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Hello! I am BlackIceT and thank you for visiting my Wukong guide. As of the end of S3 I was a Silver LoL player. I did not really commit myself to playing ranked till about a month left to the season. I can play all lanes but top has always been my favorite since starting in S2. I know a lot about Wukong but not everything. Therefore I have teamed up with Berzerk to tell you everything you need to know about The Monkey King.
Hello everyone I am Berzerk. I'm here to help write about my favorite champion Wukong the Monkey King. Wukong has been my main ever since his release and has aided me in getting my Elo borders. I'm going to be telling you how I carry games as Wukong in soloQ. This will include my general builds, playstyles, and logic. I play Wukong as both a top and mid in ranked and can offer you a good amount of insight on that. I'm currently Diamond V and have played over 450 games with Wukong.
-No Built-in Sustain -No Reliable Escape -Uses Mana -No Heavy CC
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Strengths
Wukong is a very powerful physical damage champion and can spiral out of control in the top lane. His ultimate has an extremely powerful AD ratio and can deal massive damage. Many people underestimate the damage it can really do especially at level 11 at up. He also has a built in armor reduction skill and a stealth escape making him powerful and fun to play.
Weaknesses
Wukong while powerful does not have any built in sustain in his abilities so he must rely on items to stay in lane while some other champs do not. If you get pushed out of lane or fall behind it can become a real problem for you to be a relevant force in fights. Because of this until you are skilled with him you should avoid match-ups involving heavy sustaining champions like Vladimir.
Wukong has a lot of power so we can afford to put 21 points in defense to buff up his laning phase and teamfights. Tier 1 reduces damage from champion basic attacks which is very useful and Enchanted Armor buffs bonus armor and MR by 5% which goes well with Stone Skin
Tier 2 reduces damage some more and grants you 36 more health which could save you from Ignite.
Tier 3 increases maximum health, armor, and MR. Again this compliments Stone Skin giving you a lot of free armor and MR.
Tier 4 reduces slows by 10%. Very nice to have since a lot of champions can slow you. Tier 5 adds more armor and MR for each nearby champ which is pretty much Stone Skin but a mastery instead.
Lastly Tier 6 reduces all CC effects by 15%. Free tenacity. Definitely worth it since your in the middle of fights with your ult.
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First tier you should get 3 points in CDR and Butcher to use your skills more often and to be able to last hit minions easier. Double-Edged Sword is there to help us get to tier 2.
In tier 2 take increased attack damage for more damage output.
Tier 3 is pretty self-explanatory to increase physical damage and round out to 9 points.
This is a pretty typical top lane rune page. I focus on AD quints for more early power and better ability to last hit minions. AD Marks help with the quints as well as early game damage. Armor seals are the best choice for every top laner and protect against AD champs and auto-attacks although now flat Health seals are also a viable choice. Lastly Magic Resist glyphs are the best choice to take. There are multiple AP tops as well as mid laners roaming around that are AP and this will help you with dealing with the magic damage.
After Flash this spell is probably the best choice to take. It will help in finishing off trades for securing a kill for first blood or lane dominance. You want to get a good amount of kills to help get your powerful items and this will help with that.
This spell is the best choice to take for Wukong. Not only can you be a great escape artist with Warrior Trickster but with Flash you can make some incredible plays. Use this to dodge CC, sticky situations, or to initiate a teamfight with Flash + Cyclone.
Another spell to consider is Teleport. It is useful to get back to lane quickly or to make plays in another lane. I take it when I do not feel that the kill potential will be high in the lane like playing against Malphite. You will need to roam to get some kills in those lanes and Teleport should hopefully set up some plays for you to make.
Since I start with a ward I take this trinket to get rid of enemy wards and traps that they place in the brush. This will prevent them from having vision and allowing your jungler a better chance to surprise them for a kill.
Take the Stealth Ward if you are not planning on taking a ward to lane. This will give you a ward to place for free. Very helpful to protect against enemy ganks and to see where your lane opponent may disappear to.
Starting Items
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The safest start you can take for Wukong. It provides the sustain you need while giving you some vision to protect against an early gank. If you feel you need more than one potion then take 3 instead of getting a ward but make sure you buy the Stealth Ward.
