How to beat Gragas

Common role: Jungle

The best counter to Gragas in Top is Kassadin: 68.9% win rate over 37 ranked games on patch 26.17.

A drunken brawler who body-slams in and explodes your team apart with a barrel ult.

What makes Gragas dangerous

Gragas throws a damaging AoE barrel (Q), body-slams in with a knock-up (E), and his ultimate is an explosion that knocks enemies away — disrupting engages or peeling your carry into his team. He's a durable initiator with a shield and strong burst, controlling fights with displacement.

How to play against Gragas

• 1Dodge his E body-slam — it's a charged dash that knocks you up. Sidestep it and his engage combo has no lockdown.
• 2Respect his ult knockback — it can peel your carry away or scatter your engage. Position so it can't knock you into his team.
• 3Dodge his Q barrel — it's his poke and burst. Don't stand in the AoE, especially when it's fully fermented (bigger).
• 4His E shields him on impact — don't dump burst right as he slams in. Trade when his engage is on cooldown.

Weaknesses to exploit

• ✓E body-slam and Q barrel are dodgeable skillshots.
• ✓Ult knockback can be positioned around.
• ✓Mana-hungry early.
• ✓Kiteable outside his E engage.

Abilities & how to counter them

What each of Gragas's abilities does — and how to play around it.

• P
  Happy Hour

  Gragas periodically heals upon using a skill.

• Q
  Barrel Roll

  Gragas rolls his cask to a location, which can be activated to explode or will explode on its own after 4 seconds. The potency of the explosion increases over time. Enemies struck by the blast have their Move Speed slowed.

• W
  Drunken Rage

  Gragas samples his latest brew for 1 second. After finishing, he becomes boisterous and belligerent, dealing magic damage to all nearby enemies on his next basic attack and reducing damage received.

• E
  Body Slam

  Gragas charges to a location and collides with the first enemy unit he comes across, dealing damage to all nearby enemy units and stunning them.

  Strong: a charged body-slam that knocks up and shields him — his engage. Weak: dodge the dash and his combo has no lockdown.

• R
  Explosive Cask

  Gragas hurls his cask to a location, dealing damage and knocking back enemies caught in the blast radius.

  Strong: an explosion that knocks enemies away — disrupts engage or peels your carry. Weak: position so it can't knock you into his team.

Itemization

Gragas is an AP tank/initiator. Dodge his E and Q, position so his ult can't knock you into his team, and magic resist blunts his burst. Kite him outside his engage.

This guide covers Gragas's core kit and playstyle — advice that holds up across patches.