Hello, my name is Erenior and i play League of Legends since release (with a break at start of season two). I play usually support champions like Janna or going top from time to time. 30 years old, living in good old germany, just to mention that not a little kid is writing here ;)
Although i dont play very competitive (e.g. ranked) at all this guide can be considered in this way, the difference between normal and ranked is simple: team composition is even more important in ranked games. so listen kids, dont be that guy that instalocks and because of that forces others to pick something that they dont feel comfortable with just because you were that selfish. Communication is one of the most important keys to success.

And please if you are going to rate just leave a short comment what you liked or even disliked so that i can improve. It is my first guide ever made.

This Guide will include

Pros / Cons

Runes

Masteries

Summoner Spells

Skills

Items and building order

The Match starts

Bad Matchups on Top

Final Words & Credits

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greater mark of armor penetration will scale better compared to flat AD runes and will shred squishies with ease

Greater Seal of Armor gives us even more survivabilty in top lane early on

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist for the extra tankiness in late game

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed you are a melee and if you can't stick to your target you are screwed due to the fact you don't have any ranged abilities except the dash from Slice and Dice

Offensive tree

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Summoner's Wrath gives us 5 AD every time that Ignite is on cooldown for a single mastery point, which will happen a lot

Sorcery for the cdr, obviously

Deadliness for the extra damage scaling into lategame

Weapon Expertise for additional armor penetration and extra damage

Defensive tree

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Durability extra health is always nice

Hardiness and Resistance for extra AR and MR

Relentless will often help you escape or chase down your enemies while being slowed

Veteran's Scars more extra health and very good for your early game

Tenacious more tenacity that stacks with your Mercury's Treads

Juggernaut even more life and synergizes with the item build very well

Defender up to 5 armor and magic resist for just one single mastery point

Honor Guard 3% less damage from all ressources is always nice

RECOMMENDED

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USEFUL OPTIONS BUT NOT RECOMMENDED

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exhaust is a good alternative to ignite, especially if you face an enemy with high attack speed like
Jax or shutting down AD carries

a decent spell but not that useful. we are already very quick thanks to Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed and Slice and Dice (and in late game Enchantment: Alacrity). i would not trade my Flash for it

Skills explained

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REIGN OF ANGER - PASSIVE
Your autoattacks generate 5 fury. You generate an additional 50% fury if you are below 50% of your health. With 50 or more fury your next abilitiy gets strengthened but will consume 50 fury. After 12 seconds out of combat you lose 5 fury every 2 seoonds.

A good passive. It empowers your abilities if you are above 50 fury:

Cull the Meek more damage and more health gain
Ruthless Predator hits three times instead of two and doubles the stun duration time to 1.5 seconds
Slice and Dice more damage and if an enemy was hit dice will shred the armor of opponents hit by a percentage amount for 4 seconds



CULL THE MEEK
Renekton swings his blade and deals physical damage to nearby enemies, gaining a percentage of its damage as health back.

Your bread and butter skill. Very good for farm minions and harass your enemy. Additionally it provides you with a beastly amount of sustain thanks to the healing. But do not spam it because you will push your lane like crazy. Use it smart.



RUTHLESS PREDATOR
Your next attack will hit twice (applying on hit effects) and stuns the target.

A really useful skill that can mean the difference between life and death for both yourself if defensivly used or your enemy. As any stun it can be used wisely to stop spells like Katarinas Death Lotus or Nunu & Willumps Absolute Zero



SLICE AND DICE
Renekton dashes forward to a near position. If an enemy was hit he can use Dice for 4 seconds.

I can not say how much i like this ability. Chasing, juking, dodging skillshots, dash through walls and escape et cetera. Its like a small additional Flash with damage.
Tip: Try to hit an enemy (which can also be a minion) so that dice will become active. This way you double the travel distance.



DOMINUS - ULTIMATE
Grants additional health and generates additional fury per second. Surrounding enemies will receive magic damage per second.

A very good ultimate for Renekton. You can bait your enemies to overextend and then *BAM* make them regret their decision. Also a lifesaver in many cases (100hp left, Ignited ... sounds familiar, doenst it?) The AoE damage comes in handy.

Sequence

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i usually start of with Cull the Meek and play relatively aggressive right from the start and beginn zoning if possible to deny gold to my lane opponent (depends on lane opponent).
An alternative with priority on a more defensive / safer beginning is to take Ruthless Predator at level 1. take this first if your team wants to invade their jungle at the beginning or you suggest being ganked right from the start by their jungler / enemy team.


General skill priority

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Dominus [R] > Cull the Meek [Q] > Slice and Dice [E] > Ruthless Predator [W]

Dominus as his ultimate for obvious reasons.
Cull the Meek is your bread and butter tool for damage output

The reason why we prioritize Slice and Dice over Ruthless Predator is that the stun duration from your Ruthless Predator [W] remains the same at all levels while the cooldown from your Slice and Dice [E] will decrease with every skill point so that you can dash more often which is very vital.

Examples of ability use

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Standard Harass
Slice and Dice (slice) to enemy champion, Ruthless Predator, Cull the Meek, autoattack, Slice and Dice (dice) out.
Tip: Don't forget to autohit for a little bit of extra damage.

Escape
Ruthless Predator, Slice and Dice (slice) to an enemy minion, Slice and Dice (dice) further away / through a wall. If necessary Flash can still be used.

