Hey everyone! This is Shizzukani with my first Kog'Maw guide.

Kog'Maw is an great champion in the way that he can be played with many different builds, you can play him as AD, AP, On-Hit and even Hybrid! Below is a quick summary of what each build path does ^_^



AD Kog'Maw

Kog'Maw is an extremely deadly AD carry with his Bio-Arcane Barrage which gives him one of the highest attack ranges in the game and also dishes out damage on % health. AD Kog'Maw is the most used out of all the builds and is recommended for new players of Kog'Maw






AP Kog'Maw

If you are looking for another fun build to try out feel free to get some practice with AP Kog'Maw. Kog'Maw's Living Artillery has one of the highest ranges on any ability in the game making it so easy to poke people. Combined with some AP the enemy team will always be a little short of health before a team-fight thanks to your continuous bombardment. This means your team are much more likely to win team-fights, making AP Kog'Maw a very useful addition to any team. AP Kog'Maw is a little harder to play as you will have to be good with aiming. Do not expect to get many kills but just many many assists. If you think you are good at aiming and want to try something new give this build a go.






Hybrid Kog'Maw

Hybrid Kog'Maw can be played, but I don't personally like it. I think it is just better to play Kog'Maw as either pure AD or pure AP. That being said I have seen Hybrid Kog'Maws do very well in even ranked matches. It is worth the shot and it really depends on your play style and the enemy you are facing.






on-Hit Kog'Maw

on-hit Kog-maw is actually the most annoying thing ever. Even tanks like Singed fall to this mighty foe. Health, armor and speed and everything a tank built throughout a game just goes down the drain when this Kog'Maw starts hitting you. Definitely worth trying on-hit Kog'Maw. Extremely fun to play.





So basically my guide will cover all of the different build paths you can use on Kog'Maw. Please don't downvote without fully reading or trying my guide. Any constructive criticism would be appreciated. Thanks -Shizzukani-



Credits to jhoijhoi for the template and line dividers, which you can find here.

THIS GUIDE IS STILL UNDER-CONSTRUCTION. I HAVE EXAMS THIS WEEK SO PLEASE DON'T DOWNVOTE JUST YET =). IMAGES + VIDEO TUTORIALS COMING SOON. ALTERNATIVE ITEMS/SUMMONER SPELLS + WARDING + GANKING + MAYBE EVEN ANOTHER GUIDE WITH AD ARTILLERY KOG ;D. STAY TUNED =)



24th March 2012~ Guide is launched
25th March 2012~ Added "Laning Partner" and "Hard to play against champs" sections. Added Item explanations for each champion. Added images to section out AD, Ap, Hybrid and On-Hit sections.WISH ME LUCK FOR EXAM TOMORROW D:
26th March 2012~ Included a warding section. Starting to work on Runes, Masteries and Summoner spells sections. Changed around the format of the items explanations... looks so much cleaner now! Also just cleaned out the Ability Explanations. guide is looking much more aesthetic now :D
27th March 2012~ Added Rammus to enemy list {as if I forgot that earlier)
29th March 2012~ Added other viable items in the "AD Kog" section. Note:You can switch the defensive items into any of the other builds as well.

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Harassing
Start off with a Void Ooze, making sure you hit your opponent. A smart thing to do is to aim it so that it will also leave a trail behind them. Slowing them even as they make their escape. Quickly dash up to them and regurgitate a Caustic Spittle. Instantly activate Bio-Arcane Barrage and watch as their health goes down. Pre-6 this should get your opponent to half or less than half HP. If you think you can pull it off, flash to finish them off. Post-6 you can usually do this with your ultimate.





Tips & Tricks

Make sure you farm HEAPS. Just focus on last hitting. By the 10 minute mark you should have at least 80 Minion Kills.

Be fairly passive in lane until you get a clear shot to use your combo on the opponent.

If you can go bot with someone like Sona Janna Lulu or Soraka as this will help optimize your laning phase granting you more CS and keeping you in top form throughout.

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Pretty necessary on almost any AD carry. If you feel you don't need any extra Attack Speed swap these out for Mercury's Treads.

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RECOMMENDED Will help with farming, sustain and will give you a free ward to take care of yourself. Sell this late game for Black Cleaver

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You can get this instead of Wriggle's Lantern if you feel you don't need the sustain. But I really wouldn't reccommend it. THe ward and sustain from Wriggle's Lantern is really necessary on Kog'Maw, but Ionic Spark will help in farming. The decision is up to you but I reccomend Wriggle's Lantern.

