Garen Top - Spin to Win

With no mana and healing from Perseverance (P), Garen can efficiently use Doran's Shield against auto attackers or low interaction lanes.

Boots of Speed or Cloth Armor allow rushing early Mercury's Treads or Ninja Tabi with more sustain from extra Health Potions.

Garen has some of the strongest scaling with defensive items in the game thanks to his Courage (W), one of the most powerful defensive abilities in LoL Classic.

Garen also gains considerable power from cooldown reduction, which increases the uptime of his Courage (W). With 40% cooldown reduction, max rank Courage (W) has an uptime of 6 seconds and a cooldown of only 8 seconds!

Sunfire Cape early gives the defensive stats we are looking for while providing consistent damage and wave clear. It allows Garen to both stat-check weaker opponents and quickly farm waves to avoid strong opponents. The further ahead you are, the stronger Sunfire Cape becomes.

Build Sunfire Cape first in physical damage or melee match ups.

Stark's Fervor is a cheap, yet powerful item that yields a lot of cooldown reduction. Between Perseverance (P), Courage (W) and lifesteal, many opponents will becomes completely unable to win a war of attrition against you

Build Stark's Fervor first in mobile ranged match ups, or alongside Hexdrinker when facing magic damage dealers.

Garen can build tank items, but he doesn't have to. Some matchups demand damage. You'll never defeat a Warwick in lane building Sunfire Cape.

The Brutalizer first item provides serious all-in threat. Build it first agaisnt squishy ranged lane opponents to kill them in one Decisive Strike (Q) Judgment (E) Demacian Justice (R) Ignite combo.

Hexdrinker and Maw of Malmortius have incredible synergy with Garen and should be built nearly every game.

Between the auto-reset on his Decisive Strike (Q) and rapid hits from his Judgment (E), Garen stacks The Black Cleaver armor shred very quickly. Rush this item against armor stacking opponents or finish it later in the game.

Youmuu's Ghostblade is the most threatening item you can buy against squishy targets.

Spirit of the Ancient Golem is a perfect Garen item. Health, coodlown reduction and tenacity for only 2000g is nearly impossible to pass up.

Spirit Visage is a great item against heavy magic damage and makes it very easy to reach the cooldown reduction cap of 40%.

Randuin's Omen is the best armor to buy if Sunfire Cape was not purchased early on.

Force of Nature is great when you are already cooldown reduction capped.

Guardian Angel helps close out a snowballing game.

All of these items have their place and can fit well within Garen's core items.

Executioner's Calling has decent synergy with Garen thanks to the ability for his Decisive Strike (Q) and Judgment (E) to apply critical strikes.

Atma's Impaler is a cheap fifth item with impressive stats for the price.

Last Whisper alongside The Black Cleaver multiplies your damage considerably against targets with any bonus armor.

Mercurial Scimitar is great last item when you need Quicksilver Sash to deal with oppressive crowd control abilities.

Infinity Edge makes you do infinite damage.

Ninja Tabi rush is good in a lot of matchups like Tryndamere, Vayne, or Gangplank.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity alongside Stark's Fervor and Spirit of the Ancient Golem will cap cooldown reduction.

Build Mercury's Treads when not building Spirit of the Ancient Golem.

"We fight for those who cannot."

40% cooldown reduction, tenacity, health, resists and attack damage.

I don't recommend this build, but it is fun.