LoL Inven Inven Global

Hello! I began playing League of Legends in season 8 and made it up to Platinum all the way from Bronze; I played over 1000 games on Rammus and can proudly say that I know a whole lot about playing him. Also, I know exactly what you need to do in order to climb to higher elos because I was originally a Bronze player and have all that info mixed into this guide.  

Now that season 9 started,  we had several huge changes in the Rift which happen to be great for Ramus -- a big one being the turret plates. It has become harder to destroy the outer turret, which also means, ‘the laning phase has gotten longer’ as well. 

This means one thing -- there are now more opportunities for Rammus to show his power and gank more often. With well-planned macros, Rammus will rule the Rift and your tier will reach new heights. 

(I have tried all item builds and runes for Rammus and finished studying him. I will go into details on playing Rammus so that you too can climb the elo ladder.)

Winning games is quite simple -- you just have to try and minimize a champion’s weaknesses while maximizing their strengths. 

This means that you need to know what kind of strengths and weaknesses Rammus has. 


★ Strengths

1. Mobility
   
   Using Rammus’  (Q) makes him pretty fast, letting you join your team fights as well as counter-gank as often as you want. I will speak more of this later but in order to use this to your advantage, you will need to max your  (Q)  first, not  (E), since the cooldown will be only 6 seconds at max level.
   
   
   
   
2. Speed Jungling
   
   This part may puzzle some of you, but Rammus is never slow at jungling. Do as I tell you and you can manage your health while speed-jungling. I will explain later.
   
   
   
   
3. AD Melt
   Rammus, after building  Thornmail, can melt an AD champion with his  (E) &  (W).
   
   
   
   
4. Tier 1 Ganking
   
   Rammus is great at ganking -- all you have to do is roll towards your target with his  (Q) and use  (E). This works in lower tiers, but as you gradually climb to higher tiers, it becomes less easy since enemy laners tend to be prepared for your ganks. 
   
   (Although Rammus’ skill set makes it look easy to play him, it is different for all players. I’ve seen players in lower tiers play recklessly by using  +  +  to dive only to get counter-ganked, waste all of their spells, and ruin the laning for their laners. I’ll go into detail on how to make proper ganks as Rammus.)
   
   
   
   
5. Turning the Tide
   
   Let’s say your team is falling behind. When it comes to team fights, it’s usually well-scaled teams that initiate the fight. When your enemy comes closer to your DPS, taunt them; if another enemy tries to stick to your DPS, peel off by using your  (Q) since it has a knock-back effect. Doing this to protect your DPS during team fights will create opportunities for you to turn the game around. 
   
   Also, since Rammus is very tanky, positioning yourself in the center of the team fight while disturbing enemy positions will make it trickier for your enemies to win.
   
   
   
   
6. Dress Poor, Stay Powerful
   
   I will go into details in the item build section later, even having just  Cloth Armor and  Null-Magic Mantle will still make Rammus powerful.
   
   
   
   
7. Tanky Assassin
   
   Rammus can also assassinate squishy enemy even though he is a tank.  Thornmail +  (E),  (W) +  (R) can kill a squishy DPS. Use this combo to go kill a squishy enemy who is wandering alone.
   
   
   

★ Weaknesses

1. Helpless Rammus
   
   Before the patch, there was nothing you could do as Rammus when the whole team fell behind during the early phase.
   
   Before the turret plating was added to in-game, it was nearly impossible for Rammus to turn the tide if either your mid or bot lane turret was destroyed and you had enemy bot laners coming up to the mid lane.
   
   However, due to the turret plating added along with the new patch, the laning phase has gotten longer, meaning Rammus is now able to get more chances to capitalize on his strength since he becomes powerful from the mid phase. 
   
   
   
   
2. Early tanking became weaker due to the new patch.
   
   Although I will go into details when I am explaining the runes, tanking in the early phase became harder. Bone Plating was moved to the same category as Conditioning, making the early tanking weaker. 
   
   You may think that weaker tanking in early phase will make Rammus a bad choice since he isn’t as strong as certain jungle champions that are strong even from the start. However, whether you have Bone Plating or not doesn’t have much of an impact unless it is in the very early phase; Rammus becomes tanky enough once he builds Bami’s Cinder, which means that not having Bone Plating is not that big of a loss. 
   
   
   
   
3. Has no control over jungling against certain jungle champions in the early phase. 
   
   As mentioned above, Rammus isn’t a champion that is strong in the early jungling phase -- it is hard to win against enemy junglers in early Rift Scuttler control with Rammus. Thus he has no control over jungling in the game against certain champions during the early phase.
   
   I will use  Xin Zhao as an example.
   
   Rammus can’t gank lanes until he learns  (E) at level 3 (ganking at level 2 is not the wisest choice). Also, if an enemy jungler picked a jungle champion that is powerful at level 2 like  Xin Zhao and succeeds in a level 2 gank in one of the three lanes, they will take control of the jungle. Not only will Rammus be unable to take Rift Scuttlers, but most sensible enemy junglers would go invading if they have succeeded in ganking and killed some enemy laners. If Rammus comes across an enemy jungler in his own side of jungle, he will either get killed or lose his  Flash. Even if he does use his  Flash to get away, he could even die after using up all his spells due to enemy Xin Zhao’s  Phase Rush (Runes) +  Flash.
   
   Even if you miraculously survive, by the time you recall and come back to your jungle, no monsters would be left for you, preventing you from scaling up. In this state, wherever you gank, it is very likely you will fail.
   
