According to champion.gg, Gragas has the 57th best winrate in Platinum +. It makes me wonder why he's banned at all. He may be annoying but there are dozens of champions performing much better on average. If people ban champions to increase their winning chances, the high Gragas banrate is irrational.
BTW: I do realize he got nerfs in 5.10 and I'm not suggesting that he isn't a great jungler.
Zahz7 votesCuz nobody wants a drunk on their team
Marthian2 votesPlenty of CC, very tanky, has high base damages.
atomicwit1 votesPlenty of CC, very tanky, has high base damages.
Sure, but that's true of many champions. If you look at performance, it's fairly clear that there's no logical reason to ban him. It's not as if Gragas players in Plat+ don't know how to play the champion and yet the performance is nothing earth shattering.
Hard4Hamsters1 votesHe is the Lee Sin of tanks. That's why. I've thought about it myself and I've come to the conclusion that he is annoying to play against. He can exert pressure early. He is impossible to lockdown because of he can E away. Put a Q down to slow you, and if all else fails he can Ult you away. He really isn't that dominant, but he's fairly easy to play, other than Ult positioning, and he is really hard to punish. In pro play, he is definitely worth banning as he is a playmaking champion, but in unorganized play, he isn't as powerful (he's still really strong), and in my opinion, he isn't worth banning in 80% of games.
On a side note, he is really fun to play, again like Lee Sin, so people will pick him if they think he is strong.
rG Thundrag1 votesHe is similar to sejuani but with a very reliable early game his late game is worse though. While being more tanky and still doing large amounts of damage with good utility on all of his skills
RouterSmiter1 votesppl think hes good bc lcs
Psi211 votesJust going to go out there and say because he is built like a tank but has the DPS of a Mage? Kinda like Moa
Go Tank Meta!
atomicwit1 votesSince Ekko was released, I've been able to play Gragas again. :D
Cenobite Azaziel1 votesWe are back into the poor jungle gold, were carry junglers are good for nothing and ganking/utility are the best. I mean, LCS junglers are building sightstone.
Drunk Rummate1 votesPeople often ban based on popularity, not necessarily winrates. Also theres a lot of sheep who just do exactly what the pros do, no questions asked.
Ex. If Amumu was a common pick I guarantee you I'd have him perma banned because he's a hell of a lot stronger than Gragas and definitely more annoying, but for some reason nobody actually plays Amumu so I don't have to use the ban slot on him.