Why NO ONE Plays: Gangplank | League of Legends

[@Lulink013]

Simple: he died

[@beingvocal2350]

Agreed

[@pmathewizard]

Again?

[@SnakeInTheTube-m6z]

Not really.

[@matthewmoran1866]

So did yorick and kalista and hecarim and i think all the darkin

[@emanueleragno5616]

wait i think i missed a joke mb

[@RicardoAlmeidatm]

GP's item satisfaction is one shotting minion waves with the barrel

[@vhms123]

Precisely

[@111vincento]

right now thats sheen + 25 AD + level 9

[@bergkatze3186]

Yupp that "Gimme that KASH" feeling is always satisfying

[@brandonwoodruff5836]

@@111vincento if you take minion Demat and use it on the back line minions then you one shot the then at level 7 with sheen double long sword

[@111vincento]

@@brandonwoodruff5836 cool idea, although i think id probably go with biscuits most of the time

[@noblelewis4620]

Next up: why no one plays toplane champs that aren’t broken

[@massimosoreca3575]

Ahaha exactly

[@Unholyspirit]

How isn't gp broken? Place barrel on the wave = enemy can't farm

[@Unholyspirit]

He's just super high skill and iq

[@Auchaser643]

People out here losing lane to gp? Crazy

[@Unholyspirit]

@@Auchaser643 you just haven't met the best GPS yet

[@jamesrojas2067]

GP is by far my favorite champ to play, and him having such a small but dedicated fanbase and playerbase is what makes me love him

[@elfot1944]

I started maining gp because i just fell in love with the character : I liked his voice lines, his lore, his visuals, and when for the first time I killed someone with a powder keg it felt so good. And I just could not stop playing him, I just wanted to get better and better at him and his barrels.

[@jameseddine8627]

Same he is badass

[@MangaGamified]

I used to be in that phase too lol

[@peekay120]

his old voice lines were so much better

[@soninh4357]

Gp is such a cool champion, glad that i learned how to play him

[@chrisf2636]

700k+ mastery level 7 GP... I still play him because I still haven’t learned him.

[@Dr.Barber]

No one plays GP because he's really damn technical. Like I want to play him so badly, but I'm just not good enough at video games to play him.

[@Dizerel]

Im actually very glad I started to main GP early on and kept at him. A lot of the requirements for playing GP are necessary skills you need to learn for higher levels of play. Most of my friends that started playing league with me around the same time are silver average, while I am in plat.

[@Gellaini]

Gp is very challenging to play you need skill and also game knowledge to win some match ups mostly thanks to good wave management

[@NotStonedMusic]

just do it bro! im bronze 1 rn and i main gp mid. He is very satisfying to learn

[@SHAP00PIE]

Just takes time. You don’t even have to be the best player to have fun. I say just play for fun

[@sharkbrother6596]

Getting the barrel combos is his hardest mechanic. If you fail to use the combos that's like half his kit.

[@joshreid1316]

"Cheap and cheesy way to deny his enemy laner gold..." DOTA 2: Say what now?

[@vo1ce147]

Well that true in league because everyone cannot Deny but for Dota 2 yeah we do that all time even we Deny our teammate if needed

[@memebro8703]

@@vo1ce147 what do you mean deny teammate? You take the minions they were gonna take? You can already do that in league it’s called taxing. If you mean take the minions the enemy was gonna kill that’s still just normal denying.

[@vo1ce147]

@@memebro8703 no It's Deny your teammate kill or taking their farm It's litteray killing your own teammate in certain scenario you can do that in Dota so the enemy not get a singel peny for kill your teammate

[@edwardlygma2683]

U can easily prevent taking minions and exp by your enemy laner and its common knowledge that every player (especially toplaner) should know

[@felipejocanojr.7516]

@@vo1ce147 wasn't this only due to being ulted by the Doombringer guy? And wasn't Pudge able to kill himself to deny the enemy the kill?

[@rhythmribbon6282]

My friend put it best when it comes to gp not being able to carry. “Gp can only do half of the enemy’s hp in a fight. He’s not a carry, he’s a utility champ”.

[@GY-bd9bo]

it puts enemies at half health and slows them. that could set up any champion that has executes very nicely. your friend has a point there.

[@specificocean4176]

Well there are those satisfying noments when you land 2 barrels on multiple enemies or being fed enough to onesoht the back line via 1 barrel and deaths daughter

[@SB-fm8el]

This is essentially correct. GP sets up kills perfectly for a mobile, high dps champ to go in and finish them. But if you're on a team of brainlets that just sit around and don't follow up it's gg

[@karasusora9176]

damn thats exactly the way how to describe him, its hard to carry 1v9 with gp and thats the reason...never realized until reading this

[@daniellugo6955]

Thats why you build serpants fang and executioners. Thats a multiman shield and healing reduction.

[@thelvadamee3467]

"Why NO ONE Plays: Gangplank" Testomaniak disliked that.

[@PotatoKingMike]

Another denizen of the sock drawer, I see

[@Monno15]

Testo makes me want to play GP, then I realise I’m not testo, cant carry and return to my support alistar/blitz :)

[@zakte3608]

@KuroAzrael he doesn't play him that much anymore

[@jamesrojas2067]

@@zakte3608 yes he does brodie

[@tre177]

@@zakte3608 That's his most played character.

[@Manisfast]

GP is literally the only reason I still play league

[@lqserbeans3515]

~

[@Dizerel]

same. If they removed GP I would stop playing.

[@Abfallkannibale]

Same with Singed and me. Having a cozy little nieche sometimes is all you need.

