Gangplank Comprehensive *Updated May 2, 2012*

Introduction

This is a comprehensive guide to GP, its not the 1st guide I've made but it will be the 1st one that I publish. If you find it more useful than the others then feel free to thumbs it up.

That said, lets get down to business. The point behind this guide is to take all of the various ways people build GP and put them under 1 all encompassing guide. Ive heard some people mention a support build, but I have not seen 1, and frankly without the ability to heal anyone but himself, I don't really think its fair to assign that title. However, if you know of a good support build guide, or have one of your own let me know and I'll try it out, and if it goes well then I'll try to work it in.

Why so many Builds?

Simply put, he is every bit as deadly with high crit as he is high dmg, or armor penn, or CDR, or jungling, or AP, or even as an off-tank. Frankly this was as condensed as I could make it considering the options available.

So from left to right as you see it on your screen the order is:

Balance - best overall design in my opinion, hearty, high crit, high dmg, and enough mana and cdr to keep pelting your enemy.

Tank - It's a tank build, do I really need to explain this to you? If so then go Atmog's with Frozen Mallet, and Aegis of the Legion. This will make you fairly unstoppable.

CDR - High mana, and CDR, this works great because at 40% CDR, Manamune has the same cooldown as Parrrley. Some would argue that Atmogs is better, but this leaves you at 40% CDR, as well has having 2700+ hp, and the dmg passive on top of the rest will leave you at just shy of 300 ad. This is a fun build if you're good with your Ult, and staying in every team fight.

Crit - This is a commonly played version, simply because it makes Parrrley ridiculously powerful. You normally see that most of your trolls and noobies like this build, but can not play well with him. I can attest that this build is phenomenal in the right hands, it's just that unskilled players tend to give it a bad reputation.

Solo Top - This one is designed both for sustainability, and recovery. A small sacrifice in defensive mastery for some utility and the use of Teleport allow you to recall without risk, and re-secure top very easily if you're taken down. Aside from the Mastery it builds a lot like balance, but the order focuses more evenly on offense and defense at the same time. Throw in a Manamune] over a Atma's Impaler, and use a Guardian Angel over Banshee's Veil, and there should be no reason top should ever fall.

Jungle - It's a jungle build, need I say more. Wriggle's Lantern, Utility Mastery, and Murder and Mayhem abound.

AP - Obviously a fun troll build, still VERY viable surprisingly. Just don't forget your heal, your ult, or Deathfire Grasp's Active, they will make or break a fight using this build.

Dominion - Obviously this is made with CDR in mind. Everything happens faster on the Crystal Scar, be sure you can keep up with the flow of the fight. I find that Garrison is a great summoner spell in conjunction Cannon Barrage. It makes for a GREAT defensive line for towers that are just out of reach. I used scaling Armor Greater Seal of Defense on Dominion only because you get to 18 so fast that you shouldn't be punished too hard for the slightly reduced armor, and you will have more Armor than you would with flat runes at lvl 10.

Pros / Cons

Pros

+ Has VERY diverse build options that can be made using the same rune and mastery build.
+ One of the hardest hitting spells for early game harassment.
+ His Parrrley adds on hit effects working great with Grog Soaked Blade or Fronzen Mallet.
+ Remove Scurvy is a great way to escape and survive nearly any gank attempt.
+ Cannon Barrage is a great way to pickup easy kills and help out in team fights, even if you can't get there in time.
+ Raise Morale is one of the best team initiator buffs in game, allowing the entire team to move faster and hit harder.
+ Cannon Barrage is also a Cross Map/LARGE AOE slow Ultimate, so use if you see your teammates trying to chase someone down, or to save them from being chased down.
+ Did I mention hes a freakin PIRATE!!!

Cons

- It can be hard to find a good balance between crit chance and everything else lol.
- Tends to get focused in team fights
- Remove Scurvy has a pretty long Cooldown, so be sure your enemy has put ALL of their debuffs on you before u hit it and run. Otherwise they will just hit u again.
- Parrrley Requires you to dive in a bit to get your shot off, be careful not to overextend.
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Runes

Balance

Greater Mark of Strength will give you a good head start early game, while 3 Greater Quintessence of Furor are a great way to stack a little more dmg onto Parrrley and your auto attack. The stand defence seals and glyphs will add a great deal of sustain for the early game.


