Blitzcrank has remained a staple part of the League of Legends cast since his release in 2009, maintaining a prominent presence in the game for over a decade thanks to his simple yet effective kit. He is a great pick for both new and experienced support players alike by being easy to use but hard to master.
Yet the addition of Mythic items hasn’t been as kind to engage and tank supports as they’ve been to enchanters and mages. Between Locket of the Iron Solari and Evenshroud, most of these champions only have a few optimal build paths that can take a while to get used to. Some players even stray away from support-oriented Mythic items on these champions due to the value of those designed for champions in other lanes.
Therefore, Blitzcrank’s optimal build has moved from experimentation to a more set path as a primary engage champion, only really fluctuating in how tanky the player wants to be. Even with the lack of efficient options other than a standard build, Blitzcrank’s overwhelming presence in and outside of the bot lane can catch many players off guard, making him a great pick for players who want to be aggressive.
Here is the best build for Blitzcrank in League.
Best runes for Blitzcrank
Inspiration
Glacial Augment: A complete overhaul of the Glacial Augment keystone makes it a perfect option for champions like Blitzcrank that have access to multiple forms of crowd control in their kit. When Blitzcrank immobilizes or knocks up an enemy champion when Glacial Augment is off cooldown, three rays of ice will form from the immobile champion. This acts as a short Exhaust on enemies that step in the ice by temporarily decreasing their attack speed and damage.
Hextech Flashtraption: Blitzcrank loves brushes. Unsuspecting enemies can easily be hooked by a Blitzcrank waiting for them to walk forward near brushes he’s sitting in. Yet Blitzcrank can take this one step forward by bringing Hextech Flashtraption, giving him Hexflash when his normal Flash is on cooldown. After a brief charge period, this will let Blitzcrank reposition himself to get a better angle on an enemy, then scoop them into his allies for a takedown.
Biscuit Delivery: Blitzcrank is notorious for having ridiculously high mana costs at all points in the game. One Q costs 100 mana at all ranks and makes Blitzcrank incredibly weak in lane if that Q wasn’t enough to catch an enemy. Having Biscuit Delivery helps Blitzcrank deal with this slightly, but his mana will remain an issue throughout nearly the entire game.
Cosmic Insight: This rune gives Blitzcrank a slight cooldown reduction on both his summoner spells and items that have active effects. While this will be more impactful later in the game, it will help Blitzcrank decrease his Flash and Ignite/Exhaust cooldowns, thus catching unsuspecting enemies off guard.
Resolve
Bone Plating: Any form of early tankiness that Blitzcrank can get will help him exponentially in the laning phase. As a melee champion, Blitzcrank struggles immensely against poke damage, which, in the current state of the meta, is a prominent factor in most bot lane compositions. Bone Plating protects Blitzcrank from a small amount of damage from champions that attack him multiple times in succession, though it has a rather long cooldown.
Unflinching: Similarly to the influx of poke damage in the bot lane, both supports and certain ADCs have access to some form of crowd control in their kit, which can mitigate the effectiveness of Blitzcrank. Unflinching gives Blitzcrank a small but important amount of tenacity and slow resist to deal with opposing crowd control, letting him charge into fights more efficiently.
Bonuses: +8 ability haste, +6 armor, +6 armor
Best starting items for Blitzcrank
Relic Shield: As Blitzcrank deals AP damage with all of his abilities, Relic Shield is the preferred support item over Steel Shoulderguards. With this item, Blitzcrank can execute minions below a certain threshold and provide both him and his ADC with the full amount of gold. Getting enough gold with this item will enable it to transform and give Blitzcrank the ability to place more wards.
Health Potions: Players should bring health potions to whatever point in the game they deem necessary to deal with enemy poke damage. Fortunately for Blitzcrank, he has innately higher defenses than most champions, as well as a passive that provides him with a shield when he reaches low health. But players should remain cautious, especially if they aren’t building tanky.
Stealth Ward: Blitzcrank’s W speeds him up for a short duration, then slows him down. Though this can be a bit detrimental to Blitzcrank if he’s trying to escape, it can be useful to roam in and out of lane to place wards and gank other lanes. He should almost always be carrying wards on him as a support, hoping to keep an eye on the enemy jungler.
Best core items for Blitzcrank
Locket of the Iron Solari/Shurelya’s Battlesong: Blitzcrank’s choice of Mythic item should be determined by whether they want to be more aggressive in teamfights or serve as a pseudo-tank. Locket of the Iron Solari gives Blitzcrank the chance to shield all nearby allies, which can be useful to his supportive capabilities since he has no way to shield or heal allies naturally in his kit. Meanwhile, Shurelya’s Battlesong gives him and nearby allies a massive speed buff, but Blitzcrank can’t use the item’s passive due to the lack of shielding abilities.
Knight’s Vow and Zeke’s Convergence (in any order): Luckily for players who aren’t as well-versed in current League items, Blitzcrank is still a great user of both Knight’s Vow and Zeke’s Convergence, items that were once crucial on most support champions. By linking to an ally, Blitzcrank will give them buffs for immobilizing enemies and taking damage from them. These items can be built in either order, though Zeke’s Convergence provides Blitzcrank with more power quickly since it activates upon immobilizing enemies.
Mobility Boots: The self-sabotaging part of Blitzcrank’s W can be slightly negated with Mobility Boots. The out-of-combat movement speed that these boots provide give Blitzcrank great roaming potential that can be used to get allies in other lanes ahead or save an ally being hunted down.
Best late-game items for Blitzcrank
Frozen Heart: This powerful-yet-costly item allows Blitzcrank to reduce the attack speed of enemies in his immediate vicinity while also blocking a large amount of incoming damage aimed at him. Yet what really makes this item shine is the 400 mana it grants simply for completing it, not only letting Blitzcrank use his abilities more often but also granting him a larger passive shield.
Thronmail/Force of Nature/Redemption: The final item slot can be filled by either of these three items, entirely dependent on the enemy team composition and the state of the game. More tanky builds should bring Thornmail to sabotage the efforts of enemies targeting him while also inflicting Grievous Wounds. Force of Nature gives Blitzcrank a solid amount of magic resist to deal with AP damage, also giving him additional movement speed that stacks with his boots and W. Since Blitzcrank has no ways to support his allies directly with his abilities, taking Redemption can give him access to a team-wide heal that synergizes nicely with his Mythic item of choice. This also gives him some mana regeneration to help mitigate his oppressive mana costs.
