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Wukong Build Guide by Wumbo105

Wukong - It's Great to be King

Wukong - It's Great to be King

Updated on September 28, 2012
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Wumbo105 Build Guide By Wumbo105 52 15 215,456 Views 44 Comments
52 15 215,456 Views 44 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Wumbo105 Wukong Build Guide By Wumbo105 Updated on September 28, 2012
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Introduction

Hey guys, this is my first (and probably only) guide, so bear with me. I bought Wukong around 3 months ago, and I've loved him ever since. I mained Xin Zhao at the time, so the transition was relatively easy for me, since the 2 champs are pretty similar. I've pretty much given up on Xin, since Wukong is so damn fun, and a deeper champ in my opinion. But this doesn't mean that only people who are used to champs like Xin are going to like Wukong! Nononononono...Wukong is a very enjoyable and easy champ to play with, but extremely difficult to master and do great with. This build aims at giving you A-M-A-Z-I-N-G burst potential, great assassination ability, and some surprise tankiness that they won't expect from such a huge damage-dealer. Best of both worlds! So enough talk, on to the show!
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Pros / Cons

Pros

  • Insane burst damage
  • Very quick and nimble
  • Perfect ultimate for teamfights
  • Almost impossible to catch thanks to Warrior Trickster
  • Surprisingly tanky mid-late game
  • Pretty mana-efficient
  • Is a frickn monkey
SPACE
Cons

  • Squishy early game
  • Susceptible to harrassment (poke)
  • Somewhat item-dependent (needz dat Tri Force)
  • Cannot carry an entire team on his monkey shoulders
  • Often focused in teamfights
  • Unable to throw feces at opponent
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Runes

The runes that I have chosen are more based on common sense than preference, but of course they can be changed to fit your style as well.

Marks - Greater Mark of Desolation (x9)
Of course, as an AD champ, Wukong would love some armor pen. It makes just about everything hit hard as hell and helps you thru the entire game, especially early game where a flat 25 armor pen can bring the enemy's armor down to 0, or close to it. Actually, now with the new Masteries, having Armor Pen Marks and Quints means you start the match with 31 Armor Pen, which is ridiculousssss.

Seals - Greater Seal of Armor (x9)
These, along with the Magic Resist glyphs, are used to make Wukong able to take a hit or 2 in the lane, and to give him that much of a stronger lane presence in those tough match-ups. They synergize well with his passive Stone Skin (which I am not a big fan of at all), and makes you a pretty sturdy monkey.

Glyphs - Greater Glyph of Magic Resist (x9)
See above description of seals, same reason. These can be substituted for Greater Glyph of Focus, if you feel you need more CDR, but those are much more expensive, and spamming abilities too often is not really ideal, especially for the role that Wukong serves.

Quints - Greater Quintessence of Desolation (x3)
More armor pen YUSSSS, nothing wrong with that. These can also be substituted for Atk Speed quints, but eh...whatever. Wukong isn't really an auto-attacker.
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Masteries

Of course, going Offense is the obvious choice here, aiming for maximum damage. The 7 extra points go into the Defense tree just to make that "tanky DPS" feel really solidify.
If you still feel too squishy, you can opt for a 9/21/0 build, at the cost of a bit of damage-dealing. That's perfectly fine, but I feel he's already bulky enough with the 23/7/0 build.

I know my 23/7/0 formula is different than the usual 21 in one tree, 9 in the other, but I feel that 2 extra points are much better spent here in the Offense tree, rather than more in the Defense tree, because all those 2 extra points would give me would be like 60 more health at lvl 18, which is negligible.
But if you REALLY want to go with a 21/9/0 build, I guess take 2 points out of Vampirism and move em over.

And no, he doesn't need any points in the Utility tree, because all it gives in the early branches is mana and mana regen. I'm not sure if you noticed, but Wukong is a pretty mana-efficient fighter. If you're having mana problems, then you're doing something wrong.
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Items

EDIT: I just learned how make the icons when talking about the items and stuff, so enojy the pretty colors!
Anyways...

