Gangplank Build Guide by Xeronn

Yarrr! I'm a Mighty Pirate!

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What makes Gangplank special you ask?

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Pros / Cons

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Pros + Excellent Farmer with Parrrley + Solid early game + Can harass with Parrrley + Average lane sustain with Remove Scurvy + Global Ultimate + Build is good at any stage of a match

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Cons - Can be hard-countered with Armor unless you buy Last Whisper - No natural escape - Vulnerable to CC if Remove Scurvy is on cooldown - No hard CC - Requires practice to master Ultimate timing - Ultimate has unpredictable damage

Runes

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• Greater Mark of Armor Penetration: ArP is a great stat for Gangplank, his main damage source is physical, and this will have you hitting squishies for True Damage early game. Scales nicely in all parts of the game.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: This will give you longer sustain against many AD bruisers that you will face solo top at early game and is effective in trades.
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: The early game MR is not as important (champions like Mordekaiser or Akali don't start getting strong until Post-Level 6). It will scale nicely into late game when AP becomes more of a danger.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: I find this to be more beneficial now as mobility is becoming increasingly more important, and Gangplank needs that little extra boost to keep up.

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Masteries

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Items

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• These boots give simply amazing stats for the price, Tenacity is a stat that is shrugged off by many people, I think these boots serve the greatest purpose in a match for most melee champions. Build Ninja Tabi instead against heavy AD or you're having trouble against an AD opponent.

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• Tons of Damage™

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• This will completely remove "squishy" from Gangplank when you buy this, the bonus health will help you get into the rough of fights so you can deal the damage that you're ready to unleash.

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• Good amount of health and armor, has an amazing passive which reduces attack speed and movement speed when you are hit by a basic attack. The Active is also great when you need to quickly slow down enemies. Synergises with Warmog's Armor really well.

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• Great damage item and will make your crits HURT by doing 250% damage instead of 200%.

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• This beauty of an item finishes it all off, giving you a huge attack speed increase and crit chance so you can kill things faster. You also get to run faster, YAR HAR.

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Runic Bulwark
- You could use this in place of Randuin's Omen if you're against very heavy AP and don't need the armor.


Ninja Tabi
- You can buy these at top lane instead of Mercury's Treads if you need more armor against your lane opponent, or if the enemy team is AD heavy.


The Bloodthirster
- I would say this is heavily reliant on personal preferance. You can choose to have this for good lifesteal, or have Infinity Edge for insane crits and more DPS output, but sacrificing the lifesteal. Infinity Edge is easier to manage though.


Last Whisper
- If for some reason the entire enemy team has a whole ton of armor, then you may want to buy this. Would replace Phantom Dancer.


Statikk Shiv
- This is an alternative to Phantom Dancer that a lot of people seem to like. I prefer the extra stats on Phantom Dancer which is more cost efficient than the passive this provides.

Other Items (Why not?)

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Blade of the Ruined King
- By the time I decided this would be great on Gangplank, it gets hit with the mega nerf bat, so now it just doesn't compare to the other damaging items for Gangplank. I would rather have The Bloodthirster for late-game.


The Black Cleaver
- This isn't necessarily a bad item, but getting the stacks up would take too long for Gangplank and you are using time up for potential damage that may not even occur.


Frozen Mallet
- This synergises well with Gangplank even if you've already bought Trinity Force, but it is very expensive to put the two items together considering all you're getting is a little bit of AD and some health. The slow is irrelevant and makes part of Trinity Force worthless.


Banshee's Veil
- Helps if you are being heavily focused by CC in fights (can be used to bait spells). Also helps against Karthus' Requiem. But we do have Oranges, and Mercury's Treads, you also shouldn't be the one face-checking every single enemy ability, we have tanks for that haha.


Iceborn Gauntlet
A lot of gold would be wasted into stats Gangplank doesn't need. I use Randuin's Omen for the tankiness that I need instead. Trinity Force provides more utility for him and better stats although it does cost more.


Wriggle's Lantern
- A good item because of ward and sustain, but if we try to buy this early game, we are sacrificing gold that we need to build into our Trinity Force, which has much more potential.

Skills and Skill Sequence

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(Passive): 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%.


Fully stacked this ability deals 9 + (3 x level) magic damage per second and slows for 21%.
This can help very slightly in the early levels for trading or a gank (if your jungler doesn't already have a slow). The damage is small but can make a difference, the slow is redundant once you've bought Phage.

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


It is your main damaging ability that crits and applies on-hit effects. So you will max this out first and will also allow you to get more gold when
Note: This is a great farming tool, but you will find yourself wasting mana if you use it too often.

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



This is a great way to keep sustain in your lane and staying in a fight longer because it will remove all CC except for Ignite and it only removes the slow on Exhaust. I max this out last. If you are being bullied in your lane, put your first point into it at level 2.

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(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.

This ability is excellent for catching up to a fleeing enemy, or for buffing your entire team in a fight and is a great ability in any situation, your AD mates will love you x). I max this out second.

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(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.