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Take these items for extra power in lane for a quick kill. Only take this if you are pretty sure you can get a kill with it activated. If not it is a wasted 350 gold investment. Only take this to snowball. Plus you get some great sustain with the 3 potions.
Boots
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A lot of enemies in the top lane are heavy physical damage dealers like Riven. So these boots will help reduce the damage while reducing the amount of damage you take from auto-attacks as well.
Take these if you are going against an AP opponent or if they enemy team have a lot of AP. It will give you some nice magic resist. Also take these if the enemy team has a high amount of CC. The extra tenacity on top of your mastery point will greatly help in teamfights.
Use these boots to get around the map quickly to roam and make plays in other lanes. You can take these when taking Teleport too. Also useful when you have snowballed out of control and you can try and spread it to other lanes.
Core Items
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These are your core items. These are items I get every game with Wukong. The Brutalizer provides some good stats all of which benefit you. Doran's Blade provides some lifesteal and damage to survive in lane. Lastly Ravenous Hydra will give you some more AD and lifesteal. The splash passive will help for wave clearing quickly and pushing lanes. Plus the active will give you even more damage for your ultimate.
Very good item to help you annihilate enemy armor when they start to stack it. A item I like to get after the core items. Gives you AD and ArPen. Everything a monkey could need for a reasonably priced item.
A useful item to take if you like to play Wukong mid lane or if you are going against an AP top champion like Vladimir. Provides AD and MR. Also a very nice shield that protects you from magic damage if you would fall below 30% health from magic damage. Useful against Hemoplague and The Equalizer. Buy a Hexdrinker in lane if you are having difficulties.
A very good item for Wukong and is what you should build The Brutalizer into. It provides health which is nice and AD. The important thing is that the stacks are applied extremely quickly to multiple targets thanks to Cyclone. Each time the enemy is hit with your ult it applies a stack. Getting 5 stacks of ArPen is easy.
Defensive Items
Armor
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A good armor item. You do get a good amount of health but the active is great for disengaging fights or for keeping an enemy from getting away including AD carries trying to kite you. A great item against AD carries and other auto-attacking champions by slowing their attack speed by 15%.
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This item provides health and armor, both useful stats. It also deals magic damage per second to the enemy. Combine this with Ravenous Hydra and you will push lanes really easily and rapidly.
Magic Resistance and Health
Useful item to protect against heavy AP threats as well as special life threatening abilities like Javelin Toss. You gain health and MR which is very useful. The shield will replenish 25 seconds after being popped if you take no damage from enemy champions.
Useful mainly for kiting than anything else. You gain only 30 AD which is not too much but you do gain 700 health which benefits you in teamfights. If you attack an enemy with your auto-attacks you will slow their movement speed by 40% which a short time. This allows for kiting to get away and catching up to foes to kill them.
Useful magic resist item. Gives you health and CDR along with it. Both useful stats. The added CDR lessens the cooldown on Cyclone which is great. Also amplifies the lifesteal that you gain from Ravenous Hydra by 20%. Most of the time this item is better overall than Banshee's Veil.
What it basically does is increase his Magic Resist and Armor stats based on how many enemy champions are nearby. So the higher the amount of enemies the higher the boost. With this passive you already have a bonus in durability in team fights throughout the game.
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Once you press Q to activate this skill you have five seconds to land it. So prep this ability then Nimbus Strike in and you should land Crushing Blow with no problem. Try to use this move first before using E if you can though. You will do more damage.
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Warrior Trickster is your escape skill. You can use it to move forward as well as retreating. Also a neat little trick is press S on the keyboard. This will make your character abruptly stop just like the decoy would. Your decoy will also act like a real champion and will absorb enemy damage which will save you often.
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Nimbus Strike is you initiator move when attacking or farming. The clones will do the same damage that your actually body will. If you position it correctly you can use this skill to attack an enemy without actually hitting him yourself. You can see what you will hit by moving the circle over targets when this skill is selected. Nimbus Strike can also be used as a escape tool. You can use it to propel yourself to enemy minions in front of you if there are any granting extra distance between you and your enemies.
