Hey there! I'm MedievalMonsta here to bring you my very first guide.

Note: This is not a "pro" guide. I'm a noob and I know it, so please don't hate or downvote.

With that in mind, I've played my fair share of Gangplank games and my win ratio is around 70% with this build, so I know the ropes.

The Delightful Pros:

-Tanky with this build.
-1k crits with Parrrley!
- Cannon Barrage allows for global
helpfulness to your team.
-Awesome passive makes it nearly
impossible to get away from Gangplank.
-Even if you do badly in the lane phase
you still have the chance to make a comeback in the
teamfight phase.
-Is a friggin' pirate!


The Disappointing Cons:

-No real stuns, only slight slows.
-Fleeing can be hard early game.
- Cannon Barrage doesn't do as much damage as I'd like.
-Armor counters him somewhat hard.


Here's a nice short video to show why everyone hates Gangplank and why I love him :D
Play Video

The Good:
- Flash: all around amazing spell that I use in 99% of my games.
- Exhaust: since this isn't a full tank build I don't find it as good as Ignite or Teleport, but if you are new to the game it can be very good.
- Ignite: good spell, gives you that nice first blood on that pesky Teemo that always get away, and can easily turn the tide of a close 1v1 fight.
- Teleport: love this spell in SR, and generally switch this off with Ignite if we have a lot of ignites. This spell can be used very aggressively, my personal favorite is teleporting to a ward in the bot lane bush for a very surprising 4 man gank. Just make sure your lane is pushed because if your top lane opponent sees you bottom lane he will be able to easily push/ take down your turret.
The Okay:
- Ghost: good spell, rarely use it unless I'm playing dominion.
- Heal: good for AD carries and supports, but Remove Scurvy is good enough for me.
- Smite: viable on jungle GP, but this is a solo top build, so not this time.

The Bad:
- Clairvoyance: leave this for supports.
- Clarity: Gangplank doesn't get that mana deprived, especially if you take a Mana Potion
- Cleanse: definitely not, your Remove Scurvy is a low cooldown version of this spell.

Okay for items start with Brawler's Gloves for the crit chance along with a Health Potion and Mana Potion or 2x Health Potion (your choice, if you like to Parrrley harass like me you should take a manapot). Then try to sustain in your lane until you have enough for Avarice Blade and Boots. Then just build mercury treads. Cloak of Agility is optional until you get Atma's Impaler but I recommend it for those early crits. After that build Zeal, Frozen Mallet and Atma's Impaler. Once you're done with atmogs build a Trinity Force for the AD and crit chance. Now is when you really dominate even if you did badly in the lane phase. Generally the game ends before you get a Infinity Edge and a Youmuu's Ghostblade but if it isn't build those.

Warmog's Armor/ Frozen Mallet, Atma's Impaler, Infinity Edge and Ionian Boots of Lucidity are the only things you really need, everything else is fairly interchangeable.

Other things you could add into the build instead of Trinity Force or Youmuu's Ghostblade:

- Banshee's Veil
- Guardian Angel
- Phantom Dancer(s) (becoming one of my more used items, crit chance, Atk speed, and MS are nice)
- Bloodthirster
- Last Whisper for more dmg, and if the enemies are building a lot of armor
-almost any AD item
-many others, mostly preference


Why do I choose Frozen Mallet over Warmog's Armor? Because you're sacrificing 200 health for 20 AD and a great on hit passive that your Parrrley will apply, to allow you to catch up even faster then when you only had Grog Soaked Blade.

Simple bruiser 21/9/0 masteries, not much to explain here, but I will anyways :D

OFFENSIVE

--
--

Summoner's Wrath : Very useful when you're using Exhaust or Ignite.
Brute Force : A little 4 flat ad for obvious reasons :D
Alacrity : Duh, 4% AS boost, who wouldn't want it?
Weapon Expertise : 10% armor penetration, good for early and late game.
Deadliness : AD/lvl, ends up being +9 at 18, which seems little but really isn't.
Lethality : perfect for Gangplank, along with crit damage quints and Infinity Edge your crit damage does +75% more than it normally would :O
Vampirism : +3% life steal, good for a little sustain.
Sunder : armor penetration, like weapon expertise but in a different form :D
Executioner : +6% damage done to units under 40% health, if you're over level 21, there's no reason you shouldn't have this :D

DEFENSIVE

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--

Hardiness : +6 armor, duh :p
Resistance : only 1 point in here because it's not as important as the others and we can only use 9 points.
Durability : +6 health/lvl, +108 at 18.
Veteran's Scars : +30 health, pretty useful early game.

AD/ArPen marks for obvious reason. Armor/mres seals and glyphs to really put on the bruiserness. And crit damage quints also for obvious reasons, pretty much optional but these are what I like.

I use crit damage quints because its like a little Infinity Edge right when you start, but you can use crit chance if you want. I just felt that 4 extra crit chance isn't as good as 15% extra crit damage. However that's just my preference, you can choose whatever you like :)

(passive)
-
All around pretty good passive, slows and applies a DoT. Allows for better catching up and the main reason why GP is such a great chaser.


-
GREAT spell, GP's bread and butter and one of the best harassing spells there is.
Since it's on hit it applies his passive and things like Frozen Mallet, Rylai's Crystal Scepter (though you would never us RCS on GP) and others. On hit also means it crits which is WONDERFUL, can't tell you how many times someone has overextended and I got a lucky crit on them with Parrrley which has lead to an easy kill.


-
Gangplank's other bread and butter. Basically cures all diables, stuns, slows, supresses or any other kind of crowd control. It even cures Malzahar's Nether Grasp and Warwick's Infinite Duress. On top of all of that it heals a small amount of health.


