Rammus has long faded from the limelight following nerfs and the introduction of other strong, tanky junglers (e.g. Nautilus). That said, I've recently been thinking that he's not as bad as many people assume. While not top tier, there is still a place for Rammus in the jungle.
Part of my reasoning is a matter of skill order. Historically Rammus focused on maximizing his Puncturing Taunt first, reaching its maximum power by level nine. This was highly effective for ganking and for locking down a target in team fights, but severely hurt Rammus' jungle clear. Even though we're currently seeing a focus on tanky junglers with crowd control, the ability to clear quickly is still extremely important. It's for this reason that I think maxing Defensive Ball Curl first might be the future of Rammus.
This is not a choice without sacrifice. The difference between a one point and a fully leveled Taunt is two seconds and twenty reduced Armor. In return you gain 80 Armor/MR and 40 (+8) additional damage return. The extra damage and defense is huge for clearing the jungle, and has applications outside as well. With Defensive Ball Curl leveled Rammus has nearly unparalleled tower diving, especially when running a full Armor rune page. There is considerable potential in this alternative skill order, though its playstyle might be slightly different.
With Nautilus, Malphite, and Alistar permanently banned in today's games, some sort of tanky initiator is needed. Rammus doesn't have the best late-game initiation, but few other champions can become as unkillable as he can. I doubt there will be a Rammus Renaissance, but he shouldn't be excluded from consideration as players look for the next great tanky jungler.
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