Hey! I'm L3gislacerator, a Taric support main and gem enthusiast. Taric has been one of my favorite champions since I first started playing him in Season 6. Over the years I've accrued over a million mastery points playing him, reaching Master tier in Seasons 9 and 12 and peaking as the 16th best Taric player in the world. What's there to love about him so much? Well, everything! Taric is one of the most versatile champions on the Rift. His kit allows him to adapt to any situation whether you want to get up close and personal with your enemies or stand back and protect your allies. With an entertaining smugness and dazzling abilities, it's hard to not enjoy playing him. While Taric is easy to pick up, he's definitely hard to master. You'll need a keen sense of time, good decision-making, and a little creativity if you want to bring out his full potential. Once you get the hang of him, though, it's as rewarding as no other, and soon enough you'll be outplaying your opponents time and time again. This guide is going to show you the ins and outs of playing the gem knight as well as the builds I've had the greatest success with yet. With so many tools to shield, heal, and peel for your team, any well-played teamfight can be considered won. Without further ado, let's dive right in!

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Unmatched Survivability The endurance you can grant your team is astounding, and this build only exemplifies your capability to do so. With heals, shields, and invincibility, you'll keep your allies standing throughout any skirmish while also peeling enemies who come too close for comfort.

Strong Follow-Up On Engages Your abilities are devastating when used together with allies. They reward coordination, playing off of your teammate's position to land near-guaranteed stuns from range and secure kills with ease while also making sure they leave without a scratch.

Tankiness and Armor With defensive items and the armor buff from Bastion, you'll scale into an incredible guardian. Not only will you be able to soak up tons of damage for your team, but you can make your allies tankier as well.

Sustain in Lane While not on the scale of medics like Soraka, you have a valuable heal that will keep you and your partner alive during laning phase. Also, your shield can negate harass and buffer you whenever you engage.

Susceptible to Poke As a melee support, you will have to brave a lot of hits if faced against a ranged support. Your sustain should keep you on your feet, but you will have to be more cautious about how you position.

Telegraphed Abilities Your stun and your ultimate activate after a delay, so timing them is crucial. To be effective, you have to be able to predict your enemies' attack patterns and positioning then capitalize on them.

No Mobility Besides Flash, you don't have any reliable mobility, so you should always be wary of getting caught in a bad position. Group up whenever you can, and stay in the middle of your team during fights so you can reach everybody but remain safe.

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The Inspiration tree has a major player in it which makes it worthy of being your primary tree: Glacial Augment. New and improved, this rune gives you not only a slow but a widespread one with added utility. Beyond Glacial, the other runes in the Inspiration tree are beneficial for Taric too, offering him bonuses and utility in several desirable areas. This tree can be complemented by a secondary tree in Resolve to keep you being a resilient tank and healer all the while.

Glacial Augment does everything a good keystone rune should. It synergizes perfectly with Dazzle, spreading slowing zones around whatever enemy champion you stun with it on a cooldown. Additionally, enemies in these slow zones deal reduced damage to your allies. All in all, Glacial Augment is an effective keystone both offensively and defensively, in and out of laning phase.

Magical Footwear: This rune is a solid investment at the sacrifice of some early-game mobility. Opting for it disables your ability to buy boots before 12 minutes (45 seconds less per takedown) but nets you free boots afterwards, saving you 300g in the long run. These bad boys are also enhanced with +10 movement speed over regular boots, so you'll notice a significant boost in speed and reach a decent power spike once you receive them.

Biscuit Delivery: Biscuits grant you a lot of staying power in lane. You are given 3 biscuits in total: one every 2 minutes until 6 minutes into the match. Besides healing you, they also alleviate some of your mana issues since consuming or selling one permanently increases your maximum mana by 40. That's 120 mana total! In this item economy, where finding mana is important but tough, that 120 free base mana is a lot. Eat them when you're low on health and mana since they are more potent if you eat them while low.

Approach Velocity: Zoom toward allies in danger and protect them as you should. Zoom even faster toward enemies you stun and slow so you can go in for a beatdown. Approach velocity lets you do both of those things and is an all-around useful minor rune to have, especially since any extra mobility is useful for Taric who lacks movement options.

Revitalize: There are two things that Taric was put on this world to do: heal and shield. What's that? Revitalize buffs both? It's a match made in heaven! This bonus is TRIPLED on targets below 40% health as well, meaning your ability to turn the tide in fights increases along with it. Altogether, this is hands down the best minor Resolve rune that Taric can pick up.

Conditioning: If laning phase won't be problematic and you want to invest in generally effective power, this is the rune for you. Conditioning gives you bonus resistances after a 12-minute waiting period, so it will kick in by midgame once teamfights begin. It scales with your own total resistances, so you continue to get bulkier as the game goes on.

Standard Setup Bonus attack speed is incredibly useful, especially since Bravado will double it, leading to faster cooldown resets and a higher damage output. A double spec in armor is exactly what the gem knight needs. The shards, combined with an already high base armor and Bastion's buff, quickly turn you into a physical wall. You'll also be doing more damage thanks to your armor scalings.

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Flash holds a spot in nearly every champion's arsenal for good reason. With it, you can perform maneuvers that you otherwise couldn't due to your low mobility. One of its best uses is in conjunction with Dazzle. The key is to channel the stun first, then as soon as it's about to fire, flash in your enemy's direction. This gives your target hardly any time to react and is a great way to catch out important enemies. This spell is also your one and only escape tool. If you're ever in trouble, don't hesitate to use it to get over a wall or dodge a skillshot that would otherwise be your demise.

Ignite greatly ups your kill potential. The Grievous Wounds and true damage it inflicts render the enemy ADC's Heal nigh useless. Healers such as Soraka will have an especially bad time against it since their attempts to save their allies will be weakened. Ignite's high damage and frequent uptime makes it a powerful pick almost every matchup.

Exhaust is a great tool for preventing burst. With its movement speed slow and damage reduction, it can severely hinder enemies when used appropriately. Picture yourself in lane against a Draven. When he decides to all-in, you should be prepared with one goal in mind: preventing him from getting a kill and snowballing. When you prevent the fatal damage and your ADC lives another day, consider it a win. In teamfights, save Exhaust for the enemy who has the most kill pressure or burst damage — most often an assassin. Spring it on them quickly as soon as they're about to use their most powerful moves. It's always better to use it early rather than too late.

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Starting Items

Relic Shield: This is the best first pickup as a tanky support, specifically a tanky enchanter. The bonus health will make you harder to kill, and the AP goes directly towards a slight boost in your heal and stun. This item's Spoils of War passive periodically lets you execute minions with bonuses when you do so. Specifically, you can execute minions every 35 seconds, or around twice per three waves. The bonus gold you share, on top of the passive bonus gold generation, enables you to build towards your other items quicker. NOTE: The alternative tank starting item, Steel Shoulderguards offers AD instead of AP. This can be a niche pick in lanes versus a melee support and immobile ADC so you can pump out more damage with Bravado. However, in most other cases, stick to Relic Shield since its benefits are still useful even when you don't want to, or can't, constantly brawl.

Health Potions: Sustain is essential in the early game, and these potions get the job done. They're your way of healing after trades to stay as strong as possible, and they're also very helpful in sticky situations. A useful trick is to use them during a fight to have a constant edge over your opponents.

Warding Totem: This trinket serves an important purpose by providing free, albeit occasional, sources of vision. During laning phase, its wards can be put to great use by spotting threats such as the enemy jungler before they have the chance to ambush you.

Boot Upgrades

Plated Steelcaps: Become more resistant to physical attacks, particularly autoattacks. Plated Steelcaps are the new Ninja Tabi with the same stats: armor, percentage resistance, and upgraded movement speed. The armor synergizes well with your kit, so it will often be your optimal boot upgrade. It is a must buy against AD teams or any game where the enemy has a threatening AD carry.

Mercury's Treads: These boots are the upgrade to go for when you're struggling against crowd control, magic damage, or both. Being locked down by your enemies is a poor state to be in when your allies are depending on you to actively protect them and peel for them. Buy this against enemies who have abilities with strong or frequent CC so that you can stay in the fight.

Boots of Swiftness: These fulfill a similar role to Mercury's Treads but specifically against slows. Not only that, but these boots have additional base movement speed over other boot upgrades. The extra speed helps keep up with enemies so you can continue attacking them, and it is also functional defensively if enemy slows are stopping you from running out of danger or to your allies' aid.

First Back

Tear of the Goddess: Taric has mana issues, especially in the early game, you can run dry after a couple spell rotations. Building Tear of the Goddess is worthwhile at a mere 400 gold, making it an easy pickup after your first or second back. Getting it early means you can immediately feel the effects of the extra mana and have more room to use your spells, and you also can get it stacking early to double down on that. The bonus mana from this item increases upon successful ability casts which affect allies (i.e. heals and shields) and enemies (i.e. Dazzle hits). The goal is for the Tear to alleviate your mana issues throughout the early and mid game. Once you've bought your Mythic Item, the real fun begins. Upgrade this to the tank item for Tear users, Winter's Approach, which is an excellent addition to Taric's build which makes him tanky while benefitting from the mana he uses and accrues from other items.

Mythic Item Options

These items have incredible power and form the center of your build. You can only own one Mythic Item at a time. Each one has a powerful ability and a Mythic Passive which gives you bonus stats with each Legendary item you build. Taric's Mythics are best rushed immediately after Tear of the Goddess or another source of mana is purchased. You can change your choice in a Mythic Item from game to game based on what your team needs or who you are fighting against.

