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'Sup

First off, I want to thank you for clicking on this guide. I put a lot of time and effort into making it and I'll never get feedback unless viewers like you look over my work.

I'm TheI3igDaddy, a North American summoner who finished in low Platinum before the beginning of Season 5. After being away at school for a few years, I returned to League and decided to update this guide. Cho is still awesome after all these years, and he was even buffed from the old Cho that I knew and loved.

I'm not forcing you to read the whole thing, of course. Think of this like an encyclopedia; if you only want to know how to Jungle with Cho'Gath, jump to that section.

So if you've read some of this guide and have any feedback to give me, positive or negative, please comment. It's my first ever, and while I'd like to think that my writing skills are above average, nothing is really perfect.

On that note, let me explain how this guide came to be.

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(Feel free to skip this, it's just a bunch of ranting / praising of my favorite champion.)

I starting playing League in the middle of 2012, around the time that Jayce was released. I had always been fascinated with dinosaurs and other leviathan-type creatures, and one day I realized that there was a champion that could grow in size over time based on how much he ate. Not only was he a behemoth, he was an ALIEN behemoth. He looked cool, he SOUNDED cool...

This champion was Cho'Gath.

He's one of the most versatile champions in the entire game. You can lane, jungle, AND even support with Cho; very few other champs can say the same ( Jarvan IV and Nautilus come to mind). And even despite this, Cho is one of the most balanced champions; he has clear strengths and weaknesses that his enemies can exploit (will go into more detail in the next chapter).

I hope that after you read this guide, you'll be able to succeed with him as well.

Pros

+ Extremely Versatile Champ + Innate Sustain + Strong Waveclear + AOE Crowd Control and Damage + Giant Meatshield + True Damage Nuke

You can build Cho'Gath in so many ways, in a variety of roles. In solo-que, this helps out in champ select if your team isn't co-operating. His sustain and waveclear allow him to remain in lane nearly indefinitely around mid-game.In teamfights, Cho'Gath disrupts everyone with his CC while face-tanking as much damage as possible, using his ultimate to either peel enemies off of his teammates, or to eliminate carries himself.

Cons

- No Mobility - Weak Against %Health Damage - No Steroids - Still Gets Creep-Blocked - Somewhat Team Dependant

If you're looking for a speedy champ, Cho'Gath is not for you. It's his main weakness and everyone knows it. It only makes sense that Godzilla does not have the mobility of a jet fighter. In being huge and terrifying, keeping Feast stacks means that Cho'Gath gets more health than others, which allows users with %HP damage to have a field day. Cho does not have any combat steroids in his kit, so his dueling suffers. Pesky minions will still impede your rampage because Riot thinks that will be OP or something. Finally, it's quite challenging to carry an entire game by yourself, especially if you're the main tank. You still need to rely on your teammates to do THEIR jobs along with your own.

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Carnivore (Passive)

Cho'Gath recovers a flat amount of health and mana back whenever he kills something; minion, monster, or champion. This is an old, simple passive from the dawn of League. Personally, I wish it gave more mana back on-kill, but beggars can't be choosers, I guess.

This sustain passive allows Cho to sit in lane for a long time, generally being immovable unless his opponent is constantly harassing him. It's also half of the reason he's an effective jungler. This makes CS'ing on Cho'Gath incredibly important, as he won't heal unless HE kills the minions.

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Rupture (Q)

I could write a LOT about this move...hm, where to begin? Mastering this skill is the most important part of Cho'Gath. What we have here is an AOE knockup that does strong base damage as well as slowing everyone hit by it afterwards. Oh, and it's ranged too. It's almost like Unstoppable Force, yet Cho'Gath can use this every 7 seconds.*

So what's the catch? It's delayed, along with the short casting animation that Cho'Gath does beforehand. Therefore, you MUST predict where your enemy will be right as the spell would land, otherwise they can simply walk out of the targeted area. Hitting Rupture in teamfights is crucial to your team's success; sometimes that's all it takes for the rest of your squad to dive the poor sap(s) who get hit by it.

*And that's WITHOUT any CDR!

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Feral Scream (W)

All terrifying monsters have their roar, and Cho'Gath is no different. Feral Scream is loud enough to silence multiple enemies for up to 2 seconds at max rank, which again is extremely effective in teamfights. Against team compositions that rely mainly on spells, Feral Scream is invaluable in shutting them up long enough for your team to clean house.

Since it's cone-shaped though, and also has a cast animation like Rupture, you need to make sure that you tag the right champions with it, else they may have the damage to kill your carries.

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Vorpal Spikes (E)

This ability gives each of Cho'Gath's next 3 autos more damage in the form of spikes, which spread out to hit others around the target. This used to be a second passive due to its old toggled nature, but now it's gotten a nice buff to modernize Cho. The spikes now do %health magic damage, which scales on your Feast stacks both in damage and in width!

This is the second half of why Cho'Gath can jungle; the AOE nature of this ability allows him to clear entire camps of jungle without losing a lot of mana. It also allows him to CS easier, which combos well with his passive healing.

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Feast (R)

This is what really makes our monster come to life. Each time Cho'Gath executes something with his ultimate, he gains size, health, and a bit of attack range. Leveling up the ultimate ability itself also makes Cho'Gath bigger, and increases the health gained by each stack, therefore you get two nice health spikes at levels 11 and 16.

You can get a maximum of 6 stacks from minions and non-epic monsters. Epic monsters ( , , , ) and champion kills give additional stacks.

There are two methods of using Feast; peeling and killing. I tend to do the former when I build tank and the latter when I build to carry (A.K.A. Mage'Gath). Generally if someone wants my carry dead, Feast allows Cho'Gath to chunk them hard and hopefully provide enough extra damage to eliminate the threat before your ally dies. On the flip-side, if you know your ult can murder an enemy carry (indicated by the spikey-looking icon that appears around them when they're at low health), you can quickly eliminate them from the fight.

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As with any champion, picking the right summoner spells for Cho'Gath is important. Here I've listed the GOOD and the BAD spells for you to consider.

The Good

Flash is the most popular summoner spell in the game. An instant blink in any direction is invaluable to have...on some champions. The only time I take Flash is on Mage'Gath, since I'm not building to tank. I generally tend to go for...


