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[Season 14] 14.2 Gwen the Greatest Barber [Top+Mid] [Full Matchup Guide]
[Season 14] 14.2 Gwen the Greatest Barber [Top+Mid] [Full Matchup Guide]
Updated on February 8, 2024Your votes and comments encourage our guide authors to continue
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Recommended Items
Runes: Main page Top
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10% Tenacity/Slow Resist
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+65 Base Health
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+65 Base Health
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10% Tenacity/Slow Resist
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+65 Base Health
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+
Spells:
Ignite
Teleport
Ghost
Teleport
Exhaust
Teleport
Ghost
Ignite
Items
Ability Order Standard: Spec W level 3
Thousand Cuts (PASSIVE)
Gwen Passive Ability
Thousand Cuts (PASSIVE)
Gwen Passive Ability
Thousand Cuts (PASSIVE)
Gwen Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Aatrox
Start ring or shield, take ignite, rush anti-heal first base. DO NOT all in him unless you have ignite up, you WILL lose. Bait the Q by standing at its max range, walk in for Q1, W his Q2, and E on the other side of him for Q3. Always walk to the side of his W, if you go swifties as long as you don't get hit by Q you can always walk out. Before level 4 his Q cd is long so if you see him burn it go in, you beat him level 1 and 2 so push for wave prior and first level 2
Akali
Start ring or blade and any summoner works. Whoever gets the first kill will snowball the matchup. Abuse her high early CDs and energy cost since you beat her in an auto fight. Level 1 and 2 as long as you disengage when she gets her passive auto you should be able to kill her if you play right. DO NOT get hit by her E, if you do then remember the recast is what really hurts so go somewhere she doesn't want to recast. Same logic holds for her ult, and she's one of the champions you do not beat at 6 when you are even or slightly behind.
Akshan
Start shield + Second wind He's going to play for PTA, as long as he doesn't procc it then you're fine. If he E's in a bad spot, remember you can body block him to cancel it and then he's stuck in your face. Post 6 save W for ult unless you're going all in.
Briar
Champ has no regen, start ring and take ignite, she cannot play the game into you if you play for short trades and poke her off the wave. If she can't get on the wave, she will never gain HP without basing. Don't stand in center of lane when you hear her ult and don't base in the bushes, base in alcove.
Camille
Start Blade and take ignite or ghost. Fight her level 1 for prio, there is nothing she can do against you, hold your E and dodge the W slow and you win. You will want your W level 3 to dodge her E. You beat her in extended fights unless she has conquered, and then it's a bit more even. Remember not to trade her when she has passive up, if you let her short trade with you then she will always win.
Cassiopeia
Nobody plays this toplane, but it's super common mid lane. If you're mid lane I'd perma ban this, and if you see it top, dodge. If somehow you end up playing it, do D Shield Second wind and just don't give her kills. beg for JG attention and kill her 2v1. Do not fight her solo until late game where you can burst her down from fog.
Cho'Gath
Start ring and take ignite or ghost. You surprisingly don't beat him level 1, but if he uses his E on the wave or started another ability go chunk him, or at least zone him off of the farm. You can buy anti heal to ruin his lane sustain if you would like but I would just rush riftmaker. His main everything is his Q and his R track ulti CD and W the Q and you should win. Remember that the silence on W is a annoying but shouldn't bother you much early. Put him down enough that you don't care.
Darius
Start ring or shield and take ignite or ghost. You do not beat him at level 1, start Q and execute the 3 first melee minions. Stack Q on the wave and trade him by 4 stack snipping him in the face and dashing away, you can use your E while in your Q. Remeber hat when he pulls you he is going to W slow you and try to get the outer ring Q to heal, walk towards him instead of away. After he short trades you decide whether you want to fight, if he has more than 3 bleed stacks, or has ult, or ghost, don't fight him. Play safe, ping for your JG, ward well, and scale up.
Dr. Mundo
Start ring or shield and take ghost or ignite and rush anti-heal. Mundo is one of the few tanks that can be hard to play into. Learn his cleaver habits and try to buy early boots. Getting poked down is bad news. With both of you at the same HP, he wins the all in. Quick trade him with 4 stack Q E combo and then walk away, at 6 if you have an HP lead and an anti heal item, ghost or ignite, and go all in you should win. Remember that late game especially with heartsteel titanic, unless you rolled over him in lane, you're likely going to need someone else to help you with him.
