Gnar vs Gangplank — Top Lane Matchup Guide

How to win lane as Gnar against Gangplank · 48.51% win rate over 870 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27

Verdict: Gangplank is favoured — Gangplank owns 4 of the 7 game windows to Gnar's 2. Play it patient and win your windows. Gnar wins 48.51% of games vs Gangplank in top lane (870 Emerald+ games analysed).

Favour timeline — who owns each window

StageFavouredWhy
Level 1GnarAt Level 1 your Mini ranged autos and a Boomerang win the opener before he has a barrel stored, and he must walk into melee range to Parrrley a minion.
Level 2Even / skillLevel 2 is a coin-flip race — your Hyper third-hit proc and Boomerang slow trade hard, but a well-placed barrel can answer it, so it comes down to execution.
Level 3GangplankOnce he's storing barrel chains, every Parrrley detonation pokes your squishy Mini body and Remove Scurvy cleanses your Boomerang slow so you can't kite or commit.
Levels 4-5GnarWith Rage up you can land a Mega Wallop stun or a GNAR! wall-toss onto his barrel-detonation animation for a clean kill before his items come online.
Level 6GangplankHis R becomes a global roam tool and his stored-barrel-into-Parrrley burst one-shots your fragile Mini form whenever Mega is on cooldown at 6.
First itemGangplankHis first Sheen barrel spike outpaces your bruiser bridge — the crit Parrrley detonation burst beats your form-dependent damage.
Two+ itemsGangplankHe hard-scales: Trinity barrels, crit passive and Remove Scurvy let him out-burst and out-kite your Mega timer while his global R swings fights elsewhere.

Early game (levels 1–5)

Level 1 you out-range him — Mini autos plus a Boomerang win the first trade before he has a barrel stored, and his short-range Parrrley last-hitting lets you free-poke when he walks up. Level 2 is your spot: the Hyper third-hit move-speed proc and a Boomerang slow let you stick and chunk him while his only answer is a barrel and a melee-range Parrrley. By Level 3 the lane evens out — once he's storing barrel chains, every Parrrley detonation chips your fragile Mini body, and Remove Scurvy cleanses your Boomerang slow so you can't stick. Catch the Boomerang on its return for the cooldown refund and never sit next to a charging barrel.

Read the rest of this matchup

The full Gnar vs Gangplank report continues with the mid-game plan, the late-game and teamfight plan, every power spike to play around, and the win conditions for both sides — plus cooldown tracking and the live enemy-jungle tracker inside the app.

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Playing the other side? Gangplank vs Gnar guide →
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