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 (#50 of 51, 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).

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

Combos and how to play

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 › W › E

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

W › E › Q › R

When: Your Rage gauge is full.

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

The team engage

R

When: Enemies are near a wall.

GNAR! knocks all nearby enemies in the targeted direction with damage and a slow; if they hit a wall, they are stunned and take bonus damage.

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).

Sterak's Gage+Black Cleaver+Trinity Force

70 games · 54.3%

Black Cleaver+Trinity Force+Wit's End

52 games · 53.8%

Black Cleaver+Trinity Force+Randuin's Omen

42 games · 42.9%

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

Renekton Gnar: 33.3%15 games

Renekton has the edge in 67% of the 15 Top duels against Gnar. See the Renekton guide.

K'Sante Gnar: 59.1%22 games

K'Sante has the edge in 41% of the 22 Top duels against Gnar. See the K'Sante guide.

Who Gnar is strong against

K'Sante59.1% · 22 games

Renekton33.3% · 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.

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

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.

Frequently asked questions

Full Gnar page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides