How to play Gnar — Wild Rift guide, combos & tips
纳尔
How to play Gnar — Wild Rift guide, combos & tips
Gnar is Wild Rift's shape-shifting Fighter, alternating between two kits as his Rage Gene passive fills from dealing or taking damage: Mini Gnar is a nimble ranged poke-and-kite bruiser throwing a boomerang and hopping around the lane, while Mega Gnar is a towering melee brawler who trades range for raw stats, a ground-slam stun, and a wall-crushing knockback ultimate. His damage is almost entirely physical, layered with an on-hit magic damage proc from Hyper that rewards sustained trading, and it spikes hard whenever the Mega transformation lines up with a fight. He's most dangerous when he decides that transformation himself, baiting the flip to land right as the fight starts rather than letting the Rage bar choose for him.
Strengths
- Two kits in one champion: Mini Gnar pokes and kites safely with up to 150 bonus attack range, then Mega Gnar arrives with up to 900 bonus health, 60 armor, 70 magic resist, and 50 attack damage the instant Rage caps.
- Boomerang Throw punishes positioning twice, 83 physical damage and a slow going out, then another hit coming back, and catching the return cuts its cooldown by 40%, so Mini Gnar's poke loop repeats fast.
- Hyper's on-hit passive (bonus magic damage plus a decaying move speed burst every third hit) lets Mini Gnar win extended trades and disengage cleanly, on top of Wallop's 1.25-second AoE stun as Mega.
- GNAR! is one of the best wall-combo ultimates in the game: land the knockback into terrain and the slow becomes a full stun while the damage jumps from 200 to 300.
Weaknesses
- Rage fills automatically from combat, not on command; he can get stuck Mini in a fight that needed Mega's stats, or flip into Mega at the exact moment he wanted to disengage instead.
- Mini Gnar is fragile and short-ranged compared to true poke champions, with no hard escape once Hop is on cooldown, so all-ins and dashes punish him hard before the transformation bails him out.
- Nearly every source of damage, Boomerang Throw, Hop, Wallop's slam, GNAR!'s knockback, is a skillshot that has to land; whiffing Q or E as Mini gives up most of a trade window.
- Loses hard trades to champions who beat both forms: sustain fighters like Warwick shrug off Mini's poke, and duelists like Darius or Fiora simply out-trade Mega Gnar once the fight goes long.
Combos
- Poke loop (Mini Gnar): Boomerang Throw at max range, weave an auto-attack so Hyper's passive procs its bonus magic damage and move speed burst, then catch the returning boomerang for a 40% cooldown discount and go again.
- Mini all-in: Hop onto the target for 86 physical damage and a heavy slow, follow with an auto-attack to help trigger Hyper, and let Boomerang Throw's return tag them a second time on the way back.
- Mega engage: Crunch onto the target to slow and gather them in, Wallop to stun the group caught in the slam, then GNAR! to shove the priority target away, or ideally straight into a wall, for the 50% bonus damage and upgraded stun.
- Bank-the-flip: hold off finishing an exchange as Mini Gnar so the Rage bar caps mid-fight instead of before it; transforming into Mega Gnar in the middle of a losing trade can flip it into a win.
Skill order: Q > W > E
Early game
Play Mini Gnar like a mid-range poke champion: land Boomerang Throw from max distance, weave autos to trigger Hyper's bonus magic damage and move speed, and try to catch the boomerang on its way back for the cooldown discount. Avoid extended melee exchanges since Mini Gnar has little health and no hard escape once Hop is spent, so use the jump to reposition or punctuate a poke rather than to start a fight. Watch your own Rage bar as closely as the enemy's health bar and aim to time your first transformation into Mega Gnar around an enemy overextension or a jungler's gank, not randomly mid-poke when you still need the range. Max Boomerang Throw first for trade damage and take GNAR! at level 5 for the wall-stun option the moment it comes online.
Mid & late game — teamfighting
From the mid game on, Gnar's job is to hold Mini Gnar's safety until a fight is about to start, then transform into Mega Gnar and lead the engage: Crunch into the backline or a key target, Wallop to stun whoever is caught in the slam, and GNAR! to knock the biggest threat away from the fight, or better, straight into a wall for the upgraded stun and bonus damage. Track your Rage timer during the fight itself; reverting to Mini Gnar mid-teamfight leaves you fragile, so plan the all-in around the window Mega Gnar gives rather than overstaying it. Once you revert, fall back and kite with Hyper's leftover move speed instead of continuing to trade, then look to bank Rage again for a second transformation if the fight drags on.
Pro tips
- Manage the Rage bar like a resource, not a random timer: hold back autos and ability casts when you want to stay Mini for poke and kiting, and spam them right before you want to force Mega Gnar for an engage.
- Always scan for a wall before committing GNAR!, the stun-and-bonus-damage upgrade against terrain turns a good ultimate into a near-guaranteed kill setup.
- Pick up your own Q whenever it's safe: the cooldown refund (40% as Mini Gnar, 70% as Mega Gnar) is what lets you spam Boomerang Throw or Boulder Toss through an extended trade or fight.