In case it is not clear: this guide is my opinion, and is not in any way official or "right". To me it is right and has worked. Make your own informed decisions and decide which build you like the most. If you wish to try my build, do so in a practice round. Then make your own build after you have played with mine and chosen what you liked and did not like.
Thank,
Nekir.
Nekir.
Ps: with the most recent patch, Garen's decisive strike can no longer crit... which makes me runes a little useless... so I will work to change that soon
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Garen is one of those champions that can do well most of the time, but if you start a pattern of feeding you will most definitely follow it.
Garen relies heavily on minion kills, especially with my build.
Luckily, Garen is scary enough to most people that they run away when he charges out of the bushes with his Decisive Strike blazing and a "For Demacia!" on his lips.
First I will cover Garen, the champion in reference to his passive, abilities and lore.
Lore
Garen and Katarina the Blade Mistress fight for two opposing armies. Noxus and Demacia. They met at a great battle and Garen found the only enemy to ever be his equal. He became besotted with her... (lol).No one really knows why Garen was out of breath when he returned from the fight, but to this day he denies any allegations and is the first to rise to the call when he hears that Katarina the Blade Mistress will be present on the battle field.
Abilities
(Q) Decisive Strike:
Pretty much your bread and butter... it gives a speed increase (which is great for chasing down someone and/or initiating) and on top of that... it silences for 2.5 seconds.Heroes that this ability really rapes: Kassadin (because he cannot port away), Shaco (same as Kass), Fiddle (it stops his ulti, and stops him from using fear), Annie (no Tibbers or stuns), Evelynn (she cannot stealth away nor nuke you)
(W) Courage:
The ability that really synergizes with my item build. Because you can focus on killing for this abilities passive as well as blood thirster and warmong's stacks.
(E) Judgment:
This is THE attack. It scales with your attack damage and does damage per second to every hero it touches (and while you are spinning you can activate courage)
(R) Demacian Justice (ultimate):
The ultimate kill-steal. If you don't wanna be that kind of guy, then you can use it when someone is about halfway dead and bring them down low enough for you to kill them with Judgment/Ignite.
Perseverance (passive):
This is an okay passive, not THAT great. Good for longer lane times and really good around level 16 when you have almost 120 health regeneration without it being active.
Runes
3 Greater Quintessence of Malice
3 Greater Marks of Malice
6 Greater Marks of Desolation
9 Greater Seals of Malice
9 Greater Glyphs of Malice
Totals up to be +12 armor penetration and +15% critical chance
Masteries
20/10/0
Offense: Deadliness (3), Cripple (1), Sorcery (4), Alacrity (1), Burning Embers (1), Sunder (3), Brute Force (3), Lethality (3), Havoc (1)
Defense: Resistance (2), Hardiness (3), Evasion (4), Nimbleness (1)
Utility: None
Summoner Spells
3 Greater Quintessence of Malice
3 Greater Marks of Malice
6 Greater Marks of Desolation
9 Greater Seals of Malice
9 Greater Glyphs of Malice
Totals up to be +12 armor penetration and +15% critical chance
Masteries
20/10/0
Offense: Deadliness (3), Cripple (1), Sorcery (4), Alacrity (1), Burning Embers (1), Sunder (3), Brute Force (3), Lethality (3), Havoc (1)
Defense: Resistance (2), Hardiness (3), Evasion (4), Nimbleness (1)
Utility: None
Summoner Spells
I personally use Exhaust (D) and Ignite (F). Really you can interchange these with what ever you want... if you want to use rally, then don't put a point in burning embers and put a point in Improved Rally. If you wanna use Heal, put a point in Mender's Faith instead of Resistance same for Revive. And if you want to use Teleport, substitute a point from Defense into Utility.
I use Exhaust to make Judgment that much more devastating. It works really well, especially for first blood. If you are hiding in the grass closest to the enemies first tower, right at the edge... and one (or two) of the enemy come into the grass you can cast exhaust then follow up with judgment and if you have a lane partner with you, you can almost always get first blood if not send the person you exhausted back to base to heal.
I use Exhaust to make Judgment that much more devastating. It works really well, especially for first blood. If you are hiding in the grass closest to the enemies first tower, right at the edge... and one (or two) of the enemy come into the grass you can cast exhaust then follow up with judgment and if you have a lane partner with you, you can almost always get first blood if not send the person you exhausted back to base to heal.
