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How much longer must Gnar be the gatekeeper of top lane?

Tusutaki··6 votes·1,102 views

Pretty much since Gnar's release, he has always been top tier and even at times, defined the meta by himself. A champion that practically has no weaknesses. Im pretty sure you all know the drill with him. Movement speed boost, % max health dmg, range, and slows just from in his basic form. Sometimes his kit is so over bearing it's to the point where you would even feel more comfortable against his Mega form. Essentially he is a champion that has no weaknesses and excels in every area. There is no downside from choosing Gnar.

Now of course there are going to be some people that will point out Gangplank, pre-nerf reworked Fiora, and current Ornn also being gatekeepers. However I feel that they are the symptoms that came from a core problem. Remember when Riot said that Zed is the perfect Assassin and would design all future assassins around him? Thats what I feel with Gnar that all future top lane updates has to revolve around him. You could call it a powercreep but in a worst case scenario.

13 Comments

Toxicate133 votes

Gnar is not that hard to fight against, and he's literally only good in his mega form (in fights). If you're playing a melee champion and you're afraid of losing lane, take fleet footwork and get resolve. That way, you can sustain his poke until he transforms. This will allow you to get more farm. If he tries to all in you, back off and let him push the wave, or try to get your jungle to gank (make sure his leap is on cooldown first. if you have cc, use it to bait out his leap, then ask your jungler to gank if the's close). He's not too hard of a lane, but I agree that he is more annoying than most top laners. But again, if you can get gold in the lane, most top laners are more useful than Gnar due to his lack of CC in his ranged form. And if you can zone him from fights or disengage him when he's melee, you should be able to win. I think Gnar is a little bit unbalanced, but it's mostly due to Frozen Mallet, which is a bullshit item in general. Just pick a sustainy champion like Aatrox or Garen, or someone that can farm from a distance like Mundo. Do not pick a squishy top laner like Fiora or Camille, because you will get shit on. Remember, it's League of Tanks.

Ixoziel2 votes

{quoted}

Gnar is not that hard to fight against, and he's literally only good in his mega form (in fights). If you're playing a melee champion and you're afraid of losing lane, take fleet footwork and get resolve. That way, you can sustain his poke until he transforms. This will allow you to get more farm. If he tries to all in you, back off and let him push the wave, or try to get your jungle to gank (make sure his leap is on cooldown first. if you have cc, use it to bait out his leap, then ask your jungler to gank if the's close). He's not too hard of a lane, but I agree that he is more annoying than most top laners. But again, if you can get gold in the lane, most top laners are more useful than Gnar due to his lack of CC in his ranged form. And if you can zone him from fights or disengage him when he's melee, you should be able to win. I think Gnar is a little bit unbalanced, but it's mostly due to Frozen Mallet, which is a bullshit item in general. Just pick a sustainy champion like Aatrox or Garen, or someone that can farm from a distance like Mundo. Do not pick a squishy top laner like Fiora or Camille, because you will get shit on. Remember, it's League of Tanks.

That's the problem. He's great in lane (because of mini-gnar) AND great in team fights (because of mega-gnar). What is his weakness supposed to be, exactly? There's a reason he's picked nonstop in LCS games.

It's not frozen mallet that is unbalanced. That item is fine or subpar on the vast majority of champions and no, it's not like rageblade where it has a mechanic that makes it broken on a certain subset of champs. This champion simply does far too much damage with too little damage items. He's hard to gank. He's hard to lane against. He's hard to teamfight against. Where is his weakness?

While there are other ranged tops like Jayce, their alt form doesn't turn them into a teamfighting powerhouse with multiple AOE disables. The fact that he's picked in LCS consistently speaks for itself.

ModCaliCoastReplay1 votes

{quoted}

That's the problem. He's great in lane (because of mini-gnar) AND great in team fights (because of mega-gnar). What is his weakness supposed to be, exactly?

The fact that he HAS to have his Mega timing exactly right to be of any serious use in teamfights is a big one. Have you ever actually played him?

