Gangplank/Strategy

Skill usage

 * is an excellent fighter in 1v1 situations due to his high single target damage output and CC removal. Always look for players out of position.
 * Do not underestimate gold bonus when used for farming instead of harassment in early game.
 * can allow him to stay in the lane for an extended period of time.
 * will cancel suppression e.g. and, though  still does damage after the suppression is cancelled.
 * In a desperate laning situation, has a lot of ability to just stay in lane and farm as much as possible.  range and mana cost reduction upon last-hits let  farm even with the enemy efforts to completely zone him, building gold per 10 items let him stay in the game despite the enemy controlling the lane (especially  as its regeneration stats will be invaluable to such a situation),  and  can be used to quickly aid allies even if you are pushed to your turret, and  sustains you against enemy harassment. This strategy would prefer maxing  for the attack damage bonus to better allow you to last-hit under your turret, with  as necessary to sustain and stay in lane. Leveling up  first in this situation is unpreferable due to the mana-cost increase while the gold-bonus increase gain is less useful than simply casting  again and gaining another last-hit, or having more attack damage from  to gain more last-hits underneath the turret while  can be on cooldown.
 * can be used defensively and offensively, to be able to move fast for both, and have extra damage for the latter.
 * spells have considerable animation times. Take this into account when you plan on using or  to escape a pursuer.
 * Use when pushing a tower. This can quickly give you and your allies the boost you need to take down buildings, effectively allowing you and your team to rush towers and your enemies not having enough time to defend it.
 * can be used across the map. You can help out in ganks/teamfights elsewhere, by assisting with the damage and massive AoE slow.
 * Paying attention to low health enemies on the map can land you a surprise kill with.
 * Try placing in the path of fleeing enemies to cut them off.
 * can save a turret surrounded by minions, with some luck.
 * Working as a team with other AoE abilities synergizes with your ultimate, such as , , , , or.

Build usage

 * If focused on farming and a strong late game, gold from  is complimented by lot of gold per 10 items such as, , or.
 * is excellent for . His abilities' mana costs are significant when used frequently, and the health regeneration allows him to put more points into for more attack damage and movement speed if he doesn't need the sustain of  while the crowd control removal of  remains the same at rank 1 of it.
 * gives Gankplank added survivability and cooldown reduction, and its active has great synergy with.
 * offers a respectable amount of health.
 * grants a respectable amount of critical strike chance and can be built into later on.
 * Because applies on hit effects like, , , in addition to his own , they are all useful items.
 * Even though offers  some additional attack damage, its duration is very short compared to its cooldown. More attack damage items should be added to compliment it.
 * is a strong offensive item.
 * Because benefits from critical strike, critical strike chance and damage items are very strong., , and  will help maximize your damage output.  would also be a good purchase.
 * Pure critical strike builds, although popular, leave fairly squishy. Though there is potential for high DPS, the heavy cost of low survivability including  considerably low base armor and magic resistance makes it less than viable.
 * 'Tankplank' builds are very effective, offering survivability and a chance for to fully utilize his skillset. It also allows  to increase his DPS as he builds towards an.
 * along with are very effective for a tanky-DPS.
 * is an excellent core item on, since 's bonus damage proc and slowing proc all apply to as well as providing extra critical strike chance and movement speed which heavily increases  damaging and chasing capabilities.
 * Because and  come at high costs, one might have to decide between  or  as the primary source of damage in a tanky build.
 * A and  could be a useful alternative to  but at an even higher cost.
 * Cooldown reduction items are fairly effective on as most of his abilities (,, and ) have long cooldowns and they also allow  to use  as often as possible.
 * The unique combination of stats in or  can make it worth an item slot.
 * is effective at jungling, starting with a, though some runes are required to complete it.
 * If you find mana issues especially troublesome, consider buying an early  and building it into  later on.

Countering

 * Laning against can be a bit frustrating.  has a fairly short cooldown and deals a lot of damage at early if it crits. Starting with  and 5  will give you a lot of sustain and damage reduction to deal with this.
 * is very annoying to the casters that rely on crowd control to utilize their full combo. Save your hard crowd control until after he uses.
 * Champions with multiple crowd control abilities, namely, can significantly slow down , despite his . Since this ability only removes the current debuff, one can use a "soft" CC ability (such as a slow) to force him to use , then utilize their "hard" CC (such as a stun or suppress) to really begin harassing him. Also keep in mind that AOE or constantly-reapplied CC (such as Yorick omen of pestilence, or Miss Fortune's ground AOE) are reapplied immediately after being removed, so with Remove Scurvy's cast time ends up actually taking longer to get past. Airborne CC (knockups/knockbacks, pulls) cannot be cleansed, so CC from Alistar and Blitzcrank are not countered.
 * Although his early harassment is strong, is fairly squishy in laning phase. Putting an aggressive pressure on his lane will weaken his strong mid/late game.
 * has a huge AoE and global range. Quickly avoid the AoE if he uses it when you are escaping. Be aware of its potential to appear at any time/location.
 * Countering requires starving him of his farm, get an early advantage by pushing him out of the lane, and forcing him to play with more risk than he would usually like. Teams should also consider prioritizing him as a target for ganks and in team fights depending on his build and his allies.
 * Being aware of his would give you an advantage as the ability's cooldown if fairly long compared to the amount of cc available within your kit. Casting a minor cc skill would force a  to use this ability and press your damage as much as possible within the interval of his

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