Zing's Guide to Mid Gnar (11.6)

Introduction

Hello! My name is Zing. I am a Gnar One-Trick in Platinum elo with about 2.8 million points. I primarily play mid lane, but I am also experienced in other roles and champs.

If you want to 1v1 me to practice matchups and exchange knowledge, please do! Reach out to me using my contact information below.

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Fundamentals

Simply understanding what you need to do to leave laning phase with a lead is by far the most important thing to do as Gnar mid. Gnar has a wide variety of tools in his kit to deal with a wide variety of situations, and almost every traditional mid-laner is highly exploitable.

The most straightforward way to win lane is (obviously) to kill your opponent. The details are going to vary a bit depending on the type of opponent, but the core game plan will almost always stay the same.

1 - Poke with Mini Gnar
2 - All in with Mega Gnar

Exactly how you will execute step 1 and 2 varies based on matchup. Those will be explained in detail below, and once you understand these, you will have the tools to understand the full purpose of each rune and item.

At the start of every game, use https://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/abilities to look up your opponent, and understand the cooldowns of your opponents abilities.

Gnar has relatively high mobility compared to most mid-laners, as well as a lot of power in his auto attacks, meaning he has the tools to fight any champion reliant on abilities with cooldowns or resource costs. This plan includes a lot of aggressive positioning and trading, so always be aware of your opponents jungler. Remember to step out of lane and ward whenever possible. Don't push your lane if the threat of an enemy gank is immediately present, or if you know your own jungler will gank soon.

Your first step is to start auto attacking the wave, pushing it towards your opponent's side. Then, when your opponent steps up, throw your Q at them, and then immediately step behind or to the other side of the minions. Ideally, aim your Q to hit your opponent and most or all of the minions. With the wave pushing into your opponents tower, your opponent will be obligated to try to push the wave back, or else he will be forced into last-hitting under tower and giving up lane priority. Position just outside of your opponents range, and when they use cooldowns on the wave, step forward and trade aggressively. Be mindful of your opponents cooldowns, and step back out of range before they have a chance to return damage. Some champions have very low cooldowns, and dont have clear windows for trading. Remember that this strategy doesn't just apply to cooldowns. Be aware of what the opponent can use at any time, regardless of if they are gated by cooldowns, resources, level, form, or anything else.

If your opponent holds some or all of their abilities and don't use enough of their abilities on the wave to allow for an opening, you have the option to bait out abilities yourself. Step to the side, away from your own minion wave, throw Q if your opponent is not behind their own minions, and position as close to them as safely possible. If they engage or throw a spell, dodge it, with E if necessary, and take an extended trade, still paying attention to when their abilities will be available.

Your opponent might not leave many opportunities to trade, such as if they have very low cooldowns, or are saving their abilities wisely. When you don't have the option to take a proper trade, remember to keep pushing the wave with auto attacks. Your auto attacks will do more damage than most mid-laners, so they will be forced to either let you push, or use up resources. In order to damage these kinds of opponents, use your Q primarily to poke them. Position aggressively, and cast Q frequently, preferring any time they step away from their own minions.

Once you reach level 6, you can begin your second step. A good Mega Gnar engage is the best way to kill your opponent almost every time during laning phase. There are 2 things you need to look for in your opponent when engaging with Mega Gnar;

1 - Mobility
2 - Peel/CC

When you jump in with Mega Gnar, you need to make sure you can land on your opponent, and combo them. If they get away, you are open to being kited, and will take very heavy damage in most cases. Think about what defensive options the opponent has, and how will they use them. Will an opponent dash backwards when you go in? Either overshoot your jump, or do a quick animation cancel. Will your opponent throw a stun? Jump at an angle, or lead with flash. Do they have a spell-shield or counter? Bait it out by dealing damage with your jump or Q first.

Items

Galeforce is a great offensive item, with damage on-par with Kraken Slayer and good mobility added. With this item and other attack speed items, your combat stats are heavily focused on Mini Gnar. Use caution when fighting as Mega Gnar, and don't engage unless you can finish them off quickly, or have follow-up from your team.This is Gnar's best offensive item.