Locket of the Iron Solari: This is often Taric's best choice for a Mythic Item. It is universally useful for its stats and active which synergize well with your kit and your purpose as a protector. Locket's active shield scales can negate impressive amounts of damage in an instant. By activating this item as enemy attacks are arriving and Cosmic Radiance is falling, you greatly increase the likelihood of your allies living long enough to be granted invulnerability and gain the upper hand in a fight. When facing champions who have devastating area of effect attacks such as Katarina and Wukong, Locket will prove itself to be especially helpful.

Shurelya's Battlesong: The highlights of this item are both its passive and active speed buffs. In particular, Taric can make fantastic use of the passive. It actives on allies whom you shield and heal, and given that Taric can do so to his whole team with ease, you can easily active Starlight's Touch once and get your whole team to be speedy. The passive cooldown is only 4 seconds, so you can keep spamming your heal for more speed. This is great in all scenarios, especially when ahead and you want to chase and play aggressively. This is compounded by the item's active effect, an instant teamwide speed boost. Cap it all off with a nice mix of stats including bonus health, ability haste, and mana regen, and Shurelya's proves great in games where you want to push a lead and play aggressively to gain and keep an advantage.

Moonstone Renewer: This mythic item is best reserved for backline healing and enchanting playstyles. It lacks in the area of defensive stats, but it makes up for it with a lot of healing potential. Do note that this healing depends on being in active combat, so back up this mythic item with a tank item such as Frozen Heart or Zeke's Convergence. This item pours out heals of increasing power to your lowest-health ally when you are in combat. It is great for keeping allies healthy consistently or over time, as compared to the burst of defense from Locket of the Iron Solari.

Iceborn Gauntlet: A good pickup if you want to grow tanky as can be while also dishing out sizeable damage. A good pickup if you're very ahead in lane and want to continue to dominate as a tanky threat on top of your healing and peeling duties. The increased size and health from this item's mythic passive will let you better protect your allies throughout the game as well. With a mix of health, armor, ability haste, and damage, this item is a great way to make sure you push an advantage and are able to play offensively. Also of note is that the item's slow on melee hits makes chasing, catching out, and fighting enemies easier for you.

Turbo Chemtank: If your team doesn't have a powerful engager, pick this Mythic up to become one. Activate it to lead the charge and rush at an enemy, then once the slow descends, follow up with a stun to start the fight off strong. Turbo Chemtank comes with a good mix of defensive stats with its high health, armor, and magic resist. You'll also be dealing decent damage due to the item's Immolate passive. Its Mythic Passive makes you even harder to lock down since you gain tenacity and slow resistance with each Legendary item you pick up.

Evenshroud: Evenshroud rewards you, and your team, for getting into the thick of a fight. Immobilizing enemies and being immobilized ups your team's offensive power by making nearby enemies take increased damaged for a set time. So long as you're using Bravado to lower your Dazzle's cooldown and activating Glacial Augment as well, you can get a lot of CC off in extended fights and make the most of this buff. It's especially effective if your team has burst damage and can capitalize on your picks (or you being picked and countering off of that). Stat-wise, this item is a solid defensive pickup, offering health, a mix of resistances, and helpful ability haste. Add that onto its Mythic Passive, a great one to up your tankiness because it stacks resistances with each legendary item you get. In short: pick up this item if you and your team are looking to take and win fights through overpowering enemies.

Core Items

Fimbulwinter: Fimbulwinter is an excellent addition to Taric's build. It's a perfect fit for the mana-hungry fighter he is, and the fact that it build from Tear of the Goddess makes building it after your Mythic Item feel seamless. Like other Tear items, this is the fully upgraded version of Winter's Approach. It offers lots of health, mana, and ability haste, each of which Taric enjoys having. Even better, its passive gives you more health the more mana you have. Taric is already encouraged to build mana, so this just offers greater incentive for doing so. Finally, its other passive grants you a shield upon immobilizing or slowing an enemy, which Taric will do often between Dazzle, Glacial Augment, and any slowing items he has. All in all, this item makes Taric tanky and helps him last long in fights, which Taric wants as someone who excels in long fights. Build this as soon as you can after your Mythic.

Zeke's Convergence: An effective combat tool, Zeke's proves that sometimes the best defense is a good offense. It is packaged with a solid set of defenses in its health and armor, ability haste, and importantly, mana. After binding to an ally with this item, they gain bonus damage on hit to any enemies you immobilize (i.e. land Dazzle on) for 8 seconds. For all the aforementioned reasons, it is an easy choice making Zeke's your first Legendary item after completing your Mythic.

Healing Options

Ardent Censer: This item caters to all your enchanter needs. Its passive buff, which grants attack speed and magic damage on-hit to those you heal, has great synergy with Starlight's Touch since you can constantly apply it to multiple teammates. Its other stats, including ability power and bonus healing and shielding power, also strengthen your spellcasting. Prioritize this item if you have autoattack-heavy carries on your team who can make great use of the buff.

Redemption: With its strong active, this item is a great pickup which strengthens your teamfight power and gives you greater map presence. To get the most out of it, cast it mid-battle when your allies are grouped up and their health is starting to drop. It combos well with Cosmic Radiance because then your allies will come out of invulnerability with a health advantage. Alternatively, it can be used to heal up right before sieging or to snipe low-health enemies.

Mikael's Blessing: Be an ally's saving grace and a healing and shielding machine. By using Mikael's active, you can cleanse an ally and give them an instant heal when they might need it most. It also works on yourself, but details, details. Protecting is where it's at with this item. Pick this item up when there are deadly CC effects on the enemy team that one of your carries might need saving from. This item is also generally useful for its high healing and shielding power boost of 20% and its other stats.

Staff of Flowing Water: This item is the Ardent Censer for your AP carries. No, really. The two have the exact same stats and price tag. The difference lies in the passive. Where Ardent gives damage on hit and attack speed, the Staff of Flowing Water gives bonus movement speed and ability power to you and your allies when you affect them with a heal or shield. Get this item in situations where you want an offense boost and have AP carries who would benefit from this item's passive.

Survivability Options

Frozen Heart: With some of the most armor and mana you can get on a single tank item, this item is a great fit for many of Taric's builds, particularly against full AD teams. If building Fimbulwinter, the mana feeds into the item and converts partially into bonus health. This item's passives reduces the attack speed of enemies in an area rather than just those who hit you, which makes it a must against multiple heavy autoattackers, and it also reduces the damage you take in general based on your health. The ability haste and mana are the cherry on top.

Knight's Vow: This item turns you and an ally of choice into a formidable duo. Once the bond is active, 15% of the damage your Partner takes is redirected to you. You should always crown your strongest but frailest carry (this doesn't have to be the ADC) since they are most worth protecting. After buying this item, reconsider who to keep Bastion on. If your carry needs all the protection they can get, keep both it and Vow on them. Otherwise, you should place Bastion on your frontliner to strengthen their engages while Vow helps your Partner on its own.

Randuin's Omen: This item helps you survive against AD threats, especially melee ones, due to its crit damage reduction, health, and armor. Its active slow is a heavy one that can be used to peel for allies who get engaged on.

Thornmail: Grievous Wounds and a damage reflection passive have always been the hallmarks of Thornmail. This defensive item helps you weaken and deal with enemies with a lot of lifesteal. Even one Grievous Wounds item can save a lifetime of trouble for your team. The damage reflection is great as well for taking down those enemies who just don't like to go down.

Spirit Visage: Plenty of magic resist and health, alongside a survivability-boosting passive, make this item a solid pick up against mages. Its passive increases the effectiveness of both heals and shields that come your way, including your own.

Vision

Control Wards: Vision denial is just as important as vision itself. Apart from offering sight, these wards last indefinitely and disable nearby enemy wards. Always try to have one on the map and at least one in your inventory. Place them in areas of high activity, preferably well-hidden, to get the most information out of them and deny enemies from doing the same. These wards can also reveal hostile camouflaged units such as Evelynn and Rengar, so if you're against sneaky champions like them, it's imperative to have these up for protection.

Oracle Alteration: Swap Stealth Ward for this once you upgrade your support item and it gains the Sightstone active. This trinket reveals and disables wards in an area around you, allowing you and your team to gain vision control and roam undetected.

Stirring Wardstone: This item ups your vision game and is good for capping off a full build. Able to store up to 3 control wards, you can now do both the task of maintaining vision control while also using your last item slot for an actual stat-giving item. At level 13 you can upgrade this item into a Watchful Wardstone which gives 25 ability haste and lets you place an extra stealth ward (from 3 to 4) and control ward (from 1 to 2) on the map. The final upgrade, Vigilant Wardstone, unlocks after placing 20 stealth wards. It keeps the previous benefits but ups the ability haste to 40 and gives you more movement speed which lets you dominate vision on the map even more. If you don't need extra healing or tankiness from other items, opt for the Wardstone as your final item to build.

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ABILITY ROTATION | ABILITY SEQUENCE

Taric infuses his next two basic attacks whenever he casts an ability. He doubles his attack speed for these two attacks, which deal 25 - 93 (based on level) (+15% bonus armor) bonus magic damage and reduce his base spells' cooldowns by 1 - 0.6 seconds and grant one charge of Starlight's Touch.

Attack speed, damage, and cooldown reduction, oh my! Packed with all of that, this passive is what makes Taric the king of melee fights. Because you can activate it frequently, you can lay down a lot of hurt while keeping you and your allies alive in extended trades.

