Hey guys!

This is my first guide on mobafire so please don't be too rough on me, its the first time im doing one and I need some constructive criticism. Maybe my guide works good for you, maybe it doesn't, but I still hope you enjoy it and this is the way I enjoy playing Gangplank

EARLY GAME
PS: Before we start, I just recommend when is best to recall, but don't be stupid: if your at 10 HP, do you charge into the fight? I think not, please recall...


Items to get first:

Boots
Health Potion X2
Mana Potion X1

I get these items first because the boots will get you quicker to your Ionian boots of ludicity quicker and because GP is mana-thirsty early on, so its useful to have. And the HP potions are great if your HP gets low.

I suggest planning a early game gank with your partner ( will suggest who to lane with later)
to get a little extra gold. What I do is I wait at the edge of the bush near their tower, wait till they come INTO the bush and then use Parrrley and Exhaust(only if I feel we can kill him/her). Most of the time we can pull it off, but if you get targeted by them both, you can use Flash to run out ( Yes this may seem like a waste but its better living then dying and allowing the enemy to get the upper hand.

FIRST RECALL:
At lvl 6, preferably but not obligatory
Ionian Boots of Lucidity
Health Potion X1 (Optional)
Mana Potion x1 (Optional)

Now that you have the money for those sexy boots, you can recall and go get them. If you used your potions I sugest getting more in case they have a sneaky Vayne that likes early game ganking (GRRR)

MID GAME

SECOND RECALL:
From levels 8 to 11 , depending on your kills and tower kills.

B. F. Sword
Dagger( if you have the money)

These items will really give you a boost until you get your Infinity Edge and your Phantom Dancer. Try and get some ganks after lvl 6 if you wanna get your items quicker. DONT FORGET
COMMUNICATION IS KEY! Talk to your allies and plan a gank (hopefully theres not an Evelynn or Ashe KS'ing =( )


THIRD RECALL:
No level really, depends on your kills

Pickaxe
Infinity Edge

Now you start owning people. Your infinity edge will be making you crit alot and the attack DMG is nice on it because it increases Parrrley's DMG by quite a bit .

From here just follow the item purchase order. I would say Late Game is around 35-40 minutes.

Here are some results of the build, Yes In one of them I lost but sometimes your allies might just be stupid!

This is what I think Gangplank is good at at what hes not good at:

Pros:
- Great at ganking
- Good heal and support spell (Raise Moral)
- Awesome at chasing people
- Great in team fights ( Cannon Barrage FTW?)
- Free stack-able slow and dot.
- Has a ability that removes Crowd Control Effects.

Cons:
- Quite squishy from early game to late game
- Poor mana regen. (Mana thirsty at the beginning)
- Armor is his worst enemy ( Bullet don't do sh** say what?)

OFFENSIVE TREE

Nothing too complicated to explain here. More damage, more armor pen, reduced CD'S = Win!

UTILITY TREE

Well I wasn't gonna waste those precious points, so I got reduced time spent dead ( GOOD! ) more mana and hp which is awesome since he's mana thirsty at the beginning, and of course, extra gold per 10 seconds ( What a coincidence? Pirate... Greed ... see the path?).

Greater Mark of Desolation (9)
I chose 9 of these because Armor penetration works great against anybody, but especially tanks, but mainly because your Parrrley will be your main source of damage and if the enemy has armor, it wont do very much, won't it?

Greater Seal of Scaling Attack Damage
These marks are an obvious choice because attack damage increases the damage of Gangplanks Parrrley, which is , like I said earlier, his main source of damage ( along with his auto-attack).


Greater Glyph of Attack Damage
I chose these because I wanted to get more then just a little attack damage out of my runes.

Greater Quintessence of Desolation
I chose these runes for the same reason as the Strength ones: I wanted more then just a little bit out of my runes , I wanted a decent amount of attack armor penetration. BUT another reason is because most heroes don't have very much armor early on, and this armor penetration will help you get some early game kills.

