Gangplank is one of two champions (alongside Smolder) who we think is going to gain extra power due to Essence Reaver once again building from Sheen. We expect him to perform much, much better with his increased critical strike damage, so we're pulling out many of the unique crit scalars that have been added over the years and delivering an extra hit to his E on top.

Experienced Gangplank players are opting for some mana solves (buying early mana crystal and selling it) in early game, and this is indicative of his play pattern not being supported in early game. We're massaging some of his early game and giving him a small ult CD buff as he appears to be underperforming, even among skilled players. Q - Parrrley

Gangplank's been avoiding his oranges and needs a dose of vitamin B (for buffs). We've cooked him up some base stat buffs due to how cleanly it benefits both his Q and his synergies with Trinity Force.

Gangplank has slowly been hit by a couple of systems over time and could use some power put back into him. Losing mana from Biscuits, crit system reworks, and his build losing Essence Reaver have had pretty large impacts on his laning phase. Wanting to slightly increase mana regen to compensate for Biscuits being lost and also decrease cooldown of barrels to make pre-13 Gangplank slightly more engaging.

As itemization has changed around Gangplank, so too must he, as Trinity Force is basically mandatory so he can no longer rush crit chance. We're walking back some of his crit scaling and giving him guaranteed value in its place as both a direct buff and a continued invitation to find alternate builds that aren't solely based around one-shotting enemy teams with critical strikes.

Gangplank definitely got set back by last patch's crit item changes but he's pretty decent on Trinity Force and Infinity Edge builds. He's still a bit weak even on his optimal builds, so we'll be giving him some love. We're specifically playing up his ability to wade into melee to fight other top laners so that he has more game plans than just Powder Keg combos.

Gangplank is an underperforming top laner whose raw damage numbers can't really get much higher than they already are. So instead we're giving him some power in his more unique niches: ultimate upgrades and his ability to affect two parts of the map at once. Some of his tooltips are hooked up in weird ways, so the tooltips for his upgrades won't be updated until the next patch.

Gangplank isn't the jolly pirate he once was, struggling to find success in the current game where he can't access Ability Haste as easily. We're walking back the recharge timer nerf on his barrels with the goal of making him a little more powerful and enjoyable to play.

Gangplank is currently in the top 25% of champions for "Win rate loss due to low-mastery players trying and failing." Thus, a balanced Gangplank is likely one who rests below 50% win rate until that trend changes. So let's talk tactics: Gangplank has armed himself with the newly buffed Essence Reaver and Navori Quickblades. Suddenly, he has very short cooldowns and no mana cost concerns. Accepting that these items are his core build now, he still needs to have appropriate downtime. In addition, now that he builds substantial AD and Critical Strike Chance, Trial by Fire is just dealing too much damage.

One of Gangplank's most defining features is his ability to turn the tides of a fight with late game barrel chains and critical strikes. However, getting to theose late game power spikes shouldn't be smooth sailing. We're opting to weaken his laning phase by reducing his harass strength and making him a bit squishier early while maintaining incentives for him to itemize crit.

Gangplank is arrrguably struggling at all levels of play. He's already got enough gunpowder in his Q and barrels, so we're putting some power into less explosive and more… orange… parts of his kit.

Gangplank's Parrrley is not as powerrrful in lane after Grasp was nerfed on him, so we're letting him use it morrre often.

Last patch, we changed Gangplank's Q so that it would count as a ranged instead of melee attack. He's lost a lot of durability now that he doesn't benefit as much from Grasp of the Undying (and thus the rest of the Resolve tree) anymore. Giving this pirate some of his burliness back to help him survive the choppy waters of early top lane.

Gangplank's interaction with Grasp of the Undying made his poke pattern of clicking Q every 4 seconds a nightmare for counterplay, which made his lane power pretty explosive. As a result, we've had to limit his scaling in a way that's been unsatisfying for Gangplank players, given that late game power has traditionally been core to his identity. We're walking back on that plank by lowering his early advantages and bringing them back ashore in late game with extra crit-skewed spice. More barrels!