One of Bravado's most important aspects is its cooldown reduction from each empowered swing. When fighting, always try to weave in two autoattacks between each ability cast so that your cooldowns constantly reset. By doing this, you can easily get several more heals, shields, and stuns out during a trade than usual.

After each ability cast, you gain doubled attack speed and bonus damage on your next two attacks. Through this, you can maintain a high DPS that is enough to even outduel most ADCs in the early game. This passive's damage scales off of your bonus armor, so getting tankier also lets you hit harder.

But that's not all: this passive lets you perform autoattack resets. If you autoattack, then use an ability as soon as the damage goes through, you cut your current attack animation short and the next attack will come more quickly. This is useful for maximizing your damage output as well as rapidly destroying wards.

Cost: 60 mana Recharge Time: 15 seconds PASSIVE: Taric stores a charge of Starlight's Touch periodically, up to a maximum of 1/2/3/4/5 at once. Starlight's Touch cannot be cast without charges. ACTIVE: Taric heals himself and all nearby allied champions for 30 (+15% AP)(+1% max HP) per charge stored at the time of cast, up to a maximum of 150 (+75% AP)(+5% max HP) at 5 charges.

With each rank of this spell, the heal increases substantially, so with even a couple points into it in the early game, you can keep you and your lane partner healthy.* Because of its max HP ratio, the heal will grow with you as you both level up and buy more items. The mana cost is the same regardless of how many charges you use it at, so it's best to cast it when it's fully charged to save time and resources.

With each empowered autoattack from Bravado, you gain one full heal charge, so this ability practically has no cooldown within a fight as long as you're landing hits. As such, it can easily be spammed for insane amounts of AOE healing. Doing this will quickly drain your mana, though, so be sure to invest in mana or mana regen items as the game goes on.

Range: 800  Cost: 60 mana  Cooldown: 15 seconds PASSIVE: Taric and his Bastion-marked champion gain bonus armor based on 10/11/12/13/14% of Taric's armor. ACTIVE: Taric shields himself and the target allied champion for 2.5 seconds for 8/9/10/11/12% of the target's maximum health, blessing them with Bastion and causing his abilities to be replicated on them while both are near each other. The effects do not stack.

Bastion is the ability that makes Taric so unique. Buckle up — it's about to get weird.

Its active is a shield that acts on both you and a target ally, scaling off of maximum health. It's useful in all kinds of situations including blocking damage, baiting enemies, and even saving lives.

The first passive gives you and your Bastion-marked partner an armor buff that scales based on your own maximum armor. This is especially useful when put on squishy teammates who are prone to being bursted. (Sorry, assassins.)

The second passive is its linking component. When you use Bastion on an ally, they become linked to you and continue to be as long as you are nearby. When this happens, your abilities are replicated on them. This opens up a whole new realm of possibilities for how you use your other abilities:

• Starlight's Touch will also heal around your linked partner, allowing you to heal at range and affect more people.
  
  
• Dazzle will fire off of your linked partner towards the cursor. The extra stun area gives you greater engage potential and a better chance to land it. In some cases, you can stun your opponent from unexpected angles.
  
  
• Cosmic Radiance will create a completely separate invulnerability field around your linked partner, opening up the potential for a team-wide ultimate.

Although there's a lot to it, this ability isn't as complicated as it looks. Just remember: using Bastion on an ally gives them armor, a shield, and ability replication.

Range: 575  Cost: 40 mana Cooldown: 15/14/13/12/11 seconds Taric projects a beam of starlight towards the target location, erupting after a 1-second delay, dealing 90/130/170/210/250 (+50% AP) (+50% bonus armor) magic damage to all enemies hit and stunning them for 1.25 seconds.

With a wave of the hand, this ability leaves your opponents stunned. Used as a means to engage, deal damage, and peel for your carries all the same, Dazzle is the key to successful combat. It holds great power in that it can simultaneously hit multiple enemies and be used while moving. When paired with Flash, you have dangerous catching potential.

Landing this ability is crucial since it is your only form of CC. However, considering the 1-second delay, doing so must be a conscious effort. Ask yourself these questions before casting it:


Where can the enemy run? The simplest way to evade Dazzle is to sidestep it, so you should predict and mimic your enemy's movements. If you notice that your enemy often moves down to dodge, move down with them as you charge. If a wall is on their left, follow them as they inevitably move right. If your enemy doesn't sidestep, you're either in Bronze V or against Faker himself. Bless your soul.

Does the enemy have an escape? If so, you can count on them using it to dodge Dazzle. You'll need to wait for your enemy to use their mobility spells before attempting to stun them.

Will the enemy expect the stun? Dazzle and the element of surprise are the perfect duo. Chain the ability with Flash as it charges for a nigh-guaranteed stun, or use it on an unsuspecting foe from within a bush.

Who should I prioritize? When possible, save Dazzle to quell your most lethal enemies. Using it to slow down the enemy tank? Pathetic, says the enemy Twitch as he instantly materializes behind your team. Wait, wasn't he across the map just a second ago? But your thoughts are cut short as your screen goes gray. Bloodshed. Tears. Shish-kebabs. Avoid such a terrible fate by having patience and proper target selection.


When used in tandem with Bastion, you can get pretty creative with how you fire the stun. Tag along with a partner and use their position to land it from up close, from a distance, criss-crossed, or any which way in between. You can even do cool stuff like this!









With this stellar little spell, you become the ultimate protector. There is so much power in invulnerability that being able to use it — and even more importantly, being able to give it to multiple people — is a huge responsibility. Seconds in this game can be ages when everything is hectic, and having even a little extra breathing room can be a game changer.

Its interaction with Bastion is necessary to getting the most use out of it. Having a linked ally nearby will create two invulnerability fields, one around each person, meaning you have the possibility to affect your whole team with it. Also, if you die as it's falling, your circle will disappear but your Bastion-buddy's circle will persist, so using it on your last breath is by no means a waste.

There's a lot to consider with an ability like this — so much, in fact, that the next chapter will dive deeper into the whys, hows, and whens of using it.







This repeating combo is the most efficient way to reset your ability cooldowns. With it, a rank five Dazzle, which usually has a 13 second cooldown, can be up as little as every five seconds! Practice following this sequence and you will see a significant improvement in how much utility and damage you can bring to a fight.





LEVELS 1 - 5

Level 1: Take Dazzle. It is useful right off the bat for defending yourself if necessary or catching out a mispositioned enemy for some easy damage.

Level 2: Take Bastion. The shield lets you protect against a decent amount of damage, while binding to your partner makes your stun twice as dangerous and opens the door for engages.

Level 3: Take Starlight's Touch, completing your set of basic abilities. At rank one it does not offer much sustain, but it can be spammed to continuously activate Bravado.

Level 4: Put a second point into Starlight's Touch. This is big. Being able to store two heal charges allows you to fully utilize both of Bravado's on-hit resets. Essentially, it doubles your healing potential for only a little extra mana.

Level 5: Put a second point into Dazzle for even better fighting power.


LEVELS 6 +

Put points into Cosmic Radiance whenever possible — levels 6, 11, and 16.

Max E > Q > W from here on, but with a couple nuances.

You're going to want to max Dazzle first. With each rank, the ability's mana cost stays the same yet it gets a shorter cooldown and more damage. By level 9 it will be maxed and you'll easily be able to fire multiple stuns in a fight. The damage is nothing to ignore either. A maxed stun has very high base damage and can put a significant dent in squishy enemies.

The next step is to get Starlight's Touch to FOUR points. You can achieve this by level 12. This is effective because of the way it rests with Bravado. In a normal ability rotation, your heal is often spaced out by at least one or two abilities: e.g. stun (hit, hit) heal (hit, hit) shield (hit, hit) heal. See that? In between those two heals you will get exactly four empowered hits off. By getting Starlight's Touch to four points and keeping it there, you get all the healing potential you need and no further. Leveling it further does not increase the mana cost after the ability's most recent buff, which gives you the freedom to use it as often as you want, but efficient casts of 2 or 4 charges is best. As such, only put that last point into it at level 18. A four-point heal is very potent, and you will notice the increase in your healing easily once you level it up, especially if you build bonus healing and shielding power.

Max Bastion last. Start putting more points into it at level 13, once you've already put four points into your heal. At one point, Bastion already provides a lot of utility, and leveling it up offers only small benefits. The bonus armor only goes up slightly (especially after its nerf in Patch 10.10 which changed the bonus armor scaling from 10-20% to 10-14%). The shield only receives a slight increase as well. It's better to focus on your heal as your main survivability tool.



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The massive power of Cosmic Radiance should be used with deliberation. By identifying good opportunities to bring it out, you can make a huge difference when it matters most.

Essentially, your ultimate is your Get Out of Jail Free card. Tower diving? Use it to come out unfazed. Got engaged on? Turn that into an opportunity. Teammate on the brink of death? Lend them a few extra seconds of safety. With the right reflexes, predictions, and a bit of luck, you can cast the perfect ultimate that will fortify your friends and frustrate your foes.

Getting trigger happy with this ultimate is a common mistake, and with its long cooldown, it shouldn't be put to waste. As long as you're patient, the openings will present themselves to you. Don't panic. If your Singed is making his twentieth lap around the enemy team and gets into a bit of trouble, there is no need to worry. He'll walk out alive, if only a little scathed, as is the case with most tanks. Save your ultimate until you know your allies are in real danger to avoid baiting yourself.

