Gragas General Guide by CheapKill

Introduction

Hi guys I'm back with another guide, today I'll be showing you my way of playing Gragas in dominion. Now I won't claim to be the best dominion player, in fact I only average around 1150 elo.

I do feel that I am still a good dominion player and Gragas is a great champion for both lanes his pushing past level 9 is amazing, he can clear the caster creeps with one Barrel Roll and can easily hold a turret 1v2 once I've managed a 1v3 anyway lets get started.

Runes

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Greater Mark of Magic Penetration are the only ones I'd recommend. These are standard Marks on any AP caster, there is no replacement for them. Magic penetration helps you ignore some of target's magic resist, while dealing more damage to them than you usually would.

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Greater Seal of Scaling Health provides you with a great amount of health, which gets higher as you level, at level 18 you get 174.96 health. This helps out as you are able to get more hits then normally would be able to handle.

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Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power I went with scaling ability power because on dominion you start at level 3 and level fast. That being said this makes Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power a great choice. As you'll have more ability power at level 18 then you would with just using Greater Glyph of Ability Power

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Greater Quintessence of Cooldown Reduction are great quintessences to take for Gragas, like on most AP casters. You want to be able to cast your spells as fast as possible, this will allow you to cast more spells in a shorter period of time. Allowing you to poke more with your Barrel Roll.

Masteries

These are pretty basic for an AP caster, "21 in offensive 9 in defensive". If you wanted you could put 3 in the utility tree for Fleet of Foot. I don't recommend it though.

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OFFENSIVE TREE Tier 1 // 4 in Sorcery for high CDR. Tier 2 // 1 in Expose Weakness great for windmill team fights 3 in Mental Force for some nice AP. Tier 3 // 1 in Arcane Mastery for some AP damage, 3 in Executioner for the extra 5% damage when the enemy is at 50% health which is easy enough to do. Tier 4 // 3 in Archmage for more AP damage, 1 in Dangerous Game we all had that fight when we were low after getting a kill then got ganked. The 5% health back should help you out. Tier 5 // 3 in Devastating Strikes for some nice magic penetration, 1 in Arcane Blade you're going to have a lot of AP that extra 5% adds up. Tier 6 // 1 in Havoc 3% extra damage cause why not.

Items

Sorcerer's Shoes
Provides +15 magic penetration, +45 MS.
By far the best boots to use on Gragas in some cases you could use Ionian Boots of Lucidity.

Void Staff
Provides you with 35% magic penetration.
The extra magic penetration increases your damage output more then you would think.

Liandry's Torment
+15 magic penetration, dealing spell damage burns enemies for 6% current health.
The burn from the passive adds a lot of damage the extra penetration combines well with the other build items.

Morellonomicon
Dealing magic damage to a champion below 40% health inflicts grievous wounds.
The ability power is great along with 20% CDR allowing for more poking with your Barrel Roll, the mana regeneration isn't bad and it's all at a pretty decent price.

Wooglet's Witchcap
Active: for 2.5 seconds rendering invulnerable and untargetable.
The extra armor helps if you're against some AD damage an the active is great for absorbing the front of the enemies burst damage.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter
Your spell damage will slow the enemies movement speed by 35%.
The passive is great the slow makes it much easier to catch people or to get away the health helps a lot as well.

Abyssal Mask
Reduces the magic resist of nearby enemies by 20.
Decent AP has some nice MR which helps a lot and the aura is great to give you some extra damage with your magic penetration.

Moonflair Spellblade
Will provide you with 35 tenacity.
Provides you with decent protection at good price the tenacity helps with CC and provides small ability power.


Blackfire Torch
Active: deals 20% of enemies maximum health over 6 seconds
The extra cool-down helps and the passive from using spells is great and provides quite a bit of damage.

Athene's Unholy Grail
Restores 12% of your mana on kill or assist.
Decent AP has some nice mana regeneration, not to expensive and the extra cooldown reduction helps a lot allowing you to poke more with Barrel Roll.

Skill Sequence

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Happy Hour: Provides you with great sustain, for every time you cast a spell Gragas takes a drink from his cask. Healing him for 2% his maximum health.

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Barrel Roll: Is your poking ability, you will use it the most and it will do "lots of damage" because of its 0.9 AP ratio. Once you hit level 9, you should be able to 1 hit the caster minions. It has a very long range so it is very good for poking.

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Drunken Rage: It gives him free: AD, Damage Reduction, and Mana. It lets him be tanky even when building all AP. This mixed with his mobility makes him very hard to chase. while giving him good sustain.

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Body Slam: Is a gap closer/opener, you can go through walls and ledges with it. It is a very good escape tool, its on a short cool-down. It also does a good amount damage because it levels with AD and Drunken Rage gives you more AD. It is also a slow, all around great running and chasing tool.

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Explosive Cask: It has a low cool-down, with a 1.0 AP ratio. It displaces the enemies that it hits, very good at changing the enemy teams position. To bring someone back to you, also good for escaping.

• Barrel Roll Use to poke them down to about half HP.
• Drunken Rage Use it just before you go in.
• Body Slam Use this last on your combo by then your Barrel Roll should be up.
• Explosive Cask Use this to bring them into you for the combo to start.

First you will bring them to half with Barrel Roll, you will then use Drunken Rage for the bonus AD. After that use Barrel Roll and place it right in-front of yourself. You will then use Explosive Cask to knock them into the barrel.

Then use Body Slam and pop Barrel Roll at the same time. If they are still alive Barrel Roll should already be off cool-down.

Summoner Spells

Revive
Instantly revives your champion at your platform.
is great for dominion can be the difference of a win or a loss just because you revived to save your tower.

Ignite
Ignites target enemy unit, for 70-410 true damage.
This is a great spell, if you know you can kill your opponent you should always take this or Exhaust when going top.
Barrier
Shields your champion for 95 + (20 per level).
is my first choice when going bot, its great for baiting your opponent into a false sense of security.
Garrison
Allied turret: Grants massive regeneration and attack speed for 8 seconds.
I would only ever take this if I know I'll be ganked a-lot in the bot lane reason being it makes it harder for them to take it.

Pros / Cons

Pros

+ Great Sustain + Solid Poke with Barrel Roll + Very Mobile + Fight changing Ultimate

Gragas is a great champ. He can tank, has good poke, high mobility and a great ultimate.

Cons

- Melee Range - Fairly high cool-downs - Tough Early Game

Melee range has high cool-downs his early game is a little rough but you can just spam Barrel Roll until level 9.

Summary