Gnar vs Zaahen Counter Pick

Execution ratings sit at opposite ends — Zaahen at 2, Gnar at 8 — and the outcome runs against the intuition that the simpler champion is the safer one. Gnar takes 56.1% over 562 games on patch 16.13.1.

• Zaahen’s damage is entirely physical, so Gnar’s 32 base armor rising to 94.9 does useful work, while Gnar’s mixed profile splits across 36 armor and 32 magic resist on the other side.
• Cultivation of War only pays out against champions, since stacks of Determination come from hitting them, so denying contact denies the scaling outright.
• Both engage tools are directional. Dreaded Return stabs and then pulls, Aureate Rush dashes to a point, and Hop travels further off a unit’s head than either covers.

The durability gap cuts the other way and is genuine: 2,578 health and 121 armor at level 18 against 1,883 and 94.9, with The Darkin Glaive and Grim Deliverance both healing him off damage dealt, so an even-item slugfest goes to Zaahen. Attack range is level at 175 and he moves at 345 to 335. Starting health favors him too, 640 against 540, and Aureate Rush slices around him on arrival, so a mistimed approach in the small form is punished rather than traded evenly. The margin comes from short exchanges, filled Rage, and GNAR! arriving before the stacks do.