Introduction

Hello Summoners,
reading through the other Taric guides, I noticed that most are outdated and none reflect him properly with all his incredible potentials. Have fun reading my thoughts and strategies on Taric, the Gem Knight.
For more detailed information, try the links - like this one if you have trouble with abbreviations in LoL.
As of today (02/02/2012), this guide is nearly finished, feel free to post if you can help me improve my guide.

my IGN is "Gott der 7 Meere".

If you like, try out my other guides (On Sona and Soraka).
Offensive Support Taric

Taric is angry! Surprised and shaken that no one can see the beauty of all stony things in this world, he crafted a huge hammer, that he likes to smash in eye proximity of his enemies now, so they will one day appreciate the inertness of unmoving things. All his game-play is around combo-ing his skills to disable a target and set it up vulnerable and facing enhanced allies - and using his hammer on them. He does draw aggro, he can take quite a beating, and since the second part of his skill set is about surviving such actions unharmed, he can be classified as a tanky support. However the current meta game, favoring stronger Top laners and Junglers has driven him to exclusively be played without farm, and without farm, he can never become the menace that he potentially is. He excels in his support role now, with a strong lane-ing phase and all that is needed to babysit a carry. In mid and late game, he is a huge asset to all clashes, a bit weak however and he needs to be played with caution, as his opponents outlevel and outfarm him.
My favourite Build

Example build:
Items: Core Extended core and
Runes: Red: Armor or AS - Blue: MR or MR/lvl - Yellow: Armor or gold/10 - Quints: MS or gold/10
Masteries: 0/15/15 Improve your Summoner spells (Clairvoyance and Flash) get MS and gold/10
Skill order: Radiance > Shatter > Imbue > Dazzle
His Multiple Crafts

Gemcraft
Altough the idea behind this passive is awesome IMO, it is not made for a support. It has some use at least when you are short just a trickle of mana, and just hit something to dazzle again. It won't help you when you are oom (out of mana) tough because you are forbidden to hit creeps (It would push the lane). If you take some AS, this meager ~5 Mana per hit equals to 25-70 MReg/5sec which is a lot. Quite nice for jungling actually...

   Imbue
Active: 80/95/110/125/140 Mana for a 60/100/140/180/220 (+ 0.6 per AP) Heal of is target and himself. 40% increased heal on self-cast. Basic attacks vs Minions/Champions reduce its cooldown of 20/19/18/17/16 by 1/3 seconds.

A good heal, although quit expensive. In theory you only need 3 hammer swings and maxed CDR to heal and heal and heal...

   Shatter
Passive: A 10/15/20/25/30 Armor aura and an additional 10/15/20/25/30 Armor for himself while not on CD.
Activation effect: 50/60/70/80/90 Mana for 60/105/150/195/240 (+ 0.6 per AP) Aoe magic damage around him and a 10/15/20/25/30 Armor Reduction debuff for 4 seconds on all those hit by Shatter. Cooldown is 10 seconds or 6 seconds with maxed CDR at 40%.

Underestimated. A good Taric will abuse this skill. Its mana cost is low, its damage good and the Armor debuff is perfect for lane-ing with AD based champions. The additional Armor aura is just the coating on the stone. Because of its both defensive and offensive uses, you can't do anything wrong with points here unless your partner prefers to play all save and frightened. Without someone to take advantage of a debuffed enemy, you shouldn't go in harm's range. Always check if the tradeoff Taric's HP vs. enemy HP was worth it, and never get yourself into an unsure position or it is not your enemies that will be shattered.

   Dazzle
Active: 95 Mana for 40/70/100/130/160 (+ 0.4 per AP) magic damage and a 1.5 second stun every 14/13/12/11/10 seconds (6 sec with max. CDR). The damage increases the closer you are to your target - up to double damage and ratio if they stand beside you.

It is quite a nuke if leveled and the CD decreases too. Still, it will mostly be used for the stun, and as such, one level is enough. It has a long travel time, and tough it cannot be dodged, enemies can flash while they see it coming.

Radiance
Active: 100 Mana for 150/250/350 (+ 0.7 per AP) Aoe magic damage around him and a 10 seconds 30/50/70 AP and AD buff to ALL allied units around him every 60 seconds (36 sec with max. CDR).

What an ultimate! The most amazing thing about it is the potential combination with On The Hunt. It is perfect for teamfights, pushes, dragon and baron - in other words: for all the game deciding events. If you ever laned with a Sivir and pushed that enemy tower in 4 seconds at level 6, you know that this ultimate is just overpowered (a good reason to get Siege Commander, by the way).
Remember that this ultimate gives a huge chunk of AP to yourself as well, so use it before your other abilities and don't forget to auto attack, since with your huge base AD of 121, this buff and a Shatter debuff, you can pack a decent punch.

