Gnar General Guide by xAncestor

Introduction

Hey dudes, my name Aikairi, and I play on the North America (or most commonly known as NA) server. I played League of Legends for almost a year now. The lane I main is MidLane, and the champion most commonly used when i'm playing MidLane is Katarina. Anyways, welcome to my guide for Gnar! :D This is my second guide so don't expect something really fabulous or amazing, in addition i'm Silver 5, but climbing up very quicky. But I will try my hardest to be a senpai and give information about Gnar to you. :) Before I start, I did lend some information from Demonata, and Riot Games. Gnar, the Missing Link is a Fighter. Who specializes in teamfight when the time is right, completely disrupts the enemy team's position with his Ultimate, GNAR! and his W, Wallop in his Mega Form, and is a Attack Damage-like Champion when in his Mini Form. But he's most preferably to start fights in his Mega Form. The reason why I played Gnar is because he's extremely fun and have hard mechanics, but most of all, he's kawaii (cute in Japanese) as hell (really). But keep in mind that he's really hard to play at your first try, but you will get the hang of him after a few games, you might take longer than usual to master him if you're new. But, as your senpai, I will tell you how to become a better Gnar. ;)

\(*-*)/ Please comment on my guide, and see if there's any improvement. I will see the comment as soon as possible and try to adjust the things you said. Thank you very much if you did comment on my guide. Also, please vote fairly! :) \(*-*)/

Pros and Cons (Mini Gnar)

Pros

+ Cute. + Have a slow that can be used to catch people efficiently. + have a hop that leaps twice. + Passive gives him alot of survival.

Mini Gnar is a really hard to catch fellow, he haves a slow, a hop, and every 3 attacks grant him movement speed, it's really good to chase and run around, assuming you catch all the boomerangs!

Cons

- To kite, you need to always have your boomerang catch'd, or ready. - Very short range until late game. - Very squishy. - Dosen't kill targets as fast as he wants to.

Gnar have a few cons, he haves very short range until level 18, and he's unable to kite if he dosen't have his boomerang. He's also rather easy to deplete in teamfights, and can't kill targets really fast.

Pros and Cons (Mega Gnar)

Pros

+ All his abilities are Crowd Control. + Really tanky. + His Ultimate, [GNAR!] disrupts enemy team position. + Passive gives him alot of survival.

Mega Gnar, in my opinion, is one of the best teamfighters. His abilities are all Crowd Control, come on, who dosen't want that? He's also super tanky, so he won't die easily.

Cons

- Very slow. - Bad at chasing. - His Ultimate, can sometimes be used wrongly and kill your teammates. - He can't initiate teamfights as well as other tanks.

Mega Gnar is really strong, but of course, he have Cons. He's really bad at chasing enemies, and his Ultimate can sometimes be used to make the enemy fly to your teammates who are real low. He also can't initiate as he dosen't have a reliable dash or leap.

Masteries (Fighter)

Offensive Tree:
Fury - Procs your Hyper easier, and allows you to go into Mega Gnar more quickly.
Butcher - Better Lasthitting.
Brute Force - Who wants more damage? GNAR!
Spell Weaving - After you autoattacked 3 times, all your abilities will do more damage, having it cooldown, get it, it's worth.
Martial Mastery - MORE DAMAGE!
Executioner - Good for long-lasting fights, or in a 1 v 1.
Blade Weaving - After you used a spell 3 times, all your autoattacks will do more damage, having your Cooldown Reduction, get it, it's worth.
Warlord - Good for Autoattacking, or for 1 v 1ing.
Devastating Strikes - "HAHAH!" if they build Armor or Magic Resist against you.
Havoc - All your abilities deal 3% more damage. Definitely worth!

Defensive Tree:
Block - Really good against range champions as they will often auto-attack you if you go for CS, so get it.
Recovery - Dosen't provide much regen, but just take it for safety purposes.
Unyielding Durability.
Veteran's Scars Use it because you're going to shout "YOLO!" in your Mega Form, and because your Mini Form is squishy.
Juggernaut Durability again.

