Flash is obviously made for characters who aren't mobile or have a good escape mechanism. But for Blitzcrank, it's even greater. You can do a Flash + Grab trick to pull people out of 5v5 team fights and into a 1v1 fight that you'll most certainly win. It's also a great way to counter flash as well.

Update ends here. Sorry for the inconvenience of not updating everything in one go, but bear with me!




Many people take Ghost, and for a reason. It's versatile; you can use it both to chase and to flee, and combined with Overdrive you'll see some serious ****.

Ignite is mainly for those moments where you think "I won't need Flash against this team". It isn't a great finisher however. If you have issues with enemy champions running away with the use of flash or similar abilities or having your rocket pull just on a low cooldown, read the tactics further below on good Rocket Pull timing and usage. The same goes for Exhaust, it has use while you're fighting, not once they run.

Utility spells that your team lacks. Sometimes, it's better for the team if you get Garrison, Clairvoyance, Heal, Clarity or Promote. Judge it by individual basis though, and don't think that one summoner spell is always king.

Rocket Grab
Your fame and glory. For once you can say with dignity and pride that your right hand is your best friend, for as Blitzcrank, it is your number one killing tool. No no, don't stack Abilty Power or Cooldown Reduction for it!
It's power lies in it's mechanic. When you hit something, it gets pulled to you. As easy at it sounds, it plays on one of the most important factors of League of Legends: zone control.
People take safety in dodging potential ranged attacks through the use of brush and hide behind creeps to avoid potential skillshots. This is the largest, most invasive skillshot that is godlike in terms of zone control.
Some people will towerhug just because they suspect you went into the brush, and even then they will tend to hang around with creeps! There will be an entire chapter devoted to discussing this skill.

Overdrive
A straightforward ability. It makes you go vroom. By a lot. It boosts movement speed as well as attack speed, and coupled with the autoattacker-refresher Power Fist, it removes any need for pure attack speed items.

Power Fist
At first, this looks as a plain ability. Hit harder next attack, right? Right. Except that it refreshes the auto-attack and knocks up an enemy target. When I say "refreshes the auto-attack", I mean that it ignores your attack speed and instantly attacks with Power Fist.
Therefor it's beneficial to use Power First right after an auto-attack. And when I say it knocks up an enemy target, I mean that it stuns shortly, but it is not diminished by Mercury Threads.
Don't convince yourself that just because it doubles your attack damage, you have to get as much attack damage as possible; value it for its CC potential.

Static Field
As far as ultimates go, I've seen more unique. Perhaps Riot copied it from the Lightning Revenant from DotA where it was seen as an excellent farming/chasing passive.
In some ways, it retained the same effect. With it's Activate effect, you can farm pretty well.
It's very sudden, instant AoE silence is golden in team fights and and does quite a bit of damage to boot. If you're fighting a 1v1, you're better off letting the passive tick a couple of times before unleashing it, preferably when they're channeling something or are about to run.

Mana Barrier
People won't mention it in the same way they'll mention Rocket Grab, but it's still his signature characteristic. With this build, you will have a massive lifesaving shield once you hit 20%.
People generally blow everything they have the closer you get to low health. People also tend to forget this ability from time to time, and do not time their abilities accordingly.
So you can often Overdrive/Ghost away safely as they try to chase you with no mana or abilities readily available.

Early game is rough for Blitzcrank. He does posses one trait though, his Rocket Grab has the exact same strength as it does over 45 minutes, and so does Power Fist as a CC tool. If you are truly skilled with Blitzcrank have experience with having solo lanes, you are a good candidate, for it is much easier to 'lose' the push and lets the enemy champion progress towards your tower than it is in a duo-lane.

But we're going to assume you have a duo-lane, since if you are a rookie Blitzcrank, you will have to start with practice. This guide recommends a Sapphire Crystal as your first item, but if you wish to learn how to Rocket Grab and you do not have access to mana regen runes, take a Meki Pendant instead.

Best Early Game scenario is that your lane partner is fed on hero and minion kills, and he's a carry, while you have a decent enough minion kill count and money from assists to quickly afford your core items. The sooner you have Tear of the Goddess and Sheen, the better, for it finally adds wanted burst damage in your arsenal, and gives you a reason to keep harassing the enemy laners.