[@theduelist92]

Oh im so sad for you xD

[@blindeyedblightmain3565]

I've dropped the game because they've removed his "Fun" keystone and now you have to go green every game which is the most fucking boring way to play him imo. Also killing his kegs duration in season 8 was a really dumb decision on Riot's part imo, promoting bot-like playstyle. I miss being able to skillfully outplay Fiora/Riven, those matchups were really fun because of how hard they are for GP in a fun way. He was really fun in season 7-8 when I've mained him, but repeated nerfs to his kit and itemization for 3 seasons straight without giving anything back really fucked the pirate over.

[@henrikh3089]

Mained him a few seasons ago, a very fun and rewarding champ. You always feel like you could improve and that makes even losses fun. However, he is not good for lp gains unless you become very good at him.

[@NokianEdustus]

I basically destroy every game as gp. But my braindead silver teammates cant follow up

[@PoorEdward]

@@NokianEdustus right, its your teammates fault, not yours.

[@PoorEdward]

@@NokianEdustus even if you do pop off like you say you do your macro is 100% awful.

[@flummoxium]

I started maining GP when he got reworked. I fell in love with Gangplank, his kit, his personality, his items, and the fact that no one picks or bans him. I have over 800k mastery points now, and I beat 90% of my lanes. I wish he had more people playing him, since he's such a cool champion that can carry easily.

[@matsab7930]

The problem is he can’t carry easily. I also win 90% of my lanes, but then lose because hardcarrying with gp is super difficult. Why? Because all it takes is legit one assassin on the enemy team prioritising you every team fight and there’s almost no counter play. You either build bruiser which is a shit build that scales terribly, or go crit and pray you get away with it.

[@flummoxium]

@@matsab7930 exactly, this is exactly why I used Twisted Fate to climb to diamond and then went on to play Gangplank, since your team is able to cooperate and you're not playing with 4 lobotomized children. With TF, it's a problem that he's pretty immobile, so I went ghost, predator and shurelya's for MS and I carried myself easily from g4>d4 in about 2 months.

[@matsab7930]

@@flummoxium yeah, this I agree with. Gp becomes very valuable in teams that understand how to play around his barrels. The number of 3 man barrels I open teamfights with in low ELO that are just not reacted to by my teammates is insanely frustrating

[@flummoxium]

@@matsab7930 yep. Also, even if you do get to full build with GP (because his items are hella expensive, you can't really do that before 35th min), champions like Kai'sa, Tristana and Caitlyn just defuse your barrels like it's nothing and your teanfight effectiveness goes from halfhealthing their entire team with a triple barrel to just Q-ing in a teamfight because their ADC defused all your barrels.

[@matsab7930]

@@flummoxium yeah, and then you also consider you're pretty much outscaled by these champs too.

[@procrastinatingphoenix5396]

Just an idea but what if they made his barrels work like Teemo shrooms in that ranged attacks do half a bar to them while keeping parlay as doing a full bar

[@VarsVerum]

Not a bad idea :o makes things less problematic for GP against ranged champs.

[@CutACrow]

Would promote teamwork against GP as well. Multiple people would gave to focus his barrels to instant destroy them and that in itself could give him carry potential as he draws aggro away higher the elo you go.

[@VarsVerum]

@@CutACrow That would definitely force enemy teams to respect his pressure a lot more for sure!

[@stamy4605]

That's a great idea. ADCs with with high range and attack speed in the lategame make his life very hard. In my own comment with possible fixes I suggested a small timing window where only he can proc his barrels, but that might prove too frustrating to play against.

[@Dizerel]

That would mean that if the GP is good enough, and is in range to combo to the person shooting the barrel, that a single ranged carry would never be able to disarm the barrel (Unless they have an auto reset/double shot like senna or lucian). Gangplank has plenty of ways to near-guarantee landing barrels in fights, as long as you have a few moments to setup beforehand. You just need to be creative with hiding barrels in the right bushes or behind the right walls, and then bait the enemy to come close enough. As someone with 1.5 million master on GP (and in platinum, which to some people might invalidate my opinion) I dont think GP needs any direct changes. He works fine if you get good enough and are creative enough with barrel placement. His issues are largely in the item system, especially in S11.

[@Betroid]

Stormazor made him broken Riot games: can’t have that now, you’re not a e girl champion

[@phoenixflamegames1]

Or edgy samurai

[@liviubostan7229]

@@phoenixflamegames1 or an axe wieleing communist.

[@iberis361]

or dashy mc douchebag

[@jayqui9602]

I'm so glad I got to play gp while this was a thing, finally felt like having a build path trini+storm razor. Nowadays trini isn't even good because it's meant for auto attack heavy Champs like irelia or Camille. Sad

[@Dingdong2730]

@@jayqui9602 Triforce is in an awful place rn, basically no champs build it. It is meant for ability spamming auto attacking champs, but even Camille, Vi, Irelia, Fiora, Jax and Wukong would much rather go for Goredrinker, Stridebreaker or Divine Sunderer(That isnt even a good item to begin with). Sunderer is sort of similar, but at least its not exclusive to auto attacking champs and gives some value into tanks, especially hybrid damage champs like Jax. The overall strength of bruiser items can be summed up by the champs that have hybrid scaling and can build either mage or bruiser. Does Akali, Katarina and Shyvana ever build Divine Sunderer, despite it theoretically being a very good item for them? Nope, they build mage items. Why? Mage items are much better than bruiser items, goes for both mythics and legendary, but especially legendary.

[@StevenWilsonGP]

This video perfectly sums up some of my thoughts and frustrations when playing GP. I have been a GP main since his rework, and I absolutely loved Riot handled his story during the Burning Tides event. He went from a joke character to someone with more depth, and he truly was the terrifying pirate lord he was supposed to be. That made me main him. But as you said in the video, as with all the nerfs and changes, Gangplank has been more challenging to play. Loved the insight on this vid. Finally subbed!

