Cho'Gath Build Guide

Cho'Gath Build

Table of Contents

Abilities

1

Introduction

2

Quick Reference

3

Runes+Masteries

4

Summoner Abilities

5

Skilling Order

6

Items

7

Build

8

What's that bug doing in the jungle?

9

Pros / Cons

10

Summary

11

• Abilities

  Carnivore

  Restores a nice amount of HP and a small amount of mana everytime you kill something. Especially will strengthen your sustainability in early game and you won't need to get back where other solo tops would have to.

  Rupture

  Awesome skill to harass your enemy, learn to aim and time it so it will be really annoying for them. In late game it's nice to farm creeps combined with either Feral Scream or auto-hits.

  Feral Scream

  Cho's weakest skill, in my opinion, although you can perfectly silence, e.g. that Soraka who's just about to heal that guy your mates trying to kill, or that freaking fed Kata who wanna destroy your whole team by her ult, or that damn op leblanc who's raping your supp/ap carry every single time they get near her, and so on - I guess you got it.

  Vorpal Spikes

  Bestestestestest skill that Cho has. Awesome to farm creeps and harass enemies in early game, tons of damage in late game!

  Feast

  This spell is just lol. I mean 300/475/650(+0.7xap) true damage - wow. Always remeber to stack it in early game, so you get 6 stacks as early as possible. Afterwards use it to surprise your enemies by tons of damage just by one freaking skill. Especially in early game many summoners tend to underestimate Cho's damage - as soon as you devoured them the first time, they won't!

• Introduction

  Hi, I'm KraZunC from EU-West and this is my first guide at all, so don't be that critically, as no one did prefect job on his first guide, I guess. Besides I will edit this guide from time to time, adding further sections, e.g. jungling and ganks. So for now it shall just give you food for thought on building Cho in a different, but in my opinion really strong, way.
  
  This guide is about solo top Cho'Gath of course, as I think top lane is the place where Cho has to be!
  Mid lane might be possible as well, but I think that most AP carrys are stronger there.
  In forseeable future it's about jungle Cho as well.
  
  For all those who don't feel like reading the whole guide or not having enough time, I added a Quick Reference section right after this. Nevertheless I'd like you to read the whole guide afterwards and gimme some feedback :)
  
  Gonna have to edit Masteries Section during the next days it seems q.q
  New Mastery Trees incoming!
  

• Quick Reference

  Runes
  
  
  Masteries
  0-21-9
  
  Summoner Spells
  
  
  Spell Priority
  
  
  Starting Items
  / or / or
  
  Core Items
  
  (depending on your farming/outcome)
  
  Late Game Items
  [item_icon=Force of Nature] (AS/AD Cho with nice sustainability)
  
  [item_icon=Force of Nature] // (Full-Tank Cho)
  
  

• Runes+Masteries

  RUNES
  One half of my runes are pretty standard tanky stuff and you should definitely take those.
  The other half might sound a bit strange to you, still they're working quite well, but it's up to you changing those.
  
  MARKS (they are up to you), I personally go for:
  
  Greater Mark of Desolation
  might sound strange to you, but your main damage according to this building will come from auto-hits...
  or
  Greater Mark of Alacrity Greater Mark of Insight
  ...and Vorpal Spikes, AS will help you clear waves faster, MPen will boost the damage of Vorpal Spikes
  Good alternatives:
  -Flat Armor
  -Flat AD
  
  SEALS
  
  Greater Seal of Resilience
  nice amount of Armor, especially usefull in early game
  
  Good alternatives:
  -Dodge
  -Mana Regen/lvl
  
  GLYPHS
  
  Greater Glyph of Shielding
  nice amount of MR/lvl
  
  Possible alternatives:
  -Mana Regen/lvl
  
  QUINTS
  
  Greater Quintessence of Fortitude
  mass of HP early on, strengthen your sustainability in laning phase
  
  or
  Greater Quintessence of Strength
  about 10 extra AD from beginning? why not, your main damage will refer to autohits
  
  Possible alternative:
  -Movement Speed (never tried it though)
  
  MASTERIES
  Masteries are pretty standard tank masteries
  Grabbing improved teleport is no must-have but as I take TP almost every game it's better than reducing your time speant dead by 3.33% (this bug doesn't die that often!)
  If you wanna take Exhaust instead of TP, take improved Exhaust in off tree and neglect that gold/sec stuff in utility.
  
