Creating in depth Guides and Theroycrafting non stop !

Introduction

Hello friends !

Dkas/Valhallas Blade here.

I have spend countless hours through the years to Theorycraft and write Guides. Only recently have I released a very in-depth guide about Shyvana-Top lane. I really liked to work on it, it took me a good month to get it going and I had a lot of fun while doing so.

It is currently set to private, due to the fact that I haven't updated it in a couple of months and I'd rather not keep something unpolished and online just for the sake of it.

A couple things you should know about me.

I am 21 years old, born in Germany, raised in Greece, moved back to Germany-Nürnberg about two years ago.

I have been playing league since Urgot release.

My rating for each season

Season 1 - 1400 Elo ( Silver)

Season 2 - 1648 Elo ( Gold )

Season 3 - Low Challenger

Season 4 - Diamond 1

Season 5 - Platinum 5 (I enrolled the Army and moved to Germany the same year, no time to play)

Season 6 - Still going

I speak fluent English, German, Greek and have a bit of grammatical knowledge in all of those language.

I want to do an IT internship, due to financial hardship this is currently a dream that is set into the future, but is not forgotten.

Enough about me ! Let's move the juicy stuff;

Table of Content

Summoner Spells ( #Summoners)

Runes ( #Runes )

Masteries ( #Masteries)

Abilites ( #Abilities )

Items ( #Items )

Matchups ( #Matchups )

Something not related to Olaf but very important ( #potato)

Pink Wards ( #Pink )

Stream ( #Stream )

A couple disclaimers

English is not my first language. I try to keep my grammar as clean as possible, with that said, I am sure that there will be a typo here and there or a sentence that is grammatically incorrect, bare with me.

P.s. : I apologize in advance.

To make it easier, I will chain several of my sections with key-words. Press "Ctrl+F"and use those to navigate through the page.I will post the full meaning of all the abbreviations at the bottom ( Type #Abbre )

This guide will assume that you know the basics of laning, wave management, power spikes etc. etc. There will be links in the bottom with small guides on each, that I made, if you are unsure. ( Type #Links0 )

Abilities ( #Abilities )

Passive

This passive is nothing insane, yet still very effective.

It has good synergy with the way Olaf is being build and works in harmony with his Vicious Strike and Reckless Swing, to make those "an Eye for an Eye" moments amusing.

Your bread and butter skill.

This is Olaf's trademark ability. With a bit of cooldown reduction you can spam this even at level one, resulting into a surprise First Blood if the enemy doesn't pay attention.

We will always max Undertow first. The cooldown reduction, flat damage and the AD scaling are just way too good to pass on.

You can shorten the range by throwing the axe onto a wall. This will let you pick up the axe quicker, thus lowering the cooldown much sooner. I use this often when I try to clear camps.

A life saver in clutch situations. The attack speed and life steal gained during the duration of it are insane, considering that Berserker Rage adds up to it as well.

The mana cost is at all levels 30. It's rare that we will run out of mana for it.

Probably one of the most straight forward skills that exist in League.

The best part about it, since it is true damage it will go through the damage reduction of Exhaust.
You can last hit minions as well, it refunds the cost if you kill the minion.

Ragnarok is just insane.

It's the reason we run Armor penetration in our rune page. The Active doesn't only ignore every form of CC, it gives you 40/60/80 AD while active. At level six this is a free B.F Sword.

Skill Order :

Q > E > W and R whenever available.

This, in my opinion, is the most efficient way of leveling up Olaf's skills.

Runes ( #Runes)

There are a lot of viable rune setups for Olaf, they vary depending on how the player indents to play him.

There are runes that are meant to enhance his early game, to make him a stronger duelist pre-six. Runes that have synergy with his ultimate to give his power spike that certain extra, and runes that will help him scale into a mid-late game tank that will be there to peel or cause havoc in the back line of the enemy team.

Rune pages will come with their own Mastery page and build. Fervor is going to be the Keystone we are going to use the most. Depending on our desired method of playing we are going to have various small tweaks for it, though.

Let's start with my favorite rune page.

Armor Penetration Page ( #RunePage 1 )

This Rune page is all about that sweet level six power spike. Olaf gets an insane amount of 40 AD at level six. Combined with the Armor penetration runes, the continuous use of his Undertow and Fervor, you gain a lot of gold efficiency for the next six seconds in addition to the kill potential you oppose towards most of your enemies.
.

