Talk:Gangplank/@comment-5077844-20150726165842/@comment-7621385-20150726182705

What is your usual build / gameplay strategy with Gangplank in lane? I've played a handful of games with Gangplank, so these are my two cents.

As Gangplank is not as reliant on Stattik Shiv anymore (his Kegs, when Parrrley'd, do not proc Shiv if I recall correctly, or if they do, it's not very noticeable), the best item to get first is Sheen, to empower Parrrley and help you farm better from a distance and trade with your lane opponent.

As Ic3 Water has already stated, there's a trick with Gangplank's Kegs that you're not used to doing yet. Throwing them on top of your enemy and hoping they're simple-minded enough to stand on the things is a rather ineffective plan. The Kegs are better used as a zoning tool. Gangplank's ability to use the Kegs as harass tools is slightly weak early on (due to lack of damage, low amounts of Kegs and a long delay between ticks), though it spikes hard starting from level 7.

Let's take into consideration 2 lanes - melee and ranged.

Against a melee matchup, such as Jax/Irelia etc, use your Kegs as a zoning tool on your own minions. Place a keg on one of your minion waves (either the back, on top of the ranged minions, or in the front with the melee minions, though detonating this Keg will push the lane) and leave it there with 1 health. When you feel the time is right (if you want to harass or if the opponent is getting too close), throw another Keg in the general direction of your opponent (while it's still in range of the first Keg - this is important!) and detonate the barrel at one health with a Sheen-powered (or not, but prefered) Parrrley. The enemy will take considerable amounts of damage because of the Keg's armor penetration, and become slowed heavily while you get a movement speed buff, helping you close the gap.

Against a ranged matchup, such as Gnar/Vlad, using Kegs is slightly harder, as you need to time Parrrleys just right so that your opponents don't disarm them from afar. Vlad is by far (in my opinion) Gangplank's worst matchup, as his damage is not relevant enough to Vlad and he can sustain back to full with his natural spell vamp. In this matchup, just farm from far away with Parrrley and beg your jungler to come assist you. Beating him in a straight one on one is very difficult unless you're up an item on him.

As for different aspects of his kit:

-If your opponent is melee, try to proc your passive as much as possible. It deals a hefty amount of bonus damage early on and will give you an edge in duels.

-Use oranges when you're lower on health to make the most out of the % missing health ratio. Gangplank's sustain is slightly worse with the lowered base values, but Spirit Visage plus other health items make this new version better than the old one later on.

-You will always need atleast two Kegs for the combo, but it's also good when you have atleast 1 keg in your backpocket. The movement speed boost granted upon detonation will help you escape from ganks.

-Your ultimate helps to put enemies in awkward situations. Try to use it in such a way that they will be locked between you and your Kegs - if they stay near you, they "might" avoid the Keg burst, but will have to deal with you and the ultimate's ramping damage. If they attempt to run away, throw a Keg in their face and destroy another nearby Keg to trigger a chain and slow him, to catch up.

I hope this has been helpful!