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As a person who loves playing as Gangplank, I think he's in a pretty unhealthy state right now

Mr Dander·11/9/2018, 4:20:04 AM·4 votes·2,733 views

Hi, I created this post because I wanted to start a discussion on Gangplank, what state he is in, how to improve him and make him a healthier champion.

I, personally, think that he's WAY too opressive during his laning phase, with his Q poke + keystone proc with little to no counterplay, especially for someone who scales so well outside of his laning phase. It has caused some balancing issues with keystones as well, like Kleptomancy for example, which eventually got nerfed because of him. He now also gets a pretty early power spike when buying Stormrazor, when before his power used to be built up slowly and progressively rather than spiking out of nowhere.

I think that he needs some nerfs to his poke and have his power shifted somewhere else, and that his early game should be more focused on farming instead of poking, having him progressively grow stronger by time, like Nasus.

Gangplank is an AD caster, but It kinda seems like he could be classified as the AD version of what an Artillery Mage is with his long range burst, but I'd prefer if his kit would just be opened up for more possible builds and play-styles.

Well...

A simple solution for his current state (and my favorite solution) would be to just bring back scale-plank by increasing his Q's mana cost but bringing back the mana refund when it kills a unit, and revert his barrel count, so that he starts with 2 maximum barrels stored but can eventually have up to 5 barrels stored in late-game, like it used to be.

But if those changes wouldn't be enough then here's a list of different changes:

Q - Parrrley:

  • CHANGED: Mana cost changed to 70 mana at all ranks from 60/55/50/45/40

  • NEW: Refund 50% of Parrrley's mana cost when killing a unit, or when detonating a barrel.

    Note: This used to be a part of his kit, and I think it makes sense to reimplement it. Gangplank's opressive poking during laning phase doesn't make sense for a hard scaling champion, that's like Nasus being able to poke with his Q. I think he should focus on farming during his laning phase instead of poking, since his silver serpent passive is made for farming anyways. Since he has such a powerful mid-late game it only makes sense for him to have a weak early game.

W - Remove Scurvy:

  • CHANGED: Gangplank heals for the amount over 3 seconds instead of instantly (CC Removal remains instant).

    Note: I think that the instant heal aspect of his W is pretty unhealthy, and should be over-time instead, this would make it easier to counterplay and would require more strategic timing.

E - Powder Keg:

Damage - Version 1:

  • NEW: Added a 100% bonus AD ratio to the flat damage portion of the kegs: 60/90/120/150/180 (+100% bonus AD).

  • CHANGED: Barrels now does 75% of the attack's damage instead of 100%

    Note: I added bonus AD scaling to the flat damage, but lowered its crit and on-hit damage, to open up for more variety in build paths, this would also nerfs his insane Stormrazor damage.

Damage - Version 2:

  • NEW: Added a 100% bonus AD ratio to the flat damage portion of the kegs: 60/90/120/150/180 (+100% bonus AD).

  • REMOVED: No longer ignores 40% of the target's armor.

    Note: This is also to lower its crit and on-hit damage, but in a different way, again; to open up for more variety in build paths.

Damage Version 3:

  • CHANGED: Can no longer crit.

  • NEW: Damage is increased by +1.5% per 1% critical strike chance, up to a maxium of +150% (250% in total).

    Note: This would give Gangplank more of a late-game scaling champ again, bringing him back to his former glory!

Damage - Version 4:

  • NEW: Damage is increased by +2.5% per 1 Lethality.

    Note: Another way to make Gangplank into a late-game scaling champion again, but through Lethality instead.

  • CHANGED: The flat bonus damage is no longer limited to champions only, so it now also works on minions and monsters.

    Note: This is also to open up more possibilites for other builds, he no longer needs crit chance to efficiently farm minions. This change could also make him viable as a jungler.

  • REMOVED: Gangplank no longer gains movement speed when destroying a barrel.

    Note: I think that his passive+stormrazor+phage+ghostblade is enough for mobility, especially for someone who can take down champions from long range, plus his barrels already slows targets anyways. This nerf is just to compensate for his other strengths.

    There needs to be a compensating weakness for every strength, Akali and Irelia are two good examples for champions with a lack of compensations for their strengths.

  • CHANGED: Maximum barrel charges changed to 2, but is increased by 1 for every upgrade purchased for Cannon Barrage.

    Note: This would bring back his scaling barrel count, but in a different way. Might seem like alot at first sight, but since his barrels now deal more damage to minions; getting silver serpents will be easier. It's either that or have the barrel count increase with his ult's level instead, like before.

R - Cannon Barrage:

  • Now deals physical damage instead of magic damage.

    Note: This will make lethality and armor penetration synergies with Gangplank's R, but makes building armor against him stronger, this could also make Black Cleaver a good alternative against tanky opponents. This will also make his ultimate more useful in general, since it does such a minimal amount of damage anyways.

Welp, these were my ideas on how to improve him. Friendly feedback is greatly appreciated, I would also like to know what your own ideas to balance Gangplank are.

5 Comments

Bansheenoir11/9/2018, 5:21:54 AM2 votes

Then again, Riot probably doesn't even give rat's ass unless pushing for those skins.

I troll I int 11/9/2018, 2:00:53 PM1 votes

Id say leave GP just the way he is, he is an ad caster. He can be shutdown early and made useless, specially with a counter matchup. If he wins lane he scales faster and will do very well in the mid game which i think is fair. His late game is powerful regardless.

Seraphim11711/10/2018, 2:44:39 PM1 votes

Gangplank is an AD caster, specifically an AD control mage, with his secondary role being a fighter. I agree he should be a farm champ early, but i think the barrel changes are unnecessary, im a gp main and while crit is important he has multiple build paths, i have a tanklplank build that lets me end at 4000 hp and do 1000 dmgish on barrels depending on resistances. If you ask me, revert the barrels to the original # he can hold scales thing and reinstate q refund. im not sure if 80 mana will work tho. gangplank poke is annoying, but he has to be able to in lane. otherwise he cant stop the enemy from constantly all inning him. the same goes for the barrel speed up, you are gonna make him too slow and with much less poke to boot he will get curb stomped by so many top laners hell have to go mid permanently so he can hide under tower. No need to change ulti, although putting is ap ratio back to 30% from 10% would not only be hilarious but also I would hardcore start playing gp as would others.

ChaddyFantome11/10/2018, 3:52:45 PM1 votes

They need to give him his refund on Q back to make him actually focus on farming instead of being an AD Ryze in lane. Been saying this for over a season now.

I disagree with the other changes.