   If you are placed in such a situation, I will write what you can do to get out of it and counter that. 
   
   
   
   
4. Enemy laner either has Cleanse or Quicksilver Sash
   
   As you climb to higher elos, it is likely that enemy mid laners will take  Cleanse the moment they see you pick Rammus. Once the game starts, whenever you gank and use your  (E) on the enemy mid laner, they will immediately use their  Cleanse to get away from you, making it hard for you to gank. Also even in team fights, they will use  Cleanse on your taunt so if you make a bad taunt, it might lead to losing the whole fight. 
   
   Furthermore, the cooldown for  Cleanse isn’t that long so it will be ready to be used sooner than you expect. This means that you can’t dive into enemies, and have to take care to get hold of enemy DPS once their Cleanse is on cooldown.
   
   Here’s one more tip -- if enemy mid laner has  Cleanse and your mid laner has Ignite, your mid laner will have a greater advantage in laning. This means that even if you can’t go gank, you can still help your mid laner keep that advantage by controlling the vision around the mid lane so that they can know where the enemy jungler is. Never hesitate to buy  Control Wards. A simple 75 gold purchase decide who wins or loses the game. Whenever you recall, buy  Control Wards and place them in appropriate places. Being a good jungler isn’t just about good ganks. 
   
   
   
   
5. Your ganks could fail if enemy laners have CC like root and fear.
   
   Let’s say the enemy support is  Fiddlesticks; if  Rammus uses his  (Q) to gank,  Fiddlesticks can cancel his skill by using (Q). In this case, you will need to make sure the enemy’s CC skill is on cooldown. Or, if the enemy has non-target CC skills like  Light Binding ( Lux), then you will need to be prepared to dodge these skills when you go in. 
   
   As an example, I’ll use  Lux’s  (Q) to tell you how to dodge non-target skills. 
   
   
   First, move towards  Lux straight without showing any sideways movement; the moment you see Lux’s animation for using  (Q), change your direction immediately towards either top or bottom. Since the speed of  (Q) is very fast, you can definitely evade the enemy’s non-target skills. Because you were going towards your target straight, it is very likely that they will use their skill in that direction; simply use Rammus’ movement speed to evade that skill shot.  
   
   
   
   
6.  Don’t pick Rammus if the enemy has many AP Bruisers on their team. 
   
   There is no reason at all for you to pick  Rammus if your enemy has many AP Bruisers. Rammus shines when there are many AD opponents so if there are many AP Bruisers, don’t pick Rammus solely for ganking. There are many jungle champions you can choose from, like  Nocturne,  Evelynn, or even  Zac and build  Spirit Visage, which will work so much better than picking Rammus in this situation. 
   
   
   
   
7. Never ever use Powerball to charge at enemies without thinking first!
   
   You there, the person playing Rammus! Please never charge at enemies using (Q) without thinking first. If you use  Flash to dive into enemies, only thinking that you should get to the enemy bot laner, even though you are outnumbered, your teammates would probably call you ‘pea-brain’. 
   
   You must first check the enemy positions, then your ally’s, then initiate at the right moment. I’ll go into detail later.

★ Primary Path: Resolve

  -  Aftershock

  - Demolish
  -  Conditioning
  -  Unflinching

★Secondary Path: Precision


  -  Triumph

  -  Legend: Alacrity


★ Shards


Option 1: OFFENSE (9% Bonus Attack Speed)
Option 2: FLEX (5 Bonus Armor)
Option 3: DEFENSE (5 Bonus Armor)

 Conditioning


There was a huge patch on Runes in season 9. Bone Plating was moved to the Secondary Path for Resolve, meaning you now have to choose either of Bone Plating or  Conditioning. If you have choose one, then always go for  Conditioning. 

You get 8 bonus armor and magic resistance while increasing your total defense and magic resistance by 5%. This is even more powerful in later phases. Of course, your tanking is rather weak during the early phase. So try to get 900 gold through stable jungling then build  Bami’s Cinder -- you will become powerful from that point on.



 Demolish vs  Font of Life


At first, I thought  Font of Life was better than  Demolish; however, the effect was not apparent at all during team fights. This rune may work for laning but not for jungle Rammus.


Not only that, it has become crucial to destroy enemy turrets even more than before now that turret plating has been added. To put more strength towards taking down enemy turrets, take  Demolish. If you look at this rune in details, it has:


Charge time: 3s
Damage: 100 (+30% of your maximum  health)
Cooldown: 45s


This is a great rune to use for Rammus since he has a lot of health. When you successfully gank, use this effect on the enemy turret!

Unflinching


This rune gives you the Tenacity effect whenever Rammus uses  Smite on an enemy or when he uses  Flash. For example, if you have 30% Tenacity, then that means that the duration of enemy CC is reduced by 30%, which is really great for Rammus. 



 Triumph


This is another helpful rune that lets you survive potentially deadly situations.



Legend: Alacrity


This rune makes up for Rammus’ slow attack speed. This lets you go 1-on-1 with enemy DPS. If an enemy has many CC skills, then go for  Legend: Tenacity instead of  Legend: Alacrity.


As for the Shards, make up for Rammus’ slow attack speed and tanking by going for 9% bonus attack speed + 5 bonus defense + 5 bonus defense. Starting your game with an extra 10 defense helps a lot in managing your health while jungling.  

Here’s another rune build that can enhance Rammus’ ganking abilities. 