  0-21-9
  or
  1-21-8 if you prefer Exhaust to Teleport
  

• Summoner Abilities

  
  pretty standard solo top spells, whereas you could also go for either if there's no one in your team that wanna take it or if you really like playing with that spell.
  Another viable option would taking instead of Teleport/Exhaust, depending on how much you like it and/or if no one else in your team wanna take it.
  Other options are up to you, I personally just go for these combinations, preferring Flash/TP.

• Skilling Order

  
  In my opinion maxing Vorpal Spikes is the best way to dominate solo top. Especially if you want to play AD/AS Cho it's important to have it maxed first, as you will mainly deal damage with auto-hits and therefore you gonna push your damage by maxing Spikes first of all. Afterwards it's up to you; you can either max Rupture or Feral Scream second, contingent upon your enemy in top lane: if there's someone that mainly deals damage by skills, you might max Scream second, otherwise I'd always max Rupture first.

• Items

  STARTING ITEMS
  For items I actually prefer starting with as it gives you a nice amount of hpreg and it's part of Warmog's, so it'll help you rushing it earlier.
  Further options are + 3 Potions(whereas it is free to you deciding which you wanna take, recommending at least 1 Health Potion)
  or
  if you wanna have that 15 AP and mreg.
  
  CORE ITEMS
  If you're doing good farming minions and even got some kills by ganks or enemies that underestimate Cho's dmg, get first, so you will be able to really dominate your lane by that big amount of HP and HpRegen. If you haven't been able to farm nicely or even got killed, I'd suggest getting and/or . These aren't as strong as an early Warmog's but they will allow you to farm nicely if you're not acting that dumb, besides it gets you some gold/10sec.
  According to your enemy - and your starting item - you can either get boots before you finish Warmog's or afterwards. If you have a naughty cc'ing/slowing enemy I'd recommend getting boots before you start building anything else, otherwise you can get them later if you feel comfortable without 'em. If you got boots as starting items definitely rush Warmog's and don't think about anything else - at least if you aren't doing that bad.
  After you finished Warmog's get although it might sound a bit strange to you. That MR and attack speed will really make terrorize your enemy and you will be able to push lanes reeeally fast.
  
  BOOTS
  Choosing your boots is depending on enemy team's line up and success:
  take if they've got a well farming ad carry and top or jungle is also doing AD mainly;
  go for if they've got much cc in their team or a strong AP carry that is getting fed.
  I don't think other boots are viable options, maybe , but it's up to you trying some new and different stuff.
  
  LATE GAME
  You should be in late game now, or at least late mid game, and that's the time where you have to decide what you wanna go for: building some really strong Tank with up to 250arm/mresi (be carefull not to get too much HP as there's always the chance of a Madred's in their team!) or go for some nasty AD/AS Cho that still has got about 150arm/mresi.
  
  TANK CHO
  I personally don't go for tanky Cho many times, to be honest, as I think enemies won't attack you anymore if they see that you are at 250arm/mresi plus 4-4.5k HP. I would just go for it if your team is really squishy and there's no one else that could initiate.
  !!! Initiation is the most important function that you have to fulfill if you're playing Cho, it's all about the right time and the right place to initiate !!!
  
