour and MR early game (don't underestimate the additional 25 Amour and MR, it helps) and the active allows him to reduce the damage he takes by a rather large chunk, allowing you to escape on low HP (thus denying kills) or even turn an opponent's tower dive into a kill for you. After Courage has been maxed, evenly distribute points between Decisive Strike and Judgement for (somewhat) decent damage output. Remember, Garen has no mana to worry about and activating Decisive Strike refreshes Garen's auto-attack, so use it often to last hit minions for better farming and to build up Courage's passive more quickly.

When dealing with Garen's item's, I find the best way to build him is first item Boots of Swiftness, second item Randuin's Omen or Force of Nature (depending on wether you need Armour or MR first), third item Spirit Visage, fourth item Force of Nature or Randuin's Omen (depending on what you DIDN'T get as your second item), fifth item Guardian Angel and lastly Warmog's Armour. This gives him roughly (factoring in Perseverance, Courage's passive, masteries and my HP rune book) over 4k HP, over 200 Armour and MR, well over 100 HP regen per 5 and a solid amount of movement speed. Not only does this make him tanky as hell, but from the HP regen he can go from near dead to near full in about a minute (eliminating the need to go back to base, allowing you to lane for longer and/or stop mid from being pushed.). Give him Ghost and Flash as his summoner spells, factor in the speed boost from Decisive Strike and Judgement's slow removal/duration reduction and Courage's damage reduction, and he can be near impossible to kill at times.

With this build, you can initiate without a problem, tower-dive with nary a worry, and shake any enemy off your trail (perhaps with the exception of Kassadin) I've even had a few PvP games where I have managed to not die at all (this is against skilled players, not noobs) denying the enemy team much-needed gold, giving my team a build advantage and finally creating a snowball effect that eventually results in victory.

I would also like to point out again, even when he is fully built, Garen IS A TEAM PLAYER and NOT A SOLO STAR. You still won't be able to take people on 1v1 (unless they are already badly wounded) and if the rest of your team is doing poorly/feeding, you will NOT be able to carry them, because that is not how he is built or how he is played.

Everyone's play style is different, and this build does not Garen-tee a successful Garen. I made this overview to try and help further an understanding on how Garen works for noobs and newbs alike, and to give some (hopefully) useful information for other tanky Garen or want-to-be-tanky-Garen players.

Ultimately, how well a Champion does is less about the character's abilities and stats and more about how the Summoner plays him.

NOTE: I have also put this post in the Official League of Legends Forums (also as TheMagicWombat), and I am telling you this so you know that I have not plagiarized anyone else's work.

NOTE OF THE NOTE: I don't know if 'plagiarized' is the correct spelling, but this is how spellcheck says I should spell it. Defy my logic if you dare!