What is the use of Drunken Rage at level 1? I mean, how you are able to get close to your target? Wouldn't be Body Slam first for more initiation power with stun and a reliable escape better?

Also, Mikael's Blessing instead of Spirit Visage? You are a support after all and it means that you never ever go oom in any way. Also easier buildup and costs less, you can even get the Forbidden Idol for CDR earlier, making Ionian Boots of Lucidity obsolete. You could then use Mobility Boots to get a better aim to charge in and it helps at warding.

It's 'super' effective! !*

Thanks for your comment.

So to your first question:
I can imagine Ancient Coin working, but I can't think of a situation/matchup in which you would like to be "more squishy". Compared to the Ancient Coin Relic Shield gives no Mana regen and a slight risk when you were going for those lasthits (and more utility if upgraded), but in return it gives HP and some sort of HP regen to your ADC as well as more money if used correctly on Cannon Minions.
And as Gragas is (imo) an agressive support like Leona or Thresh, you want to make plays, trade and fight a lot in lane, where Ancient Coin is the worst of the support items for]]

The second question is more about "what you prefer to play" in sense of agressiv, passiv, poking, all-in. What also depends on your champion, but you can even play somebody like Janna agressiv, what would end in you poking a lot, but also taking small risks, where defensive runes could work for you, so you won't die just because of one small mistake. So if you want to play agressiv, where most of the tankier supports excel at, I'd suggest you to take defensive runes.

So, thanks again, for your informative questions and the kind words, I might need to add some of the content I answered into the guide...

First, love the guide. Simple, yet informative; very streamlined. Since you are asking for comments though, two questions:
How do you feel about the viability of Ancient Coin over Relic Shield?
Additionally, I understand the viability of taking defense runes over gold increasing utility runes, however, do you feel this logic stays true for all tankier supports or just Gragas?

nice guide overall, way to get people to recognise gragas's good supporting

As it is a Tank Support Build, it might not work in Mid, maybe Top if you leave out the support items. There are some Post-Rework Gragas Guides for Mid Lane too, you maybe should check them out.

How viable is this as a solo mid lane sustain build.

You will not be able to purchase Spirit Visage until the very Late Game...I almost never get to the point I can buy it. Spirit Visage is really expensive for a Support and I prefer and suggest to get armor first, since most teams have 2-3 AD dealing champs, and 1 or 2 AP Champs (and an AP Support maybe) and "diving champs" who jump on your ADC are most likely AD as well (Jax, Renekton and you are the one to peel them if your ADC can't handle them alone) so in most cases you need Armor and Health. So after all your Core Items you maybe want Randuin's Omen first or even more Health with Warmog's Armor but not very much MR. (If the enemy team is mostly Magic Damage like 2 AP Champs in Jungle and solo lanes and an AP Support like Zyra then of course you want some MR first, but it's the only case.

In case you still don't agree, you can buy Banshee's Veil instead what is just as good and you won't waste a stat.

The point of buying Ionian Boots of Lucidity is to get CDR easily early and it fits perfectly the 5% from the masteries, so you won't be at 45% or something in the end without needing to use CDR Runes as well, because you would lack combat stats early on.

not to nitpick, but with boots, masteries, spirit visage, IBG, and FotM, you'd end up with 50% cdr, which makes the choice of boots seem a bit of a waste. I personally would much rather sit at 35% or use runes to make up the difference to 40% than buy the cdr boots over something like ninja tabi.

I said in the guide you can max 2nd what ever you prefer, Q or E, because both have it up and downsides (maybe one has more the other less but still). No mana issues later, but I was talking about using the Q->E combo in lane early (from lvl 2 on) you won't be using it too often because of it's mana cost.

Thanks and anyway, appreciate it if people are asking and suggesting, no matter what.

The combo I mentioned is Barrel Roll the place where your victim will land after your Body Slam, and then blow the barrel up.

Also, Body Slam only gets 50 damage when leveling it up. I think it is a great skill to leave at level 1 until the others are maxed. Barrel Roll increases not only its damage, but also the slow ratio and reduces its cooldown. The mana issue might be solved after a Glacial Shroud, which is not that expensive and can be later upgraded in to an Iceborn Gauntlet.

Have in mind that I am a silver player and I don't own Gragas. I am trying him out this week when he is free, so I probably don't know what I am talking about. Nice guide anyways!

Firstly, I'm sorry, iI don't quite get the combo you mentioned. You use Barrel Roll to slow the enemy, Body Slam then and throw another Barrel Roll after? Or you place Barrel Role under the target then Body Slam and activate then Q again? The first of the 2 won't even work very well because even on the highest rank + 40% CDR Barrel Roll still has a 4+ seconds CD.

The other combo might work and even do more damage if executed well (with the 1,5x modifier after the Barrel lied 2 seconds).

But you didn't mention some things.

1. Barrel Roll's Mana cost is not exactly low from 60 on lvl 1 up to 80 on lvl 5. You won't be able to use the Q->E combo very often, because you're gonna run out of mana if you don't use mana regen Runes or Masteries or buy any mana regen item like Chalice of Harmony or mana like the Iceborn Gauntlet. Yes, buying Chalice of Harmony early is an option, but you shouldn't get it before the 1st upgrade of your support item and a sightstone...just because of efficiency.

2. The CD of Body Slam is 12, yes, but only with 0% CDR and the 2nd part mentioned in the ability: Body Slams CD is reduced by 3 seconds if the hits a target. So in fact you can Body Slam somebody every 6 seconds, if you don't fail. I agree, it's maybe not the best option to max it second, but it's not that bad in the end, it is okey.

3. The damage of W is not bad, even though the AP ratio is low, because you don't buy any AP items anyway (with this build, you just have the AP from runes for the early game...forget about the 30 AP from Iceborn Gauntlet it's nothing...). So in the end you gonna do more damage with your W, because you can't always wait the 2seconds on your Barrel Roll in fact you won't be able to if you can't combo him in between. Besides you are gonna face a lot of "healthy" enemies when peeling and defending your ADC who have 2-3k, in later stages of the game even up to 4k HP, so having 12% of the enemies health as damage on a 4second CD is very helpful too hande everyone who's diving (btw Qs base damage is 240 on max rank, what is easily achieved if the enemy has 2k health by %-damage itself adding 140 damage on top (so I'm not taking AP into it, cause you have <50AP most of the game).

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I might actually change some things like the combo part now, adding Barrel Roll to use either before for max damage and CC or after in case you don't have time/get in range early to prepare your Q (what I am actually mostly using it for).

Hav'Fun