Kog'Maw Build Guide

Kog'Maw Build

Table of Contents

Introduction

1

Abilities

2

Summary

3

Pros / Cons

4

Masteries + Runes

5

Summoner Abilities

6

Skilling Order

7

Builder

8

How to use spells

9

Farming and Early game

10

How to lane

11

Working with your team

12

Understanding terms

13

• Introduction

  Hello everyone my name is Kysen(Lyvahn) and i am here to explain how i play my Kog Maw. Kog is mostly magic damage so take that into effect when reading this guide. Also feel free to leave comments and other build suggestions.
  
  A picture of my days of Kogging.
  
  

• Abilities

  Icathian Surprise

  Used to get those kills if you die 1v1 and the person has 100hp. Also in team fights it serves as a way to nuke everyone after you die, possibly getting your team kills.

  Caustic Spittle

  Your second most important skill. Passive is awesome and the armor reduction helps mow people down.

  Bio-Arcane Barrage

  Your main skill. Insane range (which kog lacks without this) and bonus magic damage. Great when someone is running, just use slow and auto attack them to death, along with blasting off your ulti.

  Void Ooze

  Good skill, only get 1 point early game for the slow. Other than that not really a main source of damage unless you go straight AP, which i don't recommend.

  Living Artillery

  Great skill now that it scales with ad. Awesome range and insane damage to increase your burst and surprise your enemies. Also great for checking bushes with, only costs 40 mana with 1 stack.

• Summary

  Alright so just about every good guide has one of these for the last or the procrastinator.
  
  Runes
  
  Greater Mark of Strength x3
  Greater Mark of Desolation x6
  Greater Seal of Resilience x9
  Greater Glyph of Warding x9
  Greater Quintessence of Strength x3
  
  This gives you survivability for early game to faceroll those nubs. Along with early game damage with Doran's Blade gives you 70 damage to start with, along with around 600 hp.
  
  
  
  Masteries
  
  21/0/9
  
  
  
  Skills
  
  
  
  
  
  Summoner Spells
  
  Flash and Exhaust
  
  
  
  Items
  
  - Doran's Blade
  - Malady
  - Sorcerer's Shoes
  - Trinity Force
  - The Bloodthirster or Frozen Mallet
  - Frozen Mallet or The Bloodthirster
  -trade Doran's Blade for either Infinity Edge or Banshee's Veil or Randuin's Omen or Sunfire Cape, depending on the enemy team and how you are doing

• Pros / Cons

  Pros
  
  -Great burst
  -Awesome early game
  -Some early survivability
  -End game you get around 2.9k hp
  -One of the best 1v1 carries
  -Fun to blow people up after you die and get a kill
  
  Cons
  
  -Squishy mid-game
  -Can be countered by getting focused every fight. But i guess that is with every damage dealer
  -Easy to get cocky and just run in and try to kill everyone with your skills and passive. Sometimes works though (if other team sucks)

• Masteries + Runes

  I go with a little different kinda of setup. 21/0/9
  
  21/0/9
  
  This focuses on kog's magic damage along with his attack damage. You could say this is a hybrid build but im not gonna be focusing much on ap later game.

• Summoner Abilities

  There are many things that can be used with kog such as the Ghost and Ignite combo.
  But i use the Flash and Exhaust combo, which i have come to love. It is a great combo when facing ad carries mid, along with getting improved exhaust, can be devastating. Is also good for AP carries when they are running or they used all their skills and you still live. Pop Exhaust and burn their hp.
  
  Good
  
  Flash - My personal favorite
  
  Exhaust - My second personal favorite
  
  Ghost - Pretty good for chasing and running, but if your under any cc it is almost impossible to get away
  
  Ignite - Good for first blood and healing reduction, but not much after that
  
  
  Okay
  
  Teleport - Great for staying in lane and leveling, but you probably wont need this
  
  Cleanse - Great for getting out of that cc, kinda useless late game since you will most likely die anyway =(
  
  Clairvoyance - Only good when your team and you REALLY need it. I wouldn't recommend it though...
  
  
  Bad
  
  
  Heal - Not a good spell =(
  
  [spell=Fortify] - Leave it to the tanks
  
  [spell=Rally] - Nope
  
  Revive - Not at all, unless you want a dodge
  
  Clarity - Not really
  
  Smite - You aren't jungling with this build, so go somewhere else....

