League of Legends Rammus Guide

OK. The Armordillo is one of the more popular jungle picks because of the simplicity of his kit. Rammus has one of the strangest lores in League of Legends which makes him seem out of place. Regardless of how he is depicted in the original stories, this champion is one of the most beloved characters in popular culture. In this Rammus guide, we will be discussing how to properly use this champion in his main role – the Jungle. It’s time to dive into what makes this champion so popular with beginner junglers.

The Mysterious Armordillo

It is said that a creature of mystery roams the great Shuriman desert. Its citizens, both common folk and ruling elite, revere this creature they believe to bring fortune and enlightenment. Tales tell of a creature that has saved the citizens of Shurima and brought prosperity to the country. Others argue that it is mere coincidence that he arrives just before these miracles happen. Regardless of what they believe, there is no doubt that this creature possesses a great power that can take down an entire army on its own.

Rammus is one of League of Legends’ most meme-worthy characters because of his strange character design and quotable in-game dialogues. This character is also one of the best beginner junglers because of how easy his kit can be executed. The Armordillo is one of the ultimate tanks that counter full Attack Damage comps and is an unstoppable rolling juggernaut that charges into battle. Time to learn all about the Armordillo in this Rammus guide.

Rammus General Playstyle

Rammus is a heavy engage tank that mainly benefits from building pure armor in his kit. He mostly thrives when the enemy tries to play an all Attack Damage composition where there is very little magic damage to be dealt. Because of the nature of his skills, he likes to be in the middle of as many enemies as possible to deal maximum amount of damage to all sources. In this Rammus guide, we will be talking about his capabilities as a jungle champion.

Rammus Guide: Skills and Rotations

Rammus has one of the most interesting kits since most of his abilities promote the enemy attacking him directly. As a jungler, his main way to clear monsters is by auto-attacking them directly and reflecting all the damage he takes from those sources. Rammus is also an excellent ganker since his abilities provide a lot of CC and movement speed to get into the lane quickly. Let’s get started with this Rammus guide.

Passive: Spiked Shell

Innate: Rammus’ basic attacks deal bonus magic damage which scales depending on the amount of armor that he has. This increases when Rammus activates Defensive Ball Curl.

Rammus benefits mostly from stacking huge amounts of armor from his items. The more armor that you build on Rammus, the stronger his attacks and abilities get. Keep that in mind when deciding to build items on this champion. Despite his reliance on armor, Rammus is still mainly a tank so when the need to build magic resist comes, you shouldn’t be reluctant to build that as well. Rammus doesn’t need to deal a large amount of damage in fights but he does need to survive long enough to protect his allies.

Q: Powerball

Active: Rammus starts rolling and starts building up momentum. For 6 seconds, Rammus rolls uncontrollably, increasing his movement speed the longer he stays in this form depending on the maximum amount of movement speed that he has.

When Rammus collides with an enemy unit or champion, he knocks back all enemies within a 100 unit radius. Enemies who are struck by Powerball are dealt magic damage and slowed for 1 second.

Recast: Rammus can recast Powerball after 1 second. Recasting will end powerball immediately.

Powerball is Rammus main engage ability. This skill is useful when trying to initiate ganks or engages. Keep in mind that the ability requires to be channeled for quite a bit before it reaches a significant amount of movement speed. Keep this in mind when trying to gank by activating the skill early so that by the time you reach the lane, you can easily catch up to enemy champions. Make sure to hit as many champions as you can as well.

W: Defensive Ball Curl

Active: Rammus drops into a defensive stance which increases his armor and magic resist for 8 seconds. For this duration, Rammus is also slowed for 30% but increases his Spiked Shell ability by 50% and reflects a small portion of the damage that enemies deal to you from basic attacks.

Recast: Rammus can recast Defensive Ball Curl after 1 second. Recasting will end Defensive Ball Curl immediately.

Defensive Ball Curl is Rammus’ signature ability and greatly increases his potential as a tank. Use this ability in extended teamfights but be careful when using it while pursuing enemy champions since activating the ability slows you by 30%. In addition, do not try to combo this ability with Powerball since activating this ability while Powerball is activated immediately ends the Powerball channel and put that ability on cooldown immediately after.

E: Frenzying Taunt

Active: Rammus uses his linguistic prowess to provoke his enemies. Monsters and champions which were targeted by this ability are Taunted. Rammus also gains bonus attack speed while this ability is active.

When Rammus activates Powerball, Defensive Ball Curl, or Tremors, the duration of the bonus attack speed is also refreshed.

When using Frenzying Taunt, try to taunt the enemy which has the most damage threat. This is to ensure that your allies won’t get immediately bursted out by that champion. Since Rammus prefers to build armor, champions that build AD like Marksmen or Fighters would most likely be the best choice to use this ability on. Always make sure that Defensive Ball Curl is activated before using Frenzying Taunt to ensure maximum damage.

