How to play Cho'gath (Top and Mid)

[InnovationTT]

Updated for 7.10

Hi while I'm still a noob I think I can offer some advice, especially to the other noobs out here.
my summoner name is: L1b3ral Cuck X
and I play on NA. Check my op.gg to see the masteries

Pros of this build and Cho'gath in general
- Easy to pick up and start doing well right away, without many games of practice
- Effectively delete squishies and even some tanks (during early-mid game)
- Very strong teamfight presence if you can land your abilities
- True damage ult that scales with itself (scales with bonus hp and grants bonus hp when you kill someone with it)
- Very hard to escape Cho's full combo as soon as the Q hits
- Built in sustain helps manage somewhat weak early game

Cons of this build and Cho'gath in general
- No mobility
- Struggles against bruiser builds and tanks in general
- High cost, high CD abilities mean early game is hard to play
- Completely useless if you can't hit your Q enough times, if you miss your combo you will die in many situations


Runes:
9x Mark of Magic Pen
4x Seal of Armor
5x Seal of Scaling Armor
9x Glyph of Magic Pen

2x Quint of AP
1x Quint of Magic Pen

Build:
Early Game:
At the start get 1 doran's ring and 2 health pots, there is no exception to this if you are using this build. At first back get 2 more doran's rings (total of 3) and boots or amplifying tome (whichever one you have enough for). Also make sure to get more health pots if you are taking a lot of poke and your passive is not enough.

The three doran's rings give you enough mana sustain, and without them you will run out of mana very quickly. They are essential in this build.

Mid-Late Game:
Get the Hextech Revolver/Boots of magic pen first, then complete whichever one you don't have (i.e. if you got boots first get revolver, and vice versa). Then get Luden's Echo. After that, upgrade your revolver into Hextech Protobelt. Then get Rylai's Scepter, and your final item depends:
Is the enemy team all carries and no/only 1 tank? (Rabadon's Deathcap if you think the extra damage can benefit)
Are you carrying your team and the rest of your team is getting shit on? (Guardian Angel)
Do 2 or more enemies have magic resist? (Void Staff)
NEW: Are you getting kited at late game and/or you need to be more tanky? (Warmog's Armor)

Leveling order
Take Q first, then take E, then another point in Q, then W. After that, max Q first, then W, and always take Ult when possible

Tips:
- If you hide in the bushes and cast Q, the enemies will not see the cast animation (they won't know it until it's too late), and that's extremely useful because they can easily dodge your Q if they see you.
- Try to save your W until after your Q hits, because it has a long cooldown and high cost and you want to make the most of it
- However, if you are facing a champion with a low cost/low cd ability that can avoid your Q (Riven, Fiora), you can try using W first and then Q
- Sometimes if your enemy laner can trade back, play safe and don't go for the autoattack to proc the Thunderlords after landing a Q and W combo
- Don't forget to stack your Ult on minions when you are going back to base
- Always start walking towards the enemy (if you want to land your W) after casting Q so that if it hits you are closer to them.

Matchups:
Fiora:
Difficulty: 7/10
A difficult matchup because she can avoid your Q with her Q, and maybe even stun you with her W. Play safe and farm until you get 3 doran's rings. Do not go in for an AA after landing a Q and W combo unless you are going to all in her or else you will get chunked and possibly die. However, she is not very tanky from early to mid game, so you can kill her easily if you land your combo.

Riven
Difficulty: 6/10
Same advice as the Fiora matchup. Don't forget to hide in the bush to Q because they can't see the Q animation if they don't have vision of you. Riven doesn't have her dash at lvl 1, so you can bait her by going in to cs, then Q right in front of you if she is coming - if you time this right she will attack you, then get hit by your Q, and take lots of damage from minions (minions are very strong in lvl 1 trades).

Teemo
Difficulty: 4/10
He can poke you but he has no dash to escape your Q, and is very squishy unless he builds tank items (even that will take a long time before he is safe from your combo). After your 3 doran's rings you can farm from a safe distance with your Q.

Darius
Difficulty: 8/10
NEVER GO IN TO AA HIM OR EVEN GET CLOSE TO HIM after lvl 3, he has very strong trades and sustain from his Q. Even as early as midgame he starts getting tanky and hard to kill. Bruisers are strong against this build; ask for jungler ganks to get an early lead or else you will probably regret it. Luckily he has no mobility at all so if you can kill him (jungler gank or he is low HP) it is easy to kill him. If you are going to all in him, make sure to move right next to him so that if you don't kill him in time he won't get a heal from his Q.

