AVAST! Welcome to my Gangplank guide. Gangplank has been one of my favourite champions in League for a long time, but due to the meta changing constantly (and several nerfs) he's fallen out of favour as of late. I've been looking at different ways to make him work in the current game.

Enter Bankplank (I didn't invent the name). The aim of Bankplank is simple. Grab all the gold income items, runes and masteries and last hit with your Parrrley for huge amounts of gold. Then, buy all the items you see fit with your riches and become the most farmed up badass pirate that ever sailed the seven seas. By 20 minutes or so you'll have a Trinity Force and maybe even a B.F Sword and some defensive items making you ridiculously overpowered midgame and eventually that lategame pirate menace that we all used to love so much.

The reason this works is simple. Most top laners want to fight, kill you and snowball. But Bankplank doesn't want to fight, he wants to farm farm farm farm all day long at his tower to get his riches. You scale a lot better than most top laners (especially the newer ones) and you eventually out damage them and be able to bully them back. His playstyle is VERY similar to Nasus, but a lot safer... and a pirate instead of a dog.

Bankplank however is not all sunshine and treasure islands, and you should never blindly pick him into an enemy team who knows how to deal with him. There are other reasons to pick him and not pick him but I'll go over that later in this guide.

Like Bankplank or want to know what he plays like? Check out these guys

Nasus - A weak early game bruiser that farms all day and becomes the single biggest threat in league of legends.
Shen - Poor early game dueling and tends to farm and use his ultimate to apply pressure to other lanes.
Veigar - A mage that farms with his Q to become the most powerful burst caster.

I think this is a very important subject that many guides tend to forget to talk about. There are often times when picking a certain champion can screw over your entire team, even if they do fit the basic role. Gangplank is no different (especially Bankplank). Bankplank does not make a safe first pick (although sometimes I get away with it) even if you end up banning 3 of his counters. Let's cover when it's safe to pick Bankplank.

NEVER CHOOSE RISKY CHAMPION THAT COULD POTENTIALLY LOSE YOU A LANE IN SOLOQUEUE UNLESS YOU'RE 100% YOU CAN WIN OR SURVIVE THE LANING PHASE AND NOT INTERFERE WITH YOUR TEAM MATES PICKS. Bankplank is one of those champions, so take care when deciding to play him.

Your team

The very first thing you need to (if you can) is look at your team composition and see if Bankplank fits. Bankplank is not a tank or a good initiator, so make sure you have either a tanky jungler or Galio. You literally NEED someone to start a team fight, so if you're top and the jungler is Shaco, I recommend someone like Malphite instead.

While mid and bottom aren't too important, it's worth a quick glance to see how their early game is. For example, if you have a Mordekaiser mid, he is very susceptible to ganks. If your top lane opponent decides to give up on killing you and roam, your mid is at risk of getting ganked. In this case it may be best to pick a top laner who can push and keep your opponent at bay rather than a farmer.

The enemy top laner

Next, see if you can find out who their top laner is. Sometimes it's obvious, other times it's not. From there you can judge whether or not you can counter with Bankplank. For a list of counters and lane matchups, see below. It is important, as Bankplank can be easily countered by certain characters.

The enemy jungler

Finally the enemy jungler. You basically need to look at your lane opponent and jungler and judge whether the both of them are strong enough to take you on while you're under your tower. As long as one of them is Tanky and the other can deal enough damage, you can be tower dove. For example, if you're top lane is Malphite and their jungler is Lee Sin, most likely they'll be able to destroy you under the tower 2v1 which is not good for Bankplank. Depending on how the match goes (usually if the jungler is getting fed elsewhere) it won't matter anyway.

Proper Runes are very important, so make sure you have a spare page for Bankplank. If you're short, you could use this as your generic Support runepage and just use it when you play Bankplank. Your call though.

Greater Quintessence of Gold - You want three of these for the maximum of gold income. There are other great Quint choices to enhance Gangplank's early game but Bankplank needs all the income he can get.

Greater Mark of Desolation - Pirates hate armour, so we should do away with it. This is enough to shred most champion's base armour and will also help you last hit with your Parrrley and autoattacks.
Greater Mark of Critical Damage - I need to toy around with these some more but in theory these marks would make your critical damages sky rocket. Generally smart people will build armour against you and you may often find yourself buying a Last Whisper. If this is the case, then by all means grab these Marks and try them out.

