Tank Tristana Build

Tank Tristana Build.

Tank Tristana build with runes and items. Tank Tristana guide offers in-depth how-to play, skill order and tips. Play Tank Tristana build in League of Legends Patch 26.2!

Author: Wrekah

TLDR

Starting items
Giant's Belt should be final item in your build.
Ruby Crystal should be final item in your build.
Quick Skill Order
Tristana ability Rocket Jump should be leveled first.
W
Tristana ability Rapid Fire should be leveled second.
Q
Tristana ability Explosive Charge should be leveled third.
E
Final items
Mercury's Treads should be final item in your build.
Heartsteel should be final item in your build.
Kaenic Rookern should be final item in your build.
Thornmail should be final item in your build.
Warmog's Armor should be final item in your build.
Overlord's Bloodmail 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.

Tank Tristana 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

Mark summoner spell

Mark

Mark (Snowball) for a go-in tool if you want to be more aggressive and make picks.

Exhaust summoner spell

Exhaust

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

Ignite summoner spell

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.

How it works

General

  1. You play Tank Tristana.
  2. You rush Heartsteel #1 and stack as much HP as possible.
  3. You build items that scale and benefit from HP, then add Armor and MR depending on the enemy team.

Playstyle

  1. Rush Heartsteel and get tons of HP. 💪
  2. Auto attack everything to get stacks - your HP depends on it. ⚔️
  3. Adapt your tank items to what the enemy team is throwing at you. 🎯

How to play

General

Getting started

  1. You rush Heartsteel.
  2. Guardian's Horn is a surprisingly good item for its price. You can keep it for a very long time (or even have it as 6th item).

Item Order

  1. Item Order after Heartsteel is flexible. You need to see what you need in particular game:
    • Get Overlord's Bloodmail for more damage and AD.
    • Get Warmog's Armor as anti-poke item (helps you stay in lane) and for some sweet HP.
    • Get Unending Despair, if there are prolonged fights in which you can stay near enemies (or enemies near you). The items gets better, the more HP you get.
    • Get various Armor and/or MR items to counter enemy team.
    • Get Titanic Hydra for more fun, more damage and some survivability.

During fights

  1. Your main damage and power comes from auto attacks - Grasp of the Undying and Heartsteel.
  2. This is auto attack oriented Tristana build, so do it! Especially if running with Titanic Hydra or Sundered Sky.
  3. You can prioritize switching between champions in the fight, just to farm more Heartsteel procs.
  4. Remember to consume your Heartsteel procs!

Adapting

  1. You need to adapt your items to the game. Enemy team heavy on AP? Buy MR. They heavy on AD? Buy Armor. You need some damage? Well buy that.
  2. Sundered Sky is very good damage item for this build (as #2-#4 depending on the game). It scales off your HP. It gives damage and pretty good sustain in fights. Remember to switch targets to maximize the effect!
  3. You can use Bandlepipes to give your whole team an attack speed boost whenever you CC enemies. Great synergy with auto attackers.

Runes

  1. Second Wind scales off with your HP, so it is going to be powerful sustain rune. You can use it by purposefully triggering it by letting enemies poke you a little or walking over some harmful spells.
  2. Triumph is better (heal + gold), but if you want to have easier time with your mana, go Presence of the Mind.
  3. Remember to consume your Grasp of the Undying procs!

Tips and Tricks

Champion

Rapid Fire (Q)

  1. Rapid Fire (Q) is very powerful cooldown. Don't waste it. Make sure you use it well in fights or for pushing - i.e. when fight actually happens or when stacking E.

Explosive Charge (E)

  1. Your abilities also add stack to your Explosive Charge (E), so you can proc 4th stack with Rocket Jump (W) or Buster Shot (R)!
  2. If you proc it with Buster Shot (R) (4th stack) detonation will happen after knock back.
  3. If you managed to stac 2 or 3 stacks of Explosive Charge (E) on the enemy, in most cases, you can safely jump on him with Rocket Jump (W) and jump out with another W (detonating E resets W).
  4. You can harras enemy by placing Explosive Charge (E) on an enemy turret for big AoE explosion. Just make sure you get away without takin aggro.

Buster Shot (R)

  1. You can use Buster Shot (R) to interrupt enemy channels or knock away AoE ults.
  2. You can also knock enemies into your team if you position properly or they misposition. Be careful to not do this with enemy tanks or engagers though.
  3. You can Buster Shot (R) enemies into wall. Instead of getting knocked away, they will stay in place, be stunned and exposed for some sweet damage.

Turret Pushing

  1. Tristana in ARAM is beast pusher. Pop Rapid Fire (Q) and Explosive Charge (E) and see turrets disappear.

Tristana Combos

  1. R + Flash Combo: You can do 'insec' trick on Tristana by using Buster Shot (R) and Flash.
  2. Go in combo: Apply Explosive Charge (E), activate Rapid Fire (Q) right away for more attack speed to stack it and then activate Rocket Jump (W), get W reset and W away.

Riot

  1. Her massive gun allows Tristana to fire on targets at a great distance. Utilize this to prevent your enemies from ever laying a hand on you.
  2. Use Rocket Jump after you have stacked up your Explosive Charge on an enemy to finish them off with a burst of damage.
  3. Use Rapid Fire to help stack up your Explosive Charge on enemy champions.

Skill Order

  • Tristana [object Object] ability.
    Q
    Rapid Fire
  • Tristana [object Object] ability.
    W
    Rocket Jump
  • Tristana [object Object] ability.
    E
    Explosive Charge
  • Tristana [object Object] ability.
    R
    Buster Shot

Items

Starting items
Giant's Belt item.
Ruby Crystal item.
Starting items vs poke
Guardian's Horn item.
Ruby Crystal item.
Boots
Ionian Boots of Lucidity item.
Plated Steelcaps item.
Mercury's Treads item.
Rush this
Heartsteel item.
Core items
Unending Despair item.
Heartsteel item.
Warmog's Armor item.
Overlord's Bloodmail item.
Dmg items
Additional considerations for these items is advised!
Runaan's Hurricane item.
Blade of The Ruined King item.
Wit's End item.
Sundered Sky item.
Titanic Hydra item.
Good tank items
Jak'Sho, The Protean item.
Protoplasm Harness item.
Fimbulwinter item.
Good MR items
Force of Nature item.
Kaenic Rookern item.
Spirit Visage item.
Good Armor items
Iceborn Gauntlet item.
Randuin's Omen item.
Thornmail item.
Dead Man's Plate item.
Frozen Heart item.
Situational items
Trailblazer item.
Bandlepipes item.
Zeke's Convergence item.
Knight's Vow item.
For the last fight
Additional considerations for these items is advised!
Elixir of Iron item.
Elixir of Wrath item.
Cappa Juice item.
Example final build
Mercury's Treads item.
Heartsteel item.
Kaenic Rookern item.
Thornmail item.
Warmog's Armor item.
Overlord's Bloodmail item.