If you are about to pull one of these, I suggest you turn away. I gave the effort to type the guide, read it or don't. It gives specifics where needed and if there is anything missing, please let me know in the comments. This is my first guide after all, I don't expect it to be all that good since I prefer walls of text over picture books. I highly doubt others are the same, so tips are appreciated for future use and editing of this guide.

Yes, for the love of god, no critical based build. In my experience, it is not reliable and most people who try to use it, yet aren't too good at it, are of no use until late game. This build fixes that, makes him nearly impossible to kill and a much more reliable hero on your team. Try it before you shun it.

Now you may be wondering, what the hell are up with the runes? With this build, the Greater Mark of Magic Penetration help your ultimate deal the damage it needs to at level six. I have a guaranteed kill when I hit level 6, any squishy heroes that have been weakened by my team will fall to a well placed cannon fire.

Greater Seal of Replenishment, which people have fought with me over for decades, are my preference over per level for one good reason: You need a good level 1-4 with this build, if you get stopped at all, you are ****ed.

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction, to give you the best early game cool down you can get. Starting off, you already have 14-15% reduction on your abilities and since you will be centering around the three spells that have the highest cool downs on Gangplank, this is necessary.

And with the Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed, it essentially prevents you from needing boots until past your early game and when you hit late game, you can decide on one of two things: Whether you want to have your exceedingly high movement speed and that extra Magic Penetration; or you will be wanting to get another item, since I find getting most of this build's items rather an easy task. No matter what, with this build, you moving too slow will never be an issue.

Clairvoyance for the simple reason: It allows you to keep a constant eye on your enemy heroes. You can see how their Jungler is progressing, if their doing Dragon or Baron, weed out ganks, check bushes without risking a thing and even double-check an area before you use that ultimate of yours. Your ultimate has a long cool down and this build almost relies on it, so that last use for Clairvoyance is a good one.

Flash is your escape tool and helps you get those low health kills. With your Remove Scurvy and Flash, you should never die easily and be able to walk right out of ganks in the earliest phases of the game. Towards the end, I find myself using this to chase more than anything since you will be extremely hard to take down without it.

Now, if you feel that either of these don't suit your style of play, I can suggest Swapping them out for Clarity or even Smite. If you find yourself unable to conserve mana early game or would prefer it, grab the Clarity. While on the other hand, you may find it difficult to keep a decent income throughout the game, so grabbing Smite and spending the point in Plentiful Bounty , will help with that.

The skill build for this hero is a bit weird for anyone who has even the slightest knowledge of Gangplank: "Why the **** aren't you maxing out Parrrley first?" This is a very easy question: You have the best heal in the game, regardless of what anyone tells you. With this build, you should have no problem healing for around 600/800+ each cast. With higher levels of AP, it is very easy for you to heal for over half your health with the full build.

This build incorporates Denyplank into the mix as well, allowing for you to really utilize all of Gangplanks abilities to their fullest. That is the thing I find wrong with the other Gangplank builds, they are so obsessed with his Q, his W is just their for anti-CC, the E is just a damage modifier and the ultimate as a bonus spell for situational use. This build utilizes them all:

• Parrrley for damage though not until mid to late game. I find that the damage coming off this spell, while good, does not yield that high over having a ridiculously good heal. The gold gain isn't enough as you will be focusing all of your energy towards your E and W early game, keeping your lane presence high and their experience low.
• Remove Scurvy for an amazing heal and anti-CC making you a very viable tank throughout the whole game.
• Raise Morale for early game experience denying with movement speed and damage keeping you from ever having to worry about the two, not to mention great for pushing lanes or taking towers. Early game, it's easy to take mid or a side lane and watch as you are two levels higher than them before you even have to leave the lane and buy items.
• Finally we fall to his Cannon Barrage, I have got to the point of where each cast has at least one or two enemies dying in it. This is where the cool down reduction and Mejai's come into play. The more often you cast this and the more kills/assists it gets you from anywhere on the map, the better off you will be throughout the whole game. Once you get Rylai's, this spell can almost kill squishier heroes from full health by itself. It is often okay for you to use it on lanes being pushed, you couldn't believe how many times I have read comments from the other team getting annoyed that I destroy every creep push they try.