Kraken Slayer is a very good AD on-hit item to build first or second for an attack speed carry build. This item can be flexed into an AP or tanky build.

Turbo Chemtank is a very good tank mythic. Lots of very good defensive stats, and a strong movement-speed active to engage or hunt down enemies.

Immortal shieldbow is a very good first item to flex into multiple builds. It deals very good damage in both forms, good sustain to keep you healthy through poke or extended fights, and the lifeline passive will keep you alive during close all-ins. If you build this item, do it first.

Frostfire Gauntlet is a very good tank mythic. Very good defensive stats, and a low cooldown slow to chase or kite enemies. When paired with your good base damage values, you are still a very strong duelist with this item.

Duskblade of Draktharr is a good lethality item that can be flexed into other builds. The refreshing invisibility can allow you to hard-carry teamfights as a damage dealer.

Blade of the ruined king is a very good multi-purpose AD on-hit item. It deals very good damage as Mini Gnar. The active helps kite melee enemies, and the life steal helps you survive extended fights. This is a good on-hit item at any point in the game.

Wit's End is a great balanced item against champions that deal Magic damage. The early magic resist provides a lot of survivability against AP laners. The on-hit effect also gives you a significant amount of hybrid damage as Mini Gnar. This is a good early item against any AP champ.

Nashor's is a good AP/AS item. Build this item when your team needs a damage heavy carry against a team that stacks armor.

Guinsoo's Rageblade is a very good damage item to amplify the damage of your preexisting items. Build this after one or two on-hit or attack-speed crit items.

Infinity Edge is a very good AD/Crit item giving you a strong three-item power-spike. Build this after building two other AD-heavy crit items.

Umbral Glaive is a good lethality item to rush for a roaming playstyle. It is very cheap, and its Blackout passive is very good for vision control to help with roaming and objective control, as well as cheese.

Black Cleaver Provides a lot of useful utility as well as damage. The HP allows you to survive against champions with heavy burst, and the armor shred provides a lot more damage to your Mega Gnar combo. The only downside is somewhat less damage as Mini Gnar compared to an on-hit Item. You can rush this item against bruisers and burst champions. Otherwise, this is an option for later for either a carry-oriented or tanky build.

Runes

Here I will list all of my knowledge on runes and how they relate to Gnar's laning and matchups. When possible, I DO NOT recommend optimizing your items and runes to focus on the matchup. You have the tools to outplay every matchup, and should focus your build on being as strong as you can after laning phase, not just for the 1v1.

is best taken into matchups where you expect to all-in as Mini Gnar against squishy targets. The extra attack speed also slightly improves your early wave clear. This rune can also be taken into poor or uncertain matchups for the purpose of scaling, since this is one of your strongest runes late-game.

is best taken into difficult early matchups, usually mid/long range control mages. Stay out of their poke range, and hit them with as much as possible, then set up for an all-in. This rune can be taken into almost any matchup you struggle with or are uncertain about, since poke is always valuable for winning laning phase.

is best taken into easy early matchups where you expect to be able to poke with both and auto-attacks. Use this rune to bully champions who are weak early, punishing them as hard as you can early, to try and deny them farm or xp.

is best taken into matchups where you expect to take frequent trades as Mini Gnar. The extra attack speed also slightly augments your early wave clear. This rune also slightly helps the potency of your Mega Gnar all-ins.

is best taken into matchups where you expect to take extended fights as Mini Gnar, generally against tankier targets who dont have high burst damage. The extra attack speed also slightly augments your early wave clear. This rune also slightly helps the potency of your Mega Gnar all-ins.

is best taken into matchups that you want to all-in with Mega Gnar. This rune is also great into difficult matchups that will try to trade or poke often, since will help a lot with short trades, and secondary runes will slightly help with sustain. The full AD build makes it very easy to one-shot opponents

is best taken into Squishy opponents when you plan on building full AD/Lethality. The extra auto attacks greatly help your damage in both forms, and the full AD build makes it very easy to one-shot opponents with mega Gnar. If fed, you can one-shot people with mini Gnar as well.