The fact that this is a global ultimate means you can help your teammates from anywhere on the map. The 20% slow will help to keep them inside your area of cannons for longer. The best time to use this is for a team fight. Your timing and placement with it is crucial and can change the outcome of the fight. You can also use this to help defend a lane being pushed.
Example: If you see a lot of minions at top lane, and everyone else is in mid and bottom, just throw your Ulti over there and grab some awesome CS and keep your tower from being pushed.
Note: I recommend never using it for farm unless you can easily go without it.

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Summoner Spells

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Exhaust
- This is a great spell to help catch a fleeing enemy, or if you need to get away and will really shutdown any damage dealt by the target. An excellent choice in a 1v1 fight.



Flash
- It is good for juking and getting out of tight situations. This is more of a "I need to get out immediately spell" as opposed to Ghost, and being able to get over walls is great too or if you want to pull a clutch Flash, Parrrley combo, which I have done. :3



Ignite
- This is good overall, but with the amount of potential damage you will be dealing with Gangplank, this spell is passable. This is more of a personal preference as Ignite can still help get that last bit of damage, or if you want to shutdown a healer, Dr. Mundo, Poppy or Volibear.


Ghost
- This is an amazing way to keep with or away from your enemy in a long distance chase. This together with Remove Scurvy is very handy, especially if you get cc'd during the use of Ghost.


Heal
- I have seen this used before, most probably as it works great in unison with Remove Scurvy for a pretty big heal, and can help in team fights. Other than that, this spell should be used by a support. The nerf to an early heal has made it less popular, but the max value is unchanged.


Teleport
- I don't find myself using this as I am able to sustain in a lane without needing to recall until absolutely necessary, but it is a great way to keep up your farm in the early laning phase if you survive a gank with ~50 health. Good spell for map aware players if you know to split push, also applies indirect pressure for ganking and teamfights.

Gameplay - Laning

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In most cases you will be in solo top lane, but there are some things you need to know and understand before you go out into the battlefield. Knowing your enemy and what you should do to counter that is a very important key factor.

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Gameplay - Farming

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"Farming is the act of a champion killing multiple minions to gain gold. Certain champions have abilities which aid them in farming. Farming early game will allow you to purchase better items, making your late game stronger. Later in the game, farming opportunities will be fewer.

Farming is an essential component of early-game laning. Champions try to out-farm the enemy and "win" the lane." - League of Legends Wiki.

So guys, with this little preview highlighted above, I'll go over why farming is such an important part of LoL.

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We all love watching our gold count increase don't we? Well, to ensure that this happens, we need to be getting those last hits on minions. The more gold you can earn than your opponents, the bigger advantage you will have in the game.




Our damage will always be low, so it is vital that we wait until the minion has ~10% health before we hit it to ensure we get the gold from it. We should also be careful of when we're attacking the minions, because we don't want them to die before we can get in our last hit because our auto-attack wasn't fast enough. It's also important to target the minion that your minions are attacking so they don't kill it before you can.
Note: If your lane consists of a carry and a support, it is ideal that the carry gets all of the last hits if possible.




By this time, your team will be moving around more, but always take opportunities to farm in your lane. You can earn the same amount of gold farming as someone who is getting kills. Since you are the mighty Gangplank in this case, you can do both things. Isn't that great?




By this point, the only time you will be farming is when you are not needed to invade the enemy base, or for a teamfight or to defend your own base. If you are winning and the enemy is trying to fend off minions at their base, that is a good time to pick up farm or roam through the jungle. If you are on the losing side, stay close to your base, and grab as much farm as you can without putting your life in complete danger. Wards will also help against this.

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From past experience, you will want to try and stay in your lane for as long as safely possible, even if you're not getting all of the CS, the EXP you obtain will have you leveling faster too, which will make you stronger.

If it gets to the point where you can't even get last hits because it could risk you dying, (you are probably pushed to your turret) just hang around until the minions at your turret clear out before recalling back to base.


This is a very helpful tool to gaining a significantly larger amount of gold while farming, but we need to be careful when using it. If you spam this ability on every cooldown, you will be useless when you need to harass an enemy champion, or if you need a kill. Do not neglect this ability either by not using it at all. I also tend to use it if I am going to kill a minion, but don't have enough time to auto-attack another one that is just about to die. If you're planning on recalling and you are finishing off the creep wave, use all of your last hits to Parrrley when it's off cooldown.

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I hope this helps you with farming ^^~

Gameplay - Team Fights

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What you should be doing:

• If you have a tank, let him initiate first, then you follow up right behind him.
• You are one of the only AD Bruiser Carries. This means you can take a fair amount of damage, so it is possible to initiate small fights of 2-3.
• Wait for the right moment to use Cannon Barrage, preferrably when everyone has initiated.
• Or you can use Cannon Barrage to initiate the fight yourself, it can throw the enemy off for a second while they think about what to do.
• Try to catch the enemy off-guard, and you will have the starting advantage.

What you shouldn't be doing:

• You have a tank but initiate the fight anyway.
• Saving Cannon Barrage until after everyone has pretty much died OR to kill steal.
• Forgetting to use Raise Morale when engaging.
• If you are out-numbered badly, don't try to fight, you will probably just die.

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If you follow these guidelines you will do well in a teamfight, and will increase your effectiveness.

