How to play the Garen matchup?

The following tips and strategies have been shared by players to help you win against Garen.

How to lane against Garen?

The following tips and strategies have been shared by players to help you win against Garen.

Garen Matchups Spreadsheet

Matchup	Difficulty	Win Rate	Games Played	Early	Mid	Late	Tips
Aatrox	6	51.67%	3,081	Lose	Win	Win	Play safe until you reach berserker's greaves. You don't have the damage to kill him without it so avoid trading and farm up. Post six, you want to use your q movement speed to avoid his q1 and take trades with your e duration. Use your w on his q2 or q3 and get out. Use your passive to heal back up and do it until he is 60-70% health. From there you can all-in if you flash a q2 or q3.
Akali	4	51.02%	1,921	Skill	Skill	Win	Fake walkup to minions and make her burn Q. Only use your Q after you're slowed to cleanse it. Make sure to save W for her E recast and go for short trades
Akshan	6	52.07%	989	Lose	Skill	Win	Play safe until you reach berserker's greaves. You want to look for a heavy trades with your q e and look to get out with phase rush. Try to all-in when he is 70% health.
Camille	9	44.75%	2,525	Lose	Skill	Lose	Stand away from walls and try to space her w. Try to engage and fight with her when she uses abilities on the wave. Your main window to kill her is from beserker greaves to first item. Use your w on her e stun or q2 damage. Try not to trade into her shield.
Cassiopeia	7	48.7%	540	Lose	Skill	Lose	Take second wind for sustain. Play around bushes and avoid eating uneccessary poke damage. Play for your berserkers spike. Look to engage when her q or w is down. Use your w when she ults to reduce the stun/slow.
Cho'Gath	2			Lose	Win	Win	Avoid taking poke damage from his e and try to dodge his q. You both lack kill pressure on each other with items since both of your passives have good sustain. Try to hard trade when you get berserker greaves.
Darius	7	49.48%	2,965	Lose	Skill	Lose	Do not get frozen on. Take short trades against him using phase rush to get out. Use your passive to outsustain him. When he is 60-65% health you can look for an all-in.
Dr. Mundo	3			Lose	Win	Win	Stand behind minions to avoid his cleavers. Trade with berserker greaves. Ignite him when he ults to reduce his healing.
Fiora	6	47.92%	1,415	Lose	Skill	Lose	Rush bramble vest into berserkers. You are much stronger than her when you get each one of those spikes so try to force a fight on them. Stand near a wall when she ults so she can't get the final parry. Use ignite to match her movement speed and force fights with nimbus cloak.
Gangplank	7	50.72%	1,323	Skill	Skill	Lose	You have to win the barrel mindgame to beat him. Try to get in and out of range to bait him into popping it early. Respect his level 1 barrels. He will likely get push on you but try to stay healthy. You can force hard with 6 and with berserker greaves.
Garen	1			Skill	Skill	Skill	W his q + e damage. E when he qs onto you.
Gnar	6	49.94%	1,586	Skill	Skill	Skill	Hard force whenever he is mini form. Try to engage when the minion wave is not behind him so he cannot double jump. Also try to force a fight whenever he wastes his q in lane.
Gragas	3	53.3%	1,229	Win	Win	Lose	Take second wind and outsustain him. It should be very hard for gragas to kill you unless you are eating all of his damage. Try to play for your berserker's greaves spike.
Gwen	6	52.07%	2,055	Skill	Skill	Lose	Play for short trades when Gwen does not have stacks on her q passive. Be careful of all-ining Gwen at 6 especially since when she is healthy. Playing for short trades and outsustaining with your passive.
Heimerdinger	3	53.82%	275	Lose	Win	Lose	Play safe early and farm until you have 6 and berserker's greaves. Try to bait out his e and then all-in him.
Illaoi	7	53.26%	582	Skill	Skill	Skill	Play to dodge her e. You win trades as long as you dodge it. Avoid taking free poke damage from her q or w. Always hard punish her when her e is down.
Irelia	4	51.64%	978	Lose	Skill	Lose	Try to fight and take short trades with her level 1 when she does not have passive stacks. If she does or will have them on the minion wave back off and let it push into you. Irelia beats you very hard when she has her passive stacked up. Play to bounce the wave and punish when she tries to touch it.
Jax	3	55.48%	2,646	Lose	Skill	Lose	Start e to make sure he doesn't get early control of the wave. If he has his passive stacked up try not to fight him since he will hit very hard with his attack speed. When you get berserker greaves, try to hard trade on the duration of your e. When jax is 60-70% health you can look for an all-in.
Jayce	7	53.34%	1,586	Lose	Skill	Win	Play safe until berserkers and 6 and then force hard. Stand behind minions to avoid his shock blast and play around bushes to avoid getting autoed. Look to engage when his accleration gate is down. Stand near a wall so you get knocked back into the wall so you can gap close again. If you stuggle with staying on him take Phase Rush.
