Guide · Top

Gnar Guide

the Missing Link

Fighter

Tank

Tier C Top

Gnar, the Missing Link, is a fighter and tank champion that is demanding to master. Across our 577 analysed ranked games, Gnar is mostly played in Top (100% of its games), with a 44.9% win rate in that role: tier C among Top champions (#43 of 48, ranked by win rate). Gnar's damage is mostly physical (82%): armor is the best defensive answer against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 50.2% in medium-length games (25 to 35 min, 315 games) versus 32.8% in long games (over 35 min).

Updated Oct 10 2026 · Patch 26.21

Average KDA

4.2 / 5.6 / 5.3

ratio 1.7

Damage / min

773

CS / min

7.4

Gold / min

400

Kill participation

33%

Vision / min

0.89

Averages measured over 577 Top games played with Gnar, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

How to play and combo preview

Written guide · based on the official ability texts

Gnar is a fighter who alternates between small and Mega Gnar: his Rage fills as he fights, and when it is full, his next ability transforms him into Mega Gnar with better defenses and new abilities. Small, he throws a boomerang and hops; as Mega, he throws boulders, stuns with Wallop and knocks back all enemies with GNAR!.

Harassment

Q AA AA

When: An enemy is within boomerang range.

Boomerang Throw damages and slows; catch it to reduce its cooldown; Hyper adds damage and speed; Hop repositions you.

The transformation

When: Your Rage gauge is full.

Your next ability transforms you into Mega Gnar: Wallop stuns, Crunch deals area damage.

See all 3 Gnar combos: key order, when to cast them, cooldowns →

Laning phase

Catch your boomerang to reduce its cooldown. Hyper gives you damage and speed as you attack and cast abilities.

Common mistakes

Using GNAR! with no wall or allies behind.
Forgetting to catch the boomerang or the boulder.
Transforming at the wrong time: Rage is spent.

Riot's official tips for playing Gnar

Managing your Rage is very important. Try to time out your transformations so you can get maximum benefit from both forms.
Position yourself next to walls to bait your enemies into getting stunned by your ultimate.
Know your strengths! Mini Gnar is fast, squishy, and has high sustained damage. Mega Gnar is slow, tough, and has high burst.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Sterak's Gage, Black Cleaver, and Trinity Force (70 games, 54.3% win rate).

70 games · 54.3%

Wit's End

52 games · 53.8%

Black Cleaver

Trinity Force

Randuin's Omen

42 games · 42.9%

Skill order

Max order : Q > W > E44.7% · 76 games

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Q	●			●	●		●		●
W		●						●		●		●	●
E			●											●	●
R						●					●

The order shows which abilities reach rank 5 first; the grid shows the most-played level-up sequence with that order (measured over 82 games).

Starting items

Doran's Blade

Health Potion47.8% · 46 games

First completed items, in order

Trinity Force

Black Cleaver

35 games · 34.3%

Laning phase (averages)

At 10 min: 3481 gold, 74 CS, 4811 XP. At 15 min: 5469 gold, 115 CS, 8345 XP.

Summoner spells

Flash + Teleport45.4% · 467 games

Flash + Ignite45.2% · 42 games

Exhaust + Flash37.8% · 37 games

Flash + Barrier48.0% · 25 games

Most-played runes

Lethal Tempo + Resolve

40.4% · 265 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph53%

Legend: Alacrity100%

Last Stand52%

Secondary tree · Resolve

Bone Plating86%

Overgrowth73%

Shards

Attack speed100%

Adaptive force98%

Health62%

Fleet Footwork + Resolve

47.0% · 247 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph62%

Legend: Alacrity100%

Last Stand61%

Secondary tree · Resolve

Overgrowth83%

Bone Plating81%

Shards

Attack speed98%

Adaptive force96%

Health scaling59%

Grasp of the Undying + Precision

47.4% · 38 games

Primary tree · Resolve

Demolish97%

Bone Plating90%

Overgrowth97%

Secondary tree · Precision

Legend: Alacrity97%

Triumph92%

Shards

Attack speed100%

Adaptive force97%

Health scaling90%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Gnar's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team49.4% · 158 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Trinity Force 50.0% ▲

Black Cleaver 52.6%

Sterak's Gage 52.7%

Wit's End 54.0% ▲

Randuin's Omen 40.0%

Jak'Sho, The Protean 66.7%

The item that stands out most is Wit's End: 54.0% win rate, +8 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team45.2% · 155 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Trinity Force 46.0%

Black Cleaver 45.5% ▼

Sterak's Gage 41.3% ▼

Randuin's Omen 45.2% ▲

Wit's End 36.4%

The item that stands out most is Randuin's Omen: 45.2% win rate, +4 points versus its usual win rate.

Balanced enemy team42.0% · 264 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Trinity Force 44.8%

Black Cleaver 51.2%

Sterak's Gage 53.7% ▲

Wit's End 40.5% ▼

Randuin's Omen 39.0%

Thornmail 50.0%

The item that stands out most is Sterak's Gage: 53.7% win rate, +3 points versus its usual win rate.

Counters and matchups

Who counters Gnar in Top

Malphite Gnar: 40.0%15 games

Malphite has the edge in 60% of the 15 Top duels against Gnar. See the Malphite guide.

Renekton Gnar: 43.8%16 games

Renekton has the edge in 56% of the 16 Top duels against Gnar. See the Renekton guide.

Who Gnar is strong against

Renekton43.8% · 16 games

Malphite40.0% · 15 games

How to play against Gnar

Gnar can't gain Rage for 15 seconds after he turns from big to little. Use this chance to engage on his team.
Gnar's animations and resource bar change as he gets closer to transforming.
Gnar's ultimate stuns if he hits you into a wall. Be careful when fighting him near one.

Riot's official tips.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Gnar's matchups.

Gnar Top: what our games say

Laning phase against the Top average

Measure	Gnar	Top average	Gap
Gold at 10 min	3481	3580	−99
CS at 10 min	74	71	+3
XP at 10 min	4811	4754	+57
Gold at 15 min	5469	5655	−186
CS at 15 min	115	111	+4
XP at 15 min	8345	8297	+48

Measured over 82 Gnar games with a timeline; the average covers 82 champions played Top in our ranked games.

Win rate by game length

short under 25 min40.2 %204 games

medium-length 25 to 35 min50.2 %315 games

long over 35 min32.8 %58 games

Best result: medium-length (25 to 35 min). Only groups of at least 30 games are shown. A gap of several points shows the phase where the champion is the most reliable.

Abilities

PassiveRage Gene

While in combat Gnar generates Rage. At maximum Rage his next ability will transform him into Mega Gnar, granting increased survivability and access to new spells.

QBoomerang Throw / Boulder Toss

Gnar throws a boomerang that damages and slows enemies it hits before returning to him. If he catches the boomerang its cooldown is reduced.

Mega Gnar instead throws a boulder that stops on the first unit hit, damaging and slowing everything nearby. It can then be picked up to reduce the cooldown.

WHyper / Wallop

Gnar's attacks and spells hype him up, dealing bonus damage and granting him Move Speed.

Mega Gnar is too enraged to be hyper and instead can rear up on his hind legs and smash down on the area in front of him, stunning enemies in an area.

EHop / Crunch

Gnar leaps to a location and bounces off the head of any unit he lands on, traveling further.

Mega Gnar is too large to bounce and instead lands with earth-shattering force, dealing damage in an area around him.

RGNAR!

Mega Gnar throws everything around him in a chosen direction, dealing damage and slowing them. Any enemy that hits a wall is stunned and takes bonus damage.