Gnar can be antifun

Gnart Even Close··2 votes·724 views

Mini Gnar's specialty is kiting people around so that he can kill them and they can't do anything in return. This is obviously really antifun for the person being kited, but is pretty satisfying for the Gnar player. Frozen Mallet and other items just make this worse, especially against champions without escapes, such as Maokai. Unless they can get on Gnar in their range and fight him, most champions (especially in top lane where basically everyone is melee) can do nothing to Gnar. Gnar also becomes basically unstoppable late game. He is too tanky and has too much CDR and kiting to be easily engaged on and can kite pretty much anyone melee to death. He can often duel ADCs, with only a few exceptions such as Vayne (who should never be used as an example for anything because of how cancerous she is). The only way for Gnar to lose is if he gets destroyed early game, or if he's against someone who is impossible to fight (i.e. Vayne, Jax, etc).

How would I change these things? First of all, I would remove Frozen Mallet from the game. It is only consistently built by Gnar, because he abuses it so well. Then, I would lower the movement speed buff from Gnar's Hyper passive. In compensation, his damage could be buffed in Mini Gnar, since the changes would only affect Mini Gnar. Gnar would still be able to kite, but it wouldn't be anywhere nearly as obnoxious as he is now. One potential buff would be increasing the early game damage on Hyper, since it feels so weak in its first few ranks.

Overall, Gnar is a pretty well designed champion, based on the idea of temporary form changes that can't be directly controlled by the player. He has several built-in measures to keep him balanced, such as the fact that attack speed is only good on Mini Gnar, but makes him turn into Mega Gnar more frequently. He is really fun to play, offering many different playstyles and a really cool kit with a high skill cap. I may be biased, because I am a Gnar main, but I only want to improve the champion. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Edit: Everyone seems to be thinking that I hate Gnar or something. Gnar is my favorite champion in the game, and he is my main. I love playing him, but a lot of people hate playing against him. If you have ever played someone like a Maokai against a Gnar with Frozen Mallet, you would know exactly what I am talking about. However, Gnar is by no means the biggest problem in the game. He offers a lot of counterplay to much, much worse champions such as Illaoi, Darius, Illaoi, Garen, and of course, Illaoi. However, Gypsylord (the designer of Gnar along with Meddler) has stated himself that he is disappointed that Mini Gnar's weakness, his squishiness, is nullified by the kinds of builds that Gnar usually goes for. If there's anything that I said that is purely opinion and has no basis in fact, please call me out on it. But getting offended and simpy downvoting without an explanation does not make me wrong, or if I am wrong, help me see why I am wrong. Thank you to those of you who commented.

10 Comments

MasterSomething3 votes

There are a few champions I know that Build Frozen Mallet. Removing it out right isn't smart.

Just give me a second to remember who. Just know that removing it outright is a dumb idea. And Mini Gnar's kiting potential is because of how squishy he is. The poor guy melts when engaged on, so it's only far that he's able to kite, right?

Gnart Even Close1 votes

{quoted}

There are a few champions I know that Build Frozen Mallet. Removing it out right isn't smart.

Just give me a second to remember who. Just know that removing it outright is a dumb idea. And Mini Gnar's kiting potential is because of how squishy he is. The poor guy melts when engaged on, so it's only far that he's able to kite, right?

According to lolking.net, the champions that Frozen Mallet is most frequently built on are Gnar, Shyvana, and Mundo. Even on Gnar, the item has less than a 25% popularity rate. For pro players (from probuilds.net), the item still has less than a 25% popularity rate. For Shyvana, the item has an 8.7% popularity rate, for Mundo it's 8.2%. Any champion besides that is less than 5% popularity. The item is super niche, and could be removed without much consequence for champions besides Gnar.

Mini Gnar is only squishy early game. He builds a ton of health and resistances, so the squishy argument falls apart by the time his kiting becomes ridiculous. If his kiting was super strong early, I would agree, but that's not the case because of the lack of items, the lower speed boost from Hyper, the lower attack speed and movement speed, the longer cooldown from Boomerang Throw, and Gnar's pathetically small basic attack range in the early levels. Gnar would still be able to kite without Frozen Mallet, as he would get Furor enchantment from boots, his slow from his Boomerang Throw, his movement speed from Hyper, and the Rage passive from The Black Cleaver.

SaltyKracka1 votes

I could see that.

I mean, he would still be ranged manaless toplane cancer, but nerfing or removing FM would definitely decrease the metastazition.

Gnart Even Close1 votes

{quoted}

I could see that.

I mean, he would still be ranged manaless toplane cancer, but nerfing or removing FM would definitely decrease the metastazition.

Frozen Mallet is so ridiculously antifun, I have no clue why the item still exists while other items like Brutalizer are removed. Gnar would still be good, but he might need a few number tweaks.

Stars Shaper1 votes

Illaoi

Now try to lane against her with any1 that isn't Gnar and come back talking about anti-fun bullshit of a character.

Big Lincoln1 votes

Darius Renekton Lissandra Quinn Kennen Chogath Garen

easy

Gnart Even Close1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Angry Bards,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=mAeiagXj,comment-id=00010000,timestamp=2016-01-05T18:33:30.662+0000)

Darius Renekton Lissandra Quinn Kennen Chogath Garen

easy

note that gnar wins most of those matchups (Darius, Renekton if you play safe, Cho'gath, Garen). people that Gnar really struggles against include Fiora, Irelia, and good Rivens (bad Rivens are complete pushovers).

Waffletimewarp1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Stars Shaper,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=mAeiagXj,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2016-01-05T17:49:07.902+0000)

Illaoi

Now try to lane against her with any1 that isn't Gnar and come back talking about anti-fun bullshit of a character.

Singed says what?

Gnart Even Close1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Stars Shaper,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=mAeiagXj,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2016-01-05T17:49:07.902+0000)

Illaoi

Now try to lane against her with any1 that isn't Gnar and come back talking about anti-fun bullshit of a character.

Illaoi is a whole different problem. As are the rest of the juggernauts. The problem is nobody can outright fight them, so someone who can kite them (i.e. Gnar) is mandatory.

Big Lincoln1 votes

that's wrong, too

strong duelists will dumpster them hard

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