K'Sante	5			Skill	Win	Win	Use your ult and ignite after he ults. Avoid eating his q auto poke damage early in lane. Try to trade on your beserker's greaves spike.
Kayle	6	46.72%	1,890	Win	Skill	Lose	Ignite or Ghost are both viable. Play safe and farm up until berseker greaves. Play to flash slience her and ult so she cannot ult herself. Play around bushes and dont use your q until she uses hers.
Kennen	2	49.64%	552	Skill	Win	Win	Play safe until 6 and berserker greaves and run him down. His e cooldown is much higher than your q cooldown. Use your w to block his stun. Play around bushes to avoid getting autoed and stand behind minions to avoid his q.
Kled	5	53.56%	450	Skill	Win	Win	Respect Kleds early game. Kled should look to engage with his q and e when you are going to last hit. You can bait this out by stepping up and pretending to last hit and s keying to stop and dodge instead.
Lucian	4	50.04%	3,369	Skill	Skill	Win
Malphite	3	50.47%	1,284	Win	Win	Lose	You are much stronger than him early game. His q poke damage is not nearly enough to outdo the sustain you have with second wind, doran's shield, and your passive. Try to trade and set up a freeze early.
Maokai	1	46.32%	652	Win	Win	Win	You are much stronger than him at all stages of the game. Unlike Malphite, Maokai is not nearly as tanky and does not scale with armor. He pretty much always loses to you. However, with his q knockback its difficult to consistently stay on him later on. Try to abuse your advantage over him in the early game and trade and look to freeze. Try to bait out his q and sidestep. He often has mana problems if he spams his abilities.
Mordekaiser	5	48.82%	2,069	Lose	Skill	Lose	Take short trades when his q or e is down. If Mordekaiser ever lands his pull on you then you are screwed. You will get chunked or will die in his death realm post six. Bait out his abilities by stepping into his range and stepping out quickly. Mordekaiser lacks decent sustain so the more short trades you take the better. Play around his shield and try not to fight when he has max shield up.
Nasus	6	52.07%	1,233	Win	Skill	Lose	You are much stronger than him in the early game but get outscaled quickly. Try to set up a freeze on him or dive him with your jungler.
Neeko	4	56.46%	604	Lose	Skill	Lose
Olaf	7	52.24%	490	Lose	Skill	Skill	Take short trades with Phase Rush and get out. Olaf shreds you very quickly with his axes and true damage. Kite him out during his ult and only fight him when its down.
Ornn	1	50.7%	1,365	Win	Win	Win	Avoid taking free q or w damage in the early game. Stand away from pillars and walls so he cannot knock you up. You are strong with berserker greaves, but he is much stronger when he starts forging item components. Be careful of his triple brittle combo when you are 50% health.
Pantheon	7	53.28%	1,173	Lose	Win	Win	Play for 6 and berserker greaves. W his w stun and play around his e cooldown. Play to survive and try to sidestep his qs. You are much stronger at first item.
Poppy	3	51.35%	923	Win	Win	Win	W her q damage or preferably her e stun. Bait out her qs in lane by barely stepping up into range and then stepping out. Play around bushes when she has her passive auto up. Hard trade when her q is down. You outscale her.
Quinn	3	45.66%	760	Lose	Skill	Win	Play around bushes so you don't get autoed for free. Put 3 points in q first so you have the movement speed to get onto her. Play to trade with Phase Rush at 6 and berserker's greaves. Use Phase Rush to chase her down after she e's you away.
Renekton	4	54.22%	1,435	Lose	Skill	Win	Try to W his W auto. Fight him when he doesn't have fury up. Try to bait out his q by barely stepping into range and then stepping out. Respect him when he has fury up, he will shred you. Trade when you get berserker's greaves.
Rengar	4	51.83%	982	Lose	Skill	Win	Start E level 1, when Riven Q's onto you just E and recast E when she kites out for refund. Do not Q her shield too early and time your W for Riven's stun. Wave control is important here, you want it frozen near your tower. You have huge kill threat on Riven at 6 if she's ever at 60 percent hp or lower. Serpant's Fang is a great buy into Riven 2nd item
Riven	4	50.35%	1,992	Lose	Skill	Win	Use your e when she trades into you, and use your w when she stuns or you are taking the most damage and need the damage reduction. Play to trade on your beserker's greaves spike and take trades on your e duration from there.
Rumble	6	52.96%	625	Lose	Skill	Lose	You hard lose the early game and you outscale him do your best to respect his damage while getting what farm and xp you can. You beat him in sidelane and once you hit Stridebreaker you can start winning fights
Ryze	3	50.99%	959	Lose	Win	Lose	Extremely difficult lane, farm up and try to scale. Ryze is a lane bully and he outclears and outroams you. Consider dodging the matchup
Sett	4	50.2%	2,793	Lose	Win	Win	Don't fight him Level 1, just stay in XP range and don't eat poke. Use your W to block Sett's E stun, spin once you're stunned, and Q him to walk out with phase rush. Only trade when you have phase rush up so you can dodge Sett's W. You only win short trades and you hard lose extended trades. In teamfights, hold your Q to prevent Sett from using W when he's low.