Fiora
Start shield and take ignite and rush grevious. Remember to reset her vital by walking into fog of war or out of vision. if you go in a bush and you still have a vital, that means she has vision. Her vitals change predictably, they have 4 sides they can be on and each time it picks from two possible locations. It can either be One of the two top right, or one of the two bottom right. If your vital is at the top, then when you reset it will be on the opposite side either bottom or left. Remember to stand against a wall when she ults so she can't procc all of her ult vitals. Don't fight her play to scale.
Gangplank
Start shield and take ghost. He's going to shoot you with a gun on repeat until you're low and then all in you with his passive true damage. In lane he's going to sit inside a barrel and double barrel you when you walk up for farm. Make sure you get xp and try and out time him on barrels. Do not fight him once he hits sheen you will lose. Ping your team when he hits 6, ask for jg assistance, if he doesn't have a lead all in him at level 6.
Garen
Take blade or ring and ignite. Do not short trade him it's exactly what he wants. His goal is to eat all of your damage with his W and poke you so he can Q E ignite you and kill you with ult. If he uses his Q on the wave then punish him by dashing at him and abusing your larger attack range. don't let him use his massive passive regen, poke him by 4 stack Q E comboing him and then run away. If he presses Q back up, always, if he gets the silence on you post 6 he can kill you. If you're below half HP when he hits level 6 go to your turret and press B, if he has more than a single braincell he will dive you and kill you with ult for FREE. play to scale and remember that even late game if he silences you he wins the 1v1.
Gnar
Take ghost and shield. You can take PTA for fun but it's kinda bad. Don't get poked down or you'll be in a bad spot when he goes mega. You can try and all in at level 3 if he uses his E for some reason but generally you're not gonna be able to fight him unless he wants to fight you. Stay away from walls when he hit's 6 and wait for him to go mega so you can all in with the ult slow and ghost.
Gragas
Skill matchup, but you have to play better than he does. Start ring or Shield, and take ghost. Sit in wave so he can't E you and try to E away from his barrels. Do not E at him you will lose fights with him if he gets to full combo you and run away. Go Riftmaker
Gwen
Its You!
Illaoi
Take shield or ring and ignite. if you struggle you can take anti-heal into her but it isn't worth it, ignite is usually enough. Stand behind minions so that she can't hit you with an E, if she has your ghost she wins the fight but otherwise you spank her. Dodge her tentacles in lane and you shouldn't have issues. Once she hits 6 tell Jg to never come because she will 1v2. She's a strong splitpusher and teamfighter but so are you, fight her when she's weak and outscale.
Irelia
Take TP Ignite, Ward jg buff lvl one, if they're starting it then you play balls to the walls level 1 Q start with D-Ring and go for a second wave crash to freeze outside your tower. If Irelia goes in for no reason that means you're getting lvl2 ganked. If enemy jg is starting bot you want to have the wave frozen outside of your turret before they arrive so 3rd wave crash and cheater. Irelia has an abysmal level 1 without stacks, and you can get 4 stacks before she gets 1 and then she cannot touch the wave without losing 1/5 of her health bar or more lvl 1. At level 2 look depending on where jg started and how much health she has to go all in, or take quick Q-E trades. Your goal in this matchup is to use your early power over her to create a tempo and gold lead which will allow you to get the wave in a favorable state and then play safe once she's strong at 6 and wait for your 2 item core to run her over. The matchup can be hard if you get outplayed so keep these things in mind, you will usually have summoner advantage (you don't take flash Irelia usually does) so all factors even you're stronger, Irelia Q always takes her BEHIND her target, Sustain is strong against poke and weak in all ins (usually) so vamp and irelia Q shouldn't be a problem if you all in her when she has no stacks and tries to go for the wave.
Jax
Take exhaust or ghost and think about buying wardens mail, he runs you over the whole game. Don;t fight him level 1 and hold your E to dodge counterstrike CC. Counterstrike blocks all of your autos so stack Q on the wave. I can't give much advice because there isn't anything that's going to help, pray he's bad and that your JG has a fetish for camping top.
Jayce
Take shield and ghost or ignite. Avoid his Q's and W his ranged EQs. If he uses acceleration gate to attack you, you can go all in with ghost and the ult slow, but if he has it up he will always outrun you or knock you away in melee form. Play safe and let him have the push, do your best to freeze it outside of your tower so that he's an easy gank.
