Welcome to my second guide on mobafire! You can find my first guide for Jarvan IV here if you're interested. To follow the theme, this guide is going to talk about the way I play Cho'Gath in the jungle. Of course, this is a guide, and not a ruleset, so feel free to adapt and play Cho'Gath however you feel like it. Just a couple of recent games as him using this build. SPECIAL THANKS: Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.

Pros

+ A lot of CC. + Super Sustained with Carnivore. + Free Smite with Feast. + Great presence in teamfights. + You can literally get fed.

Cho'Gath is a great asset to any team, as well as being a fairly safe pick. He can stay fairly sustained in the jungle with just a Hunter's Machete as well as being a great ganker and teamfighter. Cho'Gath is able to deal lots of AoE CC and damage thanks to his Rupture, Feral Scream and Vorpal Spikes, as well as being able to finish off any hard to kill people with Feast.

Cons

- Mana hungry. - Dying hurts Cho'Gath. - Lengthy cooldowns. - No escapes. - All of your CC can miss.

Like any other champion in League of Legends, Cho'Gath has his ups and downs. One of the many is that he doesn't have a real escape, and that dying hurts a lot more due to him losing half of his Feast stacks. When he ganks, his CC is a pretty much all or nothing situation, where if you hit it, you are burning their escapes or they are dead, or they can walk away freely.

21 Defense, 9 into Offense or Utility.

M A G N I F I C E N T

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M A S T E R I E S

// This is a pretty standard page for a lot of junglers, although a lot of you might notice that I didn't throw a point in Veteran's Scars . The reason why I did this was because on Cho'Gath 30 health means nothing once you have Feast, as even 1 stack of it gives you 90 health. Other than that, you can feel free to take the 9 points in offense, and put it in the utility if you want to have your buffs for a longer duration, as well as have Smite on a shorter cooldown. The reason I go offense, is because all of your skills scale with ability power, so a little bit goes a far way. Q: Is this the best setup for Cho'Gath? // Cho'Gath is a very versatile champion, and you can get away with doing almost any mastery set up for him. However, I feel that this is one of the better setups you can do for jungling, but it can and will differentiate depending on where you are going and what role on the team you are going to fill in.

• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: Since all of your abilities scale off of ability power, I strongly suggest these runes. This also gives you a bit more damage on your auto attacks because of Vorpal Spikes, allowing you to clear that much faster.
  
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: This goes with your abilities really well, since pretty much all of your abilities (besides Feast) deal magic damage, it allows you to ignore some of their resistances, which is really nice. This also pretty much negates any enemy champion that decided to take Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist runes early on, as they don't have enough magic resistance from them to counter your penetration.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: A lot of things in the game deal physical damage, every champion can auto attack, every minion/jungle creep, towers.... you get the point. This is pretty much essential on you as a tank and a jungler.
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: Flat mr glyphs allow you to be pretty safe against early damage from any magic damage, since you will be building a Spectre's Cowl early on you shouldn't really have to worry about any magic damage at almost any stage in the game.

Smite: You're jungling, if I really need to explain why this is a MUST summoner spell then you might want to stay away from the jungle.

Ghost: On non-initiation junglers like Cho'Gath, I find that Ghost is better as both a follow up spell for chasing, and a good escape tool when you're probably the last person left.

Flash: This is arguably the best summoner spell in the game, and its great on literally any champion. Its a great pick against champions that have abilites that have impassable terrain abilities like Jarvan IV or Anivia.

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Carnivore: This is your key to everything in life. This gives you health and mana for everything you last hit. This is amazing for both laning purposes, as well as clearing the jungle, as it will give you the sustain you need to clear effectively and stay at high health.

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Rupture: Cho'Gath stomps his foot, causing the ground to tremble at the target location for 0.625 seconds. Afterwards, spikes erupt from the ground knocking up all enemies in a 175-radius area for 1 seconds and dealing magic damage. Targets hit are slowed by 60% for 3 seconds after landing.