The same case applies to teammates with lots of mobility. A LeBlanc, for instance, won't be needing your saving due to all the dashes and blinks she has at hand. Generally, as long as your ally-at-risk still has an escape available, you can have some faith that they'll get themselves out of their own pickles.

Recognize when a fight can be won without your ultimate. If your team has enough of an advantage to overcome your opponents, you may not even need to use Cosmic Radiance. Examples include ambushing enemies or being ahead in items and levels.

Casting your ultimate too late comes with risks of its own. Once someone's health bar drops to zero, your chance at saving them goes down the drain. (Unless they're reviving — but I'm getting ahead of myself.) Being vigilant is they key to preventing this. Show up to fights on time. If the other team looks like they're ready to pounce but you're busy wandering the map, they will likely capitalize on it by picking a fight with the rest of your team. Group up! Taric is a team captain who thrives through empowering his allies. If you show up late to the party, whoever you need to protect may already by long gone.

Respect enemy damage output. If you know that an opponent is capable of killing quickly, don't try to hold on to your ultimate until the last second. Maybe that enemy Zed isn't fed, but if you ignore him, you can bet he'll make short work of your allies anyways. Stay safe; a proactive ultimate is much better than one that can fail and cost you the fight.




Block entire abilities, empower your whole team, and pave the way towards victory. A well-timed ultimate has the power render your foes completely helpless, and if you can do so consistently, you'll practically be carrying the game on your back.

Seize opportunities when you see them. When you notice an escalating conflict, be on guard so that you're able to react when things start to get hectic. In turn, you will likely be able to block the brunt of the enemies' damage as it comes out. Like Intervention, this ultimate can be used to save teammates who are near death as long as you have good reaction time.

If you fall victim to a hard engage, do not hesitate to use it. You already know what's going to happen when someone like Amumu decides to jump into the middle of your team, so anticipate their arrival and be ready to smash that R button at a moment's notice.

Start off fights strong. If you have a team that specializes in going all-in, by all means give them your support. Using Cosmic Radiance on your frontline as soon as they engage will allow them to shrug off damage and stay in the fight for as long as possible.

For the audacious, this ultimate is also great for tower diving. Bind yourself to whoever is going to take tower aggro (if that's you, bind to your lowest-HP ally), then cast it as soon as the dive begins. Make sure everybody is on board with the plan first, though. Otherwise you'll have a very lonely, very deadly experience.

"Surge ex doloribus, cüm spe in corde! Rise out of sorrow, with hope in your heart!" * Cosmic Radiance has numerous interactions with revives and invincibility. Depending on the situation, it can complement those of your allies or counter your foes'. Revival and stasis, through means such as Guardian Angel and Zhonya's Hourglass, are double-edged swords. Their lifesaving abilities come at the cost of suspended movement, which can potentially turn their user into an easy target. That's where you come in. As soon as your ally returns to the waking world, your ultimate can protect them so that they can escape to safety or readjust to fight once more. Similarly, Cosmic Radiance can combo with other invincibility spells. If it activates just before a state of imperviousness such as Lamb's Respite ends, everyone affected will gain yet another period of invincibility following it. Having your allies stay unkillable for so long is a huge boon that may very likely win the fight. If your ally is untargetable, Cosmic Radiance will, in most cases, still activate on them as long as they were bound to you by Bastion beforehand. If they weren't, time your ultimate to land right after they're targetable again lest they may not gain its benefits.

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Just about your whole playstyle revolves around empowering your allies. Likewise, your best work is often done with those who prosper in the middle of the action.

A Kalista with a Taric by her side is a force to be reckoned with. With you as her Oathsworn partner, Kalista's ultimate Fate's Call becomes especially lethal because after knocking enemies up you can follow up immediately with Dazzle. The two of you are hard to kill as well since either of your ultimates can be used to save one another in a pinch. Together, the two of you are strong brawlers throughout the game. In lane, Rend's slow lets you land stuns easier; conversely, landing stuns lets Kalista pile up Rend stacks on enemies before skewering them for large bursts of damage. Synergy is built into both of your kits. With Taric as the Oathsworn partner and Kalista as the Bastion buddy, the two of you receive great power when near each other. Enemies who want to fight either of you will be caught in a double bind. If you want to invest in Kalista even more, build items which add additional bindings between you two, specifically Knight's Vow and Zeke's Convergence. In doing so the two of you will become one of the most durable and deadly duos on the rift.

Lucian's high mobility and burst are well-complemented by your kit. This pairing becomes especially deadly after he unlocks Relentless Pursuit which lets him make more aggressive plays in conjunction with your stun. Lucian's passive, Lightslinger, and your own passive, Bravado, function similarly — each provide quick, enhanced autoattacks after using an ability, enabling you two to devastate enemies in short periods of time.

When Tristana goes in, she goes in hard. After making an explosive entrance with Rocket Jump, a well-timed Dazzle will help her unload heaps of damage onto her enemies, all while getting out safely due to your protection. Look for frequent trades in the early game to prove just how much you two can hurt.

Four shot kill dude   Hits hard with ease.       Stun lets Jhin root.           Dead foes; easy game.

Usually, the best defense against Taric is simply running away. However, with constant slows from Ashe's passive, you will have an easier time landing stuns and be able to keep up with enemies to pummel them with Bravado-enhanced autoattacks. Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow is a quick and easy engage which you can capitalize on in the exact same way.

Draven's home is the heat of battle. Blood Rush gets him into fighting range once you engage, and from there he can be as aggressive as he pleases. All-ins are where you two thrive; through good usage of Bravado you offer frequent sustain that can keep him alive through even the toughest of brawls, and your stun lets him both land free hits and catch fleeing enemies.

Ezreal has great synergy with you. (Maybe even chemistry.) As he pokes with Mystic Shots from afar, you can keep his health topped off with Starlight's Touch. He can also take a more active stance and look for opportunities to jump onto enemies with Arcane Shift so that you can Dazzle them.

Super TanksThe only thing worse than a tank that's hard to kill is a tank that's impossible to kill. Taric is the perfect addition to any team that wants a strong frontline because of Bastion which, with its shield and bonus armor, makes the bulky even bulkier.

Strong EngagersChampions that can easily jump into the fray make your job much easier. As soon as they use a gapcloser, you can fire an easy Dazzle from their position, giving your team a better opportunity to follow up and leaving your enemies helpless.

Hyper CarriesThese types of champions were made to be huge risk takers — something you can turn into an advantage. With Cosmic Radiance, they can survive encounters for long periods of time, consequently dishing out loads of damage in the process.

Stealth AssassinsA stun out of thin air is as hard to predict as it is to dodge. By binding to an allied stealth user with Bastion (while nobody is looking, of course), you can make their initiation even stronger by letting them Dazzle whatever unsuspecting target they please.

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blitzcrank Rocket Grab works in your favor as a free engage. If you get pulled, your natural tankiness will keep you alive, and since the gap has been generously closed, you can walk up to the enemy ADC for a free stun. On the other hand, if your ADC gets pulled, Bastion will protect them and you can send out a Dazzle from their position. The only thing to be wary of is his strong roaming potential. If he's missing from bot lane for too long, let your teammates know so they can be prepared if he shows up in their lane.

braum Braum is a worthy opponent when it comes to manliness (have you seen that 'stache?), but in lane, you come out on top. His main form of poke, Winter's Bite, won't do much to you if you time your shield correctly. While you shouldn't underestimate the stun from his passive, Concussive Blows, if he gets close to you to activate it, go on the offense. Your melee strength is far greater than his because of Bravado, and if you can get enough hits of it off, you can stun multiple times during a single fight. Since Dazzle is a laser and not a projectile, it is not blocked by Unbreakable. Use this to your advantage if he attempt to intercept it.

leona Leona is all about hard engages. Fortunately, you're built to counter exactly that. If she dashes towards your ADC with Zenith Blade, use Bastion then walk up to the enemy ADC, which will fire Dazzles at both of them. Post-6, be wary of Solar Flare since its long range and quick activation make it hard to predict. React quickly with your own ultimate.

nautilus Although Nautilus has loads of CC (four forms of it, in fact), he lacks threatening damage, so if you can peel him away, you're good to go. If someone gets locked down by him, a simple stun will often be enough to keep him at bay, and if need be, use Cosmic Radiance to protect your allies from any follow-up. Nautilus has to get into melee range to fight, often initiating with Dredge Line, which is where your advantage lies. Being able to land hits and continuously activate Bravado makes your offensive power threatening, and your ADC will be hard to kill due to your constant healing and shielding. Fight back, win trades.