If things aren't going as great, you make a great tower hugger. The tides turn if you manage to just land -one- rocket grab while you are at your tower, and your foe eats a couple of tower bullets. Either he dies and it's a cash reward, or he lives and learns not to be too cocky around Blitzcrank, giving an easier time laning afterwards.

How you start your midgame is dependant on how your early game has progressed:

You didn't get your core items before the 15:00 marker.
No biggie. Chances are you just had a rough time in your lane, it happens. But recover from it! You need your core! Chances are there's ganking going around, stick around to your lane and last hit as much as you can. Lay low and try your best not to push or catch the attention of others; you're vulnerable without your core items and teammates.

You got your core items
Good job. It doesn't take much to get your cheap core items, and you're a great last farmer with Static Field, but having Manamune & Sheen provide all the physical damage you need for the game. It's dependent on how the game has gone so far to decide what you will do now.
Your team is pushing a lot
Chances are there's one lane where t he first tower already fell before the 15:00 marker. If the enemy team is focusing on defending that particular lane, you can decide to either push your own lane and get another tower down, or team up with your teammates as well and put your skills to use (your teammates will love you for reeling in a squishie away from it's tank!)
Your team is ganking a lot
Again, you can opt to push in your lane if the ganking champion vanquished your enemies for you. You can also decide to join them, for most gank heroes lack the crowd control you carry with Rocket Grab and Power Fist.
Your team is being pushed
Defend. Make sure no other towers fall and move as a team, for if they are doing fine pushing, they will resort to ganking as well. Farming a lane alone is not advised and should only be done after you're sure you will not be ganked. Better yet though, is to join your teammates and halt the pushes with Rocket Grab, punishing them for trying to come close to your tower..

Whatever the case was in midgame, lategame always ends up the same. Item builds are getting completed, ganks are diminishing and it's time to work as a team. Fortunately, if you have taken the correct items, you are a pretty tanky robot. You are either packing a lot of armor or magic resist, or maybe through good farming even both.
Don't be afraid to take a couple of punches, for it's better that they waste as much of it on you than on a carry. Remember, you automatically get a lifesaver at 20%.. So you can always take the beating, wait until 20%, and then pop everything you have (Including Flash) to make a sprint for it. They won't have the resources to take down yet another 1.5k health.

However, that is all there is to it. Your Rocket Grab, Power Fist and Mana Barrier are still valuable and can open the path to victory; but you will not be able to do enough DPS to single-handily punch down the enemy team. Protect your carries, protect your support, protect your tank. You manipulate the battlefield with every ability you have.

Blitzcrank is only viable in ranked games in certain team setups. Please do not attempt to play Ranked Blitzcrank without sufficient experience or a team that has a position for it. Blitzcrank is a filler champion for what other core-position champions lack. Think Shen, who is a tank but lacks a safe initiation ability and constant DPS; or Sona who lacks good CC and is always unsafe on the front lines. You supplement what your team is missing, you are NOT a substitute for a carry, tank or support.

Obviously you don't want to jump right into ranked games as a beginner. If you want to play ranked or even professionally as Blitzcrank, the first thing to remember what a good score and a good match contains. Contrary to what you would think, top notch players don't have many kills and no deaths. Ranked games are about getting the Nexus down, and that isn't achieved by kills alone.
Do not play Ranked Blitzcrank with the intention with impatient towerdiving, rushing Trinity Force for damage or constantly farming creeps instead of your carry. You are there to make ranked games easier. Towers are easier to defend, towers are easier to attack, lanes are easier and safer to push; these are what makes Blitzcrank viable in ranked games.

Blitzcrank can be viable with the right team in Ranked because his skills are both so very versatile in both offense and defense and provides a superior, constant crowd-control with his Power First and Rocket Grab.

PS: Ranked Blitzcrank is NOT for beginners! You have to be experienced in kiting, saving your teammates with your abilities and being very precise with timing and accurate on Rocket Grab[/b]!

