Hi, I'm Miffy from the NA servers. I'm a secondary student and have been playing League for two years now. I have always thought Garen was a champion that couldn't scale and wasn't very viable this was until one day when I was demolished by an enemy Garen top lane. He had infinite sustain and no matter how low his health got (I was playing AD Nidalee and constantly harassing him), 2 minutes later, he would be back full health (without leaving lane). I decided to reenact his build and I have been maining Garen ever since. I realized the reason why he was so nonviable was because everyone was playing Garen incorrectly: going full tank (no damage and little utility) or going full damage (shutdown and kited way too easily). This guide will teach you how to dominate with Garen not just early game, but mid game and late game as well. Please note that I only play normals, so it is up to you to try this in high elo gameplay. Also note that this is how I play, so you can embed your different playstyles in game and also give me suggestions on how to play Garen (remember there's always room to improve). Thanks to jhoijhoi for writing a guide on how to code and make a guide.

And by the way, I won't be going into too much detail on things like masteries or runes because I have faith that you have enough common sense to be able to understand my reasoning and decisions. Aside from that, have fun playing this game, and enjoy reading this guide.

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The role of Garen is to pretty much carry and win games for your team. You make all the decisions on when to initiate, for Garen is a leader and is fearless. Garen farms and wins exchanges against the enemy in top lane early game (getting a few kills and fed most of the time if played correctly), whilst never having to leave even when having 3k gold. Garen then transforms from a strong ad bruiser early-game/mid-game into an extreme bulk of damage that can silence casters, secure kills and destroy carries.

Garen, like all other champions, has his own pros and cons. Try to recognize the points below and minimize his cons and utilize his pros well.

Pros Sustains in lane really well due to Perseverance Extremely tanky late game with over 4k hp. Pushes minions quickly with Judgment, also destroys towers relatively quickly using Decisive Strike Can chase down enemies and secure kills with relative ease.

Cons Melee champion and has slow attack speed Can have a hard time in lane when kited Low skill cap and therefore gets boring?

• Standard setup: Ignite+ Ghost
• AD enemy top: Exhaust+ Ghost
• Also viable: Exhaust+ Flash or Ignite+ Flash
• Not recommended: Flash+ Ghost or Exhaust+ Ignite
• Never tried this, but I think its just as viable: Teleport

TBH, I actually can't tell because I play blind pick lol, so just go with the standard setup unless you play ranked.

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Perseverance (Passive): This, is the reason why Garen is so OP. It synchronizes with two Rejuvenation Beads extremely well. With this passive active, Garen will heal like he just used a Health Potion. Bush when this is active, or just stay away from enemy attack range. Tip: Keep in mind that when this passive is up, lasthitting ranged minions at the back will not aggro them unless there are no friendly minions nearby, so it is completely fine to do so. If the enemy attacks you, Decisive Strike them in the face and Judgment + Courage them. Read more in the WIN EXCHANGES SECTION (SELF NOTE EDIT SO URL IS THERE)

Decisive Strike (Q): You can silence, chase and remove slow debuffs but this is not your bread and butter skill. Why max it first instead of Judgment? There are two reasons. Firstly, being a melee champion, using judgment to harass the enemy will almost certainly push your lane too far making you susceptible to enemy ganks;also, you inevitably missing CS when the enemy ranged minions are in turret range. Secondly, maxing Decisive Strike first will give you a longer movement speed boost, making you able to catch up to the enemy opponent 90% of the time whether during ganks or just harassing. Again, this is MY playstyle that works for me so even if you strongly disagree with my skill order, I strongly advise you to try it first before downvoting or flaming my guide. Tip: In the event of an enemy gank, save Decisive Strike for after they use their slows like Exhaust for it removes all movement speed debuffs allowing you for a safe escape.

Courage (W): This skill's passive is the reason why why Garen doesn't need to build that much magic resist and armor to be tanky. It's cooldown isn't that long so remember to activate this generously when you necessary in lane e.g. when a turret shot is coming at you, and best thing about it is it costs nothing. Tip: Activating Courage when Judgment is active won't cancel the spell.

