What Happened to Gragas? Why NO ONE Plays Him Anymore | League of Legends

[@VarsVerum]

~SPONSOR~ The first 1,000 people to use the link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare: skl.sh/vars08221

[@JV-km9xk]

why everyone plays fiora next please

[@ghostgold400]

i hope one day yo can make a video analysing shaco ... like why people hates shaco or someting like that .

[@andreasberger4]

Here is how to fix gragas and it's kinda simple. He clears too slow and he cannot fight tanky champs, and his passive is kinda meh in the jungle. Change his passive to the following. Passive: Gragas applies a stack of (whatever) to enemies hit by an his abilities. When Gragas with a stack he deals (x% max health magic damage) and consumes the mark. Then rebalance some of his numbers and he now clears better, can put up some fight against tanks and is incentivized to go in and out of combat. ofcourse the passive have to be capped against monsters and have a moderate cd earlygame against the same target, but can be low in lategame. Then remove the W on hit effect and add something like a small shield or just higher damage reduction instead.

[@snave5188]

sup vars. can you please do an update video on Kindred? I think their popularity has changed since your vid came out and would like to hear your thoughts if you have any.

[@snave5188]

also, a WEP Kayn video would be awesome if you have plans for that

[@MAMAJUGO]

Because his polygons are so huge that they can no longer render ingame

[@glngrbread6363]

im pretty sure everyone would want to play him if his model wasnt do gross and his sounds weren't actual torture

[@kenjiazarias5523]

@@glngrbread6363 Na that’s the fun part

[@glngrbread6363]

@@kenjiazarias5523 i mean for a gragas main prob, but for a wider audience his design is really off putting, like, just implement the wild rift model, he looks like a human there and doesn't have a weird necrotic-looking piece of a scar on his belly

[@anon_148]

@@glngrbread6363 low T male or unironical f*male detected

[@Stan_Crimes]

@@glngrbread6363 hearing a gragas main say "my champ looks like shxt" is fxckin hilarious 🤣

[@SloppyWalrusX]

I think what would be best for Gragas is to slap his current passive on his W (it would make much more sense that he heals every time he drinks instead of healing while throwing out barrels or body slamming for a flavor perspective) and tweak the numbers a little so its balanced. Then give him a real passive that helps him fight people in close combat, maybe like a drunk meter or something along those lines where u gain stats or bonus damage on spells depending on how drunk you are. Current Gragas passive feels very boring and linear, it is very strong for surviving lane, sustaining in jg etc. it is the only reason he can be played in a solo lane imo. So taking that part away from his kit would hurt him alot. Right now Gragas just feels like you have to play safe and can't fight for longer than 1 second or you'll lose, which is very uninteractive for both the enemy and Gragas player. personally i play Gragas mid because i find current Gragas top playstyle very boring. in mid you get to fight more often and feels like you can impact the game by helping your jungler/bot easier.

[@NordOfTheNorth]

Holy shit it’s bomba guy

[@user-sz9vt4sd7y]

Bimba

[@katla3393]

is tim

[@Jennyfoxeh]

Thank you sloppy very nice

[@tommyhoskins4342]

This is very interesting

[@Morrissey2k]

When Riot finally releases KDA Gragas he'll be pick/ban guaranteed

[@cat-.-]

He is already naked all the time and KDA still won’t admit him…. What more can the poor kid do to join the club :(

[@TrickiestChan]

That's the reason why they didn't released this skin, they know he would have too much game presence

[@link4585]

I know exactly what piece of art youre talking about and I can tell you right now. if that skin line existed then those champions would see unparalleled play.

[@GubbiGap]

Or Star Guardian Gragas xD

[@ThyFloorestFloor]

I am still waiting for the new pop group formed by: Gragas, Braum, Olaf, Urgot, Tryndamere and Swain.

[@hqhuy931]

Gragas is such a skill expressive tank, but you need to play him AP to actually capitalise on that. If you do, you lose the consistent backline access and disruption. His ult is arguably stronger as it comes out much faster than Ornn ult, however can also botch much more (push enemies away from your team's cc...). I personally think his low playrate is due to his thematic - the slightly insane drunk, and his model aging so poorly, and because he is not AD his sustain and laning needs good execution. Gragas is a very fair champion, thus he doesn't really feel as rewarding to master

[@raistlinmajere1000]

Can he be considered as an ap tank?

[@DusKnight7th]

@@raistlinmajere1000 If you build so, yes.

[@GateBreakerZ]

Gragas is the most toxic tank ever to exist as well as Sion

[@carlosmedrano6868]

@@GateBreakerZ Awww! litle thing

[@Simaris12]

I dont see much skill expression in staying back in lane, heal back all lost health in any trades faster then Garen and just pokypoky with Q. Its almost on Illaoi level. A champ that discourages from interaction. Fair maybe, but not interesting (said: boring) to play against and i guess also not playing as.

[@bmac4]

Fun fact about Gragas's exploding barrel scaling up the longer you leave it before detonating it, you can thank Faker for that one. Years ago he popped off on the champ at a big tourney and one time he set a Q down a short distance away, ulted a target into the barrel, and erupted the barrel, and so Riot got the idea to reward that sort of epic play.

[@PanunuLoL]

Completely Agree with this Video and I couldnt have said anything better but have people watch this. I've been maining Gragas for about 8+ Years. I played League back in in 2010 and started to main him to around Season 3-4, during before and after his rework (changing him from a Mid champion, to a Top/Jungle). As new champions releases, Gragas tends to fall off. I stated this before that Gragas in Solo Q is a champion that has a medium/high risk play that recieves less rewards compared to newer champions that has low risk high reward (Imagine if you miss bodyslam and stand there looking like a fool while running back and waiting for 14 seconds). Pro Play Vs Solo Q is one of Gragas' weakness. Pro Play, Gragas can be first picked because of his FLEX options (support/jungle/top) but in Solo Q, if you are playing him for a certain role, there are other champions that can play that role far BETTER and less riskier. Gragas is an A+ Champion in "voice comm" teams but very low tier when it comes to that Solo Q play. 10/10 video, it made me miss how much viable he was back then, but now you have to put more effort than other champions just to get the results you want.

[@MrDaffy15]

The Gragas god has spoken. I think that while Gragas is super fun as AP champ, he is supposed to be more of a vanguard, if you think about it, his kit is super similar to Braum. For you to do something, you must go in the fight and as all ap, you are squishy and unable to do that. So you're left with combo assasinations or poke but many champs do it so much better than he does, honestly.

[@Jesus.christ.your.bro.]

I just wanna say the editing in this was top notch and really refreshing from the usual editing style.

[@AsazLeague]

Wish there was "Why noone plays fizz" video he droped so much in last few years I feel like he is least played assasin now

[@awthorne9877]

Good, that fish can go to hell

[@shanecoffing]

Don't miss getting one shot under tower at level 6 no thanks

[@indrickboreale7381]

I think Fizz is kinda too ultimate dependant in terms of damage. Lands sharks = it will carry his team a lot. Doesn't land sharks = the biggest useless in team who can only dodge skillshots with E

[@awthorne9877]

@@indrickboreale7381 Not that hard with the hitbox of a dumptruck, especially in team fights. I get that he's not the most broken assassin of the game, but fuck that fish

[@nem900]

No. Let the fish rot

[@Archinemi]

I love Gragas I don't play him terribly often, as I agree that he feels a touch clunky, but he has charm and options. I wish the video featured a Panunu style stephup and 1-shot combo. Man those are satisfying. I guess I know what I'm watching next. Great video, I appreciate your feedback and approach. You have a gift, Vars 💕

[@zozihn8047]

Y'know, as I'm watching this, I'm realizing that Gragas is in a similar place as the history of the Clown in DBD. AOE abilities, lack of direct takedown potential, massive learning curve, and very easy to feel useless if you just pick up and play. Very clunky, but also has a cult following.

[@damp8277]

What is DBD?

[@witchee3041]

@@damp8277 dead by daylight

[@El_chara]

And also problem with alcohol and a massive belly

[@luisrey8634]

actually yeah i never noticed that

[@TheWhoopingCough]

I've picked him up lately and am having a BLAST with him. I am now M7 on him and am comfortable enough to bring him into my ranked matches. BOMBA

[@WoodyFruity]

Some people been messaging me about this video. I actually think Gragas is OP in his own way. His passive is probably one of the strongest in the game in laning phase. He is literally un-movable in lane. So much so that I don't think I can ever lose a lane except vs counter match ups or hard dives. When I play other champs, I'm just like- damn.. I'm out of health, what do I do now? At level 1 he heals about 40-45 HP every 8 seconds, so every minute or so he's healing around 400-500HP depending on his level. The only problem I have with him is his hard to land skill shots/inconsistency. But I now fix that with everfrost. Having Everfrost on Gragas is like having a guaranteed blitzcrank hook before or during a teamfight, which I find to be extremely OP. I can play Gragas and land 60% of my ults, but with everfrost I land around 80% of my ults- so if everfrost ever gets removed, I think he'd be even harder to play. I don't know, lots of people, even gragas mains find him weak, but I think he's actually really good. It's just how you pilot him. Before this season I was hitting d2-masters 0lp consistently from playing him mid and top with a lot of aggression, ignoring minions to throw Q for damage, burning through mana burning to look for damage to get them in the kill-range. But this season alone, i've hit GM on two accounts, and masters 300lp and 400lp on 3 seperate accounts after adjusting how I play. -Less aggression until power spikes. You are right about how he's extremely good at disengaging, making him almost impossible to kill because on top of disengage he has free healing. There-fore I don't think he can ever lose lane except vs a highly poking champion like ranged/poke heavy champions or illaoi/aatrox.

[@h.mutawa866]

The gragas master has spoken

[@Transforsen]

When it came to Asol and Yorick it made sense having them in ‘Why nobody plays’ because you almost never saw them. But Gragas? I know he isn’t the most popular but it doesn’t mean nobody plays him, just because they don’t have a 30% pick rate doesn’t mean he should be in nobody plays. There is a difference between nobody and average player count and it just feels that some of these champs don’t belong here.

[@migueldossantosgalvao9250]

That's why the name of the video is "Why no one plays him anymore".