If you don't, well then.. expect some disliking toward you ^^;

Gameplay - Ganking

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To make it easier for you guys, I've provided an image for you of:
Summoner's Rift

The image's point of view is if you are playing on the Blue Team (left side).

Red Circle: Enemy gank spots
Orange Dot: Not safe
Green Dot: Safe

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It's not much, but it's just supposed to give a visual example of potential ganking points ^^~

Top Lane Opponents (A-L)

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Blue indicates an easy difficulty champion.
Orange indicates an average difficulty champion.
Red indicates a hard difficulty champion.

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• Akali is an easy opponent for Gangplank Pre-Level 6.
• Her early game is weak, and you can take good advantage of this by zoning her out with Parrrley, and she won't be able to get last hits on minions.
• If you can deny her early game, you will have an easy lane.
• Stay away from Akali when Twilight Shroud is used. Wait until it wears off as she will try to get hits on you when she's inside it.
• Twilight Shroud is also her only was of escaping a gank, when it is on cooldown, a gank on her is easy.

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• Cho'Gath is a very small threat Gangplank until he is level 6 when he has Feast.
• Rupture is a good way for Cho'Gath for set up ganks, an indicator appears for his ability, be sure to dodge it fast.
• Harass Cho'Gath early when he's at his weakest, this will prevent him from getting his health back through Carnivore.
• Try to fake-charge Cho'Gath and force Rupture, it is expensive, and will deplete his mana.
• His Feral Scream is no problem because you have oranges lol.

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• A LOT of people say Darius is OP, while I don't think so, he is just freakishly strong.
• He can harass just as well as you with his Decimate ability. Fortunately your Parrrley has more range, take advantage of this!
• Once he is level 3, he can deal bad damage to you, using Apprehend to pull you in, Crippling Strike to slow, then wait for you to get some distance before using Decimate.
• WARNING: At level 6 Darius is extremely dangerous, because he now has Noxian Guillotine. Do not duel him, fight from a distance with Parrrley, because he can deal 100% more damage with Noxian Guillotine when he has 5 stacks of Hemorrhage on you.
• A gank is highly recommended on Darius, especially Pre-Level 6.

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• A powerful duelist, just like Gangplank.
• Keeping your distance will prevent her from stacking Duelist on you, but only for the first 2 levels.
• Parrrley harass Fiora early so she doesn't go offensive on you, just make sure to not overextend if you haven't warded river.
• At level 6 she will become deadly with Blade Waltz, since you can't target her during this time. Make sure you have a clear advantage.

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• His early game doesn't compare to yours, Parrrley harass him away from getting CS.
• He will burn his mana faster than you if he has to use Playful / Trickster to get away.
• At level 6, watch out for Chum the Waters as it's a strong ganking ability, but can be dodged. Flash if you must.
• He can also prevent himself from getting ganked well with Playful / Trickster, Chum the Waters combo if he has it.

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• Garen has insane early game damage if he can hit you with it.
• Garen can close the distance between you with Decisive Strike.
• Stay as far away as you can, and wait until you level up Parrrley to rank 3 before even attempting to harass him, otherwise you will burn your mana.
• Perseverance will really get on your nerves if you allow him to camp the bushes. DO NOT face-check the bush.
• Will make you cry with Demacian Justice if you have low health.
• Highly recommend getting a gank on him before level 6.

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• Hecarim is not considerably dangerous to Gangplank.
• Parrrley harass is easy on him since he needs to run at you to hurt you.
• He can sustain with Spirit of Dread, but he needs to be near your minions to do this. Zoning him can easily prevent this.
• His gank potential is weak until level 6 when he gets Onslaught of Shadows. It can fear you in the direction he desires then use Devastating Charge, leading right into a gank.

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• Irelia's early game is not as strong as yours, but she will get much stronger Post-Level 6, so take advantage of the first few levels to deny her as best you can.
• She is able to sustain with Hiten Style but only if she can hit something, throw a Parrrley her way and try to scare her off.
• She has strong gank potential with Equilibrium Strike, so don't over-extend your lane if you are unaware of their jungler's location.

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• A good Jarvan IV can really mess you up.
• He has a strong gap closer combo, by placing Demacian Standard in your path, then using Dragon Strike to go to it, knocking you up.
• Move around a lot and keep your distance, try to force him to waste mana since his abilities cost a lot. Then he will be pretty useless.
• Tough ganker with Demacian Standard, Dragon Strike, Cataclysm. Don't let him catch you with Flash on cooldown.

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• The first few levels against Jax are fairly easy, so take this chance to harass him in lane, so he can't farm effectively.
• Don't attack him when he uses Counter Strike as he deals more damage the more times he dodges.
• Generally Jax will use Empower before he Leap Strikes over to you, start backing away so he wastes his mana if you can.
• Jax is a strong 1v1 duelist, and the fight goes in his favor the longer it lasts, bring him down without ever properly fighting him.
• If you can, call for an early gank on Jax, after that it will be easy for you.

