5 Champions That Counter Garen

5 Champions that Counter Garen

Garen is one of the most commonly played Top laners in the game. He is sometimes flexed into the mid lane too. Because of popularity, it would be highly beneficial for you to learn how to play against Garen.

In this Mobalytics guide, we will break down some tips and tricks to help you counter Garen in the top lane. Take note that some of the matchups we talk about in this guide will help you in the mid-lane too.

First off, if you want to learn how to play as Garen, make sure you check out Garen’s champion page. We break down a lot of different tips and tricks to play him, and you can also find his latest runes and builds there too. We also have additional counter advice- so make sure to check it out!

5 Champions that Counter Garen

Camille
Darius
Sett
Quinn
Vayne

You can find all the matchup tips we use in this guide on the Mobalytics App. For plus members, you can get specific matchup tips for the champion you’re playing versus the enemy laner at your fingertips while you load into the game. We have tens of thousands of different, highly specific matchups curated by our challenger level players to help you lane against the enemy champion.

1. Garen vs Camille

Camille counters Garen for multiple reasons. Firstly, you out scale him regardless, so as long as you don’t fall behind you’re going to be stronger than him. Look for constant fights in this matchup, but don’t over commit early. If he gets an early lead, it will be harder to out-scale him.

If you want to learn more tips and tricks to play as Camille, check out Camille’s champion page.

4 tips to counter Garen as Camille

Garen has no way to farm from range at all, and must get into melee range instead. Thus, by keeping the wave near your tower, you can scare off Garen from farming if he doesn’t want to take a trade.
Both you and Garen want short trades; the key to winning is not allowing Garen to engage onto you before your Passive is up. Once your Passive is up, attack him with your Q before he lands his Q to absorb most of the damage, then counter attack with the second part of your Q for a large chunk of true damage.
Poke Garen every so often with your W once you have made a trade to prevent him from healing up from his Passive. Be sure to hit him in the outer edge to heal up a bit.
Be extremely careful once Garen hits 6. Dropping below half health at any point in a trade may result in a trip back to the fountain due to Garen’s Ultimate executing you.

2. Garen vs Darius

Darius counters Garen thanks to his early game damage and his Passive. Darius can consistently counter Garen’s Passive so he cannot regenerate his health. Looking for constant fights on Darius can quickly gain you a huge advantage.

Master Darius and his combos and find out how to optimally trade with a Garen with Darius’s champion page.

4 tips to counter Garen as Darius

Try to fight as often as possible so you prevent his Passive from kicking in. A simple W or auto attack while he is in range will reset his Passive.
Beware of Garen’s Ultimate and potential burst d. Alwayslways assume that is able to kill you when you’re below 30% maximum health.
Garen does not have a reliable way of killing you under Tower, let him push and farm safely from there. If he over extends or uses his Q on a minion, you should look to trade.
Extended trades work heavily in your favour against Garen. If he uses one of his abilities- preferably his Q or E, look to auto attack and trade with him. Look for extended trades where you can apply multiple stacks of your Passive on him for victory.

3. Garen vs Sett

Sett counters Garen thanks to the amount of damage he can output in a short amount of time. Furthermore, Garen’s Q doesn’t do too much in this matchup. Picking Sett into a Garen should usually result in Sett dominating the early laning phase.

Learn how to play big daddy Sett with Sett’s champion page.

4 tips to counter Garen as Sett

After trading with Garen, make sure to press the attack and look to trade again before Garen’s passive heals him back up. Do not use your W to damage Garen, since that leaves you vulnerable and Garen can just charge in and brute force a trade.
Save your E until after Garen tries to run away, as well as setting up a guaranteed true damage W blast. You can get in a few more auto attacks in as well, but make sure to retreat before Garen gets his Q back up.
Once Garen is level 6, he can easily send you back to fountain if you are below half health. You cannot rely on your W to grant you a shield since Garen can silence you with his Q, so it’s best to back off and wait for your passive to heal a bit of health.
Garen has no way to farm from range and also excels in trades where he can spin onto you for an extended period of time. You should freeze the wave by your tower the best you can, then engage onto Garen whenever he comes closer to farm.

4. Garen vs Quinn

Quinn can counter Garen as she has the range advantage and can constantly harass and bully him throughout the laning phase. Quinn wins pre-level 6 and a good Quinn will never let Garen get his Passive up.

Is the bird the word or is it Valor? Either way, you will find more tips and tricks to master Quinn with Quinn’s champion page.

4 tips to counter Garen as Quinn

Garen can use his W to reduce the debuffs of your abilities, so don’t blow your abilities in one go and spread them out.
Garen’s Passive has a moderate CD in which he can’t heal. Use your Q sparingly for some poke if needed and use your E in occurrences you can trade damage without losing the wave.
After level 6, Garen gains a huge power spike but so do you. Poke as much as possible and prepare for a lethal dive using your R.
Use big minion waves to pressure Garen so he can’t compensate for your poke. Slow push the waves after level 3 and force Garen to make a move on you.

5. Garen vs Vayne

Vayne is another ranged champion that counters Garen. Vayne can prevent him from getting onto her, she can constantly bully him down, and even if he starts building armor- she will still shred through his defensive stats.

“Impure fools…” Why look anywhere else when trying to learn Vayne? Check out Vayne’s champion page for everything you need to know about Vayne.

4 tips to counter Garen as Vayne

Keep the minion wave closer to your side of the map. Not only this will allow you to freely poke the enemy with basic attacks, but it will also prevent the enemy from being able to extend the trade/ all in you as the wave will be close to your tower.
Use your range advantage to poke the enemy out of lane. Constant harass through basic attacks will make it much harder for them to survive the laning phase and scale. But as the enemy has a lot of all in/ burst, do not over commit to poking them.
The enemies level 6 all in is quite strong. Be careful when they hit the level up as they might look for the all in. Play cautiously and keep your distance. Try to poke from afar and always keep your spacing so they cannot get on to you.
The best time to trade with the enemy is once they waste one of their abilities. This reduces their damage output in the trade, which should give you the upper hand and the health advantage afterwards.