is best taken into where you plan on hard carrying while building full AD/Lethality. The bonus to your burst damage is good for your early game all-ins. In addition, its reset on-kill makes it great for carrying late-game teamfights.

is a great option to help your early game roaming. Glacial Augment slows your enemies greatly to assist your ganks. greatly helps your wave clear to set up for roams, as well as deny your opponents roams. This rune page is also good for all-ins during laning phase against immobile opponents. Engage on them when they use their cooldowns, and run them down with your enhanced speed from .

is a good defensive rune to take if you aren't prioritizing solo kills in lane. Stay safe in lane with , build tanky, and safely take towers with

in combination with will grant you a constant shield in lane when you are at full health. Take this rune into matchups that you aren't confident in your kill pressure.

is a good rune to take into matchups that you are confident in your ability to kill in lane. Also take this rune into games that you expect a lot of team-fights.

is a solid rune that gives you a lot of attack speed. Take this rune into most builds that take

is a rune that provides good life-steal, especially late game. You can optionally take this rune instead of in a build where you don't plan on taking Life-Steal.

is a solid rune that greatly helps your damage. Always take this rune when you take .

is a great rune for sustain and trading, especially early game. Always take this rune when you take .

is a great rune for consistent sustain from spell-vamp, especially late game. Always take this rune when you take .

is a decent rune that provides some survivability against magic damage. Always take this rune against any team comp with any amount of magic damage. If a team has no magic damage, you can take instead.

Take against a lane opponent or team comp who you can kite.
grants you 4 to 6 Movement Speed passively from your . You get 8 to 19 decaying Movement Speed each time you trigger . You gain 2 Movement speed from , 3 or 4 from most upgraded boots, and 9 Movement Speed from an active .

is a solid rune to help your damage at all points of the game. Take this rune when you expect to poke a lot.

is a good rune to greatly empower your early-game poke. Always take this rune when you take

is a solid rune to help take you towers faster. Take this rune if you are confident in your early game, to help you get plates early.

is a good rune to sustain through early game poke. You can take this rune as a secondary instead of taking when facing a difficult matchup.

is an option against champions that have high amounts of burst and all-in potential, and low amounts of poke.

is a good rune to take against teams with moderate or heavy CC, and it helps your survivability at all stages of the game.

is another option instead of , granting you a small amount of scaling health.

should be your third rune in .

is the most important rune in as it helps your wave-clear during lane phase. Always use them on Cannon minions when possible. Cover for your allies by using to shove in the wave when your opponent might want to roam. You can also shove in the wave to set up for your own roam.

should always be your second rune in . The movement speed you get after landing your helps you position aggressively for an extended trade.

Matchups

Here I will list all of my knowledge on Gnar's matchups. Just like before, when possible, I DO NOT recommend optimizing your items and runes to focus on the matchup. You have the tools to outplay every matchup, and should focus your build on being as strong as you can after laning phase, not just for the 1v1. The difficulty of the matchup is indicated by the number of orange squares, with 5 orange squares being the most difficult.

Poke her with as often as possible. Stay out of range of her , and always be behind minions to avoid her . You can all-in her at lv 6, but always engage with an animation cancel, otherwise she will dodge with her or counter with a .

Poke her with as often as possible. Avoid trading as Mini Gnar, especially while she is in her shroud. If she is in her while you are Mega, you can > > her while she is invisible. If you are in Mini form while she has access to , play very safe, as he has a lot of mobility and damage at this point, and can easily kill you if you aren't tanky.

Poke her with as often as possible. Before level 6, you can take heavy trades with her in either form. Once she is level 6, she will do a lot of damage with her , so save your to avoid it if you are in Mini form. If you are in Mega form, try to engage when either or are on cooldown. You can her into her own to stun her. Don't forget about her , which has a cooldown of 4:00 regardless of her CDR. If you aren't healthy and don't think you can kill her during or immediately after her egg form, then don't waste time fighting it, and just back up to safety, and shove the wave if necessary.

