Hello! I’m nobody. I go by Grizzly Bearable and I’ve never finished placements. As of making this guide, I’ve played 6 ranked games in the current season only because I was trying to one-trick my Ivern build. I lost 5 of them. And in all of them, my team were tilted at the very fact I was playing Ivern.

The point I’m getting to is that I am not presenting this guide as something that will be the new meta. I wanted to play Ornn but I’m a jungle main, so I took him into the jungle and this is what I’ve developed and I just wanted to share it. I’m only even typing this guide because I had a realization after posting this build that made me change the runes and I figured I would put some explanations in here. So, here I am at work, typing this up on my iPad instead of working. So please forgive me for any mistakes.

As I said above, I love Ornn and wanted to play him, but I’m a jungle player, so I just took him into the jungle and it worked surprisingly well. He obviously has a ton of CC and his masterwork items will always be a benefit. But his W (and his W+E combo) provides a surprising amount of burst damage. Not to mention you basically never have to back unless you need a quick regen or want to pick up some consumables because Blue will keep your mana up and you just build your items as you farm, giving you an advantage over literally any other jungler. Add to that the fact that you are a massive tank, and you get to a point where you can have your ult every fight, and it makes for a pretty solid jungler.

His biggest weakness is his mobility. He has basically none. Sure, his E could be considered a gap closer, but the cast and recovery times make it highly inefficient as one. This is why my original thoughts on this build had Predator, but then I realized how valuable Ghost would be to engage or chase enemies and would then allow you to still run Aftershock. Of course, the caveat to this is the lack of Flash, which is ultimately a personal preference thing, but I almost never don’t have Flash. That being said, anyone Ornn would want to Flash away from rather than engaging would probably be able to catch up to you, making the Flash ultimately not that valuable.

So, originally I made this with Predator, which is now the alternative build. These are the runes I’ve come up with for this build now.


Primary - Resolve

Aftershock - This is the usual keystone on Ornn. It gives you extra armor and magic resist, as well as damage based on your bonus health (which you will have a lot of). This makes it, by far, the best option for a keystone.

Font of Life - Basically, this is the only option in that slot. It will help your laner when you gank and your teammates in team fights, which is more than the other two will do. Shield Bash is useless to Ornn since they got rid of the shield on Bellows Breath and Demolish is useless since we are not laning.

Conditioning - This one is less cut and dry, but still is ultimately the best choice. Giving a bonus percentage of both armor and magic resist is more valuable to you than the other two. Both Second Wind and Bone Plating could be useful in certain situations, but Conditioning gives you more all around utility.

Unflinching - This is generally better than Overgrowth because it's tenacity and when is that ever not going to be good? Especially for us, running Ghost to engage. The amount of health Overgrowth gives (around 200hp at 30 minutes) is negligible enough to warrant taking this over it. Update: The 10.12 changes to Unflinching makes it even better for this build.


Secondary - Domination

I personally keep Domination runes only because of Ultimate Hunter. If you would want something else, you probably could. But I think Ornn’s ultimate is extremely valuable and the CDR on it will be massively useful in the late-game.

Cheap Shot - This is a pretty simple one. You CC an enemy and because of that you hurt them more.

Ultimate Hunter - As I said above, Ornn’s ult is massive for ganking and in late-game fights so the more often you have it, the better.


Shards

Attack Speed shard, just to get your procs as easily as possible. For the other two shards, just choose Shield and Tenacity and Slow Resist for each or both based on what the enemy team is running.

So, with the Predator build, I was running Flash. This has been revised.

Ghost - I had a realization that made me look up the exact stats of this and Predator and I decided that Ghost provides more value. Sure, Predator has a consistent percentage movement speed bonus at all levels and gives you extra damage on your next attack. And it’s cooldown is lower than Ghost, even at level 1. But the bonus ends when you enter combat and you can still be body blocked (is there anything more frustrating than not being able to get a kill because you were minion-blocked?). Also, the damage buff is ultimately unnecessary. Sure, it’s nice. Definitely not bad. But why bother when you could just use Ghost and get a better engage (or, for that matter, disengage), with a better chance of proccing Aftershock and Font of Life? Update: The 10.12 changes to Ghost makes this even better for our build.

Chilling Smite - This is a way better option than Challenging Smite for several reasons. But the most important one is that stealing movement speed is perfect for keeping enemies from running away after you engage.

It’s pretty simple:
W>E>Q

You max Bellows Breath first because it is the main source of your burst and clear potential. It deals percentage max health damage and Brittle (see Living Forge) is a hugely impactful status to inflict.

Then you max Searing Charge because it’s damage scales with your armor and magic resist.

Volcanic Rupture is good, for sure, but at max level, it’s cooldown is only 2 seconds lower than level 1 and it’s damage scales with AD, which we aren’t focusing on.

Call of the Forge God is going to be your bread and butter, especially once you get CDR. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the perfect ult for both team fights and ganking.

A note about Living Forge: At levels 14-17, you get a charge to upgrade an ally's item. You generally want upgrade an item for whomever is doing the best at the time because getting behind your carry will always pay off.

First things first, don’t have bad vision like me. Use Stealth Ward as much as possible and don’t forget to use Control Wards. Also, if your laners are being particularly bad at warding (bot isn't warding dragon, mid isn't warding side bushes, and top isn't warding herald/baron or their river bush, then I recommend taking Farsight Alteration so you can ward objectives on cooldown without putting yourself in danger.


