Hard lanes:

Anything and anyone that outsustains and/or outpokes Gangplank is generally considered hard. In top, the common ones that are hard to win and you see often are Irelia, Tryndamere, Vladimir, Ryze, Jayce, Quinn, Vayne, Viktor, Azir, Sylas etc.
What you can do in-case you stumble upon these champions; Start with Doran's Shield or Sapphire Crystal and just try to farm safely until you get some items to further ease your existence in this miserable lane.
Note here, that some of these lanes I mentioned only get harder once entering the level 6 area of the game, these champs being Irelia, Tryndamere and Vladimir.

Irelia is fairly easy to kill for a Gangplank with grasp and perhaps even Ignite, she only gets stronger after a few AD/AS components; Tiamat, Phage and Stinger.

Tryndamere gets stronger once he gets his ultimate, Undying Rage, before that he is very easy to kill but you still have to watch out for his passive ( Battle Fury).

Vladimir is very squishy early on, and his cooldowns are pretty long so you can play around that very easily and maybe pick up a kill or two. The part where this lane gets harder is when he gets around 20% CDR, so if you press Tab and see that he has a Fiendish Codex + Kindlegem, run for your life. (Tip, always take Ignite.)

Also as a note one of the lanes I mentioned gets easier for Gangplank at 6, that lane being Jayce, due to him not having a proper ultimate ability like GP.


Skill-based lanes:

This category includes mainly bruisers and some tanks. I will bring up some examples to make it a bit clearer:

Darius would probably be categorized as a super hard lane by a newbie Gangplank player, but with a bit of experience it gets pretty easy and even abusable depending on how good the Darius player is. The main way you can achieve a lead and start winning this lane is playing around Darius' cooldowns since they are pretty long early game, his Q, Decimate, for example has a 9 second CD at rank 1, it's also fairly simple to bait out, just walk up and right as he starts casting it either 1. Back off and use Parrrley once the cast ends or 2. Walk into him to deny the heal and damage and start punishing him straight away, this isn't always the best option since his passive, Hemorrhage, is very strong.
In conclusion: just play safe around his cooldowns and you should be fine.

Riven is also considered a fairly hard matchup for Gangplank, but in reality it's pretty much as abusable as any other lane if you play correctly. The best way to win a Riven is to bait out her E, Valor, and then trying to hit a Powder Keg and going in for a trade with Trial By Fire and Parrrley. She gets harder to manage at level 6 since her R, Blade of the Exile, is pretty strong, but with proper kiting it won't be a big deal.

Mordekaiser, if I'm being completely honest I'm pretty bad with this lane atm, trying to work on it, but it is still the same principle as with Darius and Riven. If you plan on trading early on, remember to make the trades very quick since Morde's passive, Darkness Rise, is very strong and can quickly turn the tide of battle. I would say the best way to startle this tuna can menace is to widdle him down slowly using your Powder Kegs and not letting him heal with Conqueror.


Easy lanes:

This category includes squishy assassins, mages and tanks. Here are some examples of lanes o' ease:

Teemo is a very squishy little rat bastard who you should almost always take Ignite against, he's super easy to hit Powder Kegs on and you can cleanse his Q, Blinding Dart, and the slow from his R Noxious Trap. Keep in mind that he can still be a bit tricky to fight early if he kites well due to his E, Toxic Shot.

Fizz is like Teemo, but even more abusable. The main thing you gotta do is to poke him with Powder Kegs as much as possible to get his E, Playful / Trickster on CD, that's when you can punish him the most. Pro tip, always start Long Sword and take Ignite in this lane.

Kassadin is pretty much identical to Fizz with the exception of him not having any escapes before level 6, try to hit Powder Kegs and end before he gets level 16.

Yasuo can be a bit tricky due to his mobility and damage but the lane is always winnable. You can either take Exhaust or Ignite and play pretty aggressively before he gets crit.

Ornn has fairly long cooldowns early, so with proper kiting you can win it fairly easily. This is the one lane on this list where I think you should always take Conqueror just so you can keep doing damage do him throughout the game. Try to poke with Parrrley and stay away from his Q, Volcanic Rupture because you really don't want to get CC chained.

LeBlanc is very straightforward and very abusable early on. Her trade patterns are always the same and allow you to punish her every time. Also with just a bit of training her E, Ethereal Chains becomes very easy to counter with Remove Scurvy.


