1. Introduction 2. Pros and Cons 3. Runes 4. Summoner Spells 5. Skill Sequence

6. Matchups & Synergies 7. Abilities 8. Cosmic Radiance - Ultimate 9. Items 10. Thank you!

So this is my guide on how to become a brilliant Taric player! Taric is not the most popular champion on the rift, but when played correctly he is a god in terms of keeping his team alive. His ultimate is outrageous in teamfights and Bastion makes him able to cast Starlight's Touch, Dazzle and Cosmic Radiance from other champions aswell as himself. Having Taric on the team makes it safer to engage teamfights and his stunning looks is not to be forgotten! Currently I'm a diamond player who plays League of Legends for fun. My peak in solo queue is at diamond 3. In season 7 I changed my summoner name to "Taric Support" and I was earlier called "Lukkebeast". In S6 I hit challenger in Flex queue which is my greatest achievement in League of Legends so far!

I play a lot of games but not all are as great as I want them to be. I strive to get better at playing support and improving my skills every game. Not two games are alike and that's what I think is awesome. Every game you have to adapt your play-style and itemisation to which champions you are playing against.



Taric is my main champion and I really enjoy playing him. He is a champion that has a lot of influcence on the other players' performance in the game, which I think is amazing beacuse I like the teamwork in League of Legends. Taric can peel, heal and shield for days and yet he is also tanky as hell, and that is why he is my favorite champion. In ranked matches I played a total of 155 games with Taric in season 7. I won 100 and lost 55 which left me at a 65% winrate. I also played a huge amount of normal games, which you can tell by the fact that I've reached a mastery score of 500k on Taric alone. Taric is of course also one of the champions I've upgraded to mastery lvl. 7. Mastery lvl. 7 is of course only meant to be used when showing off ;)



The picture below shows one of my winning sprees with Taric. He's a stunningly good-looking man, but he is also quite effective when it comes to winning games.




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Pros + Tanky + Great sustain + Invulnerablility + Peeling + Extra armor to an ally and himself + Great at turning fights around + Protects the whole team + Fights very well in narrow places + Great late game Taric is a great pick when you need someone to keep the team alive, and he scales very well into late game. Taric has a rather defensive laning phase, and he is also good at punishing enemies when they overextend.

Cons - Slow and defensive early game - Easily gankable - Vulnerable to AP - Cast time on ult - Low movementspeed - Low mobility - Stun is easy to dodge - 0 poke - Struggles against disengage Taric is a nice champion, but he also has his flaws. He has a hard time dealing with ganks, as his mobility is very limited. Furthermore, his teamfighting is quite inefficient when Cosmic Radiance is timed incorrectly.

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GUARDIAN Guardian is the perfect pick for the defensive support, as it provides a fairly strong shield to you and your guarded ally. The shield lasts 2 seconds. Guardian helps you survive in lane and trade efficiently in the early game, which is great as Taric has a rather slow and defensive early game. If you cast Bastion on a nearby ally then Bastion will also activate Guardian, which is very beneficial as Taric has very low mobility and otherwise won't be able to activate Guardian.

FONT OF LIFE When Taric hits Dazzle and an ally attacks the enemy that Taric has stunned, Font of Life provides a bit of healing for his teammate, which scales with Taric's own health. Taric is all about helping and buffing his teammates, and therefore, I think that Font of Life is the best choice for Taric.

CONDITIONING Tankiness is key to surviving, and Conditioning, which after 12 minutes both increases your armor and magic resistance by 9 and also increases your armor and magic resistance by 5%, is effective when you need to stay alive. The build I've shown in this guide, contains both armor and magic reistance, and the +5% you gain after 12 minutes buffs your stats a bit, which is nice.

REVITALIZE Taric has both a shield and heal, and therfore Revitalize is a must on Taric. Revitalize increases all incoming and outgoing heals and shields by 5% and when the target is below 40% of their health, the heals and shields are increased by 15%, which is a lot, as Taric can spam Starlight's Touch if he uses both his Bravado attacks to reset it's cooldown.

