Free Champion Rotation Guides: Season 2, Week 17

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[box]Every week, Riot announces a new rotation of champions that each summoner may use for free. Not everyone is familiar with the champion featured that week, though. That’s where we come in. Check below for quick tips by ggChronicle’s staff on how to play each champion, complete with notes about the most recent patch changes that may not show up on guides.[/box]

Amumu, The Sad Mummy

If you decide to be this Mummy’s one friend – be warned! You will still be on your own as Amumu traverses the Jungle prepping for ganks! Amumu’s skill set makes him perfect to hit champions in lane from the bushes & his ultimate is an insane tool to force or turn the pace of a team fight. No one will be able to escape Amumu – he just wants to give you a hug!

ROLE: Jungler

MASTERIES:  0/21/9 for Heavy Defense & Jungle survivability.

RUNES:  Armor marks, Armor Seals, Magic Resistance OR Magic Resistance per Level Glyphs, Gold per 10 OR Movespeed Quints

SUMMONER SPELLS: Smite and Flash.

CORE ITEMS:  Shurelya’s Reverie, Mercury Treads, Randuin’s Omen, Sunfire Cape

SITUATIONAL ITEMS: Abyssal Scepter, Will Of The Ancients

EARLY GAME: As a Jungler, Amumu is extremely blue dependant. You will need the Crest of the Ancient Golem to move as swiftly as possible through the jungle. The recent changes to give mana back as well as health is actually important for Amumu, as he can now go around clearing the jungle without having to worry about the blue buff as much after taking the first one. Take E first and W second, as these will help your clear times. Bandage Toss will be your main ganking tool, so a point in at level 3 is advisable.

MID GAME: Once you hit level 6, you’ll be able to use your ultimate to lock down enemies for quite a while. A good Bandage Toss into an ultimate can almost ensure a kill as long as your teammate follows up on it. Make sure you land your Bandage Toss, though, as otherwise, you’ll be left to go crying back into the jungle.

LATE GAME: Built tanky, Amumu has great initiation capabilities, Bandage Tossing into an enemy team, then popping his ultimate to snare everyone. Your W and E will also be useful to lay down some AoE damage while you’re in the middle of everyone.

COMMENTS:  Be careful early for an invade attempt, as the enemy team will try to take advantage of your early dependence on blue. As long as you land your Bandage Toss, you’ll be a force to be feared coming out of the jungle, and with your great AoE ultimate, still be a force in team fights in the late game despite a support-oriented build.

Blitzcrank, The Great Steam Golem

If you’re new to Blitz, it’s best to utilize him as an aggressive Support champion as opposed to a Jungler, since he’s one of the more difficult champions to jungle in the game.  That said, Blitzcrank still takes a deft touch and good decisions to thrive in lane, as well as some solid coordination with your team’s Jungler.  If played correctly, Blitz can make it utterly impossible to flee, provide superb initiation, and create enormous problems with his large number of crowd control abilities.  His lack of sustain, however, requires mostly cautious play interspersed with moments of high aggression as you try to lock down kills.

ROLE: Support

MASTERIES:  Either 0/21/9 or 0/9/21, depending on how aggressive you anticipate your opposing lane will be.

RUNES:  Armor penetration marks, gold/5 OR armor seals, flat magic resist glyphs, gold/5 OR armor quintessences.

SUMMONER SPELLS: Heal and Flash.

CORE ITEMS:  Shurelya’s Reverie, Sheen, Mercury Treads, Heart of Gold

SITUATIONAL ITEMS: Trinity Force, Randuin’s Omen

EARLY GAME: Blitzcrank is a zoning beast, so use him to his utmost potential.  Pick up a Faerie Charm and your preferred combination of wards and potions, and head bottom with your AD Carry.  Play passively until you can land a grab, then go all out with your Power Fist and Overdrive.  Be sure to max Power Fist first in order to lower the cooldown, and leave Rocket Grab at level one until you have to put points in it.  Be aware that you will have little sustain until you pick up your Philosopher’s Stone, so try to be threatening without taking damage until your first bluepill.

MID GAME:  After you pick up your Philosopher’s Stone, Boots of Speed, Sheen, and Heart of Gold, Blitzcrank starts to become a true threat.  Look to pick off out-of-position opponents into your five man squad as you start to roam the map.  Be careful in team fights, as you are a Support and will not have amazing durability due to your lack of items.

LATE GAME: At this point, you exist solely to CC the enemy team.  It is your job to keep your opponents off of your carries by any means necessary, as well as continuing to serve as a strong initiator.  Stick close to the carries to protect them at all times, and don’t engage in chases except when absolutely necessary.

