I always thought Cho'Gath was the coolest champion. Ever since I was summoner level 5, I looked to Cho as being my #1 champion to learn but never could. After discovering that Cho is viable in the jungle, I ended up learning the character inside and out in both lane and jungle. I present to you what works for me in 90% of normal games and 75% of ranked games,and I hope many of you learn how to Cho'Gath as well.

Stonewall008 has considered Cho'Gath to be one of the strongest junglers in the game, and for good reason. My goal with this guide is to hopefully make Cho'Gath a little more popular, just so I can see a few more Cho'Pros in play when I slide into battle.

Before you downvote my guide for suggesting a build that is not commonly used in the current meta, please allow me to explain why Cho'Gath is one of the best options for jungling in the game, right up with champions such as Warwick and Trundle. If this build does not suit you after considerable thought and meditation, feel free to laugh at this guide with your friends and family.

Pro'Gaths
~ Incredible mobility with the listed runes and masteries
~ Amazing burst damage, even when discounting feast
~ Large amounts of HP for a burst caster, making him a highly damaging offtank
~ Two interrupts to stop channeled spells, as well as a silence
~ Amazing sustainability in the jungle, allowing cho to counterjungle like a boss

Con'Gaths
~ Limited dragon control
~ Subpar pre-6 ganks
~ Reliance on Q for ganks
~ Takes a bit of effort to learn

Most of the runes are incredibly set in stone, but I will try to give "second best" options for marks, seals, and glyphs as well as explain why I have chosen each type of rune.

Quintessences

Movement quints are mandatory for this build to work well. Cho'Gath needs to be faster than his opponents to apply Rylai's Crystal Scepter and to use his Rupture to great effect.

I highly recommend movement quints, but some popular other choices would be:
Greater Quintessence of Avarice
Greater Quintessence of Fortitude
Greater Quintessence of Alacrity

Marks

Greater Mark of Alacrity synergies with Vorpal Spikes quite well, and Cho'Gath does not need Greater Mark of Insight for Feast's true damage. However;

Greater Mark of Insight
and
Greater Mark of Resilience

are both perfectly acceptable.

Seals

Seals are easily the most flexible aspect of Cho'Gath's pre-game itemization. While I prefer Greater Seal of Resilience, these also work just as well:

Greater Seal of Evasion
Greater Seal of Defense
Greater Seal of Vitality

Glyphs

Greater Glyph of Shielding is highly preferred over Greater Glyph of Focus, mostly due to how Cho'Gath works as a character. His itemization and skills allow him to build up bulk HP, and mitigation is required to make this bulk HP effective. While CDR is incredibly important on Cho'Gath, it is not mandatory to build to the full 40% CDR cap.

Both 1/14/15 and 1/8/21 are viable for jungle Cho'Gath, but 1/14/15 is more sustainable and forgiving for a newer player to Cho and thus I selected it for this build.

Important masteries are:
3/3 Swiftness
1/1 Smite Mastery
1/1 Ghost mastery
2/2 Utility Mastery
1/1 Greed

In no particular order.

In this section I'll basically explain why I choose my items and why you should too.
Philosopher's Stone

+22.5 Health Regen/5 sec.
+10 Mana Regen/5 sec.
Gain an additional 5 gold every 10 seconds.

I get this item to fully sustain Cho'Gath for an incredibly small cost that is mitigated over time. The added mana regen allows Cho to give up blue as soon as Nunu. Comparatively, this item is extremely efficient and as such is effectively core.

Mercury Treads

+25 Magic Resistance
UNIQUE: Enhanced Movement 2
UNIQUE - Reduces the duration of stuns, slows, taunts, fears, snares, sleeps, and immobilizes by 35%

By far and away the best boots for Cho'Gath. Cho's hitbox attracts all kinds of CC, and these boots allow him to shrug off most of it. He isn't really dying for any other type of boots.

Heart of Gold

+250 Health
Passive Generates 5 gold every 10 seconds.

Gives Cho'Gath early health which he desperately needs at an incredibly cost-efficient rate. Also sets him up for the mid-late game.

