Galio/Strategy

General

 * is a tanky mage focused on dealing great AoE damage. His kit is oriented to constantly cast his spells to create  an opportunity for an initiation. Despite being a tank, Galio is generally played in the mid lane, building magic resistance against the enemy mage. He can also be played top lane in a standard tank role or bot lane as a tanky support.
 * Weaknessses
 * Since his kit relies on constant usage of his skills, his small base mana pool, and low base mana regen, Galio burns mana at high rates.
 * His damage is entirely reliant on landing the two skillshots.
 * Being melee, he can also be zoned during the early game by ranged mages.
 * He cannot peel targets reliably as a Tank aside from his ultimate ability.
 * Galio's passive only works by building magic resistance. This means that AD champions - and full AD teams in general - will make Galio weaker overall. Don't be fooled, however, as Galio's kit is still very good against AD champions, especially DPS ones.


 * Strengths
 * Galio has the fourth highest level 1 damage at (65), making it easier to land last hits in the laning phase.
 * has a high base damage, hitting hard even at early levels.
 * Through, he can sustain in lane through minion aggro.
 * His ultimate is a great tool for diving enemies with low health, as it reduces 50% of the received damage. As his passive converts 50% of his magic resist in ability power, you can play two roles at the same time.
 * Galio is primarily picked against heavy magic damage teams, as his build path favors heavy magic resistance. Alternatively, his ult plays into AoE compositions.
 * Since his kit is focused on dealing AoE damage, he can quickly push lanes.

Skill usage

 * can be useful for initiating teamfights, chasing runners, or escaping pursuers due to its speed boost.
 * Galio is a strong pick against AP casters, as he is very resistant to magic-based harass. By zoning with and, casters will become under-farmed and under-leveled, giving your team an advantage.
 * spells are expensive early game considering his low base mana pool. Try not to spam your and  too much early.
 * In accordance with this, try to save for an enemy that is going to last-hit - the animations that all champions must go through to autoattack forces them to stand still.
 * Placing on an ally under attack is a good way to protect them and regain health.
 * If you are low on health, you can throw the shield on and draw minion aggro for the duration of the shield. The damage taken will be negligible in comparison to the heal.
 * Try using before casting your spells, as it indirectly increases your ability power via your passive.
 * Always remember to use right before using, or even using it during  as it doesn't interrupt the channel. The increased armor will minimize damage, and its healing ability may even allow you to end the move with more health than you started with. It will raise ability power as well (as a result of his passive), allowing you to increase your damage output.
 * 's lack of casting time allows you to cast it defensively while simultaneously using your other spells offensively.
 * You will always get the MS boost from in the moment you cast it for 1 second (direction is initially irrelevant, you will keep the bonus if you keep moving in the ability's path) so you can smartly use it to harass and then avoid incoming counterattack with the MS boost.
 * You can significantly increase the damage potential of by using it near high attack speed enemies or when multiple foes are close. Keep in mind that minions are also taunted, and may be used to take more hits with minimal damage.
 * is one of the strongest teamfight-oriented ultimates in the game, and it works very well with many other champions' ultimates such as or.
 * It can be particularly powerful if 's team knows how to use it; the taunt duration can be used get past disruptive tanks, fighters, and to lock down ADC's and APC's.
 * It's also, notably, one of the few abilities in-game capable of CCing an entire enemy team, so you can use it as a sacrifice, letting your more important team members escape while you take the brunt of the enemy team's damage.
 * Be mindful of how long you will need to channel, as the damage reduction does not make you invincible.
 * Cancelling the channel early after being hit 8 times will deal as much damage as leaving the spell to channel for the full duration.
 * The CC from the ultimate is sometimes more effective than the damage, so channeling the spell for the full duration in order to maximize the duration of the taunt can be beneficial.
 * can be used to easily get a kill on enemies pushing your turret, as turrets prioritize enemies attacking friendly champions. Pull an enemy in range of the tower and activate it to get the turret to attack them.
 * can initiate team fights with into, since he does not have a gap closer in his kit.
 * You should be wary of any ability or item that can reduce magic resistance, as they will lower your damage output., , and  are examples of this.
 * Because it causes champions to autoattack you, is vulnerable to interruption by attack modifiers such as, , and . Be careful when using it around these champions.

