All Gangplank Skins Ranked from Worst to Best
Are you a main of Bilgewater's best pirate, looking for a new Gangplank skin? Do you want to look cool while plundering your opponents? You're in luck - here are all of Gangplank's skins, ranked from worst to best, so that the last sight your opponents get before sinking can be a stylish one.
An Overview of Gangplank in League of Legends
Gangplank, the Saltwater Scourge, is a unique character that's a light bruiser, a poke champion, and a burst threat. His kit revolves around his Parrrley, an empowered ranged basic attack, and his iconic Powder Kegs that wreak havoc in high-range AoEs - so long as you know how to place his barrels to make them hit. He's also equipped with a global ultimate that can be used either to turn the tides in a bot lane fight all the way from the top lane, or simply as a powerful tool to fend off his own opponent.
Gangplank's play pattern can't be categorized - he's both threatening and fragile in each type of fight you take him to, and his success is directly tied to mastery of the champion.
But most importantly, he's armed with a large supply of blood oranges, to stay healthy on the battlefield and remove scurvy and crowd control alike.
But most importantly, he's armed with a large supply of blood oranges, to stay healthy on the battlefield and remove scurvy and crowd control alike.
Every Gangplank Skin Ranked from Worst to Best
10) Minuteman Gangplank (520 RP)
These articles always start with the part of the "forgettable, underwhelming options", and that's where you are right now! As the first skin released for the champion, Minuteman Gangplank replaces the pirate appearance with that of a, well, minuteman. And that's it!
Additionally, this is one of three Gangplank skins that use a lighter color for the barrels. In a way, this classifies as unique VFX. However, the reason why it is that way is that upon being reworked, the pirate initially had Captain Gangplank as the default GP skin, using lighter barrels than what became the default one a month later.
These skins matched all of the default skin's VFX and weren't changed afterwards, meaning that they now all match Captain Gangplank's visuals - and as such don't use the default barrels, that are unique to the base skin.
9) Sailor Gangplank (750 RP - Legacy)
On par with Minuteman Gangplank, Sailor Gangplank takes the lead due to being a legacy skin, meaning that it gets the factor of showing off for its rarity. It also stands out for being goofier and a bit out of place, showing its age in the modern day's standards. This is another self-explanatory skin where Gangplank has a... classic sailor outfit! This is also the second skin to use the Captain powder kegs, and that's all there's to it.
Sailor Gangplank mostly feels like a skin that you'd solely use when it's the only one you have on the champion, or when you simply want to mix things up.
8) Toy Soldier Gangplank (975 RP - Legacy)
Most people would consider Toy Soldier Gangplank uninteresting, others would rank it much higher because it takes the goofy factor of Sailor Gangplank but pushes it to the extreme. Toy Soldier Gangplank is (beware the surprise) an old-fashioned toy with visible junctions and looking like it's on the brink of falling apart. He has a cartoon-y walk that makes him look highly non-threatening, in a stark contrast with the damage he outputs from the barrels - now equipped with the same wind-up toy key that Toy Soldier Gangplank has on his back.
7) Sultan Gangplank (975 RP)
Sultan Gangplank is one of my favorite skins for the Bilgewater Scourge. I would rank it second highest, but it's just not an objectively great skin. Sultan Gangplank feels like Gangplank the most, probably because everything on the screen is thin and efficient.
You might start noticing a trend there - Sultan Gangplank is dressed like... a sultan. His barrels are replaced with jars, and he wields a curved sword that's shorter than his Captain one. It's the Gangplank skin that doesn't change his animations and that is the more efficient with the space it uses on the screen, and that just feels nice to play, more than one would imagine.
So, only 7th best Gangplank skin, but a very good skin for how little it does on paper.
6) Captain Gangplank (975 RP)
Captain Gangplank is hard to think about objectively and to rank as a skin. During the Burning Tides event that accompanied the rework of Gangplank in Summer 2015, Captain Gangplank was originally presented as his new base skin.
However, as the event's story went on, Gangplank was thought to be killed, yet made it out of the sea and came back very much alive, albeit missing one arm. Riot Games then gave him his current base skin representing his state upon "coming back to life", and made Captain Gangplank an actual skin, that was distributed for free on the account of every person who played a game of Gangplank over the summer.
This means two things. On one hand, to older players, this doesn't really feel like a Gangplank skin due to once being the default and due to being handed out for free. On the other hand though, this is one of the most complete skins among all the League of Legends champions, as it was designed as a standalone champion.
Captain Gangplank has a classier get-up (and a second arm), the different barrel texture that the other skins above also used, an impressive splash art, and most of all, a wholly different voice-over. Almost all of his lines are different (including emotes and champion-specific taunts), and they're all read with a different tone, making it the only Gangplank skin with a new voice.
This is an amazing Gangplank skin, and even one of the best skins in League of Legends. But it ranks low solely because the way Riot Games presented it makes it be more of a champion of his own rather than a Gangplank skin.
5) Spooky Gangplank (520 RP)
There's a lot to say about this one. To start off with presenting the skin, Spooky Gangplank is a ghost pirate shining in light blue, with the barrels also using the same effect. His splash art resembles a spectral version of the pre-rework Gangplank splash art, and the whole skin was probably inspired by the Flying Dutchman legend.
This is good value for a skin. 520 RP is meant to be the lowest regular tier in League of Legends, so getting a drastic recolor on the main ability is great for that price.
But the other point is the history anecdote that this Gangplank skin holds. When Gangplank supposedly died to Miss Fortune in the Burning Tides event, Riot Games disabled the champion while showing the notification "Gangplank is dead and has been disabled in all queues".
While it was nice to incorporate lore into gameplay like that, it was a bad idea for the competitive scene - a reworked champion that was available to pick during 2015 Summer playoffs couldn't be practiced on for a good part of the time leading up to the matches.
