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Recommended Items
Runes: PTA/Sorcery
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor
Spells:
Flash
Smite
Items
Threats & Synergies
Kindred
Ranged champions are your biggest weakness. Avoid fighting her unless you can land a fear or you have blue smite available.
Champion Build Guide
Passive: Eternal HungerWarwick's basic attacks deal 10 − 44 (based on level) bonus magic damage on-hit. While below 50% maximum health he is also healed by the amount of post-mitigation damage Eternal Hunger deals. This healing is increased by 150% while below 25% maximum health. |
This is what makes Warwick a good champion for beginners to the jungle. It ensures that you have a decent clear speed and that you're always health while clearing camps. In combat, the healing portion of the passive makes Warwick one of the best early duelers in the game, able to 1v1 anyone save a few exceptions. Use this to your advantage by invading weak junglers early on to set them behind. Combined with the damage reduction from Primal Howl, the passive healing makes Warwick deceptively tanky early on in the game. Use it to your advantage by baiting the enemies into fighting you when you're low on health. Beware of Ignite as it severely reduces the healing you get from your passive. *Note: While the passive's damage scales with level, the healing is based on the post-mitigation damage dealt by the passive. This means magic resist indirectly reduces your healing so keep that in mind when you're trying to duel a target with high magic resist. |
Q: Jaws of the Beast|COST: 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 MANA|COOLDOWN: 6Warwick dashes unstoppably to the target enemy and bites them, dealing 120% AD + 100% AP + 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10% of target's maximum health magic damage , applying on-hit effects and healing himself for 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90% of the damage dealt.If Jaws of the Beast is held, Warwick will lock his teeth into his target and use them to swing himself around to their far side. Warwick is unable to act while swinging around his target, and will move wherever they move until he jumps off. Warwick cannot be displaced while attached to an enemy. |
Jaws of the Beast is an extremely versatile ability. It can be used to stick onto targets, follow blinks (including Flash), dashes and teleports or to sustain yourself during a duel. Jaws of the Beast also functions as an auto-attack animation cancel, so make sure to use that mechanic when playing him. During ganks, use Jaws of the Beast position yourself to fear the enemy champions into your allies. In duels, tapping Jaws of the Beast instead of holding it may be more favourable to maximize dps. *Note: During the channel duration of Jaws of the Beast, you're immune to displacement abilities, which include all forms of airborne, AOE teleports ( Ryze's Realm Warp and Mordekaiser's Realm of Death), and stasis effects ( Bard's Tempered Fate). However, you are still vunerable to conventional CC such as stuns and roots. |
W: Blood Hunt|COST: 70 MANA|COOLDOWN: 120 / 105 / 90 / 75 / 60PASSIVE: Warwick senses all enemy champions below 50% of their maximum health, marking them as Blood Hunted as well as highlighting their position to his team. Warwick additionally sees a "blood trail" highlighting the shortest path to the Blood Hunted target, and gains 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 55% bonus movement speed while following it. Warwick also gains 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110% bonus attack speed upon attacking a Blood Hunted target or an enemy unit below 50% of their maximum health. The bonus movement and attack speed is increased by 150% against enemies below 20% maximum health.ACTIVE: Warwick briefly senses all enemies, and then Blood Hunts the nearest enemy champion within a large radius for 8 seconds, regardless of their current health. |
Blood Hunt has always been Warwick's most iconic ability to the point where there are entire builds dedicated to memeing the hell out of it. The attack speed Blood Hunt grants means Warwick has fairly decent clear speed in the jungle and a lot of dueling potential. It comes in clutch during those early skirmishes where both you and the enemy jungler duke it out in the river. This in combination with Eternal Hunger makes Warwick one of the strongest level 3 duelists. The movement speed gained from Blood Hunt allows Warwick to pick up kills relatively easily during the early parts of the game and gives him unparalled roaming potential. During the late game, the active can be used to single out and catch mispositioned enemies. *Note: This is also one of Warwick's buggiest abilities, with various things that can interfere with the blood trail. The full list can be viewed on the Warwick mains subreddit. |