Sion Sion may look menacing, but his attacks are so telegraphed that getting hit is not an issue. Watch his attack patterns and either dodge his spells or time Bastion to defend yourself accordingly. Because Sion is an AD support, you have an innate advantage against him because of all your bonus armor. Naturally, you will outtank him in 2v2 fights provided you have enough mana. When he comes back with a vengeance through Glory in Death, shoot him with a Dazzle and exploit his biggest weakness — walking away slowly. When he engages on your team with Unstoppable Onslaught, you know what to do. Smash that R button a couple seconds before he crashes into you and the engage will be next to useless.

rakan While it's difficult to catch a Rakan, out-sustaining him is fairly easy. Gleaming Quill's heal is outclassed by a your own, and its damage is negligible in the early levels. His hit-and-run tactics, they won't be too effective since you have Bastion for protection. If you ever want to engage, go for his ADC and not him. You may get lucky and he'll dash to his ADC to help them, getting caught in Dazzle as well. When a teamfight is approaching, he'll often be the one engaging, and very dangerously so. A good Rakan can appear from a screen away in less than a second with a combination of Battle Dance, Flash, and Grand Entrance, setting up an instant charm and knockup in an area. As such, keep an eye on his position and stand a bit away from your team when you're grouped up. Then, if your allies get caught by him, you will still be standing for long enough to get Cosmic Radiance falling.

zilean Negating the damage from Time Bomb is easy. It has a significant delay before detonating which gives you plenty of time to shield with Bastion. Considering this is his only damage-dealing ability, you should expect to stay healthy throughout laning phase. Just try not to get stunned if he throws out a second bomb. Trying to engage on him is difficult. With Time Warp he can greatly speed an ally up or slow an enemy down at the click of a button, and it only gets harder past level 6 with Chronoshift which can make your all-ins worthless. See if you can get an early gank on him before he can utilize these powers too much.

alistar Alistar is less of a danger to you than he is an annoyance. While his engages are strong with a Pulverize and Headbutt combo, you're tanky enough to withstand it and can fire back with a stun on him and his ADC. The thing is, if he uses those spells defensively, there's not much you can do; walking up for a stun means getting knocked back, which makes forcing trades not much of an option. You have better heals than him, but since Triumphant Roar is free, he will slowly creep up an advantage if you ever run OOM. Although he can reduce the damage he takes with Unbreakable Will and thus have stronger initiations, you can keep on fighting and belittle him with stuns and your ultimate.

bard Bard can make short work of your health with his Meeps, so avoid getting in his autoattack range when you can. In order to avoid the stun from Cosmic Binding, don't position yourself adjacent to your ADC — that will get you both stunned — but instead on the other side of the lane. If Bard uses Tempered Fate as an engage tool, you can cast Cosmic Radiance right before it lands to get a second wind of invincibility immediately after the gilding, making the engage useless. Respect Bard's roaming potential. With Traveler's Call and Magical Journey, he can traverse the map quickly and through unexpected routes, so ward often and warn your other lanes if he's missing for too long.

brand Expect Brand to deal lots of damage, and try to block as much of it as you can. His most-used form of harass is Pillar of Flame; while it is briefly telegraphed, the main way you can expect and avoid it is if he starts walking up to you further than usual. A good opportunity to engage is after he's used one or more of his major spells, especially if he misses his stun, Sear. His spells have relatively short cooldowns, so you have to act quickly. If he casts Pyroclasm, move away from your ADC or else it will repeatedly bounce between you two. A well-timed Cosmic Radiance can negate some of its damage and the Blaze explosion that will likely follow.

karma Karma is well-equipped for both utility and damage. Inner Flame hits in an area, so don't stand too close to minions or you may get hit indirectly. During laning phase, she will often empower it with Mantra to poke even harder, so as soon as you hear her chanting, prepare to use Bastion. Don't worry if she tries to land a root with Focused Resolve. Your stun can suspend her long enough for her target to move away and break the tether.

malzahar Voidlings hurt. A lot. As a melee support, they can easily swarm you and deal insane damage. Don't try to all-in him at medium to low health. Void Shift prevents you front confronting Malzahar directly. If you try to use Dazzle on him while he has it up, it will be negated, and you will likely be in range for him to cast his spells on you. However, if you have an ADC with long-range spells or autoattacks, they can take the shield down for you and render him vulnerable to an engage. Also, as long as it's down, you can interrupt Nether Grasp by stunning him.

morgana Black Shield, Dazzle's premier counter, makes for a very rough laning phase. It negates both the stun and the damage, and its cooldown isn't too shabby. Don't attempt to engage while it's up. Take the blow if she tosses a Dark Binding at your ADC. With a well-timed Bastion, you can mitigate the majority of its damage. A follow-up Tormented Shadow is easily healed up by Starlight's Touch. Because Soul Shackles takes 2.5 seconds before its stun activates, you can turn the tables on her with Cosmic Radiance. Using it quickly enough ensures that you and your allies will be protected during her CC.

Pyke Facing a Pyke can be very tricky. Stay on your toes and don't pick fights if you don't have to — just keep your carry alive and punish him if he gets overly aggressive. Landing a stun on him is unlikely unless he's used both Ghostwater Dive and Phantom Undertow, both easy escape tools in his arsenal. However, the perk in this matchup is that you're hard to kill. Since he is an AD support, you have an innate advantage against him with all of your bonus armor. Also, your shields weaken his surprise attacks in lane or assassination attempts outside of that. Pyke's main strength in this matchup is his catching potential. Bone Skewer is a versatile spell with long range and deadly CC. Getting hooked places a heavy slow on the person hit, so if you get hit, it's easier to walk away and defend yourself rather than attempt to counterattack his ADC. A well-timed Cosmic Radiance can be instrumental in stopping Pyke from going on a killing spree. If you can make an ally invulnerable before they fall below Death from Below's execute threshold (or, even more clutch, right before Pyke lands the ability), your target lives and Pyke won't get the reset. After that happens, he'll be a fish out of water.

sona Sona's main threat against you is her high damage. Hymn of Valor, especially when empowered by Power Chord, is dangerous yet predictable, so when she approaches, block as much of it as you can with your shield. Although Sona has sustain through Aria of Perseverance, your own heal has similar strength. Be sure to wait for it to charge up to get the most out of it and not waste too much mana keeping up with her. Follow up on her Crescendo with Cosmic Radiance to turn fights around. If you're quick enough, you can even precede her ult with it.

thresh Beware Thresh's initiations. With Death Sentence, he has frequent pick potential and an easy way to start fights from range. However, if he misses it, the rest of his kit is not as punishing, so it's a perfect opportunity to engage. On another note, Dark Passage makes lane ganks against you quite easy, so always ward to know the enemy jungler's position and play cautiously if they're nearby. Hitting level 2 before him is essential. Once Thresh has both Death Sentence and Flay at hand, he can force you into an early trade that you probably won't win. Push the second wave with Dazzle so that you can quickly level up and get another ability at your disposal for security. Aggressive Thresh players will often look for opportunities to roam, and with all the CC at his disposal, he poses a threat to your other laners. This is especially true if he picks up Mobility Boots early on. If he's out of lane for even a short amount of time, send out a warning.

janna With Eye of the Storm and Howling Gale, Janna and her ADC can play it safe during laning phase. The former's cooldown is relatively low and the shield value is high, so if you want to deal any meaningful damage, you'll need to play around it. The only way you're getting a kill in a lane against her is if you get a gank or if your ADC has a very strong early game. Janna's poke with Zephyr, autoattacks, and Summon Aery hurt badly. Stay out of her attack range unless absolutely necessary. She's fast and she has peel, so attempting to retaliate will be for naught. Use Bastion and Starlight's Touch to mitigate her damage. Post-6, Janna offers a tremendous amount of peel for her team with Monsoon. If she has it up, don't use Cosmic Radiance to bolster your initiators since at the tap of a button she can render their engage useless. Instead, stick to using it defensively.

lulu Lulu does more than just destroy you: she demoralizes you. Shields, speed, poke, damage, survivability, slows, and more are all at her disposal, and since you're melee while she's ranged, she can do it all without consequence. Through Pix, Faerie Companion, her autoattacks sting a lot, and she can extend this buff to her ADC through Help, Pix!. If that wasn't enough, Glitterlance will both slow you down and deal heavy damage, and getting hit by it is easy due to its short cooldown and long range. If you try to engage, Whimsy is all that she needs to prevent that by either zipping one of her allies away or turning her attacker into a harmless critter. Post-6, trying to get a kill is even more difficult because of Wild Growth, which not only gives one of her allies an instant burst of health, but also knocks anybody near them up. The safest way to carry out the lane is to stay away from her, let your ADC farm, and wait until the midgame to be relevant.

nami Nami has range, lots of CC, sustain, and poke, making her one of your most annoying and dangerous counters by far. A good Nami will whittle you down and buff her ADC's attacks to hit you with big damage while not allowing you anywhere near her. Watch out for how effectively she can trade with you. Empowering her or her ADC's autoattacks with Tidecaller's Blessing and landing a deadly Aqua Prison can easily spell an early recall or even death for you. Don't walk up to her if you don't have to. Ebb and Flow kills two birds with one stone by healing and dealing damage, and consequently, it is her main way of maintaining an advantage in lane. Fortunately, it costs a lot of mana to use, so she can't spam it without running OOM. Her ultimate, Tidal Wave, is a dangerous engage tool, especially since you lack the mobility to dodge it. It packs a heavy slow as well as a knock up, so prepare for it with Cosmic Radiance if you're in a tough spot.

soraka When you think "healer," you probably think Soraka, and it's easy to see why. Astral Infusion and Wish offer potent, frequent heals that have the potential to mend any wound her allies take. Make targeting Soraka your priority. If she is allowed to live, everyone on her team will live as well due to her sustain. Astral Infusion's cooldown can get to as low as 1 second with enough levels and ability haste — that's a lot of healing! If you're paired with a strong ADC in lane, engage on her when you see an opening. Even better, ask your jungler for an early gank since she has no mobility. In teamfights, stun her whenever you can so your team can take her down. Avoid getting hit by Starcall during laning phase by keeping your distance from her. It can deal quite a bit of damage, slow you, heal her, and temporarily empowers Astral Infusion. All on a 5 second cooldown.

