GRAGAS

Introduction

Gragas is a powerful champion in the game of League of Legends. He is a strong fighter and a capable mage. He can excel in both the jungle and the top lane. He is also incredibly mobile and can dash in and out of fights quickly.

In this article, we will take a look at exactly what Gragas brings to the table. We will look at his strengths and weaknesses as well as his skills and playstyle.

Overview of Gragas

Gragas is a powerful champion in the popular free-to-play multiplayer game League of Legends. He is a melee fighter with a unique playstyle that focuses on mobility and tankiness, dynamic playmaking potential, zone control, and heavy burst damage. Gragas wields both physical and magical attacks and also utilizes his trademark barrel to inflict damage over time or explode and stun his enemies.

Gragas excels from the moment he hits level one up to late game, breaking open fights with crippling crowd control. He has great map presence by using his Barrel Roll to gain vision quickly, creating favorable fights for his team. His ultimate offers huge amounts of area of effect displacement that can be used to save allies from lethal abilities or simply push enemies away from objectives. With his resilience, team fight potential, engage tools, burst damage kit of abilities, Gragas is one of the most feared champions in all levels of play.

Pros and Cons of Gragas

Gragas is a powerful tank and fighter champion in the game League of Legends. He is renowned for his ability to survive long, punishing fights and he is especially well-suited for the jungle. With plenty of crowd control, lots of HP regeneration, and strong offensive capabilities traits, Gragas can be the backbone for team fights.

Pros:

  • Flexible playstyle due to his diverse move set
  • High mobility
  • Able to survive long team fights with plenty of health regeneration
  • Great at initiating fights due to crowd control abilities like Explosive Cask and Body Slam
  • Has an escape tool in Drunken Rage

Cons:

  • Can be mana hungry early game
  • Squishy at early levels
  • Only has three damage dealing abilities so lacks burst potential compared to other champions
  • Requires good positioning and knowledge of his abilities in order to maximize his effectiveness

Abilities

Gragas is a powerful champion in League of Legends with a wide range of abilities that can be used to great effect on the battlefield. His Barrel Roll allows him to manipulate terrain, while his Body Slam can be used to close the gap between him and his enemies. Additionally, his Happy Hour ability grants Gragas bonus health and regeneration, while his Explosive Cask ultimate can be used to damage and displace enemy champions.

Let’s dive further into Gragas’ abilities to understand how these can be employed in battle:

  • Barrel Roll
  • Body Slam
  • Happy Hour
  • Explosive Cask

Barrel Roll

Gragas’ barrel roll, one of his signature moves, is an AoE skill that he casts by rolling a cask forward. He is not affected by the cask’s explosion when it reaches its maximum distance. It does decent magical damage and slows down enemies as it rolls and explodes.

The cask can be bursted after a few seconds using Gragas’ Happy Hour (W) ability which causes it to cause an AoE shockwave that slightly increases the damage of successive casts from Q. It has a high base damage and more significantly an exceptional slow duration.

Body Slam

Gragas’ Body Slam is an area of effect skill shot that damages and slows enemies in its area of effect. It can be used to initiate or disengage from combat engagements and do substantial damage when used effectively.

At its most basic level, this ability works just like any other ability – you left click the ground to cast it and it will travel in the direction chosen. When it becomes available at level 1, Body Slam has a base damage output of 80/125/170/215/260 and slows enemies hit by 30%, giving a great advantage to Gragas should he be able to land the ability.

At ranks 2, 5, and 8 Gragas gains increased AP ratios making his damage output higher at later levels when Willpower is taken as an item. At its highest rank, Body Slam has a base damage output of 400/550/700 while still having the same slow at 30% unchanged. While this can be difficult to land due to its size Gragas players must try their hardest to land their abilities for maximum effectiveness.

Drunken Rage

Gragas is perhaps most known for his ultimate ability, Drunken Rage. Whenever Gragas hits an enemy champion, minion, or monster with a basic attack or spell, he gains a percentage of his missing health and mana back as well as bonus magic damage resistance. This bonus magic damage resistance can reach up to 40%, making Gragas incredibly durable in both teamfights and duels. The bonus effect from Drunken Rage does not stack however; it will only trigger once every five seconds.

In addition to this powerful passive effect, Gragas also has two other abilities that are considered part of Drunken Rage:

  • Barrel Roll, during which he rolls a barrel in the target direction that damages and knocks back all enemies it passes through while slowing their movement speed.
  • Explosive Cask which launches an area of effect explosion around enemies dealing massive damage while also knocking them back away from the original targeted location.

Combining all three of these abilities allows Gragas to disrupt fights and peel for allied champions with incredible ease.