★ Primary Path: Resolve

  -  Aftershock
   -  Demolish
  - Conditioning
 -  Unflinching

★ Secondary Path: Sorcery 


 -  Celerity
  -  Waterwalking

 Celerity &  Waterwalking


Going for  Celerity &  Waterwalking for your Secondary Rune Path can make it easier for you to gank with speed. 

Try both Secondary Paths and choose the build that you like. I personally think  Triumph &  Legend: Alacrity has more to offer than the other but if you feel that you find it hard to gank, then go for Sorcery as your Secondary Path.

 & 

Obviously, always take  Smite &  Flash.

★ Skill Explanation


One of the biggest factors that decide your mastery for a champion is your understanding of that champion’s skills. Here is the brief explanation of Rammus’ skill set.




Spiked Shell (Passive)


Rammus’ basic attack deals 8-20 (based on level 1-13) (+10% armor) bonus magic damage. 


When  (W) is active, his basic attack deals 8-20 (based on level 1-13) (+15% armor) bonus magic damage. 

This means that the higher your armor is, the stronger your BA becomes. Activating  (W)will increase your armor, thus increasing your BA damage. Rammus’ BA damage is higher than you’d expect and works wonders with  Legend: Alacrity; you can go fight 1-on-1 with these effects. 

 Powerball (Q)


Rammus curls into a ball and charges towards an enemy, gaining 150-235% bonus movement speed (based on level), and deals 100/135/170/205/240 (+1.0 AP) bonus damage while slowing them for 1 second by 40/50/60/70/80% when colliding with an enemy.


 (Q) can be canceled instantly by reactivating   (Q) or by activating  (W). 


Activating  (W) while using  (Q) will cancel Q. 

Using  (W) then  (Q) will cancel W.

Using  Flash while using  (Q) won’t cancel Q.

 (Q) activation ends when Rammus collides with an enemy, knocking back nearby enemies and stunning them. 

You can’t use   Flash to move through units while using  (Q) when there are enemy minions (I hope you don’t waste your Flash to move through minions while you are ganking and end up colliding into them). 

Rammus’  (Q) is an AoE skill so even if your enemy is standing with their minions, you can still stun them with your  (Q) +  Flash. 

Using Flash while  (Q) is activated can let you ignore non-target skills like  Lux’s  (Q) at the right time.




 Defensive Ball Curl (W)



 (W) will be activated for 6 seconds, giving Rammus 30 (+60/70/80/90/100% total armor) bonus armor as well as 10 (+30/35/40/45/50% total magic resistance) bonus magic resistance. You are slowed by 30% for the duration; your passive effect  (Spiked Shell) will increase by 50% and applying it the enemies when they use basic attacks against Rammus.


Rammus’ BA becomes stronger when he activates  (W) because it enhances his passive effect. When you activate  (W), your BA deals 8-20 (based on level 1-13) (+10 - >15% armor) bonus magic damage. When an enemy uses their basic attack on you, they take the same damage as Rammus’ basic attack damage + passive damage, meaning they take 8-20 + (15% of Rammus’ armor) damage for each BA they inflict. 

This makes  Thornmail +   (W) a perfect combo as  Thornmail reflects 25 (+10% bonus armor) magic damage when hit by basic attack.




 Frenzying Taunt (E)


Taunts the target enemy for 1.25/1.5/1.75/2/2.25 seconds and increases Rammus’ attack speed by 20/25/30/35/40% during the activation. Once Rammus’ other skills are activated, the attack speed increase effect is refreshed. The cooldown is 12 seconds.

This means that, for example, if you taunt an enemy (based on  E skill level 1), you get  bonus 20% attack speed for 1.25 seconds; if you used your   (R) before your taunt ends, you get bonus 20% attack speed for 8 seconds more. 




Tremors (R)


Rammus deals 40/80/magic damage to nearby enemy units (+20% AP), and enemies hit by   (R) are slowed down by 8/10/12% for 1.5 seconds. The effect can stack up to 8 times, with a maximum slow of 64/80/96%. Structures receive 200% damage. 


The slowing stacks so your enemies will be slowed down more as the time passes. You can destroy enemy turrets very quickly when Rammus’  (R) is activated. During ganks or team fights, activate  (R) to deal AoE damage + slow when you are fighting to shake enemy positions and make them scatter. 

★ Skill Build

  -  -  -  -  -   -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  - 

Some of you may wonder why Rammus masters  (Q) first, instead of  (E). However, mastering  (Q) first is the best for Rammus.  Powerball’s cooldown is 16s at skill level 1; the cooldown decreases by 2.5s every time you increase the skill level. Once you master  (Q), the skill cooldown becomes 6s.


You will use  (Q) not only when you are going ganking but also when you are jungling or regrouping with your allies, so it is better to master  (Q). You can still gank successfully even if you don’t master  (E) first. Mastering  (Q) offers a greater advantage. 


When you master  (Q), you can use it when you are going in during a gank, then one more time when you are going after the escaping enemy. 

*Exceptions: 

If you choose to increase skill level for Frenzying Taunt (E) to 2:


If you have  Viktor on your team, first learn  (E) to level 2 then master  (Q) ( learn in order: W - Q  - E - E - Q - R - Q). Go  taunt first and let the ally  Viktor use his  Gravity Field -- this is a perfect skill combo. However, the skill level for your   (E) must be level 2. If your  (E) is only level 1, the skill combo won’t be as perfect as it would be when it’s level 2. 


