Garen is a member of the Dauntless Vanguard who defends Demacia. In the team, he acts as a defender and damage dealer, reduces the defense of his rivals. In the guide, we will tell you what skills the champion is endowed with, how to properly collect runes and items for him, and also draw up detailed tactics for playing for Garen.
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Hero Skills
The power of Demacia deals purely physical damage, using its abilities rather than basic attacks. Most of all, he has a developed indicator of protection, medium - damage. The rest of his stats are very low. Next, consider each skill individually and in combination.
Passive Skill - Tenacity
Garen regenerates 1,5-10,1% of his maximum health (based on level) every 5 seconds if he hasn't been damaged or hit by enemy abilities in the last 8 seconds.
First Skill - Decisive Strike
Garen removes all slow effects and gains a 35% movement speed bonus for 1-3,6 seconds (depending on skill level).
If he hits an opponent within 4,5 seconds of activating the ability, his next attack will silence him for 1,5 seconds, preventing him from using any skills, and dealing increased physical damage.
Second Skill - Courage
- Passively: Killing units permanently grants 0,2 armor and magic resistance, up to a maximum of 30. At maximum charges, Garen gains 10% armor and magic resistance.
- Actively: Garen strengthens his courage for 2-5 seconds, reducing incoming damage by 30%. He also gains a 65-145 shield, which also grows based on the bonus health, and 60% tenacity for 0,75 seconds.
Third Skill - Verdict
Garen spins his sword rapidly for 3 seconds, dealing increased physical damage 7 times over its duration. The nearest enemy takes even more physical damage per hit.
Champions hit by 6 hits lose 25% armor for 6 seconds.
Ultimate - Judgment of Demacia
The hero calls upon the power of Demacia to kill his enemy, dealing 150-450 physical damage plus 25-35% of the target's missing health as pure damage.
Sequence of leveling skills
Garen needs to upgrade skills in the order in which they go in the game - from the first to the third. Ultimate always takes precedence over other abilities and increases at levels 6, 11 and 16. Below is a detailed flow table.
Basic Ability Combinations
All Garen's combos are quite easy, and the character himself is simple and understandable in mastering. Use the following combinations of skills to defeat opponents in solo and team battles.
- Skill XNUMX -> Blink -> Auto Attack -> Skill XNUMX -> Auto Attack -> Ultimate. Use this combo when you plan to get one kill in a lane or want to fly into an enemy carry during a teamfight. A handy ranged attack option, pre-charge the next basic attack, and then use the Blink to close the distance and perform a deadly combo.
- Skill XNUMX -> Auto Attack -> Skill XNUMX -> Ultimate. Can be used if you are already close enough to enemies. Good for mass fights. Press all skills quickly and accurately, aiming at the most vulnerable characters.
Pros and cons of the hero
Having studied the mechanics of the hero in detail, we will determine his main weaknesses and strengths. They will help in compiling assemblies and conducting combat.
Pros of playing Garen:
- Easy to learn - suitable for beginners.
- Very strong in the early and mid game due to high base damage.
- Some skills inflict strong explosive damage, allowing you to kill opponents with a couple of combinations.
- Built-in debuff protection.
- Good survivability.
- Not limited by mana.
Cons of playing Garen:
- Weak against characters with a long distance - shooters, magicians.
- It sags in the late game.
- There is no strong control.
- No instant escapes, slow, afraid of controllers.
Suitable runes
For a comfortable game on the line and the development of combat potential, Garen needs runes Accuracy и Courage. It is they who will increase both damage and survivability, which are so necessary for a warrior on the top lane. A screenshot has been added below so that you can set all the necessary parameters in the game using it.
Primal Rune - Accuracy:
- Conqueror - When you damage a champion with abilities or basic attacks, you gain charges that increase the hero's adaptive power. Upon reaching the maximum number of charges, the effect of vampirism from damage is activated.
- Triumph – for a kill or an assist, the hero restores his health and receives additional gold.
- Legend: Fortitude - for killing any enemy mob or champion, you get charges, which then increase the hero's durability.
- The final frontier – if the hero’s health level drops by 60% or less, then his damage is increased. The maximum damage increase is reached when HP falls below 30%.
Secondary Rune - Courage:
- Accumulation - after 12 minutes, the hero is given +8 to armor and magic resistance, and also increases overall defense by 3%.
- Growth - the hero gains 3 health for every 8 monsters or hostile minions that die near him. At 120 accumulated deaths of minions and monsters, +3,5% of his HP is added to him.
- +9 to adaptive damage.
- +6 Armor.
Required Spells
Jump - teleport a short distance forward or in the indicated direction. If your champion is ganked by enemy champions, you can use him to escape from such fights. It can also be used to reduce the distance between you and a low health enemy.- Ignition - a summoner spell that is used against an enemy champion. Burns an enemy champion over time. Also inflicts terrible wounds, which significantly reduces the effectiveness of healing spells and items on it.
- Exhaustion - targets an enemy champion, reducing their movement speed by 30% and their damage dealt by 35% for 3 seconds.
