Hi, I’m Thing in the Ice, a Diamond Gnar main from North America. I’ve been playing League of Legends since S3 and I’ve been playing Gnar since he was released. This guide will cover everything that involves Gnar and will be updated regularly with each patch. If you have any suggestions or requests, please let me know!

PROS ❄️ Can fit into any team composition ❄️ Safe ❄️ Mobile ❄️ Ranged ❄️ Lots of CC as Mega Gnar ❄️ Kills tanks Gnar is an extremely versatile champion that can fit into almost any team composition. Gnar has damage, poke, sustain, CC, and mobility. Being able to play at a distance makes Gnar one of the safest picks in top lane. Gnar also excels at killing tanks.

CONS ❄️ Hard to pull off in solo queue ❄️ Requires setup ❄️ Difficult to play ❄️ Struggles against gap closers ❄️ No wave clear as Mini Gnar ❄️ Rage Gnar is held back by his Rage mechanic. You’re forced to transform where it might not be ideal for the situation. Gnar also suffers against champions with gap closers. Any champion that can catch up to Gnar is his downfall.

❄️ Shards

diamond

Attack speed helps Gnar proc Hyper more often. It also allows Gnar to perform a faster AA → Boomerang Throw → AA. Taking an adaptive shard allows for more damage and it also makes CSing easier. As for the third shard, take armor into physical damage matchups, magic resist into magic damage matchups, and health when you're unsure which of the two you're up against in lane.

❄️ Keystones

Grasp of the Undying: This keystone allows Gnar to safely get through lane phase and into mid-game because of his low range and health as Mini Gnar. Grasp of the Undying gives permanent health stats, healing, and bonus damage on occasional auto attacks. Gnar's mid-game presence is one of the strongest in the game due to Mega Gnar, but the trade off is a fragile Mini Gnar during early game. Grasp of the Undying softens this weakness.

❄️ Mini Gnar

❄️ Rage Gene

While in combat Gnar, generates Rage. At maximum Rage, his next ability will transform him into Mega Gnar, granting increased survivability and access to new abilities. While in Mini Gnar form, he gains bonus movement speed, attack range, attack speed growth and attack speed.

Gnar's passive is extremely important to understand. Mastering Rage balance is what separates a good Gnar from an amazing Gnar. That being said, it requires a lot of "limit testing" to learn Gnar's full potential. I go into more detail about Rage in the Understanding Rage section.

❄️ Boomerang Throw

Throws a boomerang that deals 5/45/85/125/165 (+115% AD) physical damage and slows enemies by 15/20/ 25/30/35% for 2 seconds. The boomerang returns towards Gnar after hitting an enemy, dealing 50% damage to subsequent targets. Each enemy can only be hit once. Catching the boomerang reduces its cooldown by 40%.
This is Gnar's poke ability. It does damage, provides a slow to proc more of Hyper and also helps with wave clear. Most of your harass will come from this ability. In harder matchups, we're able to abuse Boomerang Throw's range to safely net CS as well.

❄️ Hyper

As Mini Gnar, every 3rd attack or spell on the same target deals an additional 10/20/30/40/50 (+6/8/10/12/14% of target's maximum health) (+100% AP) of the target's max health as magic damage and grants Gnar 30/45/60/75% (based on GNAR!'s rank) bonus movement speed that decays over 3 seconds.
This is where the majority of Gnar's damage comes from. Hyper gives Gnar bonus movement speed every time it's procced. This allows for more Hyper procs in turn. On top of Boots, Phage and Frozen Mallet, Gnar easily becomes a nightmare to get away from.

❄️ Hop

Leaps to a location, gaining 20/30/40/50/60% attack speed for 3 seconds. If Gnar lands on a unit he will bounce 525 units further in the same direction. Deals 50/85/120/155/190 (+6% maximum health) physical damage and slows briefly if the unit landed on was an enemy.
Hop, in my opinion, is Gnar's coolest ability. Since Gnar is able to transform out of it, this will be your primary way of engaging. Hop has a very high cooldown of 22 seconds at level 1, so be very careful on how/when you use it.

❄️ Mega Gnar

❄️ Boulder Toss

Throws a boulder that stops when it hits an enemy, applying Boomerang Throw's slow to all nearby enemies and dealing 5/45/85/125/165 (+140% AD) physical damage. Gnar can pick up the boulder by moving within 90 units of it, refunding 60% of its maximum cooldown.
Boulder Toss is a harder hitting version of Boomerang Throw that doesn't come back to you. You'll mostly be using it for wave clear or chasing enemies. Boulder Toss has a longer wind-up animation than Boomerang Throw, so keep this in mind when using it for damage.

❄️ Wallop

Slams in the target direction, dealing 25/55/85/115/145 (+100% AD) physical damage to all enemies struck and stunning them for 1.25 seconds.
Wallop allows Gnar to lock down his enemies frequently. Combined with GNAR!, Gnar can keep an enemy locked down for a large amount of time. Wallop also locks Gnar himself in place, so keep this in mind when using it.

❄️ Crunch

Leaps to a target location and deals Hop's damage to nearby enemies on landing. If Crunch is used to transform, Gnar will still be able to bounce as per Hop. Crunch's area of effect is dealt in both areas, though enemies can only be damaged once. Enemies Gnar lands directly on top of are dealt Hop's slow.
Crunch is mainly used for wave clear and closing gaps. In lane phase, look to use Crunch on an enemy minion wave before going in for a trade or all-in.

