Gangplank Build Guide by ProSentient

Introduction

Hello there! Welcome to my very first guide here on Mobafire! My name is ProSentient, and this guide will be on Gangplank, the Saltwater Scourge. I will gladly take advice from veteran players, and I will respond to some of the comments you have. Well, lets get started!

Pros/Cons

Pros:
-Global ultimate
-Very fast- Phantom Dancer, Trinity Force, and Raise Morale
-High damage output with Parrrley
-Can heal with Remove Scurvy
-Not squishy with this build because of Randuin's Omen and Banshee's Veil


Cons:
-No escape tool
-If focused, Gangplank gets melted down like butter
-Not much CC besides Cannon Barrage
-Mildly expensive build

Summoner Spells

Flash Flash is a good spell all around. You can use it to chase a running opponent, or escape a five man gank. Since Gangplank doesn't have a true escape spell, flash is perfect for him.

Exhaust I take exhaust as my second summoner. There are other viable summoners but I prefer this the most and take this the most often. For chasing or escaping.



Other Viable Spells

Teleport Teleport can really be a useful spell. Just go sidelane, pop your Cannon Barrage on the teamfight, and teleport to an ally pet. It can also save you some gold and exp if you recall back.


Ignite If you really want that first blood, or want to kill a Teemo fleeing, then this can be great for you. It also deals a ton of damage late game.


Ghost Now ghost can be used to replace Flash. I prefer Flash because if you Ghost, you can still be in range of their CC when they gank.


Cleanse I don't take this spell very often. You have your Remove Scurvy which removes CC AND heals you. But if you face a team like Alistar, Amumu, Poppy, Fiddlesticks, and Ashe, you might get double cced and then Cleanse might come in handy.

Smite Definitely if you are playing Jungle Gangplank but this is not a jungle guide, so no.

Masteries

I use the 21-9-0 format for masteries. We focus mainly on our damage output and crit chance
while we put some defense for early game. Nothing new, nothing special.

UPDATE: Now that crit chance in Deadliness is gone, you can either keep it or go for Havoc . Both are viable.

Runes

For marks I take Greater Mark of Attack Damage for obvious reasons. Helps me dominate the lane just because of this sometimes.

For seals, I take Greater Seal of Armor because you really need the lane sustain from armor early game.

For glyphs, I take Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist because since you have more magic resist in early game, and less in late game, these are the perfect runes for that.

Lastly, for quintessences, I get Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage to really boost my damage output the whole game.


If you get these runes and you farm a lot, you can easily dominate your lane.

Skill Sequence

One of my favorite passives in the game. It does extra damage AND slows the oppenent which is just plain AWESOME. With your mobility and this, no opponent can outrun you.



Your bread and butter the whole game. Gangplank's main damage dealer, and the best thing about it, it procs with items and it can crit. So you can get extremely lucky. One time, my crit did about 1400-1500 damage. I basically one-shotted their Ashe. It also grants extra gold when you kill an unit, so you want to farm with it whenever it's available.



I just love this skill. I can't count how many times this saved my life. One time, our team was 4 vs 5, because our Veigar went AFK. So I had to mid with Brand. Can't believe how many times I got burned but I always saved myself with this skill. And we still managed to win that game! You want to max this second, so you can get the max potential of the heal as fast as possible.



Has a passive and an active part. A lovely passive, which increases your attack damage and your movement speed, which is what Gangplank thrives on. The active part is my favorite though. When you activate it, you get double the bonus from your passive and gives half of that to your nearby allies. This makes your Parrrley a full-scale nuke. You don't want that to happen if you are the enemy team.



What can I say? My favorite skill on Gangplank. It's a global ultimate, so you can use it anywhere on the map. I usually use it during or before a teamfight. This makes it so that you can get a kill or assist even if you are not specifically AT the teamfight. This helps break their team up before a teamfight.

Items

Doran's Blade-My main starting item. All doran's items are extremely powerful, and since you are an AD champion, I always go with this first. Sell it mid-late game. Really helpful, as with all Doran's items.

Boots of Speed-Pretty self-explanatory.

Sheen-Whenever I start building my Trinity Force, this is the item I ALWAYS first get. The passive procs with your Parrrley, which makes you godly! The extra mana and AP are also very welcoming.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity-These are the perfect boots for Gangplank. Nice CD

Trinity Force-Oh my god. This item is like made for Gangplank. Though expensive, it gives a little of everything and the proc is very nice.

