This is UNDOUBTEDLY the hardest part of kog'maw jungle, and that is surviving champ select. Here is how it works essentially.

If you do well, your team will praise you, heck even the enemy team will admire your ingenuity, those that have threatened to report you will now be dazed in silence from having their minds blown.

If you do bad, everyone and their grandma will threaten to report you. You will be the scourge and scapegoat of the game. If you thought standard junglers had it bad enough by being flamed everyone, you sir, are in a whole different level of hell. Remember that top lane darius who gave first blood? Well don't be surprised if he blames you as the reason he is losing, all he will have to say is "kog'maw jungle, lol" and just like that, the roast begins.

Devourer Removal along with the attack speed hurts jungle Kog'maw bad. Before the nerfs, I could easily walk into bot lane and 1v2 the ADC and support, then duo baron at 20 minutes.
Bloodrazer Kog'maw also does not melt tanks very well compared to devourer, this is because bloodrazer shifts Kog'maws from AP heavy damage to AD heavy damage. Because armor is much easier to access than MR, you will do a lot less damage to squishies and tanks.

Kog'maw is not a "skill" champion, but instead a "knowledge" champion meaning that the winner of the fight will be selected before the fight begins. You need excellent map awareness, as there are very few times when you can retreat as Kog'maw. Luckily for you most of the time you can still at least revenge kill them with your passive.

Learn to keep track of enemy Jungler cool downs.
Have smite and abilities available at all times when roaming.
If your top laner has heavy CC, camp that lane.

I believe the main reason why junglers don't camp top often is because it is more beneficial to snowball bot or mid lane due to their carry potential. However, because Kog'maw is a late game hyper-carry himself, he can often focus on snowballing himself. Top lane is also a very long lane, often without the constant ward patrol of supports, combined with the fact that top laners often have reliable hard-CC.

Play jungle Kog'maw once and you will find out that his biggest problem is not dealing damage, but instead staying alive. Bloodrazer and Bio-Arcane essentially gives you a 6% max health on-hit, which does not scale off at any point in the game. Building Runaan's helps amplify this damage to 3 targets at once, combined with his attack speed you can shred anything.

Sure you can build Bork or Wit's end next, but also note that 3 items is often the time that team fights start breaking out. If you can somehow get a dedicated full solo or Dynamic Q team to actually sacrifice themselves to peel for you, climbing to at least diamond should be a breeze.

If not, take the trade-off of damage for tank items. You will find that by building tanky, you have much more of a team fight presence, as the enemy mid lander can no longer kill you in 1 combo and you have much more room for mistakes.

Also please do keep in mind that you can also indirectly peel for your ADC by simply soaking up damage and CC. Full build Kog'maw is also an absolute monster when built tanky, as you outdamage everything in the game while being extremely difficult to burst down.

Please, please, please stay back. If your enemy team still have more than 3 ultimate spells that they have not used yet, you will most likely get jumped and die.

Your Leona is too busy going balls deep on the enemy ADC. Your Katarina is like a great white shark, circling its bleeding prey, only ever attacking when their almost dead. Your pet rock Malphite who's lane you've camped religiously hits R faster than he hits the surrender button.

Your Leona is too busy going balls deep on the enemy ADC. Your Katarina is like a great white shark, circling its bleeding prey and will gladly let everyone blow their damage and CC on you for a chance to go to PentaKill City. Your pet rock Malphite who's lane you've camped religiously hits R faster than he hits the surrender button.


DO not depend on your team mates for peel, also do not ask your team mates to peel for you. If your tema is inexperienced with the game "protect the Kog" you will most likely turn the team into a passive pushovers, depend on your positioning and damage to win team fights, this is a good practice, its best to get used to it.

Unless Your Team Looks Like This

Pro-Tip
Play as if you were a Master Yi

Malphite
-ONLY GO IN AFTER HE ULTS. If you attack while he still has his ultimate, you will get ulted and then get jumped, most likely you will die before you get off any significant damage output.

Wukong
-Re-read Malphite's post

Nautilus
-He can CC chain you for days. Wait until he blows his ult, then go in.

Thresh
-For god sakes just dont get hooked

Blitzcrank
-If your full tank Reksai plays more passive then a Soraka or you Wukong doesn't want Blitzcrank to help him engage, you will have a hard time. Please, ask your tanks to be in front. Blitzcrank will priority grab you, and blow flash if he see's an opportunity. If you get grabbed you will pop like a balloon.

Master Yi
-I hope your team is smart enough to save CC for him, otherwise he will most likely just rush you when your team is low and get free kills.

(These are the main threats that I've noticed in games so far, I will update if i see another champion worth mentioning)

Any constructive criticism or arguments against this guide would be great, as it will open me to new viewpoints and help improve the guide. HOWEVER, if your criticism is only 1 sentence filled with bashful words, then don't bother.