You're going to want to put a point in [Rupture] at level 2, to knock up the jungle minions for better clears. After that however, you aren't going to level it up until you can't put points in anything else, as only the damage of the ability goes up, and not the crowd control dealt or the cooldown.

• Make sure you lead this ability, as it does have a small time before the enemies are knocked up.
• This ability is great in teamfights, try to position it so it will land on as many enemy champions as possible, especially the key targets in fights.
• Try not to spam this ability in the jungle, as it does have a fairly high mana cost, and it can drain your mana quickly.

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Feral Scream: Cho'Gath roars, dealing magic damage and silencing all enemies in a 60º cone area in front of him.

You're going to want to max out [Feral Scream] before [Rupture] and after [Vorpal Spikes], as the silence duration goes up by level, and at the end it makes it the longest silence in the game.

• Try to use this as early as possible on champions with built in escapes like Kassadin or Fizz
• Hit as many champions as possible with this ability. It makes a huge impact in teamfights.
• The silence has a little bit of a farther range than what the range indicator states, you can use this to your advantage.

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Vorpal Spikes: Whenever Cho'Gath performs a basic attack, he will launch spikes dealing magic damage to enemies in a line in front of him.

You're going to want to max out [Vorpal Spikes] first, as it doesn't cost any mana to use, and provides a nice constant source of dps for both fights and clearing the jungle.

• Try to position yourself so Vorpal Spikes will hit as many things as possible.
• Turn them off when you are near towers, an enemy champion can walk into it and cause the tower to focus you.
• If a minion is a bit too risky to walk up to hit, try to find a closer minion to send the spikes out to hit the ones in the back.

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Feast: ACTIVE: Cho'Gath devours target enemy, dealing true damage. If Feast kills the target, Cho'Gath grows larger and gains extra health and basic attack range, stacking up to six times. Cho'Gath loses half of these stacks, rounded up (Lost stacks being rounded up, thus, kept stacks rounded down), whenever he dies.

Feast deals 1000 (+ 70% AP) true damage to minions and monsters.

Like any ultimate, you are going to want to put a point in [Feast] at levels 6, 11, and 16... basically whenever you can.

• Try to get your stacks up as fast as possible, you will notice the health changes.
• This has the power of a level 18 Smite at level 6, and it can go higher with ability power, abuse this by starting Feast then using Smite right before your Feast hits for securing dragon/baron a lot more effectively.
• A small red aura will appear under champions that will die to Feast, so check around their feet before you go for the kill.

Item Progression

Starting Items

This is the best item setup for any jungler in the game, including Gho'Gath as it helps you clear faster, it provides a lot of sustain with the stack of Health Potion, and it builds into the Spirit Stone item list, which is great since you will most likely be building a Spirit of the Ancient Golem.

First Back

Again, we are pretty standard for pretty much any jungler here, the Spirit Stone allows you do do a little bit more in the jungle, as well as make you that much more sustained with Carnivore. The Boots are for traversing the map a lot easier and catching up to a champion you just landed a Rupture on.

Upgrade!

Really, you're just upgrading the stuff that you already had. Spirit of the Ancient Golem is great for the cooldown reduction, health, and tenacity it gives. The Ninja Tabi is pretty great because it really makes auto attacks do a lot less.

Resistances

Emblem of Valor

These items are fantastic on pretty much any tank, and you can upgrade them later for a pretty decent cost. Just check to see if your support is picking up a Locket of the Iron Solari first so you don't double up. If your support is building one, build a Hextech Revolver instead.

Upgrade!

This build is pretty simple right? Just build something, then go back and upgrade them. So that's what your doing, if you aren't building the Aegis of the Legion, buy a Bildgewater Cutlass instead.

Finish him!

Nothing new here, besides the Abyssal Mask. Its useful for both you and your AP carry. If you don't have an AP carry, then build a Liandry's Torment for some extra damage. That being said, you also finish your Hextech Gunblade here if your support went the Locket of the Iron Solari route, as now you'll have an active slow, as well as some pretty decent damage and sustain.

And you're Done!

