Summary
Early Game
Garen is a champion who won't have many favorable match-ups, so going on Doran Shield with Health Potion seems appropriate.
Boots
- Boots of Swiftness greatly enhance your roam potential.
- Mercury's Treads is the best choice for a difficult heavy AP match-up.
- Ninja Tabi if you fear an heavy AD game.
Core items
- Trinity Force gives Garen good offensive and defensive stats, and allows you to push easily.
- Youmuu's Ghostblade combined with the Q - Decisive Strike will make you very fast, in addition to providing you with enough to kill any carry.
- Dead Man's Plate passively offers movement speed, as well as a damage burst, all this while being an object offering life points and armor!
Situational items
- Guardian Angel is the all-purpose object, in Garen's case it allows you to stall teamfights.
- Black Cleaver offers good offensive and defensive stats, and can replace Trinity Force.
- Sterak's Gage will prevent anyone from bursting on you, and thus improves your ability to be a real tank, rather useful for winning teamfights.
Playing Garen
Garen is a warrior who needs his items very quickly, to have an impact early in the game.
- Level 1: Try to farm while forcing the other side to miss a few minions, thanks to your Q - Decisive Strike, used as a means of pressure.
- Level 2: It's time to spin with E - Judgement and farm while hitting your opponent!
- Level 3: No big change compared to level 2, but you will start to be more and more resistant thanks to your W - Courage.
- Important note: Your damages are excessive at the beginning of the game, try to abuse them on positive match-ups.
Match-ups
Tips & Tricks
- Q - Decisive Strike works against towers.
- Using Q - Decisive Strike cancels the slows you were suffering.
- After sustaining a lot of damage on the lane, remember to enjoy your Passive - Perseverance under your tower. Note that minions damage does not interrupt your passive.
- E - Judgment can inflict critical strikes.
- If you hit an enemy 4 times with E - Judgement, his armor will be reduced by 25% for 6 seconds.
- Used properly, W - Courage can greatly reduce damage in teamfights.
- R - Demacian Justice has an incantation time of 0.5s. However, if your opponent uses his Flash within this time, he will still be hit by your ultimate.
