Gwen Build Guide by Princess Shuna

Hey, I'm Princess Shuna, 18 years old and currently playing on EUW. I played Gwen for like ETERNITIES on the PBE and me and my friends figured what'd be the best and worst matchups and items to go for her. I even made a laaaaarge doc, but that's not really important. Important is that if you wanna play Gwen, then I want to present you the best Guide I have to offer for her. I listed up everything you need to know in detail right here. Have fun playing Gwen! <3

Base HP: 550
HP5: 7
HP Per Level: 90
HP Regen Per Level: 0.11
Base Mana: 330
Mana Per Level: 40
Base MR: 32
MR Per Level: 1.25
Base AD: 63
AD Per Level: 3
Base Armor: 37
Armor Per Level: 4
Base Move Speed: 340
Attack Speed Per Level: 2.25
Attack Range: 150

Description:
Gwen's attacks deal bonus magic damage based on the targets health. She heals for a portion of the damage dealt to champions by this effect.

Use:
Well, the use of this passive is more or less just to use your Q ( Snip snip!) and R ( Needlework) wisely.

General Info:
Gwen's attacks will deal an additional Max Health magic damage (1% + 0.008% AP) on hit. She will also be able to recover health equivalent to 70% of the damage that this ability will deal to her opponents.

Description:
Gwen snips her scissors in a cone up to 6 times dealing magic damage. Gwen deals true damage to units in the center and applies A Thousand Cuts to them on each snip.

Use:
Basically, Gwen's Q is your main damage source. You use it for wave-clearing and trading. But if you want to freeze your wave, be wary not to hit unnecessary other minions, because the range is quite broad - even for scissors. Also, if you go for trades, make sure to hit the enemy with the center - that true damage really hurts and also applies A Thousand Cuts to them, so your healing is very impressive and can often turn a whole fight to your favor.

General Info:
Mana: 40
Cooldown scaling: 6.5/5.75/5/4.25/3.5s

Passive:
Gwen will gain 1 stack while hitting an opponent with any of her attacks (max 4, lasts for 6 seconds).
Active:
It will consume stacks. Gwen will snip once for [8/10.75/13.5/16.25/19 +5% AP] magic damage, snip again for each ammo consumed, and snip for a final time for [40/53.75/67.5/81.25/95 +25% AP] magic damage. The center of each strike will deal true damage instead and apply Gwen's Passive ( A Thousand Cuts) to hit enemies. The max damage will be 80, plus [600% +4.8% AP)% percent health.

Description:
Gwen summons mist that protects her from enemies outside of it. She can only be targeted by enemies who enter the mist.

Use:
Activate when getting to ranged enemies like ADCs. Also, if you fight in lane, use it to simply get armor and magic resist. You can also run through Zoe's E ( Sleepy Trouble Bubble) without actually proccing her bubble for example. Such is for any kind of cc where the source champ is outside your W.

General Info:
Mana: 60
Cooldown: 22/20/18/16/14s

Hallowed Mist will make Gwen untargetable to all enemies (except towers) for 5 seconds or until she leaves it. While inside the Mist, Gwen will gain [20 + 5% AP] Armor, along with Magic Resist. Gwen will also be able to recast this ability once in order to call the Mist to her. The recasting will happen automatically when she attempts to leave the zone for the first time.

Description:
Gwen dashes a short distance then gains attack speed, attack range, and on-hit magic damage for a few seconds. If she hits an enemy during that time, this Ability's cooldown is partially refunded.

Use:
This is a Gap-Closer. So how do you use it? Well there are a few methods. You can initiate an engage, you can chase someone off much easier, and most important: Use it to dodge enemy cc. Irelia's E ( Flawless Duet) for example. If she stands in your W you have to dodge it anyhow, and that's where your E comes in handy.

General Info:
Mana: 35
Cooldown: 13/12/11/10/9s

Gwen will be able to dash one time and empower her attacks for 4 seconds. Empowered Attacks will gain 40/50/60/70/80% Attack Speed, [10 +8% AP] on hit magic damage and 100 range. The first one to hit an enemy will also refund 50% of this ability's cooldown.

Description:
Gwen hurls a needle that slows enemies hit, deals magic damage, and applies A Thousand Cuts to champions hit.
This ability can be cast up to two more times, with each cast throwing additional needles and dealing more damage. Gwen must hit an enemy between each cast to unlock the next one.

Use:
Use it to get close to enemies in combination with your E. Once reached the enemy, you must make sure to hit every needle possible. That damage and healing is not to be underestimated. Like your Q, it's for sustain. The more needles you hit, the more healing you recieve. Also, your lvl 6 is your powerspike to actually put pressure onto your opponent. In general, every engage post 6 should not be done without your R up. (If you're fed it's a whole other situation)

General Info:
Mana: 100
Cooldown: 120/100/80s

Gwen can cast her ult up to three times in one go.

