Gwen: League of Legends’ Newest Champion
Gwen is the latest champion to join League of Legends. As the designated top laner for this year’s cycle of champions, Gwen’s play patterns resemble a strong duelist who is mobile and can seamlessly combine abilities and auto attacks, much like Irelia. The key to mastering Gwen lies in understanding when to use her abilities for optimal results.
Consider Adding Gwen to Your Champion Repertoire
If you’re looking for a high-tempo laner who excels at constant fighting, Gwen is a great addition to your champion repertoire. Her versatile kit allows her to be played in either the jungle or a solo lane, giving you flexibility in your gameplay.
Runes and Abilities
Gwen’s kit allows for flexibility in choosing her runes, whether you’re playing in the jungle or a solo lane. Press the Attack is a popular choice for its strong dueling potential and damage boost to allies. In lane, Conqueror synergizes well with Gwen’s Q and E, complementing her constant trading.
If you’re playing in the jungle, Dark Harvest or Electrocute can be effective choices to boost your damage during ganks.
Breakdown of Gwen’s Abilities
– Passive: Thousand Cuts: Gwen’s basic attacks and some of her abilities deal bonus on-hit magic damage based on a percentage of the enemies’ maximum health. Basic attacks against champions also heal Gwen based on the damage dealt.
– Q: Snip Snip!: A short-range skill shot that deals damage in an area in front of Gwen. It deals true damage in the center and provides bonus damage based on Gwen’s passive. To maximize its efficiency, try to perform four auto attacks before activating it.
– W: Hallowed Mist: Gwen creates a zone around her that grants bonus resistances and makes her untargetable by abilities from enemies outside the zone. It can be used defensively against ranged attacks or during skirmishes to gain bonus armor and magic resistance.
– E: Skip ‘n Slash: Gwen dashes a short distance and empowers her basic attacks with increased range, speed, and on-hit magic damage for a short duration. If she performs a basic attack during this time, she halves the ability’s cooldown.
– R: Needlework: Gwen’s ultimate is a long-range skill shot that deals notable damage and applies a slow. She can activate it up to three times, but she needs to hit an enemy within eight seconds to perform each subsequent cast.
Item Choices
As Gwen primarily deals magic damage, Riftmaker and Night Harvester are recommended as Mythic Item choices. Riftmaker provides sustain and true damage for extended trades, while Night Harvester grants bonus damage and movement speed for shorter skirmishes.
Nashor’s Tooth is a potent Legendary item to consider for its attack speed and bonus damage. Banshee’s Veil and Zhonya’s Hourglass can provide defensive options with bonus magic resist or stasis and bonus armor, respectively. Cosmic Drive is a good item for ability casts and movement speed.
Early Game as a Jungler or Laner
In the laning phase, as Gwen, focus on trading when your Q has maximum stacks for a damage spike. Use your E to chase opponents who try to escape. Against ranged opponents, utilize your W to render their attacks useless and threaten them with longer trades.
As a jungler, clear multiple camps at once using your Q’s area-of-effect ability. Be cautious of enemy invades and practice kiting to reduce jungle monster damage.
Mid and Late Game Strategies
In the mid and late game, adapt your game plan based on your item build. If you’re ahead, either continue to bully your lane opponent or roam to help your teammates. If you’re building as a duelist, splitpush to draw attention and create advantages for your team. However, be mindful of important objectives such as Dragon or Rift Herald.
During teamfights, proper use of your W is essential since Gwen is not as tanky as other duelists without it. As a jungler, prioritize vision control and positioning around important objectives.
Try Gwen on League Patch 11.8
You can try out Gwen when she is released with League Patch 11.8 on April 14th.
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Gwen, League of Legends, champion, top laner, runes, abilities, item choices, early game, mid game, late game