12/02/2017

It's been a while but I'm back and am slowly working on revamping the guide due to Rengar's rework. His nerfs in 7.3, specifically the Battle Roar nerf, hit him rather hard, but it mostly punishes him for getting into bad engages and doesn't affect him much if he's snowballing since his damage was untouched. He's somewhat more fair now since he can't dive 1v5 to kill a target while having a good chance of surviving.

As the whole guide will need to be mostly rewritten, currently only the cheat sheet has been updated to the current patch but information regarding choice of runes, masteries and items are lightly explained in the attached notes.

25/03/2016

• Removed the 'not recommended' section. There's no point in keeping it there aside from a paragraph on why I don't like Rapid Firecannon. If people start complaining that I don't have that item in the guide then I'll probably create a section dedicated to that item. Hopefully it won't come to that.
  
• Added Statikk Shiv to situational items.

23/02/2016

• New build added to cheat sheet.
  
• Duskblade of Draktharr added to situational items.
  
• Trinity Force and Essence Reaver removed from 'Not Recommended' (triforce is decent on a bruiser build, Essence Reaver is no longer a recommended item in-game)

I've been experimenting with a lot of different builds for Rengar and I've found a build that carried me to Master tier. Unfortunately, it's so different to the original build that I'll have to either do a complete overhaul or make a sub-section dedicated to it. Since that will take a bit of work, what I've done for now is added the current set I'm using to the cheat sheet with some variations of full builds with brief explanations in the notes. If you're interested in a tankier build that's effective, try it out. I highly recommend it.

Patch 6.3

Rengar got some much needed love :)

• Unseen Predator
  REMOVED: Landing just short to the target.

Stupid idea to begin with. Glad they changed it back. Good riddance.

• Bola Strike
  Cast time reduced to 0.125 seconds from 0.25.
  NEW EFFECT: Is now cast sightly behind Rengar while leaping.
  BUG FIX: Bola Strike wouldn't fire if Rengar was disabled during the cast time.

YES THEY FIXED IT. I cannot tell you how awful this ability felt to use post-nerf. Now hard-CC won't cause Bola Strike to vanish and it's much more likely to actually hit its target. This change brings back some of Rengar's old power.


This thing... I'm not so sure about. See the problem with this is that unlike Zed the majority of your damage is in your Savagery which obviously is an autoattack, so you'll be constantly popping the passive every time you go for an engage. Unless you literally never trade with anyone then you might not have the passive for when it really matters. You also generally can kill a squishy in less than 2 seconds unless you get peeled so the passive might not even go off. However, what it does give is a substantial amount of AD, armor penetration and movement speed, so it could be an option for a triple Serrated Dirk build. I'll have to try it out.

Patch 6.2

We all knew this was coming.

• Empowered Savagery
  
  Attack damage ratio reduced to (+ 30% AD) from (+ 50% AD).
  Attack damage buff increased to (20% AD) from (10% AD).

This was mostly a hit to crit- Rengar and heavy AD-stacking builds since those relied on one-shotting the enemy so losing 20% AD ratio was painful. For builds meant for staying in battle and dealing sustained damage, the AD buff makes up for it. It's hardly the most important change, compared to...

• Bola Strike
  
  Now has a 0.25–seconds cast time when Rengar casts it while mid-air.
  Rengar will now properly throw his Bola Strike if he tried to do it mid-air but the targeting cursor was out of range.

This nerf hurts. It really does. I don't think it's even implemented properly, because now your Bola Strike can actually be interrupted by hard CC during the cast time, causing the ability to disappear into thin air. Additionally, it seems to base its direction on where you are when the cast time finishes, meaning 90% of the time it will fly in a random direction mid-leap and completely miss its target. If you're used to doing it the old way, this nerf will screw you up down and sideways.

• Thrill of the Hunt
  
  Exclamation mark range increased to 1450 from 1250.