What I see that aspiring Blitzcrank players are lacking, is the ability to farm up a decent item build before there is a significant gap. The idea of infinite ability spamming and running around at high speed between lanes is entertaining, and many Blitzcrank's will try to gank as much as they can. This however, means they will get a very low minion kill count.
Set up a timetable for yourself.
When you get what item is dependent on every game, but for example, when the enemy carry is walking around with a B.F. Sword, it's a good time to walk around with a
Chainmail or Glacial Shroud. Your dependency on your items is relative to what items the enemy team has.

Tip: Power First is great for last hitting, it refreshes your auto-attack, so you can time it yourself! Or you can use Elixir of Brilliance and Static Field to almost guarantee ranged minion kills!

This ability deserves an entire chapter. If not a video, could I make one; so bear with me and try to visualize when I give examples!

First of, Rocket Grabbing is what defines Blitzcrank. If you can't work with Rocket Grab, you can't work with Blitzcrank. You will become better and better in it in time, learning through examples, and knowing when to time, so I can't help with the process of learning. What I can help with however, is giving the situations to which Rocket Grabbing is best utilized, and therefor the best moments to practice with.

If you are completely new to Blitzcrank.
While it might be possible with Ashe to just go on Mobafire and copy an item build to attain a normal score, such is not the case with Blitzcrank. Seriously, try out a Practice game with bots before you take on a Normal or Ranked game. You will miss a lot of Rocket Grabs on your first day. Maybe even if your second. Hell, sometimes I ponder to myself "How could I have missed that pull?". It's visual is a tad misleading, for while it is actually a perfectly straight line ahead, it is fired from his hand, and therefor it may look as if it has a slight angle. Just remember that the line shown to you while you press Q once is the most accurate.

Early Game Spots
Brush & Tower. Plain 'n simple like that. Standing in the brush makes it harder for an enemy to know the exact location from where Rocket Grab can come from; and while they can always hide behind minions, there is almost always a small gap available to which they are vulnerable.
Sometimes it pays off to emerge behind them with Power First on and hit them with it. They'll likely retreat to their tower in a neat, straight line; meaning you can Rocket Grab them more easily and Power First them again.
Also note that bottom lane should be favored. Perhaps by graphical or map-creating flaw, it is not possible to Rocket Grab someone FROM the edge of the brush inside of the towers range in top lane.
Speaking of towers, they're great. Rocket Grab gives you means of pulling someone inside of its range without it wasting it's time on minions.
Your enemies (likely) know of Rocket Grab, and are cautious around you when you are towerhugging. Know your tower's range.. It can be the difference between a kill or a death.

Tip: If you are a skilled last hitter, you know how fast minions die. It's possible to aim a Rocket Grab at a minion that's just about to die, to hit the Champion behind it. This requires both timing and practice, but it is one of the best ways to counter 'hiding behind the minions'.

Midgame till Lategame
Since there is going to be more attention as working as a team and the first row of towers is down, focusing on the early game tactics will normally lead to more deaths than kills.
It's time to put your skills in Rocket Grab to use in teampushes. One notable difference is numbers. Minions will die faster and therefor, there will be less to eat your Rocket Grabs, and there will be more Champions to (accidentally) hit.
Sometimes trial and error works, and since you have a good amount of cooldown reduction and mana regeneration, you can pretty much keep shooting blanks until you finally reel one in. While people might call you 'bad' for missing three Rocket Grab in a row, it's the one squishie that you pulled on the fourth that counts, so don't be discouraged just because you seem to miss a lot.

Jungle
Your Rocket Grab goes through walls, the mighty iron fist that it is. It can nib away people doing the Golem or Lizard, it even used to steal the Dragon away from your enemy team! (Though sadly, not anymore).
Wards are worth the money if you want to practice using Rocket Grab in the jungle, for it's impact is greatly increased.
Many times, the enemy team will have to walk a great distance to save their teammate, or just give up right away because they know they won't reach it in time.

I still feel there is a lot to discuss about Blitzcrank, and if anything I wish I could make tutorial videos to help out new Blitzcrank's. But alas, I lack the tools. You are free to ask questions on this page however, and it would be great if you could cast your vote!

Also: Here is a complimentry video that might get you in the mood to play Rocket Grab (or Amumu, Poppy or Irelia, since the #1 Blitzcrank player Doublelift also plays those characters)
I do not own this video nor am I related to its production in any way Play Video