Explosive Cask

Gragas’s Explosive Cask ultimate ability gives him incredible crowd control. When used, Gragas throws a barrel of beer at a target area and when it lands, it explodes, dealing magic damage to all enemies in the vicinity and knocking them back. The ability has an impressive range of 850 units and can be used to both initiate teamfights as well as disrupt enemy formations.

Explosive Cask can also be used to disrupt turret dives or save allies who are low on HP and trying to escape situations they have no chance of winning. It is, however, important that all players coordinating Gragas plays understand that Explosive Cask will consume a large portion of his mana pool, leaving him vulnerable if not correctly timed or aimed. Therefore it is wise for Gragas users to understand their role and only use the ability when they know that the rest of the team is in a position to capitalise on its effects.

Ultimate – Happy Hour

Gragas’ ultimate, Happy Hour, is a powerful ability that provides Gragas with powerful crowd control and a large burst of healing. When activated, Gragas heals himself for a portion of the damage he deals to enemies and reduces the cooldown duration of his other abilities as well. The amount of healing is increased if his target or targets are champions or epic monsters. Additionally, Happy Hour applies an item-neutral slow to all targets hit in the area, granting Gragas some repositioning potential.

With good timing and efficient use of the terrain, Happy Hour can provide Gragas with strong crowd control and teamfight advantage while also allowing him to heal significantly in fights or retreats. However, since it requires good timing and positioning to use efficiently it can be quite difficult to master.

Playstyle

Gragas is a versatile champion in League of Legends. He is both a tank and a pusher, which makes him a great asset to any team composition. He is capable of performing in either a support or damage dealing role, allowing him to fill a variety of roles in the game.

Gragas is incredibly mobile and can be used to quickly initiate fights or disengage from unfavorable engagements. His various abilities provide crowd control and utility, making him a great teamfight champion. Let’s take a closer look at Gragas’ playstyle:

Laning Phase

The laning phase is the first few minutes in the game when you and your opponent are fighting to gain an advantage by farming resources. Your goal during this time is to get as much gold and experience as possible without taking too much damage.

You can accomplish this by staying close to your turret, positioning yourself well in lane, picking off opponents who make mistakes, and working with your team to secure objectives such as turrets and dragons. During this period, each champion should try to farm minions while standing in an advantageous position relative to their enemy laner.

As the game progresses, you should focus on building items which will give you a strength advantage over other players in physical fights or team fights. Being successful during the laning phase of a game can provide your team with a crucial lead which can be difficult for opposing players to overcome.

Mid-Game

Moving into mid-game, Gragas excels in teamfights, particularly when played as an AP carry. He can easily knock up multiple enemies with Body Slam (E) and Explosive Cask (R), allowing him to set up ganks for his teammates. Additionally, Drunken Rage (W) keeps him tanky and allows him to “all-in” enemies without taking too much damage. He also excels at helping push down towers and using his ultimate to clear the wave from afar.

When team fighting, always remember that your main goal is not just to kill the enemy carry but instead peel for your own carry by using Explosive Cask (R) on enemies such as assassins that may be targeting them. Gragas should also focus on objectives such as towers since his Ultimate can easily clear waves and make it easier for his team to burst down a tower in no time.

Ultimately, once teamfights start happening actively around the map you should use your crowd control ability combined with your survivability to constantly disrupt the enemy backline while being able to survive any fights that break out throughout mid game.

Late-Game

In the late game, Gragas can still be very useful in team fights. His Area of Effect (AoE) team fight damage is that of a high-damage mage, due to the tremendous scaling ratio on his Barrel Roll (Q). The combination of Gragas’ ultimate, Explosive Cask (R), and Body Slam (E) provide him with immense sustained damage throughout team fights; even if you don’t hit your Barrel Roll on multiple enemies, its AP ratio is so significant that you can still make an impact because of it.

Gragas has a exceptional ability for peeling for allies with Barrier (W), allowing him to advance towards targets that chases down key allies or carving paths to escape dangerous situations. His Area of Effect crowd control also provides him with an impressive toolkit for disrupting enemies during objective attempts or any clash. Finally, Gragas’ passive Happy Hour allows him to sustain health in situations where his team needs it most through judicious use of body slams by knocking up multiple enemies and properly utilizing barrel roll without overhealing too early in fights. Therefore, while he may not have incredible single target burst like other mages late-game, his crowd control and sustain enables his team to win long fights more easily.

Itemization

Itemization is an important part of playing Gragas in League of Legends. Knowing which items to buy, and when, can make or break your lane matchup and help you carry games.

In this section, we will discuss Gragas’s itemization options and what items you should buy when playing him:

Core Items

Gragas is a versatile and powerful through all stages of the game making him a highly sought-after champion. Whether it’s laning, team fights, or pushing objectives Gragas can transition and adapt to the situation which is why the core items are important to give him an edge in all those scenarios.