Masteries (Utility)

Offensive Tree:
Fury - Procs your Hyper easier, and allows you to go into Mega Gnar more quickly.
Butcher - Better Lasthitting.
Brute Force - Who wants more damage? GNAR!
Spell Weaving - After you autoattacked 3 times, all your abilities will do more damage, having it cooldown, get it, it's worth.
Martial Mastery - MORE DAMAGE!
Executioner - Good for long-lasting fights, or in a 1 v 1.
Blade Weaving - After you used a spell 3 times, all your autoattacks will do more damage, having your Cooldown Reduction, get it, it's worth.
Warlord - Good for Autoattacking, or for 1 v 1ing.
Devastating Strikes - "HAHAH!" if they build Armor or Magic Resist against you.
Havoc - All your abilities deal 3% more damage. Definitely worth!

Utility Tree:
Fleet of Foot - More movement speed so you can escape ganks.
Scout - So you don't have to be in alot of danger when you want to ward your lane.
Summoner's Insight - The more often Flash is up, the more often you can play agressively.
Alchemist - Alchemist gives you a higher sustain rate.
Culinary Master - Combined with Alchemist, you get really high sustain.

Runes

Greater Mark of Attack Damage - Get this as you're going to Last-hit often and most of your abilities deal Physical Damage.

Greater Seal of Armor - Makes it easier to lane against a AD Champion, especially against a Zed. Can be replaced by Health Seals.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist - AP Casters are going to do alot of damage to you Late Game, so get this.

Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage - Last-hitting and most of your skills are Physical Damage.

Summoners

Flash
Teleports your champion a short distance towards your cursor's location.
You should always get this no matter what champion you're using. Except for a few that can benefit from other Summoner Spells. You can use Flash to escape a gank, "jump" over a wall, or secure a kill. It also combos well with most Summoner Spells.

Ignite
Ignites target enemy champion, dealing 70-410 true damage (depending on champion level) over 5 seconds, grands you vision of the target, and reduce healing effects on them for the duration.
Most of the time you should always get this. It haves alot of good uses. If you're going for a 1 v 1, this is your buddy. You can use it to secure a kill, and such.

Alternatives

Exhaust
Exhausts target enemy champion, reducing their Movement Speed and Attack Speed by 30% for 2.5 seconds and reduces their damage dealt by 50% for the duration.
This is actually quite useful if you're against a Tryndamere, or Zed as it will reduce their Attack Speed and Damage, allowing you to gain the advantage.
Teleport
After channeling for 3.5 seconds, teleports your champion to allied minion, turret or ward.
This is quite useful as it can be used in many ways, it can be used to get back to lane, or secretly teleporting to a ward in bot lane to get kills. But for a cost, weakening your laning phase.
Heal
Restores 95-475 Health (depending on champion level) and grants 30% Movement Speed for 1 second to you and target allied champion. This heal is halved for units recently affected by Summoner Heal.
Heal actually wins Barrier in terms of usefulness, you should try to use it when you're low on health or doing a 1 v 1. Remember, never use heal when champions ignite you unless you are extremely low (100 health). You can also use it to block turret shots as well.
Barrier
Shields your champion for 115-455 (depending on champion level) for 2 seconds.
It haves the same purposes as Heal, but you only get this if the enemy have a spell with Grievous Wounds or Ignite. You can use it to 1 v 1, or block a turret shot.

Skill Sequence

I always get Boomerang Throw and Boulder Toss first as they're your main harass and they deal the most damage out of all your abilities with the exception of GNAR!. Next, I get Hyper first so the damage increases and with my Attack Speed, I will do alot more damage than before, I also gain mobility, and the ability to kit well too. As Hyper gives you movement speed after 3 attacks on the same target. Also, Wallop's cooldown is reduced by 1 second, so you can use the stun more often. The last one is Hop and Crunch as the Attack Speed on Hop scales really bad early game so you definitely will get it last, and in Mega Gnar, Crunch is based off health, which means it isn't going to do alot of damage early as you will not be having any health items. I always get GNAR! at level 6, 11 and 16, as you get more movement speed from Hyper, so better kiting. And in Mega Gnar form, GNAR!'s damage increases by 100 damage every time you level it up, and the slow/stun duration incrases by 0.25 seconds.