[@EliteArsenal]

Next one should be Why no one plays: *Top lane*

[@Jasonwolf1495]

The real one is jg. That's become the lowest playrate position

[@eepasheep9578]

I’m excited for this one, as a would be gp main (I’m too bad to play him effectively) I would love to learn more about him. Update: I’m a Gangplank main now. Update 2: 3 months later, I am now mastery 6 on him.

[@charlii2048]

Check out Testomaniac on KZbin and Twitch. Not sure if he does tutorials but he’s the best gp main I’ve seen so far

[@stefanosabbatino3897]

Search for Solarbacca

[@eepasheep9578]

@@stefanosabbatino3897 I already watch him and Tobias Fate, guess I just need to practice more.

[@eepasheep9578]

@@charlii2048 I haven’t checked out Testo, I have heard of him from RossBoomSocks, I’ll see what I can learn from him.

[@stefanosabbatino3897]

@@eepasheep9578 i don't like playing GP but I really enjoy solar, good luck improving mate

[@alexrevell8104]

Honestly, I’ve started learning GP and playing him nonstop and he’s just one of the most fun champs I’ve played in a long time. Pulling off good barrel combos feels amazing. Getting free assist gold from ulting side lane fights feels good. Clearing fat waves with your barrel feels amazing. He’s just such a fun champ to play. Plus you can be a deadly commando

[@unconfirmed9]

The music makes me want to run a full team of Ludicolos and boogie.

[@VarsVerum]

:D

[@jagermaster1758]

What is the song called? I know its not Darude Sandstorm btw

[@Furyx10]

I remember gp used to have 5 barrels instead of one. When they changed it to just 3 it was really difficult to line up barrel because of the mechanic it is. It's true that once you lost the barrel all your initial dmg is gone

[@fumano2679]

He has 5 barrels

[@noircookie]

pretty excited for this, gp main here

[@billbill2913]

Same

[@retrosauce6339]

Same

[@luk4aaaa]

The best tip I have for anyone learning GP is to go into practise tool before you queue and practise the timing for last hitting barrels with Q and auto attacks, for lvl 1-6 7-12 and 13+. It helps so much I can't even describe it since GP needs to stand his ground in laning phase and if you can't hit barrels you can't farm. This really helped me when I was new to the champ and learning him.

[@emanuelstornello8009]

*Tobias Fate wants to know your location*

[@adonisss4673]

YES

[@conq1273]

Ah my fav washed-out gp player

[@alextrollip7707]

@@conq1273 i mean hes a master tier player with GP. So if hes washed up then so is 99% of other GP players.

[@conq1273]

@@alextrollip7707 Then he's the best pirate I have ever seen

[@AvroNotArvo]

Copying comments aye? 😐

[@idontlikekmart5582]

Community: No one plays GP Me, a mordekaiser main who goes against him every 4th game: Life is pain

[@narutoedw1n]

I used to main him pre rework when he got reworked it was a different play style I liked the ability to build movement speed items and throw Qs while being hard to catch and kill it was satisfying. Morale rally was also a cheap way to get assist and gold which was nice

[@duggthelad2669]

My friends and I all stopped playing him post rework. Before rework I literally named myself "captain dankplank" you could safe farn under tower with q to hit 3 or 4 items really early into the game and then near enough one shot people by using your e for the damage buff and poppong 1 q. Now he has all his damage locked behind a mechanic that is hard to use and can literally be denied.

[@Javixk17]

I haven’t seen a SINGLE comment on the tobias editor reference of the man falling at the end, i was rewatching the vids and laughed again at it, youre amazing Vars

[@ericshun2552]

The one change that make me not like playing him is when they made it so barrels don't give vision anymore.

[@bannanagrams3809]

Gangplank is by far my favourite champion. I started playing him because I heard he was difficult and I was young and cocky and thought I could play him no problem...took me a whole season to get all of his combos down. I love how his performance in game is very reliant on your creativity, planning, and technical skill. Also he taught me how to CS and how to manage waves...idk man gp just taught me how to play the game and I love him. Also god I love pirates so f*ckin much

[@tomtom1501tm]

I play GP because of how unique his playstyle is. Nothing in the game feels the same to me.

[@karthikchitta892]

That mirror b music in the background was hilarious

[@arthuremo112]

i spammed gp so much for the past 6 or 7 months, and i agree with everything said on the video. Playing gp sometimes is a very sad experience. People can just destroy your barrels without getting punished for it, if that happens on a team fight you're left with nothing to do but use your ult. that's why a lot of gps only split push. i don't know if that would solve the problem, but what if they made the barrel's health only show up to you? that way, if the enemy wants to destroy them they would have to know the exact timing for it, based on gps current level.

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

Back in the day I loved playing what I call slippery GP. Run Cleanse, build Merc's, build QSS, Banshee's, and so on. I think you get the idea. Running away from strings of CC is hilarious.

[@valoisochoa436]

for me...theres two reasons why: the first is that there are easier champs to play. the second is that he's one of those champs that's been nerf to the ground. not to mention items. but i still think he's a fun champ, tho

[@NokianEdustus]

He is so good with organized team. Picked in pro play like every fifth game or so

[@OPgamingstyle]

So before I took a long hiatus from league I used to main Gangplank before his rework because a friend of mine showed me how strong his crits can be if you play him right. When I came back and the entire game was different I honestly love the barrels. He's great at avoiding the harder hitting top laners with his speed boost so you can whittle down champs like darius or mundo. The biggest thing I love about Gangplank is his comeback potential. He's great at farming when he gets trinity force and he's valuable as a teamfighter.

