Lets just get right to it.
Now that season 3 has arrived, just take my previous builds with a grain of salt. Many things have changed, but most items should still be the same, except that every jungler should now take a hunter's machete rather than anything else.
Rammus
The Armordillo
Rammus is the trolling rolling armadillo of doom. I still play in the jungle a lot, although my team has learned to jungle here and there, it still boils down to me doing it most of the time. Rammus has been nerfed to all hell and is kind of weak now, but that doesn't mean he can't work. His ganking is still pretty damn strong and can only be rivaled only by Maokai or Nautilus (in my opinion). If you want to be a trolling speedy ball that taunts people in the face, check out this armadillo.
In recent times since he was nerfed, Rammus's laning capabilities have gone down by a large margin, and even in the jungle he suffers from many issues. Lack of sustain, a really crappy clear speed, being largely open to invasion....these are just some of weaknesses Rammus has. BUT, to compensate for all that crap, he ganks like a boss. Powerball > taunt > defensive ball curl can keep an enemy locked up for an easy 2-3 seconds early on and that is MORE than enough to secure a kill as long as your laner isn't half retarded. As you get more points into your taunt your ganks get stronger and stronger, eventually you reach the point where the moment you show yourself in a lane, the enemy is already dead. Powerball is so fast sometimes it just zooms past wards. Homeguard boots of mobility + ghost + shurelia's revery = successful gank.
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| Nothing beats a robot armadillo that rolls over its enemies. |
Rammus excels in team fights, like most tanky champions. Rolling into an enemy team with shurelia's on can catch most teams off guard. When you ram into them, taunt their AD carry or AP carry, turn on defensive ball curl and your ultimate, your job is pretty much already done. Your team will sweep in and clean up the taunted target, and tremors can actually do decent DPS to take down squishies. If you have decent items, there's a high probability that you will not die, because defensive ball curls makes you a tanky beast. If enemies are retreating, no worries! Nobody, I repeat, NOBODY can outrun a powerballing Rammus.
Rammus may be one of the champions that I currently like to use, but he's not exactly a very practical pick. Right now he needs some buffs. His early game is bad if he doesn't get any ganks in, and its really easy to fall behind as Rammus. Needless to say, if you have the balls, pick Rammus. If you manage to get past the early game with a decent score, be prepared to become a scary armardillo!
My build for Rammus
-Hunter's machete + 5 pots (sell the macehte later on)
-Boots of mobility:Homeguard
-Philosopher stone
-Shurelia's reverie
-Aegis of the legion
-Runic Bullwark
-Sunfire cape
-Banshee's veil
-Guardian angel
Maokai
The Twisted Treant
I never did like Maokai until recently. When I first bought and used him, I fell in love with the tree. He fits RIGHT in the jungle (being a tree and all), and excels in almost EVERY component. There is a reason why is so often picked in high level competitive play. He has some of the strongest ganks in the game, standing right next to Nautilus and Rammus. Though he kind of loses some purpose late in the game, his early/mid-game impact can pretty much make enemy laners shit their pants.
Maokai is a definite jungler, he fits right in. His early clearing and sustain are great, plus, he is strong versus invaders, because his health always stays up. His ganking is monstrous, mostly because it takes almost no effort to gank a lane as Maokai. Just walk up to the lane, use twisted advance, walk ahead of the enemy, use arcane smash to knock him backwards, and toss a sapling right in front of them for more damage. This sounds complicated, but no. Twisted advance is a point and click snare, meaning that there is almost no way to fail a gank as Maokai. His early burst is decent, combined with a laner's help, the enemy stands almost no chance. Some people just instantly flash when I show my face in their lanes.
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| On a side note, merry christmas! |
Maokai isn't much of a team fighter. While his early ganking is great, he degrages into nothing but a mere initiator late in the game. He becomes nothing but a body with a snare, a puny knockup and an insignificant ultimate that boosts your team's resistances. Of course this all changes if you build AP, but you lose your tankyness and will die instantly the moment the enemy decides to aim your ass down. In team fights, initiate the fight by using twisted advance ON THE NEAREST ENEMY, it doesn't have to be the carry, all you need to do is stop the enemy's movement and get to the enemy team to unload your CC, however insignificant they may be late game. You only have to create an opening for your team to go in with your snare, and make sure your ultimate is placed perfectly so that the battle takes place in there. You may not have much impact after that, but you've already done what you needed to. Just use all your skills on the nearest squishy when your cool downs are up.
Maokai is a strong pick for the most part, because he has one of the largest jungling presences in the game. His early ganking and CC will help feed his team into fatties. Come late game, its their turn to carry the game, because Maokai is but a mere initiator later on. Its kind of a payoff, don't you think?
My build for Maokai
-Hunter's machete + 5 pots(Sell Machete later)
-Boots of mobility:Homeguard
-Philosopher stone
-Shurelia's reverie
-Aegis of the legion
-Runic Bullwark
-Frozen Heart
-Abyssal scepter
-Guardian Angel
Riven
The Exile
Riven is hot. I don't get to use Riven often because I find her a huge risk in the jungle. She is however, a great top laner, and can destroy most matchups with ease. She works in the jungle, but NEEDS to get kills. Not assists, but kills, because the jungle doesn't provide nearly as much farm as the top lane. Pick your poison for Riven, and go with it, because she can work both ways. But for me, I'd rather the top lane.
Riven in the top lane is a beast to duel against early on. She has to press her level 1 and 2 advantage, because nobody else in the game can deal over 300 damage in just investing a single point in 1 ability. "Broken wings > auto attack " x 3 is basically just an equation to murder every single top laner in the game if they are foolish enough to fight you early on. She kind of drops off late game so its important to press your early advantage and shut down the enemy laner, she does this VERY well, especially after she gets valor and her stun. Repeated harass will quickly shut down the enemy (unless they are like, Jayce or Irelia or some other OP f**k), and eventually allow you to kill them. Her jungling speed is very fast, but early sustain can be a problem. She has great ganking, being given 4 gap closers, tons of damage, a stun and a slight knockup. She can snowball really hard if she gets early kills.
I heard you guys like some bunny Rivens.
Riven's goal in a team fight is to kill the enemy carry, and cause as much disruption as possible. Since she is semi-tanky, she can soak up some damage before going down (plus, valor blocks a good deal of damage). She can deal a ton of AOE damage and that is crucial to any team. Her ultimate gives her a huge AD boost and allows her to use windslash, a great AOE ability to go with broken wings and ki burst. She will absolutely OBLITERATE squishies in seconds with her ultimate on, even her auto attacks hurt like crap. And because she has 4 gap closers, she will chase up to her prey, catch them and kill them, no problem. She can also flash ki burst to initiate, just saying, she's a pretty good bruiser. Bruisers that are tanky, can deal a lot of damage and have great mobility are always valued in a team, Riven is one of those champions.
As you can see, there are many pros to having a Riven on a team. I personally think she's an awesome pick, but only as a top laner. She's kind of iffy in the jungle, and I have fallen behind as her MANY times due to lack to kills and minion farm. If I use her up top though its mostly a won lane, her early laning is just so strong. To top it off, she's one of the hottest champions in the game. SO SEXY!!!!
My build for Riven
-Boots + 3 pots / Hunter's Machete + 5 pots (jungling)
-Ionian boots of lucidity (Any tier 3 upgrade)
-2 Doran's blades/Wriggle's lantern (jungling)
-Black Cleaver
-Frozen Mallet
-Sunfire Cape
-Guardian Angel
-Bloodthirster (sell wriggle's/Doran's blade)
Peace for now, hope you enjoyed the Rivens :)