Skill Explanation

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 spells.
This is what makes Gnar very hard to control. If you want to chase someone, you rather go Mini Gnar, if you want to go into a 1 v 1 or a teamfight, you rather be in Mega Gnar. So you want to choose to be able to transform or not, so your situation fits your form.He also gains passive stats in each of his forms.

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Boomerang Throw
Gnar throws a boomerang that damages and slows enemies it hits before returning to him. If he catches his boomerang its cooldown is reduced.
This is Gnar's main harass tool. You want this to harass the champion without putting yourself into any possible danger, try to catch the boomerang as it will lower it's cooldown by 60%. You can also use this in the middle of your Hop. So take advantage of that.

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Boulder Toss
Mega Gnar throws a boulder that stops on the first unit hit, damaging and slowing anything nearby. It can then be picked up to reduce the cooldown.
This is what you're going to use to chase enemies or harass. Only use this if you feel that no ganks are coming, unlike Gnar who can just catch his boomerang then proceed to slow.

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Hyper
Gnar's attacks and spells hype him up, dealing bonus damage and granting him movement speed.
You should use this to your advantage when kiting. Use your autoattack, Boomerang Throw, then autoattack, then proceed to catch the boomerang and repeat.

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Wallop
Mega Gnar rears up on his hind legs and smash down on the area in front of him, stunning enemies in a area.

You should use this to stop Channel Ultimates or stun the Attack Damage Carry, also it haves a short range so keep mind of that, this is great to initiate with your Crunch as it literally gains extra range.

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Hop
Gnar leaps to a location and bounces off the head of any unit he lands on, traveling further.
You should always preserve this, so you can use it if you're being ganked, or to chase. One thing to note is that if you use this after you have 100 Fury, you will bounce off first, then Crunch. After you use Hop, you will gain Attack Speed, so it's good to get Hyper stacks. You can jump over a wall with this.

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Crunch
Mega Gnar lands with earth-shattering force, dealing damage in an area around him.

Always use this to engage teamfights, or to escape. You can jump over a wall with this.

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GNAR!
Mega Gnar throws everything around him in a chosen direction, dealing damage and slowing them. Any enemy that hits a wall is stunned and takes bonus damage.

Very good to disrupt enemy position, try to make them hit a wall if you can, you can also do the trick which I call "I don't need to move", first, I stun them with Wallop, then I flash to the opposite of the wall, then use my GNAR! to push them to the wall to secure the kill. You can also use this to stop channeled Ultimates or abilities.

Overview

When playing a game, you have to take a moment and think about the strengths and weaknesses both teams have. Gnar is able to fill many roles on a team which makes him very versatile. This is a very good thing to have on a champion. He can fill a split pushing role, a hyper carry ranged / bruiser role, probably even a straight tank if played correct, very good in kite compositions, and can even peel well. There are even more smaller niches he fits in comps for which I won't go into too much detail. Having the ability to take a moment pre-game during loading screen and think about what sort of style you should play will go a long way.

Splitpushing

Gnar is naturally a great split pusher. Mana-less champions tend to snowball the hardest, and Gnar is no exception. Gnar is very mobile and scales really well into the mid / late game, this is the perfect mixture of talents that makes this champion such a deadly spit pusher. The reason why speed is important when split-pushing is because not only can you move around the map quicker to dodge your foes if they come to defend, but also be able to get to the enemy turret fast and give the enemy team less time to react. A smart tactic when split pushing is having a lot of vision while you split push, if your team is, for example, pushing mid and you notice one of there less mobile champions are coming top to stop your split push, you can really screw the enemy team. You can do this when the enemy that came top ( or bot it doesn't matter ) is committed at least three fourths of the way to come defend against you, you can start running down ( or up ) to your team. This means you will get to your team far faster then the guy who came to defend against your split push. There for you will have a chance to 5v4 for a good 15-20 seconds, or siege and take an objective. The little moves like this may seem a bit underwhelming but can be ultimately impossible to deal with as the enemy team giving the circumstances.

