Gangplank is one of my favorite solo top champions. He is strong throughout the entire game, and can play in any lane at any role (besides AP). I consider his early game as strong as Garen's. His Q harrassment is insane, and will easily destroy anyone once you get Sheen. He has a really strong Steroid, his Q gives bonus AD and movement speed for his team. He always has a presence in the other lanes because of his Global Ultimate. Prepare to get boarded.

Pros:

• Global Ultimate
• Built in QSS
• Team-Wide Movement Speed Increase
• Lots of Damage
• Built in slow from passive
• One of the strongest laners.

Cons:

• Sustain is weaker than other solo top champions.
• Squishy compared to other solo top champs, unless built tanky.

After further experimenting, I no longer run the 21/0/9 build, and I instead run 11/0/19. This build provides the 6 Armor Penetration from Sunder. You also get the Cooldown Reduction from the utility tree, which is amazing for your Parley. The 21/0/9 build is better for late game, but 11/0/19 is by far more superior for the laning phase.

Marks: Flat Armor Pen for the lane dominance since most solo top champions have around 30 armor going into lane. This allows your autoattacks after you parley to destroy your opponent's health.
Seals: I run flat armor for more survivability against some of the strong top laners like Renekton and Garen. Without the armor seals they will be able to destroy your health with their harrass, and then take control over the lane.
Glyphs: I run MR/Level so that I will be stronger in the mid-late game fights that I will be apart of. GP can get annihilated if caught in the wrong position by a bursty AP caster. These glyphs will give you the slight damage reduction that you need in order to have enough hp to keep fighting.
Quints: I like the flat AD because it gives you the extra lane dominance that you need. Your parley has a 1:1 AD ratio, so any extra ad that you get is extremely helpful. AD quints also help you secure last hits on minions if you get pushed to your tower, which can be common depending on who you're up against.

I like to run with Teleport in order to be able to have presence in a dragon fight when needed, and to maximize my exp gain at top, a quick back then a teleport back to lane will keep up your exp gain. Flash is really good for jumping over walls, or catching an opponent offguard.

Gangplank's attacks apply a poison that deals 4-21 damage each second and reduces movement speed by 7% (slow stacks up to 3 times). Lasts 3 seconds.



This is an extremely strong passive. This is what makes GP feared. In lane, if your opponent feels like they are too safe, you can parley(which adds a stack), auto attack twice, then it is stacked to its max. They will then try to run, but they will have a 21% movement speed decrease, which will allow you multiple autoattacks and another parley before they are near their tower again. This passive also helps you stick to another carry in a team fight so that they won't be able to kite you around. The passive slow works really well with a red buff, makes it impossible to escape from GP.




Gangplank shoots a target unit for 20/45/70/95/120 plus 100% of his attack damage as physical damage. Gangplank gains 4/5/6/7/8 extra gold if Parrrley deals a killing blow. This ability can crit, applies Grog-Soaked Blade and applies on hit effects.

Cooldown 5 seconds

Cost 40/45/50/55/60 mana

Range 625




This is your source of damage besides autoattacks. It applies on-hit effects, including your passive. It will apply your red buff slow, or your trinity force slow. It has a 1:1 AD ratio which is huge. This is your main source of harrassment in lane and it is able to crit. Works really well with an item like Sheen or Trinity Force since it applies the 250% base damage increase.




Consumes a large quantity of citrus fruit which clears any crowd control effects on him and heals him for 80/150/220/290/360 (+100% of ability power) health.

Cooldown 22/21/20/19/18 seconds

Cost 65 mana



This is your get out of jail for free ability. It is similar to QSS, meaning it can get you out of any CC. It also heals you for a small amount of health. With a Philo Stone, it gives you some type of sustain since you will be able to use it almost off cooldown as long as you aren't harrassing at the same time with parley.




Passive: Gangplank gains 8/10/12/14/16 Attack Damage and 3/4/5/6/7% Movement Speed.

Active: Gangplank fires his pistol into the air, disabling his passive boost but increasing his Attack Damage by 6/12/18/24/30 and Movement Speed by 3/5/7/9/11% and nearby allied champions' Attack Damage and Movement Speed by half that amount for 7 seconds.

Cooldown 25 seconds

Cost 50/55/60/65/70 mana




You will max this ability second because along side with your Q, it will give you presence in your lane. As you are autoattacking them, use this ability to do more damage, and to be able to stick on them longer. This is a huge ability when your jungler comes to gank, because it gives both of you a decent move speed increase, and also a decent amount of attack damage.




Signals Gangplank's ship to fire upon an area for 8 seconds. Each cannonball deals 75/120/165 (+20% of ability power) damage and slows enemy units 25% for 1.25 seconds.

Cooldown 120/115/110 seconds

Cost 100 mana

Range 20000




This is what you will use to initiate a team fight, help your team when they are being tower dove, and to secure a gank. It slows and deals decent damage if the cannonballs land on the targets. It is a global ultimate so it can be used from your fountain all the way to their fountain. It can also be used to save a tower or to clear a creep wave since it aoe's the minions down very fast.

Max Q first for Harrassment. Then max E for the team-steroid buff. Then max W last since it provides your team little benefit. The only time I would max W before E is if you are losing your lane badly and need the little bit of sustain to not get dove.

Your starting items are usually . Against a Teemo I would run with

is what I always grab for garen and renekton, if they harass you through all 5 of your potions, most likely they will have missed a bit of cs doing that, which will put you ahead of them when you go back.

The Order of your core items are as follows: - Sell for , and if the game is still going sell for .

