What can I say about Garen other than, Garen’s a darn aggressive Tank who can be built as an even more aggressive Fighter?
Garen is one of the Tanks that my whole family will fight over any time he comes around in ARAM because not only is Garen brain dead easy to play, he’s also extremely strong and powerful against the majority of opponents you can get matched up with in ARAM.
Garen’s passive, Perseverance (passive) allows players to take damage and then retreat, healing portions of their maximum health as long as the player does not take any further damage.
Garen’s Decisive Strike (Q) is an ability that both cleanses Garen from all slows, but also provides him with movement speed and deals an impressive amount of damage while also silencing the targetted enemy by 1.5 seconds.
Decisive Strike (Q) is Garen’s “shut-down” ability which will help secure all those nice, smooth takedowns everyone hopes for when playing ARAM.
Garen’s Courage (W), provides players with passive armour and magic resist upon securing unit kills.
If Garen players are successful in receiving the maximum amount of Courage (W) stacks, 120 stacks, they will receive a flat percentage of both armour and magic resist, which can also be stacked with Courage’s (W) active that provides a shield and Tenacity.
Garen’s Judgment (E) allows Garen to swing his sword in circles a minimum of 7 times, dealing physical damage to all enemies around him.
Garen can end Judgment (E) early if players need to use another ability or if players simply do not want to continue using Judgment (E).
Finally, Garen’s Demacian Justice (R) looks very much like Decisive Strike (Q), though similar to Veigar’s Primordial Burst (Veigar’s R), Demacian Justice deals more damage the more missing health enemies are missing.
QUICK RUNDOWN:
SUMMONER SPELLS: Flash, Snowball
RUNES: Grasp of the Undying, Shield Bash, Conditioning, Overgrowth // Tenacity, Coup de Grace
ABILITY POWER UP: Q, E, W or E, Q, W
FIRST BUY: Guardian’s Horn
BUILD ORDER: Black Cleaver, Mercury’s Treads, Spirit Visage, Sterak’s Gage, Thornmail, Death’s Dance
COMBOS: Garen doesn’t really have a clear cut combo, though players will most often find themselves initiating using Decisive Strike (Q) as it will provide players with a movement speed buff, players can then initiate Courage (W) and continue dealing damage with Judgment (E) until enemy champions are low enough on health to take them down with Demacian Justice (R)
If players are being blocked by minions, players may want to initiate with Judgment (E) as Judgment (E) will provide players with Ghosted, allowing him to go through minions.
SUMMONER SPELLS FOR GAREN IN ARAM
FLASH
As is with most champions in ARAM, players will benefit from taking Flash as it provides players with a great deal of mobility, especially when trying to escape from team battles and allow Perseverance (passive) to initiate.
Although I wouldn’t regularly recommend that players use Flash to get forward into battle, depending on the situation it may be a good idea to Flash forward and silence an enemy or finish them off with Demacian Justice (R).
SNOWBALL
Snowball is by far the best summoner spell to have on Garen as it will allow players to get right up and close with enemies.
If players have Snowball available and there is a spot to go in and unleash a pounding, I would recommend taking it.
Due to the amount of healing Garen players have access to, players should be less worried about taking burst damage as they can simply back off to regain all the health they lost during the battle.
Although I just said that you can use Flash to get forward and damage enemy champions, players should try their very best only to rely on Snowball.
RUNE TREES FOR GAREN IN ARAM
Garen, similar to Singed, is a champion who can build as a Fighter using Precision runes or can build as a tank using Resolve runes as you would on Dr. Mundo, Amumu or tanky Soraka.
I would recommend using Resolve runes if you are the only player who can tank on your team, as Garen is a very annoying Tank to deal with in most ARAM matchups.
If players have another Tank on their team or want to focus on dealing more damage, I would recommend going the Precision route instead.
TANK RUNES FOR GAREN (RESOLVE/PRECISION)
GRASP OF THE UNDYING
Upon entering combat, players will generate one stack of Grasp of the Undying for the next 3 seconds. Players can then proceed to gain additional stacks by re-entering combat after 2 seconds.
Once players receive 4 stacks of Grasp of the Undying they will have 6 seconds to damage an enemy champion to consume stacks and deal 4% of the player’s maximum health in magic damage.
Players will also restore 2% of their maximum health and will also receive 5 bonus maximum health.
Players can refresh their empowered attack each time they reenter combat.
It’s no secret why Grasp of the Undying is considered essential for all Garen players, especially for players who expect to play extra aggressive with him.
SHIELD BASH
While shielded players will gain 1-10 (based on level) bonus armour and bonus magic resistance.
Players will also gain 5-30 (based on level) + 1.5% bonus health and 8.5% shield amount bonus adaptive damage.
