[Champion] Gragas

(His name was change so "Cask master" wouldn't be confused with "Card Master")

Spam your skills and you get more sustain? Yespls. This passive lets him stay in lane a lot longer than most other champions. The heal isn't very noticeable until you start to spam your skills a lot, but over time you will notice the regen.

Long range harrass, decent damage plus great slow, awesome AP ratio. Basic core laning skill. I max this first. You can toss this in front of fleeing opponents to hit them as they try to escape, or throw it into a fight and slow the attack speed of the opponent AD carry. It is a fairly slow rolling barrel, so try to predict where the opponent will go before you throw it. Also factor in the split second that it doesn't allow you to explode the barrel after it stops moving. Once you get two dorans rings and level 4 in this skill, you can 1-shot the opponent caster minions, and 2-hit combo with your E on the melee minions.

Imo one of the best steorids in the game for tank or AD Gragas. For AP gragas, this is more used for the mana regen. This skill at level 3 is like a free BF sword, that also regens mana and reduces incoming damage. Awesome skill, one point at lvl 2, then Make the decision to max it second or last. The other half of Gragas's lane sustain. I used to prefer getting this maxed second, however since you are not building Tanky DPS or AD, you won't really need the bonus AD. The damage reduction is nice on level up, but not extremely noticeable. As of the Jayce patch, leveling this skill over your E is up to personal preference, considering E's speed does not increase with level any more.

Pretty usefull skill, can go through walls. Useful for escaping chasers. One point at 3 or 4 then make the judgement to max it second or last. Can be used as a second flash to get out of scary situations. This spell can go over most walls, although the thicker ones will still block it. Can use this to charge in and use your ultimate to initiate a fight. The higher rank in the spell, the faster and slightly longer it reaches, so I max it second for quick getaways in the midgame. This was changed in the Jayce patch, it now travels the same speed at every level. Lategame this skill will be on a 5 second cooldown with bluebuff, so don't be afraid to use it just to get around a little faster. This was slightly nerfed in the Late august patch, bringing the mana cost from 50 to 75.

Huge knockback, good damage. Great for fucking up teamfights, scattering chasers/opponents or seperating people from their team. Trolololo spell. Does incredible damage lategame, with a pretty low cooldown. Don't be afraid to use this skill to secure a kill, the cooldown at level 3 is less than a minute with over 25% CDR. If you are chasing an opponent who has flash or a blink skill, try to wait for them to use that spell/flash before using your ultimate. Too many times have opponents escaped by blinking at the right time and having a Gragas ultimate push them further to safety. This ultimate's cooldown was nerfed in the Late august patch, going from 90/75/60 to 100/90/80.

It is a tough lane for Gragas. You cannot get in range for a bodyslam combo without eating a face full of foxfire. Wait for her to use her cooldowns before trying to harrass, or just farm safely from afar with your barrels. At best you can farm from a far and maybe hit a few barrels, at worst she will constantly charm you and you will take a lot of damage. You can push her to her tower, but she is also an excellent farmer, so its kinda pointless. Make sure you call your MIAs, Ahri is extremely mobile and a good ganker.

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This lane is heavily in the favour of Gragas. While Akali doesn't use mana, she is still squishy and you can burst her down pretty quickly. All of your skills are non-targeted AoE so you can kill her even in her shroud (or knock her out of it), and if she goes for the kill on you, R+E creates enough distance to prevent her from Shadow dancing back to you. Play the lane agressive starting at 3, and never let her get in CS range without taking some damage. Consider early wards for the bushes or pink wards to avoid being ganked/see her in shroud.

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Anivia's Q travels fairly slow, so it should be easy to dodge. Just avoid her Qs and farm. When she hits 6 there is 0 chance you can outpush her, so clear the wave and gank. If you ever get her into egg form, take advantage by knocking her back towards you. The Egg can be moved by your ultimate, so if possible egg her with your other skills first. If you can, stay away from the creepwave so you don't get damaged by her RE combo. If the Anivia player is good at landing that combo, you will end up taking a lot of damage, so buy a few extra health pots and consider early MR in the form of Merc treads or Athenes.

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Annie is very annoying simply put. She will constantly harass you with QstunW, and her shield makes it hard to counterattack and trade. Her burst is equal to yours at level 6, she has a stun while you have a knockback. It is completely up to player skill and if Annie can consistently stun you with Q and harass with W. Ask for a jungler gank at 6 and try to burst her down before she can beardrop you. Lategame use your ultimate to counter-initiate after she uses hers to initiate a fight.

