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[Advice/Help-Wanted] What strategies are there to being able to lane/deal against a Gnar ?

4ManVotedAgainst·9/22/2015, 10:35:06 PM·2 votes·608 views

I cannot possibly be the only person who finds Gnar(Gnar) to be extremely problematic/frustrating. Thus far the only reliable counter-pick I've seen against a Gnar(Gnar) is Darius(Darius) but Darius(Darius) is still nearly always perma-banned so Darius(Darius) is not always an available option against a Gnar(Gnar) top-lane.

Issues I have with Gnar(Gnar) :

  • His Boomerang-Spam does such significant amounts of damage, even in the early game, and has such a low C-D that it's like Gnar(Gnar) is able to spam it all day (therefore I need to know if it's necessary to take a specific set of Runes/Masteries against him, such as Armour-Runes, Full-Defense masteries, etc ?)
  • The Sustain of Gnar(Gnar), and if the endless Boomerang-Poke wasnt' bad enough, the Mega-Transformation just restores all of his Health where he can continue to be a nuissance to you all day, regardless of how much harass that you MAY have gotten off on him (not likely to be much due to that Boomerang & hopping away), and everybody knows that it's entirely Resourceless (therefore, I need to know, are there specific items that are better off starting against a GnarGnar, specific Champion-Picks that can give GnarGnar a bad day, are specific sets of Runes/Masteries needed to deal with GnarGnar for the lane-phase where the GnarGnar can either be prevented from free-farming or even be easily beaten quickly in a 1v1 before any junglers arrive ?)

I have seen some people pick Riven(Riven) or Nasus(Nasus) into Gnar(Gnar) and sometimes or often I will see Gnar(Gnar) as a counter-pick against a Garen(Garen), but are there other choices that would work against him ? How would a Chogath(Cho'Gath) or even a TahmKench(Tahm-Kench) fare against a Gnar(Gnar) ? Are there better first-items to build against a Gnar(Gnar), like would a item 3068 or a item 3078 be better as a first-item ? Does Irelia work well against him ?

I only have a handful of ideas right now, but over-all, I find that Gnar(Gnar) tends to have far less weaknesses than other opponents, therefore, I really need to get some info/intel on the most-effective counters & exploits against any of the possible weaknesses that Gnar(Gnar) MAY have (I already know to wait for the Mega-Version to wear off before engaging but Gnar frequently escapes whilst in the small-size form although I've figured out that taking summoner 3 can help negate Gnar from being able to run away if I can land a strong engage with some CC on him). Surely somebody must know something by now after the high rate of which Gnar(Gnar) has been & continues to be picked ?

Edit/Update : Just had a good reminder that Maokai(Mao'Kai) has been used successfully against Gnar(Gnar) and as a counter-pick during pre-world's this season in the tournamnets.

2 Comments

VTK19/22/2015, 11:02:35 PM1 votes

Silver V here, so you know...

Anyway,

One of the best strategies, I think, is to just play Gnar. That way you get a handle of what he does good, and what he doesn't do good. You'll understand his cooldowns, since not many Gnars run CD runes, but I could be wrong. I remembered that they nerfed something relating to the "window of opportunity" for Gnar when he enters Mega Gnar mode. So you have to keep an eye on these as well, mainly his rage bar. I would advise never jumping on him when he gets to Mega Gnar. Mini-Gnar is when you want to go kill him. On the boomerang thing, the CD is low when he manages to catch it. If you can somehow keep him from catching it, then he doesn't get to spam it as often. Also, Gnar doesn't have innate sustain, but somebody should probably check that. You probably only think that because most Gnars have BoRK as one of their offensive items.

As far as picks are concerned. Normally, I would advise against Jax, since he was listed as countered-by-Gnar. However, I had a friend who was beaten by a Jax as Gnar. The Jax would always jump on him and hit him with an auto. This would force him to use his e to get away, but since Jax's leap is on a lower CD than Gnar's, Jax could jump on him again, stun him, and land another auto. Or maybe my friend just sucked. shrug So hey, maybe you could make it work.

I've seen Garens kill Gnar. Irelia is listed as a Gnar-counter, which kinda makes sense since she has a strong gap closer, she has a stun if he has more health, or slow if they're even. She has sustain through her W, and her cooldowns are just as low if not lower. However, I've seen Irelias lose to Gnar. Apparently, Fiora is a general counter of Gnar, since she has a gapcloser. She can riposte his stun when he's mega. She does true damage (like Darius) thus countering the health gain of Mega-Gnar. Another good option is Vayne, the poke and the true damage. Her range far beats his auto range.

I don't think you should be too scared of him, just figure out workarounds. Summs are usually not the best route as far as top-laning against a Gnar is concerned. Teleport/Flash - Top For Life.

Mezzos9/25/2015, 12:54:46 AM1 votes

there is a website who pretty much focus on "how do i counter that champ". i always use championselect.net