Skill usage Edit

•  Mana Barrier can be a great source of survivability if itemized for, and its low cooldown ensures it is almost always up for skirmishes.
  • Do not rely on  Mana Barrier in the laning phase, due to Blitzcrank's low base mana and high costs.
  • During a gank/fight, consider conserving your mana, to increase the effectiveness of  Mana Barrier.
•  Rocket Grab is Blitzcrank's signature skill, with immense utility when used well.
  •  Rocket Grab has a distinctive cast sound; try casting it out of enemy sight to avoid them hearing it.
  • Aim your shots from unexpected angles to increase their chances of landing, such as through an enemy minion about to die.
  • Blitzcrank can allow your team to invade the enemy jungle at the start of the match due to the threat you pose with  Rocket Grab.
  • With perfect warding placement at your enemies tribush or jungle,  Rocket Grab can be used to steal, or to get a kill with your team mates.
  • Avoid hitting certain champions that would benefit from getting pulled into your team as a free initiation, such as Amumu, Galio, or Karthus.
• At level 2,  Rocket Grab and  Power Fist's crowd control can easily help your lane get kills. You can also use this combination to punish enemies who towerdive.
• Use  Overdrive to get Blitzcrank on top of priority targets to lock them down with  Power Fist.
•  Static Field's passive damage is deceptively high over the course of a fight, so try to not use the active until necessary.
  • You will want to use  Static Field's active when you can hit most of the enemy team, when the silence is needed to interrupt an enemy channeled spell, or when it can finish off a foe.
• Blitzcrank players will generally want to max their  Overdrive and  Power Fist as priorities;  Rocket Grab does its job at rank 1 by pulling enemies into Blitzcrank's melee range, where his other two basic abilities make him very difficult to escape.
  • If your team has long-range crowd control such as Morgana's  Dark Binding, it can sometimes pay off to put points into  Rocket Grab to greatly increase the damage, as well as a much-desired cooldown decrease.
  • As support you will want to either max  Rocket Grab or  Overdrive first.  Rocket Grab should be maxed for shorter cooldowns and higher damage, and  Overdrive should be maxed if you need to move faster. Maxing  Overdrive first means you can skip boots early, and go for your GP/10 items faster. Maxing  Power Fist on support Blitzcrank is almost useless, since you won't build AD, and it only shortens the cooldown.
• When playing support Blitzcrank against a squishy bot laner or a bot laner with low CC, you can walk up to the enemy AD carry or support instead of initiating with  Rocket Grab. This can be done by activating  Overdrive and using  Power Fist when you are in range of your target. Then when your target tries to escape, use  Rocket Grab to pull the target back in. This is almost always a secure kill, or at least a force of the enemy's summoner spells. When you do this, make sure your AD carry follows up. If your AD carry doesn't go in with you, you will most likely lose the trade and maybe even die.
• If you know that an enemy champion plans to dodge your  Rocket Grab with Flash or a dash ability, activate  Static Field to silence them before grabbing.

Build usage Edit

• Stacking mana with items like Manamune and Frozen Heart will increase the effectiveness of his  Mana Barrier.
• Blitzcrank can be effective at tank, DPS, and support roles. A tank should get items that give mana and survivability, a DPS should get Manamune and Sheen (and later a Trinity Force, Iceborn Gauntlet ), and a support should get cooldown reduction to put out as much crowd control as possible.
  • Building Blitzcrank as a support consider getting Mikael's Crucible as it will moderately boost your supporting capabilities.
• Manamune synergizes with Blitzcrank extremely well. It increases his attack damage, and the potential 1000 mana increases the effectiveness of  Mana Barrier. This item is universal in nearly every Blitzcrank build.
  • Muramana's toggle affects the passive portion of  Static Field - each bolt deals bonus damage and consumes mana.
    • While increasing your DPS this can also quickly deplete your mana lowering the strength of your  Mana Barrier.
  • Alternatively, Manamune can be replaced with Archangel's Staff and on an AP/Tank hybrid with other AP + HP items such as Rod of Ages and Rylai's Crystal Scepter.
• Sheen, and later Trinity Force can greatly increase the damage output of Blitzcrank's standard combo, as well as increase the strength of his  Power Fist and  Mana Barrier.
• Frozen Heart and Banshee's Veil are great items for a Tanky-Support Blitzcrank, as they provide mana for your Manamune and  Mana Barrier. This gives increased survivability (from the armor, magic resistance, and synergy with  Mana Barrier), decent amounts of attack damage, and helpful cooldown reduction.
• Since Blitzcrank has trouble farming for gold, Aegis of the Legion can be used as a cheap and effective way to increase his survivability and usefulness to his team, especially if he's being built as a tanky-support role.

Recommended items Edit

Summoner's Rift recommended items
Starting
Essential
Offensive
Defensive
Consumables

The Proving Grounds recommended items
Starting			3
Essential
Offensive
Defensive
Consumables

The Crystal Scar recommended items
Starting			2
Essential
Offensive
Defensive
Consumables

The Twisted Treeline recommended items
Starting			2
Essential
Offensive
Defensive
Consumables

Countering Edit

• Staying behind minions is a great way to protect yourself against Blitzcrank's  Rocket Grab during the laning phase.
  • It is possible to dodge a  Rocket Grab by moving perpendicular to the extended arm as it launches, causing it to miss you.
• Be wary of Blitzcrank's location when he is in the bushes. He will more than likely try to initiate with  Rocket Grab.
  • Grabbing a ward for vision in the brush counters this tactic well.
• When fighting a support Blitzcrank, his damage will be much lower than his allied AD carry. Don't be afraid to force a fight if he has used  Rocket Grab and/or  Power Fist recently.
• Be careful not to over-commit when attacking Blitzcrank. He will gain shield through his  Mana Barrier when his health gets low. This can either result in Blitzcrank managing to escape from or kill you.
  • The best way to counter this is to wait until he drains his mana through his spells.
  • If you see Blitzcrank has low mana, try to go after him. He only gains a shield equal to 50% of his current mana.
• Some bottom picks, such as Ezreal, Taric or Sivir effectively counter Blitzcrank by being able to avoid or block his  Rocket Grab or by being tankier and harder hitting than he is; study what champions counter and suffer against Blitzcrank to better your laning phase.
• Save your channeled spells as  Static Field will briefly silence you and end your channeled spell.
• Beware of Blitzcrank trying to bait you. Be sure you know his  Mana Barrier is not up before you chase him down.
• Champions that can poke well without putting themselves in much danger, such as Varus or Caitlyn are able to harass while being considerably safer from  Rocket Grab than others.
• When Blitzcrank goes for an unexpected grab, usually his allies are close by. Use this to your advantage and have teammates purposefully get pulled and have teammates follow the initiate as usually the enemies swarm the person getting grabbed.

Champion Spotlight Edit