Gangplank Build Guide by FriskyPole

Introduction

Hello, I am FriskyPole, your average level 30 player. I play on the European servers under the name (you guessed it) FriskyPole. Now, let me get this straight, I am no "pro" and I am not trying to be, so please don't compare me to one. Recently I have been trying to get into ranked games and ultimately the competitive crowd. I was looking for champions that suited me. To my surprise I got along very well with the offtanks (namely Renekton, Irelia, Jarvan, and Gangplank). Now most of those can solo top, and so can Gangplank, don't get me wrong, but I find that with his new buffs and changes the slow can really be utilised well in ganking, not to mention the free cleanse and speed boost to thwart a lot of attempts at running away. Thus jungling GP is justified and created. Please check both builds and don't rate without trying or having knowledge of the actual builds. Also keep in mind that you should ALWAYS adjust to your enemies in what items you get, never follow just 1 item build. Thanks.

Runes

Greater Mark of Desolation Greater Mark of Desolation is an absolute MUST on any AD champion. It les you hit true damage on the creeps in your jungle and makes your attacks all that much more powerful throughout the game.

Greater Mark of Resilience is an awesome rune. It helps you take reduced damage in the jungle so you can gank with more hp, and helps you in actual fights (survivability).

Greater Glyph of Warding is just a nice rune to have in general. In both builds you aren't going to be getting mr for a while and this will really help out. If you want though, this is probably the rune to switch out as it isn't very necessary. Some other options would be attack speed and maybe even more armor.

Greater Quintessence of Desolation Greater Quintessence of Desolation - This is one of my favorite runes. It, coupled with your Marks will give you 25 ARMOR PENETRATION, and almost all champions start out with about 30. Your basically hitting for TRUE damage, which is AMAZING. It also helps against dragon, where the Marks don't give you full damage because he has 21 armor.

Masteries

These are very self explanatory, but may look very odd at first glance. Both builds utilize a very nice 11/6/13 which is just enough to grab you more armor penetration with complimentary attack speed/crit and improved smite in the offensive tree, bonus resists to stack with the runes in the defensive tree and buff duration/flash mastery in the utility tree. Very nice setup, but masteries can be adjusted if you wish.

Creeping / Jungling

As far as the jungle route it is the most standard one you've ever seen.

Blue Buff -> Wolves -> Wraiths -> Golems -> Red Buff

Here is a video demonstrating it:

(Coming Soon)

Doing the red buff is a tricky matter. If you are confident try to do it before you shop, it lets you gank right after. However, doing it after you shop gives you a longer duration with the actual buff for ganks. Never risk dieing in the jungle, it's bad, puts you behind and most of all HUMILIATING.

Also, get Remove Scurvy at 3 (right after wraiths) AND SPAM IT, I can't stress how important it is. Always try to use your Parrrley to finish off creeps for the bonus gold.

After all this just do buffs/camps as they come for exp between ganks. Don't camp in the jungle until lvl 10, the game becomes a 4v5.

Warding

Wards are also very important. I didn't put them into the build as a "Bonus" or "Optional" item. Every good player needs to buy wards, especially the jungler and support. They give you vision, prevent ganks and let you counter the enemy ganks/jungler, all for the measly price of 75 gold.

Here are some good places to ward:

(coming soon)

Skill Sequence

E > Q > W > Q > Q > R > Q > E > Q > E > R > E > E > W > W > R > W > W

Summoner Spells

Because your a jungler.

Awesome escape spell, since your in the jungle a lot you have many walls to jump across.

The only possible alternative to flash in my opinion, if you prefer it. Gangplank needs an escape ability like most other champions. If you take it, adjust your masteries accordingly.

Farming

Farming is peculier on any jungler. Lower skilled players will think all you get money from is ganks/jungle creeps but that isn't true. Whenever you see an open lane, go in it. Farm the creeps, last hit like most champions. DON'T AUTOATTACK THE CREEPS DURING THE LANING PHASE, IT WILL PUSH THE LANE AND SCREW UP THE LANER'S FARMING CAPABILITIES.

Build 1 - An explanation

When you look at the first build you might go "WTF?!".
To most people Gangplank is just a DPS champion, and that is true in most cases, but this build creates an unstoppable, health regening, damaging, tanky beast that goes 1v3 and gets triple kills. It's amazing. Warmog's Armor is a very situational item, as it only gives Health and Hp/5. HOWEVER, taking an Atma's Impaler and a Force of Nature really maximizes it's capabilties, as both gain stats from max hp AS WELL as give you very needed tankyness. With Atma and FoN you will be hitting and regening like a truck. I won't even bother to explain Wriggle's Lantern and Boots of Speed as you should know by now.

Build 2 - An explanation

This is the build where you will be less surprised. Infinity Edge is a long known "core" item on GP. Trinity Force may be a surprise to some old Gangplank players coming back to him just now, but I won't bother going into too much detail. All I will mention is:
-Movespeed
-Attack Speed
-150% Bonus AD on Parrrley
-Crit Chance
-AD/HP
-More slow
What might a surprise is the lack of a Phantom Dancer and that's simply because you have a zeal in Trinity Force and the stats are basically given to you from Raise Morale. If you want to, get it. But I much prefer the survivability of Banshee's Veil and late-game awesomeness of Last Whisper.

Summary

Thanks for taking the time to read my guide (I hope). Gangplank is an AWESOME champion and has great jungling/ganking capabilities. With a stackable slow, ranged ability, cleanse and speed he is a force to be reckoned with. Please take the time to vote based on how your build of choice does in game, thanks ;) Lots of love

-FriskyPole