League of Legends Sett guide — best runes, items, tips and tricks

Sett is ready to become the Boss of the Rift, and we’ve got the perfect guide for you to pick him up and master him with all the best runes, items, tips and tricks for League of Legends’ next champion.

Amongst all the complex champion releases recently, Sett is a breath of fresh air for League players looking for someone easy to pick up. However, Sett is by no means just for rookies, with the pit boss of Ionia given plenty of room for skill expression in his kit.

The top-lane brawler is set to shake up the meta, dominating tanks like Ornn, as well as putting other bruisers like Darius into their place.

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If you want to pick up Sett as he hits live on Patch 10.1, here’s a comprehensive guide to make sure you are well on your way to not only learning, but mastering League’s newest champion.

What are Sett’s abilities?

Sett’s kit is well balanced for laning, dueling, and teamfighting. While it lacks a bit of mobility, once he gets into the fight, it’ll be hard for his foes to escape.

His Q is the bread and butter of his kit, helping him trade back enemies and clear away minion waves quickly with Tiamat. Maxing Q, then W and E is the optimal way to play Sett, although there might be times where you need the E crowd control more than the W cleave.

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Passive – Pit Grit

His passive, Pit Grit, alters his basic attacks. Instead of every attack being the same, he rotates through a left punch and a right punch. The left punch is a normal auto attack, while the right punch has increased attack speed and damage.

He also gains some passive bonus health regeneration based on his missing health, which can help him sustain through the lane.

• Sett’s basic attacks alternate between left and right punch. Right punch is slightly stronger and faster. Sett also hates losing, gaining additional health regeneration based off of his missing health.

 

Q – Knuckle Down

His Q, Knuckle Down, gives him 30% bonus movement speed for 1.5 seconds while moving towards enemies, as well as enhancing his next two auto attacks. 

• Read more: How to get Sett’s Calling Card

The enhanced attacks do bonus physical damage plus a percentage of the target’s maximum health, helping to shred tanks. It’s also an attack reset, giving Sett the ability to dish out a ton of burst if layered correctly.

• Sett itches for a fight, gaining [{{ msamount*100 }}]% movement speed for {{ msduration }} seconds while moving towards enemy champions. Sett’s next two basic attacks deal {{ basedamage }} bonus physical damage, plus {{ maxhealthdamagecalc }} of the target’s maximum health [{{ enemymaxhealthdamage*100 }}% + {{ bonusenemymaxhealthdamage }} per 100 attack damage].Against monsters the damage is capped at 400 per punch.

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W – Haymaker

Sett’s W, Haymaker, has a passive and an active. The passive allows Sett to store damage taken as Grit to a cap of 50% of his maximum health. The active is a wide cone punch, dealing true damage to enemies in the centre, and expending his Grit. It also gives him a shield to help him sustain through a fight.

• Passive: Sett stores {{ damagestored*100 }}% of damage taken as Grit, to a cap of {{ maxgrit }} ({{ storedhealth*100 }}% of Sett’s max health). Grit decays quickly {{ adrenalinestoragewindow }} seconds after the damage was taken.
• Active: Sett winds up a giant punch in a direction, expending all Grit to deal {{ damagecalc }} (+{{ damageconversion }} of expended Grit) as true damage to all enemies in the center line. Enemies not in the center line take physical damage instead.Sett also gains a rapidly decaying shield equal to Grit expended for {{ shieldmaxduration }} seconds.

 

E – Facebreaker

His E, Facebreaker, is similar to Thresh’s Flay or Zac’s Stretching Strike. Sett grabs enemies either side of him and pulls them together, dealing damage and slowing them. If he grabs at least one enemy from either side, they will also be stunned.

• Sett smashes enemies on either side of him into each other, dealing {{ basedamage }} (+{{ tooltipadratio_e }}) physical damage and slowing them by [{{ slowamount*100 }}]% for {{ slowduration }} seconds. If Sett grabbed at least one enemy on each side, all enemies are stunned for {{ stunduration }} second.

 

R – The Show Stopper

Finally, his ultimate, The Show Stopper, makes Sett dash forward and grab an enemy, slamming them back into the ground. Enemies caught in the impact area take damage and are slowed by 99%. The damage also scales off maximum health, meaning it’s good to grab on a tank and toss them back into the enemy backline.