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Any minion, jungle creep, or champion that Wukong comes in contact with while spinning will be knocked into the air only once while dealing physical damage and stacking the effect of Black Cleaver very quickly making the item on him exceptional. HE CAN TURN OFF Cyclone BY PRESSING R AGAIN WHILE SPINNING.
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Ability Sequence
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Levels 1-5: Get a point in Nimbus Strike to start off. Then get one point in Crushing Blow at level 3. Put 1 point in Warrior Trickster at level 2. After this put two more points in Nimbus Strike before getting to level 6. Meant for best early game damage.
Levels 6,11,16: These are the levels that you can and need to upgrade you ultimate Cyclone. Do not skip this.
Levels 7-12: Finish maxing out Nimbus Strike. It should be fully maxed at level 9. For the other levels that you cannot upgrade Nimbus Strike put points in Crushing Blow. Meant to increase your damage and start your mid-game snowballing.
In the early levels it is better to wait until at least level 2 to attack. Try to get level 2 first and all in your enemy who is at level 1 if you think you can kill him. Doing this against Darius or Riven for example will most likely not work but depends always on your opponent.
A farmed Wukong is a deadly monkey regardless if he has kills or not. In maximizing the amount of farm you can get try to freeze your lane outside of turret range. You do not want the enemy minions to start moving into your tower range. Tank some minion aggro if you have to.
While laning always try to just last hit the minions otherwise you will push the lane. When you are ready to recall to base and your enemy based or died always push the lane to their turret so they lose out on farm and reset the lane at the same time. When pushing always remember to WARD. Use Green Wards or your Trinket Ward.
When teamfights start occurring you pretty much have two combos to choose from. Normal combo is to Nimbus Strike (in) -> Crushing Blow -> Cyclone. Try to knock-up the whole team if possible with your ultimate but do not be too daring and get yourself killed just to try and knock up the last person. Then follow up that combo with Warrior Trickster (out) -> Nimbus Strike (back in) -> Crushing Blow.
Now if you are just at a standstill before a fight that might EVENTUALLY happen you can be brave and try this combo. Warrior Trickster -> move forward and Flash (in) -> Cyclone -> Nimbus Strike -> Crushing Blow. The problem with this combo is that you need to be able to survive until Decoy's cooldown is over. With no escape mechanism left make sure your team will follow you into the fray.
Make sure that your team is also keeping track of Dragon as it starts to play an important role in this area of the game.
If your carries are NOT protected because of whatever reason then teamfights will be a lot harder to win but you will have to end up playing the role as the bodyguard or the peeler for your carries. Basically your job will be to soak the damage from the enemy bruisers who come charging after your carries. Having Randuin's Omen will help as it is a great peel item in combination with Cyclone. Save Cyclone so that you can defend your carries. Without your carries your damage potential drops dramatically. If you can manage to defend your carries successfully it could end up turning the teamfight around and they have the chance to go to town on your enemies.
Remember at this stage to keep a ward and a watchful eye on BOTH Dragon and Baron Nashor.
Trade with Aatrox after he gets his third hit so he does not have his damage auto for you. Get an early gank on Aatrox to pop his passive so that you can kill him at 6. Invest in an early Ninja Tabi + Doran's Shield before you get The Brutalizer to easily come ahead against him in trades. Once you get The Brutalizer you can pressure and easily kill him. Buy a Sunfire Aegis or a Randuin's Omen and you will be able to completely keep him out of the game. In teamfights he should melt to the AoE damage of your ult and lose his passive very early in.
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Cho'Gath
In-depth Match-up Notes
Cho'Gath is an annoying match-up. He will be very sustained if you let him last hit and try and do trades over time as he will regenerate his health and mana with his passive. The way to win this lane is to force trades whenever you have the spells off CD. If you let him reach 6 and build up some Feast stacks you will no longer be able to fight him so be careful. Call your jungler if he starts to become to bulky for you to handle, if you are able to kill him with a gank he will lose some of his feast HP.
