Gangplank Build Guide by Fulundry

Intro: Sailing Summoner's Rift

Hello all, summoner Geckle here, and this is an introduction to one of the few champions that can realistically hold any lane, and makes for a decent jungler as well. Ideally, he excels at a standard solo top, but he is a viable mid as well, and pairs up to make a brutal laning duo with a select number of laning partners bot (looking at you Pantheon).

This guide covers a high damage very tanky build that includes excellent team support (considering that you are not a primary support hero) regardless of where you are on the map. The common GP guide tends to be a pretty standard glass cannon--great for personal glory, less great for the team.

Note: This guide is for Summoner's Rift, not the Twisted Treeline, or the Crystal Scar, and while Gangplank jungles well, this is intended to cover all three lanes.

Anyway, Mobafire has helped me with new champions a good deal, and this my first attempt to try to add a useful guide to their collection. If you have anything constructive to say I'll be sure to address it, and as usual, please try the build before you decide how good it is. This isn't the Gangplank Bible and you certainly don't have to follow it to the letter to do well, but if you do finish your build, you will be one of the strongest characters in the game.

Pros and Cons

Pros Excellent harass Very good escape mechanism Useful in teamfights even when not present Healthy as a tank with ad carry damage and support ability Global AOE ult Good speed Excellent duelist (1v1 fighter) Lethal to try towerdive himSPACE

Cons Build sacrifices some damage early-middle game Mana hungry early Build is expensive (~17k, but need not be finished to be effective) Must farm individually unless he wants to use his ult Frequently banned in ranked (and for good reason)

Now, the main benefit to even mentioning pros and cons is to maximize the former, and nullify the latter. The entire build focuses on maximizing your strengths, and the cons can all be dealt with.

Avoid mana starvation by getting full use out of every Parrrley. This will take some practice, but you should either hit a champion or kill a minion every time you use it. If your opponent is playing aggressively you will start to run low on mana, but you did buy a mana potion early on. More on laning later.

Masteries

Primary Offense, secondary Defense: You have a few options here: The most important mastery of any is Lethality , as Gangplank was pretty much responsible for the fact you can no longer get crit chance without runes or items. Past that, however, offense is more useful than defense or utility, as you are still an AD carry despite your almost tanklike appearance.


Net gain:
+Improved Ignite/ Exhaust
+3 AD
+4% AS
+3% CD
+0.5 AD/lv
+10% Armor pen
+10% Crit damage
+6 armor pen
+6% dmg vs. targets below 40% health
+6 Magic resist
+2 Armor
+6 Health/lv
+30 Health


Note that you do not want to blindly take all the AD choices. I substitute 3 ranks in Sorcery , as 3% CD is much more useful than 3% lifesteal you would get from Vampirism . GP will do fine with lifesteal, but his heal is what makes him sustainable, and cooldowns help his overall performance much more. Sorcery is a good way to get cooldown while staying primarily in the offense tree, and remaining fairly healthy early game.







Primary Offense, secondary Utility: If you prefer a less aggressive early game (although you should be aggressive unless you are manning a 1v2, or are paired off against some of GP's counters) you can substitute the Utility tree in place of Defense, which has the added benefit of helping out with some early mana problems and extending the duration of the super useful blue and red buffs. Substituting Utility for defense adds:

+Improved Ignite/ Exhaust
+3 AD
+4% AS
+3% CD
+0.5 AD/lv
+10% Armor pen
+10% Crit damage
+6 armor pen
+6% dmg vs. targets below 40% health
+Improved flash
+12 Mana/lv
+0.5% Move speed
+3 Mana regen/5
+20% Increased buff duration

No matter which way you decide, it is crucial that you take enough offense to get Lethality . This specific mastery will make the most difference.

Ye Olde Runes

Marks

Greater Mark of Desolation Armor Pen +15: Ok, I have very happily run Crit dmg Marks and Quints in the past, but after some review, the nice boring reliable armor pen runes are just plain better. Crit damage really only pulls its weight very late game once you have ~75% crit chance, which you won't get for a while. On a carry, it usually helps to have a mix of AD and armor pen when choosing marks and quints; I go Armor pen marks and AD quints, but you can certainly reverse this.

Seals

Armor +13: These are pretty essential. You have such low starting armor (16.5) that any AD carry with armor pen runes will be doing true damage to you during the laning phase. I take flat armor, as Gangplank is somewhat healthy early game without buying health items, and armor really helps. Likewise, many top opponents are physical. Also acceptable are greater seal of replenishment, which will help him with his early game mana problems, and Greater Seal of Health, also intended for an early game edge. Armor takes into account your total health though, so it scales much better than flat health. You shouldn't buy scaling armor, because you will build a fair amount of armor later on.

Glyphs

Cooldown reduction 6%: Unlike Armor, Gangplank does have decent starting magic resist (30), and he won't need more magic resist as much as he needs cooldowns. Scaling CD reduction matches flat CD at lv. 13, only surpassing it at levels 14-18. You lose too much early and mid to make them worth it. Regarding magic resist, Remove Scurvy will let him frustrate mages enough for most games, and he can substitute items if they really become a problem. Otherwise, you should have 9% cooldown reduction before buying anything, and you amp it up to 39% in most cases with boots and Youmuu's Ghostblade. Remember not to exceed the 40% cap of course, but dropping Parrrley's CD from 5 seconds 3.05 is very noticeable at all points in the game, not to mention his other spells ( Cannon Barrage goes from 120/115/110-->80-70-67).

Quints

Attack Damage +7 Ok, the same reasoning that applies to marks is mirrored here. Crit dmg runes are still an ok alternative, and can be quite hilarious, but armor pen/ad is more effective. It has also been suggested that Greater Quintessence of Health be substituted, and after trying them out, I do like them a lot. Basically runes help GP most early game, so play to your strengths. Strong early GP means strong late GP.