Greater Seal of Armor - Pretty much everyone has these, and for good reason. This is so you don't get destroyed by your lane opponent, who is most likely going to be an AD bruiser of some sort. Perfect for Bankplank, because they're going to want to kill you early as possible.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist - Usually you'll be against a Bruiser so early magic resistance isn't too important. However, once laning is over people are going to be throwing all kinds of spells at you. MR is expensive, and you may want to buy some anyway but this will give you a nice boost for mid to lategame team fights.
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist - Flat MR is good if you're up against a laner who does Magic Damage. Generally you don't want to be facing pure mages like Vladimir or Kennen (see below) but if you feel you're going to be getting a lot of magic damage early on then opt for these.

Masteries are good because you can often change them on the fly before the game begins (if you're playing Draft/Ranked). However, most of the time I use the following for my all purpose Bankplanking.

Offense Tree

You want to pick up Brute Force , Alacrity and Weapon Expertise . The 10% Armour Penetration is amazing and since you're (eventually) a damage dealer, you need this. I run one point in Butcher for the sake of early minion killing (you'll be doing lots of it). If you find you're often taking Ignite (see below) then instead grab a point in Summoner's Wrath for extra damage after igniting someone.

Defense Tree

Here you'll opt for Hardiness , Durability and Veteran's Scars for some early defense against your lane opponent. You don't have much choice with the last point so I generally pick a single point in Resistance for a tiny MR boost. Take Summoner's Resolve if you find yourself running Heal I guess.

Utility Tree

Your remaining 12 points will go into Expanded Mind , Swiftness , Greed and Summoner's Insight . Expanded Mind is good because Gangplank chugs mana early on. Gangplank is already very fast, so exploit this with Swiftness . Greed is obvious, MORE GOLD. If you took Teleport (you should have) then grab a point in Summoner's Insight for the slight teleport speed increase.

Unless the meta changes dramatically somehow, you only care about 3 summoner spells.

Flash - I shouldn't have to explain what this spell is capable of, so just take it. Most of the time you'll be using it defensively to escape, but can be used to score a final autoattack or Parrrley to secure the killing blow. Gangplank is already very fast, so don't bother with Ghost.

Teleport - This is the most useful spell on Bankplank by far. Usually you want to burn the first use of this early after you get your 800g Philosopher's Stone so you can get back to lane and farm. By the time your second use is up you'll have it ready for getting back to lane after being bullied, assisting with securing Dragon or ganking.

Ignite - You probably never want this on Bankplank unless you know you can kill your lane opponent and need the extra damage to secure the kill. It's an option, but rarely used for this particular way of playing Gangplank

Grog Soaked Blade (Passive) - Gangplank's passive DOT may not seem like anything special (compared to say, Hemorrhage), but it can help you out. Mainly it's for the mid/lategame slowing power to your autoattacks and Parrrley, granting you a way to stick to enemies. The DOT can also sometimes net you a kill if you're lucky enough. As for early game, it can sometimes pick up a missed last hit.

Parrrley (Q) - This is your farming tool, max it first. See a minion with low health? Press Q and receive extra gold. Eventually this becomes your chasing/murdering/poking tool but contrary to popular belief, not early game. Harassing most tanky bruisers is a waste of time, so when your Q is off cooldown, focus on getting last hits. It eats mana very early on, but thanks to the recent mana buff it's possible to farm FOREVER at your tower (as long as you have a Philosopher's Stone). Do not spam this early on. Late/midgame however, you can spam this forever and watch heads explode.

Remove Scurvy (W) - Eat oranges and it's K. When someone burns their CC on you, eat your fruit and continue what you were doing. It's that simple. When laning you want to save this skill for when your opponent (or their jungler) tries to kill you. I max this second for the healing property, however you have to be careful when to use it as it has a large mana cost and cooldown. If you're getting harassed, try to use it when you know you're safe from being ganked until it's off cooldown again. I must stress though, do not spam your oranges! You WILL run out of mana and it will leave you helpless to defend yourself or farm with your Parrrley.

