Summary
Early Game
- Corrupting potion in addition of his passive Happy Hour allows Gragas to stay in lane longer.
Core Items
- Hextech Protobelt-01 is you main item, it will give you extra depush, a gapclose (allows you to get closer to your opponent) as well as an extra burst in combat.
- Lich Bane is a very good second item. The Passive of Sheen works on your W - Drunken Rage. If you are not at your best in the game, just build the Brilliance, you can improve it later into Iceborn Gauntlet .
- Zhonya's Hourglass allows you to get out of many situations. Gragas being an all-in character, you are vulnerable when you run out of spells and the Zhonya helps you buying time to get your spells back.
Situational items
- Iceborn Gauntlet offers you armor, shorter cooldowns and AOE slow proportional to your armour.
- Luden's Echo will give you not only burst, but also CDR. You can build it at the beginning of the game after your Hextech Proto-Belt.
- AP items such as Rabadon's Deathcap, the Void Staff and the Morellonomicon are all good items on Gragas. In addition, the Void Staff and the Morellonomicon provide magical penetration, enough to destroy fragile targets with raw damage!
Match-ups
Playing Gragas
Gragas mid is a burst mage, which means that all your actions depend on your ability to hit your combos.
- Level 1: Use your Q - Barrel Roll loaded to the maximum on the wave if you want to push. Watch out for assaults as well as the poke of the range champions.
- Level 2: If you are playing against a close range champion, take your E - Body Slam to stop your opponent. Otherwise, choose your W - Drunken Rage and use it to heal yourself with your passive.
- Level 6: You did the hard part! Now try to find the right opportunity to full combo your opponent. Don't forget that your ultimate ability R - Explosive Cask keeps enemies away from its impact, use it to draw them under your tower, or to keep them away from you if you feel in danger.
- During the game, try to trap your enemies in brushes by first casting Q - Barrel Roll, this spell is devastating when it explodes after 4 seconds.
- In teamfight, try not to play just for yourself and be careful of the interactions with your R - Explosive Cask. If you get into the melee, make sure you have back-up or a Stopwatch ready.
Tips & Tricks
- One of the most classic combos of Gragas on an enemy target is to use the Flash during the animation of E - Body Slam. This increases the range of the latter and you can even change the orientation of your spell.
- W - Drunken Rage reduces damage as soon as it is channeled, use it when you can't avoid heavy damage.
- E - Body Slam has a big hitbox, be careful not to hit an entity, or you won't go any further.
- Your passive has the same cooldown regardless of your level, try to cast your spells after he is available to heal you on a regular basis.