Poke her with as often as possible, and stay out of range of her
and . Her Grants her movement speed and defensive stats, so running her down as Mini Gnar is very difficult. Engage at lv 6 with a Mega Combo. She can likely one-shot you with if you are in its range, so try to lead with an animation cancel, and don't leave gaps in between your CC during your combo. Make sure that she is low enough to die to your full combo.

He will likely try to hard-shove in waves early using his and in order to set up for a roam as early as lv 3. Take heavy trades and poke him as much as possible. You can all in him as early as lv 3. When you jump on him, immediately hit him with , or you will be stunned by his . When you are lv 6, you can kill him with a Mega combo. Try to only engage with an animation cancel, otherwise you can be pushed back by his or stunned by his .

Jumping on top of him in Mega form is difficult due to his . If you take , you can win forced small trades. If you take , you can win a DPS check as Mini Gnar by positioning away from his soldiers, and using to avoid his .

All of his abilities hurt, and his is a stun on an 8 second cooldown, so always stay out of his range. He will always win early trades if you step into his range. You out range him with your , so poke him whenever you can. Try and set up for an all-in with a mega-combo at lv 6, with the waves near your tower. His and do a lot of damage over time, so don't leave gaps in between your CC during your combo, and make sure that he is low enough to die to your full combo.

Always stay either out of her range, or on top of her, so she cant ground you with her . Be ready to face backwards to dodge her . If you can dodge her , you can win a head-on fight in Mini form. Otherwise, engage at lv 6 with .

His deals a lot of damage, so make sure to be positioned far enough away to avoid it. His is quick, and can be used to avoid a Mega-Gnar engage. Poke him down with , and engage with Mini Gnar when you have a significant health lead. You can potentially kill him with an animation-cancelled , but make sure to overshoot your jump, because he will try to backwards immediately to avoid it. His Special Delivery will interrupt your jump.

Her travels in an arc shape, so you will have a much easier time dodging it by moving counter-clockwise and inwards around Diana. If she lands this, she will most likely win a short trade. Her Cooldown is very low, so punishing her with an extended trade is very difficult. If you can't consistently dodge, then just stay out of her range and poke with your Q. Remember that her will interrupt your jump, so try to use it very early if you are afraid of an all-in. Her only mobility that she can use to avoid an all-in is using on your minions.

If he hits you with , he will most likely use right after, so sidestep immediately. After this, he will have no offensive abilities, so punish him hard. His returns to him even when he moves, so don't stand between them. Always watch the positioning of the ghost of his . He will most likely return to it when he is very low, so don't stand on top of it, but try to be close enough to punish him when he uses it.

Fizz will most likely engage by dashing with . Then he will use as either a follow-up, or as an escape. Take an extended trade with him at this time, but don't allow yourself to be low health, or you will get all-inned. At lv 6+, save your E to dodge his . Keep in mind that he will use his to dodge your all-in if you engage with Mega Gnar.

Always stay out of range of his . He cannot use while charging, so positioning against it should be easy. Use your Sideways or backwards to avoid his . Those two abilities are his only way to activate if he takes it. Be aware that he will try to roam with , so try to poke him or shove the lane as much as possible.

Never fight him head on within range of his s. Bait out his if possible before engaging with Mega Gnar. Otherwise, try to lead with an animation cancel, and don't leave gaps in between your CC during your combo. Make sure that he is low enough to die to your full combo, otherwise he will likely kill you with a full combo of his abilities.

Save your E to dodge her . She will only have 1 dash if she doesn't land it or her , and can be kited. If you get hit by her , save your E for right after you hit its wall, since it heavily slows. You probably don't win a fight if she uses her , so just try to escape to tower.

His is very easy to dodge as long as you aren't slowed by his . Starting at level 3, you can position and trade against him very aggressively. If you are slowed by his , immediately jump out, or jump in if you are healthy and willing to trade heavily or all-in. Killing him at level 6 is very easy, since he has no mobility or self-peel. Just be sure to watch your health, since he can return kill you with his and if you are low.