Raise Morale (E) - This is still an amazing skill, but I max it last most of the time due to the nature of Bankplank. You want to trigger this skill when your jungler comes to gank or you need some extra damage to help clear a wave attacking your tower. Other than that, try to save it for the action, especially in team fights later on.

Cannon Barrage (R) - Your ARRRRRRR has two purposes for Bankplank. More gold, and turning the tides of a team fight. As soon as you hit level 6 you need to start being map aware, looking for potential engages that can net your other laners a kill and a juicy assist for yourself. Since most of the time you're just farming anyway, you need to constantly scan the map for any potential assist gold. Here's some pointers to help you land your ultimates:

• When you see a jungler going in for a mid or bot lane gank, throw down your ult behind your enemies after they initiate. Even if it looks like they're going to get the kill, you simply can't keep track of who has what escapes left. This can help get the kill, and while you don't really WANT to steal kills, the assist gold will help you a lot.
• If you see a full out fight (people burning all their spells on each other) break out in any lane (or jungle), just drop your ult immediately on top of the enemy. Sometimes it will help, sometimes it won't, but it's worth the risk.
• If you see the enemy team towerdiving one of your laners, drop down the ult around the tower. If your allies react they may be able to pick up a kill, and if not, maybe the tower will get the last hit and score you the kill.
• If your jungler is coming for a gank, SAVE YOUR ULTIMATE for the gank. Kills are worth more than assists, so secure them.
• On that note, if it's midgame and you think you can take on your lane opponent 1v1, save your ultimate for when you engage them.
• DO NOT use your ultimate to initiate a fight in a lane UNLESS you specify that you're going to in chat/skype/etc. Also before you do this, judge whether it will actually help. If your laners are lower level you may end up just baiting them to their deaths.
• DO NOT use your ultimate to attempt to save a life unless you're 100% sure it will save them or turn the tides of the battle. You are not Shen (but being map aware is great for both champions).
• Even if you missed an opportunity to help someone in lane and score an assist, check the remaining health of the enemies just in case you can get a cheese kill. If you think you can, try to land your ult dead center on top of them so they have little chance of getting out of it.
• If your team is unable to secure Dragon and the enemy team is doing it, drop your ultimate. You have a very low chance of stealing it if the jungler is there, but it has happened a lot for me. Same with Baron and even jungle buff camps sometimes (don't do this if you're going to need your ultimate for a team fight soon).

Try to help out your team and don't get greedy with your ultimates and you should be okay. One important thing to remember though: PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR POSITION IN LANE! If you're scanning the map because a bunch if icons clustered up, be sure to move away from your creeps behind your tower. You don't want to give your top lane an opportunity to get a cheese kill on you just because you looked away for 3 seconds. Trust me, it happens!

Since there is no build set in stone on any champion, I will only talk about your core items and other useful options.

Staring items

The standard start for most champions these days. It makes sense. A bit of cheap sustain and movement speed so you can't get caught out close to your tower. I rarely ever go off this path unless I'm against someone with heavy AD harass, in which case I would buy a Dorans Shield.

Early Game

The three GP10 items you care about. Philosopher's Stone is pretty much mandatory for Bankplank to farm with his Parrrley, so you want to recall and Teleport back in with one right away. From there grab a heart of gold for a little bit of health, then get your crit blade. Try to get these three items as soon as you can. This may not be possible in some situations but the sooner the better.

Mid Game

These are the boots choices for Bankplank. You want choose your boots depending on your lane opponent. If your opponent has lots of magic harass or CC, grab Mercury's Treads. If they have high AD output, grab Ninja Tabi for the passive and armour. Lastly, if you don't care about the defenses grab Ionian Boots of Lucidity for cooldowns, which will help you greatly.


These are quite expensive items for mid game, but you'll be surprised at how much gold you have. That's the name of the game with Bankplank, you'll easily have enough money to buy a trinity force 20 minutes in if you've been farming properly and been getting assists with your ultimate, and then some.

So first grab your Sheen when you can, then prioritize Phage. Sheen alone will up your damage quite a bit, so you can start to think about poking your lane opponent down and killing them (usually with the help of your jungler). Once you've got trinity force, the game changes. Look for opportunities to leave your lane or murder your lane opponent once you get this item. You're now Gangplank, back from the dead!