BISCUIT DELIVERY It can be hard for Taric to survive on botlane, if the opposing botlane has a lot of poke, as Taric can't respond very well to poke. The health and mana that the biscuits from Biscuit Delivery provide, helps Taric stay healthy in lane without having to use all his mana on Starlight's Touch. With Biscuit Delivery Taric also doesn't have to waste money on Health Potions

COSMIC INSIGHT As Taric relies heavily on his abilities, cdr is very important on him. Therefore Cosmic Insight is a great choice as it gives you 5% cdr on your summoner spells, active items and abilities. The summoner spell cdr is super good on Taric because your Flash then will be available more often, which is Taric's only escape option.

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- FLASH: Flash is a must on almost every champion on the rift. It allows you to get away from bad situations and lets you jump over walls if needed. Flash can be combined with Dazzle. If you cast Dazzle and then Flash when it is about to end the casting time, you will hit a long lasting stun which is near impossible to Flash out of, because it lands just as you Flash towards your enemy. EXHAUST: Taric is about locking people down with your stun and peeling for your ADC and other carries. Exhaust really helps you protect your beloved teammates. It can be used both aggressivly and defensively which makes it ideal for rejecting ganks, securing kills in lane and generally just protecting your carry from being assassinated by champions like Zed, LeBlanc, Rengar, Kha'Zix and Akali.

IGNITE: Ignite is an optional summoner spell on Taric as he usually is a very protective support, who focuses more on protecting his carries than dealing the killing blow. With that being said, Ignite can actually be a very effective tool against supports like Soraka who relies on healing her ADC, as the healing effect then will be heavily reduced. It is also important to bear in mind that Ignite reduces Heal's effect, which means a lot in early skirmishes, as your Ignite then practically eliminates the enemy ADC's Heal.

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You will want to max Dazzle first, as it gives you the opportunity to trade efficiently in lane. If you play against a lane with a lot of poke you can mix your Starlight's Touch and Bastion maxing as it gives you the opportunity to skill what is needed. Max Starlight's Touch second. The heal is important, but the mana cost is too high in the early game, where you should be able to spam Starlight's Touch as an auto attack reset, which is really great because of the damage dealt by Bravado. This is why you should pick Starlight's Touch at level 3 and 4. The mana cost is only increased by 10 mana and the heal is much better. Max Bastion last, as it gives you and the champion you are linked to increased armor, and the shield also becomes stronger. You can max Bastion last, as the most important thing about Bastion is the passive effect, which allows you to cast all your spells from both you and your linked buddy.


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Bravado (Passive)

Taric infuses his next two basic attacks whenever he casts an ability. He swings faster with these two attacks, which deal 25-93 (at levels 1-18) (+15% of bonus armor) bonus magic damage and reduce his base spells' cooldowns by 1-0.6 seconds (scales down with CDR).

What can I use Bravado for?

Bravado has a lot of strengths. First of all it reduces the cooldown on all Taric's base spells and grants 1 charge on Starlight's Touch which is really helpful. Furthermore, it increases the damage of Taric's auto attacks. Your empowered auto attacks deal a lot of damage, and nearly no one respects it. The damage from Bravado can be exploited, if you auto attack twice with Bravado and then use an ability which allows you to use the empowered auto attacks again as Bravado will trigger after every spell you cast.

Starlight's Touch RANGE: 325 COST: 70/80/90/100/110 mana RECHARGE TIME: 15 seconds

Passive: Taric stores a charge of Starlight's Touch every 15 seconds, up to a maximum of 1/2/3/4/5 charges stored at once. Starlight's Touch cannot be cast without charges. Bravado-empowered attacks reduce Starlight's Touch's cooldown by 1 second and instantly grant a charge. Active: Taric spends all charges to heal himself and all nearby allies for 30 (+20% AP)(+1.5% max HP) per charge.

Isn't Starlight's Touch only for healing?

No, absolutely not. As explained in the Bravado section, Starlight's Touch can be used to refresh the empowered auto attacks. What is important to keep in mind is that Starlight's Touch's mana cost is fairly high and therefore you cannot fight too often without running out of mana. Of course there is also the healing part, but that is pretty obvious as you should always keep your adc healthy. Basically Starlight's Touch is a Bravado reset and a heal.

Bastion RANGE: 800 COST: 60 mana COOLDOWN: 15 seconds

Passive: Bastion increases the armor of Taric and the champion he is linked with by 10/11/12/13/14% of Taric's armor. Active: Taric links with an ally, shielding them for 8/9/10/11/12% of their maximum Health for 2.5 seconds. Bastion remains on Taric's ally until he recasts it onto another ally, or the two move far enough apart to break their link. While linked, all of Taric's abilities are simultaneously cast from both Taric and his linked ally, though the effects do not stack.

