Greetings fellow Geomancers, I'am ThatDudeInTheCotton
And this is my guide to Toplane Taric: The Gem Knight

Taric is all about Armor. He loves Armor more than Karthus loves death, Azir loves Shurima and nearly as much as Draven loves Draven. He loves it so much that he's one of the only champions in the game to actually scale off Armor offensively thanks to Bravado and Dazzle. Because of this Taric is very good with dealing with ad enemies and can go toe to toe with them in the top lane when built for it, and after that he can easily out scale them by becoming a massive fabulous wall of death in the late game. The main reason Taric has fallen out of favor as a support isn't his raw stats, which are actually higher than other tank supports, but because he (used to) lack the crazy utility fueld kits of other supports like Thresh or Morgana. However in the top lane, where much less utility is asked of champions, Taric's massive amounts of Armor, Stickiness and Aura's allow him to easily outshine the competition.

So without further ado, here is Taric, The Radiance Of Victory.

Pros

+ Anti-Ad Monster + Large AOE stun + Bravado makes sustained trading fun :D + Bastion auras are ridiculous + Building defensively scales offensively + A Heal can save lives + People will randomly give you respect for the pick

Taric is built to destroy ad opponents. Bravado and Dazzle allow him to build all the armor he wants while still being a damage threat (yes I called Taric a damage threat). His stun makes him a massive zoning threat and his aoe utility means he can be useful to one extent or another for essentially any ally on his team.

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Cons

- Not an anti-ap monster - Weak before Sheen/ Iceborn Gauntlet - Heal takes a lot of mana - His ult and stun have delays - People will randomly give you **** for the pick

pffffffffff Because of his heavy specialization Taric isn't great against a heavy ap line up, he can still itemize against it but ap lineups make his armor aura and scaling useless. He also needs items to do any sort of fast damage in lane. Finally his ult and stun are delayed, meaning smart enemies can work around them if they're timed poorly.

The best time to pick him is when your team needs a tanky frontliner against an ad-centric enemy team. His job is to be a paladin, being capable of taking and giving out damage and CC. That being said his big stats only get to be big because they are specialized, ap enemies can really hurt Taric and his team. Taric's always gonna be a great anti adc, but if the enemy has 2+ big ap damage threats, then he's gonna have some problems. That being said he inadvertently makes squishy allies not-so-squishy versus ad thanks to his Bastion aura and Cosmic Radiance invulnerability, so he goes well with really squishy champs like Soraka and Kog'Maw. Also if your team needs chasing potential Taric is a prime candidate to get Turbo Chemtank for spearheading an assault.

Resolve

Grasp of the Undying:
A straight forward keystone mastery, the max health damage works well with Taric who is obsessed with tankiness and auto attacking, which coincidentally are also things this keystone loves as well, as every time it is procced it increases his max health. It's the beautiful circle of life.

Shield Bash:
This rune is amazing. It increases your damage when using Bastion, an ability you will be using frequently. Bastion even passively increases armor gained which includes the armor from Shield Bash, bumping up the armor from it by 10-20%. Also armor innately increases Taric's damage by a little since Bravado has a 15% scaling with it, so you're getting even more damage from autos. This rune is just really good is what I'm saying.

Bone Plating:
It helps Squash damage from harass and all ins, though it can be poked off. Compared to Second Wind which is only good versus poke (and even then it's not very good) and Conditioning which has a big delay on it's usefulness, Bone Plating is just very reliable, making it the best of the bunch pretty much by default. If you play around it's refresh time during the early levels it can be absolutely huge in trades.

Overgrowth/ Revitalize:
More max health is just amazing on taric so obviously Overgrowth is generally going to be a good pickup here, but on the other hand Revitalize gives the most in combat sustain, as taric can really spam out the heals when he's auto attacking. So when it comes to lanes where you can be aggressive, Revitalize is the best option. But if you just want to do nothing but survive, then Overgrowth will help you to scale.