In this part of the guide, I will explain why I chose certain items over others.
I will not be explaining every component of the main items, only the 6 that I think work really well for any length of game.

1- Ionian Boots of Lucidity
These boots are by far the best for gangplank. What I really like about them is the cooldown reduction, which reduces the CD on Parrley to about 4 seconds. CD Reduction -> More abilities may be cast -> Win

2- Infinity Edge
This item, is GODLIKE , and I think its pretty obvious why its awesome for GP. 1. it has 80 attack damage, which increases parrrley DMG. 2. it has 25% crit chance which makes Parrley hit for TONS (early and late game).


3- Phantom Dancer
Attack Speed, Movement Speed, and Crit chance, whats not to like about it? This item goes very well with the Speed Quintecensses and makes him attack fast.. really fast.... O.O

4- Black Cleaver
Ahhhhh, Black Cleaver. Its like kids with sugar, they go NUTS ( No kidding..) This item is really , really good because it gives you attack damage,attack speed, and that nice Unique Passive that reduces the enemies armor.

5- Hextech Gunblade (Oooo Aaaaa)
This Item is such an obvious choice I mean GP doesn't have a blade after his [Parrrley] now does he?(JK lol) But seriously I really like this item because it has an Active slow on it which might get you the kill on that Teemo thats running away... GRR TEEMO

PS: For the last 2 items, you don't necessarily need to take the ones I propose. Madred's Bloodrazor is just my preference, Lifesteal with Bloodthirster is very very good and Atma's Impaler is a good choice also. What works really well is a second Phantom Dancer. You will be constantly critting

EDIT: I found a new item set that works very well too, try them out and pick whichever one suites you best

Ionian Boots of Ludicity
Infinity Edge
Phantom Dancer x2
Black Cleaver
Hextech Gunblade

1- Exhaust

Yes , I said earlier Gangplank is good at chasing people, but Exhaust is one of the best spells for gangplank. He can combine it with Raise Moral to either run away from a suprise attack or use it to chase that teemo who got away with 10hp ( Noooo! )


2- Flash

Flash , in my opinion, is one of the best spells out there. Like Exhaust, it can be used to gank, or to run away from a gank.

PS please , dont fail like I did once (tried to flash through a wall and I ran into the wall... EPIC FAIL )

This is how I thought the Skill Sequence out :

I told myself: If I get attacked by an enemy early game, or I wanna gank one early game, I need to do damage right? So the choice was simple: Parrrley is definitively the first spell i'm going to take. I took Remove Scurvy and Raise Morale next to have some options during an early game fight. Since the heal and Raise Morale costed a lot of mana , and because Gangplank is mana thirsty early game, I decided to take Parrrley till level 6, and followed by Cannon Barrage.After that I upgrade Remove Scurvy and Raise Morale so that they at least suite the needs of my level (rank 2). I then upgrade Parrrley for max DMG output and at lvl 11 (as soon as I can) I upgrade Cannon Barrage. Then its simple: Max out my heal and buff, and max out my ultimate as soon as I can!

EARLY GAME
PS: Before we start, I just recommend when is best to recall, but don't be stupid: if your at 10 HP, do you charge into the fight? I think not, please recall...


Items to get first:

Boots
Health Potion X2
Mana Potion X1

I get these items first because the boots will get you quicker to your Ionian boots of ludicity quicker and because GP is mana-thirsty early on, so its useful to have. And the HP potions are great if your HP gets low.

I suggest planning a early game gank with your partner ( will suggest who to lane with later)
to get a little extra gold. What I do is I wait at the edge of the bush near their tower, wait till they come INTO the bush and then use Parrrley and Exhaust(only if I feel we can kill him/her). Most of the time we can pull it off, but if you get targeted by them both, you can use Flash to run out ( Yes this may seem like a waste but its better living then dying and allowing the enemy to get the upper hand.