Primal Howl is Warwick's main ganking tool and the source of his perceived tankiness. The utility that come with this spell in tandem with Infinite Duress allows Warwick to fulfill the role of a peeler and defend his carry. Conversely, it also allows him to fulfill the role of a diver, allowing him to soak more tower damage during his engages. One of the key mechanics that separate experienced Warwick player from beginners is when to activate Primal Howl's second cast. In this sense, it takes many games of experience to determine if the fear or the damage reduction is more valuable in any given situation. Some players tend to fear late to maximize the damage reduction but in most cases, it's better to reactivate it early as sometimes the damage reduction isn't enough and it's not worth taking that risk. *Note: When landing Infinite Duress while the first cast of Primal Howl is active, the second cast immediately activates while maintaining the full duration of the damage reduction of the first cast. This interaction can be used to make interesting dives and plays. |
During the cast time and while leaping, Warwick is unstoppable, but the moment he begins channeling the suppression, he is vulnerable to CC. Be aware of this when ulting champs who have CC abilities with cast times like Yasuo's Steel Tempest or Mordekaiser's Death's Grasp. Unlike most dashes in the game, movement speed does not affect Infinite Duress's dash speed, instead it increases dash distance. This means Warwick will always take the same amount of time to reach the max distance of Infinite Duress, regardless of its current range. Always consider this quirk when trying to land long distance Infinite Duress's. Warwick can activate the second cast of Primal Howl while leaping in Infinite Duress. This mechanic can be used to break spell shields and allow Infinite Duress to land. *Note: Infinite Duress also has some interesting interactions with movement abilities with a cast time such as Zed's Living Shadow and Ezreal's Arcane Shift where if you land Infinite Duress during their cast times, they blink/dash away but your suppresion goes through, so its appears as if you're suppresing air while they're being suppresed further away. |
Pros
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+ excels at dueling + good early game + great objective control + very versatile and flexible + is a good boi |
Warwick’s true strength lies in his versatility and flexibility, in both items and roles. Warwick can frontline as a full tank, peel his carries with Infinite Duress and Primal Howl or disrupt the backline as a high threat diver. Warwick can literally be anything his team needs him to be. Combined with easy snowball potential, reliable CC in ganks, and one of the best dueling kits in the game, Warwick is truly an early game monster. |
Cons
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- weak to kiting - very immobile - falls of late-game - lacks aoe damage for teamfights (can be remedied by Titanic Hydra and Bami's Cinder) - countered by grievous wounds |
Warwick’s weakness lies in his immobility in combat. Warwick has one of the lowest base movement speeds in the game. Coupled with a complete lack of gap-closing abilities (aside from Infinite Duress, Warwick has no way to defend against kiting other than landing Infinite Duress or purchasing Stalker's Blade for Chilling Smite. Buying a grievous wound inflicting item severely reduces Warwick’s healing which plays a large part in his kit. Items like Executioner's Calling, Bramble Vest, and Morellonomicon almost guarantee that you will never see the full potential of Warwick’s sustain. |
Primary Runes
Press the Attack is currently the most viable rune on Warwick. Press the Attack is easily procced given Warwick’s on-hit nature and provides a lot of upfront damage during ganks. The rune scales decently during the mid to late game as well. Conqueror is also viable as a dueling-intensive rune and works even better than Press the Attack in situations where the enemy jungler has a good dueling kit. The healing you get can make you deceptively tanky and the adaptive damage ensures you rarely lose an even 1v1. However, Conqueror takes longer to stack and brings no utility to your team. It also requires a build incorporating attack speed and/or cdr to take full advantage of the rune's potential. |
Triumph is superior to every other option in this slot. Presence of Mind mana refund is unnecessary as Warwick has no mana problems in the jungle. In the case of Overheal, while Warwick may have in-built sustain, it is extremely rare for your healing to go beyond your health bar and since you don’t build much AD on Warwick, it scales poorly. |
Legend: Alacrity is the best of this slot as it synergizes with the fact that Warwick is a predominantly on-hit champion. Legend: Tenacity can be picked instead against high CC comps and Legend: Bloodline is suboptimal as Warwick doesn’t build much AD, to begin with. |
Last Stand synergizes well with Warwick’s sustain at low health and gives him some unprecedented survivability in fights. Coup de Grace can be used as well but it's not often that Warwick has the luxury to pick low health targets. Cut Down is pointless since, in almost every style of Warwick, you’ll be building some health. |
Secondary Runes
Secondary runes don’t affect Warwick much. Most people pick them to complement their playstyle or itemization so it’s a matter of preference. Hence, the secondary runes I recommend are entirely based on my opinions and experience. It’s better to find your own playstyle and experiment with secondary runes in your own time.
