Wukong/Strategy

Lanes and Roles

 * can be a decent tank due to his passive as well as being able to dodge abilities with .  can be a very effective AoE assassin, with,  and deals very high damage with a knock-up with , as well as being able to covertly dive in and slay any vital carries on the enemy team.  can also be used as the usual bruiser/fighter style, engaging and disengaging with solid damage and solid survivability.
 * Top lane is commonplace for as he can benefit from the eventual use of semi-defensive-offensive build path that is already recommended for him. Top lane is usually where semi-tanks and tanks are placed and where damage is not so focused on. Most of his matchups top tend to usually be even or at a disadvantage, due to Wukong's lack of natural sustain and reliable harass. This can often be exacerbated further with matchups against champions such as, , ,  or , who can out-damage or out-sustain Wukong early and often force him to play passively. Champions like  can also easily shut-down some of Wukong's approaches by delaying him and poking him from a distance before he gets dangerous, so he often needs to rely on an assassin-like mindset to stand out in-lane (such as using  to either escape or use as a form of offensive assassin-style stealth), though Wukong's offense is easily baited if he's not careful.
 * Middle Lane is a popular alternative for an assassin playstyle fit with assassin items, though for it's the least common field for him. This is due to the common weak armored middle laners who are often AP Mages. (i.e., ,  etc.) Although, the recent meta has seen not so immobile, statistically weak champions. It's possible to build the same way as top lane, especially since Wukong has plenty of firepower and mindgames with his . Being melee-ranged and as a caster type champion, Wukong usually requires similar skill needed to stay strong and alive for the early portions like with top lane, since many high utility mages can easily make a stand against him if he plays aggressively at a bad time.
 * The Jungle is the second least common field for and often tied with top lane, but it is where he is safest. Away from bully top laners, and away from high burst middle laners. He is an effective ganker due to the armor reduction from  and later on the CC from  that is particularly useful against AA reliant ADC at bottom lane.  also provides the needed gap closing to gank. This role is often used by players who want to carry with  because of the little amount of harass and weak early game that Wukong has in lane. Ideal choice of jungling runes and masteries should be considered, especially since if not careful he can be counter-jungled and also executed by monsters if his damage/defense is too low against the monsters without a proper leash. However, if played well and managed well by his team-comp,  in the jungle can scale to late game all too well and is able to carry games if possible.

