Hello dear Gangplank fans,
recently Gangplank got changed alot!
The problem with earlier Gangplanks was the ability to deny experience from enemys without zoning them.
This unique and abusive ability got removed from gangplank and indirectly this was a nerf.
With buffing his E in these days...buffing his basic stats and also his passive Gangplank got reborn.

What is unique about Gangplank?
-Poison DoT as Melee
-Inbuild Cleanse
-Global Slow and Damage ultimate
-High range AD type buff
-Ranged Physical Nuke making him a half Melee half Ranged as people like to call this...
-He is a Pirate!


Buildtechnical changes compared to the past:

In the past, Gangplank was abused to high-nuke crit enemy carrys down.
His Parrrley applies crit effects and other effects so everything was build on his parrley.
The problem about Gangplank at these time was, that he couldn't really survive fights, he was squishy when build on crit, so mostly you could hit the enemy once with parrley and then run away. People called this "Chickenplank".
A problem which grew more with the tanky dps meta, where Gangplank as Melee was nothing special anymore. Only his deny kept him alive in competetive games.
Riot decided to change him that way people can play him more tanky with similar damage output like before. Gangplank got reborn with more variety.
Ever heard about jungle Gangplank before the rework? - I guess only 0.1% did.
So the Trinity Force allround got more popular with the tanky dps metas, so we tried this on Gangplank and thanks to his parrley proc we can apply the damage here.
So without big AD we can hit quite quite hard on low cooldown, and even apply crits from time to time.
Else...we are melee, and every melee needs survivability becouse they naturally are born to rush into a fight...

Allright lets go to the next chapter as this was all I had to tell you at this topic...

I have 2 builds now:

-A jungle focused itembuild
-A laning focused itembuild which is slightly more offensive

if you not prefer jungling, Gangplank can be a good pick on the lane too, without questioning.

As for jungeling the runeset is plain simple.

Armor Penetration - Maximizes Damage against jungle creeps and also enemys champions, its just great and a must. Also it increases damage from the Parrrley and the trinity proc.

Armor - Simply to reduce damage taken in the jungle, as we want gank right afterwards we need to be healthy.

Cooldown Reduction - I like reducing the cooldown on W and E early on as much as possible, for jungling it is great.

Health - On the Quints, I believe there aren't much better choices. I like staying healthy in jungling, it has the best effect in later ganks.


Use this Runepage also for other jungler you have, like Warwick, Lee Sin or Rammus.



For the laning I have some other choices:

Attack Damage - I use this rune set up on every AD carry now, the AD is a help for last hitting and harass early on, basically 6 extra AD is helping last hitting minions safer than without AD, minions have no armor at beginning.

Armor Pen - To boost your damage, it scales well into late game and improves harass all around, simple pick

Health - I favour this runes becouse Armor or Mana reg aren't that needed on lane for GP or for me personally, the Health in the endgame is just great, basically denys one burst spell.

Magic Resist - The best blue runes, the best for laning, reduces alot spell damage, not getting them is a shame, I learned it too :)

I decided for the balanced varianta.

Gangplank has enough offensive power, so to be healthy before ganks and to have as much utility as possible I decided for this one.

Extra defense in the defense tree is just enough, we dont need 21 points here becouse that would be a waste in the utility tree.

13 in the utility tree is enough to take longer buff durations, some mana supply and better Flash.







For Laning:
I improved the offensive tree becouse it imrpoves farm and harass on lane and it is just awesome, as for the utility tree I just choosed it for the imrpvoed Flash!

Short and simple:
As we jungle I propose starting with a Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potion will do it.
Then I suggest you to rush the Wriggle's Lantern As first even without buying boots inbetween. xD If you have the money then you can just buy Boots too.
Around that time I would purchase an extra Sight Ward.

Boots types:
Mercury's Treads - A standart pick, makes you more tanky and reduces cc effects on you which can be pretty good. Pretty clever pick for ganks against caster. Since mostly caster are midlaning, you can pick those shoes to defend against them. Other jungler like Nunu or Amumu have Magic damage, you can reduce the Magic Damage with those shoes to have better chances in a 1 v 1 situation.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity - If you feel you don't need the MTs then pick those, the CDR is extremly nice for your all around utility, more cleansing, more buffing, more ultimating, means also more Global Control.