[@ikecampbell2221]

“What happened to Gragas? Why nobody plays him anymore”

[@AlxndrXX]

Maybe he just wanted to make a video about gragas, steven

[@stanpeterson234]

Honestly I just find gragas to be really fun to play, he's really goofy, but his clunkyness makes him all the more funny tbh, like missing his e makes me just laugh and as hard as he is, hitting the infamous e flash r w into the fermented q and yelling some dumb shit while at it is what i play league for. edit note: i think AP is better than tank, at least to play as. He's really similar to Kennen, where you try to surprise a group of enemies with a combo with flash, he can blow up and disperse a team in an instant, flipping a teamfight around, but also just be useless after missing

[@jamesrojas2067]

HAPPY HOUR INNNNCOMINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

[@wesker8814]

we need a video talking about the extreme balance nightmare Gwen is

[@miguelsanchez825]

While her numbers are problematic too, if only her W was something like WW dmg reduction or a more normal defensive skill she will be much healthier but we are stuck with the abomination that currently Hallowed Mist is.

[@sabrinaflores795]

Gragas, Galio, and Gwen are the three frontline AP bruisers that will always see Pro-play unless they're nerfed to oblivion, given the presence of AD jg and ADCs. Their itemization is awkward (hard AP + tank items), their short ranged mobility is also awkward (bad target access), and are basically kept afloat by their unique/problematic kits. Morde is too telegraphed and immobile, while Sylas is mainly picked for ult steals and isn't durable enough to facecheck/soak damage for the team.

[@miguelsanchez825]

@@sabrinaflores795 Agreed and funny how all 3 start with G, but to be honest, I wish Sylas was among them too he is really annoying and for some reason a lot of Sylas players are toxic sadly.

[@hoiblobvis]

@@miguelsanchez825 sylas can dash and can just heal half his hp for free which is good game balance

[@SuicidalPooh]

i truly hate champs that trivialize an entire class of champions

[@eydis9554]

Because he is in the middle ground of mage/tank. He was doing very good as former or latter but when this happened, he was too good. Problem is, that they cant buff him directly, or it will be season 3 oneshot gragas all over, or season 6 tank gragas.

[@cosmos9421]

I main gragas and I'd have to say the main issue he encounters is that if you decide to build tank, the enemy team can almost fully ignore you because you deal piss poor damage, but when you go full ap if the enemy team respects you it is almost impossible to make plays happen without flash

[@Nako3]

I thought the reason people dont play Gragas is because they dont like geese and if you call Gragas > Gragoose it reminds people of them.

[@h.mutawa866]

8:08 maybe change the ap indicator from amplifying book to stats ap icon

[@justconquran2463]

I can actually say that about brewmaster at the moment 7.32d where they've cut down his critical damage and greatly diminished his aghanim scepter to a single spirit he went from being a strong carry to a rat hero to a support

[@boldisordorin9010]

Gragas mid full ap oneshoting was sleeper op before the durability patch. Drink with W, use e and throw barrel while dashing.

[@FukurouYGR]

As of October 2022, every time I'm against a Gragas jungle, my team gets absolutely destroyed.

[@szymciupol]

2:26 iwd play making the appearance in vars vid. A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.

[@Bomber-de4ik]

League community, I hereby make a call to arms to defend our game: in the latest times Riot Games has shown deafness towards the main problems that still affect LoL nowadays and from a long time, such as Rankeds, Toxicity, Events and the Client. WE MUST TAKE THE INITIATIVE! SPREAD THE MESSAGE THROUGH THE NATIONS: STOP PLAYING THE GAME AT ONCE FOR DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS! IF NECESSARY, ABANDON ALL OTHER RIOT-RELATED GAMES, TO MAKE THEM UNDERSTAND THAT LEAGUE OF LEGENS IS NOT A MILKING COW TO BE EXPLOITED WITHOUT ANY REGARD! WE NEED US IN OUR ARMY!

[@martincostasvigliecca8984]

I am finding a common pattern that is repeated in most of the champions of your "what ifs" series, and I think we can all agree that these champions would be in need of a visual rework. ((orry for my poor english)

[@jodexstar2238]

Gragas is one of my all time fav champions to play. Fell in love with him during the tank metas way back and back then I always played him as a tank but later on it turned into always going the ap route. While that is fun I still miss those tank gragas days a lot cause nowadays it just feels way too inferior. Playing him is so much fun but after watching this video I do feel like he might need some kind of change soon. Also my god can you please fix his model riot? Dude still has duck legs

[@nem900]

Same, I also don’t like that you have to play full AP glasscannon gragas

[@lillyie]

we should have a why no one plays malphite soon. i remember when he got a spike of popularity in season 8 because the new rune system literally fixed all his problems but right now, he's back at pre-season 8 popularity

[@Danietz]

Malphite is unplayable now. He is flat out the worst top laner in the game. Even chogath singed and Yorick are better

[@likadothechacha9732]

garens better in all seriousness

[@arcanegale285]

@@Danietz malphite is the best champion for countering AD auto attackers in top lane. or champions like Jayce. is he first pickable? No not by a long shot, but he is literally the best champion against heavy physical damage comps.

[@Danietz]

@@arcanegale285 bro you're on drugs, you're stuck in season 9 my friend, that's how long it's been since I lost a malphite lane. He literally gets destroyed by every top laner in the game now

[@arcanegale285]

@@Danietz ah okay so your argument is "lol no" if you've even played against a malphite as a jayce, yasuo, yone or something alike you'd have known that your ass is clapped. in fact it is THUNDERCLAPPED

[@fklmrek437]

I’ve played a lot of gragas toplane and have also played against a few other people playing gragas top. What I’ve been struggling with is that it’s basically impossible to solokill your opponent if they have a brain, so you have to reliably get really good cs and maybe get a plate or 2. Then no matter what build you go you will have problems. If you go AP bruiser you either have to be really far ahead or make it to 3-4 items to actually kill people, and you are still squishy because you have no resistances. If you go full AP and try to one shot everyone, you need a good scenario for gragas to actually hit multiple people plus you need to hit all of your abilities (unless you are super fed already) AND you need flash up most of the time. Basically all of the matchups I have had the most success in are ones like riven when you can punish them for being stupid or matchups you can outscale, but there are just better champs to pick for basically every matchup than gragas.

[@tw_dil0]

hey vars i think you should make ''why everyone plays lux'' video,she have a high playrate ever since she got released

[@cat-.-]

She pretty. Thank you for watching!!!!!!

[@peroniko7622]

@@cat-.- This pretty much sums up everything about Lux that and her many, many, many skins

[@iambumbo7534]

"Shes pretty, Does alot of damage, Low skillceilling, And alot of skins." *Outro*

[@pokefriend123]

The window for missing his ult is so big I can just build tier 2 boots to avoid it

[@Grondaia_Marcia]

I think Gragas should have more bHP scalings (especially on W damage reduction and on E damage), I'd really like to see a more AP Bruiser-like version of him instead of some tank or AP assassin build

[@TheJoduesk]

I never realized until seeing the walk animation during ability updates that the rope around Gragas' belly clips through his love handles

[@royavidan]

Sounds very simular too Lissandra, who is also very unpopular (pro excluded). Was very consistent with tanky items, so Riot kept increasing his ratios and decreasing his base stats to force him to go glasscannon build to generate a weakness.

[@IYPITWL]

As a graggy friend 1 released with bugs 2 no identity 3 no item build after rework (His current best ideal build is night harvester and archangels, which are considered badish items)

[@crepequeen643]

Nice choice of music; Aquarium Park is an absolute vibe

[@tungstenogamign]

the editing was really nice, good job!

[@zzxxccvvkk5]

I would update, add on his pass free spell cast (happy hr= 2 4 1). Q new cc Drunk (causes random actions)(monsters take bonus dmg while effected), an if gragas is in explosion drinks some of it healing him. W increase duration to 5 sec, bonus dmg on all his aa, tenacity an Cc break. R causes drunk cc effect in area recast for explosion.

[@Azadsqr]

I love how gragas has such a flex pick niche, you could play him in 4 out of 5 roles if you really wanted to.

[@jamesrojas2067]

Gragas is probably the most balanced and fun champ to both face and play imo

[@thelordofthelostbraincells]

In wild rift I build gragus with *rod of ages, laundry torment (because it gives health) morillonomicon and rylies crystal scepter*. Kind of a health tank that still does damage, since I get about 3k health his passive heals him for a surprising amount

[@ChromaLuke]

My ideas to "fix" him as he stands right now: - P: A small change where if he lands his abilities on enemies the cooldown will be reduced by a bit(doubled against champions or epic monsters) but to compensate for that change the base CD will be increased by a bit. - Q: Increase the missile speed by a little and shred the magic resist of anyone damaged by it for a couple of seconds. - W: Also grant movement speed for a few seconds. - E: Also grant a shield upon hitting an enemy champion or epic monster. - R: Unchanged.

[@Ron-nr8lw]

A couple months late to the party but it’s crazy to see how season 13 shuffled top so much that Gragas is a welcome sight there, also as someone who plays hkm quite a bit I gotta say his ult is so strong when it works by if you miss it, well you can ruin an entire teamfight

[@9throchannel659]

I love how Gragas looks like an absolute meme while being one of the most micro-dependant champions in league with the amount of read outplay clips compareable to like Irelia or someone like that

[@nickpontejos355]

I would like to see them take away things from gragas in favor for ult combo bonuses. Like q does bonus damage if they were recently hit by r or w heals you if they were recently hit by r or e get s bonus knockup time

[@bobthemob2113]

Haven't watch yet and I am commenting based on the title but I gotta say that lately I have seen a lots of gragas toplane including myself and actually way more often then like half a year ago

[@Double_T_G]

Give Gragus the ability to charge his dash to go further, and knock up for longer. Have it do damage based on the distance traveled. Have the q start charging while it's rolling and increase the range of it but drop the uncharged damage. That way you can throw the q, charge your e and if your prediction game is on point you'll hit the enemy with the e and get a gaurunteed full charge q (assuming you land the e and q from far enough away). This rewards you for high skill but also has obvious counter play. Also swap his w and ult. Reduce the range of his old ult and the knock back distance. Rework his passive into the new ult, so he heals from all spells while his ult is active and without the downtime from drinking. Also greatly increase the healing since its only for a short time. Maybe reset the ult duration on takedown. Then make his passive reduce his basic ability cooldowns whenever he kills a unit. This should reduce his neutral game and make him a better vanguard (or maybe assassin) while introducing more skill expression.

