League of Legends: How to play and master Garen

When it comes to Garen, the Might of Demacia, he’s one of the easiest tanking champions to play in League of Legends.

Make no mistake about it, Garen, the Might of Demacia, is a very fun and easy champion to play as in League of Legends. He’s primarily a top lane champion that when properly leveled and geared, is incredibly hard to take down.

Below you’ll find some tips on not only how to play but actually master Garen in the top lane. Make sure to understand that everyone has different styles of play but in this case, it’s a basic breakdown of what he brings to the table and how to get the most out of him.

At this point in time, Garen has a 49.60 percent win rate as per Champion.GG. He’s not that popular like in the past but is still a decent option to play well in his respective role. Most people that play competitively don’t really ban Garen at all so you should be fine for the most part if you’re going to main him for a while.

ABILITIES

Garen’s kit features a charge, increasing his armor/magic resist, an infamous spinning attack that does good damage, and an ultimate finishing blow that can instantly kill enemy champions. Ideally, you want to activate your abilities by focusing on Q – Decisive Strike at first, then W – Courage, and E – Judgment. Keep adding points based on your playstyle and unlock R – Demacian Justice at level six. Some prefer to focus on W – Courage to continue boosting up their defense but the majority prefer focusing heavily on Q – Decisive Strike since it silences enemies and helps in chasing after enemies to cut the gap.

ITEMS

Garen is all about stacking up Health, Armor, Magic Resist, and later on in a match, Attack Damage. Ideally, you’ll want to go in this build order when going in the top lane for the most effective results: Ninja Tabi => Thornmail => Spirit Visage => Dead Man’s Plate => Warmog’s Armor => Guardian Angel.

CHAMPIONS TO BAN

When it comes to champions that counter Garen, you’ll want to ban Yasuo, Riven, and Jax. The reason is, their kits will counter Garen hard and be a problem to deal with in the top lane. Make sure to ban them so they’re not a headache right from the start of a match.

RUNES

When it comes to runes, make sure to equip Greater Mark of Attack Damage (9), Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist (9), Greater Seal of Scaling Armor (9), and Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage (3). Basically, these runes will make Garen dish out respectable damage while also boosting up his overall Magic Resist/Armor. That way, he’ll continue being a tanky champion but can actually hold his own when going up against enemy champions.

FINAL TIPS & STRATEGY

For the most part just like any other champion in League of Legends, focus on killing as many minions as possible. For Garen, use E – Judgment to clear minion waves and also against enemy champions when moving around. If you time everything, you can pop W – Courage, then Q – Decisive Strike for some burst damage and if an enemy is low enough in health and about to die, delete them with R – Demacian Justice.

Take your time with Garen and make sure to pace yourself when setting enemies up with his fatal rotation since it can throw enemy champions off since most underestimate his abilities. Once you’re fed after racking up some kills, Garen can be a real juggernaut to take out, especially if he’s able to roam out of the top lane and wreak havoc elsewhere.

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