Hi, I am Ex.wife (IGN: pigcowhybrid) and this is my solo top gangplank guide. With this guide, you will get so much gold that Gangplank can get a place in Gangnam and retire from the League.

First off, here is the gangplank champion spotlight video. Play Video /league-of-legends/ability/parrrley-148

Pros
He's a pirate!!
Amazing farmer
Good sustain + CC remover with Remove Scurvy
Melts down squishy heroes
Global presence with Cannon Barrage
Easily chases down enemies

Cons
Squishy
Mana dependent
Needs farm

This is Gangplank's innate passive. It can stack 3 times, and each stack lasts 3 seconds and deals 3 + (1 x level) magic damage per second. Not the best poison in the game, but it also slows enemies by 7%. This is how Gangplanks chase down enemies so easily.


This is Gangplank's bread-and-butter skill. It has an amazing ad ratio (1.0) and applies on-hit effects such as Phage and Grog Soaked Blade and Crit!!! Also, it gives you extra gold (4/5/6/7/8) if you kill a unit with it!!! This is the main reason why Gangplanks are so rich.


Getting stunned a lot? Eat some orange and you'll be K. This skill heals some health and removes all slows, stuns, silence, suppress, etc. This will make people like Malzahar and Warwick really really hate you. You can also help your allies block an Enchanted Crystal Arrow and just eat oranges!


This skill gives you a passive movement speed boost and extra attack damage. It's like a weaker form of Wuju Style, but you can activate this skill to give all allies (and yourself) in a large radius extra movement speed and attack damage. Good for pushing down turrets, escaping and chasing down enemies. Adding a point in level 1 is important for the early game sustain and farm.


Gangplank's global ultimate. This is one of the easiest global ultimate to use, because the aoe is really huge and there's hardly any casting time, so your ulti will immediately start when you just click the area on the map. When enemies are hit by a cannonball, they are slowed, so this skill is good for helping with a teamfight in other lanes or for chasing down enemies. However, the cannonballs fall in random areas, so I wouldn't rely on it to make kills.

Most Gangplank players add Parrrley first, but why do I add Raise Morale first???

Firstly, at level 1, how many parrrleys can you expect to use? 1 or 2? That is only an extra 8 gold if you use them to kill minions and if you cannot last hit minions due to your lower attack damage, you're losing out on about 12-15 gold.

You could also use Parrrley to harass champions, but since your attack damage is not that high, why not wait for level 2, when you have extra attack damage from Raise Morale and your parrrleys will have higher damage? If you are only going to use Parrrley at level 2, why not add raise morale first at level 1, so that you can deal more damage to your lane opponent and last hit better?

However, Raise Morale does not add much damage later. It adds 8 damage at level 1, but then after that, it's 10, 12, 14, 16, which is not high, so it is maxed last. On the other hand, Parrrley can crit and gives you a lot of money and is really useful in harassing your lane opponent, so it is maxed first. Remove Scurvy is maxed second as you can heal yourself and remove CCs with it. And with most ultimates, Cannon Barrage is added in levels 6, 11 and 16.

If you want to play safe, however, this is the skill distribution:
This is the same order for the mid lane. Parrrley is added first so that you can start poking from level 1 and the usually squishy mid champion will take so much damage that he will be forced to go back to base early.

This is my favourite starting item for Gangplank because Parrrley can crit, and when it does, it gives a lot of hurt to squishy champions like Teemo. Definitely the best starting item for the mid lane.


This is what most players get for Gangplank. Together with Raise Morale, your starting movement speed will be insane!! If your lane opponent skillshot heavy e.g. Cho'Gath then good luck for them.


Depending on the situation, you may want to start with a cloth armor and 5 health potions. If your lane opponent does lots of physical damage, like Wukong, you can shake off the boots of speed and get some protection instead. After all, the boots only gives you an extra 25 movement speed, which you already have half of due to Raise Morale.


This used to be my usual starting item for Gangplank. It allows you to have some sustain, so lane enemies harass you to no avail. It goes well with Raise Morale because the extra damage allows you to lifesteal more.
UPDATE: Sadly, now it is a bit too expensive, so it is no longer a viable starting item.

This item gives you lots of movement speed, allows you to tank more magic damage and also reduces the duration of CC, so you don't have to rely on Remove Scurvy so much.


The main damage item for Gangplank. With this item, your parrrleys will be dealing 2.5 times their damage!!! Even if you only have this item, Parrrley will deal about 700 damage when you crit!!! I try to rush Infinity Edge by the 20 minute mark because of the sick mid game it gives me.


The more creeps you kill, the more attack damage and lifesteal you'll get. At full stacks, this item gives you 100 damage and 20% lifesteal, which is obviously just awesome. After buying this item, farm for a while and you're set for teamfights.