Buffing - Debuffing - Healing - Stunning

> > >

His skill order is very flexible. Both Shatter and Imbue are great defenses in lane-ing, and since Shatter can be used offensively as well as defensively, I tend to put only some points in my heal. As a rule of thumb: Get enough heal to remove enemy harassment and put the other points into Armor. Obviously you get one point into your stun early, when you want to invade their jungle, even at level 1. Get your ultimate whenever you can, and don't hesitate to use it, since its CD is rather low. Be careful to manage your Mana because you need a full combo of Dazzle, Radiance, Shatter and Imbue (maybe even another stun) to be a proper threat.

Example skill order (no blueprint):

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Tip: Zone your enemies from the bushes with your stun.

Flash and CV

- Combined with your wards, Clairvoyance will allow you unlimited map-awareness. Best support spell there is.
- Without means of escape you are dead if focused. This is best avoided with Flash or Ghost. Since Flash provides the most in terms of utility, allowing you to initiate your combo over quite a distance and your masteries and runes will give you a high speed already it is generally preferred. If you are confident that you can avoid death with clever positioning, there are other - situational - options: Clarity, Heal, Exhaust, Teleport, Promote (I suggest you go premade tough). Please don't ever spoil a game by taking Revive for Taric .
Warding

This section is the crucial one. It has the biggest impact on the game and it separates the "oh-we-didn't-notice-you" from the "you-did-an-awesome-job-supporting" Tarics. WARD-ING; buying wards, placing wards, destroying wards. Every one gets wards after they buy items. A good support gets wards before items. You don't just buy one ward for emergencies, it is your duty to buy at least 3 green and a pink ward. You ward your river bush AND dragon AND buffs AND if someone asks, you get them wards. That means proper warding. A good support will win games with only 2 items - having spent the rest of his money on wards. A truly outstanding support will win games with only basic boots.
Let's face it, wards replace the best items. What use is a Rabadons or IE when the person carrying it face-checks a bush where the enemy Warwick, Morgana, Taric are awaiting him. Wards win games. You don't have to spend all your money, don't exaggerate. But you should get used to the fact that you will finish only few item at best when playing support, because your money goes on warding. Not just in endgame, but during the whole game. You buy your first wards as first items, and every time you return. No time of the game goes past when there is not at least one spot - a decisive spot - warded. Gold reg items, masteries and runes are one way to get the money for warding BUT they are not mandatory for spending money on those green and pink Fog of War deniers.
I usually buy about +20 green Sight Ward and +5 pink Vision Ward. Vision Wards are totally worth their money because they give you true vision, an assurance that is worth the 50 additional gold, especially when a well placed Vision Ward leads to the discovery of one or two enemy wards. Please keep in mind that you don't have to destroy enemy wards per se. Sometimes giving the enemy the illusion of better map control can be an excellent baiting opportunity. Thanks to warding, jungling becomes a piece of cake, dragon and baron are easily done, the enemy Akali curses because she just has been killed in her you-can't-see-me-sphere. Now every one has been angry at the opposing support for clearing wards with an oracle, but you should just continue warding, and bring him down. Don't let him succeed in stopping you from warding - rather place your wards in unexpected locations and bushes. Even a good support with oracle won't see every ward. Always consider that he has given up the equivalent of ~5 wards of money that he can't place. That means his team will have less vision. Map awareness comes from placing wards, not from destroying them. Focus on your job and let another person get oracles. Also, because oracles are very obvious way to detect stealth, I would advise against them if you are facing stealth champions. I generally prefer Vision Wards over Oracle, they are fare better for your team in early game, when you are just so easily killed. There is no gold lost with warding, and I advice you to only buy oracles when you have boots, and can run away if they chase you.
Better yet, let someone tanky who comes around more (e.g. your jungler) get an oracle.
Now you realize how important wards are, they only are as good as their placement. I will show warding examples in the next sections, read the following guide for a summery in warding and you should learn to place them better with every game you play - just buy some wards for "learning" purposes and place them on "new" spots every game.
Warding alwo includes the wards of your teammates. One isolated ward helps far less than a line of two or 3 wards spread across the map. Tell your Mid/Top/Jungler to ward if they don't, explain them if they place wards badly. This helps a lot if done correctly and ganks will become virtually impossible for the enemy. If you want, you can type something funny into the chat, to make them place wards... like this true story.
By the way you are supposed to know the spawn and respawn times of major neutrals by heart and type them in the chat so your warding is timed well!
   - Baron Nashor spawn 15:00 respawn every 7min (300 gold AND 900 xp for each player)
   - Dragon                 spawn   2:30    respawn every 6min (190 gold NO xp) for each player)
   - Blue/Red Buff    spawn 1:55 respawn every 5min
If you achieve ward dominance over these spots, AND your team abuses this you will win for sure.

