Hello Mobafire.
This is going to be my first build so constructive criticism is most appreciated. First a little bit about myself as a player. I have played LoL for quite some time now and I play with a group of people that are very much into consistently carrying. I was fine with tanking so I started learning a few tanks in order for our team to be successful. I used Bgugg's Rammus Tank guide and was pleased with it. However, he focused solely on tanking throughout the guide. There is nothing wrong with his guide at all, it will make you a great tank, but I wanted to be the star of the show too! Therefore, I created a build for my favorite tank/carry, Rammus! With this build, you are going to learn how to be successful at carrying and tanking at the same time. If you take in these tips and strategies, you WILL be incredibly successful.

Pros
*Is a Carry and a Tank.
*Excels in both 1v1s AND team fights
*Great Initiator
*Incredibly hard to take down
*Deals out lots of damage fast

Cons
*Item Dependent
*Very dependent on team mates (Randoms seem to just keep getting worse and worse)
*Hard to get out of a fight once it's initiated (Vietnam!)

For the trolls who are going to come in here and say this doesn't work in ranked, Your wrong. It does!

However, most smart Captains of teams will ban Rammus from ranked right off the bat. However, when he is not banned, he MUST be played. No hero is more viable in team fights than Rammus. Ranked and Public make no difference for Rammus. He is simply, THAT good.

You have to farm and play defensive until 6.

Staying in the lane is your #1 priority until 6. Rammus does not do well damage wise until he gets some items and tremors. Try to sit back and farm. You can harass still, just understand that like most tanks, Rammus is not going to be anything special at the start. Also, make sure you get a lane partner than will fit well for your Combo.

Here is where you go off. When you hit 6, B and look for the lowest HP champions. ALWAYS CHECK MID FIRST! If mid is gankable, walk over and catch him off guard by powerballing in for the gank. If mid is NOT gankable, grab some items and inform your teammates your going to gank. Begin Powerball and Teleport to that tower you have coordinated a gank with. Once you hit the enemy champions, Puncturing Taunt Taunt and combo and your almost garanteed a kill! (Like a smart fiddle out of the jungle) You can continue to roam or go back to your lane to farm AGGRESSIVELY ! You and your lane partner at this time should be trying to push and kill your enemy lane champions at all times now. Also, be ready to gank mid a couple times too! You can easily gank it with a Powerball/ Puncturing Taunt Taunt combo.

By now, you should be

close to or completely fed.

You should be planning and initiating teamfights with your teammates; stratigizing and working together to win. I have given you the combo, but here is is one more time so it get's stuck in your head. Powerball-->Puncturing Taunt Puncturing Taunt--> Defensive Ball Curl--> Tremors. You, despite being the carry are STILL THE TANK! You can and should be initiating every single team fight. Do not be greedy, you will get kills even after you initiate.

In my humble opinion, if you have a friend who has any of these champions, Make sure they pick one and lane with you. All three of these combos work incredibly well and if you play smart, you will almost always push your lane first.


My Big Three Recommedations Are:

Fiddlesticks

With the recent patch, fiddle excels greatly in the lane with Dark Wind always hitting five times. He's also ranged and can harass and silence the other team without getting close too them. He's also a great fear/taunt combo. You Powerball in, taunt him, wait for the taunt to go, then fiddle fears him. This combo is a force to be reckoned with big time.

Lux

If Lux wants to farm kills or doesn't get mid, your the champion she needs to pair up with. She can basically harass with out being bothered and slow after your taunt is up. You and Lux will dominate the lane if you play smart.

Vayne

Stupid damage combo. Your Vayne is going to crush the opposing lane champions behind your armored shell. She can easily farm and harass which will in essence allow you to farm more as well. TRY THIS COMBO, Tell me you dont like it.

