---

---

▲ Back to Top

● I recently started playing the game again after a year, in Season 12 I was in top 3k global with Gnar. With this guide I want to show how Gnar builds and performs. ● Gnar has better AD scaling in most of his abilities. Mejai's Soulstealer might seem awkward because of this, but if you are ahead, there is simply no better way to get easy ability power and utilise your Hyper and GNAR! so I wanted to show how a hybrid build benefit Gnar so greatly. Plus you get movement speed after 10 stacks which is very useful for kiting.

▲ Back to Top




▲ Back to Top

Play Video Play Video

P - Rage Gene Gnar has a unique resource bar instead of mana or energy. It stores his rage. Both attacking and taking damage from any source generates rage. Higher the damage higher the rage. He transforms into Mega Gnar at 100 rage. Gnar gets his W speed bonus when he transforms into mini form, and he gets tired which makes him unable to gain rage for 15 seconds. Gnar's passive also grants him seperate raw stats for both forms. This means Gnar actually grows in attack range (along with other stats) each level which is suprisingly something a lot of people don't know. Rage management is a hard concept. You would have to plan ahead with fights, freeze lanes to preserve rage and inform your teammates as much as possible while doing so.

Q - Boomerang Throw / Boulder Toss Mini Gnar: Gnar throws his boomerang deals physical damage, reducing with each enemy hit. Returns after it hits an enemy or when it reaches it's range. Gnar can pick it up to get a nice reduction on this cooldown, the boomerang continues until it reaches it's indicated spot on your screen. Mega Gnar: Throws a boulder instead of a boomerang, the boulder does a splash damage and it can too be picked up. Gnar can pick boulders up even after transforming and vice versa. This ability can be used to steal objectives or snipe low enemy targets. The boomerang will always return to your current position or if you are currently moving: where you are going to be once it returns to you after it hits an enemy or reaches it's max range, it's when the boomerang reveals a trail of where it's going to go. You can use Flash whilst winding up Mega Gnar's boulder toss animation.

Play Video Play Video

Play Video Play Video

W - Hyper / Wallop Mini Gnar: Gnar's every ability or auto that damages a unit will leave a mark on it. At 3 marks the marks pop and deal magic damage based on the enemies max health and grant Gnar a burst of movement. Gnar will also recieve this boost when he's transforming into mini form. Mega Gnar: Gnar smashes the ground deals physical damage and stuns all enemies hit, he actually smashes so hard that hard cc cannot stop it. Mini gnar counters tanks with percentage damage with this ability. It also has a 100% AP percentage, making AP Gnar viable.

E - Hop / Crunch Mini Gnar: Gnar hops on the ground or anything that he can hop to. You can even use flash after the second hop to make it longer. He also gains a burst of attack speed Mega Gnar: Gnar hops and start his mega form early using E while transporting. Gnar crunches in his mega form, dealing a big splash damage and slowing enemies on landing. Mini gnar can hop from Ally units, Enemy units, Shaco boxes, Heimer turrets and Zyra plants Mini Gnar's E can be used to damage towers faster, just make sure you know where the enemy is, so you don't lose your only escape tool.

Play Video Play Video

Play Video

R - GNAR! Mini Gnar: Increases your W passive. Mega Gnar: Gnar knocks all enemies a fixed amount, slowing them. Every enemy that contacts a wall also get stunned. This ability gets very low cooldown especially with level 11 and 16. Gnar is actually unindicatedly unstoppable for just a small, brief window of time while his arms are in the air. This is super hard to pull of though.

Play Video

▲ Back to Top



With abilities out of the way, how does one self actually play Gnar?

If you hear anybody talking about Gnar it would be that he is hard to play, but actually only one mechanic is hard to master with Gnar and that is Anger Management so lets just start with that and tackle tricky Gnar concepts!

I wont be going over obvious stuff like "throw your Q in lane to poke!"

More gameplay clips to show how to play is coming soon.

Anger Management

How would you react if someone came up to you and punched you in your face for no reason? You would be furious, let's say you both get into a fight, would you feel less furious as time goes on or would the adrenaline instead your body make you even angrier? Well, that is what it's like playing Gnar. You have to first read 300 real life books about anger management and come back.

Jokes aside, dealing damage when needed is the best way to make sure you transform to start a teamfight, not transform late and die in the middle of it or even worse get flamed for not ulting because they don't know how you work!

As you gain more damage, it gets much more easier to transform. Gnar is effected by how much damage is dealt or recieved rather than how many instances. This is why anger management gets easier as time goes on.

If your jungler is going to gank or you want to engage in your lane, try to do that once you have 85 to 90 fury so you can transform just in time to stun the enemy.