Marks: Armor Penetration ( x9 )
Seals: Armor ( x9 )
Glyphs: Magic resist/Cooldown reduction ( x9 )
Quintessence: Attack Damage ( x3 )

Note: You can swap out Magic resist for Cooldown reduction if the enemy is AD heavy ( e.g Riven )

( Type #Mastery1 to see the Mastery page that goes along with this rune page )

Attack Damage page ( #RunePage2 )

If you are facing enemies that have a weak early game, basically can't retaliate properly because of huge CD windows or just scale better with level/items/time ( Nautilus for example), you can use this page to be more dominant in lane and force them to be defensive/ zone them.

Marks: Attack Damage ( x9 )
Seals: Armor ( x9 )
Glyphs Magic Resist/Cooldown reduction ( x 9)
Quintessence: Armor ( x2) Attack Damage (x1 )

Note: You can swap out Magic resist for Cooldown reduction if the enemy is AD heavy .

I get two armor Quintessence and one Attack damage because I find it to be a bit too much

in terms of Armor, so I rather add a bit more AD to it.

( Type #Mastery2 to see the Mastery page that goes along with this rune page )

Scaling Tank page ( #RunePage3 )

If you are packed with Damage, then there is no need to overdo it. You can easily turn into a peeler for your carries or an annoyance for your enemy. Both work. You still can trade in lane, and still have kill potential, but you won't be able to single-handedly carry it, unless you get very ahead.

It relies on you to trust your carries to do their job. I rarely use this page for this exact reason but if you have confidence in your party, in case you are queuing as one, then you can be the fundamentals for your composition that will hold your team together.

Marks: Attack Damage ( x9 )
Seals: Health per Level ( x9 )
Glyphs: Magic Resist/Magic Resist per Level ( x9 )
Quintessence: Armor ( x3 )

Note: I still keep Attack Damage Marks, not swapping them for Armor, so that you can trade with the enemy and have an easier time last hitting.

If you are facing an AD heavy Champion it's good to swap out Magic Resist for Magic Resist

per level to get bulkier in the mid game without wasting the numbers on an enemy that won't care.

( Type #Mastery3 to see the Mastery page that goes along with this rune page)

Masteries ( #Masteries )

Fervor and Grasp is what we are going to be using on Olaf.

Fervor is too good to pass on, you can stack it effortless with your kit. Your passive helps you apply and use it a lot more in sticky situations, and sometimes it's the deciding factor of winning or losing an all out.

Olaf is a Champion that you need to get a feeling for, his skill cap isn't high but his efficiency rises with the confidence of the user. Fervor is a big part of this, so, I highly recommend to get into some normal games and do a couple all ins here and there to get a feeling for him.

Grasp is what I pick against lanes that I will probably lose, might have a hard time against ( e.g. Illaoi

) or when my team is stacked with carries, that scale really well into mid-late game ( e.g Nocturne, Vayne, Brand )

Fervor pathing that emphasized on the Armor penetration page

( #Mastery1 )

FEROCITY

Fury vs Sorcery :

I prefer Sorcery over fury. While Olaf benefits from AA, his bread and butter mechanic is his Undertow. The 4% Attack speed that you get from Fury won't really matter. Olaf's Vicious Strike is more than enough to boost your Attack speed if needed.

Double Edged Sword vs Feast vs Expose Weakness :

We are aggressive Vikings, the only plausible choice is Double Edged Sword here. We want to dominate the lane, not make friends. Due to Vicious Strike, and how often it is accessible, we won't be needing Feast. Since the enemy is going to be dead most of the time, Exposed Weakness isn't necessary at all.

Vampirism vs Natural Talent :

The Armor penetration rune page is here to give us an edge once we hit six. We have a lot of kill potential in lane, that doesn't change the fact that there are a couple of picks ( e.g. Darius ) that have better base stats than us. We want to survive the lane if that is the case, until we reach six, so, to recover from hefty trades we are going to use Vampirism with Vicious Strike.

Natural Talent is picked in our other setup. More to that later.

Bounty Hunter vs Oppressor :

Bounty Hunter is tempting but Oppressor is something we can't pass on. It has good synergy with our main tool, Undertow, which amplifies out damage by a lot.

Battering Blows vs Piercing Thoughts :

Battering Blows. We are a Viking not a Wizard.

Warlord's Bloodlust vs Fervor of Battle vs Deathfire Touch :

Warlod's works with Olaf but we lose too much kill potential for sustain we don't really need. I rather go with Fervor.

If Olaf had two Magic Wands instead of Axes I would think again about Deathfire Touch.. maybe.

RESOLVE

Recovery vs Unyielding :

Like in Vampirism vs Natural Talent, we focus on sustain with this one to get us through the lane against tough enemies, so, Recovery it is.

Explorer vs Tough Skin :

Top lane has a lot of trading and a lot of AA. Over all, Tough skin is going to save you a bit of HP in the long run so I prefer it over Explorer.

