Guide · Support

Taric Guide

the Shield of Valoran

Support

Tank

Tier B Support

Taric, the Shield of Valoran, is a support and tank champion that is easy to pick up. Across our 176 analysed ranked games, Taric is mostly played as Support (100% of its games), with a 48.3% win rate in that role: tier B among Support champions (#16 of 39, ranked by win rate). Taric's damage is mostly magic (61%): magic resistance items are therefore effective against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 52.7% in short games (under 25 min, 55 games) versus 45.1% in medium-length games (25 to 35 min).

Averages measured over 176 Support games played with Taric, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

Combos and how to play

Taric is a protection support-tank: his passive empowers his next 2 attacks after an ability (magic damage, reduced cooldowns, rapid attacks). Starlight's Touch heals nearby allies based on its charges, Bastion gives a shield and armor, Dazzle stuns, and Cosmic Radiance makes allies invulnerable.

Role in team fights

Taric triggers Cosmic Radiance at the right moment to make his team invulnerable during the enemy engage, then chains Dazzle and empowered attacks. He mostly protects a specific ally thanks to Bastion.

Harassment

E › AA AA › AA AA › Q

When: An enemy is within range.

Dazzle prepares a beam that stuns after a short delay; your empowered attacks deal bonus magic damage and charge Starlight's Touch.

Protection

W › Q › E

When: Your carry is under threat.

Bastion gives the ally a shield and armor as long as they stay near you; Starlight's Touch heals based on your charges.

The team ultimate

R › E › Q

When: A decisive fight begins.

After a delay, Cosmic Radiance bathes nearby allies in cosmic energy and makes them invulnerable for a short time: plan for the delay.

The invulnerability window

R › E › AA AA › AA AA › Q

When: An enemy engage is predictable.

Cosmic Radiance triggers after a delay: cast it before the damage peak; Dazzle stuns after a short delay, your empowered attacks charge Starlight's Touch.

Laning phase

Chain ability then attacks to make the most of Bravado: each empowered attack gives a charge of Starlight's Touch. Bastion: your abilities are also cast from the affected ally.

Common mistakes

• Triggering the ultimate too late: it has a delay.
• Forgetting your passive's empowered attacks.
• Placing Dazzle without anticipating the delay.

Riot's official tips for playing Taric

• The cooldown reducing component of Bravado makes Cooldown Reduction items like Frozen Heart, Iceborn Gauntlet, and Spirit Visage exceptionally powerful on Taric.
• Using Starlight's Touch at lower charges makes its healing less Mana efficient, but can greatly increase Taric's sustained damage via Bravado.
• Rather than saving Cosmic Radiance for the last moment and risking someone dying during the delay, it can be more beneficial to cast it as soon as you know a teamfight is guaranteed to start.

Build, runes and summoner spells

Summoner spells

Flash + Ignite54.8% · 62 games

Flash + Heal50.0% · 60 games

Exhaust + Flash38.9% · 54 games

Most-played runes

Glacial Augment + Resolve

42.7% · 103 games

Primary tree · Inspiration

Magical Footwear67%

Biscuit Delivery92%

Cosmic Insight92%

Secondary tree · Resolve

Revitalize81%

Conditioning54%

Shards

Attack speed84%

Health scaling53%

Health scaling57%

Guardian + Precision

56.0% · 25 games

Primary tree · Resolve

Font of Life100%

Bone Plating84%

Revitalize100%

Secondary tree · Precision

Legend: Haste96%

Presence of Mind96%

Shards

Attack speed88%

Health scaling76%

Health scaling80%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Taric's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team53.3% · 60 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Locket of the Iron Solari 55.8% ▲

Knight's Vow 60.9%

Bandlepipes 54.5%

The item that stands out most is Locket of the Iron Solari: 55.8% win rate, +5 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team53.5% · 43 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Locket of the Iron Solari 54.5%

Knight's Vow 57.9%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Balanced enemy team41.1% · 73 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Locket of the Iron Solari 43.9% ▼

Knight's Vow 36.7% ▼

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Counters and matchups

How to play against Taric

• Taric's ultimate, Cosmic Radiance, has a long delay before its effect. Try to quickly assess whether to disengage the fight or attempt to kill his allies before it goes off.
• Taric reduces his spell cooldowns by basic attacking enemies with Bravado. Try to kite him in teamfights and punish him for approaching the minion wave in lane.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed.

Abilities

PassiveBravado

Spellcasts empower Taric's next 2 basic attacks to deal bonus magic damage, reduce his spell cooldowns, and attack in quick succession.

QStarlight's Touch

Heals nearby allied champions based on charges stored. Bravado-empowered attacks grant a charge of Starlight's Touch.

WBastion

Passively increase the Armor of Taric and any allied champion with Bastion.

Actively shields an ally and grants them Bastion for as long as they remain near Taric. Taric's spells also cast off the ally with Bastion.

EDazzle

Taric readies a beam of starlight that, after a brief delay, deals magic damage and stuns enemies.

RCosmic Radiance

Pulses cosmic energy onto nearby allied champions after a delay, making them invulnerable for a short duration.

Frequently asked questions

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