This nerf was pretty painful as well. It gives your opponents more time to react and move away from you, making movement speed an even more important stat than ever. It's such a major change that I've been running Dead Man's Plate to provide increased mobility as well as to have a crowd control to make up for the Bola Strike nerf.

Overall, these changes were a major nerf and pretty much killed any burst builds since you can no longer rely on Bola Strike to lock a target down. As such, I'm still experimenting with ways to build Rengar, so far the most successful being an armor penetration bruiser build with Youmuu's Ghostblade, Black Cleaver, Maw of Malmortius and Dead Man's Plate.

Is Rengar still viable? Probably... I'm actually not the best judge since I've got enough experience with him to make up for his shortcomings, but I'm still using him and succeeding with him, so it's certainly possible to make him work. He is much worse now, but certainly not unplayable.

The name's SpawnOfHell (IGN mercykiIler). I have played since Season 1 and have played Rengar since his first rework and have mained him for over two years now. I peaked at Master Tier in early Season 6 and ended at Diamond I at the end of the season with almost 500 ranked games played last season and over a thousand Rengar games played overall and over 500k mastery points.

This guide will be exclusively about playing Rengar as a jungler. Rengar can work in top lane and I do play him there but I don't recommend it as it requires a lot of skill and knowledge with the champion to succeed. If you are a beginner with Rengar, playing him in the jungle is your safest bet until you have mastered his mechanics and damage output.

• High burst damage from stealth
  
• Ridiculous mobility in jungle fights
  
• Resourceless
  
• Strong ganks
  
• Ultimate provides vision
  
• Long-ranged snare

• Feast or famine playstyle
  
• Immobile without brushes or ultimate
  
• Not the best duelist
  
• Harder to play against true sight
  
• No poke
  
• Bad at sieging

This should be mostly self-explanatory. Lethality is a great stat with the high base power of Savagery and Empowered Savagery, and scale well with the large AD purchases that you will make. Armor seals prevent you from dying in your first clear. A mix of flat cooldown reduction and scaling cooldown reduction glyphs provides 10% cooldown reduction at level 18. Finally, flat attack damage quintessences have better value than armor penetration so they are the natural choice.

I have been alternating between Stormraider's Surge and Thunderlord's Decree since the later half of Season 6 and the whole of this season and I believe that while both are viable I have found the speed boost and slow resistance of Stormraider's Surge to be more useful offensively and defensively as your burst is usually high enough to burst down a squishy target even without Thunderlord's Decree and even if they do survive with a sliver of health left the speed boost is usually enough to chase them down and finish them off. Late game the extra burst from Thunderlord's Decree rarely makes a difference while Stormraider's Surge can and will frequently save your life. You can run Thunderlord's Decree if you're paranoid about enemies escaping with low health.

If you don't have Smite, you shouldn't be jungling, period. Not only will you be unable to do a full clear without dying or recalling before you're even level 3, you're also denied your jungling item and any control over your buffs, Dragon and Baron Nashor since the enemy jungler can just drop in and swipe it from under your nose. Flash is also essential. Rengar has no disengage so running a gimmick like Exhaust or Ignite jungle will just get you killed more often than it helps. Ghost is simply not necessary since you'll get diminishing returns when used together with Thrill of the Hunt and Youmuu's Ghostblade. Any other summoner spell is simply not viable.

This passive is absolutely amazing. It's a free, infinite use gap closer as long as you're either stealthed or in the brush, giving you insane mobility at will if you pick your fights wisely. Because it is possible to leap for a brief moment after leaving a brush, learning its maximum range can take some practice, but when you do you can use this to pull off some sick jukes and chases. Tips on using Passive You can still leap for a brief instant after leaving the brush. If you get knocked out of a brush (e.g. by Buster Shot you have a very short window of time to leap anyways. Unseen Predator scales with your attack speed, reducing the time between leaps. Unseen Predator will be stopped by knockups such as Howling Gale but not by stuns. Unseen Predator functions as an auto-attack and will apply Savagery and any on-hit effects as well as critically strike. You cannot leap after Flashing out of a brush. Don't try it. You'll just look stupid.