Early game: River and if asked buffs, dragon (dragon always with vision ward).
Mid game: Mid cross-sections and buffs/dragon when respawn.
Late game: Defensive or offensive warding of jungle cross-sections and of Baron - but avoid soloing.

Sadly I can't show you where exactly to place every one of your wards, because it is never the same. You will find a lot on warding in my Gameplay section, but finally it is up to you to learn it.

Just let me remind you that you will only become a good or even outstanding support if you master warding.
Runes, Masteries, Items

I am still convinced that only your total setup is what matters. I want to point out which stats are best on Taric and the best ways to unite them all.

Taric is incredible versatile, he can be played as pure Tank, AD/AS melée Bruiser, AP nuker or support. Altough no stat is really wasted on him, you can screw your build if you don't fully steer him in one direction, as he will never be the kind of april-fool-Lee-Sin-OP and be able to excel in everything.

As Taric is a melée champion and any offensive action requires him to close the distance to his enemies, he is prone to a lot of kite-ing and ranged harassment. Any ranged champion with more movement than him, will kill him if he doesn't retreat to his tower. I consider Movementspeed to be his stony spot. You need to boost this early in order to lane properly. You have the choice of either starting with boots, or taking the according runes and masteries. I already emphasized that he is a tanky champion, and seeing that he already has a decent Armor, I think Health is the second most important stat. As you can see, survivability comes first. You will make him even more durable by getting Armor/Magic Resistance later. Now he is required to heal and combo in lane-ing phase, which can remove quite a bit of Mana from your bar. You need some form of (minor) MReg boost early. This can be done via runes, but since your first item happens to include MReg, you can happily skip MReg runes if you feel you have enough Mana. Also his AS is quite low and if you boost it, it really makes a difference on a champion that already has a huge base AD and an ultimate that buffs it even further. On top of that, his passive and heal will profit from AS. Altough CDR and AP are good stats on Taric too, I find that your combos are already strong enough, and repeating them more frequently only means you are doing something wrong. In late game, they are a big help, but you don't need them early, as they will just drain your mana. If you need a quick heal, just smash something for Mana and CDR, there is no need for itimization early.
If you need more damage later, I suggest you take some sort of Magic Reduction or Penetration as it will work better than stacking (expensive) AP.
Please avoid unwanted stats like APen, since Armor Reduction works way better and already effectively on him, AD, because he already has a lot, and his DPS raises more with AS. Obviously they also don't really suit the support style playing, assuming that your teammates provide the damage and only need you for helping them. Please remember that you as support don't have the money for luxuries.

Your runes are item replacements that you don't have to buy in game. With the usual money shortage of supports runes provide valuable stats for nothing. They are crucial. They have their biggest impact on early game if you take flat stats or on late game if you take per level stats. The same holds true for masteries. Get only the stats you desperately need and upgrade your summoner spells.

In my opinion you should be flexible with your Runes/Masteries/Items. Tweak your build so it fits your desperate needs always (Read the Build discussion section for further information).

Masteries

As Tanky support you are torn between the Defense and the Utility mastery tree. Depending on enemy (and your own) team composition you might go more into one or the other. As long as you want to support, you should try to get Greed and if you like Wealth for a more flexible starting item choice. Whatever you do, get as much Movement speed as humanly possible.

Tip: Discard your pre-finished mastery sites and take on the habbit of filling one in champion select, always according to the enemy team. This way you are more flexible and don't forget to include for example the Evasion mastery when the enemy has a lot of AOE.

Runes

I know that runes are expensive. I don't expect you to try them all out just to know what works best (I have done that for you already). Here is my line of thought: Taric is too slow to put his melée abilities to any use without the proper runes. If you don't get Swiftness Quints, you will definitely feel the difference. Get all the defense stats you can get, and if you lack anything - Mana, Health, etc. runes are the place to get it. Improve your early game so you don't loose the lane in the first two levels when you are still weak.

(AS) - You already have AD and an Armor debuff, these help to raise your DPS and have excellent synergy with your passive and heal. (MR) or (Armor) are other options.
(Armor) or (Gold/10sec) - Defence or Gold.
(MR) or (Mana) - Make yourself more tanky.
(Movespeed) - No real alternatives here, since you need movespeed that much. (gold/10sec) if you absolutely must take them.

Slightly adjust your rune setup if you know that itimization requires specific stats (e.g. another 4% CDR or more Mana). You can also experiment with AP runes (They stand for a more AP carry build, not pure supporting, but work well too). Sadly you can't escape the fact that Supports are forced to go for Gold/10sec, and there is an overwhelming force imposing Quints and now even Seals of Avarice and the Greed mastery on you. Don't let that blind you to the fact that other stats can be better. I favor Movespeed especially, others might cheer on Health; the higher your elo gets, the less will you have a choice in this matter - in the end, Money and Wards win the game.