General notes:

Gangplank can go even in most lanes due to the bonus gold Parrrley gives, that being said there are many situations where he struggles significantly.
Any champion with laser or "plasma" auto attacks can disarm Powder Kegs fairly easily, e.g. Azir, Vel'Koz and Senna (she is particularly annoying because her Q, Piercing Darkness can damage your barrels for whatever reason).
Gangplank struggles against poke early, so remember that Doran's Shield is always a viable option.
Good synergiesBack to Top
Gangplank synergizes very well with anything that can help him land his Powder Kegs easier, hard CC and slows are all he needs. There are also champions who fit well with Gangplank mainly because he has two abilities that slow enemies. Here are some examples:

Sejuani is a fantastic jungler who can help Gangplank stomp very easily. Her kit is perfect; Arctic Assault is a good engage tool that you can help with using either your E or R to slow the enemy, Permafrost is Sejuani's E, which she can stack up either with her W, Winter's Wrath or her auto attacks, the fun thing about this ability is that she can buff her melee allies to also apply stacks. The VERY fun thing about it is that Gangplank's Parrrley also applies stacks, so you can help her stun an enemy even if you're not in melee range. Also her ult, Glacial Prison is just fantastic for hitting your Powder Kegs.

Zac is like Sejuani but a bit worse. He has 2 AoE CC abilities ( Elastic Slingshot and Let's Bounce!,) that can help you along with his Q, Stretching Strikes providing a slow and a stun.

Pyke can be assisted with Cannon Barrage to help him land his Q, Bone Skewer (also applies to other hook champions like Thresh and Blitzcrank), his E, Phantom Undertow and his R, Death from Below.

Olaf is a champion that really benefits from Cannon Barrage, especially if you start with Raise Morale.


In conclusion:

Hard CC and slows are helpful to you, but you can also use your own slows to make allies stronger.
TopBack to Top
Top lane Gangplank requires knowledge of how waves can be manipulated and you also need to be constantly looking at your minimap, there are many guides with visuals on YouTube and such where you can learn a lot more than from a small text column could ever tell.


Here's a few tips on things you can do with waves:

1. If you're ahead and can win 1v2 or you see the enemy jungler botside, push in hard, it's very easy with a few Powder Kegs. After you've pushed in you can either harass the enemy laner with more kegs or Parrrleys.

2. Just farm under turret, it's pretty easy but can cost a lot of mana early. You do this in hard lanes because it just might be the only safe option.

3. Freeze, quick lesson on freezing in general: When two waves meet and the enemy wave has more minions, let them kill your minions and just last hit as close to 0 as you can. after that depending on how many enemy minions are left you can choose a spot to freeze in, the general rule is to have more minions the closer you are to your own turret.


Top lane GP has some benefits that are simple to explain, you can get tank lanes which essentially mean free farm, and with bushes + alcove you can create some sneaky Powder Keg chains.
MidBack to Top
Mid has two options when it comes to waves, you're either 1. Getting pushed in, or 2. Shoving the wave.

1. Getting pushed in has ups and downs, Gangplank is easy to farm with once you get Sheen and with Powder Kegs you can set some gank opportunities for your teammates. The downside of getting pushed in is that the enemy can poke you freely which is not easy to counter early on.

2. Shoving the wave in can be beneficial but it is pretty risky if the enemy team has a jungler with good early ganks, e.g. Lee Sin, Twitch and Gragas. In the case where the enemy has a farming jungler and you are able to push in, take advantage of it. Gangplank has high damage near the start of the game especially with Grasp of the Undying, and thus can abuse bad positioning and get a sneaky kill early on.


Roaming on Gangplank becomes a viable option once you have Trinity Force and boots of some sort. When playing from red side you have the opportunity to setup Powder Kegs over the wall when ganking bot if the enemy is under their turret, this can help get the enemy low and maybe even secure some kills.
KeystonesBack to Top
Grasp of the Undying is by far the most common one we see today, and that is for a very good reason.
This rune gives you a very high lane presence, good sustain and noticeable damage.
Grasp is very easy to pilot, you just need to attack minions for a while to get it stacked up and then use Parrrley on the enemy.
(Tip, if you wish to keep stacks going you can place a Powder Keg and attack it fast in case you're pushing towards the enemy, barrels keep stacks up.)


Conqueror is meant for fighting tanks/tanky bruisers who don't also use Conqueror in top lane, but if you're confident enough that you know you'll win the lane, you can take Conq into anything, just like you used to do with Kleptomancy.


