GOLD GRABBER GANGPLANK
How to Mine CryptoLP with GP
Definitely_Mac
Best Overall Runes
Spells
Skill Priority
E
W
Best Overall Build
Introduction
Ahoy fellow booty-seeking Gangplank players! My current name is Definitely_Mac (Prediction Main) and this is my in-depth guide on how to play Bilgewaters' finest Reaver King! I've been playing league since around the spring of 2015 and have been playing GP since his update in the fall of 2015. I play him often enough to have him at me Second highest played champion after Thresh, my only other true main.
Now, as we all know, Top lane is the melting pot of champion styles and builds. You can find anything from a split-pushing Nasus, to whatever the heck has been going on with Supports and Smite. But amongst them all exists Gangplank, the low floor, medium-high ceiling, carry that you can 1v9 carry with if you take the time to understand him and his strengths and weaknesses.
Strengths:
- Strong AD scalings. (especially with Crit.)
- Mad Money with his kit matched with First Strike.
- He can bully most matchups with the press of a button.
Weaknesses:
- Barrels take some time to understand. (especially his more complicated combos)
- He doesn't have a strong escape if there are multiple forms of CC.
- He is very reliant on barrels. No barrels = No fun
So, with that out of the way, I feel it necessary to mention that this is entirely biased on my time spent with GP and my idea of what's better in Top lane. As of the current patch, lanes are made up of bruisers and fighters. Melee champs who farm and fight you. Meaning, it's perfect for GP. Ranged matchups are slim to none right now, ap matchups and rarely seen, and GP can strive in a meta where he can farm gold just by pressing Q!
His Kit and How to Utilize It
Passive: Trial By Fire
Gangplanks next auto-attack sets his target on fire! This burn does true damage, based on your bonus AD, and gives you bonus movement speed. This beautiful passive is reset any time one of your power kegs explode.
Q: Parrrley
This is Gangplank's hand-cannon. He fire's off a shot from his hand-cannon at a target of your choice. This applies any on-hit effects and plunders extra gold from killing units with it. (Minions, Champions, Monsters, etc.) It also gives you Silver Serpents, his one of kind currency that upgrades his ultimate throughout the game. Any barrel that is shot by Parrrley applies the plunder.
W: Remove Scurvy
This ability is hard to explain...Basically, he eats an orange. This orange is so powerful that it can remove ANY form of crowd control!!! Also, it heals. Some of the bigger things to keep in mind is that it will cleanse you of Nasus' Wither and Mordekaisers Ultimate...(Somewhere a Morde main is crying in his sleep about this.)
E: Powder Keg
Not to be confused with Powder from Arcane, Gangplank can place a barrel at a set location and cause it to explode in an area by either auto-attacking it, or by shooting it with your Parrrley. It lasts for 25 seconds and can be destroyed by enemy champions via an auto-attack. Barrels can be chained together to extend the range of the explosion, but multiple barrels do not multiply the damage. So, one barrel = 1x damage, 2 barrel combo= 1x damage, etc. But, should you hit a barrel on a champion, then place another one soon after, that will count as two separate instances of damage.
Additionally, the countdown timer of the barrels health decreases at level 7 and 13.
R: Cannon Barrage
Gangplank calls upon his ship to rain down a glorious hail of cannon shots at a target location! This has no range and can be cast anywhere on the map. It fires off 12 waves of 3 shots each over 8 seconds and does magic damage and slows over the duration. As mentioned earlier, his ultimate can be upgraded with his Silver Serpents. Every 500 Silver Serpents grants him one of 3 Upgrades:
- Death's Daughter: Causes a large cannonball to land at the center of the ultimate on the first wave that slows for 60% and does True Damage.
- Fire At Will: Causes GP's ultimate to fire 18 waves instead of 12 waves over the same duration, thus causing them to fire faster.
- Raise Morale: Grants movement speed to you and allies within the area, lingering for 2 seconds.
Now, as for how to best utilize his kit, I find it best to take the time to play around with him in the practice tool for a while. Learn his barrel timers and practice his combo's. Get a feel for the motion of his ability rotations. Keep doing this until you feel confident enough to play him in norms. I'll post a video about lane phase, and some other combo's to keep in mind.
WHY THESE RUNES ARE THE BEST
Inspiration Tree
First Strike: This runes...gives you...SO MUCH GOLD! Level 1, you should wait in bush and Q your laner right off the bat! If you can sneak in an auto before that, EVEN BETTER! Because of how the rune works, you'll gain bonus gold from each tick of your passive during the First Strike window. After that you can initiate First Strike with your barrels by always leaving one near you, then placing a second one where the enemy will be and auto attacking the barrel next to you. This way you can follow it up with your auto/passive and a Q. Your enemy laner is nothing but a walking BANK that you are stealing from all game. This will be a bit difficult if they have a lot of poke, but with the current meta, that shouldn't be a problem.
But if they do poke you out, you still scale so hard that its just too good not to take it!
