You’ve seen this cute little Yordle all over LCK as well as the LPL and LEC and now want to try your luck at maneuvering this adorable guy across Summoner’s Rift as well? Don’t worry we’ve got just the guide for you. You might not be Nuguri or Zeus, but with a little help and practice, you can try to get close to it!
So while he is extremely strong in the current meta, Gnar is an overall good pick all the time thanks to his mobility and adaptable gameplay. He is fun and unique and will make every game of League of Legends an exciting one.
So with a little practice, you’ll be able to hop around the top lane and harass opponents with ease. To help you with that we’ve got a little guide for you just to help you get started with your adventures of mastering Gnar.
Gnar Guide: Summoner Spells
We suggest taking flash and teleport. Why? Well, even though Gnar is rather safe thanks to his E which is a leap, he can sometimes overextend and for those instances, we suggest picking up flash just to be on the safe side. If your Hop is on cooldown this is your escape tool since mini Gnar is rather squishy.
Teleport is the go-to summoner spell for any top laner. It lets them join in team fights when needed or just get back into lane quickly so they can pick up that little bit of farm that could be pushing under tower.
Gnar Guide: Runes
For Gnar’s Runes pick Resolve as your main Rune Path and Domination as your secondary rune path.
In the picture above we’ve shown how to set up the runes to best perform on Gnar. Also, take the Attack Speed and Adaptive Force for your Offensive added runes and Armour for your Flex.
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When in mini Gnar form you’ll want to poke as much as possible and deal as much damage, which is where the attack speed, as well as Domination runes, come into play. His Q is what lets him poke enemies and heal if he does take some damage as well.
His mega Gnar form is his tank version and will be the all-in commitment for fights, which is why the Resolve runes, which give him extra health as well as some defensive stats, are important. And of course, Demolish is useful for taking towers so you can get those plates and that extra gold and snowball the early game.
Gnar Guide: Skill Builds
As mentioned above, Q is Gnars main bread and butter. This is what he does damage with since his W is only a passive ability that runs constantly, and his E is a get-out-of-jail-free card since it’s a leap. So, pick up Q first and max it out as quick as possible to deal as much damage and poke the opponent out of the lane.
Once the laning phase is over and it’s time for those decisive team fights, it is important to keep an eye on his rage bar since that is what will break or make the fight. If you see you’re about to go into mega Gnar form, use his mega Gnar E to jump onto opponents and then use his ultimate to push them against a wall to stun them up. If this combo succeeds your backline carry will have to merely free fire and you’ve won the fight.
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Gnar Guide: Item Builds
Starting Items are usually the same for all top laners. Either go for Doran’s Blade or Doran’s Shield whichever you feel more comfortable with. For more security go for the shield, but if you’re confident you can play aggressively, then pick up the blade.
Boots either go for Plated Steelcaps or Mercury’s Treads, depending on your lane opposition. If they’re an AD champion go for the Steelcaps and if they deal magic damage then pick up the Mercury’s Treads. This is all match up dependent.
Now for the good parts. The best mythic to run on Gnar will be Stridebreaker. The added attack speed will make his auto attacks all the more obnoxious and will let him deal more damage to fill up his rage bar. Not to mention the ability haste the item gives will be good for those situations where you miss your boomerang and have to wait to use it once more.
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The next items are usually Sterak’s Gage for that extra shielding as well as Dead Man’s Plate to stay safe and have that extra armor to tank in team fights. It really doesn’t matter which order you buy these two items, but they are part of your core build.
Which Champions to Play against with Gnar?
Gnar is great against melee top laners, especially early on. Champions like Urgot and Cho’Gath won’t have a good time against this mobile Yordle since he can easily get out of range from their attacks with his Hop and he can poke them thanks to his boomerang.
On the other hand matchups against other mobile champions like Riven or Irelia are going to be quite difficult since they can easily escape Gnar’s attacks.
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