Gragas is my favourite hero because most of all it's a lot of fun playing him. Gragas is a great hero for farming, pushing lanes and overall helps your team a lot. This guide is for playing Gragas as a tank which is quite unique since most players stack AP on him, but this build is focused on helping the team which is vital in ranked games. I will try to show you how to make it work. You will need:
- The ability to have a decent farm
- Land your barrels
- Good timing for initiates
- Not to want too many kills
- Patience and common sense

Abbreviations used:
AoE= Area of Effect
HP= Health
AP= Ability Power
AD= Attack Damage
LvL= Level

Pros

- Barrel Roll and Body Slam are great for farming
- Body Slam can get you through walls therefore you can easily escape
- Drunken Rage helps with mana regen and improves you as a tank
- Can harass enemies
- Can position enemies with Explosive Cask for easier kills for your team
- Difficult to be killed when ganked
- Great HP regen due to passive ability


Cons

- There are some better tanks
- Without a decent team you cannot carry them
- Not the best late game tank

Top Choice




If you'd rather take something else there are other options as well.
I use Flash for an extra escape Body Slam + Flash is a great escape mechanic, I can position myself for a better Explosive Cask.
Cleanse is a must for a tank. When you will initiate in 90% of the cases you will get stunned or any other CC(fear/slow/taunt/silence) which all are breakable with Cleanse and also reduces the effect of the new applied ones while Cleanse spell is on (3 seconds) by 65%.

Other Options




Teleport can give you extra mobility throughout the map and better farming(since you spend more time on the lane).
Ghost can allow you to chase or run from enemies.

Masteries are focused mainly on Defence since you are a tank after all. I take Dodge and Nimbleness since combined with Ninja Tabi vs AD enemies are of great use, Improved Cleanse for the obvious reason and 9 points in Offense for the magic penetration, AP/lvl and reduced cooldowns.

- This is Gragas's PASSIVE. Every time you cast a spell it will activate and regen 2% of your max health over 4 seconds. This allows you to stay quite a long time on lane and harass your opponent more than he will harass you :) . Note: All Gragas's spells trigger this passive.

- I take this spell at level 1 for harass and farm. It costs rather low mana (80) and does 100 damage so it's a good compromise. Use this spell in such way that you harass the enemies while also damaging creeps and getting last hits with the barrel explosion.This skill requires Q+click to set a destination for the Barrel which is pretty good range (1100) and another Q to make the Barrel explode. Use this spell when the minions are low so that you don't push the lane too much and let yourself exposed to ganks. Note: You can only explode the barrel upon reaching the destination you chose.

- This is one spell you should use everytime you don't have a cooldown on it. It gives you some mana regen while also triggering your passive and increasing your AD and reducing x% damage done to you( when max'ed by 20%) for 20 seconds that's why make sure you channel the whole spell through and get the buff before going in battles. Note: Channel it all the way else you won't get the buff.

- My favourite spell. It allows you to finish off creeps damaged by Barrel Roll. It's great escape mechanism since you can pass through certain walls(those walls that are slightly smaller than the spell's guiding arrow), you can also climb from water through a wall up. This spell will collide with the first enemies on it's trajectory, upon reaching the destination it does a certain amount of damage and slows the affected targets by 35% this is a small AoE spell. I also use this spell for getting faster on the lane or when rushing towards an on going fight. Note: When I farm I usually save this spell for escape unless I'm 100% sure I won't get ganked or killed and can escape just with Flash.

- At level 16 this ability has 60 seconds cooldown so it's very good, however this spell requires perhaps the most skill to land it properly. The direction in which the enemies will be thrown is affected by where you put the middle of your spell's guiding circle. If the middle of the circle is behind the target, it will push it in front. If you put it infront of the target, it will push the target behind. You can use this spell to move squishy targets towards your allies, protect your allies by pushing their melees away from your carrys. The same principle is for pushing them right or left. You might find this tricky at first but practice makes perfect so don't be afraid to give it more tries. Note: This ability can knock enemies off edges down or over certain walls or even upwards.

Magic penetration for more magic damage so you can harass and farm. Mana regeneration so you can farm and spam spells which generate HP through your passive ability. AP/LvL for better farming and to be able to inflict decent amount of damage to your enemies. I take raw HP quintessences for tanking.

CORE ITEMS

This items are a must on Gragas as tank.

- The reason why I start with this item is because it allows me to purchase 2x Health Potions which I can use for HP/regeneration to allow me more time on lane and because it's the fastest way to get to Catalyst the Protector.

Catalyst the Protector - I find this item very useful and I try to rush it. Sometimes I engage in fights with other heroes knowing I will level and I will get HP/mana from Catalyst and it gives me the ability to land kill. This item is important to get ASAP in order to get Rod of Ages and make the most of it along the game.

- This is the second item I get. You can choose between 2 boots on Gragas. or . You must choose between these two by analysing the enemy team. If you see they have a lot of magic damage go for Merc Treads, else go for Ninja Tabi, pretty simple.

The next item I get is another Catalyst BUT if the enemies have a lot of magic damage you can also start by getting Negatron Cloak.

- By far one of the best items in game. It blocks a spell, it gives you hp and mana and magic resist.

- I get this item to have a reasonable amount of health and more HP/regen which scales really good with and .

For the 5th item, again depending on the enemies I get or . Force of Nature also increases my HP regen and more magic resist allows me to take more magic damage. Thornmail is one of the best items if you're facing powerful AD champs like Ashe/ Miss Fortune/Tryndamere etc.

Last but not least the 6th item is purely optional. There's a high variety of items like: or as well as . I would say Guardian's Angel or Sunfire Cape are my top choices but you should always adapt.

You should always consider buying and Sight Ward or since you have the ability to make good amount of gold.
The top priority places to ward would be Dragon, Baron Nashor and the bushes in the water close to top/middle/bottom lane so that you will prevent gangs.

So overall Gragas is very good for your team and great farmer. When played right you can carry your team to victory. I will update regularly and add photos of won games very soon. Thanks for watching and feel free to comment good or bad as long as it's constructive. Enjoy and have fun!

Credits: HIACliff for showing me BB-codes ^^



The last game only took 20 minutes and I had 3k gold too and the others are just random normal games sorry for the image quality I just don't know how to make it better or crop it just the important part anyhow it should prove this built.All the scores are from normal games at lvl 30.