Skill usage

 * is an excellent solo lane champion, with a combination of burst damage, durability and difficulty to gank. He is also an AD caster, so he focuses more on his abilities for burst damage and relies on cooldown reduction, as opposed to DPS from attack speed via his auto attacks.
 * His basic harass method is closing the gap with, auto attacking with an immediate afterwards, and then using  to avoid retaliation. However, it's possible to space both  and  apart from each other to land extra attacks before wasting them, since spamming his abilities too often and using them too soon may waste some needed damage at opportune moments.
 * However, be aware that relying on in this way will drain your mana quickly, leave you without your main escape mechanism should you be ganked, and make relying on the same combo repeatedly with Wukong makes you predictable.
 * Leading with will reduce the opponent's armor, increasing your damage output.
 * resets the attack timer; using it immediately after an autoattack will give you a 'free' attack.
 * Both and  allow  to close the gap between him and his target.
 * if timed right, can be used to follow opponents through walls since it counts as a dash.
 * Using is an effective way of escaping and chasing down enemy champions.
 * When fleeing, consider how best to utilize the brief stealth provided by . Use it to juke your pursuers by changing directions after using . Sometimes it's best to simply stop after casting and watch as your opponents continue to chase in the direction they think you've gone, this is known as 'stop juking.' By pressing "stop" [default key: S] you can pretend that you have used  to make your opponents think that you are the decoy. However, this move may not work on skilled opponents.
 * This is less effective against more skilled opponents, because the Decoy doesn't show any visual effects (/ buff, Poison,, etc.). This means it is usually easy to tell if has really used a decoy or not. Though if the foes do not have any stealth revealing items, then the real challenge is knowing where to retreat as your enemies search for you.
 * When ganking an enemy from the brush, use while inside and approach your target during the stealth time.
 * The Decoy can also be used for farming on minions, or dealing extra damage if they remain in its radius for the duration.
 * Decoy Is also useful to set up ambush during laning phase, with a good timing, you can auto attack, then activate w right when the auto attack animation ends so that enemy gets tricked and won't escape away.
 * Decoy can also be used to escape from.
 * can be used as a shield against skillshots such as  and . always appears behind you. Thus, it can be used as a utility shield for all sorts of situations if needed, such as stopping ultimates to save either yourself or help allies retreat.
 * It can also be used to stop.
 * If is used exactly when  hits, the damage will be nullified or taken by the decoy.
 * can also be used to gang up on opponents; with careful timing, it's possible to add up the decoy's attack to his burst damage in a one-on-one fight.
 * It can also be used with the Flash summoner spell during stealth to cause a bigger guessing game for your opponents and to close the gap more safely towards your target, but only if timed right or it may as well be a waste, especially since you blew both escape mechanics for an engage.
 * bonus damage works on turrets and inhibitors.
 * effects now grants additional 125 bonus range, which is good to finish an opponent who is just slightly out of your range.
 * ​Because of the bonus range, can be used to punish melee opponents who try to last hit safely as well. A  can be used right after it for some extra damage and to ensure a  or  follow-up for more mind games or heavy damage.
 * is not a channeled ability so crowd control effects, like stun, silence or knockback will not cancel or interrupt his ultimate. However stuns or snares will prevent him from moving, and knockback can still move him away. Reckless use of it can be suicide, as Wukong can't do any other actions other than move or use certain summoner spells as well as certain item actives while spinning, so use with caution in certain teamfights and know when to cancel it or not.
 * General team fighting with should aim to persist in the fight as long as possible utilizing his skills multiple times while also disrupting the enemy team and not getting focused down. Such an approach is to use  to close on a dangerous enemy, autoattack, use  for another attack, and then immediately use  since enemy crowd control and burst may be headed your way. While stealthed, you can back off and reposition yourself. Then re-enter the fray with another  and another  before activating  to disrupt their team as they come after you knowing you don't have  available. After  finishes, you should be close to having  ready again to chase down an enemy or smartly target to aid your escape.
 * Try to hang onto your during teamfights instead of using it to initiate fights, your visibility with your ultimate and high damage output will put focus onto you from the enemy team. Instead use it as a strong crowd control to break up enemy champions and to chase.
 * It should be noted it's very easy for to fall behind if he gets denied early, as he is very item-dependent. He has a bit of a difficult laning phase against champions who are able to out-damage and out-sustain him early game. His tankiness from his  does not kick in until later levels, so he is also rather squishy early game. Take the time to farm if needed in order to work your way up to late game if early game gets rough while avoiding most dangerous confrontations.
 * works better in mass-teamfights, and thus against a single target especially in the early game (such as during laning phase), can have a bit of trouble. Learn to play passively and assassinate certain targets if you don't think you'll last in a fight.
 * Be careful not to spam too many abilities; though doesn't high overall mana costs, his mana pool is naturally limited as a fighter. Because of this, it's wise to land a few basic attacks first before using his abilities for well-needed burst; the attack speed boost from  provides some solid DPS for these situations.