Core Items:

  • Sunfire Cape: This item provides health, armor and most importantly its unique passive which allows Gragas to be useful in all situations. Sunfire Cape will help increase Gragas’ ability to split push or siege down objectives during team fights due to its AoE damage that applies every second.
  • Sorcerers Shoes: An essential mobility item for any mage champion like Gragas. The extra magic penetration gives him better lane clear potential as well as increasing his overall burst potential.
  • Liandry’s Torment: This is a great item that gives plenty of health, magic resist and most importantly increased damage thanks to its unique active which boosts Gragas’ overall burst with increased AP scaling and on hit damage burns enemies champions while they are within his AoE abilities.
  • Ionian Boots of Lucidity: More cooldown reduction? Yes please! This boots are an essential part of any AP build, helping increase Gragan’s ability usage -particularly in team fights-. The extra movement speed helps with gap closing or escaping sticky situations during a full fight or even when trying to chase down foes who are running away from him.
  • Rabadon’s Deathcap: One of the most important items for any mages out there as it increases their AP scaling by 30%. Combine with Liandry’s Torment and your enemies won’t know what hit them!

Situational Items

When it comes to items for Gragas, there is no one-size-fits-all. Different game scenarios may require different item builds; this flexibility allows Gragas players to better adapt their playstyle and gain an advantage over the enemy team.

To ensure they have the right items in the right situation, seasoned Gragas players should familiarize themselves with situational items and their effects on the champion.

Below is a list of some core situational items for Gragas:

  • Sunfire Cape: provides health, armor and magic resist, as well as an AoE damage effect that increases when nearby enemies take damage from Gragas’s abilities.
  • Abyssal Mask: provides health, magic resist and cooldown reduction, slowing nearby enemies when Gragas casts his abilities in their direction.
  • Spirit Visage: provides health as well as bonus healing and magic resist.
  • Dead Man’s Plate: provides movement speed and health regeneration passive bonuses while decreasing incoming damage dealt to surrounding allies by 8%.
  • Frozen Mallet: provides health and attack damage while adding a slow effect to Gragas’s basic attacks that last 1.5 seconds.
  • Locket Of The Iron Solari: gives bonus armor and magic resist while providing nearby allies with a team shield that can absorb up to 400 + 30% of maximum health points each time it activates (cooldown of 30s).

Tips for Itemizing

Itemizing is a critical component of any successful League of Legends team composition. Choosing the right items can open up new strategies, provide an edge in combat or turn the tide of a fight. However, itemizing incorrectly can put your champion and the whole team at a disadvantage. As such, it’s important to understand your champion and their needs when creating an itemization plan.

Gragas is an incredibly versatile jungler who can provide surprising bursts of magic damage or heal and shield his allies during team fights. He benefits greatly from tanks and supportive items which enable him to use powerful abilities like Explosive Cask to initiate fights or Body Slam to escape them. When itemizing Gragas, consider the following tips:

  • Look for items that provide utility for both your team composition and Gragas himself—items like Rylai’s Crystal Scepter or Banshee’s Veil are great choices as they boost Gragas’ survivability while helping him crowd control enemies with his Ultimate ability.
  • Focus on maximizing Gragas’ magical damage output by adding items such as Luden’s Echo and Spellbinder—these will help increase Gragas’ burst potential by giving him access to Extra Ability Power (AP) bonuses for each point spent in ability points.
  • When necessary, prioritize defense over offense if you’re facing teams with multiple damage dealers—items like Spirit Visage and Guardian Angel are great defensive choices that increase Gragas’ durability while still offering some offensive benefit.
  • Take advantage of Gragas’ natural tankiness by building health as well as armor and magic resist—a Sunfire Cape will boost his health pool while also increasing Gragas’ area of effect damage output during team fights.

Tips and Tricks

Gragas is known for his tanky nature, especially with his ultimate ability, which gives him a shield and additional health. This makes him a great pick for teamfights and objective based skirmishes.

In this article, we will explore the tips and tricks that will help you get the most out of Gragas in League of Legends and make the most of his abilities:

Positioning

When playing as Valgaras in League of Legends, positioning is key. Valgaras excels at roaming and controlling space and has a lot of tools to set up ambushes. When playing in the top lane, it’s important to watch the map and look for opportunities to gank other lanes or snag objectives like Dragon or Baron. Valgaras is also great at zoning, forcing enemies away from objectives. Knowing when to move around and control space is essential for success with Valgaras.

In teamfights, it’s important to stay near your teammates so that you have support if things go wrong. It can be beneficial to last hit as much as possible using Barrel Roll and then quickly move in for area damage with Explosive Cask, depending on the situation. Positioning yourself so that your moves put your team in an advantageous position is especially important when playing Valgaras as he lacks escape abilities outside of his ultimate ability Body Slam.