Runic Armor vs Veteran's Scar :

For the Armor penetration rune page I will get Runic Armor, for the same reason as Vampirism and Recovery. Veteran's Scar will be used with the other rune page. More to that later.

Insight vs Perseverance :

Regardless of sustain, that is good for our setup, you can pick either of those two. I currently run Insight but Perseverance is fine, too.

Fervor pathing that emphasizes on early strength ( #Mastery2 )

FEROCITY

I will note the changes since the page is more or less the same, except the minor tweaks.

We pick Natural Talent over Vampirism to gain a small boost in AD. Since this page is meant to be used against champions that can't retaliate properly, Vicious Strike will be enough to sustain you.

RESOLVE

We get Unyielding instead of Recovery to be more beefy, to mitigate the incoming damage from our opponent.

In addition to that change, we swap Runic Armor with Veteran's Scar for the same reason as above.

Here is a Picture of each, showing the difference, to give you a better understanding of what we change.

Attack Damage page and respective Masteries

Armor Penetration page and respective Masteries

Grasp of the Undying ( #Mastery3 )

FEROCITY

I am using the same path as our Armor Penetration page ( see at #Mastery1 )

RESOLVE

Until we reach Swiftness/Legendary Guardian Everything is the same as in #Mastery1

Swiftness vs Legendary Guardian :

Swiftness is very good for most melee Champions, due to Ragnarok, though, we will be opting for Legendary Guardian. In a 5 vs 5 Olaf gets a free Cloth Armor and almost a Null-Magic Mantle on top of that.

Grasp of the Undying vs Strength of Ages vs Bond of Stone :

Grasp of the Undying is what I prefer. With the amount of health that we are going to build, in addition to Vicious Strike, you will be hard to kill in an 1 vs 1 with most bruisers and tanks.

Summoner Spells ( #Summoners )

Above are pictured the Summoner spells, that in my opinion, Olaf can use. The other remaining spells aren't of use, so I won't mention them.

Flash :

I pick flash when; My enemy top laner is ranged. A ranged top laner has plenty of time to retaliate if I use Ghost, due to how telegraphic it is, so picking Flash still gives me the surprise effect of when I decide to do an all in.

To add to this:

You can perform a quick execute when your enemy is low on health.

You throw your Undertow, flash at the same time, land an AA and finish him off with Reckless Swing.

In the below abomination of a wanna be .gif ( I fucked up with the Quality, forgive me ) you can get an idea of what I am trying to depict above.

( For some reason it came out rather stiff and not as smooth as I wanted it to be.. guess setting it up while doing it naturally are too different for me )

Another occasion of me picking flash is; When the enemy team has the ability to create artificial terrain. Rather self explanatory as to why. Even with Ragnarok, you sadly don't turn into the Kool-Aid man, and look rather silly staring at the wall while having 500-800 MS.

Ignite :

Ignite is a possible choice if you are very confident in your kill potential. I Prefer the utility I get from Teleport so I never pick Ignite. I would see myself opting for it if I had to deal with something like Volibear or Mundo, to

Ghost :

In 8 out of 10 games I pick Ghost.

It helps me stick to my target, works well with the 1 Second of movement speed boost I get from Ragnarok to get myself going, and the best part is, it has a 2 minutes lower Cooldown than Flash.

I can burn my Ghost for an all in, make my enemy use up Flash, possibly catch up to him because my Ghost lasts for 10 seconds ( Don't forget about our Undertow ), and at the end I am still going to have my Ghost up before he is going to have his Flash.

To increase the value of our Ghost, we can build Lucidity Boots. More to that in the Build Section.

( #Build1 )

Exhaust :

If you are afraid of Fiora and Riven, Exhaust is here to help you out. I barely use it, like, never. It is viable, you can use it, it lowers the Armor ( and Magic resist ) of your opponent by 10 and will help you mitigate the burst of assassins if you decide to peel for your carry.

Teleport :

I always run Teleport on Olaf. It helps you pressure the map, by splitpushing, and in case a fight breaks out you can still partake in it.

Again, we can increase the value of our Teleport, much like Ghost, by building Lucidity Boots. More to that in the Build Section ( #Build1 )

Items ( #Items )

Olaf is a versatile bruiser. He can build a lot of items, offensive and defensive, making him into a very adaptable pick.

You can be a Carry, a Bruiser, and a Tank. Optimize for Pushing or Teamfighting. Not a lot of champions have this attribute.

For when we use Fervor :

( #ItemBuildGraph )

There are 4 different building paths that I take with Olaf, when I am using Fervor.

