Whats a good Garens build?
-I bought him recently and have only plaayed 3 or 4 games with him

-I know that Merc treads, Ghostblade, Sunfire, Frozenmallet, and Atmogs are all good...

---But what is best?


...I got 220+ CS with him in less than 35 minutes on my 3rd game with him so Gold isn't a big problem for the build..

"Best" isn't going to happen. He's not an AD or AP Carry that builds pretty much the same way every single game because that's not his role. He needs to be able to take hits while dealing damage, so your defensive items are going to have to reflect the team you're playing against.

With that said, for most balanced teams, my items tend to look like Merc Treads, Ghostblade, Aegis, Sunfire, FoN, and a floater slot that usually gets filled with an IE if it they aren't stacking armor, or a Last Whisper if they are. As long as you get a Brutilizer before anything else, your early game damage will be where it should to do your job.

PPl always build him tanky but I always find thats the worst way to build him. Generally I go swiftness boots to hunt ppl down with his Q or his ult easier. After that, SF Cape or Randiums, Ghostblade, Infind Edge, Frozen Mallet, and Atmas

6IE and ffs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muEqAsE1ItI This guide is very good if you want to play Garen. I follow it with a few variations of my own and I usually do pretty well.

In my experience playing Garen top lane i have found this build to work best. Keep in mind though, it's all scenario based.

Vs. Bruiser/AD

First items, Cloth + 5 health Pots. I mainly go for this if the opposing laner has a strong early game(1-5) and i just concentrate on farming, Your Q gives you movement speed which takes place of the boots, as long as you don't push too far up you should be fine.

When you first recall you're idea gold should be around 1200, with this gold i buy boots, Dorans blade, health pots and wards. If i manage to sneak a kill in and i have around 1600 gold i would go straight for Brutilizer, This gives cdr, Armor pen, and attack damage. If you can't manage to pull out a kill you can consider grabbing a Phage, and build it into a Frozen Mallet.

If they have a weak early game and you can harass them, then start with boots + health pots.

on your 3rd or 4th time back look at there team and see if they have a lot of cc, if so you can make ninja tabi from the cloth armor+ boots.

If i'm winning the lane i try and save up for a BF sword, and go for I.E. if losing the lane, you might consider a HoG and try to keep farming, If losing the lane you might consider a Dorans shield off the start after boots, But my build generally consist of Merc/Ninja boots, Warmogs, IE, Atma's, GA, Frozen Mallet. This build makes you have well over 4k health at the end of the game assuming you make it to 40 minutes. If they have a lot of Ability power, you may consider getting a hexdrinker off the start and upgrading to maw of Malmortius. Also sell your bruitilzer in mid game to make room for your full build.

Vs. AP caster
I almost always start out with boots+ health pots. Once again if winning the lane go for Bruitilizer. you may consider a hexdrinker if you aren't winning the trades. After go for merc treads and continue the build as if they had a Bruiser top lane.
If the caster is doing massive damage to you, go for a Negatron cloak and build into a Force of Nature.

Depending on if your the true tank of the team, or playing a bruiser, you may want to alter your build into something with more Mr/Armor. But remember your W gives you massive defensive stats. When playing Garen bruiser you want to try and go for the AP caster with your Silence. If the ADC is extremely fed i would consider going for him. Remember it's not always best to Kill steal with Garen, the AP caster and ADC need some kills .

Sorry for the messiness at work and was in a rush. Kinda scatterbrained.

Frozen Mallet isn't a good item on any character that doesn't rely on physical attacks to do their business. Garen relies on his abilities, ergo it is a poorly valued item.

If you want survivability, virtually any other item in the game is a better value.

If you want DPS, virtually any other AD granting item is a better value. Even stacking Doran's blade.

Frozen Mallet only becomes a good value when you actually can use it's slow, and not only does garen have a hard time doing it, he doesn't even really need it.

Merc treads aren't critical, but generally you'll still have to compensate for the lost tenacity. Boots 5, ninja tabi, boots of lucidity and even (ha) boots 3 are all worth considering.

Atmogg's is an awful build and I am glad it fell out of popularity. As a rule of thumb if your character doesn't scale to HP (EG: Olaf, Mundo, ect) or treat it as a resource, Warmogg's is a bad item. It gives you HP, HP regen, and that's it. It's not an efficient use of item slots, and it's not an efficient use of gold typically.

Atma's isn't a bad item, but it's still a 4th+ slot item. You'll only buy it when you want more armor (odd thing to say about garen) and you already have an IE.

Actually, on that note, IE is the only way you'll remain relevant late game. Garen's great strength is that he's naturally a tanky character. He can shrug off attacks, and between his passive giving him strong longevity in lane, and the MR / armor bonuses from kills he's got basically the strongest base stats in the game. The perk to that is that he's the soak who spends more of his gold (ideally) on DPS items. Incidentally, his spin can crit.

-I dont reccomend Frozen Mallet because its not cost effective; unless you have a specific strategy where you abuse the slow.

-I would take merc treads over boots of swiftness any day. That tenacity gives you far more mobility than that extra movepseed + the magic resist


-merc treads are super expensive early game. you need to decide if your oppnent in lane is going to give u a hard time and you should go ninja tabis instead; or if the mercs are more important to escape jungle ganks

Personally, I get boots into a few dorans blades then move into Froz Mallet and I/E (which i get first depends on matchups, atmas, and BT or Zeke's if i have a few other people that can benefit from the aura. Lastly either Omen or FoN based on how heavy they are ap vs ad. You won't be as durable as the usual froz mallet sunfire etc, but the lifesteal does add up and you won't be wasting kills you take with your ult.

None of these builds are in any particular order.

Uber-tank Garen: Situational boots, Warmogs, Force of Nature/Randuin's Omen, Infinity Edge, Atma's Impaler, Guardian Angel

Damage Garen: Situational Boots, Infinity Edge, Ghostblade, Warmogs, Atma's Impaler, Guardian Angel