There is nothing wrong with rushing Rod of Ages.. BUT, in my build i go straight for AP.. and i don't have these mana problems as you have. just use W everytime it's on.
and you just compared my guide with your own.. and found out it's not the same, so you voted down. see, that's low

And not to brag or anything.. but i have won over every single other gragas i have played against. so don't tell me i don't know much about him or i suck. i have played him for a long time.

And by the way, you said Doran's had everything you need, then why haven't Rod of Ages, seeing it has mana for his mana hunger, health for survivability, and ability power so he can hit harder?

Gragas has no mana problems?
I guess you just only tried him this free week, as it seems you don't know anything about him. Also, it does not seems as read it all, as I describe why I go utility tree, and why I need the extra mana; because I go only Ability Power runes, and magic penetration, and I therefore run out of mana quickly. About the Doran's ring, instead of Sapphire Crystal. I choose to buy Sapphire Crystal, as I said early; whit my runes I won't need the extra AP, and with my Sapphire I can make up his mana hunger. Doran is a viable choice, but I go for Sapphire as it works better in my build, and it allows you to finish your core build faster. At last, why shouldn't I rush Rod of Ages? Rushing RoA is the only way to get any good out of the passive, as it increases every minute, so why wouldn't I rush it? Your arguments makes no sense, and it seems as you are just trolling because I gave a advises on your build, and gave it a negative commentary? See, that's low.

oh btw, starting with Sapphire Crystal ?
go for a Doran's Ring and you get mana regen, AP, and health.. everything you need.

21 in utility is pretty bad.. you don't have so many mana problems with gragas, since you got your W ability.
Rushing for rod of ages is just bad.. go for more AP stuff first, and maybe you need rod of ages after that..

I finished the layout. Cheers.

Thank for replies, I efited the layout. Thanks to jhoi for the amazing layout guide, and thanks to you ragnarson, for telling me 'bout it.

Put in some pics to help make it a lil easier to read. Other than that, its good.

another way to try him would be straight tank. ive found that to be very effective. but as of the guide, all the details are there, it could just use a bit more color. i would recommend checking out the coding forums or jhoijhoi's build title "Making A Guide". other than that, good build

Thank you for reply. It's up to you, whether to build him AP or tanky-dps, but I think you should try AP once, just for fun. Because it's a whole another gameplay, than if you play him as tanky.

Nice dude. havent seen many ppls playing as gragas ohter than meself, and it think its a good guide. myself i better like to tank/DPs whit him