Tank
Adding Greater Mark of Desolation is a great way to piss off the competition late game, and the Greater Quintessence of Fortitude will help you to stay alive a little longer early game while you build into your tankier items. With this build its not a bad idea to go with a gold per 5 item or 2 for greater sustain. If you do, I would recommend Heart of Gold or Avarice Blade simply because they can both be built into higher tier items that both work great with Gangplank.



CDR
This build is made for constant harass, Greater Glyph of Celerity is a great way to churn out Parrrley quickly and repeatedly. This build is best served on bot with a either a tank or a support that can keep you up and in the fight for as long as possilbe. It is great for keeping the enemies pushed to their turret, forcing them to starve for minion farm. This is also probably your best 2nd choice for soloing top because it allows you to constantly poke any would be tower divers, and the Greater Seal of Alacrity will let you get at least 1-2 more hits on them and slow them to a crawl, at which point the tower will do all the work for you. If you feel the need to take your CDR to the full 40% then you would do well to trade in Manamune for a Youmuu's Ghostblade, or Executioner's Calling in for a Zeke's Herald.


Crit
This build is hands down, one of the most brutal early game builds out there. With Greater Mark of Malice and a Brawler's Gloves you get 16% crit right out of the gate. At 10 minutes you should have close to 2000 gold (even if you haven't killed any champs yet), and by that time you should have spent it on an Avarice Blade (750) and Executioner's Calling (1350). These items in combination with the runes will give you 35% crit by the 10 minute mark, and it only gets easier from there. This build sacrifices your Greater Seal of Resilience so be careful on how far you extend for a cheap poke, they might poke back.


Solo Top
This build is a lot of fun. You get your run of the mill defensive runes Greater Seal of Resilience and Greater Glyph of Shielding. It also doesn't hurt to get a Wriggle's Lantern I know you won't be jungling, but its passive is good at taking down the siege minions, especially if their solo top has a promote, and the active lets you ward the river bush for free for the duration of the game. If you don't plan on doing a long laning phase then just grab a couple wards on your first return to base, and call it at that. If the enemy team has a jungle/counter jungle, be sure to ward the river and keep an eye on the mini-map and chat for mias.


Jungle
Just like every other AD Carry your going with Greater Mark of Desolation, Greater Seal of Resilience, Greater Glyph of Shielding, and Greater Quintessence of Desolation. This is the basic needs of any AD jungler. Of coarse run with Wriggle's Lantern and smite, with all the right jungle masteries. Beyond that you're ability to gank is based on your skill and timing. I recommend the traditional blue route, it helps with mana regen and lets you get to a higher level before finally getting back to the solo top to either relieve or gank.


AP
Let's be honest, it's not as good as others, but it is fun as hell. Grab Greater Mark of Insight and Greater Quintessence of Insight for late game damage from your ultimate. These can also be traded in for ( Greater Mark of Force and Greater Quintessence of Force) or ( Greater Mark of Potency and Greater Quintessence of Potency) for a direct damage increase. It doesnt hurt to grab a couple ad offensive items early game, simply for the damage of Parrrley early game before you get to Cannon Barrage You will also need Greater Seal of Clarity and Greater Glyph of Celerity for the mana and CDR because you WILL be using Remove Scurvy a little more often with this build, so keep that in mind when pushing, because you do not have any defensive runes here.


Dominion
The runes for this build are normal AD carry. Greater Mark of Desolation, Greater Seal of Defense, Greater Glyph of Shielding, and Greater Quintessence of Desolation it wouldn't be a bad idea to trade the desolation quints in for Greater Quintessence of Furor for the damage bonus, but I don't think it will make too much of a difference in such a short game. I recommend Greater Seal of Defense over Greater Seal of Resilience because you start at lvl 3 and get to lvl 10 within the first 5-7 minutes of the fight, after which the armor per lvl pays off more. CDR is very important in Dominion, but not at the cost of defense. Starting at level 3 with 1300 gold is a great way to skip past all the early game niceties and go straight for the throat, your enemy knows this too, so shielding is an absolute necessity.

Masteries

Balance

This page is pretty cut and dry. This is not a build for ganking, it is made for TEAM play. You'll have plenty of early game dmg output with your Parrrley and much greater sustainability late game. This build works well in ranked games mostly due to its sustainability. Anyone who's played GP knows that late game is a pain because you are almost always focused in team fights. This blend gives you the means to get out of tough spots, so long as you're smart enough to avoid them when their obvious.