[@jeremymuir4332]

I'd want to change his ultimate to "happy hour" which becomes an "empowering" ability that makes his other abilities "reckless" to use a borrowed term. Similar combos would be possible but you could re-weight ratios to better fit the thematic and enforce the need for component understanding.

[@aquatictoast4280]

Gragas support is quite fun, you can build pretty much any support mythic or go AP, it’s a very flexible pick.

[@McAlistar869]

you forgot mercury treads being his ultimate weakness, mr ruins dmg potential and tenacity makes it possible to excape landed combos

[@TBPetitP]

Vars, I read on some news wewb page that Riot said they won't be releasing new champions anymore because the rooster was already too big and they didn't want to scare off new players, do you know if that's true? If so it would be very good news, and maybe finally Rito can start focusing on the older champions they have left behind

[@Dovsaspa]

I doubt they will stop new releases but they have already been focusing on older champs this year, having 4 new champs a year is completely fine

[@damagee8141]

​@@Dovsaspa No, it's not fine. There are too many champs already. Bans feel worthless and unless you grind the game 24/7 there is no way you will be abled to learn matchups anymore. You are probably a more casual player which is why I can understand that there is a difference between your view of the game and mine. For people with a more competitive mindset, new champions are just adding more and more unnecessary complexity because it makes the game harder to learn. I am not advocating for a end of new releases but there has to be a system in place that limits the amount of champions available in a ranked game. I also don't mean that there should be a pool of champions that never changes. This would obviously make the game boring in the long term. Limitation could be achieved through seasons where only a specific range of champions is available. There is no point of implementing such a system in normal games though, so this would be a ranked-only solution.

[@TBPetitP]

@@damagee8141 That would be great, also reducing the new releases to one or two a year would be cool, so also the team creating them has more time to think them through other than creating two Samiras or two Sonas. Also I think it would be great to have 2 or maybe 3 bans, 5 bans per team is nothing considering the current amount of champions in the game. I think yoyr pool seasonal idea for ranked is great, maybe I'd change it to a weekly or monthly change so people don't stop playing a half a year because they were unlucky enough that all their champions got left out.

[@user-sz9vt4sd7y]

@@damagee8141 bro your schizo rant is a reason u're eternal mcdonalds employee

[@rocco4476]

@@damagee8141 as someone with a very competitive mindset, the phrase "unnecessary complexity" seems silly to me, I come from fighting games so i'm used to grinding MU's in the training mode, and watching hours of footage on a particular MU to get an understanding of it, I find it addicting, and fascinating all the little tricks people come up with, so this problem wouldn't really be an issue for more competitive gamers like me. so far my biggest issue, is despite there being so many champs i see the same 12 in every game, there's no variety despite there being a 100+ different champs. your idea of restricting champs every season would definitely increase variety, but is probably the wrong way to go about things, since it's just another lazy way of avoiding balancing, like champ bans. but maybe riot is too incompetent, or league is too complex to balance so measures like this are necessary? either way I don't expect to see much change but it's fun regardless

[@nicodemous52]

There was a time when Gragas was in my regular rotation of champs. I'd still consider him one of my stronger more comfortable picks, but not much played. Then again, I've played less than 20 matches since 2020 so I don't play much of anyone anymore. I used to stack health and ap on him for the most part. I might get some mr or armor, but usually I didn't bother.

[@g33kaholic24]

The one thing I love about Gragas is that his character design doesn't register as an AP Assassin, but in masters plus he is exactly that. Walk into an unwarded bush and you'll die. I just love that an AP assassin is some fat man and its amazing

[@anon_148]

I mean you walk into an unwarded bush vs ornn and you probably die does that make ornn an assassin?

[@g33kaholic24]

@@anon_148 if you walk into an unwarded bush against an ornn you have time to flash away. An assassin is recognized by their heavily front-loaded damage and high cooldowns. A gragas will just Q inside the bush he's in, w, bellyflop from out of vision, stun you into a garenteed ult that displaces you into the charged Q and a W empowered auto as you fly by. There is no point where you are getting away if the gragas in in high elo as they practice the combo

[@anon_148]

@@g33kaholic24 I have a feeling that you watch too much youtube and don't actually play the game all that much

[@g33kaholic24]

@@anon_148 quite the contrary. Made it to gold 1 as an ivern otp last season

[@anon_148]

@@g33kaholic24 thanks for proving my point I guess?

[@Resinho2]

For tank, maybe they could give his passive more tools, like in wow there is a tank where his whole playstile is around being drunk, they could add that to gragas, where he receives a "drunk bar" and becomes more drunk when he uses his skills and rapidly looses it out of combat, with this, he receives a death's dance effect from being drunk, the more he is drunk, the more it is effective, plus it could reduce the delayed damage with his W.

[@narhwallord6985]

Yeah, Gragas is one of those champs where if his numbers are tuned even a bit, he'll be too oppressive in pro and high level play.

[@jaycutler118]

so true like what Sloppy walrus said, you always have to play safe as grag and most champs beat you in 1v1 straight up. i had a friend who i alwyas queue'd with and blamed why I am never aggressive in lane as top grag. mana issues are insane and you really cannot fight more than 1 seconds without your spells

[@Seergun]

I remember when Gragas was mostly played at mid AP carry, before his small rework. I also remember a pro game where Hai from C9 two shots a Caitlyn with Q+R while she was under her own base tower.