One thing you should keep in mind -- let your  Viktor know beforehand. The moment you use your  taunt,  Viktor should use his  Gravity Field, and this will end in getting a kill. The skill combo is so great that it is quite great for your ally  Viktor to upgrade  (W).

★ Skill Tips

There is no special combo other than just rolling towards your target using  (Q), taunt them with  (E), then use  (W) right away while keep using your BA. If you have your ult  ready, just use it during the fight. 

And when you are using  (R), don’t just stay on the same spot to hit your target. After you use your basic attack, use the delay time between the next BA to move towards the direction your target is running away to. This will make a huge difference in the damage you deal and will decide whether you will get a kill or not. 

Also, let’s say you are ganking the top lane. If the enemy top laner pushed the line beyond their safe boundary, don’t use (Q) yet. Use (E) first and hit them until they move away using their  Flash or mobility skill; only then use your (Q) to chase them and get a kill.

I mentioned beforehand that one of the advantages of playing Rammus was his quick jungling. I’ll now go into detail on how to jungle as Rammus with good health management; good health management is a must for jungle Rammus since early health management decides the success of your ganks as well as vision control with Rift Scuttler. 



  -  Red Brambleback/Blue Sentinel


Easy. Just use  (W) and  (E)  when you are killing them. You can use  (Q) now and then in between using  (W) and  (E).  When the monsters are about to hit you, use  (Q) to stun them briefly and cancel their basic attacks. This helps in managing your health. 

  -  Raptors/Murk Wolves


This is very important -- I’ve seen players in lower tiers learn  (W) at level 1 and  (E) at level 2, losing much of their health and even using  Smite. I’ve also seen people built  Hunter’s Potion because they couldn’t manage their health well but there is no need for that at all. 



First, from the blue team’s perspective:

After getting help from your teammates in leashing and getting Crest of Cinders, you should be going for the Raptors. When you attack them, go BA - Wait a bit then  (Q) - BA -  (W : Hit 4 times) then move away, which will perfectly kill the Raptors. If you don’t wait a bit before using   (Q) after BA, there are small Raptors who won’t get hit by  (Q) so it will take longer to kill them all. Practice a bit in the practice mode and you will see what I’m talking about.

As for taking the Murk Wolves, use  (Q) on all of the wolves - activate  (W) and one BA on each small wolf - kill the Greater Murk Wolf. 



It’s quite similar on the red team’s perspective but I will still upload a clip of it.



★ Item Builds


-  Start with: 

 Hunter's Talisman +  Refillable Potion


 - Main Build: 

Skirmisher's Sabre +  Bami's Cinder +  Boots of Swiftness +  Bramble Vest + Spectre's Cowl


 - Final Builds:

Skirmisher's Sabre (Cinderhulk) +  Thornmail + Adaptive Helm +  Randuin's Omen +  Gargoyle Stoneplate +  Boots of Swiftness


 - Build Order:

Bami's Cinder -  Boots of Speed -  Skirmisher's Sabre - Bramble Vest -  Boots of Swiftness -  Spectre's Cowl -  Thornmail -  Skirmisher's Sabre (Cinderhulk) -  Adaptive Helm -  Randuin's Omen -  Gargoyle Stoneplate

★ The Importance of Item Builds


How you build your items will decide whether you can get solo kills as Rammus against powerful enemy junglers.

Here’s a video for you to understand better:

It was around 8 minutes since the game started, and  Rammus was currently going 0/0/1 with   Hunter’s Talisman,  Refillable Potion, and  Bami’s Cinder, while the enemy  Graves was going 0/1/0 with  Skirmisher’s Sabre,  Long Sword x2, and  Refillable Potion. Both of them were level 6. 

After the game started,  I built  Bami’s Cinder (Around 900 gold) and  Graves built   Skirmisher’s Sabre (300 gold),  Long Sword x2 (350x2 = 700), a total of around 1000 gold, so it wasn’t like Rammus had any advantage over Graves in gold or level. 

However, as you can see in this clip,  Rammus won against  Graves. With the right item builds, you can still win against powerful jungle champions even during the early phase; when you are recalling to the base for the first time, get more than 900 gold to buy Bami’s Cinder. There may be some people who would go for  Stalker’s Blade +  Boots of Speed if they make over 950 gold; this is a bad choice.  Bami’s Cinder is so much better for Rammus. The reasons are: 1. faster jungling 2. more health, making Rammus tankier 3. Bami’s Cinder provides quite a fair amount of damage so it’s better for ganking.

Some of you may ask, “Isn’t it better to go  Stalker’s Blade &  Boots of Speed for more speed in ganking?” 

That kind of question is understandable. However, just because you get  Boots of Speed, it doesn’t mean that the distance you cover with your  (Q) is a whole lot different. There isn’t much difference, actually. Watch the clip below.

This image shows the distance  Rammus can cover with his  (Q) based on what shoes he’s got. 


1. There’s not much difference between the distances with  shoes or no shoes. 

2. When upgrading your shoes, there’s not much difference between  Ninja Tabi and  Mercury’s Treads as far as distance goes. 

3.  Boots of Mobility may cover more distance than  Boots of Speed but there isn’t a huge difference between  Boots of Mobility and  Boots of Swiftness. 
4. There are speed differences between having no shoes and upgraded shoes but there isn’t much difference in speed or distance between upgraded shoes. 

