Introduction:
Ever since Patch 4.20, Taric's been making a comeback. Historically, Taric does very well against champions like Thresh and Blitzcrank, poorly against champions like Morgana, and fairly even with everyone else.
Pros:
- Insanely strong team buff via his ultimate;
- Strong against AD heavy teams;
- Almost undodgeable stun; and
- Gems.
Cons:
- Predictable;
- Short range; and
- No speed boost.
Recent Buffs:
Path 4.20 Armor Changes
Patch 4.20 was especially helpful to Taric, since Riot changed Chain Vest to build from cloth armor. This opened up a lot of his build paths to allow for early cloth armors translating into mid game lane dominance.
In the same patch, Randuin's total cost has decreased by 200 gold, which might not sound like much, but for a support this is huge.
Righteous Glory
Although this item isn't all that popular on Taric yet, it synergizes very well if anybody on the team gets it. It gives Taric a much needed movespeed boost, and allows him to quickly close distances to drop the hammer.
Other FOTM Changes:
- Sona - Nerfs on Sona's sustain make Taric's Relic Shield + heal look stronger in comparison
- Morgana - Nerfs on Morgana have taken out one of his prime counters in lane.
- Zed - Zed's insane popularity means that more often than not, enemy teams will run double AD top and mid
- Graves - Popularity on Graves gives Taric back his best lane partner. Conversely, with his low range he also makes easy prey for Taric.
- Lucian Nerfs - Mana costs on his escape means he can't just dash away every time he's stunned. His dropping popularity also means Taric doesn't need to worry about his ultimate chunking him down from out of Taric's effective range.
Conclusions:
All in all, I'd say Taric's in a great spot right now, and with a super low popularity and very easy learning curve, is great for some quick rank at the moment.
Then there's always the Hydra Taric fallback, but that's a different story...
Thoughts? Comment below!