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Sett Build Guide by ak521

Top 👊 12.20 SETT GUIDE & MATCHUP SPREADSHEET 👊

Top 👊 12.20 SETT GUIDE & MATCHUP SPREADSHEET 👊

Updated on October 28, 2022
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League of Legends Build Guide Author ak521 Build Guide By ak521 836 58 1,732,418 Views 75 Comments
836 58 1,732,418 Views 75 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author ak521 Sett Build Guide By ak521 Updated on October 28, 2022
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Runes: Always Take Conqueror

Precision
Conqueror
Triumph
Legend: Tenacity
Last Stand

Resolve
Unflinching
Second Wind
Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor

Spells:

1 2
Kill Pressure, Early Lead
LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Ignite

Ignite

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Champion Build Guide

👊 12.20 SETT GUIDE & MATCHUP SPREADSHEET 👊

By ak521
WELCOME

Table Of Contents






INTRODUCTION

Hey everyone, and welcome to THE ONLY Sett guide you will ever need!


I'm ak521! I started playing League of Legends in Season 6 and I've been an avid Sett top player since he was released. The way I play him is unique and I chose to make a guide on him for that reason. This guide will teach you how to play Top Lane as Sett.

Sett is an incredible duelist, split pusher, and even a team fighter, all-in-one! He's also a great blink pick, meaning you can lock him in anytime he's not banned!

Why should you play Sett? Well, let's look at his pros and cons, shall we?

  • Fun to play
  • Strong duelist
  • Strong early game
  • Great gank setup
  • Great engage
  • Great peel & tank
Sett is known for his dueling and being pain to kill. His early game damage output is unparalleled. He stays in lane longer than others since he doesn't use mana. And he has a massive shield which tilts enemies when they are so close to killing you paired with massive true damage from his Haymaker(W)!
  • Weak scaling
  • Vulnerable to crowd control
  • Low mobility
  • Low range
  • High cooldowns
  • Snowball reliant
On the other hand, he's especially vulnerable to crowd control since he can't cast his Haymaker(W) to shield him. His base range is 125, lower than most melee champions. Finally, with the amount of mobility and kiting in this meta, Sett hates the late game where he has to face ranged enemies.



Sett Matchup Spreadsheet

Check out the matchup spreadsheet guide, covering in-game matchups and their respective builds, as well as tips.

or copy and paste THIS link: https://tinyurl.com/SettGuide

Sett Community Discord

Join the SETT Community Discord, where you can give feedback on the guide or spreadsheet, ask for help with your gameplay, share your favorite builds, and connect with other Sett players!

or copy and paste THIS link: https://discord.gg/D3bzjzcASy





RUNES

The Builds

Think of someone like Camille or Irelia (minus mobility). Deals tons of damage to squishies and hard to kill due to their healing. Now just imagine that but harder to kill. This build allows for incredible versatility; specifically the Goredrinker build allows you to either group or split at your discretion. The Trinity Force build is specialized for splitting as it makes turrets look like paper and makes your opponents bang their head against the keyboard when they see you ripping apart the Nexus Towers.
I'll talk when you should split in the Gameplay section. You'll be able to do significant damage to squishies and tanks alike and should be able to take AT LEAST 1 person down in team fights while also tanking great amounts of damage.
Sett's W has a large AD scaling ratio, which makes health and AD super valuable on him. This caused this Fighter build to prioritize tankier items such as Goredrinker. Your damage output is actually about the same... yeah.


Precision Primary
Conqueror
✦ Alternative: Lethal Tempo


Conqueror helps Sett in extended duels and team fights with its bonus stats and healing. Sett is great at forcing extended duels with his Facebreaker(E), which pulls enemies in, and can stack up the rune rapidly due to the fast punches from Pit Grit(Passive).

Similarly, Sett can also stack up Lethal Tempo fast due to his fast punches from Pit Grit. This allows him to excel at dueling and has a significant impact early game.
Lethal Tempo is better for more secluded, smaller fights where sustain is less necessary. Therefore, I recommend picking up Lethal Tempo only when you intend to split.
Triumph

As Sett, you want to force a Kill Lane, which involves you playing aggressive and looking for kills. Triumph grants extra gold to give you a bigger lead, and health to sustain in case there are multiple enemies to fight. This rune also allows Sett to more safely dive enemy champions.
Legend: Tenacity

Tenacity can really go a long way even if you are not directly against a crowd control threat. In the late game this prevents enemies from locking you down, reducing the likelihood of you dying.
Last Stand

Last Stand amps your dueling. Sett relies on taking damage to deal damage since he stacks Grit in Haymaker(W). This causes you to make use of this rune often.

Resolve Secondary
Conditioning
✦ Alternatives: Second Wind

Run Conditioning to beef up your defenses. Sett's tanky nature, especially when paired with defensive items, is amplified well through this rune.

Into heavy poke such as Teemo, run Second Wind to keep you alive through harass.
Revitalize

Revitalize increases the power of your Haymaker(W) shield and your Goredrinker heal. Since Sett relies on taking damage to do damage since he stacks Grit in Haymaker(W), Revitalize is even better since you have less health.

Rune Stats

Run Attack Speed since it amplifies Sett's damage, synergies with his passive, and is most gold efficient at Level 1, giving you an edge on many top laners.

Run Adaptive Force for working well with Attack Speed and Sett's rapid basic attacks.

Run either Armor or Magic Resist depending on what type of damage your opponent deals.


Here's a rundown of a few more keystones you can run based on preference. I find Conqueror to be the best in every matchup, but you may like one of these as well depending on your playstyle.


Hail of Blades

Hail of Blades is the go-to rune for quick, upfront massive damage, and short trades. You will have a worse late game and worse extended fights & team fights.

Phase Rush

Phase Rush gives you the ability to stick to an enemy. With the bonus Move Speed, Sett could engage, activate Phase Rush, and use the bonus MS to disengage. Or, he can use the bonus MS to continue to chase down opponents.





ABILITIES



Pit Grit (P)


✦ Passive Heavy Hands: Sett switches auto attacks between Left and Right Punches, beginning with a Left Punch. Right Punches follow Left Punches in quick succession, granting Sett increased attack range dealing bonus physical damage on that attack.

✦ Passive Heart of the Half-Beast: Sett gains bonus health regeneration based on his missing health.

Pit Grit makes Sett deal an insane amount of damage and give him a ledge on most top-laners.
This passive is especially powerful at Level 1, so I encourage you to level your Facebreaker(E) and cheese. Wait in the top brush closest to the enemy's tower, wait for them to walk up to minions, and then engage using auto attacks. After they run, then use your Facebreaker(E) on them. If done correctly, you can knock more than 50% of the enemy's health off and win lane with this action alone. See the "Early Game" section of the Gameplay chapter for more information.

Knuckle Down (Q)


✦Active: Sett briefly gains MS while moving towards enemy champions. Sett's next two basic attacks deal bonus physical damage based on the target's maximum health.

This is Sett's bread-and-butter ability for sustained damage.
Ideally, use this ability for damage. Since Knuckle Down is always a Left Punch - Right Punch, which strikes is quick succession, you can pack a lot of damage by resetting your auto as follows:
(left punch) (right punch) (Q) (left punch empowered) (right punch empowered)

As soon as the right punch triggers, use Knuckle Down to reset your Auto Attack timer and maximize your damage output.

You can also use Knuckle Down to engage with the increased MS. To engage effectively, move unpredictably and suddenly cast this ability and run at your opponent to catch them by surprise. Combo this with Facebreaker(E), and you'll chunk the opponent since they won't be able to run away.
In the late game, you can use Knuckle Down to threaten an engage and put pressure on the enemy team, forcing them to back up a bit.

