Hello, my name is Grahmenz and I’m currently Rank 1 in EUW 3v3 with over 600 LP in Challenger. When it comes to Tryndamere, I am the most successful 3v3 player who mains him on the EU West server. Nearly all of my games on or against challenger teams are played with the King and I have an 86% win-rate at the highest level of League of Legends 3v3 play with a record of 160 wins and 25 losses.

I’m doing this guide for Tryndamere because a lot of people asked me for it. I want to teach you how to play Tryndamere at high Elo, a totally different experience than playing him at lower levels. I’ve made a basic guide with some video instruction because some aspects of Tryndamere game play can be a bit difficult to explain. In my personal opinion, he’s actually one of the hardest champions in the game to master (not to pick up,  but to master) since he is countered by a lot of things in the game, his mechanics are unreliable at times, and it takes a lot of experience to deal with those “problems.”

This guide is specifically made with Twisted Treeline (3v3) in mind, but it contains a lot of basic information about the champion and even general game mechanics that will translate well into Summoner’s Rift — I am also Diamond I in solo queue so much of this guide can certainly carry over into 5v5.

Introduction

Pros:

• A hyper carry (has one of the highest, potential DPS in the game)
• Snowballs hard, but doesn’t solely rely on snowballing to be effective
• Has insane mobility
• Can tower dive well
• Can split push well
• Has huge baiting potential
• His damage output remains high throughout any phase of the game
• Great laning if played correctly
• Can 1v2, or even 1v3, if played correctly

Cons:

• Has a high skillcap
• Very hard to master
• Takes a lot of risk to play correctly
• Doesn’t do well against CC; can be dropped 100-0 in a CC chain
• Relies on crits, which in and of itself is an unreliable mechanic
• Can get kited hard

The Usurpers: Tryndamere’s Counters

Champions like Jax, Teemo, Quinn, Elise, Darius, Kennen, Pantheon, Udyr, Nasus can beat Tryndamere early in lane due to their kits either uniquely dismantling Tryndamere’s ability to due damage (blinds, AS slows, ranged stuns), being able to out-harass him due to range, or just being better early duelists.

Similarly, items like Randuin’s Omen, Frozen Heart, Zhonya’s Hourglass, and Ninja Tabi greatly decrease his damage output due to the AS slows, the armor, or, in Zhonya’s case, stopping his burst or baiting his ultimate’s duration.

Lastly, Ignite and Exhaust pose great threats against Tryndamere, Exhaust stopping his damage and slowing him down to kite or to catch, and Ignite nullifying his sustain.

The King’s Court: Tryndamere’s Compliments

Conversely, champions like Nunu, Nami, Janna, Udyr, Orianna, Karma, Kayle, Sejuani, Sivir, and Yorik compliment Tryndamere’s kit by giving him more sustain, Movement Speed, increasing his ability to tower dive through Kayle and Yorick ultimates, increasing his damage output with AS buffs in Nunu and Sivir, or helping him kite or stay on an enemy with Sejuani, Nami, and Janna.

Runes

Attack Speed Marks and Glyphs:

Tryndamere gains a lot of flat damage through his skills. His main damage source is his basic attacks, so obviously, the more hits you land the more damage you’ll do. Faster attacks means generating rage quicker and with at full rage, more AS equals a greater chance of critting, which reduces your reliance on Crit from items.

You can possibly use Crit Chance or Crit Damage Runes in place of the AS, but, in general, it’s too unreliable. You can have bad luck and never see a Crit, so it’s sort of a waste in terms of Rune selection.

Flat AD and Armor Penetration Runes will simply do less damage than AS on Tryndamere cause his natural AD buffs from Q and his passive, Battle Fury, make him scale with AS so much harder.

Life Steal Quintessences:

Due to Tryndamere’s high damage output, Life Steal is the absolute best Quint you can get–no exceptions. Your best defense is your offense. You will heal a lot with your basic attacks, so you’ll have so much sustain with them in lane, which will give you the upper hand in 1v1 lanes while providing the ability to stay alive in 2v1 lanes.