Fleet Footwork is a sustain rune that I'd generally take for mage matchups that can be hard, for example; Azir, Syndra, Orianna and Anivia.


Dark Harvest can be taken into squishy lanes where you know you'll dominate early(, one example being Kassadin). The main reward from getting many stacks is having some more burst on your Cannon Barrage during the later stages of the game.


Summon Aery. I don't necessarily recommend this rune, but I do sometimes take it when playing full AD Gangplank, the damage can be very nice early. And with the Elder buff that was reworked in preseason 10, Aery can oneshot enemies in the sense that it will travel back and forth many times before the enemy can walk back to their base to heal up.


Arcane Comet is like Summon Aery, but with an actual cooldown. The damage is higher and the cooldown is only 8 seconds at level 18. If you're thinking about taking Sorcery first then think whether you want to dominate early or become a monster later on. Times when I take this rune are when the enemy picks a spam mage who I'm confident I can beat, for me personally two examples are Syndra and Cassiopeia.


Glacial Augment is fun, worse than others but can get the job done, I don't really know when exactly you would take this over other runes, but hey, if you feel like it then go for it.


For having fun, Prototype: Omnistone has many runes that work well with Gangplank, but there's always the chance you get Press the Attack, Lethal Tempo, Electrocute etc. Omnistone is the rune for pirates who like to live on the edge.


Hail of Blades is pretty bad, pick when smurfing or trolling for fun! (Would only recommend for squishy melee lanes in mid tho.)
Secondary RunesBack to Top
Precision

Triumph
Triumph is the less greedy option if you're taking Conqueror, the heal is nice and can often save your life.

Presence of Mind
Greedy but extremely rewarding, getting the five kills to utilize this rune's maximum efficiency disables all mana problems you would maybe normally have.

Legend: Alacrity
Gangplank doesn't necessarily need attack speed, but it is nice to have for dueling if you have Conqueror.

Legend: Tenacity
This is the one I usually take out of the two viable ones in this slot, tenacity can be very nice and helpful against heavy CC comps, especially if you plan on taking Unflinching with it or are going to build Mercury's Treads.

Coup de Grace
This is the best option from this path, helps to finish off kills and goes well with trying to ult low hp targets, something Gangplank hasn't really thrived in after Thunderlord's Decree was removed.

Cut Down
You only take this rune in Top against tanks who you know will build HP items, a good example being Dr. Mundo.


Domination

Cheap Shot
Hitting enemies with Powder Kegs and ult just does a bit extra damage with this, can be useful.

Taste of Blood
This is a good sustain rune if you're building AD (because it scales from it).

Eyeball Collection
You only take this with Dark Harvest because you have to have 3 secondaries from the main tree, it gives a bit of adaptive damage but it's really not that special since it takes a while to stack.

Ravenous Hunter
Gangplank can get it fairly quickly stacked because he has a global ultimate and thus you can get a bit of extra healing fairly easily which is very nice.

Ultimate Hunter
Getting 25% off your ultimate's cooldown is massive, I recommend this rune very highly(, especially if you're taking AP Gangplank).


Sorcery

Nullifying Orb
Can help in a matchup against enemies with high magic damage burst, can help you win trades.

Manaflow Band
Can be taken into tanks who you know will back off , 250 mana for free is pretty nice.

Transcendence
One of my absolute favorite runes for Gangplank, there are many many builds where you can get items that give a lot of CDR, an extreme example being: Trinity, Youmuu's Ghostblade, Ionian Boots of Lucidity, Essence Reaver, Death's Dance and Spirit Visage. The damage this rune gives can be pretty bonkers, that example build gives 48 extra AD(, 60 at max level if you take bonus CDR from offense Shard runes.)

Celerity
Gangplank utilizes the bonus movement speed well and you can get almost as fast as Sonic. The two other options in this tree give AD so you gotta decide between killing the enemy and having fun zooming around The Rift.

Absolute Focus
Good for crit Gangplank if you like hiding in bushes and oneshotting.

Scorch
Gives better poke early, not that significant but it's a good rune.

Waterwalking
Only take this if and when you're trolling with Celerity.

Gathering Storm
Meant for scaling, gives good AD and is generally the one I take with Transcendence.


Resolve

Demolish
This is the only viable rune for this slot, and luckily it works well if you're building HP, which isn't that uncommon for Gangplank.

