Tanks are generally about as popular as a bathing suit in the winter. Tanks in the midlane are generally unheard of. Their lack of damage, reliance on teammates, straightforward gameplay style, and simplicity can be off-putting to players looking to carry games independently and in an exciting style with high damage and flashy plays. However, one such tank, Galio, has attracted attention due to his success not just in the top lane, but also in the midlane, and has been seeing more play both on the ladder and among the pros because of it.

Now, I know you want to try it too now, right? Well, wait right there. In order to give you a bit of a head start, I've got a few tips for you to start you off on the right path and set you on your way to becoming a top tier Galio mid player.

1. Understand what Galio does and his general win condition!

Galio, above all else, is a tank. You know this. If you didn't, you wouldn't be here because the article title would have turned you away. If it somehow slipped past you, let me repeat it here before you continue - Galio is a tank. Yes, even in the midlane.

Galio emphasizes protecting vital targets on his team (think the ADC or any fed teammate) while utilizing his impressive crowd control in teamfights to neutralize threats to them (think people trying to kill them or suppress their damage output) or force necessary cooldowns in order to put your team at an advantage. Galio also can act as an effective splitpusher at times, but I'll go more in-depth there in the second tip.

2. Understand how to gain leads and create opportunities with Galio!

In lane, Galio isn't exactly chosen for his ability to snowball. Don't get me wrong - it's entirely possible to do so, but not as common - especially not in higher elos where people tend to know how to play around his cooldowns and abilities. While his waveclear can be pretty oppressive, allowing for him to exert pressure on enemy laners and his sheer bulk can be intimidating for those looking to kill him in lane, his main strength is his ability to move around the map, start fights, and turn fights with his ult, Hero's Entrance.

Galio ability visuals

From reinforcing aggressive allies to protecting defensive ones, you can move across the map with ease and help out to either secure a position, assist in a gank or turn around a countergank, or even prevent a fight from happening. If your teammates want to make a play, you should coordinate with them when you can so that you can be there and the likelihood of success is increased. Moving with your jungler when your wave is pushed out and coordinating with your top laner to be in the same spot at the same time can help make small (or big) leads that add up over time with consistency.

His ult can also allow him to effectively act as a split pusher in a 1/3/1 scenario, as it works like Teleport except for you jump to allied champions. Use these in tandem and you can draw attention to/away from places of interest while creating pressure for your team.

Lastly, it should be noted that he functions as a great answer to champions that have to snowball in the lane to be effective, as he's incredibly hard to kill and is a pretty formidable skirmisher at the early levels.

3. Optimize with the right runes, masteries, skill order, and summoner spells!

Galio's runes and masteries mid aren't that different from the ones you'd take to the top lane, as he generally plays the same, just with the added benefit of being able to access more of the map faster due to his newfound position in the center of it.

The most standard rune page for Galio calls for Greater Marks of Magic Penetration (x9), Greater Glyphs of Magic Resist (x9), Greater Seals of Armor (x9) or Greater Seals of Scaling Health (x9) depending on your preference, and Greater Quintessence of Ability Power (x3). You can change these as you like depending on what you may see the pros building, but your results may vary.

Masteries on Galio are typically put into the Ferocity and Resolve trees in a 12/0/18 style to emphasize his bulk and survivability, with Courage of the Colossus being the heavily favored keystone for its ability to activate off of three of his four abilities and grant him more tankiness. As far as Ferocity goes, masteries such as Feast and Vampirism increase your sustain in lane, and Battle Trance helps you grab at a bit more damage in sustained fights. In the Resolve tree, spells like Runic Armor, Tough Skin, Recovery, and Insight are your best friends. They'll bolster you up and allow you to tank and move more effectively. Thunderlord's Decree is the second most common keystone, but you'll probably see this more on experienced Galio players that are trying to cater to a more specific style of play or assert themselves more in lane.

Flash and Teleport are the most common Galio summoner spells. There are very few scenarios in which you should be taking anything other than Flash and Teleport on Galio, as these spells play most optimally to your win condition of moving around the map and protecting/reinforcing teammates, highlighted in the second tip. In rare exceptions, you might take Ignite, but with the addition of the Bramble Vest item that gives Grievous Wounds to you, there's no need for it.

Finally, Galio's skill order is relatively straightforward. Excluding your ult, which you'll take points into whenever available, you'll want to max Winds of War first for the waveclear and general damage. Shield of Durand is generally next for the reduced cooldown and increased damage reduction. Justice Punch is maxed last, as the cooldown/damage is not as important to Galio as the other abilities as early. There are some people who reverse the order in which they max Winds of War and Justice Punch.

4. Build the correct items for the situation!

Galio is a tank. Simple as that. Sure, there are mage builds and you'll probably see some gimmicky AD builds out there, but Galio shines doing what he was designed to do - tank. This being said, you'll want to hit the ground running with items designed to make you tanky enough to serve your team throughout all stages of the game.

Standard Galio items, in no particular order

Items such as Abyssal Mask, Frozen Heart, and Adaptive Helm can get you tanky while giving you cooldown reduction, with Adaptive Helm and Abyssal Mask being great rush items because they'll be effective against many of the mages you'll run into in the midlane. Sunfire Cape, Thornmail, Randuin's Omen, and Gargoyle's Stoneplate are all situational items that can be used adaptively depending on what you need to protect against and how much health you need to do it. As far as boots, you generally take either Ninja Tabi or Mercury Treads. There's almost no reason for any other choice here.

5. Put in the time and play the champion!

It's no secret that practice makes perfect. Though Galio's kit isn't exactly difficult to execute, it's not exactly as easy as playing Annie either. He requires high decision-making ability and general knowledge of his limits (how much can he tank at a time, when to use what CCs in which situations, etc.) that can only be achieved by playing the champion and practicing, particularly before taking him into ranked.

If your first few games go well, then great! More power to you! Look forward now and find ways to maximize your gains and minimize your losses. If not, don't give up! Rome wasn't built in a day and even stand-out Galio players like Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg and Heo "PawN" Won-Seok had to learn the champion at one point. Galio takes lots of patience, understanding of timing, and map sense and game awareness to play, but he's incredibly rewarding and fun to play when you can execute him correctly.

I hope this helps you guys understand Galio just a tad bit more and increases your win rates with him as you jump onto the rift. Best of luck!

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