Gnar Baron Lane Wild Rift overview and best build snapshot
Best Build
Quick snapshot of the default setup for this guide.
Boots
Items
Summoner Spells
Spell 1
Flash
Spell 2
Ignite
How to play
Poke while keeping your distance In your small form, poke with ranged attacks and save your 3rd ability to jump away if enemies approach.
Watch your rage before a fight Attacking builds your rage bar; filling it prepares your larger, tougher form. Join your team when you are close to transforming.
Fight near walls in Mega form Use your ultimate to throw enemies into terrain and stun them.
Guide author
Royal
Royal has reached Rank 1 in EU and NA, and Legend and Sovereign on the Chinese server. Created by Royal with input from high elo and professional players and the WildRiftGuides Discord community.
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Strengths
- Best of both worlds: ranged kiting in Mini form, tank stats and massive engage in Mega.
- The wall-toss ultimate can win a teamfight outright whenever terrain cooperates.
- Mini Gnar can pressure immobile melee laners with range, slows, and repeated short trades.
Weaknesses
- The rage bar controls him: transforming at the wrong moment leaves the wrong Gnar in the fight.
- Mini form is squishy, and gap closers punish it hard.
- Enemies who track his rage can wait out Mega and fight the yordle.
Gnar Baron Lane Wild Rift best build, items, runes, summoner spells, and skill order
ITEM BUILD
Best Wild Rift build for Gnar Baron Lane, including items, runes, summoner spells, and skill order.
STARTING ITEM
Early health, which matters most in Mega form where he actually takes fights.
BOOTS
Armor and health to cover Mini form, which is when the enemy laner will try to punish him.
CORE BUILD
Casting Boomerang Throw (1st), Hop (3rd), or Hyper's (2nd) active primes Spellblade for Gnar's next attack. Hyper's (2nd) third stack is a separate passive proc rather than an empowered attack, while Trinity's movement speed helps Mini Gnar hold his range.
Mini Gnar's physical attacks and Boomerang Throw (1st), or Mega Gnar's physical combo, can build Cleaver's armor reduction through repeated hits so allied physical damage benefits too.
The shield triggers while he is Mega and committed, buying the seconds that transformation window needs.
Build this when you are transforming into the middle of the enemy team and need both armor and magic resist.
Revives him once after dying. His transformation is on a timer he does not control, so this covers being caught in the wrong form.
SITUATIONAL ITEMS
Build this when you are split pushing rather than grouping. Health, attack damage and move speed, a heavy fourth attack on champions and structures, and armor and magic resist for your nearby siege and super minions, though a ranged champion collects a reduced version of both.
Build this when you cannot land the Mega wall stun. The dash and slow set it up.
Boot swap against heavy magic damage and crowd control, which is what catches him in Mini form.
Build this when crowd control catches Gnar before he can transform or reach the wall angle for his ultimate. The cleanse protects the narrow timing window around Mega Gnar.
Build this against heavy magic burst when Gnar still needs attack damage. The magic shield helps him survive the first rotation without giving up as much pressure in Mini form.
Build this against repeated magic damage. The magic resistance protects Mega Gnar during a long engage, while the movement speed helps Mini Gnar maintain space.
Build this when the enemy team has multiple crit champions. The crit reduction helps Mega Gnar survive after committing to a wall-stun angle.
Replace Guardian Angel when Gnar can land attacks on several champions through a long transformation fight. The first attack against each champion delivers an empowered hit and a heal, with a separate cooldown per target.
Replace Guardian Angel when attack-speed carries punish Gnar after he jumps into their team. The mana is wasted, so reserve this for games where the aura is decisive. Armor, mana, and haste come with a nearby enemy attack-speed reduction. Stay close enough for the aura; it does not slow Master Yi's attacks during Highlander (Ult).
Replace Guardian Angel when Gnar needs Armor and anti-heal against physical sustain fighters in the side lane or frontline. Armor and Grievous Wounds answer healing physical attackers. Your own damage also applies anti-heal, so you do not need to wait for them to attack you.