Rod of Ages

+450 Health
+525 Mana
+60 Ability Power
Passive Your champion gains 18 Health, 20 Mana, and 2 Ability Power every 1 min. Bonuses cap at +180 Health, +200 Mana, and +20 Ability Power.

Synergizes with Philosopher's Stone to provide more sustainability, and adds mana to increase health regen with masteries, as well as increasing overall effective mana pool for spamming skills without any consequence. When you get this, you should be sitting on 2500 health at level 12.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter

+500 Health
+80 Ability Power
UNIQUE: Your spell damage slows the target's movement speed by 35% for 1.5 seconds (15% for multi-target spells and damage-over-time spells).

Rylai's is an incredible item for Cho on many levels for many different reasons. The components of Rylai's are easy to purchase and allow Cho to get some quality AP pretty cheaply. When cho has Rylai, he begins to have more health than previously thought possible, as well as allowing his melee attacks to slow because of Vorpal Spikes. This is absolutely crucial for Cho, and allows you to give up red at any point to anyone who wants it.

Frozen Heart

+99 Armor
+500 Mana
UNIQUE: Reduces ability cooldowns by 20% and reduces the attack speed of nearby enemies by 20% (1000 range)

More CDR, and rounds out Cho's resistances. Extra mana allows Cho to have more health regen.

Shurelya's Reverie

+330 Health
+30 Health Regen per 5 sec
+15 Mana Regen per 5 sec
Passive UNIQUE: Reduces ability cooldowns by 15%
Active UNIQUE: Nearby champions gain 40% movement speed for 3 seconds (60 second cooldown)

Gives Cho'Gath 35% CDR, as well as giving him an incredible item active and increased sustainability. Easily one of my favorite items.

Void Staff

+70 Ability Power
Passive UNIQUE: +40% Magic Penetration

This is simply for when magic resistance gets too high. A substitution for enemies that have no MR because they're bad would be Rabadon's Deathcap

Force of Nature

+76 Magic Resistance
+40 HP Regen/5 sec.
+8% Movement Speed
Passive UNIQUE: Restores 0.35% of your champions maximum health every second..

Synergizes extremely well with movement quints and mastery, making Cho'Gath about as fast as a standard character using Ghost. Gives insane amount of HP regen, especially when Cho'Gath is pushing 4700HP.

Abyssal Scepter

+70 Ability Power
+57 Magic Resistance
Passive UNIQUE Aura: Reduces the magic resistance of nearby enemy champions by 20. (1000 range )

I usually get this item when I'm queueing with a friend who plays mainly AP champs. Because you're a bruiser, your debuff will be applied at all times.

Zhonya's Hourglass

+100 Ability Power
+50 Armor
Active UNIQUE: Places your champion into Stasis for 2 seconds, rendering you invulnerable and untargetable but unable to take any actions. 90 sec cooldown.

I almost never get this item, but some prefer this to Frozen Heart. Go for it if you enjoy the active, need to carry, or you feel like you don't need the CDR.

Rabadon's Deathcap

+155 Ability Power
Passive UNIQUE: Increases Ability Power by 30%.

This is my most often purchased item after my core build is complete and I need to sell some dead weight. Can literally double your AP.

Lich Bane

+350 Mana
+80 Ability Power
+30 Magic Resistance
+7% Movement Speed
Passive UNIQUE: When you use an ability, your next physical attack deals an additional 100% of your Ability Power in damage. This effect has a 2 second cooldown.

This item can allow Cho's autoattacks to do well over 900 damage. Only get this item at an extremely late point in the game, after Rabadon's. Movement speed synergizes with the rest of the build.
Aegis of the Legion

+270 Health
+18 Armor
+24 Magic Resistance
Passive UNIQUE Aura: +12 Armor, +15 Magic Resist and +8 Attack Damage to nearby allied units. (1200 range )

Currently the most underrated item in the game. It gives the equivalent of 50 mr on you, 30 armor on you, and double that to your teammates. Start getting it, start loving it.

