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Gwen
Champion Guide

Gwen Guide

By LoLSuggest

Jungle
Live Gwen stats

Gwen is an AP skirmisher who shreds through long fights. A Thousand Cuts adds percent-health magic damage and healing to her hits, Snip Snip! stacks with her attacks and deals true damage in its centre, Hallowed Mist blocks damage from enemies outside it, Skip 'n Slash is a dash that empowers her attacks, and Needlework is cast up to three times. The newest guide plays her in the jungle, where she clears well but wants to avoid early fights and reach her item spikes.

Recommended Setup

Our recommended Gwen build

Our recommended runes, summoner spells and items. Compare build win rates on the stats page.

Items

Starting Items

Item 1102

Core Items

Item 2510
Item 3008
Item 3115
Item 4633

Situational Items

Item 3089
Item 3135
Item 4645
Item 3157
Item 3111
Item 3020
Item 3158
Item 3047

Start Gustwalker Hatchling, and buy Blasting Wand with a Control Ward and Oracle Lens after your first clears. The recommended build is Dusk and Dawn, Gluttonous Greaves, Nashor's Tooth and Riftmaker, then Rabadon's Deathcap and Void Staff; Shadowflame and Zhonya's Hourglass are the alternative finish, and Zhonya's Hourglass helps against burst. Take Mercury's Treads against crowd control. Run Conqueror with Triumph, Legend: Alacrity and Last Stand, plus Cash Back and Triple Tonic. Take Ghost with Smite. In mid lane the same guide starts Doran's Helm and plays Flash with Teleport. Max Q, then E, then W.

Runes

Primary Tree
Press the Attack
Lethal Tempo
Fleet Footwork
Conqueror
Absorb Life
Triumph
Presence of Mind
Legend: Alacrity
Legend: Haste
Legend: Bloodline
Coup de Grace
Cut Down
Last Stand
Secondary Tree
Hextech Flashtraption
Magical Footwear
Cash Back
Triple Tonic
Time Warp Tonic
Biscuit Delivery
Cosmic Insight
Approach Velocity
Jack Of All Trades

Summoner Spells

Ghost
+
Smite

Skill Max Order

Snip Snip! Q
Skip 'n Slash E
Hallowed Mist W

Strengths

  • Excellent sustained damage and healing in extended fights.
  • Very strong against tanks thanks to percent-health damage and Snip Snip!'s true damage.
  • Hallowed Mist lets her ignore ranged threats and survive burst.

Weaknesses

  • A weak early game that needs patience until her core items.
  • No hard crowd control, so forced ganks often fail.
  • Vulnerable to gap closers, crowd control and mobile ranged champions.

Laning Phase

Gwen is not an early skirmish jungler: full clear into the Scuttle Crab or into a recall, start on the side with your strongest leash, and avoid invades almost every game. Stack Snip Snip! before casting it, which speeds up your clear a lot, and use Skip 'n Slash to move between camps. Only gank overextended lanes or fights already in progress, since she has no hard crowd control. If the enemy jungler shows on the other side of the map, she can solo early dragons with careful health and Smite timing.

Mid & Late Game

Once Needlework is unlocked, contest objectives and fight when your ultimate is up, and punish isolated enemies; she wins most 1v1s against bruisers and tanks at this stage. Split push once your core items are complete and your team can hold. Late in the game she becomes a carry: never engage first, enter from the side after the enemy uses key cooldowns, stack Q before you commit, and cast Needlework in sequence so each cast keeps you on your target.

Key Tips

  • Skip 'n Slash into Hallowed Mist into Snip Snip! finishes a low enemy while keeping outside attackers off you.
  • Needlework into a fully stacked Snip Snip!, finished with the second or third Needlework cast, gives your highest burst.
  • Snip Snip! and Needlework hit an area, so catch several enemies at once.
  • If you fall behind, go back to farming: Gwen scales very well and forced fights lose games.
Matchups

Matchups and synergies

Our picks for difficult opponents, favorable lanes and strong allies. Compare matchup win rates on the stats page.