Hello, welcome to my Gangplank guide! My name is Hamzah, but I go by the name Alt af 4 in the League of Legends community on the North American servers. I started playing League of Legends just in the midst of season 5 around the time of the rework of Gangplank. My highest rank was Platinum 3 in season 7 and am currently in my Promotion series for Platinum 3 in season 8 at the time of making this build. According to wol.gg I have 2300+ hours of playtime since I have started.

This guide was made to help those that are new to Gangplank so that they can get a feel for the champion or if item builds are all that is needed. Everyone has their own preferences so these builds are up to the summoner playing. I have used Gangplank to climb the ranked ladders for quite some time and will always be my number 1 pick in the top lane.

Flash is a must have 100% of the time on Gangplank. Not only is it used as a great escape, it can also be used to perform tricks to outplay the opponent.


Teleport is another must have summoner spell, but can sometimes be replaced with Ignite if the match up can be easily handled. Teleport combined with R Cannon Barrage can be used together when applying pressure to other parts of the map.

As Gangplank you are weak early on in the top lane until you get your core items. To make up for this you have the runes that will make you a stronger laner. The Resolve tree makes you have increased sustain and tankiness as you get health and healing benefits. Going Grasp of the Undying, Bone Plating, Second Wind, and Revitalize will help the laning phase tremendously as you are able to challenge champions you normally could not if you went the route of Kleptomancy. The runes for the Domination tree also increases your sustain with Taste of Blood and Ravenous Hunter.

Trial by fire (passive)
Every several seconds, Gangplank's next melee attack ignites the target, dealing 55 (+10 per level) (+1.0 per bonus attack damage) bonus true damage over 2.5 seconds and granting 30% movement speed for 2 seconds. Destroying a Powder Keg instantly refreshes Trial By Fire.

Parrrley (Q)

Gangplank shoots an enemy with his pistol, dealing 20 / 45 / 70 / 95 / 120 (+1.0 per attack damage) physical damage. Gangplank gains 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 extra gold and Silver Serpents (which can be spent to upgrade his ultimate) if Parrrley deals a killing blow. This ability can critically strike and applies on-hit effects, but doesn't apply Trial By Fire.

Remove Scurvy (W)

Gangplank consumes a large quantity of citrus fruit which removes any crowd control effects on him and heals him for 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (+90% of ability power) (+15% of missing Health).

Powder Keg (E)

Passive: Gangplank stores a charge of Powder Keg every few seconds, up to a maximum of 3 stored at once.

Active: Gangplank places a powder keg that can be attacked by himself or his enemies. Lasts 25 seconds or until destroyed.

If Gangplank destroys a keg, it explodes in an AoE blast that slows enemies by 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 % for 2 seconds and spreads the damage of the attack to all nearby enemies. Other casks within the zone will chain explode. Explosions ignore 40% of their targets' armor, and enemy champions take 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 bonus physical damage. If an enemy destroys the cask, it defuses the explosion and grants gold.

Cannon Barrage (R)

Active: Gangplank signals his ship to fire 12 waves of cannonballs upon the target area over 8 seconds in clusters of 3 every 2 seconds, revealing it for the duration. Each wave deals 35 / 60 / 85 (+10% of ability power) magic damage and slows enemies hit by 30% for 0.5 seconds.

Gangplank can purchase upgrades to his ship in the store at the cost of 500 Silver Serpents each, which improve Cannon Barrage:
- Death's Daughter: An initial mega-cannonball lands in the center of the area of effect, dealing a cluster's worth of true damage and slowing enemies within by 60% for 1.5 seconds.
- Raise Morale: Allies within the area gain 30% bonus movement speed, persisting for 2 seconds after leaving it. Gangplank can also benefit from this effect.
- Fire At Will: Fires 6 additional waves with increasing rate of fire over the duration.

COST: 3733 Gold
Attack Damage: 25
Cooldown: 20%
Health: 250
Mana: 250
Movement Speed: 5%

UNIQUE Passive: Basic attacks grant 20 Movement Speed for 2 seconds on hit. Minion, monster, and champion kills grant 60 (half for ranged champions) Movement Speed for 2 seconds.
UNIQUE Passive: After using an ability, your next basic attack deals bonus physical damage equal to 200% of your base Attack Damage. 1.5 second cooldown. Does not stack with Sheen or Lich Bane.



COST: 3200 Gold
Health: 450

Passive: +50% Base Attack Damage
UNIQUE Passive:Grants Sterak's Fury upon taking 400 - 1800 (based on level) damage within 5 seconds (60 second cooldown).
Sterak's Fury: For 8 seconds, grants increased size, +30% Tenacity, and a shield that starts decaying after 0.75 seconds based of 75% bonus health.



COST: 3200 gold
Attack Damage: 70
Attack Speed: 30%

UNIQUE Passive: If you haven't attacked for 2.31 - 0.38 (based on bonus attack speed) seconds, gain Storm's Edge.
Storm's Edge: Your next basic attack critically strikes for 160-200% (based on critical strike chance) damage and grants 10% bonus movement speed for 1.75 seconds.

Trinity Force is the bread and butter of Gangplank. It is what allows you to have the consistent damage output with your Parrrley and Powder Keg combo. You usually want to go Sheen into Phage into Stinger. Sheen is always the first item while Phage and Stinger can be built depending on how the lane goes. You must always rush this core item no matter what! Under no circumstance will you go for this second as you could be losing a lot of potential damage.

Sterak's Gage is an item that complements your Trinity Force. By increasing your base damage, Trinity Force's unique passive: Spellblade is able to do more damage for each proc of your Q. Sterak's Gage also adds to Gangplank's already decent ability to survive due to its Sterak's fury passive which shields you from a large burst of damage.

Stormrazor is a new item in this patch (8.11) and a useful one to use on Gangplank Due to its unique passive, you can always crit on your barrels resulting in massive amounts of damage. This results in you not having to buy crit items so you could build other useful items of your choice.

This item is useful when the enemy team is composed of 2 or more ability power champions. It is most useful against the ones with large amounts of burst such as LeBlanc, Annie, or Syndra.
This items is useful when facing champions with armor since you get lethality with it. The lethality makes your attacks hurt even more. It also makes you pretty mobile because of its active ability.
This item helps you survive. When attacking an enemy champion, you take less damage which increases your chance of survival. It also helps you catch up to fleeing enemies due to its passive ability. This item also works well with Stormrazor as its attack speed reduces the amount of time you have to wait in between for a guaranteed critical strike.
This is another item that increases your chances of surviving. It reduced incoming damage and heals you for the damage you deal. This item is especially good if you are against tanks and assassins. Gangplank can also benefit from its good amount of damage and cooldown reduction you gain from buying it.
This item is especially good against teams with high Hitpoint champs like Garen and Cho'Gath. Since its change in 8.11, it is seen as more useful than before with its increase in armor penetration. It is perfect when combined with barrels and crit which shreds through these high HP champions.
This is another item that is useful against tanks. This item is not used for high HP champs, but more if a team has a lot of healing potential. If the enemy team has more than 2 champions capable of healing such as Soraka or Vladimir then it is suggested that you get this item to prevent a lot of the healing done by the enemy team.
This item is only bought when the enemy team is auto-attack reliant and have heavy attack damage champions like Zed and Draven.
This item allows for better survivability when faced with heavy crowd control (CC). I would also recommend building this item against heavy magic team compositions.

I hope the guide helps you in the future when playing my favorite champion Gangplank. Good luck climbing the ranked ladders on the rift summoners!