Im just some scrub player who enjoys playing Gnar. I've played since 2014 and I've jumped around from role to role, but finally landed on Top after mostly maining ADC almost all the previous years.

Besides Gnar, I mainly play Nasus, Renekton, and Jax, with a mix of others. I wanted to do a guide on Gnar because I feel that he's a really flexible champion in what he can build up to. Most other guides are the same thing repeated, because most champions only work well with these "certain OP items", where Gnar has a lot of possibilities, as in he can have a completely different set-up for each specific match-up. Plus, going between different rune sets and item builds don't hurt you, as long as you have a plan and play it well, so you're not restricted in any way to go the same build/rune set every game.

Obviously some builds and runes work best against certain match-ups, but using all three rune sets and builds against the same matchup can result in three different game outcomes, and that's what I love about Gnar.

Gnar is a really underrated champion in League, especially as a top laner. He's usually shot down for his squishy Mini form early game and his unreliable passive, but timing is everything with Gnar.

If you know how to maintain your Rage and know when to go in, Gnar works wonders in team fights and more than not, will change team fights completely in your favor. Gnar has amazing scaling as a tank, with pretty decent offensive base stats, but his abilities skyrocket his damage output, with high scaling AS, percentage health damage, etc. If used correctly, Gnar is an unstoppable powerhouse and can completely turn the tides in fights.

TITAN
This is your primary rune set that you will use most games. For these runes, we're focusing on purely tank stats with a side of attack speed. The point of these runes is to get as much HP as possible throughout the game, making you a walking Titan.

Grasp allows you to abuse your range for free HP, while also boosting your damage as Mega Gnar (Grasp gives extra damage based of max health, but its stronger for melee champs over ranged) and Overgrowth is essential because your gonna be pushing back the laner with range, allowing you to get that free perm HP. With the new changes, Demolish is our best bet since we don't have shields and Font of Life is pretty useless. Conditioning to buff tf out of your defenses even further. Alacrity is pretty obvious. This along with your trusty dagger will let you get some early AS, giving you a lot of damage (Especially against tanks). Last Stand is pretty unorthodox but it has a reason. All early and mid-game, you're gonna get shredded af since you won't have your tanky items yet and in either form during fights, you're gonna pretty much be on the verge of death. This lets you get some pretty decent damage out before you enter good boi heaven. This starts to happen less and less as time goes on and you get items, but Coup won't do much late game either. Last Stand is a better choice for early/mid game.

Using the basic item build (Randuin's, Spirit Visage, Locket/Gargoyle) works best with these runes, as these will make you the tankiest you can be, which is what these runes are focused on.

MAGE
Mage is focused more on doing damage with your abilities while keeping a safe distance, along with some defensive perks and MS. Use these runes if you're going against champs who will outright destroy you as Mini Gnar, so you can do heavy damage to them before they can even touch you.

Aery is your main damage, stacking with your boomerang/boulder and doing some pretty good dang damage(I say damage a lot). Null Orb is the only useful rune in that category for Gnar, and you never know if you might need a MD shield (TEEMO). Absolute Focus for extra damage while above 70% HP. Celerity is a possible choice because it still gives us a hell of a MS boost that we need to roam with and get around but AF is better for lane. Scorch goes with your Aery, adding a little after-damage with your boomerang. I've been struggling with deciding which secondary perks will be best, Inspiration or Resolve. Biscuits will give you more healing since you won't have tankiness in the early game. Approach Velocity will give you a lot of chasing potential. Slowing with your boomerang will give you a huge MS boost so you can chase down baddies and will also help you keep up with baddies while you're Mega Gnar so you can finish them off if your combo doesn't kill them. If you feel that you need more protection, then you can swap the Inspiration runes for Bone Plating/Second Wind and Conditioning. Taking Exhaust with Mage runes will make you a lot more deadlier early game, giving you even more chase potential and cutting their damage and AS down by a ton.

Mage is more flexible in your build, because if you go tanky, you have a magic shield with Plating/HP regen and extra defenses, making you a viable tank. Where as if you want to go damage, Aery, Celerity, and Scorch all increase your damage input, making you more dangerous to both tanks and squishies. So Randuins/SV or GA/Maw work well with this, it just depends on which ones you wanna take.