How do I best utilize Bastion?

Who to link up with can be a pretty tough decision when it comes to teamfighting, whereas you always should be linked with your adc in lane. In teamfights you'll want to be linked with one of your frontline tanks, because you have to stay with your adc. This way Cosmic Radiance will hit both your frontline and backline and you'll be keeping everyone safe. You cast your spells from both you and your buddy, so when your jungler comes to gank you might wanna use Bastion on them as it will be easier to land a stun, when it is being cast from your jungler. Moreover, your shield is quite strong when you are building armor as it scales from your armor, so always remember to keep your teammates safe.

Dazzle RANGE: 575 COST: 60 mana COOLDOWN: 17/16/15/14/13

Taric fires out a short wave of celestial energy in a target direction which, after 1 second, deals 90/130/170/210/250 (+50% of ability power) (+50% of bonus armor) magic damage to all enemies struck and stuns them for 1.25 seconds.

How do I predict where to aim my stun?

It can be pretty hard when it comes to hitting Dazzle as its cast time gives your opponent time to react. Therefore you have to kind of predict which direction they are going in. You can move Taric around, because Dazzle will keep it's direction even though you move Taric, which means that you can cut off your opponents path, by adjusting your own position. Dazzle will also be cast from your linked buddy, which makes you able to help your teammates escape/catch someone by stunning their attacker/target, even though you aren't close enough to cast it from yourself.

Cosmic Radiance RANGE: 400 COST: 100 mana COOLDOWN: 180/150/120 seconds

Taric calls on the stars themselves for protection. After a 2.5 second delay, he and all nearby allies are granted invulnerability for 2.5 seconds.

When and who should I ult?

You are here to protect your team, and Cosmic Radiance is literally one of the most powerful teamfighting abilities in the game. You should focus on hitting as many of your teammates as possible when fighting, as it will keep them alive for at least 2.5 seconds. Remember to use Cosmic Radiance even though you aren't quite sure if it's necessary, because it's better use it a bit too often than not to use it at all. This goes for both skirmishes in lane and teamfights.

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Matchups difficulty 1-5:


BRAND: 5

Brand is really a pain in the *** when it comes to supporting. He has long range on his abilities, a lot of damage + he has a stun, which makes it a little hard to approach him in lane. When you are matched against Brand you should avoid fighting him directly and just focus on supporting your ADC as Brand is stronger than Taric in skirmishes.

ALISTAR: 3

This matchup is almost a skill-matchup even though i think Alistar has the advantage. When playing against Alistar it is important to stay near your ADC and be ready to counter engage. Play defensive and punish if they overextend, but don't play aggressive. Alistar can easily knock-up you and push you into a bad spot with his Headbutt.

BLITZCRANK: 2

This Match-up is quite boring. You'll have to play defensive and stay behind minions because if you don't, then Blitzcrank will grab you and kill you. Play defensive and punish if they overextend. When in the middle of the lane it is easy to engage on Blitzcrank, because of the fact that he is only good when he unexpectedly grabs someone with Rocket Grab and you should use that as an advantage, by engaging with Dazzle on him or the opposing ADC.

THRESH: 5

When playing against Thresh there is not much you can do. Play defensive and be ready to act fast if your ADC gets caught by a hook. You should be able to get fairly good trades in skirmishes. Respect the Death Sentence as it literally is a death sentence when it lands and play very defensive until lvl. 6. Thresh has an enormous amount of CC so if you get to close a Flay will pull you closer to him and slow you down enough for him to hit a point blank Death Sentence on you if you don't Flash away in time.

BRAUM: 3

Braum is only a threat to you when he goes all in. You can easily play a bit aggressive in this lane without being punished too hard, but it is also important not to play too aggressive, because Braum is a defensive support aswell as Taric. All in all this should be a quite slow lane but these kind of matchups rely heavily on the ADC on both sides and which of Taric and Braum are best at supporting their ADC.

JANNA: 5

This lane is very annoying. Janna will shield her ADC with Eye of the Storm and the ADC will deal a ton of dmg, and you can't really do anything about it. You should try to engage when her Howling Gale is on cd, as that is her main tool for disengaging you and she is very squishy. Janna often stays behind her ADC, and that also means that it often is easier to engage on the opposing ADC, but Eye of the Storm is really strong in the early game. Watch out for that!

