League of Legends – Champion Build: Amumu [Guide]

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• Abilities
• Spells and Runes
• Masteries
• Items
• Jungling
• Ganking
• Team Fights
• Supplementary Video

At first glance, he doesn’t seem like much other than a little cartoonish mummy who seems depressed all the time. Perhaps he is, but it does turn out that Amumu should lighten up and be more confident with himself as he is a pretty good champion to play with in the game. For those who are trying to get into League of Legends, you may find him to be a surprisingly good choice in the long run.

Amumu is the little mummy boy who does his best to be a part of the team, and you can help by playing him well. He’s a solid champion and actually great for solo queues, boasting a consistent win rate. He can also gank fairly well in lower levels just before getting his ultimate, and he gets even better once he does get it. But where he really shines is the jungle, wherein he can help take control of objectives in dominant fashion.

He does have weaknesses though. He’s not that good in low levels, so you have to babysit him a bit at first. To compensate for that, you’ll have to get blue buff quickly since he’d just run out of mana and become unable to jungle as a result. Because of this, he’s easy to take out at the start and catching up becomes a hardship. He also needs big items to get strong, so it’s a big thing indeed if you don’t get to farm at all.

While not really a beginner-friendly champion, he’s pretty good as a learning tool for intermediate players who are looking to practice more roles to be more diverse. While tanky, he can’t be built as a pure tank since that would make him useless with everything else. Also, he can be counter jungled easily as well, so he’s not the absolute best in that role.

What Amumu does in the game is be a solid all-rounder that can be great if played right. He’s not idiot-proof, but that’s what makes him fun in the first place.

Abilities

Cursed Touch (Passive)

Amumu’s attacks reduce the target’s magic resistance by 15 / 20 / 25 for 3 seconds. The amount is increased every 6 levels. The debuff doesn’t stack but it refreshes with every attack.

This is a great passive to support AP champions, including Amumu himself. This is what makes this champion quite an asset in team fights, and it also opens things up for Amumu’s ultimate ability.

Bandage Toss(Q) – Obtain at levels 3, 8, 10, 12, 13

Throws a bandage to target location. If it hits an enemy unit, Amumu will pull himself to the enemy, stun them for 1 second, and deal 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+70% of ability power) magic damage.

This is your stun, nuke, and also for bridging gaps. This is great for chasing down enemy champions, making Amumu able to close the gap and help with a gank. It does take quite a bit of skill and expert timing to pull off, but can be very rewarding when done right.

Take care though as missing it will make you instantly less valuable in a fight. The enemy team will know that you’ve just lost your bandage, and they’ll swoop in like vultures to the recently deceased.

Despair (W) – Obtain at levels 1, 14, 15, 17, 18

Toggle: Nearby enemies take 8 / 12 / 16 / 20 / 24 magic damage plus 1.5 / 1.8 / 2.1 / 2.4 / 2.7 % (+1% per 100 ability power) of their maximum health each second.

This ability is for making tanks cry, making it actually possible to take them down when no one else could. This is also great for killing Baron, adding even more to Amumu’s amazing jungling ability. Having this makes you an equalizer in any fight, being able to take down squishy carries and tanks alike.

Tantrum (E) – Obtain at levels 2, 4, 5, 7, 9

Passive: Amumu takes 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 / 10 reduced damage from physical attacks.

Active: Amumu deals 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 / 175 (+50% of ability power) magic damage to surrounding units. Each time Amumu is hit by an autoattack, the cooldown on Tantrum’s active is reduced by 0.5 seconds.

This is what gives Amumu the ability to jungle, which is why it’s usually the first ability that gets maxed. The passive makes him very tanky against both neutral monsters and AD carries, and the active makes him fast at clearing jungle.

Curse of the Sad Mummy(R) – Obtain at levels 6, 11, 16

Amumu entangles surrounding enemy units, rendering them unable to move or use autoattacks for 2 seconds, dealing 150 / 250 / 350 (+80% of ability power) magic damage to them upfront.

This is what makes Amumu such a great threat, especially since it goes so incredibly well with the magic penetration from his passive. Even if an enemy stays alive after you them them with it, they’ll stay stuck for 2 whole seconds, and your teammates can them come in and finish the job.

Never be afraid to use this in team fights against primary targets, although it could be helpful if you hit them with an auto-attack first before letting this loose upon them to get the magic penetration from the passive in.

