I'm by no means an expert, but the problem is that any natural counter to a strong AP mid is traditionally an assassin who has to get fairly up close and personal, which with a Gragas can be highly risky in the laning phase, a well placed Gragas ult and your engage suddenly turns to you being underneath his turrent, body slammed and pillaged :/
I don't think there's ever a hard counter to Gragas, but preventing him from roaming is generally the safest way to play him, a really safe mid for him is the ever trustworthy Morgana due to her excellent lane pushing and CC invulnerability
I don't think there's ever a hard counter to Gragas, but preventing him from roaming is generally the safest way to play him, a really safe mid for him is the ever trustworthy Morgana due to her excellent lane pushing and CC invulnerability

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Hmmm, as a mid he is average for ap carry neither good nor bad imo. However, since you generally want to reserve ult for situations in which you are guaranteed a kill or teamfights, you will be dependent on q and e for most of your damage. But he can be countered by an enemy with what I would call a danger zone (i.e. champions with either aoe spells centered on themselves such as Karthus or enemies who have a short range due to lack of skill shots but are dangerous in said range such as fiddle) because it makes his body slam a risky gamble.
That being said, he can be a real bully in the top lane if your team is running a duel ap (seems kind of rare nowadays) and against non danger zone mids he can be a real terror because of his ability to close distance with body slam. I would recommend a Lichbane and either weapon that uses hextech revolver as a base for him. Lichbane for the bonus damage, and the hextech gunblade/ will of the ancients for an augment to his natural health regen.
His ult is also extremely useful in both teamfights, defense and attack. In teamfights, it will scatter opponents allowing your team to dominate. In defense, it can be used to knock people away from key defenses, weakened allies, and even yourself if you find yourself in a comprised state (such as being ganked or focused). In attack, its high ratio insures heavy damage to all those it hit, even if you're not having a particularly good game, and it can be used to toss running enemies into range of attacks for others.
All in all, he is a pretty strong pick but he requires knowledge on his abilities and practice in their uses in order to hit. I would recommend him as he is still one of my favorite champions to play as.
That being said, he can be a real bully in the top lane if your team is running a duel ap (seems kind of rare nowadays) and against non danger zone mids he can be a real terror because of his ability to close distance with body slam. I would recommend a Lichbane and either weapon that uses hextech revolver as a base for him. Lichbane for the bonus damage, and the hextech gunblade/ will of the ancients for an augment to his natural health regen.
His ult is also extremely useful in both teamfights, defense and attack. In teamfights, it will scatter opponents allowing your team to dominate. In defense, it can be used to knock people away from key defenses, weakened allies, and even yourself if you find yourself in a comprised state (such as being ganked or focused). In attack, its high ratio insures heavy damage to all those it hit, even if you're not having a particularly good game, and it can be used to toss running enemies into range of attacks for others.
All in all, he is a pretty strong pick but he requires knowledge on his abilities and practice in their uses in order to hit. I would recommend him as he is still one of my favorite champions to play as.
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Force your opponent to decide whether to get creep and eat a barrel, or not get CS but stay safe.
In a team fight, you don't usually want to start Q unless you are using it to force them to move into a position where your R would scatter their team.