Haymaker (W)


✦Passive Grit: Sett stores damage he takes as Grit, up to a cap of half his health.

✦Active: Sett expends his Grit, gaining a shield and dealing physical damage to enemies in an area. The damage and shielding scales significantly with Grit. Enemies hit in the center take true damage instead.

This ability changes the outcome of skirmishes, giving you both a massive shield and dealing massive true damage. If possible, wait for your Grit to fully stack up and flash Orange before using it, while also making sure that the damage will hit.
As you master Sett's kit, look to maximize the effectiveness of your shield. For example, it's not ideal to cast a maxed out W while your opponents are running away since the shield will decay with no use to you. Instead, aim to cast the ability 70% into the trade so the enemy to be stuck attacking your shield while taking loads of true damage.
In a losing lane, use Haymaker purely to defend yourself. For example, in a Teemo matchup, abuse Haymaker's shield to absorb Teemo's burn damage.
Avoid using Haymaker for wave clear. This ability is one of your essential defensive tools. You will get harassed while it's down.
You can Flash during the cast of Haymaker to change the area of damage, much like how you can with Aatrox's Q's. This makes for really clutch plays as you can guarantee the center to hit with appropriate practice.
Facebreaker (E)


✦Active: Sett pulls enemies on either side of him, dealing physical damage and briefly slowing them. All enemies are stunned if he grabs at least one enemy on each side.

This is your Darius hook, a great ability to engage smaller skirmishes or force longer duels, which Sett excels at.
Facebreaker is also useful in shoving. The ability groups minions on both sides of you, and with Ironspike Whip and Tiamat, you will kill them very fast.
If you land a stun, you can also use Haymaker(W) to guarantee a true damage hit.
The Show Stopper (R)


✦Active: Sett grabs an enemy, suppresses them, carries them forward, and slams them down. Enemies in the impact area are slowed and take damage that scales with the target's bonus maximum health.

This is your hard team fight engage. Carry forward a frontliner and slam them into the backline. Then, use Facebreaker shortly after as they start to run. The slow lasts 1.5 seconds, so you would generally want to do it just before then.
In lane, you can rapidly reposition yourself after stunning them with Facebreaker(E) and smash your opponent into your wave or your own turret, guaranteeing a kill.
You can also use this in duels or skirmishes that you are losing simply for an escape since you can easily outrun your enemy after using this ability.





SUMMONER SPELLS




D (First Spell)

Flash
No question or dispute about this summoner spell, Flash is the strongest summoner spell on a majority of champions, Sett included. There is no "substitute", it's unique and allows for play making potential like none other.




F (Second Spell)

Ignite
Kill Pressure, Early Lead
The meta of healing has made anti-healing very important. Most top laners have some form of healing or sustain, which makes it difficult to fight them or finish them off with a kill. Ignite provides kill pressure and helps secure kills.

Teleport
Early Game Versatility, Map Agency, Splitting
Excellent to get back to lane in case you find yourself backed in a suboptimal wave state, or to roam to other lanes, or teleport to secure a Dragon. However, Teleport is generally weaker in the late game, and many players fail to use it correctly. I explain how to use Teleport in each stage of the game in the "Gameplay" section of this guide.










EARLY GAME
Formulating A Game Plan

Before the game starts, try to formulate an optimal game plan. I talk about this a lot in the matchup spreadsheet guide, but I'll go over it roughly here.

First off, identify your goal. Your goal is to snowball, to excel in the laning phase and create such a big lead for yourself that when mid and late game come, you are an overwhelming force. You can do this through good trading which leads to kills and good wave management which leads to high CS numbers and turret kills.

Next, identify your enemy's gameplan. This comes a lot from experience in the game. For example, Kayle and Akali want to get as safely as can 6, to unlock their range buff or their ultimate for solo kills, respectively.

Upon identifying these goals, formulate an optimal early game plan that details what you should do. For example, into late game champions that outscale you, you should look to freeze near your turret so you can continuously score kills to shut them down. For example, consider Nasus.

Into other matchups, especially ones you win, funnel as much gold into yourself through Tiamat shoving, especially after getting a kill or two (we go in depth about this a little later in this chapter). The pros of funneling gold from minions outweigh the gold you can score from kills as you are also kept from riskier plays.
Game Start

Watch for invades! Especially against champions like Rengar, Blitzcrank, etc., be ready to rotate if necessary.

Place Buff Safety wards if necessary, depending on your Jungler's preference. See the "Warding" chapter for more information on this.
Cheesing

Cheesing is an excellent way to get the snowball rolling. Since Sett has one of the strongest level 1s, you can catch opponents off guard and win lane within the first 3 minutes. You often can chop 50% of the enemy's health off the block through this method, cause them to lose experience from the first three minions dying, and gain the push advantage.

You will always start Facebreaker(E), including for cheesing, so you can level that as the game starts without any hesitancy.

There are various types of cheeses, which I detail here:
  • Regular Cheese Go to the topside brush farthest from your side of the map, the one closeset to the enemy Outer turret. Stay on the edge of the brush, waiting for the enemy to walk up past where you are in lane before engaging. You do NOT need to wait for minions. If minions arrive, you can also perform this. Attempt to zone the enemy from running into river or towards their turret by standing in between them and their turret / the river. Auto the enemy, landing as many autos as you can before they start to run out of your Facebreaker(E) range. Use your Facebreaker(E) then, and continue to auto the slowed enemy, chasing them down to their turret while not going under the turret. Do not Flash unless if you clearly have a kill if you use it. It's not worth wasting otherwise.
  • Tri-bush Cheese (Blue-side team ONLY!) Wait in the Red Side's top-side tri brush that connects to the Baron spawning site, until 1:47 before going back to lane. If you see them, wait for them to enter the brush, then complete at least 2 autos, or as many as your opponent lets you before getting out of range, then use your Facebreaker(E) when they are running away to continue pummeling them. If they Flash, let them be, pressure them (don't AA, just walk to cut them off from the lane) to zone them from the experience from the first 3 minions dying.


Note that if you perform this with nearby enemy minions, you can also get the stun off Facebreaker(E)!

General

Early game, you want to maximize pressure on the enemy laner and get yourself as much of a lead as you can. Main way to do this is through CSing, which I explain in a section below, however there are further strategies you can make use of. For example, you can Cheese the enemy laner if you are on Blue Side, waiting in the tri brush, which I explain in the next section.
In lane, you want to be initiating trades whenever Haymaker(W) is up (or Hail of Blades if you running that). Make skirmishes while you have appropriate vision to do so. It is REALLY easy to initiate skirmishes without using your Facebreaker(E) if you are near a low health ally minion- your opponent will go for it and then you can get 2 free autos before using your Facebreaker(E). Remember, with Hail of Blades you want SHORT trades (no more than 6 autos, abilities, etc.) and with Conqueror you want LONG trades. Use your Haymaker(W) near the end of the trade to even the trade out or make it in your favor- make use of the shield, though! Shield is valued more than damage. I talk more about trading in the "Trading" section following "Wave Management"
Set yourself up for the mid and late game through CSing. Kills should come naturally and not be forced, meanwhile you want to pressure the enemy so they miss CS and experience.
Last for this section, a few tips:
  • You can establish a minion advantage (you have more minions than your enemy) in order to hit Level 2 first. You hit Level 2 on the FIRST minion of the SECOND wave. This is a must to memorize! When this crucial minion gets low, start walking to initiate a trade, but don't make it too obvious as so they run off! You will get a VERY good trade with this Level advantage!
  • If you zone your enemy well enough (or cheese) you can Cheater Recall. This involves you establishing a minion advantage, trading at Level 2 with your advantage, slow pushing the first 2 waves, then shoving the third wave so it crashes and recalling. This will give you a free Long Sword and you can walk back to lane with an item advantage. Slow push the wave and don't let the enemy crash, or establish a freeze, and force trades since you should definitely win them!
  • Make sure to back only when your wave is shoved and crashed (unless you have Teleport & it is up), otherwise you'll lose CS, your turret will take damage, and the enemy laner can either look to back safely (not losing CS) or take plates.
Tracking The Enemy Jungler