**NEW UPDATE**
With the new buffs that Wukong has been endowed with, he's much more viable of a solo-topper. If you do find yourself in that top lane, I have found that instead of getting a Doran's Blade, working on a Wriggle's Lantern is amazingly efficient. Start off with a Cloth Armor and 5 pots (or 3 pots and a ward if there's a jungler). The extra armor, AD, and lifesteal on Wriggle's makes you sustainability skyrocket, and lets you hit back harder. The free ward every 3 minutes should need no explanation to why it's so awesome. This isn't just a jungling item, guys! Sure, you Tri Force might be a little late, but it's MORE than worth it if you're soloing.

Starting Off...- I almost always start every game off with a Doran's Blade (if I'm not soloing top), and for good reason. It gives 100 health, damage when you need it most, and some nice little lifesteal. Wukong already excels at early game, so why not make it more of a domination?
If you wanna be all fancy-shmancy, then you can start off with boots and some health pots for sustainability, but I feel that with Decoy, you shouldn't be getting hit all the time, and sacrificing that early-game damage is just more detrimental than anything, especially in a dual lane.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity
I usually try to stay in lane until I can get at least 1050g, so that I can buy my Ionian Boots of Lucidity, and come back faster, and with some precious CDR. It's not a hard amount to reach, sooooo yeah.
--**NOTE**--
It should come as common sense that if the team is very CC-heavy, then you should immediately buy Mercury's Treads, for dat Tenacity, as well as some nice +25 Magic Resist. I would say to buy these if 3 or more of the team has some form of hard CC (stun/suppress/snare). Otherwise, get dat CDR, no questions asked.

Sheen/ Phage
The next item to get is up for a little debate among other Wukongs, but I firmly believe that picking up Sheen before getting Phage is much more effective. Yea yea yea, additional health and +18 AD is great for early-mid game, but DAMN SON that passive on Sheen is just too damn sexy. The burst that it provides alone by doing your E-Q combo makes you MUCH more fearsome than a bit more health and a small amount of AD. Plus, it goes better with Wukong's style of fighting: darting in and out and picking up kills with quick huge bursts of face-rape. Of course, picking up Phage is the obvious next choice. You can go ahead and get Phage first, it's no big deal, I won't make fun of you. I just like mah Charlie Sheen.

Trinity Force
After all that noise, people usually say raawwrrr, time to get Zeal. I say eh, only about 1400g away from completely buying Trinity Force, might as well just get to that amount. And yes, ladies and gents, rushing Tri Force is beneficial in this case. This is because everything it gives helps you, from the crazy burst from the passive proc to the nice +30 AD, and a nice chunk of added health for ya. Besides, you're buying it in parts, so it's not like you're left with nothing while you wait for enough money to buy this amazing item.

EDIT: Maw of Malmortius
The good guys at Riot has given us a pretty frickn' good weapon, which especially helped for sustained fights, when you health starts to deplete. Also, considering the extra MR it offers, it's probably a better choice to get this over going straight for the IE anymore. Survivability is king. Like Wukong.

Atma's Impaler
This next part is where some discrepancy comes along. The general consensus is that you don't usually buy Atma's Impaler unless you have a very large amount of HP to back it up. Well viewers, I'm here to tell you to TAKE THAT CONSENSUS AND STICK IT SOMEWHERE NICE AND DARK. After countless...and I mean countless...tests with substituting this item for other options, none have yielded better results as Mr. Atma. By the time you'll be able to buy Atma's Impaler, you'll have roughly 2000 health. That converts to 40 AD, which isn't too bad. The kicker here is that this shiny little impaler also offers 2 other stats. +45 armor starts to make you the decently tanky monkey that we're shooting for, and it's a great start. But wait...what's that?! +18% crit chance? Awwwwwww yea son, we're now enjoying a grand total of 58% crit chance (if you add the 2% you have naturally, its really 60%). That's a lotta freakin' crits, man. At this point, it doesn't really matter if your victim is a tank or not, your burst is gonna make their health bar disappear.
So, I'll say it again, you don't necessarily need a huge health pool to take full advantage of Atma's Impaler, as Wukong will show you. However, we do expand on this investment later on (if you so choose).

