The 2023 League of Legends preseason draws to a close, and Season 13 is knocking on the door. As a result, fans all over…
Gwen is the Handy Tailor in League of Legends. Guide to the 155th Champion, Abilities, Build, Runes, etc.
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Gwen has arrived in Season 11 of League of Legends. Meet the top laner snippy with the best runes, builds, tips and tricks to master her even before you take her to the solo queue - here's how to master the Seelie Seamstress.
Immediately after the release of update 11.8 on April 15, a new champion appeared in League of Legends - a pretty doll with eyes of different colors named Gwen. The Lady with the Magic Scissors has been available on the test server for two whole weeks, so we've had plenty of time to explore it. We have prepared for you a handy guide that will help you understand her skills, as well as strengths and weaknesses.
Gwen is the first champion from the Shadow Isles who doesn't want to destroy all life in the name of love, like Viego, and doesn't want to dig graves until she's blue in the face, like Yorick. The girl personifies the kindness and warmth that she wants to bring to the rest of the world. And at the same time, she is a brutal fighter with magical damage and an unsurpassed duelist with a split-push bias who can cut down any inaccurate opponent. But first things first.
Gwen's abilities
Thousand Cuts (Passive). Gwen's basic attacks deal bonus magic damage based on her health. Hits against champions restore her health based on the damage dealt.
Gwen's passive ability allows her to lane safely and not be afraid to trade with the enemy champion. If your opponent stands sloppy and constantly exposes himself to auto-attacks, then you will slowly and surely build up an advantage over him. Your hits will be stronger due to the bonus magic damage, and the healing from each hit will make any opponent think thrice before trading with you.
However, Gwen's basic attacks are not so powerful, so it's not worth it to noticeably get impudent for her. Some Jax or Camilla will quickly cool the girl's steam with the help of mills, and Fiora will simply transfer the young lady. But Gwen's nightmare is Riven. She has more damage, and the procast is stronger, and control is present.
"Chick-chick!" [Q]. Gwen quickly snaps her scissors in a cone in front of her, dealing magic damage. The minimum number of cuts is two, but this increases by one for each basic attack that Gwen has used on the enemy (she can do no more than six cuts in total). Enemies in the center of each slash's area of effect take true damage as well as additional magic damage from Thousand Cuts.
Q is Gwen's key skill, with which she deals damage to the enemy and pushes the line, and subsequently takes the kill. In no case should you try to fight with the enemy if you don’t have a stack of Q. Because of this, Gwen’s mechanics on the lane are very simple: he filled the required number of charges of “Thousand Cuts” on the minions - it’s useful to trade. Well, yes, try to keep the enemy in the center of the cone, because the labor damage is too good.
It's still hard to say how bold Gwen will be in lane thanks to the combination of her passive ability and Q, since the release version of her may differ from the one that was on PBE. Hence a very simple advice - use your inner feeling and attack the enemy only when he spends key skills and cannot give a worthy rebuff.
"Holy Mist" [W]. Gwen creates an area of holy mist around her for XNUMX seconds, increasing her armor and magic resistance. Enemies outside the area cannot target Gwen or hit her with any skills. The first time Gwen tries to leave the area, the fog will follow her, but the next time it will dissipate.
Mist is perhaps Gwen's most broken ability. Thanks to her, the doll can avoid any damage from any source, as well as easily hide from the enemy jungler. In its mechanics, W resembles a mixture of Xin Zhao's ultimate and Senna's third ability, which also imposes fog on it.
How to use it most effectively? The ability is somewhat similar to Fiora's W - a mistaken use can cost Gwen her life or a lost kill. For one-on-one trades, you need to activate it during the fight in order to gain resistances and generally feel more confident during the battle. In team fights, you should try to activate the skill at the moment when enemy ultimates or other powerful sources of damage are triggered. The key is to kill as many abominations as possible in order to burst into a teamfight with full health.
"Loose fit" [E]. Gwen dashes a short distance and empowers her auto attacks for 50 seconds, increasing their range and speed, and dealing magic damage on hit. While attacking enemies during this time, Gwen reduces the cooldown of Loose Cut by XNUMX%.
A very good dash with a small cooldown and a lot of useful properties. It should be used most actively during trades with an opponent. The enemy began to climb on you? They jumped back, quickly made a series of buff hits, stacked a passive and finished with a powerful cut with Q. The opponent understood his place and decided to run away? Repeated. The E mechanic also allows you to fly through thin walls, which undoubtedly adds even more mobility to Gwen and makes it easier to plan an escape (or raid) from an enemy jungler.