+Marks and Quints: Combination of armor pen and AD, with flat health an option.
+Seals: Flat armor works best, flat heath an option.
+Glyphs: Flat CD preferred, scaling magic resist an option.

Summoner Spells

Excellent:

---

Viable:

---

Bad:

---

Troll

Abilities

Barring an unusual situation, your skill order should be as follows:



If you are planning on bringing in a five man gank squad to ambush the enemy jungler right away, put your first point in Raise Morale. The extra damage and move speed at lv. 1 will really help your team much more than even some good early crits, but usually you will have one laning partner at the most.

Obviously we need Parrrley to keep up with everyone else in the damage department, and even AP Sion gets his ult whenever possible. But why do we max Remove Scurvy over Raise Morale? Simply put, you are more sustainable with your W, and you still get a good amount out of your E with only one rank. Some math:

Raise Morale:
Lv. 1: (passive-->active) 8-->16 AD, 3-->7 Move speed
Lv. 5: (passive-->active) 12-->40 AD, 8-->20 Move speed......... CD=25 at all levels
Gain from leveling it up: 4-->24 AD, 5-->13 Move speed


Remove Scurvy:
Lv. 1: Heal = 80 (+1.0), Cd=22
Lv. 5: Heal = 360 (+1.0), Cd=18
Gain from leveling it up: Heal +280, CD -5.

---

Gangplank's basic attacks apply a poison debuff for 3 seconds that can stack up to 3 times. Each stack deals 3 + (1 × level) magic damage per second and slows the target by 7%.

Not all passives are created equal, but Grog Soaked Blade is certainly above average. There are two obvious parts to this skill. The bleed is good for early game harassing, will net you contested kills in team fights, and stacks beautifully with red buff and/or Ignite. The slow (combined with Raise Morale, Phantom Dancer, and even Trinity Force) lets Gangplank chase almost any champion down. It also makes him a viable jungler, as his passive and his ult are the only crowd control he has.

Keep in mind that you will draw tower agro if you have recently tagged an enemy under the tower; if you are planning on diving someone, take this into account.

---

(Active): Gangplank shoots a target enemy with his pistol, dealing physical damage. If it kills it, he gains extra gold. This ability can critically strike and applies on-hit effects, including his passive.

This is the primary reason crits are such a big part of this build, which makes this the first skill we max (other than Cannon Barrage of course. You have a long range (625) harass that applies on hit effects, and a low cooldown makes it your best friend in lanes as well.

The recent nerf increased the mana cost moderately which means spamming it early without blue buff will lead to mana starvation. Look at your lane opponent and decide whether to harass or last hit, and stick with that decision. Some champions that you should not harass:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

You are essentially wasting mana trying to wear them down in a 1v1 fight, and your efforts are spent better farming gold.

*Try to avoid last hitting a creep with Parrrley (early) if you can reach him with an autoattack, as the extra 4-8 gold is not worth the 50-70 mana (unless you have blue buff, in which case spam away).*

If you do not wish to venture out far enough to attack them normally, or need to kill them quickly before a minion or tower hits them you can farm very effectively with it.

---

(Active): Gangplank instantly removes all crowd control effects on him, as well as healing himself.


Cleanse + Heal on a stick, with a fairly short CD all bundled into one neat spell. During laning always keep enough mana to use it, and stay near your tower when it's on cd and it will frustrate your potential gankers to no end. This spell works especially well for champions who rely on hard CC for their combo ( Annie, Brand, Veigar) or simply as part of a dangerous ult ( Malzahar, Warwick, Skarner).

This spell is most useful during laning phase (although after laning it means you don’t have to recall unless you run out of mana), making it an early priority after Parrrley and of course Cannon Barrage. Also, unlike Raise Morale, the cooldown decreases as you put more ranks in it. Late game you should be tanky enough that you can initiate a fight well enough to be focused and survive while your team has an unrestricted chance to use all their abilities, and the Cleanse + Heal lets you suddenly remove yourself from that otherwise lethal snare and flash away.

---

(Passive): Gangplank's attack damage and movement speed are increased permanently.
(Active): Gangplank fires into the air, disabling his passive boost but inspiring himself to gain additional attack damage and movement speed, with nearby allied champions receiving half that amount, for 7 seconds.

Excellent for initiation, chasing or fleeing, speeding up the team as they come in for a gank, pushing towers, jungling, netting free assists, but it does all of these things well enough with one rank that we can prioritize other abilities. I usually take one rank at lv. 4 (unless I really need the speed to dodge some of the more deadly skill shotters) and max it last.

Always activate it when coming out of the well, and one point in Raise Morale combined sometimes with an early Zeal will keep you as fast enough that you can afford to wait a little before you buy boots.

---

(Active): Gangplank signals his ship to fire cannonballs upon target area for 7 seconds. 25 cannonballs will drop over the duration and each will deal magic damage to all enemies hit. Enemies in the area of this ability are slowed by 25% for 1.25 seconds, with the duration refreshing if one stays in the area.
SPACE
This is why Gangplank is banned as often as he in in ranked play (this, and his late game awesomeness). The uses of a global AoE ult are pretty much unlimited:
SPACE

How to use it:

• People won't necessarily expect your involvement in a fight when they are initiating in their lane
  SPACE
• Predict movement paths and lock down fleeing/chasing enemies
  SPACE
• Change any teamfight regardless of where you are
  SPACE
• Just because it has global range don't be afraid to use it in your own lane. When someone has committed to killing you in a 1v1 fight, the sustained damage from just standing in it will be substantial.
  SPACE
• Save a tower from creeps (netting a bunch of gold in the process) or prevent enemies from pushing an otherwise vulnerable tower
  SPACE
• Keep pace with supports/tanks in the assist column

How not to use it:

• You will rarely kill someone straight out with just this ability. The cannon balls are random and therefore unreliable.
  SPACE
• Do not watch a fight and wait for an opponent to get into the red zone before bombing them; your job is not to kill steal, but to enable a kill that would otherwise have been lost. Cast it any time you need to change the outcome of a fight.
  SPACE
• You usually do not want to waste it just to get an assist on a kill that your team would have anyway. If you are not doing well you can try this from time to time, but it’s a global ultimate; there will always be better times to use it.
  SPACE
• Sniping Dragon and/or Baron is inadvisable unless your team can also do some damage; you need a good amount of luck and perfect timing to steal them by yourself.