Sorcery always has been the most reliable choice for Warwick since it provides constant bonuses and works with whatever playstyle of Warwick. Celerity and Nimbus Cloak are the most reliable choices in the Sorcery tree. Celerity helps cover Warwick’s innate low base movement speed and synergizes well with his Blood Hunt. Nimbus Cloak has extremely good synergy with smite upgrades and can make for easier ganking. It is worth mentioning that Celerity’s bonus ms applies to Nimbus Cloak too. Manaflow Band is unnecessary as jungle items cover Warwick’s high mana cost and Nullifying Orb is only useful if the enemy team has a high magic damage composition. The choice between Transcendence and Celerity is entirely based on preference. If you're willing to forego reliable movement speed for CDR, go for Transcendence. Warwick hardly has any CDR in the item he builds, and 40% CDR Warwick feels amazing regardless of the scenario, so my personal preference is Transcendence. Absolute Focus helps you clear camps at an insane speed, but its use in fights is limited due to its restriction of having to be above 70% of your HP which is unlikely when you’re a frontliner/bruiser. Scorch’s damage is lackluster compared to other runes and is more suited to laning than jungling. Gathering Storm is a rune meant for champions who come online late into the game, which is bad on Warwick since your goal is to end the game before you fall off. |
Resolve is a situational tree, more suited to a build high in resistances and sustain. Conditioning increases your resistances by a base amount and by a percentage, giving more value to Warwick’s innate sustain. Revitalize plays a similar role by increasing Warwick’s sustain, especially when he’s low. Bone Plating and Demolish are runes more suited to laning than jungling since you’ll rarely ever get the chance to use them well. Shield Bash is useless since Warwick has no innate shields and Font of Life is more support oriented, not ideal for Warwick’s bruiser playstyle. Overgrowth requires heavy farming and is suited more to junglers who farm a lot like Shyvana but Warwick is a champion who’s not farm reliant. It’s much better to spend your time mixing ganking and farming rather than just power farming. Unflinching is similar to Legend: Tenacity in the sense that it can be picked when you’re against high CC comps. |
Domination is a niche tree in the sense that it requires you to snowball or at least actively participate in a lot of fights to come online. 2 of the 3 slots in Domination utilize a stacking mechanic based on kill participation, so the tree is suited for more experienced Warwick players who know how to snowball and abuse early mistakes. Sudden Impact is the most reliable of the triplet because it procs on your Jaws of the Beast and you benefit greatly from hybrid penetration. Cheap Shot is a great alternative because you proc it on both your Primal Howl and Infinite Duress. It’s especially good if your team has a lot of hard CC. Taste of Blood doesn’t do well since Warwick doesn’t build much AD. For the second slot, all 3 runes are viable. Both Zombie Ward and Ghost Poro are oriented around vision control, where Zombie Ward emphasizes vision denial and Ghost Poro encourages deep warding. Eyeball Collection rewards you for active kill participation and ganking. Eyeball Collection is more suited to low elos where vision doesn’t matter as much where Zombie Ward and Ghost Poro are better in higher elos where vision matters greatly. For hunter runes, Ultimate Hunter and Relentless Hunter are the best. Relentless Hunter gives you more roaming ability and map dominance. Ultimate Hunter allows you to use Infinite Duress more generously. Ingenious Hunter doesn’t contribute much since the only active item you’ll ever build is Tiamat. Ravenous Hunter doesn't suit Warwick since most of his damage comes from basic attacks and he hardly builds AD which makes the healing weak. |
FLASH: Flash is an extremely important and useful spell. It can be used for engages, escapes, securing kills and even stealing neutral objectives. This spell is irreplaceable on Warwick. |
SMITE: Similar to Flash, Smite is an irreplaceable spell on junglers. If you don’t take Smite when playing the jungle role you’re not really taking the game seriously, so not much can be done there. |