As a result, he wasn't picked much during most of the playoffs, while he ended up being the strongest pick of Worlds 2015 (he was a contested pick during the legendary 2015 EU LCS Finals between Origen and Fnatic, but Huni actually showed his lack of practice on the champion during that match).
However, in China, instead of disabling Gangplank, Riot Games made Spooky Gangplank become the pirate's base skin for the duration of his "death", which was a much less controversial idea and didn't lead to such major competitive problems. It also means that Gangplank went through four different base skins within two months.
Trivia aside, Spooky Gangplank is just an example of a skin that feels good to use. It has the classic animations and a model similar to the pirate's base model, but still brings a new feel thanks to the entire light blue visuals. Lastly, all of the "better" options are no longer pirates, so Spooky Gangplank finds the sweet spot between changing enough and keeping the pirate theme.
4) Dreadnova Gangplank (1350 RP)
This is where we get onto the best Gangplank skins! Dreadnova Gangplank was incredible news when it got released - it came out in 2017 and was the first "real" Gangplank skin that Riot Games released since 2013.
This is the traditional part of the article where each of the options onward is someone's personal favorite depending on what they look for in Gangplank skins. Dreadnova Gangplank makes him become a space pirate, posing in his splash art in front of a flaring explosion in the background.
Voice aside, everything about this skin is changed: it has new VFX on all the spells, different sound effects, and new animations. The fire on the blade, movement speed from the passive, Parrrley's bullet, and barrel explosion all get a futuristic element, and the sound effect of the Q, E, and R has a technological feel as well.
Additionally, Dreadnova Gangplank was released with a set of five chromas, and the color of the powder kegs also matches that of the chroma. This is an amazing skin, possibly the one of highest quality, and many will have it as their favorite.
However, it has strongly different animations that wholly change the feel of the character, which is always hit or miss - you can love them, take a while to get used to them, or never really manage to get over it.
The Best Gangplank Skins (Top 3)
We now enter the top 3 on our quest to find the absolute best gangplank skins to buy or use in League of Legends.
3) Pool Party Gangplank (1350 RP)
Pool Party Gangplank was the last one of the regularly released Gangplank skins, the only more recent one being a World Champion skin. And it's an excellent skin, with a lot to praise about it, including his set of abs. He shares his splash art with a few other characters from the Pool Party skin line, as well as a Scuttle crab in the background (that we are still waiting on a Pool Party skin for).
This is a lighthearted skin, but of high quality nonetheless. Gangplank trades his sword for a spatula and his gun for a water pistol, with all sound effects being softer to match. The barrel becomes a watermelon and the chain animation takes a blue color, and Cannon Barrage also has a blue hue with a flower on the background of the area of effect.
The Ruby chroma of this skin also turns the barrels into pineapples instead of watermelons, but it can only be obtained by purchasing the pack containing all released chromas.
Pool Party Gangplank is a contender for the highest spot, giving everything a new feel while still having animations giving a close enough feel to not require getting used to, even with the altered sound effects. It's definitely one of the better options, and can also be bought without restrictions, as opposed to the next entry.
2) FPX Gangplank (1350 RP - Legacy)
I'd categorize FPX Gangplank and Pool Party Gangplank in the same way. They both change a lot but also keep the same feel as for the base one, and they also both have a strong flair in their own direction. Where Pool Party Gangplank has a watery feel (well... duh), FPX Gangplank has a fiery one instead.
Everything in this skin is accompanied by new animations with orange-red visuals - ironically, except the oranges themselves, which instead get a cleaner green. Gangplank's sword gets an orange afterglow after every basic attack, the barrels are themed after FPX and explode in flames, and Cannon Barrage draws the FPX logo upon being fired.
Additionally, like every other World champion skin, the other FPX champions join Gangplank on the splash art, and the recall animation was made by the player himself, and accompanied by Gimgoon's sign.
FPX Gangplank was not unanimously well received, with a vocal part finding the whole FPX edition underwhelming. But it's a great option, with bright visuals, satisfying animations, and a good feel, and assuredly one of his better ones. Also, part of the revenue from those sales goes to the player it was inspired by, so buying FPX Gangplank (when it's available) helps support Gimgoon.
1) The Best Gangplank Skin: Special Forces Gangplank (975 RP)
Special Forces Gangplank is another example of these simple, efficient, great skins. It doesn't change the feel enough to be destabilizing, but it gives a whole new set of animations and sounds that feel very satisfying, and as such stands as the best Gangplank skin.
Special Forces Gangplank has him get a modernized appearance and gear. The model itself looks more compact, trading the coat for the special forces get-up. The Q animation is modified, the barrels get an explosive arm-up sound, and the detonation sounds and looks more "compact". Those are very simple changes, but they all make the skin feel more impactful, with every bit of noise and visuals concentrating more strength in it. Special Forces Gangplank is one of the best gangplank skins that feels like it should deal more damage, and feel is highly important. Lastly, the ultimate is fired by aircraft that you can hear flying above the spell's area.
The only downside is that this skin loses the pirate theme, other than the splash art showing him accompanied by what look like fellow pirates in the background. That aside, it's an excellent option, and being released so long ago, it fortunately only costs 975 RP for all it does! Special Forces Gangplank is, in my opinion, head and shoulders over all the skins this champion has.
Final Thoughts on the Best Gangplank Skin in LoL
Does this ranking of the best gangplank skins match yours? Which one is your own favorite Gangplank skin? Let us know! Also, feel free to check out one of our other great champion skins reviews, such as our complete coverage of the many Aphelios skins and the top Lee Sin Skins.
And if you want to hone your skills on Gangplank on top of the cool fashion ideas, you can find a Gangplank build guide here!
Images Courtesy of Riot Games.