[@russianthatspies9563]

Honestly, gp just does nothing if someone is better at timing autos than him. Edit: Nvm, I played him a ton lately and now I understand his play style, if you're playing him smart you can be very successful.

[@NokianEdustus]

Nah. Gp doesent contest barrels. He plays basically like an adc.

[@mohandasjung]

@@NokianEdustus Wait, can he be played as an adc?

[@NokianEdustus]

@@mohandasjung no...

[@mattis5892]

I feel like a very big reason why not many people play the champion, is because it takes a long time and is very hard to master. I'm happy I learned him and have a lot of fun with him. I do agree that it is sometimes harder to carry, since he needs his team to perform and because of his inconsistent damage. But I love the champion anyways, he has such a good design and is very creative, there are so many ways to play him and is so different from any other champion.

[@fabiopinotti5705]

Maybe giving him some movement speed bonuses could help, so he wil be more slippery in teamfights and can place the kegs better. Also a mithic well designed around him could give a good powerspike

[@Tsuusetsu]

My suggestion is simple. When destroyed by enemies, powdered kegs do not instantly disappear. Instead, they remain for 0.25 seconds and can be detonated. This way he still has agency if he times his shots right as they are going to be destroyed.

[@snrmngr]

0:55 the only thing that went in mind wasn't akali nor irelia, aatrox...

[@infinitedark6158]

Whatch the same thing happen to udyr

[@lykovideos9595]

Make the snake coins buy more stuff. Example: buff minions, buff range on his q, lend to teammates, make the w be on the shop for his team (1max, active item), same with his barrels(max 3 refill on fountain), rebuild his boat(you can get crazy on what this implies), etc

[@PoorEdward]

Wow, you’d be perfect for the riot design team and their overtuned but never tested philosophy!

[@tolis19]

Wanna see a vid about reksai i almost never see that champ

[@artemiswillhelm2633]

same, the legends say she's only played in high elo :c

[@ayexs1022]

I use her on the top lane

[@pomegranate4179]

@@ayexs1022 lol wtf

[@Aevasrealm]

Or Vi

[@Aevasrealm]

@@artemiswillhelm2633 rek sai isn't even a champ till diamond

[@laveiyyy]

YESS THE MUSIC!!! BRINGS BACK SO MUCH NOSTALGIC, MIRROR B THEME!!

[@imacherrys9367]

welp, the tables have turned

[@tonyespo1363]

The Mirror B. battle theme really took me back. Thanks for that :)

[@lacez3590]

I respect GP mains, I can’t bitch about this champion and I like that.

[@ze_darku_magician5504]

absolutely true. Does it feel shit to get one tapped by a barrel? yes. Is it still cool? yes. I mean I main full crit Ahri mid so I can't bitch about anything really.. I still do tho

[@Dingdong2730]

For champs without reliable engages, he is very obnoxious to lane against

[@italoviturino6386]

if not for his grasp abuse with the Q i would agree

[@j.hateshisjob5137]

@@italoviturino6386 I'm surprised that wasn't mentioned in the video when discussing balancing. The grasp q interaction is really the only thing keeping his head above water rn, and even still he is at a 48% winrate. I love gp, but the grasp abuse is so oppressive and unfun to lane against as a melee champ, I feel bad doing it sometimes lol, it's not exactly healthy for the game, but if they remove or nerf it then gangplank is done for good in his current state.

[@Justme-ip3wc]

I love GP, I think his main problem is how easy it is for enemies to destroy his barrels. They should either give them like 2 HP (like wards where you always deal 1 dmg to them) or maybe make it so that if he has only 1 barrel, it's invincible or gets like 3 HP. So he can't be denied all of his barrels at once.

[@buckets4285]

Please talk about urgot. He is my favorite champion and it sucks that no one ever talks about him.

[@matsab7930]

Champ is insanely good right now, just keep abusing the freelo

[@alcor7416]

With how many champs in League are so rarely played I think one day we might get Why NO ONE Plays: League of Legends. Also thanks for putting up that skip the disclaimer part. Now I feel as if I can binge watch the series more often.

[@omfg322]

Tobias Fate has entered the chat

[@jeromellaguno8204]

GP was excruciating the first week I played him. my hand felt like it was gonna break with barrel positioning. but as you get used to him, he's rewarding and satisfying. though you gotta be patient to get to that point

[@itsyaboiguzma2325]

Make barrels take less damage from ranged attacks like what happens with teemo mushrooms

[@ChassyKim]

45k in one day ? I’m so glad you found your footing on KZbin again 😊 you were one of my favorite maple you tubers

[@Aaerkos]

The item satisfaction is so true , I never realized it but yeah it just doesn’t feel as good as if I were to play yasuo and get mythic and ie

[@Abfallkannibale]

I dunno, I think crit plank feels VERY good once your barrels crit bigger and BIGGER.

[@Abfallkannibale]

@Nato Min Oof.

[@hervisdaubeny2591]

As some one who is on and off of this game since 2009, this series is a bit like a memory book. Having lived alot of the games changes and balancing.