Black Cleaver :

Carry Split pusher vs top laner that stacks Armor Green
Bruiser Teamfighter vs top laner that stacks Armor Red

Trinity Force :

Carry split pusher vs top laner that is Squishy/Ranged Green
Bruiser Teamfighter vs top laner that is Squishy/Ranged Red

The Building Path/order is depicted above, in the picture.

I have not added the components to this, I am under the impression that those fall under the category of "game flow" and it's rather difficult to go through every scenario, to determine what you should buy. This is something that comes with experience and a lot of games.

I will discuss each Item below and write down my thought on any other item that isn't wrong on him but just doesn't make the cut for me.

Black Cleaver :

I build Black Cleaver against laners that will build armor and are naturally tanky. E.g. Shen, Darius, Nasus.

It gives me Movement speed, health and Cooldown reduction, which all have good synergy with Undertow. Its passive decreases the Armor of the enemy, each time you hit him with an AA or an offensive spell, which as well, has good synergy with Olaf's kit over all.

Trinity Force :

Trinity Force is similar to Black Cleaver. It gives you Movement speed, health, and the same amount of Cooldown reduction. Instead of Armor penetration, though, Trinity Force includes the Sheen proc, which is incredibly good to burst down Squishy opponents or harass Ranged before they retreat.

The proc helps you with split pushing as well, since it Sheen proc works on turrets, too.

Titanic Hydra/Ravenous Hydra :

Both good with their own unique, yet similar, style.

Titanic will scale well with the health you are going to build and make you stronger against Champions that don't have any in-build lifesteal mechanic ( e.g Riven, Shen ) and rely on an artificial lifesteal that they have to build.

Ravenous is very strong when used with Vicious Strike. It will help you in clutch situations and together with Deathdance it will make you into one crazy axe swinging mf. Nothing will be able to take you on in a 1 vs 1.

Spirit Visage :

A really good Item on Olaf. It gives you health, magic resist, and cooldown reduction. It works well with your Vicious strike and keeps you overall healthy. I prefer it over Banshee's Veil, since I have my ultimate to ignore CC.

Randuin's Omen :

Really good on Olaf. The active helps you to stick onto your targets. It builds off of Warden's Mail, which helps you duel attack speed reliant champion ( e.g. Yasuo, Irelia ). It decreases the damage of crits as well.

Sunfire Cape :

I build this first when I run Grasp on Olaf. It's really good against melee that have to stick on you to dish out damage ( e.g Riven, Irelia ). In my Fervor paths I prefer Randuin's over it, always.

Death's Dance :

I build this as my 4th item. Either that or Maw, depending on how ability power heavy the enemy team is. Olaf is already a really strong duelist but with Death's dance it gets even harder to burst him down.

Maw of Malmortius :

Good alternative in case the enemy team is AP heavy. It gives you Armor penetration and Cooldown reduction. On top of that, when its passive gets triggered, you get 10% life steal, which will save you in a lot of clutch situations.

Guardian Angel :

If the enemy team needs to burn major cooldowns, like ultimates, exhausts, flash etc. etc., then Guardian Angel is a really good option. You will dive in, make them use their cooldowns, and revive back to bother them again. This will give your team time and openings to break through their defenses.

Thornmail :

If the enemy team is AD heavy or has a rather fed Marksman, thornmail will help you mitigate the damage with the insane amount of Armor you get, and it will help you take down the opposing threat.

Righteous Glory :

Insanely good for diving into the back line. With Ghost and Ragnarok, your initial speed is tremendously high. If you combine this with a teleport, that comes equipped with homeguards, you are pretty guaranteed to run over their front line and dive right into their back line.

Zz'Rot-Portal :

If the game drags out for too long and I end up needing a sixth item, I like getting Zz'Rot-Portal, unless the enemy can blow me up while I am using Ragnarok, then I prefer Sterak's gage over it.

It gives you 55 Armor and 55 Magic Resist.

The active really helps you push down lanes, keep in mind, though, if you use it on a lane that has super minions spawning you will just make them stall and then you will have to deal with 2-4 super minions, since they are going to build up with time.

Sterak's Gage :

Really good sixth Item when the game has dragged out for too long. While Ragnarok is activated, you will lose 40 Armor and Magic Resist. In case the enemy team is able to burst you down Sterak's is a good choice to mitigate the burst.

For when we use Grasp :

Item explanation and thoughts are above.

Now, a lot of people may ask why we don't go for Black Cleaver. In all honesty, you can. I am just under the impression that if you can fit a Black Cleaver into a build you shouldn't be going Grasp in the first place.

I prefer Grasp for when I have a team that is packed with power houses that scale well into mid-late game. Essentially, we will be supporting with this setup.