Ability Progression
Level 1: E
Level 2: W or Q
Level 3: W or Q
(whatever you didn't do at level two)
Level 4: E
Level 5: E
Level 6: R
Level 7: W
Level 8: Q
Level 9: Q
Level 10: E
Level 11: R
Level 12: E
Level 13: W
Level 14: Q
Level 15: W
Level 16: R
Level 17: Q
Level 18: W
Item Progression
Level 1: Rejuvenation Bead (250g), 2 Sight Wards (180g), and a Health Potion (35g)
Depending on who you are going against either go Warden Mail (for melee and range dps) or go Spirit Visage (if you are against magic casters).
Example of when Warden Mail is appropriate: Shen, Ashe, Shaco (kind of), Teemo (kind of), Garen, Tristana, Poppy, Warwick, Twisted Fate (kind of), Mundo, Gangplank, Twitch (kind of), Katarina, Nasus etc
Example of when Spirit Visage is appropriate: Shaco (kind of), Fiddlesticks, Morgana, Zilean, Kennan, Teemo (kind of), Eve, Annie, Twitch (kind of), Nunu, Veigar, Janna etc
When you get 700 gold for Chain Vest (for 400 gold for Null Magic Mantle, go back to base and buy it.
If you happen to have 1050 total (or 750 for the magic defense build), that is 350 extra gold after the 700 (or 400), grab Boots of Speed.
Then get Vampiric Scepter (450g) (heading towards Blood Thirster) then a Null Magic Mantle for Mercury's Treads then buy a BF Sword (1850g).
Then when you have 900 gold buy the blood Thirster and start getting stacks of it... you shouldn't be full with your Courage so it will synergize well.
Your next item is Giant's Belt (1,110g) then Regrowth Pendant (475g) and Ruby Crystal (475g) and then buy the recipe for Warmog's Armor (1,100g).
At this point your Courage should be full so you can just focus on getting your Warmog's stacks up (and blood thirster if you need too)
This is End Game and you probably won't get this far... if you do, go for Randuin's Omen if you got Warden's Mail (1375g total) Then grab another BF Sword then Vampiric Scepter and then another Blood Thirster.
If you need any other items... eenie-meanie-miny-mo :D
Final Items
1. Randuin's Omen/ Spirit Visage
2. Mercury's Treads
3. Blood thirster
4. Warmog's Armor
5. Blood thirster
6. Possibly Force of Nature or Guardian Angel or Infinity Edge
Level 1: E
Level 2: W or Q
Level 3: W or Q
(whatever you didn't do at level two)
Level 4: E
Level 5: E
Level 6: R
Level 7: W
Level 8: Q
Level 9: Q
Level 10: E
Level 11: R
Level 12: E
Level 13: W
Level 14: Q
Level 15: W
Level 16: R
Level 17: Q
Level 18: W
Item Progression
Level 1: Rejuvenation Bead (250g), 2 Sight Wards (180g), and a Health Potion (35g)
Depending on who you are going against either go Warden Mail (for melee and range dps) or go Spirit Visage (if you are against magic casters).
Example of when Warden Mail is appropriate: Shen, Ashe, Shaco (kind of), Teemo (kind of), Garen, Tristana, Poppy, Warwick, Twisted Fate (kind of), Mundo, Gangplank, Twitch (kind of), Katarina, Nasus etc
Example of when Spirit Visage is appropriate: Shaco (kind of), Fiddlesticks, Morgana, Zilean, Kennan, Teemo (kind of), Eve, Annie, Twitch (kind of), Nunu, Veigar, Janna etc
When you get 700 gold for Chain Vest (for 400 gold for Null Magic Mantle, go back to base and buy it.
If you happen to have 1050 total (or 750 for the magic defense build), that is 350 extra gold after the 700 (or 400), grab Boots of Speed.
Then get Vampiric Scepter (450g) (heading towards Blood Thirster) then a Null Magic Mantle for Mercury's Treads then buy a BF Sword (1850g).
Then when you have 900 gold buy the blood Thirster and start getting stacks of it... you shouldn't be full with your Courage so it will synergize well.
Your next item is Giant's Belt (1,110g) then Regrowth Pendant (475g) and Ruby Crystal (475g) and then buy the recipe for Warmog's Armor (1,100g).
At this point your Courage should be full so you can just focus on getting your Warmog's stacks up (and blood thirster if you need too)
This is End Game and you probably won't get this far... if you do, go for Randuin's Omen if you got Warden's Mail (1375g total) Then grab another BF Sword then Vampiric Scepter and then another Blood Thirster.
If you need any other items... eenie-meanie-miny-mo :D
Final Items
1. Randuin's Omen/ Spirit Visage
2. Mercury's Treads
3. Blood thirster
4. Warmog's Armor
5. Blood thirster
6. Possibly Force of Nature or Guardian Angel or Infinity Edge