First Cast: Gwen will launch a single needle dealing [30/55/80 +8% AP] magic damage to the enemy champions. It will slow down by 40/50/60% for 1.5 seconds and will apply AA to all enemies. If she attacks an enemy within 6 seconds of casting R, she will be able to recast it 2 more times.

Second Cast: Launch three needles to deal [3x Base Damage] magic damage.

Third Cast: Launch five needles to deal [5x Base Damage] magic damage.

Successive needles hitting the same unit will slow down by 15/20/25%. The maximum damage for Gwen's R will be [9x Base Damage], plus [9% +0.072% AP]% max health damage from her AA.

So Toplane is Gwen's standard lane. She's a AP Bruiser and therefore well made for that position.
The Laningphase:
It's hard to actually do anything pre 6, but you can try to force flash or win a early trade if you hit lvl 2 before your opponent. Skill E ( Skip 'n Slash) second and jump to your enemy. Make a use of your Q wisely and see what happens. You can outtrade him with an AA-Battle too because of your Passive ( A Thousand Cuts).
Post 6:
If you hit your level 6 before your oponnent, you can instantly go for an engage. Skill your R ( Needlework), and use it instantly to slow your enemy. Go in for that Q or AAs with your E. Don't forget to recast your R if you hit an enemy minion or champion! You will noticed that you regain extremely much health because of your Passive proccs on your Needles and Qs.

Farming is very important (as always), but you need certain items to simply blow up the enemy turrets. Once you reach a tower, make use of your E and cut that tower down.

Midgame:
Go for at least 7-8 cs/min. Push your enemy into his tower and get as much towerdamage done as you can. Also, choose your items carefully on your team's needs!
If a teamfight is going to break out, tell your teammates to try to stall and splitpush as hard as you can. ( Yorick wants to know your location btw.)

Lategame:
Your goal is to at least splitpush Toplane and Midlane to their inhib. If you successfully managed to do so, you can splitpush toplane and instantly TP bot to try to get their base damaged. It's lategame so they will at least have to get 2 guys to stop you from destroying their entire lifes.

Teamfighting is an option too, but you're better off at splitpushing. If a TeamFight breaks out, go for the backline. The combination of your Q and R allows you to heal enough to sustain the damage of at least the ADC.

No, you're not really an AP Assassin like LeBlanc but you actually have tons of damage in your kit. You got 4 spells scaling well with AP, not exactly oneshotting, but dealing massive damage. If you go Night Harvester, you might surprise the ADC with your damage output. The rest of the game is as simple as playing Toplane, but try to focus more on teamfighting and objective-control.
The best Matchups for you on Midlane are: Yasuo, Akali and Kassadin in my opinion, because you can outtrade all of them if you play it well enough with your E and Q everytime. If Akali is in her shroud: Simply Q in the directions you believe she is. Same goes for R.
Worst Matchups are LeBlanc for example. That lanebully does not allow you to farm nor trade. You can't even make good use of your W because she just dashes into it. Ask your jungler for help and stay safe!

Well actually, you can say that you're snipping trees, but it's a bit more complicated. First I tried to Solo-Start Raptors with Emberknife, but forget that idea. Start Hailblade and RedbuffRedbuff, let the bot- or toplane have you get a leash, and do Krugs afterwards.

You can then look for a gank on top/bot or mid, or simply do Raptors or go to the other side of the jungle. If you got enough time to do Wolves and BluebuffBluebuff before the Rift-Scuttler spawns, then do so, and afterwards look for a gank on top/bot or mid again. If you run out of time before the spawn of the Scuttle-Crab, look that you finish off your current camp and beat that pacifist to the ground.

With Berserker's and Nash's you don't need to worry about clearing your camps. You got enough damage and attack speed.

Ganking:
In terms of ganking, prefer lanes with higher cc rate. You don't have any cc up your sleeves, so it's really hard to gank those without any cc themselves. Also: Don't be afraid to take kills. You can be the one of the carries in your team, if you want. But if you see your Vayne doing extremely good, let her get that kill.<3 (Otherwise you might get flamed all game long...)

Counter Jungling:
You don't really go for high pressure counter-jungling, unless you got something like a in your team. If you do so, sandwich the enemy jungler and go for kills on that Talon. A fed roaming midlaner makes your job as jungler much easier and you can concentrate on that lanes with high cc rate (Toplane in most cases).

Useless information for those who are interested in that:
The Dance references a japanese song from 'Kyary Pamyu Pamyu' called 'PONPONPON'.
Yeah I know thank me later.
By the way, here's the link to the official YouTube Video:
https://youtu.be/yzC4hFK5P3g
Enjoy!

In the end, I want to simply thank you for reading through that guide. If you liked it make sure to vote and/or leave a comment!

See you on the Rift!
~Shuna