Timing

When playing Gragas, it’s important to understand how his abilities interact with other champions, so timing them correctly is essential. When starting a fight, always open with Explosive Cask. This will enable Gragas to control the start of the engagement by initiating on the enemy team with one of his most versatile crowd control abilities.

Alongside Grenade (Q), using Gragas’ Barrel Roll (W) and Body Slam (E) is key for increasing damage output and mobility in fights. Body Slam and Barrel Roll are great when it comes to creating gank opportunities or escaping dangerous situations. Careful use of these two abilities will ensure that Gragas can better sync his cooldowns when needed while also sustaining enough energy to keep casting them ruthlessly when an opportunity presents itself.

Gragas’ ultimate, which is aptly named Explosive Cask (R), also needs to be well-timed in order for it to really be useful. This ability requires some skill but if successfully used, can lead to a huge amounts of teamfight disruption and potential game changing plays that can get your team out of a sticky situation or lock down an enemy for the next objective push or dragon fight!

Combos

A powerful Champion in the game League of Legends, Gragas has different destructive combos that you can use against your enemies. Combos are a particular sequence of abilities used together to create a larger effect than if you were only to use each ability on its own. These powerful move combinations can surprise your opponent and provide extra damage, utility and mobility for Gragas.

The most basic combo is an auto-attack or Barrel Roll after Body Slam. Auto-attacks can be used as additional poke or just to add a little extra damage. You can also throw your Body Slam into a corner after an auto-attack to trap your opponent or gain distance. Then cast Explosive Cask to knock them into enemies while dealing good amount of damage in the process.

Another useful combo is casting Barrel Roll then Explosive Cask towards an enemy before instantly activating Drunken Rage – this will slow down opponents close to Gragas and push them into an ally’s path or away from safety. This combos main benefit is that it allows Gragas to cover vast amounts of ground with his explosive cask in order to set up for future abilities, trades, poking and ganking.

Using Body Slam then Drunken Rage allows Graga’s team to catch up/flank opponents. Knowing when and where this combination should be used is key, as it provides good mobility when trying patch into position quickly – or get away when running low on health or resources during team fights.

These are some basic combos you can use with Gragas that combine both damage dealing capabilities and strategic mobility options while leading your team safely into their objectives – such as towers and inhibitors helping you secure ultimate victory!

Teamfighting

Teamfighting is a vital part of the game and it’s where Gragas really stands out. He has a great combo for initiating and dealing damage to multiple opponents. His ultimate can be used to zone enemies, peel for allies or to simply deal tremendous amounts of damage in a teamfight. His passive gives him some extra resistances that are always welcome in a fight, and his barrel-rolling helps him position himself between enemies or chase after wounded foes.

When playing Gragas, the goal is typically to land your ultimate at initiation, then look for opportunities to use Barrel Roll either defensively or offensively. Defensively, you can roll away from an aggressive enemy to find safety; offensively, you can roll over enemies or objects like walls or minions in order to get into position. Always be mindful of Gragas’ range as well as his cooldowns – timing is key!

When engaging in teamfights, remember that Gragas is big and bulky; he needs to be played aggressively while still prioritizing tanky items so that he can initiate without being punished heavily by the enemy team’s disables or carries. When positioning yourself during a fight make sure that you are never too far away from your teammates so you can always rely on them for extra help if needed.

By following these tips and tricks when playing Gragas in solo queue, it will help improve your play style by understanding how to better use your abilities as well as learn how important it is for positioning correctly when engaging with the enemy team during teamfights.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Who is Gragas in LoL?

A: Gragas is a powerful champion in League of Legends, known for his ability to quickly move around the battlefield and his devastating ultimate. He is a melee fighter with a lot of crowd control abilities, and can be played in both the top lane and jungle. He is a great choice for players who like to play aggressively and make plays.

Q: What are Gragas’ abilities?

A: Gragas has five abilities: Barrel Roll, Body Slam, Drunken Rage, Explosive Cask, and Ultimate – Happy Hour. Barrel Roll is an area of effect ability that deals damage and slows enemies. Body Slam is a dash ability that damages and slows enemies. Drunken Rage gives Gragas bonus attack speed and movement speed. Explosive Cask is an area of effect ability that knocks enemies away. Finally, his ultimate – Happy Hour – gives Gragas bonus health and mana regeneration.

Q: What roles can Gragas play in LoL?

A: Gragas is usually played in either the top lane or the jungle. He is a great pick for aggressive players who like to make plays and get in the middle of teamfights. He is also a great pick for team compositions that need a lot of crowd control, as his abilities can help keep enemies in place.