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Darius
In-depth Match-up Notes
Darius vs Wukong is a skill match-up. The match-up is innately in Wukong's favor, but due to Darius's tanky build paths Darius will make this lane complete hell once he is allowed to stack some armor and health. As a Wukong player your goal is to bully him around early on with your enhanced Q range harass and Warrior Trickster evades for his W when he hooks you. When you want to go for full trades against Darius E ONTO him and let him Q, the Q will be reduced damage due to the short range. Your level 6 is stronger than his if he does not have early armor and you should look for a full all in kill on him at that time. Once he gets the components for a Sunfire Aegis or Randuin's Omen you should ask your mid or jungle to come hold your lane so that you can go roam with your ultimate and hard pressure other lanes on the map instead of getting denied. Wukong WILL hard outscale Darius into the lategame so any kills you get for your team is further expanding your lategame advantage.
Gangplank
In-Depth Match-up Notes
Gangplank can **** on you for levels 1-3 but after that the lane will even out as long as you didn't give him any kills. Parrrley can do a lot of damage especially if he is building crit items. Look for opportunities to kill Gangplank after level 6 and when he has little to no mana. You can kill him quite easily at that point. Use your Ignite after he uses Remove Scurvy to secure your kill. Make sure you have wards placed before going in on Gangplank because if you get hit with Cannon Barrage and you get ganked you are pretty much screwed.
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Garen
In-Depth Match-up Notes
Avoid facing off against Garen early game because he out damages you by A LOT. Another one of your counters. Garen is very hard to play against as Wukong and I do not recommend you pick him if you know you are going against Garen. Avoid sitting in his Judgment as much as possible and do not fight him in it. Play the farm game like with Darius. Try to freeze your lane right outside your tower range and farm. You will most likely not be able to kill him at all before level 6 and even after level 6 it is still hard to do in lane. Try to get him to use Demacian Justice on your clone instead of you. Baiting this can save your life.
Irelia
In-Depth Match-up Notes
Do not try to start trading with her until around levels 4-5. You can try to harass her with a couple of Crushing Blows before that. After level 6 you can definitely kill her. Use your combo and when she tries to activate Hiten Style to hurt you simply Warrior Trickster away back to your tower. Keep your lane warded. Equilibrium Strike plus an enemy gank can spell instant death for you. Transcendent Blades has a relatively short cooldown which means she will have it most of the time when you fight. Do not get hit with all 4 blades. Getting hit with one or two won't hurt you too bad but getting hit with all of them will hurt. Do not fight her amongst her minions. Between her damage and minion aggro you will more than likely lose the fight.
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Jax
In-Depth Match-up Notes
Jax is a tricky champion so you must play carefully against him. Do not feed him as it will end in a loss for your lane and possibly the game. Do not duel him 1v1 especially after level 6. He will win the trade. It is not too hard to kill. Jax especially before level 6 it is just a risky endeavor. Just try to kill him with your jungler. Focus on farming in this match-up. Freeze your lane for maximum safe farm. If you are low do not try to attempt it as Jax can towerdive you easily. After level 6 still only attempt to kill Jax with ganks or if he decides to start playing stupidly. Empower will do a lot of damage when maxed and Jax can dodge your combo by using Counter Strike which means you will lose the trade without him even doing much.
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Lee Sin
In-Depth Match-up Notes
The biggest counter to Wukong. He out sustains you. He out damages you. He can see you through your stealth with Tempest / Cripple and he can protect himself from all of your harass. Play extremely passively and freeze the lane and farm. You will probably need to be babysat by the jungler unless the Lee Sin is really bad. Killing him will not be an easy task. He can just Safeguard / Iron Will to a minion to get away from you. He can use Dragon's Rage to kick you away if you use Cyclone. This is not a fun lane. If you are playing draft and/or ranked and you see Lee Sin do not pick Wukong especially if you know he is going top because if you do you are countering yourself.
Malphite
In-Depth Match-up Notes
Farm all day. Don't waste your time harassing Malphite. Thanks to Ground Slam your harassment will pretty much be useless. Even with your armor reduction in Crushing Blow. Attempt to kill Malphite before AND after level 6 only with ganks. You will need more than yourself to kill him because of how sturdy of a champion he is and the fact that he can get away with Seismic Shard. Don't get caught out of position after level 6 as Unstoppable Force will leave you vulnerable.
