AP GP - 600HP Oranges Every 7 Seconds
StandardGangplank Top by DirtyDard — updated Jul 29, 2026
It's K
Item Build
Starting Items
you start with 475g
Crystalline Flask is the best starting item for Gangplank. You will lean on its mana recovery for a large part of the game.
Core Build
Our goal with this build is to achieve 40% cooldown reduction as quickly as possible in order to haveRemove Scurvy (W) and Cannon Barrage (R) available as often as possible. With AP these abilities become incredibly powerful.
Morellonomicon and Ionian Boots of Lucidity alonside our masteries get us to 40% early in the game.
Lich Bane keeps our Parrrley (Q) threatening while providing early game damage and mana with 
Sheen.
Liandry's Torment has great synergy with Grog-Soaked Blade (P) and Cannon Barrage (R), ensuring that our enemies always take the full slow-empowered burn. This item helps us compensate for Gangplank's lack of AP ratios.
Early Items
Sheen is Gangplank's best first item. The damage it provides will keep Gangplank threatening enough to scale into his core items.
Buy Lucky Pick next and sit on it until you finish Ionian Boots of Lucidity.
Flex Items
Shushei's Mana Jug can replace Morellonomicon against teams with heavy magic damage. Resistances are very powerful with Remove Scurvy (W) healing.
Iceborn Gauntlet provides a lot less damage than Lich Bane, but makes Gangplank considerably tankier. You can skip Ionian Boots of Lucidity and take more CDR in masteries if you buy this item.
Seeker's Armguard is a good buy against physical damage dealers. Finish Zhonya's Hourglass fourth or fifth.
Rabadon's Deathcap is the usual fourth item, but can be purchased as a third item over Liandry's Torment for extreme scurvy removal.
Example Full Build
"Well, blow me down!"
Summoner Spells
Teleport is the most consistent. We need to get to Morellonomicon and Lich Bane and this helps.
Ignite or Exhaust make you much more threatening early on, at risk of falling behind.
Skill Order
(Q)›(W)›(E)| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q | Q | Q | Q | Q | |||||||||||||
| W | W | W | W | W | |||||||||||||
| E | E | E | E | E | |||||||||||||
| R | R | R |
Max Parrrley (Q) first. It's Gangplank's bread and butter.
Max Remove Scurvy (W) second to leverage AP investment.
Runes
Standard Runes
9× Mark of Attack Damagemark
9× Seal of Scaling Armorseal
9× Glyph of Scaling Ability Powerglyph
3× Quintessence of Ability Powerquint
Flat AD early game Runes
- 9× Mark of Attack Damagemark
9× Seal of Healthseal- 9× Glyph of Scaling Ability Powerglyph
3× Quintessence of Attack Damagequint
AD marks are for early lane power. AP GP can't afford to fall behind.
Scaling armour seals synergize with massive Remove Scurvy (W) healing.
Scaling AP is better than flat AP because Gangplank doesn't make good use of it until he has Cannon Barrage (R) and Lich Bane.
AP quints help compensate for the low AP on core items.
Alternatively, take full flat AD and health runes with Ignite to solo kill your opponent early.
Masteries
3/4
1/2
4/4
1/1
1/1
3/3
3/3
3/3
4/4
1/1
1/1
2/2
1/1
1/3
1/1The Utility tree synergizes well with our plan to scale into core items.
The Offense tree doesn't provide enough value to the AP playstyle and with Utility investment we get the 5% or 10% cooldown reduction we need to hit the 40% cap.
Why play AP?
You're not sure where the enemy team is, but you think they've just started Baron. You ping your team to action. They caution ping you to stay away, but you face check anyway. 
Annie Flash stuns you with 
Summon: Tibbers (R) dropping you to 14 health.
"I ain't got me ground legs yet, landlubber!"
You press Remove Scurvy (W), instantly cleansing the stun and healing 1000 health. The whole enemy team is half dead fighting Baron Nashor. You drop Cannon Barrage (R) over the mouth of the pit. They scramble to escape, but it's too late. Three cannon balls land on 
Sona's head, killing her instantly. 
Cho'Gath takes a fatal blow from Baron under the withering fire. 
Ezreal tries to 
Arcane Shift (E) over the wall, but your Lich Bane empowered Parrrley (Q) follows him, dealing 600 damage and sending him back to the fountain. 
Lee Sin marks you with Sonic Wave, but as he travels towards you, you activateZhonya's Hourglass. As he stands waiting for your stasis to end, he too falls, taking fatal damage from Cannon Barrage (R).
Annie runs for her life, but you give chase, slowing her with Grog-Soaked Blade (P). As her health bar ticks down, she makes one last attempt to kill you, but it's K. Remove Scurvy (W) is already back off cooldown and you laugh as the last tick of Liandry's Torment finishes her off.
PENTAKILL
Pros & Cons
PROS
Game changing global ultimate
Can split push and still contribute to team fights
Hard to kill
Late game scaling
Fun and unique playstyle
CONS
Requires gold and core items
Low damage output without
Cannon Barrage (R) Poor duelist
Very bad if playing from behind
Struggles against healing reduction like
Death Lotus (R) or Morellonomicon
How to play AP GP
Once AP Gangplank has level 11 and two items he becomes very annoying for the opposing team to deal with.
Your goal as AP GP is to never have a fair fight. Bait your opponents into disadvantageous positions.
Play around your Remove Scurvy (W), kiting in and out of fights according to how soon it'll be back up. AP GP has a dull sword. Stay out of melee range and rely on your pistol.
Allow your opponents to waste cooldowns on you, knowing you'll heal the damage. Your healing is useless when you are full HP.
Use your low health to bait opponets into over-stepping so that your teammates can punish them.
Pull the enemy team into choke points and drop Cannon Barrage (R) on them while your team collapses.
Allow the enemy to commit to an engage on your team, then Cannon Barrage (R) them once there is no way out.
Push the side lane, while contributing to the dragon fight with Cannon Barrage (R).
Fight with your team at Baron, while clearing the bottom lane wave with Cannon Barrage (R) to prevent 
Jax from split pushing.
Play around your team. You will probably lose any fair 1v1 unless they stand in your Cannon Barrage (R).
Comments (2)
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yum oranges
2 found this helpful
"Three cannon balls land on Sona's head, killing her instantly." Sounds like a good time, sign me up!
2 found this helpful