R: Tremors

Active: Rammus creates an earthquake surrounding him for 8 seconds. Enemies caught in the earthquake are slowed and dealt magic damage each second for the duration. Structures receive double damage during this time.

*Note: The slow from Tremors persist for 1.5s and stacks up to 3 times, with each tremor increasing the amount of slow each enemies receive.

Tremors allows Rammus to damage not only champions but also structures such as Turrets and Inhibitors. This ability helps you initiate more successful dives under enemy towers. This ability helps your team lockdown champions since they get slowed by a huge amount. Tremors will surely leave the enemy team disoriented enough that they will be conflicted on whether they try to get past Rammus to hit the carries or just try and get rid of him as quickly as possible.

Rammus Guide: Items and Builds

Next up on this Rammus Guide we’ll be talking about Rammus’ items. As mentioned before, he will try to stack as much armor as possible to increase the effect of his passive ability. As a jungler, Rammus will also need more utility to help him in ganks as well as clearing his camps a bit faster. Keep in mind that Rammus’ main role in the team is being a hard-engage tank that tries to catch out high-priority targets to set up your team for victory.

Starting Items

Hunter’s Talisman – The Talisman is the better option since he prefers to take time clearing camps rather than trying to clear them quickly. The heal allows him to stay longer in lane and works well with his defensive nature.

Core Items

Stalker’s Blade – Stalker’s Blade upgrades Smite to Chilling Smite and is best when trying to give teammates the kill instead of taking it yourself. Decreasing the opponent’s movement speed and increasing your own helps you catch high-priority targets with Powerball or Frenzying Taunt.

Thornmail – This item provides Rammus a lot of armor and essentially doubles the effectivity of Defensive Ball Curl to reflect damage back to the opponent. It also slows the attack speed of enemies around Rammus.

Dead Man’s Plate – This item stacks up momentum as Rammus moves, releasing it when he attacks and deals bonus magic damage and slows the opponent. This is perfect for Rammus who likes to roam around the map and increases the rate of stacking momentum through Powerball.

Recommended Items

Righteous Glory – Righteous Glory makes Rammus extremely scary since the increased movement speed will ensure that it’s impossible to escape from him. Upon collision, Rammus will also slow all surrounding champions which make it easier to set up Tremors or Frenzying Taunt.

Abyssal Mask – Since Rammus likes to stay in the middle of the enemy team, Abyssal Mask will help the team by increasing the magic damage that nearby enemies take. It also helps with a bit of sustain since attacks will heal you for a bit. The item also gives a decent amount of health and mana.

Adaptive Helm – The best magic resist item in the game and helps decrease the effectivity of repeated or continuous spells. Rammus may not benefit much from magic resist but at the end of the day, it’s his duty to ensure that he’s tanky enough to stay alive in fights.

Randuin’s Omen – Randuin’s Omen should be built if the opponents keep on stacking crit. It also helps slow down enemies upon activation. It also gives away a lot of armor which helps build up his passive more.

Gargoyle’s Stoneplate – As mentioned over and over before, Rammus likes to fight as many champions as possible. Gargoyle’s Stoneplate increase his defensive stats for each enemy nearby. Activating it also doubles the effects of this ability.

Frozen Heart – If the enemy team relies on auto-attack based damage, this item is a must have to decrease the effectivity from these attacks. It also stacks with items like Randuin’s Omen or Thornmail.

Rammus Guide – Runes

Primary: Resolve

Keystone: Aftershock – Immobilizing an enemy increases the champions Armor and Magic Resist. This is a perfect combo with any of Rammus’ abilities.

Font of Life – Immobilizing enemies will mark them with Font of Life. Allies that attack the marked targets will heal them. Another perfect combo with Rammus’ kit.

Conditioning – Helps Rammus survive early in the jungle by giving him much needed resistances. This item also increases Rammus’ armor and magic resist by 5% later on in the game will greatly increase his potential as a tank.

Unflinching – Helps Rammus resists CCs that prevent him from engaging onto the enemy team. This will make him a much more effective engager for the team.

Secondary: Precision

Triumph – Triumph helps Rammus sustain more in fights by gaining 12% of his HP back when an enemy dies after he kills them or assists in killing them. This allows him to stay in the middle of a fight longer.

Legend: Alacrity – Gives Rammus more attacks speed which is perfect for his empowered auto-attacks through Spiked Shell. This allows him to deal a lot of damage during teamfights.

Rammus Overview

Rammus is the perfect Armor tank and is a menace to fight against when you’re playing anything that relies on AD. Despite being one of the best tanks in the game, he can easily be countered easily due to his slow jungle clear speed. This Rammus guide should help players have a better grasp on his capabilities as a jungler. Beginners who are afraid of jungling should try it out by using Rammus to start off to ensure that they’ll have an easier time doing so.