- Ghost - acts as an alternative to Flash. This helps your champion increase his movement speed. But it will not give you the ability to teleport through walls and barriers. Gain a large movement speed boost that drops to 25%.
- Teleport - after holding for 4 seconds, teleport your champion to a friendly tower, minion, or totem. Upon arrival, increases movement speed for 3 seconds.
Best Build
For Garen in the top lane, the following build is ideal, which takes into account all the needs and capabilities of a warrior.
Starting Items
At the start, those items are purchased that will allow him to quickly destroy the minions on the line, accumulate gold and experience. Also, with an additional health potion, he can return to base less often.
- Shield of Doran.
- Health Potion.
- Hidden totem.
Early items
The next item will increase the hero's movement and attack speed.
- Berserker Greaves.
Main subjects
In the full set, he adds equipment that significantly increases the strength and attack speed, reduces the cooldown of abilities, and increases health and armor points. Also, all later purchased items will increase the speed.
- Bonebreaker.
- Berserker Greaves.
- Dead Man's Armor.
Complete assembly
At the end of the match, the assembly is supplemented with legendary items for attack power, faster reloading of skills, increased health and defense of the hero.
- Bonebreaker.
- Berserker Greaves.
- Dead Man's Armor.
- Black axe.
- Power of nature.
- Test of Sterak.
If the enemy team has a strong healer, and you can’t cope with his treatment, you can purchase an item instead of one item from the assembly “Herald of death" or "Spiked armor”, depending on whether you lack damage or defense. They both cast on the opponent Terrible wounds and cut incoming and outgoing healing.
Worst and best enemies
Let's turn to the results of the win rate and in-game statistics. According to the data, Garen plays the hardest against K'Sante, nasusa и Renekton. You can use it to counter these champions in the enemy team. Garen's worst battle results against the following characters:
- Timo - a nimble jungler, with high control, support and damage. Almost every one of his abilities cuts healing, and there is a risk of simply burning out before even having time to approach him. In this case, keep the maximum distance from him and call the forester for help to help him deal with him faster.
- Camilla - Lightning warrior with a good range of attacks. Can encase the player in a barrier, move along walls, and apply a slow effect. It is better, just like with Timo, to keep a distance and not act against her alone.
- Mordekaiser - a steel warrior who will turn your advantages against you. Abducts an opponent to another world, steals their indicators, deals more damage to single targets, pulls them out from under the towers. A very difficult opponent, especially when you are one on one with him. Try not to fall under his skills and enlist the support of your teammates.
Garen's best synergy comes out with a jungler Skarner – a crystal guardian, a warrior with high control and stamina, but low damage. Can take hits and move enemies closer to you. He will also play well in a duet with foresters Law и Gragas.
How to play Garen
Beginning of the game. The phase is very dependent on the opponent in the lane. But in any case, you need to focus on farming minions. If you are confident that you can defeat the enemy, then you can attack early when the enemy has few minions in the lane. Give him a basic attack and finish with your first ability.
It is always preferable to have the wave of mobs on your side of the lane, as it will be easier for your jungler to protect you and the chances of dying are greatly reduced.
Pay attention to the enemy, use every opportunity and enter the fight, as Garen outflanks many champions from the very start. When you win, you can capture some part of the tower with the help of the auto attack boost from the first skill. Don't be too aggressive and only engage in safe fights to eventually kill your opponent at level 6 with your ult.
Average game. There are two things to do: start splitting up if there are no visible upcoming ganks, or engage in combat if there are. You don't have to join a team to just stand around for 40 seconds doing nothing.
The key to a successful Garen game is knowing your abilities and limits, being able to manipulate other players, and knowing how and when to split up or join your team.
After about 16 minutes, you can walk alone and destroy enemy towers, while the enemies either ignore you or cannot do anything. When you find that you can't get to the level 2 tower and there are no ganks, you can spend time and steal enemy or allied mobs in the forest so as not to waste time.
When there are multiple items, Garen is really hard to kill. It deals a lot of damage to thin targets, such as an enemy ADK or mid lane mages. Always look out for the strongest enemy and try to destroy him with your ult. In the mid game, this is the most fed opponent, in the late game, the enemy carry or some unstoppable champion is more important.
It is best to team up with allies who have control. Or with anyone who can distract the enemy so you can disable it. Full Combo + Ignite always poses a big threat to enemies, even when they are ahead in power and farm.
late game. Garen can easily take towers with a single tap, so keep an eye on the situation on the map and choose safe moments to destroy buildings. Or join the team in the battle for the goal and use enemy deaths to demolish the towers. Or hold back the enemy while the team gathered around the Baron. Then they lose the Baron trying to kill you.
It is important to follow the map and correctly calculate the risks and opportunities. If you don't do this, you can go down a lot. If you are still unsure if your teammates can win the fight after the Baron, then you should join them and fight or help destroy enemy structures.
Garen is a good choice for any player, up to the highest rank fights. It will really teach you the basics of the game. His skills are straightforward and easy to learn, and he's fairly easy to play. We wish you good luck, waiting for your comments below!
