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I've been playing quite a lot of Gnar recently since I find him lots of fun, trying to take care of his passive and everything. None is left unsurprised once I jump on them in Mega form and I knock them back on the wall. I tried a couple of builds on him but I think it's always worth to try a new one.

The first item I build on him 90% of the time is Trinity Force. Phage gives me a real sweet speed to keep throwing AA's on my enemy until I proc my passive and repeat that circle again. Sheen helps me mostly in my Mega form. I use an ability, AA, another one, AA and so on. So I find Trinity Force a real strong item for him.

I never tried it so far but I'm wondering if Frozen Mallet is a viable second item to build on him considering the slow it gives to the enemy which will make it easier for me to keep up with the enemy and keep auto attacking him until I proc my passive on W and repeat that process with the speed boost I'll get.

You might tell me that I focus too much on my Mini form while in teamfights I should be mostly in my Mega form. Well, those are only the two first items. They will hopefully help me in the laning phase, take some kills and get ahead. That's my thought behind them.

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  • when you have those 2 items, laningphase should be over already in most cases. they are ~7k gold combined
    – DropDeadSander - EUW
    Nov 25, 2014 at 11:42
  • I indeed didn't think of that but I tend to push all the way to the 3rd tower, and join in teamfights a bit later on in the game, so I have a lot of 1v1's with the enemy top laner if the jungler doesn't come 24/7 as well as the mid laner to help him
    – zETO
    Nov 25, 2014 at 11:48
  • why do you need frozen mallet if you already have trinity? With trinity you should be able to chase your enemy. I think you should build either trinity or frozen mallet, but not both of them.
    – JohnnyAW
    Nov 25, 2014 at 15:34

2 Answers 2

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I have seen on Imaqtpie's stream where he played Gnar toplane and bought the Frozen Mallet first. It gives a nice amount of tankiness too, but the item is for more situational purpose. If your team lacks crowd control I would pick that item up. Frozen Mallet is also a more succesful way to secure a kill when your jungler comes to gank and vice versa, to escape more easily when the enemy jungler ganks. Since the slow also applies on ranged attacks, I think it's an excellent item for Gnar (I would recommend not building Trinity Force if you choose to go for Frozen Mallet).

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  • I would recommend not building Trinity Force if you choose to go for Frozen Mallet why?
    – DropDeadSander - EUW
    Nov 25, 2014 at 11:51
  • Not build Trinity Force at all or build it later on in the game?
    – zETO
    Nov 25, 2014 at 11:52
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    Well, if you go for Trinity Force first and then Frozen Mallet, it costs 1. a lot of money 2. a lot of time before you get tanky and 3. most of the time you're not the one to deal damage, but be the frontline of your team.
    – Praetorae
    Nov 25, 2014 at 12:00
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Well, first and foremost you need to realize Gnar is a tank. That means you shouldn't always rush a TF. (It's a great item on him but you need to be able to fill your role in a team.) If you get behind you should get tanky first. Sometimes you might want to just build the early phage for kiting/harassing purposes and need to get tanky. I would only finish TF early if you are way ahead in lane. The style of play you do with the TF is correct though. A TF build on Gnar is great for split pushing, but you need to be able to be useful to your team if the enemy tries to group and shove down a lane.

Now, that out of the way I'll get on to your question. Frozen Mallet is actually really good for split pushing even with a TF. It adds damage and it gives the enemy less counterplay if they try to stop you from pushing. I would definitely get some Resistances and other defensive items before getting Mallet though. I would build at least a Randuins and Banshees before the Mallet. They both give you high resistances and add to your base HP as well. With decent resistances it's not bad to stack on more health. Again, keep in mind that Frozen Mallet is Circumstantial. If you are trying to solo siege a tower with shorter trades a Warmogs might actually be better since it will be passively healing you up. If you are team fight oriented, I used to say always get Warmogs over Mallet since it was a 300 HP difference but the current patch brought it to only a 100 HP difference. In a team fight you only need to worry about burst and so a Frozen Mallet is almost as good as Warmogs in this scenario.

If you do manage to get far ahead and get that early TF, a Frozen Mallet might be a good thing then. It will allow you to VERY HEAVILY abuse the enemy. The kiting ability and damage should allow you to easily 2v1 pretty much anyone at this point also. After this you will just need to build your standard Randuins/Banshees to get some resistances.

Also, as an additional note, if you are going Brutalizer it's a little bit harder to kite enemies (although not too bad since gnar is naturally good at it) but Frozen Mallet can make it easier to do while giving him some tankiness as well.

TL;DR; Gnar is honestly the only champion I would agree with a Frozen Mallet. Don't get it every game though. Look at the game and analyze what you are lacking.

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