Items

No matter how skilled you are, you still need to be carrying the right equipment.

In a perfect world, your best options are as follows:

In reality, you are rarely going to be able to keep your shiny build intact.

1. Starting Items

Vs. Easy or Medium opponent:




Vs. Hard opponent:

• 
• 

Starting out: If you are happy about who you are laning against, stick with crit chance. This means that you are confident that in a 1v1 fight, you should either win, or at least not die.

If you are laning against an AD counter, like Pantheon or Caitlyn, try the (much) more defensive build, and start with armor and potions. If you do this, make sure to build Cloth Armor into either Ninja Tabi or Wriggle's Lantern right away.

If you are laning against a problematic ap opponent ( Kennen or Rumble) or someone very dependent on skill shots ( Nidalee or Dr. Mundo), boots and potions will give you the advantage.

2. Avarice Blade

The moment you hit 350 gold and can recall without screwing up your lane, drop back and get



Avarice blade

You want to get this as early as possible and let the nice 5 gold/10 pile up all game, along with the excellent 12% crit chance.

3. Ionian Boots of Lucidity

Your best option is to pick up boots next, and you have a few options:



Ionian Boots of Lucidity

Mercury's Treads

Berserker's Greaves

Ninja Tabi


Cooldown is your first priority, and with these boots (and Youmuu's Ghostblade) you are pretty much at full. However, there are some teams that make it suicidal to go up against without Mercury's Treads, and by extension, Ninja Tabi will help with some AD heavy teams. Attack speed is viable on most AD carries, but you will do much more damage if you can use Parrrley, Raise Morale, and Cannon Barrage that much quicker. Cooldown will increase your dps much more than any other choice; only switch if the other team is unbalanced or your lane is problematic.

4. Atma's Impaler

Once you have upgraded boots, Avarice Blade, you want to start on



Cloak of Agility
.......|
.......|
.......v

Atma's Impaler


Because you have been building almost exclusively crit damage, Atma's Impaler will give you some extra damage. Do not finish Atma's right away though, just get Cloak of Agility. This will keep your damage high while you get Warmog's Armor, which is purely defensive at first. Thanks to Parrrley you will still be doing excellent damage every time you crit, so you do not really sacrifice much by not having a B. F. Sword yet.

5. Warmog's Armor

Following Cloak of Agility, your next pickup is



Warmog's Armor

Atmog's ( + ) will officially remove any squishy tag you might have, and push your damage up into the 200s as soon as you finish Atma's. Always start with a Giant's Belt if you can afford it.

7. Atma's Impaler

It's best to get full Warmog's Armor before you finish Atma's Impaler, but once you have all that health, finishing Atma's will round you out nicely, and you can really get scary offensively now.

8. Infinity Edge

Time to boost crit damage for a change:



Infinity Edge


This will bump your crit damage to a godly +260% (thanks to Lethality ) and you certainly don't have to worry about not doing enough damage anymore. If you have followed the build so far, your crit chance (prior to Infinity Edge will be 33%, so start with Cloak of Agility even before B. F. Sword.

9. Youmuu's Ghostblade

Remember when you got Avarice Blade 3-4 minutes into the game? Well, it's been sitting in your inventory this whole time, earning its keep by adding gold and crit chance. Time to ramp up it's usefulness. I have been a fan of Zeal into Phantom Dancer before, but ultimately, Youmuu's Ghostblade has several advantages over Phantom Dancer:

Youmuu's Ghostblade

• It's cheaper: (only by 158, but that's still an advantage)
• +20 AD
• +20 Armor pen
• +15 CD (which should put you at 39%, which is pretty perfect)
• The active (+20 move speed, +50 attack speed) suits Gangplank's playstyle better. He is not a straight autoattacker, but when he goes in for the kill Youmuu's Ghostblade + Raise Morale makes him way stronger than you might expect.

Phantom Dancer has the following advantages:

• Move speed +15. As a permanent boost it's better than +20 when the active is, well, active, but GP is plenty fast already.
• +55 Attack speed. An excellent stat on Ashe or Vayne, but you do better with more damage in short bursts anyway.
• +30 crit chance. This is the really big one, but it can't quite carry the item alone. You will still have a good crit chance all game, and you should do much more damage with Youmuu's Ghostblade.

10. Trinity Force/The Bloodthirster/Phantom Dancer/Last Whisper/Banshee's Veil

Your final buy should be tailored to meet the current game's needs. If nobody has built against you (it never ceases to amaze me how many people think that because they are a carry, they should only build offensive items), your best bet is one of the following:

• Trinity Force is just a perfect way to round off a build. You get speed, a nice proc to Parrrley (keep in mind it adds 150% base damage, not total damage), a slow, more crit damage, some health, etc. If you are doing well in general, this will make everything better. Keep in mind that it's a difficult item to build last, as you won't have 6 inventory spaces to store all the lesser parts to it. Start with Zeal.
  