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This lane is more decided by player skill. If the Gragas player can dodge the Qs and Ws, he will win the lane. Be careful when getting close though, you don't want to take a point blank EQ and then the rest of his combo. Brand's CDs are fairly long, so when he uses his W to farm, you can try to be aggressive if you are confident. Otherwise, play it safe. Brand's power is mostly in early/mid game so just outlast him and reach the lategame. If he uses his ultimate on you, E AWAY from your minions to avoid letting the ultimate bounce between them and you.

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Against someone who knows how to play Cass, this is a really tough lane for Gragas. You are melee so you have no choice about getting close to the minions, and Cassiopeia will most likely land her Noxious blast on you. Try the best you can to avoid her poison and farm. Going in for the kill is really risky because of her ult, if you can time it right and flash behind her right as she ults, you can kill her, but that takes a lot of skill and timing. Lategame try to surprise her by jumping out of a bush and instabursting her before she can ult you. If you are good at remembering item actives, DFG can be extremely helpful for bursting in this matchup.

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Treat her the same way that you would treat Akali. She trades the defensive aspects of the shroud for a small shield and better farming. Play the lane agressive starting at 3, and never let her get in CS range without taking some damage. Gragas is fairly powerful in melee range, so if she uses her moonfall pull, throw everything you have at her.

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Eve was flavour of the month in the midlane until both her and DFG got nerfed, she brings great roaming and burst potential. Buy at least 1 pink ward per back, place it in lane. This is a very fast-paced midlane. When she is in lane pre-6, don't be afraid to trade damage, Eve is faily weak early on. However, once she gets her DFG and ultimate, you need to be careful and start farming from a far. Tell other lanes to get pink wards, because Eve will roam and go to burst down your allies (more likely bot than top). Either roam with her or push as hard as you can and tell other lanes to be careful. If you have the choice, don't pick Gragas in this match.

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Avoid this matchup matchup if possible. Fizz is just a bitch to deal with in general, he will Playful/Trickster your Qs and Rs, and since he can just walk through minions he can get out of the way of your E easily. He is also very bursty, but he depends on his ult to set up kills. Dodge the his ultimate, as it is a fairly slow moving skillshot. You will need some jungler help with this lane, try to get ganks early before Fizz gets his ultimate. When he Qs to you, return the favour by Body slamming him and if possible, throwing your Q.

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Farm. You can't kill him and unless you do something stupid he won't kill you. Dodge his Qs and farm. Without jungler interference, both of you should get farmed up. The only thing over Galio is better ganks when you start to roam, Your huge knockback trumps his aoe taunt. Help your bot/top lanes win because Galio will farm, and he will hurt lategame. Try to avoid getting taunted when teamfights start, Your ultimate is a good counter-initate against Galio's flash ultimate.

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Tough early, but gets easier when you are able to 1-shot his turrets with your barrels. Try to avoid hitting the turrets with your body slam, and farm. When he ults just disengage and wait for the upgrade to end. You can safely farm from a distance, and unless heimer has his turrets set up to kill all the minions, he has to stay at tower to farm. Gank, because heimer can't gank other lanes very well.

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This is actually a pretty good lane for Gragas. Karthus is really squishy earlyame, and will just die if you harrass him. Constantly force him out of lane and while he is back at base clear the wave and then gank/steal wraiths. If you see him channeling his ultimate, throw yours in and ruin his day. If the karthus is good at landing his Qs, you want to move in a different direction each time to make it harder for him to hit you. He should be trying to farm, you should try to stop him. This is one of the matchups I reccomend an early banshees veil.

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A squishy melee AP carry against a squishy melee anti-AP carry. Either swap with your Ranged AD or don't pick Gragas in this matchup. It is an extremely difficult lane for gragas post-6. Before Kassadin gets his ultimate, you can try to harrass with an EQ combo, but he will probably end up silencing you and giving you a void bitchslap if you charge at him. Post-6 just farm to the best of your abilities and stay away from Kassadin.

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Katarina is annoying in the right hands. Her constant Bouncing blade harass adds up over time, Sinister steel can punish you for charging into melee range and her Shunpo makes it difficult to harrass with Q. However, with good reaction times, you can punish her for shumpoing to you by quickly using your E followed up by Qs and autoattacks. Your ultimate stops hers, so be on your guard for a shumpo-ult combo and be ready to ult. In teamfights you can save your ultimate for when she ults, but good kats will wait until you use it. E away if possible to avoid damage.