Ghost is the mobility spell that I use everywhere else, and I feel that it's a bit superior to Flash on Cho'Gath. Why? Well, with Flash, there's always the chance that it won't save a slow, lumbering champion like Cho, as there are many champions with far superior mobility that will still catch up to you and kill you. And that's just factoring in enemy champion kits, and not the runes and items that they can will have in these fights. With Ghost, you get a 10 second speed boost where you can hopefully outrun your enemies to relative safety.

It also lets you catch up to fleeing enemies so that you can tag them with Rupture easier, giving your team kills that otherwise wouldn't have happened. Therefore, I prefer Ghost on Cho about 90% of the time.

And plus, running Ghost will have many of your enemies pissing their pants:


Teleport is an amazing summoner spell that I run top 99% of the time. Having this spell up gives you map-wide presence at the push of a button, especially considering how important dragon is to get. It also allows you to quickly port back to lane if you need to save your tower. It truly is too good to take anything else in its place.


Ignite is definitely good, but its use on Cho'Gath is generally minimal. Like Flash, I generally only take Ignite when I play Mage'Gath, where it's kill first, ask questions later. You CAN still use this in top lane if you prefer to play aggressively from the start, but the lack of Teleport might be a bigger hindrance then you think.


I'm quite a fan of Exhaust, really. I run it on every single support that I use, Cho'Gath included. For top lane, however, I feel that it's outclassed by Teleport again, although it will still prove useful against melee ADC'S like Tryndamere and Fiora.


And of course there's Smite, but for obvious reasons, the only time we take this is to jungle.

The Bad

Barrier is generally bought by squishy champs who are afraid of burst damage. You are neither squishy nor at risk to die in half a second, so there's no reason to take this.


As much as I think Clairvoyance is nice, it's currently outclassed by a ******* trinket. And even then, you're better off taking a bunch of others over this.


Clarity is taken by new players who haven't learned mana conservation yet. Plus your passive gives you mana back. No need.


Cleanse is only taken by ADC's when the other team is loaded with CC, and even then, they generally prefer Heal over it. Your tenacity and tankiness make this a waste.


At level 18, Heal restores about 350 health. You know what else does? Killing five minions via Carnivore. Seriously.

What I decided to do in this section is to give a thorough discussion of all of the items at your disposal. Below, I've listed all finished items alphabetically that I think Cho'Gath works with in some way or another:





Some are quite mandatory for certain builds and/or runes ( Frozen Heart, Warmog's Armor, Everfrost, etc.), while others are somewhat-to-very situational ( Sterak's Gage, Sunfire Aegis, Zeke's Convergence). There's an important note for Cho'Gath:

YOU SHOULDN'T BUILD THE SAME STUFF EVERY GAME.

That's part of the reason I like Cho'Gath, every game is a thought experiment on what the best build will be for both YOUR team composition and THEIRS.

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Regardless, I wanted to show just how versatile Cho'Gath is for his build options. Cho'Gath's kit allows him to benefit from almost every stat, except Critical Chance.

Attack Damage: All champs get increased Auto damage, but Cho doesn't have any AD scalings. The only AD items I consider on him have additional properties that make the AD a secondary (or tertiary) addition, not the primary reason I buy it.

Ability Power: All four of Cho's abilities have AP ratios.

Cooldown Reduction: More reduction = more abilities = more CC and lunch opportunities. Not much else to say.

Attack Speed: Your Vorpal Spikes DPS will increase, and it's easier to keep more mobile opponents slowed.

Health & Health Regeneration: Feast scales off of 10% of your bonus health, so both your stacks themselves and any extra health you buy will increase the damage. It's also...well, health, and every champion can benefit from having it.

Mana & Mana Regeneration: Your passive Carnivore does help to restore your mana...but not by much. Cho'Gath is known as a durable CC machine, and without mana...you're just a big wall of health with minimal damage. Some is nice, but don't go overboard with it.

Armor / Magic Resist: While he doesn't have any armor or MR scalings like some tanks (i.e Braum, Rammus, Malphite), Cho will still benefit from these because they make all of his bonus health so much more effective. They also prevent him from getting obliterated by %health damage champions and items.

Tenacity: Without Wind Wall or Unbreakable, what's Cho have to block enemy skillshots? Oh right, his fat ***. Tenacity will allow you to absorb both hard & soft CC that would otherwise hamper or even threaten your teammates' lives.

Movement Speed: Well this is just self-explanatory. Everyone benefits from it. Cho is fat and slow, so his build can help with that.

****, I'm running out of colors...

Life Steal: The only reason this is listed here, instead of being on the 'ignore' stat list with Crit Chance, is because of Blade of the Ruined King; the Only-Item-With-Life-Steal that I'd consider.

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So what I'm going to do next is rate each of the ABOVE items on a scale of 5-10, in terms of usefulness. Why do I start at 5? Because any item under 5 wouldn't be considered at all for Cho'Gath...if that makes sense. Why explain Bloodthirster for example, if I know it's a bad item for Cho?

Feedback for this part is appreciated, I want to convey this information as effectively as possible.


(8/10)
A great magic resist item that also gives you health, mana, and CDR; I consider this a better pickup than Rod of Ages for Tank'Gath, since they both have the Eternity passive. The debuff gives a magic resist reduction to all within 325 units, which benefits both you and your team, if they also have a lot of magic damage.

(6.5/10)
I don't consistently get this magic resist item, but it's very useful to rush if you're laning against a Teemo. It's also useful to buy against the likes of Brand or Malzahar, since their % Health damage will really hurt. Not only will it reduce their D.O.T., but it also gives you a nice bit of health regen.

(7/10)
A solid item for Mage'Gath that will provide Ability Power, CDR, & magic resist. The spell shield is useful when you really DON'T want to intercept skill-shots.

(5.5/10)
Yeah, why is this here? I normally don't buy this for Cho'Gath, but it's useful against VERY tanky compositions. It's on-hit damage is the main reason for buying it, because A) Cho gets more damage for being melee, and B) it synergizes well with Vorpal Spikes. Now, you have % Current Health physical damage PLUS % Max Health magic damage on-hit.