  
• The Bloodthirster It took a smallish nerf recently, but you no longer lose all your stacks when you die. If you just want straight damage and they don't have excessive armor, this is the perfect item. At full stacks, it adds +100 AD which will do noticeably more damage.
  
  
• Phantom Dancer This is Infinity Edge's best friend. You will tear around the map with blazing speed, your crits will be automatic, and your attack speed will be super high as well. An excellent last purchase.
  
  
• Last Whisper The standard last buy for any successful AD build. Against experienced players, there will always be some targets that have too much armor to do much damage against, and LW is an incredibly cheap solution. If their tank has spent 12k on armor, you can spend 20% of that and cut everything he's built in half. If people really haven't built much against you, you'd be better off with one of the above choices.
  
  
• Banshee's Veil If you are having trouble with mages at any point in the game, you can pick up BV to slow them down. Keep in mind that it will also slow your build down as well, ad you will sacrifice some damage here. If you are doing well enough that you can leave BV for last, damage is still preferable. You are sill a carry; let Warmog's Armor be your defense.

---

Some good substitutes:

If they have way too much _______

Banshee's Veil


If you are facing a mage heavy team, find that you are still dying too quickly despite your 3k health, or if their Karthus is 16-3, you should probably grab one. Yes it will take some of your offense away, but you can't kill things if you are dead (unless you are Karthus).



Thornmail

Here we have the AD equivalent of the above. Do not get this unless you absolutely have to, as you should have decent armor already. However, things don't always go according to plan, and if you really, really need to shut down certain characters it will work.




Quicksilver Sash

Is your Remove Scurvy not enough? Boosting your MR and being able to cleanse out of two lethal CC's might make this a possible buy. You shouldn't usually get this, but some teams are unstoppable without it.



Last Whisper

So this build works, and you're destroying everything in sight, and the other team has noticed. They can stack armor all they want-- Last Whisper+ Weapon Expertise will cut whatever they build in half.

Decent early game substitutions:

Philosopher's Stone

Stacking gold/10 items is not a bad idea (but don't get two identical items, they won't stack) and you will really lessen any early game mana problems you have, while keeping your health pretty high. If you do get this, sell it before you sell Avarice Blade, as the crit chance is still more valuable than the health and mana regen. If you are playing passively, starting off with a Regrowth Pendant and turning it into this can work as well.



Cloak and Dagger

If you really want your Ionian Boots of Lucidity but are still having trouble without any tenacity, this is not bad. You still get some offense out of it with the crits and attack speed, but you don't usually see this in a late game build.


Sword of the Occult

I am not a huge fan of this item, but Gangplank does get much more assists than your standard melee carry, so I can see this working. Don't try it in a serious game unless you want to have a giant target on your head all game. Also, you get plenty of damage, but no crits to speak of, and the usually awesome speed boost if you can stack it to 20 is pretty heavily diminished by all the other speed you have.



Executioner's Calling

Again, this is viable, but there are much better early choices. GP is much more of a poker--he won't autoattack most people to death like an Ashe or a Tryndamere, making lifesteal less effective on him. True, his Parrrley will proc the lifesteal, but it really isn't his playstyle. As a melee champ, you often can't afford to chase a low creep into the middle of the lane for the last hit. Bottom line: you won't be attacking at your maximum attack speed, which makes lifesteal less useful for him than it is for other champs.



Phantom Dancer

Too good an item to not include as an option. If you are not having any trouble with health late game, substitute this for Trinity Force. An excellent addition to any crit dependant build.

Substitutions

Frozen Mallet

This is not a bad alternative to Warmog's Armor at all. Because you're pairing either item with Atma's Impaler, Warmog's Armor gives you 570 more health (when fully farmed), 9 less damage, and no slow. Frozen Mallet has significantly less health, a bit more damage, and the nice 40% slow for 2.5 seconds. I think Warmog's Armor is a better choice, but you will still be healthy with this substitute, and you should be able to chase anyone down.



The Bloodthirster

This is included because it's such a good item it at least deserves mention. A metric buttload of damage, coupled with some nice lifesteal, but still no crits. You will be doing a ton of damage if you can survive with it, but you are not quite as well rounded, which is the only reason I don't include it in my standard build.

Some solid final builds:

The 3 Lanes

Solo Top

This is your best option for a number of reasons:

• You gain xp quicker, allowing for you to help any teammate with Cannon Barrage
• You have a heal, making you sustainable in a lane
• You have a long range poke that can wear down an enemy safely
• You are a exceptional duelist, especially at lv. 6
• You are a good pusher

Some things to know about managing top:

-->Every time you buy items you should not leave the well with 75+ gold without a Sight Ward. This has nothing to do with Gangplank specifically, but in every case, wards win games. If there was one phrase I wish everybody knew...


-->Once you hit lv. 2, always keep enough mana for Remove Scurvy unless you are going in for the kill or near your tower. It doesn't take much (65 at all ranks), but unless you know where all five of your opponents are, you should always be ready for them.


-->As stated before, without buffs, it is better to hold on to mana than to earn +4-8 gold by last hitting a creep with Parrrley that you could just as easily kill with an autoattack. Unless you're packing Clarity, you will run out of mana quickly.


-->Against most opponents, do there is no reason to get within range of them unless you are about to hit them with Parrrley. Think about it; if you stand there going toe to toe with them you will both get low, but if you only step up every 5 seconds, you will still do excellent harassing damage without putting yourself in jeopardy. Playstyle varies depending on your opponent of course, but more on that later.


-->Once you hit lv. 6 you should be spending ~10-15% of your time looking around at the rest of the game (unless you're actively being attacked.) The earlier you get Cannon Barrage the more effective it is, and the less expected it is. You'll rack up some nice gold off assists (or maybe a lucky kill), and the rest of your team will love you.