This is your main burst ability. It's an auto-attack reset, meaning that you can do a regular auto-attack then use the ability to get a boosted auto-attack, giving you more damage in a short time frame. When you're duelling or ganking someone with absolutely no mobility, you should be using the empowered version of this ability as it gives you the highest damage. Tips on using Q Savagery's bonus damage applies lifesteal. Savagery's bonus damage does not critically strike. While you have Savagery active you get a 40% attack speed buff until you use the attack. Using Empowered Savagery first will give Savagery extra damage due to the attack damage buff. Savagery does NOT apply on towers. However, the buff is not consumed and you can still make use of the auto-attack reset and the attack speed buff to push. Use Empowered Savagery on a nearby minion for the buff.

This is probably your least valuable ability but it has its uses. It has low base damage but provides a moderate buff to your resistances, so it can help reduce some damage when jungling. The empowered version is significantly more useful, as the damage scales with level so it's slightly more powerful, and gives a burst of healing. While you will have enough life steal that an Empowered Savagery would heal for more late game, you will be depending on this heal to sustain yourself early on. Tips on using W Battle Roar does not interrupt movement. If you kill a minion you can get a Phage movement speed buff for escaping or chasing. Empowered Battle Roar provides the same resistance buff as Battle Roar and the two will not stack. Space them out for efficiency unless you must use the heal. Battle Roar's buff is additive. For example, two enemy champions give 60 Armor and Magic Resist at max rank. Four enemy champions give 90. Unless you are almost dead and must use the heal, do NOT use Empowered Battle Roar to clear any camps besides Crimson Raptor or Greater Murk Wolf. You will lose more health than you heal taking the extra time to clear.

This is your only form of crowd control. It's a long ranged, fairly powerful slow that can be hard to land, but you'd better learn how to land it because it can be your only way to secure kills if you don't have any bushes to leap from. The empowered version is an extremely powerful snare that you should use against mobile champions to prevent their escapes. Tips on using E For the time being, you are able to throw Bola Strike while mid-leap and almost guarantee the slow/snare unless the target is standing in a wave of minions/hugging his teammates. This takes practice but is crucial to master if you want a chance to bring down mobile targets. RIP Bola Strike will interrupt movement. If you miss it you will be even further behind your target. If you use Bola Strike after coming out of stealth you can, if you're very good with the timing, still get a leap off. This isn't reliable though.

Your ultimate gives you a long duration stealth which also enables you to leap without a brush once before the effect is broken. It provides an indicator above the opponent's head once you approach them just outside of leap range, however, so they will know when you're in the vicinity just before you are able to attack. Once you have Rengar's burst damage under control, you can burst down a squishy target within a second just as they are aware you are on them. Tips on using R If you take damage while entering stealth, you can be delayed for up to 3 seconds which is enough time to get killed. It's usually best to enter a bush to buy time if you need to escape. Your opponents are still alerted if you enter a bush while stealthed. Using Youmuu's Ghostblade, Quicksilver Sash or Flash will not break stealth. Item actives that affect the opponent such as Randuin's Omen or Ravenous Hydra will break stealth. Using Smite and dropping wards will also break stealth. You can see stealthed champions while using your ultimate. With 12 stacks on Bonetooth Necklace and Youmuu's Ghostblade, you can roughly catch a target from your outer turret to the opponent's inner turret. With 20 stacks you can catch a target from half the map's distance. When you exit stealth, you slowly gain up to 5 Ferocity over 5 seconds. However, if you reach the cap, your Ferocity will not 'stockpile'. In other words, any Ferocity potentially gained while you already have 5 Ferocity is lost. Use your discretion as to whether you need them or not. If you can help it, always have full Ferocity stacks upon using your ultimate so you can throw an Empowered Bola Strike after leaping or use Empowered Savagery twice.