Getting ganked sucks. Even though Sett has 1v2 potential, it's generally not the best scenario for you to get ganked since you risk dying, something that's really bad for Sett.
What if I told you that it's really easy to know where the Jungler is?
While it's not super intuitive, as you learn, you will habitually just know where the enemy jungler is. Follow the below steps to effectively track the enemy jungler in most games. Note that this is not always going to be the case but it gives a good gist for the majority of your games.
(1) Did the enemy jungler start Bot Side, or Top Side?
Keep an eye out for who arrives LATE to lane - this likely means they leashed the enemy jungler.
If the started Bot Side, read the sections below labelled (a) and skip the sections labelled (b).
If the started Top Side, read the sections below labelled (b) and skip the sections labelled (a).
(2a) Is the enemy jungler a Farming jungler or a Ganking jungler?
Much of this is a matter of knowledge and understanding your enemy jungler's goal, which seems a bit extra, but you can guess if you know what their champion does and when they are strong; late game champions tend to be farming junglers while early game champions tend to be ganking junglers. Below are examples of several ganking and farming junglers, along with a brief quiz, and lastly the importance of this question.
  • Ganking Junglers include Rammus, Xin Zhao, Jarvan IV, Trundle, Hecarim, Warwick, Nunu, and Shaco
  • Farming Junglers include Karthus, Udyr, Zac, Nocturne, Shyvana, Morgana, Master Yi, Evelynn, and Graves
  • See a quiz below!
    Volibear

    Amumu

    Elise

    Jarvan IV
(3a) If the enemy jungler is a Farming jungler, ward at 3:00, as their gank window is 3:15 to 3:45.
  • If your jungler is a Farming jungler as well, attempt to get priority (shove the wave) by 3:15 so you are able to rotate to a Scuttle skirmish.
If the enemy jungler is a Ganking jungler, ward at 2:15, as their gank window is from 2:30 to 3:00.
Check out the "Warding" section for an in-depth explanation of where to place wards!
(3b) Ward at 3:30. There is no set-in-stone gank timing.
I recommend Deep Vision, which is warding in the enemy jungle, at 3:30.
Check out the "Warding" section for an in-depth explanation of where to place wards!
(4a) If the enemy jungler is a Farming jungler, ward at about 5:15 as you will see the enemy jungler again likely around 5:30 to 6:00.
If the enemy jungler is a Ganking jungler, ward at about 4:45 as you will see the enemy jungler again likely around 5:00 to 5:30.
(4b) Ward at about 6:00 as you may encounter the enemy jungler at about 6:15. There is no set-in-stone gank timing.
Trading

Sett's a great duelist however there's several ways to improve his dueling even further.
Your trades become freakishly positive if you're able to walk up to the enemy without using Facebreaker(E). This is why Cheesing is so effective throughout the entire game.
  • If you save your E, then you can auto, and when they start to run away, use your E to pull them back in to keep at them. This type of trade should look like:
    (left punch) (right punch) (Q) (left punch empowered) (right punch empowered) (E) (left punch) (right punch) (W)
  • If you don't save your E this type of trade should look like:
    (E) (left punch) (right punch) (Q) (left punch empowered) (right punch empowered) (W)
Resetting your autos by casting Knuckle Down(Q) as soon as your first Right Punch finishes hitting. Remember to try to stun using your Facebreaker(E).
Try saving your Haymaker(W) until the enemy is about to disengage or your Grit is full. Notice the "about" in "about to disengage"-- your W should force them to disengage, but also try to make use of the shield.
Also, You can get a free W-center if you stun the enemy with your E.
In ranged matchups, you can use your Knuckle Down(Q) to close the gap and then use Facebreaker(E).
Furthermore, your W has a range of 790, so you'll be able to easily land it on most champions who do not Flash.
General Tip for movement: keeping your cursor closer to your character & moving (right clicking) in such fashion will actually give you more control over the game and where you end up moving and will also make your reaction time faster to allow you to dodge important skill shots. Be sure to keep your sensitivity LOW if you do this otherwise you will end up making a ton of movement errors, in which case normal targeting would be better.
Sett has a lower AA range (125) than most other champions especially on his Left Punch so avoid a situation in where you and your opponent are one auto away from dying and you walk up - you need to Flash-E, or wait for your Right Punch (which has 175 range).
Using Teleport

Your first teleport is generally best used to get back to lane. In case you make a mistake and find yourself in a suboptimal wave state, you can Teleport to catch CS that would have died to your tower or to your minions. For example, when the wave is slow pushing away from you and you are at base, or when the enemy crashed the wave and you are at base.
I highly advise against using Teleport to roam in the early game, especially before 6, unless if there's a clear game-changing opportunity.
If you insist on using a Teleport in the early game to roam, use it ideally to flank as soon as you hit 6 after the enemy bot lane engages on yours. Like this, you become ahead in numbers and logically win the fight. Now, that's not to say go ahead and TP at any time. You want to see if you can Teleport after the enemy team use their mobility and important abilities such as Flash or Morgana's Dark Binding(Q). Blowing off summoner spells is not worth Teleporting for.
If you can pull off a good flank, you can easily use The Show Stopper(R) to pick an enemy up and slam them right next to your allies.
Once You Get A Lead

Not many players think about what a lead actually is. Let's discuss it. Once you get a lead, this is what you can do with it and what they mean. For example's sake, suppose you have a 600 gold lead at 10 minutes.

1: Throw your lead.
Throwing your lead feels pretty bad. If you die, your enemy can recap roughly 300 gold + 50% of your lead, meaning they get about 450 gold from that shut down (shut downs don't work this way, this is just a rough calculation), leaving you with a 150 gold lead. Not to mention the experience and the CS. Yes. Dying with a lead is really that bad. Dying is the only way to "throw" your lead. This includes dying from a gank.

2: Narrowing your lead.
There's no formal term for this so I made one up. Suppose your enemy has 3000 gold while you have 3600 gold. At 20 minutes, if you do not really do anything with your lead, your enemy will have 6000 gold and you will have 6600 gold. Still 600, though, right? Well it's a lot less relative and that will come back and hurt you since you are prone to getting outdueled and throwing your lead. You narrow your lead by essentially not using your lead. I'll explain how to use your lead below.

3: Keeping your lead.
In the previous example, ten minutes after, you should have 7200 gold vs. 6000 gold for your enemy. What's the simplest way to do this? Freezing! Not much more to say here. If you're insecure about the enemy outscaling you, you should freeze to keep your lead so you don't throw it. Keeping your lead is GOOD. Expanding your lead (next) is better.