Second Wind
Taken into poke matchups, synergizes well with Doran's Shield.

Bone Plating
Also taken into poke matchups, meant to be taken against enemies who spam abilities or auto attacks.

Overgrowth
Good for scaling if you're taking a tankier build, also enables to take HP from defensive Shard runes.

Revitalize
Works with potions and your Remove Scurvy, overall pretty good.

Unflinching
Tenacity is nice, but this falls down to which of the 3 you prefer, all the runes are good.


Inspiration

Magical Footwear
If you're the sort of guy to finish Trinity Force before buying even tier one boots like me, this is the rune for you.

Perfect Timing
Would take in games where I know I'm gonna be building Guardian Angel or your matchup gets significantly harder when getting around the 10 minute mark.

Future's Market
Biscuit Delivery is better, but this rune can be the difference between getting and not getting Trinity Force at 9 minutes in some games.

Minion Dematerializer
The only situation where I see this is a viable option is when you're building AP Gangplank without Trinity Force, in that case I would use them all on caster minions to ensure easier farming later on.

Biscuit Delivery
Gives lane sustain, synergizes well with Time Warp Tonic.

Cosmic Insight
I would say this is the best rune for Gangplank in the whole inspiration tree,CDR is a must for him.

Approach Velocity
Kinda troll, but if enemy has fast champions then this can be helpful for chasing down.

Time Warp Tonic
Recommend starting Corrupting Potion with this, works very well with Gangplank and gives great sustain.


Shard runes:
Offense:
Adaptive Force:
Generally the best option.

Attack Speed:
This can be picked if you're taking Conqueror or Fleet Footwork, but opt out to take Legend: Tenacity from the main tree, depends on if you feel like taking it.

CDR:
Two situations,
1. You have Transcendence, this is great because you can get an extra 12 AD.
2. You're going to be focusing more on raw AD/crit or going full tank, in which case you won't maybe build a lot of CDR so this is nice to have as a backup.


Flex:
Adaptive Force:
Damage is nice, this is the most common option.

Armor:
If enemy has a lot of AD and you're afraid, feel free to swap out some damage for a bit of extra tankiness.

Magic Resist:
If enemy has a lot of magic damage and you're afraid, feel free to swap out some damage for a bit of extra tankiness.


Defense:
Health:
Works well with Overgrowth, if you're taking this you might be focusing more on building HP so this can be nice to have.

Armor:
Pick this in an AD lane.

Magic Resist:
Pick this in an AP lane.
SummonersBack to Top
In this small section I will list every spell that is realistically viable on Gangplank.


Flash is the most broken summoner in the whole game, and you need to have it in order to win.


Teleport is probably the best rune for Gangplank in the sense that it allows him to play aggressively, passively and anything in between. TP is also good in the sense that GP is a splitpusher before level 13, so he can TP to push a sidelane or he can TP to go help his team if he already is in a sidelane.


Ignite is good for getting kills early and weakening healing, mainly take this only if you are mid but it can also be flexed top in-case the enemy toplaner is a Dr. Mundo or a Garen for example.


Exhaust is good against aggressive opponents who you need to slow down or run away from, examples being Zed, Talon and Fiora.
Building GangplankBack to Top
Starting items
#1 Corrupting Potion is generally considered the best start for Gangplank in the sense that it gives a bit more damage to your early trades and the sustain it provides is massive, highly recommend this start, especially if you have Time Warp Tonic.

#2 Sapphire Crystal + Refillable Potion is good if you have Teleport and are in a lane where you know your main priority is to farm safe early game.

#3 Long Sword + Refillable Potion is a high risk, high reward starting option. You would generally only take this with Ignite in mid against squishy opponents and play very aggressively early.

#4 Doran's Shield + 1 Health Potion is good if you're playing a hard lane with Fleet Footwork, an example being Cassiopeia. I suggest taking Second Wind if you plan on taking this start.


First back
#1 If you have the gold for it, always start with Sheen, it is the first major powerspike for Gangplank.

#2 A good start if you're outtrading your opponent and have to back before you get the proper gold for Sheen. If you started with a Sapphire Crystal you can instead opt for either Boots of Speed or a Long Sword.

#3 It's nearly the same as #2, but you would go this instead if it's a poke lane where you didn't start with Doran's Shield but you feel like you need the extra sustain, as with #2 you can also opt for a Long Sword in case you started with a Sapphire Crystal already.


