Gnar's problems, and suggestions on how to fix them.
Hello Everybody!
Today, I am here to outline some problems pertaining to our favorite little fur ball, Gnar.
http://img00.deviantart.net/2376/i/2014/246/3/6/gnar_by_alexflores-d7xvblb.jpg
Well…..ok, he may not be everyone's (I do know that some people find him as annoying as ever), but he is mine!
You might be saying: "Pfft. You're just a bronzie, what do you know?". Well, I currently have over 80 thousand mastery points on him, and probably well over 500 ranked games with him. Even despite not playing him much this season, I have nearly double the mastery points on him than my next highest champion (which is Ashe, at around 45k). So, I think it's safe to assume that I know what I'm talking about when it comes to Gnar.
Why haven't I played him too much this season? Well, firstly I've been having fun in the bot lane with mostly Sivir and Caitlyn (with a side of MF). Secondly, this just isn't the season for Gnar.
He slowly went from being one of the best top laners you could get, to being one of the worst, with preseason hitting him really damn hard when he was already struggling. This isn't because of any nerfs to him, in fact, over the past year, he's received very few changes. Instead, it's how the game has shaped around him that has lead to the state he's in.
He has fallen into the "whatever he does, someone else does better" category. Whenever you pick Gnar for whatever reason, there is almost assuredly a better pick. Allow me to show why:
Picking Gnar as a carry in the top lane:
Whereas a really good Gnar certainly can carry if he gets ahead, unlike Fiora or Tryndamere, he really has to work for it, and constantly throughout the entire game. Gnar has fantastic windows of power, but he heavily relies on his team to capitalize on these windows, whereas the aforementioned Fiora or Trynd can capitalize on the windows they make themselves.
Picking Gnar as a front line tank:
Don't get me wrong, Gnar can take one hell of a beating, especially in the mid game when he has at least 1 tank item under his belt. However, having played a lot of ADC this season, I can tell you that I'd much rather have a dedicated tank like Nautilus or Maokai in front of me than a Gnar. This is mainly because of their access to crowd control. Now, Gnar does have plenty of crowd control, however, it's all been put into Mega Gnar, of which you only have access to for limited periods of time throughout the game. Whereas someone like a Nautilus or Maokai has access to their crowd control whenever it's off cool down. Also, a dedicated tank can simply take more damage than Gnar, since he needs to build at least 1 damage item to really be useful.
Picking Gnar as a splitpusher:
I'm sorry, but if you're doing this, you're either doing some cheese build, or you're just dumb. First off, Gnar simply cannot put out the same amount of pressure that a Kennen or Nasus can. He just doesn't have the wave clear or damage. Secondly, most top laners that split push need to be able to join their team at a moment's notice with teleport, and be ready to dive into the middle of the fray, and start wreaking havoc. Gnar can't do this due to his rage meter. A teamfight can break out at any moment in the game, and thus, Gnar needs to be with his team most of time in order to make full use out of Mega Gnar whenever it is needed. If you're split pushing with Gnar, and a fight breaks out right when you come out of Mega Gnar, you're simply screwed.
There are only two things that Gnar is better at than everyone else, and that is sticking to his target and kiting. Unless he gets a significant rework (which I highly doubt will happen for a very long time), there will not be a single champ that can consistently out run a Gnar, save for maybe Olaf.
However, it isn't only that he is outclassed in whatever he does, it's also that he underperforms against most of his matchups.
VS Tanks:
This may surprise you, but tanks are probably the second best champs to take into Gnar. He'll be able to harass them in the early levels, but once they have a couple items under their belt, there is simply nothing Gnar can do to push them out of lane without falling significantly behind in CS. They also tend to perform far better in teamfights due to having far more reliable crowd control.
VS Juggernauts:
These are generally the champs you want to avoid taking into Gnar, since he can kite all of them around for days. However, since every juggernaut tends to have really high sustain, similar to the tanks, once they have at least 1 defensive item, there isn't much Gnar can do against them except just stay away from them.
VS Fighters:
Most of the time, a Gnar vs fighter matchup is skill based, but there are some cases where Gnar does very well. For those of you looking for a decent counter into Pantheon, I think you would be pleasantly surprised to see that Gnar actually performs quite well against him, especially if you can kill him once or twice. Unfortunately, most fighters can easily out scale Gnar come mid game, and make it effectively impossible for him to fight them.
VS AP:
This is, by far, the best kind of champ you can take into Gnar. Most AP top laners have really, REALLY good wave clear, and Gnar has next to none. Swain, Rumble, Vlad, etc. can push him under tower, and keep him there. If he tries to fight, they either have the damage or sustain (or both) to easily answer back. If he's able to get the wave out from under his tower, most AP top laners have enough CC to easily set up a gank. It is a very easy lane for these guys when facing a Gnar.
So, now that I've outlined a lot of his problems, allow me to list some suggestions I've thought of to hopefully put him in a better spot.
Passive: Rage Gene
When out of combat, rage should start to fall off sooner, but slower.
Right now, after you're out of combat for 13 seconds, you then begin to lose rage at around 10 rage per second (I don't know the exact number of rage lost, nor can I find it, so this is my best guess). While it's nice to be able to hold your rage for that long, once you start to lose it, it can be very hard to get it back quickly so you're ready to fight again. So, I propose that after 8 seconds (the amount of time that the game generally regards you as out of combat), you start to lose around 4 or 5 rage per second. This should allow for some more control over the rage bar.
More health when going into Mega Gnar.
Not by alot, though. We don't want to go too crazy on the buffs. However, due to the recent tank item changes, giving him a bit more health would do wonders, not to mention his most recent "buff" took away the extra health regen he gets while in Mega form, taking away a good chunk of his only form of sustain.
The movement speed bonus coming out of Mega Gnar should last longer.
Or, at least not decay over the duration. Gnar is at his most vulnerable state when coming out of Mega Gnar, mostly due to him waiting on cool downs used while in Mega form. This would give him a bit more leeway in being able to reset a fight if need be.
Other Changes:
Very slight base damage increase to all basic abilities.
And when I say slight, I'm talking about only 5 extra damage. Not only does this make his abilities have nice even numbers on the base damages, it should be just enough of a push for him to perform better against all of his opponents.
And that's it! Whereas there are some other changes that I personally would like to see (like a lower cool down on his E), any buffs to Gnar should be light, considering his very bright history. I did read somewhere that Riot is considering some buffs for him in 7.13 possibly, and I'm certainly excited to see them. I'd love to be able to play the little fur ball again, without having to save him as just a counter pick.
Feel free to tell me what you think!
TL;DR
Gnar has problems, and I gave some suggestions on how to buff him. I won't list them here, since I just did above.