Shen	1	52.49%	1,166	Skill	Win	Win	Use your w on his e taunt. Use your q to bait his w and use your e to damage when him when he uses it. Avoid getting hit by his empowered q damage and stand away from his sword.
Shyvana		49.73%	549
Singed	1	48.83%	1,286	Win	Win	Win	Trade early and avoid getting all-in at 6. Do not get flipped into his turret. Walk with your wave so he cannot proxy you early. Do not chase him.
Sion	2	51.35%	1,480	Win	Win	Lose	You hard win against Sion early game. Use your Q to cancel Sion Q or you can use your W if you're going to get hit. You can even avoid it with your spin. Before going for all-in try to get Sion's W on CD.
Swain	2	51.3%	733	Win	Win	Lose	Play safe early and its critical that you dodge the swain E with some nice movements or using minions to block it. Rush tier 2 boots in this matchup to dodge easier and don't be afraid to use W if you do get hit by E. You have to burst him before Swain can heal with his ulty so all-in him at 50 percent or lower.
Sylas	1	50.96%	3,057	Skill	Win	Win	Difficult matchup pre-6, he has lots of kill threat on you. But Sylas level 1-2 is also as weak as yours. Always use your W on Sylas E chains. Play for short trades before sylas heals. Post 6- you can kill him at 50 percent or lower.
Tahm Kench	3			Lose	Skill	Win	Stand behind minions so he cannot hit you with q. If he suddenly goes out of vision, run away since he is casting his w. Play for your berserker's greaves spike.
Teemo	3	51.66%	1,082	Skill	Skill	Skill	Play safe early and avoid as much poke as you can till 6. Always W the Teemo Q. Post 6, you have kill threat on him if he's at 70 percent hp or lower provided he doesn't block your Q.
Trundle	6	49.79%	699	Lose	Skill	Lose	Take short trades and respect his level 1 damage. Walk with the wave level 1 and ward the bush near you so you cannot get cheesed. Play for short trades especially at 6 with berserker greaves.
Tryndamere	7	47.09%	1,115	Lose	Skill	Lose	Level 1, you need to pay attention to his fury bar. You do not fight him if its full. Post 6, you need to instantly ult him when he's in ultimate range. If they correctly ult in response, kite back and ping your jungler to assist. Tryndamere will outscale and you should look to teamfight
Urgot	5	48.03%	1,166	Lose	Win	Lose	Beware Urgot's extremely powerful level 1-2. You can start trading at level 3. Use your W on Urgot's flip and also when you E make sure to go in circles around Urgot denying some of his passive damage with legs and also making it difficult for urgot to land his ultimate.
Vayne	9	49.89%	2,305	Lose	Skill	Lose	Play around bushes so you don't get autoed for free. Put 3 points in q first so you have the movement speed to get onto her. Play to trade with Phase Rush at 6 and berserker's greaves. Use Phase Rush to chase her down after she e's you away.
Vladimir	5	49.38%	1,531	Win	Skill	Lose	Respect Vladimir's Empowered Q's and play back when its up.
Volibear	5	51.22%	1,353	Lose	Win	Lose	You lose early game and you outscale him at level 9, you can start trading at level 5. Use your W on Volibears Stun and use your Q to get out of Volibear's E. Post 6, if you get below 50 percent, do not run towards your tower instead fight him back.
Warwick	7	50.91%	1,043	Lose	Win	Win	Take Phase Rush here, you lose 2v1 even with your jungler. You hard lose this lane but outscale him to win the game. Play for short trades procing phase rush and play very safe when tis down. Rush Execution's Calling
Wukong	7	51.41%	1,274	Lose	Win	Lose	Level 1 don't force trades, if he forces you auto Q kite backwards. Only start trading at level 3, when Wukong engages with EQ, you need to instantly pop W > Q. Then E through his clone and follow him back. Play for short trades avoding long trades. Ignite can help you keep vision of Wukong through his clones
Yasuo	4	49.87%	3,032	Lose	Win	Lose	Simlar to Yone, only instead you have much more kill threat at 6. You can kill him at 75 percent hp with QER ignite. You hard counter him in teamfights with your silence into ult whenever he dashes since he's ability reliant
Yone	5	52.52%	2,285	Lose	Skill	Lose	Level 1 don't trade, if Yone forces auto Q him and kite backwards. Start trading at level 3. Ideally let Yone miss his Q3 and then go in on him with Q > W > E. Post 6 you have a lot of kill threat, if you get him at half hp, he's in kill range with Q > E > R > Ignite. If you win lane, you should split push. Else you should teamfight and look to burst Yone whenever he engages on your team.
Yorick	8	50%	766	Win	Skill	Lose	Trade on him in the early game when he doesn't have graves up. Focus on dodging his e and w post six.
Zac	3			Win	Win	Win	Bait out his w by barely stepping into range and stepping out immediately after. You can look for trades post 6, Pre six you probably won't have the damage to finish him off and proc his passive. Try to ignite before he ults so his total healing is reduced. W when he uses the bulk of his damage (Q E R).