Then you should decide whether you want some defensive item (check who's getting fed) or start building your Infinity Edge, starting with whatever components you can get first. I usually try to get a little bit tanky before I start building my big damage item, so consider for a Giant's Belt for a future Warmog's Armor before working on your Infinity Edge.

Late Game

Late game you should be looking at who your opponents are, how fed they are and who needs to die first. Therefore, I will simply list all the useful items that I would recommend considering on Gangplank.

Last Whisper - If the enemy team is building armour you need this. I usually get this every game at some point, usually after Infinity Edge. If you're well ahead, you can skip getting defensive items completely and just grab this to put the nail in the coffin. Otherwise, just pick it up after. Do not miss this item if you notice your enemies buidling Chain Vests etc.

Warmog's Armor - A health stacking item to go along with your farming. You should always consider grabbing a Giant's Belt at some point to keep you alive in team fights. This is what you upgrade it into. It will make you a tanky murder machine, and unless an enemy is fed and killing you, you'll be very hard to kill.

Atma's Imailer - This is the item you get once you've built your Warmog's Armor and you feel like their damage isn't enough to kill you. If you don't require any huge defensive boosts, this will make your damage ridiculous and grant you more crits and armour. Prioritize Last Whisper over this if they're building armour against you though.

Force of Nature - The only magic resist item you generally want is this. If you see your enemy AP carry (or jungler) getting a little ahead early, you may want to invest in an early Negatron Cloak before you upgrade it fully into a FON. It also gives movespeed and good health regen, which is awesome.

Frozen Heart - Amazing item, but your tanky jungler should generally pick this up. If he hasn't and the enemy AD is doing work, it's a must have. The passive alone is worth it, but the cooldowns and armour will help you out in battle.

Randuin's Omen - A great item with amazing defensive stats, and you can turn your Heart of Gold into it. Grab this if the enemy has some big AD threats. Also DON'T FORGET ABOUT THE ACTIVE! It's very useful.

Guardian Angel - A great item to finalize any build. I shouldn't have to explain this one. If you're putting the hurt out on the enemy team you're going to get focused. Even your flash and fruit won't save you in an endgame team fight. This however, will. Try not to waste it's passive though, so no face checking bushes. If you do, you may wind up using the passive and losing your life.

Miscellaneous

Sight Ward Sight Ward - Sight wards are very important for ANY POSITION OR CHAMPION ON THE TEAM. There are different times for wards, but generally near mid-endgame you'll always want a few in your pocket. Sight wards are so important, they get their own section! See below for details.

Elixirs - Elixirs are generally purchased once you've finalized your build, but don't be afraid to pick them up before then. After all, you should have an incredible amount of income. I like to grab some just before a big fight is going to happen (usually when contesting Baron or Dragon). If you can't afford all 3, grab a Red Elixir first for damage and health, then a Green Elixir for attack speed and crit, then finally the Blue Elixir for Cooldowns.

Oracle's Elixir - Oracle's Elixir allows you to see and destroy wards and stealthed opponents. Your support and tank will be picking these up, but if for some reason they don't have one (generally after a team fight) and it's getting to late game, make sure you purchase one (you're rich anyway!). This is especially important if the enemy team has someone like Akali, Shaco, Twitch, Evelynn, Rengar or Vayne. Don't go buying out of the blue though, because it will make you a target outside of teamfights. Once you die with Oracles, it's gone and you have to buy another.

Laning Phase

The first thing you want to do in your lane is get there. If you've helped with a jungle invasion you may want to burn your Teleport early to get back faster, although sometimes this isn't desirable and will set you back unless you get some assist money out of it and bought some items.

Your job is to now farm. Nothing else. You shouldn't even interact with your lane opponent unless they're doing something stupid. Pretend they're not there and dodge their spells/autoattacks and proceed to farm from a safe distance. Only autoattack to last hit creeps if you know you aren't going to get damaged in the process, otherwise just use your Parrrley. DO NOT PUSH YOUR LANE, only get last hits. You WANT your lane opponent to push you to your tower. This is how Bankplank works.