Frozen Mallet
Hopefully, by now, you're doing pretty good on the scoreboard, and it's time to get down to business. Remember when we pointed out how people say you need a ton of health to enjoy Atma's? Well, here ya go. We're goin for a Frozen Mallet. Buying the Phage part can help split up the cost obviously, but once you do buy the whole thing, this kinda bulky monkey will then be a pretty damn bulky monkey, with just a liiiiittle under 3000 health. It also gives you +20 AD, yea whatever, but that giant load of health that it just shot all over you just made buying that Atma's Impaler even more effective. You see how this works out? Oh yeah, I almost forgot...your victims will no longer be getting away from you. Have fun bashing their faces in while they pitifully crawl through the chilling effect of this item.
--**NOTE**--
This item is interchangeable with Warmog's Armor, all depending on how the teamfights are going on for that game. Is it just a cluster**** of burst and you need more time to stick in there and rack up the kills? Go for Warmog's Armor. Are the teamfights usually only a few seconds long, and stragglers always end up escaping with a little health? Pick up Frozen Mallet. I would say 60% of the time, I get Frozen Mallet, 40% Warmog's Armor, but it's different for everyone.

Bloodthirster
If (and this is a pretty big "if") for some reason the game is still going on, it's time to put the nail in the coffin, and sell that silly little Doran's Blade for something a little more...effective. Getting the infamous Bloodthirster pretty much makes you an unkillable monkey (unless the entire team starts to focus you...damn I hate that). Especially when you farm up the stacks and get the full AD and lifesteal bonus, this thing will make sure you hit like a freight train, all while healing yourself. Mmmmmmm, blood.

Although Bloodthirster is definitely my last weapon of choice, this is also the slot that you would give up in order to buy a necessary situational item (which will be further explained in the Optional Items section).
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Optional Items

Sometimes, the enemy team has that 1 or 2 champs that just spoils all the fun for us monkeys, and you have no choice but to deviate from this godlike build. Not to worry, there's an item for that. Here are some of the situational items I most often find myself picking up to counter most issues.

|AD Problems|- Usually, with your Armor runes, and the +45 armor that Atma's gives you, AD champs very rarely cause any threat. But if they're insanely fed, anything can happen. So, you can sub out that Bloodthirster for these items:
- Thornmail- pesky auto-attackers on the team? You can now /lol in their face as you watch them kill themselves.
- Randuin's Omen- This item is actually pretty damn good, despite the recent nerf to it. Gives more health (yay), big load of armor, and some sweet CDR. Can't go wrong with this...although it's pretty pricey.

|AP Problems|- ZOMG SO MANY DEATHCAPS
-You can go 2 ways with this. is the threat kinda annoying, or really frickn deadly? If it's just a nuisance, pick up a Hexdrinker, and now, the super-sexy Maw of Malmortius. Added AD is lovely, but that Magic Resist and that neat little passive will keep you safe. If the problem is a big threat, get yourself a good ol' Banshee's Veil. It gives a big chunk of MR, and some extra tankiness in the form of even more health (Mr. Atma sheds a tear of happiness). That passive shield will save your *** more times than you can count.

|Tank Problems|- Well, good job, you've got the attention of the enemy team, and now they're stacking armor because they **** their pants whenever you're around. But, as the aspiring monkeys we are, we still deal damage! Make people go boom!
- Last Whisper- Ah, I love this item. It doesn't quite cancel out all of the armor-stacking antics that the enemy team is doing, but it comes pretty damn close, and keeps them afraid. And for the fools that didn't stack armor...well, you're just gonna shred through what little armor they had like toilet paper. TOILET PAPER.

|Miscellaneous|- I'm gonna go ahead and keep Warmog's Armor under Misc. evn though it's interchangeable with Frozen Mallet, but just keep it in mind.

EDIT: Infinity Edge
I've decided to put this weapon under "optional" due to to the fact that he has more than enough damage as it is, and resistances are key. Go for this sexy sword if you are beyond fed and you no longer give a ****. I guess besides the fact that this build is focused around tanky burst dps, I should have also said that crit% plays a big role in it too. This is also the main reason why I decide to get Infinity Edge as my next weapon. Of course, if you're struggling, you can just buy the B.F. Sword first, and then build up, but what we're looking for is that +25% crit chance, and not to mention that sexy passive 250% dmg on crits. Oh yeah, it gives you +80 AD also. So...including the +15% we get from Tri Force, we are now sitting at 40% crit. Not too shabby, my man.
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Skill Sequence

This is also another common sense-ish area of the guide, so don't take my word here as gospel.