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• Jayce has a good, if not better early game than you due to his range from To the Skies! / Shock Blast. He can also use it to close the gap between you and him.
• To the Skies! / Shock Blast is a skill-shot ability, and can hit minions, which means you can use your minions to block it from a distance. Be aware that the damage has a small radius, and doesn't hurt only one target.
• Jayce can use Thundering Blow / Acceleration Gate to deal nasty damage to you and knock you back, or to gain an increase in movement speed and he can fire To the Skies! / Shock Blast to give increased range and damage. It is also a great escape mechanism.
• Jayce is a very combo heavy champion, although he is not reliant on it, messing up his combos can help you to beat him.
• He is able to set up very effective ganks with his abilities, and you must be careful of this.

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• Kayle is not much of a challenge for Gangplank.
• She can harass you with Reckoning and Righteous Fury.
• Harass Kayle early with Parrrley, but keep your distance so she can't stack Holy Fervor.
• You have time to start backing off when she casts Reckoning, since it travels at an average speed, you can also just eat oranges to remove the slow.
• At level 6, she can be tough to gank. Force her to use Intervention by calling your jungler, then keep her zoned out.

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• Because he is an assassin, you need to be careful of his burst potential, as it can catch you off guard very fast.
• If their jungler has any hard CC or initiations, you'll be in a bad spot if your Flash is down.
• His Void Spike can be blocked with your minions, it has a small radius on explosion so don't be too close.
• Kha'Zix can make use of the brush for his Unseen Threat . This will deal extra damage to you, so avoid being hit with it if you can.
• Don't get caught out alone, Taste Their Fear does bonus damage to isolated targets.

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• Kennen's main source of harass is his Thundering Shuriken, so make sure to not get hit by it.
• Thundering Shuriken out-ranges your Parrrley, but when he uses it, go in and hit him with Parrrley.
• He becomes a pain to harass once he's level 3, since he can Lightning Rush everywhere, and deal some decent damage to you in one go.
• Hurt him as much as you can in the first few levels. Make him scared to approach you.

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• Lee Sin is a very strategic champion, and a good one can give you a hard time.
• He uses energy, not mana, which means he can use his abilities quickly without worrying too much about it.
• His combos are what make him so dangerous: Try to dodge his Sonic Wave, you can use your minions as a wall to block it. He can use Sonic Wave together with Tempest to harass you, then Safeguard back to a minion before you can damage him properly.
• He has the potential to kill you at level 3 once he has all of his abilities, take care of this, and don't let him poke your health down. He can charge in at any time.
• His ganks are strong, so do not overextend. Call your jungler for a gank if he is overpowering you.

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Top Lane Opponents (M-R)

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• Malphite. One of those guys who will attempt to tank your harass.
• His early game is your only shot at a kill, so if you're going to, Parrrley him until his face is in the ground. If that didn't work, call your jungler to help make it happen.
• Make sure you get damage on Malphite before 10 seconds as his Granite Shield will refresh on him.
• His only way to help in a gank is at level 6 when he has Unstoppable Force, if he uses Seismic Shard just eat an orange and everything is k.
• The problem is that he will become near unkillable later on for you since he is naturally Anti-AD.

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• Maokai becomes more of a threat once he has all of his abilities.
• Try to zone him out, this will also make him use Sapling Toss, retreat to your minions, then continue pressing the attack on Maokai with Parrrley.
• He can help a gank by using Twisted Advance, which will root you in place.
• Move out of Vengeful Maelstrom, deal no damage to him as it will make his Vengeful Maelstrom do more damage.

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• Master Yi will have to use all of his mana to try and keep up with you in terms of harass, his Alpha Strike has a higher cooldown, and costs more mana.
• Zone him from getting CS, Master Yi is very item dependant. If he can't get sufficient farm, he will become easy.
• It is hard to push his turret because of Meditate, and he can easily use it if you try to dive him.
• None of his abilities can help in a gank, but he can stay on you with Alpha Strike and Highlander.

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• Mordekaiser is someone you don't want to let get farm. He will get stronger as the game progresses.
• Your best option is to harass him a lot with Parrrley in the first few levels when his shield is almost useless and he doesn't do much damage.
• Shut down Mordekaiser early before he has a chance to become stronger.
• Once he is level 6, be wary of his ulti, because now he can suddenly burst you down even if you are doing better.
• Do not stand at your minions, it just shouts "Hit me" because he will Siphon of Destruction you and all of the minions, giving him shield.
• Deny his early farm with anything you can. Just don't get yourself killed.

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• His early game compared to Gangplank is easy.
• If you want to take out Nasus, do it early on..
• He needs to feed his Siphoning Strike to become strong, deny him this opportunity.
• He will naturally become stronger the longer the match goes for, but only if he is given the freedom to feed Siphoning Strike.
• His Wither isn't a problem since you can eat oranges.

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• Easy to harass early game for Gangplank.
• Stay behind your minions, and he can't use Dredge Line to close the distance between you.
• Don't Parrrley him when he has Titan's Wrath up, you will waste your mana damaging his shield.
• He can set up ganks well, in a worst case scenario, he hits you with Dredge Line, then uses Depth Charge to knock you up, and Riptide when you come back down to slow you.
• If you get hit only by Riptide, you can just eat an orange and continue.