Kassadin is very weak and easy to bully early. Harass him with auto attacks and Q during the early levels whenever possible. Once he hits lv 6, his can be used to dodge your Mega Gnar engage, so try to read his blink by overshooting your jump.

Katarina is very easy to bully early. Harass her with auto attacks and Q during the early levels whenever possible. Always watch where her daggers land, or will land, and make sure to not stand on or near them. Her will leave a dagger behind the first target, and her will leave a dagger where Katarina is standing. The range around her daggers is somewhat deceiving, so be sure to give them more space than needed.

Leblanc will try to trade heavily. Either try and avoid this by staying out of range of her , or step forward and trade aggressively. She will try and control space by dashing in and out of your range. Stand behind minions to avoid her . Her have similar range to your , so if you get hit by them at short range, you cannot escape them by jumping, unless you bounce. When her passive is activated, her clone will appear after a delay. The original will likely have less health and more stacks of .

Her is the only ability she will use for poke. The blink on her can be stopped by stunning her. If she wants to engage or disengage, she will use her . This will stop you from chasing her, but does little against a Mega Gnar engage. Make sure to land on top of her. Make sure to kill her quickly when doing so, or she will likely avoid your combo or burst you back with her .

Lux's Is her only tool to avoid your engage or set up her burst. Save your E to dodge this. If she misses or misuses this, you can jump on her in either form and kill her fairly easily.

Malzahar will likely use his full set of abilities on the wave starting from lv 3. Use this time to engage on him, especially in mega form. Make sure to drop his passive first, either by hitting him with an auto attack or Q, or by landing on top of him with E. His can be parried by predicting it with a well-timed .

Mordekaiser is a stat-stick who is nearly impossible to kill unless you are fed, or play mechanically perfectly. Kite him and stay out of range of his , and dodge his and . Buy a if he uses his on you. Otherwise, be careful inside of it, as you can get stuck to his walls. He will be fairly tanky, so killing him with a Mega Gnar combo will be difficult.

Focus on poke, and take trades only when you know you are safe from her . All-inning her will be difficult. Even if you dodge her , you will be stunned by her if you don't disengage. She will be difficult to stun due to her .

Neeko's are usually needed to get the full value out of her , so trade or engage if it is on cooldown. Save E to dodge her . Remember that her will hide her , so disengage or sidestep if she uses either of these.

Stay out of range of her and Auto-Attacks. She will always win early trades if you step into her range. You out range her with your , so poke her whenever you can. Try and set up for an all-in with a mega-combo at lv 6, with the waves near your tower. Keep in mind that she can shield herself with and stun you with to use defensively when you go in, so try to lead with an animation cancel, and don't leave gaps in between your CC during your combo. Make sure that she is low enough to die to your full combo.

Her when enchanted with either river or brush can be used engage or disengage, so be careful when fighting in Mini form. Her can be used to dodge your stuns when you engage with Mega form. Use your stuns quickly, or predict her movement. Her can be used to disengage or counter engage, but it does have a slight delay, and can be dodged with or sometimes E.

Ryze will usually win extended trades. If you step into range, he will likely use his to snare you, and get in a few free hits. Focus on poke, or take short trades. He has no way to avoid a Mega Gnar combo. Make sure it kills though, or you will get kited.

Swain's is fairly long ranged. Your best chance to avoid it is to sidestep. If he doesn't hit this, he will lack the damage to kill you in most cases. He is fairly tanky, especially with his , so make sure he is low before engaging in Mega form. Alternatively, take an extended fight in Mini form if you are confident you are stronger, and can dodge his .

Sylas will probably engage with his . Avoid his by standing behind minions or sidestepping. Avoid standing near walls if his is available against you. He will always take is possible. Be careful of his burst, but otherwise try to take extended trades.

Syndra's and are strong poke/trading tools. Try to stay out of their range. When a sphere is in front of her, don't stand lined up with it. Move to the side preemptively or you will get stunned by . When this happens, there is no way to avoid a full combo including . Your only option to engage is to bait out her first, before jumping in with Mega Gnar, otherwise her can be used to push you away.