While there are other ranged tops like Jayce, their alt form doesn't turn them into a teamfighting powerhouse with multiple AOE disables.

I will take a Gnar matchup over a Jayce matchup in toplane any day, assuming the opponent playing them is of any real skill. Gnar can't blindfire an energized AOE shot that takes off a quarter of my health bar from a full screen away for instance.

Gnar is just not that unbalanced if you are skilled against him, people. To proc Hyper he has to hit you three times in a row - and if he's doing that unopposed on a regular basis, you're doing it wrong. He's very vulnerable to all-ins early and he is not tanky unless he gets ahead.

The fact that he's picked in LCS consistently speaks for itself.

So is Maokai, one of the weakest 1v1 champions in the game in terms of damage output. LCS play does not de facto mean a champion is broken cancer. It simply means that champion slots well into the kind of restricted meta that LCS favors.

Some of you haven't learned to play against Gnar, or else you play champions that have a bad matchup against him. Yes, he's very, very good against a certain class of melee fighters, but that is balanced by his relative weakness against other ranged tops. If you start playing him you will find out that he's far from freelo, except against low-mobility melee champions.

As I said earlier, I think the real problem for a lot of people is that those low-mobility melee bruisers that he is good against dominated toplane for the last few years, but now the meta is evolving towards more range. You don't have Trundle bashing onOlaf up there with clubs and axes anymore - now it's Gnar and Gangplank trading shots with boomerangs and pistols. That has made a lot of people very angry, because many people felt that toplane melee was something sacred and special - but Riot can't force toplane not to have any ranged champions. In Season 8 the bruisers and burst divers have shifted to the jungle, and toplane is shifting towards ranged tops and juggernauts instead.

No, that's not some sinister conspiracy on Riot's part to change the toplane, and no, the game doesn't have to become some kind of hopelessly awful experience now because of it. The game constantly shifts and the meta adapts to what works.

Players who want to be successful will adapt too...others will come on this board and be angry, I suppose, that's part of the natural order of things as well.

EarthyMadness2 votes

In most cases I do find it easier to fight MegaGnar, which is kind of frustrating because you lose so much %max fighting baby Gnar that when he actually transforms it's equal parts relief and frustration because "Yes, I can finally fight him" but you're mostly dead anyways.

Asudurga2 votes

Maybe it's just me but I find Darius to be a decent pick against Gnar. All I do is grab a item 3044 after tryna farm a lil and just Q him whenever possible. The best part if when he goes Mega I can go balls to the walls on him even before getting Phage.

Milton Fletcher1 votes

until lcs is bankrupt in which then the game finally starts becoming balanced

Ranmaru1 votes

[deleted]

Toxicate131 votes

[deleted]

Ranmaru1 votes

{quoted}

<Removed>

Well i mean gnar is my fourth most played "GOLD 5" Honestly gold 5 is just the same as silver 5

NemeBro3 votes

{quoted}

<Removed>

How ironic.

Toxicate131 votes

{quoted}

How ironic.

how is <removed> ironic?

ModCaliCoastReplay1 votes

I've been eating that yordle in the toplane for a season now. He's really not that scary unless he's way ahead. But I tend to play other ranged tops, and he's just not dominant against them the way he is against melee champs. His basic kit is actually a lot less versatile than most other ranged tops's basic kits - it's actually a relatively limited kit to make up for the power in his ult - and that ult is a melee kit which isn't that good against range either.

I think it's less that Gnar is the gatekeeper himself so much as the notion that ranged tops are becoming a gatekeeper generally. They are making it very hard for a lot of melee champions to play a lane that used to be nearly melee-only. Melee champions pass the gate if and only if they have good counterplay against ranged tops, and a lot of people don't like that. This issue has been simmering in toplane for awhile but for whatever reason, Season 8's meta has just brought it to the fore.

Bisaknosp1 votes

eh what

Camille is the biggest tumor in toplane

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