Trundle is a
strong jungler, a solid ganker and a troll. He possesses a powerful
wall which applies a hefty slowing effect, making him excel in jungle
fights. Trundle also has the ability to weaken the enemy tank, while
beefing himself up in the process. Trundle is best played as a jungler
as he suffers the same weak laning presence as Olaf and Udyr.
This Trundle guide aims to be a basic and simple introduction on basic strategy that should be adopted when playing Trundle, it is recommended for people just starting to use Trundle.
This Trundle guide aims to be a basic and simple introduction on basic strategy that should be adopted when playing Trundle, it is recommended for people just starting to use Trundle.
Ability Information
-
Decompose (Passive):
Helps Trundle to maintain his health in jungle (also helps him stay in
lanes). This skill can also heal some enemy poking, provided minions are
around. Its main use is jungling though. -
Rabid Bite:
A very low cooldown single target skill that also propels Trundle
forward slightly, this skill again helps Trundle to jungle and is a nice
debuff for the enemy carry, while giving Trundle more damage output
against them. it also works great when combined with Sheen/Trinity. -
Contaminate:
A massive area of effect that offers Trundle powerful boosts to attack
and movement speed while also reducing the length of enemy crowd control
skills. This skill is especially great for destroying towers quickly or
escaping from danger. Be careful as the large radius of this skill can
give away your position in the jungle. -
Pillar of Filth:
An extremely powerful ganking ability that slows enemies and blocks off
their escape path. It excels particularly in jungle fights, where the
pillar is large enough to block off entire paths. -
Agony (Ultimate):
This skill helps Trundle to become tanky, while also weakening the
enemy tank giving them less of a team fight presence, as such it is very
important to utilise this skill every fight. As this skill also has a
duration effect you will want to cast this on the early side of a team
fight.
Ability Order
Maxing Rabid Bite is best to ensure maximum damage when ganking and improving overall jungle speed, it also provides a strong AD boost (while also stealing AD from the target). Contaminate is best to max 2nd as each level provides a solid boost to movement speed, attack speed & crowd control reduction. Pillar of Filth is maxed last because it is mainly used for its wall and slow utility, the increase in slow with levels is not as useful as improved ranks in his other skills. However, taking a single point in Pillar of Filth at level 4 is very vital for ganking, if an early gank presents itself, consider taking it at level 2 or 3 instead.
Runes
Yellow (Seals) - Armor
Blue (Glyphs) - Magic Resistance
Purple (Quintessences) - Flat Health // Armor Penetration // Attack Speed
Standard jungling runes work well on Trundle, Armor Penetration Marks improve your overall damage in the jungle and throughout the game. While Armor on Seals boosts your jungling survivability allowing you to clear it more efficiently and effectively. Magic Resistance is a solid choice on Glyphs to boost your out of jungle survivability. Quintessences offer lots of options including Health, Armor Penetration & Attack Speed.
Summoner Spells
Best Summoner Spells:
-Ghost
-Smite
Ghost and Smite are your two best summoner spell options on Trundle, Smite helps you jungle faster and protect your buffs (and gives you the option to steal enemy buffs). Ghost is great for ganking and escaping and is amazing when combined with Contaminate and Pillar of Filth.
Other Good Summoner Spells:
-Exhaust
Exhaust is another summoner spell option possibility for Trundle and can be taken over Ghost is your team lacks crowd control and/or Exhausts. It can also be taken instead of Smite if you decide to lane with Trundle which I do not recommend.
-Ghost
-Smite
Ghost and Smite are your two best summoner spell options on Trundle, Smite helps you jungle faster and protect your buffs (and gives you the option to steal enemy buffs). Ghost is great for ganking and escaping and is amazing when combined with Contaminate and Pillar of Filth.
Other Good Summoner Spells:
-Exhaust
Exhaust is another summoner spell option possibility for Trundle and can be taken over Ghost is your team lacks crowd control and/or Exhausts. It can also be taken instead of Smite if you decide to lane with Trundle which I do not recommend.
Masteries
Grab improved Smite in the offense tree while also moving down the defensive tree to grab improved armor, magic resistance, reduced minion damage and increased starting health.
The utility tree is vital for any jungler as it provides improved experience and increased buff duration.
Item Build
Final Item Build:
-Mercury's Treads
-Wriggle's Lantern
-Trinity Force
-Force of Nature
-Randuin's Omen
-Sunfire Cape
Steps/Reasoning:
-Start with the standard Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potions for jungling, this will reduce the damage you take in the jungle and give you plenty of healing.
-First trip back you'll want to build your Madred's Razors and grab Boots of Speed if possible.
-Now you want a Wriggle's Lantern as soon as possible, it will sustain you in jungle and provide you with a free ward. You also want to upgrade your boots to Mercury's Treads.
-Your final core item is Trinity Force which works very well with Rapid Bite.
-From here you'll want to pick up some defenses as needed, solid armor choices are Randuin's Omen and Sunfire Cape while magic resistance is best gained from Force of Nature as you are unlikely to need to the spell block provided from Banshee's Veil due to your already solid crowd control reduction from Contaminate and Mercury's Treads.
Alternatives/Nevers:
-Banshee's Veil (Strong choice against very crowd control heavy teams.)
-Black Cleaver/Youmuu's Ghostblade (Good choices if your looking for damage.)
-Guardian Angel (A good item to boost both your defences, while allowing you to revive.)
General Trundle Tips
- Always use Contaminate when pushing towers or fighting champions, especially in team fights to reduce crowd control on yourself and to give yourself a powerful attack speed boost.
- Focus your Rapid Bite on the enemy physical damage dealer when possible this will lower their overall damage output.
- Always save your ultimate for the enemy tank (or the tankiest enemy in the area) this will reduce both their presence and beef up your own.
- Constantly use Rapid Bite to proc your Sheen/Trinity Force.
Early Game - Level 1-6
- Your standard jungle route should be Blue > Wolves > Wraith > Red > Mini-golems/gank
- Always pay attention to your lanes, watching for lanes that need ganks or cover.
- When ganking use Contaminate to boost your movement speed to quickly close the gap so you can land a Pillar of Filth.
- Always use Rapid Bite and Contaminate when it is off cooldown while jungling, be careful of Contaminates large range as it can give away your jungle position.
Mid Game - Level 7-12
- Focus on ganking lanes, targeting Flash-less lanes are best to give Pillar of Filth maximum effect.
- Keep dragon warded with your free ward from Wriggle's Lantern, buying other wards for other appropriate spots (enemy buffs, river, Baron) is also important.
- Trundle can eat through towers with Contaminate, look out for opportunities to push lanes with your allies. This situation will generally arise after a successful gank on a lane (either by killing both enemies or forcing them both to recall).
- Start considering whether or not you can finish Trinity Force quickly for damage or need to tank up first.
Late Game - 13-18
- Try to trap a single enemy with your Pillar of Filth if they over extend.
- You should be using your ultimate on the enemies tank every teamfight.
- You should be moving your Wriggle's Lantern ward to Baron at this stage of the game, this will ensure it is always warded.
- If the game goes very late and you complete the rest of your build you can sell your Wriggle's Lantern for another damage item.