Boots of Swiftness - A choice I would like to prefer if you do well with your utility and if you can ahndle cc better than usually. It is good for chasing people which have Ghost as summoner spell. Grog Soaked Blade slows enemys anyways, Raise Morale increases your Movementspeed too, so you can easily chase down enemys with Ghost on.


Corebuild:
Trinity Force Is the first item to grab, it proides health, movement, more damage and other nice stats, oh a slow too :P.
Id like to purchase like this: Sheen-> Phage-> Zeal
Right afterwards build The Brutalizer.
I don't prefer buying AD further for more damage. Armor Penetration scales better with the enemy, since they mostly try to buy armor to offend you. The cdr is nice for ur utility and Global Control as said before.


Defense...is your experience:
If you played Irelia you mostly would know that now Defense Items of your experience follow.
My experience told me that Banshee's Veil is currently the best options if you plan to rush into a fight with taking as less damage as possible. Also it is mostly better to prefer MR over Armor becouse recently the Caster Meta started anyways.
Now if you want to pick Armor or Health I suggest either Sunfire Aegis or Randuin's Omen.
I prefer Randuins over Sunfire becouse it has nice passive/active effects and the cdr is also nice.

I can give you freedom here. And this is a part you should experience yourself.


Highelo Tip:
By planning on lategame Randuin's I suggest buying a Heart of Gold right after the Sheen, it provides extra health and gold which is good for people who need farm becouse they are laning less than other champions. The health all around is just great.





Laning:
For laning you farm better and there you can get more offensive items gettin early on better advantages over enemys.

Executioner's Calling is basically the old Gangplanks passive, you cana ctivate it and use it with Parrrley. I love it is a great harassing tool, crit and life leech just improves your laning good, the price is cheap, therefore I prefer starting with a Vampiric Sceptre which gives alot of heal together with Parrrley and Raise Morale bonus AD.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity are what I prefer for laning, as we won't get blue that often as not jungler, and becouse I don't use Randuins in this build I prefer getting cdr with that item.

As in jungling I build Sheen then The Brutalizer first, the Parrrley proc and the extra armor pen and cdr are just awesome for GP, no discussion I guess :)

As the endgame comes near I build up both Sheen and Btz.

In the end you most likely would like to get an Infinity Edge to maximize crit outputs and to **** up enemy carrys with Parrrley.

As the end I build a defensive Item of my personal favour, as laner you have the risk, becouse you go push more often than a jungler, basically a Guardian's Angel increases survivability by alot when going pushing. It also balances Armor and MR out, which I like alot.
You can also check out the jungle section of the items and pick up anything there if the situation is better suited for another item.

That can be:
Banshee's Veil
Sunfire Aegis
Randuin's Omen
Force of Nature
Frozen Heart
Atma's Impaler
Thornmail
Quicksilver Sash

I don't like talking much about this topic.

Just plain and simple:

Parrrley is your main harassing skill, it applies your passive and the lizard buff, so it shows as best tool on Gangplank. I like maing this as soon as possible becouse it is a great spell.

Remove Scurvy is the last Spell you should maximize, it is literally a one point wonder. We need it just to cleanse out and to sustain us before we go gank. Maxing on endgame is just better becouse your health will grow alot then.

Raise Morale is the second spell we maximize, it scales well with gangplanks abilities, but the buff is also better in later stages for pushing, so having early one 1-2 points is enough just for the speed apply for ganks.

Cannon Barrage is our ultimate, we use it for improving Ganks, protecting allies, improving pushes or defending towers. It is also a possible initiate. We just skill it whenever it is possible as we do with every ultimate.

Smite - As we jungle we take smite with us, I think there is no discusion about it here.
Flash - proved to be an OP spell recently, so we need escape mechanism always.

other quite nice choices (if you dont like using flash then):

Ghost - Quite good at ganking, enemys can't react good when they see you at maxpseed comming at them, also quite good when you rush into towers to dive and if you escape then.
For laning the next one I would like to use besides Smite, allows getting good lane dominance and counters enemy ganker.
Exhaust - Overall good spell to defend you or your carrrys and to take down enemy carrys or jungler in 1v1.
Ignite - Great for picking kills, extra damage and heal reductions can amke enemys quite frustrated, Scale well with the passive and the red buff. Melts literally the enemys carry.

Here I have a map of strategying:
http://i.imgur.com/QStvZ.jpg

So I like to explain the numbers so you understand how I mean jungling with Gangplank.