Being Rengar's ultimate, Thrill of the Hunt should be taken whenever available even though it doesn't increase damage or stealth duration because the cooldown goes down drastically while the movement speed bonus and detection radius is increased which allows you to hunt targets more frequently and at a greater range.

Savagery is maxed first as it is Rengar's strongest damage spell with the lowest cooldown.

Bola Strike is maxed second as it has higher base damage than Battle Roar and increases the slow strength to a hefty 80%.

Battle Roar is maxed last as it has low base damage and only increases the resistance buff strength, which isn't useful on assassin Rengar.

Self-explanatory. Rengar is manaless and his clear is almost entirely via autoattacks so the lifesteal and on-hit damage benefit him far more than the slight area of effect damage from Hunter's Talisman. Health Potions are preferred over Refillable Potion because Rengar's first clear is his weakest and he needs the extra sustain to be healthy enough in case of invasion or if you just plan on ganking after clearing.

Enchantment: Warrior is the natural choice for Rengar. Flat attack damage complements his scaling with Savagery and cooldown reduction is essential. Skirmisher's Sabre's empowered Smite is extremely strong on Rengar, giving him a DoT to finish off targets that escape at low health as well as lowering their damage if they retaliate.

These boots are extremely cheap compared to others and provide high, non-diminishing movement speed making them optimal on Rengar. While Ninja Tabi and Mercury's Treads may be better options if you are in dire need of either resistance or tenacity, these should always be the default option. Enchantment: Alacrity gives you another boost of movement speed which could mean the difference when chasing a foe down with your ultimate.

This is Rengar's absolute core item. No decent Rengar should ever go without it, as it provides the perfect mix of stats that he wants. Mobility, damage and cooldown reduction are all essential stats and this item is one of the few that combines them all into one package. The active will give you the burst of speed necessary to catch enemies with your ultimate or to escape.

Start with Stealth Ward so you can ward your jungle in case of invades but after your first or second recall switch it out for Sweeping Lens. Since you're the jungler you're the one best suited for running around using this thing to control vision. Early on you can use this to remove wards from enemy laners and force them to play passively or risk being ganked. Late game you really need it since you must check if a zone is warded before you try to catch a wandering target since if you're seen you can easily be avoided or set up for a bait.

Ravenous Hydra's massive AD and active give you a huge spike in burst and it is the best lifesteal item you can get. The cleave passive also gives you much needed waveclear as well as some spread damage in teamfights which can add up, as well as help you get assists for Bonetooth Necklace.

Black Cleaver is the only item in the game that is not a mana/AP item and also gives 20% cooldown reduction. It's a good way to reach the cap in a single item after your core build, which will give your ultimate the lowest amount of downtime. Its other stats aren't lacking either, giving a good amount of flat AD and health, a mobility passive and the armor shred is great as you deal mostly physical damage. You don't have to buy this every game, but it's a highly worthwhile purchase as it can work in both assassin and bruiser builds.

Maw of Malmortius is the only complete item besides Youmuu's Ghostblade which gives flat armor penetration. It should absolutely be bought against magic-heavy team comps, as it's both an offensive and defensive item. You can buy a Hexdrinker early and upgrade it later if a mage is fed.

This item is actually a wet dream for Rengar. Not only does it give good defensive stats, but its passive provides more mobility for chasing targets in stealth, and the on-hit gives extra burst as well as a slow which makes landing Bola Strike after leaping significantly easier. It's just the perfect match for a bruiser build.

This thing's passive gives you a ton of effective health and still provides some damage. It's particularly effective against burst champions such as other assassins since the passive is most likely to be popped by burst damage.

Buy this if you're against champions with point-click crowd control effects that they are saving for you such as Twisted Fate's Pick A Card or Lissandra's Frozen Tomb. If the enemy team is saving a lot of crowd control for your engage then Mercurial Scimitar will probably be more useful.

