A quick guide to all of Garens matchups

Order of Difficulty 1. Kayle

Why it’s Difficult? Constant harass with her E, a Q that makes it impossible to gap close and an ult which basically makes your ult null and void.

How to Beat Them?

Itemization

If you were stupid enough to pick Garen into Kayle, take 4 pots and a cloth armour. Sit under tower and farm, try and proc passive as much as you can. Pray to god for ganks.

Cloth/4 pots or Dorans Shield

If Kayle is on extremely low mana or doesn’t have 6 and you have somewhere near the same amount of health (a little bit less is fine), you can try and flash q, auto e, ignite then ult.

2. Heimerdinger

3. Ornn

4. Pantheon

Very similar to Kayle in terms of being very difficult to get to (with less damage however) but is very difficult to gank Completely over-tuned kit that out damages you and out tanks you

Passive blocks your silence and his Q’s stop your passive from activating, annoying but beatable.

Max Q Take Dorans instead of cloth, otherwise basically the same as Kayle. Max Q If he isn’t braindead he will beat you in long engages, so just poke with your auto and q then run out and try to freeze the wave near your tower. Engage if he’s super low or you get a gank. Max Q Wait for him to waste out his mana first, then auto him once to proc his passive, then Q and E. W his stun For the most part however, you want to wait till you get lvl

AD: Hexdrinker Merc Tank: Spectre’s Cowl Merc’s Then Finish visage

Doran’s shield Same as for Kayle

Cloth/4 pots or Dorans Shield AD: Cleaver Tabi Tank: Sunfire Cape Tabi Cloth/4 pots AD: Tabi YG Tank: Sunfire Cape/Tabi in whatever order

5. Teemo

6. Jayce

7. Gnar

W to escape, harass with his auto’s and a Q which blinds your Q.

E knocks you away which makes it difficult to get your armour shred on your E, his auto’s shred your hp and he out damages you easily.

Same idea as Jayce really, except now you have to keep an eye on his mega gnar bar as you get blasted

11 for you regen powerspike and then you can comfortably beat him Max E Tbh, Teemo is more annoying than he is a major threat. Q towards him but don’t auto him, E first while your Q is still giving you bonus movement speed and then hit your Q on him at the end of your E rotation. When he sees you Q initially, he will likely try to blind you and therefore, you can wait out the blind on your Q while still doing damage to him. You can max either Q or E but I prefer E on this matchup. If he overextends into your creep wave, you can try to fight him with the basic Q, auto, E, Combo although if you’re more you’re more experienced, you can try and bait out his E with an auto first and then Q to chase him down. For the most part, keep your distance and farm under turret. Wait for ganks or wait for your regen spike at level 11.

Dorans Shield AD: Hexdrinker Merc’s Tank: Spectre’s Cowl Merc’s Visage

Cloth/4 pots AD: Tabi YG Tank: Tabi Bramble vest Thorn or Sunfire

Cloth/4 pots AD: Tabi Cleaver Tank: Tabi

8. Darius

9. Olaf

10. Singed

11. Kennen

Bleed stacks counter your passive, a good Darius will destroy you in long-fights due to his in-fight sustain with his Q.

Each of his axe’s do 1/6 th of your health, the lower health you get him to, the more damage his puts out so make sure if you ult him, you put him away.

He’ll run away if you try to E him and if you chase him, he’ll poison you to death. Especially difficult because of Garen’s lack of a gap closer.

Auto attack and Q harass also has E to escape if you chase him.

Short trades with an auto or Q, do not fight him unless he’s straight up walked into your massive creep wave and you’re confident in dodging his q or you get a gank Dodge his axe’s as best you can, wait for ganks and farm. You won’t beat him in a sheer 1v1 unless he’s low on mana or he’s overextending.

Farm and wait for ganks, nothing you can do but low kp as long as you’re under turret.

Try and dodge his Q’s then outsustain his auto’s. If he uses his E to wave clear, you can go in with the full wombo combo.

Bramble Thorn/Sunfire Doran’s shield shield or Cloth/4 pots AD: Cleaver Tabi Tank: Tabi Sunfire Cape Cloth/4 pots AD: Guess you can take Cleaver or YG depending on if he’s going ravenous or righteous glory Tabi Tank: Tabi Bramble Thorn or Sunfire Doran’s shield or or Doran’s blade if you’re feeling frisky AD: Hexdrinker Mercs Tank: Spectre’s Mercs Visage Dorans Shield AD: Hexdrinker Merc’s Tank: Spectre’s Cowl Merc’s Visage If Kennen builds AD,  just take the generic auto attack counter

12. Rengar

13. Fiora

14. Irelia

15. Trundle

16. Rumble

Disgusting damage  jumping out of the bushes with his q, also has his e to stun you if you chase.

Can parry your silence or ult, destroy’s your hp with quick dash poke. Especially difficult to beat after buying Tiamat.

Stand on the far side of the bushes behind your minions, try and Q him when he Q’s for CS. Rengar is totally worthless without his Q in fights.