5. Going for  Boots of Mobility doesn’t necessarily mean you will cover a longer distance.


Number 1 and 5 are the most important. If you look at the effect of the shoes:

 Boots of Mobility: +25 movement speed (+115 when out of combat)
 Boots of Swiftness: +55 movement speed (reduces the slowing effect by 25%)

 Mercury’s Treads: +45 movement speed (+25 magic resistance, reduces the duration of all CC effects by 30%)


I’ve seen many  Rammus players build  Boots of Mobility first but here are the reasons I don’t go for them. 

First, the reason why some players go for  Boots of Mobility first is because they saw the speed difference. You can see in the picture above that there is a difference in the distance covered between having no shoes and having   Boots of Mobility. However, you will still get some distance covered even if you go for  Boots of Swiftness. 

Going for  Boots of Mobility will grant you extra speed only when you are going in. Once you get hit or attack your target, your shoes will give you the same speed as  Boots of Speed. This will work as a disadvantage when you are going after a fleeing enemy or engaged in skirmishes. 

That is why I go for  Boots of Swiftness or  Mercury’s Treads depending on the situation. If the enemy team has champions with slows like Olaf or  Teemo, then go for  Boots of Swiftness; if the enemy team has many champions with CC skills like  Ahri’s  Charm or  Fiddlesticks’  Terrify, then go for  Mercury’s Treads.

This talk about shoes has gotten longer than I expected… Let’s move on to the actual item builds.

First recall to the base:

If you made:

0-500 gold (an unsuccessful case of jungling):  Hunter's Machete (+  Control Ward)
650-800 gold:  Skirmisher's Sabre (+  Control Ward)
900-1000 (if possible, get more than 900 gold):  Bami's Cinder (+  Control Ward)
1200-1300:  Bami's Cinder +  Cloth Armor (+  Control Ward)
1550-1650:  Skirmisher's Sabre +  Bami's Cinder (+  Control Ward)
1850-1900:  Skirmisher's Sabre +  Bami's Cinder +  Boots of Speed (+  Control Ward)


Going for this item build is the most powerful build I’ve found from playing  Rammus 1000 times. 



** If you are curious as to why you should go for  Skirmisher’s Sabre instead of  Stalker’s Blade, it’s because a) it makes up for the insufficient tanking in the early phase and b) it is much tankier and stronger than Stalker’s Blade.

 Chilling Smite may seem great since you can make the best out of its slow effect in early phase ganks. However, Challenging Smite is much better in 2-on-2 skirmishes or tanking (Challenging Smite does deal damage to enemy champion just like Chilling Smite). 

If you are in the lower tiers, players tend to be quite vulnerable to enemy ganks or counter-ganks so going for  Stalker’s Blade isn’t that bad, either. 




After the First Recall


It’s better for  Rammus to build several items at the same time rather than completing a core item. 


For example, instead of building  Skirmisher’s Sabre: Cinderhulk first, get  Skirmisher’s Sabre,  Bami’s Cinder,  Cloth Armor, and  Null-Magic Mantle. This will make Rammus even stronger. Going for  Bramble Vest first than  Skirmisher’s Sabre: Cinderhulk is so much more effective and powerful. It’s better to build  Skirmisher’s Sabre: Cinderhulk after you’ve completed building  Thornmail. 


Look at the item build above for reference. For your information, if your enemy team is comprised of AD champions, go for  Bramble Vest before  Skirmisher’s Sabre. 

About Shurelya's Reverie


There are some people who get  Shurelya’s Reverie for bonus speed, but this is not recommended at all. If you want more speed, going for  Dead Man’s Plate will be a much better choice than Shurelya’s Reverie.

About Abyssal Mask/Adaptive Helm

I don’t recommend  Abyssal Mask either; building it will cause a loss of potential damage. Besides, it is better to go for  Adaptive Helm than Abyssal Mask. If your enemy AP-based champions don’t have much consistent damage dealing skills, then it wouldn’t really matter if you build  Abyssal Mask. You’ll be super tanky if you go for  Adaptive Helm even against champions like  Brand or  Orianna. 

About Righteous Glory


As for  Righteous Glory, many people say that it should be one of the three main core items. However, I don’t usually build  Righteous Glory unless I’m placed in a special situation. The reason is that when you build Righteous Glory as your main three core items, you’ll end up building  Adaptive Helm very late. If you think about the average time it takes to play a ranked game nowadays, your game would probably end even before you can complete building  Adaptive Helm. During the process, your level of tanking will fall short while causing a loss of potential damage. Quickly build  Thornmail and  Adaptive Helm; if your enemy has Critical Strike Damage attacks/items, then also go for  Randuin’s Omen. 


Also, if you decide to go for  Righteous Glory as one of your three main core items, by the time you build it, it is highly likely that the laning phase is over and your team would have gathered in the mid lane to push while poking. Do not thoughtlessly activate  Righteous Glory to run towards your enemy. The rest of your teammates will be slower than  Rammus and they won’t be able to keep up with your speed. You could end up dying by the time they catch up, which would spell certain ruin for that team fight. Of course, if you play  Rammus many times, you’ll be experienced enough to see what situation and opportunity you should take to go in. You can turn the tide around by cutting off a well-scaled enemy DPS by using  Righteous Glory, but as you climb to higher tiers, your enemies will be prepared to either use  Quicksilver Sash or  Cleanse to get rid of the taunt effect, which will end up with you throwing yourself at the enemies for no good reason. 

The point I’m trying to make here is that it’s just better to not build it than build it as a main core item. That being said, when is a good time to build it?


When you are not building  Thornmail. 