Boots :

Ninja Tabi :

If my enemy laner relies on AA I like going Ninja tabi. ( E.g Irelia, Jax )

Mercury's Treads :

If my enemy laner is AP I go Mercs.

Note: Sometimes when the enemy team has too much CC I opt for Mercs, regardless if my enemy on top is AA reliant.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity :

Lucidity Boots works amazingly well with your Ghost, dropping it to a two minute Cooldown ( with Insight in your Masteries).

I like going Lucidity most of the time just for the pressure I get, due to having Ghost up all the time when major Fights break out.

Arguably, Ghost has a low Cooldown on its own, but lowering it with Insight and Lucidity Boots just makes you more unpredictable in solo Q.

It helps with Teleport, too. The cooldown doesn't go to waste either, since Olaf benefits a lot from cooldown reduction in general.

Boots of Swiftness :

Not as good as they used to be, but if the enemy team has a lot of soft CC this might be an even better choice than Merc Treds. I still prefer Lucidity and Mercs over it, though.

Other items that could work, but aren't good enough at the moment ( Patch 6.14, talking specifically about Olaf ) :

Forzen heart :

If it comes down to pure Armor, I prefer Thornmail over it. The mana I get isn't really worth the gold I spend, and I don't need it to be honest.

The AS debuff aura is nice but I prefer going Randuin's over it. The passive/active is just too good to pick Frozen heart over it.

Banshee's Veil :

Has a good amount of MR. I still prefer Spirit Visage over it. With Ragnarok I don't really need the passive of Banshee's. It won't be worth the gold.

Warmog's Armor :

If it would actually give armor as the name suggest it would probably replace an item in my Grasp build, but for now I have better items to build. The 800 health you get is tempting but not worth it skipping out on something like Randuin's for example.

Frozen Mallet :

We don't need the slow thanks to Undertow. It's rather expensive, too.

Same situation as Banshee's Veil. You basically waste the passive because you can already reproduce it with your kit.

Lord Dominik's Regards / Mortal Reminder :

The armor penetration from Black Cleaver is more than enough. We won't be needing either of those two.

Since you are building a lot of health in the long run, the passive from Lord Dominik's Regards, Giant slayer, will be go to waste (+15% bonus physical damage against enemy champions with greater maximum health than you (+1.5% damage per 50 health difference, maxing at 500 health difference).

Mortal Reminder's passive is actually good against tanks that rely on a lot of health regen, or against support that have strong heals ( E.g Soraka, Nami ). Still, this would be better on your ADC than you. The gold spend on Mortal Reminder can be invested into something else that will, over all, boost your performance.

The Bloodthirster :

It's way too expensive right now.

Youmuu's Ghostblade :

3100 Gold is too much. I rather opt for black cleaver, that gives me health, more Cooldown reduction, and a passive that has good synergy with Undertow

Deadman's Plate :

Pretty good Item for Olaf, the only reason I am not building it is because I prefer the active of Randuin's over it. If I face an enemy team that will go full AD I might swap this out with Spirit Visage. Note that this is one of the items that DOES work on Olaf, not like the titles states.

Matchups ( #Matchups )

For this section I will name the champion, add a difficult degree to him, name the rune page and mastery page that we will opt for, and the Major item ( Black Cleaver or Trinity Force ) that we are going to build first, from there on you can use the graph and how the game goes to determine your build order. ( #ItemBuildGraph )

This will cover only the laning phase up to level six.

E = Easy

M = Medium

H = Hard

Aatrox ( E ) :

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

The only tricky part about Aatrox is his level two. He can all in you with it and if you aren't careful enough he might kill you as well. You can cheese him at level 1, though, and get him low enough so that he won't be able to attempt his level 2. Wait for him to get close to a minion and start using Undertow.

Akali ( E ) :

If she is going Tank Akali ( she will probably have Grasp )

( #Mastery1 )

( #RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

If she is going glass cannon

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

Rather easy lane. She can't do much pre-six. And even then, you should be able to all in her. You can force her out of lane with your Undertow spam. Remember to always buy a pink when you can, this will ruin her only trump card against you.

Annie ( E ) :

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

Very weak early game. She can farm in safety but if you manage to catch her of guard with your Undertow you can pretty much chase her down. She is immobile and her only escape is her Flash.

Remember Ghost > Flash.

Cassiopeia ( M ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( #RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

She is rather squishy early on but a good Cassi will be patient enough to wait out her power spikes. If she happens to survive the laning phase she will definitely opt for Health and Armor against you.

The Trinity Force set up is good in this case but just in case she makes it past our comfort zone it would be better to be prepared for the worst and go the Black Cleaver routine.