MARKSMAN
This is a pure damage rune set. If you choose this, you'll be focusing more on damage and AS than tank items, making you a scary lil boi. You'll also want to be focusing more on roaming to help your team (Helping mid, teleporting, etc.)

Fleet because MS and that health to heal you from poking like a little bad boi. Triumph because duh. Alacrity, also duh. Coup so you can really shred them down. Coup and W passive really work well together. Cheap Shot so your Mega Gnar can do extra damage when you stunlock everyone. Relentless so you can roam and chase bad bois down. This rune set relies specifically on damage only.

I would recommend taking Trinity Force instead of Cleaver, but if your opponent or the enemy team comp is tanky, then you can take Cleaver instead. Mallet is still a must after your first item. After Mallet, focus on a good AS item, such as Guinsoo's or Phantom Dancer. This will make your damage absolutely insane because of how fast you'll be getting your W passive off. This'll also let you take full advantage of Cheap Shot while as Mega Gnar (Cause as Mega Gnar, you attack slow as ****). After that, finish off with GA and Maw (Which ever one you need the defense in first).

Items have already been talked about at the beginning. Read the notes doofus.

PRE-6
There are different strategies depending on each champion (Look at Threats) but the general strat you need to use as Gnar is to ABUSE YOUR RANGE. You have been giving the dogo boomerang for a reason, use it. On top of your farming advantage, use your Q to poke the enemy as much as possible. Your goal is to have a higher CS count while keeping your laning opponent's HP as low as possible.

POST-6
The reason pre-6 is important is because failing to do that will leave you useless when you get to lvl 6. You want your laner to be as low as possible so that when you hit 6 and your rage is full, you can all in them at the right moment, securing the kill. Going in with your enemy's HP full won't kill them. You will just use all your abilities, including your ult, and then they will just flash/walk away because your slow af as Mega Gnar. Take advantage of the MS and range given in Mini Form and secure the kill as Mega Gnar.

MID/LATE GAME
Once laning is over and you've gotten Mallet, your main priority is to look for opportunities around the map to help your team. Gnar is unique because he does exceptionally well when helping others, rather than focusing towers or killing your own laner a bajillion times. Occasionally push top so that the opposing laner doesn't get tower, but roam around if you can and always be ready to teleport into a fight, and make sure you have Rage. You are the front line of your team and you do your best when you CC the enemy team and allow your team to kill them while soaking up all the enemy team's damage.

PASSIVE: RAGE GENE
This is what makes Gnar, Gnar. While probably the most frustrating thing about him, if timed correctly, this can be a blessing of a passive. Timing is everything. Make sure you have over 50% when roaming and getting ready for a fight. In lane, if you're about to transform, bully the opponent away so that he can't freely poke you while in melee form. And if you have no rage, then abuse your range and poke from a distance. The point is to keep as much distance as possible and retain as much health in Mini Form, so that when you go in as Mega Gnar, you're at your best.

Q: BOOMERANG THROW/BOULDER TOSS
This is your *****. This ability is the reason why you are so strong early game. Despite the long cooldown, Gnar's Q is essential for you winning lane. Its a versatile tool that allows to you do a lot of things while being safe. Killing minions, poking enemies, etc. Always max this first (duh) and don't be afraid to overuse it. And make sure to always catch it or you're a weak boi.

W: HYPER/WALLOP
The literal definition of a tank shredder right here. Hyper is what makes Mini Gnar soooo strong against most opponents. Whether they're tanky or squishy, W makes quick work of anyone, especially with the right items. Getting that early dagger is so important because this will make your W more powerful and continuously give you MS to chase your laner (or run away).

Wallop is your mini stun as Mega Gnar. The best way to use this is to ult champs into a wall or structure, and then line up your Wallop and stunlock them for an extra second or two. This will give your team (and yourself) all the time in the world to kill off whoever you just ****ed over and give your team the winning advantage. Also don't be afraid to stun your laner if you do transform, it could make them lose CS.