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A lot of extra health so you can survive long enough to do damage. This will ensure in most cases that you don't get burst down too quickly. Also the on-hit slow is really handy. Will allow you to chain your Bio-Arcane Barrage and not letting them escape unless they Flash.

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Magnificent item on Kog'Maw. Really pumps up the damage. You may get this before or after finishing Phantom Dancer. The choice is up to you.

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Awesome amounts of Attack Speed. Will boost your DPS by heaps. Also the extra movement speed doesn't hurt. Combined with your Infinity Edge you will be dealing HUGE amounts of Physical Damage, % based on health damage and also Critical Damage.

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Tons and tons of damage + lots and lots of lifesteal. By the time you have this bad baby you will be destroying squishies.

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Shred armor and also a lot of attack damage and attack speed. Will add lots of damage to your DPS and will also insure other AD team mates will do a lot more damage too.

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If you see the enemy team stacking armor get this item instead of Black Cleaver. You may want to keep your Wriggle's Lantern and get this item before Bloodthirster and later on sell Wriggle's Lantern for that.

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If you are worried about getting focused you can get this. I have seen many Kog'Maw and other AD carries like Vayne go for this. It provides some good armor and magic resist but by the time you get this in the game its passive really isn't that useful. Unless you're really fed you should get this item after Bloodthirster instead of Black Cleaver. At this point in the game it has already gone past the 35-40 minute mark and after that the passive won't do you any good. Banshee's Veil or Hexdrinker is a better choice in my opinion.

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A defensive item which also adds to your offense! If you are worried being a glass canon then you can get this item instead of Black Cleaver. It's quite expensive and you may just prefer Banshee's Veil instead. The passive shield is very nice against champions like Karthus and Xerath who can kill you from afar and that small shield may be the only thing that makes the difference between life and death. Also +1 damage for every 2.5% of health missing. This means it could be worthwhile to stay in the fight for long durations.

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Very good item with boosts in your magic resist, health and mana. The passive shield is also decent. This item can be useful against teams with 1 hit wonders like Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab and Morgana's Dark Binding.

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Similar price to Banshee's Veil. Get this against teams with lots of AP. Will reduce their damage output by so much they will cry. Also will heal you up pretty quickly too. You will be a speedy little dinosaur after getting this :D.

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Pretty cheap item. Extremely effective if you are up against team with a lot of AD carries like Ashe Vayne and even champions like Xin Zhao. Will reduce their damage to you by a lot and will also make you lower on the priority list as attacking you will damage themselves.

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NOTE: FOR THE DEFENSIVE ITEMS YOU CAN SUBSTITUTE THESE INTO WHEREVER YOU WANT ON ANY BUILD.

Standard 21-9-0 for AD carries. Not much to explain here.

• Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: With these last hitting early game will be much easier and you will also dish out more damage.
  
• Greater Mark of Attack Damage: Likewise, makes last hitting easier and means you can deal out more damage.
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: This is so you don't take too much damage from AP early game, to make sure you don't get burst down too quickly.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: You will take less damage from enemy and minion auto-attacks, very good as a lot of the time in early game minions will do a lot of damage to you while you are trying to chase your enemy for first blood etc. Means you can trade better with other AD carries in bot like Vayne.

Harassing

Just like any other mage out there, you can harass by using just one spell over and over again. For Kog'Maw it is his Void Ooze. Do not expect to do much damage early game as you will mainly be focusing on having enough mana to be able to spam late game. Wait until you get Archangel's Staff to try and do damage. Otherwise just keep farming.





Tips & Tricks

Whenever you see an enemy who is far way, just spam Living Artillery. Make sure you don't oom though. Doing this will always force enemies back and if they decide to initiate a fight they will always be at a disadvantage as they will be lower on health.

Make sure in team-fights that you stay away from the chaos right in the middle. You are ARTILLERY. Stay far far away and bombard the craap out of all your enemies.

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You absolutely need this Magic Penetration. I would highly recommend against swapping these out, but if you do get Boots of Lucidity

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Tear of the Goddess is absolutely necessary on AP Kog'Maw, and that builds into this. Besides Archangel's Staff gives you tons of AP and builds up your mana. You will never have to worry about spamming spells again.

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A Looooooooooooooot of AP. Your damage will go boom after this. Also some people don't like rushing Rabadon's Deathcap, if you are not one of those people or are not doing very well in a match consider getting Rylai's Crystal Scepter before Rabadon's Deathcap. That being said, if you see yourself getting TONS of assists buy a Mejai's Soulstealer instead.

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Will give you health so you can survive burst and also will slow enemies' on ability cast, this means you can continuously chain your Living Artillery on someone.