Cho' Gath ( E ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

His mana costs are too high early on. You have a really good chance to take the upper hand before he gets his catalyst.

Be aware of his Q and you are gucci.

Darius ( M ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

Skill match up. If you can't kill him pre-six you will definitely be able to kill him at level six. The most important part to keep in mind when you all in him is that picking up axes and spamming them is more efficient than relying on your AA.

Try to stick onto him so that he doesn't get health back with his Q.

All in him when you have no blood stacks on you.

Dr. Mundo ( E ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

He has no real answer for you and even with his E up he won't be able to out-trade your undertow.

Ekko ( M ) :

If he goes Tank Ekko

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

If he goes Glass Cannon

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

You will win all ins most of the time. He is very slippery and a good Ekko will make use of his whole kit. Makes sure to be sharp and try to read him as well as possible.

Fiora ( M ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

( #Mastery2 )

( # RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

The setup and item order is all preference in this matchup. Fiora is not the hardest enemy but that depends on how good the enemy is with her. Randuin's will prove good in this situation. Try to dodge her W and you are good.

Gangplank ( E ) :

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

Not a hard lane, the only tricky part are his barrels. Play around them and you are good. Once you get level six he won't stand a chance, you can all in him every time he is out of position. Just pop Ragnarok and go on him.

Garen ( M ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

I rated him Medium because of how annoying he is. He doesn't oppose any real threat to you and the odds are that you can kill him pretty easily once he makes a mistake.

Gnar ( M-H ) :

If he goes Grasp Gnar

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

If he goes with Fervor/Thunderlords

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

Skill match up. A good Gnar will be patient and farm for his Frozen Mallet. You will have to play around his normal Gnar form and try to all in him in Mega Gnar where you counter his ultimate with your Ragnarok.

If he is opting for Fervor instead of Grasp you can run him down with Undertow when he is in normal Gnar, by catching him off guard.

Heimerdinger ( H ) :

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

A good Heimerdinger will avoid confrontations with you. You can all in him at level six but his damage will just demolish you. Try to itemize properly against him before you do. Ask for a gang, if your jungler has mercy on your sorry ass and comes to help you, try to snipe his turrets with your Q before engaging.

Illaoi ( H ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

Grasp Olaf

If I see an Illaoi I rather just go tanky and support my team. You can play around her by killing her tentacles before trying to all in her but she will demolish you and she definitely out scales you in terms of dueling power.

Irelia ( E ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

Even with her Sheen/Phage power spike she won't be able to kill you. You out-trade her and once you are six she won't be able to rely on her stun to dish out her damage.

Good Irelias are still scary so don't underestimate them.

Jax ( M ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

Skill match up. Whoever gets ahead will snowball on each other.

Kayle ( E ) :

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

Her early game isn't really that good and until she gets her items you can pretty much abuse her and sit on her.

Undertow once she tries to harass you or goes for a Cs and hunt her down.

Kennen ( E ) :

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

Pretty much the same as Kayle.

Kha' Zix ( E ) :

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

Is no real threat to you. The only thing you should take care of is him trying to lure you into the bush where he has the upper hand due to how his Q works. Other than that, buy a pink once you both hit six and you will be able to run him down.

Malphite ( E ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

He can't do much to you. Even if he reduces your AS you can just spam Undertow and Reckless Swing on him, wait out the debuff and go at it again.

Don't be afraid to ult if he tries to ult you to assist the enemy jungler in ganking you.

Maokai ( E ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

Same concept as Malphite.

Nasus ( E ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

Again, easy for Olaf. His only proper defensive skill gets countered by Ragnarok and before he can scale into something you fear you will be able to kill him or zone him.

Nautilus ( E ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

Same as Malphite and Maokai.

Pantheon ( M-H ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

Pantheon is just obnoxious to lane against.

You have a small window at level one, after that either ask for a gang or wait until you hit Six.

You need to find a proper opening to all in him.

Poppy ( E ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

She doesn't really have anything to answer back when you fight her.

Once she levels up her base damage rises exponentially. You won't have any real problem against her as long as you are careful.

Quinn ( H ) :

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

Your only chance to kill her is to catch her off guard with an Undertow.

Try to dodge her Q since the blind really fucks you up and you might have a problem trying to get Undertow going due to this.

If you have a lot of trouble with her I would even consider grabbing Exhaust.

Rammus ( E ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

He can cheese you if you don't pay attention, other than that, you kill him without a problem once you hit six.

Renekton ( M- H ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

Grasp Olaf

It is insanely hard to beat a good Renekton. he can out-sustain you.

On top of that, he can dodge your Undertow by double dashing. If you aren't confident enough I would suggest to grab Exhaust against him or go full tank to support your team.