Core Items
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Skirmisher’s Sabre - Cinderhulk > Scaling Health The tank option. The scaling health synergizes well with Titanic Hydra’s on-hit passive and makes you very hard to kill in the late game when you’ve bought a lot of health items. I recommend going this enchantment if you have little experience on Warwick or when your team doesn’t have a frontline/engage. Skirmisher’s Sabre - Warrior > Damage/CDR The damage option. Warwick’s has high AD ratios and does well with CDR. This make Warrior a good snowball enchantment and can help you carry the game if you know what you’re doing. I recommend this if you have a hundred or so games on Warwick and a thorough understanding of his limits and potential. Skirmisher’s Sabre - Bloodrazor > Anti-Tank/On-Hit The niche on-hit option. Warwick’s low movement speed means he’s not very good at orbwalking, so attacks speed items synergize well with him in theory, but in practice you won’t be able to keep up with your enemies enough to continuously auto-attack them. However, it is still good under certain circumstances. It’s incredibly effective against teams with 3 or more tanks and it allows you to shred objectives as fast as an ADC. Its couples well with Titanic Hydra’s and Wit's End’s on-hit. |
Titanic Hydra Titanic Hydra is one of the most built items on Warwick’s in general. It’s the most viable path for Tiamat, an item necessary on Warwick jungle, the on-hit passive synergizes well with Warwick’s on-hit centered kit and he naturally builds HP, amping Titanic Hydra’s damage. However, sometimes its better to delay the completion of the item in favor of more defensive items like Spirit Visage or Dead Man's Plate |
Ninja Tabi > Anti-Auto/Armor Useful against comps which are mostly auto-attack reliant. The go-to boots upgrade since there will always be at least one auto attack reliant champion. Mercury's Treads > Tenacity/Magic Resist Useful against comps with high CC. Good in games where there’s a lot of hard CC champions like Morgana or Maokai. |
Offensive Items
Trinity Force Trinity Force is the most expensive item, making it very punishing to build and delaying you Titanic Hydra power spike. However, if you do complete the item, you’ll be rewarded with insanely high burst damage and DPS plus the rage passive help you deal with ranged champions who can kite you. I only recommend building this item if you’re ahead by approximately 1.5k-2k gold and have no need for defensive items due to its extremely high risk, high reward nature. If you do build this item, finish your build with defensive items since Trinity Force’s damage is more than enough. |
Sterak's Gage Sterak's Gage scales well with bonus health, synergizing well with Enchantment: Cinderhulk builds. Ever since the AD given by Sterak's Gage was changed from base to bonus, its been a lot better on Warwick since Infinite Duress scales off bonus AD. Since the stats Sterak's Gage provides increases with level and items, it's better to build it as a 5th or 6th item to maximize gold efficiency. I’d recommend building this item when the enemy comp has a lot of burst damage and/or CC. |
Blade of the Ruined King Blade of the Ruined King has become extremely viable on Warwick ever since it’s buff, making it a superior alternative to Enchantment: Bloodrazor. Its active helps combat kiting and its passive shreds tanks with ease, making it a good buy when you’re ahead. |
Armor Items
Dead Man’s Plate Dead Man's Plate is considered the staple defensive armor option. If you feel like you’re fed but still kinda squishy and don’t need any defensive passives like Thornmail or Randuin's Omen, Dead Man's Plate is your go-to option. It gives you increased map dominance with its flat movement speed bonus and provides additional utility with the on-hit slow. |
Thornmail The damage reflection, high armor, grievous wounds application and the attack speed reduction makes Thornmail an extremely effective counter to champions like Master Yi or Trundle. This item is good when the enemy team has lot of auto reliant champion with healing capabilities. |
