•In lane, put the first keg under your own feet more often than on the opponent, so they have to walk into barrel-plus-passive space instead of getting a free chase after you spend your zone on routine poke
•Before level 7, win with self-kegs and simple doubles; after 7 and especially 13, Gangplank's barrel timing actually starts threatening barrel-auto-second barrel-Q patterns and walk-up or ghost-barrel detonations that opponents have to respect
•Gangplank's better games usually come from pushing one more side wave before the grubs, dragon, or Baron fight, then using R or TP so the enemy has to cross a keg chain or Barrage line to enter at all