Spells and Runes

Most Amumu users lean on Flash and Smite as their spells. Since Amumu doesn’t really have an escape option, Flash is essential in case of dire situations. As for Smite, it’s simply for jungling since it deals 390-1000 true damage to target monster or enemy minion. It’s great for taking down really big ones, even stealing Baron Nashor from the enemy team if you have the guts and opportunity.

As for runes, there are two ways you can go with. The first is to have a mix between offense, defense, and mobility courtesy of 3x Quint of Movement Speed, 9x Mark of Magic Penetration, 9x Seal of Armor, and 9x Glyph of Scaling AP. The second one is all defense to bring out the tank in Amumu, with 3x Quint of Health Regen, 9x Seal of Armor, 9x Mark of Armor, 9x Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist.

Masteries

Normal Build

AP Build

Items

Starting Items

Hunter’s Machete
Health Potion x5

Core Items

Locket of the Iron Solari – Every good Amumu build has this item as it’s one of the most cost-efficient items in the game, and is great for this champion. It gives so much for only 2000 gold, and great for bolstering tanks.

Spirit of the Ancient Golem – Great for both defense bonuses and its passive, which makes monsters lose health over time and increases Amumu’s health and mana regeneration. The active is a stealth ward that is crucial for junglers to not get caught by surprise.

Mercury Threads / Ninja Tabi / Sorcerer’s Shoes – Pick one, depending on the situation. Mercury Threads are the best, but expensive. Ninja Tabi are cheaper and have defensive bonuses, but no magic resist. Sorcerer’s Shoes lets you counter magic resist and great for ganks.

Abyssal Scepter – This is a good core item on Amumu and appears in most of his builds. This gives a good bit of AP and magic resist while reducing the magic resist of nearby enemies.

Sunfire Cape – No one would want to stick to you if you’re wearing this. It also gives good armor and health bonuses.

Runic Bulwark – Great item that gives you and your allies additional defense.

Jungling

Amumu isn’t really meant to lane at all as he thrives in the jungle. Perhaps the only exception is if you get pitted up in a team that expects everyone to lane, which is rare these days but can still happen. Unfortunately, Amumu doesn’t do well in the early game when laning.

If you are jungling, take note that you’re vulnerable to roamers and other junglers. When you do encounter one of them, you’ll have to make your bandage count, especially since you’ll have low damage output in this stage of the game. At the very least, you’ll have enough health to run away and survive somehow.

He isn’t like Shaco or Lee Sin, who are popular melee junglers better known for this, so getting used to using this champion for this role may take some time to get used to. However, it gets much easier once you know how Amumu does things, especially with his abilities. It’s important to know the timings when neutrals respawn so that your team can maintain buff control.

With your starting items, you should be able to jungle in the early game rather quickly and be able to sustain yourself for a good while. You’ll be using mostly Tantrum and Despair to dispatch neutrals, which you’ll find quite handy after a while. Once you’ve purchased most of the needed items and allocated points to your abilities as indicated above, you’ll be able to put up a better fight.

Ganking

This is one of your most important jobs, as it is for any jungler. There’ll be times when you have to leave the jungle and join one of your teammates to pressure and gank an enemy champion. This is where you get to really help your teammates, especially once you’ve gained most of the items you need.

When going for a gank, there are some things to consider if you’re playing Amumu. What you should do depends on who your ally and the target enemy are. But the general rule is that you need to make your Bandage Toss count here. Once you hit with it, you can get in at least one auto-attack to make your passive take effect, then pull out your ultimate and hit hard.

Along with ganking, you can also do some tower diving to help out. If it’s a standard dive, go in while maintaining a threat towards enemy laners with your Bandage Toss. If it’s a lower leve dive or if your enemy has started pushing through, then you’ll have to take a safer approach in order to gain momentum back.

Throughout the whole time, you’ll still have Bandage Toss, and they know it. If you miss, then they’ll know that too and will take advantage of it.

Team Fights

If you’ve done everything right up to this point, then this is where Amumu can truly shine. His passive, bandage, and ultimate make him a force to be reckoned with in a team fight. The great thing about Amumu is that you can definitely help out due to your abilities, as long as you communicate well with your teammates.

There are various scenarios to consider, like if you’re positioned near Baron, or if you’re up against a ranged champion, or if the enemy team is initiating, and so on. As a beginner, just know your role and aim for the primary target with Bandage Toss, then an auto-attack into your ultimate.

Just make sure that you don’t squander it too soon and see if you’ll need your ultimate to kill after all. Remember that your teammates are there to help you out as well, so their damage should be there.

Supplementary Video