Gwen is the newest addition to the League of Legends champion roster. Her mobility, sustainability, and high DPS make her a terror in the top lane. This guide will show you the correct skill path, runes, combo, and build to utilize on Gwen.
Gwen is the most recent mysterious champion Riot has released. She is a nice change of pace for the top lane. You mostly see tanks up there and Gwen does well into bullying them out of lane. Her kit scales with Ability Power and is packed full of damage and mobility. If you want a fun new way to deal with tanks, this is the champion for you. You will be cutting her opponents to pieces.
Passive – A Thousand Cuts
Gwen’s basic attacks deal bonus on-hit magic damage based on her target’s maximum health. She also heals a portion of the damage she deals.
Q – Snip Snip!
Gwen snips her scissors two to six times in a cone in front of her dealing magic damage to enemies caught in it. If they are caught in the center of the cone, they will take true damage. This ability contains a passive as well. Every auto attack Gwen lands on an enemy, it earns her a stitch that stacks up to four times. Gwen snips a minimum of two times, but she can consume these stitches by using the ability and it allows her to snip up to six times.
W – Hallowed Mist
Gwen surrounds herself with mist for five seconds and she gains armor and magic resist when she is in it. Enemies outside of the Mist cannot target or hit Gwen with any abilities. When Gwen leaves the Mist for the first time, it will follow her. The next time she leaves it, it will disappear.
E – Skip ‘n Slash
Gwen dashes a short distance and empowers her attacks by giving them more range, speed, and more on- hit magic damage for four seconds. When this is active and Gwen attacks an enemy, she refunds 50% of the ability’s cooldown.
R – Needlework
Gwen can cast this ability up to three times, but she must hit an enemy within eight seconds to be able to use the next cast. The needles deal magic damage, slow, and apply Gwen’s passive.
The first cast fires one needle, the second fires three needles, and the last cast fires five needles.
Skill Order
Q > E > W
These are the best all-around runes for Gwen to use. Conqueror gives her the bonus adaptive damage and gives her health back when she achieves full stacks. This synergizes well with her passive.
Triumph allows Gwen to snowball a little harder. The extra gold and health restoration allows her to hit her item spikes sooner and survive those close fights.
Legend: Alacrity allows Gwen to gain permanent attack speed which allows her to apply her passive faster and with ease.
Last Stand benefits Gwen so much because she is a fighter champion. She wants to get into those team fights and deal high amounts of DPS. Last Stand will help her finish those fights when she gets low health.
Sudden Impact is a rune that synergizes well with Gwen’s E ability. Since she dashes a short distance, Sudden Impact will activate. To make it better, the ability gets refunded 50% of the abilities cooldown so she can proc Sudden Impact often.
Ravenous Hunter grants Gwen omnivamp. She will be healing a ton from her abilities and auto attacks which she uses often.
Doran’s Ring is an essential starting item on Gwen as it gives her mana back for each minion she kills and gives her a little bit of Ability Power.
Plated Steelcaps are the best option for Gwen. Most champs in the top lane are Attack Damage based and the extra armor these boots give help her negate that damage. However, these boots can be swapped out to adapt who you are playing against.
Riftmaker is the Mythic item you want to build on Gwen. The 10% bonus damage, the omnivamp, and the true damage conversion make it the best item for her. A fully stacked Riftmaker converts the bonus damage to true damage. If you remember, there is true damage attached to Gwen’s Q. Gwen has the potential to ignore a lot of armor and magic resist stats.
Nashor’s Tooth gives Gwen more Ability Power and a ton of attack speed. The unique passive of this item grants bonus on- hit magic damage. This item gives Gwen everything she is looking for. More ability power for more damage, more attack speed allows her to apply her passive easier, and the on- hit magic damage synergizes with her passive damage as well.
Zhonya’s Hourglass gives Gwen more Ability Power, armor, and ability haste. However, the active is the most valuable stat on this item. Since Gwen is a fighter, she will be deep in team fights. Becoming invulnerable and untargetable for 2.5 seconds allows Gwen to buy herself some time so that her team can help her or allow some of her cooldowns to come back.
Morellonomicon is more valuable due to the passive it provides. The grievous wounds passive cuts the healing enemies receive by 40 – 60% depending on their health. It is easy for Gwen to apply this to enemies because her abilities cover wide areas and pierce through enemy champions.
Rabadon’s Deathcap is an item solely designed to amplify your damage and is a good way to round out your final build. The bonus Ability Power and bonus 35% increase to your total Ability Power can really turn those late game fights into your favor.
Now that we have run through the skills, runes, and build, I wanted to show you the combos that Gwen can pull off, so you come out on top in trades or fights.
Auto Attack 4x > W > E > Q
This simple trade will let you put out the most damage and receive the least amount of return damage. You stack your Q passive up by auto attacking the minions, so you have four stitches. W grants you bonus magic resist and armor and makes you untargetable so the damage you receive will be lessened or you might not receive any at all. E is used as a gap closer and extends your attacks range. Finally, Q is used to Snip them up to 6 times. After that you run back and repeat.
R > Auto Attack > R > Auto Attack > R
This combo is a good one to know. Starting off the fight with R allows you to slow the enemy and apply Gwen’s passive. Auto Attack to gain the benefits on bonus healing and bonus on- hit magic damage. Repeat this till you are out of R charges. You never want to use your Q in this combo because it slows down her DPS. You dish out more damage by weaving autos between R charges.
During the early laning phase, Gwen struggles the most. Gwen’s cooldowns are significantly long, and she relies on her levels and items to bring those numbers down. This means that players are going to want to punish you early so the best thing you can do is play safe and try to freeze the way right outside your turret. That way it is hard for your opponent to punish you, you are normally safe from ganks, and you can farm safely.
If you do find it hard to freeze, do your best to farm inside your Mist so you do not take free hits from your enemy while attempting to farm. However, you are more likely to get ganked when pushed up in the lane. Gwen does not have many escape tools other than her W and E. Use W to give yourself resistances and keeps you safe from skillshots and use your E to give you that little dash back towards your tower. If all else fails, use your flash to create some distance.
Mid to late game is where Gwen shines because she will have access to her levels and the items she needs to dish out lots of damage. Her cooldowns will be significantly lower allowing her to combo easier and get her E reset off so she may close gaps easier. Team fights will be a breeze because of her ultimate piercing through everyone, her attack speed stacking up her stitch passive, and her using her Q to snip everyone in a cone.
The one champion that hard counters Gwen is Kennen. Kennen’s ranged attacks oppress Gwen as she is a melee champion and must step up to farm. Kennen can run Gwen down easily if she tries to run and when he catches her, he can stun her up to keep her in place. For any reason, if Gwen goes all in on Kennen, he can answer back with his ultimate stopping Gwen in her tracks. Kennen is the champion you will absolutely need to freeze your lane against and if you cannot, do not be afraid to ask for Jungle assistance.
Gwen is a mobile champion with great DPS and sustain. However, she suffers from long cooldowns in the early game so that is the best time to get punished. If you keep that in mind and keep yourself ahead or even, you will be able to thrive in mid to late game. Around that time, your cooldowns will be so low and your DPS will be massive. Make sure to always max your Q, then E, then W, and grab R when you can. Those runes are the best general runes to run, and you get the most benefits from them. The build that is mentioned is also the best general build. Despite it being all around the good, do not be afraid to change some of the items up to help you in your match ups. Itemization is a very important part of the game.
That is all I have for this time everyone! GLHF and see you on the Rift!