Empowered attacks will last for 2 seconds after the shield expires.
Shield Bash is especially powerful on Tank versions of Garen as Garen can regularly activate Shield Bash by using is Courage (W).
I can’t think of a better-suited rune to put on Garen, to be honest!
CONDITIONING
After 8 minutes players will gain 9 bonus armour and 9 bonus magic resistance and increase their total armour and magic resistance by 5%.
Even if players plan to be aggressive with Garen, it’s a good idea to have as much magic resistance and armour as it will help sustain your health pool.
Players can alternatively take Bone Plating which will allow players to take less damage from the next 3 spells from a champion every 45 seconds.
OVERGROWTH
Players receive 5 bonus health for every 8 minions that die near them, After gaining 15 stacks (80 minions) players will receive an additional 3.5% maximum health.
Do I need to explain how overpowered that is? No? Thank you.
TENACITY
Players gain 5% +2.5% per Legend stack (max 10) tenacity up to 30% tenacity.
Tenacity is another one of those defensive stats players are going to want to have on Garen, just to ensure that they are mitigating as much damage as they can in team battles and general happenings.
COUP DE GRACE
Coup de Grace gives you 8% more damage to enemy champions below 40% health, giving Garen players a much better chance at securing takedowns when enemies are low on health.
Coup de Grace in tandem with Decisive Strike (Q) or Demacian Justice (R) tend to be secure ways of getting takedowns.
DAMAGE FOCUSSED RUNES FOR GAREN (PRECISION/RESOLVE)
CONQUERER
Melee Basic Attacks will grant 2 stacks on-hit. Each stack will deal between 2-5 (based on level) AP stacking up to a maximum of 10 stacks dealing a maximum of 20-50 (based on level) AP when fully charged.
Melee Champions will heal for 15% of their damage when Conqueror is fully charged.
TRIUMPH
Players will receive 6% of missing health as well as 10 Gold every time they participate in a champion takedown. Players will experience a 1-second delay before they get their health from securing a takedown.
Triumph is extremely powerful with Garen players, especially when players are part of multiple takedowns.
TENACITY
Players gain 5% +2.5% per Legend stack (max 10) tenacity up to 30% tenacity.
Tenacity is another one of those defensive stats players are going to want to have on Garen, just to ensure that they are mitigating as much damage as they can in team battles and general happenings.
COUP DE GRACE
Coup de Grace gives you 8% more damage to enemy champions below 40% health, giving Garen players a much better chance at securing takedowns when enemies are low on health.
Coup de Grace in tandem with Decisive Strike (Q) or Demacian Justice (R) tend to be secure ways of getting takedowns.
OVERGROWTH
Players receive 5 bonus health for every 8 minions that die near them, After gaining 15 stacks (80 minions) players will receive an additional 3.5% maximum health.
Do I need to explain how overpowered that is? No? Thank you.
BONE PLATING
Upon being attacked by an enemy champion, players will gain 1.5 seconds of reduced damage from the next 3 spells or attacks received by the same enemy.
Players will take between 30-60 (based on level) less damage from said enemy and Bone Plating can be activated every 45 seconds.
SKILL LEVEL UP RECOMMENDATIONS & TIPS ON HOW TO PLAY GAREN IN ARAM
DECISIVE STRIKE (Q)
Upon casting Decisive Strike, Garen players will cleanse themselves of all slows and will also provide themselves with 30% bonus movement speed for 1 / 1.65 / 2.3 / 2.95 / 3.6 seconds.
Garen will also gain access to an unstoppable basic attack that lunges him forward dealing 30 / 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 (+50% AD) physical damage, also silencing the enemy by 1.5-seconds.
Decisive Strike can be used every 8 seconds and is also notable since it resets Garen’s basic attack timer, effectively allowing him to get an extra strike in before breaking apart from fights.
Decisive Strike is by far my favourite ability to power up on Garen first, simply due to the amount of immediate damage it deals.
I will admit, in some ARAM matchups, it may be difficult for players to secure a Decisive Strike, thus making Judgment the better to power up, though we will cover more on that later.
COURAGE (W)
Courage provides players with 0.25 bonus armour and magic resist per every enemy killed up to a maximum of 30, however, once Garen players reach maximum stacks (120 stacks) players will also receive 10% bonus armour and magic resist.
Note that the stats above are passively applied to Garen and do not require Garen players to activate Courage to access.
As an active, Garen players can reduce all incoming damage by 30% for 2 / 2.75 / 3.5 / 4.25 / 5 seconds also receiving a 70 / 95 / 120 / 145 / 170 (+20% bonus health) shield for 0.75 seconds and 60% Tenacity.