Inspiration

Biscuit Delivery:
Taric somewhat struggles with mana sustain, this helps patch that up nicely while giving him more overall mana to work with later. Also biscuits can be consumed at the same time as Corrupting Potion, which means scarfing down both in the middle of a fight makes Taric somewhat unreasonably durable.

Cosmic Insight:
It's cheap and efficient cdr, giving a boost to Tarics ability up time at all stages of the game. It's just good, especially if you're aiming for active items.

STAT SPREAD

This is somewhat situational due to the nature of Taric being a defense orientated champion. If the enemies full AD, then double armor is a pretty safe bet. If they go for a balanced spread then swap one of the armors for health, as that will scale with Starlight's Touch and Bastion's shield while providing defenses vs ad + ap. Finally if they go mostly ap, including your lane, then swap the last armor for magic resist. In terms of offense, either go for the adaptive force or cooldown reduction. Adaptive force will make trading with Bravado better as well as make last hitting more manageable. Cooldown reduction will help itemization towards the late game if you're planning on running a build with only 30% CDR, but higher overall stats. Something like ( Iceborn Gauntlet, Spirit Visage, Randuin's Omen, Thornmail, Gargoyle Stoneplate)

Flash
> Objectively the best summoner spell. One could make a case for Ghost being better for chasing, but that just doesn't change how powerful this spell is. Get it, every game.

Teleport
> Stay in lane, go to bot lane, help with dragon, help with a push, this is good for all these things. That being said it got smacked with the nerf bat a while ago, so it isn't as omnipurpose as it used to be. Still, Taric isn't super aggressive early on and that early tp back to tower can make the difference between winning or losing a lane, so this is his default option.

Ignite
> Some would say this spell is quite aggressive. Those people would be correct. This spell gives much more kill potential in lane. On the flip side though you have to use it when Taric has the least kill potential (when he has no items) to make up for the fact that you can't tp back to lane. Though it can be super effective versus certain matchups that rely on their health regen. If you fear no retribution, then go ahead with Ignite.

Passive: Bravado
> An incredibly simple, but incredibly powerful passive that often gets overlooked by new Taric players. When fighting an enemy you want to throttle each and every one of your spells with auto attacks afterwards. Doing so will not only get the most value out of the damage aspect of the passive, but it will also bring all of your spells on CD up faster. Stun-aa-aa-W-aa-aa takes 4 seconds off of your stun cd by itself. Later on throttling your attacks becomes even more important once you grab Iceborn Gauntlet and have it's Sheen procs and Cdr allowing for very fast rotations with big smatterings of on hit damage thrown in. Unfortunately buying CDR reduces the effectiveness of this passive (as it scales the cd reduction per hit negatively to prevent it being ridiculous), but it's still powerful enough that it's worth buying.

Starlight's touch
> A handy self heal to help sustained trades or laning. You can also use it on allies to help get them through close calls late game. Don't forget that this triggers Bravado which can get your other abilities off CD faster. Putting a 2nd point into this is great because it doubles the heal for only 10 more mana. That being said maxing it isn't great since it'll leave you without damage and further levels aren't as mana efficient. If you are feeling pressured you can take the 2nd point early in exchange for one of your points in Dazzle. When combo'd with Bastion to heal an ally as well as yourself, Starlight's Touch gets increased aoe, but doesn't get increased healing if the aoes overlap, so focus on getting as many allies as possible when trying to heal your team outside of fights. When you are in the middle of a fight however focus on healing/shielding those who need it at the time. If an opportunity presents itself to heal multiple allies that is great, but with the low cooldowns Taric has on his basic abilities saving allies when they need to be saved generally takes priority.