tahm kench Because of the massive shield and health regeneration from Thick Skin, this catfish is tricky to kill. Going for one of his allies is also difficult since he can Devour them to safety at a moment's notice. Fighting him in melee range is dangerous. Given he can fully stack An Acquired Taste, he can Devour you to deal a large part of your max health and leave you in an unfavorable position. Post-6, Tahm has dangerous ambushes when he uses Devour, so play defensively and try not to get caught out.

vel'koz Vel'Koz outranges you by a lot. Many Plasma Fissions will be thrown out, so avoid as many of them as you can, especially since he can activate Organic Deconstruction by following up with more spells. Life Form Disintegration Ray does fearsome damage, and it is even more lethal against Researched targets. After level 6, if you see him engage by tossing out several spells, be ready to use Cosmic Radiance. The laser can be stopped by Dazzle as long as you react quickly enough.

yuumi Playing against Yuumi is a matter of patience. Laning phase is her domain entirely — she can poke you and your ADC down from almost a screen away, dodge the majority of your attacks, and keep up with you in terms of sustain. Fortunately, she's an easy kill when she's caught alone, and if you don't let her and her ADC snowball early, you don't have as much to worry about later on. Early game is poke, poke, and more poke. You'll basically be Neo in the Matrix, except instead of dodging bullet after bullet while looking cool, you'll likely hobble around for a tense and tedious ten minutes while you try to avoid all of Yuumi's Prowling Projectiles. The spell can be very tricky to avoid, especially since she can manually navigate it and it can hit from almost a screen away while she's attached to an ally. You'll want to be near minions whenever possible so you can hide around them. If it's bound to hit you or your ADC, cast Bastion to negate most of its damage. Trying to hit Yuumi while she has company is in vain. With You and Me!, she can dodge anything coming her way, including autoattacks and let alone your highly-telegraphed Dazzle. In the case that you get the opportunity to engage, aim for her ADC instead. Yuumi's early game sustain is on par with if not better than your own. The shields from Feline Friendship-empowered autos combined with her Zoomies heals keep her and her ally resilient against whatever damage you may toss at them. Keep up the pace with your own sustain from Starlight's Touch, being watchful of your own mana. Final Chapter is Yuumi's least threatening asset versus you. A telegrapehed AOE root? Use your telegraphed AOE invulnerability. By the time Yuumi's CC activates, your team will be protected and ready to counter engage.

zyra Walk up. Plant. Walk back. Plant. Sidestep. Plant. Zyra can infest the lane with seeds that spur into action whenever she wants, making it dangerous to come anywhere near her. The only way to prevent the plants from spawning is to step on and destroy their seeds, but if you do so and she's in range to cast a spell, you put yourself at risk of getting hit by both her and the newly spawned vine. One plant alone does noticeable damage, and several on you at the same time can take away a third of your health bar in seconds. Combined with the fact that she can stop you in your tracks with Grasping Roots and Stranglethorns, it's best to avoid confronting her. Instead, just sustain as much as you can.

caitlyn Caitlyn has the highest base range out of any ADC, and with it she will make it her job to bully you out of lane. Walk too close and get autoattacked, and if you try to approach her, she can launch herself away with a 90 Caliber Net. Avoid directly engaging unless she's out of position or you're receiving help. Prepare to get zoned by Yordle Snap Traps. Caitlyn can lay down several of them across a lane, making it hard for you to move freely. Stepping on one is bad news — you not only get stunned but also become susceptible to a Headshot from a very long range. A quick Bastion will negate much of its damage, though.

ezreal Ezreal becomes very difficult to catch with Arcane Shift. If he has it up, he can escape from most dangerous situations with ease, and on top of Flash, trying to catch him often proves fruitless. However, if he shifts towards you, you have a great opening to attack since he sacrificed a valuable method of escape.

kalista Kalista is way too jumpy to pin down. As long as she's able to hop with Martial Poise, it will be difficult landing a stun on her, so be wary; if you miss, she can then relentlessly chase you down and Rend you for heavy damage.

lucian Lucian is a great duelist who specializes in kiting. Don't use your stun on him unless he has already used Relentless Pursuit or else he will likely dodge it and turn the fight in his favor. However, he's bound to dash towards you eventually, and there lies your chance to catch him.

sivir Sivir's Spell Shield not only blocks your stun but also gives her mana if she does so. Its long cooldown means she cannot block it every single stun, though, so by taking advantage of its downtime, you can catch her when she cannot prevent your engage.

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This may be the last chapter, but if you've taken a peek at the scroll bar, you'll know that it's a hefty one. Get ready; it's time to put everything you know together and come out of this guide a Taric support master.

This chapter is separated into four distinct areas of gameplay, and its goal is to sharpen your proficiency in each. Below you can also watch a full gameplay video to see everything in action.







When the game first loads up, start to have a plan in mind. Your jungler may need your help to leash or invade, so you should align your interest with theirs for a smooth start. Whatever you end up doing, aim to reach the minion wave at bot lane by 1:50 so you don't miss any experience.

DEFEND & LEASH: Guard your bottom-side jungle against invades by positioning yourself near one of the jungle entrances. If you see enemies approaching, drop a ward, leave, and ping to alert your team. With the ambush avoided, either your enemies will withdraw and you proceed as normal, or they stay and your jungler moves onto another buff. If your jungler is starting their clear on bot side, leash for them once Red/Blue spawns at 1:30. Stun the monster as soon as it arrives, then together with your ADC, hit it until it reaches about 500 health and leave so your jungler can land the killing blow.

INVADE: Invading should be done swiftly and as a group effort. If your team has a strong level 1 catch/kill potential, you or your allies can make the suggestion at the start of the game. If everyone is on board, head straight to the enemy's bottom-side jungle as a pack. Be ready to use Dazzle on any unsuspecting enemy you see to give them little chance of escape.

If you manage to get a kill or force out a summoner spell, consider the invade a success. Afterwards, take the same next step as your jungler, either staying to help them take the buff or leaving and recalling. The experience granted from an early kill, while small, will get you to level 2 faster in lane, so if you plan to play aggressively, use that spike to your advantage.

CHEESE: In the event that your jungler is neither invading nor needs you to leash for them, you can use some of your free time to set up a cheese: a strategy meant to catch your opponents off guard. Defend your jungle like normal until about 1:20, then make your way to the enemy's bot lane jungle entrance. (By then, the ADC and support should have left to leash, so they'll never see it coming). Wait in the bush until around 1:50 and have Dazzle ready for if any of them come near. One more step, it's a trap, then they're dead. Depending on how much damage your ADC can follow up with, you will likely get them very low, blow one of their summoner spells, or even get a kill. Afterwards, head to your side of the lane. It's time for the real game to begin.







Farming is the most reliable source of income in the game. As a support, your lane partner should be the one last-hitting the majority of the minions so they can afford their expensive items. You, on the other hand, aren't as reliant on money, so you'll be fine as long as you use Relic Shield's passive efficiently to share just a few of those minions.

Relic Shield and its upgrades generates a charge every 35 seconds, so you can use it twice per three waves. Always save a charge for every third wave so you can execute the cannon minion which comes with it. Try not to sit on max charges for too long — that's some free gold put to waste.

Execute melee minions over caster minions when possible. Not only do they offer more gold than the latter, but since you don't have to walk up very far to reach them, you'll be in less danger of getting attacked by your enemies.

If the enemy pushes you under your tower in the early game, you can help your ADC farm by getting the minions just under kill range so your ADC can clean up. Melee minions take two tower shots and one autoattack to kill; if they're at an uneven amount of health, get them to either 50% (it can be killed after taking one tower shot) or 10% (it can be killed right away). Leave the full-health melee minions alone. Caster minions take one tower shot and two autoattacks to kill; if they're at full health, hit them just once then let them take a tower shot. Otherwise attack them until they're one hit away. If you're not used to doing this, it's best to let your ADC handle it themselves to avoid any mix-ups. Regardless, once your ADC buys a damage item, they won't need the help anymore.




Lane management is an important skill to have. While it's fine to do nothing but last hit and keep the lane even, there are situations where it's more advantageous to speed up or slow down your push.

Pushing the wave is easy to do with Relic Shield and Dazzle. Doing so gives you more map control and lane pressure, especially in favorable matchups where your enemies can't punish you for it. It should always be done right before you recall to reduce the chance of your enemies pushing towards and destroying your turret. Pros and cons include:

+ Lets you get more damage on turrets + Gives you more room to deep ward and roam + Hinders enemies who don't farm well under their turret − Forces you to extend, leaving you vulnerable to ganks − Lessens your opportunities to all-in or receive ganks

To freeze a lane is to keep it stagnant while right outside, but not under, your turret. (If the turret gets to hit the enemy minions, it resets the lane and ends the freeze.) To perform it, let the enemy minions pile up and push towards you, then interrupt them at the spot you want them to stay. Once your own minions arrive, they will stay in that position. From then on, only last hit and repeat. Pros and cons include:

+ Forces enemies to walk up closer to farm, allowing you to zone them under threat of an engage + Makes enemies more susceptible to ganks + Closer to the safety of your tower − Does not work against fast pushers or aggressive enemies − Can be difficult to set up

The position of both your friends and foes is important to keep in mind. Being aware of it lets you know when it's safe to play aggressively and when to step back.

If you spot the enemy jungler nearby or the enemy mid laner is missing, play it safe by standing closer to your turret. After it's clear that they're no longer around, you're good to go.

If you're planning to receive a gank, make it easier to do by letting your enemies push far enough from their tower, which in turn gives them less of an opportunity to run when the time comes.