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• Nidalee is a tough opponent for Gangplank.
• She can out-range you with her Javelin Toss / Takedown therefore you will have an extremely hard time getting close to her to harass.
• You will need to be on the move all the time, so as not to get hit by her Javelin Toss / Takedown, after she has used it, you have a window of opportunity to attack her freely.
• Once she reaches level 6, avoid 1v1 with her, have your jungler with you and prepare a gank.

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• Olaf is potentially dangerous because of Berserker Rage
• Try to dodge his Undertow, since it uses up his mana. The closer he is to you the easier it will be for him to hit you with it.
• His Vicious Strikes can give him a lot of sustain in lane, but he needs to hit minions to heal, which means he has to push your lane. This will give a good opportunity for a gank.
• Be careful of his Reckless Swing as it can do 220 True Damage if Olaf has been maxing this out at level 5.
• Any form of CC is useless on him when Ragnarok is up, try to force him to use it so he can't prevent himself from getting ganked.
• Be careful against Olaf and keep your distance. He can pump out some sick damage in a very short time-frame.

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• Pantheon is a hard champion for Gangplank.
• His passive Aegis Protection will nom nom on your Parrrley therefore it is very hard to harass him.
• He has strong burst by using Spear Shot, Aegis of Zeonia, Heartseeker Strike and another Spear Shot in one series of attacks, this has the potential to kill you if your health is not above 50%
• Do not take him head on, play passively, and stay away from his Spear Shot harass
• Trying to harass Pantheon is a wasted effort, and will leave you at a disadvantage.
• You will need your jungler to have a chance at killing this guy, so try to catch him off-guard.

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• Poppy can be easy, or if it is a good one, can be a challenge for Gangplank.
• Her passive Valiant Fighter makes Poppy much harder to kill when her health is low. It will make your Parrrley deal a lot less damage.
• Poppy has a hard time farming because she needs to auto attack them, and using her abilities will deplete her mana.
• Parrrley harass Poppy early, so she can't get CS, but keep your distance.
• At level 6, Poppy can turn around a fight with Diplomatic Immunity, don't approach her if your aren't confident you can kill her quicker.
• Poppy will become stronger as the match goes on if given the chance to farm or get kills.
• Poppy can stun you with Heroic Charge if you hit terrain, try to have good positioning to prevent this.

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• Renekton is quite a mobile melee champion because of his Slice and Dice.
• Unfortunately... for Renekton he doesn't scale well into late game unless he can get early kills. Which means you can easily farm against him.
• Strong early game, weak late game without kills.

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• Rengar can deal a lot of damage at level 1 if he gets his ferocity up. Take care against this.
• Stay away from the brush when Rengar is inside it, so he cannot leap to you. Once he is on you, he can deal brutal damage and he also gets a free Ferocity Point from Unseen Predator.
• Treat Rengar like Jax, except never fully engage him in a fight. Save Remove Scurvy for his Bola Strike as this can severely hinder your movement.
• A gank is very high priority against Rengar.

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• Just like you, Riven has a strong early game.
• When attempting to harass Riven, catch her off guard with your Parrrley before she can use Valor
• Valor is also a gap closer, and she will use this with Ki Burst and Broken Wings to combo you, so try to keep your distance from Riven.
• Riven is tough to gank, so wait for her to over-extend her welcome.

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• Rumble gets stronger the longer the game goes for.
• The first few levels are when you need to get at him as much as you can.
• Weakening him early will allow you to zone him. He needs 50+ heat to be strong, without it he is an easy target for you.
• Parrrley harass when you can, but make sure his Scrap Shield isn't up when you do.
• Deny him from getting his Heat up. Otherwise you will start to see what makes Rumble strong.

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Top Lane Opponents (S-Z)

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• Early game will be easy for Gangplank.
• Parrrley harass Sejuani a lot, and she won't be able to CS.
• Sejuani needs to be near you to attack, she can charge with Arctic Assault. Move around a lot.
• At level 6, Sejuani can set up a good gank with Glacial Prison, which can stun you for 2 seconds, all you need to do is eat an orange, and the problem is gone.
• Sejuani is naturally a tank, so it will be harder to kill her later on, make use of your early game advantage.

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• Shen is so powerful right now.
• You will waste your mana trying to harass him with Parrrley, he can just use Feint to soak up your damage.
• Do no over-extend either, as he can use Shadow Dash to pull you into an easy gank. Try to keep your distance from him.
• You must call for a gank on Shen, because you will never be able to kill him by yourself.

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• Singed is relatively easy for Gangplank early game.
• Harass him a lot with Parrrley. He can't hurt you with his poison because you can damage him from a distance.
• Singed is hard to chase because of Mega Adhesive, and he will leave Poison Trail around you to deal damage.
• Deny him farm for as long as possible, as you probably won't be able to kill him.
• Singed will become very hard to kill later, so don't focus him or chase him.

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• Sion is a tricky one to deal with.
• Don't use Parrrley on him when Death's Caress is up. Stay out of range of it, because it will deal damage in a short radius around Sion.
• His abilities cost a lot of mana, and he can expend it fast if you bully him.
• Deny him CS, so he can't last hit to feed his Enrage.
• If he uses Cryptic Gaze to help for a gank, just eat an orange.