Now the items will throw everyone off. With this build, you are now officially a Tank/Support throughout the whole game and later game, you are still a viable DPS even though you haven't put anything towards it beyond a Trinity Force. However, this build is very flexible to your needs throughout the game. I have found myself needing to get a Mana crystal before I even grab boots, this is fine. Not every game is the same and some are more demanding in certain aspects, when you need a certain stat in the game, don't be afraid to take an item from any part of the build early on. Just as long as you keep his core items in mind and deviate from them, you will do fine.

At any time during the game, it is okay to buy an Elixir of Brilliance. You want to keep your Ultimate's Cool Down as low as possible at any time and it's damage high. It truly gets you all the money you need.

Alright, so the game starts. You will want to grab your Ruby Crystal first and I prefer to head to top lane on either side. As with Denyplank, stay by the spawn and wait for minions, denying all the way up to the lane. If they have a Jungler, this will be a solo lane and allow you to deny their solo massive amounts of experience. If your team doesn't have a confident middle to farm or harass their farmer, head there. You can eliminate both their farm and experience without even touching them a single time.

Tower hugging is your best friend, as this Gangplank build you will be focusing on last hitting creeps with your auto-attack alone and since you have your heal, you can run right next to enemy heroes and still get those weak minions just fine. Don't be afraid to use Remove Scurvy when you need to, but never use it prior to level it to 2 or 3. It's manacost far outweighs the health gain. The Ruby Crystal should keep you alive just fine until then.

Now, once you start nearing Level 6 and that ultimate, you will be wanting to get your Cool Down Reduction a bit higher. Go ahead and grab a Spirit Visage, followed by an Elixir of Brilliance and if you can afford it, an Amplifying Tome. These are not exceedingly expensive, so if you were solo, it should be an easy task. Chance are you weren't, so grab the Cool Down Reduction upgrade for Ruby Crystal and an Elixir of Brilliance over a Spirit Visage with an Amplifying Tome mix. Head back and keep up your Clairvoyance to look for those low health, easy kills with your ultimate. If a gank is started anywhere, use your ultimate to aid your allies whether they are ganking or being ganked. You should easily change the tides in your favor either way.

After farming some more and you should have landed either a few assists or a kill by now, regardless of how the game is going: You should have a Spirit Visage and Mejai's Soulstealer before mid-game. From here, the build is extremely flexible, you can grab a [Mana Crystal] for your Sheen or Banshee's Veil at any time you feel your pool lacking. During Mid-Game, it's shameless to continue farming with this build: Your Cannon Barrage can easily serve as you helping your team during pushes or ganks, with your almost 30% cool down, that ultimate should be dropping often enough. You really want that Rylai's Crystal Scepter as soon as possible, it is the butter for the bread that is your ultimate.

During the later parts of the game, your role will be to taking enemies and spread your Grog Soaked Blade as much as possible. It will destroy heals, health regeneration and even land you kills if your lucky. Your fast movement speed, moderate health, Remove Scurvy and moderate Attack Damage should allow you to tower dive and chase down fleeing enemies without a problem. Remember: Your auto-attack is good, get that passive on enemies and deal damage with it. You are no longer the squishy thing that Gangplank is known as at this point. Treat yourself like other not-so-squishy physical heroes.

If you ever get to late game, you will find your high health, huge heal and moderate attack make you a great all-around hero build towards the Banshee's Veil and Trinity Force. Landing kills while running into battle headstrong and walking out with nearly full health is common in the later forms of this build.

I hope you enjoyed my first guide, expect even stranger ones to come soon as this sort of weird is common to me. Good luck and enjoy Spankplank.