But what if you transform just in time yet the enemy is able to flash in time to get away, let's learn some animation cancelling for Gnar!

Animation Cancelling & Faster Abilities

Gnar has a bread and butter ability when it comes to anim cancelling and that is Hop, no not Crunch, I will only be going over hop.

He used to have more animation cancelling but it was later patched so I won't be documenting those, and I won't be documenting those that don't really serve a purpose.

Fast Q Throw

Right after hopping over a unit, you can use Boomerang Throw to poke and slow enemies and chase them effectively. This is very useful when trying to catch a lone enemy off-guard. Even after they try to get away with dash, your slow may still lead to kill. This is performed best with a teammate since after you slow your target, they can dish out additional damage to finish the job.

This is not possible the first part of your hop though you can only perform right after landing on your initial target/ally. To throw fast boomerangs evertime, try to spam Boomerang Throw right after using Hop. The boomerang will go as soon as possible.

This is possible when transforming too. Gnar will pickup a boulder from the air.

Unexpected Boulder Toss

While in your Boulder Toss animation, you can use Flash to extend or strafe your boulder away, but you can't change your boulder's direction. The boulder animation is not shortened but if timed well, it can launch as soon as you flash, making it very hard to dodge.

This is useful when trying to kill a low health enemy that is further from your boulder range. Some enemies will think they are safe and die before they can flash.

Mobile Recall

Just like the fast Q throw, right after hopping from a target you can Recall to base. Your hop will behave as normal, landing you where you should be but you will be mobile while basing with this method!

Wave Managing Tools

Your GNAR! ability gets extremely low on cooldown with levels, though without lots of Ability Haste you cannot use 2 ultimates in one transformation.

This however, is useful when managing your lane. Your ultimate has the ability to drag minions as well, allowing you to effectively control where your enemy farms.

Use GNAR! in line when you are sure there is no play potential.

Knocking minions further will make your minions travel more and possibly die before the enemy laner can get any gold or exp.



▲ Back to Top



All available runes that work with Gnar are shown as selected.





Grasp of the Undying is the best keystone for Gnar. Precision keystones performed well with him before, but with the changes to Fleet Footwork I decided to retire it since I had zero fun playing with it.

On lower elos, I recommend instead taking Bone Plating since nobody knows how to play against it.

And no, Revitalize DOESN'T work with Gnar. You gain health when transforming, not healing.





Hail of Blades is suited against hard tanks. With it you can easily proc your W. It is an alternative route for Gnar and pairs well with Trinity Force as extra attack speed comes in with more damage.

I would recommend going with Sudden Impact if you believe in your teammates and know they will engage once you engage with your ultimate.

Again, on lower elos, I recommend instead taking Bone Plating since nobody knows how to play against it.



▲ Back to Top

Now good again. Fit for most matchups.

➕ Built with Tiamat which is good for laning ➕ 120% base gold efficiency

Attack speed pairs extremely well with Hyper and provides free hybrid damage. Trinity is overall well rounded.

➕ Unexpected burst damage ➕ 130% base gold efficiency ➕ Great powerspike ➖ Doesn't help with laning.

Wit's End is the best and only item you should build for magic resistance. Even without the opposing team having any AP this item is so good on Gnar that It wouldn't matter.

➕ Tons of attack speed ➕ Deal even more hybrid damage ➕ Strong in every phase of the game ➕ Catch enemies ➖ Slightly less affective while in mega form

BoRK doesn't fit much in most Gnar builds but that doesn't mean it's not good on him. Combined with Wit's End and other items, BoRK is an item you will get mostly to stop speedy bois.

➕ Solid sustain ➕ Deal even more hybrid damage ➕ The frosting on damage items ➕ 🎵 Pentakill - Blade of the Ruined King 🎶 ➖ Only 72% Base gold efficient ➖ Less affective while in mini form

Giving a giant cleaver to a little yordle is actually good, who knew! Black Cleaver was and still is a powerful item for him even in S12. Prioritize agains squishy targets.

➕ "Reduces" armor, so it's not bad against tanks ➕ Offers both great health and damage ➕ Equally good in both forms ➖ Only physical damage counts

▲ Back to Top



Bigger items indicate powerspikes different items may have different results depending on the matchup.

...

is good against:

---

...

is good against:

---

...

is good against:

---

...

is good against:

---

...

is good against:



▲ Back to Top



▲ Back to Top

Guide Changelog

6/14/24 - Updated for Season 14, simplified.
1/27/23 - Added more builds.
1/26/23 - Even more S13 updates.
1/25/23 - Added a Gnar mastery section and updated beginner stuff.
1/24/23 - Updated to fit Season 13 (returned back to game)
7/15/22 - Last update of Season 12
3/23/22 - Guide release