If you’re not having a great time playing against Garen, here are the best counters to take him down and win some free LPs this season.
Image Credits | Riot Games
5 Best Garen Counters
Garen is one of the most popular top lane champions in League of Legends. He not only has a simple and user-friendly kit but he also happens to have great damage output as a Juggernaut, allowing him to carry games while also being a beefy frontline tank.
Compared to other champions, he shines particularly at the lower end of the solo queue ladder since players do not understand how to properly play against him. For that reason, we have decided to make a list of the strongest champions to beat Garen to increase your chances of victory. These are the five best counters for Garen you should be playing this season.
Vayne – The best but also the toughest counter
Vayne is the strongest counter to beat Garen but it’s also the riskiest pick to play. While she does counter Garen entirely with her kit, being a squishy champion, she can be easily punished with repeated ganks. Unless you are mechanically skilled at the champion and have a strong understanding of fundamentals as well as map awareness, this is not the pick you should be considering.
Image Credits | Riot Games
In the right hands, however, Vayne turns into Garen’s biggest nightmare. She can easily harass him with her ranged auto attacks and every time Garen tries to walk up for a trade, Vayne can just knock him back with the E, always drawing enough distance between the two. It’s imperative to abuse Garen during the lane and pick up a few kills if possible. Here are the best tips when playing Vayne against Garen:
Garen will likely run Flash and Ghost in this matchup. Do the same so he cannot chase after you with the Summoners’ spells.
Always use AA-Q-AA combos to apply the W passive and chunk a big part of his health bar.
Play with the minion wave and try to stack multiple waves and crash them at once. While Garen is busy farming under turret, harass him with auto attacks.
Make sure to use the E well before he approaches you with Q. If you get silenced, you will lose half of your health bar since he will be able to connect the E as well.
Get movement speed boots early for better kiting and in case you need to escape from ganks.
Ward the nearby areas and try to track the enemy jungler’s movements to know if he’s coming to punish you.
Read more: Best Champions to carry early game in League
Kayle – Playing slowly and outscale
Kayle is one of the best champions to play into Garen. This is because Kayle can neutralize all of Garen’s attempts at killing her while also scaling well into the late game.
As long as she’s able to not get punished before hitting level six, Kayle will then be able to get harass Garen with her ranged auto attacks and kiting the juggernaut. Even if Garen tries to go for a kill, Kayle can use Divine Judgment on her self to fully block Garen’s ultimate. Later in the game, she can cast it on her allies if he tries to kill other targets:
Kayle struggles the most early on. Don’t engage in trades with Garen and make sure to hit level six as soon as possible, even though it might mean giving up some minion farm.
Use Q’s slow and W’s movement speed bonus to run away if Garen attempts to go for a Q-E combo. Be aware, however, to not run out of mana.
Always run boots early against Garen.
Since you’re looking to kill Garen anyway, get a Cull so you can increase your economy later in the game.
If Garen is stacking waves, make sure to ward surrounding areas to know if the enemy jungler is coming to dive you as well.
Fiora – Skill matchup but in her favor
Even though this is not the most dominant matchup for Fiora, Garen does struggle against Fiora. She has the ability to deal %HP max health as true damage with her passive, as well as having the ability to block his combos with her W, including the ultimate.
Image Credits | Riot Games
Even though Garen is technically strong on short trades, Fiora does an even better job at that, never giving him the chance to fight back.
That said, this matchup is highly dependent on the Fiora player’s ability to time the abilities and play the champion proficiently. Make sure to know well the champion well before jumping into solo queue:
You can both block Garen’s Q and ultimate with the W, but you can only block one ability per combo. Understand which one is more important during every trade and make sure to have good enough reflexes: the timing is slim.
If Garen uses his abilities to trade you, you can trade back with your Q. Otherwise, don’t walk up unless you’re hitting a vital to heal up.
Fiora will outscale anyway so there is no need to trade heavily, especially during the laning phase. Garen will always have a health advantage thanks to his passive.
Read also: Best Darius counters in LoL
Camille – One of the most underrated counters for Garen
Going along the lines of damage-oriented top laners, Camille is another great alternative to beating Garen. Just like Fiora, she scales really well and has no problem dealing with Garen thanks to the true damage coming from her second Q cast.
That said, Camille does struggle a bit more early on. While she has a dash and a slow to run away from Garen’s combos, she will never win 1v1 during the laning phase. If Garen hits the silence on his Q-empowered auto attack, it will prevent her from casting abilities and getting away. This is where strong Camille players make a difference. If you’re proficient at her, you will know how to deal with Garen’s stronger early game. In case you don’t, here are some of the best tips to play her:
Use the second cast of Q to deal true damage on Garen whenever he walks up to farm minions. The same can be done with the W, especially if you need to heal up.
If he tries to cast a Q-E combo on you, make sure you position yourself close to the wall so you can hook to it before the silence comes in and dodge the rest of the combo.
Trade with Garen if you have your passive ready to neutralize a part of the damage.
Camille usually needs at least the Mythic item to really start dealing considerable amounts of damage. Focus on farming and not looking for kills.
Malphite – Want to kill me? Try if you can.
If you’re looking to find a tanky champion to play against Garen, then Malphite is likely one of the best picks out there in LoL. Despite Garen dealing true damage with his ultimate, Malphite is going to be too tanky to take down and Garen won’t be able to snowball.
Image Credits | Riot Games
On top of that, Malphite has a great advantage since he can use his E to lower Garen’s attack speed, which in turn lowers the overall damage coming from his E. The rock champion can predict that whenever Garen wants to approach him for a combo. And if that wasn’t enough, Malphite can constantly poke Garen with his Q and run away from danger with his ultimate.
You won’t be able to kill Garen as Malphite, however, so this matchup is specifically made to neutralize the enemy’s champion rather than beat him:
Run Grasp of the Undying against Garen so you can get maximum health for free whenever he trades with you.
Avoid trading early and stack early armor.
It’s best to max E against Garen so you can further lower his attack speed.
Garen will likely pick up a Hullbreaker to increase his split push potential. Make sure to buy Cinderhulk early so you can clear minion waves faster.
All you have to do is match him on the side lane and join teamfights with your teleport. As long as your team is not heavily behind, you should be able to get easy kills with your ultimate.
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