What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Gangplank? ATMOG'S TANKPLANK ATMOG'S TANKPLANK ATMOG'S TANKPLANK AT-
I'm gonna have to stop you right there. Sure, you can do good with Tankplank. He's Tanky DPS; what do you expect? However, can you do amazing? No. Gangplank is meant to be a carry and tear down anybody and everybody. I played Gangplank a long time ago and found him pretty fun. Two days ago I decided to revisit him and I'm glad I did. He's crazy.
Get ready for 100% Critplank you Tanky DPS Meta-Nerds.

Pros
+High late game burst with crits from auto attacks and Parrrley.
+Passive, stacking slow which increases with auto attacks & Parrrley.
+Free ~20 second CD cleanse w/ a heal. Remove Scurvy
+Speed boost for you & your team Raise Morale
+Huge AOE slow; can clear pretty much minions that are in it's area. Cannon Barrage
+High sustainability with only a Vampiric Scepter due to his high damage output.
+One of the best harassing skills in the game Parrrley.

Cons
-Extremely squishy early game, slightly less mid game.
-Damage will be luck based up until you pass 50% crit chance in which you'll be fine.

Masteries are pretty much for you to decide based upon your play style. This is what I use and consider best, but if you play a game and find that you're too squishy then I'd recommend switching over to the defense tab.
You're pretty much taking all the AD masteries you can. If you don't want to do this mastery build then I'd make sure you have at least the following:

Weapon Expertise & Sunder
These are two of the masteries that are going to boost your damage the most. Also, assuming you do well and the enemy team is building armor, you're gonna want as much armor pen as you can get.
Deadliness
4% crit chance is a LOT. It doesn't seem like a lot, but it is, especially early game. 4% crit chance is equal to more than 2k worth of runes so you're definently gonna want it.
Lethality
Crit damage is another important factor for Gangplank. Seeing as eventually you'll be getting 100% crits, this is essentially a 10% boost to your damage.
Summoner's Wrath & Summoner's Insight
Wrath will make your exhaust lower the enemies mres and armor by 10 so it's pretty handy to have. Insight is for your flash and it reduces the cool down by 15 seconds.

Your main focus for runes is critical chance. Like with the masteries, I think armor penetration is important. The runes I use give you about 10% crit chance and 18 armor penetration.

(1) Parrrley This is what you use to both harass early game and get extra gold off last hits. Having it maxed first is going to allow you to do more damage when harassing, have an easier time getting last hits, push minion waves when the opportunity arises, and get 2x the extra gold from last hits that you would if you left it at level 1.


(2) Raise Morale Some people choose to max this skill first. In the case of jungling, it's a good idea. But for laning, having a higher leveled Parrrley will have a much bigger impact on the entire lane phase. Raise Morale will be helpful in champion vs. champion fights only mostly be helpful in the case of champion vs. champion fights, which don't happen as often.


(3) Remove Scurvy You're obviously gonna want to get this fairly early in the game due to the cleanse it gives you. However, maxing it for a stronger heal definently doesn't take priority over damage skills. Save it for last.



(PASSIVE) Grog Soaked Blade: Gangplank's basic attacks apply a poison debuff for 3 seconds that can stack up to 3 times. Each stack deals 3 + (1 x level) magic damage per second and slows the target by 7%.
I find this to be an amazing passive. People don't really acknowledge it much because as soon as they get into a champion vs. champion situation they immediately use Raise Morale and the passive gets washed away. For one, the slow stacks up to a flat 21% which you can keep going with each auto attack. If you can get in to a situation where you're able to auto attack the enemy just 2 times or shoot them once and then auto attack, it's already more effective than Raise Morale which only gives you a 7% speed boost. It's a much better tactic to actually hold your finger off that E until you can get some hits off on the enemy for a full effect.
The second half to the passive is the DoT it gives. Although it doesn't happen much, this actually can help with last hits if you hit just a fraction too early. Also, at level 18 it does a decent amount of damage to champions and can even finish them off in the same fashion as ignite if they're low enough.

(Q) Parrrley: Gangplank shoots an enemy with his pistol, dealing 20 / 45 / 70 / 95 / 120 (+1.0 per attack damage) physical damage. Gangplank gains 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 extra gold if Parrrley deals a killing blow. This ability can critically strike and applies on-hit effects, including his passive.
This is your main damage skill from the first to the last minute of the game. It's what makes squishies QQ when they get hit by it. At level 1, if you manage to get lucky with your 22% critical chance, it'll take down around half of most enemies HP.
On Champions: You should constantly use this on champions whenever you get the chance. I prioritize harassing champions to getting last hits with it even if I'm up against a tank. Putting the enemy behind track is just as effective as getting yourself ahead but having a better chance at getting a kill on a half-hp enemy will shoot you ahead even faster.
On Minions: It takes awhile to get the hang of juggling between auto attack last hits and minion last hits. However, if you've had any experience with last hitting it shouldn't take too long to get the hang of it. Early game I really don't use it on minions as much as I should. Most Gangplanks choose to get a philosopher's stone after their Avarice Blade but I prefer going straight in to damage. However, if you're one of those Gangplanks that love being MLG at last hitting then be my guest.
There're two things I like to keep in mind as the game goes on while playing Gangplank. One is to check for when I get over 50% critical chance. At this point, you can start shooting melee minions when they have half HP and normally get the kill.
The other is that late game you'll be able to shoot mage minions and one hit them. This is important to remember when pushing so you can focus your auto attacks on melee minions and cannon minions while shooting mage minions on cooldown.

(W) Remove Scurvy: Gangplank consumes a large quantity of citrus fruit which removes any crowd control effects on him and heals him for 80 / 150 / 220 / 290 / 360 (+100% of ability power).
This skill is mostly important due to the fact that it can get rid of any crowd control effects on Gangplank. It also heals you but since the heal amount scales with AP which Gangplank doesn't build (atleast most of us don't), it's not really as practical as just buying a Vampiric Scepter and lifestealing off some minions. However, the cleanse is extremely important. The most important thing to remember though is to be patient before using it and thing ahead.
Knowing how long an enemies CC is gonna last is somewhat important. If you're on the edge of an enemies line of sight and they use something on you then it's probably safe to remove scruvy it away. But if you're surrounded by multiple enemies and don't think you'll get dropped too fast, wait half a second before using it in case that you get hit with multiple CC skills in a row.
Trust me, if you Remove Scurvy something away then immediately get stunned or snared again, you're gonna feel extremely stupid when you die. (R) Cannon Barrage: Gangplank signals his ship to fire 25 cannonballs upon target area for 7 seconds. Each cannonball deals 75 / 120 / 165 (+20% of ability power) magic damage to all enemies hit. Enemies caught in the area of this ability are slowed by 25% for 1.25 seconds, with the duration refreshing if one stays in the area.
Gangplanks ultimate is very, very situational.
Minions: Gangplanks ult can clear out pretty much any number of minions as long as they're in its AOE. This can be particularly useful if a large group of minions is attacking a tower, with or without a champion and can save it from being destroyed while also giving you a ton of gold.
Team Fights: This is the best use of your ult. With more enemies spread throughout it's AOE, Cannon Barrage has a higher chance of hitting. It also will slow all the enemies within it which is pretty useful.
Finishing off and Enemy: This is the most unreliable use of it because you have to hope you get lucky enough for a cannonball to hit them. Also the cannonballs only do 165 damage at maxed level so it's even less reliable than you'd think.