What are the advantages and disadvantages of these two *tank*plank builds for top lane or jungle?

Question

I go Philosopher's Stone>Wriggle's Lantern>Mercury's Treads>Spirit Visage>Frozen Heart>Thornmail.

Sometimes I get Ionian Boots of Lucidity. That gives me a ton of sustain and cooldown reduction to spam Gangplank's ult.

The other way I see tank-plank built is Warmog's Armor + Atma's Impaler.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of each build?

Asked by eric f

Answer

Let's look at each item, and how it affects Gangplank:

• Philosopher's Stone - this is a strong item on many champions. It gives him the mana regen he needs to use Parrrley, HP regen, and GP/5.

• Wriggle's Lantern - provides armor, AD, life steal, a unique passive and a free ward. This is another strong pick, especially if jungling Gangplank.

• Mercury Treads - these boots are considered the default tank boots, due to MR and tenacity.

• Spirit Visage - provides health, magic resist, CDR, and a boost to healing. I don't recommend this item because it doesn't synergize well with any of his abilities.

• Frozen Heart - provides armor, mana, CDR, and an aura debuff. This item is best vs an auto-attack heavy team, otherwise I would skip it.

• Thornmail - provides armor, and deals magic damage when auto-attacked. I don't recommend this item on Gangplank, because a clever opponent will stop focusing Gangplank when they see you've purchased it. Since your goal is to be a tank, this is counter-productive.

• Warmogs Armor - provides the most health in any item, and good health regen. Helpful for staying alive.

• Atma's Impaler - provides 15 AD for every 1k HP, armor, and crit chance. A solid pick if you have extra health from runes/items.

The first build you've listed is very defensive. You end with 229 armor and 55 MR. This build would be most effective against a team that relies on auto-attacks (Master Yi, Ashe, etc). It's going to be weaker vs a team doing primarily magic damage. Warmog's and Atma's provides more health (good if you have armor/MR), and some damage, which helps

If you're jungling Gangplank, it's common to rush a Wriggle's first. If you're top lane, you're going to focus on spamming Parrrley instead, so I'd recommend rushing a Philosopher's stone. Sheen is a common pick, because Parrrley trigger's Sheen's bonus damage. It also builds into a Triforce, an item that boosts all of Gangplank's abilities.

Every game is different, and you have to build vs your enemy team. Of all the items listed, Mercury Treads and a Philosopher's stone are always viable. Wriggle's is very common to see on him, and most of the time will be a good pick. From there, build a sheen if you're using Parrrley a lot, or health, armor, and/or magic resist depending on what's doing the most damage to you.

tl;dr: Mercury Treads, Philosopher's Stone, and Wriggle's Lantern are almost always good picks. Everything else is situational.

Answered by Toast

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