One of the best scaling champions in the game, Gangplank offers players a lot of variety in terms of playstyle. In this guide, we’ll show you everything you need to know to get you started playing the Saltwater Scourge.

Gangplank is a champion that is very difficult to use effectively. But don’t let that put you off. With enough time and practice, you’ll be rewarded with a very powerful champion that can easily carry games to victory. He scales really well into the late game, has a ton of wave clear, and has a global ultimate that gives him a strong presence around the map. He excels really well in short trades and gets a lot of bonus gold from his abilities. Overall, Gangplank is a very strong champion that requires practice and patience to get the most out of him.

Abilities

Gangplank’s abilities are all about dealing damage. He’s well equipped to take on most champions and his burst is nothing to scoff at.

Passive – Trial by Fire

Every several seconds, Gangplank’s next melee attack ignites the target, dealing bonus true damage over 2.5 seconds and gaining bonus Movement Speed for 2 seconds. Destroying a Powder Keg instantly refreshes Trial by Fire.

Q – Parrrley

Fires a bullet that deals physical damage (can crit and applies on-hit and on-attack effects). If Parrrley kills the target, Gangplank plunders bonus Gold and Silver Serpents. (Trade Silver Serpents at the shop to upgrade Cannon Barrage).

W – Remove Scurvy

Gangplank consumes a large quantity of citrus fruit, curing all disabling effects and healing him based on his missing health.

E – Powder Keg

Place a powder keg that can be attacked by Gangplank or his enemies at the target location for 25 seconds. If Gangplank destroys a keg, it explodes dealing the attack’s damage as physical damage (ignores 40% Armor) to enemies and slowing them for 2 seconds. Champions take bonus physical damage from the explosion. Crits that detonate the Keg deal 125% damage before the splash. When a keg explodes, other kegs with overlapping blast zones chain explode (damage does not stack).

R – Cannon Barrage

Signals Gangplank’s ship to fire 12 waves of cannonballs at an area over 8 seconds. Each wave deals magic damage and slows enemies by 30% for 0.5 seconds. Collect Silver Serpents with Parrrley to upgrade in the shop.

• Death’s Daughter: An initial, large cannonball lands in the center of the barrage, dealing a cluster’s worth of true damage to all enemies it hits and slowing them by 60% for 1.5 seconds.
• Raise Morale: Allies within the area gain 30% bonus Movement Speed, persisting for 2 seconds after leaving it. Gangplank can also benefit from this effect.
• Fire at Will: Increases the rate of fire over the duration of Cannon Barrage.

Runes and Item Builds

When it comes to items, Gangplank is pretty versatile. He has a wide array of potential build paths that he can go with and still dominate the game. However, for this guide, we’ll stick with the easiest and safest to use build on Gangplank.

Starting Items

The best starting item on Gangplank is Corrupting Potion. This gives him sustain and a bit of bonus damage that syncs really well with his passive, Trial by Fire. You should be running with this starting item 90% of the time. However, in losing matchups, you might fare better with Doran’s Ring. This item gives you mana sustain and essentially lets you farm freely to save up for your core items.

Mythic Item

As we’ve mentioned before, Gangplank is very versatile when it comes to build paths. With this in mind, we’ve rounded out the two best Mythic Items that you can use. The better overall choice is Trinity Force. Having this item guarantees tons of damage and gives him the spellblade passive which synergizes really well with the rest of his kit. The second great choice for your Mythic is Prowler’s Claw. This item allows you to deal a bit more damage at the cost of being close to your target. If you’re new to playing this champion, you’ll be better off going for Trinity Force instead of Prowler’s Claw.

Full Build

After purchasing your desired Mythic, go for tier 2 boots. For the most part, Plated Steelcaps is the standard but you can go for Mercury’s Treads depending on your matchup. Next, go for Hullbreaker to help you easily push towers and get you an early lead in your lane. Then, you’ll need The Collector to deal more damage and help you finish off low health champions. At this point in the game, you should go for Ravenous Hydra to make your split pushing capabilities even stronger. Finally, top off your build with Mortal Reminder for even more damage and to reduce the enemy team’s healing capabilities.

Runes

For runes, go with the Resolve tree and take Grasp of the Undying as your keystone. This will give you sustain early on and increase your survivability as the game goes on. Next, take Demolish for the tower damage, Bone Plating for the damage reduction, and Overgrowth to give you bonus health when minions or monsters die near you. For secondaries, take Biscuit Delivery and Time Warp Tonic from the Inspiration tree to further increase your early game sustain. For rune shards, take double Adaptive Force and Armor.

Useful Tips

1. Parrrley applies on hit effects from items like Trinity Force and Ravenous Hydra. Try to keep that in mind as it can yield a huge burst of damage when trading against an enemy.
2. Remove Scurvy removes most disables and crowd control on you; essentially working like a free cleanse.
3. Gangplank is countered by Aatrox, Tryndamere, Kled, Olaf, and Irelia. If you’re matched up against these champions, try to play it safe instead of being aggressive.
4. For your summoner spells, take Flash and Teleport for the utility and to give you a better presence around the map. If you’re against a difficult matchup, swap out Teleport for Exhaust.

So there you have it! That’s all you need to know about playing Gangplank in League of Legends. Be sure to check back with us again for more awesome guides on your favorite games. Have fun and we’ll see you on the Rift!