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Gnar needs a change and here are some ideas...

Mannny··2 votes·1,056 views

I'm here to talk about my main, Gnar, and how underwhelming he has been ever since season 7 started. Gnar has been my main for awhile now and I have a few ideas that could help make him not trash anymore.

1st: Gnar compared to other top laners So to get started, I'm going to compare him to other champions that are similar to him. Darius Garen Fiora Illaoi Camille . What do all these champions have similar to Gnar? Well, they all serve the same purpose. They either teamfight or splitpush and there is no in between. They all have a general good laning phase and they all excel at doing decent damage to enemy carries building defense (Duh that's what a bruiser is) What makes people shy away from Gnar to pick these champions instead is the fact that they serve the purpose way better. Gnar lacks consistent reliability because games have become shorter, meaning teamfights end faster, leaving Gnar having very little usefulness if he isn't in Mega Gnar. Mega Gnar is what makes Gnar meta if he ever is, and from my personal experience it's very strong and useful in teamfights. One good Gnar ultimate can win a teamfight. But you can't control when you go mega and when you can't go meta. For instance, Fiora can freely chose who she wants to take a crap on by point and clicking R and assassinating the adc, she automatically becomes a useful asset the minute she ults. Same with every other champion I have listed, they chose when they want to be useful and Gnar can't.

2nd: Gnars Mini form usefulness

I want to start off by saying mini Gnar should never be underestimated. A good gnar can kill the carry if left alone with a few autos and a Q. That's the issue. Gnar needs to have a lone target to be able to do that. Mini Gnar relies on poke and slowing carries down to be useful but in teamfights, why would I need to do this if I can just lock in Darius and perform the exact same job but can do it to multiple people WITH TRUE DAMAGE! Same with every other champion i listed, they can do everything mini gnar can do but better. FIora can assassinate, Garen can deal point and click true damage just like darius and they all can just kill who they want very fast while mini Gnar has to be forced to buy item 3022 in order to simply slow the enemy down to keep them in place in hopes that he kills them with enough time to escape. Gnar lacks reliable kill potential in Mini which is what he was made to do, poke and kill carries, but he can't do it as well as other champions of his class.

3rd: Gnars absurd cooldowns

Gnar has always had to do certain things in order to have low cooldowns, this is why it's so essential to get 40% CDR on him. But what makes no sense is his only escape being on a 12 second cooldown at lvl 18. Factor in 40% cdr and that's 7.2 seconds, on Gnars ONLY escape. What's a champion like Gnar, who is supposed to jump in, HOPEFULLY kill someone, supposed to get out? Champions like Fiora and Camille have numerous ways of escaping such situations but Gnar is sitting here with 1 escape that he must use wisely, which he most likely used to get in the fight to do the things that he has to do that, might I add, isn't even half as much as any other bruiser can do.

All in all Gnar has a few perks, like above average CC only in mega form which like I said will never be accessed in teamfights unless you prepare prior to the teamfight which may or may not happen depending on the situation and pretty good poke as well. What makes him weak is that all these champions I've listed can perform everything better than Gnar from Mini to Mega so buffing Gnar a bit would definitely make him a better choice.

10 Comments

Ark Sorcerer1 votes

Gnar is a cool champ and I would rather not see him get reworked, and from Riots track record, become worse in some way, champ, or form.

There are some things you did not mention Gnar does well, like looking at tanks and deal percent max health damage, but as it is physical damage and not True (Hi Vayne) and as I am not a pro as Gnr, I won't argue too much.

I think you need to consider Gnar is not exactly those champions. He is a variant and goes all over the place. He can kite, he can burst, he can split push, he can be a tank, he can be a bruiser (which he is more so). I would say because he can do all of them, he has short comings in them all. He can 1v1 well in Mini Gnar and do 1v2 or 1v3 decently as Mega Gnar.

I don't know. I am no pro with him so you can ignore my comment but this is just my initial thoughts.

