What the hell are you supposed to do against Garen early game as a melee character?

I can't stay near creeps because that's virtually instant death, he does his spin thing and I'm done for.

When he returns to lanes, and I exhaust him, his spin's movement speed is not effected by exhaust so he catches up to me anyway and I'm done for.

When I stay right next to my turret he spins into me and spins away through the back bushes and so effectively I'm done for.

Basically, is there anything a melee character can do other than get raped against Garen? I basically just went 0/7 leave, my first intentional leave ever. I feel bad for screwing my team but I was just getting raped EVEN WHEN TOWERHUGGING LIKE A MOTHER****ER so there was no point.

It's like I can't touch him, he instagibs me, and I can't get any XP from being near my minions killing minions. What the ****. I'm sure he's not as ridiculous against ranged/heavy CC characters (well, non-slows, and I dunno what else his stupid spin shrugs off).

Garens like hiding in the bushes then use their spin as you sadly had to find out the hard way. Some things you can do are:

Stay as far from the bush you know he's in while maintaining exp gaining. You see him come out, run.

If that doesn't work, buy a ward, put it in the bush he's in (when it's safe) when minion waves come they'll see him and attack him, forcing him back

As a melee, ask for possibly a lane switch, tell them you're being zoned too hard and you can't do much.

Turret diving...try to save your exhaust for when he's aggro'd by the turret, use your disables or escape abilities for that.

Exhaust reduces damage dealt as well as their armor and MR (if you put one point into the mastery, which you should be), so don't use it until he actually reaches you, especially if he's under a tower, or wait until his spin ends. Hit him after he spins, or have your ranged partner hit him, but make sure you're not taking needless minion hits (they'll aggro if you're in their range and you auto attack an enemy champion).

If you're a melee without the means of harassing ranged, you should either have a ranged champion next to you, or be jungling. Melee champions aren't always viable solos.

It was me and TF against Zilean and Garen. We got wrecked.

Good point on the ward drawing minion aggro though, he basically hid in the uppermost part of the bush. I knew he was there and avoided it, but still got wrecked.

Play defensively. Stay close to your turret. Don't blindly auto-attack creeps, last hit as best as you can. don't engage unless you know you can come out on top. If you're constantly in range of your turret, Garen will have a much harder time harassing you as he won't be able to do damage without drawing turret aggro.

The summoner spell Clairvoyance also allows you and creeps to see into bushes, albeit for a shorter time than a ward does. It doesn't cost any money though.

Would definitely suggest placing a ward in your bush and teaming up with someone who can harass him from a range. If he can't just wait for you in the bush he has a lot of trouble. Zilean can make any lane a really tough battle, though, so I'm sure that wasn't helping. =P

Yeah, I'd imagine that a large part of the problem with that lane combo was Zilean. Garen is quite frightening on his own, but coupled with a Zilean (burst damage and a haste/slow ability), that lane was probably horrifying.

One of the things you can do is attack Zilean if he's following the Garen around. Garen does frightening amounts of damage with his spin, but unless he has exhaust, ignite, and a teammate smacking you, he tends not to kill you with a single spin and silence. His auto-attacks are far less threatening than his spin + silence combo. Zilean, on the other hand, does good burst damage from long range, can speed Garen up (so you can never escape his spin) or slow you down (same effect). He is also, quite unlike Garen, fairly squishy.



Oh, and don't burn your exhaust/slows/etc. on Garen until after he's started spinning (and preferably not until he's under your tower or is about to hit you for massive damage), as the spin removes any slow effects currently on him when it starts.


What champ were you playing, by the way? It really is hard for a lot of melee champs to deal with Garen. That's just how he is.

When you see a Zilen if you are laning as a melee, change the lane right away. He will make your life living hell. Heck, when you see a Zilean, consider swapping lanes. Period. Words cannot describe how I hate laning against one. It doesn't help that most Zil players play him because they know he's good and they are good with him.

Garen himself is pretty ignorable on most parts because he's so predictable. If you are trying to last hit and he comes close to you, back away. If he's hiding in the bush, stay close enough to your minions for XP but away from the bush. Let the minions push to your tower and last hit from there. He may zone you out from accumulating gold but avoiding deaths is far more important than gold. If he's towerdiving you, it's probably because you are low enough on health that he can do that to ya. It's a good idea to just b if you are low when there are tanky dps lurking about.

I do understand where you are coming from though. I remember laning against a Garen for the first time. It was probably one of the most infuriating moments in LoL for me. I fed him hardcore and couldn't do anything. I was literally scared ****less of him in that game. But you know what? I kinda laugh when I see a Garen now. It was really just a matter of experience.

I was Yi. Normally when I see Garen as Morg (my main) or one of my tanks it's NBD, but I was going into that game intending on just Zealstacking for fun with Yi (quasi-viable with Wuju style so I wouldn't be screwing over my teammates too badly, but still lulzy).

Instead I just got pooped on. Using Q on a lane of minions, even right by turret, was guaranteed death.

I've been playing Garen a lot lately, and I can tell you from experience that it's nice to have Casters with you. An unexperienced Garen may not realize that the spin will cancel the slow that has already been inflicted upon you, so that is a useful thing to keep around (Exhaust). As for the casters, if you have anyone with a Stun (Annie, another one of my favorites), Slow (Ashe, for example), or other disables (Even a Silence would work well against Garen) can all be useful.

If you carry around Summoner Heal while fighting Garen, and then counter-attack him with a teammate, it can be enough to throw him off guard in the early game, and get you a kill. As well, Garens tend to get overconfident - If you see a solo Garen, go for the gank.