Buy this if you are extremely fed, carrying and it's really late into the game where you cannot afford to die. If you have this and you trade 1-for-1 with the enemy carry then odds are you've probably won the game. Be very careful not to lose it as it's completely worthless when the passive is down.

This is actually a pretty decent item on Rengar mainly because its passives really benefit him. The movement speed it provides helps you catch slippery targets with your ultimate and the damage debuff can make or break trades, especially if you pair it up with the damage reduction from Death's Dance then it becomes downright nasty.

Since Youmuu's Ghostblade no longer provides critical strike, this has become a less attractive choice since you need another crit item to pair with it. If you're snowballing then this item with Phantom Dancer can allow you to slaughter anyone within a couple of hits but it's extremely expensive and takes away item space for something more defensive.

It's not an optimal choice given that your damage from abilities isn't really that high so the only niche this has over an item like Bloodthirster is its damage reducing passive. It's extremely easy to prevent the stored damage from killing you thanks to lifesteal so it's effectively a 15% damage reduction which is incredibly good.

These two items are put together because they effectively serve the same purpose against different champions. They are exclusively 'counter items'. Unless you need to specifically deal with health sponges or champions with ridiculous self-sustain such as Dr. Mundo you won't need them. Out of the two, Lord Dominik's Regards will often be the more regularly bought since it's common for champions to have more than 500 health over Rengar so you will get the full damage boost. If the enemy team is stacking armor but nobody has troublesome self-heals or significantly more health then it may be better to hold on to Last Whisper and move on to other damage items.

If you're getting screwed over by point-click hard crowd control effects like Lissandra's Frozen Tomb or suppressions and had the foresight to build a Quicksilver Sash early (good on you!) then you'll eventually upgrade it into this. It's stats are pretty decent so it's not a waste of space and may be instrumental to you succeeding in performing an assassination without being killed.

If you're getting completely hammered because your team lacks a tank (in which case you probably already screwed up team building) then you could buy this instead of Ravenous Hydra. It's not that much of a damage downgrade since you trade attack damage for an on-hit, and if you have enough health from items like Black Cleaver and Sterak's Gage then it could work out. The AD on this item got nerfed pretty hard but since you don't have huge bonus AD ratios you probably won't feel it that much.

This item is interesting. At first I was skeptical because Rengar's fast burst devalues the passive a little and his autoattack dependency means it may be wasted on the wrong target in a skirmish. However, I've found that it is extremely effective on bruiser builds to make up for a loss in damage from building tanky as it has great stats and the passive adds a significant amount of damage to your combo. I wouldn't recommend it in a full offensive build as there are better options but its slot efficiency means you can build a few defensive items without worrying about not dealing enough damage.

Statikk Shiv is an okay item. It has great synergy with Infinity Edge if you're going the full glass cannon route because when the passive crits it can add about 200 magic damage to your burst. The problem is that it has a weak build path for Rengar and forces you to build more crit to support it. If you're snowballing then it can be an option for a 4th or 5th item.

These were quite hastily done and I made a lot of mistakes, but they give the general idea, and show that it's possible to do a full clear without a leash. Don't mind the Japanese voice mods.



0:00 - Krugs start, level 3 clear
1:38 - Gromp start, level 3 clear
3:05 - Krugs start, full clear
5:35 - Gromp start, full clear


Done properly, Rengar can decimate entire teams as long as you choose the right moment to engage and do it properly.


(Ignore my outdated build and the fact I was laning, this was done late Season 5. The point remains.)


Orianna is one of the best teammates for Rengar. Even if you're not fed, delivering invisible balls for Command: Shockwave can win you fights.

Don't try to force ganks too early. Rengar's pre-6 ganks are decent but nothing to write home about since they depend on the target either being overextended or close to brushes. If you must gank, then do a lane gank in the top lane brushes (since those are rarely warded) or loop around mid lane. Try to avoid ganking bot lane without your ultimate.