If there's no outside interference, play as you see fit. In a favorable matchup, you should position yourself aggressively by standing next to or in front of your minion wave and looking to engage. In a difficult matchup, your best bet is to stay behind your minions for safety and just focus on farming.







Level 1: Play it safe for now since you don't have enough tools for a proper fight. However, if you get the chance, use Dazzle to capitalize on your enemies' mispositioning. An aggressor who walks too close to you won't be so carefree after losing half their health to a stun, a couple autoattacks, and minions.

Level 2: Armed with Bastion, you unlock much more of your potential. Your stun is now twice as dangerous and your shield allows you to engage without risk of taking too much damage, which makes this a prime time to turn to the offense. Alternatively, you can play passively and mainly use the shield to absorb poke.

Levels 3-5: Starlight's Touch will keep you and your lane partner alive and well throughout laning phase. Also, now that you have all of your basic abilities, you are able to use Bravado to its full extent, so as long as you have sufficient mana, you will prosper in long fights. Level 4 is a significant power spike in this range since it is when you get your second point in Starlight's Touch which immediately doubles your healing output. This alone can make nearly any melee fight go in your favor.

Level 6+: Your most powerful ability, Cosmic Radiance, is now at hand. Cast it to come out on top during a close fight, to safely escape a gank, or to tower dive if your allies are willing.




Getting to level 2 takes the first wave plus three melee minions. It has the potential to create a large gap in power, so if you're in a strong pairing and want to take advantage of it or want to prevent your enemies from doing the same, push the second wave to level up quicker.

Mana management is very important for Taric since he relies on his spells so much. To get the most out of your abilities, only use Starlight's Touch at more than one charge when you want to heal, and don't cast Bastion for every little thing if you don't need to. Past level 6, always try to retain at least 100 mana to cast Cosmic Radiance if needed. Holding onto Dazzle is often more threatening than actually using it. Enemies will try to dodge it whenever they can, but if you force them into a tight spot or wait until they've used their mobility, they'll be helpless against you. Conversely, if you cast it for no reason and miss, you leave yourself vulnerable. Minion aggro is no laughing matter, especially in the early game. Autoattacking an enemy champion when surrounded by their minions will certainly hurt and can turn an even trade into a lost one. As such, don't engage when too many enemy minions are around, but if your enemies make the same mistake, teach them a lesson by stunning them and forcing them to take damage.

Opportunities are everywhere. Catch your enemies out in their moments of weakness such as when they miss an important ability. Also, keep track of who uses what summoner spells. If, for instance, you know an enemy blew their Flash in a recent fight, engaging on and killing them will be much easier for the next several minutes.

Target whoever is easiest to kill in the lane. Most often this is the ADC, but occasionally it is a squishy, immobile support like Soraka or Sona. If the enemy support is a tank, don't waste your time engaging on them; you'll end up not doing much while leaving yourself open to retaliation.




When you roam, you gank for your fellow laners and create pressure around the map. During laning phase, you can visit mid lane once or twice if the opportunity arises.

Before roaming, inform your lane partner and ensure that they will be safe in your absence. If they're ahead, mobile, and/or can farm safely from range, you're good to go.

Take the river when you gank. Ganking alongside your jungler is even better, so if they're nearby, coordinate a paired gank. Wait just outside the enemy's vision range, then once they overextend, approach and Dazzle them. If you get at least their summoner spells, consider it a success and return to bot lane. However, if they're playing too safely for you to catch them, don't waste your time. You may miss valuable experience, which is especially important if you're not level 6 yet.

Once the enemy bot lane tower has fallen, partner up with your ADC to either swap with top lane or group at mid lane and take down more turrets. If your side's tower is the one that fell, ward the river and its jungle entrances, let your ADC farm, then rotate by yourself to help your other laners. Mirror the enemy bot lane's position since it is likely that they will be roaming as well.






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As a support, setting up vision is one of your main tasks throughout the game. Knowing where your enemies are and aren't can be the difference between life and death.

Check your minimap frequently so you can capitalize on enemy activity. If you aren't protected by vision at all in an area, don't push up or wander farther than necessary. If you do have knowledge of your enemies' whereabouts, you'll be much better prepared against incoming danger.

Control Wards are always good to have around. Since they only cost 75g, pick one up whenever you don't have one on the map already.

During laning phase, keeping the bushes just above your lane warded is your priority. They are located on common gank paths, so if the jungler comes your way, you will have an ample heads-up. Place a Control Ward in the bush that's on your side for long-term protection. Lane wards have several functions, the first of which is protecting you from death bushes — namely, a bush that an aggressive enemy support has taken control over. By warding it, you can tell where its safe to position to avoid any of their deadly spells. If you have no minions around and you know one of the bushes is occupied, your safest bet is to avoid it, lest you risk taking heavy damage or even dying.

Lane wards can also be used to set up a Teleport gank. If one of your allies has the spell and plans assist you with it, place the deepest lane ward you can. This gives them a lot of room to work with and makes them hard to escape from upon making their entrance.

Dragon pit is a hotly contested area that you should keep an eye on. Having vision on it lets you see whether or not enemies are taking it, which will help you and your team decide whether to initiate a fight, or leave it be.

Deep wards let you see enemies coming from a mile away. When your lane is pushed, you can ward near the enemy Red/Blue Buff (whichever is closest to your side) as well as deep into the river, which will respectively inform you if the jungler or mid laner are making their way towards you.






Neutral Wards are the go-to option for both staying safe and keeping track of your enemies. The river is a great place to keep lit up since it is a highly active spot. If you plan to fight Dragon or Baron soon, drop a Control Ward in their respective pit.

Deep Wards are best used when your team is ahead. If you keep the enemy's jungle warded, you can catch out people who are travelling between lanes or wandering too far away from their teammates.

Defensive Wards can be lifesavers if your team is behind. When dangerous opponents are pushing waves and looking for fights, spread wards throughout your jungle, and for maximum protection, be sure to place Control Wards just outside your base.

Sweep often with your Oracle Lens as you ward. It's likely that some of the spots you visit will have been warded by your enemies beforehand. If you witness a ward getting placed, take a mental note to revisit it later. (You don't want to get caught out as you destroy it). Also, check the map for where the enemy support roams and assume that vision was placed there. To confirm whether or not they actually warded, you can track their Sightstone charges by looking at their inventory. When the number goes down, it means they recently placed a ward; the same applies for Control Ward usage.

Rift Scuttler Better known as the Scuttle Crab, this timid critter gives you better control over the river. Killing her creates a shrine in front of the Dragon or Baron pit (depending on which side she was on) which grants vision and temporarily speeds up allies who walk over it. Take a moment to capture her before fighting an epic monster.

Scryer's Bloom This plant briefly reveals all units in a large cone, allowing you to find and kill wards as well as gain information on your enemies' positions. To make the most out of it, angle it to cover your biggest blind spots. Use it near Dragon or Baron pit if you plan to fight either monster soon.

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Always keep your eyes on objectives. Destroying structures inches you ever closer to the enemy Nexus, and killing epic monsters will grant you buffs that will aid you on that quest. Knowing which objectives are the most valuable and when to pursue them is essential to achieving victory.

Some objectives offer greater utility than others. Some supply such raw power, such as Elder Dragon and Baron, that securing them for your team is top priority when they are up. If you have the choice between several objectives, consider this hierarchy: Elder Dragon > Baron > Dragon Soul > Inhibitor > Turret / Dragon. Start at the biggest one that is both available and safe to do, then move down the line if time and resources permit.

In the early game, a common choice you will need to make (particularly after receiving a gank) is between damaging your lane's turret or taking dragon. Go for the turret if (1) you have the ability to destroy the turret outright, (2) you don't have the resources, vision, or time to take dragon, or (3) if your jungler is not around, dead, or unable to help. Otherwise, you should initiate the fight on dragon with your jungler.

BENEFIT: 160g local per plate (outer turrets) + 250g local, 50g global on destruction + 150g local for Turret First Blood With their damage and vision, turrets create large zones of protection. Destroying them provides gold for your team and gives you important territorial control, so just as you should take your enemies' down whenever possible, take care to protect your own. Turret Plating is active on outer turrets for the first 14 minutes of the game. There are 5 per turret, each granting 160g locally, so work with your ADC to take them down before they're gone. Additionally, Turret First Blood gives extra gold to whoever destroys the first turret of the match. If laning phase is going well for you, make it your goal to take down your opponents' tower quickly and get that bonus. Be cautious when taking turrets since you are bordering enemy territory when you do so. If you suspect enemies are nearby, don't hesitate to back out.

BENEFIT: Spawns allied Super Minions in its lane upon destruction RESPAWN: 5 minutes after destruction Super minions, spawned upon an inhibitor's destruction, are a force to be reckoned with. Because of their resilience and strength, they can push waves easily and wreak havoc on enemy structures. You're free to attack turrets for a long time when they're around since they can withstand a great deal of shots. After you destroy an inhibitor, don't go full ARAM and hope for the best. Super minions are natural wave pushers and make great distractions, so while enemies are preoccupied with them, spread your influence to other parts of the map. For instance, if you take the bot lane inhibitor and enemies station themselves on that side to defend it, you have an opening to take Baron and push top.