Armor Seals:

They are a pretty simple and standard choice; they’re mainly picked to take less damage from minions and jungle camps early.

Masteries

Obviously, we are going for an offensive build here. The Offense tree is so beneficial and efficient for Tryndamere because there is no wasted point at all.

One of the most important choices is Summoner’s Wrath, which gives you AD and AP when you use Ignite and a faster Ghost.

Lethality gives you 10% more Crit Damage and Frenzy gives you 10% AS after landing a crit. There is no other champion in the game who can benefit from this early like Tryndamere does because of his passive, Battle Fury (gives him 35% Crit at full rage). These two selections are some of the main reasons why he is so strong early.

You can put the remaining 9 points into the Defense tree to get a little bit more base tankiness for our laning phase.

Summoners

 Ignite with the mastery gives you 5 AD and 5 AP which is a big advantage in the early game. Ignite is also useful in tower dives, which you do a lot of as Tryndamere. In the late game, it’s helpful in killing tanks with the true damage and reduced self-healing.

 Ghost is simply the best Summoner Spell you can have.  You can take it over Flash because your E  already offers a gap closer. If someone gets away from you or you’re getting kited, Ghost becomes immensely useful in either getting the kill or preventing it. On Tryndamere, Movement Speed equals damage because you land more basic attacks while chasing enemies.

Tryndamere’s Tools: The Kit

 Battle Fury – Passive

You will get 35% Crit at 100% Fury. keep it up all the time (decays after 8 seconds out of combat). You get 5 Fury for hitting, 10 for critting, and 10 for killing minions, monsters, and champions. This makes you a huge threat early game, but remember it’s still only a chance. The trick is to take advantage of it, but don’t rely on it to win, a very tricky and hard concept to master. In my opinion, this is the strongest passive in the game in terms of early game.

There is a way to “test” your Crit with basic attack canceling. Basic attack canceling means right clicking your target and then pressing the stop attack button (default S). If you get a crit, Tryndamere will start a different attack animation and sound. As long as you don’t switch your target (via mouseover) or use an ability, your crit will be “stored” for 5 seconds. Here’s a video example:

 Bloodlust – Q

Tryndamere gains passive Flat AD (+5 per rank) and AD based on missing health. You can heal yourself depending on how much Fury you have, but always think about it before using Q. You lose all your Fury and the 35% Crit when you heal. Tryndamere is nothing without his Fury and it’s often better to keep it and heal with Life Steal. It takes a lot of experience to figure out when to use it and when not. Generally speaking, only use it if there is no fight about to happen or you can get it back very fast.

 Mocking Shout – W

It’s a simple spell:  if people turn there back on you, it will slow them. Regardless of positioning, it will always decrease the Attack Damage of nearby enemies. People tend to forget about the debuff and only think about the slow, which gives you the unsuspecting upper hand. Use your W even if someone fights you 1v1 to lower his damage; you don’t always need to slow with it.

In team fights, try to sneak from behind and get a slow on the whole enemy team. It’s a huge deal and makes engages a whole lot easier. There’s a helpful trick in checking bushes with this ability because it can only be activated if enemies are near. If you walk to a bush and you can then use Mocking Shout, you know there is at least one enemy in there.

 Spinning Slash – E

Tryndamere’s E allows you to spin in any direction. It does not need a target and you can use it to spin through walls or minions and champions. It’s a great mobility tool to engage or escape or juke. If you get a crit the cooldown of this ability gets reduced by two seconds.

You can use the ability at your position as kind of an in-between, auto-attack filler. To do so, just click it right on Tryndamere’s position and he will spin without moving ahead or behind. It does AoE damage so use it to push and to jungle. Keep in mind it can be cancelled through an enemy’s hook and/or knock-up. If you get stunned while spinning, you will still land on the chosen place.

Note that, interestingly, the speed of the spin scales with Movement Speed, so again, Ghost becomes an even better option.

