Guide · Top

Gwen Guide

The Hallowed Seamstress

Fighter

Tier A Top

Gwen, The Hallowed Seamstress, is a fighter champion of medium difficulty. Across our 505 analysed ranked games, Gwen is mostly played in Top (65% of its games), and more rarely in the Jungle (27%), with a 47.5% win rate in that role: tier A among Top champions (#12 of 48, ranked by win rate). Gwen's damage is mostly magic (68%): magic resistance items are therefore effective against this champion. 18% of that damage is true damage and therefore ignores resistances. Win rate varies with game length: 52.8% in long games (over 35 min, 36 games) versus 46.8% in short games (under 25 min).

Updated Oct 10 2026 · Patch 26.21

Average KDA

5.4 / 5.9 / 4.2

ratio 1.6

Damage / min

875

CS / min

7.5

Gold / min

430

Kill participation

34%

Vision / min

0.86

Averages measured over 326 Top games played with Gwen, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

How to play and combo preview

Written guide · based on the official ability texts

Gwen is a fighter whose attacks deal bonus magic damage based on the target's health, and who heals for part of the damage dealt to champions. Snip Snip! cuts up to 6 times, Hallowed Mist protects her from enemies outside the area, Skip 'n Slash dashes her with bonuses, and Needlework slows and can be recast twice.

The trade

E AA AA

Q AA AA

When: An enemy is within range.

Skip 'n Slash dashes you then gives attack speed, range and magic damage; Snip Snip! applies your passive on every snip of the scissors.

The duel

When: You are fighting an enemy who has ranged allies.

Hallowed Mist protects you from enemies outside the area: only those who enter can target you. Fight inside.

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

Laning phase

Snip Snip! deals true damage at the center of the area and applies your passive on every cut: aim with the center. Hallowed Mist makes you untouchable to enemies outside the mist.

Common mistakes

Casting Snip Snip! aiming at the edges: the true damage is at the center.
Using Hallowed Mist without fighting inside it.
Forgetting the ultimate's recasts.

Riot's official tips for playing Gwen

Always be Attacking - In addition to dealing bonus damage, Gwen's Attacks empower or reset many of her Abilities.
Gwen can still damage enemies outside her Hallowed Mists, especially with her Ultimate's range.
Some of Gwen's Abilities can apply her passive to multiple enemies, so aim them at groups to get maximum damage and healing.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Dusk and Dawn, Rabadon's Deathcap, and Shadowflame (59 games, 61.0% win rate).

Dusk and Dawn

Rabadon's Deathcap

Shadowflame

59 games · 61.0%

Dusk and Dawn

Nashor's Tooth

Riftmaker

23 games · 52.2%

Dusk and Dawn

Rabadon's Deathcap

Riftmaker

20 games · 75.0%

Skill order

Max order : Q > E > W41.7% · 48 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 52 games).

Starting items

Doran's Ring

Health Potion

Health Potion44.4% · 45 games

Laning phase (averages)

At 10 min: 3486 gold, 69 CS, 4714 XP. At 15 min: 5572 gold, 112 CS, 8268 XP.

Summoner spells

Flash + Ignite43.8% · 144 games

Flash + Teleport52.5% · 101 games

Ghost + Teleport50.0% · 22 games

Teleport + Ignite52.4% · 21 games

Most-played runes

Conqueror + Resolve

47.5% · 179 games

Primary tree · Precision

Presence of Mind86%

Legend: Alacrity95%

Last Stand86%

Secondary tree · Resolve

Bone Plating68%

Unflinching65%

Shards

Attack speed97%

Adaptive force100%

Health scaling52%

Conqueror + Inspiration

50.0% · 92 games

Primary tree · Precision

Presence of Mind76%

Legend: Alacrity99%

Last Stand82%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Cosmic Insight55%

Cash Back41%

Shards

Attack speed84%

Adaptive force97%

Health scaling60%

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 Gwen'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 team52.2% · 92 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Dusk and Dawn 59.4% ▲

Riftmaker 58.5% ▲

Shadowflame 61.5% ▲

Rabadon's Deathcap 64.7% ▲

Nashor's Tooth 50.0% ▲

Void Staff 27.3%

The item that stands out most is Riftmaker: 58.5% win rate, +8 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team38.5% · 78 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Dusk and Dawn 40.0% ▼

Riftmaker 46.7% ▼

Shadowflame 40.0% ▼

Nashor's Tooth 42.3% ▼

Rabadon's Deathcap 40.9%

Void Staff 66.7%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Balanced enemy team49.4% · 156 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Dusk and Dawn 54.6%

Riftmaker 47.4%

Shadowflame 55.4%

Nashor's Tooth 45.8%

Rabadon's Deathcap 63.0% ▲

Zhonya's Hourglass 65.0%

The item that stands out most is Rabadon's Deathcap: 63.0% win rate, +4 points versus its usual win rate.

Counters and matchups

How to play against Gwen

Gwen's Hallowed Mist shroud will only follow her once, after that it will dissipate when she leaves.
Gwen must hit something to recast her Ultimate, try to evade her between casts.
Gwen needs to attack a few times to set up her damage, so try to get the jump on her.

Riot's official tips.

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

Gwen Top: what our games say

Laning phase against the Top average

Measure	Gwen	Top average	Gap
Gold at 10 min	3486	3580	−94
CS at 10 min	69	71	−1
XP at 10 min	4714	4754	−40
Gold at 15 min	5572	5655	−83
CS at 15 min	112	111	+0
XP at 15 min	8268	8297	−30

Measured over 52 Gwen games with a timeline; the average covers 82 champions played Top in our ranked games.

Win rate by game length

short under 25 min46.8 %109 games

medium-length 25 to 35 min47.0 %181 games

long over 35 min52.8 %36 games

Best result: long (over 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.

Gwen in another role

Role	Games	Win rate	CS/min	Gold/min	Most-built items
Jungle	134	49.2 %	7.6	470
Mid	45	37.8 %	7.4	451

Roles where we have at least 40 Gwen games.

Abilities

PassiveA Thousand Cuts

Gwen's attacks deal bonus magic damage based on the targets health. She heals for a portion of the damage dealt to champions by this effect.

QSnip Snip!

Gwen snips her scissors in a cone up to 6 times dealing magic damage. Gwen deals true damage to units in the center and applies her passive to them on each snip.

WHallowed Mist

Gwen summons mist that protects her from enemies outside of it. She can only be targeted by enemies who enter the mist.

ESkip 'n Slash

Gwen dashes a short distance then gains Attack Speed, attack range, and magic damage On-Hit for a few seconds. If she hits an enemy during that time, this Ability's cooldown is partially refunded.

RNeedlework

Gwen hurls a needle that slows enemies hit, deals magic damage, and applies A Thousand Cuts to champions hit.

This ability can be cast up to two more times, with each cast throwing additional needles and dealing more damage.