Welcome to my first 'guide' on Gragas AP-style.

This guide is written according to my personal preferences while playing Gragas.
I was inspired to play Gragas as AP by reading Hell_Pet's guide. I recommend checking his guide out as well for which item build / playstyle is more to your liking.

That's it for the intro, on to the details!

Pros:

-Massive range on your Barrel Roll -> easy to harras without gettin' to much damage in the process

-Running away / chasing someone? No problem for Gragas! Body slammin' FTW

-Ulti = Atom bomb...nuff said

-Shortcuts I hear? Body slammin' your way through walls

-Good solo laner (Is able to stay in lane for a long time)

-Not just appearance people! He's an awesome farmer!


Cons: (What!?! there are actually cons about him!?!)

-Yes unfortunately... prepare to be focused mid / end game...when you're doing that much damage, they'll do everything to stop you

-It's not possible to body slam through minions, so running away is sometimes hindered by those pesky minions!

For some that might be wondering why I take 2 points in utility master:

As Gragas I love having the blue buff for cooldown reduction and the extra mana regeneration
Therefor whenever I have the time I go pick up the blue buff.

The rest of the masteries are pretty standard I suppose.

I have tried a few combo's by now and I must say: Ghost / Exhaust really is the best combo

Ghost:
Gettin' chased or chasing someone, this will come in handy.

Exhaust:
For those pesky hard hitting AD champs. I find them pretty easy to kill with this on :)

For the other spells I tried I'll try to explain it a bit further:

Flash:
Flash comes in handy sometimes but not to much when playing gragas, I can body slam through walls when needed, or ulti if necessary for a safe escape. Not worth taking.

Clarity:

This helps early game...but end game it becomes utterly useless, seeing you have a bit of mana regen of Doran's ring and the extra mana you get from Drunken Rage you should be fine.

Ignite: I guess this is personal preference, if you like having ghost/ignite or exhaust / ignite or something like that, do so by all means. But I don't consider it a good summoner spell for gragas.

Smite:...pretty obvious why not:p

Rally: who even takes that nowadays?

Clairvoyance: Let someone else take it.

Fortify: Not really tanking this match...sorry bro.

Heal: read the passive...now back to to heal...back to passive...figured it out yet?

Cleanse: Only useful on a tanky gragas according to me

Teleport: Wouldn't trade it for my mobility or slow/debuff

Revive: no...just...no...

I think this is pretty easy to comprehend why which skill gets prioritized:

Barrel roll:
This is your early game harassing/ end game nuking bomb Should always get maxed first.

Drunken rage:
Only 1 early game for the effects of the buff and the extra mana you get from the spell.

Body slam:
Gets maxed second, for the simple reason that this does a lot of damage as well + being your escape/chase mechanic, it's just simply amazing.

Explosive cask:
Gets maxed when possible, this is the bomb...let's me rephrase that, this is DA BOMB, you'll have a great time throwing these around ;)

Alright, let's talk items.

Doran's ring:
Great early game starting item, you have the extra health for survivability/ a little bit of mana regen which always comes in handy/ and the ability power which makes your barrel rolls look like they do waaaaaaay to much damage early game.... Perfect to start. (Will be sold later on)

Next up Sorcerer's shoes:
Most people who play gragas like to rush Rod of Ages...I like to do the same thing...except I need mah damn speed son! I'm not taking the Ionian boots of lucidity because I worry about Cooldown reduction afterwards.

Rod of Ages:
This will give you lot's of survivability and Ability power along with some extra mana aswell, it's a perfect item for gragas to keep him going early/ mid game, so...go get it!

After that I like to go directly for the main prize... Rabadon's Deathcap:
This will give your abilities a bigger 'I owned ya face' feel to it. Watch the damage go up just like your happiness while playing gragas :)

Morello's Evil tome:
Remember the thing I said about worrying about cooldown reduction later?...well now is later! It gives you more OPness (by which I mean AP ofc) mana regen (bye bye mana problems) and 20% cooldown reduction (Oh Mah God Gragas is commin' for us *Everybody screaming like little girls*) Ladies and gentlemen start your ability spamming :)

Abyssal scepter:
Great for that extra bit of survivability against other AP users and further increasing your pew pew *cough* Excuse me BOOM abilities.

Last but not least if you even get this far: Rylai's Crystal Scepter:
Why take this last? Well I found out if they aren't surrendering or losing at this time in the game you should get yourself some more survivability cuz things are gettin' crazy out there!

And of course if you can: get some pots to finish off this build and just go forth...be awesome and all that good stuff.

Once again this is how I build him, I found it fitting to my playstyle, feel free to adjust anything until you're comfortable with the build :)

Team work people!

Help our your fellow teammates *cough*scrubs*cough* survive the ganks/ tower dives/ teamfights.

This is of course easily achieved by a well thrown Explosive cask/ a well placed body slam or just a plain old 'finish them off before they finish us off' barrel roll.

Gragas should harass a lot with Barrel roll (be careful of your mana though in early game), make them wish they never stood against the mighty gragas!

Keep your Drunken Rage on at all times! You never know what might happen. It costs nothing to cast so...why don't I see you casting it?! However! Be mindful of the duration of your buff when going in a fight! When it's almost down it's better to wait to recast it than to be sorry and die because of it.

Keep your head cool and watch for easy barrel roll harassment: figure out where they'll run to when they see the barrel rolling their way. Keep them on the edge till they pop :)

Don't be a fool...aka don't turret dive ya big idiot. While playing gragas I barely turret dive...why? Because I'm gragas...that's why! Throwing your explosive cask is an easy way to push them towards you when they're making love to the turre-...euhm...turret hugging!
If you absolutely want that kill and you're sure that you'll get it, feel free to body slam your way to your target, but usually the ulti or your barrel roll should suffice to get them at their turret.

Well that makes an end to my first (Gragas) guide.

Feel free to post any constructive criticism you might have in the comments.

*puppy dog eyes* Be gentle...'snif'