Taliyah's can usually be dodged by walking, however, if you are slowed by her , then you will likely have to use your jump to dodge it. Try to jump through as few rocks as possible. If you are in Mega form, and have enough health to tank through the rocks, this can be a good opportunity to jump in, since her is her only defensive tool. If you engage without baiting out her , jump first, and then dodge her immediate that she will cast reactively.

Talon has very poor poke with his as long as you are able to consistently avoid the second hit. If he uses his , then take an extended trade, but be careful, since his early burst is surprisingly strong. He has little in-lane mobility, but if you engage with Mega form, be sure to finish him off, since his is a very good escape. If he uses while you are engaging, you can still hit him with skillshots. Just use R > W > Q, then path forward towards where he will probably try to escape if you need to finish him off.

Twisted fate's are easy to dodge, especially at max range. Shove him in, and he will use a blue or red to push the wave. You can trade or engage him when this is on cooldown. Aside from his gold card, he has no way to escape a Mega Gnar engage. You can't realistically stop most of his roams from , so simply try to either shove the wave or kill him as often as possible.

He will most likely be focused early game on farming with his , leaving only his easily-dodgeable and his auto attacks to trade with. Hit him aggressively with and auto attacks. Once you both are level 6, play very safe while in Mini form. His does a lot of damage and can't be avoided. He is fairly easy to engage upon with Mega Gnar due to the delay in his

His poke hurts. He will likely use most of his spells to poke you to set up for a burst combo. Save your E to dodge his , as it is his only CC. If you can dodge it without E, save your E to dodge his by bouncing over him. You can fairly easily kill him in Mini form by dodging his skill shots. Alternatively, jump on him in Mega form, since he has very little self-peel.

You don’t win head-on fights with him. Stay out of his range, and poke him with max range . Try and set up for an all-in with a mega-combo at lv 6, with the waves near your tower. Try to only engage with an animation cancel, otherwise you can be interrupted by his . Make sure that he is low enough to die to your full combo.

Vladimir is fairly weak early game. Poke him with as much as possible, and auto attack him whenever his is on cooldown. Buy an as soon as possible. Don't attempt to stun him while his is on cooldown, unless you can bait it out with your W, then use Ult when he reappears.

You can fight him with mini Gnar if you can dodge his skill-shots. Otherwise lead with an Animation-Canceled , or overshoot your jump when engaging on him. He will most likely stun you in mid air or as you land with , but its stun duration scales with distance, so if you are close enough you can still kill him with a mega combo.

Be aware of where you and your own minions are positioned. He effectively has infinite mobility within your minion wave. When fighting him in mini form, constantly sidestep back and forth randomly to make it difficult for him to land his . When you land on top of him as mega Gnar, he will almost always dash through you if available. Either cast your R immediately, or use your W behind yourself in anticipation.

This is your most difficult matchup. Consider building a tank item first. You can’t easily fight him early, so poke him with whenever you can. If he casts his forward, immediately sidestep, then step backwards. Until he starts to recognize this dodge pattern, this is the best way to avoid his following and . Once you have a completed armor item, unless is fed, you should win 1v1s much more easily against him in either form. Once you are strong enough to fight him, if he casts his forwards, walk or forward and punish him hard with an extended trade, taking advantage of his longer cooldowns. Be mindful of his and cooldown when engaging with mega Gnar, since they both can be used to dodge either of your stuns. If Zed casts on you, time your jump backwards, and you can bounce on him as he reappears. He will almost always immediately throw at you if you do this, so sidestep immediately after landing.

If you engage, he will use to try and escape. Make sure to stay behind or on top of him when doing so. If you can dodge his , you can win extended trades easily.

Stand behind your minions with some space between. Her has a small AOE. If you jump on her, she will use a point-blank . Try and bait this out first. It is sometimes possible to dodge it by immediately sidestepping after you E in. If you engage, she might use to dodge, so mix up your timing, or wait for her to waste it.