First: Prepare and Guard
Tell your team to guard you, coordinate them to the points: 1,2,3,4
Enemys may try to gank you at the blue buff.


Second: Your first Route
You start at the blue, get a leash there

[szene cut]
What is a leash?
Bluh, a leash is an outstanding attack on the blue buff or red buff to damage it without passing the aggro to the jungler.
[/szene cut]

follow then the Route: 1,2,3,4,5, witht he right skill order you should be ready to gank now.


Third: Ganking and Killing
Use the red way, right when you are bottom you can try to gank the enemys lane there, then the nearest lane would be mid lane. Right then go back to your base and do the reverse thing.
The route would be: 1,2,3,4,5


Fourth: Warding and late game warding
For important basic warding use the points which are blue, coordinate your team/support and tell them to ward those places together with you, whenever youa re back to base purchase 1-2 Sight Ward. Normally a good support should know how to ward.
When you pushed the first towers then start warding the pink points, Since enemys might prepare to invade into your jungle, backdoor, push lanes or gank.


Fifth: Counterjungling
If you plan on destroying the enemy jungle then I suggest you taking the Orange routes into the enemys jungle, and don't go further than that. When you start warding then take the chance to check this routes, if you feel it is too dangerous then don't go in recklessly.
Early game counterjungling is done via the yellow numbers. Before the minute: 1:55 you should have checked these points on blue. Before 1:40 you can check the points at the two small golems.



Here the Spawn timer:
Blue & Red: 1:55 (5 Minutes)
Wolves, Wraiths & Small Golems: 1:40 (1:20 Minutes)
Dragon: 2:30 (6 Minutes)
Baron Nashor: 15:00 (7 Minutes)


Then as disclaimer I would like to say:
If you start on the other side, then just reverse the map somehow, the points can all be reversed to the other side, if I find even time then I will make a second map.



You can resume easily jungling whereever you want.
Remember that for Gangplank the Lizard Buff is really essential.


Legendia:
Blue means Golem Buff
Red means Lizard Buff

Together with your ultimates and warding, Gangplank has extreme power in controlling.
Becouse you have a high speed due to Raise Morale you can reach places on maps faster than common jungler.
You can literally gank 2 lanes at once, one personally the other one supportive with your ultimate. A good Gangplak should learn to react and help lanes while he can't be there.

Basically stay behind your minions and prevent big harass.
Use Parrrley to simply last hit minions and get extra gold, for laning especially maxing Parrrley is a great choice.

Do not push lanes that hard, last hitting is important sometimes you cana llow yourself hitting the enemy with Parrrley + eventually a melee strike then backing up and regenerating or denying damage.

At level 6 you can leave your lane often and go gank. Your ultimate either saves your lane from beeing pushed or saves partner lanes in drastic situations.

From the midgame on you can collect your teammates and push some lanes, your ultimate saves you from some situation where enemys may capture you.

With a Gangplank in team teamfights can be saved very often.

Even if you lane, you should go into the jungle sometimes and get the lizard buff, also ask the jungler/caster in team if you can take the blue buff sometimes.

Also you can go together with your jungler into the enemy jungler to get extra farms and take enemys creeps away.


Gangplank is a very good singelaner, thanks to the fact that he doesn't need every single alst hit becouse his Parrrley can farm him up, resulting in getting less harass by holding more distance and having same farm as the enemy.

Gangplank works also good with Supporter, always, Gangplank will be a farmonster then and proberbly endless harass.

This can be said as conclusion, just becouse jungling makes you faster level 6 in general than a duo lane. Since Gangplanks utility raises when he can gank 2 lanes at once, jungling fits him better.

So finally I can tell you some pros and cons.

Pros:
-Fast jungler
-Good counterjungler
-Good mobility
-Good pusher
-Tanky
-Farms alot of Gold
-Picks up jungling really well
-Supports Initiates

Cons:
-No strong form of CC


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That's pretty much it :D

I am going to add more things to this guide, but I think this informations are enough for now.

Gangplank is a strong pick at the moment, in high and low elo, solo, 5 man pre, ranked and normal. SR or TT. Tournament even.

The next things I am going to show you are proberbly movies, replays and more variety in Gangplank builds with all around some tips and tricks.

That was it for now.

Yours Yohachhin