7. Laning with Cho’Gath:
Okay this is the most important phase as a Cho’Gath player. You MUST know what your goals are. As Cho’Gath, you REALLY NEED that solo top lane, because you outfarm 98% of the champions you can encounter and that is what you are capable off. Cho’Gath has the best survivalability in the game and you possess the best laning skills as possible as a farmer AND also a killer! You main part is to outfarm EVERYONE in the game, you HAVE TO do this if you want to be succesfull in the match. My best record was 400 minion in a 40 min long game and I also snatched in 10 kills with only 1 death. I was unkillable with this stats in the mid/late game.
Start off with a Doran’s Ring. This will give you more HP, mana regen, what Cho lacks a bit in early game and some AP, that boost your skills damage. It is really import to complettly ignore the enemy champion on your lane and focus only on the minions! Don’t care with the enemy, they CAN’T hurt you. If they do, your minions avenge it and on long terms he will lose cs, mana, and so on. They want to stop you farming. But they don’t have the power to do it, because your passive regenerates all the hp and mana you will need, just last hit well. After lvl 5 start using rupture and scream in combination on the caster minions, this helps you much in the farming. This will be also your core combination to harass the enemy champion.
Although, you will have most of the times a huge problem on the top, and that is why you would be very bad on the middle lane. Before lvl 6, it is REALLY likely that the enemy jungler will come for you to stop your farming and IN MOST OF THE TIMES TO KILL YOU. This is the phase, where it is the most possible you will die, IF you aren’t aware enough or your team doesn’t help you with constant cv-ing your river bush. But 7 times out of 10 you will die anyway. It’s truly not that hard to overextend yourself as an unkillable farming monster, and than suddenly comes a Udyr or a Xin Zhao pops up and you just die... That’s frustrating a bit. Even with constant cv-ing this event can happen and it’s very likely to happen. So be EXTREMELY carefull! On mid lane your chances would be 2 times higher to get ganked, that’s why you should NEVER play on mid lane. After shopping you SHOULDN’T die, because you will have WARDS, whose are your best friends vs Junglers.
On lvl 6, start feasting on the minions, that’s your primaly purpose with feast, if you see that your enemy goes under 600-500 HP, you can risk a full combo on him, but try this only if you are sure that this will kill him, or else it will be an ultimate what you have wasted. If the enemy used 1 or more better 2 summoner skills, the next time you will most likely kill him, in this case it’s worthed your ultimate, because it has a fairly low cooldown on it.
When you acquired 1825 gold you should port back and buy a Catalyst, Boots of Speed and 2 Wards, than teleport back at top instantly. Try to lose the least XP and gold as possible when you are doing this. Place down a ward at the river bend, NOT in the river bush, place it instead near the wall to the right (the wall of Baron Nashor). You place it there, because with this you will see when the enemy jungler comes to gank you from their jungle and you also see your Y shaped bush where the enemy can also invade you in some extreme situations. So place it between the 2 bushes and refresh it, when it goes off! With catalyst, you will never run out of mana so you can spam your combination of rupture and scream more confidently on the caster minions. When you are on 6 stacks of feast, it’s hightime to harass your opponent and in the most cases KILL HIM. When you killed him or just forced him to port home push the turret and win the lane. One more thing about soloing with top. You should NEVER leave your lane as long as you aren’t destroyed the enemy’s turret. Don’t GANK, this is the junglers job. You also don’t need ganks, only in some real specific cases (about these we will talk later). You should do everything on this lane alone. The farming, the killing, the tower pushing. There’s only 1 exception: If your team does the dragon and need you to secure it. Than port at a ward there and than hurry back to top.
Summarizing all together:
- Get the highest farm on the minions as possible.
- Survive with maximum 1 death and kill the enemy top laner or at least force him to leave his lane and destroy the tower.
- Ignore the enemy as long as you aren’t ready to fight him/her face to face. Don’t waste mana on him/her if it’s not needed.
- Help the team in dragon fight(s) if you are needed.
