Warwick, The Blood Hunter

This is an in-depth guide for those who wish to learn how to jungle with Warwick effectively, and keep him effective all game. Jungling is a very viable strategy. It allows two of your teammates to lane solo. It also is a great ganking tool, as your oppenents usually do not know where you are. Finally, it is a great money maker.

I. Backround: 

Once a man, Warwick was trained by the Alchemists of Zaun and later hired as a mercenary by the Noxian Army for their war against Ionia. An alchemical genius, he became known to the Ionians as the Deathmaker for the terror and destruction his creations sowed. Sequestered in his labs, he felt no responsibility for the death tolls these creations wrought. Eventually Soraka, an Ionian with the power of gods in her blood, had seen enough of the alchemist's predations. Something in her snapped, and she sacrificed her divinity to curse Warwick. She wanted him to feel revulsion at what he was, for him to dip his fingers in the blood he so often shed. Soraka cursed him to be a werewolf, a wild murderous beast.

What Soraka did not anticipate was that Warwick would revel in his newfound lycanthropy. Turning his back on his human past, Warwick now revels in his physical prowess and bloodlust as a mercenary fighting on the Fields of Justice. As a werewolf, a form he now rarely leaves, Warwick is an unnatural predator. His enormous claws carve enemies to bits, temporarily quenching his eternal thirst to drain their lives, healing his wounds. Worse is when he leaps onto a foe like an animal, knocking the sense out of his prey under a flurry of slashing talons. The vestiges of a pack animal reside within him, he can also let loose a piercing howl, which echoes across the battlefield to both bolster and coordinate those who fight with him. Few can hide from the werewolf, especially once he catches the scent of blood and his hunger overtakes him.

Though Warwick has been physically transformed, his nature has not; he is still a predator.


II. Stats:


Health: 428 (+98 / per level)

Mana: 170 (+30 / per level)

M/S: 320

Armor: 16 (+3.5 / per level)

S-Block: 30 (+1.25 / per level)

Critical: 2.6 (+0.4 / per level)

H-Regen: 1.41 (+0.16 / per level)

M-Regen: 0.77 (+0.05 / per level)

Range: 100




Pros:

- Great Jungler
- Great Ganking Ability
- Global IAS Buff
- Can Late-game Carry
- Easy to Farm up Items
- Early Dragon Killer
- Very Dangerous 1v1
- Great Staying Power from Lifesteal

Cons:

- Early Jungling Can be Very Dangerous
- No Escape Mechanic
- Can Have a Hard Time Chasing
- Not very Team Oriented in the End-game
- Stuns/Slows Shut him Down


III. Abilities:

Eternal Thirst [Passive]

Each of Warwick's attacks will heal him for 5/10/15 health. Each successive attack against the same target will restore increasing amounts of health to Warwick. 

Analysis: 
Decent passive ability. Adds to your early game survivability when jungling and ganks.


Hungering Strike

Strikes an enemy for the greater value between 75 / 125 / 175 / 225 / 275 (+1 per ability power) and 8 / 11 / 14 / 17 / 20% of the target's maximum health (can only do flat damage to monsters), and heals Warwick for 100% of the damage dealt.

Cooldown: 12 seconds 
Cost: 100 Mana 
Range: 400 

Analysis:
Very effect early game jungling tool to keep your health up. Becomes less important as the game goes on. Has a high mana cost so use it sparingly early on.



Hunter's Call

Increases Warwick's attack speed by 50% and all friendly champions' attack speed by 25% for 6 / 9 / 12 / 15 / 18 seconds.

Cooldown: 32 seconds 
Cost : 35 Mana 
Range: 20 

Analysis: 
One of his best abilities, as it is a global IAS buff. Great for ganks, tower pushing, and early jungling to keep your health up. Has a very low mana cost, use it whenever you can. 



Blood Scent 

Warwick passively senses weakened enemy champions around him. The scent of blood sends him into a fury causing him to move at incredible speeds. Warwick senses enemy champions under 50% life within 1,500 / 2,300 / 3,100 / 3,900 / 4,700 distance of him; 

Upon sensing an enemy at low life he will gain 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40% Movement Speed.

Cooldown: 45 seconds 
Cost: Passive 
Range: 20 

Analysis: 
Comes in handy when you need that last hit on runners. Can also save your butt if you become the runner. Only invest one point early game as it really isnt needed much.