Finally: as a good rune setup for most champs takes Red: Armor Penetration, Yellow: Armor, Blue: Magic Resist, Quints: Movespeed, you might as well use them for Taric, indeed I encourage you to buy these Runes first when you get to summoner level 20 and can buy Tire 3 Runes.

Items

ALWAYS GET:

Utility:
Mana   (Usually a is enough when having Mana issues.)
CDR   (Get survivability first and CDR as a by-product.)
MReg   (Some MReg is needed, but the or should be enough.)
Consumables   (Don't take , buy some instead.)

Durability:
Defense vs. Balanced   (Get cheap HP and work towards a .)
-> / -> / vs. Physical Damage   (With Shatter and this you should be at +300 Armor.)
-> // vs. Magic Damage   (Together with runes and Masteries you steer towards +150 MR.)

Offense:
AS   (Just one AS item already boosts your DPS a lot.)
AP   (Get either , or before/when you build some AP.)

Situational:
On request (Usually is better.)
Item Discussion

Is this the best starting item ?
No, it isn't. Actually, any item with a price tag over 350 is evil. You need those Sight Wards! Although Sapphire Crystal, Doran\'s Ring, Meki Pendant or even Amplifying Tome are good items, I implore you to start with more than one ward. Protection from ganks and better zoning via bush control is what your lane partner needs. When you face stealthers in lane, or have a jungler that wants to gank a lot you will even need a Vision Ward. There will be no money for those items. The only starting options I recommend follow. You can decide to start with only wards in your inventory. However, if you notice you run out of mana a lot, get some Mana Potion, too. The next option is for agressive laners and gankers: you will need Boots of Speed aside form all the wards you can get. Altough you will stay in lane less time, you will escape dangerous situations, and this allows you to gap the distance to your enemies and still stay out of trouble. The third option I propose is the common Faerie Charm, it is cheap, it gives you much needed MReg and it speeds up your Philo Stone.

Starting items: 5x + / or + 2x or + 4x ()

Why should you take this item ?
After the changes, this item now also works on other supports, as CDR and HP are exactly what they need apart of fancy auras. I deeply regret that the Armor Reduction is gone, but that was OP anyway. All in all, you now get a balanced offense/defence/utility item, that is made for Taric. Now more than ever, you don't need to have excuses for buying an AS item.
I suggest to take this when your team is mostly AD (counting yourself) and Will of the Ancients if it isn't.

Zeke's: A very good combination of Taric's most wanted stats.

Taric is a support, these boots make no sense for him !?
Don't they ? No, there are no "better" options. You have to balance offense and defense if you want to play Taric effectively and with the omg-Taric-is-outrageous-effect. You can also play save and boost your defenses by takeing Ninja Tabi or - mostly - Mercury's Treads. But Ionian Boots of Lucidity and Sorcerer's Shoes are good for him, too. If you remember what I told you about Movespeed, you may also want to consider Boots of Mobility if you like to roam, or Boots of Swiftness when you don't take MS runes or masteries. Remember that you can always get Tenacity via other items. What I want to say is: There are no bad boots for him. Buy according to situation and income.

Boots: Get if you fulfill the tank-role and or for pure supporting.

Is Aegis still viable ?
You need one big defensive item early. After the nerf to Aegis (it now doesn't work on minions any more), it is no "better" or "worse" than Soul Shroud. Get Aegis if you need MR, else take the Shroud for a lot of HP. Alert your teammates to your item choice and don't buy Aegis if your tank is already getting it.

Defensive Auras: Get if your tank is getting or you don't need MR.

I see a lot of people taking Shurelya's, why don't you ?
The Reverie is a wonderful item, and if used properly, one of the best in game items. There is a reason why you get Movespeed. Positioning decides most battles. If your team asks for it, get it asap. If you loose battles because your team is in the wrong place: prioritize this! The upgrades to your gold/10 items, namely Shurelya's Reverie, Randuin's Omen and Deathfire Grasp are worth their gold. However, they are situational, and if someone in your team already has it, not needed two times. Situational means: if you are killed by their AD carry over and over again, take Randuins. If they have a fed HP champ like Cho, get DFG. If your team needs mobility, get Shurelya's. With the Locket of the Iron Solari we got a new item that can be upgraded for less money, and works as a good counter to AOE damage. This shield can take some of it, it is not that huge, however it works on all your teammates and is changed by MR, you just need the right timing to use it properly.

Active Items: is used frequently, it is not mandatory however.

Finally: If your team has no tank - and please don't call those Ganplanks or Nidalees going for Atmogs tanks - you should buy defensive items, and not offensive ones, as it will be you that has to initiate and will attract enemy attention. Always keep an eye on your and your enemies items, CS-scores and K/D/A's so you can adapt your build in time. If you and your team die in teamfights, you are doing something wrong. More on tanking: tanking. Together with supporting, you now have to fulfill two roles.
Cheap Build

As in my Sona guide, I will show you a cheap and powerful build, that enables you to grow strong with assist money, and a gold/10sec build that allows you to itemize and ward properly without (many) assists.

