Disclaimer: This article contains curated tips, guides, other useful information posted on Inven KR by the users. Please note that such guides and information are not objective truths and may not reflect the latest patch or meta changes.

*Original guide from LoL Inven KR by 청지 [Cheongji]

An obsessive Gragas Mad Movie by Cheongji

Runes

Mark : Magic Penetration x9; good for both jungling and instant burst.

Seal : Vitality x9; to be tanky in the late game.

Glyph : Ability Power x9; supports jungling and ganking in the early game.

Quintessence : Ability Power x3; supports jungling and ganking in the early game.

If you don’t use Armor runes as Seal, it would be difficult to jungle in the early game. Thus, choose W as your first skill followed by Q and E in order to manage the health easier.

Mastery

After a thorough consideration of what to go for with disappearance of Strength of the Ages in Season 6, I decided to go with Thunderlord’s Decree. It has a much more burst damage than Courage of the Colossus and is quite useful for the early gank.

Skills

Choose W at level 1. Unlike in Season 6, there is only one monster that gives buff, so W will be the most efficient skill at level 1.

How to use the skills most effectively

- While ganking, attack with E (Body Slam), use Q and explode the barrel right underneath Gragas in order to hit the enemies before they use Flash. They would dodge with Flash if you use Q beforehand.

- Make sure to use W while being attacked as it reduces damage being taken. You would most likely survive with this effect when diving under the turret.

- The animation of rolling the barrel is cancelled when you use Q or R while using E. Use this when the opponent is in a situation where he cannot avoid E.

- You can counter Poppy’s E (Heroic Charge) and Alista’s W (Headbutt) with E, but not Malphite’s ult.

- Use R to bounce the opponent towards our team when he is crowd-controlled.

- On the other hand, use R only to protect allies when you are not good at it.

- Use E on Vayne after her E (Condemn) has been used. You will be pushed backward by Condemn when you use E towards her.

- Use E on Thresh after his E (Flay) has been used for the same reason as above.

- E would not hit Elise when she escapes in Spider Form. Her spiderlings will take the hit instead, so try to avoid them when using it.

- It’s 100 times better to use E on incoming opponents than to use it to initiate the fight. Induce the opponent to initiate first and counter with E.

- You can only use Flash while using W but no other skills.

- Explode the Q barrel as late as possible when the opponent has nowhere to escape. The success of ganking may depend on how late the barrel explodes.

- If you level up after using Q and the barrel is still waiting to be exploded, it would give scaled-up damage in the end. Note that W still applies the same damage even if you level up while casting the skill.

- It is hard to notice the barrel becoming red with Superfan Gragas skin.

- The exploding sound is different between when the skill hits and it does not. The difference is particularly noticeable with Gragas, Esq.

- Yasuo can use the ult when Gragas’ E hits the opponent. although Yasuo needs to react quickly.

- 2 stacks of Thunderlord’s Decree applies when you use W followed by auto-attack. Use W, E and then auto-attack to activate it.

- When slaying a Rift Scuttler, use E to stun it first. This neutral monster will receive 25% extra damage once it is stunned, so it is easier to kill it after using E first.

Items

Choose Runic Echoes for the first core item. It dominates in every aspect of jungling, mana management, movement speed, and burst damage. This is the first core item you should go for.

The second core item should be Iceborn Gauntlet without question - except when all opponents are AP champions. All options are suitable for the champion, and the item provides more damage.

Purchase Spirit Visage after Iceborn Gauntlet. The options are good for Gragas, and the increased health regeneration is quite effective with Gragas’ passive. Note that it becomes the second core item when opponents are all AP or 4 AP champions.

Item build order when opponents are all AD champions

Ninja Tabi, Skirmisher’ Sabre: Runic Echoes, Iceborn Gauntlet, Dead Man’s Plate, Randuin’s Omen, and Thornmail or Guardian Angel

Item build order when opponents are all AP champions

Mercury’s Treads, Skirmisher’s Sabre: Runic Echoes, Spirit Visage, Banshee’s Veil, Abyssal Scepter, Zhonya’s Hourglass, and Locket of the Iron Solari or Guardian Angel

Explanation

Dead Man’s Plate: good to purchase as a third core item when the game is easy.

Randuin’s Omen: good for protecting ally DPS champions, and if you are against the opponent with high critical damage.

Locket of the Iron Solari: good for the situation where it is a win if you protect DPS.

Banshee’s Veil: when all opponents are AP.

Abyssal Scepter: works well when there are many opponent AP champions and you are well fed up.

Zhonya’s Hourglass: works well when there are many opponent AD champions and if you want to be more influential in the game.

Guardian Angel: generally used as a third or fourth core item, but is not as efficient in low tiers.

Counter-picks

The 2 Champions that are hard to deal with 

Graves: The currently most OP jungle champion. Just ban him.

Malzahar: Think twice before using E as voidlings would most likely block it.

The champion that is easy to deal with

Lee Sin: If You see Lee Sin rushing into Gragas with Sonic Wave, give him some Body Slam as a gift.

Miscellaneous

This video highlights the early jungling process and routes.

This is a video for top laning with Gragas for its viral popularity.

For more information, check out Cheongji Youtube Channel.