McFatal1 votes

gnar just saw a huge buff with the black cleaver change.

i fuckign hate his guts and the fact that hes secretly strong right now triggers me.

ninja tabis black cleaver frozen mallet unkillable and untouchable while doing so much damage with 3 hit cancer.

bwop1 votes

So you're saying that Gnar needs a new and shiny build? Okay, and what could that be?

Asayake 5150glow1 votes

Did you just compare a ranged kite based champion (mini form anyway) with juggernauts?

Did you just say Fiora can teamfight?

Did you just say Illaoi can splitpush against someone who isn't braindead and won't dodge a single Tentacle or E?

Also, Gnar wasn't made to poke and kill carries. He was made to kite the melee champions he lanes against. His Q slow and W movespeed already make him good at that - Frozen Mallet just gives him the potential to take at least 60% of your health with just autos the moment you get into his auto range. Then he can poke you under turret and dive with Mega form. Need I mention his ult is basically guaranteed to stun if the enemy is under their tower?

Fiora is a useless asset in teamfights unless your team can hold their own in a 4v5, and then Fiora goes in as the clean up assassin. Basically old Kata. Or she helps take out a diver.

Mini Gnar does rely on poke and kiting to be useful in teamfights, which is a good thing. It means he has a weakness. Mega is his teamfight mode. Stay on the fringes of the fight, building up rage, until you get it - then, you go in. You bring Amumu level crowd control with poke and kite, making up for it by being less reliable and being telegraphed.

Gnar is not supposed to jump in and kill someone in teamfights. If he's in Mega, he's supposed to jump in and CC people. In Mini, he's never gonna jump in unless he's got a huge health advantage or outnumbers the enemy. In lane, he is never supposed to jump in unless he can get the kill. We're talking about a reliable escape on a ranged champion who goes top lane. If Gnar's escape didn't have a long cooldown, he'd be broken out of his ass against melees, because he kites amazingly, and even if you do get on top of him, well he's got jump up every single time, so it don't mean shit, except now you're in range for him to start auto'ing you.

If Gnar gets Mega and jumps in, he's not supposed to get out. Almost no tanks, divers, or juggernauts do have a reliable way out. Gnar is no different. Except... he kinda is, because he can technically E out, but because of it's long cooldown and because he has no way in without using it, it's fine.

Mannny1 votes

Never was mini Gnar a true "kiter". He never will be. He is a kiter in laning phase but anything other than that he's purely poke and posed to kill the carry.

Asayake 5150glow1 votes

{quoted}

Never was mini Gnar a true "kiter". He never will be. He is a kiter in laning phase but anything other than that he's purely poke and posed to kill the carry.

But he is.

In lane and split pushing, he should always be kiting.

In teamfighting, mini Gnar should be poking with Q's or kiting backwards (while building fury) with Q's. Mini Gnar has no real role in a flat out teamfight - his goal is to 1) shred a tank and 2) get into mega.

Mannny1 votes

You obviously don't play enough gnar because even in Mini Gnar you're still considerably tanky, and why would you avoid damage if you can tank a great deal of it for your team with your 3.5k health and 260+ armor?

Asayake 5150glow1 votes

{quoted}

You obviously don't play enough gnar because even in Mini Gnar you're still considerably tanky, and why would you avoid damage if you can tank a great deal of it for your team with your 3.5k health and 260+ armor?

Because that's nothing in lategame teamfights, and you would die before you're able to hard CC everything.

Mid game, where tanks shine, Gnar is usually very able to jump in, unless there exists someone else who spikes mid game on the enemy team. If not,

Mannny1 votes

And thats where every single top laner I stated scales better into mid game than Gnar. And a 3.5k health and 260 armor gnar would do a better job just tanking rather than trying to "kite" the front like tank shredding the small amount of armor that hes able to shred with item 3071

Asayake 5150glow1 votes

{quoted}

And thats where every single top laner I stated scales better into mid game than Gnar. And a 3.5k health and 260 armor gnar would do a better job just tanking rather than trying to "kite" the front like tank shredding the small amount of armor that hes able to shred with item 3071

Nah, Gnar's tankier than the damage bruisers, and does more damage than the tanks.

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