 Undying Rage – R

On activation of your ultimate, you can’t get below 1 health for 5 seconds (though the activation has a 0.5s delay that can cost your life if you use it too late). Additionally it has a hidden passive where, after the 5 seconds you will always be healed back to ~50HP if you don’t already have that amount of HP. The ult sounds a lot better then it is. Depending on the situation it can be game breaking or useless, and so, I think it’s the hardest ultimate in the game to use in the complete right way.

There are two general ways to use Tryndamere’s ultimate:

• In a 1v1: Use it to tower dive or baiting enemies, trying to survive after a close fight with the passive heal and then the Q heal.
• In team fights: You can’t die, but you can still get CC’d so try to not be the one initiating. Wait for some crow dcontrol to be used before you go in. Also, if you have dots on you, you will probably die, but try not to think about it at all. Most Tryndamere players try to survive with their ultimate in a team fight.

Trying to survive shouldn’t be your first priority. This ultimate is made to take the full 5 seconds to deal insane damage while being unkillable and not running away like a coward. If you end up dying it’s usually fine as long as you dealt a good amount of damage for your team. Stay in the fight and kill everyone so they can’t kill you. Against really high burst teams, use your ultimate at 50%+ if needed.

Skill Order

R > Q > E > W

You start with E to clear a jungle camp early if you want and to win a possible level 1 fight with your opponents. Remember, you can use it for damage by activating it on your position. At level 1, it’s just more damage than Q and good for escaping level 1 campers.

You should take Q at level 3 again cause it gives you an advantage in direct fights with the AD it provides. You max it first cause it gives you the greatest damage boost. Pre-level 4, You don’t need the slow from W to catch enemies as E is enough.

Finally, you max E over W cause it does more damage. You play Tryndamere to win and you win by playing offensive; for Tryndamere, damage beats everything else.

Take R whenever you can cause maxing it decreases the cooldown and playing Tryndamere is a lot about having your ultimate.

Items

Starting Items

Doran’s Blade gives you early game power in the +80HP, +10AD, and passive with 5HP per hit (synergizes nicely with your AS runes). Five health potions gives you some decent sustain in lane; remember use your potions and Life Steal to heal, not your Fury. Don’t get boots cause they are useless in lane and you have E to catch up. You will notice you have 175 gold left, but that’s alright as you don’t need anything else and with 175 left, you can get your next item faster.

Early Game Core

Tryndamere doesn’t need Flat AD items early. You have a lot of AD early with your abilities so it’s better to go AS and MS to land more hits. Life Steal is your defensive stat of choice, and the only one you need.

Mid Game Core

If you have these items, you have hit a power spike for Tryndamere. Cutlass helps you keep up with enemies and prevents kiting. Statikk Shiv is just one of the best items you can get as it gives you insane split push potential. The magic damage from the Ionic Spark can crit which gives Tryndamere the ability to do good damage to enemies stacking armor. And in that case, always go Shiv over Phantom Dancer for Tryndamere.

Late Game Core

Now is the time to add some huge damage. Infinity Edge  gives you +80 AD and, more importantly, it increases your Crit Damge from 200% to 250% (which even counts for Shiv’s magic damage). Combined with the +10% Crit Damage from your masteries, you do 260% Crit Damage.

Last Whisper is your final item. Never buy it before Infinity Edge or else you lose a lot of potential damage, even if they have a lot of armor. After Infinity Edge, the Last Whisper  is always the greatest damage boost even if they don’t have a lot of Armor and allows you to kill tanks pretty fast.

Situational

After finishing your late game core, finish building the Blade of the Ruined King. Don’t ever rush it as it’s only about the active late game. If the game lasts really long, your last item will be Zephyr cause it reduces CC a bit, though it’s still not worth it to get it early. If the enemy team has a heavy single-target CC like Fiddlesticks’ fear, you need Quicksilver Sash. Lastly, if you’re fighting against massive slows, pick up Swiftness for the slow reduction.