Below is a pretty simple video of Renekton vs Jax where nearly everything will be explained (Credits to HTTL):

STARTING ITEMS

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Boots + 3x Health Potions is pretty standard and therefore never really wrong. On the other side you already have really good sustain and from lvl 3 an escape mechanism Slice and Dice and of course your additional Flash

This is my preferred start. Long Sword + 2 Health Potions will push your already strong early and lets you farm a quick The Brutalizer which will offer you anything you want for your first build item. If you feel safe enough i recommend this start.

sight ward Feel that you will get a pain lane? Champions like Gangplank or Pantheon can be a pain in the a** due to their ability to harass you safely from a distance. Grab sight ward + 4 Health Potions and an Elixir of Fortitude for mega sustain. not recommended at all.

BUILDING ORDER

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First items you will want:

- -

end of early, starting Midgame:

- - - -

Lategame:

- - - - -

THOUGHTS ABOUT ITEM BUILD

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Of course, this is just an example build, especially the late game build. My general thought is: if you are dead you cant do anything so i like to mix my build with some dmg and items that increase my chances to survive. Due to the fact you are a melee you will get hurt in ANY WAY in every team fight


Q:Why Spirit Visage ?
A: It offers anything Renekton wants. CDR, MR, HP and its a pretty cheap item with only 2200 gold in total. Besides that it improves the life gain from Cull the Meek. With this, Black Cleaver and the 3% CDR from Sorcery you get 33% CDR, so that your Q/W/E/R will be 5/6/9/80 seconds at max levels.

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With your strong farming capabilities the difference of 350g is farmed easily most of the time. Crit Chance is not a worthy stat on Renekton. With bad luck you wont get a critical while fighting and you are not based on auto attacks like ranged champions, e.g. Ashe or champions that utilize crit chance like Tryndamere

So whats left? 450 hp and 20 AoE DPS vs. 45 AD. I will decide mostly in favor of Sunfire Aegis but that does not mean that Atma's Impaler isn't a good item. feel free to buy it instead.

Ah, dat early... the strongest time you will ever have while playing Renekton. he is a real beast at the beginning. Because of this i will write that early a bit in detail.

First Rule: Do not die
Sounds fairly simple, doesn't it? The truth is, i have often seen players on any lane that have miscalculated an opportunity, trying to get a kill and dying themselves for being too greedy.

Why do i mention this? Because players that have picked a champion with a good early often try to overextend or being to aggressive. Not to mix up with going for a clear and easy kill, but please, check first the minimap whats going on before you do something with a risk above average, tower diving, for example.
If you screw your strong early to such a fault and strengthen your opponent because of this... blame on you.

Second rule: Last hitting (also known as "don't forget your farm")
Getting gold in a small amount of time through consequent lasthitting is vital. Some players decide more to go for player kills and forget about their farming. Of course, if you can get a kill, do it, but dont forget: 13 melee minions resemble nearly 300g

Third rule: Harass / Zone
Lets say, you are up to an enemy champion on top lane like... lets say Darius. he is for any reason i dont really know feared by many players i have seen. ok, he has a strong damage output, but he can not really do something to your standard harass combo:

Slice and Dice --> Ruthless Predator --> autohit --> Cull the Meek --> Slice and Dice

with a bit of training it is that simple that you can punish him for wanting gold from your creeps but he won't be able to respond to this form of harass. Your enemy will choose from 1 of 3 options: stand defensive (and gets no farm), yelling at his jungler to come for a gank (which you should be prepared for at any time!) or he will try to fight you back, which is difficult when Renekton is played properly.

When facing a strong range harasser like Gangplank ask your jungler for a gank and try to get your life back with Cull the Meek and lasthit as often as safely possible.

I would like to mention the Champions i had a difficult time on top lane so that you can be warned. No one is unbeatable, but some are stronger than others while playing renekton:


Pantheon can be very very hard. Pantheon is similar to Renekton but he also got a range harass Spear Shot. i do not recommend to go against him. Ask your jungler for ganks. If you meet him on the lane just stick to lasthitting as good as you can. And as always: Any champ can be played bad. If that is the case use it to your advantage.


Oh Garen, so damn high sustain. Every time you are going to harass him he just walks a bit away, generates life with his passive Perseverance. Watch out for his Decisive Strike, usually followed by a spin-to-win Judgment which can not be dodged with Slice and Dice because we are silenced.


Also one of the more difficult champions to face. Good sustain, Rupture knocks you up, Feral Scream silences you and at lvl 6 his ultimate Feast deals true damage.
Always dodge his Rupture, which can easily be achievend with your Slice and Dice.


PARRRRLEY. Yep. Parrrley. Did i mention Parrrley? Good range harass, can escape your combo with his Remove Scurvy easily.

First of i would like to thank jhoijhoi for her guide on making a guide and those pretty red lines in my skill section. Without her it would have been much more difficult.

HowToTopLane (HTTL) For his pretty selfexplaining video on youtube. Credit where Credit's due.

Silphi for encourageing me to give dat Crocodile a go. I just love dat croc <3

The video "1v5 pentakill" belongs to marean90

25.03.2013 - Changes on format and typos fixed // Optional Items added in cheat sheet // Section "Basic Stats" added

24.03.2013 - Guide Created