(7.5/10)
One of the two jungling enhancements I prefer on Cho; this follows similar logic to Blade of the Ruined King, really. You get additional % on-hit damage and a nice chunk of attack speed.

(9/10)
Of course, this rating is really just for Supp'Gath, and wouldn't be considered otherwise. This is the most useful ward item for Cho'Gath, as it gives health + regen, ability power, and some gold generation on the side. The name is also extremely fitting, because you're a mountain and you want to show it.

(9.5/10)
Ooh-la-la...now THIS is a great enchantment for Cho, because the % bonus health DOES work with your Feast stacks and all other sources of bonus health. It's not uncommon for this item to provide you an extra 300-400 health alongside its base amount. The fiery explosion also does bonus magic damage based off of all of this bonus health...all in all, a great go-to for Jung'Gath.

(6.5/10)
The main advantage that this health/armor item gives over others is the ramping movement speed. This will give Cho'Gath more roaming capability, along with not having to rely as much on Teleport to get around the map. Because I typically run Ghost on Tank'Gath, I don't get this as often, but you should certainly consider it if you prefer Flash.

(9/10)
This is definitely one of the best armor items you can buy for Cho, because it also gives a sexy 20% CDR & a good chunk of mana. The attack-speed reduction aura is very useful for a fat monster that wants to sit in the middle of a teamfight, soaking up damage. Frozen Heart is good to the point that I don't really consider buying Iceborn Gauntlet at all.

(9.5/10)
So you're already a Big Boi, and now you want to be truly THICC. Not only does the passive help you in teamfights, by effectively doubling the armor & magic resist this item gives, but the active will massively increase both your total base and bonus health.

The other reason this is so useful on Cho'Gath is that Feast will get a ton of bonus damage from the active...and will NOT be reduced by the other part of said active!

(8.5/10)
A very solid rush item as Mage'Gath, usually when running Glacial Augment. While the ability power, mana, and CDR are similar to others in this item class, the real power is in the active ability. The threat of being Ruptured and then fully combo'd by Mage'Gath will make burning enemy Flashes very easy in the mid-game and late-game.

(6.0/10)
Truth be told, I don't think about buying this much at all. Still, if you play other champs that normally use this, Mage'Gath can utilize it just as well. The active dash will help in your burst combo, along with moving you closer to Feast your opponent.

(8.5/10)
A solid first buy for Supp'Gath, or even a later purchase for Jung'Gath if you want to have a more support-focused tank build. Health, armor, and CDR are always welcome for Cho'Gath, and the link passive helps to protect your ally by siphoning some incoming damage to yourself, while healing for a bit of the damage they do to enemies.

(9/10)
A very solid buy for Mage'Gath, as it increases Cho's health and gives him a nice chunk of ability power. The enhanced burn damage can be applied by both Rupture and Vorpal Spikes, and their AOE nature will allow you to shred down a lot of health in a teamfight. Definitely a must-buy against tanky compositions when building mostly AP.

(7/10)
The only Sheen item on this list, I think this deserves consideration for Mage'Gath due to its addition to your burst combo. It also gives Mage'Gath more movement speed to close in on targets to eat their faces off.

(8.0)
Locket is nice and cheap, while providing a nice amount of both armor and magic resist. This is useful on any Cho'Gath tank build because of all the bonus health he gets, which will give your whole team a massive shield when they need it the most.

(7.5/10)
A good rush item as Mage'Gath if you're NOT running Glacial Augment and perhaps something like Arcane Comet. This gives you extra poke damage when fully charged up, which can help with Rupture harass. And like Everfrost, it gives 20% CDR, which will certainly let you harass even more!

(6/10)
This is a good item in theory, but it's often not the best buy for a beefcake support like Cho'Gath. Of course, it gives you some magic resist and health/mana regen, though the main reason you'd ever want this is to cleanse your carry of a VERY dangerous CC ability.

(8/10)
The NomNomNomicon, a good buy for Mage'Gath both literally and figuratively. Health, ability power, alongside magic penetration and enemy healing reduction. You definitely want this against compositions that have strong healers ( Soraka, Dr. Mundo, Vladimir), but this can be considered core if you really like it.

(8/10)
Nashor's is an aggressive item that gives a whopping 20% CDR along with making your Vorpal Spikes do even more damage. This item makes more sense to buy if you're running Transcendence, so you can convert some of said CDR into more AP. And of course, that extra AP will make Nashor's on-hit passive more effective! It's basically the AP version of Wit's End, and you'll end up being even more dangerous in melee range.

(6.5/10)
The other health-focused warding item, this is very similar to Bulwark of the Mountain, except it gives AD over AP. Since Cho has 4, count them, FOUR AP ratios, any extra bit helps, so this becomes outclassed.

(9.5/10)
Oh boy, the king of ability power himself (yes I did just assume this item's gender, whatcha gonna do about it?). Mage'Gath is all about burst, and this will massively increase the damage of all your abilities. It also makes all future AP buys more gold-efficient. The only challenge is dealing with its price tag.

(8.5/10)
A very strong health/armor item that will increase Tank'Gath's durability a lot. Like Thornmail, this is a good item to deal with auto-attacking champions; both passives will reduce their DPS and keep you alive longer in teamfights. Combined with Ninja Tabi, enemy AD champions will quickly realize to not mess with you.

(9/10)
This item provides a lot of good stuff for Cho'Gath, focusing more on stat variety rather than higher stat values. Along with making you bulkier, the movement speed active will allow you to sprint over to aid your teammates or engage on enemy champions yourself. The following slow is similar to Randuin's Omen's active.

(7/10)
As I said before with Abyssal Mask, these two items both share the Eternity passive. I used to rush this way back in the day, but now it's more situational. Buying this item signifies to everyone that you're playing the long game, and while it's a good item on its own, it's no longer my favorite rush item.

(8.5/10)
Spellbinder provides a great chunk of ability power along with movement speed, and can be considered a substitute for Rabadon's Deathcap if you didn't do so well early in the game. The active will increase both of these stats for a brief time, giving you more burst damage and the speed boost needed to Feast a high-value carry.