But most often, dash should be used to evade dangerous enemy abilities. If the fog is on cooldown, you can use E to dodge an enemy skillshot or get into a better position in a one-on-one fight. The most banal example: Camilla jumped onto the wall with her harpoons; wait until it starts to fly, quickly press E to the side and start chopping it into a salad.
"Embroidery" [R]. Each time she activates the skill, Gwen fires needles in front of her that fly in a straight line and deal magic damage, slow enemies, and also grant additional magic damage from Thousand Cuts. Gwen can cast the skill up to three times, but for each recast, she needs to hit an enemy within eight seconds. On the first cast, Gwen fires one needle, on the second, three, and on the third, five. In total, Gwen can hit enemies with nine needles and damage them with Thousand Cuts the same number of times.
Oh, it’s already old school brought together, Gwen’s ultimate reminds me of the old Irelia so much. However, there are still differences. Gwen can only cast a new ultimate charge after a successful auto-attack or Q against an enemy champion. The damage is cheap, but the skill has two scales - from ability power and from passive. At the same time, the needles also slow down, but only the first one will have the strongest effect.
Using the ultimate is very easy. Started to fight with the enemy - clicked. The target is running away - press, slow, dodge control with W, fly up to E, take a few hits, press again.
LoL Runes Gwen
Since Gwen is a duelist and loves to fight with auto-attacks and generally be in close proximity to the enemy, the Conqueror will be the ideal key rune for her. It will increase the overall damage of the Seelie Tailor and give her sustain at max charges, as well as give her Q damage a boost.
In the second line, you can take any of the three runes - experiment and choose the most suitable for yourself. On the third and fourth, everything is clear: "Zeal" to improve attack speed and "Mercy Strike" to daze those who are still on their feet.
The second branch looks different. In fact, the best choice for Gwen is red with the runes taken "Taste of Blood" and "Ravenous Hunter" - this will increase Gwen's overall lifesteal and make her really dishonest. If the line is going to be sweaty and the enemy has taken a powerful hero who won’t let you just approach him and cut with scissors, then you can try to take the green branch with Bone Plate and Revive.
Build on Gwen
Gwen's optimal build is hinted at by her passive skill and Q. Since it is vital for the doll to gain stacks on the passive as quickly as possible in order to effectively slice with «Chik-chik!”, Nashor’s Tooth is perfect for her. It gives a bonus he-hit effect, attack speed and as much as 100 AP, which will positively affect all of the champion's skills.
As a Mythic item, Gwen should only take Riftmaker, as it also fits in with her overall gameplay - carefully building up before the burst and then dumping pure damage on the enemy with auto attacks and Q.
In the future, the assembly depends on the situation on the map and your impudence. If your position is even, then get Zhonya's Hourglass for more survivability, and then buy the Abyssal Staff if opponents build magic resistance. And don't forget the Morellonomicon if your opponent is going to lifesteal.
If you’re really fed up with the enemy and literally tearing apart everything alive, then secure the assembly with a powerful and expensive artifact like Rabadon’s Death Hat and finish with Lich’s Storm – you will turn enemies into origami in seconds.
How to counter Gwen?
When playing against Gwen, there are two factors to keep in mind - the number of stacks on her passive ability and cooldowns on W and E. Don't show off on the doll if she stacked Thousand Cuts - this greatly reduces your chances of winning the trade, as she attacks you with Q, deal true damage and heal.
Gwen should always be attacked with the help of control, since now every current top laner has it. Thanks to free seconds, you can deal enough damage to her and move to a safe distance.
Cooldowns E and W are needed in order to coordinate the attack with the jungler. Without her dash, Gwen becomes an extremely vulnerable and easy target, so try to get her on him first. It's a bit more complicated with fog - a good Gwen won't press it unnecessarily, so when planning a gank, you should take into account this unpleasant ability and don't scatter skills just like that, but wait for the timing.
Gameplay as Gwen
As you can see, most often Gwen will stand on the top lane with rare expansions to the central lane. The mechanics of dealing with opponents has already been described above - we stand calmly and set up a passive, fly into an opponent with E, deal damage with Q and move back. Repeat until the poor fellow activates the return or admires the gray screen for several seconds.
After the lane phase, Gwen actually transforms into magical Fiora. The doll feels great in duels one on one or in small skirmishes, but becomes much weaker in team fights. During the kneading, it is not always possible to build a passive to maximize the Q damage buff, and the ult does not deal as much damage as we would like. Therefore, Gwen's main path is split-pushing with rare exits to key objects with a jungler or the whole team.
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