Is Gangplank AP Or AD? – Everything You Need To Know

It might be pretty obvious to any moderately experienced player that Gangplank radiates AD energy from his outlook. He has a sword and a gun, alongside barrels on his ability as well as a cannon barrage as an ultimate.

Hence this is what you should know about Gangplank as a champion in League of legends.

Gangplank is primarily an Attack damage champion, however, he has AP ratios as well as AD true damage ratios in his kit. Gangplank Mains have tried building AP on him in the past and have had it work, albeit it was and is never going to be as good as his standard AD build.

Somewhat recently, Gangplank was incentivized to build Critical Strike due to the addition of an increased Crit ratio on his barrels (E). This resulted in a lot of builds including the infamous Prowlerplank and the other infamous Duskplank (Prowler’s Claw and Duskblade of Draktharr Gangplank).

This gave rise to numerous other playstyles as well including a Liandry’s Anguish build as well as other AD builds with Trinity Force.

This made Gangplank one of the best champions in pro play and a true ranged assassin in SoloQ.

Recent buffs to his passive true damage have also made him a lot stronger in theory but his winrate has largely been unaffected due to his skill ceiling being higher than most players are willing to put into a single champion.

What Are Gangplank’s Abilities?

P- Trial By Fire

Gangplank periodically empowers his next basic attack to ignite the victim on fire, dealing them 55-310 (+ 100% bonus AD) bonus true damage over 2.5 seconds, increasing by 0-200. (based on critical strike chance). Turrets take 50% damage.

Gangplank gains 15% to 30% (depending on level) extra movement speed for 2 seconds if he successfully hits a target with Trial by Fire. When a Powder Keg bursts, the cooldown for Trial by Fire is reset, and Gangplank gains extra movement speed.

Trial by Fire is inapplicable via Parrrley or Powder Keg.

Q- Parley

As a ranged attack, Gangplank launches a shot at the intended foe that causes physical damage and activates on-hit and on-attack effects. Parrrley has a critical strike range of 175% plus 35% damage.

Gangplank plunders gold Gold gold and silver serpents if Parrrley kills the intended victim. The plunder also includes each opponent slain by a Powder Keg explosion that was initially triggered by Parrrley.

Cannon Barrage can be upgraded in the shop using Silver Serpents (R).

W- Remove Scurvy

Gangplank eats a large number of oranges, cleansing himself from all CCl and healing himself.

E- Powder Keg

Gangplank uses a charge to plant a powder keg at the target position for 25 seconds, after which it connects to other kegs with overlapping connection radiuses via a trail of black powder. The keg starts with 3 health and loses one every 2 / 1 / 0.5 (depending on level) seconds until it is reduced to 1. Gangplank supplies a maximum amount of Powder Keg charges on a regular basis.

Kegs are vulnerable to basic attacks from foes or Gangplank (including his Parrrley), which deal 1 damage. It is safely defused when an enemy destroys it. When Gangplank destroys it, it explodes and sets off a chain reaction, exploding other nearby related kegs with a 0.33-second delay between explosions.

Enemies caught in an explosion are slowed for 2 seconds and dealt the triggering attack’s damage, with champions receiving extra physical damage. Each enemy can only be hit once every chain, and the damage bypasses 40% of the target’s armour.

The explosions give 10% additional damage on top of the critical damage if the triggering attack was a critical hit.

R- Cannon Barrage

Gangplank fires a flare into the air, signalling his ship off-shore to fire for 8 seconds on the specified position, raining down 12 waves of cannonballs in clusters of three every 2 seconds and granting sight of the region for the time. Each wave inflicts magical damage on all foes in the area and slows them by 30% for 0.5 seconds.

Gangplank can upgrade his ship in the store for 500 Silver Serpents per upgrade, which improves Cannon Barrage:

• Death’s Daughter:: After the initial cluster of waves, a giant cannonball lands in the centre of the barrage, causing a cluster’s worth of true damage to foes within the impact and slowing them by 60% for 1.5 seconds.
• Fire at Will: Cannon Barrage shoots 6 extra waves over the course of its length; 18 waves of cannonballs are called down in clusters of three every 1.33 seconds.