Build usage

 * packs decent damage with armor reduction and gap closing; it's possible to build him as a pure fighter as an AD carry, a pure tank, or a semi-tank with major AD burst damage. With tanky builds and strong attack damage items, he can start teamfights quite well, making him rather versatile. Note that this disregards any AP builds as only his scales in AP, and it's generally unneeded for any damage.
 * Regardless, he is quite item-dependent, so it's often best to ensure he's farmed up enough to sit on certain items to last up to mid game where he can really shine (as well as playing safe enough to prevent himself from falling behind). Also, his is also the core component of his mid-to-late game power, since it's at early levels he should focus more on farming up to get enough for his items and for his passive to take effect.
 * Much of his damage can easily scale up to late game with enough items, so he is more of an assassin-bruiser than a bruiser-tank, due to the conditions of his passive needed to be effective.
 * Given that the bonus damage from affects both towers and inhibitors,, together with a  (or ) and cooldown reduction can push a lane surprisingly quickly.
 * and later on synergizes with, leading to a surprising amount of burst damage.
 * If spread out enough with good timing, you can get two hits when you dash in with a  ->  combo.
 * and its ingredients in general sync very well with . 's new rage passive like with most bruisers who make strong use of in general, gives the monkey some strong sticking power for chasing and some HP. The attack speed and critical chance give him some decent auto-attack power, and the movement speed also give him much-needed mobility as well, since along with a few other items for the job, Wukong's mobility doesn't offer too much in comparison to other fast running bruisers, even if they lack gap closers like Wukong does (especially in order to make quick escapes with his decoy to avoid any AoE-attacks). The extra mana is also good for Wukong's abilities as well.
 * Another alternative tends to be, making it so that  has a form of cc-burst damage, and some tankiness via some armor, as well as giving cooldown reduction as well.
 * In general, building defensive items with works well on . Keep in mind that 's  gives him armor and magic resistance naturally and effective use of his  can help him avoid being targeted so high amounts of defense might not be necessary as opposed to more HP. The speed boosts can also help with certain mobility purposes.
 * is a good pick against a balanced enemy team. It grants some health regeneration, armor and magic resistance, scaling well with . The aura is also useful in aiding allies, as well as making the team generally tankier. It can also be built into for more tankiness along with its shield being useful for ally protection. However, this should mainly be considered only if it's needed and if no one on his team builds it.
 * However, it no longer gives armor due to a recent patch, but it's still viable regardless for more extra magic resist than before.
 * gives him excellent defense and some additional damage while he is persisting in a fight. On the other hand, enemies damaged by the aura will know that he's right next to them, so they can guess his position during stealth and well-coordinated teams can tag him with skillshots easily. Its particle animation also resets upon using.
 * or also gives him excellent defense against bursty magic damage dealers. In the case of the latter, if built with tanky HP items, then the missing health can greatly benefit for extra damage.
 * An alternative for MR is to combine with the movement speed from  for even better chasing.
 * Sometimes due to 's passive, he may as well need a mere HP item like in order to get tanky enough and let his passive tank for him in teamfights, but that's mainly if he's fed enough. It can also help him stick to enemies with its passive.
 * is also a good choice for in the case of armor builders, especially against DPS heavy champions as lane opponents early game.
 * Due to likeliness to, the aforementioned  can also give extra damage to both their spinning abilities,  and , a la extra AOE damage. This also applies to.
 * Cooldown reduction is a good stat for, allowing him to maintain the armor reduction debuff from his on an opponent and the attack speed steroid of his  on himself, which is mainly due to the fact that he is played as a caster-type champion, relying a lot on his abilities to deal damage.
 * is a great item for as it will help keep him next to the opponent and gives all the stats he needs by adding extra armor penetration and cooldown reduction.  offers a good combination of stats if you need a life steal item that isn't.
 * offers a lot of armor and some mana in addition to cooldown reduction, though one should be mindful that they would need a strong HP alternative item should they buy the Heart.
 * is a strong item pick as scales well with attack damage. Because  offers purely offensive stats, it should be saved until  can survive an enemy encounter.
 * Because deals mainly physical damage that can be countered by armor and his  grants armor reduction by a percentage, armor penetration and armor reduction items can increase his damage output, especially when combined with his.
 * The active from can help increase 's DPS usage without buying too many attack speed items.  combined with  can drop an enemy to 30% of their armor but because it offers strictly offensive stats, it should be only be considered once opponents get exceptionally tanky (and most players also tend to combine the Whisper with  in most builds). It can be used with the bonus effect from  for more attack speed rushdown.
 * Not only that, but Ghostblade's critical chance gives Wukong some extra power behind his auto-attacks out of occasion if needed.
 * The active can also be used during his or even during his  for extra mobility; the former is often used for pursuit or for a bit of escape if needed added with the extra movement speed, while the latter can be used for quick-and-safe gap closing or for excellent jukes as well.
 * as mentioned before, now syncs very well with   as it can reach full stacks in just almost 1 second into his ultimate while the enemy is still knocked up, provided you do the  and  combo beforehand. Because of this, early game laning can revolve around sustaining off  for most of early game, due to armor penetration and cooldown reduction, and thus the Cleaver is often considered a core item on Wukong.
 * However, due to 's recent rework, the item build path is not as offensively optimal for anymore, thus it works more better as a defensive team-utility item built in the mid-to-late game.
 * can be a powerful early game item to build for him, as the life steal and unique passive/active with its AoE crowd-clearing can help him farm mid/late-game, as well as tack on some extra damage. The aforementioned life steal can also support Wukong's passive, though at a cost, it's not as damaging as the aforementioned and other items that provide both life steal and attack damage, so keep this in mind. Used in conjunction with such items however can be effective.
 * The active from can be a great compliment to  as they both reset autoattacks, though the Hydra's active recovers quicker. Using these in conjunction can prove hard to stop if timing is mastered and the foe is being assaulted upon with need of quick attacks. This tends to work well for many AD-casters who often need an extra budge in split-pushing, or in terms of adding an extra spell to their combos.
 * The health regeneration off the ingredient can also prove very handy for some self-sustain and damage early game.
 * Life steal or health-regeneration items should mainly be first considered when jungling with, since his juke potential is very strong for ganking (while taking into the consideration of the monsters' armor stats in comparison to the minions).
 * The active for both and  can be used to gain vision on certain monsters in the jungle past thin walls, so that way  can  to the target for a wall-dash escape, which can be useful since  only hits targeted enemies.
 * The new can also be used not only since  runs on mana, but it offers lots of damage and cooldown reduction, both stats which are very good for Wukong in general.
 * The is rarely considered in general, but can be good for most DPS/pure AD Wukong builds.
 * can be a good choice for, as it reduces the effectiveness of slows and speeds up your escape when using , meaning the enemy will already be too far from you to see you after ends.
 * On the other hand, if the team isn't packing much damage, then can often opt for the  in order to roam around often to be a presence for his team and to make use of jukes with his, but only if he escapes battle in that case. Since his  can only have so much of a range, he often would need extra movement speed from items like the aforementioned  (for some reduction against slows),  (for better map presence), and 's active (for damage purposes and extra DPS, as well as being one of the item actives usable for his ultimate).
 * For anything can tank with, what he can build can depend on the types of boots he first purchases: (This can vary depending on one's playstyle.)
 * is built as the boots of choice, then (for extra protection) or a  (for more regen and cooldown reduction) is the way to go.
 * If was built instead, then  (for more damage) or a  (for teamfights and chasing) is the choice. Also regarding Omen, it's also considered one of the best armor and HP items all-around for most bruisers, and the Wukong having one is no exception, so if possible be sure to make use of it. Omen's active can also be use to chase, disengage, and it can even be used during his ultimate. Overall especially for the raw stats it can be very cost effective on him compared to other HP and armor items.
 * can also mainly be considered more for the tenacity, which can be helpful if in a tight pitch to escape during or.
 * is often a bit squishy early game and if falling behind, so for early sustain, some can easily help in laning early with him, at the cost of trading in his need for more defensive stat items.
 * Though a rarely used item, for those who are more caster-type with, are a solid item for an AD caster playstyle, at the sacrifice of durability.