FIRST RECALL:
At lvl 6, preferably but not obligatory
Ionian Boots of Lucidity
Health Potion X1 (Optional)
Mana Potion x1 (Optional)

Now that you have the money for those sexy boots, you can recall and go get them. If you used your potions I sugest getting more in case they have a sneaky Vayne that likes early game ganking (GRRR)

MID GAME

SECOND RECALL:
From levels 8 to 11 , depending on your kills and tower kills.

B. F. Sword
Dagger( if you have the money)

These items will really give you a boost until you get your Infinity Edge and your Phantom Dancer. Try and get some ganks after lvl 6 if you wanna get your items quicker. DONT FORGET
COMMUNICATION IS KEY! Talk to your allies and plan a gank (hopefully theres not an Evelynn or Ashe KS'ing =( )


THIRD RECALL:
No level really, depends on your kills

Pickaxe
Infinity Edge

Now you start owning people. Your infinity edge will be making you crit alot and the attack DMG is nice on it because it increases Parrrley's DMG by quite a bit .

From here just follow the item purchase order. I would say Late Game is around 35-40 minutes.

Here are some results from 3 games I did with this build . Yes I lost one of them but when you get allies that don't communicate, everything could go wrong.

Heres a list of people that go well with Gangplank when laning

Annie
Master Yi <--- Lol
Malphite (imo)
Tristana(if she isn't midding)
Brand
etc (anybody with a stun or a root is very good, but doesnt mean others dont do good)

PS: No hatin' to Wukong or Anivia, just a title (LOVE YOU GUYS ^.^)

EDIT: Thesre are just propositions because they are generally strong characters. If there's a support and a tank on your team, don't let them lane, send a DPS with one and the other

Here are some tips and tricks to playing Gangplank

1- The Ulti + Exhaust Gank

I use this one a lot if I wanna kill someone. I start by hiding in a bush near the enemy champion that I want to kill. Then I use Cannon Barrage (aka his ultimate) to slow the ennemy down. If the enemy champion is a fast one I will use Raise moral to really make sure he doesnt run off. If he uses flash to get out of my ultimate I use flash to catch up to him and then use exhaust. ALWAYS USE PARRRLEY WHEN ITS ON CD. Its your main source of DMG after all and with the CD reduction from your boots you can use it every 4 seconds..

2- Tower Save ( Cannon Barrage )

This is pretty good if your tower is getting ''Backdoored'' by a enemy champion while your running back to it especially if nobody has Fortify. This isn't really a trick but I had to put it in here. Its really simple, use your ultimate at the tower. Chances are its gonna scare off the enemy champion and give you enough time to run back to it.

3- Escape Strategies

If your going to die and really don't want to ruin your score, this is the trick for you. Heres how it works: lets say your running from Vayne and your about to die, heres what I do: Cannon Barrage a little bit in front of you and flash across the nearest wall or if theres no wall, in front of you, then use Raise Morale . This technique works well and can save you from several deaths. Dying is bad, especially if your [* British accent* DOMINATING!]. You can also include Exhaust in this combo if you feel its necessary.

4- Pirate becomes Ninja say what?

Yes, the name of the tip is kinda odd, considering GP is a pirate and not a *cough* Shen *cough* , but it really works for ganking. Heres how it works:

You start by hiding in the bush, naturally ( Don't be sappy when eating your orange..)
then you Flash into your enemy and use Parrrley, followed by Cannon Barrage in front of him. If hes not dead, use Exhaust and continue hitting him with your auto attack ( And sometimes does more then Yi! OMG)


Theres probably plenty of other ones I could recommend, but from here, it's really how you like to play Gangplank and what works best for you.

Gangplank can be very good if played right. After all, that's why I made this guide! I hope you guys have successful games as Gangplank and enjoy my guide. Although you can make your own modifications to this guide for what suites you the best, this is what I recommend, and I hope it works out for you all!

Please Comment , vote and tell me what you think!

Oh and I was looking up Gangplank on youtube, and I found this video which really made me laugh =) All credits go to fredgdperry
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