Looking for an engage support with early dueling, great crowd control, and amazing roaming? Warwick's kit gives him all of that and more. This support pick is a highly underrated, and most players consider it troll, but here's why they're wrong.
Runes
Glacial Augment
Aftershock
Aftershock outshines glacial against bot lanes with lots of burst. For example, if the opponents are playing
Lucian
and
Nami
or
Tristana
and
Leona
; then take aftershock to absorb the insane amount of burst those ADC support combos can dish out.
Use the glacial augment rune page for most lane matchups. It is really good because it increases your trading power in lane, decreases enemy damage in teamfights, and it gives some follow-up crowd control with the slow.
The reason one should take
Hextech Flashtraption
over
Commencing Stopwatch
is because of the timing with Warwick's E. If you activate
Primal Howl
and then immediately start channeling
Hextech Flashtraption
, you can get max range and flash right as the E goes off, immediately fearing enemies around you. If you don't like using hexflash,
Commencing Stopwatch
is a good option too.
Total Biscuit of Everlasting Will
gives you mana and sustain, allowing you to absorb poke and stay in lane longer.
Cosmic Insight
gives you more summoner spell and item haste which allows for more
Locket of the Iron Solari
uses and more flash plays with your E.
Font of Life
is great for early fights because it provides some healing to your ADC, it also scales with the health you get from your items.
Bone Plating
is taken instead of
Conditioning
because of its power in the early laning phase. This rune will give you even more dueling power and allow you to snowball your lane.
Aftershock
outshines glacial against bot lanes with lots of burst. For example, if the opponents are playing
Lucian
and
Nami
or
Tristana
and
Leona
; then take aftershock to absorb the insane amount of burst those ADC support combos can dish out.
Conditioning
is taken instead of
Bone Plating
because aftershock provides enough tankiness in lane to make up for bone plating's defensive power and conditioning gives you some free stats in the mid to late game.
Overgrowth is a very good minor rune for warwick because of warwick's E. Health is much more valuable on warwick because his E provides so much resistances when active, so you get more value out of your health.
Items
Core Build
Support Item
Support Item
This is the best support item for warwick, because his Q scales off of AD and the AD helps with early duels because you will be auto-attacking a lot.
Boots
Boots
Buy merc treads if thier team has lots of crowd control and/or magic damage.
Buy steelcaps if their team has mostly auto-attackers or physical damage.
Get mobility boots if you want to roam more and make more plays around the map. If you are against an enchanter support like
Soraka
and you aren't having success in laning against them buy mobility boots so you can impact the map more.
Try to get boots as fast as possible, they allows supports to move around the map more than other champions in the early game, and provide good stats all around.
Non-Boots Items
Items
After buying boots, your next purchase should be locket of the
Locket of the Iron Solari
. This item increases allies stats, gives shields, and provides valuable health, armor, and magic resist. Trust me when I say other tank items aren't worth it. None of them are as reliable or provide the same value as locket.
Once you buy locket, you want to either buy
Knight's Vow
or
Zeke's Convergence
. Buy Knight's Vow if your ADC needs survivability and buy Zeke's Convergence if your ADC needs more damage. Knight's Vow is a an amazing item for warwick because he gains lots of damage reduction from his E, making the health that he gets more valuable. The active part of this item is also really good and helps your carry survive for longer. If you don't build this item second, buy it after Zeke's Convergence.
Zeke's Convergence
gives so many valuable stats for warwick, and the active helps to increase your ADCs damage.
As a third item,
Watchful Wardstone
is ideal because it provides valuable vision control for your team. Honestly, though, the game shouldn't go on for this long, but if it does
Watchful Wardstone
provides amazing stats. AND REMEMBER TO BUY CONTROL WARDS! ;)
Situational Items
Situational
Thornmail
provides antiheal which is essential against many champions. Buy this item second if you are against healing champions.
If the enemy team has on high dps champion that seems to be winning teamfights by themselves, then buy
Anathema's Chains
, the active gives you tons of tankiness against their carry and lowers their tenacity, allowing you to fear them for longer. The health is also really useful because your E reduces so much damage, making each point of health absorb more damage.