You may notice that your mana is falling hard, so make sure you have 800 gold or more and push your lane a little bit and recall back to base. Grab a Philosopher's Stone and a couple of wards if you can, then teleport back to your lane so you don't miss out on any farm. Usually teleport won't be useful until midgame anyway so you may as well burn it early. Now your objective is to farm farm farm farm farm farm farm until the cows come home. Again, just ignore your lane opponent. You'll deal with him later...

By now you should be level 6 and watching the map for opportunities to use your ultimate (see above). Your next trip back should be when your lane opponent goes home to buy and stops pushing your lane. As soon as you notice he's gone, push the lane back a little if necessary and recall. You now want to grab the rest of your gold generation items and upgrade your boots if you can. You may even be able to start on your Sheen (start with the Sapphire Crystal). Also buy wards if you can afford/have slots for them. I try to leave base with one or two depending on how long I feel I'm going to be hanging around farming.

Mid Game

You should have a ton of money by now, and should be able to afford Trinity Force and some other damage items. Sell your Philosopher's Stone first if you need an item slot, as it is generally the most useless of the three and is only there to keep you in lane. When you need to sell the next one, decide whether you're going to upgrade them into a new item or not, and sell accordingly.

Your objective now is to try and help out in team fights, push towers and of course, farm with your Parrrley. Dragon is a key objective early/mid game and both teams want that extra gold. Your ultimate will come in handy, but if you've got nothing better to do always teleport down there to give a helping hand. Do this especially if your top laner is down there. 4v5's are never fun you know. If for some reason you got caught and can't make it in time, just push your top lane as hard as you can.

When it comes to full blown team fights, you want to focus down the enemy squishies who (should be) doing the most damage. Of course, you're not Olaf, you can't just dive past their tanks, bruisers and supports to do that. Instead, attack the ones who are diving your team mates and suddenly turn on the mages and carries once they get in range and stick to them when you can. Don't forget your autoattacks hurt a lot, and you have a perma-slow to chase people down. DO NOT do this if it means abandoning your team though. Scare carries away if you can, and try to separate the team. Last but not least, try to land your ult where the majority of the fight is going to take place. Are they initiating you? Drop it ontop of them. Are you initiating with your tank? Place it slightly behind them.

Late Game

The scariest part of the game. Both teams have lots of items and are trying to contest Baron and push for the win. Dying can mean a lost Baron fight, an Inhibitor or even the game. If your support isn't warding, you may want to sacrifice an item slot for wards. Also if you have spare gold lying around and can't finish your next big item, grab some Elixers ( Elixir of Fortitude-> Elixir of Agility-> Elixir of Brilliance priority). This is where you have to rely on your supports to ward correctly and tanks to lead the charge to get the perfect initiation. As soon as you catch someone out of position that you can safely pick off, ping them and drop your ult to help single them out and destroy them. If you can't, you'll have to wait for your tank and just try to poke with your Parrrley.

If you manage to make it a 4v5 or better, decide whether it's best to either push, challenge baron or head home. Deciding this is simple. If you win a team fight and you've all got capable health for Baron, by all means take it. If your minions are pushing a tower and you're fairly close to it, push towers instead. If you're low, see it's possible to push with your team to try and get as many structures as possible without getting picked off. Most importantly, USE YOUR PINGS! Ping when you decide what you want to do. There is no single leader in LoL, but by spamming pings you can (hopefully) help co-odinate your team a little better to do the most logical thing. Also take dragons when you have chance. Gangplank can solo dragon very easily after Trinity Force, but do not get caught out when doing it alone.

There are so many guides on where/how to ward the map for you and your team, but I'm not going to go into too much detail about that. You should know that wards are vital to the success of your lane and your team, and if you ignore their importance you are letting your team down. Doesn't matter if you're playing ranked, draft, normals or blind pick, BUY WARDS! If you like winning, make sure the map has wards where your team needs them.

They are especially important to Bankplank, because he is vulnerable to ganks and towerdives. He also provides very little lane pressure, so knowing where your lane opponent is leaving to go gank or counter jungle is very important. However, Bankplank can sometimes have an issue of not having slots for wards due to all his monkeymaking items. Just remember to always leave your base with 2 if you can afford them and have slots for them after purchasing items. Do not sell your items (except Philospher's Stone when it's no longer required, and your Health Potions) for ward slots as it will set you back. Here I'll give you a quick rundown of when to buy and place wards.