-->If you are at ~25% health, you can often bait your opponent into diving you, or running into a trap. In this case, save Remove Scurvy, and try to maintain as much mana as you can. This means don't use your spells on anything unless you absolutely have to. With Remove Scurvy+ Flash and either Ignite or Exhaust you are much more dangerous than you look. Being good at League is not so much about doing a ton of damage; it's much better to do unexpected damage.

-->If they do take the bait, save your Remove Scurvy for the otherwise lethal Wither, etc., pop Cannon Barrage, juke around your tower with Flash and Raise Morale, and you can kill even two people diving you.


-->If you do not have a jungler, when you run out of mana, blue buff will keep both your health, mana, and harass at full capacity. This means that even if you kill blue with only ~100 hp left, feel free to go back into lane instead of recalling. You will be back up to full in no time.

---

It's pretty standard for an AP carry to take this lane, but there are times when you will be called to take mid, and Gangplank does moderately well here.

Mid vs. Top

• There are a few mage killers that might ruin the game for your AP carry, but that you do quite well against. Usually they have a silence or a spell shield that throws a wrench into your mage's combo. This is a good time to take mid, as your Annie that goes 0-5 early can be disastrous for your team.
  
  
• GP is a good counter to many mages, especially anyone who really relies on a stun or silence. This works pretty well against Anivia, Fiddlesticks, Kassadin, Karthus, Lux, Malzahar, Morgana, Ryze, and Veigar . He will do fine against other champions as well, but you usually won't be taking mid unless your AP carry doesn't want to face one of the above.
  
  
• If you know you will be taking mid, substitute Greater Glyph of Magic Resist for Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction. You will most likely need the extra MR, and early mages won't be able to really sink their teeth into you.
  
  
• As a melee character your opponent will likely have more range than you, so you should only be in range of them when Parrrley is ready to use. Otherwise you are simply letting them burn you down for free.
  
  
• Consider substituting either Clarity or Teleport for Ignite or Exhaust. You need sustainability at mid more than anywhere else, and being able to recall for free, or heal as much as you want can really be helpful.

---

Bot lane

The major change in a solo lane vs. here is primarily mana management. Because you have two targets you will run out of mana more quickly if you spam Parrrley. Pick one character and only hit him with it; this will keep him low enough to take them out when your jungler comes knocking, and sometimes a good early crit can suddenly give you the chance to run in for the kill.

Here you are going to be a little behind on exp for obvious reasons, but the plus side is that you get to have a partner. Gangplank does exceptionally well with any support (what AD carry doesn't?), but my favorite partner is not a support: (drumroll...)

Pantheon synergizes PERFECTLY with GP. Both of you have a good harass, and he can even stun them in place. With this combo, No squishy character stands a chance: Parrrley + Spear Shot will evaporate half their health, and if he leads with Aegis of Zeonia, there's just nothing many people can do about this.

Oddly enough, Pantheon is his best friend and his worst enemy. If you find yourself laning against him, you're pretty screwed. His passive blocks your Parrrley, and he does better burst damage, even with a good gap closer that makes kiting him that much harder. Avoid laning against him whenever possible.

Similarly, any good assassin, support or tank usually does quite well with Gangplank. He does less well with melee characters that can't harass well, as your lane won't have enough range to be a real threat. See Matchups below.

Standard Top matchups

Knowing how well you fare against an Annie or a Karthus isn't really that helpful, as you will rarely lane against them. For the sake of consistancy, I'll include every champion in the next chapter, but for now, here is a more detailed look at your more likely solo top opponents:




Akali
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 3/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 5/10
Best starting items:

• Before level six, you should have no problem with her. Her only harass does nothing compared to Parrrley, and you can beat her in a 1v1 fight.
• Watch her energy, and engage right after she's used a skill, and you should dominate the lane.
• After level six, you will have more trouble with her, but unless she has already snowballed early, you have the advantage.
• She does have a bit more sustain then most people give her credit for, but putting more ranks in Remove Scurvy will give you much more sustain.

Caitlyn
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 7/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 7/10
Best starting items:

• She's a glass cannon, which means two things: First, you will never get a Parrrley off without paying for it. Any time you can hit her, she can peg you.
• However, she is not healthy at all, and if you only trade blows every 5-10 seconds you have the advantage.
• She'll probably have a Doran's Blade, so consider beginning with Cloth Armor and potions to combat her damage; do so, and you will be able to hold your own in lane.
• Be agressive; she farms extremely well so a passive playstyle will just let her get powerful just from a good CS.
  
  
  
  Cho'gath
  Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 4/10
  Difficulty Post lv. 6: 6/10
  Best starting items:
  
  • Before level six, he can't do much to you without running low on mana, as long as you can avoid Rupture you should be able to keep up with him.
  • He is an excellent farmer, but like Mordekaiser or Morgana, he has to push his lane in order to farm well. When he still doesn't have access to Feast, it is very easy to bait him with Remove Scurvy, and if he overextends, you should have the advantage.
  • Once he hits level six, watch what he does with Feast. If he is not using it, it probably means that you are about to be ganked, and he is saving it. If he uses it right away, press your advantage, as you have all your spells, and he can't eat you.
  
  
  Darius
  Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 7/10
  Difficulty Post lv. 6: 8/10
  Best starting items:
  
  • Darius is absolutely deadly if you let him get close to you. Apprehend and Decimate both have at least a range of at least 100 less than Parrrley, so try to avoid getting in range. Of course, you may find if difficult to keep your distance from his pull, but like Jax or Riven, you really don't want to fight him 1v1.
  • Make sure that you can tag him with your Q safely, as he does not have any kind of natural sustain. As long as you can keep him low enough that he can't safely engage you, you will be ok.
  • Like any dangerous melee opponent, you want Cloth Armor and potions rather than starting with crit chance. Build it into an early Wriggle's Lantern and skip Avarice Blade entirely.
  