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Nasus
In-Depth Match-up Notes
Nasus is pretty much just going to sit in his lane and farm. You do the same and make sure to keep up with him is CS. If you try to harass him he will just Wither you and walk away. He will then get his health back from Soul Eater so harassing him is mostly just a waste of mana. If Nasus is over-extending and has little mana you can fight him before level 6. You will either get him low or can kill him granted he doesn't just Wither you right away. Be careful 1v1ing Nasus after level 6 with Fury of the Sands. Take him on with ganks and even then there is no guarantee that he will die. Try to win the game before Nasus can get to late game. He becomes a real dominant force late game when Siphoning Strike is really powered up.
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Nidalee
In-Depth Match-up Notes
Don't let Nidalee harass you constantly for free. If she tries to do that punish her with your combo. Try not to eat as many Javelin Tosses as you can. Remember the farther away you are the more it hurts. When fighting Nidalee always have your lane warded so you do not get a surprise. Never towerdive Nidalee after she acquires Aspect Of The Cougar and do not even bother to try and fight her. She will just run away. Between levels 1-5 is your harassment time and the best time to kill Nidalee in lane. You are more than capable of doing that.
Olaf
In-Depth Match-up Notes
Play very passively and just farm. Freeze your lane. Do not try to trade with Olaf. If you focus on farming eventually you will become better than him but not in lane. Only try to kill him before level 6 with help from ganks. After level 6 it will be really hard as your knock-up will not affect him if he uses Ragnarok. Reckless Swing deals true damage and will hurt a lot if you let yourself get hit with a lot of them. Best against this is to try and make him use it on your Warrior Trickster. Undertow has a good amount of burst damage and will slow you. He will use that and Ghost to get away if he has too.
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Pantheon
In-Depth Match-up Notes
Nimbus Strike + Auto-attack + Crushing Blow to get past Aegis Protection. Try to avoid getting hit with too many Spear Shots. It is not a skill shot so if you are in range it will always hit you. It will drain his mana though. Is a counter to you but is probably the least dangerous compared to Darius or Lee Sin. When you see Grand Skyfall try to get out of the ring that appears on the ground. Aegis of Zeonia is a gap closure and can stun you so be careful. Try to bait it with your Warrior Trickster so it stuns it instead of you. You can kill him after level 6 after you get some items. Before level 6 you can kill him with ganks even more so if you can bait his Aegis of Zeonia.
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Renekton
In-Depth Match-up Notes
Like against Olaf just farm your lane and freeze it. You will be better later on in the game so just focus on farming. Do not try to duel early. Cull the Meek and Ruthless Predator will eat you up. Before level 6 just attempt to fight him if you get a gank or if he tries something really stupid like turret diving you. After level 6 it becomes easier to fight against him especially when you get some items. Your damage will out do his in most fights. Just be wary of minion aggro and do not get stunned by Ruthless Predator while you are using Cyclone. Do not towerdive Renekton unless his Dominus is on cooldown. He can use it to bait you and it will more than likely end up getting you killed.
Rengar
In-Depth Match-up Notes
While this will most likely be a skill matchup avoid the brush especially when he has 4-5 charges of Ferocity. Harass him with Crushing Blow often. His heal cannot handle the damage especially with 2 or 3 points in Crushing Blow. Killing him after level 6 might be a bit difficult. He can use his ultimate to stealth away and gain movement speed. So you can get him low but he might just escape. Killing before 6 is definitely a possibility even though you do not have to. Remember to still be farming even when harassing Rengar. Regardless if you kill him or not in lane if your farm is higher you will be better mid-late game.
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Riven
In-Depth Match-up Notes
Play passively and farm up. Freeze your lane and focus on out CSing her. If you try to duel her in the laning phase you will lose as she will out-damage you throughout early-mid game. The only time you should try to kill Riven is with the help of ganks before and after level 6. Killing her will not be easy thanks to a stun in Ki Burst and her mini dashes in Broken Wings and Valor so a lot of CC might be needed.
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Rumble
In-Depth Match-up Notes
Do not sit in Flamespitter. Do not give him free harass. Just focus on farming your lane and freezing it near your tower. Rumble will naturally push the lane so it should be a bit easier to freeze it. If you harass him just use a Nimbus Strike + Crushing Blow combo and fall back. Do not hang around and only attack him when he isn't paying attention. Scrap Shield will eat the damage of Crushing Blow. I recommend buying a Hexdrinker after you build your early game items or earlier if necessary. This will help deal with the magic damage and it will be at a time where Rumble will start to be strong in lane. When attacking before level 6 only do with a gank. However after level 6 you can attempt to take him on yourself. Remember do NOT feed Rumble. He is one of the highest snowballing champs in the game. Do not stay in The Equalizer otherwise you will be slowed and will be hit with damage per second.
