League of Legends - Gangplank Guide

Gangplank is a powerful AD champion with strong burst and sustained damage output. He is capable of fighting from range using Parley or getting into the action as a melee champion with tanky orientated items. Gangplank provides his team with great support through his Raise Morale Buff and slowing area of effect ultimate. Gangplank also has the ability to heal himself, while removing crowd control effects.

This Gangplank guide aims to be a basic and simple introduction on basic strategy that should be adopted when playing Gangplank, it is recommended for people just starting to use Gangplank.

Abilities

• 
  Grog Soaked Blade (Passive) Ganplank's passive has a nice slow effect on it that is stackable both with his melee attacks and his Parley, this can be devastating when you are able to catch someone slightly out of position, hitting them with Parley for a small slow that may allow your team to pick up the kill.
• 
  Parrrley Parrrley (Parley) is Gangplank's main offensive ability, it has a low cooldown, can critical strike while also applying on hit effects (including your passive).
• 
  Remove Scurvy An amazing ability that allows Gangplank to heal himself and remove any crowd control effects on him. It is important to try and have this off cooldown as much as possible when moving around, so that you can escape any stuns and potential ganks.
• 
  Raise Morale This skill gives Gangplank some team utility, allowing him to give allies extra damage and movement speed. The passive effect is also a nice boost to Gangplank.
• 
  Cannon Barrage (Ultimate) A large area of effect skill that slows enemies inside it and deals damage. This skill is incredible when placed on top of team fights and can easily devastate the enemy team. It can also pick up some early kills on low health enemies. The damage is not reliable though as cannon fire falls randomly within the area, sometime enemies will take lots of damage and sometimes they will take none.

Ability Order

The best way to level Gangplank's skills is:
Ult > Parley > Remove Scurvy > Raise Morale

You want to max Parley as soon as possible as it is your main form of damage and lane harassment, maxing Remove Scurvy second gives you lots of survivability meaning you can go long gaps between returning to base. Placing a point in Remove Scurvy at level 2 provides you with some decent healing early, the heal is small and the mana cost is high though. Leaving Raise Morale till last is often best as each level only provides a minor boost.

Runes

Red (Marks) - Armor Penetration
Yellow (Seals) - Mana Regeneration
Blue (Glyphs) - Magic Resistance
Purple (Quintessences) - Armor Penetration // Health

This rune book focuses on 2 vital stats to successfully play Gangplank. You want maximum armor penetration so that you Parley can do maximum damage. You also need mana regeneration on Seals to keep up with the high mana costs of farming minions with Parley. While Magic Resistance Glyphs give you some solid resistance to casters, alternatively you can use Health Quintessences to boost your early game survivability.

Summoner Spells

 

Best Summoner Spells:
-Flash
-Exhaust

Exhaust and Flash are the best summoner spells for Gangplank, Exhaust will shut down all other physical damage dealers and will allow you to either escape or kill them. Flash provides Gangplank with an escape mechanism and adds to his already fast moving playstyle (thanks to Raise Morale & Phantom Dancer).

Other Good Summoner Spells:
-Ignite

Ignite can be used instead to increase your damage output and be used to counter specific champions.

Masteries

Running Gangplank as a 13/0/17 champion maximises the benefits from the offense and utility tree.

The offensive tree offers some critical strike, improved exhaust, attack speed, armor penetration and some bonus minion damage allowing for easier early game last hitting.

The utility tree offers important mana regeneration, increased buff duration, movement speed and improved Flash.

Item Build

 
Final Item Build:
-Mercury's Treads
-Infinity Edge
-Trinity Force
-Warmog's Armor
-Atma's Impaler
-Phantom Dancer

Steps/Reasoning:
-Depending on the lane you expect you can go defensive with a Doran's Shield. Otherwise you should start with Boots of Speed & 3 Health Potions.
-First trip back you want to upgrade your boots to Mercury's Treads or Ionian Boots of Lucidity if the enemy team lacks crowd control.
-Your next item and the biggest core item of Gangplank is Infinity Edge.
-From here depending on the game you will want to go offensive choices like Trinity Force and Phantom Dancer.
-Alternatively if you need defensive options or the game appears that it will be a long game then you want to consider Warmog's Armor and Atma's Impaler.

Alternatives:
-The Bloodthirster (Provides some raw attack damage and strong life-steal)
-Banshee's Veil (A must have against caster heavy teams)
-Last Whisper (An important item against armor heavy teams)

General Gangplank Tips

• Always be watching the map for opportunities to use your ultimate, it can give your allies the edge they need to kill the enemy or escape.
• You have to be careful with Gangplank until you build your Infinity Edge. You must be conservative and concentrate on farming with Parley.
• Try to keep Remove Scurvy off cooldown when the enemy is near, it has a reasonable cooldown and is a must have to escape any crowd control effects.
• Always target squishy champions with Parley, you can force them to retreat.
• Try to always finish off minions with Parley for the bonus gold it will provide you.

Level 1-6

• Use Parley to last hit minions and melee attacks when safe, you want to balance your mana regeneration and expenditure.
• Find a nice balance between harassing with Parley and using it to farm for the bonus gold.
• Try to avoid using Remove Scurvy, it can quickly drain your mana.

Level 7-12

• Now your Parley damage can start hurting those squishy champions especially when you are lucky to score a critical strike.
• Always be on the look out for ultimate opportunities in other lanes, not only does this help allies score kills, it can score you free assists.
• Always use your ultimate on top of team fights. It can also be used to initiate.

Level 13-18

• Use Raise Morale before team fights to give your team a boost.
• You should be running forwards and backwards, trying to get a shot on the enemy carries or supports as your Parley can devastate them.
• Your ultimate at max level has a very nasty slow and is a must have on every team fight.
• Your melee attacks are also deadly, don't be afraid to get into the fray especially if you've built tanky.
• You should be able to chase anybody down with your passive, the slow from Trinity Force and your Raise Morale. 

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