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Void Ooze will deal a significant amount of damage by this point in the game. One auto-attack instantly after will double that damage. Plus Magic Resist + Movement speed + mana. Once you get Sheen use this combo Void Ooze -> Auto-Attack -> Caustic Spittle -> Auto-attack Assuming you followed by build word for word (which you shouldn't all the time) you should have around 370 AP now, which means 519 + 600 + 519 + 600 = Almost 2200 damage in less than 3 seconds. Then you can just spam Ult to finish them off as you have Rylai's Crystal Scepter

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Just that final jump in AP. You can swap this out for whatever the hell you want or need.

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21 Points in offense to optimize damage and 9 points in utility for extra mana and mana regen.

• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: Pretty standard on AP caster, and since you will be building Kog'Maw this way, you will need this.
  
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: Magic Penetration runes so that you spells get less affected by Magic Resist.
  
• Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction: So you can spam your abilities more often, Void Ooze does have a fairly long cooldown early game, and it's your main form of damage
  
• Greater Seal of Health: Means you can survive longer in lane, maybe survive that last bit from Ignite ;)

Harrass

Just do what you would have done with AD. Except now your abilities will deal more damage and your basic attacks less.





Tips & Tricks

Make sure to always cast a spell whenever you can in between basic attacks for optimal damage.

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With Hybrid Kog'Maw you really need the extra magic penetration. Absolutely no substitute here.

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Is a must on any Hybrid champion. On-Hit it will grant extra AP and Attack Speed. Not only that but it is also a very cost efficient item. While building this I get the Pickaxe before the Blasting Wand as it makes farming much easier.

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Another really good item on Hybrid champions. Gives lots of survivability with both Spell-Vamp and Life-Steal. Don't forget to use the active though.

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Gives you a boost in almost all your stats. Excellent item. More health, damage, movement speed and mana.

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Use this at the start of a fight on any high-health character and watch them blow up. I also get Kage's Lucky pick early on in the game as it gives lots of gold for me to buy other stuff.

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Lots of armor and a lot of mana. Plus an extremely useful passive if you are up against heavy AD teams. You can swap this out for Banshee's Veil against Caster heavy teams.

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29 points in offense as now you have both AP and AD based damage.

• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: More AP means more damage. You need damage. Hence you get more AP.
  
• Greater Mark of Attack Damage: You need this so you can last hit and trade properly.
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power: AP for late game damage.
  
• Greater Seal of Health: You can survive in lane longer, gain more exp, not get killed so often.

Harass

1) Void Ooze
2) Caustic Spittle
3) AUTO ATTACK THEM TO DEATH\

So basically your auto-attacks will add up and deal massive amounts of damage. Just right click and you will be fine.





Tips & Tricks

Once you start auto-attacking only stop once they are dead. Do not try and use abilities in between unless you are sure they will have some kind of positive effect.

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Attack speed so you can apply on-hit effect faster and more often. I wouldn't substitute these bad boys out.

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Early game magic-resist shredder. Also deals additional damage. This plus Bio-Arcane Barrage is extremely deadly.

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Deals 4% of targets maximum health as magic damage. Combined with the shredding of Malady and the 6% from Bio-Arcane Barrage this will be devastating players here and there.

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Lots of extra health and a slow that procs every time you hit. Allows you to continuously chain your attacks and keep on applying on-hit effects

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Attack damage + Attack speed. Also armor shredding for increased damage and lolz.

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Shred their magic resist + deal additional damage + gain magic resist yourself. What more do you want?

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24 points in offence instead of the standard 21 as I also want the cooldown reduction to spam Bio-Arcane Barrage.

• Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration: This is so the Magic damage from Bio-Arcane Barrage and Madred's Bloodrazor don't get reduced too much by magic-resist.
  
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: Same reason as for Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration
  
• Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction: So you can spam Bio-Arcane Barrage very quickly
  
• Greater Seal of Attack Speed: Attack speed so you can kill things faster.

Just great to lane bot with for any AD Carry. Her shield is not just a shield but grants extra AD. Her Monsoon is great as it not only gets you out of sticky situations but also can help secure kills by pushing enemies into you.






If you go bot with Lulu you will always be dominating. Her damage and utility combined with your is an extremely powerful combination. Only problem with this is there may be a competition for farm as most people don't play full support Lulu.






The best support in the game, excellent heals, can even replenish mana. You may be slightly squishy and prone to ganks though. So keep an eye out for those.






One of my favorite laning partners. He will tank all the damage for you. Just make sure you follow his lead and you two should be dominating.