[@V1ktor225]

We need another video about: Why no one plays Fizz! I think I didn't face him like months or people even play him for a long.

[@Ratty524]

He’s a low elo stomper but against competent players it’s way too easy to shut him down during laning phase and get him to a point where he can’t do anything. This makes him way more polarizing compared to other meta assassins so he’s not played much

[@luckypeanut9943]

Sylas had 2 giant heavy chains but just flies around like it's nothing

[@williamwong12000]

Ap > Tank If his Q cast range reverts to 950 (before the rework in season 4), it will help a lot. Maybe add a small ap ratio on his passive (like 0.1-2 and a slight ap ratio increase (0.1 to a total of 0.9) to his ult.

[@SuperWeeb9000]

How has this man not been hired by the riot champ design team. I'm pretty sure he could make some super unique characters and mechanics to bring to the game, as well as get older Champs updates that they deserve

[@user-sz9vt4sd7y]

Because he's dumb and clickbaity videos is his peak, no?

[@notyouraccount6038]

In wild rift where rot of ages exist, Gragas is pretty good. He can choose to eitheir build death cap for damage or fible winter for tank.

[@jaspervermeer659]

The W having a 1s channel time is especially annoying because you cant use any other abilities during that time, which sucks because everything is so low cd

[@MultiPsol]

i miss when gragas W healed his mana and he was played midlane, back then mana was an issue and mana sustain champs were really strong

[@wingman4902]

I’ve been playing gragas support as a stun bot with the cdr build and it’s some of the most fun I’ve had playing league this season

[@gabrielhames2667]

what build/runes have you been using? i'm an otp gragas with almost 1kk mastery points and i never figured out a nice build/playstyle for him as support, but i always wanted to start playing him bot lane

[@wingman4902]

@@gabrielhames2667 I've mostly been stealing baus' phase rush build but I also had fun going glacial augment. Main thing is just using everfrost for the CC lockdown.

[@gabrielhames2667]

@@wingman4902 do you build any other mana item like fimbulwinter or something? appreciate it tho, i might try this later never tested everfrost support gragas

[@wingman4902]

@@gabrielhames2667 usually go seraphs for the cdr but fimbulwinter with glacial augment can be good. I tried going evenshroud with aftershock as well and it can be pretty good if you need a tank support pick.

[@gabrielhames2667]

@@wingman4902 yeah i tried evenshroud when the item update came and it worked pretty well. ty i'll try the everfrost build today

[@xsamimuan4506]

AYO SLOPPY WHERE U AT?

[@mosdeadly98]

I’m still surprised you can’t buy drinks for teamates on gragas. Just like stat increases or elixir type drinks later scaling into larger buffs. Seriously every one of his skins is him drinking with or without other league champs.

[@kojimbo2931]

Difference between Gragas and other AP bruiser is that he is actually fun to play compared to something like Mordekaiser. His kit allows for versatile playstyles on many different roles. And while he might not be S-tier in strength, he is S++ in terms of fun and for me personally, that's a good tradeoff which is why i play him.

[@Undomaranel]

I've had the opposite experience. Gragas feels clunky, landing skill shots and plays with him doesn't feel satisfying, and he's not exactly lore friendly. Mordekaiser, for all of his faults, still feels epic to play. Every q that lands feels good, and when his ult works you and your team feels the impact. Gragas? No one knows what he does so no one can play around him and strategize with him, and the voice lines are distracting more than character developing.

[@user-it3lz4vh3p]

@@Undomaranel whats wrong with his voicelines ?

[@Undomaranel]

@@user-it3lz4vh3p The constant burping for one, imagine if we had a champ farting every time they cast w... same thing. The constant drunken slurring, the awful jokes and puns, the absolute lack of world building... Gragas as is simply is not a legend in Runeterra the same way Jhin, Kalista, Talon, Sylas, Zoe, Ezreal, Lee Sin, or even freaking Gnar is. Gragas does not add to the lore, he has no defining features beyond fat and drunk, and is even more forgettable than Skarner tbh. The Brackern are distinct and filled a purpose, they impacted Runeterra through existing. A drunken Freljordian whose only redeeming quality is using said alcohol as a weapon, that doesn't interact with other champions or have ties? Braum at least is a folklore legend, and believable. Gragas is his antithesis, but not enough in a specific direction to make him impactful beyond the everyday "drinking problem" jokes. He falls flat and doesn't leave an impression, let alone charismatically or thematically pleasing. There are tons of ways to make a fat drunkard appealing, look at half of adult animation for that. Gragas is middle of the road, not too offensive, topical and stereotypical, when what he needs imho is to become something like Homer Simpson.