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• Talon is fairly easy for Gangplank.
• Harass him with Parrrley a lot, and force him to back off. Parrrley again when he attempts to use Rake to last hit.
• Talon has no CC for ganks, but he can deal a lot of damage in one combo with Cutthroat, Noxian Diplomacy, Rake.
• Deny him early game, and you shouldn't have any trouble.

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• Teemo can be a real pain if not handled properly.
• You need to harass him hard early game, and send him off lane when he doesn't have all of his abilities.
• The fact that he is a ranged champion will make it harder for you if he is left to farm items for himself.
• Be careful that he doesn't kite you into his Noxious Trap.
• Call for a gank on Teemo if he starts becoming too much for you to handle.
• Fortunately you can eat oranges to remove the poison from Toxic Shot and the Blind from Blinding Dart. Oranges OP.

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• Trundle is easy for Gangplank.
• Harass him early with Parrrley to deny him CS.
• If he uses Contaminate, stay out of the area until it disappears. It will also waste his mana.
• At level 6 Trundle can use Agony on you, it is best to avoid him and wait until the debuff is over.
• He can help slightly in a gank with good Pillar of Filth placement. Check your own positioning.

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• Believe me when I say this, Tryndamere isn't hard lol.
• His early game against Gangplank's early game is just funny. You can Parrrley harass him straight off the bat, and he can't do anything about it except run the other way. This will deny him last hits, therefore you will have an easy time getting farm.
• To all you people who say Undying Rage is OP, this is how you counter it with Gangplank: He will usually do it on the lowest possible health, so just before he hits 0, just pop Raise Morale and enjoy kiting Tryndamere.
• If he uses Mocking Shout, eat an orange and everything is k.
• Another one I find hilarious, is using Exhaust when he uses his Ulti.
• In all seriousness, do not face-check a Tryndamere, do not dive his turret when his ulti is up.
• If his ulti is up and you're at your turret with ~10% health, he will kill you, period.

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• A good Udyr can give you a really hard time in lane.
• If he has full stacks of Monkey's Agility try to keep your distance.
• He can cause ganks with his Bear Stance stunning you in place for 1 second.
• AND prevent ganks using Bear Stance to run away or to stun you THEN run away. If that's not enough Udyr will then swap to Turtle Stance to soak up damage.
• Call for a gank on this guy, or he can become a problem for you, and for everyone else later on.

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• Vi is very strong, and has very high gank potential.
• Although she is more commonly seen in the jungle now, she is just as strong in top lane.
• She has the 2nd longest initiation in the game with Vault Breaker+ Flash+ Assault and Battery. (Gogo Jarvan IV)
• If she gets close enough, Vi can deal a lot of damage in a short time with her combo.
• Gank is high priority.

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• Vladimir's early game isn't as strong as Gangplank.
• Harass Vladimir early when his Transfusion has a high cooldown.
• Deny him early farm and you should have an easy time against him.
• Forcing Vladimir to use Sanguine Pool will make him stay away.
• At level 6 he can deal a lot more damage from Hemoplague, you can try to dodge it, or after he uses it, retreat, then come back.

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• Volibear has a reasonably strong early game.
• Parrrley harass him early and keep your distance, he won't be able to reach you to do anything.
• Forcing his passive Chosen of the Storm will make him more afraid of harass, since he can't quickly get the health back.
• Volibear is an exceptional turret hugger, and can set up ganks effectively with Rolling Thunder, watch out for this.
• Be careful of Frenzy as the damage it deals is increased by 1% for every 1% of the target's missing health.
• Stay out of range and use Parrrley when Volibear has Thunder Claws active, he needs to hit you for it to be of any benefit.

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• Warwick has a weaker early game than Gangplank.
• Warwick can sustain really well with Hungering Strike.
• Before Warwick has a few ranks on Hungering Strike he can't trade damage well. Use this to your advantage and deny Warwick early on.
• Infinite Duress can be removed by eating an orange yay.
• Once he builds enough attack speed and life steal, Warwick can largely sustain himself simply by attacking. Parrrley him and keep your distance for as long as possible.

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• Wukong is a tough opponent to face because of his burst combo.
• Nimbus Strike is a strong gap closer, and often he will use his Decoy afterwards. So if he does charge you, quickly Parrrley then run out.
• He can be harassed fairly easily for the first few levels, make use of this opportunity.
• Don't make yourself look obvious when you go to Parrrley him as he will just Decoy then use Nimbus Strike and hurt you.
• Lucky for you, if Wukong tries to harass you it will cost him a lot of mana.
• Pretending to attack him with Parrrley then backing off may make him use Decoy, which will waste his mana.

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• Xin Zhao thrives from a strong early game, which usually results in an early kill, or First Blood.
• His Battle Cry can have him sustain very well, but he would have to push your lane to get his health back, which can leave him open for a gank.
• Xin Zhao can separate you or your allies from the team when he uses Crescent Sweep because of Challenge. Be careful of this.
• Getting an early gank on Xin Zhao is much easier before he gets his ult.
• Xin Zhao can unload quite a bit of damage on you if given the chance, don't let your guard down.