10. Enemies you can encounter on top:
First of all, whose are your worse enemies: No cost champions and champions with heal. No cost champions can get you on low HP quick and mostly they will harass you (Remember? Their goal is to keep you off from farming!) These champions are really annoying but with a few tricks you can take them down. In 90% of the cases they are a threat until lvl 6 and until you have your Catalyst. Than they will be controllable. Champions with heal are even bigger threat. These champions wont die from minions or from constant harassment, and heal back themselves real fast, what can ruin your farming real bad and fast. Versus these champions will you need the JUNGLER’S HELP! This is really important or else you will be outplayed from the top, and that means that you have failed to achieve your goals! If this happens, your game will be in great danger, because if the tank is not strong, you cannot withstand the enemy’s damage in team fights. If the tank is weak, the whole team is vulnerable! Now lets see who can you encounter on the top lane:
- Akali: Annoying as hell, energy champion with extremelly high damage output. In the most cases when they first go home they will come back with a Hextech Revolver, what makes them almost unkillable. However, as a Cho’Gath you should kill her even with these conditions, 1 rupture – scream combination and after it SHORTLY another one of this combo with feast should finish her off. If you need, buy an early oracle or some vision wards vs her, and you can also build up Banshees instead of RoA if you can’t win. Another possibility is to get help from the jungler who has stun or a great slow effect, but if you can, don’t abuse the jungler with this, you should win by yourself.
- Alistar: The cow is nerfed in the previous patches, and it’s damage is not the old anymore, anyway, he still possess some threat. Watch out with his Pulverize and Headbutt, if you are unaware, you can find yourself pretty fast under the enemy tower, and that’s not the best thing for your HP bar. His heal is nearly no cost, but his other abilities eat up his mana quite fast, so don’t care with him and just farm, farm and farm. Watch out also with his ultimate, you can easily fail with Feast on him if he plays smart. Wait until he pops his ult, than finish him off when it goes off.
- Anivia: Most of the time, she is sitting on mid, but there are circumstances, when she comes top. CARE, she is a VERY dangerous champion with very high burst damage. Avoid her Flash Frost balls as much as you can and if she beginn to channel her ultimate under you, run out of it IMMEDIATELY, because it hurts quite much. Anivia’s mana pool is not that great however, so if she spamms you, you have to farm and avoid the Flash Frosts, get an early negatron cloak too if it’s needed, and REALLY IMPORTANT: Don’t let her get the blue buff!! Ward the enemy jungle at the golem, because if she gets the buff she just spamm you out of the lane. If she somehow gets it, call immediately for help from the jungler and take she down as fast as you can, or you will find yourself in trouble! A very annoying enemy to have.
- Annie: She is also a champion who plays on mid, but well, she can play at top too. With Cho’Gath however she isn’t a big problem, cause you can soak up every combe she gets on you, and can be easily outplayed after her full combo on lvl 6-7-8. An easy opponent. If needed buy negatron cloak.
- Blitzcrank: Also an easy enemy, but watch out for his grab near his tower, it can be painfull. His magic damage can’t match your HP and your damage. Care with Feast, wait ’till his shield is off.
- Brand: Again, a mid champion. Proceed as you did vs Annie. He can’t cause any problems, his damage is not enough. 1 note: When he cast his ult, go as far away as you can from any friendly targets!
- Caitlyn: Easy opponent, just don’t allow her to harass you from the bushes with headshot. Can be painfull if you don’t care with this little thing. Purchase chain vest if needed.
- Cassiopeia: This wh.re can be dangerous, but she runs out of mana after some time. Your goal is to survive ’till that time. After lvl 6 a fast 2 combo play kill she very fast.
- Corki: Now this champion is a bit strong. This guy deals true damage, what is the greatest enemy of any tanks, AND saddly, most of the time, Corki players run Armor Penetration Marks and Quents and those can hurt quite much as a tank. Try to avoid him as much as you can until you can safely kill him. Because he has Valkyrie, the killing on him will not be that easy, just try again and again, until he makes a fatal mistake, or call for help from then jungler.
- Dr. Mundo: Nerfed as hell, Mundo isn’t the old anymore. He’s annoying tho, he is one of the „I won’t die from you as long as I want it” champs and plus a no cost hero. Annoying as ****, but can be outplayed easily after he popped his ult, but you need to land your combos precise after each other. Other possibility is the Ignite, but I dont prefer it on Cho.
- Ezreal: Easy opponent, if he spamms you, his mana pool will be out after some time and if you are carefull he will rarely hit you with his Q. He is rather squishy, so 2 good timed combo will finish him off quite fast.