Judgment (E): This is your bread and butter skill. Use this for clearing huge minion waves. Always use this after using Decisive Strike. In teamfights, Decisive Strike the enemy that has the biggest threat and spin away at them, activate Courage while you're at it. In lane, do the same when exchanging with enemy. Tip: You can ignore unit collision when this spell is active, but going through minions will cost you 20% movement speed. Therefore, when harassing the enemy when they are running away, try not to collide with minions.

Demacian Justice (R): Your ultimate. Very similar to Noxian Guillotine. Use this ability to secure kills. Obviously there is priority for enemy carries, but using it on other enemy champions to secure kills is also fine. Tip: Use this to get kills. Through time and practice, you will know how low the opponent will be to deal the killing blow. Enemy 20% health approx. Teamates may rage at you for "KS-ing" but you know, you're winning ;)

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I always start with 2 Rejuvenation Bead, a sight ward and a Health Potion because after the removal of regrowth pendant and change of recipe for Warmog's Armor, Rejuvenation Bead can offer just as good sustain in lane, allowing for you to play aggressive and win exchanges against the enemy. A sight ward is also really useful because it helps prevent the enemy from ganking you, making you able to farm and push safely. Ok, your actually play style is actually dictated by the enemy top: ranged or melee. Now if they were a melee, you've got a huge advantage. This is because you can lasthit safely, and when they try to lasthit your minions, go Decisive Strike then Courage and Judgment on them and follow them as they back off. You will win 90% of these exchanges. Now playing against ranged enemies is a little tougher, but there still shouldn't be that much of a problem. Just stay back and lasthit by your tower and call your jungler to gank, or ideally, stay in the bush and when they go to lasthit, quickly run to them and do your standard combo. Try avoiding going back base unless absolutely necessary as you can regenerate health back relatively quickly.

Slowly but surely, you should be able to wear the enemy down. When the enemy reaches around 300-400hp, use your combo again but this time Ghost after it ends and Ignite them. Keep chasing and auto-attacking and voilà, an enemy has been slain!

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Ok, if you haven't gotten a kill yet (unluckily), then the enemy should at least be really low health and therefore has to go back base. USE THIS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE. Do not just push your creeps all the way to the end, instead deny the enemy experience by letting their creeps kill yours. Oh, another thing to remember when playing Garen is you don't really need a jungler to help your lane unless ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. Tell your jungler to help other lanes instead. Following the early game playstyle, you should be able to be a little ahead of the enemy. Usually, when you play another champion, they would still be able to make a comeback, but this is Garen we are talking about. EXPLOIT THIS ADVANTAGE. Zone, zone, and zone even more. Deny, deny deny. (remember to place a sight ward by the river though. If you don't know what zoning is, heres a tutorial:


Depending on how well you do, you should go back base once you have enough to get Boots and The Brutalizer or Black Cleaver altogether.

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Ok, by now you should be aiming to: a) get their top tower and/or b) gank other lanes. If you choose to a), continue to play like you did before until you get another kill or force the enemy to go back base and get their tower. After this, proceed to b), ganking is a pretty situational thing and being good at ganking comes with experience. Just do your standard combo on the enemy as usual. Continue to get towers if possible, lasthit, help team in mini (or big) teamfights, clear waves of minions using Judgment and with the help of Sunfire Aegis and also getting dragon if possible.

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By now, you should nearly be full build, and normally you would be a ahead of everyone else in game. This is because you hog all of farm and get all the kills because you are Garen. Just kidding, but you should still be focusing a lot on farming top and also getting kills. Now just in teamfights remember to activate your combo in the order of Decisive Strike, Courage then Judgment on the enemy AD or AP squishy. Chase them down until their health is low and then slay then with Demacian Justice. These skills and how to use them are explained in the items section, and I'm pretty sure everything else is self explanatory or comes from experience in playing Garen. Ghost and Ignite if necessary.

In summary, despite the recent nerfs, Garen is still a borderline OP champion that is relatively easy to play. As long as the enemy makes one mistake, you can easily exploit that and dominate them in lane. Well I think this just about covers everything about how I play ! If there are any suggestions for changes or improvements, feel free to comment below. Also, if you enjoyed this guide, I'd really appreciate it if you left a rating. Thanks!

Yours Faithfully,
Matthew.