Note: I understand these are very good mid heroes people, but that doesn't mean they don't excel at laning too. A good Rammus and good Fiddle, Lux or Vayne can easily dominate a lane and push a tower in around 10 to 15 min. This makes it so much easier for your team because you can go around and gank the rest of the lanes without having to worry about your lane as much.

Your probably asking yourself, Why the hell is this guy going mostly offensive runes for a tank? Thats stupid (fake and gay) and not cool! Well, well, well, let me explain. Armor Pen is one of the secret weapons for Rammus. Lets look into him a bit more in-dept. Past all his skills and like most tanks, he is an auto attack champion. Therefore, the more damage your auto attacks do the better. This combined with Defensive Curl, Sunfire Cape, Thornmail, and Tremors will make you virtually the best 1v1 hero in the game. All you need is to taunt another champion and let the damage rain. I go Dodge masteries to take the physical carries off my back a little more early game so I can stay in that lane longer. I then finish with Armor blues in order to give me more survivability and damage due to his passive.

This is the Rammus secret weapon. Rammus going down the 21-9-0 path makes him virtually in my opinion better than Poppy and many more carry wise. Lets discuss why. Rammus with all his items and abilities is going to be an incredibly beefy hero without masteries. You give him some damage, crit and attack speed and you simply go to town in the damage column. These masteries in my opinion separate the good Rammus player from the bad.

Powerball
Rammus accelerates in a ball towards his enemies, dealing 100/150/200/250/300 (+1) magic damage and causing 28/36/44/52/60% reduced movement speed to nearby enemies on impact.
Cooldown - 10/10/10/10/10 seconds
Cost - 80/90/100/110/120 Mana
Range - 300

This is your bad boy, and what makes Rammus so special. Your Powerball allows you at great speed to charge and collide with an enemy champion, slowing them greatly. Its your initiator and you HAVE to land this every time. It is so crucial on learning how to move with powerball and avoid creeps. However, once you learn with practice, you'll hit everytime.


Defensive Ball Curl
Rammus goes into a defensive formation for 6 seconds, increasing his armor and magic resistance by 50/75/100/125/150 and returning 26/32/38/44/50[(+0.10)*(armor)] magic damage to attackers.
Cooldown - 14/14/14/14/14 seconds
Cost - 50/50/50/50/50 Mana
Range - 300

This is what makes you a carry. After you use your Powerball/Taunt combo, you put this on and watch the damage be done. When you have Sunfire and Thornmail with this active, they all stack. You are going to be doing damage with Defense Curl, Thornmail, Sunfire Cape, and Tremors. That is why Rammus is a carry, although item dependent, your incredibly hard to take down with this active. It also is going to beef you up and make you take some hits. With Dodge Runes and Ninja abi, Physical Carries are going to beg for mercy.

Puncturing Taunt Puncturing Taunt
Rammus taunts the unit into a reckless assault, reducing their armor by 10/15/20/25/30 and forcing them to attack Rammus for 1/1.5/2/2.5/3 second(s).
Cooldown - 12/12/12/12/12 seconds
Cost - 50/60/70/80/90 Mana
Range - 325

This is used immedietly after you hit successfully with Powerball. As I described above, people do not want to hit you. They are just going to kill themselves because of your skills an itemization. Too bad, this at max rank is going to force your opponent to attack you regardless for 3 seconds. Those three seconds are the worst 3 seconds for anyone you face. You can use this in 1v1s team fights you name it. For example, lets say its a 1v1 situation. You Powerball in, taunt, put on defensive ball curl then tremor. If you did this correctly you are most likely going to get a free kill and walk away. In a teamfight, the idea is to initiate and taunt the chanpion who is going to do the most damage to your team. If its a Cho'Gath, Warwick, Miss Fortune, Zilean and Karma team. I am going to Powerball in and taunt that MF right off the bat. With that done, their team is going to fall incredibly fast and you will have a very successful chance at winning that teamfight.