COMMENTS:  Remember that Blitzcrank has some of the best chain crowd control in the game, as you can start your combo with Rocket Grab, then Power Fist, Static Field, and Power Fist again.  Once you get sheen, be sure to stagger your combo with autoattacks between each ability to make the most of the procs.

Malphite, Shard of the Monolith

Not the most popular jungler out there, Malphite still offers a good way to counter an AD-heavy team. With extra armor and the ability to slow down attack speed, having a Malphite on your team can really hinder auto-attacking champions from doing what they want to do.

ROLE: Jungler

MASTERIES:  0/21/9, going for the longer buff duration in the utility tree.

RUNES:  Magic penetration marks, Armor seals, Magic resist glyphs, and Armor quintessences

SUMMONER SPELLS: Smite and Flash.

CORE ITEMS:  Philosopher’s Stone into Shurelya’s Reverie, Frozen Heart or Randuin’s Omen, Sunfire Cape

SITUATIONAL ITEMS: Force of Nature, Guardian Angel

EARLY GAME: Start with Cloth armor and five health potions. Start at wolves to blue, then continue to farm your jungle. Take E first, then W. When you want to gank, level up Q, as you’ll use that to apply the slow. You’ll want to max E first, then Q, taking W last.

MID GAME: The first items you should go for are the gold per ten items. You’re a supporting jungler, so you should get support oriented items. Build tanky, as you’ll be the one initiating fights with your ultimate. If you really need to, you can use the ultimate to escape, but it’s not ideal in the slightest. Also, be careful when using your ultimate near structures – a bug sometimes causes the ultimate to fail, even though it’s supposedly been fixed multiple times.

LATE GAME: Use your ultimate to knock up the enemy team in the air. A good Malphite ultimate can win the fight before it even starts. The AoE CC offered by this ability is huge, and it comes with a gap closer to boot. Use your E and W for improved tankiness and to reduce attack speed of enemy champions. You can also use the ultimate to go for a baron steal – simply go in, knocking them up as you smite and (hopefully) steal the buff.

COMMENTS:  Malphite is somewhat of a situational pick. To make the best use of his abilities, the enemy team needs to be AD heavy. However, if they are stacking up on auto-attacking champions, you will be an incredible nuisance to them as they try to deal out damage. Make sure you use your ultimate in a good spot (it’s not a point and click, so you’ll have to get used to timing and aiming it correctly), and show the other team why it’s so hard to break the rock.

Miss Fortune, The Bounty Hunter

Miss Fortune has seen more use lately, with Chaox in particular favoring the bounty hunter. Though her ultimate can be tough to use well, MF packs quite the punch early on. Use your lane advantage to get a lead early, and you might find that you can snowball the game out of the enemy team’s reach.

ROLE: AD carry

MASTERIES:  21/9/0, going for the AD masteries.

RUNES:  Armor penetration marks, Armor seals, Magic resist glyphs, and Attack damage quintessences

SUMMONER SPELLS: Ignite/Heal and Flash.

CORE ITEMS:  Infinity Edge, Phantom Dancer, Bloodthirster, Berserker’s Greaves

SITUATIONAL ITEMS: Wriggle’s Lantern, Last Whisper, Quicksilver Sash

EARLY GAME: Use your Double Up to harass, trying to catch the enemy right behind a minion so you can hit them with the second part of the skill. When trading or during ganks, you can activate Impure Shots, as it’ll give you more damage while reducing the healing that they get. Max Q, then W, then E, taking your ultimate whenever you can.

MID GAME: If you go for the Wriggle’s Lantern, use it to establish dragon control. Don’t be afraid to use your ultimate to clear creep waves – sometimes, that’ll help you push the lane to prepare for dragon, and it’s hard to get a good ultimate off during team fights anyway.

LATE GAME: If you have a teammate with an AoE stun, such as Sona, you can pop your ultimate as the enemy team is unable to move, catching them all in the cone. Use your Impure Shots as the fight starts, making sure to stay safe while dealing damage to whoever you can.

COMMENTS:  Because of Miss Fortune’s great harass and early-game strength, the Wriggle’s Lantern and Doran’s Blades build is almost core on her. You need to make sure you take the early and mid game though if you decide to go this route. Done correctly, though, this champion can really be a hassle to deal with and cause all sorts of trouble for the enemy AD carry.

Nocturne, The Eternal Nightmare

Nocturne is a very strong jungler due to his versatility. He has a fast clear time, strong ganks as soon as he has his W, and is a potent counter jungler. His ability to put pressure on lanes and turn enemy ganks around with his ultimate makes him a constant threat that cannot be dismissed. While playing Nocturne, don’t forget to use your Q to escape or pursue enemies and also to take advantage of your passive by positioning yourself amid a group of minions to maximize the life steal. Skilled Nocturne players will strike fear into the hearts of their enemies and save their allies all with the hiss of a single word: Darknessssss!

