[New Champion] Gnar Discussion Thread!

[Julian]

What are your thoughts on the new champion Gnar, the Missing Link? Below I'll post an IRC log of me and Connor talking about his viability. It should give you a good idea of how I feel about him after a game playing him (I know, I plan on playing many more to give a very good idea on his viability in this meta.

IRC Log:

[Kelly]

Waiting for roughly six-seven months worth of updates to install for my League client, but very eager to try him as well as the other newer Support champ (for the life of me can't think of his name, starts with a B I believe)

Also, y'all discussed Gnar as top or ADC, but what about med lane? Humor me I'm slightly out of the loop still  

[Julian]

Braum

I'm not sure how he would do Mid. I'd have to try it before being sure, but I'd assume he would could get poked out by most bursty champs since he is so squishy early and in Mini Gnar form. If you play safe and catch your q's, I'm sure you could not get sh*t on

[Kelly]

Braum,yes that's it!! God was wracking my brain.. ;_;

True, best options probably to treat em like an ADC. He'd get wrecked up top by heavy duty camps, and probably be unlikely for med with so so possible vsing med laners, though if experienced enough can probably make it.

[piramatrix]

well he looks kinda cute :p i'll try him out as soon as i have the time to play some LOL

[Heartstop123]

Haven't played In at least a week, I have been getting back into 07. But I saw that he came out, I heard he is actually very balanced and he is only good if played by someone who knows how to play him. I also heard botrk is the only item you NEED for damage but most builds  I have seen are straight damage rather than bruiser / tank

EDIT: just played a game with gnar in it. he just afk farmed the whole game. literally, didn't even go to teamfights.. they still beat us though

[Brutal Swede]

I haven't played him myself but from what ive seen he seems like a pretty bad champion, or maybe its just because people havent learned how to play him yet

[Woah Rand]

In my personal view gnar is not a strong champ. Right now he/she/it is pretty balanced but is not with the current meta. The current meta is bruiser tank and gnar fits tht if u start bork then full tank after but the dmg compared to a nid or mao or irelia just doesnt match. Then tank wise gnar is pretty good but i just think he is not a priority pick in a game. Or i might just b saying this cause i suck as gnar but i could not win lane as him

[Smugleaf]

Not sure what to think of him yet. However from what i've heard he has base defensive as mini gnar are comparable to that of sona along with pretty bad range (400 that scales up to 500 I believe?) I'd imagine he'd get dumped on top lane to most "Meta" ranged tops. Particularly ryze because I don't believe he has any MR per lvl. However I never played him before (although i do plan to buy him and play him nonstop.)

Regarding him being in other roles that aren't top i'd imagine his weaknesses would be VERY apparent in other lanes. Mid/adc he'd be massively outranged, that and he has to melee which is very bad for a carry. Jungle, his low base defensive stats as mini gnar and lack of innate sustain would probably mean he would get shit on by the camps and his ganks would be unreliable unless certain very specific situations were met. As for support I find he would be too vulnerable to all ins. If they all in him/his adc as mini gnar he has no cc to do anything. There's always mega gnar but I doubt a lot of people would want to get in melee range of that thing.

On another note he's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[Julian]

For those who say "he's not in the meta" or "he's a bad champ" think about Lucian. When he first came out, he was considered useless, then someone realized he's not. I think Gnar has HUGE potential if you build him right. I think bork is kinda not that needed. I agree the life steal is a bonus, but I'd go vamp if i really need extra ls. Ie is SO strong on him its not even funny.

[KMV]

For those who say "he's not in the meta" or "he's a bad champ" think about Lucian. When he first came out, he was considered useless, then someone realized he's not. I think Gnar has HUGE potential if you build him right. I think bork is kinda not that needed. I agree the life steal is a bonus, but I'd go vamp if i really need extra ls. Ie is SO strong on him its not even funny.

Tank Gnar will 100% be played in the LCS or at least attempted to be run by someone. He has very good enhanced damage and to be honest I think all you really need on that champion is a bork and then straight tank. Hes like a Nidalee and Shyvanna combined merely because of how versital Gnar is. As for some of the item builds, IE on Gnar sure he can do ok with it in range for but, in melee form that item is essentially dead weight as his movespeed sucks and he will get kited and IE on champions that get kited is not worth because of cost. I do agree with Triforce being good on him because, his melee form needs the MS. By far I think the 1 Lifesteal Item + straight tank is best for actual team play but, in solo queue you can get away with going straight damage.

[Woah Rand]

For those who say "he's not in the meta" or "he's a bad champ" think about Lucian. When he first came out, he was considered useless, then someone realized he's not. I think Gnar has HUGE potential if you build him right. I think bork is kinda not that needed. I agree the life steal is a bonus, but I'd go vamp if i really need extra ls. Ie is SO strong on him its not even funny.