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Kennen can be annoying for Gragas or an easy target, it depends on the opponent's playstyle. If the opponent EWs the minion wave to CS, he will constantly be getting into Melee range, allowing for a EQ combo. If he decides to farm with Q and autoattacks however, he can harrass you from afar and you may need to use barrels on harassing instead of CSing. He can dodge barrels pretty easily with his E, so its hard to harass. Farm and try to catch him out of position after he uses his E. An early hourglass is fairly useful in this matchup.

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She hurts. Consider switching with your toplane. If you have to play against her, play extremely safe early. Once you can instaclear waves with your barrel, Instaclear and gank another lane. LB has trouble CSing under tower, so shove it in her face every wave and go to gank/steal wraiths. If she starts roaming, make the judgement to push the tower or follow her and countergank. Pink wards may be helpful to prevent her using her passive to escape.

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Dodge her Bindings and harrass her. If she uses her shield, wait for it to return to her before going in so the first shield is wasted. E away from lazers. She has decent farming, so you can't just push her face in, but you can instaclear and then threaten with E, just be careful not to eat a binding to the face. Post-6, she can instaclear with enough AP, and can also gank from far away with a lazer, so you need to be on top of your MIAs. Your ultimate does not stop hers, so unlike some channeled abilities, the only way to stop it is killing her.

Replay Example: http://www.leaguereplays.com/replays/match/2585584/

Malzahar is very strong against Gragas (luckily he isn't extremely popular). Even with drunken rage on, Malefic visions hurt, and since you need to get in melee range of the minions he gets free shots at you and can ult easier. When he lays down his pool, E away ASAP, as he will probably try to ult you. Your E doesn't make enough distance to break the channel, so he will get the full suppression. Lategame, if your team lacks CC, build a QSS and if he ults someone else, use your ultimate to break his channel.

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Morgana is good at clearing idle waves, so instaclear and screw up her farming. Her ganks are even better than yours, so don't let her roam if you can. If she ults you, you should be able to RE to create enough distance to break the chains. Also, dodge her bindings. They are a slow skillshot so you should be able to E away in time. Bait black shields by dashing in and then just walking back. An early Hourglass helps you avoid a lot of damage in this matchup, but may set you up for easy bindings.

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Morde does the same thing that you do, instaclears waves then go ganks. Just do it better than him. If you don't kill him early, you probably won't kill him at all, his shield absorbs a lot of your barrel harrass. Lategame try to seperate him from your AD carry and take him out.

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Nidalee throws spears. Dodge them. Harrass while the cooldown on her spear is down. After level 6, its very unlikely that you can kill her, so keep farming and dodging. Like Leblanc, she has a hardish time farming under tower (assuming AP nidalee, AD nidalee farms like a boss), so shove it and gank. Not a lane gragas always wins, but he doesn't really lose either. She is difficult to chase, so be careful when using your ultimate on her, she may pounce in the wrong direction and get thrown to safety.

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Orianna has picked up in popularity after the season 2 world finals, and is still a very strong character. Her autoattacks carry an additional magic-based punch, so her AA harass will do more damage than your average opponent. Stay away from the ball and harrass/farm from afar. Try to stay away from your minions so she has to give up CSing to harrass. She has similar area control (her Q/Resonance combo is just like your Q, just a slow rather than aspeed slow), so just outskill her. If you manage to stay away from the ball, you should be able to win this lane. Wait until the ball is on the field rather than on her to ult, as you don't want to bring the ball to you for an easy shockwave from Orianna.

Replay Example:

Ryze is very strong against Gragas. His snare punishes you for dashing in, and since all of his spells are ranged and lock-on, he can freely harass you whenever he wants. His pre-6 laning is not as strong, and he has trouble CSing until he gets his tear/catalyst/ultimate, so shove early if you can. Post-6, dont even try to get anywhere near him. Clear the wave and gank, you won't beat ryze but you can still help your other lanes.

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Sion will be doing basically the same thing as you all game. Instaclearing waves and then going to gank. He just has a stun instead of a knockback. The one big difference is you can stop him from farming while he can't really do the same back. Try to pop his shield from afar so he can't stunshield combo you. AD sion is a completely different story, and should be treated differently. He has a weak earlygame, so crush his face in and don't let him near to farm. If the opponent Sion is AD, it is very important to shut him down early before he gets items and his level 2 ultimate.