Early items:
What you build early depends heavily on how your lane is going, you can start getting Trinity Force components straight away if you're doing really well and have the gold for it.
If this isn't the case however, you can opt to finish boots after Sheen, or situationally maybe even start building your secondary item after Sheen;
Situations where this is viable:
1. You have died solo multiple times.
2. You are continuously getting poked out of lane and can't farm well.
3. You are snowballing so hard that you decide to go for damage rather than Trinity stats.

Items that you can build in this situation:
1. Guardian Angel, good for surviving against opponents with heavy AD.
2. Maw of Malmortius, good for surviving against opponents with heavy magic burst.
3. Youmuu's Ghostblade,building a full Youmuu's after Sheen costs only 200 more gold than finishing Trinity Force, if you feel like building lethality and are having an amazing game this is a viable option since it still allows you to oneshot caster creeps.

Another item option is Executioner's Calling in case you need early healing reduction, good against champions like Sylas and Cassiopeia.


After Trinity Force:

Crit:
Powder Kegs can crit, that's the reason why people build it on him. The best 3 crit items for him are Infinity Edge, Essence Reaver and Phantom Dancer. Generally you don't want to take IE 2nd because you want more stats earlier than just raw damage. You can decide for yourself how much crit you exactly want, 25% is nice if you just want to surprise the enemy and yourself from time to time, 50% is for bois who like hitting hard, 75% is in most situations enough, and lastly 100% is for the lads who go so hard you're worried about their mental health. If you're super ahead on Gangplank one of the strongest builds you can do is stacking 3 or 4 Infinity Edge's, why would you do this? Simply because the AD you get from it is insane and it still leaves room for 2 or 3 other items.


Tank:
Plenty of options here; Sterak's Gage, Dead Man's Plate, Frozen Heart, Randuin's Omen, Spirit Visage and Adaptive Helm. What you take depends entirely on the enemy team. You should also remember that many of these have good synergy with other items, e.g. Spirit Visage works very well with Death's Dance.


Lethality:
Lethality works well on Gangplank, Youmuu's Ghostblade, Duskblade of Draktharr and Edge of Night are all fine options for GP. Sanguine Blade isn't that great on him since itdoes not need the attack speed.

Youmuu's Ghostblade is probably my most common second item, the damage and movement speed are nice

Duskblade of Draktharr is an OK item but I would only take it 3rd after YGB and EoN.

Edge of Night can be built if you're chasing enemies a lot and maybe they have a slow that they can drop down like an Orianna Q + W. It's the only lethality item I build on Conqueror Gangplank, generally I just use it to finish off builds where I'm not that sure what else to get.


AP:
Gangplank can only build AP if he's far enough ahead where it won't hurt his damage output, I would also generally recommend that you do this only if your team really needs AP.


Bruiser items:
The core items of the bruiser build are Sterak's Gage and Death's Dance, anything after that is up to you and the enemy team.


Deciding your last items:
Can be very tricky but remember that your options are plentiful, it can often be a bit of tankiness to survive late game teamfights or just more damage if you feel like it.
Keep in mind if you're building crit it's very simple, get 75% or 100% and take some penetration in the form of a Last Whisper item.
Ult upgrade order (important)Back to Top
Upgrade orders:
#1 Generally the best one since Fire At Will gives the greatest damage output and slow capabilities, Raise Morale 2nd for buffing allies and Death's Daughter last since it's not that strong nowadays.


#2 The only times you take Death's Daughter before the 2 other options is either 1. You're playing with Dark Harvest, this is fun because you get more burst, or 2. You just backed and see the enemy doing Baron or Dragon, you swiftly buy this to try and steal the objective with the initial burst. Then after that you can pick whichever upgrade you want since they're both good and fit for different situations.


#3 Raise Morale is good 1st if you have teammates that are based around chasing people, e.g. Olaf and Master Yi.
Conqueror GPBack to Top
Introduction:

Conqueror is basically Grasp of the Undying but better if you know what you're doing, the damage output and healing get stronger the longer your fights are.

When to take Conq:
It's very good against tanks like Ornn and Sion, but you can take it into any matchup you're comfortable and experienced with.

Rune setup:
Triumph is the safer option and can often save your life from maybe an Ignite for example.

Presence of Mind is the greedier option, but if you get kills early on it allows you to start with Phage instead of sheen, which can be useful if you need that little bit of extra survivability.

