Gragas AP or Tank – What’s Better?
The best build for Gragas depends on what the current meta is. But in general, AP Gragas deals more damage and allows you to kill enemy champions. Tank builds are generally safer and much better at supporting your team. And you can win the games with both builds. So, the question isn’t just about which is better between AP and tank Gragas. Instead, it’s about which playstyle is the better in which situation.
AP Gragas One-Shot Build Complete S13 Guide
For example, if you’re playing a Clash match with 4 other friends and your team needs a tank, it’s obviously better to go for a tank build over Gragas. With enough defense, Gragas can block damage, provide cutting, and help your teammates with crowd control. On the other hand, if you’re playing a solo queue match and your team already has a tank, there’s no reason to build a tank. In this situation, it’s much better to be aggressive and go for a full AP Gragas build.
Gragas has amazing damage as a melee mage and the AP items allow him to carry the game alone. And finally, if you’re comfortable and you should switch between the two frequently. Practice building both a tank and an AP build for Gragas if you want the ultimate results on this champion.
How to Play AP Gragas Successfully? (Tips)
While I could give you a ton of tips for playing Gragas AP, I’ll focus on the ones that make the biggest difference in every game.
Here they are.
Get aggressive as early as possible. Many players don’t know this, but Gragas deals crazy damage early on. His ability numbers are very high and you should definitely take advantage of that.
So, if you’re playing Gragas in lane, don’t be afraid to trade. From level 3 on, your combo will always trigger Electrocute. And the damage you’ll do to your opponents will often be incredible. And if you’re a jungler, prioritize ganking over farming! Gragas has some of the best ganking tools in League of Legends, so be sure to use them.
Level 6 is a huge power spike.
Simply put, Gragas’ R does a lot of damage. Depending on how well you did in the early game, Explosive Cask can take up to 30-40% of your target’s HP. And so, once you reach level 6, look for 1v1 fights or ganks around the map. If you combine Gragas’ abilities correctly, you’ll definitely score a champion takedown even without any help.
There aren’t many champions that can match Gragas’ power at level 6, so be sure to use it to your advantage.
Find ways to coordinate your abilities with your team.
This isn’t the most obvious tip, and I’ll do my best to explain it.
When you’re playing Gragas, you should always be aware of the abilities your teammates have. Just think about what your allies can do and how your playstyle fits them. The reason I say this is because you don’t want to use your R to knock enemies out because your ally Oriana uses Shockwaves and misses her ultimate.
Instead, you’ll want to work with your team and set up the entire team for success.
Sometimes your friend Ashe will stun someone and that gives you a great opportunity to use R. But sometimes you can push someone to your teammate Olaf and that’s helpful too.
AP Gragas Season 13 Build – Runes
ELECTROCUTE the strongest keystone you can pick on the Gragas. It fits perfectly with his playstyle and the way this champion deals damage. Electrocute deals bonus magic damage to your target after hitting them with three consecutive attacks. And that’s whenever you combine all three of Gragas’ abilities.
So, Electrocute increases your damage output at all stages of the game. It increases your burst and allows you to kill squishy enemies. And that’s why you need it! Sudden Impact is another amazing offensive rune in League of Legends. Basically, it grants you a little magic access every time you dash. So, this effect is always active when you use Gragas’ E – Body Slam.
And the best part about Sudden Impact is that it only has a 4-second cooldown, which means it’s active in every fight! Eyeball Collection is the simple rune that we take because it’s best option in the third row of the Domination rune tree. It passively increases your AP, so it’s a free way to deal more damage quickly. Ultimate Hunter AP is absolutely essential for Gragas. Gragas’ ultimate – Explosive Cask is one of the hardest-hitting abilities in League of Legends. And you should definitely have it available as often as possible!
With Ultimate Hunter, Gragas’ R will reach a cooldown of about 30 seconds. This is a great thing because you’ll be able to set up ganks and get into 1v1 fights more often. Just make sure to collect five Bounty Hunter stacks early in the game by taking down all five of your opponents. You only need help to collect the stacks.
NULLIFYING ORB is an underused rune in the League of Legends. However, it is a very useful defensive option for Gragas, especially when you are going up against a mage in the mid lane.What Nullifying Orb does is it gives you a magic shield that blocks magic damage when you drop below 30% HP. And it can be quite useful for blocking one-shots from bursty champions like Lux. Nullifying Orb has a 1 minute cooldown, but the shield’s value can be increased by building up more AP.
TRANSCENDENCE is the last rune to take from the spell. You mainly want it for the 10 ability haste it pro However, once you reach level 11, Transcendence gives you a bonus effect. It refreshes 20% of the remaining cooldown on your basic abilities every time you score a kill/assist. This simply means that if you have Maura with you, you will be able to use your Q, W, and E more during single team fights.vides by level 8.
AP Gragas Season 13 Build – Items
The Sorcerer’s Boots are the ones you need when playing Gragas full AP. They give you the early magic penetration you need for your and your games. And since you won’t be getting legendary magic penetration items like Luden’s Tempest or Hextech Rocketbelt, they are worth a lot more.
EVERFST is the legendary item you are known for. It also gives you ability, mana, ability haste, and health. However, the biggest reason why you want Everfrost is its active – Glaciate. With Glaciate, you can freeze an enemy in place. And it turns out it has great synergy with Gragas’s Barrel.
For example, you can use Everfrost to knock out an enemy account to make sure you get pushed in the direction you want. It also works well with Gragas’s Q.
COSMIC DRIVE A fantastic item to have on Gragas, especially with this AP bill. You won’t get Phase Rush (another useful Keystone), but Cosmic Drive will give you a movement speed bonus after three hits. But this item is much better than Phase Rush because it also increases the power of your abilities. This means that after your E+W+Q combo, Gragas’ Explosive Cask will do a lot more damage.
So, you definitely want Cosmic Drive in your inventory! Lich Bane is another item you want to buy as soon as possible. It fits very well with Gragas’ kit, especially from his side. This power forces Gragas to power himself up and activates the Lich Bane effect, so you don’t have to!
RABADON’s Death Cap is a must-have if you want to shoot your enemies. This is the most damage booster for any AP chance in LoL, Gragas. 120 ability, plus the power of RA increases your total AP by 35%. And for a burst mage like Gragas, that’s amazing!
VOID STAFF is the item itself you need to complete a one-shot build. It gives you 40% magic penetration and allows your abilities to eliminate the magic resistance of most of your enemies. With the wrong action, you’ll even take down a tank champion, so it’s a good thing to spend your money on!
Optional and Situational Items for AP Gragas
As for the situation, here are three you should consider building on AP Gragas. Luden’s Tempest is a fantastic legendary item that you can use if you don’t like Everfrost. It offers a lot of damage and even magic penetration. A lot of the time you’ll find that AP Gragas is very deceptive. But building Zhonya’s Hourglass can help you a lot, especially against assassins.
And finally, Morellonomicon is a must-have when you’re facing healing champions. So, whenever you’re up against Soraka, Nami, Vladimir, or Aatrox, spend your gold on Morellonomicon!
Conclusion
Gragas is one of my favorite off-meta mid laners in League of Legends. He makes a momentary choice that is a solo play and can impact the match in a variety of situations.
However, full AP Gragas can also be an excellent off-meta support and off-meta jungler. And as long as you know how to play, you should be able to do well in any role you build with him.