[builder=Taric/20f00c97cc1b5319edc988e44aefd342]
Build progression:
-> -> / -> (-> ) -> / -> ( if not Zeke's)
Start with MReg or Boots and as many wards as you can. Get the Mana Manipulator quickly and buy more wards. Work towards the proper boots, depending weather the enemy team is mostly physical or magical damage reliant. Rush the aura items as explained in the item discussion section (but not at the cost of decreased warding).
Gold/10 Build

But as the former build DEPENDS on assist money for warding (and warding is what proper supports prioritize), you will use a different build for very long games (as your early strength might go unnoticed, but your lack of money won't) or high elo games where you won't get that many assists at all. Preferable in this case:

[builder=Taric/20b4cf7d6b5d81592e8d5295ec65dc9f]
Build progression:
-> -> -> (-> ) -> / -> if not Zeke's)
Rush your Philo stone. Keep your movespeed higher as your enemies. Only buy an oracles if you have at least Tire 2 boots and can run away easily. Get a HoG and even a Kage's Lucky Pick if you need more money. Don't forget to take aura items. Get what your team needs.
If you feel like it you can replace your Seals for Greater Seal of Avarice but I advise you to keep your Movespeed Quints.
AP Build

Although less a support build, it is outrageous to deal some damage in lane and heal for more.

[builder=Taric/b80ff6ae27fe3ae1e82e7b209be504ab]
Build progression:
/ -> -> / -> /
I am still testing AP builds... help me with your toughts on AP Taric, will ya ?
Physical Counter Build

Now these builds will work for nearly all games... but sometimes the enemy makes the fatal mistake of taking ALL physical or magical damag (or their only one different carry fails). That is the time for hard counter builds. All physical teams are EASY to shut down completely with the following:

[builder=Taric/bbfb7940cc0896ff30666e45916a3537]
Build progression:
-> -> -> -> /
Mandatory are Ninjas and Movespeed quints. Get some HP and Armor next and go for either Randuins or Frozen Heart or even Thornmail. Taric is one of the best anti-AD supporters with his skill set and Shatter.
Again, only use this when their ENTIRE team is ad dependent and the AP carry (if they have one) has failed completely.
Magic Counter Build

All magical teams are more difficult to counter because they mostly have a lot of CC, Dots and on top of that: nukes.
Lets face it, when they really focus someone, he will probably be dead if he isn't the tank (All the more reason for your team to have a decent one like Galio :). However, your chances go up a lot if you get Tenacity and MR so they don't do true damag to you (and your team):

[builder=Taric/9942f70ea432d214ffc85fa93568a1ae]
Build progression:
-> -> -> /
Be advised to get MR early! Mandatory are Merc's, a lot of HP and MR (get these in rune-from too if you can); for nukers get Banshees, for dots get Force of Nature, for suppressions get Quicksilver Sash. (On a side note, Soraka is certainly a better counter-pick for all magic damag!)
Dominion Build

I am still testing Taric on Dominion... If you have some thoughts on this, feel free to contact me.

Although most people believe that you have to play killing machines on this map, that is just not true. Taric already is a very versatile champion, it is difficult to find the proper way to play him on the Crystal Scar - there are so many tasty options. (For details on Dominion, click here).

[builder=Taric/82a822d7d21eb4dec4a1dd37afadcc9b]
Build progression:
/ -> (// if you need MReg) -> (//) if your team needs them, or: / -> parts: +/ -> +/

Although you have similar needs on Dominion, there are some peculiarities, that you should make use of, to better support your team. Speed is essential on Dominion, start with Boots of Swiftness, take whatever upgrades you can get here and Summoner Spells take upgraded Flash and Ghost! As the map has an inert multiplicative MReg bonus similar to that of a Chalice of Harmony, you don't have to worry about MReg or Mana if you just take some MReg runes. A cheap utility aura early is the Mana Manipulator as this aura, together with the Map's passive, provides all Mana requirements of every teammate around you. The upgraded item Soul Shroud is good for you too, as you need HP for survival as quick as you can get it. You may take a Philosopher's Stone if your team doesn't need much MReg and upgrade it to Shurelya's Reverie, if your team need more speed. If you don't feel confident with the Shroud or the Reverie, just skip them and take on Aegis of the Legion or Zeke\'s Herald. It all depends on how you want to support your team and what your team needs. Some champs desperately need that 10% CDR, or MReg. Other would be better off with just some AS or Lifesteal. Think before taking on those items, as the wrong one don't help your team at all (thanks to ScarsAndFlames for pointing that out).