[@user-it3lz4vh3p]

@@Undomaranel there is no fucking way you ARE SAYING GRAGAS IS OFFENSIVE FOR TALKING ABOUT ALCOHOL LMFAO HES A FAT DRUNK HE WOULDN’T BE IF THEY WANTED HIM TO BE APPEALING idk if you know but not every champ needs to have a 6 pack or big tits

[@user-it3lz4vh3p]

@@Undomaranel I have nearly 300k mastery on gragas and I almost never hear the burping it’s probably the least heard voice line out of them all because after a while it becomes ambient because he is doing a small burp not shitting his pants

[@OutlawKing13MistaJ]

You missed the point of gragas. He's a mana stacking ap bruiser that can stay on the map for a long time like ornn. It's not about his scaling. Build everfrost or frostfire gauntlet and frozen heart and wander the map till you are forced back to base. His playstyle is based on his survival and sustain followed by the ability to burst multiple times due to the amount of mana items themed in freljord.

[@azevers0]

because all the gragas that seems to queue for a match just happens to fall against me playing Jax on toplane

[@Peter-zg3em]

gragas does almost everything pretty well. solid burst if you build that way, or sustained damage in the form of tankiness and aegis and the ability to stick around in fights. he's mobile, he has great vision and terrain usage, great cc, he has poke and he can fight into ranged picks because of his passive, roaming and ganking opportunities go up because of the uptime you get from his passive, there is just so much that he does well and it's all built in and requires little skill expression. well practiced and even modestly fed gragas players can and do 1 shot with while still being inherently tanky with the w and passive. that's impressive. in that light he is a balance nightmare, because riot cannot have a jack of all trades being the best at any of the things he does well, and they can't have him 1 shotting when he's well behind. we have seen in these videos that it is specialized characters who do one thing exceptionally well and with flash and carry potential that are picked and banned, and guys who do the little things that win games are not as sexy of a pick. gragas is definitely not a sexy pick and i think that's what holds him back in 2022. he's one of my favorite characters to play. interestingly, in league mobile, a game called wild rift, he's a major pro pick and ban becuse he can be played in 4 of the 5 roles and does well in lane and carries teamfights with his aoe and his cc. he was totally broken for a time

[@Nazuiko]

I feel like Graggy and Nunu have the same issue, where Riot nerfs their base stats and team contribution, aka agency, when theyre strong but then buffs their AP ratios when theyre weak, resulting in a burstier, less effective and clunkier mess. It doesn't matter that his Q gets 105% AP ratio on it now if he cant follow it up *IF* he can even land the damn thing. Given that he can be easily denied escapes, or forced to burn his R, he should be safe to apply AP ratios and possibly a shield to. Drunken Rage: Damage reduction 10-18(+1 per 25 AP)% for 2.5seconds REMOVED --> Shield for 40/70/100/130/160(+12% AP)(+20% Bonus health) for 3 seconds Body Slam: 80-260(+60% AP) ==> 60/100/140/180/220(+45% AP)(+3% maximum health); Damage and Stun duration are also increased by size, so that Lulu R/Iron/Frostfire can give % amplification, as well as thematic modernization of "Big guy do big damage". As Gragas' most iconic ability is his E+Flash, and the way he clears both waves and jungle, however I wouldnt see it gaining too much damage and perhaps even losing damage in exchange for better utility/scaling

[@droknarnaramor8650]

Lower his base numbers and let him cast skills freely. (drinking w during E gives empowered AA but removes DMG reduction, recast Q during E/W, toss Q at max range if tapped)

[@rfxpro7049]

SHOUT OUT TO THE TREE THAT GLITCH IN THE 4:31

[@Kuraikari]

He's definitely a fun support. Even the starter item gives some AP, but allows to go tank. You can flex as an engage support or go the damage route. He isn't super good, but if you play some normals with friends, it's definitely a viable option.

[@Danietz]

I think for maximum fun-ness to play gragas should be one of those champs like Amumu Shyvana or Zac that builds tank but also goes a demonic embrace and maybe a void staff or rabadons

[@alex2005z]

In pro play gragas isnt just picked when he is strong, he is also picked when all other tanks that can solo kill are banned and the team wants a tank, because apparently a tank that cant solo kill isnt good enough

[@riccardopesce7264]

"....Skillshare, who arguably needs no introduction..." * proceeds to introduce Skillshare *

[@interiorcrocodile4297]

love the new editing. lots of personality. though the neon theme doesn't really fit gragas

[@del2183]

I used to main Gragas tank support with 0 AP items, and I always use him like that in aram.

[@jujutaco8487]

I think I have played Gragas longer than most people. I remember his Q used to not have a slow but it reduces attack speed and his W was a buff. Man, I miss the old old day. Well, AP Gragas is more fun to play for sure. There is something about knocking people into your setup barrel with your ult then execute them with the walkaway explosion. Tbh, he would be more popular if Riot keeps pushing for tank Gragas and I would love that more. Maybe giving him extra damage % max hp on his W based on defensive stats scaling (armor, mr), but also reduce the AP scaling. So there would be no hp ap items build like swain. This would give tank gragas incentives of maxing W to trade in top lane, clear better in the jungle without building AP. Because the AP scaling is so bad that it would be almost pointless to build AP, so no cheese AP gragas support.

[@IcarusOOT]

That Aquarium Park theme in the background do be great

[@shanecoffing]

Riot originally designed him to be an AP mage, and he was probably the original tank ekko, as people realized you could build him tank, have great CC, and still have good damage. Over the years they have tried to nerf his tank side as, like you said, it's very broken when good. So he is still extremely strong as a full AP Midlaners, but he is HARD to pull off, as effective setup is difficult.