  
  Dr. Mundo
  Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 4/10
  Difficulty Post lv. 6: 6/10
  Best starting items:
  
  • He's not much of a threat as a solo top opponent, but you really can't kill a Mundo who knows what he's doing.
  • Don't bother harassing him early unless you know your jungler is about to make an appearance.
  • Level Raise Morale over Remove Scurvy, as it will give you the speed to dodge Infected Cleaver; as long as you can avoid that, you can avoid all his nasty close up damage.
  
  Fiora
  Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 4/10
  Difficulty Post lv. 6: 8/10
  Best starting items:
  
  • Anyone with the title "duelist" is certainly going to be a good one, and Fiora doesn't disappoint. Don't make the mistake of engaging when she has Burst of Speed available; it has a fairly short duration, but her dps will be twice what yours is when it's active.
  • Exhaust is your friend here. You won't be able to do anything about her ult with it, but she's very vulnerable to cc, and it will put a huge dent in her dmg output.
  • She can reflect your Q with Riposte, but many players aren't fast enough to do so. Like anyone with a timed ability, wait until she is actively doing something else (farming, checking for wards, recalling, etc.) to increase your chances of getting off a clean hit.
  • She has no trouble with sustain at all, as Duelist and probably a good amount of lifesteal will keep her going, making farming a better option than trying to drive her out of the lane. Try not to leave your lane for too long either, as she is an excellent pusher.
  • Finally, do not underestimate Blade Waltz. With one rank in it, it will hit you for 320 +2.4 ad assuming she is only attacking you, and it's hard to do anything about it.
  
  
  Fizz
  Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 4/10
  Difficulty Post lv. 6: 5/10
  Best starting items:
  
  • Again, Exhaust is your friend here. Like many champs, he has a fairly standard dart in, do some damage, and dart out combo. Once he has done this (assuming he hasn't hit lv.6 yet) he won't have a whole lot left in his tank. A quick exhaust will often let you lock him down for the kill once he's used up his escape mechanisms.
  • Fizz is another good champ to bait into killing you. If you can get him to bite on it, assuming you can survive the initial assault, you should be able to take him out.
  • Like any high damage ap foe, consider Hexdrinker early when laning, with a possible upgrade depending on how the game progresses.
  
  
  Galio
  Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 4/10
  Difficulty Post lv. 6: 3/10
  Best starting items:
  
  • Galio is poorly suited to laning against an ad champ, and it is unlikely that you will see him here, but he is a potential threat.
  • All his magic resist will be wasted on you, and with enough mobility (max E over W) you should be able to dodge his skill shots.
  • If he insists on harassing you, he will have very sever mana problems before he gets Chalice of Harmony, and possibly even after.
  • After level six, he still can't do anything to you as long as you have enough mana for your W. His ult is incredibly dangerous, but one orange, and you can simply walk out of the radius and wait for the spell to end. Any time you can cancel an ult with a ~20 second cd spell it's a win for you.
  
  
  Garen
  Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 8/10
  Difficulty Post lv. 6: 6/10
  Best starting items: **or**
  
  
  • Let's not be stupid here. Garen is notoriously difficult to defeat at early levels, and has ludicrously good sustain.
  • You can empty your entire tank, use all your spells, and if you haven't killed him, he'll be up to full again in no time. Don't give him that advantage; stick close to your tower, and don't give him the chance to silence/lawnmower you.
  • The best way to defeat Garen is to simply earn more gold than he can. You have an innate ability to gain extra gold; as long as neither of you are dying, you will come out ahead.
  • Pick up an Avarice Blade as early as you can without losing your tower. Again, the only way you can realistically win this lane is to earn more than he can.
  
  
  Hecarim
  Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 3/10
  Difficulty Post lv. 6: 3/10
  Best starting items:
  
  • Unless he is much more skilled than you, you should wreck him in lane. You have:
    ---->Better sustain
    ---->Longer harass
    ---->A better ult (considering you can nullify the fear aspect of Onslaught of Shadows
  • If you're feeling particularly nasty, grab an Exhaust, and watch his dps go down the drain.
  • He can do some pretty good damage if you insist on attacking him 1v1 without wearing him down first. Make sure every fight is on your own terms.
  
  
  Irelia
  Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 7/10
  Difficulty Post lv. 6: 7/10
  Best starting items:
  
• She has weathered her storm of nerfs and is still a nasty solo. As when facing any tough duelist, don't be Rambo here.
• If she's smart, she will always have her entire packet of skills ready, so it can be difficult to try to pick an opportunity to engage. Wear her down as much as you can, and wait for your jungler to turn the tables.
• Like any champ you have difficulty with, the best way to beat her is to out earn her. Farm with Parrrley whenever you can.

Jarvan IV
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 7/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 7/10
Best starting items:

• You're in trouble here. He has deceptively long range with Dragon Strike, and like Wukong, if you do engage him, you will be doing it with 10-26% less armor.
• Not a whole lot to say here: his starting armor is mediocre, but gets crazy high as he levels up, so your window of opportunity is constantly shrinking.
• Try to bait him into throwing Demacian Standard somewhere where he can't use it to escape when your jungler is nearby or he can jump through walls and escape pretty much anything.

Jax
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 6/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 6/10
Best starting items:

• A top tier duelist with a gap closer, a stun, and a ton of damage, so respect him as such.
• He can block Parrrley with Counter Strike, but he'll lose his stun if he can't immediately jump on you. Keep in mind that Leap Strike has exactly the same range as your Q, which means that any time you can reach him, he can reach you (although you don't lose positioning when you poke him).
• Because of his passive (and eventually his ult) the longer you fight him, the stronger he gets. Make sure to use your superior speed to make encounters short and nasty--GP's ideal fight.