Rengar ( E ) :

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

You will most likely shit on him. Just spam undertow at level one and you are good. Get a pink ward once you both hit six.

Riven ( E - H ) :

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

Skill match up. There are games where Riven was pray for me and games where I had trouble because of the opponent using her kit to the fullest. She is slippery as fuck if the enemy knows what he is doing.

Past level six, once you are tankier, and if she didn't snowball on you, you will be able to duel her without problem.

Rumble ( E ) :

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

Has no real answer to your Undertow.

Even if he is easy to lane against and even if you snowball on him, once he has his core items he is still going to dish out a lot of damage. Be aware of that.

Shen ( E ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

Not much he can do against you. Try to only use Undertow once he activates his W.

Singed ( E ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

Again a lane that you can win easily. The only tricky part about it is that you really need to land your Undertow on him to get him good. If you fail even with one I would advice you to not chase him.

Remember the most important rule of League. Don't chase Singed.

Sion ( E-M ) :

If he goes Grasp Sion

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

If he goes Thunderlords Sion

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

Can be very easy or very annoying. Depends on the enemy and how good he is with him.

Dodge his Q and E in lane and you are good.

Tahm Kench ( M- H ) :

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

This match up is very hard if the enemy Tahm Kench knows what he is doing. He won't be able to eat you once you obtain berserk but you will need to burst him down before Ragnarok runs out.

He is building tank in the long run but this time I would opt for Trinity Force instead of Black Cleaver just to kill him as quick as possible. Black Cleaver is really good in fights that extend but Trinity Force succeeds in situation where you need to burst as quick as possible.

Teemo ( E-M ) :

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

He is annoying early on due to his on hit effect from his E.

He won't be able to out duel you once you have caught him in your Undertow spam. Try to go in when he either uses his Q to CS, or when you think that you can survive his all in, so even when you get Q'd you will Undertow and Reckless Swing him until the duration of the blind is over.

Trundle ( M-H ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

Get careless and the lane is over. Trundle has always been this guy that plays around stats for me. Try to not trade when he Qs you. Before you all in him do your best at poking him with your Undertow and Reckless Swing. This is especially important once you are both six, as it may be the difference between a successful all in or a death.

Tryndamere ( E-H ) :

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

A crit might cost you the lane so be careful. You can Undertow him at level one if he is careless.

Once you are both six you need to make sure that you have enough health and that you poke him down before you go in, so that you can withstand him while his Ultimate is going on and then finish him off.

Vladimir ( E ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

Vladimir is rather easy to lane against. Be aware of his empowered Q and you are ok.

If he knows what he is doing there might be a chance that you won't be able to kill him. Overall, he doesn't really have any kill pressure on you.

He is, in fact, scary, though, once he scales into the late game. Laning phase won't be too tough on the other hand.

Volibear ( M ) :

( #Mastery1 )

( # RunePage1 )

( Black Cleaver )

Tricky to lane against. A good Voli will abuse his base damage. If he doesn't fuck up in lane be patient until you have your Black Cleaver. If he wants to abuse his W he will have to build health, if he does you will have the upper hand as long as you play your Undertow right.

Wukong ( E ) :

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

The main reason Wukong isn't played right now in the top lane is the fact that he is too squishy. Undertow the shit out of him and you are good. Every time you can, grab a pink ward.

Yasuo ( E ) :

( #Mastery2 )

( #RunePage2 )

( Trinity Force )

Good Yasuos will be annoying to play against. As long as you properly wait out his windwall, though, you will be able to kill him any time your Undertow will connect.

Your Ultimate counters his whole combo at level six so once you both hit six he is going to play with a spell less.

Let's talk about something that is not related to Olaf but will make you a better player. ( #Potato )

One of the important things that you have to do in League is to to get rid

of the Illusion of an untouchable being and accept things the way they are.
The only "Good" players are the Challenger players and we lower ranked beings
need to accept this.
Challenger players do not differ from us at all, they are as well human, the
only difference is that they have discipline and actually want/keep improving.
One of the things I notice through my games is that a lot of people are very
delusional, they think that they are better then the people they meet
and claim to be very good at the game. They ignore the fact that they are at
the same ELO-Rank as I am. They are the kind of people that get stuck the most,
they are too busy living in a world where they advance further, in their mind,
then actually trying to improve. When they fail, they get frustrated and this
usually leads to tilt and anger outbreaks.
We do not want this, we are not like that and we will improve over the spawn of
time, including a cognitive way of thinking, a positive attitude, and over all,
real discipline.
Before you keep going I would like to mention that if you are the kind of person that
goes to the gym for a week and then stops, this is not something for you.