4: Expanding your lead.
In the previous example, at the twenty minute mark, you will have OVER 7200 gold vs. a 6000-6300 gold enemy. This is what you really want to do as Sett.
If you believe you can juice your enemy out (for example, if you only have 1 or 2 kills on them, follow this), then you should slow push while attempting to force small trades to get the enemy low. The idea is that you can crash the enormous wave when the enemy is at below 50% health so you can all-in dive them and they will lose a TON of farm. This will take them out of the game for a good 5-10 minutes and end their laning phase with a big L tattooed on their large forehead. This will keep them at the 5400 gold in the example.
Now, if you've already juiced the enemy out (you have 2+ kills and they aren't worth a lot OR they are not fighting), the easiest way to expand your lead is to Tiamat shove. Tiamat shoving funnels so much gold into yourself as you can just clear the wave and then potentially go for turret plates, roam, or invade the enemy jungle. All of these are excellent ways to snowball. In the gold example, your enemy will have 5700 gold since they are getting their farm but you will have over 7500 gold at 20 minutes since you are expanding your lead.
Against a LATE GAME CHAMPION however, Tiamat shoving is NOT a great idea, especially if you have no late game on your team! You should instead Keep your lead through freezing.



WAVE MANAGEMENT

Farming

CSing is the process of killing minions for gold.
The gold is often underestimated. Casters (Ranged minions) grant 14 gold, Melees grant 21 gold, and Sieges (Cannons) will grant 60 gold early game. If you're unable to get a minion in a wave, you want to prioritize in such Siege (Cannon) > Melee > Caster (Ranged) to maximize your gold input.
Throughout the early game (until 15:00 minutes) the average possible Gold in a single wave is 125. That's a lot, and if you can achieve this, it will put you ahead of even pro players with kills factored into their gold per minute.
Your goal, a realistic one, should be a minimum of 70 minions at 10 minutes for those who run Ignite, and for those who run Teleport, you're likely to get an extra wave or so, so you should have at least 80 CS at 10. You may be like, "I will never hit that!" Focus. You can make it happen if you pay enough attention. Proper wave management is the key to this, backing at appropriate times to not miss any CS. Ideally you want to back when you crash a big wave, which you can create by slow pushing, which is detailed in this section.
Continue to CS throughout the game. Whenever you are not actively creating pressure, farm jungle camps. There's no reason to stop, consider it an "investment" of time and effort for you to absolutely dominate in team fights. Players who focus on CSing well over kills, especially in the early game will score more multikills and carry games easier.
General

Think of the minions as having a sort of "Equilibrium" until they are affected by champions. They'll indefinitely fight each other, push minimally, etc.
Now you can break the equilibrium by damaging the enemy wave and give the lane "Momentum". The more damage you do, the more the wave pushes (as it has more "Momentum"). Even if you do the slightest damage, say just one auto attack, it will cause the wave to push, however at a slower rate. Similarly, if the wave is pushing to you, you have to match that "Momentum" to stop it from pushing. Momentum is measured in the amount of minions and type. Melee minions are tankier, ranged minions do more damage, and cannons are a mix of both.
There are several ways to exploit minion waves in your game that will put you at the top. Often times, your enemy won't even know what is happening! They'll simply just find themselves falling behind you. Keep on reading to learn about ways to exploit minions.
Cheater Recalling

What it is: Cheater recalling refers to a tactic used at the beginning of the game. You will slow push the first two waves, crash the third, back, and come back to lane with an item advantage.
Advantages:
  • You can back and get a Long Sword or Ruby Crystal, improving future trades you take when you get back to lane.
  • You come back to a wave slow pushing into you. If the wave is small enough, you can freeze it. This wave state is especially favorable regardless freeze or slow push since you can pressure the enemy, forcing them to make a decision to lose CS or die to you.
  • You evade the peak gank timer from enemies that start their Bot-side Buff.
  • You return to lane full health.
Disadvantages:
  • You need to be able to shove the 3rd wave or the enemy can Freeze.
  • It is very easy to overpush the first 2 waves. This will cause your play to fail.
  • Experienced enemies will prevent this from happening by thinning the wave (see below). Into ranged matchups, you often cannot pull this off due to their ability to hit the wave from a safe distance. This results in the enemy freezing, putting you in a bad spot.
  • The enemy may have a Level advantage on you when you return to lane.
  • If the wave crashes at your tower and your opponent backs when you return to lane, they will have a back with more gold.
How to do it: When the first wave arrives, you will want to establish a minion advantage. Do not overpush or this will fail! Continue then to Slow Push the 2nd wave and when the third wave arrives, shove it, and then BACK!
When to do it: Whenever you have priority (you have more lane control than your enemy), do it!
What this means to Sett: Sett is an excellent champion for this because of his early power. His ability to zone enemies from wave allows him to build the minion advantage up effortlessly. Story told, you can pull this off. Pulling this off makes the laning phase much easier for you and scarier for the opponent. This strategy nearly always guarantees a lead safely. Early ganks are something Sett is super scared of and evading that is extremely important to him! TL;DR win lane within the first 3 minutes of game.
How do I stop this from happening to me?: You're pretty strong early, and even into ranged matchups, you will have enough sustain to contest the wave. You can thin the wave out by attacking it and then Freeze the wave. If the wave crashes, however, and the enemy attempts to back, you should try to interrupt their recall. If they end up recalling, you should Slow Push the wave back so their item advantage is pretty useless since they can't fight you in a big wave (see the Slow Pushing chapter).
Fast Pushing, Shoving

What it is: Pretty much what it sounds like, it's pushing the wave at a fast rate. Doing this allows you to create a large amount of pressure in a short period of time and get damage on turrets.
Advantages:
  • Creates pressure fast. Enemies that refuse to respond will lose CS.
  • You can get damage on turrets and gold from killing turrets or minions.
  • Allows you to back.
Disadvantages:
  • This is a temporary wave state and undoes itself quickly. Enemy turrets quickly clear the minion wave which will be small and if you back and return leads the wave to be at your turret.
How to do it: Slaughter the minions as quickly as possible. Here are tips: 1) Focus the caster minions; they are squishier, and deal more damage. 2) Buy a Tiamat 3) Use W and E if it is safe to do so since they are AOE abilities. 4) Stun the minions, especially Casters, with your E, or take aggro from them.
When to do it: If you need to back, or quickly create pressure before an objective or imminent fight along your game plan. If your Jungler is pathing towards the Top Scuttle at around 3:00, push the lane so you can assist your jungler if there is a skirmish at the Scuttle when it spawns at 3:15.
What this means to Sett: Sett can push the wave with above mediocre speed due to Pit Grit(Passive)'s fast auto attacks allowing you to get a lot of damage onto the wave. With Tiamat, you can push twice as fast, and Tiamat shoving is one of the most important mechanics when playing Sett. When you're not against a late game champion, you should Tiamat shove to funnel gold into yourself and when the wave is crashed, you should look to invade the enemy jungle if it is safe to do so. Against late game champions, you should instead freeze.
How do I stop this from happening to me?: You can thin the wave out to freeze it. If the wave is about to crash, you can also tank minion damage if it is safe to do so, which freezes the lane as well.
Slow Pushing