Infinite Duress 

Warwick lunges at an enemy Champion, stunning them for 2 seconds. While they are stunned, Warwick quickly strikes the target 6 times for 33% of his attack damage plus 30 / 50 / 70.

Cooldown: 100 seconds
Cost: 150 Mana
Range: 700 

Analysis: 
Has been known to "bug out" occasionaly. Great for ganks. Can almost guarentee a kill everytime its up if you find somone out of posistion. Dropping a Rally increases its damage. Procs item passives. 


IV. Rune Builds:


I have tested many diffrent rune page building with Warwick and have found staking Attack Speed to be the best. A full page of AS runes nets you around 20% attack speed bonus, which is important in Warwicks early jungling potential. AS and Crit Chance rune builds help keep you alive early game against creeps and stay viable throughout the game. Other viable rune builds are HP/second runes and +Health runes.


1.Attack Speed
2.Dodge
3. Reduced CD




V. Masteries:

I havent quite decided on which mastery build to go for, so I just went with what I felt could contribute as a whole and I go primarily in Offense, very little in Defense, and none in Utility.

As of right now, I use a Offense 21, Defense 6, and 3 Utility build. Make sure to get Improved Rally.



Suggestions here would be helpful as I have not found one that really outdoes the other.


VI. Summoner Abilities:

There are a few summoner abilities that can be viable on Warwick. If you are just starting out, I suggest taking Smite and Rally to help with early game jungling. As you get better at jungling, drop Smite, as it is not needed and has zero potential late game.
Rally is a must as it not only is a AoE group buff, but also a heal and a physical damage modifier by +30% which goes hand in hand with your lifesteal passive.. Some early jungling require the use of Rally to survive. Not only is it essential to your jungling, it can also be dropped when you use your ulti on an unlucky poor soul, making your damage on Infinite Duress do ~30% more.


After Rally, there are a few choices. Ghost Walk, Flash, and Exaust can all be used to great affect. Occasionally, Warwick has a hard time chasing, so any of these can be taken. I prefer Ghost Walk or Flash.




VII. Ability Builds: 

1.Hungering Strike
2.Hunter's Call
3.Hunter's Call
4.Hungering Strike
5.Blood Scent
6.Infinite Duress
7.Hungering Strike
8.Hunter's Call
9.Hungering Strike
10.Infinite Duress
11.Hunter's Call
12.Hungering Strike
13.Hunter's Call
14.Blood Scent
15.Blood Scent
16.Infinite Duress
17.Blood Scent
18.Blood Scent


Hungering Strike is taken first to assist with your first jungling camp. Next Hunter's Call is taken as it is a very effective spell for jungling and is also a global team buff. Only one level of Blood Scent is taken as it is really only needed for chasing. Other builds do not level it at all until it has to be taken, but I prefer 1 point in it just in case I need the extra movement speed for ganks or escapes. Infinite Duress is obviously taken whenever it is availible, as it is your bread and butter ganking skill early - mid game.


IIX. Item Builds:


The first item you will always get is Cloth Armour. You will later upgrade this to a Madred's Razor, which is an essential jungling item. In my usualy build, I take 2 or 3 Health Pots, as I do not take Smite, so I need that little extra to take down my first Golem and Lizard Camps. Not taking them is taking a big chance of getting embarresed by the creeps.


On my next trip back to camp , I usually go for Berserker Boots and Vampiric staff, which will later be built into our next item, The Bloodthirster. Your next item built is circumstantial, I usually go for Frozen Mallet for some health and ganking potential. Upgrading your Maded's Razor into Bloodrazor is also highly recommended. With the patch, the passive now take out 2.5% max health, which means ~15% more damage from an Infinite Duress, as it activates every hit of your ulti. Next, if you are facing alot of mages, look for magic resist items like Force of Nature, Banshee Veil or Wits End. If you are going agianst a lot of Melee DPS, get some more armour items like Warden's Mail or Thornmail. Guardian Angel is a mix of the two and also has a nice passive, as well as Atma's Impaler.

Starting Items:




Core Items:




Situational Items:




This is just a rough outline. In order to play effectively, you need to adapt to your surroundings and oppenents and choose what is best for the moment. Other suggestions are always welcome. I have just found that staking Attack Speed and Armour/MR is the best way to go.