Tremors
Rammus creates tremors beneath him, dealing 65/130/195 (+0.3) magic damage per second to nearby units and structures.
Lasts 8 seconds.
Cooldown - 60 seconds
Cost - 120/120/120 Mana
Range - 300

Hello damage, how are you today? This ult is so amazing I can't even explain it to you. In teamfights, you simply use it and attack. It does half the work for you, smashing the ground every second for damage. It has a range that is visible when you use it (Looks like a little round earthquake under his feet), so make sure when you DO initiate, you are going to hit quite a few people with it first! 1v1s, you are basically unstoppable with this up. Here's the combo. Powerball, Taunt, Defensive Curl, Tremors. Your going to do so much damage that after the taunt your enemy will try to most likely run. Just chase and powerball when its back up to finish off your wounded victim. Tremors is just another addition to the damage you do.

Here's "The Situation"

Your going to want to start out with Rank 1 Powerball. It is a great asset to have when bush checking or lvl 1 ganking. The movement speed on it is the same throughout all the ranks as well, so 1 point is all you will need for a while.

There are two ways to level up your abilities. If you are dominating your lane, switch between Puncturing Taunt Puncturing Taunt and Defensive Ball Curl. You can harass and Puncturing Taunt taunt the enemy more when they come near you. If you are getting pushed and you are struggling to stay in the lane, alter between Defensive Ball Curl andPuncturing Taunt taunt. Staying in the lane is the most important thing for early game until 6. Defense Curl will allow you to do that.

Lastly, get all three ranks of Tremors as soon as they become avaliable. It's your ultimate so your going to want to max it out as quickly as you can.

Flash
It is a must for Rammus, Flash is going to allow you to Powerball through creeps, Escape, and catch escaping enemies. It has so many uses for Rammus, you simply need this.

Teleport
Teleport is going to gank as soon as you hit 6. It can also cave a tower or two. If you want a more in-dept explaination on why you should use this, go back up to the Mid Game section and read it.

The Summoner Spells I do not recommend!

Fortify
The spell itself is decent on Rammus, IF you are playing Rammus as a complete tank. With this build, you really need Flash/Teleport in order to get some kills. Fortify is a hit or miss on Rammus.
Ghost

You have Powerball, your going to have plenty of movement speed.

Exhaust

Let the "actual" carries use this. It's a waste for you to have, you have a Taunt and a slow.

Ignite
This actually in many cases does work for me, so if you REALLY don't want teleport, pick this up. It will greatly boost your early game and maybe pick you up a kill. However, the extra burst really doesn't help late game. You'll excel without it.

You want to start by getting your Heart of Gold and Ninja Tabi as soon as you can. The Heart of Gold will give you some health and will give you extra gold. It's also very cheap and quite useful early game. Ninja Tabi boots are simply the greatest boots on Rammus. With the dodge runes and these bad boys, your going to be dodging a LOT of attacks. Thats survivability, which allows you to lane longer. THIS IS GOING TO PISS OFF THEIR TEAM! It is so annoying to see a Rammus take no damage from your attacks and be virtually un-harassable.


After those quick starting items, the idea is to build up your Sunfire Cape and Thornmail first. Obviously if your facing 5 AP carries get a FoN first but for the most part, a good team is going to have a good physical carry, like Miss Fortune, Gangplank, or Ashe. You need to SHUT DOWN THAT CARRY! Completely, right off the bat. It is imperitive to get those two armor items first because not only will you get damage out of it, your going to anti-carry their carry.


I then after Sunfire and Thornmail generally get a Guardian Angel. It's got armor and magic resist and the best item passive in the game for Rammus, a rebirth among death. This is going to force their team to basically ignore you in teamfights. He is like I said before, virtually unkillable with good teammates.


Once you get Guardian Angel, wrap up your Magic Resistence end by getting a Force of Nature and a Banshee's Veil.

YOU COULD end up getting a second Force of Nature if thats what you prefer, its really a situational choice on your part.