Tank Gnar will 100% be played in the LCS or at least attempted to be run by someone. He has very good enhanced damage and to be honest I think all you really need on that champion is a bork and then straight tank. Hes like a Nidalee and Shyvanna combined merely because of how versital Gnar is. As for some of the item builds, IE on Gnar sure he can do ok with it in range for but, in melee form that item is essentially dead weight as his movespeed sucks and he will get kited and IE on champions that get kited is not worth because of cost. I do agree with Triforce being good on him because, his melee form needs the MS. By far I think the 1 Lifesteal Item + straight tank is best for actual team play but, in solo queue you can get away with going straight damage.

Not in the 2014 lcs, mayb one of the asian teams will try it out but i dont c na or eu using gnar, after playing him more i feel he can be viable if you get mobile like u said, triforce i think would be good but hard to use as its a very expensive item and if u fall behind early u will have 0 tank and b in the middle of triforce. I think the classic sunfire cape would be good as a first item and triforce 3rd item or maby just get phage for movement. Also i was just attempted bloodthirster on gnar and tht seemed to work out better than bork, it worked pretty well with the shield gotten from the range attacks. And str8 attack in soloq i tried when my team fell behind to carry but it didnt work out tht well. Gnar is very very strong all dmg but not hyper carry power.

[KMV]

For those who say "he's not in the meta" or "he's a bad champ" think about Lucian. When he first came out, he was considered useless, then someone realized he's not. I think Gnar has HUGE potential if you build him right. I think bork is kinda not that needed. I agree the life steal is a bonus, but I'd go vamp if i really need extra ls. Ie is SO strong on him its not even funny.

Tank Gnar will 100% be played in the LCS or at least attempted to be run by someone. He has very good enhanced damage and to be honest I think all you really need on that champion is a bork and then straight tank. Hes like a Nidalee and Shyvanna combined merely because of how versital Gnar is. As for some of the item builds, IE on Gnar sure he can do ok with it in range for but, in melee form that item is essentially dead weight as his movespeed sucks and he will get kited and IE on champions that get kited is not worth because of cost. I do agree with Triforce being good on him because, his melee form needs the MS. By far I think the 1 Lifesteal Item + straight tank is best for actual team play but, in solo queue you can get away with going straight damage.

Not in the 2014 lcs, mayb one of the asian teams will try it out but i dont c na or eu using gnar, after playing him more i feel he can be viable if you get mobile like u said, triforce i think would be good but hard to use as its a very expensive item and if u fall behind early u will have 0 tank and b in the middle of triforce. I think the classic sunfire cape would be good as a first item and triforce 3rd item or maby just get phage for movement. Also i was just attempted bloodthirster on gnar and tht seemed to work out better than bork, it worked pretty  well with the shield gotten from the range attacks. And str8 attack in soloq i tried when my team fell behind to carry but it didnt work out tht well. Gnar is very very strong all dmg but not hyper carry power.

Gnar will be enabled by the group stages of worlds so teams can plan to use him for that. If it is found he is more viable in the jungle then sure straight tank all the way. If it is top lane 95% will get at least 1 damage item 1st whether it be bork, triforce, and possibly even static shiv like Korean nidalees and top lane alistars seen in competitive.

[fishingman71]

I personally feel that gnar has a lot of potential, but at the same time I dont know wether to build his tanky, or damagy? If you build him damage, he isnt as usefull in mega gnar form. If you build tanky, he isnt very useful in little gnar form

[Heartstop123]

So gnar has the lowest win rate this month and one of the highest pick rates... So ban gnar if you want to win

[KMV]

I personally feel that gnar has a lot of potential, but at the same time I dont know wether to build his tanky, or damagy? If you build him damage, he isnt as usefull in mega gnar form. If you build tanky, he isnt very useful in little gnar form

Let me put it this way if you go 2 damage items and you aren't abolsutely shitting on your lane you are pretty useless mid game. Also, on a side note Gnars win rate is at a 38.5% win rate which is even lower then Vel'koz's win rate in his 1st couple days. If it were possible to stay in his range form you very well could build straight damage and do fine. As far as I'm concerned either no one in NA has any idea how to play this champion and have to wait for the Koreans to show people how to play it right or he is just isn't OP.

[Heartstop123]

I think the key to playing this champ well is positioning. You build 2/3 damage items and the rest tank items and try to stay back until you about to transform then vault in and wreck havoc on their back line while big

[KMV]

I think the key to playing this champ well is positioning. You build 2/3 damage items and the rest tank items and try to stay back until you about to transform then vault in and wreck havoc on their back line while big

It would be easier for a Darius to do that then Mega Gnar. His MS is so bad in his mega form any adc with half a brain could easily kite it out.

[Heartstop123]

I think the key to playing this champ well is positioning. You build 2/3 damage items and the rest tank items and try to stay back until you about to transform then vault in and wreck havoc on their back line while big

It would be easier for a Darius to do that then Mega Gnar. His MS is so bad in his mega form any adc with half a brain could easily kite it out.

true, but if mega gnar lands in front of your adc then it's stun ult throw-a-house auto dead. He has cc for days and that is something Darius just doesn't have

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