FAT DRUNK GRAGAS

Thank you for choosing my guide! This is my first Mobafire guide, so bare with me :P

Hello! My name is Dazzling5, and I would like to share with you the untapped power of Graggy. Ever since the Gragas nerfs in early S4, he has been treated like garbage. I assure you, this is not the case. I am here to help you learn the new secrets found in Gragas, the Rabble Rouser!

I will go into much depth regarding Graggy, and I expect to finish this guide in about March or April. I'll let you know when it's done!

I hope you enjoy my guide!

PROS AND CONS

Pros

- Has a gap closer
- Really fun to play!
- High skill cap
- Three amazing CC abilities
- Damage, poke, waveclear and all in potential at all stages in the game
- Ganks well, sets up ganks well, and avoids ganks like a lean machine
- Three amazing CC abilities
- Did I mention he has three amazing CC abilities?
- Can be played anylane, anytime.
- Need a keg? I know a guy.
- Fat :)

Cons

- Tough to master
- A wrong ult will save enemies
- E is easily blocked (avoid this)
- When E is dodged you're screwed
- W takes a whopping second to charge
- Barrel Roll needs to chill a while for max damage
- It's a little hard to 1v5.
- Needs to use his escape on enemies for maximum burst

These are the standard runes for most AP mids. The flat Armor and MR runes let you withstand early poke and flat AP Quints are awesome! They make those early barrels hurt like the Dickens. AP pen marks are pretty much the only viable mark option for AP Gragas.

When going top or voyaging the jungle, I don't think other runes are necessary. These runes let you hurt the enemy, but if you're looking for more tankiness health seals are alright.



These are fairly standard support runes on an AP champ. As a support, you need to be able to withstand stupid poke from the enemy bot lane, so substituting the Armor Seals for Health Seals and AP Quints for Armor Quints is smart. On the other hand, The AP Quints give you quite solid AP to piss them off. Usually when I support, I take these defensive runes. Nonetheless, I certainly take the AP runes to piss them off every now and then, typically vs. passive lanes i.e. Janna, Soraka.

PASSIVE: HAPPY HOUR

Gragas takes a drink from his cask every time he uses an ability, restoring 4% of his maximum health instantly. (8 second CD)

This is a lifesaver: Dive towers courageously and turn on enemies fearlessly with Happy Hour. Make sure it's up though .... This is a super useful tool the whole game, as it lets Gragas stay in lane as long as he pleases, resulting in angry enemies as long as Gragas pleases. Poke happily and gain health. Combined with a flask you can stay mid for ages.

Q: BARREL ROLL

Gragas rolls his cask to a location, which can be activated again to explode or will explode on its own after 5 seconds. Enemies struck by the blast have their movement speed slowed for 2 seconds. The damage and slow increase based on the time the barrel sits out before exploding. The damage is reduced to 70 % against minions.

Seems complicated but its not in the slightest. Roll a barrel to an area within 950 units; when it reaches that location it will stay there for four seconds, and will gain damage over the first two seconds. Activate it whenever. Oh yeah, it slows like a b*tch.
I almost always max this ability first. The lower CD and increased damage is just too good.
Throughout laning phase, your job is to sparingly (don't go too oom) spam Q to poke the enemy, When farming, make sure to let it simmer for those two seconds, and whenever you roll a barrel to poke, proc it as late as possible for max damage.

W: DRUNKEN RAGE

Gragas takes a long swig from his barrel, disabling his ability to cast or attack for 1 second and gaining damage reduction for 2.5 seconds. Upon finishing his drink, Gragas' next attack within 3 seconds will deal bonus magic damage.

Super pooper. Lich bane or Iceborne, SUPER POOPER. The only problem is the one second cast time, which certainly takes getting used to. Always W before you go in so you don't waste precious time chuggin. A smart enemy will see this chug as a sign like "**** the fatty's coming" so I find it works better when you either do it out of sight or facing the other direction. They think you're just gonna farm with it. Haha, silly enemy, we farm champions.

E: BODY SLAM

Gragas charges forward, colliding with the first enemy unit. He deals magic damage to enemies in the area and bumps them back, stunning them for 1 second. Body Slam's cooldown is reduced by 3 seconds if Gragas collides with a unit.

Without this, Gragas would have no use for his tummy. I love this ability. Gank, avoid ganks, run, farm, troll, you name it we've got it! This sets up an easy fermented barrel held for at least 1.5 seconds and an even easier drunken rage smack. When Lich Bane/Iceborne is purchased, try to string your auto's in between for hella burst. The long range allows you to fly long distances and through most walls. Enjoy :)

R: EXPLOSIVE CASK

Gragas throws his cask to a location, which explodes on impact, dealing magic damage to enemy units in the area and knocking them back.

Imagine throwing Janna across the map. We can do that. A properly used ult will win the fight for you. You like that don't you ;). On the other hand, if the enemy times their flash right it will save their life. We overlook that.

Obviously get R whenever you can. Next, max Q. The lower CD and increased damage is just too good.
Throughout laning phase, your job is to sparingly (don't go too oom) spam Q to poke the enemy, When farming, make sure to let it simmer for those two seconds, and whenever you roll a barrel to poke, proc it as late as possible for max damage. When it's maxed, you do significantly more damage, much more often.
Absolutely positively never max E first! All it does is increase the damage. Here are the times when you max W first:
You are experimenting.
You are playing a matchup (this will most likely be toplane) where they are constantly on top of you and you need the auto attack buff. In that case consider rushing IG over ROA for the big boy W.
You are a silly willy.