You don’t build  Thornmail when your enemy team has only 1-2 AD based champions or most of their DPS are AP based because it’d obviously fall short on efficiency. In this case, you build Skirmisher’s Sabre: Cinderhulk first, then  Righteous Glory as the second core item. Go for  Adaptive Helm as the third core. If you’re going for one more item, then build  Gargoyle Stoneplate as your fourth.

★ Top 3 Champions Hard to Play Against

The top 3 champions you will find hard to play against as Rammus:

Morgana
Riven
LeBlanc



 Morgana

Morgana’s  (Q) and her  (E) makes it harder for Rammus to get kills.


 Riven

If you thoughtlessly roll towards Riven, you’ll just lose the fight by getting hit by Riven’s  (W). If you get stunned, there’s no time for you to use  (E). One thing you can do about it is to roll around and get in the way of her escape route. That way, you will still have time to use your taunt even after you get stunned. The best way, although, is to go in after the enemy Riven has used her skill, but if your enemy Riven is a good Riven, they will save their skills if they think there is a chance they could get ganked. 



 LeBlanc

Very good at getting away. But still, there’s a way you can counter that. If you taunt LeBlanc when she has less than 40% health, you will be taunting the real LeBlanc, not her clone, so it’s easy to tell them apart. 

★ Top 3 Champions Easy to Play Against

The top 3 champions you will find easy to play against as Rammus:

Master Yi
Yasuo
Heimerdinger




 Master Yi

Most of Rammus mains think Master Yi is a piece of cake but actually, you can never win against a really good Master Yi. When Master Yi scales hard, whatever Rammus does (activating W, etc), they’d just melt from Yi’s  Guinsoo’s Rageblade and  Blade of the Ruined King; they would also remove your taunt with  Quicksilver Sash. 


However, most of the Master Yis in Bronze-Gold aren’t that good, so no worries!




 Yasuo

There are some Yasuo players who pick  Cleanse when they see you picking Rammus. Unless Yasuo scaled very hard, they are very vulnerable to Rammus without  Cleanse or  Quicksilver Sash. Also, most of the Yasuos I’ve seen tend to push the lane hard, making it easier for Rammus to gank. 




 Heimerdinger

Just make sure you don’t roll into Heimerdinger’s  turrets. Roll into  Heimerdinger and use your  (W); your  (W) damage will destroy Heimerdinger’s  turrets anyway. 

★ Other Champions 

Other champions you might find easy to play against, or, difficult to play against depending on the tier:

Nocturne
Lux
Xin Zhao

 Nocturne

The level of difficulty changes depending on the tier when it comes to playing against  Nocturne. Always save your  (E) until  Nocturne uses his  (W) . Only then use your  taunt. Also, don’t use your  (Q) right away when you see Nocturne. Wait for Nocturne to use  (E) , and then use  (Q) to get out of the range. After you are safe from the fleeing effect, then go in again to fight. 



There are many times where a level 6  Nocturne can crush your laners, and here is a tip for how to deal with that:

The range for  Nocturne’s  (R) is quite short; if they want to gank a lane, they’d need to move near. If your  Rammus managed to scale hard, invade enemy jungle to get vision control and provide  Nocturne’s locations for your laners. If you see how the waves are in the lanes, you’ll see there will be a lane that will be good for  Nocturne to gank (ex. when your laner is wave-pushing). Standby in a nearby location and when Nocturne uses their  (R), just counter-gank to get double kills. 




 Lux

Rammus players don’t like  Lux for her  (Q) just like  Morgana; however, Lux is very squishy and vulnerable without her  (Q), and if you dodge her Q the way I mentioned before, then Lux will be a free kill for you.




 Xin Zhao

I’ve seen Rammus players cower when they see Xin Zhao but there is absolutely is no reason for that. When  Xin Zhao comes in using his  (E), activate  (W) right away to fight and you will win. However, once  Defensive Ball Curl is on cooldown, you could lose the trade. Take this into careful consideration when you play.

★ The Level of Difficulty for Each Champion

If you think the enemy’s team comp will be quite difficult to play against based on this list, it will be best if you could pick a different jungle champion to play.

I’ve included all champions in the list; there could be repeats as I put the champions that can be played in several different lanes in different roles on purpose. However, if that is not the case, you will be able to easily find the champion in the main lane it goes to (use Ctrl + F). 

If the enemy team comp is comprised of champions with 1-2 stars, then the game will be easy for you; if they are comprised of champions with 4-5 stars, then the game will be very difficult.

*The list is based on the champion’s: trading advantages + ability to evade gank + macro + CCs + roaming ability + able to use skills with allies in a combo during team fights, etc. (The level of difficulty may differ from tier to tier.)