This item gives you really insane attack speed and lots of extra movement speed. While enemies can't chase you down, you can easily chase down enemies. Furthermore, it gives 30% crit chance, so your attacks and parrrleys will be critting more. With Infinity Edge, you're a killer.


This item is really expensive, but it gives you lots of stuff. Extra movement speed and attack speed, extra health, extra mana, more chance to crit, and even some AP. It also gives you movement speed on autoattacks and kills, so you can just keep running chasing your enemies and dodging skillshots. And the other passive will make you just to OP for words. When you use a skill, your base damage is increased by 150% for one attack. Ever wondered what happens when you use Raise Morale, proc Trinity Force and then you Parrrley and crit? Why don't you go find out? :D

You could get this item instead of Mercury Treads if the enemy team does not have much magic damage and your lane opponent is a physical damage dealer. He will then find it really difficult to damage you as Ninja Tabi gives you quite a lot of physical damage reduction.


Atmog is good when your team wants you to be more tanky. It's also good if you're getting owned by people with poison e.g. Darius and you need the health for the survivability. This combination will also give you extra attack damage as Atma's Impaler converts 1.5% of your maximum health into damage.


This item not only gives a lot of damage, it also helps you stay alive with the sick health regen and the lifesteal. Furthermore, your basic attacks, including Parrrley will cleave for up to 60%. Imagine all enemies sticking together, and your Parrrley crits for 1.2k damage!! (Don't think about it too much or you'll start telling people how you got that permanent smile on your face) The active skill deals 100% of your attack damage around you. It's really useful for teamfights and its short cooldown means that you can use it often.


This item will also help you fight magic damage dealers as it gives you magic resist and a shield if your health would drop below 30% from magic damage. It also gives you some attack damage and extra damage for health missing. This doesn't really synergise with Gangplank, but the shield is good for survivability and the damage is not bad.


This item gives you lots of armor and reflects 30% of basic attack damage. You should get this item if there are annoying but thin range ad carries like Caitlyn on the enemy team. This would really screw them over as their health will get so low from their reflected attacks that your team can finish them off easily, while you don't get much damage due to the extra armor.


This item has become a really sick item with the latest patch. All your basic attacks reduce a percentage of armor, which stacks up to 25%, and you get lots of damage and attack speed. Yes, Parrrley applies the armor reduction. But be warned: Use it too often and people will start complaining:"Stop hacking with the Black Cleaver!!"(pardon the pun) and Riot will nerf or destroy it.


This is not a bad item for a team as you can use it to slow all surrounding enemies and allow your team to escape. At the same time, you could use Raise Morale to increase your teammates' movement speed.


Youmuu's Ghostblade is an upgrade from Avarice Blade. It gives you some damage, critical strike and armor penetration. But the best thing is its active effect, which gives you a speed boost and attack speed bonus similar to Highlander. Furthermore, the duration is increased with every melee hit on an enemy unit, up to a max duration of 8 seconds. This item is awesome for chasing down enemy champions or getting away.

Homeguard is arguably the best upgrade to your boots as you can spring into action right after recalling. It is especially useful when your base is being attacked by the enemy team.


This enchantment is a good upgrade to Gangplank's boots as Gangplank is a single target champion, so whenever you attack, you get a movement speed boost, which makes it much easier to chase down enemies. This boost is also good for kiting enemies in teamfights/tower dives. I would get this enchantment after the Infinity Edge.


This enchantment is useful is you are the one leading the charge on the enemy team. All your allies will get a movement speed boost, allowing them to catch certain enemies out. With Raise Morale, no cowardly enemy shall escape from your team!! If your team isn't doing very well in a teamfight, then this enchantment will help them retreat quickly, as long as you're the one valiantly leading the retreat towards your base. I would get this enchantment only in late game as that is when the game-deciding fights occur, and successfully chasing down enemies or retreating with minimal casualties would greatly work in your favour.

This spell can be used to jump over walls to escape/chase down enemies. This is really needed for Gangplank as he doesn't have a escape mechanism.


Ignite does true damage over time and reduces healing!! This synergises quite well with Grog Soaked Blade as the damage over time is just amazing. The healing reduction can be quite useful too. See a Master Yi on Meditate? No problem.


This spell slows a champion and painfully reduces his attack damage, magic damage and item damage. This is really good for securing kills and in team fights, use it on the champion which deals the most damage, so that your team will take less damage. You can also lure enemies to tower dive you, then you suddenly Exhaust them and Remove Scurvy, giving you a free kill.

This set of runes allows your magic resistance to scale into late game, so you'll be much tankier and will have no problem killing off mages.


These runes allow you to do more damage early game and last hit better.


One of the most useful runes ever. You'll have greatly increased armor at level 1, so you can engage your lane opponent early while mostly ignoring minion attacks. Your lane opponent will also deal less physical damage to you.