Boots

As with all builds, in my opinion, boots are a personal choice based on preference and what the enemy has. These will be brief explanations.

Mobility Boots - You have the most movement speed out of combat with these, but they offer no protection.

Mercury's Treads - If there’s a lot of hard CC that you think will be too much to handle with just Unflinching.

Ninja Tabi - If there’s a lot of basic attacking on the enemy team that you think you won’t be able to tank normally.

Boots of Swiftness - These offer the highest base move speed, without the out-of-combat condition that Mobility Boots have. If the main CC the enemy has is slowing you, these could be a good buy.


Core

Stalker's Blade - Cinderhulk - This will be your best jungle item for the Immolate and health it gives you. When I first began jungling with Ornn, I went with this. Then I realized getting this made me not want Sunfire Aegis so I started buying Stalker's Blade - Warrior for the AD and CDR and started building the cape. THEN I REALIZED THAT IS DUMB. I already explained that AD is not the most useful thing in the world for Ornn (again, not bad but not as valuable). Also, for the utility in this build, you’re way better off with Frozen Fist as your masterwork armor item because of the CDR it gives you, as well as the slow on enemies.

Iceborn Gauntlet - This is a pretty simple first item (after you finish Cinderhulk) because, unless you are against a team of full AP, the armor will always be useful. Also, like I just said, it’s CDR and slow is immensely valuable. Overall, Frozen Fist is your best armor tank item.

Abyssal Mask - Also simple. Infernal Mask is your magic resist tank item. The mana gain from it is going to fund all those ults, and it gives you CDR and tankiness. Plus it’s aura causes enemies to take more damage from Brittle.


Situational


Armor

Thornmail - This will basically always be useful, when are you not going to get hit by basic attacks? But it is especially good against an ADC who mostly just attacks or when there is a healer on the enemy team.

Dead Man's Plate - Speaks for itself: It’s an armor item that gives you more movement speed as well as extra damage and a slow.

Turbo Chemtank - Movement speed to engage and a slow, as well as tankiness and CDR.

Randuin's Omen - If there’s a lot of crit on the enemy team, this can definitely come in handy. Plus it’s slow is useful, too.

Frozen Heart - This is definitely a pretty good item for what we are going for, but I would recommend only going for it if you are going full armor with no magic resist or the one carrying the enemy team is an auto-attacker.


Magic Resist

Adaptive Helm - If you need more magic resist against sustained AP damage, this is the item to build.

Spirit Visage - This is generally a pretty good magic resist tank item, although you will only get real value from the healing if you have a healer or buy Warmog's Armor or something. Even so, it's a heavy magic resist tank item with CDR so it's worth it if you need the protection.


Mixed

Gargoyle Stoneplate - This is a good item for games with actual teamfights rather than just assassinations.

Locket of the Iron Solari - Similar to Gargoyle Stoneplate but this may help you mitigate burst for your team.


Health

Sterak's Gage - It's a health item with Lifeline to help keep you alive through burst. That and the AD bonus may help you win fights in the late-game.

Warmog's Armor - If you are feeling good about where your resistances are, this is always nice to have so you can regen quickly in the late game without having to back or clear jungle to heal up.


Non-optimal possibilities

These are basically just things that could be built, but will never be your first choice.

Mercurial Scimitar - Basically, if you feel like you just really need the Quicksilver, this isn’t the worst thing ever to have.

Zhonya's Hourglass - The AP is all but useless but it does have a little armor. If you need more than the first stasis from the Stopwatch that builds into Gargoyle Stoneplate AND the Metallicize (assuming you are building it in the first place, of course), then you could probably get away with this.

Death's Dance - A tiny bit of armor and magic resist, but you’d really only get value out of the damage mitigation.

Wit's End - This is okay. The passive and attack speed are nice, if not exactly what we are looking for. But it has magic resist and CDR so it performs acceptably.

Frozen Mallet - This has the possibility of being good if you're looking to give even MORE CC and damage, but you usually won't even need something like this.


Consumables

Control Ward - Of course. Use in objective pits, crossroads, etc. However, you can’t forge these and would have to back to buy them. If you aren’t already at the shop, it’s not worth it to back just to get one of these.

Elixir of Iron - If you end up dying or backing later in the game, this is definitely a good buy if you have the extra gold.

TL:DR - Start bottom buff and move up, looking for ganks at level 3 and after first clear.

Generally, you want to start with bottom buff with your laners leashing for you in case of an invade. You do not have a strong invade at level 1 but if you are invaded then, at least if you have backup, you can defend and have a pretty good chance of winning the trade. It doesn't really matter whether this means starting with Red Brambleback or Blue Sentinel as you won't really be hurting for either and, regardless, after you finish the third camp on that side, you can build your Hunter's Machete. At this point, try and take bottom Rift Scuttler and I usually try to move through mid to see if I can also take the top one before moving into the other half of my jungle.

After you clear the first half of your jungle, you should be level 3 and can look to see if bot or mid are pushed up enough for a gank. If so, you can Ghost in and do considerable work with your Q-E-W combo. If not, just move on to the other buff and clear the other half of your jungle. After that, you can look for a gank on top or mid. From that point, you're just farming and ganking whenever possible.

Once you have Stalker's Blade - Cinderhulk, you are pretty safe to start invading and steal a camp or two from the enemy jungler because you can clear a camp pretty quickly and you have enough hp to survive if you're caught.