• Sett grabs an enemy champion, carries them forward, then slams them into the ground. All enemies near the impact take {{ basedamage }} (+{{ tooltipadratio_r }}) (+{{ maxhealthdamagecalc }} of the grabbed enemy’s bonus health) physical damage and are slowed by [{{ slowamount*100 }}]% for {{ slowduration }} seconds. Enemies take less damage the further they are from where Sett lands.

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Best runes for Sett

Conqueror is by far the best keystone to take on Sett. He can stack it up quickly with his auto attacks, and it gives him even more sustain to outlast even the most pesky foe.

Running Conqueror with Triumph, Legend: Tenacity, and Last Stand gives him the most optimal healing, while also doing more damage when it comes down to the death. Swapping out Legend: Tenacity for Legend: Bloodline or Alacrity can give him a few more offensive stats if you need it.

As for secondary rune tree choices, it’s hard to look past Inspiration. There’s too much utility to be gained in the supportive tree, like Magical Footwear, Perfect Timing, Biscuit Delivery, and Time Warp Tonic.

• Read more: First look at Mecha Kingdom skins for Sett, Jax, and more

However, if you want to change things up, running down into Resolve isn’t a bad idea. Revitalize gives him even more sustain, while Shield Bash, in tandem with his W shield, can drop down a surprising amount of damage.

If you are looking away from Conqueror as a keystone, Sett’s next best bet is either Press The Attack in Precision, or Grasp of the Undying in Resolve. Press The Attack is super easy to activate because of his fast auto attacks, while Grasp of the Undying can give him a stack of extra health in the late game.

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Partnered with Inspiration secondary, these two keystones can still provide a similar level of power as Conqueror, and maybe even more in certain situations.

Best items for Sett

Sett thrives with bruiser items that give him a healthy dose of health, resistances, and AD to get into the fight, stay alive, and dish out plenty of damage.

Tiamat items like Titanic Hydra and Ravenous Hydra are perfect for Sett’s kit. His quick one-two burst allows him to get multiple passive procs off, and the Tiamat active acts as another auto attack reset for him. It’s also a must-have for wave clear.

Sterak’s Gage is also a great item for him. The bonus health off of the Lifeline passive can make or break a fight, and it’s generally one of the most cost-efficient items for top laners. If you need magic resist, opting for Maw of Malmortius instead of Sterak’s is fine, but not optimal.

• Read more: Riot reveals epic Season 10 cinematic with Imagine Dragons remix

Trinity Force and Dead Man’s Plate also give him more auto attack buffs, making them fine investments. Trinity Force allows Sett to hit like a truck with his Knuckle Down autos, while Dead Man’s Plate can give him a bit of an extra move speed kick to chase down enemies.

For a bit more tankiness, Spirit Visage is a must-have. The Spirit Visage passive synergizes with the bonus health regeneration Sett gets off his passive, and gives him a handy health and magic resist booth.

Items like Black Cleaver, Frozen Mallet, Righteous Glory, and Death’s Dance are situationally good as well, but aren’t always going to be applicable to every game.

How to play Sett

Sett has one of the best, if not the best laning phase out of any top laner currently — if the match-up is melee vs. melee. He can take short trades and win because of the nature of his passive, and in extended trades he will sustain back a bunch of health.

However, he struggles against ranged champions for a couple of reasons. Number one is that he’s one of the few champions to be released without a movement ability in the last few years, discounting the charge-up dash he has on his ultimate.

This means that he struggles to get into range of targets, and can be kited away from by more agile enemies. But, if an opponent missteps into Sett, the bruiser can stick to them for a long time and take them down.

• Read more: Riot tease Season 10 LoL plans with Clash, champion releases, and more

In the mid-game and teamfights, Sett’s job is to displace enemy front lines. Whether it’s by isolating tanks or by dumping them on the backline, as long as Sett nails his ult on a bulky target, he can dish out tons of damage and disrupt any back-to-front teamfight composition.

Sett also acts as the frontline for his own team, so he can’t abandon his own team too much. He can use his E to drag back diving enemies from his backline for a bit of peel, while keeping himself healthy with his W shield.

As enemies build more health, Sett does more damage, so as the game drags on or if he falls behind, he can still take seemingly uneven fights. Weaving in his Q around his auto attack resets can help him get the upper hand, even if he is a bit far behind.

Sett is expected to hit the live server some time in Patch 10.1, which is already out. An estimated date is January 14, just before the Mecha Kingdoms event goes live on January 15.