Nasus
Difficulty: Skill Matchup
It all comes down to if you can hit Qs early on and gain an early lead. Your abilities have long CD so if you miss a couple, you failed to deny him Q stacks. Mid-late game he because tanky and basically impossible for you to solo kill. If he gets ahead you are screwed, but if you get an early lead he will be scared to farm and you can maintain your lead for a long time. Note that if the lane is going even, no one killing each other and the cs is about the same, he will have the edge starting at about midgame, because you can't one shot him and while your abilities are on CD he will just heal back up while farming freely.

Kayle
Difficulty: 3/10
Similar to Teemo, but her ult is less useful due to your W silence. However, be very careful and take note of how long your silence is, because if she ults before you ult she can turn the fight around easily. She doesn't have a dash and her passively is not very effective against you since you don't build much armor/magic resist .

Orianna
Difficulty: 4/10
No mobility + squishy = good matchup for this build. The only thing that doesn't make this very easy is her kiting with her passive and heavy damage + cc. However, you can kill her at all stages of the game, just land your Q! If you think you can juke her ball then go in for an AA after your Q + W combo.

Yasuo
Difficulty: 6/10
This really depends on how good the Yasuo is. If he's good, then he can easily avoid your Q and even your W sometimes. However, he will build damage so you can still kill him once you get enough damage (3 doran's rings + sorcery boots or hextech gunblade). If you miss your combo anytime after midgame you will probably die to him, so be careful.

Zed
Difficulty: 4/10
Squishy and can't get away unless he already has a shadow up, just avoid his shuriken poke and you'll do fine. If he ults you, Q behind yourself, because that's where he lands after he becomes targetable, and you can just easily kill him.

Malzahar
Difficulty: 6/10
His passive is really annoying, you can try to AA a minion in front of him and hope your E hits him, but he will probably move away. However, once his shield is down you can kill him very easily as he has no mobility. Be careful of chasing him into his tower if he has his ult, and move away from any friendly minions effected by space aids. Try to kill his voidlings quickly unless you want him to push his wave.

Ahri
Difficulty: 5/10
She has a bit of sustain, but is still squishy and her only mobility comes from her ult. Stay behind your minions to avoid getting Charmed, and move constantly to avoid her Q. Once again, your full combo can delete her, just like any squishy. However, if you get Charmed you will take heavy damage if not death.

I got this build from a player named Balori, check out his youtube channel (I can't post links) but just search "balori" on youtube and you should find him

[sepon]

1 doran ring and 2 health pots, if you are very confident you can get just the doran ring

You're either bronze/silver or Challenger. Not getting pots is so incredibly stupid.

Say you don't get get pots, you now have extra 100g for an item later. If you make any sort of mistake and lose health, you play safer and miss cs and exp. You buy the pots and you get staying power in lane, meaning more cs and exp which will easily out weigh 100g from not buying early pots.

Yes its Cho, but you can easily get zoned and taking an enemy AA or ability will do way more than the health gained from killing a few minions. Early game Cho will not be staying at 100%hp like later where he can oneshot a wave and gain back tons of hp.

[Boost to Boost]

As cho with atackspeed runes u can play without health potions since ur E lifesteal u

[hyphycake]

I play cho'gath a lot so this is very helpful, thanks!

[InnovationTT]

I've actually never done it in practice with this build - you are probably right. I was a lot worse when I wrote this guide. I reported my OP so hopefully I can edit it soon.

[B]

You're either bronze/silver or Challenger. Not getting pots is so incredibly stupid.

/B]

Should have clarified that my lvl 29 (now 30) acc is my only account. Currently unranked (not enough champions to play ranked) but this build was created by a diamond player named BaLori, I watched most of his videos and I'm stating what I learned here.

[sepon]

I see the change in the original post, looks good

[Qteqckin4az]

i think ive saw this guide on mobafire did you put it there

[InnovationTT]

i think ive saw this guide on mobafire did you put it there

No, it's probably Balori's guide you saw, but he doesn't explain all aspects of his build in detail on mobafire and all of his matchups section is just videos of full gameplays, so I wanted to explain his build more since I watched most of his videos.

[Diaphos]

Very nice guide!

[Twitchy the inside man]

very helpful. thanks