Bastion
> This is Taric's new best friend. While one may look at it and feel as if it'd be useless in top since it's description makes it seem like it requires an ally, that is not the case. Being able to self cast this spell gives Taric a great raw health shield, and the passive armor amp synergizes with his itemization + armor loving kit excellently. Of course that's only speaking about it's properties when self cast, when cast on an ally, say a friendly ganker or fellow teamfighter, this ability becomes ridiculous, double casting everything Taric uses from his allies position. What this means is that this ability allows you to sandwich a player between two Dazzle's at once, heal the entire ally team in one spell thanks to Starlight's Touch and even protect everyone from anything with Cosmic Radiance, all thanks to the huge aoe this ability provides.

In terms of laning the typical usage of this is after Dazzle as the shield will make trades go 100% in your favor with next to no loss in health. When a ganker comes in cast it on them as it will allow for easy chasing with double Dazzle's and Cosmic Radiance's, which make Taric a turret diving monster. In team fights you wanna use this on your backline and allies who are likely to get focused, mostly ADCs and mages. This is so that if they get separated they aren't entirely doomed. Don't forget that besides providing a link for your other abilities it also offers a shield which can safe lives, especially when combo'd with Starlight's Touch. Taric himself should be within the thick of his team to ensure the front liners get their share of the love too.

Dazzle
> You stun things then run at them or away from them. This is pretty much gonna be the first spell you cast in 90% of situations. Make sure to auto attack before you use another spell. When possible, try to sandwich the enemy player between you dazzle area of effect and a wall, it can force them into a lose-lose situation where they won't be able to avoid fighting you, since if they dodge the dazzle they have to walk towards you, and if they get hit by the Dazzle, well they get hit by the Dazzle. You should also use this sandwich technique with your Bastion buddy when your both chasing someone down, however in teamfights you'll have to go for either area or simply aim it straight at a priority target depending on the team composition. Prioritize squishy easily killed targets with this spell in teamfights when attacking, and when defending don't be afraid to cast it on tanks if they're getting into your backline.

Cosmic Radiance
> This is Taric's most potent ability, both as a support and as a toplaner. It does what it says on the tin, it makes you and nearby allies invulnerable for a couple seconds. The big kicker however is that there's a delay, which your enemy can work around. What this means in top is that during duels the enemy will seek to CC/kill you before it kicks in, so be wary not to cast this too late into the fight.

For the negative that is it's delay however, it has a signifigcant plus side being that it's one of the strongest towerdive abilities in the game. Even if it only affected Taric it would be decently strong, but combining it with a Bastion'd jungler makes tower dives easy peasy. It's also predictably crazy in team fights once fighting breaks out, however the timing of the ult is imperative. It can be used to save a single adc from an assassin or it can save everyone from....everyone. Knowing when an ult will and won't be worth it will require game knowledge, but the rule of thumb is: The more damage it prevents, the better.

Taric's main problem early on is maintaining his mana supply. He is highly reliant on his mana to be useful. Now in previous season's that would simply mean that he has to swap out a Health Potion for a Mana Potion but since the former no longer exists he must now rely on Corrupting Potion to give him the lane sustain he needs. It isn't all bad though, since Corrupting Potion gives combat stats Taric is capable of fighting off a lot of his adversaries while under its effect. Under the circumstance where you're fighting a heavily skillshot reliant champion, Boots may be more useful for their ability to avoid harass, but in 90% of games Corrupting Potion is the start to go for.

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Iceborn Gauntlet
> Your go-to starting item. Iceborn Gauntlet has everything Taric wants. Armor? Check. CDR? Double Check. Mana? Of course. It even gives him increased damage and stickiness thanks to it's Sheen proc/slow effect. Once you have this Taric becomes much stronger, to the point where he can outlast almost every other top laner in the game, particularly the ad-centeric ones. Every part of it synergizes well with him, making it easily his best item. The individual parts are also excellent, with Sheen being great for aggressively beating an enemy to death quickly and Glacial Shroud giving much welcome sustain that also translate to offensive stats thanks to it's CDR and Armor. Both of which are Taric's main damage sources.