Kennen
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 8/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 9/10
Best starting items:

• GP's #2 enemy, behind only Pantheon.
• He as more stuns than you could hope to cleanse out of, excellent harass, and insanely good speed (in short bursts).
• Level your E over W to give you the speed to dodge Thundering Shuriken.
• He's a great farmer, but you can still use Parrrley to gain a gold advantage.

Lee Sin
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 7/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 6/10
Best starting items:

• While most Lees will make their living in the jungle, he's a crazy good solo top.
• Like Duff's guide points out, LS has everything a solo top could want: Sustain, disable, escape mechanism, crowd control, harass, shield, attack speed buff, etc.
• The player's skill cap will really determine how the lane goes, so your best option is to feel out the opponent, and see how competent he is, and go from there.

Master Yi
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 3/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 4/10
Best starting items:

• Ap Yi will give you twice as much trouble as AD Yi, but Ap Yi is much less of a threat once laning ends.
• If he's going AD, the occasional Alpha Strike will not hit that hard, and you can wear him down well.
• He does get a lot of AD early, so be careful in a straight fight, but you should be able to whittle him down easily.
• If he's going AP, play defensively. His Alpha Strike will devastate you, and Meditate will bring him up to full. Hang back and farm, and wait for the game to catch up with him.

Mordekaiser
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 8/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 7/10
Best starting items:

• Another very difficult opponent. Like Rumble, he can do a lot of magic damage early, but must push his lane in order to keep his passive in effect.
• Don't bother harassing him when his shield is going, as it will just cost you mana.
• Like usual, beat him by not dying and by using Parrrley to amass a gold advantage.
• Be very careful at low health past level 6, as Ignite+ Children of the Grave will do a whole lot of damage.

Nasus
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 4/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 4/10
Best starting items:

• You can nullify his otherwise crippling Wither, making him not much of an economic threat.
• However, he can also weather most of your damage without much trouble.
• Zone him whenever possible, as a fed Nasus will destroy everything late game.
• Your game plan here is not simply to survive. If he has a good CS at the end of the laning phase, you have failed this lane. Recall whenever you need to, and keep up a constant stream of damage.

Nidalee
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 5/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 7/10
Best starting items:

• It can be fairly easy to underestimate Nidalee, as she tends to play a support role, but she can also be a nasty top.
• You need lots of speed, or she will harass too much for you to ever be healthy enough to fight her.
• Plan your ganks early; trying to gank her when she has Pounce available is unwise.
• She has more mana than you do each level, but her Primal Surge heals for a good amount less (unless she's building a lot of ap). On the other hand, once she hits lv.6, she can stay in lane as long as she needs to without mana. Plan accordingly.
• The best way to bait her in cougar form is to get her to unintentionally use her abilities on creeps rather than you. Try to fight with a few creeps around you, and move in and out, making it difficult for her to make sure she focuses you.

Olaf
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 6/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 5/10


Best starting items: **or**

• He is most dangerous at level 9 when Reckless Swing is maxed, but the true damage it deals is capped, and can't be increased.
• The best way to defeat him is to simply build health. Make Warmog's Armor your first purchase after boots, and his true damage will be insignificant.
• Try to engage him after he's used Undertow, or Vicious Strikes, and you should come out on top.

Pantheon
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 9/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 9/10
Best starting items:

• This will be your most difficult lane simply in terms of character matchup. If you are playing a ranked game, or in draft mode, make sure not to pick GP if the other team has a Pantheon.
• He has a similar long range poke, but every 4 attacks/spells he can simply block your Parrrley, which really limits your lane presence.
• He cannot heal like you can, but his passive provides all the sustain he needs.
• He has a gap closer with a stun attached to it, and while you can cleanse out of the short stun, you will still be in range of his Heartseeker Strike and a Spear Shot as you run away. Because Aegis of Zeonia has almost the same range as your Q, it is very difficult to prevent him from having his way with you.
• Avoid trading shots with him, and if you must lane against him, make sure your jungler babysits you.

Renekton
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 4/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 5/10
Best starting items:

• If you start with armor and pots, he'll have no answer for you. His little dashes, aoe damage, and stuns are all manageable, and you still have the range advantage.
• Make sure that if you did take Ignite, you tag him with it before he can pop his ult. If you are going to towerdive him, or he is about to do the same to you, a pre-emptive Ignite will really throw off his plans.
• Bait him into using his dashes if you have a nearby jungler whenever possible.

Riven
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 7.5/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 8/10
Best starting items:

• I've made the mistake in the past of assuming that because she has no real ranged abilities, you can zone her fairly easily. This is very far from the truth: Even without boots, a lv.3 Riven can close huge gaps very quickly, and still inflict a good amount of damage.
• Standard Riven combo is as follows:
  
  ---> If close by, Valor, Ki Burst, then Broken Wings away to safety.
  ---> If far away, 3x Broken Wings, Ki Burst, then Valor to safety.
  
  She may throw a few autoattacks in their as well, depending how the fight is going.
• To combat this, make sure that she uses most of her skills getting to you, and is left with mostly just melee damage once she can reach you. To achieve this, move sideways, as many Riven players will charge forwards and have a hard time changing directions.
• She is a cooldown reliant champ, so pick your moments: Move in once she has used some skills farming (usually Ki Burst) and remember to get out quickly. She is too good a duelist to go toe to toe with for too long.

Rumble
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 7/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 6/10
Best starting items:

• Rumble becomes strongest at level 9, once his Flamespitter is fully maxed. It has deceptively good range, and will melt you down pretty quickly.
• Always stay on the move; Electro-Harpoon should never hit you more than once if you continue to move unpredictably.
• Like Mordekaiser, he doesn't use mana, has good aoe magic damage, and will push his lane. Make sure you are always fighting him by your turret, and you should be able to successfully gank him later.