Let's start and get an Idea of where we are.
First things first, open up your OP.GG. At the left side you will see your most played Champions
and their win ratio. It is time to filter the champions we are going to use and the champion we will stop
playing.

What are the criteria for such a decision :

- Most important, are you Diamond V ?

Let me elaborate on that. Diamond V is nothing special. There is only a 100 MMR difference from Platinum 1 and has basically one or two games difference in between. Diamond V will be where we draw our line, where we can say ; I have almost mastered the basics; Map awareness, Champion knowledge, CSing etc. etc.

Pre Diamond V, I would suggest that people stay away from mechanical intense champions. Examples: Riven, Yasuo, Zed.
The reason for that is that there is a lot of information that you have to digest and put back into the game
while playing. If you can't reach Diamond V you probably can't play something that needs a lot of mechanical effort as you need be able to keep track of other things such as CoolDowns, Map, Summoner Spells, Enemy etc.
Getting up to Diamond V is a good way of exercise, if you want to have fun with something like Riven go hop into a normal and play out of your hearts content. For now, let's keep it simple as we try to gain Elo and not vise versa.
- Win ratio with a Champion
If you have champions over the spawn of time that you play a lot and you still can't get over the 51% win ratio it would be better if you stop playing them. You either do not understand them or some layer of gameplay is contradicting with your game knowledge, meaning that something that the champion does distracts you from the game and it requires you to focus on the champion more then what is actually going on.
To put it simple, you need to understand the game first and play simple champions that don't put a strain on your decision making by being mechanically intense. Focus on the Champions that you win a lot of games with.

Simple Champions suggestions:

Top: Malphite, Shen , Pantheon, Lulu

Mid: Annie, Kayle, Morgana

Jungle: Amumu, Zac, Sejuani

Support: Janna, Karma, Soraka

Marksman: Ashe, Caitlyn, Tristana

Something else that I would like to discuss, how serious do you take the game.

If you poor performance is the result of the idea that you just want to have fun, then there is your answer. Leave Ranked games to the people that actually care and go play normals.
Notice that if you win games the only way you go is UP, so, if you want to get better you need to aim high. There is no reason for you to say that you can't get to Master/Challenger. Saying that everyone can do it is absurd, because not every person really wants it. The people that put a lot of effort and discipline into the game are already there.
You need to change the way you look at the game, take a more objective approach and start thinking.
Change your attitude, stop flaming and blaming other people. You play to get better, and not to bother with anyone else. It is yourself that you want to improve, not your team or every other person you meet along the way. So where is the point of arguing with some one you will most likely see for one game ?
Try to get good at the fundamentals of the game:
Map awareness, Champion knowledge, Csing

Tools you can use to improve:

- OP.GG
Get an idea of your champions statistic.
- BaronReplay
There are various replay systems that you can use but I favor this one for its simplicity.

Good sourses to learn from:

- https://www.youtube.com/user/lastshadow9
- https://www.youtube.com/user/TheValkrin
- http://www.twitch.tv/wingsofdeath
- http://www.twitch.tv/imls
- http://www.twitch.tv/tsm_dyrus
- http://www.twitch.tv/valkrin
- http://www.lolking.net/

Pink wards are your friends ! ( #Pink )

As the title states, for a champion that has so much pressure the best you can do to assure your safety by slowly conquering the upper side of the map with Pink wards !

How to do this ? Simple:

Every time you push your opponent back you can place a Pink ward onto a spot where the enemy can't go because of the pressure you exert.

For example, The blue T is our enemy and the Orange are we. We have gotten the first Turret and the enemy is now forced to fend of waves. What do we do to get more control over the map ? We move our pink ward. For this example, we move our first pink ward ( 1 ) to the River brush ( 2 ) that covers the entrance to the top lane.

We now have an opening at the blue buff, where the enemy can just walk into us, this is why we combine our pink wards with our Farsight trinket . That places a ward at the spot you cast it. I always swap my ward trinket with this one, once I am level 9.

To not stray away from the Pink wards, once you get the second turret, you keep moving them closer and closer to the enemy jungle/base. Applying more and more pressure to top while you don't fear gangs, as your vision helps you to prepare for them and plan your escape.

Keep in mind that wards do not ward off evil, so be always careful.

This is the end of the guide. I would like to add some personal stuff such as stream and other things before I finish this post.

First of all, if you managed to get here while reading through everything, I thank you from the depths of my heart. Writing guides and theorycrafting has been a blast for me the past years and I love it even more when I know that I helped someone.

Now. Olaf is very fun and can snowball insanely well if you get a good at him. I reached Diamond V with him with an amazing 66 % win ratio, before I dropped to 60 %