Kog'Maw Build Guide by TheSavior

Author's Preface

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Kog'Maw

Introduction

What is there to say about Kog'Maw? Well, besides the fact that I call him broken because of the ridiculous damage he puts out, he is a very good AD Carry to have on your team because of the amount of consistent damage he puts out at long ranges.

• Provide an INSANE amount of damage to all types of champions on the enemy team.
• Harass from exceptional range in your lane with your Bio-Arcane Barrage
• Provide excellent ganks
• Finish off runners with your Living Artillery
  
  Although koq'maw dominates late game with the massive amounts of damage he puts out with his items and Bio-Arcane Barrage, and the incredible range given to Living Artillery to easily secure kills and harass players, Kog'Maw must do well early game. This can be hard considering he is very squishy, and it is hard to escape from tight situations from him.

Pros and Cons

Pros + Amazing Range with his Bio-Arcane Barrage + Incredible Damage + A crazy good ultimate + Can preform wonderful ganks.

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Cons - Very squishy - Not a lot of escapability - Can be hard early game - Expensive Items

Runes

Runes
Greater Mark of Armor Penetration 9	Greater Seal of Armor 9	Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist 9	Greater Quintessence of Armor Penetration 3

Getting armor pen is a must on Kog'Maw so I pick up 9 of these, if you feel you have a lot of armor pen, you can replace them with Greater Mark of Attack Damage.

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These are probably the best seals out there for Kog'Maw. They help with your durability throughout the whole game, and greatly increase your chances of survival.

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What?! CD reduction?! Yes, people say that a lot when I tell them that. It really is simple though; more CD reduction allows you to use your skills faster during the entire game, it really can save your life.

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Finally Armor Pen quints. Now, once again if you feel you have too much armor pen you can switch these for Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage or Greater Quintessence of Health.

Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage

Greater Seal of Armor

Masteries

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+ Summoner's Wrath for the added reduction of armor and magic res to exhaust. + Brute Force For obvious extra AD. + Sorcery Gives a bonus CD reduction. + Arcane Knowledge Provides some Magic Pen. This is good because of how much damage you will be doing with Bio-Arcane Barrage, and Madred's Bloodrazor. + Weapon Expertise I also get this for the increased armor penetration. When getting this perk, you drop Lethality , which gives you 10% critical damage. Lethality may seem appealing but when you really look at it, it does not do much. + Vampirism A tad bit of extra life steal + Sunder Armor Pen + Executioner 6% increased damage to targets under 40% health, a great perk for sucuring kills ad winning 1v1's.

+ Resistance Added Magic resistance for sustainability. + Hardiness Increased Armor for the much needed durability. + Vigor For increased health regeneration, extremely useful early game.

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Recommended Summoner Spells

Flash is a must on Kog'Maw. I have found I cannot live without it. This is because he has no real way of escaping a tight situation. Void Ooze is not always useful and wont instantly help you.




I have been grabbing Exhaust as my second spell more often now. I have been able to secure more kills with its slow and Summoner's Wrath 's Armor and Magic Resistance reductions. It also is useful for Kog Maw through out the rest of the game for the same reason, opposed to Ignite which is useful only in certain situations. So I have found it a much better choice.

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Situational Spells

I get Heal primarily if I dont have a healing support and their is a heavy hitter or harasser in the enemy lane. (Remember I only know to do this this for ranked, based on viewing the enemy teams AD Carry) It is also nice to pick up if your support does not have a heal and does not take this.


Due to recent use (and thanks to A Chubby Baby for pointing this out) because of Kog'Maw's range I rarely have been using this. I seem to only take it now if they have somebody with heavy lifesteal, like Sion or Warwick.



Ghost is not a usual for me but I do take it in rare occasions. With recent experimentation it cannot replace Flash... ever. Instead it can be taken if you are found dying more than usual because of escaping problems, or if you need it offensively to catch up to a running champion.




Cleanse is another summoner spell to take if you are having escape problems. While someone might disagree with this choice, I have found that Cleanse followed by Void Ooze and Flash will save your life while playing Kog'Maw.

Abilities

Laning Partners

There are many support character in the game that you can lane with and a lot of them are good with Kog. But I am going to list some of my favorites and the ones that I think work best.

Janna

Janna is my personal favorite person to lane with Kog Maw. She may not have a dependent heal, but her Eye Of The Storm, shields you and also gives you a nice damage buff. Her Howling Gale and Zephyr are also really good for setting up kills.

While laning with Janna I grab Heal as a summoner spell, as she does not have a major heal. Try to get her to work with her to shield you every time you try to harass an enemy, even if just a couple of shots because her Eye Of The Storm increases your attack damage by 14 which can make a huge difference. In addition, set up your viod ooze with her Howling Gale, this combo is extremely deadly and a lot of the time you will get a kill or they will burn their Flash if they have it.

Sona

Sona is another one of my favorites. She is consistent with her heals, and her Auras are unmatched. When laning with Sona there is no need to take Heal because she can keep you alive with hers extremely well. Her damage Aura is also a very good addition to your lane, helping with last hits and harassment.

Leona

Leona is a good support partner for Kog Maw, she is good at setting up kills, and can take a hit. Her Zenith Blade -> Shield of Daybreak combo is a great way to set up kills with Kog'Maw

Soraka

Soraka is not my favorite but she works. She can help you with your mana if you are in a pinch , and her heals are really great. However, her silence is about the only way to set up kills for you. It does damage and silences them, which is useful, but it has no CC.

Taric

Taric is probably my second favorite support with Kog. He has good heals, a great stun, and his Aura is a really nice thing to have. Not only this but his new ultimate gives you a great attack buff.

