Gangplank Build Guide by 1jamie50

Introduction

Hi, my name is 1jamie50 and this is my first guide on MOBAFire and therefore, I appreciate any feedback that can be provided to make this guide better.

Gangplank

Overview of Gangplank

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Gangplank is classified as a Melee Attack Damage Carry though he is usually not played this way. Gangplank most commonly sits as a Bruiser in Top Lane. He is a great farmer and harraser with Parrrley and can deal out a ton of damage through critical strikes or tank a lot of damage depending on your build choice.

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Pros/Cons of Gangplank

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Pros + Strong Farmer and Harasser. + Global Ultimate. + Passively Stackable Slow. + A strong pick on basically any team comp. + Decent sustain with Remove Scurvy.

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Cons - Armor counters Gangplank well. - Mana can run out from harassing with Parrrley. - Mana can run out even quicker if spamming Remove Scurvy. - Can be countered by many top lane picks.

Abilities

• Grog Soaked Blade: Gangplank's basic attacks apply Grog Soaked Blade, slowing the enemy by 7% per stack up to a total of 3.
  
• Parrrley (Q): Gangplank fires his pistol, dealing attack damage and applying on-hit effects including Trinity Force, Grog Soaked Blade, Frozen Mallet and Red Buff. Parrrley also applies critical strikes.
  
• Remove Scurvy (W): Gangplank consumes oranges, healing him for a set amount of health and removes any CC (Crowd Control) from Gangplank. This includes stuns, slows, suppresses and much more.
  
• Raise Morale (E): Gangplank fires his pistol in the air, buffing himself with increased attack damage and movement speed and giving a minor version of this buff to any allies around him.
  
• Cannon Barrage (R): Gangplank orders his ship to fire on a location anywhere on the map. Cannons fall in a circular location, dealing damage upon contact. Any enemies standing in this circle are slowed.

Ability Sequence

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

For abilities, I take points in Remove Scurvy and Raise Morale early on but I focus on maxing out Parrrley as soon as I can since it is our main damage dealing ability and can do major damage.

I take points in Cannon Barrage whenever possible at levels 6, 11 and 16.

I then focus on maxing out Raise Morale first followed by Remove Scurvy since Raise Morale allows you to deal more damage and chase running champions. Remove Scurvy is mainly used for it's CC removal.

Masteries

Masteries

4/4

4/4

3/3

1/1

2/2

2/2

1/1

3/3

1/1

4/4

3/3

1/3

1/1

Masteries
4/4	4/4	1/1	4/4	3/3	3/3	2/2	1/1	1/1	3/3	3/3	1/1

In my new masteries I use more defensive options. I go 9/21/0, going down the full defense tree for additional tankiness while taking offensive to still keep my damage output high.

Both mastery pages are viable options. Adjust to the enemy team and take whichever one you prefer better.

Runes

Runes
Greater Mark of Attack Damage 9	Greater Seal of Armor 9	Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist 9	Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage 3

• Greater Mark of Attack Damage: Attack Damage marks give you greater damage early-game for extra poke harass as well as scaling you to more damage dealing late-game.
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: Magic Resist glyphs make you have better survivability and more tanky against casters.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: Armor seals give Gangplank better survivability in his lane, allowing him to take in more damage.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: Not much to say, additional attack damage to deal... more damage :D.

Summoner Spells

Flash is a good ability to have on Gangplank, since Gangplank doesn't have an amazing escape ability ( Raise Morale). I always take Flash on Gangplank because a lot of time, it helps me escape a battle that I would normally die if I were to stick around.

Ignite is a nice spell on Gangplank. Sometimes, Ignite can be the difference between you surviving a battle or dying. It can also be used to pick up running opponents that you otherwise may have not been able to catch up to and kill.

The Good:

Exhaust could be good on Gangplank. It slows the enemy down both attack speed and movement speed vise. Great for 1v1 fights or when your jungler ganks the lane.

Ghost can be swapped out for Flash depending on preference. Overall, I feel like Flash fits a lot better on Gangplank, however Ghost could be a useable alternative.

If your jungling with Gangplank, (which personally I have never tried.. though I know it's possible.) then your going to want to pick up Smite.

While Gangplank does have a naturally built in Heal in Remove Scurvy, Heal is an ability that isn't bad on Gangplank. If I'm close to death, a combination of 2 heals can help me escape. I also use Heal on Gangplank to gain kills. Heal can help you out-survive your enemy in a 1 on 1 battle.

The Ok:

Clarity can be helpful.. though really only more useful early game when Gangplank runs out of mana relatively fast through Parrrley.