B. F. Sword-Builds into Infinity Edge and gives you a good amount of attack damage.

Cloak of Agility-Also builds into Infinity Edge and the extra 18% of crit chance is great.

Infinity Edge-Gives the most attack damage in the game, and the critical chance makes you godly. Also, with your master and this passive, if you crit, it will hit 260%. This is the main item for damage for Gangplank.

Randuin's Omen and Banshee's Veil-By now you're thinking huh? Randuin's Omen and Banshee's Veil on Gangplank? Yes. Some guides build him all damage but, guess what? You burst down one opponent, and then what? You are so squishy you don't even stand a chance. That makes you a 1-1 ratio. Tanky items like these helps you kill, and get away safely. But you have to assess which to get first. If their team is a majority of AP casters, get Banshee's Veil first. If they are mostly AD, get Randuin's Omen first.

Zeal-Crit chance, attack speed, and movement speed. What more can you ask for? When building a Phantom Dancer I always buy this first, because it is basically a MINI Phantom Dancer.

Phantom Dancer-Attack Speed, crit chance, and movement speed is what Gangplank needs. These boosts just makes you look fed.

This is an expensive build. Most games you won't be able to finish it except when their is a crazy going back and forth. But when you do, buy elixirs.

Elixir of Fortitude-Always get this first. Gives health and attack damage. That's what you need the most as Gangplank.

Elixir of Agility-Get this second. Attack speed and crit chance is very nice for Gangplank

Elixir of Brilliance-If you still have extra gold, get this last. AP and cooldown reduction is not really what you need, but if you have enough gold, by all means go for it.

Situational Items:

Frozen Mallet-Gives a lot of health and the slow is nice. But it is very expensive and lots attack damage is also very important which is not what this item has.

Force of Nature-Gives the most magic resist in the game and nice movement speed. I prefer Banshee's Veil because it also gives health and mana. The passive block is also too amazing for me to get Force of Nature.

Atma's Impaler-If you want more crit chance and more armor in place of Phantom Dancer, this item is right for you. The passive is also not bad, considering you have a good amount of health.

Mercury's Treads-Replace Ionian Boots of Lucidity for this if you are facing a heavy CC team or heavy AP team.

Ninja Tabi-Replace Ionian Boots of Lucidity for this if you are facing a heavy AD team.

The Bloodthirster-Hmmm. This item can be used to replace Phantom Dancer. But we already have enough damage from Infinity Edge and Trinity Force, and we don't need the lifesteal either. And we also really need the attack speed and crit chance from Phantom Dancer.

The Black Cleaver-People have been e-mailing me about this, but I never tried it so I don't know. Maybe you guys can find out and tell me in the comments?

Last Whisper-Your opponents might stack armor if you are just pwning them with your Parrrley. But don't worry- Last Whisper to the rescue! This will shred their armor like nothing and it will be all good. Only get this if they are stacking armor-(Stacking armor means if the majority of their team has more than 100 armor).

Warmog's Armor-I seen some people build Gangplank the "Atmogs" way. I personally tried it and it's not bad I admit. But I focus more on Gangplank having a higher damage output, rather than rushing a Warmog's Armor. It's very expensive, and the only thing you get is health. Besides, you already have enough health from Trinity Force, Randuin's Omen, and Banshee's Veil.

Farming

Gangplank is an awesome farmer. Whenever you farm, try to last hit with your Parrrley as much as you can because it gives extra gold. Otherwise, just last-hit like regular. Late game though, your attack damage is way up there, so you can one-two-shot minions. You want to get as much CS as possible, the most on your team, or even better, the most in the game.

Team Work

During teamfights, first pop your Cannon Barrage. Let your tank initiate, and just blow up their carry's with your Parrrley and auto-attacks. Trust me: you WILL make it out alive. With their carry's gone and your tankiness, you probably don't even need to Remove Scurvy either. ALWAYS remember: you might be tanky, but you are not a tank. Don't go DEMACIA!!!!! into a teamfight like Alistar, but stay back and pick out their carry's one by one.

Summary

Well, this sums up my Gangplank build. I spent a lot of time and effort on this, so please do not downvote just because you don't agree with me on some things. Feel free to change some things if you do not agree with me, but remember: always try it out before you vote! Anyways, thank you for reading this and I hope I make more builds in the future. Cheers! :)

-ProSentient