(8.3/10)
A strong health/magic resist item that will greatly help resisting...well, magic damage! The item will also improve all healing/regen, both in your own kit ( Carnivore) and from ally healing. It's well-known that this item & Warmog's Armor make for a very strong anti-magic combo, as the former will increase the latter's regeneration even more.

(5/10)
This is the closest item on this list to being removed (GASP), but hear me out.

Cho'Gath has decent base Attack Damage, so he will get a good chunk of extra AD from its passive. Additionally, he builds a bunch of bonus health, and when Lifeline triggers (not if, because he'll be in the middle of a teamfight) he'll gain tenacity & a massive shield, making him even harder to kill. Admittedly I prefer Titanic Hydra over this, so I don't normally get it.

(6/10)
It may be weird that this is only a 6, but here's my reasoning; Cho'Gath's basic abilities are all AOE, which make it easy for him to push waves. In my opinion, Sunfire Cape is meant to help tanks who can't push very well. If you're looking for a health/armor item, I'd rather go for Randuin's Omen or Turbo Chemtank before this.

(8.5/10)
It's always good to stick your enemies with the pointy end, and this item has a lot of them. It gives a lot of armor and a decent amount of health, but you really buy this for the anti-healing. Very important for Tank'Gath against the likes of Tryndamere and Fiora.

(7.5/10)
This is another AD item on a champion with no AD ratios. Of course, we don't buy it for the AD, but moreso for the passive and active cleaving attacks, which both scale off of your maximum health. It pairs very well with your damaging Vorpal Spikes field; enemies will be hit by both, one scaling off of your health, and one off of theirs.

Oh yeah, and the active (also an auto-attack reset) hits like a truck.

(7/10)
Another Mage'Gath item that works well with Glacial Augment, but otherwise is situational to buy at best. The ability power, CDR, and movement speed are all useful, and the active ghosts can help find enemy champions for you, instead of risking a face-check and becoming very dead.

(8/10)
The classic item for when you just need to tear through a LOT of magic resist. Well...it technically ignores it, lets not get into semantics here.

(10/10)
Ah yes, the item that truly makes Tank'Gath a nightmare (and can even be bought on Mage'Gath in certain situations). True, stacking TOO MUCH health on Cho'Gath may cause issues, but it's a fact that he can easily reach 3000+ health in a game. Therefore, this item allows him to regenerate all of his massive health pool if the enemy team can't finish him off in a teamfight.

Oh, and it also gives CDR, so consider this core for the majority of your tank builds.

(8.8/10)
I'm really a fan of this item on Cho'Gath, because it works with his kit better than most would think. It primarily gives him better dueling ability with Vorpal Spikes, along with adding bulk in the form of magic resist. The on-hit damage will also heal you for same amount if you're under 50% health, so it gives him a "pseudo-lifesteal", if you will.

(6/10)
Another support-focused item that can work for Supp'Gath, but I'm not the biggest fan of it. This is mainly because Feast doesn't work well with the passive, unless you use it at the very start of a fight...though of course, this could also help to peel. You can tell how little I've experimented with this!

(9/10)
And finally at the bottom of the list is Ol' Reliable. Ability power, armor, and CDR make it an important part of Mage'Gath's build. You certainly need this if you're being focused, and I'd only consider avoiding it unless you're going up against a lot of magic damage, where Warmog's Armor or Spirit Visage may be a better defensive choice.

(7/10)
(8/10)
(8/10)
(8/10)

I'm going to throw these in at the end because their usefulness is pretty straight-forward. Tank builds want Ninja Tabi or Mercury's Treads. Mage'Gath wants Sorcs or Ionian Boots of Lucidity. Supp'Gath probably is best off with Ninja or Ionian.

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Philosophy

Tank'gath; for when you want to be an immovable kaiju, who causes destruction wherever and whenever he wants. With the same build as other tanks, Cho gets a lot of bonus health thanks to Feast, making him a giant, fat brick to the enemy team. His AOE CC allows him to disrupt the enemy team long enough to pick off their carries or peel for his own. Cho'Gath also excels at blocking a LOT of damage with his increased size; your teammates will love you for it, and Warmog's Armor will bring you back to full health like nothing even happened.

There are two ways to play Tank'Gath: aggressively with the use of Ignite and most likely a Doran's Ring start, or passively with Teleport and a defensive item. This section focuses on the latter; I personally feel that Teleport is a much better summoner for the team, especially when it takes a while to move Cho's fat *** all the way over to Dragon from top lane. He also wants to farm as much as possible, so that he can stack Feast and turn into a giant behemoth. Teleport allows him to both farm and go to teamfights once they break out.

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Skill Order

With Tank'Gath, there's no perfect skill order. It's entirely dependent on your lane matchup; this is another reason why Cho'Gath is so versatile.

Against SAFE melee champions: > > >

With this, Cho'Gath's Vorpal Spikes will quickly grow in damage, which push waves very hard as well as hurting whoever tries to get into melee range of him. You'll repeatedly shove the wave into their turret, forcing them to use mana to CS rather than hurting you. His E also costs the least mana to use / farm with.

Against enemies that are mainly ability-based: > > >

Feral Scream is very strong against casters, and after leveling it a few times, it really starts to sting as well. Use this to shut up enemies while hacking them down with Vorpal Spikes. If they're not very mobile, you can choose to max Rupture second. Take note that Feral Scream is your most mana-intensive move, so don't spam it too frequently.

Against ranged enemies with low innate sustain, or TOUGH melee laners: > > >

Cho'Gath just hates it when ranged opponents repeatedly shoot him in the face. Therefore, maxing Rupture first allows him to harass right back. This also allows him to set up his QW combo once his jungler comes to gank. I mainly use this skill order against the likes of Jayce, Ryze, and Teemo. This is also your best bet against strong laners like Darius and Illaoi.

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Primary Runes

RESOLVE

If you're in it for the long haul, you want Grasp of the Undying; its damage and healing both scale with your maximum health, and you'll have a lot of it! It only gets better as the game goes on, but this also helps you sustain more in early trades. Aftershock is an okay alternative, but you can only activate it with Rupture, which I find to be to be too unreliable for my taste.

