Your Daily McMaster: Rammus in the champion spotlight

There’s this continent known as Valoran. The people of Valoran have, for centuries, settled their disputes via warfare and, in particular, magical warfare. This tore the land apart and made certain areas uninhabitable, forcing the ruling powers to form the Institute of War. The purpose was to give the summoners a place to settle their disputes without destroying the land. With this in mind, the Institute of War created the first battleground for summoners to settle their disputes. Up in North Valoran, nestled between Freljord and the Serpentine River lies Summoner’s Rift – home to many of the greatest battles in history.

Having seen so many wonders and terrors, the woods around the Summoner’s Rift are home to many oddities. Fairies and reapers, centaurs and robots, but one creature in particular stands out. Among the trees lives Rammus.

After the jump, this is all about League of Legends, of course

When I started League of Legends, lo those many years ago, Rammus was one of the first characters to really catch my eye. A mixture of savage fighting and undeniable cuteness can be quite potent, but he also has a fantastic set of powers that work really well for solo play as well as team composition. Also he’s a giant, mutated armadillo, which begs an explanation.

Lore

Rammus walked the world as an animal until, one day, he miraculously became aware. After gaining conscious thought, he wandered – looking for more of his kind. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t have many mutated armadillos, so his search went on in vain. After a time, Rammus discovered the League of Legends and found a new home. To celebrate his newfound home, he had special armor made for his back and began calling himself the “Armordillo.”

Powers
Each character in the League of Legends has four powers and a passive. Let’s take a look at what Rammus has to offer.

Passive – Spiked Shell:Rammus has giant spikes all over his shell that add attack damage based on his armor total. This basically means the more armor he wears, the harder he hits people. It’s a very nice, defensive passive that makes his tankiness his main weapon.

Q – Powerball:The Armordillo curls into a ball and begins rolling for a time. As he goes forward he picks up speed. After a few seconds, or if he comes into contact with an enemy, he uncurls again. One of my favorite powers as it leads to easy, early-game ganks.

W – Defensive Ball Curl:Now we get to the power that makes Rammus feared by a large portion of characters. This ability ups his armor and magic resist substantially while transferring damage back on to anyone that strikes him. Combined with Puncturing Taunt, many of the physical attack characters in the game can be forced to kill themselves upon Rammus’ armored shell.

E – Puncturing Taunt:One of the longest taunts in the game, Puncturing Taunt maxes out at three seconds. During that time, the enemy has no choice but to follow and attack Rammus. This is a great ability to pull attackers off of your precious carries.

R – Tremors:Tremors is a super useful ultimate ability. For a time after activation, the ground around Rammus trembles and quakes, doing damage to any enemies or buildings in its diameter. This is a fantastic tool for pushing towers or in a team fight.

Builds

Jungle:My favorite place to play Rammus, and the suggested role for him, is in the jungle. By using his Defensive Ball Curl’s extra armor, magic resist and damage, he can clear out a creep camp at a fairly brisk rate. It’s possible to kill the blue monster, gain a level and gank at level two before the players in the lane leave level one. I get Boots of Mobility early as well as my jungle item to help with his health/mana regeneration and, well, mobility.

Top:Also not a bad choice. A large portion of the time, the characters that play the top lane rely on some sort of physical attack. Top lane also builds tanky, quite often, so his passive works well in this respect.

Pro Tips

• Never touch an angry armordillo in the bikini area
• Buy Thornmail against heavy AD enemy teams
• You’ve got the music in you, don’t let go
• You’ll want to build the Sunfire Cape in most games
• If Heaven ain’t a lot like Dixie, Rammus don’t want to go
• Use Tremors often as it’s on a very short cool down
• Mel Gibson once called Rammus “sugar tits” after a particularly grueling battle
• Never shake hands with a badger

Welp, that’s the conclusion to our inside look at Rammus the Armordillo! Remember to check back periodically for new McMaster Champion Spotlights!