❄️ GNAR!

After 0.4 seconds, Gnar knocks nearby enemies up to 590 units in the target direction, dealing 200/300/400 (+20% bonus AD) (+50% AP) physical damage and slowing them by 45%. Enemies that hit a wall take 50% bonus damage and are stunned instead of slowed.
GNAR! is what some would say that Gnar is known for. GNAR! can potentially win you an entire team fight alone, making it one of the best engage abilities in the game.

❄️ Understanding Rage

Gnar’s Rage mechanic will make or break a fight. I's extremely important to time your transformations based off of the situation present. Mini Gnar will generate 4/7/11 Rage over two seconds when dealing or receiving damage. Over time, without dealing or receiving damage, Rage will decay. This means you have the power to control your Rage. When your Rage is at max, using an ability will transform you into Mega Gnar. If no abilities are used, you will transform automatically after a short delay. In lane, you want to deal as much damage as possible as Mini Gnar. Time your transformation into Mega Gnar to finish the job. In team fights, you want to be Mega Gnar to dish out AoE CC. Keep an eye on your Rage at all times.

❄️ Fighting as Mini Gnar

Mini Gnar generally wants to poke as much as possible in lane. As Mini Gnar, your trading will be based off of Hyper and Boomerang Throw. Whenever you’re able to poke, you want to aim for proccing the third stack of Hyper. This is where most of your damage as Mini Gnar comes from. Your general combo will be AA → Boomerang Throw → AA. With the speed buff that Hyper gives, you’re able to safely make trades. This is Mini Gnar’s bread and butter.

❄️ Fighting as Mega Gnar

As Mega Gnar, when you're in a situation that you need to make a quick trade, Wallop → AA → Boulder Toss → AA or Boulder Toss → AA → Wallop → AA is a great way to do so. Mega Gnar, however, will be your primary way of all inning. Your general combo when all inning is Crunch → GNAR! → AA → Wallop → AA → Boulder Toss. AA weaving is extremely important as Mega Gnar. Squeezing in as many AAs between abilities allows you to do the most DPS possible. Ulting your enemies into a wall will greatly increase your all in potential as it does extra damage and stuns. Sometimes, ulting your enemies backwards could benefit you more depending on the situation present.

❄️ Animation Cancelling

You’re able to cancel some of your abilities’ animations. This can make it almost impossible for your opponent to react. Gnar can animation cancel Hop and Boulder Toss. To cancel the animation of Hop, you want to use Hop on an enemy champion/minion/monster right before you hit max Rage. The trick here is to have Hop max out your Rage as you land on an enemy/ally. As you’re mid-air, using Boulder Toss, Wallop, or GNAR! will cancel Hop's animation, allowing you to use your abilities before you hit the ground. To cancel the animation of Boulder Toss, Wallop immediately after Boulder Toss. These can take some practice to do consistently. Here's what animation cancelling Hop looks like:

❄️ Animation Buffering

Gnar also has some pretty useful animation buffers. While you’re Mega Gnar, wait for your Rage to decay right before the animation for transforming back into Mini Gnar occurs. Input Wallop, Boulder Toss, or Crunch as soon as this happens and the animation for transforming back into Mini Gnar will be combined with the animation of Mega Gnar’s abilities. Doing this allows you to save enough time to weave in more autos and to catch your opponent off guard. This is especially useful when being chased as Mega Gnar. Here's what this looks like:

❄️ Reverse Boomerang

If Boomerang Throw is thrown backwards and is not caught, it will travel a greater distance. You can use this to safely steal camps, kill low health enemies, and to stop enemies from recalling. There are many places and situations where you can abuse this. Here's an example:

❄️ Boomerang Curving

The direction that Boomerang Throw travels can be manipulated. Wherever Gnar was last standing, as soon as Boomerang Throw starts to return, is where Boomerang Throw will travel to. You can especially abuse this with Boomerang Throw → Hop or vice versa.

❄️ Backwards Wall Ultimate

There are some spots on the map where you can use GNAR! on the enemy team from the other side of the wall. Here's an example of a very useful one that prevents the enemy jungler from stealing Baron :

❄️ Ally Ability Hopping

Gnar is able to Hop off of specific allied abilities. For example, Gnar can bounce off of allied Dark Sphere, Acceleration Gate, Crescent Strike, and many more. This works because some abilities in the game are coded as minions.

Video coming soon...

❄️ Hop/ Crunch and Laugh

(Sadly removed in patch 9.14...)

This is more of a fun trick than anything else. If you use Hop or Crunch and laugh at the same time, Gnar will wiggle midair. This is especially so as Mega Gnar. Here's what it looks like:

❄️ Matchups Database

I've created a database with every matchup including difficulty scales, runes, stat shards, starting items, core items, tips, and videos. You can find this here or by clicking the image above!

First off, I would like to thank all of r/GnarMains for their love for Gnar and for giving me the inspiration to put this all together. Special thanks to the following people who have contributed to this guide:

❄️ Ragnarok#6991 - Matchup discussions, Feedback
❄️ Frost - Matchup discussions, Feedback
❄️ Leah - Revising, Editing
❄️ jhoijhoi - Formatting, Mobafire guidance
❄️ League of Legends Wiki