[@emericcoude4068]

I've played my fair share of Gangplank and he's a really interesting case. Extremely rewarding when played well, but also extremely hard to play consistently well. All of his "problems" (or rather weaknesses tied to inconsistency) come from his E, and I think there's a few QoL that could help him. Also, a lot of his weaknesses really only surface during teamfights as his laning is pretty solid. If any 1 of these buffs were to be added, I would really consider adding them as buffs when an ability gets maxed out, or tied to his ultimate upgrade purchases as to not create a laning monster. (We could even entertain the idea of having other upgrades he can purchase with Silver Serpents). - QoL: Automatically place barrels within the connection range of another if it would be placed slightly outside the connection (as long as it is within GP's range). - Buff: X% Cooldown refund on E charge when an enemy destroys the keg. - Buff: Increase Q range against Kegs. - Buff: Increase Q speed against Kegs. - Buff: Q cooldown halved when used against Kegs. - Buff: Slightly increase the range of Kegs. - Buff: Every third Keg is tricked, giving it special properties (1. Still blows up when attacked by enemies, 2. Has increased range, 3. If cast near another barrel, a tripwire connects them after a 2 seconds delay, enemies passing through it will cause barrels to explode) - Buff: Chained explosion delay halved (from 0.3 to 0.15 seconds). I don't necessarily think Gangplank is necessarily in need of a buff, but it's always fun to iterate on stuff like this. Tell me what you think!

[@sirjilo8635]

Q speed wouldn't work cause it would make instant ghost barrel combos impossible, chain explosion delay would probably make triple barrel combos harder and triple barrel autos impossible. I really like the tripwire idea though, that would make for some fun ambushes :)

[@emericcoude4068]

@@sirjilo8635 You make a good point, I hadn't considered that!

[@mofire5674]

My only real idea for a change to barrels is to, like you mentioned, remove the enemies ability to destroy them. To balance this, the barrels themselves should only stick around for like 3 seconds after the last tick. Besides....they removed their ability to provide vision, and halved (?) their life span. Not a perfect idea by any means, but it gives him agency over the barrels in combat.

[@Dizerel]

I knew this episode was coming but I was hoping it wouldnt. Gangplank is one of those champs where not many people play him, but most of the ones that do usually main him and play him a LOT. I myself have like 95% of my non-autofill games on gangplank, and nearly 1.5 miillion mastery on him. (This is gonna be a long comment but I love gangplank, if not evident by all my mastery on him, so bear with me) TLDR at bottom. Let me clarify some things. I agreed with about half of this video and disagreed on another half. First off, gangplank DOES have a bread and butter combo. Two, in fact. One for engaging onto an enemy for a quick trade, and one for extended fights. Both revolve around the usage of his passive and movement speed bonus on passive and barrels. I dont want to write out a 500 word essay explaining these combos tho but id be happy to explain them in a follow up comment if anyone is interested. You got most of it right in terms of his relevance over the seasons but missed one vital point: Gangplank is a counterpick to most tanks. Since most tanks dont have a lot of lane pressure, and gangplank has true damage on his passive and 40% armor pen on barrels, as well as a cleanse (which most tanks require the CC in their kit to get their full combo off), he does spectacularly into most tank matchups. Thats still mostly true to this day, although I think some of the early build options in season 11 have mitigated certain tank's early weaknesses. Dshield and 800 gold bramble vest are just a few examples. Next, gangplank has one of the best counter-engages in the entire game. Not disengage, not defending AGAINST engage. Counter-engage. If you are on contested ground and the enemy team is the one who is forced to try and make an engage on you, you are essentially guaranteed to land your barrels, if you play it right. There are so many ways to hide your barrels where the enemy never gets the chance to disarm them before they are already in range of your combo. This is where gangplank shines. Locking down an area, usually an objective or a path to an objective, and forcing the enemy to engage onto you, which you will mitigate their engage by chunking half their entire team's healthbar, and shrugging off whatever CC ability they engaged with using your oranges. Next, I think you could have done a bit of a better job covering his two different build options, especially in season 11. Gangplank has almost always had a choice between going crit and oneshotting the enemy team with a well placed combo, or going a bruiser, being a nightmare for their tanks and zoning enemy carries while letting your team deal damage. I use both about equally, though I definitely think that seeing those fatty crit barrels are a lot more appealing, and can understand why a lot of new gangplanks gravitate towards that build, even though its a bit more volatiile and riskier of an option. I know GP is doing great in pro play right now, but thats for two reasons. He is a very safe laner that still has pressure in the right matchups, and (as you said) he can do fantastically if his team works together right, and in the pros, the teams usually work together pretty well. I dont think GP needs any buffs or nerfs. He isnt in too terrible a spot right now, but I definitely think some item changes would make him a lot more fun. Going over that next. Finally, covering season 11 build options. Before season 11 I was up to a 65% winrate on gangplank. After season 11, I am currently hovering around a 45% winrate. You are right in the fact that none of the items gangplank gets perfectly covers all bases. Trinity's mythic passive gives you more attack speed than you need. Divine sunderer's % max health passive doesnt work on barrels. Duskblade is great for damage but its actually a weak choice until your 3rd item (which is why when I go crit, I actually build essence reaver first, then collector, then duskblade third). None of these options give move speed, either (aside from trinity, but it only gives the movespeed when landing a basic attack). Movespeed allows you to hit max range one-part combos. Combine that with the fact that ghostblade no longer gives CDR, meaning its not a very good option anymore, and gangplank is in a poor spot. I think if they returned the CDR to ghostblade, then trinity force into ghostblade would be his top build by far. As it stands though, no matter what you build, you are lacking something. You either lose out on potential max damage output with sunderer (and have no movespeed), lose out on the mythic passive with trinity (because gangplank doesnt need more than 2 daggers worth of attack speed), or lose out on all mobility and survivability with duskblade (though the invisibility IS super fun and can be lifesaving in the right circumstance) TLDR: Good video. Think you missed a few key points or spent too much time on others. I also think you skimmed over his poor item choices in S11 a bit too fast. I still have a lot of fun with him. I especially enjoy the fact that his extra gold generation still gives you a really good chance on scaling up when behind. Once riot optimizes S11 items a bit more, I think gangplank will be A-OK

[@simong7090]

Agreed on all your points fellow Gangplank player, glad to see some passionate pirate players in those comments that really understand the champion !