Kindlegem
> I take a moment to mention this item not because it's a Gem (which is still a nice bonus) but because despite not being a complete item, it is a very strong standalone purchase. The health and CDR are good value for gold and can cap out (or nearly cap out depending on your runes) you're CDR at a very early stage of the game. As Taric's DPS is directly tied to his CDR this makes it a very good purchase, even if you aren't necessarily going to finish it right away. If the enemy team doesn't have any real prevalent damage type carrying them and your lane is even / in your favor, then Kindlegem is a good pickup.

Dead man's plate
> It makes you run fast at things while being really tanky. That's Taric's entire thing. You get Armor, Health, movespeed and a damage proc. It's also the only tank item in the game that will help you land Dazzle on fleeing enemies. This isn't all that fancy an item, it's just statistically very good. Get first versus AD problems.

Spirit Visage
> You'll probably get this every game unless the enemies completely AD focused. The real question is weather or not you get this before or after Dead Man's Plate. The CDR, healing passive and MR on this make it great against ap enemies, and a lot of it's stats aren't wasted versus AD opponents either. The health and healing passive in particular synergize greatly with Starlight's Touch. Really as far as MR items go, Spirit Visage is the best for Taric. It's as good an MR item as Dead Man's Plate is an Armor item. So build whichever stat you need more first.

Thornmail
> This gives a lot of armor and a damage return based on that armor and enemy damage. Get this if the majority of the enemy is AD. Even if not every enemy is ad, Taric's Shatter aura allows him to get out a good amount of damage with this even if he has to build some MR.

Randuin's Omen
> A big chunk of armor and health, with a passive that lowers attack speed and an active that lowers movespeed. It even lowers critical strike damage. Once you have this adc's without true damage just stop being a problem (>:I Vayne). Not as good as dead man's plate because this requires you to already be near them to enable the slow, whereas Dead man's has it's permanent movespeed buff to help get you near your opponents to begin with.

Righteous Glory
> Gotta go fast. If your teams needs engage, or you're just having serious issues sticking to your enemy, then this'll help. This item lacks the defensive stats of other items in this guide in exchange for the raw power of its active. It's pretty good for simply smashing your team into your enemies or chasing down low health targets. That being said it's got a 90 second CD, so try to time it wisely.

Banshee's veil
> Is some snarky mage still giving you woes? Well then fear not for I have an absolution. Banshee's Veil provides a means of negating any crowd control effects that may be pestering you, as well as giving a chunk of health and magic resist. A good option if the enemies outputting crazy amounts of ap and you can't deal with CC effects any other way.

Abyssal Scepter
> You do mostly magic damage, and this increases that while giving MR and boosting your allies ap damage. Good when you somehow find yourself between two teams that just love magic. This isn't an ideal situation obviously since Taric is all about crushing the souls of AD enemies, but when in rome, resort to black magic.

Frozen heart
> If you don't have CDR runes then this is an option. It's a good item, don't get me wrong, but if you're overloading your CDR because of it it just isn't very cost efficient compared to other Armor options, especially given it only works versus AD since it gives no health. If you don't have any CDR runes then it's fine as a third armor item after Iceborn and Dead man's.

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Get these at some stage, preferably early on. Ninja Tabi will help you deal with ad opponents and Mercury's Treads are good for dealing with lots of magic/crowd control effects. Mercury's Treads in particular are good with helping sustain damage from enemy ap laners, so keep that in mind should you end up in such an unfortunate match up.

Basic Gemming

The goals of laning are pretty simple:

Get more cs than your opponent
Get more kills than your opponent
Get more towers than your opponent

Yup, pretty simple, going about it though is not. Here's how Taric rolls:

Level 1-6:
Taric at this stage, is kinda weak. Not nearly as weak as one would expect though. Dazzle keeps enemies from really all inning him, and trading with it + Bravado can get trades in Taric's favor. Always throw out an auto after a defensive Dazzle, especially if the enemies already hit you. Bravado's not a huge damage boost at this stage, but it does matter and will make bad trades less of a problem.