BARD: 2

Bard is a fairly easy matchup as he often roams around the map to collect Chimes that spawn because of his passive Traveler's Call. His Magical Journey makes him great at escaping, so see if you can catch him somwhere he can't just slide away from you. This lane is quite passive, but don't stand too close to a wall or in front of minions as his stun is very strong in skirmishes.

KARMA: 4

Kind of the same situation as Brand, but this lane is a bit easier to play. Karma's damage isn't as high as Brand's, but she is also hard to engage on because of her speed up on her Inspire. You'll want to catch her when her R Mantra is on cd, as Mantra makes one of her abilities much stronger and gives it an additional effect. You should play this lane defensively and remember always to punish overextension.

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TOO EARLY ⚠ Cosmic Radiance When you use Cosmic Radiance too early things won't go as planned.. You always have to be ready to press R and save your team, but you should mostly look out for hard engages. If they have a wombo combo, then you should focus on rejecting that, as that will be their primary target in teamfights. Apart from that, you should be very careful with your ultimate when facing a team with strong disengage, as Cosmic Radiance then easily can be avoided if they bait it out and strike afterwards.

TOO LATE ⚠ Cosmic Radiance When you use Cosmic Radiance too late you don't really have that much of an impact. You shouldn't use it as something reactive, but rather as something predicting, as it has a fairly long casting time. Most assassins will have destroyed your carry within 1 second if they hit their combo and therefore you'll have to be aware and ready at all times. In some situations you might wait for "the perfect timing" but then it is often too late. If you see an opportunity to use Cosmic Radiance so that it benefits your team, then take it!

RIGHT ON TIME ✔ Cosmic Radiance This is absolutely perfect. You did it, congratulations. The perfect timing is when either your team or the other team engages a teamfight. When someone from your team gets caught and you can see the other team collapsing upon your teammate, that's when you strike. Be sure that you link with your teammate with Bastion before casting Cosmic Radiance, as it then ensures that your endangered teammate gets protected by the invulnerability. You should also always remember to stand close to your carries to ensure everyone stays safe!

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-OR-

Ninja Tabi > ARMOR Ninja Tabi is good against AD, as they give you armor and they reduce incoming damage from auto attacks by 12%, which is quite neat when facing an ADC who relies on attack speed or just ADCs in general. Mercury's Treads > TENACITY & MAGIC RESIST Taric mainly buys armor and is a tanky dude, but everyone gets caught at some point, and that's where it's nice to have tenacity, which Mercury's Treads provides. The magic resist you gain from them is also nice when facing AP champions like Syndra.

Locket of the Iron solari Locket of the Iron Solari is a really good choice, as it protects everyone standing close enough to you. The shield also scales with HP, and Taric is a tanky man, so the shield will consume a whole lot of damage, which can turn a fight in your favor.

Bulwark of the Mountain Bulwark of the Mountain is a must have as it is the only item that gives you the possiblity to use Stealth Wards. It is also a support item that fits Taric quite well, because of it's passive that splits gold between you and your adc and additionally heals both of you for a rather small amount of health.

Oracle Alteration This item is what you are looking to get when you have completed the support item quest, that allows you to ward without your Stealth Ward. This item allows you to deny enemy vision and lets you gain control over big objectives such as drake and baron pit.

Redemption The first item you should buy after you have bought both boots and Bulwark of the Mountain is either Redemption or Locket of the Iron Solari. I personally prefer Redemption as it can heal many teammates and because it has such a big range, which makes it easier to have more impact even though you are not there. You should focus on predicting where it will have the most impact, which means that you should predict your teammates movement and place it where they will be after 2.5 seconds. Redemption is one of your most important teamfighting tools aswell as Locket of the Iron Solari and Cosmic Radiance.

Gargoyle stoneplate This items makes you big and strong in teamfights. Gargoyle Stoneplate's active makes Taric bigger and gives him extra health. This is great in teamfights, as it makes you able to survive for a lot longer, so that you can help out your teammates for a longer period. It also means that the active shield from Locket of the Iron Solari will become bigger as it scales off Taric's bonus health. So it basically makes you tankier and improves Locket of the Iron Solari's shield. It is a great purchase in the late game.

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