First off, yes, this guide focuses on gp/5 items. If you are incredibly opposed to gp/5 items, continue to build rod of ages first after your initial item, which should be Ruby Crystal. However, I recommend Philosopher's Stone highly.

levels 1-3

Items: Regrowth Pendant, one Health Potion

Start off your path at the enemy wraith camp, if at all possible. Level E if there is no level 1 fight, otherwise get Q. Assuming you successfully kill the enemy wraiths (USE SMITE!), proceed to your lesser wolves. After downing both camps, continue to your wraiths. Use Rupture with Vorpal Spikes to quickly down the wraiths, then continue to lesser double golems. Use smite once more, and finish the camps off. (Make sure to level E a second time, not Q) You may not even need to use your initial health pot.

Levels 4-6

Items: Philosopher's Stone, two Health Potions, Wards.

Grab your Philo, and head on over to blue golem. Feel free to use a health potion when fighting the golem, and make sure to use smite after the golem is below 500 HP. Level Q. At this point, R>Q>W>E.

STOP!

~If lanes are pushed to your tower, gank someone. You can wait on red. Quickly go to a lane, Q, and try to do some damage.
~If all lanes look fine and nobody is in need of assistance, continue your jungle.

Once you have 6:
~Gank people. Q+R actually does a buttload of damage, and because of your mobility applying Red Buff should not be incredibly hard.
~Ward the enemy jungle.

Levels 6-18

Continue to gank, and be a presence in teamfights. use Q+W+E+R to ensure kills. Your burst damage is INCREDIBLE, so remember to burst people from half health in seconds. Get a void staff after they start building magic resist. Continue to ward everywhere. Chug Oracle's Elixers at opportunities where it would benefit you.

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Thank you to Stonewall008 for making these videos. I do not claim ownership of these videos, and these videos do not profit me in any way. Stonewall, you rock. Note that these videos do not show my path, and I will upload my path at a later date.

~ Q+W decimates Wraiths. Use this to your advantage; take the enemy's jungle whenever possible.
~ Smite and Feast essentially secure dragon for you and your team.
~ You should have dragon warded at all times. You have gold per 5 items, you can afford the wards.
~ When you down an enemy or you know there won't be pressure, ping your allies to assist you with dragon. 190 global gold is incredible.
~ Feel free to lane for a little bit if you think you can ninja a turret.
~ Don't buy Warmogs
~ Be flexible with items. Going Aegis, building pure tank, and stacking AP all have their time and place.
~ Get good with Q. It requires mindgames.
~ After RoA and Rylai's, you can burst for around 900. Eat people.
~ Attempt to steal baron with Feast.
~ Feed your carry. You don't need kills as bad as they do.
~ Don't use Feast on neutrals all the time, and don't save Feast for a gank at all opportunities. Judge when it is appropriate to build stacks and when it is not.

~You are Cho'Gath. Act like it.

Cho'Gath more like Kill'Steal am I right?

No. A good Cho'Gath will manage his or her Feast stacks so that Pro'gath can ensure kills for the carry on their team. You have two gold per five items, don't be excessively greedy.

Warmogs is good on Cho'Gath.

Uninstall.exe. Cho'gath needs mitigation so that his excessively high HP is properly utilized. I absolutely cannot stress this enough.

I don't want to buy wards.

Then I guess you don't want to Feaststeal the enemy jungler's blue golem, which is really a crying shame.

Your jungle path is too reliant on the enemy wraiths being available at level 1.

More a statement than a question, but an entirely valid point regardless. If you cannot obtain the other team's wraiths, start at your wolves. Don't smite the wolves, save it for the big wraith on your side. Continue through the jungle as you normally would after smiting your wraith.

Is Jungle'Gath better than Lane'Gath?

I'd say sometimes. If you already have two strong solo laners, Jungle'Gath is an incredible pick.

I really dislike your build, either because of my play style or personal issues. Can you help this?

Sure! Cho'Gath is extremely flexible with items. I'm not going to say that going Morello's Evil Tome is the greatest item on Cho'Gath, but if it works for you, that's stupendous. Change as many aspects of the build as you wish.