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How to play the new Gangplank

clickhead·7/23/2015, 8:30:12 PM·1 votes·1,546 views

So with the new Gangplank out, I decided to try him because he seems like a fun champion to play. Tried him in a bot game, was satisfied with the preliminary results, so I tried him in a normal game and this is where things get messy. His whole kit is designed around popping barrels with his Q to deal damage to enemies but... his barrels early game takes roughly 4 seconds before they are poppable. Combined with the fact that enemies can walk away from them at any time during those 4 seconds and that they can also destroy them with auto attacks, it means that until you reach level 7 his barrels are useless against champions and are there only for waveclear. What about level 7? Now it takes 2 entire seconds before you can explode the barrel, which is still more than enough time for people to walk away from them. Ok so they are still kind of useless. At level 14, the ticker gets even faster. It now take roughly 1 second before you can still explode your barrels, which is ok but again, in most situations it is very easy for enemies to walk away from a barrel in the span of 1 second.

So the question is, how is Gangplank supposed to be played, knowing that his barrels are practically useless for most of the game?

6 Comments

Maximum Zilean7/23/2015, 8:34:30 PM1 votes

Don't drop the barrels next to your opponents. Use them to lay traps, or place them in your escape route so if they keep chasing, it'll be ready to detonate when they pass by it.

Use barrels for lane control. Cause you can Q them to detonate if they get close. When they can't. (Except range top laners, screw them)

AllahbamaBlckSnk7/23/2015, 8:35:45 PM1 votes

Gangplanks barrels are useful early. Place one in the bush, wait for it to go to one bar then when you connect another barrel at full health, exploding the one in the bush will also explode the full health one.

Any other questions?

dr lichdeath7/23/2015, 8:45:43 PM1 votes

barrels arent used that way dude didnt u look at champ update? the gp player there prepeared a barrel long before and on then connected it to a new one and popped the old one blowing up the enemy

theyre also good for escape set a barrel ahead of u or in a near bush run to the bush (except if its rengar then stay away from the bush) pop it as soon as you can if u need to get the ms and perhaps also slow the enemy and him

refreshing during duels which is strong too if u manage to do it right and i swear its hard

also barrels are good for split pushing attack turret wait till true dmmg burn goes out pop barrel burn further repeat

u can use them too as wards theyre just extremely versatile to the point theyre near OP

even lane pressure pushing poking... wave control( well mainly pushing)

Wizardavar7/23/2015, 8:56:05 PM1 votes

His barrels are used as zoning tools, so if people are walking away from it, it is accomplishing its purpose as a zoning tool. The barrel can also be used in trades, destroying the barrels reset the CD on your passive, allowing you to deal more damage, and disengage or chase as needed with the instant movement speed. The barrels can be chained together, set one near the back, and chain the barrels. As long as the barrel is one HP, you can detonate the whole chain, so regardless of the AA range of the enemy champions, you should be able to proc the explosion before they do. There is no real need to shoot the barrel, unless you are using it to wave clear and get more sliver serpents quickly. During pushing, the barrels act as escape, shoot them or AA them, and you get a slow and a movement speed. So no, the barrels are not useless. Gangplank is, accordingly to riot, a spiltpusher, so I guess you build hydra, keep a eye on the map for ultimate, and push.

Serevas7/23/2015, 9:01:45 PM1 votes

As everyone else seems to have said you're supposed to place a barrel out of their reach connect it to another and then trigger the first one, this allows you to surpass the long hp drain early on, because only one of the barrels needs to be at 1 hp in the chain to trigger them all.

You're also supposed to use them in a fashion similar to Teemo shrooms, baiting your enemy into them, use them to clear waves, as minor vision, etc.

clickhead7/23/2015, 9:17:17 PM1 votes

Ok yeah it seems the barrels are meant to be chained, I guess when you look at it that way I just need to play way more Gangplank games before I can say how strong he is. I feel like he is one of the hardest champions in the game to master right now, but I think that if you master his kit he must be really strong.