[@tomaszterka6690]

honestly why gp over fiora/camille/vayne into tank matchup? GP can't handle all ins in the way vayne can't handle it, so it means that you only win against those tanks that can't really fight back your poke, good sion can fight you just well and good urgot will absolutely dominate you unless you are some freak, you have a chance versus them but definately you don't counter them. What about chogath? Unless you destroy him in early levels and he's stupid enough to just sit back and tank parlyes, he can all in you. The other thing that is crazy to me, is that people think of GP as some sort of lane bully. He's lane bully but retarded. He lacks early damage, most of the time he lacks finisher, once you push wave a little bit outside your turret and start slowpush, you are an easy gank. no way you can escape normal jungler without flesh, and if enemy toplaner has any CC you are dead. Compare that to Fiora that has some sort of coutergank abilities and resources to just finish off tank. Of course if you would be to do everything perfect which is impossible, then you easly win any matchup other than irelia and yorick, but it only takes an enemy that played gangplank for some time to exploit your weaknesses. I feel like gangplank is way better into champions that are squishy and lack early sustain/tankiness such as yone, wukong, yasuo, sometimes fiora, teemo with exception of quinn

[@Dizerel]

​@@tomaszterka6690 Vayne/Fiora is a counterpick. Gangplank is a great first pick. Because I cant think of a single matchup top lane that he cant simply farm it out. Vayne is very punishable by the jungler. If the jungler ganks the vayne a few times its just over for her. Fiora only works as a counterpick because if you pick her into a darius, she is not gonna have a very fun time. Camille is kinda OP right now, but she definitely has losing matchups. She is definitely good, especially her roaming. However, Gangplank is probably the best character IN THE ENTIRE GAME at soaking pressure. If you watch Impact play GP its like this guy is on drugs. Its insane that he can just waste the junglers time by baiting a gank and then not dying. Also, GP DOES win those matchups, in higher elos. In lower elos, where most tanks are easy to play and few players have a good grasp on how to play GP, yes, gp loses. But a good GP vs a good sion/chogath/urgot, GP wins. I almost always win lane against those champs so long as the jungle doesnt get involved. Playing GP right, you can definitely counter them. You can poke them under turret and deny CS. Winning lane against them isnt about kills, its about having double their CS at 10 minutes. You have to play him right. He also only needs a sheen and his damage is insane. Considering his passive does as much true damage as ignite, if you know how to stack his passive and proc sheen on cooldown, he is incredibly lethal. Sure, he may lack a finisher. I agree that he isnt very good at finishing off opponents that run away from him. but thats just part of his design. He is so good at other things that if he had a dash or an execute it just wouldnt be fair. Yes, he is an easy gank while you are denying the enemy CS under their turret. But if your jungler and mid are properly warding, and your jungler knows how to exert equal pressure (Or the enemy jungler just forgets top lane exists, like most junglers do) then more often than not, you can get away with it. And unless you are facing down two different CC abilities, you have oranges. You have to know how to kite with barrels though. having defensive barrel placements at all times, early vision on the enemy jungler, and out-timing the hits on the barrels, you can get out of almost any situation. Gangplank is pretty good against yassuo, teemo, and quinn. Fiora is a skill matchup, slightly gp favored. Wukong beats gangplank levels 1 and 2 but gangplank beats wukong 3-5 if he can get sheen. Then its a skill matchup past level 6. Yone is kinda busted in soloQ right now. Its not as easy as a matchup as Yasuo but it is still GP favored. Just hope he doesnt go Dshield and sustain runes. You also compare him to Fiora, but Fiora has almost no teamfight potential. In an isolated 1v1, sure she will shred a tank. but what happens when there is an entire team behind that tank? Gangplank has the range to be able to poke the tank and their team down.

[@bj-loganwebb4019]

Thank goodness someone said something

[@ogloc3283]

@@Dizerel u trash talk. Gp is the most useless champ in lol even if he win lane. It's a miserable top lane pick and won't do anything after lane. If he win game? Huh? He's just get carried by good players with useful Champs.

[@alybassamalwan77]

I've been maining GP for 2 years already, and I agree with almost every point mentioned in this video. But imo, if played to full potential, GP is a really fun champion to play!

[@ultimatem20]

is that mirror b's music? i love it xD

[@VarsVerum]

They should make a game about him

[@BawanaBeast]

Keep these uploads up, I love watching a lot!

[@oli9673]

The amount of failed one part combos in the background footage of this video triggers me quite a lot. Was a great video tho, i never really thought about how and why gangplank is not being played anymore.

[@dwight3555]

He's not played for simple reasons: extremely high skill-floor and ceiling, no good itemization option meaning you have to juggle between mediocre options and change your build each game (which is mentally taxing and not something you might have much time to think about as you can't pause the game and think for 15 minutes what would be best), too much counterplay against his barrels (who are far less useful now due to the fact GP can't build crit effectively anymore and his barrel dmg is balanced around the crit dmg)... You can play 100 games of gp, or you can play 10 games of Aatrox and be vastly more useful.

[@gamudiez4630]

You could make GP deal double damage to barrels, that way he has an advantage when barrels are recent, but he can't zone you because you can still kill old barrels as fast as he can

[@randomationstudios24x68]

I hope some GP mains would give feedback on this idea, I don’t play LoL but the character design of champions intrigue me which is why i binge these videos.

[@CeIery]

You got into my recommendations

[@VarsVerum]

Wooo algorithm!