Even though you become the size of towers, Cho'Gath is ironically slow at taking them down. With Demolish, that changes. It's a big upgrade over the other two runes at this level; you have to rely on external shields for Shield Bash, and Font of Life...is alright, but it's harder to get tower plate gold.

We really want resistances as Tank'Gath to make all of that health harder to take down. Conditioning does just that, but it's a delayed rune like Magical Footwear. Your first buy will typically be a defensive resist item, so you'll get a big tanky power-spike by mid-game.

This is my go-to at the final level, once again we're taking a scaling health choice because Cho'Gath. Getting extra %max health will do wonders for Feast. You can also take Revitalize here if you want to give Carnivore even more sustain.

Taking mainly health-focused runes results in armor & magic resist stats. Attack speed is chosen to help early-game CS and to improve Vorpal Spikes.

Secondary Options

I've had some good success with Precision; Legend: Tenacity gives you a solid amount, and you're not as reliant on Mercury's Treads. Likewise, Triumph should be self-explanatory, and you'll be able to heal for nice amounts later in the game when you need to peel for your team constantly.



This is the typical secondary tree that I take on my tanks, and it's still good for extra survival. Magical Footwear will reward your patience with free boots, letting you bulk up faster. Against challenging lanes, Biscuit Delivery will help you sustain even more, along with giving you a bit of extra max mana.

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Build Examples

Damage
Tankiness
Utility

This is a standard build for Tank'Gath, when you care about being as tanky as possible while still providing some utility to your team via auras and shields. Rupture and Feral Scream will not be doing strong damage and will be used solely to lock down enemies in teamfights. Note that this build will only give you ~1100 bonus health, but that's NOT considering the health you get from Feast stacks.

Damage
Tankiness
Utility

With this alternative bruiser build setup, you lose some resistances, gain health, and also get attack speed from Wit's End and the cleave effect from Titanic Hydra. Combined with the Grevious Wounds from Thornmail, this gives you a good chunk of dueling power, especially against auto-attack focused champions.


Understand that these aren't the only build paths! It'd be exhaustive to give every setup, but you should always think about what statistics you need to properly do your job.

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Tank'Gath Throughout The Game

Early Game: Right at the start of the game, you need to worry about farming and not dying. I cannot stress this enough; AVOID FEEDING! Cho's lack of steroids mean that if he gets behind in lane, it's very difficult to harass his opponent without taking a ton of damage in return. If your enemy is a lane bully, you may need to sacrifice some farm in order for the lane to push towards you. Also, WARD the river (and the tri-bush if you're on Red side) to be able to see if the enemy jungler is coming.

Once you hit 6, start eating whenever your ult comes off of cooldown, unless you can harass your enemy low enough to eat them instead. You want to grab your six minion/monster Feast stacks as soon as possible, so that you can always use it offensively or for objective control.


Mid-Game (1 or 2 Towers Have Fallen): By now, you should have at least Tier 1 Boots and your first major defensive item. If your tower has fallen, you most likely had a rough time in lane; keep farming and pay attention to your lane opponent's movements if they try to roam.

If THEIR top tower is gone, proceed to push the lane out and roam mid to help the rest of your team. With either scenario, make sure that Teleport is up whenever the dragon spawns, so that you can jump over to aid your team. Getting the first two dragons will give your team a great advantage, and if you have to, you can use Feast to secure it. Stick with your team as often as you can, only going top when you can safely push the lane.


Late-game (First Inhibitor is Destroyed): Builds are being completed, full-scale teamfights are the norm. You MUST be with your team 90% of the time. You're the tank, and if the enemy sees you in a side lane, it gives them the perfect chance to dive on your teammates without you being there to protect them. They can also see an opportunity to bring over 2 or 3 members to kill you. Picking you off can mean a lost baron, dragon or even an inhibitor, so only split-push if your team is cool with it, and you have Teleport up.

This should be the time of game where Cho'Gath shines. Stand between your carries and their team, look them all straight in the eye and say "I DARE you to walk past me..."

Rupture carries, silence the assassins, and get in the way of everything the enemy team wants to do. You may end up being the deciding factor of who wins the game.

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Honestly, this is one of my all-time favorite pieces of music.

Philosophy

Along with being an effective solo laner, Cho'Gath can also jungle. The two big reasons that he can are his passive, Carnivore, and his easy jungle clear with Vorpal Spikes. With these, he can stay extremely healthy in the jungle, while barely needing any mana to clear it!

Feast does 1000 base true damage to jungle mobs, giving him a powerful second smite in the jungle along with having very good objective control with Dragon. Cho'Gath's Feast + Smite combo is un-matched, even by Nunu's Consume at max rank.

With Jung'Gath, Cho can avoid duking it out with champions early on, and stack to his heart's content. In time, he'll become just as tanky as Tank'Gath. You can, of course, build him more mage-like in the jungle, building mostly ability power and health, or even play him more as a bruiser...really, pick your favorite playstyle!

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Skill Order

There's only one way to skill Jung'Gath, in my opinion:

> > >

Obviously, you need Vorpal Spikes first in order to clear the jungle without issue. Rupture works better second, as it provides a strong knock-up to stun the camps, as well as providing good damage in ganks. You can also level Feral Scream second, if you so choose. The silence is another strong gank tool, but it won't stop your enemies from running away.

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Primary Runes (1st Option)

RESOLVE

If you're in it for the long haul, you want Grasp of the Undying; its damage and healing both scale with your maximum health, and you'll have a lot of it! It only gets better as the game goes on, but this also helps you sustain more in early trades. Aftershock is an okay alternative, but you can only activate it with Rupture, which I find to be to be too unreliable for my taste.

Even though you become the size of towers, Cho'Gath is ironically slow at taking them down. With Demolish, that changes. It's a big upgrade over the other two runes at this level; you have to rely on external shields for Shield Bash, and Font of Life...is alright, but it's harder to get tower plate gold.

We really want resistances as Tank'Gath to make all of that health harder to take down....but Jung'Gath will want to gank, and to help that we take Bone Plating.

This is my go-to at the final level, once again we're taking a scaling health choice because Cho'Gath. Getting extra %max health will do wonders for Feast. You can also take Revitalize here if you want to give Carnivore even more sustain.