This rune gives you more attack damage at level 1, so your Parrrley will do more damage and you can last hit better.

Double-edged Sword: Dealing 2% more damage means that your Parrrleys will be hurting a little more, especially when you get a crit.

Fury: As a DPS or semi-DPS, you want to hit faster to do more damage.

Brute Force: More flat damage is always good for early games.

Deadliness: More AD will allow you to poke and last hit better.

Martial Mastery: More percentage damage for enemies who are low. An extra 5% is painful.

Warlord: You'll get extra AD on your Infinity Edge and Bloodthirster. This translates into tons of damage!!

Dangerous Game: The 5% heal could potentially save your life in a sticky situation.

Frenzy: This is just too good as your damage output will increase exponentially when your crit chance is high.

Devastating Strikes: +6% armor penetration!!! Need I say more? Note: This does not mean that you will penetrate 6% of enemy units' armor, but your armor penetration will have 6% more effect.

Havoc: More damage!!!

Block: Blocks damage of champion attacks (like Doran's Shield) which will really help if you're laning against a ranged champion.

Recovery: Health regeneration will help you stay in lane longer so that you will be more able to farm.

Unyielding: Makes you take even less damage on champion auto-attacks.

Veteran Scars: More health is important for early game. You can stay in lane more, and +30 health is really good against Ignite as it doesn't do so much damage at low levels.

Juggernaut: Gives you even more health, which will be very useful in surviving fights.

When playing Gangplank, you have to play him like a boss. You don't want to just hug your tower and Parrrley creeps, you want to dominate the lane, unless you're laning against some annoying champion like Riven or Irelia So, if you're laning against a melee champion, when he comes close to last hit creeps, go to him and auto-attack him once. If he fights you, then activate Raise Morale and fight. With your extra damage and Grog Soaked Blade, you should be able to win these fights for a First Blood (you can use Ignite to secure the kill). If not, just farm and whack your lane opponent when you're able to. When you get Parrrley, keep nuking it on your lane opponent. With this harassment, your opponent's health will gradually whittle down and he may go back to base. This will give you an EXP and CS advantage. However, if you're not so good at last hitting, then you could use Parrrley to last hit creeps. Normally, I would only do that after getting to level 7 ( Parrrley level 4) as you don't get much gold from the kills at low levels. If your jungler comes for a gank, then use Raise Morale to give both of you the extra movement speed and kill your lane opponent.

If you are laning against a ranged champion, you'll be getting harassed a lot, but with Remove Scurvy, you should be able to ignore it while you farm. Just keep spamming Parrrley on your lane opponent and because range champions are generally less thick than melee champions, it will be quite painful for them, and when there's the opportunity you can go in for the kill. As I have just found out, Ahri's charms have no effect on Gangplank.

If you are laning against two opponents, I would suggest the hug tower strategy. Just stay in the EXP range and Parrrley creeps when they're low on health. I would also suggest adding more points on Remove Scurvy so you can keep regaining back health. Request lots of ganks from your jungler.

When you get to level 6, watch the minimap, if there's a teamfight in one of the other lanes or your teammates are chasing down enemies or are running from enemies, use Cannon Barrage to assist your team. Remember, every ally saved is at least 300 gold less for the enemy and every enemy chased down successfully is at least 300 gold more for your team. Do not use it to farm creeps unless you're protecting a turret.

And don't forget to ward!!! Warding is especially crucial as it alerts you of gankers. If you do see one coming for your lane, either stop overextending or ask your teammates yo counter-gank. Remember: A sight ward a day keeps the ganker away! Here's a very good warding guide: Warding guide

During mid-game, stick to your lane and farm up your Infinity Edge (an easy task with Parrrley and Avarice Blade) so that you'll melt everyone down in teamfights. That said, don't ignore your teammates' cries for help. Send your Cannon Barrage to assist in teamfights and join in teamfights if they are near enough i.e. between mid lane and top lane

Another part of mid-game is when everyone clusters in one lane, waiting for the right moment to engage. DO NOT ENGAGE, I repeat, DO NOT ENGAGE!! That's not your job. But what you can do is to poke enemies with Parrrley if they are close enough (don't stray across the half-way mark between your team and the enemy team, or you will end up as free food). When someone does engage, aim for the mages like Ahri and Xerath. That's because in mid game it is the mages that will be doing much of the damage. When the mage is down, walk to the carry (if he's not dead yet) or the support and own them. With Infinity Edge and Sheen, that shouldn't be a problem. Don't forget to use Cannon Barrage and Raise Morale during these teamfights for the extra damage.

