So i like garen,
however i dont like being a liability to my team for using him.

so i think I'm doing it wrong, and i was wondering what are optimal builds for this manly spinning Demacian?

I've tried full tank, and its hilarious.. till they stop focusing garen and then I'm basically useless cept for silence.

So yeah, Would love an example build and a brief statement on how to play to that builds strengths,

Thanks.

Build Garen like DotA's Juggernaut now. Lane him with a babysitter who can feed him kills and play him as your everyday melee carry lategame. He gets some free survivability for his W's activwe and passive but there's seriously no reason to stack survivability on him now that his skills actually scale well.

EDIT: He still sucks in that role but it's the best that you can do with him.

My item build is as follows.

Boots > giant's belt > situational boots > BF sword > IE > frozen mallet

Fit Banshee's in after IE if appropriate. After that, build becomes situational.

I've had wonderful games on TT with Garen, though I never play SR so I couldnt tell you if he's viable there. I play a pretty aggressive early game, because thats where Garen really shines, provided you dont get yourself killed. As far as building goes, I build survivability early game, since his base damage usually is more than enough early, then build damage late game.

Start with Boots and 3x Health pots
Try and stay in lane untill you can at least buy giants belt (shouldnt be too hard with his passive plus Health Pots
Build the giants belt into Sunfire cape
(If you need the magic resist either build a force of nature or just a negatron cloak here)
After that I build towards Infinity Edge, giving me some decent late game damage and some nice crit for the spin.

The game usually ends shorty after Infinity if not before, but I'd imagine building whatever direction suits you best after that.

Sorry if it reads hard, I typed it up real fast, without much regard to grammar and such.

Judgement does a ton of damage, but it gets gimped if you don't get any sort of armor pen. I start with 31 armor pen and rush a Ghostblade and Firecape simultaneously after boots. Combined with Exhaust and its mastery, that's usually enough to deal true damage on most squishy champs until level 15+.

2x Doran's Blade
Merc Treads
Ghostblade
Mallet
Atma's

Go Mallet first if necessary.

Sunfire first definitely; it helps with both killing and farming..

Then giant's belt + Atmas, and finish Warmogs(you cannot autoattack when spinning so you cannot slow anyone for any significant amount of time anyway).

The best success I've had with Garen is at least having the 3% runspeed from utility then whatever else from Offense or Defense.

First get Doran's Shield (better staying power in lane) and first purchase should be Boots of Swiftness. Reason being is you want to stay on top of people with judgement, and Boots of Swiftness help a lot with that.

Items then are Youmuu's first (almost always; at least get Brutalizer...) then depending on how well you're getting kills vs assists (eg; you either have a good carry who's getting the kills he SHOULD be getting or you don't have any defined carry) build SFC or go into IE. Yes, IE is fine on Garen though it's balls expensive (which is fine if you're doing more damage and farming like a boss) If you get SFC get Atma's next. If you get IE you can either get Phage and then get whatever your lil heart desires or another Brutalizer (with Youmuu's and Brutalizer you'll be droppin swords on heads like a boss)

I don't recommend Warmogs really, but if you REALLY want to go tanky then it can't hurt, just expensive.

Thx for the builds everyone. will try them.

I think, if you have health runes, you can start with Boots + 3 health pots. Otherwise get Doran's shield.

For your first skill, start with Q (silence) if you have an offensive laning partner (ie: tryndamere, caitlyn, ashe, etc). That way, they cannot use their summoner's spell to escape. If you have a CC laning partner, start with E instead, such as Taric or Mundo's cleaver to slow. Hide in the bushes and surprise people

Then get swift boots. The other items are situational, but usually items that give Crit, such as Avarice blade > Youmuu's, Infinity edge, are good for DPS. Sunfire cape is also good as it works very well with your E ability.

Level the abilities in this order, R > E > Q > W. I usually alternate E and Q, with one point in W before level 6. Usually, with swift boots you can run in with Q (for the faster run speed), use W to have higher defense, and spin with E. When they are low on life, use your R for the finishing blow. Towards the end, it can kill almost anyone with 1/3 of life left (depending on situation of course )

I'm not a pro-garen user but these are what I've learned so far. Any feedback appreciated too

EDIT: By the way, Doran's shield plus your passive allows you to regen HP safely if you run back to the turret, so you can stay there longer.