Gragas · Top

Gragas Laning Guide

Laning phaseData-drivenMediumPatch 16.19.1

268Updated 3 hours ago

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This guide is assembled by the site from match data and the game's own information — nobody wrote it by hand. Official and community guides appear alongside it when they exist.

Overview

Top is an island: few ganks, long trades and a lot of wave management. Freeze the wave near your tower when you're weaker and push it when you want to roam or recall. Early, fight for tower plates and help your jungler with Herald or grubs when your wave is pushed.

Strengths

Sustain from Happy Hour.
Very durable: Riot rates it 7/10 in defense.
Crowd control: Body Slam applies a stun to set up kills.

Weaknesses

Melee range: ranged opponents can poke it in lane.
No dash or blink in the kit: vulnerable to ganks without vision.

Build cheat sheet

Pick the build that fits what you want to do this game.

Lane buildBalancedRecommendedHow to open: starting items, then the components of Dusk and Dawn on your first backs, and boots when the lane allows.
Standard buildBalancedAdvancedThe default path: Dusk and Dawn, Cosmic Drive and Morellonomicon give the health, attack speed and ability power this class relies on. Pick it when you have no reason to adapt. Built from Riot's item tags and the champion's class; Riot publishes no build statistics.

Builds

Lane build

BalancedRecommended

Open build

When to use it

How to open: starting items, then the components of Dusk and Dawn on your first backs, and boots when the lane allows.

Where it's played

Picked before the game: the main lane first, then the alternatives.

Summoner's RiftRed side · bottom leftBlue side · top right

TopMain100% of matches
MidPriority 2
JunglePriority 3

Starting items

Doran's RingHealth, mana regeneration and ability power.Health PotionHealth regeneration.

Early game

SheenOn-hit effects and ability haste.Blasting WandAbility power.KindlegemHealth and ability haste.DaggerAttack speed.

Core items

1Dusk and Dawn

Boots

Sorcerer's Shoes

Runes

Primary· Precision

Secondary· Resolve

Shards

Summoner spells

Flash
Teleport

Abilities

Happy HourPassiveGragas periodically heals upon using a skill.
QBarrel Roll10/9/8/7/6s80 mpGragas rolls his cask to a location, which can be activated to explode or will explode on its own after 4 seconds. The potency of the explosion increases over time. Enemies struck by the blast have their Move Speed slowed.
Cooldown
10·9·8·7·6
Cost
80
Range
850
WDrunken Rage5s30 mpGragas samples his latest brew for 1 second. After finishing, he becomes boisterous and belligerent, dealing magic damage to all nearby enemies on his next basic attack and reducing damage received.
Cooldown
5
Cost
30
Range
20
EBody Slam14/13.5/13/12.5/12s50 mpGragas charges to a location and collides with the first enemy unit he comes across, dealing damage to all nearby enemy units and stunning them.
Cooldown
14·13.5·13·12.5·12
Cost
50
Range
600
Basic ability — applies a stun and hits an area. Save it for priority targets or to interrupt a channel.
RExplosive CaskUltimate100/85/70s100 mpGragas hurls his cask to a location, dealing damage and knocking back enemies caught in the blast radius.
Cooldown
100·85·70
Cost
100
Range
1000
Ultimate — hits an area. Plan your fights around its cooldown.

Strategy

1Starting and early items

The first items decide how comfortable the lane is. The lane build below lists them with what each one gives you.

Key early items: Sheen and Blasting Wand.

2Trading

Short trades win lanes: hit, use one ability and step back before the enemy's full combo comes back. The kit brings crowd control (stun) with Body Slam and sustain with Happy Hour.

3Wave management

Freeze the wave near your tower when you're weaker, slow push before a back and crash the wave when you want to roam or take a plate.

4Early objectives

Early, fight for tower plates and help your jungler with Herald or grubs when your wave is pushed. Your spikes are level 6, when Explosive Cask comes online, and each completed item: Dusk and Dawn first, then Cosmic Drive.

Tips

Short trades win lanes: hit, use one ability and step back before the enemy's full combo comes back.
Sheen is your first purchase that changes the lane: get it early.
Use Body Slam in lane only when your partner or jungler can follow.
The damage reduction from Drunken Rage is applied when you start drinking, try to use it when you see damage coming your way.
Early, fight for tower plates and help your jungler with Herald or grubs when your wave is pushed.

Matchups

Strong against

Gnar
Gragas starts with 640 health and 38 armour against Gnar's 540 and 32: the early trades are already won on paper.
Camille
Body Slam (stun) lets Gragas pin Camille down before The Hextech Ultimatum gets them out.
Fiora
Body Slam (stun) lets Gragas pin Fiora down before Lunge gets them out.

Weak against

Cho'Gath
Feral Scream silences Gragas, whose damage comes from abilities.
Garen
Decisive Strike silences Gragas, whose damage comes from abilities.
Heimerdinger
Heimerdinger attacks from 550 units and Gragas from 125, with no dash in the kit to close the gap.