Ever thought of playing a champion with the same kind of damage output as an ADC but in melee range? Do you like proactive champions that can snowball uncontrollably with the smallest of leads? Then you came to the right place! In this guide, we’ll show you everything you need to know to get you started playing Tryndamere, the Barbarian King.

Tryndamere is a tricky champion to play yet his mechanics are very simple. All you need to do is to get close to your target and hit them with your basic attacks. You literally play him like an ADC but with more focus on his macromechanics. That said, Tryndamere is a versatile champion that can play up to three roles. He is at his best when securing early leads so that he can acquire his items sooner. Once he snowballs, he can be quite oppressive allowing very little counterplay to his kit. On the other hand, if he falls behind, Tryndamere can still be very powerful as a split pusher. His mobility and ability to stay alive makes him a strong split pusher that can pressure a lot of lanes at once. This can lead to backdoor opportunities and essentially force a win for his team. To top it all off, Tryndamere doesn’t need mana as a resource to cast his abilities. 

Abilities

Tryndamere’s kit is all about staying alive. His sustain is really good and his overall mechanics work really well when paired with attack speed and crit items.

Passive – Battle Fury

Tryndamere gains Fury for each attack, critical strike, and killing blow he makes. Fury passively increases his Critical Strike Chance per Fury and can be consumed with his Bloodlust spell. 

This is the core of Tryndamere’s kit. Battle Fury is what makes him viable in a lot of lanes and what makes him a good carry with incredible sustain. Instead of having mana, Tryndamere gains Fury which he can consume either to heal himself or retain just to increase his Critical Strike Chance. Knowing when to consume or retain is a big factor that you must understand and get the hang of when playing this champion.

Q – Bloodlust

Passive: Tryndamere thirsts for blood, gaining Attack Damage.

Active: Tryndamere consumes his Fury, restoring Health per Fury consumed.

This is Tryndamere’s primary source of sustain. Bloodlust works two ways; its passive part increases his Attack Damage, while its active part restores his health. As we’ve mentioned before, knowing when to consume and retain his Fury is key to mastering this champion. Apart from that, Bloodlust is a pretty simple ability that requires no deeper knowledge.

W – Mocking Shout

Decreases surrounding champions’ Attack Damage for 4 seconds, and enemies with their backs turned also have their Movement Speed reduced for 4 seconds.

Mocking Shout is Tryndamere’s only source of crowd control. The slow is pretty good and allows him to catch up or stick to targets attempting to flee. The Attack Damage reduction is also pretty good and helps Tryndamere get stronger as a duelist.

E – Spinning Slash

Tryndamere spins through his enemies, dealing physical damage to enemies in his path and generating Fury. Spinning Slash’s cooldown is reduced by 1 second whenever Tryndamere critically strikes. This reduction is increased to 2 seconds against champions.

Spinning Slash is a good source of mobility and damage for Tryndamere. It can go through thin walls and terrain making it effective as an escape tool as well as an engage tool. It deals pretty good damage but you’ll mostly be using this to catch up to targets or get away from enemies.

R – Undying Rage

Tryndamere becomes completely immune to death for 5 seconds, refusing to be reduced below a Health threshold and instantly gaining Fury.

This is a pretty strong ability on a champion like Tryndamere. This champion literally just flat out refuses to die and can continue living for 5 seconds while gaining Fury that he can use to deal damage or consume to live another day. There’s lots of outplay potential with this ability and like his Fury mechanic, you better learn and understand how critical timing is when using this ability.

Runes and Item Builds

For your items, you’ll need a decent mix of attack speed, raw damage, and critical strike chance to make the most out of this champion. Basically, you somehow build him like a typical ADC but with a bit more room for other aspects like durability.

Starting Items

Since Tryndamere can be played either in a lane or in the Jungle, he has a fair choice of starting items to choose from. If playing in the Top or Mid Lane, the go to start is a Doran’s Blade and a Health Potion. This gives you sustain and damage early on. However, if you find yourself in a losing matchup, you can go ahead and go for Cull instead to help you farm minions. If playing in the Jungle, you can go with either Emberknife or Hailblade. Personally, we’d rather go with Emberknife since Tryndamere excels at dueling and already has an ability that can apply slow to the enemies. 

Mythic Items

For your Mythic items, you will go for what a typical ADC uses. The best options for Tryndamere are either Galeforce or Kraken Slayer. Both of these items give him everything he needs: damage, attack speed, and critical strike chance. So what you choose should really depend on your preference. Galeforce gives you more mobility and allows you to move around your target a little more. Kraken Slayer gives you more damage and increases your DPS. If you were to ask us, the safe choice would be Galeforce.

Full Build

Tryndamere is a champion that doesn’t really need to rush his Mythic item. What he needs early on is a quick burst of attack speed. What can help him get there is immediately upgrading his tier 2 boots. In this case, it would be Berserker’s Greaves. Then he purchases his Mythic. After doing so, his next item would be Navori Quickblades. This gives him attack damage, critical strike chance, ability haste, and makes his critical strikes reduce the cooldown of his other abilities. Next, go with Infinity Edge. This item is the go to if you want to increase both your damage and critical strike chance. Next, you’ll need a Serylda’s Grudge for the damage, armor penetration, ability haste, and slowing effect on your abilities. Finish off your build with a Guardian Angel for more damage and survivability.

Other Viable Items

There’s plenty of options when it comes to other viable items on Tryndamere. Basically, if it can give him attack damage, attack speed, or both, you can find a way for him to use it. Try to familiarize yourself with the items pictured above to get a better understanding of these items so that you’ll know when to use them.

Runes

For your runes, go with the Precision tree and take Lethal Tempo as your keystone. This lets you have more attack speed when attacking a target while also temporarily letting you bypass the attack speed threshold. Next, take Triumph for the sustain, Legend: Alacrity for the attack speed, and Last Stand to allow you to deal more damage when you’re low on health. For secondaries, take Second Wind and Unflinching from the Resolve tree. These will give you additional sustain as well as letting you stick to your targets better. For your rune shards, take Attack Speed, Adaptive Force, and Armor.

Useful Tips

1. Tryndamere really thrives on the timing of his Q and his R. Bloodlust and Undying Rage are very powerful abilities that you need to get the hang of. Fortunately, they’re very forgiving so you have enough room to mess up and come back to figure out where you went wrong.
2. Tryndamere is countered by champions like Aatrox, Renekton, Volibear, Sett, and Darius. When you see these champions matching up against you in the game, try to rethink your strategy and focus on other targets that you can take out.
3. For summoner spells, take Flash and Teleport when playing in a lane. This will allow you to split push later on. If playing in the Jungle, swap out Teleport for Smite. This will let you clear Jungle camps faster while also letting you secure objectives like Baron or Dragon.

So there you have it! That’s all you need to know about playing Tryndamere 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!