Nautilus vs Gangplank — Top Lane Matchup Guide

How to win lane as Nautilus against Gangplank · 41.67% win rate over 24 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27

Verdict: Closer than it looks — Nautilus owns 3 of the 7 game windows to Gangplank's 2, but the win rate still favours Gangplank: you have to convert those windows or the game slips away. Nautilus wins 41.67% of games vs Gangplank in top lane (24 Emerald+ games analysed).

Favour timeline — who owns each window

StageFavouredWhy
Level 1Even / skillLevel 1 is even — I have no W/E all-in yet, but my passive root makes a step-up auto-trade favorable if he walks to a barrel.
Level 2NautilusAt 2 my W shield-burn and charged autos out-bully his single barrel before his crit poke ramps.
Level 3NautilusAt 3 my full Q-pull into passive-root into E-slow combo locks an escape-less GP and wins every short trade.
Levels 4-5Even / skillLevels 4-5 are a coin-flip on his W timer — I zone barrels with E, but a cleansed hook means nothing, so it's skill.
Level 6NautilusDepth Charge is undodgeable: I R a stepped-up GP, chain Q+E, and that lockup kills him before items — my peak window.
First itemGangplankHis Sheen and first crit piece make barrel-Q poke shred me from range while his W cleanse resets fast enough to break my chain.
Two+ itemsGangplankFull-crit GP one-shots with barrels, cleanses my whole CC chain on demand, and presses global R — my tank damage can't kill him.

Early game (levels 1–5)

Level 1 is roughly even — without W or E I have no all-in, but my passive root makes a quick auto-trade favorable if he steps up to plant a barrel. The lane flips at 2 and 3: once W's shield-burn and E's shockwaves are online I land Dredge Line, the passive roots him on the follow-up auto, and E slows him so he can't walk it off. The one trick that decides everything is his W — if I hook before he can cleanse, the pull and root stick; if he has W up, my whole combo evaporates, so bait it or commit when it's down.

Read the rest of this matchup

The full Nautilus 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 Nautilus guide →
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