In late game, however, you have to aim the carries like Varus because the carry will deal lots of damage to your team otherwise. By this time, you should be critting for over 900 and Parrrleying for about 1200, so just two autoattacks, a Parrrley and an Ignite ought to do it. With your Iceborn Gauntlet, those carries will find it really hard to kite. Then you can go on to the mage or the support. As a melee AD champion, always go for the weak.

You should be carrying a couple of wards to ward baron and dragon if you have the space in your inventory. And on the topic, try not to do baron or dragon if the enemy jungler is still alive (or is not really far away), because there is a chance that the jungler may just walk in and steal it with Smite, wasting your efforts and giving gold to his team.

Gangplank is especially dominant in the mid lane, because most mid lane champions are relatively paper, so a few hits with Parrrley and their health bar will collapse. If they don't have the sense to recall, Flash, Parrrley and Ignite them for an easy first blood.

Once you get your Sheen and Statikk Shiv, each Parrrley should deal about 400 damage, and that's not counting a critical strike.

Iceborn Gauntlet is a good upgrade from Sheen as you will be able to stick on the enemy adc/mage with the massive slow. With the buff on Phage, Trinity Force can also be a good item as it gives you movement speed when you auto-attack (or Parrrley) Get Trinity Force if you need more damage to take down the enemy adcs.

AP GP is overpowered because his oranges heal you for tons of health, and his cannons provide lots of burst damage.

In the mid lane, spam Parrrley on your enemy. With the AD runes and masteries, and given the fact that your lane opponent is likely to be a squishy mage, Parrrley will whittle down his health fairly quickly. If they dare to harass you, use Remove Scurvy and watch your health bar fill back up.

AP GP really starts to shine when he reaches level 6, when he gets his ultimate. If you can afford it, immediately go back to base at level 6 to buy your Mejai's Soulstealer. It is the best item for GP as whenever Cannon Barrage is up, you can search for areas on the map to bomb. If it results in a kill, you'll get a free assist and a stack on your Mejai's. Keep doing that and your Mejai's will get 20 stacks in no time.

Lich Bane is a good item to get as your Parrrley will be dealing an extra 50% of your AP as damage. Statikk Shiv is also a good item for the extra early burst damage. However, this item isn't so useful in late game, so you may want to sell it off to get some tank items. You can also get a Morellonomicon for extra cooldown reduction (rso you can eat more oranges) and the Grievous Wounds passive, which reduces healing and is awesome against champs like Warwick and Nasus.

In the late game, you'll want to save up your Mejai stacks, and what better way than to get some defensive AP items like Zhonya's Hourglass? With this item, you'll boost your AP, allowing you to heal lots of HP with your oranges. Furthermore, you can become invulnerable for 2.5 seconds if you're waiting for Remove Scurvy to be up.

AP GP is the best hero to piss off enemies because when you're in a tight spot, you can just keep calm, eat your oranges and watch your health bar fill by half.

If you really want to play Gangplank but you are slow to pick, don't worry, cos Gangplank can be played as a support!! In early game, harass enemy champions by using Parrrley and provide moral support to your carry by using Raise Morale when he/she/it is in trouble.

If you really need the cash, take some of your carry's creep score with Parrrley, although you don't really need the cs, because your runes and masteries give you extra gold per 10 seconds, and an extra 40 starting gold! And if you get Spellthief's Edge, you will get more gold per 10, and your Parrrley will give you gold whenever you use it on an enemy champion so don't be surprised if you end up having more gold than your carry.

As a support, you have to ward your lane so that you don't get ganked by the enemy jungler. If your jungler comes to gank, activate Raise Morale so that everyone moves faster for a successful gank. Send Cannon Barrage to any lane to help in the lane (or just to snag an assist).

In mid to late game, with your AP items,your Cannon Barrage will deal tons of burst damage.

However, that's your only damage skill, so after throwing out the Cannon Barrage, your role will be more of a tank. With all those health and armor items and the overpowered heal from Remove Scurvy, you should be able to tank lots of damage. As a support, you have to protect your carry, so Parrrley anyone who comes near so that they will be slowed by Grog Soaked Blade and Frozen Mallet. Activate Frost Queen's Claim and Raise Morale to allow your whole team to chase down enemies or escape easily.

Note: If you have read all of the above, I'm sorry but I've just wasted quite a bit of your time. Support Gangplank is just a troll build, although I guess it could work if you're laning against a melee carry and a melee support.

Thanks for reading this guide. Now you know how to play Gangplank the Gangnam way!!! Be prepared to be asked by players at the end of the game: "How the hell did you farm so much???" Gangplank is quite an easy hero to play, so I'm sure that you'll all own so much that Riot will nerf him someday (again). Xd

That's it from me. Have fun playing Gangplank and don't forget to rate, comment and vote!!

Special thanks to Ex.dll for giving me lots of ideas and support!!

-Ex.wife