Any reason no one builds guinsoo rage blade on him? Gives you ad/ap which are both good for his q/w(passive) adds attack speed and gives lifesteal when below 50%. So I can understand tanky builds but why have we not seen someone build a guinsoo on him?
Because he doesn't really make very good use of what little AP a Guinsoo's would give him, and ideally you shouldn't ever reach full stacks without having someone either already dead or about to be already. In fact, even tanky builds aren't really the best for him as most tank items become somewhat useless in the form he spends most of his time in.
Gnar should be built with a balance of damage and survivability, but not with pure tanking in mind. He gets a lot more out of a Frozen Mallet, for instance, than a Randuin's Omen as ideally his mini form shouldn't ever be close enough to someone to make either the aura or the active on an Omen useful, but he can definitely use the health, attack, and constant slow, specifically in his Mega form while still being useful in his mini form. Items that give him a mix of offense and defense without warranting him being directly on top of someone are better for him, so items like Maw of Malmortius or Black Cleaver get a lot more use out of him because they allow him an extra bit of survivability while increasing his damage potential.
A Guinsoo's, on the other hand, encourages him to be in a fight for much longer than he really should be, and the AP is pretty much useless on his mega form aside from the meh scaling on his ult, meaning that aside from the attack speed and lifesteal it isn't giving you a whole lot of benefit for what it does. You're much better off with a Zephyr, which gives him stats he finds much more useful alongside that attack speed.
So while I hear what you are saying in my defense if he is building tanky then gets a guinsoo he is gaining all things beneficial to him. Gnar's goal is to be in a battle for over 8 attacks and also to get them quickly.
the 40 AP without stacks add's 40 extra damage every third attack in mini form. At 8 stacks if he is still in mini form he is adding an extra 72 damage every 3rd attack. The goal is that he changes to mega gnar by start or mid point of battle this item provides him the offense to still play a role in mini form and help him get to mega gnar faster.
Once converting to Mega Gnar the ap add's minimal to any of his stats. As you stated his ult has a .5 AP ratio, but is Meh for actually wanting to build AP. At this point you have gained attack speed/ap/lifesteal/ad/ and more attack speed. Assuming people target you and you go below 50%.
I agree completely with the way you are stating he should be built, I have been playing him for a bit trying different builds. I personally think he initially needs enough life to stay in a fight long enough to make it to Mega Gnar then switch over to some damage.
I would encourage you to try it one game and then tell me you think there are better items. As of now I am getting a giant belt then getting Guinsoo and so far it has been better than an early brutalizer or going for some other more expensive offensive item.
I'm pretty sure the real reason is cuz everyone just goes full tank on gnar and dont find the need for offensive items this cuz everyone favors his late game team fihgint horrifying cc and tankiness and his base damage is already pretty fking good
Not enough people use Guinsoo's imo. I have yet to see a person other than myself use it.
Your best bet is to get Ghostblade then go tank, his team fighting is monsterous.
