Whenever I play or see it in general it seems like a more than viable pick. Great CC, can engage, can peel, scales pretty well as a tank. I usually build rod of ages into torment into full tank. I'm really just wondering what I'm missing where it's so rarely played
#Kinda a weird one but anyone know why gragas support is not a more common pick?
low mural
scenic ruin
crappy support mages have too much damage and range
(crappy as in, seraphine, xerath, these kinds of mages and YES I called them crappy)
low mural
his passive lets him sustain pretty fucking well though! And I usually take biscuits on top of that due to his early mana drain
sand rivet
reason being: all gragas players prefer to abuse him top lane, and also his range is too short for his engage usually, so vs any mage hes usually gonna get destroyed, vs tanks he might be a lot more useful, and vs enchanters hes perma kited out and cc'd forever while you provide no peel for your adc or they cant peel you and it usually results in you dying
tldr: too many bad matchups in laning phase when laning phase in bot lane is very important. you can outplay enemy and be a better player but this wont work the higher elo you go outside of a counterpick vs certain supports
nocturne hill
The most simple answer is that most botlane duo has the ability to space you out. You are basically a less threatening alistar
scenic ruin
The most simple answer is that most botlane duo has the ability to space you out...
except with a better ult but until you get there your lane is probably 0/5
low mural
All that makes sense thank you! I think there's some adc's he can really work with but all of what you're saying really makes sense for why he's not really blind pickable or all that reliable. I still think it's pretty fun off meta
silver rivet
Anyways, I did play Gragas support quite a few times back in the day, so it's not actually that it's bad, but that he isn't that great when he's starved from resources. His innate tankiness is much better for trading than it is for actually soaking up damage or peeling.
Champs like Naut, Ali, Rell, Rakan, etc. all can manage with less resources and opt for cheaper support items like locket, knight's vow, etc. but Gragas ends up just being an ult bot with those items. Does no damage and cannot really tank much.