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The Big Daddy is in the Jungle - An in DEPTH Guide

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Gangplank Build Guide by

In Depth Guide on How to Plunder Top Lane!!!

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1 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author MrBGJM

Gangplank Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (1) More Gangplank Guides

Spells:

Ghost

Ignite

Ability Order

Gangplank Passive Ability

More Gangplank Counters

«Introduction»

Hello interwebs!

was the first champion I ever played 2 years ago on League, and since then I have played well over 25% of my games as him. I believe to have found a consistent way to get good results out of every game with GP. While I admit it is not flawless, it is something that has been quite strong. This is my first guide so go easy on me ;)

This particular guide is aimed at those who like that solo top lane. It's main focus is about staying in the lane for as long as possible while harassing your enemy and farming up like a true pirate and coming out as a strong late game champion securing the win for the team through persistent raw damage output and mobility.

Right away I will tell you this is not a critical chance based build. I have never been too lucky with critical hits so I tend to stray away from them due to my experience with them, but I do not believe that crit-plank is the only-plank.

«Pros / Cons»

Gangplank

+Pros+
+Good Harass
+Anti-CC Skill
+Global Ulti
+Large Range Multi Target Buff Skill
+Passive Slow with damage
+Ranged Skill that applies On Hit effects
+Easy to farm with
+Moderately-High Mobility
+Good Initiator
+Good ganking potential

SPACE

-Cons-
-Mana Problems
-Relatively Squishy
-No in-built Escape mech
- will be hard to verse

«Runes»

x9 +8.55 Damage A small damage boost.

Greater Seal of Vitalityx9 +9.72 Health Per Level (+174.96 at level 18) Nice amount of extra health for durability.

x9 -5.85% Cooldown Reduction Allow your skills to be used more often, mainly to help with Remove Scurvy and it's long cooldown.

Greater Quintessence of Endurancex3 +4.5% Health Boost To help with durability so you're not too squishy.

Additionally, you can swap out the Greater Seal of Vitality to , , or even Greater Seal of Endurance if your opponent is looking to be really heavy on physical damage, but I still prefer the health per level as it stacks better with the Greater Quintessence of Endurance and the rest of the items.

«Masteries»

Why this setup?

This setup is aimed at dealing damage through and through, without skimping on lane sustain. While going all out crit-plank is quite fun at times, rolling the success of a game on your luck early game to get a few lucky crits and score kills has always seemed to be a bit too dicey, and I rather go for consistent performance, where critical strikes are not the main emphasis but lovely additions.

Let's Break It Down A Little

Summoner's Wrath to enhance your summoner spells.
Brute Force for the extra damage.
Alacrity to unlock Weapon Expertise .
Havoc 1.5% damage increase is the difference between a 500 damage crit and a 600 damage crit.
Deadliness and Lethality for another boost to damage.
Vampirism to help with lane sustain as your Parrrley will lifesteal for you.
Executioner again, for damage.
Hardiness a small armour boost to help against your solo top enemy, this of course can be exchanged for 3 points in Resistance if your enemy is a magic dealer.
Vigor to help with staying in lane.
Tough Skin and Indomitable to tank the creeps just outside of tower range to make sure you don't lose much farm to the tower.

You may wonder why Havoc / Vampirism over Sunder ?
Primarily because you've already got Weapon Expertise and armor pen isn't as important as dealing more damage and lane sustain, and is not the main focus of this build.

«Skills and Skill Sequence»

Skills

Grog Soaked Blade (Passive)

Gangplank's basic attacks apply a poison debuff for 3 seconds that can stack up to 3 times. Each stack deals 3 + (1 x level) magic damage per second and slows the target by 7%.

Parrrley (Active)

Gangplank shoots an enemy with his pistol, dealing 20 / 45 / 70 / 95 / 120 (+1.0 per attack damage) physical damage. Gangplank gains 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 extra gold if Parrrley deals a killing blow. This ability can critically strike and applies on-hit effects, including his passive.

Remove Scurvy (Active)

Gangplank consumes a large quantity of citrus fruit which removes any crowd control effects on him and heals him for 80 / 150 / 220 / 290 / 360 (+100% of ability power).

Raise Morale (Passive + Active)

(Passive): Permanently increases Gangplank's attack damage by 8 / 10 / 12 / 14 / 16 and his movement speed by 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 %.

(Active): Gangplank fires into the air, disabling his passive boost but inspiring himself to gain an additional 12 / 19 / 26 / 33 / 40 attack damage and 8 / 11 / 14 / 17 / 20 % movement speed, with nearby allied champions receiving half that amount for 7 seconds. He regains the passive when the buff ends.

Cannon Barrage (Active)

Gangplank signals his ship to fire 25 cannonballs upon target area for 7 seconds. Each cannonball deals 75 / 120 / 165 (+20% of ability power) magic damage to all enemies hit. Enemies caught in the area of this ability are slowed by 25% for 1.25 seconds, with the duration refreshing if one stays in the area.

Skill Sequence

Reasoning and Variation

is maxed first because;

Main Source of Damage (during laning phase).
+8 Gold per minion kill.
Massive harass potential.
Applies ON HIT effects.
The best freaking skill in LoL.

SPACE

is taken second because;

Anti-CC.
Healing.

is maxed second because;

Passively increases Damage and Movement Speed.
Can be activated to buff allies and increase its effect on you.
Helps escapes and ganks.