Both attack speed and damage improve your clear speed, but feel free to swap out the latter with more armor if you want to be extra safe.

Secondary Choice(s)

Cho'Gath is slow, and the jungle role requires some degree of mobility to get map pressure. Not only do we take Ghost, but Relentless Hunter will help you roam a lot better. You can easily activate Cheap Shot with your spikes.



We mainly spec into this secondary tree to take advantage of Nimbus Cloak, which will activate on each cast of Smite. Combined with Stalker's Blade, you can close the distance needed to finish enemies off. The second rune is your pick, but I'd go for Waterwalking to roam faster.

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Primary Runes (2nd Option)

DOMINATION

Honestly, Hail of Blades is pretty fun on Cho'Gath; it mainly helps you to drop all 3 of your Vorpal Spikes on enemies very quickly. It also helps with other on-hit damage like that of Titanic Hydra. While it's not my first choice, this setup works better with more aggressive playstyles.

As said earlier, Cheap Shot is useful for extra damage after smacking someone with either Rupture or Vorpal Spikes...and really, the other two options aren't really useful on Cho.

All choices here will increase your adaptive damage, so any of these can really work. I prefer Eyeball Collection because it gives you more incentive to gank and to help with teamfights.

Yeah, remember what I said about using Hail of Blades to run up and body someone? Relentless Hunter helps you get up to them in the first place. This really makes you feel like a monstrous dinosaur roaming through the jungle...

Same stat grabs as before.

Secondary Choice(s)

In the nature of getting in enemy champs' faces, Bone Plating is utilized here to ignore a bit of damage. Overgrowth or Revitalize can be used depending on preference.

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Build Examples

Damage
Tankiness
Utility

This is basically Tank'Gath, but in the jungle. You get a LOT of bonus health from Enchantment: Cinderhulk, and can easily hit 5000 health in a game. Of course, this also will add extra true damage to Feast, which makes it incredibly easy to secure both dragon and baron nashor yourself. Oh yeah, and if you activate Gargoyle Stoneplate's active in a teamfight, you'll probably grow up above the jungle's treeline...

Damage
Tankiness
Utility

Like Tank'Gath, this is a bruiser-focused build to drop enemies faster than they'd except from a lumbering 'tank'. With Enchantment: Bloodrazor, you now have two forms of %health damage, along with a solid chunk of attack speed.

This is a viable build to run with Hail of Blades, allowing you to run up to opponents with Turbo Chemtank or Ghost, slice the **** out of them, and Feast them before they realize how much damage you're doing.

Damage
Tankiness
Utility

So what if we wanted to try running Mage'Gath in the jungle? This is an experimental build that I don't normally run, but I think it'd be an interesting thought experiment.

While Enchantment: Cinderhulk is still preferable over Enchantment: Runic Echoes because of how much it works with your Feast stacks, the latter gives you mana. You could circumvent this by rushing Rod of Ages second, though this may delay it from powering up until the early stages of late-game. Additionally, this build has two items with both health and ability power, so you'll still have health...but not a lot of resistances.

Oh boy, does this build hurt though. Building straight AP and health will make Feast do MASSIVE damage to both champions and neutral objectives alike. It does put a huge target on your face, however, because smart opponents will realize that despite all this health, you'll pop like a balloon without resistances. If Grevious Wounds is not a priority, feel free to swap out Morellonomicon for either Zhonya's Hourglass or Banshee's Veil.

It's also worth noting that all of your health will still allow you to take Grasp of the Undying as your keystone, instead of a more mage-focused one.

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Jung'Gath Throughout The Game

Early Game: Evaluate your team's lane match-ups; who needs help most? Try to plan out your first clear + gank route before the camps spawn. Additionally, be wary of full-team invades (as you would with any other jungler) and guess where your opponent is starting; if you both start at the same buff camp, be wary of a potential invade at your second buff.

You must watch the lanes as often as possible for the enemy jungler, and both ping + listen to ally pings if anyone sees them. If you're close enough, you can counter-gank and possibly come away with a kill for your team.

There are two ways to gank, depending on what direction you come from. If you come straight up the lane, you should start off by using Rupture BEHIND them once they see you. Follow up by walking closer to Feral Scream them; your laner(s) should have started wailing on them already, and with your crowd control combo, they shouldn't be able to get away.

If you're flanking or coming in behind an opponent, start off with Feral Scream. Hit them once or twice with Vorpal Spikes, before using Rupture in the direction they attempt to flee. If you don't kill them, you may be able to burn their Flash or Ghost, allowing an easier gank in the near future.

Before mid-game begins, the first dragon will most likely be contested. Try not to stay top lane very often after levels 6-8. If your bot lane can kill theirs, immediately try to take Dragon. Your Smite + Feast equates to massive true damage, and you can even kill two birds with one stone and finish it off with Feast, giving you another stack.


Mid-Game (1 or 2 Towers Have Fallen): Continue to farm and stack Feast. Gank where appropriate, and help your teammates down towers when you outnumber the enemy. If your team is behind, try to group earlier than normal in order to win skirmishes. You'll be able to get back in the game, as well as possibly taking more dragons to buff your team.

Obviously by now, you should have a large chunk of armor if against a lot of AD, and a bunch of health / magic resist if against heavy AP. For the majority of your games, you're still going to want to balance armor and magic resist, so try to buy what you currently don't have.


Late-game (First Inhibitor is Destroyed): You need to stay with your team at all times, and NOT be caught out. You lack Teleport and instead hold Smite, so killing you can mean a free baron for the enemy team. On the flip side, you should look to pick off the enemy jungler for the same reasons, or outright ace the enemy team in a teamfight.

You're essentially Tank'Gath 2.0, so the same rules apply. Bodyblock as much as you can, peel for your teammates, eat whoever the biggest threat is. Put out consistent damage with Vorpal Spikes; the damage will add up against squishies. Make them fear your presence, and the game is most likely yours.

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Philosophy

Mage'Gath is underrated. The majority of players view Cho as a tank first, and a caster second. What people fail to realize is that Cho has very nice AP scalings on most of his abilities, including a decent .5 ratio on Feast. That will hurt anyone who's on the receiving end of it. Feast may do 1000 true damage to minions, but with Mage'Gath, that same damage can wreck champions as well.

