Hello :) my name is Liam, i am a current Platinum jungle main. I have been playing since the start of season 2 but only in the last year taken to playing ranked play. My favourite types of champion are assassin/fighter's ( Nocturne, Shaco, Vi ect.) as well as unconventional junglers ( Twisted Fate, Cho'Gath, Quinn). I managed to get from bronze 4 after my provisional games to gold 3 in just a few weeks and after a bad spell (not feeling up to league/bored of league) i decided to stop playing for a while. However the new updates to summoners rift and all the new champions coming out have drawn me back in and I'm having so much fun. I've decided to make some guides to champions that i have lots of experience with and hope to share my knowledge with the community of mobafire. Sorry for the TLDR but i hope you enjoy my guide, a rating would also be greatly appreciated and I'm open to any suggestions/criticisms that you guys have! see you on the rift!

Check out my youtube channel - here
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Cho'Gath is a really strong late game tank/AP bruiser. He deals a lot of damage with his Rupture and Feral Scream to enemy champions, and he has a really great jungle clear with excellent sustain with his passive. Cho'Gath is one of those champions that if played right, can carry the team. He deals insane amounts of damage even when he has built full tank. The current meta seems to be aimed at those hyper carry champions like Vi Rek'Sai and Pantheon and is almost throwing tanky champions in the garbage, however Cho'Gath is still very strong in ALL elo's. He doesn't rely heavily on your runes which makes him great for new players wanting to learn a new champion, and he has great sustain with his Carnivore passive. Playing him in the jungle is a great idea as there are plenty of camps for you to use Feast on and your Vorpal Spikes give you a very nice clear (especially at max Feast stacks). Cho'Gath has a really great gank potential with his Rupture and contributes really nicely in team fights assuming you go for a tanky build. In the chapters below i will cover cho'gath in more detail.

Pros

+ Great jungle sustain + Strong ganks + Tanky + Plenty of CC

Cons - Countered by fighter champs - Not the best 1v1 early

Cho'Gath's Rupture has a higher scaling damage, however i like to max Feral Scream first as i do not build full AP cho'gath anyway so the damage amounts seem irrelevant and i focus more on the crowd control effects which maxing Rupture does not change (and the cast range of rupture does not change either which kind of makes maxing it first kind of a bad option) whereas Feral Scream's silence increases duration to a really high (2.5 seconds!) at max rank, as well as still dealing a ton of damage.

Max Rupture second as it deals a lot of damage when at max rank.

Feast is maxed third as it deals more true damage to champions at max rank.

Lastly Vorpal Spikes is maxed, i used to max this first however this new build is a lot stronger than my previous attack speed focused build (which you can find the items, runes and masteries for in the other build section.)

As jungle Cho'Gath, i go for a more tanky build as i feel that cho'gath deals plenty of damage on his own without lots of damage items.

It is all dependent on who you are up against but for the most part i build Spirit Visage as it gives you magic resist, health, health regeneration, 20% increased healing from your Carnivore and 10 CDR. - An all round great item on Cho'Gath

Stalker's Blade - Cinderhulk An exceptional new item for Cho'Gath, a 25% hp increase and a free sunfire cape, what more could you ask for? The chilling smite is also a great addition to Cho'Gath's arsenal of Crowd Control .

Rod of Ages is a great choice as it gives you scaling health, mana and ability power which is exactly what Cho'Gath is best off for, as he is a late game beast. And the valor's reward gives you some more sustain as when you rank up (if clearing camps or team fighting) you are given 150 health and 200 mana over 8 seconds.

Frozen Heart is another really great item on Cho'Gath. It has an aura that reduces nearby enemies' attack speed by 15% which will help greatly in team fights and when ganking attack speed heavy champions. It also gives you 400 mana and a massive 100 armor, as well as 20% cdr which is a massive amount when combined with other cdr passive items.

Your boot choice will change depending on what team comp you are against, mercury treads are a great item against ap heavy teams and teams with lots of CC, Ninja Tabi is great against ad heavy teams as well as basic attack reliant teams, and Mobility Boots are great if you just want to rush into lanes and gank like a mofo!

