Champion Guide

Garen Guide

By LoLSuggest

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Garen is a simple but powerful top-lane fighter. Perseverance regenerates his health out of combat, Decisive Strike speeds him up, cleanses slows and silences his target, Courage gives damage reduction and tenacity, Judgment spins through enemies, and Demacian Justice executes with true damage based on missing health. The newest guide plays him with Stormraider's Surge as a hit-and-run fighter who is almost impossible to catch late, with Conqueror as the early-dueling alternative.

Recommended Setup

Our recommended Garen build

Our recommended runes, summoner spells and items. Compare build win rates on the stats page.

Items

Starting Items

Core Items

Situational Items

Start Doran's Shield and a Health Potion, or Doran's Blade or Doran's Helm in specific matchups; take Oracle Lens against ranged laners. Stridebreaker is the first big spike, followed by Youmuu's Ghostblade, Boots of Swiftness, Voltaic Cyclosword, Mortal Reminder and Sterak's Gage. Other common builds use Plated Steelcaps with Serpent's Fang, Kaenic Rookern and Spear of Shojin, or a bruiser line with Black Cleaver; against heavy AD add Dead Man's Plate, and against heavy AP Mercury's Treads and Kaenic Rookern. Run Stormraider's Surge with Axiom Arcanist, Celerity and Gathering Storm, plus Second Wind and Overgrowth; Conqueror with Triumph, Legend: Haste and Last Stand suits lanes you want to fight early, and Grasp of the Undying fits a Q-max poke style against Renekton or Camille. Take Flash with Ignite, or Ghost in matchups you cannot play without it. Max E, then W, then Q.

Runes

Primary Tree

Secondary Tree

Summoner Spells

Skill Max Order

Strengths

Passive regeneration lets him sustain through lane without buying much healing.
Stormraider's Surge makes him very hard to catch and great at hit-and-run in side lanes.
Demacian Justice finishes targets with true damage.

Weaknesses

Ranged champions and kiting can keep him from ever reaching them.
Tanks such as Ornn or K'Sante are hard to proc Stormraider's Surge on without more damage.
With Conqueror he gets collapsed on easily, and he falls off in very long games.

Laning Phase

With Stormraider's Surge your early duelling is modest, so play fights slowly and lean on Perseverance's regeneration until your first spike, Stridebreaker. After that, take short trades: go in, land your combo and walk away, and repeat until the enemy is low enough for a guaranteed kill. With Conqueror, fight much more early against champions like Fiora, Aatrox or Camille; at level 6 with Ignite and Doran's Blade your all-in can nearly kill some champions from full health, but save Decisive Strike to cleanse slows.

Mid & Late Game

In the side lane use a hit-and-run style: chip the enemy down until a full rotation plus Demacian Justice kills them, and when the enemy collapses, trigger Stormraider's Surge and run. You usually only die when you greed for extra tower damage. In teamfights Stormraider's Surge lets you keep up with your target and bait out long cooldowns; with Conqueror you are a stronger frontline duelist but easier to kite, especially late.

Key Tips

Decisive Strike removes slows, so keep it to reach a kiting target or to escape.
Demacian Justice deals more damage the more health the target is missing; finish your combo first.
Maxing Courage second makes you much tankier, at the cost of Q speed in the mid game.
Against tanks, build damage before relying on Stormraider's Surge, because you need enough damage to trigger it.

Matchups

Matchups and synergies

Our picks for difficult opponents, favorable lanes and strong allies. Compare matchup win rates on the stats page.