-
Pretty awesome steroid/buff that can win teamfights along with Cannon Barrage.

(ultimate)
-
Another amazing skill (seems like I say that a lot when I'm talking about GP xD).
It wins teamfights, helps with ganks, secures kills, helps to get away and a whole lot more.
It's global so basically you can support your teammates wherever you are on the map.


Important: If you are falling behind (if your opponent is playing aggressively) max Remove Scurvy after Parrrley. If you are ahead max Raise Morale after Parrrley.

Gangplank is a pretty awesome farmer due to Parrrley, last hitting minions with it will give you a great money boost to get ahead of your opponent in items. It gives you 4 extra gold for the smaller minions and 8 gold for the bigger siege minions. Parrrley along with Avarice Blade is awesome early game and allows for an expensive build so last hit those minions as much as you can!

Counterpicks:
- Pantheon (HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, his passive makes Parrrley useless)
- Malphite (lots of early armor and constant shield)
- Yorick (lots of sustain and damage)
- Riven (lots of movement)
- Mordekaiser (either hard or medium, his shield is really annoying)
- Vladimir (SO much sustain)

Countermechanics:
-High movement speed
-High armor early on
-Sustain
-More harass/poking than Parrrley

The easy champions:
- Dr. Mundo
- Kassadin
- Malzahar
- Morgana

The medium champions: (generally skill matchups)
- Nasus
- Renekton
- Shen
- Talon
- Warwick
- Fiora
- Rumble
- Garen

The hard ones are stated in the above chapter.

Pantheon: Try to avoid this matchup as much as you can, but if you are forced into a lane with him just don't bother using Parrrley. Just turret hug and try to farm and wait until the teamfights start. Try to get your jungler to help you out with a gank or two as that will help tremendously.

Garen: This is my most played matchup actually, it's a somewhat easy one honestly. Try to harass as much as possible while avoiding his Decisive Strike and Judgment. Perseverance can be really annoying so try to hit him before it starts to regen a lot of health. I can generally get ahead in farm then zone him out to get even farther ahead by which time you are winning the lane by quite a lot.

Darius: I've faced him a few times in top lane. He isn't that hard if you kite his Decimate and remember to Remove Scurvy when he applies his bleed passive, Hemorrhage. Harassing can be pretty hard since he cant just pull you in with Apprehend if you get close enough to Parrrley, so definitely pick your battles. If you do that you can usually outfarm him/ zone him.

Mordekaiser: Try to get ahead early and keep an eye on his shield level. He can out harass your Parrrley with his Siphon of Destruction so make sure you can get a fair trade if you Parrrley.

For the rest of them just try to sustain in your lane not taking too much damage, and just try to farm. (adding more soon)

Levels 1-12 I generally just try to harass a lot with Parrrley while still maintaining a good creep score, use Parrrley to last hit minions whenever you can to get that lovely money boost. Play fairly passive aggressively poking until your opponent gets to about 1/4 health then pop your ult and Raise Morale and chase him down for an easy kill. Sometimes at lower levels you can entice your lane opponent into over extending, which gives you or your jungler a free kill.

ALWAYS WARD. Never leave the spawn with more than 75 gold and no wards.

At around 20 minutes the teamfights start. The great thing about Gangplank is with Cannon Barrage you can support your team no matter what. If you see a teamfight breaking out place your ult in a strategic place to give your team the upper hand.

Also, remember to pop your Raise Morale whenever a teamfight commenses.
Some good placements for your Cannon Barrage
-behind the enemy team.
-in the middle of the enemy team splitting them up creating a 5v2 or 5v3 for your team.
-on top of all of them, try to place it where there is nowhere/only one way to go for an easy teamfight win. (baron/dragon are great places for this)

In front of an enemy running away (similar for if you're the person running away)
In the baron camp (similar for dragon)
In the river close to mid (same for the other side)
On the red and blue buffs

Here's a 3 part video of an entire game that can help you with a multitude of things. Saintvicious (my favorite LoL player) playing Gangplank in a regular game.

Note: He plays jungle Gangplank but you can still learn a lot from part 2 and 3.
Play Video Play Video Play Video

Getting away:
If you are in really deep doodoo pop your Cannon Barrage in front of you and Raise Morale, make sure to Remove Scurvy when you are low on health or get crowd controlled.

Catching up:
Similar to getting away, throw down your ultimate in front of the person you're chasing, Raise Morale and hit them with Parrrley as often as you can to apply your passive, Grog Soaked Blade which will slow them down and apply a DoT to allow you to catch up and start hitting them with your sword.


More to be added soon, I promise :D

Post yours in the comments and I will add them in :D

5/31/12: Added another build.
6/6/12: Changed some bits and pieces, added some new stuffs to the Summoner Spell section. Also added a new score in the score section, which I will be doing a lot.
6/7/12: Added a lot to the mastery section, changed the masteries a tiny bit, and tidied up some parts. Added more in depth skill section. Thanks IceCreamy :D

Anyone who's liked my guide and would like some more help can add me, my name is MedievalMonsta on NA. I love playing with people and love teaching people so if you want some 1 to 1 help or just want to play with a fun laid back player message me! :D

Thank you very much for reading my guide

It took quite awhile and I worked very hard on it.

Again, please don't downvote because I'm a noob. Tell me what's wrong and I will fix it rather. You can downvote, but PLEASE tell me why you are downvoting.

I'm not completely done and will be adding quite a lot of stuffs in soon including:

-Ranked Play
-More pictures and pretty things
-Change log

Also I would like to say thank you to jhoijhoi, if I didn't have her guide to making a guide this would be nonexistent xD

2 more thanks yous to The Overmynd and Sept, who have helped me a bunch with everything.