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Gangplank’s early game is getting way too safe

Turbanator1337·2/3/2018, 9:53:26 PM·2 votes·795 views

GP player here (he’s in my top 3), so I’m not trying to complain about how “GP is OP” for my own benefit.

First off, yes, Gangplank is very vulnerable to getting dived by the enemy jungler under tower. But in a vacuum, 1v1, as long as I play properly, I feel like my lane opponent doesn’t really get a chance to punish me.

The number one problem with GP and why he’s so strong right now is his barrels, more specifically the fact that he isn’t punished for misusing them enough.

I can put one point into my E, and get 3 barrels instantly. I can sit on one barrel while I Q my opponent/ minions over and over again. If my opponent gapcloses and destroys my barrel before I can, he just outplayed me. So why, instead of him having an opening to go in on me, can I just walk backwards and put down another barrel? If I have full barrels, he has to outplay me at least 3 times, and all this time, my barrels are recharging.

There are a couple of ways I think this could be addressed.

Make the amount of barrels GP can hold scale with how many points are in E, so that GP has to choose between Q damage, cooldown, and plunder gold vs. extra safety. You can choose to get to your late game hypercarry state faster, or you can play it safe, but you shouldn’t be be able to do both.
(I think this is better) Up the recharge on GP’s barrels and only give him one when he skills E. This way Gangplank can actually follow up when his jungler ganks for him and has some offensive options for early game play making, but is still punished for not getting good barrels.

Part of the reason GP is so strong in Solo Q is that fighters don’t do as much damage early as they did last season, with the removal of Fervor and the addition of PTA. That combined with the fact that people are optimizing GP play and are figuring out how to stay safe. So fighters getting more damage might also be good.

(I like Jax as well and I’d like to be able to win on someone other than GP pls rito)

1 Comments

SoulEvan2/3/2018, 10:42:52 PM1 votes

I think GP is quite balanced right now in the current meta. There are a few other champs that can out duel GP and he is very item dependent as he does very little damage in the beginning and until he gets stacked his barrels don't do that much. Yeah, it is annoying, but there are practically ton of other poke champions much worse. Here a few; mostly other top laners you might face-(Though not all the time) Ornn his unstoppable W until they remove it, better dueling if played right(% damage is very annoying if he lands an auto) Galio deals way more damage with his Q constantly poking and can win with his wombo combo e,w q autos. Good at poke-( you'd need a lot of MR) Illaoi Just don't fight her Gnar Can poke with his q and very mobile, has ranged attacks, his GNAR!!! gives him good CC to duel-(though hard to use) Yasuo Really mobile and can dodge those barrels if good enough, has a shield that'll help till mid game, where GP shines, outduels anyways, his E could also stop your shot, but it'd be a waste to block it most times-(though will feed because they get tilted) Sion Incredible poke with his E, dealing 200 damage if maxed out first and can way, way way more deny minions making you having to Q to get cs, great shield on W that'll make you deal no damage or take damage if exploded and his Q will catch you out especially if you don't have "Cure Scurvy"-( Can be poked down though because of his w cooldown) Gangplank No brainer Camille Constant stuns and great mobility, has a strong passive shield, good sustain especially with her healing on her Q (it's Q right?) Her ult can trap you too if you push too far.

Of course you can win these any times, but that is the whole purpose of his barrels is to out-catch and outplay opponents. His barrels are quite weak on their own until you do have enough but currently after watching some games on the high elo and championships he isn't poorly, but he seems be more of a split pusher due to the fact that high elo always opt for a tank and/or peeler. It takes forever at low E too set up to catch opponents and in teamfights it takes a lot of know-how to place barrels when and how. Especially ghost barrels. A higher time would really hurt his early game, but alas it is very weak already. He is already quite demanding in skills and to manage 3 barrels is hard enough, but making less would really hurt him late game when you start to engage and fight in groups or duel other champs with a ranged auto. Last but not least, he is very item dependent. He is good in the mid game when he can finally chunk down the enemy backline or set up a good defense by the pressure and threat of the barrels. If they nerf anything, which they might soon, it probably be the damage and the % Ad given to his barrels, increase the scurvy for early game to prevent too much sustain, and possibly the ult damage ( though very, very unlikely). Is GP strong? Yeah, he's pretty good, but there are a few champs that are good against him too.