- Fiddlesticks: Eww, THIS is a bit annoying. Fiddle is buffed in the latest patches, he is now a really strong laner with his Birds and that ultimate, but if you last hits correctly it’s even the odds and he won’t be able to hurt you with the Dark Wind. Easy target after lvl 6.
- Galio: Also an easy target, last hitting gets you all the HP back what you need, although Galio players often have unimaginable high magic resist values, what can stop you from killing them, it’s no problem however, just land more skillshots on him as usual and you will slowly kill him or force him to leave the lane.
- Gangplank: One of my favorite enemy is the pirate. He is very good on solo lane, however he don’t have a chance vs Cho. You must watch out until you reach lvl 6, because his crits can finish you off quite fast and surprisingly, but if you get on lvl 6 and have a few stacks on feast he will not possess any danger anymore. And a pirate who isn’t fed worths nothing.
- Garen: Oh god I hate this moron. No cost hero with self heal and brutal damage, he is really kickin’ ***. Well... You must hold on ’till lvl 6, and watch out not to go on too low on HP, because his ultimate can finish you off quite fast. If you manage not to die and grab Catalyst, you are secured your win though, because a few high dmg skill shot on lvl 7-8-9 can kill him really fast, just don’t let him getting lazy on lane and chilling in the bush, otherwise he will gets his HP back quite fast.
- Gragas: This guy is funny. He will try to harass you anyway he can, however he won’t have the damage to take you down even with fast Rabadons, because when he will get Rabadon you will have Banshee’s or at least some magic resist. Easy opponent to deal with.
- Heimerdinger: Old Heimer isn’t the same as he was before, therefore he’s quite weak. Always focus down his towers, they give you extra gold and stop him from farming. He has a very low mana pool so he will run off again and again and the damage he causes is ignorable.
- Irelia: She is a hard opponent to deal with because she deals true damage with Hiten Style, but that’s not enough to take you down. In this battle your best friends will be the minions who will damage her and her low mana pool, that stops her after some time to harass you. If you play properly she doesn’t have a chance.
- Jarvan IV: Very easy opponent to deal with. He tries to be aggressive but his efforts are worthless, because he has low mana pool and weak damage to do any bigger damage to Cho. Easily killable after lvl 6.
- Jax: Now HE is one of Cho’s arch enemies. This moron like Akali likes to start with Hextech Revolver, so you won’t be able to do any harm to him at a point, AND he will attack you constantly, because all of your minions will attack him, giving him TONS of chance to get a dodge. This means for you 1 or even 2 stuns after each other combined with some serious damage on you, what you simply can’t heal back. You will REALLY need help vs him, he’s simply to much to handle as a Cho. Oh and: DO NOT FEED HIM, OR HE ALONE WINS THE GAME!!
- Kassadin: Champion with very low mana pool, you must tank every damage he does to you and there won’t be any problems, he doesn’t have the power to kill you.
- Katarina: Blah, no cost „ranged” hero. She is only annoying but if you play well she can’t kill you. After lvl 7-8 she is an easy 2 combo target.
- Kayle: The new Kayle is still not able do take down Cho, just follow the same process as always and ignore her, than overkill her when you gets strong enough.
- Kennen: Another „no cost” hero, but if he plays well, his energy pool will never goes off. He is a very strong enemy, got tons of damage in his pockets, but rather squishy, so you have to hold out untill you reach lvl 7-8, and then finish him off with 2 well placed combo. Care with his all-in skill combination, it deals TONS of damage, maybe enough to take you down, so be carefull!
- Lee Sin: Another energy champ, but he is only annoying and not strong. Jumps back and forth until you are able to combo him down. Easy target, just hard to hit, but if you succeed once...
- Leona: Very easy no damage character, ignore she complettly and kill her at with the well known process.
- Lux: Also easy, if she hits you with some skillshots however you can get low very easy, so care, or she will execute you with a full combo. Has a low mana pool, so it should be easy to you.
- Malphite: Quite an easy target, he tries to be strong, but he has a low mana pool, so after lvl 7-8 he goes down pretty fast.
