Rammus is a monster if played right. He will turn on his shell, taunt a carry, use his ult and can easily kill the carry with little help from his team while absorbing tons of damage. With his shield up he becomes one of the best tanks in the game with 120 armor/magic resistance. He excels in singling out the most threatening carry on the enemy team and if fed properly, can kill them before his taunt runs out. I have played Rammus more than any other champion and won games that should have been a loss. The first half of the guide gives you Runes, Mastery's, Skills, and item build. The rest of the guide goes into greater detail of what Rammus is good at, his objectives, and his roll in a team fight. Follow this guide and you will carry hard with Rammus the Armadillo!

This ability makes you go really really fast. Without boots i have used powerball and caught up to an enemy with second tear boots no problem. It is really is the best ability for ganking. It will get you in the enemy's face, does damage, and has a nice aoe slow as well.


This ability is anti ADC. The more attack speed the enemy has the more damage that will be coming straight back at them. This ability used with taunt is your bread and butter and when combined with thornmail can spell certain death to an enemy ADC.

Puncturing Taunt
This ability is what makes Rammus amazing. Three seconds of time where your enemy cant control his champion and is forced to sit back and watch as you tear his champion up. Casting this on melee champions and running backwards is a good way for you to grab an enemy away from his turret and let your team dog pile him.


This ability is perfect for Rammus. It does a ton of aoe damage, maxing at 1560 base damage at last level, and it does not have a very long cooldown. Early game its great for when you are tanking enemies near dragon with your defensive ball curl on. By the time Tremors is over either the enemies are running back to their base or they are already dead. Late game it is great for bursting down the enemies carries.

Uses

1. Initiation- If an enemy is hard to get a hold of flash can be invaluable. Flash->Taunt->sheild->Ult can be done in 2 seconds
2. Escape- If you are about to die the best use of flash is to flash->Powerball. Doing this over a wall is almost certain escape.



You are a jungler so smite is a must.

Start out with Hunters Machete and 5 Health Potios


On your first back you should upgrade to Spirit stone and get boots and 2 Health Potions



Next you should prioritize getting Spirit of the Ancient Golem followed by giants belt. This is Rammuses Core build. From here you go in either 3 directions depending on if your enemies are primarily doing Attack damage Vs. Magic damage or both. (Normally its the greater number of enemies that do either Attack or magic damage but sometimes you have to look at which of their carries is the most fed.)



If the enemy does mostly Magic Damage build this
then then then


If the enemy does mostly Attack Dammage build this
then then then


If the enemy does a mix of damage build this. This is the build i go most of the time i play.
then or then and and finaly


Your final build should look similar to this



Some good final items

Pros

-Excellent Ganker
-Great mobility
-Amazing tank
-Great cc
-Can kill carries solo

Cons

-No Health Regen abilities
-Bad duelist against other junglers
-Not the fastest jungler
-falls off late game

Blue buff -> Wolves -> Wraiths -> Red buff - > Golems -> (Gank mid or Bot) -> Wolves -> Back

This is the path i go most of the time. Be careful at red buff because junglers like to gank you there so be ready to run away.

Where do i gank?

After you back for the first time you should assess your teamates and see which ones need help the most. If a lane is totally compromised you will want to babysit the lane until your teammate is okay, its not fun but it is better than letting your enemy's free farm. If your teamate is struggling you should tell him to play it safe wait for you to gank. If all lanes are doing fine then the lane you want to gank is the lane that is most pushed up onto your turret. If all lanes are equal then Mid is the best place to gank because many mids do not ward as much as bottom and top.

How do i gank?

There are two types of ganks that Rammus can make. In each case you want to ping the enemy you intend to taunt as well as avoid colliding with enemy minions when using powerball.
1. Rammus comes in from a side bush from a lane. If you know that the side bush is warded you will want to activate powerball before you are in the bush. Even though there is a ward Rammuses powerball is so fast that sometimes you can catch the person before they have a chance to walk back to their turret.
2. Rammus comes up through the lane, clouded by the fog of war, and catches a target that is pushed on your turret. When ganking this way it is important to activate powerball before you reach the turret to maximize your movement speed to close the distance.

Should i stay or should i go?

When sitting in a bush waiting for an opportunity to gank it is always difficult to know if you should stay and possibly get a kill or leave to farm in the jungle. Most of the time you will want to farm close by and wait for the enemy to push up or make a mistake. Rammuses greatest strength is his ability to get across the map super fast with his powerball. The most i would wait is about 10 seconds, if you wait any longer you will loss farm and drop off mid game.

My allie is low on health should i still gank?