At level 2+ you have Starlight's Touch and Bastion to work with, which means you can start using your basic rotation: E-AA-AA-W-AA-AA-Q-AA etc. Some enemies that have weaker early games, or are just more focused on damage than defenses will be fightable now. But get a feel for how much damage your individual moves do before committing to anything. Dazzle is an aoe, so you can use it to help clear backed up minion waves. If you happen to hit the enemy with it, note the damage done. You should get an idea of weather or not you can take them down based on that damage. Regardless, more often than not you'll probably be burning through mana pretty quickly and without it you lack kill potential. So going back before any kills happen on either side and picking up either Sheen or Glacial Shroud to give yourself a powerboost and get some additional sustain is often a smart move.

In terms of engaging and disengaging fights it's best to think of Taric as a walking fortress. Really well armored, strong sentry guns, great in defensive battles. One thing a fortress doesn't do though is go out looking for fights in enemy territory. Fight your enemy when they're in your minion wave, fight them when they're near you. If you throw out Dazzle at max range every time you're not only getting the minimum amount of stun from your spell, you're also going to burn though your mana and quickly become useless. Fight when you know you can make it longer than the enemy wants and preferably do it with your minions to add some ambient damage.

After Iceborn Gauntlet Taric's fighting power increases yet again and this is the point in time where he extends trades to the point where they end with death instead of damage. His burst will be higher and his rotation will come around that much faster that he becomes a serious damage threat while still be sufficiently tanky to seem like a wall. If you've been winning your lane before this, then this will cement that victory. Against Ap damage dealers it obviously isn't as cut and dry as that, but with all the stats and effects on this item giving Taric so much strength, it really is a core item even in those situations, barring a full ap team as well. (Seriously this item is just really good).

With that we move on to post laning and teamfights. In teamfights you are the Paladin. You stand at the front, and will most likely be the core of the wall between your team and the enemies. Your job is simple. Dazzle the right person, don't let your team die. If an enemy jumps on your backline, Dazzle them. If an enemy carry gets out of position, Dazzle them. If any enemy anywhere causes some major problem for your team you have to be capable of deciding which enemy takes priority over every other enemy and stun them, because while you will no doubt be burly to the point of absurdity at this point, your teammates won't. Remember that max range Dazzle's, even at max level and duration, can be risky since you're getting the least stun for your spell. If the enemy team can collapse on you easily to save their stunned friend, it may not be the best idea to follow up on said stun. Bide your time and engage when it will be most effective and when you have quick backup. Also, and this is pretty obvious but, Cosmic Radiance is massively important. You've gotta be ready to cast it at a moments notice, which is easier if you can dictate the engage with your team and/or through Dazzle. That being said, stuff can get real very quickly if the enemy engages so you've gotta keep it in mind.

In terms of protecting your team from enemy engages, here's a simple mental exercise. Imagine yourself as part of a web, one which stretches from yourself to your ally frontliners. Any direct line between the enemy and your carries is a potential weak spot. It's a simple principle which will help you be positioned to either engage or keep enemies off your team. Use Bastion relatively early on when setting up for a teamfight so that should anything break out you'll have ample ability to help allies that are too far from you to immediately reach.

Other than that, use your basic rotation on any given enemy you find yourself focusing. Since you're a tank your primary focus will ideally be locking down an enemy carry, or peeling a threat off of your own carries. If you can land Dazzle on multiple enemies that's a great boon, and when you throw out Starlight's Touch/ Cosmic Radiance make sure to do it while surrounded by teammates and when the enemies are / about to throw down their big damage moves. Try to stay with your allies as much as you can in fights so that they receive the benefits of all your aoe spells.

Credits to JhoiJhoi, Who I yet again leaned on for formatting purposes. I would feel bad about it but since everyone does it I like to feel my laziness is justified.

Also thank you, the reader, for getting this far (unless you skipped to this part like a dirty cheater), I really appreciate that you took the time to read this and hope it brings you good fortune :)

Oh and if you like this guide why not give it a +1 or whatever, would appreciate that, yup.