Right on the heels of the commander comes the guardian! This new class is a little more controversial, but I built to the best of my ability for it. As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choice may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
If you prefer watching over reading, check out the YouTube video on the character.
Let's get into the build for Rammus, the Armordillo from League of Legends!
RAMMUS, THE ARMORDILLO
SOURCE League of Legends
BUILD GOALS
o Rammus is a vanguard in League of Legends, a type of offensive tank that leads the charge for their team
o His Spiked Shell passive causes his attacks to deal magic damage based on his armor value
o His first activated power is Powerball, which causes him to roll into a ball and gain speed over time. Upon colliding with an enemy, he stops rolling, deals damage, and knocks them back slightly
o Defensive Ball Curl causes Rammus to enter a defensive stance, increasing his armor and magic resistance and automatically damaging enemies that hit him with basic attacks
o He can use Frenzying Taunt to taunt nearby enemies while also gaining attack speed
o The final ability of this valiant vanguard is Soaring Slam. He leaps to a target location, damaging and slowing enemies upon impact. The impact leaves aftershocks that deal additional damages and slows
o Millenia-old, the origin of Rammus is a mystery, with some suggesting that he is an Ascended who wanders the deserts of Shurima
o He is a remarkably even-tempered individual who shows up when people are in trouble to save them
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Quillcoat Shisk
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Strength, +Intelligence
o Ancestry Feat: Spine Stabber
Background: Tall-Tale
o Ability Boosts: +Constitution, +Strength
o Skill Increase: Performance (trained)
o Background Feat: Impressive Performance
Class & Subclass: Guardian
o Class Ability Boost: +Strength
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Athletics (trained), Diplomacy (trained), Nature (trained), Survival (trained)
o Class Feat: Unkind Shove
o Threat Technique: Ferocious Vengeance
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str +4, Dex +1, Con +2, Int +1, Wis +1, Cha +0)
While I would like to take the beastkin heritage to represent Rammus’s armadillo nature, it is important to take the quillcoat heritage for the shisk, with it providing him a reaction to hurt creatures that hit him – as per his Defensive Ball Curl. Spine Stabber grants him a quills unarmed attack, which may be the best way to represent the claw swipes and spiked headbutts that he attacks with. With such a mysterious background, shrouded in legend, he uses the Tall-Tale background even if he doesn’t quite use any of its features. Finally, he takes up the guardian class with the ferocious vengeance threat technique as the other option honestly seems too situational, only applying against critical hits. He uses Unkind Shove for his initial class feat to represent the knockback and damage of impact from his Powerball. Finally, while it is an action that presently has its own design flaws, the guardian class includes Taunt to resemble the CC effects of his Frenzying Taunt.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Armor Break
o Skill Feat: Quick Jump
o Gear: cloak of feline rest
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Adopted Ancestry – Ratfolk, Diehard
o Skill Increase: Athletics (expert)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+1), cloak of feline rest, stalk goggles
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Flying Tackle
o Skill Feat: Powerful Leap
o Gear: bracelet of dashing, handwraps of mighty blows (+1), stone of encouragement, cloak of feline rest
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +4.5, Dex +1, Con +3, Int +1, Wis +2, Cha +1)
o Ancestry Feat: Renewing Quills
o Skill Increase: Survival (expert)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), bracelet of dashing, crushing weapon rune, stone of encouragement, cloak of feline rest, stalk goggles
It is worth mentioning – Armor Break is not a good feat. It’s honestly kind of awful. But it does kind of work well to represent his Spiked Shell in a conceptual sense, except this is a single attack rather than a constant effect. Flying Tackle is a great way to represent the initial impact from his Soaring Slam and the aftershock aspects of it will be further explored deeper into the build. To aid in this bounding and potentially cover just through jumps with attacks made at the end of it, he takes Quick Jump and Powerful Leap as his skill feats, the latter benefitting the Leap of his Flying Tackle. He’ll grab an early Adopted Ancestry but doesn’t really make use of it. Instead, he’ll take Renewing Quills so that he can use the reaction provided by his heritage with greater frequency. Admittedly, this reaction competes with his reactions as a guardian but Barbed Quills is still only once per ten minutes, and they’re used in different circumstances. When Rammus himself is getting attacked, he can use Barbed Quills and when his allies are getting attacked, he can use Intercept Strike.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Stomp Ground
