One-Shot Pirate: Playing Gangplank in League of Legends

Gangplank in League of Legends is a champion built around raw damage, timing, and control. He fights with a pistol, a cutlass, and barrels of gunpowder that can decide a fight in one chain reaction. His kit rewards players who plan ahead and punish mistakes fast. This article covers everything you need to know about Gangplank and his abilities.

Gangplank’s story in Bilgewater

Gangplank is feared for a reason. He once ruled the port city of Bilgewater as the reaver king. That reign ended, but it did not soften him.

He wants Bilgewater back, and he is willing to drown the city in blood to take it. With pistol, cutlass, and barrels of gunpowder, he aims to reclaim what he lost.

What defines Gangplank’s gameplay

Gangplank’s damage often comes from one moment: a barrel detonation that hits multiple enemies. He also has a reliable ranged shot to farm and earn extra rewards, plus a self-cleanse that can remove crowd control.

His kit has two important patterns:

1. Prep a threat with Powder Keg, then detonate at the right time.

2. Use Parrrley to farm, earn extra gold and Silver Serpents, and scale into upgrades for Cannon Barrage.

Trial by Fire (Passive): burn, move, reset

What Trial by Fire does

Trial by Fire periodically empowers Gangplank’s next basic attack. The empowered hit sets the target on fire and deals bonus true damage over 2.5 seconds. It deals reduced damage to turrets.

If Gangplank hits a target with Trial by Fire, he gains bonus movement speed for 2 seconds. When a Powder Keg explodes, Trial by Fire resets and Gangplank gains that movement speed again.

Trial by Fire cannot be applied by Parrrley or Powder Keg. It only applies from the empowered basic attack itself.

Key rules and interactions

Reapplying Trial by Fire before the previous burn ends stacks the full damage instead of refreshing the duration.

If the empowered attack is dodged or Gangplank is blinded, the effect does not apply and the passive does not go on cooldown. If Shen’s Spirit’s Refuge blocks it, the effect does not apply, but the cooldown still triggers.

Trial by Fire does not trigger against non-turret structures or wards.

Parrrley (Q): ranged shot, crit damage, and plunder

What Parrrley does

Parrrley fires a shot at a target enemy and deals physical damage. It applies on-hit and on-attack effects at full effectiveness, but it counts as a ranged attack for those effects.

Parrrley can critically strike for increased total damage. It has a mana cost and a short cooldown.

Plunder: gold and Silver Serpents

If Parrrley kills the target, Gangplank gains extra gold and also gains Silver Serpents. Silver Serpents can be spent in the shop to upgrade Cannon Barrage.

Kills from a Powder Keg explosion that was originally triggered by Parrrley also count for Parrrley’s plunder. That means a single Parrrley detonation can reward multiple kills.

Important casting and effect notes

If the target becomes untargetable, dies, or leaves range or vision during the cast time, Parrrley cancels and does not go on cooldown or pay the cost.

Parrrley deals basic damage, but it can still trigger spell effects by dealing an additional 0 spell damage. Some effects that deal damage to secondary targets can still enable plunder if they kill the enemy as part of that cast instance.

Remove Scurvy (W): cleanse crowd control and heal

What Remove Scurvy does

Remove Scurvy makes Gangplank consume citrus fruit. It cleanses him from all crowd control and heals him.

The heal scales with ability power and also scales with missing health.

What it does not remove

Remove Scurvy does not remove debuffs other than crowd control, even if both come from the same effect. It can remove the slow from Exhaust, but not Exhaust’s damage reduction.

It can remove the stun part of airborne effects, but Gangplank still needs a blink or dash to override the displacement.

Powder Keg (E): barrels, chains, slow, and armor ignore

Powder Keg is the ability most players associate with Gangplank in League of Legends. It creates zones that punish enemies for standing too close and rewards Gangplank for precise timing.

How placing barrels works

Powder Keg uses charges. Gangplank places a keg at a target location that lasts 25 seconds. Kegs connect to other nearby kegs through a trail of black powder when their connection radii overlap.

The keg starts with 3 health. It loses 1 health every 2 / 1 / 0.5 seconds (based on level) until it reaches 1 health.