ROLE: Jungler

MASTERIES:  21/9/0 (attack damage masteries in the offensive tree) or 21/0/9

RUNES:  Attack Speed Marks, Flat Armor Seals, Attack Speed Glyphs, Movement Speed Quintessences.

SUMMONER SPELLS: Smite and Flash

CORE ITEMS:  Berserker’s Greaves, Wriggle’s Lantern, Frozen Mallet

SITUATIONAL ITEMS: Bloodthirster, Atma’s Impaler, Guardian Angel, Force of Nature

EARLY GAME: You will want to start by purchasing a Vampiric Scepter and leveling your Q ability (Duskbringer). Then get your team to cover the jungle and help you grab wolves at 1:40 and then blue buff at 1:55. At this point you need to make a quick decision to either level your E (Unspeakable Horror) and gank the lane closest to blue, or level your W (Shroud of Darkness) and continue through the jungle for a fast clear. If you are playing on blue team, then ganking top at level 2 is a very strong choice. For the next 4 levels you will want to clear your jungle as much as possible and keep your eye out for gank and counter-jungling opportunities. With Vampiric Scepter, you shouldn’t need to go to base unless you have a confrontation with the enemy team.

MID GAME:  By the time you hit level 6 and hopefully have your Wriggle’s Lantern, your actions should be focused on ganking a lane each time your ult is up. The range is not that long, but much like Rammus it allows you to fly over wards placed in the usual locations and arrive in a lane before the enemy has time to react or retreat. There are two tricks concerning your ultimate. The first is that it requires two presses of the R key, the first press reduces enemy vision of the map and the second press is used to target and fly to an enemy champion. The second trick to remember is to activate your shield (W) when you are arriving at the target.

LATE GAME: By the time team fights are starting and everyone is getting tier three items, you need to consider how long you can stay alive. Frozen Mallet is the optimal choice as it allows you to not only survive longer but also stick to your targets and help ensure kills for your team. If the game is going well consider getting more damage to burst down their carry faster. Alternatively, if you find that you are having a rough time in team fights grab a defensive item such as Guardian Angel, Force of Nature, or Frozen Heart.

COMMENTS:  Timing your shield to block the most critical spell of the enemy team is paramount. Throughout the game maintain complete map awareness and take advantage of any opportunity the enemy team presents you. If the enemy jungler is in lane covering for a shopping champion, then you should counter jungler or gank.

Orianna, The Lady of Clockwork

Despite the fact that Orianna hasn’t seen as much use lately, she is still a very viable champion. Able to deal a lot of damage while still offering incredible amounts of utility, the main barrier to using her is the high skill cap in mastering her abilities. Don’t let this daunt you though – once you get comfortable using that ball, you’ll be a force to be reckoned with.

ROLE: AP Mid

MASTERIES: 21/0/9, going for the AP masteries in offense.

RUNES: Magic penetration marks, mana regen per level seals, ability power per level glyphs, and ability power quintessences.

SUMMONER SPELLS: Heal/Ignite and Flash.

CORE ITEMS: Rod of Ages, Rabadon’s Deathcap, Lich Bane, Sorcerer’s Shoes

SITUATIONAL ITEMS: Will of the Ancients, Void Staff

EARLY GAME: Take Q at level 1, using it to check bushes before creeps spawn in case of any invade. This is your main spell for controlling the ball, so it’s essential to have a good sense of its range. Use it to harass your opponent, then zone them out by leaving it where it is. Take W next, maxing it second and take E at level 4, maxing it last. You’ll be mana hungry early game so make sure you don’t spam your spells or you’ll be out of mana in no time at all.

MID GAME: You shouldn’t have too much trouble with mana as long as your jungler donates blue buff to you. You’ll want to rush your Rod of Ages to start getting those stacks up. You should be able to push your lane quite effectively with blue buff, so try to gank whenever possible. When fighting for objectives like dragon, your ultimate can be extremely useful so use it well.

LATE GAME: Landing Orianna’s ultimate in late-game team fights is essential to getting the most out of her. Comboing her ultimate with other AoE ultimates, such as Vlad’s, can help you make quick work out of enemy champions and win that crucial baron fight to take the lead.

COMMENTS: Making use of all of Orianna’s utility can be hard. For example, her shield actually does damage to enemy units it passes through on the way. Keeping track of where your ball is at all times can be tough at the beginning, but if you are able to master this unique champion, you’ll bring a combination of damage and utility that no one else can offer.