Also you gain it from your Ultimate...cross-map gold!
Magical Boots: Just the best thing for GP in that row.
Biscuits: Nice amount of healing/mana regen to survive lane. I tend to use the moment I have it up just to keep the poke up.
Time Warp Tonic: Honestly, it's just really nice to have! Start corrupting every time, and this rune gains you SO much value. Activate corrupting while you trade with First Strike up and now the damage tick from the pot adds to the money you get! Plus it give you more mana, and heals an instant amount with added movement speed.
Precision Tree
Presence of Mind: This, combine with your pots, is how you keep your mana up. THE KEY, HOWEVER, IS DO NOT Q THEM EVERY OPPORTUNITY YOU GET! You will run out of mana fast and be vulnerable. Remember, we're in it for the gold. Try to only use your Q to last hit safely, or whenever First Strike is up! MORE GOLD=MORE ITEMS SOONER.
Coup De Grace: (If you didn't say this the correct way, I don't know how to help you.) This rune is just the better other rune in the tree. It help with your whole kit to ONE SHOT ANYONE!
(The minor runes are just pretty standard.) (Do whatever you want there based on the matchup)
- Rune Page
!QUICK DISCLAIMER!
I am aware that I'm writing this as of no other runes are good. Which, statistically, isn't true. An argument can be made for every other good rune. However, I feel like this rune does the best at teaching self-control and management. It forces you to play a certain way that is healthier for all kinds of matchups. Playing this setup has helped me confidently first-pick him because I know how to manage my resources and play smart.
Ignite vs. Teleport
- New Group
Personally...I don't like Teleport, never have. Unless I'm playing Shen. Sometimes even then I don't care for it. IMO, unless you are playing on an LCS team or with a FLEX team, it's just better to focus on your lane and then 1v9 from there. So secure those early kills with ignite for that sweet sweet first blood gold! A simple Level 2: First Strike barrel > auto-attack w/ passive > ignite > Q > corrupting pot somewhere along the way. *CHEFS KISS*
Skill Path
Pretty Straight Forward. Max Q > E > W. Ultimate at 6, 11, 16
- Skill Path
Gangplank
Item Builds
Quick Thoughts on other Mythic Items that are popular with GP:
- Tri-Force is good, but not great.
- Divine Sunderer is good if you're going grasp.
- Prowler's Claw makes sense, but I just don't like it.
- Liandry's is fun! But only when you're trollin with APGP
- Duskblade was my go-to, but since they changes him to scale ridiculously with crit, I haven't gone back. This does increase your damage, but I don't mind trading the damage for healthy survivability.
So Here's What I Take
- Item Set 1
Essentially...
Essence Reaver is a must-rush item. Solves any and all mana problems, sheen damage is huge, and gives you spicy crits 20% of the time.
Immortal Shieldbow is my new favorite Mythic on him. It's been nerf and nerfed. BUT, its damage is still good and you survive way more than you should because of it's shield. That, with your almighty orange, keep you really healthy and ready to fight!
The Collector is an obvious choice. Executes, AND GIVES YOU GOLD!!! Enough said...
Mortal Reminder/Lord Dominik's Regard are interchangeable for me, sometimes I'll even go both and not Infinity Edge. You just have to check out their team and decide based on that. Lots of heals? = Mortal, Lots of health? Dominik's
Infinity Edge is really nice if they are all squishy. This item alone ramps up GP to 15!!! One barrel combo into an ultimate will demolish a whole team no matter the health!
Boots can be whatever is best for their team, but I really like Swifties because you already have your Orange. So I tend to run around a lot faster since they're also magical boots.
Matchups and Synergies
Okay...basically, I treat all matchups the same. Be calculated and farm your laner first and foremost, then go for the kill if you know you can. However, below are some pf the most annoying matchups I know of.
- Matchups
CONCLUSSION...
Gangplank is currently D tier in top lane. Mostly because he doesn't meld well with the new item changes for top laners. But, a seasoned (or training) GP can ignore all tier lists. Proving to the Rift that his barrels elevate past the traditional tier system, and that with some time spent, can 1v9 any game. I may not win every game of league with this build because, let's be honest, all it takes is one laner to feed the enemy Mister Yeet before he Q's the whole game into grey screen. But more often than not, if your team can survive, then you'll scale hard enough for then enemy team to wish they survived!
Hope you benefitted form this guide. If followed properly, you'll eventually play a game and wonder...what am I going to do with all this extra gold?!? It's at that point where you'll realize that you're...
Thanks and more...
Hope you enjoyed the guide! I tried to be humorous where I could while also being informative. I really enjoy this way to play GP and I hope you can benefit from my experience. If you want to check me out on Twitch, YouTube, or Twitter, I go by Definitely_Mac, and I would appreciate it. I just made a video showcasing some of the Thresh footage I have and plan on doing one on GP soon. So stay tuned for that if youre interested! Have a good one, and happy plundering!