Summoner Spells
Ignite
Take the usual
Flash
and ignite. Flash allows you to make plays and ignite helps with early 2v2's and gives some anti-heal. If your ADC is running
Ignite
, then take
Heal
.
Skill Order
Skill Path
Warwick
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
4
5
5
5
5
6
6
6
6
7
7
7
7
8
8
8
8
9
9
9
9
10
10
10
10
11
11
11
11
12
12
12
12
13
13
13
13
14
14
14
14
15
15
15
15
16
16
16
16
17
17
17
17
18
18
18
18
For the skill path, you want to start
Primal Howl
and max it first, because it gives the most value fights with its fear and damage reduction. It also makes health so much more value on Warwick because of the damage reduction on his E.
Maxing
Blood Hunt
second allows for better roams and chasing. It also provides lots of attack speed and healing, which isn't relevant most of the time
Maxing
Jaws of the Beast
last is pretty irrelevant, but make sure to put a point into it as your second ability since the early game damage and healing is significant. Max it last though, because as a support you don't build damage items, so the Q healing and damage becomes nonexistent.
Playstyle
As Warwick, you want to abuse your insane early game as much as possible, you win almost all 2v2's from levels 1-3 because of your healing and attack speed. Using
Primal Howl
and
Flash
at level 2 to engage is a great way to win an early fight. Getting the wave to push towards the enemy tower is essential when you are playing early game champions. This gives you level advantage, which you can abuse by taking all-ins with a level advantage.
Once you hit level three and put a point into your
Blood Hunt
, start to look for roams. Getting boots, then roaming the extra movement speed from
Blood Hunt
is a great way to set up kills and get your other lanes ahead.
When you hit level 6, you get a huge powerspike. Your R is very strong because it gives healing, damage, and the all important and very annoying suppression. You should try to use
Infinite Duress
every time you have it up so you can look for picks and win fights with your ADC.
In teamfights, there are two ways to play warwick, as a peel support or as a diver who can cc the backline. Warwick has very good peel with his E and his R, so if they have a lot of dive champions like
Jarvan IV
or
Nocturne
, stay by your ADC and try to cc attacking enemies. If you want to play more aggressively, using
Primal Howl
and then
Infinite Duress
on their carry can provide a lot of cc and lock down their best dps champion.
Matchups
Sorry if these aren't super in-depth, mostly just a few tips and tricks.
Matchups
Warwick's worst support matchup is
Renata Glasc
because of her
Bailout
, which gives insane 2v2 power and her
Hostile Takeover
gives her better teamfighting than you. Ban her every game.
If renata is already banned, soraka should be. She has good poke, gets movement speed to dodge your fear, and becomes a late game monster. If you can't kill her early on, look for roams and snowball your other lanes.
Abuse her early levels, keeping bush control is easy and critical against sona. You must take early fights or roam and make plays.
Lulu has a weak early levels, and try to play around her polymorph cooldown, because it can signle handedly turn fights. Try no to get poked down by her
Glitterlance
.
Alistar is a good matchup. If he engages an early 2v2, you win because of you lifesteal and attack speed. The only downside of this matchup is that he can
Headbutt
you away so your fear doesn't actually fear them. Try to take early fights especially during levels 1-2.
Leona is a very good matchup, she has lots of CC, but she loses in a 2v2 against you. She does have more impact in fights, so try to look for picks and abuse your W roam power to start fights while she's not there.
Thresh is another good matchup. Try to take early 2v2s and abuse your level 6 powerspike. Be aware of when he uses his
Flay
, because he can use it to know you away so your fear does nothing. Make sure to abuse your W roam power to start and get to fights faster than him.
Yuumi gets out of control very fast if she is not dealt with early. You MUST TAKE EARLY FIGHTS against her, otherwise you will lose. If you can't do this try to roam and snowball other lanes.
Bard is a decent matchup. You should take 2v2s during levels 1-3, and look to roam after you get boots. Just play normally and you should win. There are some weird interactions with bard's
Magical Journey
and
Tempered Fate
in relation with your Q, which are listed below.
Morgana is annoying. Try to take early fights and if you end up getting shoved under tower, which is pretty much inevitable, look for roams. Don't take skirmishes when she gets level 6. Her impact in teamfights is much more than yours so try to look for picks instead of skirmishes in the jungle.