Build usage

 * is a very strong item, offering ability power, magic resistance, and a useful aura.
 * is a decent item for as it gives you great mana regen due to the cost of your spells plus the magic resistance synergizes with his passive  to increase his ability power as well.
 * upgrade, offers a significant boost to offense and sustain, granting increased ability power, cooldown reduction and mana regeneration (which also synergizes with the passive mana regen boost).
 * All in all, and  should be considered core items for  by the late game since between them they provide 167.5 ability power, 97 magic resistance and three useful passive effects.
 * can make a viable substitute for because of 's high demand for spellcasting.  Eventually, the / build path grants a lot of ability power with 's high base mana pool.  Additionally, 's mana shield can cancel damage taken during  when used before it's cast.  The Cooldown Reduction granted by  can be achieved with 4 points in Sorcery and Scaling Cooldown Reduction Quintessences and Glyphs, creating a stronger late-game build.
 * is a strong offensive choice, granting the ability power for spells and health regen while using, as well as Armor which is useful for 's mid to close game playstyle. Using the Stasis active immediately after burning all of your cooldowns, including your ultimate after which most enemies will be trying to target you, can greatly increase your survivability and damage.
 * is a strong mid to late-game choice for a more mage oriented and creates a high-damage, high-sustain playstyle.
 * is a choice that synergizes well with 's low cooldown on, as well as his high movement speed while buffed by.
 * Picking up a is good against high physical damage teams, and synergizes with  as it forces enemies to take damage from its passive
 * in conjunction with increased armor and magic resistance allows you to slow the enemy team heavily, together with  you are able to catch up with your enemies easily. Keep in mind that the attack speed reduction passive may result in less hits during.
 * is a very strong item on . It increases his magic resistance, ability power, health and helps with channeling the full duration of by potentially blocking an interrupt.
 * excels at tanking spells due to his natural build towards magic resistance; however he still needs to build decent armor unless the enemy team is entirely magic damage based.
 * lacks powerful initiation (which counterbalances the massive power that offers). As such, he benefits from items such as  that help him get into the center of a fight.
 * may provide additional chase potential, as is normally somewhat easy to sidestep
 * is an excellent item granting 55 magic resistance (27.5 ability power) and boosting the strength of 's heal.

Countering

 * On-hit effects that apply hard CC, such as  or  can quickly interrupt even while you are taunted by it. If you have them, consider saving them in expectation of it.
 * Although you can no longer counter with tenacity, it is still possible to buy a  to remove the taunt before the end of its channel. Remember that the magic resist is useful against Galio too, since his spells do magic damage.
 * will certainly buy magic resist items to synergize it with his passive, . Therefore, if you play as a mage, it is recommended to buy a magic penetration item such as.
 * Even better would be to buy a magic resist reduction item such as or, which will both minimize his damage output while increasing your damage.
 * If or another enemy champion is affected with, consider changing target as  will regain health whenever the target is damaged.
 * Because he gets "free" ability power is one of the few tanks with high damage output so magic resist is usually key in preventing him to burst down a fragile opponent, like a marksman.
 * Change your escape path when the enemy uses . The speed boost is only applied when  or his allies walk within the spell's path.
 * will give you magic resist as well as reduce damage output from.
 * 's passive allows him to counter magic damage heavy teams and deal a reasonable amount of damage and heal in return. Consider bringing champions that deal large amount of physical damage that scales in attack damage instead of mages/assassins that deal magic damage. Keep in mind that can also build armor (i.e.  and ); and can still punish you with his.
 * himself exists to punish teams with too much magic damage, rather than a primary pick. He is utterly hard to kill with magic (both burst or poke) so always have balanced teams between magical and physical damage. Having too much magical damage usually makes appear while a team with too much physical can result in for example.
 * Late game, has particular trouble against . This is because  will scale off your AP, which means building magic resist won't be as effective at mitigating his magic damage (especially with ).
 * is a very effective counter to Galio, too. This is because if Galio ults Braum, his will stack quickly (especially if Braum's allies are taunted too); this will stun and break Idol of Durand's channel. Braum can also break Galio's ultimate from a high distance with his own ultimate  if needed.
 * Have a champion with ranged hard CC, such as, , or . They can break 's channel without having to walk up to its range and be taunted.
 * can activate his ultimate, and then intentionally taunt himself to bring him to Galio's range so that it will interrupt its channel.
 * AD assassins such as and  can easily get rid of Galio because they have high burst and this burst is physical damage, making  ineffective against them. However, they can have their effectiveness reduced with  during teamfights, unless they have.

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Galio/Strategy