Shen
In-Depth Match-up Notes
Be aggressive and push the heck out of him. Do not let him get free harass on you. He will keep throwing Ki Strike at you so punish him when he does. When he uses Stand United to go to another lane keep pushing the lane. Take his tower and continue to push. Between the attack speed from Nimbus Strike and the extra power of Crushing Blow on turrets, taking turrets should be pretty easy and quick. Before level 6 you can kill him with ganks. Otherwise you will more than likely just get him low and he will escape which is fine as well. Keep your lane warded. Getting hit with Shadow Dash could spell death for you if you get ganked even with Warrior Trickster.
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Singed
In-Depth Match-up Notes
Play very aggressively out of the starting gate. Get level 2 before him. Make him stay below level 6 for as long as you possible can. After level 6 it will nearly be impossible to kill Singed even with ganks unless he is really overextended or is just playing really stupidly. Before level 6 you can definitely kill him and that is the point of the aggressive play. However do not sit in Poison Trail when you fight him if you expect to win.
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Teemo
In-Depth Match-up Notes
Freeze your lane. Do not bother to try and mess with Teemo. Stay out of his auto-attack range as much as possible (500 units) to avoid taking his poison harass. You can definitely kill him before level 6 with help from ganks especially if your jungler has some good CC. If the Teemo is not really smart you can try to harass him. After level 6 you can't really kill him with ganks because he will just set up his mushroom kingdom with Noxious Trap. You can kill him after 6 but avoid all brush and avoid all mushrooms.
So now that you have learned about Wukong you want to know about carrying with him in ranked. Well I can personally tell you that if played smart Wukong can be an amazing carry for your soloQ games. In this section I will provide you with the method I used to carry 2 of my accounts to gold Elo.
1). So first off the draft pick. If you get an early pick I would advise going mid as Wukong as they will try and counterpick you as a top lane. If you are a later pick you can ask for either mid or top lane as it should be harder to counterpick you.
2.) Aggression is key. In a game where you need to carry you don't have time to not be making plays. Everything you should be doing should be working towards improving your teams gold lead. Killing your opponent, roaming mid and bot, and taking towers/Dragons should be your key factors towards looking into early game. If you opt to do a heavy roaming path I would advise Boots of Mobility so that you can get more out of your decoy stealth. Knowing Wukong's damage capabilities is a key factor in being able to do these things. Wukong can usually look for kills at lvl 4 an level 6 depending on his lane opponent. Your ultimate will be the key to your aggression so you should be aware of its cooldown with every decision you make. After you kill your lane opponent a few times and have denied him CS you should take the tower and roam. This will cause 1 of 2 things to happen.
Your lane opponent will try and follow and come fight missing farm and staying weak.
Your lane opponent will stay top and farm allowing you to give your team a 5v4 advantage all over the map.
3.) Initiation is a huge factor in how a teamfight will go out. Ideally you want the initiation to be a catch. The most key part to initiation is to be sure if you initiate someone else will keep your carries safe. Killing off the enemy carry is only a trade if your carry died in the process.
4.) Take the lead don't follow your katarina around who is just running around looking to jump on the first person she sees. Tell your team a plan establish yourself as the one who will make the calls. Team disorganization is a MAJOR cause for losses in soloQ. I have had games where my team has thrown a 20 kill lead because no one wanted to take charge and get the team to group and push objectives. Know how the game flows what to do at what times and where to be.
5.) Set the game to move to your beat. You always want to be the one setting up scenarios. Where the fight takes place how the fight works out etc. Make the game flow with the decisions YOU make, not someone on the enemy team. You want to be the ones forcing baron, not the ones getting forced to stop the baron.
These 5 things are honestly what has given me the ability to carry myself up the leagues. Below is one of my soloQ games as Wukong where I won my lane early and spread kills to my team.
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