Talk:Gangplank/@comment-4919681-20150721100259/@comment-26330875-20150722173647

@Anotoman123

The W is not infinitely better; it is infinitely worse. Any well-versed GP player maxes W first. Maxing Q has always been useless as it does not scale well with levels. It becomes stronger with items which translates to great mid/late game and shit laning phase. Therefore, you max Q later when you've built a few items while maxing W when farming.

Old Gangplank's goal in laning phase is to outfarm and outearn his laning oppenent. Scoring a kill is the last thing on his mind. Why? Because it is the most effective way to get ahead with his kit. Keeping up in farm puts you ahead because of Q plunder. At the same time, you ult bot/mid every now and then to score a free assist. All the while, you max W and stay at full HP and become ungankable. This strategy turns top lane into a farm fest, in which Gangplank will always comes out ahead unless you're opponent is Nasus. Combined with flask + pots start with Teleport, you will never be pushed out of lane without some sort of hard camping strategy.

The nerf on W's flat heal makes this strategy impossible to pull off as your sustain ability drops by more than half. I don't know how powerful the new Kegs are, but if we look at it straightly from the old Gangplank standpoint, the change in W is a huge and potentially crippling nerf.

Even throughout the game, the W is only useful if you build tank; which seems like is now the only option for Gangplank. Glass cannon Gangplank (the most fun Gangplank) sees no upside with the changes.