Try to fight her at level 1 and keep bush control. If she pokes you down, look for roams early on.
Senna scales really hard, so it is crucial to snowball the game wither by roaming or taking early fights, she is a very hard matchup. Try to all in when her
Last Embrace
is on cooldown.
Seraphine has a lot of poke, but not much map impact early on. Try to roam and make plays. Her teamfighting is much stronger than yours, so look for picks with R.
A good matchup, try to engage on him rather than the other way around and you should win every time. Abuse your level 6 powerspike against him and look for picks.
You win 2v2s easily in the early laning phase, so try to abuse this. Counter roam when he does and look for picks with R. Using
Infinite Duress
on him during teamfights can be crucial so he doesn't get any
Death From Below
resets off.
You win the all ins in laning phase, try to avoid 5v5s later on because of rakan's superior impact on teamfights with his R.
Try to dodge her
Aqua Prison
with your Q, she is a hard matchup, especially when played with an ADC like
Lucian
. Try to roam and look for skirmishes when she isn't there.
Level one fights are key, brand is extremely weak at level 1 because he can't stun you with his
Sear
or proc his
Blaze
. Play around bushes and his
Pillar of Flame
cooldown, which is what all brand payer level up first.
Play around her
Mantra
cooldown. She is very weak without it. Looking for roams early on is very important. Its very important not to get poked too much and just focus on making plays.
Don't dodge the hook, let him pull you in, then fear his entire team. Blitz is an amazing matchup because his best ability is plays into your strategy. Make sure to abuse your level 6 powerspike and take early fights.
Janna is not a bad matchup, she has peel ands a little shielding but you can easily win fights against her in the early game, just try not to get poked too much.
A good matchup, take fights during levels 1-3, she has much better teamfighting so look for picks once you get your r.
Try to dodge his stun with your q by holding it down and going behind him.
Zyra will poke you, try to leave lane ASAP and look for roams. Make sure not to engage into her R.
Synergies
Synergies
A very good ADC to play with, she has a very good early game and snowballs well. She also allows you to engage easier. Look for early 2v2's.
Another amazing ADC pairing. Focus on early game fighting, and abuse tristana's snowballing power.
Other ADCs work well, but not to the same level that tristana and kalista do.
Tips and Tricks
Warwicks
Jaws of the Beast
can be held down to increase the range and position you behind the enemy. Use this in conjunction with your
Primal Howl
to fear the enemy away from you and into your team. You can also use this when the enemy is in turret range for extra potential.
Jaws of the Beast
follows the enemies, which makes for some weird interactions, specifically involving
Zeri
's
Spark Surge
. When she rides the wall, if you q at the right time you will follow her movement. This can either secure a kill or get you killed, so be careful when playing against her. The same thing applies to
Bard
's
Magical Journey
, you will follow Bard through his portal if you press Q at the right time.
Jaws of the Beast
can also be used to dodge
Bard
's
Tempered Fate
, but it requires extremely precise timing.
Bard R Warwick Q Interaction
Dodge Bard R with Warwick Q
As stated in the runes section of this guide, you can use your
Primal Howl
and then immediately start channeling
Hextech Flashtraption
to flash behind the enemy and immediately fear them. Just be careful with this though, because
Primal Howl
gives you lots of damage reduction, and wasting it in a fight can sometimes be deadly for you.
If the enemy is in turret range, using
Infinite Duress
to trap them there is a great way to secure a kill. Be careful of how you chain together your E fear and your R suppression because using
Infinite Duress
will immediately end the E duration and fear enemies.
Infinite Duress
makes you unstoppable, so using it to dodge CC is really useful.
Warding
In all games, you should immediately run to the river and ward the river, the enemies buff, a bush, etc. Then recall and buy a
Oracle Lens
. The oracle lens is important for clearing vision and giving you bush control.
Conclusion
Thats about it for this guide! Thanks for reading and I wish you the best of luck during your Warwick support adventures. GLHF
Lucian
Nami
Tristana
Leona
Primal Howl
Blood Hunt
Jaws of the Beast
Infinite Duress
Jarvan IV
Nocturne
Zeri
Spark Surge
Bard
Magical Journey
Tempered Fate