Gragas guide: Wrecking with the Rabble Rouser

Gragas is one of League’s most versatile champions, showing up in almost every role as a regular pick. He can body slam and drink his way into your heart if you let him, which you should. Unless you play ADC, you will certainly get a chance to play the Fat-Man at his peak levels. Even though Gragas is frustratingly powerful, he is one of the most fun characters in the game.

If you want to learn how to roll kegs into your enemies with maximum efficiency, look no further.

The Build

Start

• Hunter’s Talisman
• Refillable Potion

Boots

• Ninja Tabi

Build

With Gragas, we want to build as much tank as we possibly can. Gragas is just one of those champions that has way too much base damage on his abilities, so in the current meta we are looking at a world where he needs virtually no AP items to do damage. Our staple here is going to be Spirit Visage, which will increase Gragas’ self healing by a ton, helping us stay in fights longer.

• Chilling Smite - Cinderhulk
• Gargoyle’s Stoneplate
• Spirit Visage
• Dead Man’s Plate
• Thornmail

Ability Maxing

1. Explosive Cask (R)
2. Barrel Roll (Q)
3. Body Slam (E)
4. Drunken Rage (W)

Runes and Masteries

For runes on Gragas we want to grab nine magic pen Marks, nine MR Glyphs, nine armor Seals and three AP Quints.

Champion.gg

On the Mastery side, we want to put 18 points into Resolve, so we can keep ourselves tanky while dishing out mad damage. Because of this, we want to grab Courage of the Colossus. Finally, place the final 12 points into Ferocity.

Champion.gg

The Kit

Passive - Happy Hour

Every time Gragas uses and ability he takes a swig from his barrel, healing for a portion of his max health.

This passive doesn’t actually require you to do much. Just know that if you are casting abilities, you are healing. While this passive will mostly just happen to you, don’t forget to drink up if you are poisoned or burning, even if there is not enemy to strike, it may just save your life.

Q - Barrel Roll

Gragas rolls a barrel to a target location. Once it reaches its destination, the barrel will begin to rattle and ferment. After a few seconds or when Gragas re-activates the ability, the barrel will explode, slowing and dealing damage to all nearby enemies. The longer it sits the more powerful the damage and slow from the explosion will be.

This is your main form of damage on Gragas. Whether you are ganking, clearing minions or farming camps, throw this out and let it sit for as long as possible. Once your enemy is about to move out of range of the barrel, detonate it. If you detonate the second it gets into range, you will lose a lot of damage. Just be sure not to detonate too eagerly unless you don’t need the damage or your target will flee too quickly otherwise.

W - Drunken Rage

Gragas takes a massive drink from his barrel, silencing himself for a quick second but reducing damage taken. Once he is done drinking, his next basic attack will deal extra damage to his target and an area around them.

This ability is great for jungle clearing or Gragas mids with Lich Bane. While it is important to use to mitigate some damage, the main function here is dealing the deathblow to whoever needs it around you. The extra damage put out from this particular ability is no joke and will surprise your foe more often than not. Use that damage to your advantage and go into a Drunken Rage as often as possible.

E - Body Slam

Gragas heaves his body in a target direction, stopping whenever he collides with an enemy, dealing damage to them, knocking them up and briefly stunning them. This effect happens in an area around the collision as well. The cooldown for Body Slam is reduced if Gragas hits an enemy.

You may read that and think “holy cow that sounds powerful.” If you said that, you get a gold star because Body Slam may be one of the most powerful basic abilities in the game. As Gragas you are able to throw yourself into engages, interrupt movement and deal heavy damage to whoever you please. Body Slam is very simple to use and very powerful, just dash your way to victory.

R - Explosive Cask

Gragas throws his barrel to a targeted location. When it lands, it explodes, dealing damage and pushing all nearby enemies away from the explosion.

Explosive Cask is a very powerful ultimate ability and grants Gragas phenomenal engage and disengage potential. By throwing this cask on the far side of an enemy, you are able to push them into you and your team, while throwing it on the nearside pushes enemies away from you. While this sounds fairly simple (and it is) it takes a great deal of practice to get perfectly. Jump into normals games with Gragas and try and get your angles perfect, otherwise you may end up bumming your teammates out.

The Verdict

What is there to say about Gragas aside from shouting to the universe about how simultaneously OP and fun he is to play? On one hand, Gragas is perfect and one of the champions that really stands out on the League roster. He is just so damn fun and useful. On the other hand, he can take over a game in a incredibly frustrating way and he offers little to no counter-play. It is a conundrum that has plagued Rioters for years now. But how can you kill something so fun and interesting?

Jump into Gragas and have a blast, but if you aren’t gonna play him, ban him. Thank me later.