E: HOP/CRUNCH
Hop is a super useful ability that allows Gnar to reposition himself when the going gets tough, or to jump over walls. This is a major ability that must be preserved against certain matchups, as it could be your saving grace. Also, when you're about to transform, using Hop will transform you automatically, going straight into Crunch.

Crunch is the Hop version of Mega Gnar. It's a shorter jump than Hop (Also, you cannot bounce off minions and champions while in Mega Gnar), but deals more damage than its counterpart. Our health build lets this ability gain a little more damage that could potentially turn the tides of battle, but it's mainly just a mobility skill.

R: GNAR!
Gnar's ultimate has so many functions, it's not even funny. Its main purpose is to throw enemy champions into walls, stunning them and doing bonus damage than its base, but it can be used a lot more than just that. In lane, if your opponent is getting a little too close, and the minion wave is about to die, ult the champion TOWARDS your tower and then stun them with Wallop under tower, giving you a free early kill.

You can also push them in dangerous directions, such as towards other allies abilities or even push the whole enemy team AWAY from your team if they're getting the upper hand. The best way to use this ability is to be creative, and always be aware of your surroundings. You never know when there could be a wall or structure nearby that you can use to your advantage.

I know this guide looks like ****, give me a break, I made this at 3am and it's my first time making a guide. If y'all actually like this, I'll make more in the future and I swear they'll be better.

(This is old but still useful to understand, read if you want)

In the next pre-season patch, there will be a decent amount of changes that will affect how Gnar will be built.

For items, Guinsoo's Rageblade is getting a change in passives. In the pre-season, Guinsoo's wll change from having extra damage each consecutive hit to armor and magic pen at a fixed rate (6 +0.5% per champion level). Instead it will be set passive of 15 damage on hit. With this change, we could see a potential Black Cleaver + Guinsoo's instead of Mallet for extra tank shredding. D-shield will also see a change, where instead of 20 HP regen per 10 seconds when taking damage, it will now be 30 HP per 10 seconds, based on percent missing health. This will make its early game more useful, giving more health the lower you get, but wont let you go higher than usual.

As for Runes, Fleet Footwork is getting a change. Instead of healing you for 3-60(+30% bonus AD), this will change to 3-60(+0.3 bonus AD). What this means is you will get less health early on in lane, but will still be effective later game. Celerity has also gotten a huge change. Instead of giving you 1.5% extra MS, it now makes all bonus MS 8% more effective, but have ridden the extra damage based on your MS. This means you'll be a lot faster when roaming, but no more extra damage for getting MS.

The Resolve tree has gotten the biggest change, which will affect us the most. Rito has now replaced Bone Plating in the tier 1 runes with a new rune called Shield Bash. I would explain it but it is completely useless to us, as it only affects champions with shields. Bone Plating instead has been moved to tier 2, with the removal of Chrysalis. This puts you in a predicament to choose either Bone Plating or Second Wind, instead of having both, but Bone Plating got buffed because of this. Instead of 15-40 less damage the next three spells or attacks after taking damage, they increased it to 25-50. With these rune changes, taking Demolish as our first tier rune could completely change how Gnar will work in the mid-game. This will force us to interact with the team more, making use of Demolish and pushing lanes. This WOULD be a bad thing, but we already focus on the play style of roaming and helping the team, so this change will help our mid-late game, but make us a little weaker in the laning phase.

Overgrowth has also gotten a huge buff, which is excellent for us. Instead of only increasing our max health by 0.2% per 8 minions, we now get 3 max HP per 8, with an additional 2.5% max HP after 120 minions. This gives you two different play styles now in the mid-game. As explained with Demolish earlier, we now have the choice of staying in our own lane and gaining HP while also taking towers. This gives us a choice depending on the situation. If our team is at a stale mate or losing, we could make use of Demolish and help the team while shoving mid or wherever, giving our team a huge advantage. If our team is winning however, we can now stay in our lane all mid-game and not only continuously increase our max HP, but also apply a massive amount of pressure in the top lane, allowing our team to grab objectives and take other lanes.