Galio is a strong anti-mage champion that thrives off of cooperation with his teammates. He is a great utility pick that can be flexpicked into a variety of roles. In this guide, we’ll show you everything you need to know to get you started playing the Colossus of Demacia himself.

Versatility is the word best used to describe Galio’s play style. Apart from being the team’s ADC, Galio can practically be played in any role. He has great crowd control, superb engage skills, and very good wave management capabilities. His damage isn’t exactly the best but it isn’t to scoff at either. Galio shines the brightest when he is called upon to display the immense utility he provides with his kit. This is a champion that can drastically turn the tides of a losing team fight and rally his team to victory. 

Abilities

Galio’s kit consists of many areas of effect abilities that make him very valuable during a team fight.

Passive – Colossal Smash

Every few seconds, Galio’s next basic attack deals magic damage to nearby enemies.

This ability is pretty straightforward. Every few seconds, Galio will deal additional damage to nearby enemies. You can use this for trading when playing in Top, Mid, or even as a Support.

Q – Winds of War

Galio fires two wind blasts that deal magic damage. When the wind blasts meet, they combine into a giant tornado that deals magic damage (max 150 vs. monsters) over 2 seconds.

This is Galio’s primary damaging ability. Winds of War is a great way to clear minion waves or to simply deal damage to enemy units. Try to land it on an enemy champion for best effect.

W – Shield of Durand

Passive: After not taking damage for 12 seconds Galio gains a shield that absorbs magic damage.

First Cast: Galio starts to charge, gaining Damage Reduction from Magic Damage and half of that amount as Damage Reduction from Physical. While charging, Galio slows himself by 15%.

Second Cast: Galio taunts nearby enemies for 0.5 – 1.5 seconds, deals magic damage, and refreshes the Damage Reduction for 2 seconds. Taunt duration, damage, and radius increase with charge time.

This is arguably the most important ability in Galio’s kit. This has a long cooldown so make it count whenever you are going to use it and try to catch as many enemies as possible. The passive shield is pretty nice too. 

E – Justice Punch

Galio lunges forward with a mighty blow, dealing magic damage to enemies and knocking them into the air for 0.75 seconds. Galio will stop upon hitting a champion or terrain. Deals half damage to non-champions.

Justice Punch is Galio’s gap closer. You’ll mostly be using it to engage enemies and try to set up targets for follow up crowd control. You can also use it defensively to get away from enemies trying to gank you. Keep in mind that this ability cannot go through walls.

R – Hero’s Entrance

Galio designates an allied champion’s current position as his landing spot, granting allied champions on it Shield of Durand’s passive shield for 5 seconds. When Galio lands, enemies in the area take magic damage and are knocked into the air for 0.75 seconds.

Galio’s ultimate is the aptly named Hero’s Entrance and boy does he really make an entrance. This ability allows Galio to jump towards an ally’s location and knock all enemy targets up into the air. It has a semi global range which means that Galio can instantly turn an ally’s demise into a numbers advantage with the press of a button.

Runes and Item Builds

For items, we’ll mostly focus on Galio in the Mid Lane since this is where he is most used in the current meta. You should prioritize items that give you ability power, utility, and a bit of survivability.

Starting Items

For your starting items, go with Doran’s Ring and a couple of Health Potions. This is the best start as it gives Galio everything he needs to make it out of the laning phase. If you feel like you’ll need more sustain or feel like you’ll be going against a champion that will trade aggressively, go with Corrupting Potion instead.

Mythic Items

For your Mythic, you have two choices. Both of them are really great and whichever you choose ultimately boils down to your preference. The first option is Everfrost. This gives you ability power, health, mana, and ability haste. Plus, it has an active that will let you root enemy targets. Go for this item when you feel like your team needs crowd control. On the other hand, you have Hextech Rocketbelt. This gives your kit additional mobility and damage thanks to its active dash. Having this Mythic will allow you to play more aggressively since you can either save the dash from this or the dash from Justice Punch in case you go in way too deep.

Full Build

After purchasing your desired Mythic, it is time to upgrade to tier 2 boots. For the most part, you should strive to go for Mercury’s Treads since you’ll mostly be going against mages in the Mid Lane. Next, you’ll need Zhonya’s Hourglass for the ability power and stasis active. Demonic Embrace is right up there as well to help you against tankier targets. Since you’ll be a secondary frontliner for your team, you’ll need Banshee’s Veil for the passive spell shield that can potentially protect you from lethal bursts or crowd control. Top off your build with Rabadon’s Deathcap for even more damage. 

Other Viable Items

There are tons of other items you can use on Galio depending on your situation. We highly encourage you to check out the items pictured above so that you can get a better understanding of the game and know when to use them. Otherwise, you can stick with the recommended full build we have on this guide. 

Runes

For your runes, go with the Resolve tree and take Aftershock as your keystone. This will increase your resistances and lets you deal a bit more damage whenever you go in to engage an enemy. Next, take Shield Bash to give you bonus damage whenever your shield is up, Bone Plating for more durability, and Unflinching to help you stick to your targets better. For your secondaries, take Nimbus Cloak and Transcendence from the Sorcery tree. Nimbus Cloak gives you bonus move speed right after using a summoner spell while Transcendence improves your ability haste. For rune shards, take Ability Haste, Adaptive Force, and Armor.

Useful Tips

1. You can actually use the minimap ally icons to target which of them you’re going to use Hero’s Entrance on. It’s a pretty handy trick that can save you a lot of time while also being a bit more precise with who you target.
2. Galio doesn’t have many counters for the most part but is weak against champions with a lot of burst and can kill his mobility. Champions like Zed, Lux, Ryze, and Veigar are some of his biggest counters.
3. For summoner spells, always take Flash and Teleport so that you can easily move around the map.

So there you have it! That’s all you need to know about playing Galio in League of Legends. Be sure to check back with us again for more awesome guides on your favorite games. Have fun and we’ll see you on the Rift!