• Raise Morale: Cannon Barrage offers Gangplank and all allies in the vicinity a 30% movement speed boost that lasts for 2 seconds.

Is Full AD Gangplank Worth It In LoL?

Currently, Gangplank sits on a 49.33% winrate in Plat+, which is an indication of the required skill level to play this champion. When played correctly, he can 1v9 team fights. When he isn’t, he is one of the most useless toplaners to have since he has no value besides pure damage.

That being said, Full Ad Gangplank is definitely worth it in the hands of a practiced person.

How Do You Play Full AD Gangplank In LoL?

If you are looking for a build for Gangplank that will dominate while working well in the current meta, We have it.

Best runes for Full Ad Gangplank in LoL:

• Grasp of The Undying- When you enter combat, you gain 1 stack per second for the next 3 seconds. Re-entering fight after 2 seconds will produce more stacks. When you achieve 4 stacks, your next basic attack against an opponent champion consumes all stacks and does 3.5% of your maximum health as extra magic damage, heals for 1.7% of your maximum health, and permanently grants 5 bonus health. When you enter combat, the empowered attack duration refreshes.
• Demolish- On enemy turrets within 600 units, you generate stacks every 0.5 seconds, increasing to 6 after 3 seconds. Your next basic attack with 6 stacks against a turret deals 100 (+ 35% of your maximum health) extra physical damage. Because all tank champions lack base AD, they are ideal for taking towers.
• Bone Plating- After taking damage from an enemy champion, the next three spells or attacks you receive from the same enemy champion inflict 30-60% less damage (depending on level) (including true damage).
• Overgrowth- Every 8 monsters or enemy minions that die near you permanently grants you a stack, granting you 3 additional health. This effect can stack indefinitely.
• You gain 3.5% more maximum health after gaining 15 stacks (120 monsters or minions).
• Future’s Market- You can borrow up to 145 Gold 145 (+ 5 Gold 5 every minute) to buy stuff, which is reflected as negative gold in your treasury.

After leaving the shop, a 50 Gold loan fee is added to the amount of gold you owe.

• Time Warp Tonic- Consuming a potion or biscuit instantly restores 30% of the health and mana (if appropriate). The health/mana each tick is then lowered by 30% for the duration of the effect. Additionally, while under the influence of a potion or biscuit, you gain a 2% increase to total movement speed.

For bonuses, go double AD and armor or magic resist depending on the matchup.

Best Build for Full AD Gangplank

• Essence Reaver- Sheen item is a mandatory buy on Gangplank since his main source of damage, his Q, Applies on-hit effects and increases them with his E
• Ionian Boots of Lucidity- The more ability haste you have on Gangplank, the better you can kill your opponent
• Prowler’s Claw- Great source of lethality and useable to stick to people and apply your passive consistently
• Collector- Time to collect some noobs with the additional lethality as well as Crit chance
• Infinity Edge- Additional Critical strike chance and the Crit passive on the item that increases the damage of every Crit by 35%
• Lord Dominik’s Regards- Great source of armor penetration if the enemy team has a full armor tank or the enemy ADC chose to build something like Guardian angel or Frozen heart

Other than these items, Gangplank can mainly go Duskblade, Trinity force, and Hullbreaker, alongside his AP build which we won’t be looking into today.

What Lane Is Gangplank Played in?

Gangplank is primarily a toplaner, secondarily a midlaner. His midlane stats are not too pretty so this build was toplane-centered and this is where I would recommend you to play Gangplank.

If you are feeling extra brave, you can try Gangplank mid as well, however, I would still recommend you to learn him in the toplane beforehand.

Final Thoughts

Gangplank is an excellent champion for any toplaner looking for something more challenging than their average Darius or Garen gaming. He might be hard to learn at first, but he is one of the most rewarding champions to spend time learning contrary to something like Irelia, a champion that will never be allowed beyond a certain power level consistently.

I sincerely hope this article has helped you in understanding the basics of how Gangplank works and which runes and items work the best for him, along with some basic history and alternative builds. If so, Kindly leave any comments or suggestions you may have in the comments section below. Thanks!