Gangplank adjustments have finally been put on the League of Legends developer’s to-do list after months of promises from Riot. Those looking for top layer boosts should be disappointed since they’ve decided on a “direction.”
As far as Riot is concerned, Gangplank has been a long-term target in the League of Legends metagame. In the current meta, the Saltwater Scourge is a fan-favorite top laner, but he’s gone off the rails into uncharted territory.
With just one large combo—landing the barrel chain—trapped he’s between a soft build and an overpowered bruiser build that works well in reality but doesn’t live up to his expectations.
Good Gangplank players stand out because to their use of the barrel combination in particular, but casuals have had a hard time picking him up recently. Compared to high-elo players who have perfected combinations and his general playstyle, his victory percentage is under 46% in the lower elo division.
– High GW creates a bunch of champion design debt & requires making healing tools really strong to compete
– GP is intending to ship 12.13. We think we have a direction, but want to take some additional time to validate
– We're testing Yi changes, but they're not ready for 12.12— Matt Leung-Harrison (@RiotPhroxzon) June 14, 2022
Since Gangplank’s ascent to popularity in professional play, Riot has decided to target “top end barrels” for nerfs in LoL patch 12.14. Gangplank mains have speculated that Riot may eliminate the additional crit damage from his barrels in an effort to distribute the rest of his kit’s power more evenly. Late in Season 11, Riot attempted to address some of Gangplank’s difficulties by changing him, but it didn’t have the desired effect.
Although Riot has a lot to offer people who are looking for pure boosts, they are going to be disappointed.
To confirm the Saltwater Scourge’s direction before releasing it in LoL patch 12.13, developer Matt ‘Phroxzon’ Leung-Harrison stated, “We believe we have a direction, but want to spend some further time to validate.” He made the announcement after telling players that the team was working on “bigger frustration modifications” to provide him with “incentives to develop crit that aren’t damage,” as Leung-Harrison had previously said.