SPACE

is taken at 6 / 11 / 16 because;

It is your ultimate.
It is a GLOBAL skill.
It is a large AOE Slow and Damage spell.
Is a very versatile skill.

Note

Whether or not you get or at level 2 is somewhat dependent on who you are against. If you come up against someone with a hard CC like or , you would want to take first to counter their stun. Otherwise the extra movement speed and damage from would probably better for farming and harassing with .

Gangplanks Ultimate

is an extremely handy skill to have on your team.

Can kill enemy minion waves that are pushing a turret that nobody can get to in time to save, or while your team is pushing another lane.
Can push enemy champions off your towers.
Can steal Baron, Dragon, and Red/Blue Buff minions.
Can assist in a kill or escape from anywhere on the map.
Can initiate or help with an initiate.
Can catch a fleeing or blue pilling enemy that is on low HP and score you an extra kill.
Low cool-down.

«Items»

Starting Items

If you are up against a champion like , , or ;
x5

Otherwise go;
x2

And of course if you so wish extra mobility early;
x3

Core Items

Choose if the enemy team is high on magic damage and CC, otherwise .
A permanently solves GP's mana problems and boosts his damage output slightly, and can be capitalised upon with complimentary items. While gives you lane sustain and a ward for your top lane bush to protect you while you farm, additionally the extra damage and armour is wonderful.

Complementing Items

is a major item to get your hands on as GP, because not only does the mana complement your but the passive proc will greatly increase your damage output. ADDITIONALLY the critical chance, attack speed, and on hit slow is amazing on GP.

is your bulk damage item. Giving you a lot of damage and an extra 50% to your critical damage.

and are your major defensive items, both again complement your giving a slight boost to your damage output. The item you choose to buy depends on who you are versing in each game.

Late Game

Sell your for a as your will hold back your maximum damage and lifesteal.

Situational Items

If your team is lacking a tank initiator, usually GP and substitute this role to an acceptable degree.
You still get the Core Items, but afterwards get and , followed by giving you a large amount of health, and moderate damage, allowing you to soak up damage, and retain enough damage to still be a threat to the enemy team.

If the enemy team is stacking armor like it is the fashionible item of the week, becomes a must have. Replace your with this armor shredding weapon. Your max damage will suffer but you will deal more damage than you would without it. Just be wary of the dreaded

Item Ordering

IF you went with the opening it is easier for you to get your faster but you will suffer slightly in the mana department.

IF you went with starting items it is easiest to get a quick and then go build your , you will have less damage output early game because of this but it is possible to stay in the lane longer and harass more than any other opening.

With the opening you can go either way evenly, it is completely up to you.

After the Core Items

To gain a quick boost to your damage a is a nice way to do this. will activate with and the damage will apply when hits your target.

After that you may want to invest in a defensive item depending on how much damage you are taking, if you are not falling below 50% hp in team fights at this point, continue to finish your OR , but if you build or first, finish your afterwards, and get directly after, and then round out your build by selling and buying a .

The End Build (non variant)

-OR-
-into-

-OR-

«Summoner Spells»

Yes Ghost and Ignite.

•This is primarily because of the mastery, as it beefs up both of these spells.

• is chosen over because it is easier to chase down and kill enemies along with your passive slow from .

• is to allow you to kill your laning opponent easier, and with it will increase your AP by 5, giving you a whole +5 healing to !!!

Other Viable Summoner Spells

To slow down your opponent even further and to reduce their damage output for a few seconds allowing you to beat them down!

In the cases that you need flash to quickly hop out of the way from a particular skill that would sink your ship.

With a global ultimate it is quite useful to be able to quickly change position while casting it. Mobility is very powerful on GP.

NON-Viable Summoner Spells

Yes, GP has some mana issues, but that is why there is . Clarity quickly becomes redundant.

You have you don't need cleanse, if you REALLY wanted an extra anti-CC, quick silver sash would be a better choice.

You're not the support. That is all.

«Farming»

Parrrley

This skill is your farming tool to lots o' booty! +8 gold per creep kill should not be underestimated. Every 3rd creep is a FREE EXTRA creep!!
However it is also your main harass skill, so be sure not to harass when you should use it to farm and not to farm when you should harass!
If your jungler is in the bush wanting to gank, open up with so it applies to your hungry ally in waiting and shoot at your enemy creating a perfect opportunity for your jungler to jump in and help you plunder your lane with you!

Then calmly go back to farming.

Additionally large minion waves that are pressing your turrets can swiftly be taken care of with Cannon Barrage from anywhere on the map. IT HAS A SHORT COOL-DOWN, so don't be afraid to use it!

«Top Lane Baddies»

«Team Work»

is an AMAZING ally to have.
When you team is about to open up smack down some to buff up your team as the fight breaks out, and then place down your ultimate to mass slow and damage your enemy team stopping them from easily fleeing the engagement and securing that ace!

Be aware that your has a large AOE on it and be map aware to watch for your allies trying to catch-up or escape an enemy and use your skills accordingly. Cut your enemies off with and hasten your allies with raise moral and if needed or possible your opponent, which applies your , slowing them down.

«Some Calculations and Summary»

Main Build (level 18)

Alternate Build (level 18)

All-in-all both these 2 builds are very sustainable and very high in damage, and rather easy to build.

As noted at the start this is my first build and I am open to changing a few things given that the reasoning provided is relevant and has a good grounding. Any questions or tips or anything just let me know! Other than that I shall see you all in the Rift!