Countering

 * If you are playing as a tank, consider purchasing both health and armor items so his is less effective.
 * Do not be tricked by his clone, If you see him suddenly stop, try continue moving forward instead of attacking him so you will see him when his stealth duration is over.
 * If you are close enough activating will counter his stealth.
 * Beware - he could use it the other way, like suddenly stopping without using.
 * To avoid getting tricked between him stopping or deploying the, notice his idle animation. The clone starts its idle in a set position so if he suddenly "jerks" in his idle animation, you know he used decoy. Otherwise, feel free to continue battering Wukong.
 * It's also wise to save up abilities like ultimates during this situation, as the decoy can be used as a shield against certain attacks and abilities, making them get wasted.
 * Wukong also has rather low movement speed in comparison to other champions; without his decoy or ultimate, it's possible to escape from him or pin him down to kill him. Even if his decoy can confuse his opponents, he may still be too slow to run away from most AoE-based attacks.
 * Buy stealth detection items to neutralize the stealth advantage of, or land slows on him before he uses the ability, making it difficult to use the stealth to escape a large distance - preferably with non-skillshots, as cannot stop them from hitting while they are already in flight.
 * Be careful if you happen to be fighting in a one-on-one if he has his  up; with proper timing, it's possible to take extra damage from both Wukong and the decoy, enabling extra burst damage with a sneaky-touch and it's possible to also get killed by a decoy as well.
 * can easily peel at his target's defenses. Make sure doesn't land it so that he'll deal as less damage as possible.
 * can also easily act as an assassin as well as an initiator. Be sure to kite him with your carries and/or high-utility teammates to prevent him from killing any vital teammates off by preventing him from closing in.
 * Be sure to spread out to avoid - its potential makes up the most of  power and having the team avoid getting affected by it as much as possible can significantly reduce his effect in teamfights.
 * Knockback effects and escapes can avoid a lot of 's damage - perhaps even all of it!
 * In general, with a good amount of certain types of abilities available, it's possible to punish Wukong for activating his ultimate, though this requires good positioning and timing to hit/kill Wukong during it.
 * Sustain can nullify the effects of 's harassing combo, and the combo costs a significant amount of his mana which can quickly leave him unable to use his abilities.
 * Be careful if ganging up on a fed during late game; his  may make him tank a lot more damage than usual, so it's often best to assault him alone or with as few allies as possible.
 * By proxy, can only work on enemies who could be seen, so champions with stealth can really be effective in assassinating him if he happens to be fairly squishy without his passive.
 * True damage and defensive-bypasses are also very effect against his passive early-to-late game, so champions with that natural type of stat in their kits are able to give a rough time early game, but be careful if he happens to build a lot of health over defensive stats, as this way depending on how  can affect/benefit him can still make him relatively tanky.
 * is one of the few bruisers who are actually meant to shine late game, unlike most who tend to do more damage early game as he requires more skill than just high early ratios and sustain to handle his early game. Deny him early as he needs good items to scale later into the game.
 * This can also be said about his early game in either laning or jungling; he has no self-sustain and his passive is very weak at early levels, making him very squishy early game; force him back to base often with extra damage and out-sustaining so he'll fall behind.