★


TOP

  -   Gangplank
  -   Gnar
  -   Renekton
  -   Rengar
  -   Mordekaiser
  -   Yasuo
  -   Jayce
  -   Quinn

  -   Kled
  -   Tryndamere
  -   Heimerdinger



JUNGLE

  -   Nidalee
  -   Neeko
  -   Lee Sin
  -   Master Yi
  -   Vi
  -   Shyvana
  -   Skarner
  -   Amumu
  -   Ivern
  -   Udyr
  -   Warwick
  -   Jarvan IV
  -   Jax
  -   Khazix
  -   Pantheon



MID

  -   Malzahar
  -   Annie
  -   Yasuo
  -  Zed
  -  Katarina
  -   Talon
 

BOT

  -   Draven
  -   Miss Fortune
  -   Varus
  -   Ashe
  -   Jhin
  -   Jinx
  -   Kai’Sa
  -   Kalista
  -   Kog’Maw
  -   Twitch



SUP

  -   Blitzcrank
  -   Sona

★★

TOP

  -   Viktor
  -   Aatrox
  -   Urgot
  -   Irelia
  -   Yorick

JUNGLE

  -   Graves
  -   Nocturne
  -   Nunu & Willump
  -   Rek’Sai
  -   Sejuani
  -   Kayn
  -   Kindred
  -   Hecarim



MID

  -   Diana
  -   Vel’Koz
  -   Irelia
  -   Xerath



BOT

x



SUP

  -   Nautilus
  -   Lux
  -   Leona
  -   Malphite
  -   Brand

★★★


TOP

  -   Nasus
  -   Darius
  -   Rumble
  -   Maokai
  -   Cho’Gath
  -   Kayle
  -   Teemo
  -   Fiora


JUNGLE

  -   Gragas
  -   Shaco
  -   Xin Zhao
  -   Elise
  -   Wukong
  -   Olaf
  -   Evelynn



MID

  -   Aurelion Sol
  -   Orianna
  -   Karthus
  -   Twisted Fate
  -   Fizz



BOT

  -   Lucian
  -   Ezreal



SUP

  -   Nami
  -   Thresh
  -   Lulu
  -   Zyra
  -   Janna
  -   Zilean
  -   Pyke

★★★★


TOP

  -   Garen
  -   Riven
  -   Dr. Mundo
  -   Swain
  -   Ornn
  -   Illaoi
  -   Kennen



JUNGLE

  -   Volibear
  -   Camille
  -   Taliyah



MID

  -   Galio
  -   Ryze
  -   Vladimir
  -  Swain
  -   Azir
  -   Ekko
  -   Zoe
  -   Ziggs
  -   Corki



BOT

  -   Sivir
  -   Caitlyn



SUPPORT

  -   Rakan
  -   Braum
  -   oraka
  -   Karma
  -   Taric
  -   Fiddlestick

★★★★★

TOP

  -   Poppy
  -   Sion
  -   Shen
  -   Singed
  -   Akali



JUNGLE

  -   Zac
  -   Trundle



MID

  -   LeBlanc
  -   Lissandra
  -   Veigar
  -   Syndra
  -   Ahri
  -   Anivia
  -   Kassadin
  -   Cassiopeia



BOT

  -   Vayne
  -   ayah
  -   Tristana



SUPPORT

  -   Morgana
  -   Bard
  -   Veigar
  -   Alistar 
  -   Tahm Kench

★ Basic Macro Tips for Early Phase

Since Rammus isn’t very tanky in the early phase, get  Bami’s Cinder before you go around to gank. Of course, if you see any good opportunities to get kills even before you got Bami’s Cinder, go for it. 

In order to make the best of Rammus’ strong ganking abilities, please refer to the tips I have written below. 

★ The importance of early vision control


Here are some tips for you on how not to be threatened by an enemy  Xin Zhao. 

First, ask your teammates to place a  ward in the brush on each side. Having vision on both sides here will make it easier for you to win in the competition over the Rift Scuttlers, as well as giving you a grasp on the enemy jungling route. If you do this, this will drastically increase the possibility of winning the game.

This video shows players in higher elo competing against each other in order to take the early vision.

For example, if your enemy is the Red Team and their jungling route is going toward to the Rift Scuttler on the bottom side of the map, then all you have to do is go invade the enemy jungle and get the enemy’s Red Buff.

Ask your top laner to place a  ward at 1:30 in the top brush, and ask either your mid laner or bot laner to place a ward in the bottom brush at 1:20. With wards placed like this, it is unlikely that you’d die from the enemy jungle’s invasion. 

Also, whether you are playing a champion that is strong or weak at the start, this is a very basic thing to do so don’t hesitate to ask your teammates to place wards there!

★ Jungle Routes

Blue Team

(Based on the assumption that you have wards placed on both side)

(Either choice depending on the situation)

1. Red Brambleback - Raptors - Rift Scuttler (Depending on the situation. By the time Rammus takes the Rift Scuttler, he’d probably be level 2, which makes it hard for him to win against the enemy jungler. There’s no need to take a risk to take it.) - Blue Sentinel - Wolves - Optional. 


※ The safest moment to take the top Rift Scuttler is when you know that the enemy jungler is taking the bottom Rift Scuttler from the vision you have on both sides. 

(Based on the assumption that you have wards placed on both sides)

Well, here’s the answer to that question. Because the minion waves on both sides are symmetrical, you can know when your enemy wave is coming by just looking at your own in the bot lane. 


※ When you are invading, make sure to get out of there right away when either enemy mid laner or bot laners are missing. It is possible that your enemy can locate you from their early wards and provide backup. Check if the enemy placed a ward in the bottom brush when the game starts; if so, only take enemy Raptors and go straight for the Rift Scuttler instead of enemy Krugs. 

2-2. Red Brambleback - Krugs - Raptors


This would make you level 3. After this, you have many options. 

a. If enemy top/mid laner has no Flash, it’s time for you to gank that lane.
b. If you go for enemy Blue Sentinel, you’d be level 3 while enemy jungle is level 2 so most of the time if you start fighting, you would probably win.
c. Right after you take the Raptors on your side, you can go straight for enemy Raptors.


