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Gangplank Barrels = Too Stronk

kcStranger·8/26/2015, 11:05:21 PM·4 votes·4,330 views

Anyone who's played against a good Gangplank or watched pro matches recently knows what I'm talking about, but to review, here are a few key characteristics of the damage dealt by Gangplank's barrels:

  1. Base damage determined by the damage of the attack that triggers them (note Parrrley applies on-hit and critical damage, so the barrels can, too).
  2. Ignore 60% of opponents' armor.
  3. Deal 80-200 bonus damage to champions.

Never mind that barrels deal AoE damage (unlike most abilities that trigger on-hit/crit) and also apply a 40-80% slow. After playing against Gangplank a little, I like that there's clear counterplay to the barrels, with things being stilted in Gangplank's favor due to the fact that he is setting up the barrels and can trigger them with Q. (The counterplay becomes especially difficult when the barrel timer speeds up at higher ranks.) The problem is just that the damage seems way too high for a non-ultimate ability (honestly, they're much more punishing than his ult, which admittedly is an upgradable global). A single barrel hit can easily chunk a squishy to around 30% once Gangplank gets Inifinity Edge and Trinity Force. I don't want to suggest any particular solution, and to be honest I expect Riot to nerf the barrels in the near future (well, I hope they will), but I just wanted to put up a little flag that this ability seems way overtuned to me. I'd be fine with it if they gave him some sort of compensation buff elsewhere, for what it's worth.

EDIT: I just noticed on the PBE that barrels were changed to ignore 45% of opponents' armor instead of 60%. To be honest, I'm concerned this still isn't enough (would rather see a bigger reduction, maybe even just no ignoring armor with compensating buffs in other places), but I'll take what I can get.

15 Comments

RyzeRework8/26/2015, 11:12:01 PM2 votes

have fun side stepping the barrel or playing the millions of counter pick to gp its very easy to shut down gps barrels u can zone him off of it move away from them last hit them, they have plenty of counter play but instead of people getting better they want to qq

Fadedpf8/26/2015, 11:09:16 PM1 votes

Have fun if you are a melee champion. He has barrel zoning, Q harass, a very quick true damage dot on his passive which can be refreshed, ignores your armor and scales with crit, and he can influence the map because of his ult. I am glad they are nerfing his barrels a good GP is oppressive as hell I barely went even as Bruiser Cho against him.

kitzz7868/27/2015, 1:27:48 AM1 votes

I played fiora last night and one barrel took me down from full hp to 1/4 of my life i mean like damn riot needs to nerf that

Hackulator8/27/2015, 4:24:49 AM1 votes

I said they would have to nerf him once people got good at barrel control.

Pretty sure they said they are nerfing the armor pen to 45%.

DarthSpectrum8/27/2015, 6:00:21 AM1 votes

GP is mostly strong against melee champions who have trouble dodging the barrels.

Against a ranged champion as Gnar, technically he will struggle catching him with a barrel since Gnar can either get out of the range or disarm it. However, once GP gets 3 barrels he will be able to hit even range opponents every time.

The time it takes for the fuse to travel between 2 barrels is enough time for GP to place down another one, so the third barrel literally becomes an instant AOE skill shot assuming it is within the range of the second barrel.

Håppy8/27/2015, 6:53:13 AM1 votes

Having trouble against Gangplank?

Try Udyr! He's a crushingly powerful laner, easily able to out-trade Gangplank on one-AA hits (See GP walking at you with a flaming blade? Tap Q and hit him back). Once you get a phage you can time your hits with the barrels, bear stance the moment you destroy it, and go blasting at Gangplank at lightspeed. Since he's melee, you can zone him, being that if he comes up for farm he steps out of his barrel fortress and takes a tiger DoT to the mouth. Udyr's become my favorite champion once more, and my main top laner, and being the most diverse and adaptable champion in the game, if you figure out what you're doing and building with him you can stomp pretty much anybody.

HaIlMonitor8/26/2015, 11:08:02 PM1 votes

I would upvote this 1000 times if I could. They are silly because you cant fight him as melee, not that hard to set them up because of how they chain, and he just builds Trinity and full tank and so he doesn't die thanks to Oranges make him K and how tanky he is.

lolipopevelynn8/27/2015, 7:00:33 AM1 votes

{quoted}

Anyone who's played against a good Gangplank or watched pro matches recently knows what I'm talking about, but to review, here are a few key characteristics of the damage dealt by Gangplank's barrels:

  1. Base damage determined by the damage of the attack that triggers them (note Parrrley applies on-hit and critical damage, so the barrels can, too).
  2. Ignore 60% of opponents' armor.
  3. Deal 80-200 bonus damage to champions.

Never mind that barrels deal AoE damage (unlike most abilities that trigger on-hit/crit) and also apply a 40-80% slow. After playing against Gangplank a little, I like that there's clear counterplay to the barrels, with things being stilted in Gangplank's favor due to the fact that he is setting up the barrels and can trigger them with Q. (The counterplay becomes especially difficult when the barrel timer speeds up at higher ranks.) The problem is just that the damage seems way too high for a non-ultimate ability (honestly, they're much more punishing than his ult, which admittedly is an upgradable global). A single barrel hit can easily chunk a squishy to around 30% once Gangplank gets Inifinity Edge and Trinity Force. I don't want to suggest any particular solution, and to be honest I expect Riot to nerf the barrels in the near future (well, I hope they will), but I just wanted to put up a little flag that this ability seems way overtuned to me. I'd be fine with it if they gave him some sort of compensation buff elsewhere, for what it's worth.

EDIT: I just noticed on the PBE that barrels were changed to ignore 45% of opponents' armor instead of 60%. To be honest, I'm concerned this still isn't enough (would rather see a bigger reduction, maybe even just no ignoring armor with compensating buffs in other places), but I'll take what I can get.

ppl were saying GP was trash a month ago after his rework. "GP is ruined" they said. "thx for ruining such a great champ riot" they said.

then a pro player shoots someone with barrel crit in LCS and everyone quickly changes there tune.

the amount of sheep in this community is sickening.