Gangplank: The Hidden Gem of League of Legends Season 11
Gangplank is an underused top laner in League of Legends season 11. He excels in the laning phase, thanks to his Corrupting Potion, and can easily influence other lanes with his global ultimate at level six. What sets Gangplank apart is the flexibility in his builds, allowing them to be adjusted based on matchups and team compositions.
Effective Items for Gangplank
There are specific items that are consistently effective on Gangplank, regardless of the situation. These core items guarantee the best possible experience when playing as this champion.
Runes: Making the Right Choices
Resolve
Grasp of the Undying: This keystone is perfect for Gangplank because it is easily activated by his Q ability. Engage in combat for a few seconds, use Q to hit the enemy champion, and you’ll gain a free stack. The damage, healing, and health benefits make it the most efficient rune for Gangplank.
Demolish: This rune allows you to take down towers even faster, complementing Gangplank’s passive ability. It is especially valuable in the early game when the enemy top laner retreats, granting you a significant gold advantage from tower plates.
Bone Plating: Gangplank’s early game is not his strongest suit, which is why this rune is useful. It reduces burst damage and aids in surviving ganking attempts from the enemy jungler. Use it wisely by engaging in trades whenever it’s up.
Overgrowth: This rune scales throughout the game, increasing your health pool. When combined with Grasp of the Undying, Gangplank becomes a high-health beast in the later stages of the game.
Inspiration
Biscuit Delivery: Biscuits provide extra sustain during laning, allowing you to recover from unfavorable trades. The additional mana ensures a higher mana pool, granting you the opportunity to execute an extra combo before running out of mana.
Time Warp Tonic: This rune, paired with Corrupting Potion, makes the laning phase easier. It provides sustainability and allows you to farm for your core items. Many mid laners utilize this rune, and it has made its way into the top lane as a popular pick for Gangplank.
Starting items: Making the Right Choices
Corrupting Potion: This potion is the best early game sustain item. It significantly impacts the laning phase, providing health and mana restoration along with a damage-over-time effect. Its effectiveness is amplified when paired with Time Warp Tonic, making it the most superior starting item for Gangplank.
Core items: Essential for Success
Ionian Boots of Lucidity: Ability haste is crucial in the current meta, and these boots ensure you have an early boost in that stat. Spamming more Q abilities during the laning phase allows you to deal more damage and capitalize on kill opportunities.
Trinity Force: This is Gangplank’s core item. It synergizes perfectly with his Q ability and allows for consistent procs without the need to put yourself in melee range. It deals significant damage, provides good stats, and the components are all beneficial for Gangplank.
Sterak’s Gage: When it comes to defense, Sterak’s Gage is one of the best options. It offers a massive absorption shield against both AD and AP champions. As Gangplank typically builds items that grant health, this defensive item is a perfect fit. In some scenarios, it can even be rushed as a second item.
Late-game items: Securing Victory
Lord Dominik’s Regards: With many tanks in the game, it’s essential to have ways to deal with them. This item provides a Giant Slayer passive, allowing you to deal more damage to tankier targets. It also offers decent stats, including attack damage, critical strike chance, and armor penetration.
Infinity Edge: This item amplifies critical hits and provides a significant amount of attack damage. However, it’s important to purchase it in combination with other items to fully benefit from its passive effect.
Guardian Angel: This item offers armor, attack damage, and the chance to revive yourself in a teamfight. It can turn the tide of a battle, nullifying the efforts of enemies who blow their abilities and engage tools on you.
Situational Items: Adapting to the Game
Serpent’s Fang: This item is ideal for countering shield champions. While it may seem inefficient in terms of stats, its passive effect, which reduces shields, allows you to deal more damage than a critical strike item.
Essence Reaver: A versatile item that provides attack damage, critical chance, cooldown reduction, and mana sustain. It synergizes well with Immortal Shieldbow due to its Sheen effect.
Immortal Shieldbow: A defensive Mythic item choice that offers decent stats and a shield effect when your health drops below a certain percentage. It’s effective against compositions with high dive potential.
Navori Quickblades: A rare item that grants exceptional stats along with the ability to reduce basic cooldowns after landing a critical strike hit.
Youmuu’s Ghostblade: This item provides lethality, attack damage, cooldown reduction, and a useful movement speed effect. It is an excellent option for quickly snowballing in the top lane.
The Collector: A powerful situational item that synergizes well with Youmuu’s Ghostblade. It provides lethality and an execute effect, allowing you to burst down squishy opponents.
Chempunk Chainsword: An affordable item that reduces the healing of your opponents. It is effective against champions with significant healing abilities.
Mortal Reminder: If you want more attack speed and critical strike chance, this item is a great choice. It reduces enemy healing while boosting offensive stats.
This guide will help you optimize your gameplay as Gangplank in League of Legends season 11. Don’t overlook the potential of this champion, as he can have a significant impact on the game when played correctly.