Legend: Alacrity is the better of the two, since Conqueror is all about having long trades where you're most likely gonna be auto attacking a lot.

Legend: Tenacity can be better into tank lanes where the enemy has many ways of CCing you, e.g. Maokai. If you find yourself picking this then you can take +10% AS in the offense path in Shard Runes if you feel like it's necessary.

Coup de Grace is good because who doesn't like extra damage, but also it helps secure kills with your Cannon Barrage.

Last Stand and Cut Down can work situationally, but Coup de Grace is definitely the best option here.


Build options:

After Trinity Force you typically want to go for Sterak's Gage and Death's Dance, after that it's situational. If you need magic resist, go for Spirit Visage, Maw of Malmortius or Adaptive Helm, for armor, get a Chain Vest and look at all the possible items that can be upgraded into. If you want more damage you can get Edge of Night and a Last Whisper item.

If you have a huge lead you can build crit, but generally it's not that good with this rune since you're picking it for sustain and sustain damage.
AP GPBack to Top
AP Gangplank is a viable strategy that is fairly simple to execute efficiently, the playstyle doesn't make you rely on barrels as heavily, it's geared more towards getting good Cannon Barrages in teamfights.


Situations where AP GP is viable:
1. You got a lead and have the gold for it + your team needs magic damage.
You finished your Trinity Force, have a good lead and are able to get some badly needed AP for your team, you have a couple build options here:
A) Youmuu's Ghostblade for better waveclear, thus getting more gold for those expensive items.
B) Going straight for a Luden's Echoor Liandry's Torment, in this scenario you should preferably have enough gold to get either Lost Chapter or Haunting Guise in one purchase.
- This option can be played mid and top.


2. You planned on going AP Gangplank before the game even started and are able to pilot this beast from the start.
If you're confident enough to play AP GP without a lead then your build should be Lich Bane into whatever you see fit.
- I would generally pick this only in mid because you are going to still play aggressive early, and matchups in mid are generally squishier. It can work top against a tank because you won't die as easily.


Item options:
Lich Bane, Luden's Echo, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Liandry's Torment, Morellonomicon, Zhonya's Hourglass, Rabadon's Deathcap and Void Staff.


Rune options
Grasp of the Undying for getting those sweet sweet early kills.
Dark Harvest for scaling and getting better Cannon Barrages.
You should take a lot of CDR in your secondary runes as well to ensure you get the most out of the AP you're building.
Off-meta GPBack to Top
This section covers something only a player with a Gangplank OTP account should be aware of, that being said, let's get into business.


Support:

If you get filled support and are going to pick Gangplank, here's what to do:

Summoners:
Ignite for lanes with a lot of healing and Exhaust for high poke lanes.


Runes:
The three that work realistically are Grasp of the Undying, Fleet Footwork and Glacial Augment.

Take Grasp of the Undying if the enemy bot lane is squishy and doesn't have a lot of mobility, e.g. Soraka + Miss Fortune. The main goal is to poke heavily early, since that's when Grasp is strongest.

Fleet Footwork is for harder lanes with poke where you need sustain.

Glacial Augment is good if you have a bot lane partner with a slow or maybe even hard CC, good examples would be Ashe, Jhin and Senna.


Itemization:
You can start with any of the four support items, it just depends on the lane and what you wish to do that game;
Spellthief's Edge and Spectral Sickle could be picked when the enemy bot lane is easily pokeable early.
Relic Shield and Steel Shoulderguards can be picked into heavy poke where you're gonna be playing safe early, you choose the one that fits with your build better. Also feel free to pick up a Dark Seal at any point if the lane is going well, you never know if you could get 10 stacks.

Support Gangplank can build utility and AP, AD can work but it takes too long to deal proper damage along with being fairly risky. That being said you can take Trinity Force regardless just so you can farm once laning phase is over.

Item options: Redemption (which btw synergizes very well with Cannon Barrage, Umbral Glaive purely for the passive, Twin Shadows and Knight's Vow.


Bottom:
If you have the option to, do not play this role, it is awful since Gangplank will always have a hard time last-hitting against marksmen, especially in bot where they have another player poking you next to them.

Summoners:
Realistically speaking Teleport is the best one, you already have a heal in your kit so you don't really need a dedicated summoner for it, if you have a healer support you could also take Ignite or Exhaust to help you get kills in lane if the enemy is squishy.