One particular Item should be rushed vs any form of stealthed champions: the Hextech Sweeper is the perfect counter item for Akali and Shaco, when they are the most powerful early but also yet rely on their stealth to survive! Trinity Force is a good item, giving you more speed and melée power, enough to finish someone of, or hold your ground on a Capture Point. On Dominion, there will always be fed enemies, so be advised to get Resistance quite early, when you see an enemy getting stronger. Very good items here: Thornmail or Quicksilver Sash / Force of Nature / Abyssal Scepter depending on wether you need Speed, or a Cleanse or more damage for your team.

Skill order is flexible, and the same as in Summoner's Rift (maybe with less Imbue and more Shatter).
I love to play supports on Dominion, since it is way more fun to support when getting the same money and xp as your mates and you don't have to buy wards... IMO Dominion is the place for supporting as it should be!
Gameplay

Protect your jungler:
"Taric feels that dark places deserve enlightment and gem-ing. He will be there when there are monsters to kill and allies to support."

(If you don't know what a jungler is: What's a jungler - and while you are at it, check Golems and Lizzards.)
Jungling is the most challenging and rewarding champion role in the team. Having one player carrying both powerful buffs in the game roaming on the map is undoubtedly handy, and ensuring permanent control of these buffs via warding and ganking at respawn is your key to vitory. Another reason is getting dragon asap. Having said that you should realize how important their protection early game - when they are yet weak and locked in an epic battle with a giant stone golem - is. There are two types of junglers: The Udyr, Amumu, Fiddlestick, Warwick (...) fraction is usually starting at blue buff, and easily ganked early. Everyone of your team should protect them. While some of them can still jungle if successfully ganked, most of them will fail and you are likely to loose. Of course that goes both ways, as you can shut down an enemy jungler most effectively when you gank him at blue. Many reasons for staying together as a team. The other type of junglers are Xin Jao, Tryndamere, Lee Sin (...) who start at small golems. While they can be ganked too, there are save towers near and the enemy will loose more xp going there in full force and killing those as opposed to laneing (Same goes for those starting at wolves). Your job is to make sure your team detects the enemy. Your teammates should surveil the jungle entrances to the respective jungle areas. This gives you a warning should things go tough. Now Clairvoyance has a CD of 70 seconds, meaning you can use it twice until spawn of Blue (1:55) or small Golems (1:40) once at the very start (until the 30 sec mark) and then at spawn time, or shortly before. Usually, a CV of the enemy summoner platform will already tell you if your enemy is capable of invading your jungle - the more you know the better. If you detect the enemy team at blue or golem, your team is save, can pull and walk away. Else you better beware of enemy intrusion. Be ready to place a ward in the bush when you see the enemy comming and retreat to another bush as group. Ping them and attack if your team is dominant early or retreat until they start blue to surprise them then. Do never ever steal a kill, and especially not the first blood, the money is way better for other carries.
Sona can ease a junglers start by taking Aria of Perseverance and healing him once he takes damage while walking away (make sure you don't steal his xp though !).
However, your duty to the jungler is not over yet. You should ward at his request if he fears for jungle intrusion and you have to track the enemy jungler with your CV. If he deviates from his rute, alert your teammates of possible ganks.

Protect your jungler: /

Tip: If your jungler is confident, you spotted the enemy and invasion seems unlikely, you can take the small golem champ with your lanemate. Pull them and let them chase you, let your carry lasthit them, obviously.

Lane Control:
"Gems are truly outrageous. They are truly, truly, truly outrageous - and my hammer is made of gems."

Get your Stun when your Partner is ready for offensive action - mostly already level one. Make them fear your stun and always stun, Shatter and hit them, with as much as you can. If you do this properly for two or three times, they will be dead or mortaly affraid of you and you can zone them by hiding in the bushes and dazzleing them if they trie to cs. If they ward the bushes, reclaim them somehow. Champs like Sivir can be annoying, still just harras without your stun first and stun when they wasted their shield. Always check if the tradeoff was worth it, you can also stay behind and just heal your mate for boring - but saver, game decisive - farming. Get enough MReg to keep harrassing, watch your mana pool and always stay more mobile than your opponents. And keep those (river) bushes warded!

Laning phase: - and later / ...-

Tip: Support every lane you can. Tell them to ward if they don't, warn them from incomming ganks, keep an eye on the minimap and ping if people are missing. You are the eyes and ears of your team and you can prevent a lot of mistakes. One of the most important things for your team is the reaction about a lane that is having trouble. Don't leave that lane alone. Tell the jungler to help, help yourself or make lane switches. This can completely turn the table for the enemy laners and is your biggest instrument to prevent enemy freefarm. Try it and learn how to do it properly. (The earlier you suggest a lane change, and the less feeding, the better it will work.)

