01.11.2011

League of Legends - Warwick Guide

Posted by Jindooo on Dienstag, November 01, 2011

Warwick is capable of dominating the jungle, he is very sustained while also being very strong at counter jungling. Mid-late game he is capable of dishing out lots of damage while fulfilling an anti-carry role with his ultimate. Warwick's ability to hunt and chase down his enemy is also unmatched. Warwick is a great choice for people just starting to jungle.

This Warwick guide aims to be a basic and simple introduction on basic strategy that should be adopted when playing Warwick, it is recommended for people just starting to use Warwick.

Abilities


  • Warwick Eternal Thirst (Passive): Warwicks passive allows him to jungle with ease, making his jungle routes very sustained (he maintains a high amount of health throughout his entire route). It also gives him a strong edge in 1v1 fights, making him deceptively durable.

  • Warwick Hungering Strike: Warwick's nuke heal and damage ability, this skill makes it even easier to jungle effectively with Warwick and is your main source of damage. It's range is larger than that of Warwicks auto-attack.

  • Warwick Hunters Call: This skill is amazing at destroying towers while also giving Warwick an element of support as he can give the AD champions on his team a nice damage boost (through bonus attack speed). This skill also aids in jungle clear times and should be used whenever possible while clearing the jungle.

  • Warwick Blood Scent: Makes Warwick a great chaser and even more deadly with red buff. This skill is a toggle and should be toggled on and off as appropriate to maximise its benefit. Keeping it off until is usually best until you close in on a low health enemy, do not activate it too early as you will give away your position. It can also be used to quickly escape from danger (providing an enemy is low enough).

  • Warwick Infinite Duress (Ultimate): Warwick's ultimate makes him an incredible ganker after level 6 and allows him to fulfil an anti-carry type role through mid-late game. It is very important to use this ultimate wisely to shut out a vital enemy (carry or support most likely). On hit effects do work with Warwick's ultimate making Madred's Bloodrazor a core item.

Ability Order

warwick_skills
You want to level your abilities as follows:
Ult > Hungering Strike > Hunter's Call > Blood Scent

Maxing Hungering Strike first gives you great damage and also makes your jungle clearing fast and very safe. Hunter's Call is best maxed second due to the massive attack speed buff it can provide your team, leaving Blood Scent till last, but one point early is still a good choice.

Runes

warwick_runes
Red (Marks) - Magic Penetration // Attack Speed
Yellow (Seals) - Armor
Blue (Glyphs) - Magic Resistance
Purple (Quintessences) - Attack Speed // Health


Warwick's damage output is mostly through magic damage so magic penetration are taken on Marks, you can also run Attack Speed here to boost your early game jungle aswell, but magic penetration serves you better for the mid-late game stages. Armor on Seals are a must to reduce the incoming jungle creep damage early game. Magic resistance on Glyphs are a good default choice as it gives you some survivability. Quints are very strong when run as Attack Speed but can also be Health for more survivability (and depending on what you have available).

Summoner Spells

summoner_spells 
Best Summoner Spells:
-Ghost
-Smite

Ghost and Smite are two great default summoner spells for Warwick. Smite is a must for jungling to protect your buffs and to allow you to clear it more effectively. Ghost is great for Warwick to chase down his enemies and close the gap quickly while ganking (very important before level 6).

Other Good Summoner Spells:
-Flash
-Ignite
-Exhaust

Warwick has many other summoner spell options that he can utilise based on your playstyle and the game situation (applies mostly Draft Mode). Flash is a great summoner spell to take if you focus largely on invading the enemy jungle (by choice or you are against a weak jungler) as it can allow you to escape better than what Ghost can in these situations. If your looking for some more damage output or ganking strength through damage then Exhaust and Ignite are strong choices (also consider these if you don't jungle).

Masteries

warwick_masteries
Running a 9/0/21 setup for Warwick boosts his damage output mid-late game (as he deals mostly magical damage), while also removing his reliance on blue buff, freeing this up for casters on his team, utility also offers some increased movement speed, maximum buff duration and reduced summoner spell cooldown.

Item Build

warwick_items 
Final Item Build:
-Sorcerer's Shoes
-Madred's Bloodrazor
-Banshee's Veil
-Spirit Visage
-Frozen Heart
-Sunfire Cape


Steps/Reasoning:
-Start with a Cloth Armor, a Ward and 2 Health Potions. This gives you enough armor to survive the jungle creeps while also giving you some regeneration and some sight (which can be used to counter jungle early or protect your buffs).
-On your first trip back picking up Madred's Razors will increase your jungling speed significantly, you should also grab Boots of Speed when possible to improve your ability to move around the map and gank.
-From here you'll want to upgrade your boots to Sorcerer's Shoes and build Madred's Bloodrazor to boost your damage.
-Next you'll need to start working on your defenses, as a melee character you need to be very durable, this will also help you jump in to the enemy with your ultimate. A Spirit VIsage is your best place to start as it provides you with magic resistance, cooldown reduction and boosts the healing effects from your Hungering Strike.
- A Banshee's Veil and a Sunfire Cape are two great core defensive items thanks to the health boost they also provide.
-Grabbing a Frozen Heart to further increase your armor (while also providing cooldown reduction and a powerful aura) is also a good idea for long games, as are any of the alternatives listed below.

Alternatives/Nevers:
-Guardian Angel (Provides a solid boost to both resistances)
-Force of Nature (A massive chunk of magic resistance)
-Wit's End (An attack speed boost that also gives you more on hit magic damage with some magic resistance)

General Warwick Tips

  • Don't forget to toggle your Blood Scent on and off, you don't want to give away that your near a low health enemy, save its activation till you are close to them.
  • Always use your Hunter's Call when pushing a tower, it will kill it alot faster.
  • Watch out for enemies that have Banshee's Veil or Quick Silver Sash as it will stop/cancel your ultimate.

Early Game (1-6)

  • Warwick is very flexible in jungle routes thanks to his passive. The standard route is Blue > Wolves > Wraith > Red > Gank/Mini Golems. You can start elsewhere if the enemy invades your jungle at level 1 though.
  • You have very weak pre-6 ganks especially without Red Lizard Buff, if the lane your ganking lacks crowd control it is even harder. As such some games your best bet is to focus on a sustained jungle route and get level 6 as soon as possible.
  • You always want to use your Hungering Strike and Hunter's Call when its off cooldown for maximum jungling speed.

Mid-Game (7-12)

  • You are now a ganking machine and should always be looking for a gank opportunity when your ultimate is available. Try to focus these ganks on the enemy carries to put them behind.
  • Keep dragon warded at all times, as a jungler it is important to control and protect this objective for your team.
  • Start invading the enemy jungle and warding their buffs. This allows you to steal their buffs or gank them at their buffs.
  • In the small skirmishes throughout mid game save your ultimate to shut out the highest threat in the enemy (this will usually be there source of damage or support), this will quickly win your team these battles.
  • Consider what tanky items are a priority based on the enemy team.

Late Game (13-18)

  • Wait for the team fight initiation before using your ultimate on the enemies carry, try to do this after most of the enemies crowd control has been used to prevent it being cancelled.
  • Your ultimate is very effective at picking off someone that over extends just a little bit too much. This is an advantage of building reasonably tanky.
  • Now your priority should be warding Baron and controlling it for your team.
  • You are now pretty durable thanks to your tanky based build and your lifesteal, don't be afraid to stick around in the fight after using your ultimate. 
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