IX. In-Game Strategy:

Now for the juicy stuff. It is very, very important to have a good early game, as it sets the tone for the rest of the game, not only for you, but for your teamates as well. Start off by purchasing your Cloth Armour and Health Pots. Head straight for the Golem camp on your side and type /dance when you get there to pass the time until he pops. Once he pops, take him out. Don't worry about wasteing all your mana on him, just get him killed. Try not to waste your Rally on him, as you will need it for the lizard. He gives you a mana regen buff that will help you jungle faster and more efficiently. A lot of junglers go for Lizard camp first, but it is more time effective to drop the Golem first. Once you defeat him, head to either the lesser camp under/over him if you did not level, or striaght for the lizard camp if you leveld off of the Golem. Again, don't be afraid to use your abilities, as you will gain mana back very fast. Once you are level 2, go to for the Lizard camp. Auto Attack him first, then drop your Rally, and then Hunter's Call. This will ensure a decent Lifesteal % and is important for your survival. Once you have defeated the Lizard camp, congratulations, you have overcome your first obstacle. Now clear all the other lesser camps on your side and once you have 700 gold, pill back to camp and grab Madred's Razor. Note that you might end up with a little less, just Blue Pill back and you should have enough by the time you get back.

Here is the order in which you should kill the camps for your first 700.



Now, listen up, I have taken the Dragon out at level 4 with no buffs from the camps. It is a very close fight and I would advise agianst it unless you have gotten really good and understand what needs to be done. If you want to play a little bit safer, head on over to your opponents camps and take them out, once they are all dead, you shoudl be level 6. Call out a gank. Your ulti is very effective in combination with your teamates and almost guarentees a kill early game. Afterwards, head to the Dragon and take him out. At this point he is pretty easy and Rally should be back up, making it even easier. If you think your opponents might be smart and they might try and gank you when you are killing him, ask a teammate to guard you while you kill it. Each teammate will recieve a chunk of experience and +165 gold, so your guard will not mind if he knows whats going on.

Once the dragon is dead, pill back to base and start getting your items. You will probably have enough gold for your Berserker's Greaves and a Vampiric Scepter. Return to jungling, making mad bills, and calling out ganks whenever your ulti is up. Remember, the Dragon spawns every 5 minutes after his last death, so keep an eye on the clock and kill him whenever he is up. Also, the Golem and Lizard buffs help with ganks.

Late game, I have found that Warwick is an insane tower pusher. Hunter's Call along with the items you should have up to this point make towers drop very fast, especially with a teammate. Warwick can also push out lanes very quickly due to his high attack damage and attack speed. You don't have many abilities that are good in team battles, so what I like to do is lurk back until somone has been targeted, then ulti in to stun them as your team brings them down. Also remeber to Hunter's Call in team battles as it is a global buff.


Im sure im forgetting somthing so ill add it later when I remember.


X. Tips and Tricks:


Jungling:

If need be, use wards to gain more map awarness and control. It is importnat to know where your teamates/enemies are. Can be used at the start of the game to watch the river if ganks are coming for you. Jungling in your opponents jungle is also a viable strategy as it can lead to easier ganks, just be very weary of where your opponents are. If you are being chased early game by a ganker, either try and juke and hide in bushes or run into a lane to get help forom your team.


Infinite Duress:

Remeber, your ulti activates any passives your items have, use it to your advantage. Also remeber to drop a Rally when you are in your ulti, as it increase the damage of each strike.

Some people like to open up with Infinite Duress, but I have found it more effective to try and save it until they start to run away, as you can get some attacks in before they take off, even if its one, its somtimes worth it.

Pay attention to your opponents summoner spells at the start of the battle. Cleanse stops the ulti and we stay stunned. Not fun!


Pushing:

Use Hunter's Call to quickly kill creep waves and easily drop towers. Just be careful going solo, as your enemy will more then likely try and gank you as you do not have a reliabe escape mechanic. 


Ganks:

Hiding in the High Grass between your oppenents first two towers can be effective to grab runners who are retreating back from your teammates.




MORE TO COME!!


XI. Conclusion:

Warwick can contiribute a lot to a team throughout the whole game. His ability to jungle early and dragon around level 4 is a huge team advantage. With the right items and build, he can also become a carry late game. Warwick is one of my favorite heros to play and I hope this guy will help others understand his mechanics and enjoy him as much as I do.


XII. Change Log:

10/2/09 
-Added Pros/Cons
-Added more Tips and Tricks
-Added Analysis for Abilities
-Added Screenshots