Overview:

As of late, Gragas has been seeing a lot of play in not only solo queue, but also the North American League Championship Series. With a current 21.17% pick rate in North American solo queue (according to lolking.net), and an immense pick/ban rate in week 3 of the NA LCS, many players have been seeing the potential with this Rabble Rouser. With his kit of innate damage reduction, mana regen, gap closer, knock-up, displacement, and high burst, Gragas has recently been given the nickname "The Second Kassadin" by the LCS casters. Though Gragas has been a fairly strong champion for a long time, it was not until the Season 3 World Championships that Gragas would be noticed as a strong mid-lane pick. This was brought to light by SK Telecom T1's "Faker" who made a great play against Team OMG's mid laner, "Cool".

After the hype of Faker's Gragas play throughout the World Championships in multiple games, people all around solo queue began picking him up in the months that followed.

The Nerf:

On November 25th, 2013, Riot introduced the 3.14 pre-season patch. With many changes coming to the rift, it was no surprise that the fat menace in solo queue would be hit by somewhat of a nerf (more of a balance in my opinion). Prior to the patch, Gragas' body slam (his E ability) was on a very low 7 second cooldown which allowed him to chase and escape in many situations with little room for counter-play. This made him an incredibly mobile champion able to roam around the map at a fairly quick pace.

The 3.14 patch nerfs encompassed increasing the cooldown of his body slam from 7 seconds to 12 seconds. In addition, the damage dealt when Gragas would collide with an enemy would no longer be split if he hit multiple enemies. Instead, this made it so that Gragas would deal full damage instead to all enemies hit and halve the cooldown of body slam. In my own opinion, this wasn't really a 'nerf', but more of a rework of his kit. Gragas' barrel roll (his Q) was also nerfed in the sense that the cast range was reduced from 1100 to 950, and players could no longer detonate the barrel while it was still rolling. Though there weren't too many changes, they had a big impact in making Gragas more committed when he would engage and would punish players who did not use his body slam wisely and thus offering more room for counterplay.

The Rabble Rouser:

Gragas' ability to teamfight and 1v1 enemies is what makes him a very strong pick. His barrels do immense burst damage, his W gives him innate tankiness due to damage reduction in addition to refunding mana, and his body slam offers him great mobility, damage, and slow. However, his basic abilities do not overshadow his ultimate, which is his explosive cask. With huge burst damage, and potential to not only disperse, but knock enemies back, the ability in itself is what makes Gragas the champion he is. The giant AOE spell can easily disengage or spread out the enemy team during a fight, which allows one's team to isolate a specific target, retreat safely, or simply dish out TONS OF DAMAGE.

With massive amounts of burst, utility, mobility, and innate tankiness, it's no wonder why Gragas has been making a huge (haha) impact in the game and has earned the nickname of "The Second Kassadin".

Personal Experience & Insight:

When I first saw Gragas I actually didn't want to play him. Why? Well, I simply didn't like the idea of being a sluggish giant fat guy running around the map. However, when I began picking him up at the end of Season 3, I realized that he was actually not sluggish at all, but he was incredibly mobile and did tons of damage. Being a player currently in Gold Division II, Gragas is banned/picked in I would say about 50% of my games. I usually play him first chance I get because I tend to do well with him and when it gets to late game, I'm able to contribute a lot to fights.

Since I'm in Gold, there are definitely others out there who know a lot more about the champion than I do, or can even out perform me in every single way on the champion, but for me, he is a comfort pick and I enjoy playing him quite a lot. I usually go a pretty standard build playing Gragas and adjust if need be. When I first started playing him, I noticed that his laning phase was similar to Kassadin's in the sense that you need to get into melee range to last hit minions. Though slightly easier because you have your wave clear accessible to you early on, I really did see the resemblance between the two champions. As I played more and more of Gragas, I've sort of gotten accustomed to his laning style and try to incorporate characteristics of this champion into the other ones I play (Ziggs, Kayle, Kassadin, and even Teemo).

Conclusion:

Gragas is a really strong champion in solo queue and professional play right now. He's able to carry games, deal huge damage, disrupt enemies, and get around the map quickly. After personally playing him as one of my go-to champions, I can confidently say that he is definitely a champion worth looking into or learning.