What it is: Pushing the wave at a slow rate. Doing this allows you to rack up a large minion wave of 2 or 3 waves.
Advantages:
  • The enemy will have a hard time contesting you. If they try to trade, they will take a large amount of damage from minion aggro.
  • You rack up an Experience lead and will be ahead in levels while leaving the enemy behind till their clear your wave.
  • Crashing a slow push gives you a LOT of flexibility. You can roam, invade, get deep vision, back with time to spare, or even dive the enemy. Pulling off a successful dive ends the lane for them if they do not have Teleport, or forces them to use it if they do.
Disadvantages:
  • After crossing the center of your lane, you need to shove the wave. If you do not, the enemy could freeze it. This puts you in an awkward spot.
  • Making a bad trade or dying will really hurt you.
  • You have no control over the wave state besides pushing it further. You are forced to stay in lane and lose cs or push the wave further.
  • Enemy junglers, especially experienced ones, hunt for players slow pushing to exploit the disadvantage above.
How to do it: You can slow push by (1) Establishing a small minion advantage and (2) Keeping that minion advantage. In simpler terms, you can do this by getting a slighlty larger wave of minions on your side and then last hitting.
When to do it: When you are looking to invade, back, dive, or simply rack up a minion advantage to stay healthy in lane.
What this means to Sett: Sett's not excellent at pushing without Tiamat, but his presence is generally strong enough to begin a slow push. In many difficult matchups, Sett can slow push to make sure he doesn't die and secure himself a good trade. Furthermore, in easier matchups, you can slow push then dive the enemy to completely and utterly end the lane for them as they will lose out of several CS waves. However, you will also notice that you may die in a 1v2 situation when you're slow pushing, since it's a high risk high reward play.
How do I stop this from happening to me?: This depends on who has the lead in the matchup. (Enemy Leading): First off, BACK OFF. You are in a tough spot and so you should look to just let the wave crash to your tower. Do not get greedy as it will be unlikely for you to get a good trade. (Even Matchup): First off, BACK OFF. You are in a tough spot, however, you can look to THIN the wave out (make it smaller but not too small) and then establish a Freeze as it nears your side of the map. (You're Leading): You have a few options. You can do any of the above but then you can also straight up contest the enemy in their wave. Getting a good trade will be fatal for the enemy. If you score a kill, establish a Freeze and quickly back to make them lose a lot of CS.
Freezing

What it is: Keeping the minion wave in a certain spot, generally close to one's turret. This could also happen in the center of the lane with equal number of minions (e.g. when minions first collide), however I will not discuss that beyond what was said right here.
Advantages:
  • Keeps you safe from ganks.
  • Makes your enemy vulnerable to ganks and all-ins that you have the power to initiate.
  • Enemy can only poke you or go for short trades. Matchups that want to all-in you will not be able to, protecting you from aggressive champions such as Renekton or Darius, who will only be able to land little damage.
  • You can leave the lane as it is if your enemy does and you will not lose CS, and will come back to the same Freeze.
  • Beyond the minion wave, you are less likely to make mistakes.
Disadvantages:
  • You're stuck in the lane as long as your enemy is. It's a war of attrition.
  • It's hard to do. One incorrect move will end the Freeze.
  • The enemy can harass you and push the wave in. This may even lead to a dive. Ranged enemies such as Quinn are prime examples who you do not want to Freeze against.
How to do it: Manage the enemy's slow push by thinning the wave out. This means minimizing their minion advantage- HOWEVER! You must keep a 3 ranged minion advantage on THEIR side in order to successfully freeze. For example, if your wave has 5 minions, the enemies needs to have 5 of those same minions, plus 3 ranged minions (casters).
When to do it: When you are against a late game champion where harassing the enemy champion would be beneficial to you for, when the enemy backs to cause them to lose cs, and to stay safe from enemy ganks or enemy engages, especially if they do not have a form of harass.
What this means to Sett: Sometimes enemy junglers love to camp your lane and make your lane hell. Meanwhile, your jungler won't do it because they think it's fun to troll. Jokes aside, you quite really are immune to ganks unless the enemy tries to dive you. This is a good mechanic, but not the best for Sett unless he is losing. Sett is all about getting a lead and expanding that lead. He's all about applying pressure which Freezing does not do. With a lead or when even, the only time you should Freeze is to all-in and score a kill or to set up a gank when an ally is coming. This should generally be done into late game matchups such as Kayle so you can effectively shut them down. Without a lead, you only want to do this to keep yourself safe and stop the bleeding. In this case, also max Haymaker(W) for additional sustain.
How do I stop this from happening to me?: Through one of the following 3 ways; 1) You can back and hope the enemy will stay. 2) You can shove the wave into the enemy turret and it will come slow pushing back your direction. 3) You can wait for the enemy to break the freeze by CS'ing - do not hit the minion wave yourself.
Minion Behavior
  • Minion waves will naturally push AWAY from the side the wave is on, assuming equal magnitudes and levels.
  • Minions level up and are stronger based on your team's average level. Whoever has a lower minion level will have waves naturally pushing into them. This helps the losing team if they choose to farm, and hurts them if they choose to fight.
  • Crashing (fixing) a minion wave to the turret will cause the minion wave to reset near the center of the lane.
  • Having a turret/level advantage causes your wave to naturally push.
  • A melee minion takes 45% of its health per auto attack. Therefore, 2 turret hits and 1 auto attack will kill it.
  • A caster minion takes 70% of its health per auto attack- so 1 turret hit and 2 auto attacks.
Quiz

Find below a quiz on what to do in different scenarios as well as conceptual questions.

What are the downsides of pushing?
Click to see answer!


An objective is coming up in 15 seconds, specifically the Dragon, and you are Top with a neutral wave state. You do not have Teleport. What should you do?
Click to see answer!


The dragon is coming up in 15 seconds, and you are Top with a neutral wave state in the center of the lane. You have Teleport. What should you do?
Click to see answer!


You are ahead, and the enemy froze the wave and you can't harass since the enemy jungler is top side. What should you do?
Click to see answer!


You are behind, and the enemy froze the wave near their turret. What should you do?
Click to see answer!


You are behind and the enemy laner is constantly shoving the wave into your tower and harassing you - you are losing CS and cannot back. What should you do?
Click to see answer!


Your wave is pushed to the enemy turret and Deep Vision tells you that enemy jungler is coming top. What should you do?
Click to see answer!


You are low on health, while the opponent is not, and the wave is neutral, but your enemy is in lane. What should you do?
Click to see answer!


Your enemy just went to Teleport to a fight in the Bot Side -- they cannot come back to lane for a while. What should you do?
Click to see answer!