o Skill Feat: Titan Wrestler
o Gear: +1 fortress plate, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), lifting belt, bracelet of dashing, necklace of knives, stone of encouragement
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Athletics (master)
o Gear: swallow-spike armor rune, +1 fortress plate, quick runner’s shirt, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), bracelet of dashing, crushing weapon rune
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Group Taunt
o Skill Feat: Cat Fall
o Gear: boots of bounding, lesser grub gloves, swallow-spike armor rune, +1 fortress plate, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking), lifting belt
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Bristle
o Skill Increase: Survival (master)
o Gear: +1 resilient fortress plate, boots of bounding, jar of shifting sands, swallow-spike armor rune, quick runner’s shirt, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +5, Dex +1, Con +4, Int +1, Wis +3, Cha +2)
o Class Feat: Hampering Sweeps
o Skill Feat: Terrain Expertise – Desert
o Gear: armbands of athleticism, +1 resilient fortress plate, flaming weapon rune, boots of bounding, swallow-spike armor rune, handwraps of mighty blows (+1 striking)
Representing the aftershocks and area effect of Soaring Slam is Stomp Ground for Rammus’s sixth level class feat. It only deals damage on a critical failure, but I feel as though the idea fits very well with the concept. Group Taunt helps out the Taunt action a good bit and matches with the fact that his taunt in-game does actually apply to multiple creatures. However, Taunt in Pathfinder doesn’t actually stop a creature from moving away. To that end, the build has to take Hampering Sweeps as his last class feat in this block, which prevents enemies from moving past him and may, hands-down, be the most powerful weapon in the guardian’s arsenal. Given the Trips and Shoves in the kit we’ve built thus far and that Rammus is traditionally a jungler in League, it feels right for him to take Titan Wrestler, but Cat Fall might seem a bit stranger. While useful in case his jumps go awry, there’s a feat that builds out of Cat Fall that influenced my taking it. He won’t get in this block and instead take Terrain Expertise for the desert, given his home in Shurima. Toughness is important for a tanky character like this and Bristle similarly helps in that regard while also thematically and technically matching his Defensive Ball Curl.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Fast Recovery
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (expert)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), armbands of athleticism, advancing armor rune, +1 resilient fortress plate, boots of bounding, jar of shifting sands
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Armored Counterattack
o Skill Feat: Rolling Landing
o Gear: +2 resilient fortress plate, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 striking), dinosaur boots, armbands of athleticism, flaming weapon rune, greater rhinoceros mask
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Ratfolk Roll
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (master)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), +2 resilient fortress plate, robe of stone, dinosaur boots, armbands of athleticism, advancing armor rune
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Quick Intercept
o Skill Feat: Kip Up
o Gear: sandstorm top, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), greater swallow-spike armor rune, +2 resilient fortress plate, impactful weapon rune, dinosaur boots
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str +5.5, Dex +2, Con +4.5, Int +1, Wis +4, Cha +2)
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Athletics (legendary)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient fortress plate, jabali’s dice, sandstorm top, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), implacable armor rune, robe of stone
While its usage is only marginally less limited than Barbed Quills, Armored Counterattack gives Rammus a decent way to inflict more damage after taking a hit, as per his Defensive Ball Curl. Given his varied reactions, he also takes Quick Intercept to gain an additional reaction each round, potentially allowing him to Intercept Strike and Barbed Quills in a single round. Rolling Landing is mostly because rolling around is exactly what Rammus does while Kip Up is simply one of the most useful skill feats in the game. From his general feats, Diehard makes it slightly easier for him to survive after hurling himself into the midst of the fight while Fleet helps him get there quicker. Finally, his Adopted Ancestry comes into play to take Ratfolk Roll. Although limited to an incline, this allows Rammus to move at up to four times his Speed and if he hits a target after the first turn, he’ll deal damage (regrettably to himself as well). But this is a great way to represent the actual speed-up of his Power Ball as he rolls into combat.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Clang!