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• Yorick becomes stronger as he levels.
• His early game is weaker than Gangplank, deny Yorick early if possible.
• At level 6 be careful of his Omen of Death. It is better in most cases to kill the Revenant first instead of the champion that was targeted by it because the Revenant is weaker. If he targeted himself, make sure you can survive getting the kill.
• If you are having trouble, call for your jungler to come gank.

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***Jungling with Gangplank***

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He breezes through the jungle with his steroid buff Raise Morale, has a ranged slow with his Grog Soaked Blade and Parrrley, and his global ultimate Cannon Barrage. While some difficulty can arise in having the map awareness to use his ultimate properly, you can usually only use it in a fight and it's still very strong and straightforward. He is overall a simple and decent jungler.




A bit slow until you get Madred's Razor. He can do some decent damage but won’t clear the jungle fast without giving him full damage runes. This in combination with no AoE effect and wanting to Parrrley some minions on last hit leads him to a slower jungle in the early game.




He has a built in heal with Remove Scurvy as well as the highest level 1 life (495) of any character in the game. Once you get a Wriggle's Lantern you can sustain your health from that alone. He is a little blue buff dependent early on, but only if you are spamming your skills, so you can get around it by being smart with your mana.




Parrrley DOES apply red buff. Once you are in the enemy's face they are pretty much toast, which makes Flash or Ghost good summoner spells for him. His Grog Soaked Blade applies from Parrrley, and he has Cannon Barrage, which allows him to catch off anyone on the map that is low health. Since he only needs very little mana to gank, he will almost always be able to show up in a lane, but you preferably want enough mana to use Raise Morale for the increased speed.




Gangplank does enough damage that trying to get the jump on him can turn against you. He can’t necessarily stop the enemy from leaving that easily but he can stay with them, so he doesn’t rank up with other junglers. He can be mobile enough to repel their entrance and stop most people that come at him, he is an effective chaser/escapist. His Remove Scurvy also helps greatly if you are cc'd in the jungle and have to get out immediately.




While he doesn’t have the tools to get in and out fast enough on a consistent basis, he will just blow everything on the enemy. He can do camps fast once he has Wriggle's Lantern, and they will likely not be able to 1v1 him because he can remove CC and heal from Remove Scurvy, deal damage over time from Grog Soaked Blade, steroids from Raise Morale for further damage and can decimate with Parrrley.




After you leave the jungle, your Raise Morale will be insane when organizing team pushes on towers. It will remain very good in teamfights and group situations and Cannon Barrage will be very effective. After you have burned these, however, you can feel a bit lost since you can only Parrrley, having some CDR can fix this problem if you enjoy spamming his skills. Make use of his mobility to turn a fight to your advantage.

Jungle Routes

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This route is focused on doing a full jungle clear, but you won't be able to gank as your health will be too low.


(1.) Start at blue buff, Smite to secure the kill. (Have someone leash/defend).
(2.) Clear wolves, killing the big one first. (Do this first if possible)
(3.) Make your way to wraiths, killing the big one first.
(4.) Smite should be back up now, so use it on the red buff lizard and kill it first.
(5.) Finish up at golems, killing the bigger one first.
(6.) Recall.

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This route is focused on getting an early gank on a lane, it will sacrifice you a bit of farm, but will help out that lane greatly.


(1.) Start at wraiths, killing the big one first. (Have someone leash/defend).
(2.) Go to red buff, using Smite to secure the kill.
(3.) You can now firmly choose a lane to gank (preferably mid or top).
(4.) If your health is good, go to blue buff, Smite will be up, so use it to secure the kill on it. If you have low health and can't get it back, recall and still head to blue buff, then clear your way down the jungle.

Jungle Runes

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• Greater Mark of Attack Damage: The AD will help you clear the jungle faster.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: This will give you longer sustain in the jungle.
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: The early game MR is not important in the jungle, and this will scale nicely into late game.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: This is really helpful so you can get around the jungle faster and gank.

Jungle Masteries

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Jungle Items

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I must say that this is very much different from my top-lane build. Heck, it even surprised me but feel free to read as to why I'd choose these items.

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• You don't particularly need to rush this since you don't need the MR in the jungle, and you have a little bit of Tenacity from your mastery. You can build Ninja Tabi instead against heavy AD.

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• This is a very favorable item to go for now and increases jungling clearing substantially while the True Damage passive helps in fights too.

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• Next best alternative to Trinity Force, easier on the budget as you won't acquire so much gold compared to laning. It offers a stronger slow, making Frozen Mallet better for ganks or chasing/kiting enemies.

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• Still too good of an item to pass up, and is your major source of Armor, amazing in a teamfight to slow movement speed and reduce attack speed.

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• You'll need this if you want to "CRIT 0RANG3S".

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• I was heavily debating whether or not to even include this item, or just use Phantom Dancer again. However, when you've only got 1 item slot left, and you build The Brutalizer, it's not as if you need to buy that Avarice Blade, you won't lose out on anything saving up your gold to buy straight into Youmuu's Ghostblade.
  