MID GAME


Post-Lane Game Plan

After the laning phase, identify how you did and how your team is doing. Like this, you should know what exactly you have to do to close out the game if the outlook is good or get back in the game if the outlook is bad. If your performance and your team performance contradicts each other, it's a bit of an issue which is what I want to discuss here. I noted both "Won lane" and "Ahead" since they should coincide, if you win lane, you need to also be denying Gold and Experience by good wave management since you will have lane priority (you get to decide where you will put the wave).
Won lane & Ahead:
  • Team is ahead: Snowball. Don't make risky plays. Stay Alive. Create maximum map pressure.
    Amazing! You should look to snowball and create an even bigger lead if not immediately close out the game. The only way you really will lose this is if you die, that is throwing your lead since the enemy will get big shut downs which will give them free items and put them back in the game. The most likely way you'll die is by getting caught out. You prevent this through good warding and map awareness. Don't push while there are more than two enemies that are a threat to you missing! In order to snowball, you should look to Split Push and establish a high amount of map pressure by pushing lanes before initiating a skirmish with your team. The idea is that you create so much map pressure that the enemy team has to consistently make decisions in which they will lose something (not to mention they'll generally be uncoordinated), and this will lead you to getting to their Nexus. Prioritize sustain and wave clear items then buy expensive items. For example, buy Titanic Hydra and Blade of the Ruined King, then you can buy expensive items such as Sterak's Gage and Black Cleaver.
  • Team is behind: Untilt. Mute All. Isolate. Snowball. DO NOT DIE!
    Yikes!! DO NOT TILT. This is the easiest way to tilt your teammates even further, they are probably upset and annoyed that they lost, do not rub it into their faces. Do not flame. Do not get tilted yourself. Mute all your allies INCLUDING their pings. OK, that aside, you want to literally ISOLATE yourself and play off the enemies' mistakes. People in low elos are bound to make mistakes, you want to capitalize off that through decent vision. Now, ISOLATE yourself. The importance is significant- enemy is taking Dragon? Go top lane and push it out. Get that turret. An enemy shows up? Invade the enemy jungle. Lose vision of enemies in mid and/or see them rotating top? Back off. Take the turrets and secure yourself a huge lead. You do NOT want to react to any skirmish until your lead is significantly bigger than the strongest person on the enemy team. The reasoning behind this is because the 4-5 enemies are sharing gold while you are getting a similar amount of gold to yourself only. Items scale off each other (armor and health; AS and AD; AP and AH) which gives you a ledge and makes you an enormous threat. The only three objectives you should rotate for are Baron, Elder Dragon, and your Nexus/Nexus Turrets. Prioritize items with a mix of offensive and defensive stats e.g. Stridebreaker, Death's Dance, Titanic Hydra, Sterak's Gage, Chempunk Chainsword, etc.
Lost Lane & Behind
  • Team is ahead: Untilt. Mute All. Farm it out.
    Not much to say here, you've been given a blessing! Now your goal is to be as light as a feather. You simply do this by farming to catch up and reacting to your team when they are organized. In other words, you'll know when to group -- for Dragon fights, for Baron fights. In team fights, go IN but do not int! Do not play it too safe but don't wait out too long since then the enemy team can use their powerful abilities on your allies and lose you the fight. You should peel if your team has no peel, if not, you can also make an engage and have your team follow up on your CC. Prioritize building defensive items that will not cost too much for you to build (e.g. Goredrinker, Thornmail/ Chempunk Chainsword, Randuin's Omen, Dead Man's Plate) but make sure to keep a strong core build with appropriate enough damage.
  • Team is behind: Untilt. Mute All. Play off opponents' mistakes.
    This is REALLY difficult to do, but the enemies will make mistakes. Look at the comments I made for Won Lane & Ahead; Team is Ahead. Do you recognize your enemies doing this? What are they NOT doing? How can you abuse that? If they are making risky plays, focus with your ultimate that one person with a 700 gold bounty. The main issue is the mental, here, though. You cannot change your teammates' mental, just keep yours strong. The main goal is to try to extend the game and farm it out. This should hopefully Narrow the enemies' lead and allow you an easier time to capitalize off enemies' mistakes. Prioritize cheap items such as Chempunk Chainsword, Guardian Angel, or Dead Man's Plate.
General

In the Mid Game, you want to be playing for Souls. Souls are the current wincon for most games- yes, the winrate is really that high. Killing 3 dragons results in a ~80% winrate (https://www.leagueofgraphs.com/rankings/drakes). That along with baron, which gives you over an 80% winrate as well. If you have Teleport, you want to split in the Top Lane, especially if you can win a 1v1. If you do not have Teleport, you need to shove Top and then rotate closer to Drag, pushing the Mid Lane, etc. Keep in mind that killing only the Casters will still cause the wave to push. It's a better idea to be pushing Bot Lane instead of Top in this situation so you can rotate faster. Keep in mind it's a lot easier to overall win drag fights when you have prio on all lanes. Even if you do not get the dragon, you'll likely get one or two turrets, and you if your team survives but gives the drag, you can push the waves even further.
Sometimes it's worth it to completely isolate yourself, especially if your team is doing well, and split push. See more in the Split Pushing section.
Most times, however, you should be there to assist fights, peeling for your carries with your Facebreaker(E) and The Show Stopper(R). In many cases, use your ultimate to CC a high priority target, but you can make the most out of it if you use it on a tank. Also note that if you are focusing that high priority target, you don't want to ult them away from your team, but somewhere where you team can follow up.




LATE GAME

Split Pushing

Split pushing is great to snowball leads. Split pushing is commonly confused with pushing a side lane. Pushing a side lane is not split pushing, and split pushing incorporates pushing a side lane.
Could you split push mid? - Well, technically, you could, but it's not really logical. Split pushing is best done in a side lane.
Split pushing comes from the logic of numbers. It revolves on you pushing a wave in a side lane, however has some strategy involved. Most split pushers are good duelists, and may even be able to 1v2- or at least survive this. You have 4 members on your team, and then the enemy team has their top laner and 4 additional members. It's not necessary that they will send their top laner to match your split, which means them pushing the wave back towards you or protecting their turret, but they almost generally will send someone. If they don't, then you can CS freely AND get turrets, or possibly even an inhibitor! If they do, you want to try to force a fight IF you can win it, which you should be able to. Then you can continue to CS freely AND get turrets, or possibly even an inhibitor!
Now, this sounds almost like just pushing a side lane, but you need to be cautious while doing so. You should be checking the minimap VERY often to see if enemies are missing. If that's the case, they're probably coming FOR YOU!
In this case, back off! You can take some camps in the enemy jungle if it's safe to do so, or you can simply reset. It's actually a great idea to go invade the enemy jungler for camps every time you clear a wave. This way, you can also see how the enemy team will react. If no camps are open, establish Deep Vision if it is safe to do so. Deep Vision will give you an advance when an enemy is coming to you. I cover this in the "Warding" section.
When they send more than 1 person to deal with you, you want the rest of your team maximizing map pressure. Make it very clear- all 4 of your teammates should be pushing OR taking an objective, however not necessarily taking a fight, unless if it's positive in numbers for them. When I refer to numbers, I refer to the number of allies/enemies alive, ready, and present.
Like this, even if you do get caught or die to the hands of multiple enemies, you'll end up allowing your team to take a turret or an objective.
The most common mistake players make is not paying enough attention to the minimap. When you do not know where enemies are, you should back up and get vision where it is safe to do so or farm the enemy jungle.

You should especially be split pushing when your team is self-sufficient (they are somewhat aware of what they are doing, able to pick fights wisely and win them, and not get caught).

Team Fighting

Don't be afraid to play passive and don't be afraid to play aggressive. When you're ahead, you should focus on literally using your team as BAIT to keep yourself alive. Let them flame you, mute them because in the end, who is carrying them? To reiterate, the most important thing is that you keep yourself alive when you're ahead! But don't play too passive. You want to look for an easy engage when the enemy team has used a lot of their valuable resources, such as summoner spells, ultimates, or important crowd control abilities like a Morgana Q. And players, especially in low elo, are not afraid to burn these! The most fatal thing you can do is die with a lead. This is not your teammates fault, and you cannot blame them even if they have their Heal up or your nearby Zilean had R and mana. Yes, that's troll, but your job is to get past trolls. And you won't win every game, that's ok. Your literal goal should be to hard engage a squishy champion WITHOUT ult (use Stridebreaker optimally) or hard engage a tank to slam them into enemy team WITH ult. This is why a flank is quite effective (you can save your ult), but you can't get caught while enroute to flank-- get your sweepers! Once again, be decisive and be on the lookout for exactly what is fatal to you, so you know when you can go in.
General

Most Sett players will begin to fall off. The only way you can prevent yourself from falling off is CSing! As the game progresses, your CS/min should RISE, not FALL. More cs = more gold = more items = easier & more frequent kills! Whenever your team is not actively applying pressure, you should be farming constantly. Take your jungle camps and then push waves when your team is ready to pressure. An even diagonal line should go through the entire map to demonstrate where waves are. If you clear waves and shift the diagonal line correctly, you will find big gains!
The most important thing in late game are objectives. Turrets, inhibitors, dragons, barons. They raise your winrates insanely! Don't be taking these at the risk of dying, however. Your best bet is to push lanes as far out as it is safe, establish vision without "Vision Flooding" (ward every other brush, if that makes sense) and make good fights. Use your The Show Stopper(R) on high priority targets or tanks.
Get picks, and don't get picked. Stay appropriately close to allies, especially when going into a dark area. Run Farsight Alteration if no other ally is running it/using it so you don't face check brushes and get caught. Sweep often if you have Oracle Lens, which may allow you to get a pick, allowing you to win the subsequent fight, or get an objective.
The Elder Dragon is perhaps one of the most powerful things to ever exist in the game. If you killed the enemy jungler and the Elder is up, try to get it. If you're on Red Side, pull the dragon out, but not so much that you lose aggro.
Baron is also incredible to give your team a lead and push. It's always a great idea to back as soon as you kill the Baron Nashor.
Your main objective is to close out the game- however necessary. Sett's not great at backdooring, especially without Teleport, so keep that in mind while playing.
Your ultimate can be a game changer, but main thing is: Pick or Get Picked. And how do you Pick and prevent yourself from getting picked? Well, VISION! You can sweep to Pick, and ward to prevent yourself AND ALLIES from getting picked. Bait out objectives if you're in an optimal spot that's sweeped, but never stay too grouped for the AOE kings & queens.




