Hey! Welcome to my first build of Gangplank. Gangplank - The Saltwater scourge I think is only playable by using the 'Atmog's' build. The guides I see are focused on pure damage leaving Gangplank vulnerable and squishy. With this guide I wish to change that making his damage output still high but also with almost double the health. Making him very tanky as well. This guide will hopefully explain why I think this build is best for him and maybe inspire you to use Gangplank more often... Please try out my build before you abuse me and say this build is **** when you haven't tried it. Thanks :D

*Note Jungling Guide coming soon...

First I would like to clear up why I made this build. I see to many Gangplank's go for pure damage and criting less than 1500's on enemy champs with his Parrrley. Yeah sure that might be an alright amount of damage but if you like that amount of damage pick someone like Tryndamere who will actually survive a fight. Too many Gangplank's focus on damage and not on building their Health up as well. This makes you be able to survive almost anything and help your team out in more ways than you can imagine. Secondly... YOU ARE THE AD CARRY!!! You will still be able to crit over 1000's but this means you will stay alive and do a good amount of damage as well... But the key point is to... STAY ALIVE. Building Gangplank has many benefits to the team. He is able to go into team fights without instantly dying. Chuck on Cannon Barrage. Buff his team mates with Raise Morale. Then start going for the squishy players AND NOT BE DEAD. People build pure damage Gangplank because they think they can get a few easy kills. But that's not carrying. Carrying is helping your team out so much that you can lead your team to victory. To escape ELO Hell this is the only way to play Gangplank.

PLEASE TRY OUT MY BUILD BEFORE YOU CRITICISE! THANKS!

Pros

- Free Cleanse plus a bonus of Health as well.
- Parrrley massive crit's and applies Frozen Mallet as well!
- One of the best early harassers in game...
- A great farmer whilst laning with his Parrrley also gaining extra gold.
- His Ult! Cannon Barrage Can slow down enemies chasing a team mate or you... Good for finishing off low health enemies... In team battles helps your team immensely by providing constant damage and helping low health team mates get away!
- A active buff Raise Morale that helps chase after enemies and applies to team mates as well! Also increases attack damage. Amazing to use before Parrley with trinity force or sheen.

Cons

- Not really useful for taking down tanks.
- Remove Scurvy on large cooldown.

Passive: Gangplank's basic attacks and Parrrley apply a poison that deals magic damage each second and slows movement speed. Lasts 3 seconds and stacks up to 3 times. Each stack deals 3 + (1 x level) magic damage per second and slows the target by 7%.

Q: Gangplank takes aim and shoots an enemy unit with his pistol. If he kills it, he gain extra gold. This skill is Gangplank's main harasser skill. Great for early game harassing and does immense damage if he crits. He gains extra gold from killing minions. And most importantly you will find late game... Applies effects like Frozen Mallet and Trinity Force!

W: Consumes a large quantity of citrus fruit which clears any crowd control effects on him and heals him. This is my favourite skill out of any skill in the game! It is a free Cleanse removing you from slows or stuns/snares/binds plus it gives a large quantity of health! Its amazing how many times this skill will save you from certain death.

E: Gangplank fires a shot into the air, increasing nearby allied champions' increased attack damage and movement speed. Great for chasing after enemies and if used before Parrrley gives a MASSIVE increase to Parrrley's damage. (Assuming you have Trinity Force or Sheen)

R: Gangplank signals his ship to fire upon an area for 6 seconds, slowing enemies and dealing random damage in the area. This ult is great for just about everything! Slows enemies inside the area of effect making them unable to catch you or team mates! Can work the other way round so you can catch up to enemies... Great for getting assists in team fights or getting kills. If an enemy is teleporting from a turret with an insanely low amount of health... Just chuck your ult on them and free kill :) Plus its a global ult so there is no where you can't do it.

Great for armor penetration. Gives 15 Armor Pen.

Gives a little protection against enemy physical attacks. Gives 13 Armor.

Critical Strike chance good for Parrrley and basic attacks. Gives 2% critical strike chance.

Great again for armor penetration. Gives another 10 armor penetration.

I prefer flat runes just because Early game is the most important game deciding play. With flat runes it provides a great boost to armor pen, armor and critical strike chance and could mean the difference between first blood and death.

I use the 21/6/3 set up because I think these are the best mastery skill for him. I will explain each individual mastery skill to give you a better understanding of these masteries.

Offense

Summoner's Wrath - Improves Exhaust lowering their Armor and Magic Resist by 10. Also increases Ghost speed from 27% to 35%. Good for escaping or chasing.

Brute Force - Increases attack damage by 3. Gives a small amount of damage plus it could be on top of Parrrley's crit.

Alacrity - Increases attack speed by 4%. Good for last hitting minions.

Deadliness - Increases critical strike chance by 4%. Absolutely essential for Gangplank... On top of Glyph of Critical Chance and Brawler's Gloves it gives him 14% crit chance. Great for early game and first blood.

Weapon Expertise - Gives 10% Armor Penetration. Good for more damage on tanks.

Havoc - Increases damage by 1.5%. Great for extra damage... Applies to Parrrley and even its crit!

Lethality - Increases critical strike damage by 10%. Absolutely a definate mastery Gangplank needs... Say if his crit usually does 1000 damage. It will add an extra 100 damage on to that!