o Skill Feat: Cloud Jump
o Gear: earthglide cloak, +2 greater resilient fortress plate, greater boots of bounding, sandstorm top, handwraps of mighty blows (+2 greater striking), greater swallow-spike armor rune
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Quill Spray
o Skill Increase: Survival (legendary)
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), earthglide cloak, greater flaming weapon rune, +2 greater resilient fortress plate, jabali’s dice, sandstorm top
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Intercept Energy
o Skill Feat: Legendary Survivalist
o Gear: bracers of strength, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), major swallow-spike armor rune, earthglide cloak, +2 greater resilient fortress plate, greater boots of bounding
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Pick Up the Pace
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient fortress plate, bracers of strength, greater impactful weapon rune, handwraps of mighty blows (+3 greater striking), earthglide cloak, greater flaming weapon rune
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +6, Dex +3, Con +5, Int +1, Wis +4, Cha +3)
o Class Feat: Quick Vengeance
o Skill Feat: Legendary Guide
o Gear: handwraps of mighty blows (+3 major striking), +3 greater resilient fortress plate, sandals of the stag, greater impactful weapon rune, greater advancing armor rune, major swallow-spike armor rune
An important aspect of this build is finding a way to damage enemies that attack Rammus and while it triggers on a critical miss instead of a hit like his abilities usually do, Clang is a great feat to either let him hit that enemy or speed into combat – respectively representing his Defensive Ball Curl and Power Ball. Intercept Energy returns to the earlier levels of the guardian and increases the effectiveness of his Intercept Strike while also lending to the fact that his Defensive Ball Curl does also increase his magical resistance, at least in a tiny regard. I debated a little bit between the capstone options for Rammus, but settled on Quick Vengeance. It’s regrettable that this is such a situational quickened when the guardian isn’t terribly threatening to begin with, but the quickened from it does actually help to represent the increased attack speed granted by Frenzying Taunt. Cloud Jump allows him to positively launch himself into the enemies and he can do so as a single action thanks to Quick Jump. From his Survival feats, Legendary Survivalist enables his survival in the harsh Shuriman desert while Legendary Guide helps him fulfill his role as a vanguard, leading the charge through enemy territory for his allies. Pick Up the Pace does something similar, but his final ancestry is mostly just for fun. Quill Spray doesn’t really resemble any of Rammus’s abilities, but it’s a neat effect to potentially toss out there for some damage if he has a good grouping of foes.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: It’s hard to settle on a free archetype for Rammus – the character is fairly simple and covered by a lot of what of what guardian does. You could maybe take a dip into a Monk Dedication solely for the sake of building into Monk’s Flurry and letting him hit at an increased rate, as per the attack speed increase of his Frenzying Taunt. A much rarer option is the Stalwart Defender Dedication, which includes options such as Rupture Stomp, Cracked Mountain, and Stone Body. Mighty Bulwark also fits but is something he could potentially gain from his class if he had the feats to spare for it.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Rammus, the Armordillo is a quillcoat shisk guardian with the ferocious vengeance threat technique and the tall-tale background to represent the myths and stories that surround him. His Spiked Shell passive is admittedly difficult to represent, but Armor Break uses his armor to deal extra damage. This does admittedly break his armor, but it feels as though it at least fits in spirit. While he can cover the knock back and damage of his Powerball early on through his Unkind Shove, it’s only through an Adopted Ancestry and Ratfolk Roll that he gets the curl and speed-up of this ability. Bristle grants Rammus some increased defenses based off of his Defensive Ball Curl while the returned damage comes from his Barbed Quills, Clang!, and Armored Counterattack. Each of these are limited in their use, which leads to the necessity of collecting all of them. Taunt is a standard class feature of the guardian and Rammus can expand it into his Frenzying Taunt through the Group Taunt class feat while the actual hard crowd control effect comes from Hampering Sweeps preventing the enemy from moving away. The attack speed it grants is a little harder to recreate but Quick Vengeance makes him quickened after he uses Intercept Strike, which helps to capture that idea. He finalizes his line-up of abilities with Flying Tackle mimicking the initial launch of Soaring Slam. For the aftershock, he has to rely on Stomp Ground though this lacks the damage component of this effect unless they critically fail their save. As an inhabitant of Shurima, Rammus takes Terrain Expertise for the desert and also has Legendary Survivalist to take the heat – as well as Pick Up the Pace and Legendary Guide to lead his teammates through peril into the fray.
Ably armed and awesomely armored, this affable armadillo ably acquires the attention of adversaries, amazingly averting adverse assets for his allies.
Lemme know what you think and what other builds you would like to see!
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Have a fantastic Friday!
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