Simultaneously the best and worst portrait in League of Legends, the Olaf face never ceases to amuse

Introduction

Olaf is a very good tanky dps character. He is an incredibly fast jungler and a force to be reckoned with top. This guide will focus more on his top laning, but his jungle build is very similar and most of his play similar and his team play is the same no matter what role you start at.





Skill Set

Berserker Rage

For each 1% of health missing, Olaf's attack speed is increased by 1%.

Very good passive for dueling and makes him scarier and more powerful when low health. Combined with lifesteal, this passive can give him surprising survivability when almost dead.

Undertow

Olaf throws an axe to a target location, dealing physical damage to units it passes through and slowing them for 2.5 seconds.

If Olaf picks up the axe, the ability's cooldown is reduced by 4.5 seconds.

This skill is unique in League of Legends by allowing you pick up a projectile to lower the cool down on the spell and I personally think it’s one of the coolest mechanics in the game. This is usually used for the slow in chasing, where you throw the axe at the fleeing opponent, chase him pick up the axe and repeat. However, if you miss one axe they’ve probably escaped.

It creates amazing jungle clear and some of the highest DPS in the game. Is also his only AOE ability. Max this first for jungle, but second for lane. The slow increases with levels making it his best ganking tool and since jungle creeps have low armor, you won’t need true damage against them.

Vicious Strikes

For 6 seconds, Olaf's attack damage is increased by a base amount + of his maximum Health and he gains lifesteal and spell vamp.

Usually considered a one point wonder, this gives Olaf better damage, good lane sustain and the spell vamp will make his axe throw return decent health.

Reckless Swing

Olaf ferociously swings his axes, dealing true damage to his target.

An amazing ability for trading in lane. This huge burst damage will often scare opponents. Use this often to harass and win lane. This should be your primary laning skill for maximum harass.

Ragnarok

Active: Removes all disables from Olaf and for the next 6 seconds, he is immune to disables and has increased Armor and Magic Resist.



Passive: Olaf has increased Armor Penetration.

A get-of-jail-free card, as well as his initiation. This allows Olaf to ignore all crowd control effects and become a terror of the enemy backline. Leveling this will also give you free Armor Penetration and who would say no to that.

Good Stats for Olaf

Health - Health makes him tanky. Gives him more damage with his W. Synergizes well with his remade ultimate giving him armor and magic resistance and makes the cost of his E seem less consequential.

Resistances - As a tank and a melee character you will be taking damage. While your ultimate does give you free resistance, you should be able to tank damage for more than 5 seconds.

Attack Damage – Makes his Q and his auto attacks hit harder and return more health with lifesteal.

Lifesteal - Olaf passive and high attack damage will make lifesteal very effective.

Armor Penetration - With your ultimate giving you 10 armor penetration every level, you'll get lots of flat armor penetration, meaning that your auto attacks hurt more.

Attack Speed – More damage is great.

Movement speed – Be faster to be harder to kite.

Runes

Marks – Attack Damage is my favorite as it helps with last hitting and his Q has a 1:1 AD ratio. Armor Penetration is a good secondary option as it makes your auto attacks and your Q bypass more armor.

Seals – Armor flats if going against an AD and Scaling Health if against AP.

Glyphs – If against AD top and jungler go Magic Resistance per Level, otherwise grab MR flats

Quintessences – Attack damage is good for all the reasons listed above. Armor Penetration can be acceptable. Movement speed is a strong choice which helps with his lack of a gap closer.





Masteries

Olaf has a lot of built in damage, increasing his survivability will make his laning phase and his team fight stronger.





Items

Mercury Treads – Boot of choice. Helps with CC reduction when his ult is down, and gives him much needed magic resistance. You can go Ninja tabi early against an AD opponent, but late game you’ll want Merc Treads

Warmog’s Armor – Gives Olaf tons of health and regen.

Frozen Mallet – More health and gives Olaf more ways to chase without his Q. Rushing this item when jungling adds guaranteed CC to your gank.

Atma’s Impaler – Synergizes with his W and uses his massive health pool we’ve built.

Wriggles Latern – Good against AD laners, could be skipped against heavy AP. Always grab this if jungling.

Phantom Dancer – Attack Speed is always welcome. Movement speed is great and with this and Atma’s you have almost 50% critical chance.

Bloodthirster – Good AD and Lifesteal makes Olaf scarier and more survivable.

Force of Nature – Works well with the high health we’ve built, good regen in longer fights and the movement speed always helps.

Banshee Veil – Health, mana and decent spell shield.

Summoner Spells



I personally prefer Ghost always, and Ignite if Top Lane and Smite if Jungling, but here are the Summoners I would consider viable.

Ghost – This is my favorite on Olaf as it allows him to chase further than flash would. And when coupled with his ultimate can escape almost any situation.

Ignite – Gives you even higher kill potential in lane and makes lane opponents scared of you even more.

Flash – Not as great as Ghost, but certain enemy champions (Jarvan IV for example) might make you want to consider this.

Exhaust – A good way to shut down an enemy carry or protect yours.

Teleport – A good spell to help your team from top.

Heal – I’ve tried this a few times and it allows him to really bait duels hard, and works well with his passive.

Smite – Essential if you jungle with him.

Lane Phase



This is where Olaf shines. He is a very strong laner and can often crush the enemy in lane. In fact, since he brings little utility to teams you really need to win your lane as Olaf. He’s strong against melee champs since it is very easy to harass the enemy with Reckless Swing whenever they go to CS, but is weaker against ranged characters. His sustain with Vicious Strikes makes him a hard character to kick out of lane and with his ultimate available he is hard to gank. I prefer not building gold items on Olaf as he needs to be as strong as possible as soon as possible. Landing your axe consecutively will often allow Olaf to chase down an opponent either for a kill or just to deny farm and experience. A fed Olaf will discourage the enemy team early allowing you to force objectives.

As mentioned a lot, Olaf doesn’t have much he can do besides tank and deal damage. He is easily kited by certain champions and without a gap closer can find it hard to kill the enemy carry. Olaf must win his lane to have an impact on the later game. If counterpicked it will be a tough game for Olaf.

Teamfights

Olaf is best suited to be an anti carry, specifically an anti-ad carry, since his optimal build will have lots of armor and he is weaker to burst damage than sustained. But if the enemy AP carry is more dangerous to your team, feel free to go for them. With a frozen mallet you can peel for your carries but really you should just dive theirs.

Conclusion

Olaf is a very fun, dangerous champ to play. He’s relatively easy to play as well, and can definitely snowball the game in your favor. If counterpicked it is very hard to function. If you manage to get him against a high AD high CC team, it will be amazing.

Pros:

True damage.

Lots of free damage built into his kit: Building health gives him damage. 30 Armor Pen at level 16.

His ultimate makes him a terror against high CC teams.

Cons:

Doesn’t really do anything besides dive enemy carries. Not a great carry protector.

No gap closer makes him weak against highly mobile enemies (Ahri and Ezreal for example)

Hard to itemize against heavy AP teams.

Pro: This skin