Early/Mid Game

After your first recall to base, if you have enough money for a ward or two after your Philospher's stone grab them. Otherwise you'll have to wait until next time, so just play very safe if this happens. From then on, always try to have 2 wards on you if you can. Here's some examples of where you should be placing your wards depending on which team you're on and who you're fighting.

Blue Side

When laning against someone who isn't pushing your lane (for example, Shen), you will want a ward in the enemy's tribush and one near the Baron pit. This covers both gank positions greatly and allow you to farm safely. This will not protect you from bush ganks in the lane however so do not drop your guard completely. If you can only afford one you may want to put a ward straight into the river bush so you can see where your opponent is going if they decide to leave the lane.
If your lane opponent is going all out and shoving the lane to your tower (i.e Yorick), drop a ward in the river bush and in your own tri-bush. This way you can see if your enemy jungler is going to help your laner towerdive you (in which case you can flee and call for help). They usually sit in that bush and wait while the laner pushes the minions to the tower. With a ward they, you should have plenty of time to react and escape.

Purple Side

Same as blue side. When fighting a passive laner, try to always have a ward in your tri-bush and in the river near the Baron pit. This gives you a good amount of protection, however you are still vulnerable to lane ganks so be careful of those lane bushes!
Purple side is kind of great for pushy opponents, because generally you will only need a single ward: in your tri-bush. Junglers rarely tower dive from the complete back end of the purple side tower. If you do have a spare, you may as well donate it to your mid/jungler by placing it at the bottom jungle entrance near the river. Alternatively if you're scared of getting lane ganked and towerdived, you can put it in the bush closest to your tower in the lane.

Late Game

I'm pretty sure you've seen this picture before, or something like it. It gives you some good places to place wards. Judge where your team is going to be expecting the enemy to come from and ward the area. I don't think I need to go into much detail about this so just be smart and don't waste wards... or forget to buy them!

Here are some matchups I have experienced while picking Bankplank. Use the following information to judge whether you stand a chance in your lane or not. I will keep adding to this list the more champions I face as Bankplank in soloqueue.

Safe to pick Bankplank

Nasus

If for some reason they pick Nasus against you, you want to change builds and go for a more offensive based Gangplank. Nasus is a ticking timebomb, all he wants to do is farm too. Go look up a more offensive build and try to poke him out of lane. While you could just farm up with Nasus and just ignore each other, it's not worth the risk. Gangplank scales very well into late game... Nasus scales infinitely (seriously) into late game.

Shen

He wasn't banned?... Huh. Well Shen is another passive farmer like yourself, but harder to kill than Nasus. You will both be using your global ultimates to assist the team, however Shen's Stand United is way better than yours. You need to keep an eye on Shen's position and attempt to either follow him with Teleport, or use your ultimate to deter him from saving a life or initiating a gank. You can kill him on your own once you get some items but... it will take a while as Shen usually builds VERY tanky.

Pantheon

This is hilarious because generally Pantheon is considered a good counter to Gankplank. His Shield will block his bullets, that ruins Gangplank right? NOPE, not Bankplank. Bankplank can simply farm up by his tower and not give a damn about Pantheon. Gangplank scales incredibly well compared to Pantheon, so you'll rarely lose your lane. HOWEVER, let your other lanes know about this as Pantheon will likely try to snowball elsewhere with his Grand Skyfall because there's no way he'll be able to kill you without some HEAVY assistance. As for laning against him, try to keep out of his spear range and IMMEDIATELY eat oranges if he jumps on you to negate his Heartseeker Strike damage.

Jayce

Jayce has some very annoying poke, but you should be fast enough to react to his gate/plasma combo. His auto attack range is pretty decent too but you should be okay to just farm at the tower pretty much forever. He may try to harass you with his To The Skies! / Shock Blast too, which does hurt but is generally not enough to push you out of lane. Unless he builds very tanky, you can pretty much take him on once you've got your trinity force as long as he hasn't got fed elsewhere.