BENEFIT: Dragon Slayer buffs / Dragon Soul after 4th dragon SPAWN: Every 5 minutes from 5:00 until one team takes a Dragon Soul Each elemental dragon grants teams a permanent, stacking buff. After two dragons have been slain, the third dragon's element dominates the rift, transforming the map and causing any further elemental dragons to be of that same type. The first team to slay four dragons total gains a powerful Dragon Soul for the rest of the game. Due to the power that comes with getting a Dragon Soul, securing dragons for your team should take high priority. Being in bot lane and close to the dragon pit gives you some responsibilities. How you and your lane partner perform will impact your team's capability to take the first few dragons. Place wards, issue pings, and stay alert; if a dragon is spawning soon, play around your jungler and make plans to be present for and potentially fight for it. If you play well and have an advantage in lane, you can pressure your opponent towards their tower. From there, your team has more freedom to take the dragon.

INFERNAL DRAKE Buff: Gain 4 / 8 / 12 / 16% attack damage and ability power Soul: Damaging abilities and basic attacks create an explosion around the target Tips: The Infernal Drake is not directly useful for Taric, but it is useful to your team overall. Attack buffs put you ahead in fights, so aggressive play is rewarded more when you have the Infernal Drake's buffs.

CLOUD DRAKE Buff: Gain 12 / 24 / 36 / 48 ultimate haste Soul: Grants bonus movement speed, increased for 6 seconds after casting your ultimate Tips: This drake's buffs work wonders for Taric since it lowers his high ultimate cooldown. For perspective, with four cloud buffs and enough ability haste, a max rank Cosmic Radiance goes from a 120 second cooldown to 40 seconds or less. Additionally, the Cloud Soul's movement speed makes it easier to make an invincible engage or run at and save teammates while using your ultimate.

OCEAN DRAKE Buff: Regenerate 2.5 / 5 / 7.5 / 10% of missing health every 5 seconds Soul: Dealing damage to enemies restores health and mana over 4 seconds Tips: The ocean drake synergizes greatly with Taric. The passive regeneration on top of your own spellcasting makes you and your team become sustain monsters. With the Soul, you can count on winning any war of attrition due to how it gives you even more regeneration while brawling.

MOUNTAIN DRAKE Buff: Gain 6 / 12 / 18 / 24% armor and magic resistance Soul: After not taking champion damage for 5 seconds, gain a shield Tips: More defense is always a plus for Taric. As you get tankier with each rank of the mountain buff, both your defense and offense improve, and you can share more armor with an ally. The Mountain Soul's shield lets you better resist poke and adds insurance to your utimate. Since you and your allies can survive all-ins longer with their shield, the chances of Cosmic Radiance activating in time go up.

BENEFIT: Aspect of the Dragon for 150 seconds SPAWN: Every 6 minutes after one team takes a Dragon Soul Once one team takes a Dragon Soul, the Elder Dragon takes the stage. Slaying it grants the Aspect of the Dragon buff and its signature effect Elder Immolation, which executes any enemies that you get under 20% health. Coupled with the bonus true damage it gives to all of your attacks, this buff raises your offensive power to massive levels. Whichever team slays this dragon may very well win the game, Dragon Soul or not. The monster itself has tons of health, regenerates quickly, and hits hard in a cone, which means fighting it must be a team effort. Before you fight it, ward the surrounding area and disable vision since enemies are likely to contest it. If it looks like they are, killing or zoning the enemy jungler is highly suggested. You don't want them to swoop in and smite the Elder Dragon for their own team.

BENEFIT: Eye of the Herald (single-person, single-use summon) SPAWN: Once at 8:00, then can respawn 6 minutes later. Despawns permanently at 19:30 (19:50 if in combat) Once the Rift Herald is killed and summoned, she asserts her dominance on enemy objectives with ease. Her first charge against a structure can deal a whopping half of its health, and she will continue to whittle it down on it until moving onto the next turret. This can be the final push you need to take down an enemy turret, or it can lead to a snowball of taking multiple structures after a won teamfight. You often won't take part in fighting the Herald since she spawns on the top side of the map. However, if an ally summons her down your lane, use her help to push, and if an enemy sends her down, work with your teammates to end her demolition.

BENEFIT: Hand of Baron for 210 seconds SPAWN: Every 6 minutes from 20:00 onward A fearsome beast whose size matches its strength, Baron Nashor is one of the most coveted monsters in the game. For the duration of the buff it gives, your team gains attack damage, ability power, empowered recalls, and most importantly, an aura than empowers nearby minions. Setting up for Baron is just as important as fighting it. Before you start, ward around it and disable nearby enemy vision, but be sure not to get caught out in the process. Also, make sure that you and your teammates have the health to take it on and enough damage to quickly dispatch it. If enough enemies are nearby, expect them to contest Baron and prepare accordingly. The enemy jungler may jump into the pit to attempt a steal, but you can prevent that from happening if you stun them as soon as they enter. If a teamfight breaks out, Cosmic Radiance can be put to great use by protecting everybody grouped up near the pit at once. Once you've taken Baron down, turn your attention to sieging. With the buff, allied minions gain strength, range, and damage reduction, so if enough of them can swarm down a lane, your pushing power becomes insurmountable. Group to take turrets while the buff is on you or send someone to splitpush and stall for them as they do so. Whatever you do, don't let it go to waste.

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Teamfights are what Taric lives for, and with all the powers at his disposal, it's easy to see why. Play smart, play hard, and carry your allies so that they can carry you.




Choose your fights with a purpose in mind, whether it be getting an objective or shutting down a key target. Engaging unnecessarily is a risk that may offer little reward in the end — remember that before diving or chasing after a kill because if you get collapsed on without any backup or escape plan, you set your whole team behind.

Since your ultimate and your items are integral to your influence in fights, play around their cooldowns. Let your team know if you need just a bit more time for everything to recharge before engaging — it can make all the difference.

Open areas are the best places for you to fight. If you end up fighting in a chokepoint, such as a tight spot in the jungle, you're more prone to getting separated from your team and unable to assist them in time.






Your ADC is a prime target for enemies and will likely need your help to avoid getting killed. To protect them the most, bind to them with Bastion to guard them from range and to give them and a guaranteed spot in your ultimate. This way, you can help fend off aggressors at a moment's notice.

If your ADC can stay safe on their own, you can help out your frontline instead. Strengthen their engages to set up kills and make quick work of enemy carries.

The first time you use Starlight's Touch in a teamfight should be at max charges for its heal. Afterwards, spam it whenever it's off cooldown to activate Bravado and set up a cycle of cooldown resets.

Unfortunately, not everyone can be saved, especially those who get caught when overextended. Using all your resources on a doomed ally is wasteful, so in such a case the best thing to do is to leave them to die. (Doomed does not just mean outnumbered, though. If you lend your aid to a strong enough ally, there's definitely a chance they can take multiple people on.)

Don't dive face first into fights. Although you can take a decent amount of damage, your job is not to be the main tank of your team; you want to stay alive as long as possible since it is through you that your teammates will survive.




Using your ultimate in conjunction with item actives can give your allies tremendous protection in a short amount of time. Certain combos will maximize your efficiency, whether you need to safeguard a single person or your entire team.



The Teamfight Combo combines Cosmic Radiance, Locket of the Iron Solari, and Redemption to offers huge AOE protection in an instant. Against burst damage, activate everything in quick succession, with Locket coming first to ensure that your allies live long enough to be affected by Cosmic Radiance. Versus sustained damage, hold onto Redemption until your allies get low to get the most out of it.




The Ultimate Protector Combo is a designed to use everything in your arsenal, and I mean everything, to ensure someone's survival. If you have a carry who is your ticket to victory but is constantly getting targeted by enemies, this is for them. Here are the key factors:

• Proactively bind to your chosen ally with Bastion and Knight's Vow.
• As soon as they're jumped on, open with Cosmic Radiance and/or Locket of the Iron Solari.
• Use Redemption midway through your invincibility so the heal comes right after it wears off.
• After using Exhaust, wait a second before using Dazzle so the enemy is debuffed for as long as possible.

Of course, neither of these combos are set in stone; when and how you should use your resources always depend on the situation. Activating everything in a panic can be wasteful, leaving you and your team in a more vulnerable spot. If the enemies you're fighting aren't very dangerous, you may only need your basic abilities to fend them off. For bigger threats, though, be prepared to use whatever is necessary.




After winning a fight, pursue whatever objectives you can. Any progress is good progress, even if it just means pushing a minion wave or getting some damage onto a turret. While there may be the temptation to chase after more kills, doing so is always a gamble, so keep your eyes on the prize.

The longer death timers are, the greater and grander objectives you can seize. Early game, go for whatever is nearest to you and does not take much time to do, such as Dragon or a turret. Later into the game, when you take your enemies down for longer periods of time, you have much more freedom to go after the likes of Baron and even get multiple objectives at a time.

Do not overstay when you're pushing as it only ever leads to throws. After a teamfight, you'll often be low on resources, so if you meander for too long and your enemies have respawned, you're gonna have a bad time. Instead, take what you can get, then come back stronger and ready to give it your all once again.



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Thanks for reading! This guide has been one of my biggest creative endeavors to date. Everything I know about Taric has been expressed here, but there are always new things to learn and discover, so feel free to ask questions and leave feedback.

All of the coding was done by myself, as were the majority of the graphics. Special thanks to jhoijhoi for not only for creating these for me but also for her Guide to Making a Guide, which has always been a reliable resource.

That's all from me. Now get out there, be fabulous, and most of all, have fun.

~ MOBAFire Guide Contest Awards! ~ A huge thank you to everyone for the support over the years!