Randuin’s Omen The damage reduction from the passive and the high amount of armor the item provides can make it a pain to deal with for crit based champions. In tandem with Thornmail, crit users will find you a nightmare to deal with. The active slow is unexpectedly strong and has a huge AOE, so utilize it to prevent ranged champions from kiting you. This item is good against crit based champions like Yasuo and Tryndamere as well as marksmen who build crit like Jhin and Xayah. |
Guardian Angel The revive passive makes it less punishing to go for aggressive plays or dives and allows you to engage for your team without the risk of dying in the process. This item is useful when you’re already ahead and trying to carry or when you’re the only reliable engage on your team and there’s a high risking of dying during said engage. When building into the item, try to utilize the Stopwatch active whenever possible to ensure cost-efficiency. |
Magic Resist Items
Spirit Visage The primary magic resist option on Warwick. The passive synergizes well with Warwick’s inbuilt healing and Triumph and makes you near unkillable if taken with Wit's End. Always useful if there are mages or AP bruisers on the enemy team. |
Wit's End Ever since its rework, Wit's End has been an amazing magic resist option on Warwick. It’s passive is basically an upgraded version of Warwick’s Eternal Hunger and synergizes very well with Warwick’s kit. The on-hit passive is applied by both your Jaws of the Beast and Infinite Duress, so it’s extremely efficient. The passive deals magic damage, so in tandem with your own passive, it’s very hard for enemies to itemize against you. I recommend this item as an offensive alternative to Spirit Visage or an addition to it since they synergize well with each other. |
Adaptive Helm The damage reduction on the same consecutive spells casts allows you to negate some damage from spammy abilities like Twin Fang and Overload. It’s a suitable addition if Spirit Visage isn’t enough and they have DPS mages like Ryze or Cassiopeia. |
Situational Items
Frozen Heart High armor and a lot of CDR. The attack speed debuff stack multiplicatively with Warden's Mail cold steel passive and its upgrades, Randuin's Omen and Thornmail for a total of 27.5 attack speed reduction. This item is useful in addition to the other Warden's Mail upgrades if there are a lot of auto-reliant champions on the enemy team. |
Righteous Glory Sometimes Warwick’s Blood Hunt into a held Jaws of the Beast and Primal Howl isn’t a strong enough engage and you need to save Infinite Duress to peel for your carries. Turbo Chemtank provides a strong movement speed bonus and an AOE slow, allowing you to save your other abilities for additional utility and relevance in teamfights. I suggest taking this item when you’re the only champion able to engage on your team or if you’re up against a ranged comp to help you deal with kiting. |
Iceborn Gauntlet High armor, a lot of CDR and most importantly, a spellblade passive. The AOE slow help deals with ranged champions who can kite you or champions which have movement speed steroids (eg. Hecarim). Since both your Jaws of the Beast and Infinite Duress proc and apply spellblade, you get full use of the passive. Build this item against heavy AD threats and ranged champions. |
Gargoyle Stoneplate A tank oriented late-game item. The stone skin passive alone makes the item extremely cost-efficient, especially during late game teamfights when you’ll be the focus of ADCs and DPS mages. The metallicize active, if timed correctly, can allow you to survive through the brunt of the enemy comp’s damage, forcing them to burn ultimates and ignites to kill you, allowing your team to clean them up. I recommend this as a 5th or 6th item when you are the primary frontline for your team and you need both resistances. |
Abyssal Mask The unique aura of Abyssal Mask makes it a good team-oriented item on Warwick. Although the stats aren’t as good as other magic resist items and the eternity passive is somewhat useless, the 15% damage increased damage to nearby enemy champion makes it well worthwhile. I recommend this when you have an AP heavy comp with a lot of AOE abilities like Kennen’s Slicing Maelstrom and Vladimir’s Tides of Blood. |
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