It is always important to predict the outcome of a gank. If you think that your allies will die from the confrontation it is safer to tell them that you will guard their lane till they come back. Playing it safe is never a bad idea.

Early Game

Gank your lanes

1.A successful gank is one where you either get a kill, pop their ultimate, pop their flash, or get them so low they have to back.
2.Showing presence in a lane can intimidate the enemy team and make them play more careful.

Protect your turrets

1. Rammus has incredible mobility making him a great turret defender early game. Rammus is incredibly deadly on a turret due to the fact that he has defensive ball curl and a 3 second taunt.
2. Preventing your enemies a turret kill can deny them 750 gold for their team.
3. Protecting turrets helps your teamate stay in the laneing phase longer and gives them a chance to get high cs.

Giving mid Blue Buff

1. Always allow your mid to take Blue buff. Giving them this buff allows them to farm better and stay in lane longer.
2. You can quickly give them Blue buff if you smite it first then do some damage and let them finish it off.

Mid Game

Initiate team fight at dragon

1. In most games, there is usually a team fight around dragon in the middle of the game. It is your job to focus the enemy's carries and keep them out of the fight.
2. Do not do dragon when the enemy team is nearby. Rammus is not good at regenerating health which will put him in a bad place if a team-fight breaks out while your doing dragon.

Protect your turrets

1. If your team losses a team fight it is very important that you live through the fight. If half way through the fight you know your going to lose, powerball to safety then recall. After you get full Health protect the turret that the enemy is pushing. At mid game you cant protect it as well as early game but you can usually deter them from killing the turret.

Late Game

Initiation

1. This is your biggest roll. Your job is to start the fight and it is a huge responsibility. Your initiation can make or break a team fight so its important to ask yourself a couple questions before you take the plunge.

a. Will we win the fight?
b. Who is the biggest threat?
c. Are my allies nearby?
d. Should i not initiate and peel for my carries?

Get your team in a Group

1. After your carries have pushed their lanes half way up it is important to travel in a group in search of the enemy team. Many games are won and loss based on if a team is grouped or not and it is your job to signal your team to group on you.

Tank their turret

1. After your team gets and ace and you have good health it is your job to tank the enemy's turret. Do not wait until the creep wave pushes to the turret, this is a noob mistake, because by that time the enemy team has respawned already. It is your job to ping a turret and tell your team that you are going to tank that turret.
2. After you take a turret or two it is important to keep an eye on the respawn timer. It is important to know what you can get away with and what you cant.

Wards and Oracles

1. Map vision is crucial late game. 75 gold can be the difference between a win or a loss.
2. It is important to only go scouting when you know the enemy team is not nearby. This is usually not a problem for Rammus because if he gets caught he usually stays alive long enough for an allie to come and help. However, late game you can get caught and killed faster than an allie can come help you.

If you want a champion that is easy to jungle, Rammus is not a good choice for you. He is slower than other champions and does not sustain his health as good as lee sin, warwick, or udyr. However, Rammus makes up for that and more with his amazing gank potential, great tanking, and his ability to single out and kill an enemy carry. You might not win a fight in the forest early game but you will be able to tank tank 4 enemies for your team mid game. Because of his amazing speed you will be able to get to fights easier than other junglers. Knowing when to go in and when to retreat is the most important aspect of Rammus. Predict how the fight will turn out and then decide weather to go in or not. Mastering this will win team fights and get you kills as you carry hard with Rammus.

1. Always expect to be ganked at red buff. If they have a lee sin its a 100% chance he will gank you. To avoid dieing scout around red buff. When doing it make sure you start it with full hp and lure it into the bush so that if the jungler comes at you you can run away. If you do find the jungler near your red buff it is wise to run away unless you can get help from either bot or mid because rammus is not a good duelist.
2. Standing next to a turret and taunting an enemy will get you kills. Because the enemy has to attack you your turret will fire at them for a full 3 seconds before they can do anything.
3. If you are low health on a turret and two champions are attacking you, do not sit there and attack them. Instead walk or powerball around your turret until your turret kills them. It sounds stupid but i have gotten so many kills just because enemy's want the kill so badly that they chase you for longer than they expected and die to the turret.
4. If you are ganking tristana, power ball up to her but do not hit her. When she rocket jumps over you she will hit your powerball and fall down beside you.
5. After you hit someone with powerball or taunt them it i important to position yourself between them and their turret. Doing this will grant you extra auto attacks and will slow them down.
6. If you are going against Physical damage champions that has a lot of life steal like Warwick or Nasus it is usally better to taunt their mage instead.