Kog'Maw Build Guide by Mathmos3

Introduction

Hi, I'm Mathmos and this is my first guide. At first it may seem stupid. There are no defensive items, afterall. Some might say, "What is the point of all this damage when I die instantly?" Well you will die instantly, if they get in range of you that is. Kog'Maw can abuse Bio-Arcane Barrage's massive range to stay out of harms way while still putting out damage. There are some requirements to this guide which I will list below, but as long as you have the right positioning you can't die. I hope you like my guide and please don't downvote it without leaving a good reason. Enjoy!

Requirements

To use this guide effectively, the enemy must be structured in a certain way. Below is a list of what kind of champions the enemy must not have;

• Strong assassins. (Like Akali and Kassadin)
• Good gap closers. (Like Xin Zhao and Malphite)
• Long ranged casters or carries. (Like Tristana and Xerath)

Trust me, not all teams will have these deadly champions. If they do, just use a normal build with defensive items and all that. If they don't, it's time to two shot people.

Pros/Cons

Pros:

• Can melt even the toughest of tanks in seconds.
• Awesome range with Bio-Arcane Barrage.
• Can kill most other AD carries before they get in auto-attack range of him.
• Ult makes people rage if used right.
• His taunt is the best in the game.

Cons:

• If they get to you, it's game over.
• Positioning has to be perfect.
• Weak early game with any build.
• If you find yourself alone late game, you are probably a dead man (or animal thing) walking.

Regular Runes

• Greater Mark of Attack Damage: These are my favorite marks to have. It makes last hitting easier and you can deal a little extra damage to your enemies.
• greater mark of desolation: They allow you to do a bit more damage to the enemies over Greater Mark of Attack Damage but I feel that I need the extra damage to last hit. (Kog's auto-attacks without modifiers are some of the weakest in the game)
• Greater Mark of Attack Speed: We have attack-speed glyphs.

---

• Greater Seal of Armor: I know we are a glass cannon, but all the others seals can't really do as much. They are also very helpful early game to reduce the enemy AD's poke.
• Greater Seal of Attack Speed: We have attack-speed glyphs.

---

• Greater Glyph of Attack Speed: You don't need MR as you will not be taking much magic damage in the laning phase and late game you will not be getting hit. As damage glyphs suck, this is the only real option. Can't go wrong with attack-speed.
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: As I said above, you are untouchable late game and early game there is little or no magic damage. The same applies to Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist.

---

• Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: More attack damage = more last hits = profit. This is really just my personal preference though. Feel free to swap for armor penetration quints.
• greater quintessence of desolation: It really is just a matter of what you prefer. These will probably be better late game though.
• Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed: I honestly don't see why you need more attack-speed. It is viable though.
• Greater Quintessence of Critical Damage: This isn't specifically a critical strike chance build. Just look at the top. 55% isn't enough to go buying these. Same applies to Greater Quintessence of Critical Chance

Multi-Purpose Masteries

Since we are a glass cannon, I take 21-0-9 masteries. In Offense I get;

• Brute Force : It gives AD and you are an ADC. I have said enough.
• Butcher : Seeing as Summoner's Wrath will do nothing for our summoner spells, we need this to advance to the second tier of Offense. It also helps your last hitting a bit.
• Alacrity : Attack-speed is just plain awesome on Kog'Maw. Also needed for Weapon Expertise .
• Weapon Expertise : 10% armor penetration. This is plainly awesome. Let's say you are against a Rammus that gets 200 armor. You just ignored 20 armor! And that can really make a difference over several attacks.
• Deadliness : This turns out to give you 9 extra damage at level 18. That't not bad at all.
• Lethality : Even though, as I mentioned earlier, this guide doesn't specifically revolve around crit-chance, this is still awesome. When you have finished your build that 10% extra is quite a lot.
• Vampirism : The lifesteal is nice for a bit of extra sustain in the lane. Combined with Doran's Blade, you will have 6% spellvamp! If you prefer Havoc , you can swap Vampirism for it.
• Sunder : Not much to say about this. Armor penetration is awesome. There, it's done.
• Executioner : The head of the offensive Offensive masteries, why wouldn't you get it? Targets below 40% health get dealt and extra 6% of damage from you. Awesome.
  

In Utility I like to take;

• Summoner's Insight : We have flash, no?
• Expanded Mind : Kog'Maw gets very mana hungry. This helps with that as well as allowing us to access the second tier and getting Meditation
• Swiftness : Be swift like Teemo! Also needed to get the third tier of the Utility masteries unlocked so we can get Runic Affinity .
• Meditation : This also solves your mana problems. The extra 3 mana per 5 is not to be ignored. What else would you invest in anyway?
• Runic Affinity : Makes your redbuff last a bit longer, by 20% that is. Also good if you picked up blue from that pentakill you just got.