Dragon:
"When awakening the terrible dragon in its lair, your team will test their skills for the first time in an epic battle. But the enemy lurks in the trees around and may challenge the honor of killing this beast. The Couragious and Cautious are honored with the last strike and will ravage in their wrath on the grounds of Summoners Rift."

There are two different kinds of dragon fights: I call them Private and Public fights.
The best case scenario means, your jungler tells you he is ready for dragon, and you take one minute to place a Vision ward at dragon, clear the enemy ward, and then proceed to place one or two more wards on the pathways to dragon (mostly blue buff and mid jungle entrance. Then you and your jungler quietly do dragon, he provides the damage and you the heal. After that you type in the respawn time, e.g. dragon killed at 12:56 means you type "drake 18:56". Two things are paramount for this. One: you have to know the enemy jungler is somewhere top. Two: you are confident that your lane partner bot can handle a 2v1 for the time. Essentially this scenario assumes that the enemy is not ready for dragon yet.
Now the other type of dragon fights is more common and more interesting. If you start challenging the enemy vision, there should be some reaction, a CV and a new ward mostely. Now the battle has started. It is not so much about the dragon itself, but about who has vision on dragon and champion presence in the area and therefore this is about the better position in the battle to come. When your position is better you will start to battle dragon, tank it, lure it from its lair and bring it down. Because killing dragon rewards 190g per player and is roughly worth 2 kills and you should expect the enemy to gamble at least two lives for it. Mostly that of his jungler. Therefore having smite ready in your team is paramount when attempting dragon, so it can't get stolen easily. You should also make sure that the enemy teleports (if he has some) are on CD so that no solo top can suddenly appear out of nowhere and cc your team. Now there is no harm done in aborting dragon. But there has to be a path you can retreat to. You should never do dragon, when you see the enemy converging at your position from all sides - in this case better isolate the highest priority target (mostly mid) and catch it in a bad position. That means when the shoe is on the other foot, only go for dragon as a team, use CV in advance and ward all over the place.
Now on a side note. Sure dragon is "decisive", the ~1000g is nothing to laught at. But it only bacomes a game changer when your entire team is aced because they ovestimated the value of it. Only attemt to steal when you have retreat ways, e.g. Flash up, strong cc... Dont take dragon at all costs. If you trade dragon for a tower... thats not bad at all.

Dragon:

Tip: Respawn every 6 min.

Pushing:
"Towers are stony, but they have no gems. A sad, sad state. Let us redeem the un-gemed."

Pushing means applying pressure to a lane that - if no enemy reaction comes - will eventually result in the destruction of a tower. The new masteries are a huge boost for tower destruction, just couple [mastery_text=siege commander] with Demolitionist, start Radiance-ing and maybe even [spell_text=on the hunt]-ing if you lane with Sivir. Taric really shines when pushing, since he will boost all nearby minions with his ultimate too. Your Armor also enables you to tank towers easily (When your old ultimate still healed you and towers didn't fire that powerfully, you could start clearing them at level 10 with your teammates and a Chain Vest, but those where also the days when his ulti drained his mana.)
Get towers whenever you can and make sure that when you retreat, the pressure on that lane doesn't suddenly disappear and the enemy counter pushes. Pushing is very dynamic and when the element of surprise is gone - the enemy has gathered undere the tower and will make his last stand - pushing stops. If you want to push effectively, then quickly adapt. With enough vision, you can easily apply pressure on more than one lane (Split-pushing) and lure the enemy out of the safety of their tower. Yes, you can force a fight and tower dive too, but that is not pushing, that brings us to the next point: Teamfights.

Pushing: for tower-tanking

Tip: Use your powerfull ultimate to push towers in a heartbeat when the enemy makes a mistake and is not grouped.

Teamfights:
"In the shadow of my radiating precious stones, all foes will fade and only those true of heart will prevail."

Your strenght as Taric, is to isolate a target, combo him and then use the reminder of Radiance to buff (and heal) your team to victory. The risk is that if there is no tank to initiate and draw aggro, you as a weak support will fall quickly and your team will be a man short, you probably won't get away and there will be no healing nor shining.
The combo goes like this: Dazzle-Radiance-Shatter-"Your teammats rip them appart". However it can easily become a Dazzle-Radiance-Shatter-"Smash them with your hammer"-"oh I only have 50 HP left"-Flash-"self-heal despite dot"-"surviving with 2 HP" or ...-"die" combo if you are not careful. Playing Taric is about the right timing and the right targeting. Once used, and drawing aggro, you should - idealy - tank them until your CD's allow another combo. Being disabled befor you can combo is devastating, after your combo they are invited to stun, suppress, snare or whatever you, hopefully you will survive with your team to back you up, and when you are done beeing CC'ed, stun the next target. Learn how much you can take and try to be a good tank - even tough you are only a weak one. Support and save your carries.