Ability Sequence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Nimbus Strike
I take this at lvl 1 for the same reason that Xin Zhao takes Audacious Charge over 3-Talon Strike. It allows you to close the distance, and facilitates getting that First Blood that Wukong is such a beast at getting. Also, in the event of a lvl 1 team fight, having an ability that hits 3 targets is infinitely more useful than just a single target smack. This ability is maxed out at either lvl 12 or 13, depending how I feel (I'll explain).

Crushing Blow
The big bang, the smelting stick attack, the WAPACHANGGGG that gives you a warm fuzzy feeling after taking half of Annie's health off from dropping this on her head. I pick this up at lvl 2, giving me the ability to perform my usual E-Q combo relatively early. This ability is maxed out at either lvl 12 or 13, as stated above.
***Quick note about Crushing Blow***
-Any self-respecting Wukong knows that pressing Q, priming your Crushing Blow, and then Nimbus Striking in to the victim allows you to instantly land that Crushing Blow as soon as you reach them, hence the idea of huge burst damage. I guess I can see when there are times where you wouldn't want the instant Q, buuuuuuut meh. 99.9999% of the time, your Q should be primed before using E.

Warrior Trickster
LMAO, the ultimate troll ability. I cannot even begin to count how many times people blow Exhaust/Ignite/the whole team's Ulti's on my Warrior Trickster clone. I don't have to explain the zillion uses for this ability...just learn to juke and predict movement, and you will never be caught again. Unless the other guy is psychic/lucky. I pick this up at lvl 3 and leave it there, maxing it out last.

Cyclone
Not much to say about this beast Ultimate. Amazing 1.2-to-1 AD ratio, so it does some goooooood dmg now, and should be used generously, especially since it's on such a short CD. Dat knock-up, yo. Level it up whenever possible.

***So yeah, about maxing out Crushing Blow and Nimbus Strike...I have mixed feelings. Some people say it's better to max out one of them as soon as possible, then start lvling up the other. But, as a combo-oriented champ, I feel like both abilities need to at a respectable power in order to be effective as burst tools. I achieve that by leveling both of them evenly so that one isn't ridiculously weaker than the other, and my damage doesn't suffer. As for which one get to Rank 5 first...it just depends on what's goin on at the time...if I'm dashing around alot and need to be nimble, I'll max Nimbus Strike at lvl 12, and then CB at 13. I think you get the idea. I just don't see the benefit (or any improvement at all, rather) with maxing one of them immediately.
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Summoner Spells

This section is simple. YAY for not having to type a wall of text!

Flash
Get it.

Teleport
Honestly, I wasn't whether to put TP as the second spell or Exhaust, because I use both equally. I guess I went for Teleport because I'm going by the mentality that the people reading this are new to Wukong, so I wanna make it easier for beginners to deal with him. So, Teleport allows you to return to lane faster, or help out another lane that requires your monkey services. Once you get more comfortable with combat and team cooperation, you can sub this out for Exhaust. Use it offensively to make sure that stupid Tryndamere doesn't get away again, or defensively so that YOU can get away, or so that the Master Yi auto-attacking your face doesn't do so much dmg. It pretty much allows you to 1v1 most of the cast.

Another alternative is Ignite, but I feel that Exhaust serves the purpose of finishing off low-health players a little better for Wukong. But by all means, use Ignite if you like it.

All other Summoner Spells are drastically less useful.
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Summary

Welp, I hope this guide made sense to you, and I hope you can use the information here to carry your team to victory. Any questions or concerns can be addressed in the comments, and I'd be more than happy to answer them.

**EDIT** Very nice buffs given to Wukong, thanks Riot. I am really diggin' this early game damage.

I must also give credit to JhoiJhoi's "Making a Guide" guide, which helped me learn all this crazy BBC coding n stuff. Cool beans.

I might expand this guide if I get enough feedback, maybe include some match-up strategy, lane techniques, idk. I just kinda did a generic structure here, so we'll see how it goes.

"Only in combat do you learn who you truly are."
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Wukong - It's Great to be King

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