In simpler language, max Q first.
Now, you may ask why I max E over W second. This is my explanation:

Suppose we are a midlane Gragas with X AP VS a 1400 health vayne. Suppose her MR is negligible.
IT ISN’T!!!!!! But suppose it is.
Drunken rage: Deals 20/50/80/110/140 (+30%AP) + 8%/9%/10%/11%/12% of enemy max health
GRAGAS
20 + 8% (+30%) -> 132 + .3X
50 + 9% (+30%) -> 176 + .3X
80 + 10% (+30%) -> 220 + .3X
110 + 11% (+30%) -> 264 + .3X
140 + 12% (+30%) -> 288 + .3X

That's not too shabby!

Body Slam: Deals 80/130/180/230/280 + (.6AP)

GRAGAS
80 + 60% -> 80 + .6X
thun thun thun -> 130 + .6X
nien nien nien -> 180 + .6X
blah blah blah -> 230 + .6X
iaursgjflkadsf -> 280 + .6X

Now, at this stage in the game, (if I'm mid) I will hopefully have a Lich Bane, the corest of cores on Graggy, which means my W hurts LIKE THE DICKENS. Since Lich bane adds 75% of your AD and 50% of your AP, the slight damage per level increase of Drunken rage seems like a little speck of dust. But wait, there's more! The W maxing decreases its cooldown, so it sounds like I can overlook the small damage per level increase because cooldowns suck ***. Unfortunately, I can't. In a real situation, Hitting a W is almost impossible in fights unless they're locked down, so early to mid game especially, you will RARELY hit a W on someone intelligent unless they're stunned via Body Slam. Oh yeah, back to Body Slam. Since we need it to string out abilities properly, AND it has a whopping 60% AP scaling, It hurts like a bungalo when maxed fully, unlike Drunken Rage. With a Lich Bane (its the core of cores for a reason, honey), W hurts more than enough, and we overlook the massively reduced cooldowns because we need our E to use it anyways, AND since E has double the AP scalings, its damage is truly brutal...... If we build AP. Which brings me to my next and final point. The E well outscales W in my midlane AP carry Gragas situation, but on tanky Gragas with much less AP:
First, E won't outscale W anymore. Not enough AP
Second, We can strut through their team and smack them in the face with Drunken Rage much more often, and will need to do so much more often, since we're a tank.
Finally, the damage reduction is OP on a midlaner, and on a tank the increased damage reduction will only let you use your W more and more often. Max it second when you're building tanky.

Summary:

Buliding AP?

Building Tank?

Feeling dandy?

For a midlaner, it's pretty much not a question.
Rush: Lich Bane with some Sorcerer's Shoes. Don't overlook the Magic Pen. It's really strong.

If you hit Body Slam for a free Drunken autoattack, and snag yourself a barrel. you wreck the f*ck out of squishies.

Then whip out your Morellonomicon for Mad CDR and solid AP. More CDR = More barrels. Morello's is so strong.

Get Rabadon's Deathcap next for amazing burst. The damage is real.

I like Zhonya's Hourglass because you can assassinate the enemies and jump their team, yet stay safe and let your team catch up to you. It will sometimes give you enough time for your E to be back up so you can gtfo. In sticky situations you can always rely on your ult to knock them away and allow you to escape post Zhonya's. Besides, what's wrong with 120 AP?
Zhonya's Hourglass leads to THE PLAYS

I like to top all that off with Liandry's Anguish so you BURN the enemies. Late game, with this build, Your ult will ELIMINATE their squishies. Use it wisely, and easily win any teamfight. Happy shreking!

P.S. I have been experimenting with the new item Luden's Tempest. Personally, I don't find it very cost efficient so I get Liandry's Anguish last as it offers Magic Penetration. In general, it's very OK. With your build with Luden's Tempest your AP will me MAJOR. I still prefer Liandry's Anguish. It's a personal preference.

Now, as a top laner, you can explore a lot more options. Personally, this is my favorite:

Rush Rod of Ages. With and early Rod of Ages you can spam Q and push for days. The health is good too.

Second, acquire a Iceborn Gauntlet. Your Drunken autos will do the trick. Boots options are listed at the top, but typically get Mercury's Treads as they will make you much more immune to CC. In other words, get on their faces :)

To finish off the build, you want:

Sunfire Aegis: Armor and health, but the passive burn is great because you plan on being on top of their team. Typically get this as your first endgame item.

Spirit Visage: Offers health (great!), MR (great!), CDR (wow!), and a healing booster (yum!). If they have lots of AP, take this immediately after IG. If not, take it last.

For the final item, you have options:

Randuin's Omen: Offers health (superb!), armor (yay!), and some nice unique bogus that helps against attack speed, and a AOE slowing active with is fresh af. The sheer armor and health stats are good enough, but the rest make it even lovelier.

Warmog's Armor: No armor, no MR, but lots and lots of health. When I get this it's solely for ***** and giggles purposes. Randuin's is better in general but this is certainly a fun item :P.

My route is pretty straightforward. Gromp (smite it) -> Blue -> Wolves (smite it) -> BACK ...
Krugs -> Wraiths (smite those) -> Red. GANK TIME. For first back you should be able to afford the smite enchantment already. Chilling for being annoying, or farming one for, well, tanky farming. I usually get farming one because I'm confident in being able to hit my combos and CC chain.

Other then that you are gonna need help with early dragon which is very crucial. Go tanky, like the toplane build. Win.