  If you decide to go this way, [item_icon=Force of Nature] is a must-have in my opinion, no matter what kind of dmg opponents are doing. After finishing FoN, items are depending on which sort of damage their team is dealing:
  If they're mainly doing AD, get , , or . But also be aware of a [item_icon=Madred's Bloodrazor] in their team, so don't get too much HP if there is anyone that Madred's would fit to. For sure you can sell your if you feel like still needing more armor.
  If they're mainly doing AP, get and - at least if no one else in your got it.
  If you're really doing well and not dying every single teamfight, you should think about buying as it will really let you become invincible - at least almost.
  
  AD/AS CHO
  Continuing with my favourite now - nasty AD/AS Cho. Building him this way makes him an really annoying enemy, you can fulfill that tanking or let's say soaking role even better, as you're dealing an nice amount of dmg but still got some HP not to die instantly. Furthermore you can push lanes fckn fast by that extra attack speed. Finally you gonna be some tanky and high dmg dealing pain in their ass!
  For playing this Cho, I'd recommend getting at least 1 defensive(personally I prefer getting 2) item from that "Tank Cho" part after you finished + and then go on taking these nasty AD/AS items.
  First of all NEVER FORGET GRABBING THAT - it will push your AD above 200. Afterwards I mostly get , other viable options are
  [item_icon=Stark's Fervor] (especially if you've got a team that mainly deals AD),
  (if you wanna do more dmg on your own and weaken their armor),
  (they just won't get away from you, seriously!) or
  (some extras in every single way).

• Build

  How to build him:
  
  STANDARD
  
  Starting Items
  
  
  Early Game
  
  
  Core Items
  
  
  Boots
  
  
  WARDS!
  
  
  PLAYING TANKY
  
  Must-have
  [item_icon=Force of Nature]
  
  Vs AD-heavy team
  
  
  Vs AP-heavy team
  
  
  Vs balanced team
  
  
  If you are really doing well
  
  
  Tanky End Build (Example)
  [item_icon=Force of Nature]
  
  PLAYING AD/AS
  
  Tanky Stuff
  [item_icon=Force of Nature]
  
  Late Game
  
  
  If you don't stop munching 'em
  [item_icon=Stark's Fervor]
  
  AD/AS End Build (Example)
  [item_icon=Force of Nature]
  

• What's that bug doing in the jungle?

  First of all, unlike most people opinion and despite his bigness, Cho'Gath is a pretty nice jungler, his ganks are quite disgusting and from lvl 6 on Feast's damage will often surprise enemies.
  If you want to go for jungle Cho, you definitely have to grab Greater Mark of Desolation and Greater Seal of Resilience.
  You should always take and 5x.
  I prefer starting the jungle path with blue, then head over to wolves or gank mid or top, wraiths, red, double golem, then either gank or counter-jungle or go back to base.
  As you are pretty tanky in beginning with this build, you could also steal their wraiths and, if your team is around, even their red - definitely give it to your AD carry, he will be a freaking pain in botlane's ass then!!! If you decided to invade their jungle, you will need some more help at blue.
  As you got to base you should always take before you finish off your . After finishing Wriggle's you can go on with either Tanky or AD/AS items.
  

• Pros / Cons

  Pro:
  -terrorizing big bug!
  -can soak lots of damage while dealing tons
  -nice initiator
  -awesome in keeping your mates alive/untargetable
  -terrorizing big bug!
  
  Cons:
  -Madred's Bloodrazor
  -if you aren't able to time and aim your skills, you're just useless
  -Madred's Bloodrazor
  -can be countered by some solo top chars, e.g. Olaf q.q
  -I'm not sure, if I mentioned Madred's Bloodrazor
  

• Summary

  Hopefully you liked this guide, otherwise gimme some hints on how to improve it :)
  Anyhow gimme some feedback on this guide, please.
  Besides I'm sorry that my English isn't perfect but unfortunatelly it isn't my mother tongue.
  
  Gonna edit the guide during the next days/weeks, adding teamfight, initiation, general gameplay/farming section and finishing Summary section.
  Anyone that might help me by theorycrafting things for Cho is welcome, just pm me.