If you are building tanky, you should go or then

If you are going against a garen or renekton, I would suggest buying a when you decide to go back in order to be tankier against their harrass.

On-hit items are extremely strong on GP since his harass uses on-hit effects. This is why you will want to rush a as fast as possible.

GP/5 items on gangplank are strong. I always grab a on GP, and sometimes I will grab a .

Gangplank can be played as "tankyplank" which means he will go . After this he can go . Using the tankyplank set up, your role will be bruiser, which means you'll be tanky enough to just dive their carries and attempt to kill them. If they focus you, they will have a hard time trying to bring you down, and will waste their cooldowns on trying to kill a tank, so your actual carries will freely deal damage to their team.

Information will be added to this chapter as I continue to solo queue with Gangplank.





Warwick is probably a hard-counter to Gangplank. You can't really out harass his sustain at any point in the game. If the Warwick rushes , you have no chance at all to win this match up. He can harass you untill you get low HP no matter which way you build by only using his Q off cooldown on you. The moment he sees you use your Remove Scurvy, he will ulti and ignite you, and then you will die. Try to avoid picking gangplank versus warwick.



Going against Udyr can be extremely frustrating. His turtle stance can negate most of your harrass, and he will then heal up when your parley is on cooldown. Your only chance with this match up is to harass him a lot before he gets his Wriggle's Lantern, and to get an early headstart with CS. If you let him free farm the entire time, once he's about level 9, he'll be able to outlane you with ease.


Sion won't kill you unless you play badly, but he will out push you, and therefore make your last hitting slightly difficult, with a Wriggle's Lantern, you should be fine to get all creeps at the tower, but untill then, you will miss about 2 per wave, depending on how well you prepare the ranged minions.


Heimer can hurt you really badly early game. I start against him. He'll hurt you very badly in lane untill you get a Philo Stone and Sheen. With those two items, you can try to exchange pokes untill you get him low enough that he will go back to base.




Irelia has one of the weakest early games out of all solo top champions. In order to dominate this lane, you need to abuse the advantage you will get early game, by harassing whenever you get the oppurtunity, if she dashes at you, parley her and auto attack her as she runs back to last hit creeps.


If played correctly, this can be an extremely easy match up for you. Once singed gets his catalyst, he'll think he's safe to free farm your creeps, and will spread his poison on all of them, and even fling you around. Do not let him do this. When he is trying to free farm, your job is to just autoattack him until he gets low enough and realizes he is in danger. Once he gets to this point, he'll probably hug near his tower so he won't get killed, if you have him at his tower, parley him whenever you can, but be careful for ganks. Only play with the aggressive playstyle like this if you have Tribush warded, and somewhere near the jungle exit from blue warded. If you get caught by the jungler + singed near their tower, depending on the singed's summoner's spells, you can assure that you will die before escaping.

This is where you are extremely feared being a gangplank. Some people will start cloth armor, 5 health pots just to counter you. When you are level 2, you can use Q off cooldown on your opponent, and when he tries to go for a cs that is behind you or next to you, you can Q him, then E, and autoattack him until his hp is really low. Then just rinse and repeat untill you score a kill. Don't prioritize harassment so much that you will consistently miss CS. Farming is your main goal during the laning phase. You want 100 cs by the 15 minute mark, and you want to make sure you are always ahead of your opponent in terms of CS. You have teleport just so that you can quickly get back to lane after going B. Try to get a sheen as fast as possible, because it makes your Q harassment way stronger.

You should be about as farmed as your ad carry in your bot lane, and you should have more cs than your opponent in top lane. Always ward the river brush, tribush, and near the entrance of blue buff. Warding is extremely important at this point in game, because they may go for a 3-man gank on you if middle lane is pushed. Always be aware of whats going on in other lanes, don't be afraid to use your ulti in order to assist your teammates or steal a dragon. If a fight is going on for the dragon, you should use your Teleport to a ward nearby, then ulti the enemies, cast your E, then be prepared to fight. They should not be able to escape from your ulti + E steroid. Same rules apply from early game, Farm, Farm, and Farm!

Try to stay near your team, and if your ad carry doesn't need it, be sure to grab red just so no one has a chance of escaping you at all in a team fight or a gank. You should have a lot of damage at this point in game, you should be doing the same or more damage than your ad carry. Be sure to farm side lanes, and make sure that you do not get caught and ganked while farming, because you will lose the game for your team. Keep elixirs for teamfights, they help a lot. You can use your ulti to steal a baron, but at this point in game you will be mostly roaming as 5 with your team, or grabbing a red buff.

Positioning as Gangplank is extremely important. Unless you are tankyplank, you can easily be focused down by the enemy team. You will want to poke at the enemy team a bit before going into a fight. Always ulti in the fighting area to maximize your team's damage, and to be able to keep them slowed. E off cooldown, and use your W when you are CC'd. Even if you are hitting a tankier character in the front, make sure you are using Q on a carry before switching to them. If you don't slow them, they will be able to kite you around, or even flash away. If the opportunity comes, where you can sneak behind them, you should do this. Gangplank can annihilate any ranged ad carry 1v1 since he can W out of exhaust. He can also take out an AP carry after the AD carry he kills if he goes unnoticed by their bruisers.

I will be updating this guide whenever I feel a change is necessary and I will be reading all of the comments. All constructive criticism is highly appreciated since it is my first guide for LoL. Gangplank is one of my favorite solo top champions, probably tied with Udyr. I hope this guide will make you guys enjoy the champion as much as I do.