Garen is one of the few champions who can actually fight Fiora super early, try and fight her at lvl 2 if you can if you have ignite. Other than that, farm passively and wait for item power spikes.

Harass isn’t too bad but A good Irelia will just her engage is frustrating. beat you in fights, so She will likely q towards keep you distance, you, e when she sees your farm and wait for trying to silence, get a few fights. auto’s auto’s off and then pop her ult, if she lands her full combo, you will lose the trade unless you’ve hit all your abilities and you’re under a massive creep wave. Silence isn’t really that Again, you can try useful against Trundle as and fight him at lvl 2 he’s mostly auto attack but I would suggest based. His chomp gives  just playing passively him superior sustain in against him. fights, especially with Tiamat. His ult makes any armour you’ve bought useless. Every ability he has is ranged harass which

If he uses his fire blast on the creeps,

build I’ve laid out but you take YG instead of cleaver if you’re going AD. Cloth/4 pots or Long Sword/3 pots AD: YG Tabi Tank: Tabi Sunfire You will not win this matchup if you go AD unless you’re either AdamReformed or the Fiora is braindead. Take Cloth/4 pots Go tabi and thornmail then build whatever you like Cloth/4 pots AD: Tabi YG Tank: Tabi Sunfire

Cloth/4 pots AD: Phage Tabi Cleaver Tank: Tabi Thornmail At this point I realised how stupid it

makes your passive pretty useless.

17. Vladimir

18. Poppy

Auto attack and Q’s give him decent poke, he out sustains you even with your passive. Extremely tanky, harass with her passive, if she gets a lead you can not even attempt to fight her.

you can go for an engage. Other than that, just wait.

You will out regen him at lvl 11, till then  just wait and farm under turret. If she uses her passive on a minion, block her from collecting the armour pack then rush her with a fight. Stay away from walls so she can not you for half your hp.

is to write out the same build over and over again. Same generic MR/Hexdrinker build Generic MR/Hexdrinker build

You can basically go with anything into this matchup, it really depends on your playstyle Cloth/Long Sword/DB/DS AD: Normal boots while building Cleaver Maybe an Armour pen item or YG

19. Urgot

20. Dr Mundo

Shred’s your armour with When he hits his W, his W, good bit of poke  just run out the circle with his Q and his E can with your movement delay out your silence and speed from Q, then he will likely proc W go back in once he’s straight after which can done. Also dodge his not be cancelled. Q to keep your passive up.

Good sustain, harass with his meat cleavers.

Dodge his cleavers and you’re Gucci, unfortunately he can spam them.

Tank: Sunfire Tabi Again, anything you like really but I would suggest playing passively early if you take the long sword start AD: Cleaver Tabi Tank: Tabi Sunfire Anything you like as long as you dodge those Q, if you can’t then take Cloth AD: Cleaver/boots Armour pen or YG

21. Quinn

22. Maokai

23. Nasus

24. Illaoi

Poke with her auto’s and an annoying blind that can delay your silence.

Can out sustain your poke, very difficult to kill once he builds sunfire cape.

Out sustains your poke and his trinity/ult power spike makes him borderline unkillable

Seemingly bottomless pit of mana to throw out Q’s and E’s, if you stay inside his ult you have a death wish.

Take cloth and 4 pots, wait for item spikes and you win lane. Only farm under turret and last hit.

Personally, this lane bores the hell out of me so I just push the farm under turret and try to spot roams mid.

If he’s a bad Nasus and he’s trying to contest farm in the middle of the lane, go to town on him. Otherwise, just push the wave under turret and then roam mid because you don’t have enough sheer damage to burst him and kill him. Dodge everything, still lose half your hp and cry into a pillow. In all seriousness, this matchup is entirely about item power spikes. Take cloth and 4 pots and dodge everything,

Tank: Sunfire Tabi or maybe Merc’s for the tenacity against his cleavers (and he’ll likely start bami’s) Cloth/4 pots AD: Tabi YG Tank: Tabi Bramble Sunfire Dorans shield/blade or Long Sword/3 pots AD: Hexdrinker Mercs Cleaver Tank: Spectre’s Merc’s Anything AD: Tabi Cleaver any order on these two Tank: Tabi Bramble Thorn or Sunfire

Cloth/4 pots AD: Look at his build, if he isn’t getting any armour, you can go for YG instead of Cleaver but I’d suggest getting

wait for ganks and easily win lane.

25. Shen

A good shen will be able to taunt and then q to get off 3 quick empowered auto’s then back off back off by reactivating his q. Your silence is also pretty useless as he is autoattack based with already long cd’s.

Don’t ult or silence while his shield or W is up. Otherwise an easy matchup

26. Swain

Can be extremely frustrating to play against with his constant stuns and slows.

27. Yorick

His ghouls do a ridiculous amount of damage if he hits his e, his w is very difficult to escape.

Just a nuisance, let him waste out his mana with his no damage poke and then go for it. Dodge his e and his w, you can then kill him.