So this is what I usually take game to game on Cho'Gath, as it allows you to be the best meatshield/crowd control monster there is. It gives you Tenacity, auto attack reduction, and a bunch of armor and magic resistance. Of course, you should be adapting your build towards what your team needs, but this is kind of a standard meatshield build that I usually end up comparing everyhting else to.

Cho'Gath is one of the more versatile junglers in League of Legends, he can clear fast, gank efficiently, and can stay super sustained throughout the whole thing. This section is going to be completely dedicated to show you the routes and tactics that you can use in order to get the most out of Cho'Gath.

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What is in the Jungle?

The jungle can look very overwhelming to somebody that is just starting the game or just getting into jungling. Its a complex maze full of different monsters, and some of them have shiny auras around them.

However, the jungle is full of areas where you can receive gold and experience, as well as collect buffs for you and your teammates throughout the course of the game. Let's go look at the different camps, and what each one will give you.

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Dragon This is a team objective. The Dragon spawns at 2:30, and respawns every 6 minutes after it is killed. The team that kills the Dragon is granted 950 gold (190 to every player), and another 25 to the person who got the final blow. The dragon also gives a large amount of experience to whoever helped kill the Dragon - as long as they are on the same team that ended up getting the final blow. - Note: Baron Nashor is immune to any crowd control effects or damage reducing abilities.

Baron Nashor This is a team objective. Baron Nashor spawns at 15:00, and respawns every 7 minutes after it is killed. The team that kills Baron Nashor]] is granted 1500 gold (300 to every player), the Exalted with Baron Nashor buff, and another 25 to the person who got the final blow. Baron Nashor also grants a large experience buff to the team that slays it. - Note: Baron Nashor is immune to any crowd control effects or damage reducing abilities.

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Blue Buff This is where the Ancient Golem is, although it is better known as Blue Buff. It spawns at 1:55, and respawns exactly 5:00 after the last monster in the camp is killed. Whoever lands the killing blow on the Ancient Golem will end up receiving the Crest of the Ancient Golem buff.

Red Buff This is where the Elder Lizard is, although its better known as Red Buff. It spawns at 1:55, and respawn exactly 5:00 after the last monster in the camp is klled. Whoever lands the killing blow on the Elder Lizard will end up receiving the Blessing of the Lizard Elder buff.

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Wolves This is where the Giant Wolf is located. It spawns at 1:55, and respawns exactly 0:50 after the last monster in the camp is killed. Killing the wolves grant some gold and experience to the killer, as well as a small health/mana packet.

Wraiths This is where the Wraith is located. It spawns at 1:55, and respawn exactly 0:50 after the last monster in the camp is klled. Killing the wraiths grant some gold and experience to the killer, as well as a small health/mana packet.

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Smiteless Blue This is the most standard route you will see right now. You start out by going to the Ancient Golem camp, when it spawns at 1:55, you and a couple of your teammates will help you get it low enough so you can kill it without using Smite and gain the Crest of the Ancient Golem buff. After that you will head to the Lizard Elder and kill that camp as well, getting you the other buff, Blessing of the Lizard Elder.

Smiteless Red This is another very popular route that more experienced junglers take, or if the person is playing somebody that doesn't completely get the benefits from the Crest of the Ancient Golem like Shyvana or Zac. This is pretty much the same as the Smiteless Blue route, except that you start at the Lizard Elder camp, and work your way over to the Ancient Golem camp for the other buff. Which of these routes is best on Cho'Gath? Cho'Gath is a very weird champion. He is mana hungry, but doesn't need any mana until he is level 2. This means he can start at either of the two camps. This means you can start wherever the team needs you to be. Which means if you know that your Tryndamere is going to be having a tough time, you can clear the camps in a way where you will be closest to his lane when you hit level 3 and have all of your abilities.

Thank you guys for reading this guide on Cho'Gath! If you guys could take the time to leave a comment and maybe vote it that would be great. I am very open to any feedback somebody has and would be happy to hear about it!

Just the changes/additions I've made to the guide, don't really need to read it.