If you're feeling ballsy and the enemy jungler is someone weak like Nautilus, you can invade them at their second buff (works better from blue side) and probably kill them if you have full Ferocity.

When you have your ultimate, mid and bottom lane become open for easy ganks, while top stays relatively the same. Save your ult for bot lane if you can, or use it in mid for easy kills if the mid laner is immobile e.g. Lux, Brand, Twisted Fate. Don't be greedy. You're squishy and easy to kill so you shouldn't chase kills that get away, particularly at bottom lane where a 2v3 can turn into a 4v3 within a moment's notice.

When you have Enchantment: Warrior, Dragon is easy to solo so grab a Vision Ward and sneak it while your mid and bottom lanes keep their opponents occupied.


At this point, a few outer towers should be down and your lanes will probably be roaming. This is a good time for your teammates to group, but you should always be on the lookout for stranded enemy teammates. Usually, the enemy marksman may decide to be greedy for a wave and farm it solo while his teammates siege or contest objectives, and if so, they are a free kill for you with Thrill of the Hunt which then allows you to push with a numbers advantage. If Thrill of the Hunt is down, ask your teammates to avoid teamfighting and, if they must, draw the fights to the jungle where you have brushes to leap from.

Don't get greedy and try to jump the enemy marksman if his support is nearby unless you're so fed you can kill them both. Even so, be careful of hard crowd control such as Alistar's Pulverize and Thresh's Flay that can ruin your attempts at pulling an assassination. You don't always have to jump the marksman either, as most mages will also die quickly to your burst.

In teamfights, wait until the initial wave of abilities is blown and engage with Thrill of the Hunt at your leisure. You're an assassin- it's your job to clean up. If the enemy team is really careless, uncoordinated or just plain stupid they may all engage on your team and leave their carry open for you to flank for a free kill.

Oh, and don't even think about engaging if the whole enemy team is dogpiling on top of each other. You will die.


Be very mindful of where the enemy has vision. You do not want to get caught. If you're level 16 and the whole enemy team is missing then you can use Thrill of the Hunt to scout for them since it's cooldown is a meager 42 seconds with maximum cooldown reduction. If the enemy team is stupid enough to split up then you've probably already won since you can catch a target from half a map away with Thrill of the Hunt and take them out, then contest Baron Nashor or push at a 5v4 advantage.

At the same time, watch out for Vision Wards on the map, since they're usually in brushes where you won't notice them and may catch you while using Thrill of the Hunt to find a target. If you have no idea where their wards are, then watch for the enemy team's movements and pay attention to whether they're heading towards your location. A successful assassination wins the game, whereas a failed one will most likely lead to your death and, subsequently, your defeat.

Try to avoid doing Baron Nashor with your team if the enemy team is prepared to start a teamfight since being trapped in the baron pit is a really bad position to be in since you need to use Thrill of the Hunt to surprise the opponent.

You can splitpush if you know where the most dangerous opponents of the enemy team are, since your ultimate can save you if they're heading to you but still far away. You might even be able to catch someone while they're split up trying to deal with you.

Watch out for Zhonya's Hourglass on mages and Sterak's Gage on marksmen. You might be surprised when those are enough to save the carries from your burst are you are subsequently taken down without getting a single kill.

Thank you for taking the time to read this guide (assuming you did) and hopefully you learned a few things. I think I've hit the most important points but if there's anything that you think I've missed, could use more explaining or even disagree with then leave your comments and I will strive to improving it.

Keep in mind that this is just my way of playing Rengar and I encourage you to experiment with his options yourself if you wish to master him. Rengar is a lot of fun to play and I don't think people fully appreciate the amount of experience it takes to play him to his full potential. I hope you all enjoyed reading this guide as much as I enjoyed writing it.