K'Sante
Absolute creature champ, statistically winning for you but feels so bad to play. Start ring and take ghost if enemy ADC will be a problem otherwise pick ignite. Play strong level one, dodge his Qs so he can't get passive procc on you. Rush Nashors and play an auto fight with him. DO NOT FIGHT NEAR WALLS OR HIS TURRET. Getting ulted through a wall increases it's CC duration, and getting ulted into his turret is a death sentence. Play safe, scale up, out teamfight and sidelane him. Whenever he ults you always ignite so that his newfound omnivamp is less of an issue.
Kayle
You both scale similarly hard, but her level 1 is stronger than yours if she takes LT. She scales off of xp while you scale off of gold one is easier to deny than the other. Take dorans blade or ring with ignite and ping your jungler to come early, your goal is to bury her in the ground before she hits 6. After 6 play smarter but you should still be stronger than her until lvl 11 if you're even. Her 16 is much stronger than yours but your 11 is stronger than hers. Remember that late game she beats you unless you're ahead of her in items by a decent chunk.
Kennen
Take Shield and Ghost. make sure you have at least 1 source of tenacity in this matchup, either in runes or tenacity boots. Keep track of his W passive stack (his shuriken will glow) and his passive stacks on you, don't try and fight him when he has W passive or he has 2 marks on you. Likely anytime you engage on him he will press E and leave. If he burns E on the wave to try and shove then go all in. After 6 keep track of his flash and ultimate timer, he's not very useful without them.
Kled
Take blade or ring and ignite. He beats you level one and you have to start E otherwise you get chunked by his second Q. You have to properly poke him otherwise he will repeat dive you with the free zhonyas that is dismounting from skaarl. if you get a favorable dismount then go all in, you want to fight him before he can build courage on the wave, but if he gets close to remounting while you fight then you have to run otherwise you lose. You outscale, don't let him get a lead
Malphite
go whatever summs are best against his team and start any item. If he's tank just farm it out until 6 and kill him. Tank malphite can only throw rocks at you until you're low enough for his jungler or for him to kill you at 6. All you have to do is only walk up when necessary and poke him back. if he goes AP it's a different story, he will one shot you at 6 with lost chapter, play safe and do your best to soak xp, he needs gold and dark seal stacks to be a real issue, don't give it to him.
Maokai
He's stronger than you early, and he's super impactful in a teamfight. Go ring, keep your trades short and don't walk into bushes you don't have warded. He shouldn't have kill pressure on you in lane unless jg is ganking so keep good vision, and farm up.
Mordekaiser
Start either shield or ring, take ignite for his healing and for the brazil 1v1s. Do not allow yourself to get poked out of the wave, you want to always be in your minions so he cannot hit you with an isolated Q. If you're ahead or even with him I suggest fighting him in brazil, you are very strong and as long as you dodge his skills you easily win. if you fall slightly behind though you will get stat checked. In that case buy zhonyas to stall
Nasus
Take ghost and ring and hope your JG likes you. He heavily counters you if you're building nashors, Wither slows your movement and attack speed, two things Gwen relies on. You will rarely beat him in a 1v1 after 6, do your best to deny him Q stacks and wait for him to fall off midgame. Even though Susan scales infinitely, he scales damage not stats, which will fall off as long as he isn't disgustingly ahead.
Olaf
Start shield and go ignite or exhaust. You will want both anti-heal and a wardens early, if he hits you with an axe he will run you down from the slow and chunk you thanks to the armor shred. try and short trade him to discourage him from wanting to all in or dive. Do not take long fights with him, he will win. Late game when you have enough AP to kill him in a reasonable amount of time then it's an easy fight for you, but before that don't even try.
Ornn
Start blade or ring, take summs for other people since you don't care about him at all. Trade heavy level one, zone him off XP and with level 2 advantage run him down or force him out of lane, rinse and repeat. Don't stand near his pillar or walls and he can't do much, save your W either for if you're going to be hit by his E, or his Ult. If he buys a Force of Nature then match it with a void staff and make his life insufferable, sit in the side lane and make it so he never plays the game, it's either 4v5 because he's worthless, or you end the game in their base if he leaves you alone.
