Best Galio Build Guide | Runes | Spells | Items in League of Legends

This old gargoyle is the bane of all mage champions in League of Legends, whether they are played against him mid, or against his team as the support.

Updated on Mar 10, 2024
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Best Galio Build Guide | Runes | Spells | Items in League of Legends

Galio is one of the oldest League of Legends champions, being released 12 years ago by Riot Games. These are the best Galio build, runes, spells, items League of Legends can offer him, and his greatest counters.

Best Galio Build

Galio is a mid-lane mage killer, with an extremely simple kit. It’s so simple, in fact, that his kit can be used optimally by even beginner Galio players.


1

Best Galio Runes

Galio is a peculiar mid lane champion. He is a tank mage-killer who relies on strong early game stats, and CC to kill low movement enemy champions, as well as set up easy ganks for his jungler.

Thus, his primary Rune Tree is Resolve, with Aftershock that is procced by his E and W abilities, to deal bonus damage in a short trade, and make him tankier early game with Shield Bash and his W passive, while Bone Plating is there to keep him healthy against poke, and Overgrowth to keep him relevant into the late game.

Best Rune Path

Resolve

Sorcery

Best Keystone

Aftershock

Best Slot 1 (Rune)

Shield Bash

Nimbus Cloak

Best Slot 2 (Rune)

Bone Plating

Transcendence

Best Slot 3 (Rune)

Overgrowth

His Sorcery Rune Tree, on the other hand, focuses on giving Galio extra ability haste with Transcendence.

The extra movement Speed from Nimbus Cloak, is there to catch as many enemy champions as possible with his taunt, after using the Summoner Spell Teleport.

Best Galio Rune Shards

Galio’s early game trades depend on him having enough adaptive force to be able to snowball the lane into a lead, and allow him to roam by being a threat.

Best Rune Shards

Effect

Flex

+9 Adaptive Force

Offense

+9 Adaptive Force

Defense

+6 Armor

The final Rune Shard is a defensive one, and is usually Magic Resist. As a mage-killer, Galio is the counter-pick to most champions of this class, and they all deal magic damage.

It’s situational, however, so make sure to keep track of who your laner is, whether they are dealing physical damage or magical.

Best Galio Spells

When it comes to Summoner Spells, there are only a few champions who are managing League of Legends trials, without using Flash. Those are Shaco or Tryndamere. For Galio, Flash is a must-have, as Flash is, without a doubt, the best Summoner Spell in the game, overall, anyway.

Best Spells

Icon

Flash


Teleport


Teleport, on the other hand, is the usual pick for champions who have a global ult and need to get back to lane, or rely on ganking teammates. And Galio mid is the definition of that.


2

Best Galio Abilities Order

The first ability to level on Galio, out of his ability order, is his Q - Winds of War. It serves as his waveclear and main poke ability.

After that, the next ability in his skill order is his W - Shield of Durand, which gives Galio a shield after not being damaged for 12 seconds passively, and lets Galio charge an AoE taunt as an active.


3

Finally, besides Galio’s ultimate, we have his E - Justice punch. It serves as a gap closer, and is leveled last. Just don’t forget to weave in an auto attack when fighting, as Galio’s passive makes it deal bonus AoE magic damage to nearby enemies.

And, as always, Galio’s ultimate is his bread and asser, and must be leveled at levels 6, 11, and 16.

Best Galio Items

Galio’s kit all boils down to catching a high-priority enemy, and never letting go, and perhaps even dealing a killing blow, while tanking all enemy retaliation.

Best Starter Galio Items

Galio is a mana user, and as such, mid lane Galio always starts with Doran’s Ring as his starting item. And health potions to round out the gold, of course.

First Item

Second Item

Doran’s Ring

Health Potion

Best Mid Game Galio Items

In the mid-game, if you’ve played the laning phase correctly, your core build should be ready. It consists of a non-negotiable Everfrost as a Mythic Item, for even more CC, Sorcerer’s Shoes, and Zhonya’s Hourglass.

First Item

Second Item

Third Item

Everfrost

Sorcerer’s Shoes

Zhonya’s Hourglass

Everfrost allows Galio to easily keep a high-priority target locked down, and is easy to hit an enemy champion with Galio as well, while Sorcerer’s Shoes give more magic penetration, and Zhonya’s Hourglass allows Galio to survive and bait enemy abilities.


4

Best Final Late Game Galio Items

Galio is by no means a scaling champion. He relies on his team to win games, and feeding his carries early kills. His late game, thus, is focused on making plays, rather than executing them.

First Item

Second Item

Third Item

Fourth Item

Fifth Item

Sixth Item

Everfrost

Sorcerer’s Shoes

Zhonya’s Hourglass

Morellonomicon

Demonic Embrace

Banshee’s Veil

Aside from his core build, Galio’s every item is geared towards surviving as long as possible, and creating mayhem in the enemy team.

Or, in the case of the Morellonomicon, providing utility to his allies in the form of anti-heal, allowing your carries to build pure damage and get officially involved in destroying the enemy.

Strongest Champions Against Galio

Galio counters mage champions who cannot outrun him, or whose Ability Power is not enough to kill him in the early game, due to their damage not being consistent. So, the champions that can either kill him, outrun him, or outlast him are his counters.

Champion

Win Rate %

Icon

Swain

43%

Cassiopeia

45.2%

Zed

45.5%

Weakest Champions Against Galio

Galio is a lane bully, to a certain type of champion. And it is against those that he excels. Those champions would be champions whose abilities Galio counters, and whose roams he can not only follow with his ultimate, but turn around in his favor.

Champion

Win Rate %

Icon

LeBlanc

56%


Irelia

55.7%


Azir

55.1%


It’s these enemies that those who play Galio like the most, and dealing a killing blow to them is easy enough to do, by following this highest win rate Galio guide.

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