[@mohamedmallat8710]

A good buff to his barrels would be that by lvl 13 your barrels hp bar ticks down for the enemies at a slower rate that it does to you (the same tick rate as pre -level 7), or make it that after lvl 13 it stops ticking fown for your enemies meaning that they would have to hit it 3 times to disarm it

[@raymondqian3896]

11:40 Khazix gets his upgraded smite at level 12?

[@slayer2450]

This made me remember the old days where you stacked crit runes so that you can crit on Q. Good ole memories

[@genano2217]

Testo be like: Something aint right

[@dopeyaf82]

Now that i run at a gankplank 1 out of 2 games i can say...this aged well

[@kylesorry1234]

Gp is so badass, all his voice lines make him so cool. Learning gangplank is so hard though, you'll want to delete the game and stop playing him entirely, and you'll only really learn how to win lane and carry until you get really really good at him. Once you do, he is literally so fun. His early game is insanely strong, and he always does so much damage, he is just so fun once you learn him

[@coreyfurtado5986]

Just here to give a shoutout to the fantastic music choices you keep making for these vids haha

[@wegwejj]

"gp isnt an early game champ" lmao,,, with grasp, he basically has a mini-sheen lvl 1

[@csiremark]

That's lvl1. What will he do up to 13?

[@wegwejj]

@@csiremark once you get lvl 7 with half an item, lane becomes much, much easier

[@predator70nc46]

@@wegwejj Thats the problem. Gangplank is the best designed champ in LOL, period. BUT... Riot had to ruin his state in the game... HE WAS A LATE GAME CARRY FOR FUCK SAKE. He had high mobility, high dmg but a shit laningphase. And what did Riot do?! They nerfed his stats and mobility, they nerfed his items, they changed the style of the game (make it faster and dont adjust GP's kit then) and they completely RUINED his authority... AGAIN... He is a late game carry... So why did riot refuse do handle him like that!?! Dmg is fine this season, these are the Things riot needs to adjust... Bring back Stormraiders surge, give movespeed bonus when critting barrels, remove Grasp Q interaction. BAM THERE YOU GO. GP a late game carry again with high dmg

[@lastwhisper1425]

@@predator70nc46 but gp is unhealthy for the game reee free crits free poke sustain anti cc wtf

[@predator70nc46]

@@lastwhisper1425 is that sarcasm?! Or are you just dumb?

[@user-rx2zp1um2n]

I'd love it if he could kick his barrels, and either wait for them to blow on collision with a champ or wall, or blast them to detonate them early

[@phoenixflamegames1]

Long story short like all the other champs: High skillceiling, easily counterable and other (easier and stronger) champions do your job but better

[@Elektr0hazard]

@@N12015 yeah, it doesn't matter if it's a win or a loss, or if GP has highest champion damage or not, his total physical damage dealt on the match is usually way higher than the other 9 champions

[@ivana.4226]

EVERYone like these videos please!! They deserve much more recognition they're very good quality

[@andreramos148]

He's just too hard for the common player, you need experience with him to play him casually, but he's so fucking good, king of top for ever and ever, no other champ can always stay competitive despite of he is in a really good or meh spot in the meta

[@gammafire9552]

Am I the only one who noticed Jim Lahey tripping down the stairs of his trailer at the end of the video? Or do we just not talk about that?

[@StolidLiquid]

lol, watching these videos just makes me angry that riot killed all my favorite champs like ap gp...

[@nicoleicht4379]

id love to see one simple change. increase the health of the barrels to 4 , increase the tick rate at which they lose hp and make gps autos hit them for 2 damage while his q does 1. this would make him less opressive in early laning phase, while also giving him the chance to play more proactively with his barrels

[@mofire5674]

The idea of him being able to deal double damage to his own barrels is actually genius. Because of the limited time in which a barrel DOES have more than 1 tick, the only way he can abuse the ability to detonate a barrel uncontested is to pop it near immediately. This way he feels less clunky, but at the same time can't just zone people out for the whole barrel duration.

[@trollface7257]

Why no one plays Gangplank:Exists Tobias Fate:Angry gp main noises

[@vellarus6581]

For his barrel disarming, maybe there could be a short period after a barrel is auto'd by an enemy champion before it is destroyed. That would alleviate the zoning pressure for the attacker, increase gangplank's agency by offering a period where he can still explode the barrel, and increase the risk for the attacking champion as they are placed in a predictably vulnerable position after attacking the barrel while still at risk of being damaged by them.

[@azizkash286]

Aged poorly

[@diegoaguilar5491]

Oh that falling downstairs meme... Someone has been watching some basement pirate gameplay XD

[@VarsVerum]

Finally someone who knows! LOL

[@diegoaguilar5491]

@@VarsVerum (btw, love your content, keep up the great work)

[@R410r]

Wheres the RotMG content :sob: But fr you litteraly made me stop dying with the "how to get better at rotmg" video and you dont play RotMG anymore, its pretty sad :c

[@tehrik0020]

>Gangplank is the former Reaver King, ruler of Bilgewater >Jon Bilgewater is a reference to LoL, and also the current Pirate King in the Realm See things ain't so bad xd

[@ttrop]

very simple buff to make gangplank good teamfigter, his ult can activate his barrle explosion, so when the ult is raining down gangplank can throw his barrels in the ult and can make them explode

[@meowsquared]