Lulu

Lulu, is a very good laning partner. She might not have heals, but she has slows and a shield. On top of that her ulti gives you a significant HP bonus. Not to mention she can also output a bit of damage. Grab Heal when laning with Lulu and you should have a blast during your lane phase.

Items

Doran's Blade:I start with this for the health and damage, making it easier to last hit. It


Berserker's Greaves:I get these for attack speed. I occasionally get Merc treads depending on their team, see Situational items.


Malady is an amazing item on Kog' Maw. And okay so I lied a little bit, we are going to get SOME AP. But Malady does 20 bonus damage per auto attack, and gives you attack speed. This item synergizes with Kog' Maw's future items as well.


Madred's Bloodrazor: Though some disagree to get this item this late, it is AMAZING for kog' maw. It gives you exceptional attack speed and damage, AND does magic damage based on 4% of their health. This SHREDS tanks and everyone in general. This also synergizes with Malady, as Malady decreases their Mag Resistance.


The Bloodthirster:Pretty basic, gives you life steal and a lot of damage, I sometimes start this and buy Vampiric Scepter before I buy Madred's Bloodrazor. This item is a game changer in terms of keeping Kog'Maw alive. It can decide whether you live or die in a solo fight and in team fights, BUT you MUST keep it farmed or else you lose its true potential.


Infinity Edge: Ok, so now your attacks that have been shredding you enemies to begin with, will have a greater chance to crit for 250% damage.


Frozen Mallet: A really good item, slows your enemies and provides a lot of health and some damage. This item is incredibly useful on Kog'Maw considering he has almost no survivability.

Alternative Items

I can get a second one of these for much more life steal.


: If you don't feel the need for life steal and you think you need more mobility and attack speed grab this. This item increases your attack speed, critical strike chance, and movement speed. A really nice weapon for Kog'Maw or any AD carry for that matter.





An amazing item if they have an even more tanky team. Reduces armor like you wouldn't imagine. Replace this with The Bloodthirster or Phantom Dancer.





I am adding this to the alternative items list due to request and further testing. Though mainly for a Hybrid build, replacing this with Malady is a possibility but not highly recommended. I do want to note, that you should not replace Malady if they start to build Magic Resistance because your Madred's Bloodrazor will do significantly less bonus damage.

Situational Items

These are items that I commonly get depending on the set-up and composition of tmy team and the enemy team.

This is one of my favorite items. It is incredibly useful if they have an AP heavy team, but it also does 42 extra magic damage per attack.




These are the only other boots I buy for kog maw, and I buy them when the enemy team has heavy CC.




A great item if you need some more armor penetration.

Gameplay

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Early Game

Doran's Blade

Bio-Arcane Barrage

Bio-Arcane Barrage

Boots of Speed

Dagger

Health Potion

Malady

Berserker's Greaves

Alternative Beginnings

Kog'Maw

Health Potion

Mid Game

Madred's Bloodrazor

Bio-Arcane Barrage

Ganking Lanes

Kog'Maw

• How much health do I have?
• How much health does he/she have?
• Am I alone?
• Does he have CC / Can he run away?
• Is it a tank or durable champion?
• Are there any MIA's in the other lanes?
  
  Problem: I have low health and/or low mana, should I proceed to gank him?
  
  
  Solution: If you have below 40% health I would not recommend engaging a fight. However, if you are not the only person ganking you might consider going in AFTER someone else initiates. If you are low on mana it is usually fine if they are squishy and/or have a low amount of health. However if they have a stun or some type of CC and I would recommend not going in.
  
  When you gank as Kog'Maw you have to make sure to do one thing to help secure the kill. When running in shoot your Void Ooze behind them, NOT ON TOP OF THEM (see tips and screen shots for an example). The first is that when you run in and you try to throw it on top of them, most likely it will end up in front of them based on that they will see you and run back. Not to mention that it will do nowhere near as much damage as if you would slow them and hit them with your Bio-Arcane Barrage.
  
  After casting Void Ooze, if you can cast Caustic Spittle and then proceed to auto attack with your Bio-Arcane Barrage. If they get away barely, always remember that you can snipe them out with your Living Artillery.

Tips and Screenshots

Using my Void Ooze behind them so that they cant run away.

Try to utilize your Living Artillery to it's fullest. Here I am sniping an unsuspecting Swain.

While I run into their jungle for their red buff, I use my ultimate to check the bush to make sure there are not any enemies. You can do this in many places.

Once again, I was on top of my game this time, and you cannot always expect the same results!

Postlude and Thank You's

Thank you very much for reading my guide! I put a considerable amount of effort into making this guide, so I would ask that you would kindly post constructive criticism, and helpful comments instead of the occasional gibberish.

A huge thank you to JHOIJHOI for her How to Make a Guide

Thanks to IceCreamy for their How to use Columns guide.


Another thank you to JHOIJHOI for making the banners and line dividers!

Updates

2/20/12 Guide created!
2/21/12 Updated Summoner spell section. Changed Ignite to situational, and prioritized Exhaust.
3/30/12 Updated situational items
-Added Lulu to the Laning Partners list.
-Updated the runes list and added an option Quintessence choice.

3/31/12 MAJOR OVERHAUL!
- Updated guide to look more user friendly.
- Added opening youtube video.
- Got rid of Lore section.
- Added Pros and Cons
- Updated Masteries and added Vigor in the Defensive section.
- Added a Masteries section.
- Updated Rune page layout.
- Split the Summoner spell section into two parts.
- Edited Grammer

4/2/12
- Changed masteries to get Mag Pen
- Re-organized order of chapters.
- Added Last Whisper to situational items
MORE TO COME!


4/21/12
Because of school I have been unable to update this guide in a while.

-updated item build.
-added more detail to the laning partner chapter
-added more info in the INFORMATION chapter
-updated rune and mastery pages appropriately