  The more important part of my ramble is that we have absolutely no ArP up until this point. So, this will help give us a little boost, and if you make good use of the Active, this item is just as fulfilling.
  
  If you're not interested in all of that, you may still use Phantom Dancer, or Statikk Shiv if you so wish.

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Jungle Skills and Skill Sequence

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The only difference in this is that I grab Remove Scurvy at level 3 instead of level 4. That extra healing makes quite a difference earlier on.

Screenshots

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Crediting + Summary

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I'd like to thank BlackIceT for being the first one to help me make a start toward a great guide.
I'd also like to thank jhoijhoi for her Making a Guide which has helped me to make mine look better for your guys ease of reading, thank you :)
Thank you CasterMaster for helping me experiment with item combinations.
Hats off to Ciderhelm for the video, he's a great guy.
The incredibly funny video done by the amazing mcr00sterDOTA. It never gets old for me. xD
TinyStar thank you sooooo much for the guide graphics, I love them <3

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Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed my guide on Gangplank. If you have any questions, feel free to pm me. I will try to update my guide as frequently as I can, good luck and have fun everyone ^^

Remember to Vote and Comment! And eat lots of oranges :3 GOOD LUCK FOR SEASON 3


Xerónn

Updates

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1/04/2012 - I have reworked my guide adding more detail into it.
3/04/2012 - Adjusted my build to make it less complicated, and added Other Options to Items section.
5/04/2012 - Made minor adjustments to my formatting and more in-depth item explanation.
5/04/2012 - Added Gameplay - Laning; Gameplay - Ganking
7/04/2012 - Created a new build! I find it much more effective than my previous, and hope you guys like it ^^ (Also means I have changed my Items section entirely) Feel free to have a look.
8/04/2012 - Realised there was a flaw in my Mastery Tree LOL, so I've changed it accordingly.
10/04/2012 - Did some more cleaning up in my guide.
10/04/2012 - Made slight adjustment to build and added Boots into the Items section.
10/04/2012 - Added Gameplay - Farming.
11/04/2012 - After my first game using my Test Build.. LOL it was amazing!
11/04/2012 - Rearranged build and Items section. This is my new confirmed build.
13/04/2012 - Added Pros / Cons.
13/04/2012 - Added Alternative Mastery Setup.
15/04/2012 - Minor tweaking.
16/04/2012 - More minor tweaking.
16/04/2012 - Rearranged Runes and added Gameplay - Team Fights.
19/04/2012 - More screenshots.
22/04/2012 - Minor tweaking.
23/04/2012 - Added more detail, minor tweaking, and example champions in Gameplay - Laning.
25/04/2012 - I have high hopes for this final test build, (will quite possibly become my new one).
28/04/2012 - Minor change to Rune priority.
30/04/2012 - Test Build has become new Main Build.
30/04/2012 - Complete reconstruction of Items section, minor changes to other parts of guide.
30/04/2012 - New screenshots of my build.
30/04/2012 - Added Gameplay - Jungling.
01/05/2012 - Tidied Runes and Items section.
01/05/2012 - Minor tweaks.
09/05/2012 - More info added in Runes, Masteries, and Items.
13/05/2012 - Added Teleport to optional Summoner Spells.
14/05/2012 - Spoiler Tags. :o
16/05/2012 - Twisted Treeline screenie.
17/05/2012 - Major tweaks and added Other Items (Why not?) section.
18/05/2012 - Edited Gameplay Laning into Gameplay Laning and Top Lane Opponents.
18/05/2012 - Added Ciderhelm's Don't Feed Gangplank - Champion Spotlight Alternative video.
20/05/2012 - More champions added to Gameplay Laning and Top Lane Opponents.
30/05/2012 - Separated Gameplay Laning and Top Lane Opponents into Gameplay Laning and Top Lane Opponents, which has been divided into 3 and sorted alphabetically. 41 champions in total *-*
03/06/2012 - Added a second build specifically for 3v3.
04/06/2012 - Minor spelling and grammar errors corrected.
10/06/2012 - Added What makes Gangplank special you ask? chapter to add some humor. x)
13/06/2012 - Plan to expand on my jungling for Gangplank by request. :)
20/06/2012 - Added **Jungling with Gangplank** chapter.
25/06/2012 - Jungle Runes, Jungle Masteries, Jungle Routes and Jungle Items chapters added.
23/07/2012 - Minor changes. Xin Zhao changed in Top Lane Opponents.
27/07/2012 - Small updates. Jayce added in Top Lane Opponents.
01/08/2012 - Huge updates finally completed, with new builds included!
03/08/2012 - Use of Last Whisper added in Jungle Items chapter.
20/08/2012 - Garen changed in Top Lane Opponents.
21/08/2012 - Change made in Jungling section. Parrrley DOES apply red buff.
31/08/2012 - Minor item purchase order change.
21/09/2012 - Rengar updated in Top Lane Opponents.
5/12/2012 - Minor Season 3 updates. More to come soon.
6/12/2012 - Final updates for Season 3 done. Removed 'Generalized Order of Importance'. Felt it wasn't needed.
20/03/2013 - Updated Top Lane build.
23/04/2013 - Updated Jungle build.

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