Garen is one of the few characters that can dominate at every phase of the game. The Noble Night’s potential can be unlocked even if he is being built with other champs who are not of the same class. How he is really unlocked, however, is through the proper use of items. Here are the three top item builds for Garen, along with the classes they may best synergize with.
Nerf/Buff Garen
This build, as it sounds, posits Garen in the center of an army, allowing him to buff adjacent teammates and penalize enemies nearby. Here is the build.
- Zephyr (Giant’s Belt and Negatron Cloak)
- Zeke’s Herald (B.F. Sword and Giant’s Belt)
- Locket of the Iron Solari (Chain Vest and N.L.R.)
The Zephyr is a great item that, if the RNG is especially kind, can completely change the landscape of fight by briefly taking an enemy champ out of commission. Paring that nerf with either the Zeke’s Herald and/or the Locket will buff allies to help them strike while the enemy is disadvantaged. The reason this says and/or is because each of these final two items are among the best in the game to stack, or use multiple of. Allow some wiggle room with RNG and the Carousel to work around this build.
This build is very adaptable to multiple different classes. The only thing required is to position units around Garen so that they receive the positional buffs from the items. Because Garen is an incredible off-build champ, running him alongside six Yordles or six Sorcerers would be good and would allow them to better stay alive and more quickly attack.
Frozen Garen
This build, as it sounds, is centered around the item, Frozen Heart. It’s nerf to enemies attack speed mixed with a couple of items to keep Garen alive should allow for a long and cold winter. Here is the build.
- Frozen Heart (Tear of the Goddess and Chain Vest)
- Warmog’s Armor (Giant’s Belt x2)
- Dragon’s Claw (Negatron Cloak x2)
Frozen Heart is the centerpiece of this build because the nerf it applies can be extremely detrimental to an enemy team. So, in order to maximize the buff and keep Garen alive as long as possible, it’s good to stack him with as much health and magic resistance as possible. Hence, Warmog’s Armor and Dragon’s Claw. If the RNG prevents it, throwing a Redemption in place of either of those to simple revive Garen is also an option, however, these two other items have proven to be much stronger.
Because of the reduction in attack speed, it will be very difficult for the enemy to build abilities. Thus, pairing this Garen with a Demon build to capitalize on the mana burn is a great option. Other possible synergies could include Glacial to keep enemies even more incapacitated, or even simply building a Noble composition to make Garen even that much more tanky.
Barbed Garen
This build makes Garen as tough to take down as a barbed wire fence. With so much focus initially going on him, this aims to give Garen the power to take others down with him. Here is the build.
- Ionic Spark (Negatron Cloak and N.L.R)
- Thornmail (Chain Vest x2)
- Morellonomicon (N.L.R. and Giant’s Belt)
These first two items, in one way or another, use the enemies attacks against them. This allows Garen to be effectively doing damage, even if he is stunned by an enemy Pyke or frozen by a Glacial army. The Morellonomicon comes into play to both provide Garen some health through the Giant’s Belt and to allow him to do burn damage with his ability.
Running with this build will leave Garen weaker than the others might. So, to help him stay alive in the late game, running a Noble army with Kayle would be especially helpful. Otherwise, keep characters that can heal, like Nidalee or Lulu, available to keep Garen alive and doing passive damage. Overall, this is a great build to counter a top player in a lobby that has a lot of stun potential.
For building these, or any other builds, be sure to check out the latest champion and item tier lists from The Game Haus, as well as all of our other coverage of TFT.
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