Your item build will change depending on what kind of team you are against, for example if you were up against a full AP team you would build more magic resist than armor. Your Core item build will stay the same as the Spirit Visage effects help you no matter what and the Rod of Ages is your basic initial damage item and helps a lot with late game scaling, and then you will chose situational items depending on what team you are against and what the biggest threats of the enemy team are.

The map above shows you the numbered order in which to do your camps on both blue side and purple side, the route is the exact same no matter what side you start on.

1. Krug camp - I always start the krug camp as when you Smite it you get the heavy hands buff which means that every 5 basic attacks you will stun your target. There is no need to start on the blue buff side as Cho'Gath has a lot of health and mana sustain with his Carnivore.

2. Red buff - Red buff gives you passive healing when in combat with monsters which helps a lot with your sustain when clearing camps.

3. Blue buff - blue buff gives you the extra mana sustain that helps a lot with jungle clears.

4. Murk Wolves - If you smite the blue buff then its a good idea to do wolves as you can heal up and get some mana back before you head to the next camp.

5. Gromp - Smite the gromp to get the poison buff that it gives, it will help a lot with jungle clears.

6. Raptors - Finish off your clear by clearing the raptor camp, after you have cleared the raptors head to base for your first purchases.

The new jungle has many benefits from the buff's that the new jungle camps give, which you can use to your advantage. For example if i wanted to scout a lane and i didn't know if it was warded, i would smite the raptor camp to give me the true vision buff to clear any wards on/near that lane. Or say there was a team fight about to occur, i would smite the Gromp camp to get the poison buff that it gives which would aid me when taking damage from basic attacks in teamfights. Be sure to plan your jungle route in consideration with what you want to do next.

Ganking a lane as Cho'Gath is dependent on two things.
1 - Only gank if the opponent you are going to gank isn't pushed up against their tower.
If they are hugging their tower they can pretty much see you coming and avoid the gank completely - OR - if they are close to their tower and retreat behind it and you or your team mate want to follow up and get the kill it can result in one or both of your dying in the process which isn't a good idea. With the new jungle, comes the raptor camp which, when smited, gives you a true sight buff which you can use to check if there are any wards in the lane you want to gank.

2 - Your laner is willing to engage in a 1v1 fight before you make an entrance. If the opponent laner decides to fight then you can run in and knock them up with your Rupture and secure a kill. However if they suspect that they are getting ganked and decide to back off it isn't a good idea to try to gank as Cho'Gath's main CC is his Rupture which (at early levels) you need to be quite close to the opponent for it to be effective. If this is the case then you are better off going back to the jungle to farm some camps, gank another lane, or try again if the opposing laner returns to the lane.


Ganking Tips


- When ganking, try to save your Rupture for when the enemy has used their escape. (e.g Flash or Dark Flight) and then use Feral Scream). Once knocked up try to silence them and stop them from using other abilities that could be used to escape or deal damage. You can also use Feral Scream to prevent them from using their escape abilities if you manage to get in early and catch them by surprise.

Stalker's Blade gives off a great slow which really helps with Cho'Gath's ganks

- Cho'Gath can tank quite easily so if it comes to tower diving then be sure that you are the one that is tanking the turret for your laner.

- Don't forget about Feast, if the opponent has low enough health and you are sure that you can secure the kill then use it when you can. There is no point in letting the opponent escape when you could have got the kill yourself.

A classic scenario for ganking would be
You are ganking top lane, the friendly champion is a Darius, they have a Riven.
ensuring that the lane isn't warded you would head for either the Tri bush or the river bush depending on where the opponent was positioned. You tell the Darius to engage and he does so, pulling the Riven into him and dealing some damage. The Riven uses her q, this is the perfect time for you to go in. You run into the lane and she doesn't run away straight away. You would get close enough the use your Feral Scream to stop her stun and dash, Once she is silenced you position your Rupture so that it knocks her up and deals damage. The darius is still dealing damage to her as well as you with your basic attacks, and he pulls her in again. Kill secured.

Every scenario is different but if you take these tips into consideration then you should come out on top. Remember - Only use your Rupture after the opponent has used their escape and silence them with Feral Scream when possible to stop them from using abilities and spells.

Thanks for reading my guide, and i hope it has helped! If you are interested in any other of my guides i have left links to them below. Thanks again and take care!

Jungle Evelynn

Jungle Rengar

Jungle Ekko

Jungle Twisted Fate

Jungle Master Yi