League of Legends Gwen Champion Breakdown

League of Legends has introduced Gwen the Hallowed Seamstress. Patch 11.8 released the latest champion to the League of Legends roster.

Here's a complete breakdown of everything you need to know about the new champion!

Lore

Gwen was a beloved doll, belonging to a seamstress from the long-lost kingdom of Camavor, transformed with magic into a real girl.

"A former doll transformed and brought to life by magic, Gwen wields the very tools that once created her. She carries the weight of her maker’s love with every step, taking nothing for granted. At her command is the Hallowed Mist, an ancient and protective magic that has blessed Gwen’s scissors, needles, and sewing thread. So much is new to her, but Gwen remains joyfully determined to fight for the good that survives in a broken world" - Riot

Read her full backstory and lore description on the Riot website here.

Abilities

Gwen uses magic damage as her main source of power. She has high damage and mobility, a reasonable amount of toughness, but lacks utility and crowd control.

See her abilities in action below:

Passive: A Thousand Cuts

Gwen's attacks deal bonus magic damage based on the target's health. She heals for a portion of the damage dealt to champions by this effect.

Q: Snip Snip!

Gwen snips her scissors in a cone up to 6 times, dealing magic damage. Gwen deals true damage to units in the centre and applies her passive to them on each snip.

W: Hallowed Mist

Gwen summons mist that protects her from enemies outside of it. She can only be targeted by enemies who enter the mist.

E: Skip 'N Slash

Gwen dashes a short distance then gains attack speed, attack range, and on-hit magic damage for a few seconds. If she hits an enemy during that time, this Ability's cooldown is partially reduced.

R: Needlework

Gwen hurls a needle that slows enemies hit, deals magic damage, and applies A Thousand Cuts to champions hit.

This ability can be cast up to two more times, with each cast throwing additional needles and dealing more damage. Gwen must hit an enemy between each cast to unlock the next one.

Role

As Gwen is a new champion, her role is still undefined, being used mainly in the top lane (59.04%), but also mid lane (27.8%) and jungle (13.16%).

Gwen's high mobility and damage make her ideal to use in the top lane and she has excellent sustain with help from her passive.

Her greatest threats in the top lane are Darius, Jayce, and Tryndamere. While some of her easier match-ups include Yorick, Sylas, and Rumble.

You can check out a full breakdown of Gwen's counter stats here.

How To Play: Tips & Tricks

Gwen is an excellent duelist. She has a strong laning phase and 1v1 ability, even against tanks, which makes her ideal for top lane.

She also has excellent mobility and is able to navigate the map in ways many champions can't. Dash over walls onto jungle camps and wards throughout to reduce your dash cooldown, allowing Gwen to escape from ganks and offer good map control and rotations.

Power Spikes

Gwen has various power spikes throughout her levelling. At level 1 she is strong against melee champs and she also has a decent spike at level 2 - her biggest spike being at level 6.

Combos

Gwen is a champ all about burst damage and hit and run tactics. When doing combos on Gwen, try and use her Q and E abilities together as the damage is much higher and increases with passive.

When using Gwen's ultimate ability(R), make sure both Q and E are off cooldowns and use R to slow enemy champions. Then, use her E to close the gap between you, followed by basic attack and Q. You can then repeat this for maximum damage.

Skins

As Gwen is a new champion, she only has one alternate skin at the moment. Space Groove skins were released with 11.7 patch, and with Gwen being introduced in 11.8, along came her Space Groove form.

Her new groovy skin also comes with other colour variations available for purchase, as shown above.

Overview

Pros:

Gwen is very fun to play and has exceptional outplay potential. Her high mobility and damage allow for a controlled and diverse laning phase.

Her combos allow her high burst and overtime damage output, and her evasive W is overpowered, allowing her to be un-targetable while she remains inside and enemy champions outside of her mist.

Gwen can also build both AP and AD, making her synergy with different teams' compositions high.

Cons:

One of her biggest drawbacks is Gwen's weak scaling. This, however, may be due to her being new and needing some number adjustments in future patches.

Gwen is also weak against burst damage and has little comeback ability. While her W can be overpowered in certain situations, it is mainly useless in her top lane laning phase as many of the champions you'll encounter are melee. Gwen also has no crowd control for team fights, so she needs some setting up.