Interested in playing a champion who is strong 1v1 and even stronger during team fights? In this guide, we’ll show you how you can get started playing the Monkey King, Wukong.

Wukong is one of those champions with immense solo carry potential thanks to his great mix of damage, crowd control, tankiness, and mobility. His hard engage makes him a very disruptive presence during team fights and his mechanics are really fun to play. Overall, if you’re looking for a strong bruiser who can be pretty tanky but still deals a lot of damage, Wukong is an excellent pick that’ll fit your needs.

Champion Abilities

Wukong’s kit is designed in a way that makes him succeed in longer, sustained fights. He rewards players for weaving in and out of combat through well executed combos. So if you’re playing as Wukong, it’s best to go all in every time you’re in a fight. 

Passive – Stone Skin

Wukong gains bonus Armor and health regeneration per 5 seconds. These bonuses are increased by 50% every time Wukong or his decoy hit an enemy champion or a monster, stacking up to 10 times.

Wukong’s passive is what makes him damn near unkillable during team fights. It’s also because of this why he tends to do better the longer a fight goes on. 

Q – Crushing Blow

Wukong and his clone’s next attack gains bonus range, deals additional physical damage, and removes a percentage of the target’s armor for 3 seconds. This ability’s cooldown is reduced by 0.5 seconds every time Wukong or his clone hit an enemy with an attack or ability.

This is Wukong’s main trading ability. It works as an auto attack reset so it’s great for taking out a chunk of your opponent’s health. It also procs spellblade passives from Sheen items so the on-hit damage boosts its power.

W – Warrior Trickster

Wukong dashes and becomes invisible for 1 second, leaving behind a stationary clone for 3.25 seconds. The clone attacks nearby enemies Wukong has recently damaged and will mimic his ultimate, each dealing a percentage of his normal damage.

A great escape and engage tool. This ability allows wukong to essentially deal double damage whenever he attacks his opponents. Not only that, the clone will mimic Wukong’s ultimate so he would absolutely wreak havoc against enemies during a team fight.

E – Nimbus Strike

Wukong dashes to an enemy, sending out clones that mimic the dash up to 2 additional enemies nearby. Each enemy struck takes magic damage. He and his clone gain bonus attack speed for 5 seconds.

This is Wukong’s primary gap closer. Nothing too special about it. The bonus attack speed is really good as it ups your DPS.

R – Cyclone

Wukong gains 20% move speed and spins his staff, knocking up nearby enemies for 0.6 seconds and deals physical damage over 2 seconds. This ability can be cast a second time within 0.5 seconds before going on cooldown.

The AoE crowd control from this ability can help turn a lot of fights, whether its team fight or a solo fight, in your favor. It has great damage too and you can use it more than once in a team fight. Use this in conjunction with Warrior Trickster so that your clone will mimic the ability as well.

Runes and Item Builds

There are plenty of builds and rune sets you can go with when playing as Wukong. He benefits from items that enhance his damage and increase his tankiness.

Starting Items

When it comes to starting items, you have two choices. When you’re against a ranged opponent, you should start with a Doran’s Shield and a Health Potion. This will help you survive when they try to poke you down when you farm. Otherwise, start with a Corrupting Potion. This gives you great sustain early on and bonus damage when trading against an opponent.

Mythic Items

Wukong likes to duel a lot so when choosing your Mythic Item, you need to go with something that enhances his damage or increases his sustain. The best Mythic Item for Wukong is Divine Sunderer. Its spellblade passive that deals bonus damage based on the target’s max health is very powerful in the top lane where you’ll be matching up against tanks and bruisers. The health it gives you also makes you more durable. If you feel like you need more damage, you can go for a Trinity Force instead. It also has a spellblade passive but without the percent health damage and the tank stats. If you need more sustain since you’re your team’s only frontline, you can take a Goredrinker instead to help you soak damage and restore health during team fights.

Full Build

After you’ve purchased your Mythic Item, the next thing you should purchase is a Black Cleaver. The damage and health plus its passive can help you shred through your enemies easier. For boots, build either Plated Steelcaps if against an AD opponent or Mercury’s Treads if you’re against an AP heavy comp. Next, build a Sterak’s Gage for the health, shield, and damage then a Chempunk Chainsword for its anti-healing properties. Finish off your build with a Guardian Angel for additional survivability.

Other Viable Items

Most bruiser items are viable on Wukong and can be interchanged with some of his items depending on the situation. Ravenous Hydra is a great item on Wukong if you need additional wave clear and sustain. Death’s Dance is also a great alternative for an item like Sterak’s Gage since it also increases your survivability. Try out different builds on Wukong to see what works best for you.

Runes

For runes, go with Precision as your primary tree then take Conqueror as your keystone. Since Wukong is great in extended fights, Conqueror would increase his damage and sustain the longer it goes on. Next, Triumph for the additional sustain, Legend: Alacrity for more attack speed, and Last Stand for more damage when you’re low on health which is pretty handy in 1v1 scenarios. For your secondaries, take Bone Plating and Overgrowth from the Resolve tree. Both of these runes increase your overall durability so that you’ll last longer during team fights. For rune shards, take Attack Speed, Adaptive Force, and Armor.

Useful Tips

1. Warrior Trickster is great for confusing and playing mind games with your opponents. Try to use it near a brush for a quick escape or to catch your opponent off guard. If you’re feeling confident, you can stand still and pretend that you’re a clone to trick your opponents into walking up to you.
2. Wukong is weak against champions who can match his sustain or outlast him longer during a fight. Tanks like Tahm Kench or Volibear can counter him hard especially if he falls behind. It would be a good idea to ban some of these champions before you even face them.
3. For your summoner spells, take Flash and Teleport. If you want to play aggressive, you can swap out Teleport with Ignite. If you’re really confident with your mastery over Wukong, you can take a risk and go for Teleport and Ignite instead. 

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