Tabi’s first as it helps you dodge his abilities Tank: Tabi’s Sunfire Anything AD: Cleaver Tabi Tank: Tabi Bramble Thorn or Sunfire Generic Mr/Hexdrinker build

If you can dodge his abilities successfully then go for whatever you like otherwise take cloth AD: Look at his build to decide between Cleaver or YG, take Tabi to dodge his abilities

28. Kled

29. Akali

Very difficult to dive if you don’t know when his pet is coming up.

She can stop your passive from re-activating by throwing out her blades

Dodge his rope, keep an eye on his passive.

Try to stop her hitting her blade by keeping your

Tank: Tabi Sunfire Cloth/4 pots AD: Same schtick as laid out for Yorick Tank: Tabi Bramble Thorn or Sunfire Generic Mr/Hexdrinker build

constantly, good sustain in trades.

30. Camille

31. Yasuo

Her W and her E give her decent dis and re-engage tools.

Dashes through minions and pokes you out with his Q.

distance, Q her if she tries to farm a minion and then E while she’s in her field if you know whereabouts she is. W her Q and you’re Gucci. Don’t hit your silence or e when her shield is up, wait for it to go and then hit the full .combo/

Farm passively, dodge his Q’s. Fight him whenever you feel like he’s encroached on your space.

Cloth/4 pots AD: YG Tabi in any order Tank: Tabi Bramble Thorn or Sunfire Cloth/4 pots or Long Sword/3 pots AD: YG Tabi in any order Tank: Tabi Sunfire or Bramble in any order

32. Jax

33. Gangplank

If he uses his E while you silence, he will make you waste one of your abilities.

Q poke can be annoying.

W his stun, don’t attack him during his helicopter then hit the Demacian combo on him.

Use your passive to deal with his Q then fight whenever he over gets close to you.

Cloth/4 pots or Long Sword/3 pots AD: YG/Tabi Tank: Tabi Sunfire Cloth/4 pots or Long Sword/3 pots or Doran’s blade if you’re going very aggressive early AD: Tabi YG Tank: Tabi

Sunfire 34. Tryndamere

35. Jarvan

36. Sion

37. Renekton

38. Malphite

Good sustain with his W, can poke you with a few auto’s then dash out with his e

Constant poke with his Q, can dash out of engage’s quickly with his Q/E combination.

Extremely tanky.

Can dash in, auto, stun and then dash back out. Good sustain.

Tanky.

All about items, play passively till you get Tabi and bramble unless he fights you. Once you get these items he become useless, take cloth and 4 pots. Wait for him to miss his Q and then engage.

Cloth/4 pots AD: Tabi/YG Tank: Tabi Bramble Thorn or Sunfire Cloth/4 pots or Long Sword/3 pots AD: Cleaver/YG depending on his build Tabi

Silence while he’s charging his Q, dodge his and he dies.

Silence him every time he dashes in. W his stun.

W his boulder, wait for him to run out of mana (Malphite runs out of mana quicker than Stone Cold drinks a beer) and kill him

Tank: Tabi Sunfire Long Sword/3 pots AD: Cleaver (If he building lethality, go YG) YG Tank: Bami’s Tabi Sunfire Cloth/4 pots or Long Sword/3 pots AD: YG/BC depending on his build Tabi Long Sword/3 pots AD: Cleaver Merc’s or Tabi depending on whether he’s building any ap or not

39. Chogath

Good sustain and tanky

Dodge his Q and he dies.

Tank: Really depends on what he’s building, if he’s going tanky just go the usual Sunfire into tabi route. Long Sword/3 pots AD: Cleaver YG

40. Wukong

41. Riven

Can be difficult to kill with his clone.

Riven will q before gets to you, his her knockup, use her stun and dash away with her e.

If he farms, you Q him, if he clones, run past it with your Q and chase that monkey down.

Anytime she goes for poke or CS, Q her and engage. She must learn her place.

Tank: He’s mixed damage so I’d suggest always taking cleaver first for the health and then going Merc’s for the tenacity Long Sword/3 pots AD: YG Tabi Tank: Bami Tabi Sunfire Cloth/4 pots AD: Tabi YG Tank: Tabi Sunfire

3 Key rune builds: Tank - Resolve/Precision – Resolve/Precision  – Grasp,  Grasp, Unflinching, Conditioning, Second Wind, Triumph and Coup De Grace AD - Sorcery/Domination (Best build in my opinion) – opinion)  – Summon  Summon Aery, Ultimate Hat, Celerity, Scorch, Taste of Blood and Ravenous Hunter Splitpush – Splitpush – Resolve/Precision  Resolve/Precision –  – Grasp,  Grasp, Demolish, Conditioning, Overgrowth, Legend Alacrity and Coup De Grace

Only take the splitpush build when your teamcomp is clearly not really built for teamfights

Take Ignite/Flash for every matchup matchu p besides Kayle If you’re experienced but if you’re below Gold I’d suggest taking tp for everything I’ve marked in yellow or red.

Make sure to diversify your builds if you are losing lane with the one set out (if you’ve only got enough for a cloth armour when you back but you want to buy a cinder, just get the cloth armour). If you need an armour power spike, always take the tabi early. Tabi is extremely important for Garen.