Nautilus

Nautilus top lane is perfect for Bankplank. He won't ever be able to kill you BUT he can CC lock you down, which is bad news if the jungler is around. Just don't over extend and keep a ward handy and you'll be fine. He may try to kill you under your tower but he'll NEVER have the damage to do it on his own, so just kite him around it and he'll either give up or you can cheese kill him. Another thing to note is Nautilus cannot push to save his life, so feel free to teleport gank and help out the team once you've got a damage item (like Sheen).

Can use Bankplank to some extent

Wukong

Wukong will harass you when you dare get near creeps if he knows what he's doing. You need to play very safe and request a gank or two nice and early to stop him from becoming strong, because as soon as he gets tanky he WILL dive you with his ultimate. Just play very safe and try not to feed him, as he gets very strong after a few kills.

Renekton

Renekton is one of those champs that loves to get into fights and snowball. You can deny him this to an extent, but once he gets a few items he will be able to towerdive and kill you with his ultimate Dominus. Before it gets to that point, be sure to request a gank or two to keep him down.

Malphite

Malphites generally build a bit of AP and constantly spam you with rocks and pound the ground to wear you down. To deal with this, just eat fruit if you seem him advance after his Seismic Shard so you can get out of the way of his Ground Slam. Eventually he WILL be very capable of tower diving you, so call out to your jungler to help you once he starts pushing. Malphite can't 2v1 as long as you have enough health saved up.

PICK ANOTHER CHAMPION

Cho'gath

Cho'gath is one of those characters you really have to shut down, or else they become unkillable (due to Feast). You can farm usually in peace, but he'll start ignoring you and will eat your tower. Then he'll proceed to eat you. You'll need your jungler to baby sit you and kill him constantly, and that's not a good thing.

Singed

Another character that farms and snowballs. Singed has to be dealt with early on, or else he becomes an unkillable nuisance. Same as Cho'gath, you want to constantly be shutting him down, and Gangplank just can't do that.

Olaf

A good Olaf will wreck you in lane, be very aggressive and Reckless Swing every time you dare near go a creep. Just one kill ahead and Olaf will demonstrate how snowballing works in League of Legends. Do not feed him and run away when you think he's capable of diving, or get your jungler to camp the **** out of your lane.... orrrrrr pick another champion!!

Fiora

I was privileged to fight a Fiora as Bankplank one day... then I wanted to ban her every game. As soon as she hits 6 you'll get tower dived. Ignite and her ultimate, Blade Waltz, is something your fruit is useless against. Do not pick Gangplank against her.

Trundle

Odd as it may sound, I managed to face off with a Trundle one game in top lane of all things. Trundle is very tanky and hits like a truck early on with his Rabid Bite. Once he gets some items he will be tower diving you or go wrecking other lanes, so you can't do too much to stop him.

Nidalee

I haven't fought an AP Nidalee top yet but the AD variety usually build tanky DPS. Her cat form is very strong and she's very slippery with that and her heals. She's also super safe, so shutting her down in lane is very difficult. She'll eventually get tired of your farming and go for the tower, so bad choice here. Pick another champion.

Ranged AD Carries

Sometimes you'll get an AD carry at top lane in an attempt to bully you. If you can't see a good top lane champion in champion select, you need to prepare for an AD carry lane. To do this, you should NOT follow this build and go for a more tanky DPS/poke Gangplank so you can trade with their autoattacks. If you don't, you'll just get dominated.

2v1 Lane

If for some reason you end up against two lane opponents, you need to play even safer than before. Bankplank is pretty decent against 2v1 lanes early game because of his nature to ignore his opponents and farm under the tower. There's no real strategies I can offer due to the fact there's so many deadly combinations you could face. Just play safe, farm up and ask your jungler for ganks. You'll be higher level than your opponents and they'll probably be out of position a lot, making them very vulnerable for ganking.

I would have written this guide completely in pirate speak, but I feel like useful information is better if it's clear and understandable.

Thanks for reading my Bankplank guide! It's my first (and probably last) one and I would appreciate any feedback you can throw at me, negative or otherwise. It may seem like a troll build at first glance, but I've won several games with this and it's a well known build. I can post replays and such if necessary but if you didn't believe it worked I doubt you'd have read this far down anyway.

Good luck! May your top lane be filled with infinite treasures!