Consumables

If you feel like next team fight wins the game, pick up the TT red potion. It’s huge on Tryndamere, granting AD and AS. Always pick it up late, even before your sixth item. It gives +15% damage done to towers which is really helpful in ending games.

Play Style

Laning 1v1

When playing Tryndamere, you always focus on winning your lane. You are not passive; you are hyper aggressive. You force a fight whenever its possible. If your enemy wants a CS,  hit him. If he didn’t learn his lesson, next time, pop your Summoners and kill him. Even against counters, don’t play passive. If u play passive, you’ll lose. Only play passive if there is no other option and then only do so for like two minion. After that go shop and attack again. You have to get aggressive as fast as you can again.

Go to lane and get your Fury up no matter what. If your enemy hits you, you hit him too. At the start of the game, you can take a camp to full Fury when you get to lane, which is awesome for establishing that lane dominance. Now in lane, if you have an opportunity, use your E into some basic attacks to harass or even kill. At level 2, you should always try this combo with Ghost and Ignite for a safe kill.

Again, never use your Q to heal. If you lose Fury, you lose lane. Heal with your Life Steal or potions. Only use it when the next hit or spell kills you or if you can get your Fury back quickly.

If you get harassed in lane, don’t panic. If a mage is casting spells on you, keep hitting minions or even the enemy. Your Life Steal and a potion will keep you up while he loses mana. Even low HP Tryndamere isn’t too bad; remember that Q gives you more AD when you are low HP. Surprise your enemy with that early damage even if you are low HP. You have strong Life Steal, so always get basic attacks on minions and the enemy. Don’t forget that you can use W in a 1v1 where your enemy isn’t even running away. Use the AD debuff as a tool for close fights with AD champions.

Finally, use your R to bait enemies and kill them. You should always try a lot of dives with Tryndamere’s ultimate. Frequent diving takes a lot of experience to do it the right way.

Laning 1v2

To some extent, the 1v1 strategies apply to 1v2 lanes. If you manage to get level 2 before them, engage.This sounds weird but it can work. Here’s an example:

If you can’t get level 2 before them, just farm at your tower. Again, you have good sustain with your Life Steal Quints and your Q. Always watch out for a situation where you can E in and still trade a kill 1v2 or even kill them both, something that takes a lot of experience in regards to the right timing.

Dealing with Ganks

If you can’t be aggressive, use your E as a safety tool.

But, if you want to be a real Tryndamere player, your first thought should be how to still get a kill in a 1v2 or even get a double kill on them. Aggression in a 1v2 will confuse them casue they won’t expect it. Pop ghost and try to kite one of them while killing the other one with basic attacks and Ignite. Tryndamere play is about sending a message:  if you gank me, I will kill both of you.

Team Fights

A Tryndamere in a team fight is something that can go either way. You are able to three-shot everyone within some seconds or you could be CC’d to death without doing anything.

First, don’t be the one to engage or you will have to ult before you even get one hit off. Let your team engage, use W for the debuff and slow if possible, then E on the most vulnerable target. If you have Ghost, pop it before the fight for a faster E and better chasing potential after it. Try to use your R as late as possible (remember the 0.5 second dealy). Keep in mind, there will be some burst teams where you have to use it at 50% or even higher, so just do it; anything is better then dying without ever using your ultimate.

After you used your ultimate, remember that trying to survive should never be your first priority. Damage is more important, killing is more important, and tanking the enemies with your ultimate is more important, not running away. Use the godly 5 seconds to be a monster and an insane threat, not a coward.

While you should always go for the targets with the most damage on the enemy team, don’t force yourself into a situation where you get kited to death. If you can’t reach any enemy threats, attack the front line; it’s better than nothing. With Ignite, you often can score a kill easily on a tank, so just attack something. Generally speaking, everything is better then doing no damage. Just make sure the high damage, enemy threats aren’t able to attack you while you attack the tank. If they come to attack you, use E and make them regret it.