Arcane Champions Guide in League of Legends: Heimerdinger

"The Revered Inventor", known as Heimerdinger, is a renowned figure in Piltover. Ex-head of Council, scientist, and professor, Heimer helped many young scholars find their way into science, such as Viktor and Jayce in Arcane. But who exactly is Heimerdinger in League of Legends? He's still a scientist obsessed with building and using machines in League. Here's everything you need to know to play Heimerdinger.

In League of Legends, Heimerdinger is a mage and support considered by Riot a champion in the "hard difficulty". He normally plays in top-lane, mid-lane, and support. Even if Riot considers a "hard" champion, I kind of disagree with it. All your gameplay has to be around the turrets, there are not a lot of mechanics evolving this champion. In terms of hitting enemies (the so-called "skilled shots"), yes, Heimer can be hard, but in general, there are a lot more champions with more mechanics than him.

Heimerdinger is a great champion for people like you who will not be used to farming (term for killing minions and gaining gold) because the turrets will help you with that task. As for the timings of each ultimate, that's only a question of playing with the champion and gaining macro gaming. "Macro gaming" is a general gaming term that means "choosing the right play to make, wherever it may be on the map, given the situation". 

Heimerdinger is a special champion because he has three variations of his ultimate, which means you can combine your ultimate with one ability and you'll have a special ultimate. Every combination has a different purpose. But we will talk about it later in the article (don't worry).

"Hextech Affinity" is Heimer's passive and the only thing it does is to "game move speed while near allied towers and turrets deployed". This is pretty simple: when you're close to your team's tower or your turrets (either the Q or the ultimate + Q), you'll gain 20% movement speed, which means, the champion will be faster.

The first ability, called "H-28 G Evolution Turret" - your Q - is a turret. Heimer deploys the turret in a specific location and it will last until it's destroyed. Heimerdinger will stock (while there's stock available, your champion can deploy the ability) a Turret Kit charge, up to a maximum of 3. These turrets will attack close minions, champions, or enemy towers.

When you press your W, also called "Hextech Micro-Rockets", Heimerdinger unleashes a wave of five rockets that converge to the target location and fan beyond it up to the maximum range, with each one dealing magic damage to the first enemy it hits.

If you have turrets on the ground and you hit your W, your turrets will deal 20% more damage within the 1000 range. This percentage can go up to 100% if you hit every five rockets in the enemy champion. Which rocket gives 20% damage to enemies and 40% to minions.

The E ("CH-2 Electron Storm Grenade") ability is nothing more than a slow and stun ability (a mechanism that incapacitates a champion, making them unable to move, attack, cast spells, or use items). Heimer hurls a grenade at the target, detonating with the impact, giving magic damage to nearby enemies and slowing them by 35% for two seconds.

As the W, if you hit an enemy close to your turrets, all of them will deal damage within a 1000 range. The enemies hit at the center of the grenade are stunned for 1.5 seconds.

If you choose the ultimate + Q, you'll deploy a bigger and more powerful turret which will last for eight seconds and has a bigger range (350 to 450). This ability is good when you're in the middle of a fight and you want to give more damage and still be protected. It will be harder for the enemies to destroy this mega turret.

For the ultimate + W, Heimer will launch four waves of five rockets in quick succession, dealing magic damage. Enemies and monsters are dealt reduced damage from rockets beyond the first and further reduced beyond the fifth. Minions take 100% damage from every rocket. This ability gives more damage. It's perfect for situations where you're fighting 1v1 and you want to give a lot of damage to your enemy. For example, if you're jungler is ganking your lane and stuns the enemy, you can use your ultimate and W to give a lot of consecutive damage.

Finally, your ultimate + E will make Heimer hurl a massive grenade at a target location that bounced a fixed distance three times. The enemies caught can only be damaged once per cast but can be slowed and stunned multiple times if circumstances permit. Perfect to slow your enemies or stun them, giving space for your teammates to get to them and deal damage.

It's always important to remember a precious tip to play League of Legends: the builds are not fixed. This means you have to adapt your build to your game necessities, enemies, and roles. However, there is a "default" build for every patch and champion. For 14.22, here's Heimerdinger's "default" build, according to U.GG.

On the top lane, Heimer is considered an A-tier champion with a 51.08% win rate, 0.8% pick rate, and 0.6% ban rate in 8.723 matches played.

Normally, it's better to play with flash and teleport as your summoner spells. Some people also like to play with ignite, that depends on your playstyle and what you think is more important. As for runes, here's a screenshot.

Here are the skill priorities, path, starting & core items, and the remaining items.

At the bot lane, some things change. The win rate is a little higher (53.62%), but the sample size is much smaller: 3.700 matches. Heimer has a 0.3% pick rate and a 0.6% ban rate. Normally, in mid-lane, he plays with ignite instead of teleport.

Here are the skill priorities, path, starting & core items, and the remaining items.

And, once again, things change in the bot lane. Playing as a support, you can choose to play with exhaust or ignite - exhaust has a bigger win rate. His A tier does not exist in bot lane - Heimer goes low to a B tier. With a 48.26% win rate (in a low sample size of 3.160 matches), he got a 0.3% pick rate and a 0.6% ban rate.

Here are the skill priorities, path, starting & core items, and the remaining items.

Consider that the sample size changes with every different champion Heimer plays against. At the top lane, according to matches lost, Heimer has the toughest matchups against Yone, Kayle, and Yasuo. In mid, the champions that usually make Heimerdinger suffer are Vladimir, Qiyana, and Jayce. Finally, playing support, Heimer normally loses against Xerath, Vel'Koz, and Soraka.

We would be lying if we said we don't love to play with skins — unless you're Faker. Here is every Heimerdinger skin so far.

Overall looking at Heimerdinger, he's a great champion for beginners since he can help you farm, be safe in the lane, and still give a lot of damage. Don't forget to dive into our most recent League of Legends guide for new players!

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