Thornmail Garen Build

Thornmail Garen Build.

Thornmail Garen build with runes and items. Thornmail Garen guide offers in-depth how-to play, skill order and tips. Play Thornmail Garen build in League of Legends Patch 26.4!

Author: Wrekah

TLDR

Starting items
Bramble Vest should be final item in your build.
Ruby Crystal should be final item in your build.
Quick Skill Order
Garen ability Decisive Strike should be leveled first.
Q
Garen ability Courage should be leveled second.
W
Garen ability Judgment should be leveled third.
E
Final items
Thornmail should be final item in your build.
Abyssal Mask should be final item in your build.
Jak'Sho, The Protean should be final item in your build.
Randuin's Omen should be final item in your build.
Dead Man's Plate should be final item in your build.
Sunfire Aegis should be final item in your build.
Quick Runes
Major rune Grasp of the Undying from Resolve tree.
Minor rune Precision.
Summoner spells
Pick Mark as your Summoner Spell.
Pick Flash as your Summoner Spell.

Thornmail Garen Runes

Resolve
Resolve major tree Grasp of the Undying rune.
Resolve major tree Aftershock rune.
Resolve major tree Guardian rune.
Resolve major tree Demolish rune.
Resolve major tree Font of Life rune.
Resolve major tree Shield Bash rune.
Resolve major tree Conditioning rune.
Resolve major tree Second Wind rune.
Resolve major tree Bone Plating rune.
Resolve major tree Overgrowth rune.
Resolve major tree Revitalize rune.
Resolve major tree Unflinching rune.
Precision
Precision minor tree Absorb Life rune.
Precision minor tree Triumph rune.
Precision minor tree Presence of Mind rune.
Precision minor tree Legend: Alacrity rune.
Precision minor tree Legend: Haste rune.
Precision minor tree Legend: Bloodline rune.
Precision minor tree Coup de Grace rune.
Precision minor tree Cut Down rune.
Precision minor tree Last Stand rune.
Passive
Passive tree Adaptive Force rune (+9 Adaptive Force).
Passive tree Attack Speed rune (+10% Attack Speed).
Passive tree Ability Haste rune (+8 Ability Haste).
Passive tree Adaptive Force rune (+9 Adaptive Force).
Passive tree Move Speed rune (+2 Movement Speed).
Passive tree Health Scaling rune (+10-180 Health (based on level)).
Passive tree Health rune (+65 Health).
Passive tree Tenacity And Slow Resist rune (+10 Tenacity and Slow Resist).
Passive tree Health Scaling rune (+10-180 Health (based on level)).

Optional Summoner Spells

Exhaust

Exhaust

Defensive option. Exhaust for peeling against enemy divers and assassins and protecting your carries.

Ghost

Ghost

Ghost for extra mobility - great for chasing down fleeing enemies or staying on top of slippery AD carries.

Ignite

Ignite

Offensive option if you are feeling spicy. Grievous Wounds + some damage. Good in early fights and you can score some kills, but reduces your going-in potential. Especially later.

Optional Runes

Demolish

Demolish

If you are into taking objectives, you can consider taking Demolish rune. Usually it is worth it and lets you push turrets quicker. Utility slash team oriented option.

Looking for another tank build? Check these:
HeartsteelGarenTankGaren

How it works

  1. You rush Thornmail and stack as much Armor as you can.
  2. You become auto-attackers' worst nightmare.
  3. Hit or miss. Works great if the enemy team is full of physical damage and auto-attackers. Less effective against full AP - but still viable since players auto attack anyway.

Playstyle

  1. 🌵

    Rush Thornmail to punish all enemies who auto attack you.

  2. ⚔️

    Stay in fights - the more they hit you, the more they hurt themselves.

  3. 🧰

    Adapt: if they are heavy AP, pivot to regular tank items.

How to play

Thornmail Garen

  1. Stack Courage (W) whenever possible.
  2. Even if you don't build damage, your R is still a great tool
  3. You are a great peeler. Somebody is trying to kill your carry? Just stay close, Decisive Strike (Q) them to Silence them and Demacian Justice (R) them to finish them off.
  4. You are an ultimate Tank killer. Your team cannot kill that super tanky champ? Keep your ult just for them.
  5. You get extra spikey with stacks from your Courage (W), thanks to increased Armor.
  6. Damage reduction from Courage (W) indirectly increases Thornmail's damage as it increases your effective HP and you can take more hits.

Getting started

  1. Start with Bramble Vest and Ruby Crystal. Rush Thornmail #1, then keep stacking Armor items.
  2. This build is aimed to counter AD comps. Since you don't know the enemy team before loading in, you need to adapt. If they are heavy AP, you can just fall back to a regular tank build.

During fights

  1. Stay in the middle of fights as long as possible. The more enemies hit you, the more damage Thornmail reflects.
  2. Randuin's Omen is great for engagements - it slows enemies on activation and reduces their crit damage.
  3. Late game, you can consider selling boots for a 6th item - for even more sweet Thornmail damage!

Runes

  1. Remember to consume your Grasp of the Undying procs!

Tips and Tricks

Champion

  1. You can use Judgment (E) before taking portal (frost-gate). You will be spinning during travel, damaging everyone on your path. If you are playing Full Crit Garen or Lethality Garen, you will mow them over.

Riot

  1. Garen's regeneration greatly increases if he can avoid receiving damage for several seconds.
  2. Judgment deals maximum damage when only hitting a single target. For effective trading, try to position such that only the enemy champion is hit.
  3. Garen is only constrained by cooldowns, making items such as Black Cleaver very effective for him.

Skill Order

  • Garen [object Object] ability.
    Q
    Decisive Strike
  • Garen [object Object] ability.
    W
    Courage
  • Garen [object Object] ability.
    E
    Judgment
  • Garen [object Object] ability.
    R
    Demacian Justice

Items

Starting items
Bramble Vest item.
Ruby Crystal item.
Rush this
Thornmail item.
Good tank items
Warmog's Armor item.
Jak'Sho, The Protean item.
Protoplasm Harness item.
Good MR items
Force of Nature item.
Kaenic Rookern item.
Abyssal Mask item.
Hollow Radiance item.
Spirit Visage item.
Good Armor items
Iceborn Gauntlet item.
Sunfire Aegis item.
Unending Despair item.
Randuin's Omen item.
Dead Man's Plate item.
Thornmail item.
Situational items
Knight's Vow item.
Trailblazer item.
Zeke's Convergence item.
Titanic Hydra item.
For the last fight
Additional considerations for these items is advised!
Elixir of Iron item.
Elixir of Wrath item.
Example final build
Thornmail item.
Abyssal Mask item.
Jak'Sho, The Protean item.
Randuin's Omen item.
Dead Man's Plate item.
Sunfire Aegis item.