Cho still retains his tenacity and waveclear in mid lane, forcing his opponents to stay in lane or risk losing farm / turret protection. This makes him an ideal pick against assassins with poor waveclear.

This build has a lot of surprise value, as many will brace for the Rupture, yet they won't expect it to do that much damage...

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Skill Order

95% of the time, you want Mage'Gath's skill order to be the following:

> > >

Chances are, you'll be up against someone that's ability-based, whether they be AP or AD. Feral Scream not only chunks their health bar, but it also obliterates minion waves. Rupture should generally be second; the AP you buy will allow your QW combo to hurt really badly around mid-game. You still want one point into Vorpal Spikes to allow yourself to CS when your other skills are on cooldown.

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Primary Runes (1st Option)

INSPIRATION

The main reason you want to run Inspiration primary is to take advantage of Glacial Augment. Getting the enhanced slow field will make it a lot easier to hit Rupture, and your enemies know this. It also gives you more ranged CC! This playstyle does restrict your build options a bit.

Really...you could take any one of these options. Perfect Timing is obvious if you plan to build Zhonya's Hourglass, but you can also grab the boots if you think it's the better choice. As Mage'Gath is the main user of Flash on this guide, Hextech Flashtraption is good to get over walls and flank your enemies.

Biscuit Delivery is the best on this list, it keeps you in lane longer so you can farm and get your first item ASAP. The other two are okay, but not as good.

We take Approach Velocity here because of it's synergy with your Glacial Augment slow field, Rupture, AND Vorpal Spikes.

I tend to play Tank'Gath more often than Mage'Gath, so I'm used to taking two defensive stats alongside a single offensive one. Feel free to swap either defensive stat out for more Adaptive Force.

Secondary Choice(s)

Getting CDR is obvious for your build, so grabbing Transcendence will not only give you 10% free, but will convert extra into more AP for all of your skills. Gathering Storm is just overall useful for scaling into late-game; if you plan on getting Rabadon's Deathcap, you can pretend all of those AP values will be multiplied by 40%.

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Primary Runes (2nd Option)

SORCERY

Alternatively, Arcane Comet is a great keystone for Mage'Gath, because it's guaranteed to hit after Rupture. Since said ability has a 100% AP ratio, it's only good to give this poking tool even more damage!

Manaflow Band gives you up to 250 mana and adds some decent regen upon getting that much. It's always a good pickup for mages. My second choice in this section would be Nullifying Orb, because you'll have more health than other AP carries and the shield may prevent you from being burst down.

Transcendence was already discussed briefly earlier, and it's really the best option in this section.

Likewise, Gathering Storm has already been mentioned. Free ability power? Yes please!

I tend to play Tank'Gath more often than Mage'Gath, so I'm used to taking two defensive stats alongside a single offensive one. Feel free to swap either defensive stat out for more Adaptive Force.

Secondary Choice(s)

With Domination, you can add extra damage to your burst combo with Cheap Shot. Not much more to say for that. Ravenous Hunter is useful as Mage'Gath so you don't have to rely on Carnivore for healing (and you probably won't want to buy Warmog's Armor).



It's also a decent idea to grab Inspiration secondary, to take advantage of both Perfect Timing and Approach Velocity, both already mentioned.

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Build Examples

Damage
Tankiness
Utility

This is an example Inspiration build with Glacial Augment, though you only buy one item that will be enhanced. You'll hit 40% CDR with Everfrost and Nashor's Tooth. You sacrifice some utility (compared to the following build), but this item set will let you run up and assassinate pretty much any squishy carry if you land your full combo.

Damage
Tankiness
Utility

This is the more utility-focused Glacial Augment build...by basically building three items that will work with it. Additionally, Twin Shadows will help you facecheck bushes (because you're not the tank, remember?) and Turbo Chemtank provides some bulk.

Transcendence is required here, because you'll easily hit the CDR cap, especially if you're like me and want to buy Nashor's Tooth.

Damage
Tankiness
Utility

If you prefer the Arcane Comet rune setup, this is the better build path. You become a poking machine with this, and will definitely keep your enemies on their toes to avoid Rupture. Combining Luden's Tempest and Liandry's Torment will burn everyone for extra damage, and we want strong magic penetration to burn through both squishies and tanks alike.

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Mage'Gath Throughout The Game

Early Game: You normally want to start with Feral Scream upon going to lane. Try to level up as soon as possible, as SAFELY as possible. Take Vorpal Spikes at level 2 in order to last-hit easier; you need to stay healthy or else your opponent may try to all-in you when you're at your weakest point.

Once you hit 6, evaluate the lane: do I have kill potential with Feast? If so, hold onto it and try to combo them with Rupture into Feral Scream. Your full combo chunks your mana early on, so check it before attempting to kill them. If you don't think you can kill them, eat a minion, but understand that they know Feast is now on cooldown, and might try to be more aggressive.

Oh, and you ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS want to do two things. You must have at least one of the side bushes warded AT ALL TIMES, and try to keep yourself to that side. Mage'Gath is slow and prone to push the wave, which can make you jungler food. If you're up against an assassin that wants to roam ( Katarina, Zed, Fizz, etc), you must ALWAYS ping your team when they're missing from Mid. Cho'Gath cannot roam himself very easily without Teleport, so he won't be able to rush over in time to prevent ally deaths in the side lanes.


Mid-Game (1 or 2 Towers Have Fallen): You should have completed your first item by now, along with Tier 2 boots. If neither mid tower is down, continuously push your minion waves into their turret to deny your opponent farm. When this inevitably gets a bit boring, you can try to roam bot in order to kill their ADC and / or support.

Keep your lanes warded, and group with your bot lane and jungler when dragon is to be contested. If it's a freebie, tell your jungle not to Smite it (or just ping that Feast is ready to be used), and instead eat the dragon once its health dips below 1000. You get a free stack, your team gets the dragon, everyone wins! If you can get their mid tower down, push the wave out again and stick with your other teammates unless the enemy team is trying to siege your own mid tower.