RUNES
KEYSTONE
Heals him and gives move speed, which suits the poke-and-back-off pattern of Mini form.
PRIMARY
Mini Gnar shoves waves from range at almost no risk, so tower damage is the natural payoff. Three attacks trigger the bonus turret damage.
Mini Gnar cannot fight back through a committed all-in, and this holds him together until the transformation arrives.
Mega Gnar fights in the middle of the team, and the extra health decides how long that lasts.
SECONDARY
Bonus damage on every autoattack, which makes his Mini form trades actually hurt.
SITUATIONAL RUNES
Take this over Overgrowth when crowd control is a bigger threat than long-term health. Its tenacity shortens most disables and grants temporary defenses while immobilized. The shorter disable protects the brief Mega Gnar window in which he can still reach a wall-stun angle.
SUMMONER SPELLS
MAIN SPELLS
Flash
Must take. Flash into his mega form stun against a wall is the engage that decides most of his fights.
Ignite
Take this for early kill pressure in the solo lane, since one kill is usually enough to start snowballing it. The Grievous Wounds also makes it strong into champions with a lot of healing.
SITUATIONAL SPELLS
Teleport
Take this over Ignite when the lane keeps pushing into you. He is safer than most laners at range, so the free reset costs him nothing.
Barrier
Take this over Ignite when you are dying in mega form. His rage bar puts him in the middle of the fight, and this covers the seconds right after he lands the stun.
SKILL ORDER
Skill Priority Order
- 11st Ability
Q - 22nd Ability
W - 33rd Ability
E
Gnar Baron Lane Wild Rift matchups and counters
Wild Rift matchup guide for Gnar Baron Lane, covering favorable lanes and difficult counters to prepare for in ranked.
Good Matchups
These champions are favorable matchups for this pick in Wild Rift. You have advantages against them and can play more aggressively.
Sion
Sion is a free poke target: too slow to reach the yordle, easy to hop away from when the charged knockup comes, and his slow engage loses to your faster wall-toss in fights.
Garen
Boomerang Throw (1st) and Hyper (2nd) let Mini Gnar damage Garen without entering Judgment (3rd), while Hop (3rd) preserves the distance after Decisive Strike (1st) begins. Reapply poke before Perseverance (Passive) has time to regenerate it, keep the wave long enough to kite, and leave Mega Gnar before Garen can silence the escape and spin through the larger target.
Gwen
Hallowed Mist (2nd) makes Gwen immune to attacks and abilities from Gnar while he remains outside it, including Mega Gnar's stun and ultimate. Poke between mist windows, then enter the zone or wait for it to end before committing the wall combo.
Dr. Mundo
Boomerang Throw (1st) slows Mundo before he can remain in cleaver range, and repeated Hyper (2nd) procs punish the maximum health his build adds. Keep Hop (3rd) for the Infected Bonesaw (1st) slow or jungle pressure, kite in Mini Gnar instead of forcing a Mega Gnar brawl, and use the wave lead before Mundo's regeneration has enough items to erase the poke.
Gnar Counters
These champions counter this pick in Wild Rift and can be difficult matchups. Learn how to play against them or consider banning them.
Irelia
Irelia's dashes reach both Gnars and her sustain heals back your poke, and one clean engage on squishy Mini form kills you outright.
Darius
One pull can cost a whole health bar: Apprehend (3rd) reaches further than you expect, and the bleed hurts no matter which form you are in.
Camille
Camille's hookshot reaches the yordle and her true damage hurts squishy Mini form badly, while her adaptive shield blunts your poke trades.
Malphite
Malphite does not care which Gnar he is hitting: armor blunts your boomerang poke, his Q (1st) chips you through the hops, and his ultimate covers so much ground that even Mini form struggles to sidestep it.
Gnar Baron Lane Wild Rift game strategy and teamfighting guide
Wild Rift game strategy for Gnar Baron Lane, from early lane control through mid and late game map play to final teamfights.