Sunder - 6 Armor Penetration. Great on top of the Greater Mark of Desolation and Greater Quintessence of Armor runes you should have.

Executioner - Increases damage dealt by 6% to targets below 40% health. Great for first blood.

Defense

Resistance - 6 Magic Resist. Great for blocking a bit of damage from spells.

Hardiness - 6 Armor. Great early game defense from physical attacks. Very use on top of the Greater Seal of Armor runes you should have.

Utility

Good Hands - Reduces time spent dead by 10%. If somehow you have died on this tanky Gangplank. You will respawn much quicker which could mean the difference between winning and losing... From defending the nexus and its two turrets which someone is attacking or using his ult to slow enemies from getting away then your team taking their nexus and winning. It is very useful in my opinion and I haven't seen a guide which suggests Gangplank having this mastery.

Starting Items

These starting items give you early critical strike chance and the Health potions make you able to stay in your lane for a longer period of time.

Late Game Items
The next item I buy isBoots of Speed. This helps chase after enemy champions and makes it easier to harass in your lane. I then go onto Ionian Boots of Lucidity. Great for that cooldown reduction which is essential for Remove Scurvy and your Parrrley.
I then buy a Zeal. Gives a nice amount of movement speed plus attack speed and is essential for that crit.
When I have enough gold I immediately buy a and it is a lot easier to farm minions and crit higher against other enemy champs.


Infinity Edge comes next for that extra crit and damage... Plus it makes your Parrrley's crits do 250% damage instead of 200%!
I then buy a Giant's Belt. A nice amount of health to make Gangplank that extra bit tanky.
I move onto Trinity Force. This item is ESSENTIAL for Gangplank because it gives a massive increase of damage to Parrrley if you do it correctly. Absolutely amazing item.
Next up is Frozen Mallet. Great for slowing down enemy champions that are trying to escape. Nice amount of health as well.


Atma's Impaler is next... It provides crit chance, armor plus a good amount of damage (2% of about 4000 health is 80 damage ).
Final Item is Warmog's Armor. This makes Gangplank incredibly tanky and makes Atma's Impaler a lot better.

This build makes Gangplank very tanky whilst still doing a huge damage output. With this build I rarely die and makes it very good for team fights because you are not as focused as much. As a Tanky/DPS carry it's your job to stay alive to carry your team in every way that you can. Squishy Gangplanks are easily destroyed and I have no problem countering him with someone like Tryndamere or Olaf.

The only 5 spells you should consider are...

This summoner spell makes it very easy for you tanky Gangplank to get away... When oranges isn't enough. Put Ghost on then press E and you have a massive amount of movement speed. It makes it impossible for the enemy to get close to you again.

Exhaust is great for enemy champions trying to escape or for champs like Tryndamere attacking you with high damage output. Also a great first blood essential.

Good for getting out of team fights or ganks... Also good for flashing over walls to escape from enemy champs... Not really a problem when you have a free Cleanse and insane movement speed.

Heal is good for soloing and team fights where you either need to save a team fight or yourself. Also great for people who like to max Raise Morale first and use Remove Scurvy just for the Cleanse.

This spell is great for getting to a turret that is in need of saving. Also good if you need to change lane quickly with someone or you can teleport to a ward or champion traps like Caitlyn traps or Nidalee traps to gank someone.

The Maybe's...

Ignite is good for first blood. Thats about it.

This spell is great for soloing. Increases attack speed by 35% combined with Gangplank's crit makes it very over powered.

Gangplank can be very mana hungry sometimes and may need the mana plus it makes team mates happy.

Cleanse can be OK on Gangplank when the other team have someone like Morgana but otherwise choose another Summoner Spell.

The DO NOT spells...

Clairvoyance can be very handy but there should always be a support on your team that will have it. Gangplank is not the support.

This spell may save a turret. But you might as well grab Teleport and use your Cannon Barrage to save a turret.

Garrison is a good support spell because it makes the enemy turret do less damage and your Turret do more damage but you are not the support so don't have this spell.

This spell is the most useless spell there is. Fact. Good for getting a few last hits on minions.

Under rated spell. Its great for a support because it heals the team plus gives team mates extra attack damage. But again Gangplank is not the support.

Good for late game saving turrets if your losing but Gangplank has more priorities than this spell and this spell is practically useless... Unless your Karthus of course.

Videos of Gangplank with various builds...


Notice how this Gangplank has the Warmog's Armor, Atma's Impaler, and Trinity Force? This makes him a lot tankier than most and makes other players refuse to focus him. Play Video /league-of-legends/champion/gangplank-30 Play Video

Another video showing Gangplank's amazing damage output and potential. Play Video

*Note I will add more... Only made this build last night so not many games have been recorded.

Well thank you for reading my First ever guide. I hope you learned a few things about Gangplank and his potential. It is a small guide but it will gradually get larger when I add more things onto it. Have a great time with him and glad I could help :D

01/30/2012 - Made Changes to Pros and Cons

01/31/2012 - Updated Summoner Spells to describe every single one.
- Removed Lore. Space waster.
- Cleaned up Punctuation, made the guide prettier.

Thanks to CasterMaster for tips and constructive criticism :)