Gangplank stocks Powder Keg charges over time up to a maximum. The maximum charges increase by rank.

How barrels detonate

Enemies and Gangplank can basic attack a keg to deal 1 damage to it. Parrrley can also damage it. If an enemy destroys it, the keg is defused and does not explode.

If Gangplank destroys it, it explodes and can trigger a chain reaction with connected kegs. There is a 0.33 second delay between explosions in the chain.

Explosions grant vision of their radius for 2 seconds. Placed barrels do not grant vision until they explode, but they are revealed to Gangplank.

Explosion effects: slow, bonus damage, and armor ignore

Enemies hit by a Powder Keg explosion are slowed for 2 seconds. The explosion deals the triggering attack’s damage, plus bonus physical damage against champions. The explosion ignores 40% of the target’s armor.

Each enemy can only be hit once per chain reaction.

If the triggering attack critically strikes, the explosion deals 5% more damage on top of the critical damage. Some bonus effects apply after the calculations and do not get increased by that 5%.

Spellblade and special storage rules

Powder Keg has special rules with Spellblade effects from Sheen items.

If Gangplank’s attack that destroys the keg is empowered with Spellblade, that Spellblade damage is added to the explosion damage.

If the keg is not destroyed, Spellblade is still consumed. The keg stores the Spellblade damage it would have dealt. If that keg becomes the initial detonation of the chain later, it adds the stored Spellblade damage to the explosion as if it was triggered with Spellblade.

If Gangplank attacks the keg with a new Spellblade instance, it overrides the stored value if different. Only Gangplank can store Spellblade damage.

The stored damage is static and does not change if Gangplank’s stats change afterward.

Vision edge cases and on-hit notes

Gangplank loses vision of his barrels temporarily if allied vision is lost, such as near-sight. Barrels can reveal their explosion radius early if Parrrley or a lit fuse is traveling toward them. This can happen even if the shot will not make it in time to detonate.

Attacks against Powder Kegs apply on-hit effects, but damage from on-hit effects does not increase the explosion damage. Spellblade is the special exception.

Powder Keg as a “pet” unit

Powder Keg is treated as an autonomous minion-type unit with 3 health. It is not a valid target for minions and enemy abilities, with an exception noted for Azir’s Arise! which can deal 1 damage per soldier attack.

The Powder Keg loses maximum health on its countdown timer until it reaches 1 current health.

Cannon Barrage (R): global zone control and upgrades

Cannon Barrage is Gangplank’s global ultimate. It controls space, slows enemies, and can be upgraded through Silver Serpents.

Base Cannon Barrage

Gangplank fires a flare and calls his ship to bombard a target location for 8 seconds. The barrage calls down 12 waves of cannonballs in clusters of 3 every 2 seconds.

Each wave deals magic damage to enemies in the area and slows them by 30% for 0.5 seconds. Cannon Barrage also grants vision of the area for the duration.

The slow lingers briefly after enemies leave the area.

Cannon Barrage upgrades and what they change

Gangplank can purchase upgrades for Cannon Barrage in the shop for 500 Silver Serpents each. Each upgrade changes the ultimate in a specific way.

Death’s Daughter

A large cannonball lands in the center after the first cluster occurs. It deals true damage to enemies in the impact area and slows them by 75% for 1 second.

Fire at Will

Cannon Barrage fires 6 additional waves over its duration. The total number of waves increases, and the timing shifts to clusters every 1.33 seconds.

Raise Morale

Cannon Barrage grants Gangplank and allies in the area 40% bonus movement speed. The bonus lingers for 2 seconds.

Closing note: what to focus on when learning Gangplank

Gangplank in League of Legends rewards players who can plan two steps ahead. His best moments come from barrel placement and the exact timing of detonations. The rest of the kit supports that plan: Parrrley builds resources, Remove Scurvy keeps him active under pressure, and Cannon Barrage lets him influence fights anywhere on the map.

If the goal is consistency, focus on clean Parrrley last-hits and safe barrel setups first. Then push into faster chains and tighter detonation windows as you get comfortable.

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