Teleport allows you to leave a lane to get health and jump back into the lane before your enemy pushes to the turret. It also allows you to get to a lane and protect a turret.

Barrier has now been added to classic. This can provide you with an extra survivability shield that can possibly save your life or help you win a 1v1 in top lane, however in most cases it's most situated for an AD carry.

The Bad:

This guide is to help you not die... If you're using this.. I'm not doing my job.

This spell is better to have on your tank.

This spell is better to have on your support.. nonetheless, it's a beneficial spell.

Items

• Mercury's Treads: Mercury's Treads are good if your facing an enemy team with more than one Crowd Control. Well your Remove Scurvy can remove CC it can only do so once and then it's on a long cooldown. These can help you escape ganks and get out of CC faster in team fights if the enemy team is full of CC.
  
  
• Statikk Shiv: Amazing Item for GP all-around. Gives you a nice 20% crit chance boost and more movement speed and attack speed. This is great for sticking to champions with your passive slow and already amazing movement speed. Oh, and Parrrley procs Statikk Shiv too. Not only that, but this builds nicely out of your Avarice Blade.
  
  
• Infinity Edge: Gangplank's massive damage will come from this. You can take advantage of the massive AD and crit strike chance. The critical damage passive increases just boost your damage even more too.
  
  

  Situational Items:

  
  
  From here on, you should adjust depending on your situation. The main build I give is what I will build most of the time but any of the below items are good choices. It just depends on your situation in the match you're playing.
  
  

  Offensive Play:

  
  
  
  
  
• Trinity Force: Tons of Damage. This is everything wrapped in one small package, and Gangplank can use everything in it to his advantage. An amazing item for GP.
  
  
• Youmuu's Ghostblade: This item fits Gangplank to a tee. Literally everything that this item gives to you, you can take advantage of. This item fits Gangplank absolutely perfectly and you can grab it if you need additional damage, armor penetration and crit chance. It's passive is also awesome for chasing running enemies. Amazingly well fit for Gangplank.
  
  
• The Bloodthirster: BloodThirster will give you additional AD and Life Steal. If you need to deal out more damage, this is a good item for you to grab.
  
  
• Phantom Dancer: Massive crit chance, additional movement speed for chasing and more attack speed. This brings you to the 100% crit chance cap. This item is amazing and if you are performing well enough, go for it over Guardian Angel.
  
  

  Defensive Play:

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Guardian Angel: This makes you tanky a long with your runes and masteries and allows you to run-up and engage to slow the enemy team down. Also, you get a second life which can really be the difference in team-fights. Great item.
  
  
• Maw of Malmortius: Dual attack damage and magic resistance. Take it if your facing a lot of AP damage but other than that, don't bother.
  
  
• Runic Bulwark: The new upgraded form of Aegis of the Legion. It is a great idea to buy this if neither your support nor jungler has taken it. This helps your durability all around and supports your teammates when team fights start to break out.
  
  
• Randuin's Omen: I like this item, mainly for it's tankiness. The mass armor and the additional health it gives is great, however the passive on this thing is awesome too. You slow the enemies attack speed when they attack you? This can not only cause you to win 1 vs 1's but can cause your enemies to do less DPS. You can also make it stronger by activating it? That could change the tide of a team fight. This is a great choice on Gangplank.
  
  
• Warmog's Armor: Ahh, Warmog's. An item that is still pretty common on Gangplank (or TankPlank), however I don't think it's as good for a slot on Gangplank anymore. However, it can still perform but since this is a CritPlank guide, you don't need to focus on this.
  
  
• Frozen Mallet: I now think that Trinity Force is a much better pick over this. They have the exact same passive. Frozen Mallet has more health than Trinity Force but Trinity Force gives better attack damage as while as tons of other stats. Trinity Force is the better choice now on Gangplank.
  
  

  Optional Boots:

  
  
  
  
  
• Ninja Tabi: You may want to grab these boots against teams that are AD heavy or don't contain a ton of CC. I will choose between these or Mercury's Treads depending on the enemy team.
  
  
• Ionian Boots of Lucidity: With these boots, you can use all your abilities more often. These boots put your Parrrley on a 4 second cooldown. This means you can spam out high critical strike damage late-game.
  
  
• Boots of Mobility: I know Gangplank is still a talked about jungler even though I never see anyone do it anymore. However, if you do jungle him, you could think of taking them if you're going to be ganking a lot. However, remember that you do have a large movement speed boost from Raise Morale and that's what you mainly level in the jungle. You shouldn't need these but they can be useful for chasing or engaging.
  
  
• Boots of Swiftness: Same as the above. Chasing and engaging.