Again, a lot like Shen. Will take all the damage for you. Be extra careful and follow his lead or he could start feeding and it would be your fault.






My favourite laning partner. he is not only a tank but also a support. The two together combined with your potential is OP.

This is one of your worst enemies early game. Impossible to damage him when he has Iron Man's shield up. Just focus on farming and stay away from him till post-6. Never try and solo top if you think he will be there.






Extremely difficult to play against as Kog'Maw he can suddenly burst you down and you will barely have time to react. Make sure you stay clear of him post-6.






Again a lot like Kassadin stay clear out of her way and make sure you focus her first in team fights if someone already isn't.






If a good Master Yi rushes out at you through the jungle you are pretty much screwed if you don't have Exhaust. Just try and turn around and fight him.






As Kog'Maw, in most cases when someone charges at you; you should just stay where you are and start attacking them, as with Kennen though. Flash. If he charges you when you're all alone just run the hell away. He will stun you and nuke you down before you can press W.






Rammus is the most annoying and deadly of your opponents. In ranked games I would strictly recommend not even considering to pick Kog'Maw if there is a Rammus on the enemy team. Kog'Maw sort of requires you to risk your butt so you can be of any use (unless of course you play AP Kog'Maw) and Rammus just won't allow that to happen.

Make sure you farm a lot. Always remember 20 CS is the same amount of gold as 1 Champion kill. Rule of thumb is 10 CS every minute. Pull that off and you will be so far ahead of everyone it won't even be funny.

Kog'Maw is not a tank. Do not attempt to initiate team-fights as you will almost instantly be focused down and destroyed.

Use Void Ooze to set up a Living Artillery

Use Caustic Spittle on your teams main focus.

Don't be afraid to use Living Artillery to scout

Always stay behind your team, never walk out from the safety of the crowd until the fight starts fully.

This guide is not a to be followed strictly all the time. It is only a quick summary of what your build should look like in most cases. Change it around to suit the circumstances

As a Kog'Maw player you have to be very precise with last hitting. As you should know getting the last hit in a minion will grant you 18-30 gold. Now if you think about it normally for each champion kill you would get 300 gold. That means that 10-20 Creep Kills (or cs) is the same amount of gold as One champion kill. This means that if you have a higher creep score than the enemy team you will be at a great advantage to them.

Last hitting is an art and it really requires a lot of your attention. So basically you walk around the minions till you see an enemy minion which is low enough for you to kill with one hit. Most of the time you should try and hit it only once, but if you find that the enemy are pushing the lane a lot then you can auto-attack as much as you want. here is a simple tutorial I found on Youtube that may help the newer players in the Community last hit better.

Also remember you can always last hit with your Void Ooze and Living Artillery if you find yourself being zoned because your laning partner is at base. With AP Kog'Maw you can farm most of the minions with a combo of Void Ooze and Living Artillery very quickly.

Note also. In this video Morgana is pushing her lane a lot. This means she is very vulnerable to being ganked. Wheneer you see this happening, ping your team and alert them that a gank can be pulled off.

Though this should not be one of your primary goals, you should still be warding every now and then to keep your lane, team, jungle or buffs safe.

Blue Circles: This is for safety reasons, having a ward here will save your or your team mate's lives a lot. Put one here whenever you can unless someones already done it.

Red Circles: Placing a ward here is VERY important. Put a Sight Ward if you can as it will reveal other enemy wards which you can kill of when securing these objectives (Dragon and Baron)

Yellow Wards: You shouldn't be the one warding these places but if you can always do. In higher ELO games the enemy will counter jungle, but if you can catch an enemy while they are counter jungling they are pretty much trapped, so always have one at these areas.

Orange Wards: Place wards here if you want to counter-jungle. Counter-jungling will severely disadvantage the enemy team.

BLACK STARS: These are the death-stars. If you put a ward here; not only will you be able to watch out for ganks much earlier than if you put them in Blue circles (this doesn't apply to mid lane0, but you will also notice if the enemy are taking Baron Nashor or Dragon.

Thank you for reading my guide. Again please actually try it before downvoting. Constructive criticism is always appreciated. Cheers.

Also please follow in CombatJack1 and tehAsian's footsteps and please let me know if you think something is wrong with my guide! Really appreciate it.

Shizzukani out

I Will review your guides!~

Just send me a PM, no need to vote or comment on mine but that would be appreciated. Include what champion you're guide is on and some basic info. I'll give you feedback and if you want I can even share my guide format's with you. But I should tell you before hand most of my guide is based on jhoijhoi's format~

-Shizzukani-