- Malzahar: The Prophet can be a dangerous enemy if he can land some skills on you early, than full-combo you, so care with him. He is rather squishy though. If needed, buy a Quicksilver Sash vs him, that works most of the time, but anyway, you have VERY MUCH HP, so even a full combo shouldn’t take you down.
- Maokai: The tree is quite annoying with his skills, but he isn’t able to kill you, he doesn’t have the damage to take you down and although he is mostly on tank build, he goes down pretty fast.
- Miss Fortune: Armor Penetration hero, that means she will damage you quite hard, BUT she is easily outplayable after lvl 6 if you manage to catch her with a full combo, because she is VERY squishy.
- Mordekaiser: This guy is such a baller... Hate him really much. Damages you insane, no cost hero, can stop your farming and can eventually kill you. If he is on tank. In this case you will need help to kill him. If he is AP, haha that’s easy. Catch him when he doesn’t have his shield bar up and he will go down pretty easily. Tank Morde ALWAYS has his shield fully up, and you can’t hurt him so... It’s a very hard enemy.
- Morgana: She isn’t strong, but farm well and has her shield, what’s a bit tricky as a Cho to get off. She has a low mana pool although, so force her to spamm her skills, and so it’s an easy lane.
- Nasus: The doggy is a very easy enemy, he can’t hurt you, although if he farms too much, he will be in late game very strong. Try to prevent his farming with constantly hitting him with rupture – scream and vorpal sikes combination, force him to use his escape spells and ultimate, than finish him off.
- Nidalee: Another nemesis of Cho’Gath. She is quite powerfull in Cougar form, her skills are no cost abilities, and if you damage her, she just heals herself up. This is very annoying and stops you easily from farming. Your only chance is to constantly hit her with your combo until she makes a mistake and you can kill her. Ask help if you cannot deal with the cat lady, she is one of the most powerfull enemies of Cho’Gath.
- Nocturne: Lane Nocturne isn’t that big threat, but can be tricky to kill with his shield. Be carefull not to waste an ultimate on that thing, or you will wasted COMPLETTLY an important skill of yours for nothing. However, his damage is not enough to deal with you, use the normal process on him.
- Nunu: Rare sight to see at top, but sometimes the Yeti Rider shows up as a laning enemy. Well... He is a b.tch... If he isn’t noob, he will only cast spells when he have his passive, so he doesn’t waste mana. He is a durable champion cause of this, he won’t go down that easy, but try again and again and you will win at the end. AND watch out for the strange SLOWING near a bush or you will get a ton of damage from his ultimate! That’s a common Nunu trick.
- Orianna: Another enemy from the stronger ones, she can harass you quite well with The Ball, but she runs off pretty fast from mana and she is really squishy, so a few combos will help here aswell.
- Pantheon: Very easy opponent, he can’t do anything with you, finish him off when you are ready.
- Poppy: Champion with low mana pool, but with a quite good damage, so be carefull with her damage. Her speed buff can make the fight hard to lay down your skillshots properly on her, but in the end she will be defeated.
- Renekton: The croc is a no cost hero with very good damage output, so he will cause you some pain on the lane. Saddly he can heal himself back with his Cull the Meek skill, so you have to wait patiently until he makes a mistake, than combo him down as fast as you can. This fight will be hard, call for teammates if you have problems, he is a very hard enemy.
- Rumble: Once it was my main, so I know pretty well, that his worst enemy is the damage what he takes from minions and retalation attacks when his shield goes off. There are 2 ways to play Rumble: First, the „normal” Rumble: He will max out Flamespitter first followed by the shield, and he will always harass you with this combination. The shield stays on him although only for 2 secs, so after it goes off tear him apart with skills and basic attacks. The Electric Harpoon Rumble is an extreme way to build Rumble. With this, he will harass from the distance, but his skill will hit quite hard if he spamms you and CONSTANTLY hit you with it. Avoid this simply with good micro or using your minions as a wall. You should be able to take the yordle down.
- Ryze: Spamms you like hell, and after some time he will damage you pretty hard. But even pure mana builded Ryze will run out of mana, IF he not gets a blue buff! Ward the blue and don’t let this happen, or else you will have some problems. A few combos should quickly take care of this guy.
- Shen: Surprising or not, he is a nemesis also... Shen is the game’s greatest basic attack-damage tank, as for a tank he has really strong basic attacks with Ki Strike and Vorpal Blade, that even regenerate health for him... Healer Energy champion. I am able to take him down, but need a lot of patience, and you can’t make any mistakes or he just kills you with his strong attacks. Caution is advised.
