Hey guys and welcome to my AP Gangplank build. My request of you is to not immediately dismiss it and read on.

As of the patch on 26/10/2012 the Deathfire Grasp has been nerfed and might be best off traded out, or gotten later and may make this build less viable than previous, but it is still of use.

I know, I know, it isn't very intuitive but it actually is viable. Admittedly, it's best to fill specific niches and may not be usable in soloqueue (mainly due to dodges) but it still is decent and definently worth a try, especially for the specific niches which will be mentioned below.

Ok, now that I have peaked your interest, I will say that Gangplank is very hard to play mid versing a pusher and a roamer, such as Morgana and Karthus, but he can harass them.

While he can't keep farming at the speed of Morgana, he is also very safe against her thanks to the removal of her cc thanks to Remove Scurvy and the fact that Parrrley deals physical damage and as such can't be blocked by that pesky Black Shield.

This means that if played right, Gangplank can be a good choice vsing Morgana

BUT THIS IS NOT HIS BEST MATCHUP

I always contemplate taking Gangplank as a counterpick to the pesky mid lane Malzahar. Remove Scurvy will annoy him all day and you can harass him too. He can push, but not as strongly as some people and as such he is a good choice versing Malzahar.

I take these runes for early game survival and laning strength.

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration are the best for early game damage and even though they won't affect Parrrley, they will affect Grog Soaked Blade and ofcourse, your coup de grace Cannon Barrage.

Greater seal of replenishment allows you to Parrrley spam for harassing and ofcourse for farming for extra gold and distant last hit.

Greater Seal of Armor for autoattack harass as you're melee with the obvious exception of Parrrley. Also useful if the enemy team has an ad jungler.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist for nice early game harassment mitigation

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed arguably the best quints for late game on almost every champion because they scale, and 4.5% movement speed isnt as easy to buy as 15 ability power is, but Greater Quintessence of Ability Power would work too.

Because Gangplank uses mana to gain gold from Parrrley, getting an early philosopher's stone will aid both these goals and is also good for lane sustain. Kage's lucky pick also adds more income and is useful in that its built into one of the best, and most standard ap items in Deathfire Grasp.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity along with Sorcery as well as a helpful blue buff will grant significant cooldown reduction enabling Cannon Barrage to be used more frequently, allows Parrrley to farm more often and Remove Scurvy to sustain easier.

Sheen and the eventual Lich Bane is the single item that turns AP Gangplank from a 100s cooldown ulti; making him deal quite good physical damage too, especially with Parrrley. Lategame, the Lich Bane proc is far more beneficial than a Trinity Force proc.

I really don't need to explain Rabadon's Deathcap or Guardian Angel.

Void Staff does affect your ultimate, and is great if you don't have any flat magic resistance reduction, but if the enemy team doesn't purchase much magic resist, it may be redundant.

This Void Staff is quite controversial, and easily replacable because you deal physical damage besides your ult and your passive, but, it also helps with Deathfire Grasp and also is good if you don't have flat magic resistance reduction, meaning your ultimate will be far more useful, but Last Whisper would effect Parrrley or even Rylai's Crystal Scepter or Zhonya's Hourglass would be good choices.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity once more for cooldown reduction

An early Tear of the Goddess is very easy to fill and aids in your farming quests.

Again, kage's lucky pick and Sheen into Deathfire Grasp and Lich Bane add great burst potential, and then completing Archangel's Staff offers nice stats.

Rabadon's Deathcap and Guardian Angel for extra awesomeness.

Sorcerer's Shoes are the boots of choice on this pack, as we already cap CDR from our other items.

Chalice of Harmony early enables great means to farm with Parrrley as well as much desirable resists.

Kage's lucky pick and Sheen are standard amongst all of these builds, transitioning into the 2 main items: Deathfire Grasp and Lich Bane.

Athene's Unholy Grail is the item that singlehandedly made chalice viable once more. Chalice of Harmony is great early, and always has been, but now that it has an upgrade, much like Hexdrinker, it is now a great item.

Rabadon's Deathcap and Guardian Angel again, for epic boosts to ap and survivability.

Mercury's Treads can replace Ionian Boots of Lucidity, but you already have Remove Scurvy

Rod of Ages is strong and gives you sustain, but to me it doesnt have the synergy needed as you can already sustain well.

Haunting Guise is a good item, especially early game for health and ap as well as a replacement to Sorcerer's Shoes but often this item is best if stacked with Sorcerer's Shoes and Abyssal Mask to enable almost true damage on most targets.

Doran's Ring or a few could be good as opposed to Tear of the Goddess or philosopher's stone as it is very cost efficient and strong early.

Morello's Evil Tome enables you to have low cooldown, thusly allowing you to farm frequently with Parrrley and use Cannon Barrage but lacks the active ability of Deathfire Grasp

Rylai's Crystal Scepter adds tankiness, ability power, utility and may make people stuck in your ultimate for longer. Also, it says 'spell damage' not 'magic damage' so it applies to Parrrley.

Abyssal Mask is a good early game item that synergises strongly with Sorcerer's Shoes but we don't take these, we take Ionian Boots of Lucidity for the cooldown reduction on Cannon Barrage. Even with Sorcerer's Shoes though, this item isn't the greatest choice due to the fact that its aura will likely not be applying during your ultimates usage.

So what does AP actually help with?

Unfortuantly, Grog Soaked Blade does NOT benefit from AP which would make this build even better, but it is still good nonetheless.

Parrrley doesnt benefit from AP directly, but with aid of a Lich Bane it does benefit from AP indirectly, granting a lot of damage, albeit PHYSICAL damage.

Remove Scurvy is on a 1:1 ratio with AP, meaning you can gain significant health and escape from CC at once.

Raise Morale makes you faster and able to chase to land a Parrrley. It also procs Lich Bane enabling you to deal another burst of damage.

Cannon Barrage only has a 20% AP ratio... :'( but.. THATS PER CANNONBALL. 25 Cannonballs are fired, meaning that 165 damage per cannonball, plus 1:5 ratio enables you to deal 265 damage per cannonball at 500 ap, which effectively is up to 6,625 AOE damage.

Admittedly it is impossible for them all to hit, but with proper positioning during a teamfight, this will still deal significant magic damage, and you can deal good physical damage with aid of Parrrley while it is still falling.

Also, it can deal around 4000 AOE damage without AP, but with a voidstaff and AP you can deal so much damage, and as such this is why Gangplank can play AP, but if you miss it, you are useless.

Fairly standard...

Parrrley first for farming and harassing purposes.

Remove Scurvy for sustain and safety.

Raise Morale last as it isn't that useful for AP Gangplank.

Cannon Barrage whenever possible as this is the reason for AP Gangplank.

Flash and Ignite is great for utility, safety and killing and are the most common summoner skills.

Teleport isn't neccessary due to a global ultimate.

Cleanse is also pointless due to Remove Scurvy, as with Heal.

Ghost is also not neccessary thanks to Raise Morale.

Exhaust is good but I would rather take Ignite for synergy with Grog Soaked Blade.

He may be a one-trick pony until Lich Bane, but if that trick is pulling magical flying fairies out of a hat who needs more than one trick?

I ask that before you rate this build, you try it and test it.

Thanks Guys, JAYZORZ.