Pantheon
Start Shield or ring, and take Ghost. Keep in mind his disgustingly strong level 1, don't let him empowered W, and juke the Q when you're under 20% HP. Early panth has long CDs (Other than tap Q) so if you see him burn something for no reason, don't be afraid to trade back. If you're ever below 1/3 HP don't fight him, his Q crits when you're under 20% HP and he can get you there fast. If You don't feed him in lane he becomes super weak in the side lane but he will always be strong in the teamfights due to point click CC and a semi-execute.
Poppy
Start Shield, go ghost, buy tenacity. All poppies are psychopaths, they're unreadable and this matchup is pure cancer. make sure to pick her shield off the ground so she doesn't get the shield and don't use E other than to start the fight, and after she's used W. The second part of her Q is the part that hurts so don't stay in.
Quinn
Take shield and ghost. She can heavily self peel and stop you from autoing, very hard MU especially if she takes her lead elsewhere on the map after hitting 6. post 6 always ping her missing if you haven't seen her in the last 15 seconds since she can base and be in someone else's lane extremely quickly. If she slips up you can always ghost and run her down but it's much harder for you to capitalize on it since she has so much self peel and a flash.
Rengar
Styart ring take ignite, and Q him when he jumps on the wave lvl 1. Past early game he doesn't really do much other than damage, make sure not to Q4 and R3 at the same time unless his W is down. Let him push you under and try to keep the wave outside of your turret so he can't use brushes against you. When you go all in stand in the brush with him so he can't jump on you
Renekton
Take ring and ignite and try to trade with him during his weak level 1, afterwords Q him when he dashes at you and don't get poked down. If you're low he's going to dive you, honestly if you're half HP and he has ult he's going to dive you and it's going to work. Play safe, wait for him tofall off an beat his ass when you hit 2 items
Riven
Go ring and ghost or ignite. If the riven is decent she'll run at your face level 1 and you can cry. Her easily accessible CC and strong early levels makes her a horrible matchup, one of the permaban options. Try and dodge her Q3 and only fight her if her E is on cooldown. Riven ult does missing health damage so save your W to dodge the snipe. Once you leave the early game, if you're both even then you can start trying to win fights against her.
Rumble
Take ring or shield and watch his overheat level, Fight him only when he's fully overheated, or not close to getting his enhanced abilities. Feel free to fight him post 6, don't let yourself get denied from CS bt do not fight him unless you have Q fully stacked
Sett
He's stronger than you level 1 but if he misses E or took something other than it, beat him up for prio and level 2. Keep in mind that gwen Q is uncancellable so when he pulls you smack him with full Q, and it's impossible to miss the sweetspot. Keep an eye on his abilities, Sett has long cooldowns and as such long windows where you can trade or gain prio. In an all in hold E to dodge his W or you're screwed.
Shen
Early Shen hurts really bad and has bonus attack range just like you but he's not a big deal. Don't all in him early, whenever he Ws stop autoing, and get plating when he roams. Unless he gets all the kills off of his ults, you will easily outscale and run him and his team over with your gold.
Singed
Singed is a major pain, usually singed proxies and avoids laning because his lane phase is mediocre, unfortunately, his is better than yours so he's going to sit in your face and be annoying. if he proxies, just collect waves under turret, don't go stop him, let your jungler do that. Ward your Jg so he doesn't take it, don't chase him, and collect as much CS as possible.
Sion
Unfortunately for him, you're a tank shredder with mobility. Dodge his Q with either E or W, and if neither than Q him back. He shouldn't beat you at any stage of the game no matter what he builds, if he builds lethality then it is slightly harder for you but still winning. Dodge his CC and both builds fall flat.
Sylas
Start Ring and take ignite. Keep in mind that you beat him across most stages of the game unless he has a super ult. His CD's are super long early so you see him burn one go for a trade. As long as you're QEing him with full stacks you can keep him low enough that he can't safely all in you. Hold your E to dodge his E, and Q his face if he hit's it or Ws you. Gwen Q goes off even if she's CCed.
Tahm Kench
While he is a tank, his massive shield and respectable damage make him a problem for you. Don't go past 3/4 of the lane after 6 because he'll eat you and CC you under his turret. Avoid his Qs because they hurt bad, slow you, and heal him. It gets worse if he goes AP because then he really hurts and is still surprisingly tanky. Play it safe, get good trades, get fed off CS, normal stuff
Teemo
Start D Shield, and take ghost. Be prepared to let CS go early but do not miss XP. Go pen Gwen, you won't be able to auto him come late game because of how much uptime blind will have. Luckily going pen gwen means most of your damage is in Q and ult. Come 6 and after, ghost ult and run the rat down.