Positioning in Teamfights

In team fights Gnar is very position reliant. Lets just say the for the purpose of this hypothetical fight scene you start off in little Gnar form. You want to position like an very glass cannon marksman. If you get cc'd while in mini Gnar form its pretty much game over. The transition from mini Gnar to mega Gnar is very big, you are not kiting and stutter stepping while watching your positioning. Granted you must read the situation, is the team fight going well? Then double jump into a transforming beast and dive right in to start rekt'ing. If the enemy team is winning the fight pretty handily you must judge if you jumping in is really going to help the situation and not just hand them another free kill. Once you jump in or even if you just transform your mobility is dramatically decreased, so before you transform you must ask yourself, will I 1) turn the tides of the fight with my AOE damage and beast mode, or 2) get into a situation where I wont be able to take anyone with me and I cannot escape since I got slightly to close.

Synergies and Counters

Synergies to Gnar

Lulu’s kit handily fills in Gnar’s weaknesses and supplements his strengths in both forms. She can shield Mini Gnar with Help, Pix! whenever he’s under attack, and Whimsy allows him to kite better, also, Whimsy gives Mega Gnar all the movement he needs to help him stick to the enemy team and dish out his AoE damage.


In late game, Gnar thrives when he has a primary tank initiator to follow up on. Amumu’s perfect: his Q to R combo locks down enemy teams, meaning Mega Gnar can Crunch in and add in Amumu’s AoE damage with his own while they're snared.


The ball delivery system lives on whenever Mega Gnar leaps into the enemy team! Combining Crunch and Command: Shockwave deals devastating damage, and Orianna can follow up with Command: Dissonance, which slows the enemies and speeds Mega Gnar’s otherwise lumbering gait.

Counters to Gnar

Teemo outranges [Gnar and deals enough damage over time with his Toxic Shots to beat him. The Demon can also blind Gnar in basic attack battles (or his face), or turn to Move Quick to dodge everything from boomerangs and boulders to Mega Gnar.


Though Gnar can trade well with Irelia over the first few levels, by level 5, she has all the true damage, sustain, speed and resilience needed to beat Gnar in a fight, meaning the Missing Link has little choice but to farm under tower and rely on jungler support.


Fizz is a problem for both of Gnar’s forms. He’s nimble and powerful enough to burst down Mini Gnar before he has the chance to transform, and Playful / Trickster can dodge Mega Gnar’s considerable power and crowd control, including GNAR!

Teamfights

In Teamfights, you will want to be in Mega Form. First, engage with your Crunch, then Flash If you need to, then use GNAR! to pull the enemy Attack Damage Carry to your team, allowing the highest damage source to be dead easily, then proceed to kill the mage, once your Rage Bar goes around 20~, you will need to back out. If the teamfight isn't over yet, then keep using Boomerang Throw to kill the tanks.

Early Game

At the start of the game, you will want to get to Level 3 as soon as possible by trying to last-hit. Don't push the lane too hard and never use Hop except if you're going to be damaged by your opponent's main spell or going to be in Mega Form. At level 3, you can start to play more aggressively if you haven't gave out a single kill yet, you will want to keep harassing them with your Boomerang Throw, once they're low, proceed to get 100 Rage and use your combo on the enemy, use Ignite or Flash if needed to secure a kill. If they don't die, they will lose XP and CS by recalling.

Mid to Late Game

This goes back to ultimately knowing what your team needs and abusing the weaknesses of the enemy team composition. If the time calls for split pushing then do that, if you need to group up and kite the enemy team then stutter step the league points out of your keyboard. This type of decision making comes just by playing the game. Once you have failed enough times you will eventually start making these type of calls correctly.

Videos

Gnar Champion Spotlight

Thank you!

Thanks for reading this guide, and I hope you enjoy it and maybe learn something new. If you want to add me in League of Legends, my name is "Aikairi". Although I almost always play Normals instead of Solo Queue. I'm also Silver by the way.

Special Thanks to:
Everyone that fixed my mistakes and gave alternative options!

Cya guys. Later.