There are a lot of very strong jungle champions in League of Legends, many of whom seem to be tailor made for monster hunting. As with most LoL champions played correctly, Warwick is a champion to be reckoned with.
One of the reason Warwick (often referred to as "ww" in chat) has become one of my favorite junglers is his sustainability, in that he never really has to stop jungling, teleport home, and heal. His passive ability, Eternal Thirst, provides significant bonus damage early game as well as a useful amount of healing on each attack. Coupled with his attack-speed increasing "w" ability, Hunter's Call, Warwick can chew through the jungle quickly with while maintaining full or nearly full health, especially if a player also takes a point in the health stealing Hungering Strike ("q" ability).
His high sustain in jungle makes it far easier for him to start ganking (ambushing opponents) early on, but his main weakness is a lack of any form of crowd control (stuns, snares, slows) before he reaches level six. At level six, Warwick's ultimate ability, Infinite Duress, suppresses (continuous stun) for about a second and a half or so, dealing significant damage and also healing him. When used on a champion with a small health pool or low health, this ability turns Warwick into a lethal fight initiator or momentum-changer. I've often waited to use this ability until after a fight starts so I can target the optimal enemy. Infinite Duress also applies on-hit effects five times, so if you have a special damage type, such as magic damage from the item Wit's End, it will apply that weapon's magic damage five times, significantly increasing the damage dealt by the ability.
Of course, none of Warwick's charms are useful without proper itemization. Due to Blood Scent, a passive ability which increases Warwick's speed near enemy champions under 50% health, the type of boots chosen are entirely situational. How well you and your team are doing in fights will determine the type needed. If crowd control effects are shutting you down before you can engage, get Mercury Treads. If their physical damage dealer (usually a physical ranged attacker like Ashe or Graves) is targeting you first, Ninja Tab may keep you alive long enough to start stealing health. If your team is pushing the opponents hard, Beserker Greaves will boost your damage output with 25% attack speed bonus.
Last time I played Warwick, the core items in the suggested item list were appropriate. He's one of the few champions where focusing on melee-dealt magic damage can have tremendous effect, as most players don't realize that it isn't physical damage that's ripping away their health, but rather magic. Additionally, Spirit Visage, Frozen Mallet, and Warmog's Armor are some of the best item's for Warwick. They all provide significant health. Spirit Visage and Warmog's are good for healing, in fact, with these two items, Warwick will never have to return to base for healing. If he's out of combat for eight seconds, these two items will result in 100+ healing each second. Frozen Mallet is great because it causes your basic attacks (Warwick's main damage mechanism) to slow the target, preventing their escape.
For other items, Wit's End, your choice of jungler item+Devourer, and a situational damage weapon will provide Warwick with the threat he needs to be a problem even after using Infinite Duress. You have six item slots, and one should always be reserved for boots, leaving five effective slots. For a full build (which I usually get in a match using WW), you'll have boots, Wit's End, Devourer-Jungle Item, and Spirit Visage for sure. The last two items will be dependent on how the game is going for you and your team. If you are dying a lot, Warmog's and Frozen Mallet are good options for the next item. Thornmail or Randuin's Omen are also good options if you are taking a lot of physical damage. You'll have a good bit of magic resistance with the core items, but if it's still a problem for you, Mercurial Scimitar and Maw of Malmortious both provide additional magic resistance and special effects as well as an attack damage buff.
To continue with attack utility, a weapon I see on virtually every damage dealer is Blade of the Ruined King. With an attack speed buff, life-steal, physical damage, magic damage based on health, and an activated ability stealing health and movement speed, this is a wonderful item. I personally have this as one of my core items, but it isn't for everyone. Some people will prefer The Bloodthirster or one of the Hydra weapons, which are certainly viable options. They just don't provide the 1 vs 1 utility that BotrK provides, which is where Warwick excels.
My own final build is usually Berserker Greaves, Skirmisher's Sabre with Devourer, Spirit Visage or BotRK (order depends on gold and game), Frozen Mallet, and Wit's End.
The specific order I build things towards the end game varies, but I always start with a Hunter's Machete. It is the best starting item for Warwick as it lets him maintain the jungle long enough to get items that will help with common early game situations, such as boots and the Skirmisher's Sabre. Usually I get the Devourer enchantment built asap, as killing the jungle monsters feeds it, letting the item max it's damage at an extra 60 magic damage on hit, which means an extra 300 for Infinite Duress.
Additionally, from what I can tell in matches, Skirmisher's Sabre turns the summoner spell Smite into something uniquely damaging on Warwick. As the wiki states, "UNIQUE: Upgrades Smite to Challenging Smite. Challenging Smite can target enemy champions, marking them for 4 seconds. Marked enemies are revealed (does not reveal stealth), take (54 + 6 × level) true damage over 3 seconds from your basic attacks and deal 20% reduced damage to you." When coupled with Infinite Duress and the other items I use, this combo can cause catastrophic damage to enemy champions. I have on occasion completely wiped the health of low hp champions, even from full hp. At the very least, should you decide to cast Smite after using Infinite Duress, your next few hits can cause an almost Ignite equivalent damage-over-time effect.
For alternatives on how to build Warwick, head over to Mobafire. One of the good guides there (even though we have a different focus) is by uWontMakeIt. This guide is written by a highly skilled player, highly ranked player, so be sure to take a look and see what you think as well! It provides run-downs on other itemizations that you may find useful.
If you prefer to watch, check out this YouTube video.
Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below! I'm always happy to reexamine my builds.