Late-game (First Inhibitor is Destroyed): The most important part of Mage'Gath, by this stage in the game, is this:

YOU ARE NOT THE TANK.

Make sure both you and your other four teammates all understand this. You may be big and mean-looking, but you drop a lot faster than the other builds. Therefore, you shouldn't be riiiight out in front, but back enough so that you can still hit people with Rupture. Without Warmog's Armor, enemy poke will stick, and you may have to recall when you don't want to.

Mage'Gath's burst combo is as follows: Rupture--> Feral Scream(you may have to Flash right on top of them beforehand)--> Feast--> Vorpal Spikes auto + Ignite.

Done right, this is a disgusting burst combo, especially considering that Feast will generally be able to chunk anywhere from 1/3rd to half of a squishy's healthbar instantly. On that note, Ignite may possibly be overkill, so you can save it for someone else nearby in that case.

The real beauty of Mage'Gath, is that not only can Cho'Gath's kit disrupt carries, but he also has the damage to obliterate them himself.

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Philosophy

Oh, welcome! Welcome to my humble abode! Please, sit down and have some of these DELICIOUS crumpets and tea.

I'm going to make a disclaimer to all that read this rather cultured section. I don't really play Support Cho'Gath.

BUT.

I normally play tanky supports when I go bot lane, namely Braum, Taric, and Alistar. And since I consider myself to be a pretty good support, I think that it's safe to put this section of the guide in. Cho'Gath can support...not very well, but he can. And theoretically, he'll still be able to turn into a strong tank for your team. You just have to get past his relatively weak early game.

So yes, Supp'Gath doesn't have experience behind it, so use this as a forewarning. I put this in because IF god forbid you have a teammate in champ select who WON'T support, you can offer to support after picking Cho'Gath.

It's all about being a gentleman.

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Skill Order

With Supp'Gath, you generally want to zone their bot-lane from your carry, and the best way to do this would be to max Rupture first:

> > >

Rupture has a flat 60 mana cost and thus should not be spammed until you've purchased some mana (such as Frozen Heart). If you continuously hit them, you should be able to protect your carry from receiving too much damage. It's also a great move to start off a jungle gank. Feral Scream works second to prevent Flashing and other movement abilities, while Vorpal Spikes is generally last since you're not the one who's trying to CS.

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Primary Runes

RESOLVE

A proper gentleman provides utility to his team; Guardian allows you to provide a big-*** shield to nearby allies, since he'll have a lot of bonus health. Aftershock is an okay alternative, but you can only activate it with Rupture, which I find to be to be too unreliable for my taste.

Even though you become the size of towers, Cho'Gath is ironically slow at taking them down. With Demolish, that changes. It's a big upgrade over the other two runes at this level; you have to rely on external shields for Shield Bash, and Font of Life...is alright, but it's harder to get tower plate gold.

Since Supp'Gath's early game...isn't really impressive, we want Bone Plating to protect against harass. If you're feeling ballsy, Conditioning is the better long-term choice.

Free stats are always useful on supports, and while Overgrowth will always be a good choice on Cho'Gath, Unflinching will keep you in the fight longer to protect your allies.

what the hell is the icon for CDR

'Best choice for Supp'Gath is cooldown reduction and armor, but you can also take some magic resistance if you're up against supports with heavy magic damage like Brand or Zyra.

Secondary Choice(s)

This is the typical secondary tree that I take on my tanks, and it's still good for extra survival. Magical Footwear will reward your patience with free boots, letting you bulk up faster. Biscuit Delivery will help you sustain, especially because of your limited use of Carnivore as a support.

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Build Examples

Damage
Tankiness
Utility

I'm not going to drop like 5 different support builds, because I could, but they'd all share a similar theme: you want tankiness and utility first and fore-most. If you play Cho'Gath as a support, you excel at being a fat bodyguard who will not only block many enemy skillshots, but providing your carry shields and vision.

Of course, the chances of you getting full build on a support are small, and you will most likely forgo your last item slot for Vision Wards. However, as we all know with supports, actions speak louder than words...items...you get the idea.

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Supp'Gath Throughout The Game

Early Game: With Supp'Gath, you have a serious dilemma in that your Carnivore passive is largely useless early on. You can't farm, your carry needs to. Relic Shield's charges no longer heal either. You must always be warding whenever you can, and once you upgrade to Targon's Buckler, keep one at either dragon and/or the tri-bush.

Supp'Gath will struggle the most with poke lanes; he has little way of sustain as previously mentioned. Along with this, he can't harass back that frequently, or he will run out of mana by casting Rupture too often. You need to communicate with your carry and tell them to play passively until post-6; once you get tankier with Feast, you should be able to ignore enough poke to be able to fight back.

With all-in lanes, he has a slightly easier time due to neither side really committing until one sees an opportunity. In lanes like this, Cho'Gath needs to disrupt the enemy CARRY (not their support) with Rupture, following up with Feral Scream to prevent abilities and summoner spells. With this, you can win trades or even outright kill the enemy laners if you're lucky.

And then there's the dragon again. Free Feast stack, anyone? How embarrassed will the enemy team be when they realized their jungler was out- Smited by your support? Considering how important the first one or two dragons are, it may be worth burning Feast, rather than using it for the ensuing brawl.


Mid-Game (1 or 2 Towers Have Fallen): You should be warding with Bulwark of the Mountain frequently, and roaming with your carry if you already knock bot lane's tower down. You should also be buying Vision Wards alongside them. If you're losing / lost lane, only roam to ward and do it quickly. A slow Cho'Gath is easy to take down in groups. Try to stay with your carries as often as possible and Feast when appropriate. By now you should be relatively tanky and can start being a factor in skirmishes / teamfights.


Late-game (First Inhibitor is Destroyed): By now you're the only one on the team with an item slot dedicated to wards, so KEEP WARDING. Remember that Rupture grants vision of the area it's about to hit; use this to check un-warded bushes safely. With your item build, Supp'Gath is more apt to protect carries, rather than focus on eliminating theirs. Activate your shields and make sure that YOU take the brunt of the damage. Although you may die, should your team pull out on top, it will mean a free baron nashor, inhibitor, or even the game.