Runes:
The same ones as support Gangplank, for the exact same reasons, nothing else works in this lane.


Itemization:
Build AD, you need to last hit in this lane and the most helpful for that is Trinity Force first item with the usual AD/crit after that.


Jungle:
Despite what you might initially think, it's not the worst jungle option in the game, it sucks really hard, but isn't the worst.

Summoners:
Flash and Smite unless you're trolling, no exceptions.

Runes:
If you're playing AD, go for Fleet Footwork, if AP you can go Dark Harvest.
Fleet gives much better sustain and the Precision tree also gives you the fantastic option to take Legend: Alacrity, which will make your clear faster.

Itemization:
You can start with either jungle item, Hunter's Talisman gives good sustain off of Raptors and Wolves, while Hunter's Machete gives higher damage on your auto attacks.
AD: Don't finish your jungle item and build GP as you normally would depending on how well you're doing.
AP: Take Sheen and upgrade your Talisman or Machete into a Stalker's Blade with Enchantment: Runic Echoes, after that finish Sheen and build like a "normal" AP Gangplank.

Final notes:
- In any of these roles, I suggest taking Ultimate Hunter if you have the option to.
- If you a working keyboard, beg for your life in champion select, you really don't want to play any of these roles with Gangplank, it's miserable.
Gangplank's abilitiesBack to Top
In this section I will briefly go over Gangplank's abilities.


Trial By Fire
Gangplank's passive essentially gives him an Ignite + Ghost on his next auto attack, the cooldown is fairly long but can be reset if GP last-hits his Powder Kegs.


Parrrley
His Q is a ranged shot from his pistol, which applies on-hit effects, it can also destroy his kegs but can't be used to hit turrets or wards. If Gangplank kills a unit with his Q he receives bonus gold and Silver Serpents, which can be used to upgrade his ultimate, there are three upgrades that all cost 500 Silver Serpents.


Remove Scurvy
GP's W is a self-heal that cleanses all CC effects and scales with missing HP, can be used to bait enemies to follow you too deep into your own territory to get some cheeky kills.


Powder Keg
GP summons a keg that has 3 HP and ticks down to 1 slowly, the tick gets faster at levels 7 and 13. Gangplank can use his auto attacks or Q to get the HP down and eventually destroy the keg. Enemies can also hit the keg and if they get the last hit they receive 10 gold.


Cannon Barrage
Gangplank's ult is an AoE that summons multiple waves of cannonballs that all deal damage and slow enemies in the area, it is also the main reason people sometimes play AP GP since it has 10% AP scaling. I will now talk individually about all his three ult upgrades:

Fire At Will
With this upgrade his ult gets more waves of cannonballs during the duration, it is the best one simply because the damage is greater and each wave slows enemies.

Raise Morale
Gives allies a movement speed boost, can be used to either help allies escape faster or to help them chase down enemies easier.

Death's Daughter
Creates a giant true damage dealing cannon ball in the center of the ult during the first wave.
CombosBack to Top
In this section I will demonstrate common combos Gangplank uses nearly every game, I recommend practicing them all in the Practice Tool before you hop into a ranked game and embarrass yourself in-front of 9 other people.


Double/Triple passive:
A very useful trick to learn, most commonly used for pushing turrets or taking objectives, but can also occasionally help in fights.

The reason I call it a Double/Triple, is because most of the time you only get two passive strikes, but if your Trial By Fire is already off CD, you can get three hits at once.
Why is this combo useful?
Gangplank's passive stacks, meaning if he has two passive hits on the same target, the target will take individual damage from both Trial By Fires.
Cool, how do I do it?
It's very simple, your auto attack animation has to be idle, as in the timer is at 0, after that you just Parrrley a Powder Keg, and hit the turret as fast as you can.


Triple barrel:
A fairly simple combo where you have two Powder Kegs already chained together, and after you use Parrrley on one of them, you place a third keg down to chain them all together.

The more advanced version of the combo is to Flash after you use Parrrley, this is useful when you're chasing an enemy but don't quite have the range to do a standard Triple barrel.

A sneaky way to use the Flash version is to do it over the Raptor when rotating to mid if the enemy team is pushing for example.


The One part:
Also known as the 'Phantom Barrel', a One part is when you use Parrrley on a Powder Keg from max range and place another keg down as quickly as you can to create massive explosion which the enemy often times can