ITEMS




Scaling in Health, Armor, and Magic Resist
One of the biggest mistakes players make is stacking armor only. Armor and health scale off each other! And building too much armor gives it much less worth!!
However, with the Goredrinker build, it's okay to prioritize Health slightly more as it gives you a TON more scaling!
Find the right balance, and know that it shifts every game. If the enemy team has a lot of Physical Damage, I recommend building Death's Dance as a situational and an item that grants a lot of health. This will be sufficient. Similarly, buy a magic resist item and a health item as your situationals into a high AP team. Into mixed damage, however, I recommend buying items such as Thornmail or Force of Nature which grant both defenses and health. Consider a scale of the enemy damage composition in each of your games in order to effectively itemize and maximize your success.



Starting Items

Doran's Blade
Winning Matchups "Sup meat?"
Doran's Blade is a gold-efficient starting item that grants a great deal of dueling power, especially for the early game. It grants AD, health, and omnivamp, which synergies well with Sett's fighter build. Fighters like Renekton, Garen, or even Tanks like Maokai are matchups you would generally want to run Doran's Blade in. Buy this along with a Health Potion.
Doran's Shield
Vs. Poke, Ranged, or Losing Matchups "Hah, I ain't about to lose to that."
Doran's Shield is a highly underrated starting item which can do wonders in bad matchups. Its passive allows you to heal a decent amount in the early game whenever you take damage, making it an excellent choice into poke matchups- for an extreme example, Teemo. Most ranged champions are also good at getting damage on you, so you should run Doran's Shield into them to sustain yourself. This is your defensive option, not to say you won't get kills with it, but you want to not die in the early game. Buy this along with a Health Potion.


Boots (Build after 1st or 2nd item)

Plated Steelcaps
Vs. AD "Looks like I brought my fists to a knife fight. Honestly, I feel bad for the knives."
Plated Steelcaps works well if the enemy top laner is AD or attack-reliant. Champions like Vayne, Fiora, Renekton, and Jax to name a few.
Mercury's Treads
Vs. CC / AP (Optimal) "When you're on top, there's always some chump trying to drag you down. Pullin' at your feet, scuffin' up your nice shoes."
Mercury's Treads is generally a better buy since the tenacity helps Sett more. Sett suffers to crowd control, so if the enemy team has any at all, you should be asking yourself if it is OK to buy this item. If your enemy laner is AP, then you should run Mercury's Treads- Teemo, Vladimir, and Mordekaiser to name a few. If you won early and you don't think that AD is a threat, especially not from your laner, and the enemy team has some CC, then go Mercury's Treads instead. Last scenario is if the enemy laner is a CC-heavy tank. Maokai is a good example.


Teamfighting Core

Goredrinker
Teamfighting
First back: Phage
Goredrinker keeps you alive in dangerous skirmishes against many enemies. This build wants you to team fight to make best use of it, and also wants you to build more defensively. If you run it, pair it with Revitalize for an insane synergy. This build can allow you to pack huge Haymaker(W)s and sustain immensely throughout skirmishes. Your enemies will have a really difficult time killing you due to your healing, shielding, and tankiness. This item gives you MEAT.
Sterak's Gage
Sustain
Sterak's Gage helps to fight more champions at once with the Lifeline passive and survive. This helps stack up Grit and adds on to your tankiness while also giving you good AD stats. You will definitely want to take this third or fourth depending on your preference.
Tiamat
Wave Clear
Tiamat synergies so well with Pit Grit, proccing on both your left and right punches, giving you a lot of AoE damage. This will help you push the wave with ease, not needing to use any abilities, and funneling a ton of gold into yourself. Also, after using your Facebreaker(E), all the units around you are clustered, causing them to take max damage from your Tiamat cast. You should NOT build Tiamat if you want to freeze (the enemy will outscale you if you do not shut them down).
Titanic Hydra
Wave Clear
Finish the Tiamat item with Titanic Hydra. The stats synergy well and this item ends up giving you an upwards of 50 AD due to the passives, so it works really well in the Mathematically Correct context.


Split Pushing Core
Trinity Force
Split Pushing
First back: Hearthbound Axe
Trinity Force is an offensive option that acts in a similar way to Conqueror, giving you bonus AD when you damage enemies, making your extended trades good. The best part, however, is the huge Spellblade passive, which will allow you to chunk anyone that is unfortunate enough to be near you. With these passives also stacking against turrets, you will shred them quickly.
Tiamat
Wave Clear
Tiamat synergies so well with Pit Grit, proccing on both your left and right punches, giving you a lot of AoE damage. This will help you push the wave with ease, not needing to use any abilities, and funneling a ton of gold into yourself. Also, after using your Facebreaker(E), all the units around you are clustered, causing them to take max damage from your Tiamat cast. You should NOT build Tiamat if you want to freeze (the enemy will outscale you if you do not shut them down).
Hullbreaker
Push Power
Hullbreaker buffs up your ability to take towers considerably. The stats are great for you as it provides you with defenses, and health/AD (both of which scale very well with Haymaker(W). This item makes you good at isolating as it makes you a major threat the second you step into a side lane.
Titanic Hydra
Wave Clear
Finish the Tiamat item with Titanic Hydra. The stats synergy well and this item ends up giving you an upwards of 50 AD due to the passives, so it works really well in the Mathematically Correct context.




Situational Buys
Anathema's Chains
Struggling In Lane
Anathema's Chains is an good item to mitigate the impact of a strong enemy. For its cheap price, I recommend considering it whenever you struggle in lane so you have a much better chance at surviving into mid game due to the 30% damage reduction. The stats are also really helpful and amplify your Haymaker(W) damage and shield optimally.
Buy this early game if you intend on.
Death's Dance
Against AD
Death's Dance is a must-build if the enemy team has any AD threat. It's 104% gold efficient without the passives, which is mad, and with the passives, it's mad af broken. When taken with Triumph, Sett is able to survive in many sticky situations in team fights as he heals up and runs at his next target, and the 35% damage over time effect cuts into the Haymaker shield, which makes it even better.
Buy this mid-late game if you intend on.