- Singed: Many people hate this guy, but he’s not that great danger as a Cho’Gath. Ignore him complettly, let him spamm his sh.ts constantly and he will run off from mana. It is most likely that this lane will take much time to win as Cho but he is not able to kill you. Farm Farm Farm, and deny him as much as you can from farming.
- Sion: He has quite hard dmg, but he has a major weakness: One of his main damage abilities (as AP Sion) can be shut down pretty easily, this is his shield. He combines this with the stun, when he forms the shield around himself, you MUST hit him with the rupture-scream combination or he will do you a ton of damage with the shield blowing up near you. AD Sion is bigger threat, his ultimate is really painfull, spamm your skills at him until he finally goes down. Not the easiest enemy.
- Sivir: Yuck... She is strong as hell, a fairly dangerous enemy. His ricochets will always hit you, so health regen is only a short term solution, and she have her spell shield. A VERY nasty enemy to deal with, get some armor early to withstand her attacks and try to force her to use her shield when she doesn’t need it. For example use your skills but don’t target her or else she will only gets her mana back. Miss your spells intentionally or ask the jungler to help. She is a hard enemy to beat.
- Swain: Hard enemy with great damage output. Normaly he max out Nevermove first, catch you with it and then spamm all of his abilities, and these together hurts quite hard. He has a fairly low mana pool, use this at your adventage, and if needed call for your team mates to help you kill the Master Tactician. A little more magic resist can also help you here.
- Tristana: Has a lot of escape abilities, but the champion itself is not strong, only annoying. She goes down pretty easily, IF you manages somehow to hit him with a few combos...
- Twisted Fate: This is a hard enemy, but not for Cho. He does great damage, but you can keep on it with last hitting, and after lvl 7-8 he dies as any other champs who can’t withstand the power of Cho’Gath.
- Udyr: Ok. This animal is really annoying until you hit him a few times with your abilities and wipe his face off the lane. Pretty hard to deal with him if he’s on tank build (and mostly he is), he isn’t strong, but have a lot of defensive abilities. Difficulty: Moderate.
- Urgot: On low levels he is quite dangerous, above lvl 6 he doesn’t have a chance. Watch out though with his burst damage, he can cause some surprise sometimes if you underestimate him too much. If he doesn’t gets a single kill he will be really weak in the late game.
- Vayne: Ohh I hate this girl. She has a really absurd long range, very much annoying skills and can outplay you easily on early levels. However later on, she is starting to get weaker. Watch out for her burst damage, don’t stand near walls and you should have this. Fortunately, she is a rare sight on solo top.
- Veigar: Just like Nasus but in mage. Easy opponent, he doesn’t have the damage to take you down, and he is really squishy. Wait the opportunity when he misses with his fence, than attack. Carefull though on lvl 5 and 6, that is the point when he can take you fairly easy!
- Vladimir: Also a rare sight, he belonged to the arch enemies, but now he’s nerfed so hard, that he doesn’t even have the chance to win. Simply outplay him, after some time you will win the lane, it’s dependant when, though. If you need, get a negatron near lvl 9.
- Warwick: Lanewick... Bahh, this champion is super annoying. Pro WW-s on lane have enough mana to be a threat constantly, but on lvl 10-11 you should be able to fight the dog and eventually win vs him. I like to use Wit’s End vs him, helps you really much to stay alive and also good when you hitting the puppy.
- Wukong: The monkey doesn’t possess the strength to defeat you, he is far too weak (for now, I hope he doesn’t get buffed too hard) to hold your march off.
- Xin Zhao: Poor Xin don’t have the chance. Strategy is similar as it was by Jarvan IV. Easy lane most of the times.
- Yorick: Annoying guy. Doesn’t played too much vs him at top, but you HAVE to focus him at lvl 7-8. He doesn’t has much hp, so comboing him constantly will kill him after some time, but it will take some time! If needed, the jungler can help here very much.
- Zilean: A good grandpa is quite annoying and painfull to fight off. You will probably need more magic resist vs him as usual, but in the end you must win this. It will be a LONG fight, but you can’t lose it.
Build Guide
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