Special Summoner Spells

• Flash: The enemies managed to catch you? Flash! That guy just barely escaped? Flash! Graves just Quickdrawed over a wall to freedom? Flash! What can't this awesome spell do? (Never change Flash, only Heal)
• Heal: I'll admit it falls off a bit late game but early game its essential to stay in the lane if you don't have a healer support. You can also trick people into diving you then kill them. If you have a healer support don't take this.
• Ignite: This is for when your support is a healer or the enemy support is Soraka. If you get this, take the point out of Butcher and put it into Summoner's Wrath for the extra stats.
• Exhaust: I honestly think that your support should have this but if they went and got Heal or something you could take this. It excels 1v1, more so than any other spell. Do not change masteries to accommodate Exhaust.

---

• Cleanse: I guess it works, but you should be trying to not be hit by crowd control at all.
• Ghost: It just isn't as awesome at chasing or running. And if the enemy flashes over a wall you can't really do much.
• Surge: Kog'Maw does operate on attack speed and his spells do use AP, but I find this pretty useless compared to other options. Still viable though.
• Teleport: This can be used in three sane ways; to defend a dying tower, to push a tower that your creeps are working on and to get to a teamfight you missed. Get it if you want, I just find that I don't need it.

---

• Barrier: This spell is great, IF YOUR A HACKER.
• Smite: No Comment.
• Revive: 1: Why did you die? 2: It's cooldown is nuts. 3. THIS ISN'T A TROLL GUIDE.
• Rally: Even if you were a hacker, this thing sucks so hard.
• Garrison: You aren't a support and YOU CAN'T EVEN GET THIS.
• Clarity: You only have mana problems early game, assuming you aren't spamming the hell out of Living Artillery.
• Promote: Supports don't even use this, it's so bad.
• Clairvoyance: For supports. I don't need to say anything more.

Awesome Abilities

Passive: Icathian Surprise: This passive is really good early game but slowly falls off due to bad scaling. It increases by 25 each level with a base of 100. As you can imagine, people are going to gain more than 25 health every level, and that's without taking items into account. Its use is to finish off enemies that just managed to beat you in a fight or to weaken the enemy team if you die during a team fight.

• Clicking on the enemy you want to damage makes it impossible for them to do non-ability dukes. (If they walk into a brush you obviously have to resort to manual. Watch out for them duking back).
• If you see that you will not survive a chase, turn around and attack the weakest, most immobile champion in range. Hopefully you will take them down with you.
• If there are no champions to use this on, (say Tryndamere killed you and spun out) get some last hits on minions.
• Don't be afraid to chase a champion down that you know has flash, making them burn it is worth something.

---

Q: Caustic Spittle: This spell has an active and a passive. The passive is a percentage increase in attack speed and the active is a damage dealing armor and magic resist debuff. Early game it is quite effective but late game you won't be in range to use it, assuming you are playing smart. It does, however, scale of AP, so by not using it you aren't missing out on much. I max Caustic Spittle out second, after Bio-Arcane Barrage and before Void Ooze.

• Use the active first early game so your attacks hit slightly harder.
• If you are cleaning up a fight and only low damage dealers are left, go up and use the active to make your team's job easier.

---

W: Bio-Arcane Barrage: This is the spell that defines Kog'Maw and makes this build possible. It gives you 8 seconds of godlike mode in which no one can reach you. Combined with Madred's Bloodrazor you will be doing 10% of your enemies max health per hit as well as your actual auto-attacks. If all the enemy team start staking armor you will still be doing tons of magic damage. Poor them. I max this out first.

• Can be used with Living Artillery to do awesome things. (I will go over this later).
• Out-ranges every other auto-attack in the game.
• Do not use this prematurely. If it runs out during a fight and you have to go up to your enemies, bad things can happen.
• Assuming all your enemies stood still in the middle of the map, you could kill them all before Bio-Arcane Barrage wore off.

---

E: Void Ooze: This spell is Kog'Maw's only form of CC (unless you count teleporting people back to base and giving them a gray screen). Early game you should use it after Caustic Spittle for the slow and then auto-attack them to death. We max it last because it scaled of AP, making the damage poor and because we kind of rely on our teammates for the CC.

• Use it to slow your enemies escape.
• If you are dueling someone and they run on critical red health after Bio-Arcane Barrage wears off, you can use this to quickly slow them. Follow up with a Living Artillery for the guaranteed hit and kill.
• Leave this behind you if you are running away.

---

R(Ultimate): Living Artillery: This spell is your awesome ultimate. It deals damage and reveals enemy targets. The ad ratio is pretty crummy (0.5 per bonus ad) but it still effectively snipes fleeing enemies. I will later add a chapter with screen shots showing how to use this spell like a boss. I obviously max it out whenever I can, levels 6, 11 and 16.

• When harassing, aim right behind the enemy you want to hit.
• If Living Artillery is used again within six seconds of a previous cast, the mana cost is upped by 40. When harassing, treat this six seconds like the cool down.
• Use it to cut off fleeing enemies best escape routes.
• Never aim on top of people.
• Can get awesome kses.