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Swain is a tough lane for Gragas, his constant EQ and occasional Ws zone you off creeps. Pre-6 he has a bit of a hard time farming, so shove the lane the best you can. You really want to dodge his Ws, if he roots you say goodbye to at least half your health. His E will make him do even more damage to you, so when he uses torment back off. Post-6, wait until he turns his ultimate off to harrass, each time he toggles his ultimate off, you have an 6-8 second window to do as much damage as possible. Learn to abuse this window and you can possibly kill Swain. Ganks are nice in this matchup, but are risky because of Swain's W.

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Syndra is one of the other champions I play fairly often in the midlane. This matchup can be in the favour of Gragas depending on how agressive he is. Syndra has a problem with champions that can get in her face, so Dash in and Q before she knocks you back. Maxing W second in this lane will reduce a large potion of the damage from her ultimate (reduces damage from each individual sphere). Her range is fairly low, so go on the agressive and force her out of lane.

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Everyone hates Teemo. His consistant ranged harrass is annoying, and will add up over time. Push and gank, teemo can't really do either. Don't expect to win this lane, but do as much as you can to help your other two lanes win. Consider early pink wards to clear out mushrooms and make it easier for your jungler to gank / you to roam.

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Twisted Fate has the range advantage on you, which makes this already annoying matchup even more annoying. Gragas has a large hitbox so its hard to dodge wild cards. TF can freely harrass you with his pick a card and stacked deck. His ganks are also better than yours considering the fact he has a semi-global teleport and can completely ignore wards. He does everything you do better, and aside from facing a bad TF, you will probably lose this matchup.

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Veigar is basically the same thing as karthus, just he can instagib you at level 6. Try as hard as you can to stop him from farming, but don't get caught by his stun. You need to be smart with your agression. Try to ult him to you instead of dashing to him and then ulting, this gives him less time to react with a stun and lets you get right next to him without dashing through a stun. Also, gank more than he does. A Zhonya's Hourglass is a great purchase in this matchup.

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Viktor is fairly annoying to face in general, moreso for a Melee champion like Gragas. His Power transfer is good at preventing counterattacks (especially at higher ranks), his Gravity field will stun you if you try to charge in, and his Death ray Instaclears just as fast as you after level 7ish. Viktor outclasses Gragas in everything but two categories: Initation and Escaping. The cooldown on his W is quite long, so wait for him to waste that to go in for the kill, since he has no way to escape other than killing you.

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Vladimir gets annoying very fast, almost to the point of being as annoying as Fizz. Unless you manage to kill him before he buys a revolver, you probably won't kill him. Try to wait for his Sanguine pool to go on Cooldown before using your Q/R. His constant Targeted harrass will wear you down, so consider buying more health pots than normal and asking for the jungler to help often.

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Along with Kogmaw (and to some extent Ziggs), Xerath is one of the few champions that can outrange your abilities. Normally this would be a bit of a problem for Gragas, but in Xerath's case, he has to lock in place to get that range, and when an opponent champion is locked in place, it is very easy to hit them with skillshots. Do the best you can to dive dip duck dodge and dive around his skillshots while hitting yours on the locked down Xerath. When he begins to ult, You can try to use your own ultimate to push him out of range, or use your E to dash away.

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Ziggs is like a ranged you, so naturally he has the advantage. His Semi-global presence will pressure you and your teammates to play defensive. If he throws his Q at you, it is possible to body slam under the bomb and dodge it completely, but Gragas has a large hitbox so this takes careful timing. Wait for him to use his satchel charge to go in for the kill.

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I haven't had much experience against Zilean mid, if you have any criticism on this matchup, please leave a comment or PM me.

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She is similar to Heimer in a way, although currently she is played more as a support character rather than mid. Many consider Gragas to be one of the best counters to her, but the early levels are a bit tough. Her snare is fairly scary, E away if you have the reaction time when she casts it. If she uses her ultimate on you, you can use yours to knock her out of the area and then dash out yourself.

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VS.
Khazix has incredible burst when you are isolated from your minions. This is one of the matchups you might want to stay in the safety of your creep wave.

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Lee sin mid has been popularized by some EU players recently, although I have no experience facing it. Any insight would be appreciated.

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Talon is built to screw with AP carrys like you. He will jump in, QW you and then ult, either running away or finishing off his combo by AAing again. As soon as the silence ends, you need to EQ him and possibly ult. You will take a lot of damage in this matchup, you need to play safe and hug your tower. Call for jungle ganks and try to bait out his cuttthroat. If all else fails, swap with your top laner. Consider early pink wards.

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