Ryze, The Rogue Mage

Ryze is a unique champion, scaling primarily off of maximum mana rather than ability power. Because of this, you’ll want to build him differently, prioritizing items that give mana. Fortunately for you, these items also give a lot of defenses, making Ryze more of a tanky DPS caster rather than your traditional burst mage.

ROLE: AP Mid

MASTERIES: This can vary. 9/21/0 and 9/0/21 are both possibilities, making sure to take cooldown reduction whenever possible. You might also consider 9/9/12 to get the spell vamp, but that won’t give you enough cooldown reduction from masteries to reach 40% at level 18.

RUNES: Magic penetration marks, armor seals, magic resist glyphs, and movespeed quintessences for a more late-game oriented build. If you want better harass early, substitute in flat mana runes.

SUMMONER SPELLS: Ignite and Flash.

CORE ITEMS: Tear of the Goddess, Frozen Heart, Banshee’s Veil, Sorcerer’s Boots, Will of the Ancients

SITUATIONAL ITEMS: Rylai’s Crystal Scepter, Void Staff

EARLY GAME: You have one of weaker early games, but that’s because your late game is so strong. Try to stay alive and not lose too much cs. There are some matchups you can beat (for example, you can beat Vlad after you get a couple levels with good use of your Rune Prison and Overload since your spells out range his), but in general, you’ll just want to use this time to get Tear of the Goddess as soon as possible and start charging it up. For skills, max Q first, W second and E last after taking it at level 4.

MID GAME: By now, you should have some mana items already, and hopefully a Glacial Shroud. With the blue buff, you can hit 40% CDR, so make sure you use the spell rotation of Q-W-Q-E-Q-R-Q-W-Q-E-Q to maximize the damage you do. You might need to use your Rune Prison first to catch someone, but in general, this is the spell order you want to use.

LATE GAME: At this point, with your items, you should be incredibly tanky, with a lot of spell vamp from your ultimate to boot. Play like a tanky DPS, dealing damage over time while taking hits, making sure to use the spell rotation given above.

COMMENTS: Ryze is relatively easy to play once you get your spell order down, but he suffers from a bad early game. As long as you make sure not to feed too much, remember that you scale very well with items and play for the long game. One last note: you provide an excellent counter to Veigar, as you can build tanky and don’t build AP, making his ultimate less useful. Just be careful of early ganks, and you should be fine for the rest of the game.

Sejuani, The Winter’s Wrath

Despite having a lot of CC, Sejuani hasn’t seen much use since her release. As a jungler, she offers good ganks and good utility in team fights, but little damage. That’s no reason to think she’s not a viable champion though, especially with all the slows and stuns she can dole out.

ROLE: Jungler

MASTERIES:  0/21/9, going for the increased buff duration in the utility tree

RUNES:  Attack Speed Marks, Flat Armor Seals, Magic Resist Glyphs, Movement Speed Quintessences.

SUMMONER SPELLS: Smite and Flash

CORE ITEMS:  Philosopher’s Stone into Shurelya’s Reverie, Heart of Gold, Ninja Tabi or Mercury Treads, Aegis of the Legion

SITUATIONAL ITEMS: Frozen Heart, Force of Nature, Warmog’s Armor

EARLY GAME: Start with a Regrowth Pendant and a health potion, leveling up W first. You’ll want to start at wolves and blue, using your W to help clear camps. Get Q next, leveling E at level 4. Max E first, though, taking W second and E third.

MID GAME:  You’ll want to build your two gold per ten items first to start the gold generation as soon as possible. Make sure you take health potions when you go back to buy, because you’ll be clearing the jungle at a low enough health that you’ll want to heal it back up before ganking. Make sure you coordinate your ganks, because while you’re able to CC the enemy champions, you won’t be able to do much damage, so you’ll need the help of your teammates to finish them off.

LATE GAME: You ultimate is a great AoE stun, capable of locking down the entire enemy team for a long time. Coordinate with your team if you have other AoE spells. You should be building tanky, so go into the fray with your W and apply as many slows as possible, using Permafrost to slow your enemies even more. Try to make sure you have Frost applied on multiple people before using Permafrost to maximize its usefulness.

COMMENTS:  Sejuani doesn’t have the best clear times, and her ultimate takes a little bit of getting used to. She doesn’t do much damage, so you’ll need to have good communication with your teammates to make her work well. Remember: you’re a support jungler, not a carry jungler. She might not pack as much of a punch as other junglers, but Sejuani can still be a terror for the other team with her slows ensuring that every chase ends up in her favor.