Courage has a longer cooldown, coming in at 23 / 21 / 19 / 17 / 15 seconds, still making it useful when initiating team fights.
If players want to make the most of Courage in ARAM, they should focus on killing minions in the early-game as by late-game it’s going to be difficult to catch up.
Players may have to make some tough choices is they are paired up with champions like Veigar or Nasus though, as other champions can also benefit from getting the last hit on minions.
JUDGMENT (E)
Upon activation, Garen players will become ghosted, allowing them to move through minions, and will begin spinning rapidly a minimum of 7 times over 3 seconds.
Players will deal 4 / 8 / 12 / 16 / 20 (+ 32 / 34 / 36 / 38 / 40% AD) (+ 0-8.2 based on level) physical damage per spin, though players will deal 25% bonus damage to the closest enemy equaling to 5 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 (+ 40 / 42.5 / 45 / 47.5 / 50% AD) (+ 0-10.25 based on level) physical damage per spin.
If players choose to built attack speed on Garen, they will get a bonus spin for each 25% bonus attack speed.
When enemy champions are hit 6 times by Judgment, they will receive a 25% armour reduction.
Judgment can be used every 9 seconds and can be cancelled if players wish to stop spinning. Upon ending Judgment early, players will receive the amount left on the attack as cooldown, shortening the time it takes to reactivate Judgment.
Judgment is most noteworthy on enemy minions, being one of the easiest ways to ensure that you get enough stacks of Courage (W).
If you do not have champions that have a good amount of wave clear, I would recommend powering up Judgment first, though as a general rule, it’s probably worth powering up second instead of first.
DEMACIAN JUSTICE (R)
Demacian Justice is quite frankly a very scary ultimate to be up against, especially in the late-game when Garen becomes a fairly “runaway” champion.
Demacian Justice is a targetted ability that deals 150 / 300 / 450 (+20 / 25 / 30% of the target’s missing health) true damage, which makes it fairly impossible to escape or mitigate.
Players will also reveal the enemy for 1 second, though realistically, players will oftentimes be able to secure a takedown with Demacian Justice.
Players can use Demacian Justice every 120 / 100 / 80 seconds and should be extra careful about using it too early as doing so may lead to a failed attempt at a takedown.
GEAR BUILD FOR GAREN
BLACK CLEAVER
Providing players with 40 attack damage, 20% cooldown reduction, and 400 health, Black Cleaver is every fighter’s dream build.
Not only does Black Cleaver deal damage, but after dealing damage to enemy champions, Black Cleaver will reduce the enemy’s armour by 4%, stacking up to 24% for 6 seconds.
Black Cleaver also provides players with 20 movement speed for 2 seconds upon dealing physical damage.
Players will receive 60 movement speed for 2 seconds if they secure a takedown or assist on Cleaved enemies.
MERCURY’S TREADS
Provides players with 45 movement speed, 25 magic resistance and reduces the duration of all crowd control effects by 30% except for Suppression, Stasis, Nearsight, Displacements and Drowsy.
SPIRIT VISAGE
Providing players with a 10% cooldown reduction, 450 health, 100% base health regeneration and 55 magic resistance.
Players will also receive 30% bonus healing from all sources of healing.
Players can avoid building any other healing related gear, such as Warmog’s Armour when they have Spirit Visage as Spirit Visage will amplify Garen’s passive Perseverance statically.
STERAK’S GAGE
Providing players with 450 health as well as 50% of base attack damage as bonus attack damage, Sterak’s Gage is another “Fighter’s Must.”
The most impressive thing about Sterak’s Gage is the fact that it provides a shield equal to 75% of your bonus health for up to 3.75 seconds if players take 400-1800 (based on level) damage within 5 seconds.
When the shield is active, players will also receive increased size and 30% Tenacity for 8 seconds.
THORNMAIL
Thornmail provides players with 80 armour and 250 health.
Players also gain Thorns which reflect 25 (+10% of bonus armour) magic damage upon being hit by a basic attack.
Thorns will also inflict the attacker with Grievous Wounds for 3 seconds.
Players will also receive Cold Steel which cripples an enemy’s attack speed by 15% for 1 second upon being hit by a basic attack.
DEATH’S DANCE
50 Attack Damage, 30 Armour, 30 Magic Resist and 10% Cooldown Reduction, can I ask for a more balanced item in the game?
Death’s Dance not only provides players with steady stats, but it also allows players to heal for 15% of the damage they deal, although they will only receive 33% of damage from AoEs.
Players will also take 20% of the damage they receive as a bleed over 3 seconds, making it easier for them to stand still and attack. Enjoy being a bit tankier, especially in team battles!
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