Hi. I'm Akerasi. You've probably seen me around, on various streams (either in the chat or playing with those running the streams) or in the matchmaking queue, for either GD or GH... or in The_Dycer's custom Coast City matches. I play a lot of Harley Quinn, as well as just about any other champ that can be played in support. Harley takes a bit of a unique build compared to most, so I figured I'd share my builds and reasoning for her.

Note that this is intended to be a build for after the Gambit nerf on Wednesday. It works now, with the only change being skipping getting Atlantis to 2 in favor of taking Deadshot's 1 earlier. Now, onto the build.

Modpage:

Augments:

FALCON: +2.41 Attack Damage, +1.87 Attack Speed
ORIGIN: +2.01 Attack Damage +1% Attack Lifesteal
KAI: +2.41 Attack Damage +1.5 Attack Penetration
SLASHER: +1.8 Attack Penetration +2.01 Attack Damage

Item Mods:

Altered Atlantis Gambit: Investment 1: 3 Credits per 10s at Tier 1, Investment 2: 5 Credits per 10s at Tier 2
Accelerated Deadshot's Visor: 2 stacks per skill use


and either:

Resonant Metallo's Heart: Improved Dampening Aura

or

Empowered Ra's Al Ghul's Robe: Lazarus Effect 2

So, that modpage doesn't seem to really mesh, does it? All attack on the Augs, money and defense on the item mods. There's a reason for that: early on, we're trying to play like, and look like, a second ADC in the lane. Being hyper aggressive but never attacking creeps, early-game Harley is very well suited to continuing to poke with her auto. Repeatedly. Use Pies only for waveclear when things are getting close to the tower, but constantly poke the enemies with your auto attack, healing whenever your heal comes off of cooldown.

Item buying order: To start, get yourself that Atlantis Gambit at 1, and some potions. Buy the Gambit to 2 once you get the money, which may well happen before creeps arrive depending on how many pots you started. Next, go into Deadshot's Visor, getting it to 2. The order after that is less important, but what I often do here is buy a Promethium Mace to work towards Metallo's. This allows yet more early poke strength, and makes you look more like an ADC to someone who hasn't checked your actual modset. The objective here is to hit them, get them a little scared of you, and draw their fire. Then, get that Metallo's and start the real build for Harley, which prioritizes these things: Attack Armor, then Will, then Power Armor, specifically avoiding taking too much Health.

Now, why would we be avoiding Health on a tank? It all comes down to the Heal. Harley's healing is insanely powerful, but does act purely as a number of health points, not a percentage. As such, it's better to take armor, armor, armor, for your defense, and also focus on Will, as your healing scales on will. This actually allows Harley to be insanely good at baiting, often looking like she's about to die and hitting full health at one button click.

So, when looking at items, the idea is prioritize Armor and Will, with maybe a little Health (which I usually get from Entropy Aegis, which is a remarkably solid item even unmodded). So, the way to play Harley with this build goes like this:

First of all, you're playing her as a Support in bot lane. That much is a given with this build. Who are you facing, and what do they have for abilities? You need to pick a target, and preferably a squishy one, to just keep poking. The best target to poke early is not always the ADC, but is often a squishy support character if they have gone squishy rather than tanky on their support. Make sure your ADC knows your targeting choice, and constantly harass that character out of lane. Your ADC should focus more on creeps, but if he gets a lead, he should then join you in pushing out your target.

If you've pushed one back, target the other. Taking attacks of opportunity and just plain getting damage on the other side is usually the most important thing. Now, when doing all of this hard harass, you're going to take hits. Harley at this point in the game is not the tankiest support, so you're going to need to hide in stealth pads (you cleared the cams with your GA cams right? Right? Good.) and heal up. You're taking heal first, but you also took Atlantis Gambit as your chosen Gambit, which gives you attack lifesteal (and Targeting System later in the game). As such, you can also heal up by damaging the creeps a little if you've got a free lane to farm or you need to push anyway... be sure to let your ADC get the last hits, and if you're in voice with them, tell them what you're doing if they're not used to your style.

With this sort of strong aggression, unless you've died or lost your ADC due to a great gank or something, you're probably pushing them hard out of lane. If you manage this, you and your ADC should steal the nearest enemy jungle camp if you can. Extra farm is always worth your time, and early game, more useful than banging on the turret. Another good option is to help another lane that is at best keeping even. Don't help a winning lane, all you're going to be able to do there is bang on the turret... but especially if Mid is pushed back into tower, you and your ADC should go gank like a jungler. Now, all of this is just early game... as you hit midgame, Harley's playstyle will change considerably, when you sell that maxed Prometheum Mace for a Metallo's Heart.

At this point, you're getting pretty tanky. Every item buy from now on is about tanking and healing... and with that lead you probably have, you should be able to push your lane VERY hard with little repercussions. One thing I like to do at this point is always keep that heal readied and use it the moment it'll take just about full effect. This has two useful effects: one, it uses your heal as often as you can, which procs that Deadshot's Visor more often. The second is the pure psychological effect of laning against Harley: both she and her ADC can be made to look positively invincible. Don't underestimate mind games, they can often be truly strong in this game.

Finish that Metallo's Heart, then decide what kind of armor you need more of, and build that, with will if you can get it with will. Every bit of extra will you get makes your healing that much stronger. Once you've hit two or three  fully built armor items, if you've got a lead, Harley is probably nearly invincible unless focused by at least 3 enemies. Your poke is doing a lot less, but your healing and peeling game is now insanely good. One button heals your ADC for half his health (or even 3/4), and heals you for nearly as high a percentage... while you don't take much damage from anything. This makes Harley the person to go in first, see what's going on, drop cams, and generally be annoying. She can split push, if slowly, pretty safely due to her resilience as well.

In team fights, it can often be worth it to wade right into the enemy formation and knock their carries towards your team with your W. This does 2 useful things: it breaks their formation, and it draws their focus onto you, the tank, letting your carries move forward a bit and focus their damagers. After the start of an engagement, healing your lowest carry should be your highest priority. You don't have that much damage, but using it to poke carries is useful (and if you've maxed Deadshot's visor by then, turn it on and you actually do have notable damage), but your heal is truly amazing by that point. Stay on the front line, watch everyone's health, and click that heal every time it comes off of cooldown. Heal yourself if you get below 1/4, as healing you will keep those heals coming and due to your armor give you a lot more effective hits you can take.

By endgame, you can often tank entire teams with this build. Know how much damage they can do, and know when to use your heal on yourself, and you can continue to be a thorn in their side... and also, bait them if you can. Any time the enemies chase you, it means they won't be doing something more useful... and they likely won't kill you, even if it's the whole team chasing late game. If they're chasing you, let your carries split-push and purposely keep yourself looking "tasty"... but keep that heal in reserve to save yourself.

If you have any questions, about Harley or any other champion that can be played in a Support role, feel free to add me in-game and say hello. Thanks for reading!