[@kevingriffith6011]

Honestly I don't feel like he was initially designed to be a mage, it's just that when he was built Riot's design philosophy wasn't fully developed and they kinda threw things at the wall to see what would stick. Riot accidentally made a *lot* of mages out of heroes that they hadn't intended (Mordekaizer, Poppy, Sion, etc), thanks to how generous AP scaling was on them. Gragas absolutely worked best as a mage (He was a great artillery mid mage at the time with his good mobility and self-sustain, and a long range poke), but I feel like Riot *wanted* him to be a tanky brawler, which is why the rework encouraged him to autoattack after drinking, to use his body slam aggressively to attack rather than purely as an escape tool and added a fuse time on his Q to make it less powerful as a poke.

[@gabrielbezerra8261]

I played Gragas back in season 3/4, full AP Mid. I really miss that Gragas, just like old Nida.

[@pedrofederico951]

I don't main Gragas, I don't like playing Gragas, but I'm a tank main and have a little bit of understanding on how AP bruisers work. In my opinion Gragas issue is his lack of solid identity, the same problem you explained Varus had, between being a on-hit marksman or an AD version of a Artillety mage. Gragas whole problem is his "versatility", only because modern versatile champs are way more proficient at all their jobs (I'm talking about 200y.o. champs). Basically if you're not broken when doing two jobs at the same time, you are useless. Gragas is on a tough spot, his abilities are not very clear on what they want to be, he's Q and R shout burst mage, and his W and E scream vanguard. I think there are two ways of facing this, the first is to allow certain abilities to be way stronger when choosing one or another build path, for example, his E stun duration now escales with gragas maximum health, but it's AP scaling is reduced (If he wishes to go tank), at the cost of rendering borderline useless the other ones. The other thing it can be done is to eliminate or make Tank Gragas so unviable you can't choose nothing but AP bruiser, this will allow you to give him all the "free stuff" the video mentions. Why gutt Tank over bruiser? Because people like AP way more than tank, mere democracy there lads.

[@MotionGravity]

I main gragas jungle and he is an absolute monster. I am able to beat even meta junglers if played right. If you get behind it is difficult to come back but not impossible. I love this guy!

[@quickredf0x143]

Gragas became my perma ban in the top lane recently due to the sudden frequency of him being picked and absolutely dominating the lane. Maybe it's just a me thing but he was in every other match and dominated every single one even when I was not the top laner. Every time I see him in all my years of league he is strong and I have a phrase that lives rent free in my head: "I do hate the fat man".

[@Bruh-el9js]

I think gragas is extremely underrated, not as a tank jungler but as a mid lane burst mage. Riot has been silently buffing his AP ratios for quote some time now, and they are quite absurd, the only downside is that he isn't exactly the easiest champion to play

[@kang1983]

gragas if played perfectly is an amazing ap/tank champ but if you arent playing at that level then its better to play easier to execute champs

[@amaterasu3325]

Gragas is a bit all over the place. His kit is cool. He was designed for mid, pushed into jungle, stayed in jungle, then he got left behind in jungle by the competition. Now he's an amazing blindpick toplaner, but that's about it. The majority of gragas players are still mid and jungle players, so it makes sense that his strongest role being top means he's not popular right now.

[@victoralejandrotrimmerestr3672]

dianas shield, an ap assasin, scales with hp, you are right gragas needs some hp scalings on w or e

[@toxiccobra8542]

The most annoying thing for me is that you can’t detonate his Q while you are stunned...

[@FireDarkNinja]

I think AP bruiser is where Gragas should be, I don't think it makes much sense for him to be anything else, and we don't have a lot of them. I genuinely think the way he build AP bruiser is fun as well. I'm surprised by the lack of play. I think he's still a very solid character considering his age and I genuinely think he's in a good state at the moment. All he needs is that visual update!

[@food7479]

The Sonic colors background music: Awesome.

[@deathmetalhellokitty9724]

I honestly really enjoy Gragas his kit is very fun and the way he just bounces around makes me happy . He seems like a fun guy and as someone who is kinda chubby it's nice to have some representation.

[@strongsuccessfulweeb1400]

I dont know where Shen and Vlad are in. I do see them from time to time but they aren't as popular as Irilia, Yone or Akali who has a bajilion dashes in solo queue.

[@slbhugomarques2]

Im not a gragas main but i feel like gragas should just be tuned to be a support. He has everything you want in a melee engage support, poke and healing included

[@faabi_i]

Dont even get me started on my gragas full AS support

[@DomoKuchikan]

I've tried and been vs him in top. His ultimate seems to save enemies more often than doom them. So he always wins lane but looses game.

[@user-sz9vt4sd7y]

Skill issue

[@Kai_Vega]

Yesterday I had a game on ARAM, the enemy Gragas didnt die a single time for over 20 minutes, only had Tear and that starter item that is like a horn… WHY WAS HE SO HARD TO KILL AAAAAAAAAA, and he didn't do low damage either. WE TOOK MORE THAN 20 MINUTES TO KILL HIM A SINGLE TIME Anyways he was playing really good though

[@pawel12313]

I mean why would i play champion that slams other with belly and barrel when i can play void monster with tremor sense and tunnel network gimick that hunts for everyone from bellow. Design is not appealing to anyone, only his R may seem interesting.