Warmog's Armor
Bigger Haymaker(W)
This item is really bought just for getting a bigger Haymaker(W). However, you can also seriously consider this item whenever the enemy team has mixed damage. Suppose the enemy team has 2 AP and 2 AD, Warmog's Armor is a great buy since health is effective against both magic and physical damage. This item grants you the most health out of any item in the game, which is something a Mathematically Correct build demands (the one that includes calculus optimization).
Buy this mid-late game if you intend on.
Wit's End
Stick & Vs. AP
This buy is really offensive but works really well on Sett due to Pit Grit(Passive). Your rapid succession of Auto Attacks makes the on-hit affect very well used and adds some magic damage to your damage output. The Move Speed allows you to stick and this makes it really easy and powerful in duels. I suggest getting this if your priority is splitting, crossmapping, farming, or such.
Buy this mid-late game if you intend on.
Thornmail
Anti-Heal
Build Thornmail if you want to mitigate the healing of an enemy AD champion. It's defensive, and that's good- you want a defensive item as your final item so you don't get popped. Run Thornmail into champions like Renekton, Master Yi, Darius, Fiora, Kayn (red), Olaf- you get the idea. If you built Bramble Vest, it's probably a good idea to upgrade it.
Buy this whenever necessary mid-late game if you intend on.
Spirit Visage
Heal power / Vs. AP
This item is your go-to for increased sustain and magic resist. It amplifies your many forms of healing/shielding such as Goredrinker, Death's Dance, Conqueror, Sterak's Gage, Haymaker(W), which are common items for the Teamfighting build.
Buy this late game if you intend on.
Black Cleaver
Anti-Tank (vs. 3+ melee)
Black Cleaver grants health, AD, and a good amount of AH alongside it, great stats for a Bruiser. Its passive, however, makes the item so valuable. It does a number to tanks and how useful they are, so run Black Cleaver against a high-armor team.
Buy this LATE game if you intend on.







VISION



Importance of Vision

Vision is integral. It helps you react to ganks, roams, potentially saving yourself from a difficult situation. By doing so, you may save a summoner spell or even yourself from dying, which is TERRIBLE as it gives the enemy team gold, while they are able to do what they want with the wave, including taking Turret Plates, giving them a further lead. Enemies with a lead may end up snowballing as they can continuously win trades. So let's prevent that from happening in the first place. Refer to the image below for the top lane, that references the top side of the map disregarding the Season 10 map changes. Then, find below the significances of the dots.


For the Blue Side

✦ The YELLOW dot represents where you should place a Control Ward, especially when the wave is in the center of the lane.
  • Attempt to place the ward slightly further in the brush towards the river when you won't risk losing CS. Like this, the enemy laner will have a harder time clearing it and you'll get a slightly more vision in the river.
✦ The RED dot represents where you should place a ward WHILE pushed, OR if the enemy jungler is Kayn, Fiddlesticks (post-6), or Zac and the wave is at the center of the lane.
  • If you are consistently winning trades and keeping the wave shoved, keep a Control Ward here instead.
✦ The PURPLE dot represents your deep vision ward.
  • When you have the wave pushed, but the enemy laner is there or you aren't comfortable with damaging the turret, you can instead go in the enemy jungle to get deep vision, giving you a great advance on when the enemy jungler is coming towards you. It's better if you can get the enemy Red buff in sight as well, in case your jungler is looking for a steal OR looking to take a dragon while the enemy jungler takes red.
  • When you take first turret and continue pushing along the horizontal stretch, you'll want to keep a ward in this brush, however not necessarily with the Red in vision.
  • An alternate position is where the Blast Cone near the Rift Herald is.
✦ The GREEN dot represents your general ward position while the wave is in the vertical stretch after your Outer has fallen.
  • You can ward here if your Outer is still up, but the wave is at turret and you worry about getting dived.
  • You should keep the wave pushed, however if you are losing lane, this is your next warding position.
  • While splitting bot, the OPPOSITE brush (the tribrush near enemy Blue) should be your warding place.
✦ The BLUE dot represents your Buff-safety ward.
  • Many junglers who are reliant on blue will have their blue stolen. Good idea to ward at 1:40, fake a leash, and rotate when you see the Blue being stolen (if your jungler/midlaner is on their way!). Also prevents your Jungler from tilting.
  • If your wave is pushed to your Inner, along with your Mid wave, then you can place a ward just a little below that, just below the brush near the Blue Buff.
✦ The PINK dot has no significance.

For the Red Side

✦ The RED dot represents where you should place a Control Ward, especially when the wave is in the center of the lane.
✦ The YELLOW dot represents where you should place a ward WHILE pushed.
  • If you are consistently winning trades and keeping the wave shoved, keep a Control Ward here instead.
  • Attempt to place the ward slightly further in the brush towards the river when you won't risk losing CS. Like this, the enemy laner will have a harder time clearing it and you'll get a slightly more vision in the river.
✦ The PINK dot represents where you should instead place a regular Stealth Ward while your wave is either in the center of the lane or pushed ONLY WHEN THE ENEMY JUNGLER IS Zac, Kayn, or Fiddlesticks (post-6).
  • Simply ward from the Top river brush, across the wall.
✦ The BLUE dot represents your deep vision ward.
  • When you have the wave pushed, but the enemy laner is there or you aren't comfortable with damaging the turret, you can go in the enemy jungle to get deep vision, giving you a great advance on when the enemy jungler is coming towards you.
  • When you take first turret and continue pushing along the horizontal stretch, you'll want to keep a ward in this brush, however not necessarily with the Red in vision.
  • An alternate position is where the river merges with the pathway to the enemy Blue Buff.
✦ The GREEN dot represents your general ward position while the wave is in the vertical stretch after THEIR Outer has fallen.
  • If you are split pushing in the Top Lane, keep a Control Ward here instead.
✦ The PURPLE dot represents your Buff-safety ward.
  • Good idea to ward at 1:40, fake a leash, and rotate when you see the Red being stolen (if your jungler/midlaner is on their way!). Also prevents your Jungler from tilting.

Warding Tools

BUY CONTROL WARDS! It's even moreso important to use Control Wards and get Deep Vision if the enemy jungler has stealth, such as Twitch, Evelynn, or Shaco (among others).


Run Farsight Alteration if no other ally is running it/using it so you don't face check brushes and get caught. Sweep often if you have Oracle Lens, which may allow you to get a pick, allowing you to win the subsequent fight, or get an objective.





CONCLUSION




Thank you for reading and special thanks to KuuHaKu_OtgmZ and Katasandra for their BBCode templates/guides that helped me with the aesthetics that are in this guide today to make the guide better view-able to readers.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please do ask or comment, and please rate this to help me improve.


Useful Terms
AA'ing - Auto attacking
AA Reset - Casting an ability during the attack cooldown (AS cooldown) to reset the cooldown, attacking again. Best used as soon as your AA finishes. Sett loves this as he can use his Q after Right Punching, dishing out a lot of damage.
CSing - Process of killing minions for gold
Dueling - 1v1'ing, Sett excels at this.
Engaging - Initiating a fight or skirmish. Sett has an excellent hard engage with his R and can threaten an engage with his Q.
Freezing - Keeping the wave in a position, generally near your turret.
Kill Pressure - What it sounds like, the ability for a champion to kill another and therefore the pressure exerted by it. Sett has a LOT of Kill Pressure in most matchups.
Last Hitting - Attacking minions only to kill for gold, used to push minimally.
Objective - Turrets, dragons, rift heralds, etc.
Presence - The proximity of nearby allies... if you have Jungler presence and you see that your enemy doesn't (since they just ganked bot maybe), you should feel safer to play more aggro. If you have team presence when Dragon spawns, you will likely take the dragon unless pushed out by enemy- zoning is important here to hold off engages, Sett does not have good zoning.
Priority (Lane) [abbr. prio] - Advantage of being able to push / pushing the lane. A Malphite will not have prio into a Heimerdinger top, but the jungler can tell Malphite to get prio when Heimer backs and Malphite will push the wave.
Push (wave) - Allow your minions to move further down a lane. Generally to create a gold/experience difference, or push to the enemy tower to back.
Roam - Heading to another lane to gank for them to get a lead, best when wave is pushed.
Shoving - Pushing the wave as fast as possible, used to punish when enemy roams.
Winions - A large minion wave crashing an enemy turret, often the Nexus or Nexus turrets.


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