Just want to make a good Gangplank guide so people can utilize him to his fullest.



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Armor Penetration Rune Page (Standard)




This runes are my standard rune page for Gangplank. It gives simple survivability and Armor Pen to make squishies cry. For the time being I only have tier 2 runes for armor penetration. Once, you get tier 3 runes you should have 20 flat armor pen.


Thunderlord's Decree Mastery (Standard)




This is my standard mastery page for Gangplank, as it provides laning necessities. Thunderlord's procs with your ult easily, and is amazing for finishing off enemies. Bandit is perfect Gangplank as you will be getting free gold for harassing with Parrrley, Meditation will ensure you have enough mana in the laning phase to farm up or harass, and Intelligence will also serve well to increase your Powder Keg recharge rate. If you want, you can change Meditation with Merciless if you feel like finishing off people.

Grasp of the Undying Mastery (Alternative)




An alternative mastery page for a safer laning phase. It provides the same laning necessities as the standard mastery page (Except Intelligence , but is instead a bit more tanky. With Grasp of the Undying , your Parrrley with do a more considerable amount of damage in the laning phase along with sustain. Runic Armor will further assist you from the heals of Grasp of the Undying and Remove Scurvy. You will also have increased resistances as well.

Trial by Fire: This passive burns through tanks and squishies alike. It also gives a sweet movement speed buff, and resets upon destroying a Powder Keg.

Parrrley : Gangplank's Q, and his bread and butter. It can also crit as well. Use it to farm for Silver Serpents and to harass. Trinity Force procs with his Q and applies on hit effects like Ravenous Hydra, Statikk Shiv and so forth. It will not, however, proc Trial By Fire

Remove Scurvy: Ah, Gangplank's most iconic ability. Use it when your low or when CC'd, just eat oranges and it's k. Furthermore, it's heal will increase the lower you are. A tip I like to use it to hold back Remove Scurvy until I'm really low to maximize it's heal. The only exception to this is if the CC would put you in a dangerous situation such as Infinite Duress, Dark Binding, etc.

Powder Keg: This ability is what makes or breaks Gangplank players (Please don't stack barrels right on top of each other... it does nothing...). This is where the majority of your damage comes from, and with proper use, you can literally delete squishies if you can land a barrel combo on them once you get core items. You only get 3 barrels in total, so make good use of them. CDR is most needed to shorten it's recharge time. You can farm, harass, escape, slow your enemies, this ability has many uses. There will be a separate chapter on Barrel Mechanics so fear not.

Cannon Barrage: Gangplank's ultimate, allows him to assist others in lane and to secure kills as well. With good map awareness, you can secure kills and potentially save an ally. In lane, you can use this during a fight if both you and your opponent are both going all in. There are three upgrades you can get for your ultimate, in which I will explain shortly.

Summoner Spells

Flash : A staple summoner spell. You can't ever go wrong with it. Need to escape? Flash. Out of range for the kill? Flash. Need to do some fancy outplay? Flash. Need I not say more?

Exhaust : Great against Assassins and Burst Mages. Also helps you 1v1 enemies with ease. The thing I love about exhaust is you could 1v1 practically almost anyone with it, assuming you're not behind. You could also be a good guy and save your friends too.

Teleport : I'm not a huge fan of taking teleport in mid, but if you don't want to miss *any* farm, it's an option. You'l be missing out on Exhaust, which helps you 1v1 others and prevents all in's from killing you.

When playing Gangplank, your optimal build should consist of all offensive items to maximize Gangplank's damage. Factors I consider important is Cooldown Reduction, Armor Pen, and Crit.

Sapphire Crystal Start (Preferred)



This start is my recommended choice. Not only is it efficient but it gives you enough mana to farm in the early game with Parrrley and allows you to easily transition into an early sheen (Early CDR and Spellblade effect for harass). With this start, you'll be putting 350g less for Trinity Force

Doran's Ring Start



With the Doran's Ring start, you'll be getting 4 mana back every time you successfully CS and a bit more mana regeneration. You'll also be slightly harder to kill with the bonus HP. Furthermore, the AP is not wasted as it'll increase your Remove Scurvy heal and Cannon Barrage damage too. Advisable to use for hard matchups.

Corrupting Potion Start



This start allows you to play your game with sustain and mana as well. With Touch of Corruption, it implies a slightly more aggressive play style. Be sure to use it before you harass, whether it be Parrrley, Powder Keg, or Cannon Barrage. The Corrupting Potion allows you to save gold on potions (You would have to buy 10 Health Potion in order to equal its value, and even then Corrupting Potion gives you lots of mana as well as Touch of Corruption).

Core Items Early Game

On your first back, you should aim for Sheen ASAP, as well as boots if possible. An early Charlie Sheen provides CDR, and Spellblade effect (Which Parrrley procs). Afterwards, you should aim for Phage as it is far superior to Stinger, which only provides Attack Speed and CDR.

Standard Build

This is my ideal build for Gangplank, it provides Armor Pen, 50% Crit Chance, and some dueling potential. When you do crit, boy will it STING.

Trinity Force

This item is a must have on Gangplank. It gives you everything you need, a spellblade, CDR, health, I can go on. Don't question Trinity Force, it is a MUST.

Youmuu's Ghostblade

Ghostblade gives you 20 armor pen as well as well as decent AD. which really makes you a threat. It even gives 10% CDR! It's active allows you to duel better and makes chasing so much better (and your emergency escape plan )

Infinity Edge

Infinity Edge gives you crit chance,70 AD, and empowered critical strikes as well. When you crit with it, just watch their ADC cry. Getting an [essence reaver]] in my opinion, is a waste. You'd just be delaying your power spike and getting simply CDR (which you already have 35% if you have Trinity Force - Youmuu's Ghostblade ) Plus, Gangplank has no mana issues by mid game.

Phantom Dancer

As you've noticed by now, I usually duel a lot as Gangplank. With Phantom Dancer, you get 50% crit chance along with Infinity Edge and you take 12% less damage from the last person you damage. You'll also run faster while near that person which again, helps you duel better.

In this section, I will teach you some Barrel Combos that are essential to utilizing Gangplank to his fullest potential. I'll also be covering Barrel tricks and Ultimate Upgrade choices.

Harass Combo:

(Wait till one tick) - - (AA The first barrel) - (Your opponent)

This combo is your bread and butter throughout the laning phase. The slow on the barrel ensures that they can't trade back (Unless they have ranged abilities / Dashes).



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Double Barrel Combo:

(Wait till one tick) - -

This combo is similar to the first but you Parrrley the barrel instead of your opponent. This combo is safer than the one mentioned above, but does less damage. This is your most common combo outside of the laning phase, with the Triple Barrel combo coming in second.



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Quick Barrel Combo:

(AA First Barrel)

This combo is rarely done, but useful to surprise and slow an off guard opponent. It does the least damage of all the barrel combos, but the fastest. By auto attacking the first Powder Keg, you shorten the tick instantly by one, at the cost of your Trinity Force proc. Then,you place your second Powder Keg and immediately Parrrley the first as it'll be faster than your next AA in this case.



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Triple Barrel Combo:

- - -

The Triple Barrel Combo is the most important combo you need to master in order to make fully utilize Gangplank's potential. It will catch your opponents off guard, and has the longest range out of all combos. To do so, you do a double barrel combo without hesitation and Parrrley, and then you stand between the two barrels and then Parrrley the first barrel and then quickly place the third barrel to finish the chain.



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