Trundle
You beat him level one with ring or blade as long as you space well to abuse your extra range in either E autos or Q damage. If you go auto for auto lvl 1 he will win and with lethal tempo he wins every level post 1 for free as long as he doesn't make a major mistake. This matchup is rough because you killing him doesn't automatically win lane, but dying is often an instant loss. pillar slow is huge and his ult damage is higher than you might expect, play safe play smart only trade when you have full stacks and he burns cooldowns on the wave.
Tryndamere
Start ring go ghost. He outtrades you at any point in the game, while out sustaining you and being safer. While you know he beats you, you can't let him walk all over you because if he gets full fury lie is over. Make sure you show him you mean business at level 5 so he gets a taste of your damage and doesn't feel confident diving you at 6.
Urgot
Start ring or shield and any summ is fine. Getting hit by his E at any point in the game will often send you to a gray screen. Hold your E to dodge his E, and save your W to dodge his ult. Late game you should have little issue with him but early the poke and all in can be scary.
Vayne
Start Shield with take second wind, take ghost and pray for JG attention. Buy sweeper at 6. You have to W condemn or you will always die to her when you try to all in. The moment she ults start sweeping. You have to hit everything on her to win and you have to do it fast. This matchup is nearly impossible because Gwen struggles into range, and she denies both Autos and SKillshots.
Volibear
His early game power can be rough, he has easily accessible CC, a strong level 1, and poke. start ring or shield. Trade with him when Q is down, bait it by walking up and then dashing away. His second W procc heals for a lot so him getting it can often make a trade losing. Getting low and pushed into turret is a death sentence if his ult is up. Late game he isn't an issue but if you feed him early it won't matter that you outscale.
Warwick
Buy early oblivion orb. Take whichever sums you would prefer, ignite won't win it for you but neither will ghost. Start Ring and try and poke him, you can't really poke him down or beat him in an all in until LVL6, and you have to dodge the ult or you lose. Come mid/late game, if you're even it should be an easy win, your damage is too much for him to outheal and you're a huge sidelane threat he can't ignore.
Wukong
Nobody plays this champ top, should somebody play him top beat him up early and then play safe post 6, his ult can and will ruin your day, and your game. Take ring and ignite look to get prio and win lane early and coast into late game off that lead.
Yasuo
Start Dorans ring and go an offensive summoner, Poke his shield off before you hit him with Q. Try not to dodge his tornados with W unless absolutely necessary. Fighting him in your wave close to his tower means he has a lot of space to work with so he is very strong in that position. Windwall can cuck your ult but usually only one cast.
Yone
See yasuo. When he E's, either toward or away from you, camp his return point with full stacked Q and it becomes hard for him to win the trade. Post lvl 1 and pre6 with items you beat him auto for auto as long as you don't dump Q into his W shield. Look to W E space his Q3 and he can never fight you. You can W his ult but only if the endpoint is behind you outside of your W.
Yorick
Start ring take ignite or ghost, Super easy matchup, hold your E for his cage and try not to get hit by his E. Anytime he doesn't have 4 graves or maiden up he is super weak and he shouldn't be able to walk up. If you get hit with E then if he's lethality focus on killing his ghouls. Whenever he is under your turret with ghouls auto him and walk close to maiden which will force turret to target him.
Yuumi
The Cat is an extra item, the extra AP and healing makes you a MONSTER
Sejuani
If you're going to duo with a JG, pick a Sej main, melee and attack speed are things sej likes
Rell
Big grouping ult and engage? You're gonna have really good time if you have a good rell on your team
Taric
Your E makes setting up taric stun super free, plus taric ultimate is top 10 ultimate in the game
Braum
See Sejuani
Gwen
You
Yuumi
The Cat is an extra item, the extra AP and healing makes you a MONSTER
Sejuani
If you're going to duo with a JG, pick a Sej main, melee and attack speed are things sej likes
Rell
Big grouping ult and engage? You're gonna have really good time if you have a good rell on your team
Taric
Your E makes setting up taric stun super free, plus taric ultimate is top 10 ultimate in the game
Braum
See Sejuani
Gwen
You
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