Hello and welcome to my first guide at Mobafire. This guide is about Gangplank, The Saltwater Scourge. Gangplank is a melee champ who is a bit squishy, but can dominate if you play him right. Please try the build before upvoting/downvoting and leave a comment below. Any feedback is more than welcome and any suggestions will be taken in to consieration in order to improve the guide/build. Also if you want you can send me screenshots with your scores and I will put them in a new section on the guide :)

NOTE: The items and runes are supposed to be inspiring and not meant to be followed exactly. Feel free to adapt this guide to your gameplay prefferences. Also english is not my native language so point me to any mistakes that I need to fix.

Gangplank was born the son of the dread pirate captain Vincent the Shadow - one of the most wealthy and feared pirates in all of Blue Flame Island. One might think this would have spoiled the boy with a cushioned life of privilege, but the truth is quite the opposite. Growing up in the city of Bilgewater isn't easy; pirates are not known for their compassion, and that most certainly extends to their families. Vincent wanted his son to grow up tough and strong, so he was extremely hard on the young Gangplank. Even as a child, Gangplank was as mean as a snake and is said to have slept with his eyes open. As he grew, the young man rapidly became the most ruthless and feared pirate in all of Bilgewater, and his daddy was never more proud than on the day of his son's eighteenth birthday - when Gangplank stabbed his old man in the back and claimed the famed pirate ship, the Dead Pool, for his own.

The continent of Valoran, however, is a dangerous place for pirates; Gangplank could read the writing on the wall. The den of pirates known as Bilgewater would soon be pulled down by the undertow of Valoranian politics and the Institute of War. It was time for Bilgewater to have their own champion to represent them in the League of Legends, and who better than the fiercest pirate of them all? It is said that Gangplank has enough power and favor to claim the title of the Pirate King back home, but that he is simply biding his time and building his reputation as a champion before he returns to a life of piracy.


"Yo ho, blow the man down. Or at least shoot him when his back is turned and steal all his booty."

spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace

Pros + // Very good farmer + // From mid game onward can destroy any squishy + // Amazing passive slow and DoT + // Global Ultimate

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Cons - // Very squishy early game - // Armor sacking enemies shut him down until Last Whisper - // No escape mechanism

For Solo top I go 21-9-0 to get as much damage as possible while having some armor and health in order to survive.



For Duo lane 21-0-9 will make you hit hard and have enough mana to get those caster minion last hits with Parrrley.




For Jungle go 21-9-0 taking improved Smite and some resistances to help you have some easier time in jungle.

• Greater Quintessence of Desolation: // Early ArP will help you deal tons of damage early .
  
• Greater Mark of Desolation: // Combined with the Greater Quintessence of Desolation you will have tones of ArP.
  
• Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction: // Those will grant you CDR which in combination with Ionian Boots of Lucidity will make your Parrrley almost spammable.
  
• Greater Seal of Attack Speed: // Those will give you some AS which is great early game.

• Greater Quintessence of Health: // They will give you some early health which is much needed for solo top.
  
• Greater Mark of Desolation: // Some ArP which will help by granting some extra damage.
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: // They give some MR which will help you stay in lane longer.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: // They give some Armor which will help you stay in lane longer.

• Greater Quintessence of Health: // They will give you some early health which will help with jungling.
  
• Greater Mark of Desolation: // Some ArP which will help by granting some extra damage.
  
• Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction: // CDR, makes your abilities spammable.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: // They give some Armor which will help you with the jungle.

There must be a bug or something showing Greater Glyph of Magic Resist instead of Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction in the Jungle runes.

Flash: // My personal favorite. This awesome spell has so many uses both offensive (gap closer) and defensive (gap opener, wall jumper).

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Ghost: // A viable substistute for Flash. This is also an awesome spell with many uses, pick whichever you like.

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Exhaust: // Another favorite. Exhaust can be used both offensively and diffensivly.

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Ignite: // A viable substitute for Exhaust. Ignite can be used to secure those much needed early kills.

Teleport: // Also a valuable spell for solo top when you need to recall to buy something you can use Teleport to return to your lane almost immidiately.

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Smite: // For jungling, of course.

Clairvoyance: // You are not a support or a tank so WHY CHOOSE THIS?

Clarity: // You may be mana hungry but you would be wasting a spell with this.

Heal: // Come on, seriously, Heal at Gangplank.

Promote: // In my opinion, waste of a summoner spell.

Revive: // You don't want to troll. do you?

• Grog Soaked Blade: // Each of your auto-attacks adds a stack of Grog Soaked Blade. It stacks up to 3 and ach stack applies a slow debuff and a small Dot. (Damage over Time)
  
• Parrrley (Q): // Your bread and butter, Gangplank shoots the target with his gun dealing damage. Parrrley applies on-hit effects (like Sheen, Grog Soaked Blade etc.) and can critical strike. Try to harrash the enemy with Parrrley but prioritize last hitting minions with it gives you extra gold if you succesfully kill an enemy with it.
  
  
  
  
• Remove Scurvy (W): // Your free get-out-of-jail card. On activation it heals you AND removes any and all CC on you. Don't use it just for the heal because it will leave you vulnerable at CC exept if you are going to die.
  
  
  
  
• Raise Morale (E): // It is you team steroid. It passivly increases Gangplanks attack damage and MS. On activation it doubles the amount of AD and MS and gives half of that amount to nearb allies. You can use it to get some assist too.
  
  
  
  
• Cannon Barrage (R): // Gangplank commands his ship to shoot cannonballs in an AoE which damages and slows enemies whithin its range. You can use this to either stop enemies from escaping. Or you can use it to kill minions that are pushing top while you are bottom and score some extra gold and save a turret.
  