• Skilling Order

  
  
  This skill order focuses on increasing Kog's range which also increases his damage. Then adding some attack speed to further increase your damage.

• Builder

  Alright so early game you focus on getting magic damage along with some ad.
  
  I start out with a Doran's Blade for increased hp and damage
  
  First trip back you should have enough for a couple Daggers and Boots of Speed. You will probably need to get some Health Potions and Sight Wards
  
  After you build your 2 Daggers into Malady and go for some Sorcerer's Shoes
  This will give you lots of damage output with more magic damage and magic pen.
  
  Next you go for Trinity Force starting with Sheen or Phage, depends on if you need ad and hp or you need some awesome burst.
  
  After Trinity Force you can go for either The Bloodthirster for more ad or Frozen Mallet if you are getting focused and need some hp, slow is also awesome. If you live through lots of team fights then get the The Bloodthirster for crazy dps and burst.
  
  If you got The Bloodthirster first, then get Frozen Mallet
  and if you got Frozen Mallet first, then get The Bloodthirster
  
  
  It should look like this - [builder=Kog'Maw/9539d59d3a06f737e4a30b4b419b4600]
  
  
  And for those long games trade Doran's Blade for a Infinity Edge for more damage or a Banshee's Veil for survivability against casters or a Randuin's Omen or Sunfire Cape for physical survivability.

• How to use spells

  Your main combo with your spells is gonna be:
  
  1. Void Ooze
  2. Bio-Arcane Barrage
  3. Caustic Spittle
  4. Exhaust
  5. Living Artillery
  
  then spam that ulti
  
  6. Living Artillery
  7. Living Artillery
  8. Living Artillery
  9. Living Artillery
  10. Living Artillery
  
  and by now they should be dead.

• Farming and Early game

  Farming is fairly easy with kog, when a creep gets low last hit. DON'T PUSH. Pushing makes it alot easier for you to get ganked and it is harder to last hit when pushing. You can last hit with Living Artillery without building stacks and wasting all your mana.
  
  Early game just try to match your opponents harass and if they don't harass at all, HARASS THEM! If they jump on you KILL THEM! Don't get to aggressive and get yourself killed or ganked by overextending.
  
  Just farm off minions and champs and you should be good...

• How to lane

  -When laning you want to focus on last hitting creeps to farm up gold and not getting killed.
  -Getting kills is a next priority, but is below the first 2.
  -Never overextend, leads to getting killed, losing money, and feeding enemy team.
  -Play defensive aggressive, this is waiting until the enemy pushes and starts to try to kill you. In turn you rape their face.
  -BUY WARDS, buying wards and being able to see the river and enemy jungle is key to winning. Placing them correctly is also key, when placing a ward in a bush, put it at the end of the bush to maximize vision. Most important spots are DRAGON, BARON, and you or the enemies blue buff. Dragon is most important mid game, because the enemy will try to sneak in a dragon here and there, but with wards to can gank and steal it.
  -You are a glass cannon, be careful, but remember to be useful and don't be so scared to attack. Attack at right moments to get the kill, unleashing all your skills on an unsuspecting enemy

• Working with your team

  As Kog Maw you have to develop the mentality that you can faceroll people, but you are a glass cannon. So 1v1 go ahead and show then whose boss, but in team fights wait till your team initiates and then come in after the fight has been going on for a few seconds and the enemy team is focused on your tank. Im not saying if your team gets ganked and its 5v5 to run, just fight and try to keep as much distance as possible, you are Kog.
  
  Early game if you are getting alot of kills and your team needs ganks, GIVE IT TO EM'! Run to a lane and make a trail with Void Ooze to slow, pop your Bio-Arcane Barrage and rape their face (dont forget to spam ulti)
  
  Also if you are doing bad mid, ask for a gank or a switch and rape a side-lane. DO NOT SIT THERE AND FEED!

• Understanding terms

  Ganking- to go sneak around jungle, set yourself up for an ambush, and ATTACK
  Overextending- a very important term, to go past the river to where the enemy team can gank you.
  Last Hit- to wait until a creep gets very low and attack to get the money, prevents pushing
  Pushing- attacking creeps all the time, leads to overextending and getting killed
  Ulti- your last skill (short for ultimate)
  Spam- to do over and over....lol