Shen
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 6/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 5/10
Best starting items:

• You probably aren't going to be able to kill this guy, but you really don't have to. He can't do much to you if you keep your distance, and you can simply grab your Avarice Blade, Parrrley a bunch of extra gold, and heal up the occasional Vorpal Blade.
• You can cleanse out of his taunt, but keep in mind that he will still take 50% less damage from you for the duration of the skill, so wait a little before retaliating.
• He should hit lv.6 at roughly the same time you do; make sure to let your team know that they might have a big blue ninja suddenly making their life difficult.

Singed
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 7/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 7/10
Best starting items: **or**

• Singed is rated as highly as he is because your job is not simply to survive the lane without losing your tower. You have to shut down his farm, or he will dominate late game.
• Thousands of people have died from chasing Singed, so you should always use hit and run tactics. Your strength comes from quick little bursts, not sustained damage.
• Because he has no range, you have a decent shot at zoning him. Your W is useless against his cc, as it will do nothing for Fling, and can only remove the lingering effects from Mega Adhesive.
• If you can bait him into using his slow before a gank, you will have a much better chance of success.

Sion
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 3/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 4/10
Best starting items:

• Sion is a fairly easy lane for you, but like Tryndamere or Singed, you really must shut down his farm.
• The closest thing he has to a gap closer is Cryptic Gaze, and long lasting, single target stuns are no problem at all for GP. Without that in his arsenal, you can harass him all day without any trouble.
• Death's Caress has no subtlety at all, and you should be able to prevent him from locking you down in order to keep you in the explosion radius.
• Enrage gives him very high ad early, but there is no reason to ever fight on his terms. Keep your distance, wear him down, and use Cannon Barrage to prevent him from escaping when you do commit to the kill.

Talon
Difficulty Pre lv. 6: 5/10
Difficulty Post lv. 6: 5/10
Best starting items:

• Talon is a notoriously good mage killer, but he doesn't match up as well against you. His silence usually protects him when he pops his combo, but you can cleanse out of it, and have plenty of health and all your skills ready. Make him pay every time he decides to attack you.
• Don't underestimate his damage output though. If he is wearing you down constantly, you should be doing the same, but still be careful.
• Many Talons lane with a Doran's Blade to begin with, which gives them a lot of offense, but very little sustain. Armor and potions will give you the advantage here.

Stages of the Game

• Early game you obviously want to farm as much as possible. If your top opponent is too scared of you to disrupt you CS you'll advance your build that much faster. Ideally, you want to hit late game as fast as possible, because late game Gangplank is a wrecking ball.
  
  
• Early on, you will have mana problems especially if you are aggressive (which you should be). I tend to buy one or two mana potions whenever I have extra money; that and the occasional blue (if your team can afford to let you have it) will keep you going. Late game this is not much of a problem, and any time you have the chance, you can kill their blue quickly enough that it's somewhat safe to do a little counterjungling.
  
  
• Any time you can get either buff without harming your team (works that much better if you are counter-jungling) be sure to pick it up. Even though you didn't take Smite, after a few levels Remove Scurvy will let you jungle well enough that you don't have to recall every time you kill anything worth killing.
  
  
• Otherwise, stick to the basics: Ward when possible, protect your lane, drop out from time to time to gank other lanes, etc. If you stay in your lane for most of early game your gold total will thank you, and you'll be ready for late game craziness.
  
  
• Once you complete Atmog's, you should spend most of your time with the team. Raise Morale lets you bring large groups quickly across the map at any point in the game. League is not about fair fights--try to make sure they end up unbalanced in your favor.
  
  
• Late game should see you taking out anyone with ~2000hp in a few seconds...without being someone that other people can mow down in the same amount of time. If you've followed this build, your crit chance is a pretty automatic 73%, with plenty of health to back it up.
  
  
• Of course, Elixirs help you at most stages of the game, although he benefits from Elixir of Agility more than the others. If you do buy them, don't drink them right out of the well--with the exception of Oracle's Elixir, you want to get all 4 minutes out of them.

Change Log

3/6/12: Published Guide.
3/10/12: Changed crit dmg marks and quints to armor pen based on this study.
3/18/12: General cleanup, tweaked coding.
3/20/12: Added Matchups section.
4/2/12: Item build: Changed to buy Cloak of Agility first, then full Warmog's Armor before finishing Atma's Impaler thanks to BlackIceT's suggestion.
4/5/12: Included Greater Quintessence of Health as alternate runes thanks to RealmriderX1's suggestion.

Final notes

First off, this guide would be an unreadable mess of text without jhoijhoi and here awesome guide on how to make guides presentable (and existent). If you are even thinking about creating your own, be sure to look at her's here.

Also, IceCreamy's Guide on Columns certainly reformatted some sloppier sections, so thanks is in order as well.

There are also a few things that didn't seem to fit into any specific section, like the fact that Gangplank's autoattack animation is his standard sword expect for when he crits, then you'll hear the gun go off. As far as sound effects go, you'll learn to love that noise, along with the *munchmunch* whenever he eats oranges and everything's k.

Upcoming additions: I'll be posting some pictures as proof that this build is successful, and ultimately adding a jungle section. Give me some time and they should be up as well. If you try this guide and want to send in pictures of your success, I'll by happy to find a place for them.

Even if you didn't follow the guide to the letter or feel like there's a better way to do certain things, I hope it helped. Feel free to air any grievances in the comment section; I'll be sure to address them.

Any constructive comment will be met with a +rep, and I will check out guides from any reviews as well.