GnarMatchups

Fleet Footwork + Cut Down + Second Wind + Unflinching

Doran's Shield → Refillable → Phage / Null-Magic Mantle → Black Cleaver → / Boots of Swiftness → Sterak's Gage → Trinity Force

Malphite and Irelia are the two Gnar counter-picks I see the most often.

• Play bushes or river level 1 — don't tank a Q for free before first melees are getting low

• First sequence (until first back): play every Fleet Footwork auto to abuse his mana. Bonus points if you force him to use abilities for CSing

• Don't allow yourself to get hit by anything but his Q — E out if he's going to be able to W or E you

• After first sequence, play safe until Black Cleaver

• In general you can win on Mega timings, especially once you have Black Cleaver

• A good Malphite might try to proxy on you — ping his rotations. Don't try to stop the proxy without help

• Mentally prepare yourself to flash Malphite R when needed — it's more than possible from mid to max range if you're expecting it

Fleet Footwork + Absolute Focus + Scorch

Adaptive Force

Long Sword → Boots of Swiftness → Trinity Force

Take only free or very favorable trades to stay above 70% health. Garen isn't the one-shot monster he was early last year, but if you're 70% HP he will one-shot you with Q → Flash → Ignite → E → R

As a bonus, Absolute Focus produces really good value in the early game.

• Eventually he'll realize he's losing and try to all-in

• Good tech is to E on him right before he Qs you if you're worried about his E damage

• If he's proxying on you, you've most likely already messed up — unless you have help, you should probably just let him do his thing

Fleet Footwork + Bone Plating

Doran's Blade → Refillable → (or Plated Steelcaps) → Trinity Force

Renekton is a deceptively strong champion in the early game.

• His sustain is good with Q

• He has lots of ways to get onto you with E and Flash

• Renekton W — empowered it removes shields, can proc PTA very quickly, longish CC

• Renekton gets a second E charge if he dashes through an enemy

• Tether him at 1.25 to 1.5x his E range — if he Es, you'll be out of his immediate W or Q range and able to E away if he uses another E

• Renekton E cooldown is shorter than your E cooldown — if you don't have E, it's generally best not to risk his engaging range

• Stay healthy and tether his range. Focus CS and not dying. If Rene doesn't get ahead early, he'll be useless later

Fleet Footwork + Cash Back + Biscuit Delivery

Adaptive Force

Doran's Blade → Boots of Swiftness → Phage → / Black Cleaver

• You control this lane early

• After level 6, with ult, Ornn has great setup for his JG and 1v1 kill pressure if you misstep

• Stay healthy

• If Ornn got a lead early go Black Cleaver, otherwise Trinity Force is fine

Fleet Footwork + Bone Plating + Unflinching

Move Speed

Doran's Blade → + Refillable → Executioner's Calling → Trinity Force

Play for wave prio on the first few waves rather than poke. Aatrox will be able to hit you with Q1 and Q2 if he times them well against your autos in the early levels.

• Your goal is to farm well in the early levels until you have enough for Swifties — at that point the lane opens up quite a bit

• Aatrox will often play his bread and butter Q1 → E → W → Q2 → Q3 → AA combo for lots of burst. If you're able to dodge his Qs or run out of his W, you have a window to punish

• With Swifties you can run directly away from Aatrox out of his W

• Before Swifties it is important you save your E to dodge Q2, or deny his W pull

Fleet Footwork + Bone Plating + Unflinching

Doran's Blade → / Boots of Swiftness → Trinity Force

You have prio on 1st shove. The trick to this matchup is playing for Q poke before 6 and W proc poke after 6. Be patient with Zaahen when looking to make an ult play on him — his ult makes him unstoppable.

• Can play for prio on 1st wave

• Be wary of Zaahen E start — don't over-commit into poke level 1

• Play safe after first crash onto his tower

• After level 3, trades will either consist of your Q poke, or Zaahen initiating with E and/or W

• If Zaahen E or W is down and you have E up, you can fish for trades

• In Mega, be mindful his ult makes him unstoppable — don't W to start trade if he has ult

• Play mind games with ult as needed — chain CC properly for good burst

• Late game is super easy, just don't try to fight him in melee

Fleet Footwork + Bone Plating + Unflinching

Adaptive Force / Movement Speed + Flat Health

Doran's Blade → Bramble Vest → Refillable → Plated Steelcaps → Trinity Force

Start E. Contest pixel level 1. Irelia will often try to Q all three melees level 1 then Q onto you for her full passive. With E start, you can feel safe getting at least 2 of the 3 melees and then E on her head towards your tower. This will be a winning trade and get the wave shoving into you.

If Irelia has Ignite:

• Do not drop below 70% HP on the first push into your tower — even a 1-for-1 on a tower dive here can be very damaging in the long run

• Don't sit on lots of gold — once you have enough for Bramble Vest, match her next reset to get it

• Dodge Irelia E

• Play with Mega and JG

Conqueror + Legend: Haste + Biscuit Delivery

Adaptive + Tenacity

Doran's Blade → Boots of Swiftness → (Trinity Force first if you're far ahead)

• Play very good wave management early and you can usually bully your way into an early lead

• All that matters is that you get ahead in gold early and Nasus is denied a reasonable amount of CS

• After 6, Nasus is a huge threat if he has ult — baiting out his ult in a position where you won't be punished too hard is a great way to make him useless for the next two minutes

• Lane assign away from the Nasus if possible in the mid game

• Resistances aren't great vs Nasus and attack speed is heavily reduced by his W

• Black Cleaver and Spear of Shojin are good options for fighting Nasus with Mega

• Boots of Swiftness over Plated Steelcaps to help with running away