Garen vs Gragas
Skill matchup
Build vs Gragas
Build adapted to this matchup
Recommended items for Garen: Stridebreaker, Phantom Dancer, Mortal Reminder, Berserker's Greaves, Youmuu's Ghostblade, Dead Man's Plate, Force of Nature, Executioner's Calling.
Starting items
Core build
Standard
Summoner spells
Anti CC
Other options
Power Spikes
Strength by game phase
Gragas's abilities
Passive, spells and ultimate
Gragas periodically heals upon using a skill.
Cooldowns
Cooldowns by spell rank
| Level | Q | W | E | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 10s | 5s | 14s | – |
| 6 | 8s | 5s | 14s | 1m40 |
| 9 | 6s | 5s | 14s | 1m40 |
| 11 | 6s | 5s | 14s | 1m25 |
| 16 | 6s | 5s | 13s | 1m10 |
| 18 | 6s | 5s | 12s | 1m10 |
Playing as Garen
Tips to maximize your impact
- Silence, spin, back off
Trade with Decisive Strike (Q), then Judgment (E), and back off: the Decisive Strike silence stops your opponent from answering with spells.
- Stay closest to your opponent
During Judgment (E), stay closer to your opponent than to their minions: the nearest enemy takes extra damage.
- Back off to regenerate
After a trade, back off until Perseverance (passive) kicks in: without recent damage taken, you regenerate part of your health every second.
- Courage just before impact
Activate Courage (W) just before the bulk of the damage: you first gain a shield and tenacity, then a longer damage reduction.
- Save your R to finish
Save Demacian Justice (R) to finish: its true damage grows with the target's missing health.
Playing against Gragas
How to counter and exploit weaknesses
- Stay behind your minions
Stay behind your minions: Body Slam (E) stops on the first enemy it meets, minions included.
- Get out of the barrel zone fast
Get out of the Barrel Roll (Q) area right away: the longer the barrel sits on the ground, the more its explosion hurts and slows.
- Step up after a missed E
Step up when Body Slam (E) hits nobody: its cooldown isn't reduced and stays at 14 to 12 seconds.
- Spread out from your allies
Spread out from your allies: Explosive Cask (R) knocks every enemy away from the impact, which can split you up or send you toward his team.
Other Garen matchups
Patch 16.21.1