Gragas AP is trusted by top laners with items like Night Harvester and Void Staff
The meta has shifted, as seen in every professional game. Particularly in the top lane, where tanks emerge more frequently for the sake of important teamfights. Ornn, Sejuani… but there is one champion who used to be a tank jungler and is now being selected by many top laners, notably LCK players, and that is Gragas full AP.
The majority of new gameplay for champions often comes from the buffs from Riot Games. The Night Harvester is no exception, as it has lately gotten a slew of improvements. Patch 12.11 specifically improved its ability haste by 10 while decreasing 10 seconds of it’s Soulrend cooldown.
Because of its Passive, Night Harvester is a perfect item for burst AP champion that is capable of deleting the enemies in one combo and then fleeing away from the teamfight. Coincidentally, Gragas is the champion who couldn’t have been more suited to this newly powered item.
Gragas can go in and out constantly, he can harass the enemy in the laning phase easily with his Q until the enemy’s health is low enough. Meta has revolved around melee champions, resisting quite a lot, so Gragas has a lot of space to play around with this gameplay in the top lane.
To maximize his capability, many players also confidently go for First Strike to optimize the amount of damage and especially the gold that can help Gragas to be the one to take the initiative.
In terms of gameplay, it won’t be much different from a typical top lane Gragas. The most noticeable difference will be the First Strike keystone as well as the item, which includes Night Harvester, Seraph’s Embrace, Void Staff, and other optional AP items.