  
  

• : // 12% critical and 5g/10. This will help you gather gold so you can buy your items even if you have problems with last hits.
  
• : // This will give you armor, damage and lifesteal which will help your early lane sustain.
  
• : // 25 MR 35 Tenacity. Tenacity lowers the duration of CC (stun slow etc.) (NOTE: Don't sell Mercury's Treads to buy the last item like the build shows instead sell Wriggle's Lantern.)
  
• : // This will give you a huge amount of health which will help you stay in lane for a looooooooot longer.
  
• : // This items will give you some crit and armor and will make all that life to AD.
  
• : // This will boost your crit. chance a lot and will give you more MS and AS
  
• : // MOARRRRRR critical chance and damage. Don't forget the bonus crit. DAMAGE which will make your crits hit stronger.
  
• : // This will give you some more AD and some Lifesteal and believe me if you reach to that oint it WILL make a difference.

• : // 12% critical and 5g/10. This will help you gather gold so you can buy your items even if you have problems with last hits.
  
• : // Those boots will give you CDR and with the CDR rune they will ake Parrrley spammable.
  
• : // AS, MS, critical chance. Yes, please
  
• : // MOARRRRR AS, MS, critical chance
  
• : // When you build this its already GG cause of almost every hit being a critical hit. Your enemies will fear you.
  
• : // This build has no defensive items so lifesteal will help a lot.
  
• : // Some ArP and AD will help you if you are facing an armor stacking tank. (NOTE: if the enemies dont have more than 112.5 armor better get Black Cleaver)

• : // A must-have for every jungler. This item will make your jungling feel like a breeze.
  
• : // Tenacity lowers the duration of CC (stuns, slows etc.) and makes ganks easier. (NOTE: Don't sell Mercury's Treads to buy the last item like the build shows instead sell Wriggle's Lantern.)
  
• : // This will give you a buff in almost everything and will make your Parrrley hit much harder with it's passive.
  
• : // Damage, Critical Chance AND Critical Damage, yes please.
  
• : // This will boost your crit. chance a lot and will give you more Movement and Attack Speed.
  
• : // This will give you some more AD and Lifesteal.
• : // MOARRRRRR AS, crit chance and MS, GIEF MEH NAWOOOO

[*] : // Helps a lot early by granting armor, lifesteal, attack damage, and an amazing free ward every 3 minute. You can use it even if you are laning for the ward feature as well as some armor.

[*] : // A very good item against a team with armor. But if the enemies have more than 110 armor Last Whisper is a better option.

[*] : // This may sound wierd but it can actually help you a lot early to mid game if you have mana problems which you mustn't have if you don't spam like there's no tommorow.

[*] : // If you are facing AP heavy team or the enemy AP carry is just owning you then Banshee's Veil is the way to go.

[*] : // Enemies stacking health? No prob just buy Madred's Bloodrazor and watch 'em cry as you rape the health.

So you decided to go top eh? Grab your Brawler's Gloves and 2 Health Potions and head top. Your team's jungler might want a pull at blue so go and help him. When soloing try to last hit minions without overextending too much and try to use Parrrley for some bonus gold. On your first trip back finish Avarice Blade which will help you with some more crits and 5g/10. The item will pay for itself is about 17 minutes but if you follow the guide you will keep it for 25-30 to help you finish your build (unless you are fed :P). Your goal at top lane is to kil as much minions as possible and harrash the enemy. If you see the enemy pushing a lot ask your jungler for a gank. Hopefully you will get a kill and maybe push the tower a bit.

The Tanky build is a bit different than a usuall GP build. With this build ou have some early survivability in order to stay alive in case you are having a bad game.

P.S. : Only use this if your team lacks a tank or you are having problems staying alive. It's not a very good build but if I see that people are interested in it the I will try to improve it.

Buy your Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potion and head to the wolfs. Ask for a pull and finish them quickly then move to Blue buff. Smite the golem, kill the lizards and head to the wraiths. After killing them got to double golems. After that head to red buff. Smite should be ready by now so use it at the red and kill it. You can now search for a gank oportunity or recall and buy items.

Pro Tip: Try to last hit the creeps with Parrrley for bonus gold but try not to slow your jungle speed by waiting for Parrrley's cd.

Farming with Gangplank is very easy. Don't forget you have Parrrley to help you get some bonus gold from minion kills but if you can get the last hit with auto-attack don't waste Parrrley cause eventually you will run out of mana. In case you didn't know, last hitting unfer the turret ain't that hard. For melee minions, let the tower hit 'em twice then give them the last hit. Caster minions are a bit harder, let the tower hit 'em once then immidiately hit them and us Parrrley asap. This may require some practise but don't worry you'l manage to pull it through.

Thanks to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.

Thanks to MajorLoL for pointing out some stuff that needeed to be improved and providing me with many ideas.

Thanks to Negativez for helping me take the ingame screenshots.

11/2/2012

Guide created. Added an Other Viable Items section, a jungling session, jungle runes, masteries and items.


12/2/2012

Made a lot of changes. Added more info on Jungling section, added solo top gameplay, fixed some runes (still there must be a bug or something). Added so tips in abilities. Fixed some items. I still have to add gameplay for duo lane.

11/8/2012

Boy, Oh boy it's been a long time since I updated the guide. Not many changes. Mostly rework on the duo lane build. Also added a work-in-progress tanky build that i'll keep working on it only if i get some possitive feedback about it or i'll just delete it.

18/8/2012

A HUGE update. Revamped the guide and improved many things. Added some screenshots.


10/9/2012

Just bumping the guide. The builds still work. Waiting on more feedback.