Main Build

• Berserker's Greaves: This is your first full item. It is fairly standard on any ADC and is very self-explanatory, especially seeing as you are a glass cannon.
• Infinity Edge: This item is pure, undiluted awesomeness for any AD. Damage. Crit chance. Crit damage. It's a bit expensive but well worth the money.
• Phantom Dancer: Attack speed is very good on Kog'Maw and this is a massive and much needed bonus. The movement speed allows you to easily catch up to fleeing enemies and the crit chance is nice.
• The Bloodthirster: Lifesteal is good. And the damage from this thing is even better. If you feel like you need it, get the vampiric scepter component of this earlier for the lifesteal.
• Madred's Bloodrazor: Attack speed, attack damage and a passive that has awesome synergy with Bio-Arcane Barrage. What more could you want? If they enemy are very tanky you can get this as your first item.
• Last Whisper: For the extra damage and armor penetration. If the enemy are intelligent they will be stacking armor by now and you need that penetration. If the enemy are to stupid to get armor then replace this with a second The Bloodthirster or perhaps Sword of the Occult.
  

Situational Items

---

Boots

• Mercury's Treads: For CC heavy teams or for when your team fed the enemy team's AP mid. Consider other items such as Wit's End and Guardian Angel.
• Boots of Swiftness: If you feel like you need the extra movement to catch fleeing champions or flee yourself, consider taking these. I wouldn't personally recommend it because Berserker's Greaves and Phantom Dancer give you more move speed than most.
• Ninja Tabi: For when the enemy ADC or any other AD heavy champion on the enemy team got fed. They are also very cheap.

---

Pure Damage Alternatives

• Second The Bloodthirster: You would get this over your Last Whisper if they don't build armor or over your Madred's Bloodrazor if they are a team of squishes. If they are both beefy and armor heavy then you should not take this.
• Sword of the Occult: Get this early on if you are getting kills and assists everywhere. Get it over Madred's Bloodrazor or Last Whisper for the same reasons I mentioned above. Once again, you should not take this if they have lots of armor and lots of health.
• Second Phantom Dancer: This is quite a good item to have two of. It has everything Kog'Maw really needs and will bring your crit chance up to 85%. If you have your Elixir of Agility up then you will have an amazing 93% crit chance. I would swap these for my boots after getting full items. You only lose a bit of speed and will still be going faster than some other champions.
• Malady: It has a nice passive and the attack speed is nice. The AP will not do very much but if you have got baron and Elixir of Brilliance the 25 extra AP will equal 105 in total. This will make Bio-Arcane Barrage deal an extra 1% of your target's max health. Don't get this if you got another attack speed (excluding the second Phantom Dancer) situational item.

---

Damage with Defense

• Wit's End: This is a very good item, even without the awesome magic resist. It makes your attacks deal 42 extra magic damage too! Watch your enemies get armor and then still take truckloads of magic damage. I am considering working this into the main build somewhere its that awesome.
• Frozen Mallet: This is actually the third biggest health boost in the game and it still gives you damage. You will also be slowing your enemies move speed by 30%, greatly reducing the enemies chance of escape. Get this if you are dying from magic and physical damage.
• Maw of Malmortius: I don't feel that this item reaches its full potential on Kog'Maw with the passive, but it does give nice damage. I honestly don't think you should get this as Wit's End is better with Kog'Maw. Wit's End still does damage and gives attack speed, this doesn't. See my logic?

---

Defense

• Guardian Angel: This item is the best pure defensive item for Kog'Maw in my opinion. Assuming you die, the enemy team must have rushed at you while your own team pounded them. You probably should have had the time to take one of them down to. You can just pop back to life and focus down any survivors. It also gives armor and magic resist which is nice.
• Banshee's Veil: Nice health, nice magic resist and an awesome passive. This should always be up as you enter a team fight as it can block a negative spell from the enemy AP and save your life. It also really annoys Karthus.
• Quicksilver Sash: Great if you are somehow getting stunned/snared and dying. Also gives nice magic resist. You must get this if the enemy have a good Malzahar on their team.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed my guide and have learnt something. If you disliked my guide please leave a comment explaining why so I can improve it. If you liked it, explain why so I can see what I did well. Thank you for reading.
(Special thanks to jhoijhoi for the awesome guide on making guides).

P.S. I'm called Mathmos2 because I created an account called Mathmos and then forget the password to my e-mail before I could verify it. I then repeated that with a new e-mail. I am called Mathmos on the actual server.

P.P.S. I forgot the password to the e-mail for this account too so don't e-mail me anything.

Preview of What is to Come

If you are reading this, my guide is fairly new. This chapter will briefly describe what I plan to add to the guide. I will;

• Add a section describing what to do in your early game, mid game and late game.
• Add a section for Living Artillery.
• Add more detail to existing chapters.
• Add a list of good supports to lane with.
• Add a list of enemy ADCs and support.
• Add a list of enemy junglers.
• Add videos of myself playing Kog'Maw in the early game, mid game, and late game.

I will add them in that order. As you can see I have a lot to do and your feedback will be really helpful.

Change Log

27/08/2012 - Guide Published
27/08/2012 - Made a few minor fixes
28/08/2012 - Made Last Whisper part of the main build. Added situational items. More minor fixes.