Now for a successfull teamfight, respectfully learn the following points by heart:
- Before starting a teamfight, mark the target with the highest priority. (You can't fully plan a teamfight, but at least try to and it makes your team feel more secure.)
- Let the tank initiate and dissable any target with dangerous ultimates instantly.
- Speed him up with Shurelia's active if you have it.
- Let your carries do their job and help them with your combo on the target.
- Smash enemies with your hammer, to do dmg, and get your Imbue ready again.
(- If that Akali tries to save herselve: Vision Ward her Twilight Shroud and get that ward money back via assist! The same goes for Twiches or Eves or any other nasty stealther, just ward in advance of theamfights here.)
- Use flash to kite and stay out of trouble, yet still stay near your team.
- Don't make the mistake of running away from them - it will weaken your team and you.
You can see that the key to a good Taric is to understand both supporting aspects and tanking aspects of the game. He is one of the more beefy, but also more team reliant and hazzardous champions.

If EVER you die; learn from your mistakes. If you went in before the tank, wait for him next time. If you are too slow, get boots. If you notice some crazy high magic dmg, get MR. If they kite you to death, get a Quicksilver Sash or/and Shurelya's Reverie. If they kill you alone, stay with your team. If they kill you with your team, tell them who to focus. If they nuke you, get a Banshee's Veil. And so on...

For teamfights:
Survival: HP and superior MS to survive and for emergencies: and .
Team support: Your auras of course and and .
Utility: --()--- vs. stealthers: .

Tip: Positioning is your key to survival and victory. Be fast and learn where you can survive. Try to learn ALL champion abilities and ranges, so you know when you are save from them. As a final note here: You are disposable. Do not hesitate to sacrifice yourself if that means you win a battle, or a carry escapes.

Baron:
"Rid the world of the biggest of evils !"

Money. Experience. A BUFF; healing, replenishing mana and giving AD and AP for your entire team. I see you get the big picture. Baron means victory. So please, by all means, try to get it! Similar to dragon you will ward and quarrel over the positioning, and there will always be clashes in the area. Warding it properly is even more important than at dragon, clearing enemy wards just the same. But most important of all: Do not split up when baron is possible. You need everyone together. People with teleport might wander, but only when ther are ready to hop right into the heat of battle.
As with dragon: Accept defeat when you see a hopeless case. Running for baron with only parts of your team is stupid. Your jungler might try to steal it, but nothing more. Prepare for a long siege and hopefully you will only loose one or two towers.

Baron: everything you got!

Tip: If you are not absolutely sure of it, don't attempt baron. You just don't attempt the VICTORY thing. You DO it, or you DON'T do it, there is no in between.
Guidelines for Decent Playing

When I first played League of Legends, what I valued most, was the easy-going attitude on low levels. It was indeed your skill (not very advanced skill), that decided the games. The more I rose, the more people took this game seriously. I mean, SERIOUSLY. That was the time when emotions started to decide games. I wish I could go back to this happy playing, and I detest those summoners that poison the community by mistaking League of Legends for more than a play ground! Real life is serious enough. You are allowed to loose when you fought valiantly. You are allowed to make mistakes if you learn from them. The enjoyment comes if you can improve yourself as a player and a teammate and see that all those qualities that others neglect will indeed make you win games. I am talking about the Code. Honor the Code. If you have a hard time understanding the Code I will help you with the ways a decent players behaves himself: for honorable Ladies and Gentleman. Furthermore there are plenty of fantastic "general Gameplay" guides out there that will help you become a winner. Remember that we all belong to a brotherhood (and sisterhood) of brave people that enjoy playing together in the League. Your opponents and teammates are not so different from yourself. Don't be quick to pass judgement on others, talk about other stuff as well, and not just about bad skills.
If you are tired after a game that went bad...

I propose to you: A new game mode. Open a custom game with the title "ALL TROLL - NO RULES".
It is the easy-going attitude in a free game, where all options are open, where you can experiment with unusual things, where dieing is part of learning and loosing just the clarification of the fact that your way did not work as intended.

Someone tells you AP Miss Fortune does not work ? All roaming: fail ? Promote is bad ? That two supports are way too many ? Don't believe him. Try it out yourself. You think my guide is wrong ? If you don't try it out, you will NEVER know.

I will join you if I see an open game, because I always want to try new ways and I figure bot games are not the place to try things that require teamplay and are a bit boring. Have fun!
Conclusion

If you truly are interested in Taric, try out all of his aspects and variations to discover how versatile he can be. I'll be glad when you tell me about your way with him, and how it works.

Thank you for reading my guide. I look forward to seeing you play Taric on the Field of Justice. Special thanks to Leaguecraft and all the valiant LoL players that put up with me.
Since this guide is brand new (02/02/2012), I appreciate you helping me improve it (seriously, I do).

My ingame name is "Gott der 7 Meere".