Gangplank
Matchup Summary
GP's early poke style gameplay can be a little bit difficult to deal within the early game, forcing Renekton to use Doran's Shield and Second WInd to avoid being poked down against. Renekton's goal in the match up is simply to outsustain through his poke using his empowered Q, as well as avoiding GP's barrels and passive damage in the process. If GP has no passive, Renekton should look to aggressively posture to force GP to shoot one of his own barrel, or we can walk up and auto attack it before he hits it. Once GP has no barrels, Renekton can force trades up close with his damage, allowing him to burn GP's W and leave him low HP, or force a potential kill on him. Killing GP is always hard, however by level 6 Renekton can effectively beat GP in 1v1 if he plays the above steps correctly. Later on in the game, GP will outscale in terms of his damage, however Renekton's teamfighting abiltiy through the mid game allows him to have more playable options than what GP is able to provide. Make sure to play around your win conditions optimally, while looking to close out the game before GP gets his major items.
Detailed Tips
- 01
Respect Gangplank’s Level 1 - GP’s level 1 is pretty lethal if you play into his overall game plan, which consists of him hitting passive onto his target followed by using his barrels to reset his passive damage to out trade and potentially kill his target. Level 1 against GP, you should avoid walking into bushes otherwise he will be able to apply his damage really easily. Once GP uses his passive on the minions, you can play to get push with Q and try to hard shove for level 2. Doing this can help you reach level 2 to try and force a fight for lane dominance.
- 02
Respect Gangplank’s Passive - As previously mentioned, GP’s strength relies on being able to hit his passive in melee range, on top of resetting his passive from destroying barrels. As Renekton you always want to let him hit his passive first onto a target, followed by trying to last his barrels to prevent him from getting his passive. If you’re able to do this, GP will lose out on tons of consistent damage, allowing Renekton to easily overpower him within all ins.
- 03
Play For Sustain Early - GP’s Grasp or Comet Q procs can pack quite the punch, especially when he reaches his sheen proc powerspike. As Renekton, you want to try and avoid tanking Q’s in the open, tanking too many Q’s will lose you play opportunities, leaving you in a vulnerable situation forcing you to recall, or potentially die. To make the lane a lot easier, Renekton should also abuse D Shield and Second Wind, to allow Renekton to tank GP’s damage as well as mana burn GP’s consistently.
- 04
Play For Mana Burn - GP’s oppressive lane nature can be very difficult to play against. However Renekton’s playstyle to simply force trades to burn GP’s mana, while abusing D Shield, Second Wind and playing off quick combos, remain a core factor to successfully beating GP. To play this successfully, while trying to avoid GP Q’s, try to force burst heavy combos to burn his W, which eventually amounts up to burning GP’s mana pool, forcing him to recall or leads to his death.
- 05
Avoid And Deny Gangplank’s E - As we have mentioned already, GP’s E is essentially the main skill element of the match up. If we’re able to consistently last hit or avoid the barrels, GP will not be able to assert any damage to deter Renekton from fighting him. Whenever you try to fight GP, it is within your best intentions to always focus on them first to lower his overall damage within the fights to give you the best success possible.
- 06
Play Around Gangplank’s W - GP’s W is another element within the match up that you really need to pay attention to, as playing around this successfully will help you understand when you’re able to kill GP. Typically when trading vs GP if you’re W’ing him he will most likely try to break out of it with his own W, allowing him to potentially win out or survive the fight vs Renekton. Typically as Renekton, we play to kill GP within 2 combos, as the first combo is what’s ultimately going to help us set up for the eventual kill against GP. GP’S W CD is around 22 seconds, allowing us to have a 10-6 second window, depending on how early we used our E and how late GP used his W. Once you’re able to re-enter a second trade vs GP, you should try to go all out on your damage to help you chunk him out for a tower dive, or provide you the ability to kill him right there and then.
- 07
Rush Plated Steelcaps - In my own preference, I personally like to rush Plated Steelcaps to help me deal with GP’s sheen poke if we’re even or he is ahead. This playstyle allows me to help mana burn GP harder, while utilising the rest of my sustain based playstyle, to give me more opportunities to trade, while also being able to keep more of my HP up. You can opt into straight damage if the lane is going too smoothly, however I find that GP can feel very awkward if you’re rushing straight AD as even the simplest mistakes can be very costly with how Squishy you are into him.
- 08
Play Wave On Your Side - Playing the wave on your side essentially means playing wave states on your side of the map, via abusing wave manipulation tactics or freezing on your side of the map. Simply use this to help you combo on your laner, taking away any space from them being able to trade you back (This also helps prevent the enemy running you down with their extended or sustained movement speed abilities). You can also use this wave state to run down your opponent with your abilities up, helping you obtain kills a lot easier vs stalemate or ranged match ups. Look to do this when your opponents are below 50% HP, or potentially make a mistake to provide you an all in opportunity to run them down.
- 09
Quick Trades - E > Q > AA > W > AA > E Out / E > Q > W > E / E Q E - These combos allow for Renekton to get quick damage off in being able to keep health up and whittling his opponent down, use these to get your laner low and look for a low HP kill with flash.
- 10
Abuse Renekton's R Powerspike - Once you reach level 6 your ultimate will essentially help you consistently stat check and dominate any match ups you were winning or losing. Make sure to always wait for your R CD to help you make plays, otherwise it will lead you towards a major disadvantage in dueling your enemies.
- 11
Mid Game + Teamfighting Tips - Gangplank’s role within the late stages of the game is simply to scale into a behemoth using his side lane and farm dedicated playstyle, to help him farm up to his giant item and R upgrade powerspikes. Before these points of the game, you should be trying to utilise your early mid game power to help secure objectives and win fights while you’re at your strongest. Utilising your strengths within this stage of the game by roaming and grouping will help you overpower Gangplank’s chances of being able to farm to help his team contest objectives. Within teamfights, Gangplank will use his R to slow you while trying to set up his barrel plays, with the hope of trying to decimate any squishy carries. Against GP, try to bait out his W early so you’re able to get your team to use their additional CC abilities onto him. Also play with the aim to deny any barrels, as even one barrel can change the whole course of a fight.