I think GP would be a lot easier to get into if his barrel combos were a little more consistent to pull off. His one part combo (where you drop a barrel, buffer a Q, and drop another barrel before the explosion occurs) is a VERY powerful dueling tool that can be used to catch people off guard in tense situations. But it's so difficult to pull off that unless you're basically a GP one trick, the chances of successfully performing it are low as hell. Much of the reason that GP is so hard to carry with is that he basically has to call out whenever he's looking for a barrel play. He's straight up telling you that he's angling to burst your backline with his barrels, and you have the ability to cuck him out of that just by seeing it and having a high enough attack and projectile speed. This not only stops his barrel set up, but also means he now has less barrels to work with and nothing to show for it. Personally, I think a good way to handle this would be to either increase GP's projectile speed so that he can beat out other champions looking to stop his set ups, or to make it so that GP can auto his barrels with his passive to turn his powder kegs into volatile powder kegs. This would make it so that they will explode on a set timer no matter who hits them, allowing him to "no u" the enemy champion's "no u". For an example, imagine GP throws down a barrel. He knows that Vayne wants to pop his barrel before he can finish his set up, so he autos it with his passive to light it on fire. The barrel loses its typical timer, becoming immune and instead will simply explode in a set amount of time. Say, 2-3 seconds. Now the barrel is immune to any more damage, and the only thing you can determine is where it'll explode via chaining other barrels. This creates potential for mindgames. Do you wait til the last second, then drop another barrel to catch an enemy? Do you drop a barrel early to bait them into stopping you so you can set them up with your third barrel? Do you simply use this 'volatile' barrel as a zoning tool to play keep away? You now have a bunch of options so that even if you aren't dealing damage with these barrels, you're getting some kind of other value. Not a game designer though so I have no idea how this would look in practice or if it's even a decent idea.

[@andreramos148]

I don't really think he needs a buff, he's strong if you can play him, if riot buffs him for the common folk to play him, the good players will abuse this and make him super op, he's in a good spot rn, and it's good riot has more difficult champs in the game for ppl that want to put the time in

[@meowsquared]

@@andreramos148 That's a good point tbh. Not every champion needs to be super accessible. There is some fun to be had in learning a very difficult champion.

[@wes8448]

If your talking about build issues shieldbow essence reaver is very good. still gets sheen, Crit, and survivability

[@IvayloGoshev]

honestly as a gp main the one change id make is to make the barrels immune to dmg ( besides gp ) for 1.5 seconds after you place them. doesnt affect his laning at all ( which it shoudnt, as gp is the only toplaner that can win all matchups due to his insane lane and wave control ) and only comes in effect after lvl 13 to give him a 0.5 sec window to hit his combo uncontested without turning it into a zoning tool

[@nikolaylidzhiev616]

I am a gp main and I totally agree with the point you made about gp not being able to carry really good point, whenever my team falls behind I just feel like I can’t do much to 1v9

[@mq5731]

Gang Planks bread and butter combo right now is Shieldbow + Essence Reaver. The reason being is that in melee fights, you get a little bit of safety and the crit you need in order to make barrels hurt, and essence reaver for extra spicy Qs. There is also the tankplank build, which is Divine Sunderer + Deadmans Plate(You run Grasp of the Undying for this build). I prefer the crit build honestly.

[@sliightdriizzle6011]

In my opinion, the reason people don’t play GP is because people honestly don’t know what they’re doing. I speak from experience when I say that the barrels seems “too” important. I wouldn’t actually auto people, I was always trying to land barrels instead of actually fighting. I played against a Sett so naturally I was scared to go toe to toe with him but I couldn’t get it through my head that I needed to fight with autos instead of just barrels

[@sirjilo8635]

Bread and butter combo in lane is walk up, e on top of them, corrupting pot, passive auto, e to connect two barrels, shoot first barrel, passive auto before second barrel explodes, passive auto again, run away. Team fight combo is e, q, e, r, run away or e, e, q, e, r, run away.

[@xtargegaming6744]

Solarbacca the GP guru recently made a video about how he prioritizes supportish items right after his triforce like chempunk chainsword and serpents fang. They apply grievous and prevent shielding from across the map with his ulti and are much cheaper power spikes than the other crit, lethality, or AP alternatives

[@nureha-samapower6672]

People really love to give this champ too much credit... his barrel combo isn't even that hard to pull of and he doesn't even need it, in lane if remove his barrels he simply proceeds to spam you with Q until he can flash-aa-ignite you... wow so skilled I really feel outplayed when I disturb what is suppose to be his main mechanic by destroying his barrels only for him to proceed to Q spam me and eat his biscuits and drink his pots for infinite mana.

[@harmannus2012]

Lets go waaay back to when the game knew the items that gave you more gold per second AND bonus gold for killing minions.... And in case of the avarice blade, gave you 10% crit chance. The "golden days" of good old critplank i.m.o. :D

[@michaeldo2992]

I love playing gangplank. his barrels are so satisfying to land. I also find the global ultimate GAMEEE changing. Especially in a team environment

[@mingyiliu352]

GP is hands down one of the most well designed champions. He doesn’t have an especially easy time into any matchup but you can play him into everyone if you master him. GP can kite, he scales decently, can burst, provides utility, has aoe, he can speed. However, all of this is based on how good you are at GP, if you master GP you practically invincible because he is a signature kitting champ. One more thing that I find really impressive is the fun aspect of his gameplay, no matter how good you are at GP, you can always have a fun time. Not many champions are like this anymore.

[@EnderPryde]

I think the obvious solution is to just add a quarter to half second delay to the disarm timing - give the GP a brief window to still detonate the keg if the enemy disarms it while his Q is midair.

[@marcomedina7589]

I think for me the reason I love him is because he has a high skill ceiling. Its nice to play a champ with a straightforward counter vs a champ who can pretty much steamroll anyone and can only be defeated by stats. Champs having interesting weaknesses makes them more fun to play. I'd always play GP over Garen or Viego because even though the latter champs would probably stomp in lane, they're not as fun to play.