Matchups

COMING SOON!

Summary

Gangplank

Change List

5/05/13

• Quick Chapter Removal.
  
  4/21/13
• Matchups: Akali, Cho'Gath, Darius, Dr. Mundo (unvisible)
  
  4/04/13
• Re-started the match-up section.
• Removed build trust section.
  
  4/01/13
• APRIL FOOLS, nah this is an update.
  • Updated Build to resemble closely to what I build now.
  • Switched Situational Items. There is now a core build, followed by offensive or defensive options.
  • Situational Items section deleted and merged into Items section.
  • Changed Greater Quintessence of Critical Chance to Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage in build.
  
  3/31/13
• Fixed minor spacing issues.
• Added Build Update note.
  
  3/25/13
• Added Statikk Shiv to situational items.
• Explanation added to second mastery page.
• Minor changes all-around.
• Note: Build may be slightly outdated for what I use now. Update may come soon.
  
  2/10/13
• Removed a rough draft of the matchups section that was not supposed to be visible.
• Changed Greater Mark of Armor Penetration to Greater Mark of Attack Damage.
• Added the mastery page I use today. (9/21/0)
  
  1/02/12
• Happy New Year!
• Added Frozen Mallet to Situational Items.
• Added a mock section for Matchups.
• Fixed some info in different sections.
  
  12/30/12
• Updating at 2:48am = Funny
  • Heavily updated my outdated build.
  • Updated Introduction, Overview, Pros/Cons, Abilities, Items and Situational Items.
  • Removed Farming Page (for now).
  
  12/07/12
• Masteries have been updated for the new mastery pages.
  
  10/21/12
• Update on my Birthday :)
  • Changed Ionian Boots of Lucidity to Berserker's Greaves in build.
  • Added optional boot choices in the Situational Items section.
  • Changed Build Order.
  
  10/08/12
• Changed Heal to Ignite.
  
  9/16/12
• Changed Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction to Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist in build.
  
  9/09/12
• Changed Build Order.
  • Take The Brutalizer earlier on.
  • Take Phantom Dancer last but take a Cloak of Agility mid game to keep crit chance up.
  • Take Infinity Edge and The Bloodthirster before Frozen Mallet.
  
  7/29/12
• Changed Item Build Order.
• Updated info to include the buff in Patch V1.0.0.143.
  
  7/01/12
• Changed Skill Sequence to level Remove Scurvy second instead of Raise Morale.
  
  6/24/12
• Changed Greater Seal of Attack Speed to Greater Seal of Armor.
  
  5/27/12
• After extensive testing, I have modified the build order slightly as listed by follows.
• I now take Infinity Edge before Phantom Dancer.
• I now take an early Vampiric Scepter while I'm making my Infinity Edge.
• I grab Phage a bit earlier now to give me a bit more durability mid game.
  
  5/23/12
• Fixed a reference in Situational Items to The Black Cleaver.
• Fixed up Pros and Cons section.
  
  5/17/12
• Switched Atma's Impaler in build to Frozen Mallet.
• Switched Greater Quintessence of Critical Damage to Greater Quintessence of Critical Chance.
• Fixed errors in Situational items section that was still reffering to The Black Cleaver.
  
  5/16/12 - Part 3
• Fixed an HTML coding error in Situational Items.
  
  5/16/12 - Part 2
• Switched The Black Cleaver as last item to The Bloodthirster.
  
  5/16/12 - Part 1
• Fixed a formatting error in Pros/Cons
• Added Ability Sequence page.
• Finished Masteries, Runes, Spells and Farming pages.
• Added ending summary.
• Build posted.
  
  5/12/12
• Abilities section complete.
• Added Frozen Mallet to the Situational Items list.
• Started Summoner Spell section.
• Changed Skill Leveling order.
  
  4/24/12
• Added Ability Info.
  
  4/14/12
• Changed Item Build to how I now build Gangplank.
• Changed Item Page and Situational Item builds pages.
  
  4/10/12
• Added and Completed Situational Item Page.
• Cleaned Item Section.
  
  4/09/12
• Changed Gangplank Overview page to Build Overview.
• Changed info on Build Overview page.
• Added Gangplank's Lore.
• Abilities page changed.
• Masteries, Runes and Spells Page added.
  
  3/30/12
• Introduction clean-up.
• Info added to Gangplank overview.
  
  3/28/12
• Gangplank guide production started.
• Added DPS Build.
• Pages: Introduction, Pros/Cons, Gangplank Overview, Abilities, Items, Farming.
• Items page gives suggested backup items as while as the change to build 2.