Sona, Maven of the Strings

The recent nerfs to Sona’s early game has dropped the mute musician from first-pick worthy to rarely seen in the recent IEM Hannover. This doesn’t mean that she’s not still viable. Offering a good mix of sustain and poke in lane without sacrificing team fight utility, Sona can is still a great choice for support. In addition, the Lulu patch actually offers a buff to her poke by increasing Power Chord damage, which should help her regain some of the lane presence she lost in the nerfs.

ROLE: Support

MASTERIES: 0/9/21, going for standard support choices along with extra health from the defense tree.

RUNES: Magic penetration marks to help her early harass, armor seals, magic resist per level glyphs, and gold per ten quintessences.

SUMMONER SPELLS: Heal/CV/Exhaust and Flash

CORE ITEMS: Shurelya’s Reverie, Aegis of the Legion, Ionian Boots of Lucidity, Sight Wards, Oracle’s Elixir

SITUATIONAL ITEMS: Zeke’s Herald, Rabadon’s Deathcap, Chalice of Harmony

EARLY GAME: Get your Q first, making sure to charge up Power Chord in fountain before heading out. Use it to poke your opponents, keeping in mind that the range at which it prioritizes champions is decently low. Also, when poking, make sure you hit with the Q Power Chord for more damage. Get W second and take E at level 4. In general, you’ll want to max Q first, but depending on the lane you’re facing, you might want need some more sustain with W.

MID GAME: Make sure to keep the map warded. If you have a bursty AD carry like Tristana, you can try to get a kill on someone by initiating with Crescendo. Remember that your W Power Chord acts as a mini Exhaust, so use it on dragon or if you engage the enemy AD carry. The E Power Chord can also help your team chase down a fleeing enemy.

LATE GAME: You can initiate team fights with your ultimate, but also remember that it’s great for counter-initiating as well. The AoE stun is incredibly powerful is used correctly, and it synergizes well with other AoE ultimates, so try to communicate with your teammates to make good use of it. A good Sona ultimate can help win a team fight even if the other team is ahead, so do you best to maximize its effectiveness.

COMMENTS: Sona offers a lot of utility with her auras and ultimate. She may be relatively easy to use with her auto-targeting skills, but getting the most out of her ultimate and Power Chord can take practice. Once you get those down, though, you’ll be on your way to supporting your team to victory.

Vayne, The Night Hunter

Vayne started off as an incredibly overpowered champion, and though she’s been nerfed to a stable position now, she still has a spot atop the list as one of the best six item AD carries, with Twitch offering perhaps her only competition in terms of damage. The Silver Bolts are a main part of why she does so well late game, but don’t be too entranced by just the one skill – Vayne brings much more to the table than just her percent health true damage.

ROLE: AD carry

MASTERIES:  21/9/0, going for the AD masteries.

RUNES:  Armor penetration marks, Armor seals, Magic resist glpyhs, and Attack damage quintessences

SUMMONER SPELLS: Ignite/Heal and Flash.

CORE ITEMS:  Infinity Edge, Phantom Dancer, Bloodthirster, Berserker Greaves

SITUATIONAL ITEMS: Black Cleaver, Quicksilver Sash, Guardian Angel

EARLY GAME: You have a weak early game, especially considering your short range, so you want to farm up as much as possible. Your Tumble gives you good mobility, though, so take advantage of it in the laning phase. Despite being the skill that defines her, Silver Bolts should be taken at level 4 and maxed last. Remember, you’re playing for the long game here, and the utility offered by Tumble and Condemn in the earlier phases of the game will outweigh the extra damage that Silver Bolts might provide.

MID GAME: Continue to farm up, building a Zeal and Bloodthirster first. Unlike other AD carries, you don’t need the extra damage provided by Infinity Edge as much as you do the sustain from the Bloodthirster, and Zeal into Phantom Dancer will help get more Silver Bolts off. If you get the chance, you can use your ultimate to chase down kills. Remember that while activated, you get an extra 120 move speed when chasing an enemy as well as stealth after Tumbling, so you should have no trouble hunting down those pesky champions.

LATE GAME: This is where you really shine. In team fights, make sure you don’t get focused down by using your ultimate as well as Tumble to position correctly. Make sure you focus someone to get those Silver Bolts procs off. Your range isn’t great, but your damage is, so just attack who you can and watch as you melt anyone that dares stand in the way of the Night Hunter.

COMMENTS:  It take a little while to get used to Condemning someone into a wall, but doing so can really help turn the tide in a battle early on. Getting the stun off during a gank can mean the difference between a kill and a narrow escape, so practice Tumbling into position (or even Flashing, if necessary) to pin your enemy to the wall.

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