**Tips: Jungle champions that start with  Hunter’s Machete like  Lee Sin usually don’t go for Raptors in the early phase because it causes them to lose too much health. That’s why junglers with  Hunter’s Machete usually go for the top Rift Scuttler after they have taken the Red Brambleback. This is your chance to take enemy Raptors after taking the ones on your side; right after that, go for the bottom Rift Scuttler. From here, you have many options (ex. gank). Or, after you go for the Rift Scuttler, you can go for the Blue Sentinel - Gromp - Wolves. This will make your jungling perfect.

Whether you are on the Blue or Red Team, having vision in the brushes on both sides is extremely crucial. Having vision there will let you counter-gank and also lets you jungle with more convenience and counter-jungle with safety.

★ About Having Lane Dominance


The things I’m about to talk about here are great to know regardless of what jungle champion you play. 


First, there must be times where you get killed when you were trying to take the Rift Scuttler. Most of the time, you die because the enemy mid/top laner came for backup instead of going 1-on-1 with the enemy jungler. This is because either your mid/top didn’t have any dominance in their lane and couldn’t easily come for backup. In such case, you should never think of going for the Rift Scuttler for an obvious reason: you could end up getting caught from either side by your enemy top/mid like a sandwich. That is why you should always check which lane has more dominance when you are jungling, including when you are taking Rift Scuttlers.


When your laners are doing great and dominating their lanes: free Rift Scuttlers. When your enemy jungler is standing nearby, looking for a chance to steal that Scuttler, spam pings for backup and hit the enemy jungle. Enemy laners will be late in their backup and by the time they make it, the enemy jungler would be dead, and you could move onto fighting enemy laners and make them use their Summoner Spells. This will help you snowball. 


It’s easy to initiate 2-on-2 skirmishes as you take the Rift Scuttler if your laners are dominant, especially in lower tiers because players tend not to think about lane dominance. Also, when your laner has lane dominance, you should invade the enemy jungle under the assumption that you could win if you were to ever come across the enemy jungler. Playing risk-free by taking only your side of the jungle can make the game run for a long time. This lead to more chance for the enemy team to turn the tide. You should keep snowballing when you can. 



Then what is the advantage of invading?


1. You can get gold and experience points by taking the monsters on the enemy side.

2. It will also keep the enemy jungler from scaling properly.

3. Whenever you come across an enemy jungler, your laners will be able to know where the enemy jungler is, thus leading to easier laning. 

4. You can just crush the enemy jungler.

5. Even if enemy laners come for backup, your own laners won’t come late since they have the lane dominance. 

When your laners have lane dominance like in the video:


As you can see from the minimap, my top and mid laner have lane dominance. I have a fair amount of health and I am confident that I can win even if I come across the enemy jungler, Kayne.

Kayne was hitting Gromp, which I managed to steal from him. He also used his  Flash to get away, but then I thought, 'what would a Kayne that didn't scale well do right now instead of recalling to the well?'

I had my answer: wolves. I used my  Flash to go after him over the walls and  taunted him. Now, since I have come very deep inside on enemy's side, I was sure the enemy laners would be coming to get me. They did, but our laners had dominance so they were right behind them. We were able to start a skirmish and win. 




When enemy laners have lane dominance


You may not be able to take Rift Scuttlers but it will be a great opportunity to gank for  Rammus since enemy laners will be pushing the waves. 


Of course, enemy laners wouldn’t thoughtlessly push waves without any  wards. They would probably have them in the brush. In that case, do as I did in the video below.

How to go around enemy vision to gank


- Go in a curve around enemy vision to come behind them. 
(Even if the enemy has taken the Rift Scuttler, go the way I did through the brush because the vision it provides is quite small. 


- Let's say an enemy laner placed a ward in that small brush in the river. If you come down while staying right next to the wall, they won't be able to see you (Unlike the top brush, you cannot ride at the wall for the bottom brush). 


- When an enemy places a ward in the opening, go around using the top opening, then come down to the brush then around the vision (keep to the wall) for a successful gank.


- There are many players who can't be bothered to walk further and place their ward at the closer end (regardless of tiers). Again, go around it, keeping to the wall. When they do place it a bit further into the brush, you might be exposed for a short moment, but I don't think many top laners who are busyily engaged in trading and farming will be able to spot that very quickly. 


TL;DR

Keep to the wall, and your enemy won't be able to spot you even if they have wards. 


As you play, you will be able to see where enemy laners have placed their  wards and when they are moving to place them in the minimap. Many players have a tendency to place the wards where they have placed before so even if you didn’t spot them placing a ward, you would know where they might have. Keeping this in your mind will help you have a higher successful gank rate.

★ How to Crush a Lane

When enemy laner has  Teleport

This is a concept a jungler should know. 


Let’s say an enemy top laner has  Teleport and you successfully ganked the top lane. Don’t just walk away to kill monsters. Wait in the brush under the lane and gank one more time when enemy top laner uses their  Teleport. If the wave was pushed, then you could just walk straight from your side into the bush to ambush. 

When an enemy laner is not reading their minimap


Laners can’t always keep their eyes fixed on the minimap. There are moments where they forget to look at it. When do you think that will be? When they are trading? Nope. When they are last hitting minions. To laners, getting CS is very important so they tend to be more focused when they are last hitting minions. This is the moment they will be taking their eyes of the minimap. 


Then what should we, junglers, do?


Gank right when you see the animation of the enemy laner about to last hit a minion. It is highly likely that you will successfully gank even if enemy placed a   ward.