Tank I posted this as a deliberate build though I must say, if you want to tank, do it with an actual tank. All the same though, the build works, its not about to trump dedicated tanks such as Rammus, Volibear, or Malphite, but it will certainly make squishy assassins think twice before trying to focus you down.


CDR Despite the fact that this is a CDR build you will not be using any CDR masteries. Those will be handles by your items and runes. I recommend 21-9-0 because you will be leaving Greater Glyph of Shielding behind for Greater Glyph of Celerity. So it would be wise to put those other 9 point into the defense tree, over the offense tree. All the same this build does have room for a little more CDR so if you want to go 25-5-0, putting the last 4 into Sorcery be my guest.

Crit As the name "crit" suggests, this build should be all about the offense. I put 9 points in the defense tree and focused everything else on Offensive AD mastery, making sure to pickup Lethality, Weapon Expertise, and Havoc.


Solo Top Ok so solo top is pretty cut and dry, solid offensive mastery tree, with a bit in utility for Good Hands. I go ahead and pick up Runic Affinity here, this is good because if you're soloing top, you can expect company from enemy ganks, and if you can steal a red or a blue from an enemy, then you might as well keep it for a while.


Jungle This one runs about the same mastery as solo-top, but you pick up Improved Recall over Summoner's Insight for the early game back to base trips. Honestly you could put that point wherever you like, the .5 seconds saved is pretty unnoticeable, I'm just impatient.


AP Pretty much the exact opposite of all the other builds, here you're shooting straight down the right side of the offense tree instead of the left. On the utility tree you're only doing 2 points in Good Hands, and then putting points in Expanded Mind and Meditation. This is really needed so don't ignore it, you will be using remove scurvy a bit more with this built, so you need the added mana/mana regen.


Dominion Here is another mastery tree similar to all the rest. The AD offense, with Good Hands, and Swiftness. I drop Runic Affinity and a couple points off of Good Hands and add them to Havoc for this one. You dont really spend that much time dead in dominion, so 1 point is enough. The bonus damage from Havoc though is too great to pass up in such short, fast-paced fights

Skill Sequence

With virtually every Gangplank build you're going to max Parrrley 1st, then Raise Morale and finally Remove Scurvy. Getting you're ults at their proper levels of coarse. Even if you're doing an AP build, you bread and butter remains to be Parrrley. That in mind, max it, then max the others according to what best suits you're needs. If you're up against a CC heavy team, it's not necessarily a bad idea to max Remove Scurvy 2nd. After all staying alive, in lane, and farming can make a huge difference late game.

Balance

For balance I max Parrrley 1st, then Raise Morale, picking up 1 point in [[remove scurvy at lvl 4, and then maxing it at 14.


Tank Runs the same as balance, if the enemy notices you're trying to build him as an off-tank, they may start giving you priority in ganks, if this is the case, a couple points in Remove Scurvy early game, may be needed.


CDR Runs the same as balance, again if they start focusing you down put a couple more in Remove Scurvy and call it a day.


Crit Runs the same as balance, if they start focusing you down on crit plank, I actually wouldn't recommend switching points to Remove Scurvy, instead focus on your build, play it safe, and if possible, try to end laning phase early for some early game kills. This is a snow ball build, so the sooner you can start, the better.


Solo Top Runs the same as balance, here I would definitely recommend extra points in Remove Scurvy if you're suffering too much dmg up top, especially if the enemy team doesn't have a jungler. If you end up trapped against the tower and losing creep farm as a result, then grab a gold/5 item instead of worrying about trying to farm with Raise Morale.


Jungle Here you're going to switch your lvl 1 & 2 spells, and switch your lvl 3 & 4 spells, then build just like balance. You want raise moral for that 1st fight against blue, Parrrley simply wont do enough damage at lvl 1 to finish the golems. However if you have someone willing to give you one helluva leash, you could get away with just sticking to the balance build order.


AP He're your actually putting a few more points in Remove Scurvy early game than you will anything else. The reason for this is the fact that Parrrley will simply not put out enough damage. It is extremely important that you survive to mid game for an AP build, because without some decent farm, you're not going to be doing enough damage to help the team at all.


Dominion Again, just like balance. You'll start the game at lvl 3 anyway, so you'll have raise moral if you go top with the team, or Parrrley if you go bot.