Pros +Largest health pool in the game with Feast. +True damage with Feast. +A lot of crowd control. +Solid base damage on his skills, even without building AP. +Doesn't need to deviate from ideal build often. +Amazing sustain with Carnivore passive. +Not easily countered, fairly safe if you pick first. +Can level up his abilities in different orders and still be successful.

Cons -Immobile. -Can struggle against players with mobility and quick reactions. -Largely relies on Rupture to succeed. -Bad at roaming due to awful mobility. - Feast has essentially no range. - Rupture can be difficult to land at times. - Feral Scream sometimes seems buggy and won't hit when it should.

Starting Items

I start with these items first in all situations. Take Stealth Ward in all situations. Doran's Ring provides early mana sustain and a little damage boost.

First Back

This is the #1 item you need on first back. Do everything possible to make sure you can buy it before backing. It addresses your early mana problems, and also gives you more AP.

Boots

Go with Sorcerer's Shoes in most situations as you will need the magic penetration to further your burst damage. Only go with Mercury's Treads if you are dealing with a lot of crowd control, AP burst, and you are behind.

Core Items

Luden's Tempest comes first. Addresses all of your needs; mana, AP, scaling magic penetration, cooldown, and a great movement speed boost whenever you hit an ability. Next you will want Cosmic Drive. is a lesser version of Luden's Tempest. It will also boost your gap-closing when you land an ability. Cho'Gath has problems with mobility without items, so these first two items really cover up that weakness. Your last core item is Rabadon's Deathcap. Now that you can close in on your enemy with ease, you will want this item so you can burst-kill them. Simple AP stat item, but very effective.

Final Items

Void Staff will finish the magic penetration portion of your build, allowing you to burst anything other than tanks. Morellonomicon will stop your enemy from healing if they can, while still providing more damage and more HP.

Situational Items

Banshee's Veil should only be taken if you need to further your ability damage, while blocking a certain all-in ability, such as a Malphite's Unstoppable Force. Zhonya's Hourglass is the only armor item that really fits this build. Consider it if you are dealing with a lot of strong AD enemies. Wit's End is surprisingly good on Cho'Gath, but usually more for a melee engagement, or top lane. If you want to give top lane Cho'Gath a try, consider building this if you have a close-range AP matchup such as Diana or Sylas. Spirit Visage can be taken if you want extra healing to go with magic resist. Really a matter of preference between this and Force of Nature. Force of Nature is your other magic resist option. Really a matter of preference between this and Spirit Visage.

Farming with Cho'Gath is pretty simple. He has a smooth, easy last hit animation. You get a basic attack reset through Vorpal Spikes which helps. Also, after Luden's Tempest and a few levels on Q, your Rupture will 1-hit clear the caster minions.


Cho'Gath is unique because he can deal with ranged champions quite well, despite being a melee champion. The range on his Rupture allows you to engage ranged champions if you are accurate. Use it to engage.

When going for a full combo kill, you'll want to land Rupture > Feral Scream > Vorpal Spikes (1 hit) > Feast. Against squishies, this should be a kill if you have a couple core items. Feral Scream silence allows you to do all of this without fear of your enemy using Flash or Heal to escape.

Early on, you will probably be dealing with mana problems. I wouldn't focus too hard on throwing out a lot of ruptres. It has a fairly high base mana cost, and doesn't do a lot of damage early. It scales high with levels, so consider using it a little more and being aggressive once you get 3 or 4 levels put into it. Until then, you'll want to focus on your farming. Avoid farming with this skill unless you are getting poked away. Feel free to use Vorpal Spikes freely, as it has a very low mana cost. If you master your farming, you will gain back all the mana you used on that skill anyway.

You can truly get aggressive once you pick up Luden's Tempest. You won't be in danger of running out of mana quickly anymore, and the movement speed boost allows you to get in close to use your other skills. Watch your opponent closely and time your Rupture when they are going for a minion. It's a lot harder to land this skill in the open, so it's very important that you observe your enemies' movement tendencies.

If you are facing a melee champion who jumps in and attacks you first, you'll want to open with Vorpal Spikes first. The slow makes it easier to land your Rupture. If you are dealing with a champion that can blink around, attempt to use Feral Scream first. The silence will stop them from blinking away from your Rupture.

You'll need to be pretty careful about enemy junglers. Make sure you ward, as you really have no means of escape. Your best bet is to attempt to land Rupture on both of them and walk away if you get ganked.

Save Feast for your opponent if you are having an easy time killing him. You can always get your minions stacks whenever you want. Feast scales your HP with each level, and the HP gain doesn't become huge until you get this skill maxed. Because of this, I wouldn't worry too much about getting stacks on minions early. I think it's more important to have it ready for your enemy. Your goal will be to reach 6 minion stacks before you hit level 16. Always use on Baron/Dragon/Rift Herald when possible, as it will grant a stack that does not count towards the minion cap, and it does more damage than Smite.

I wouldn't try to roam very much. Cho'Gath is very slow and a bad roam will leave you missing experience and gold for a long time. However, you can try roaming into the jungle and waiting for someone to walk by. Rupture's windup animation is not visible to your enemy if you use it from a bush. This creates a huge advantage and allows you to easily time your entire combo for easy kills. With that said, if the opportunity is there, you can always go for a Teleport gank as well.


For teamfights, you can poke/engage with Rupture. You'll want to do your best to hit the enemy teams' biggest threat and go for the kill with Feast, but you likely won't be able to get to the back line easily. Don't just charge straight into the back line. Rupture has a pretty low cooldown after it has been maxed, along with ability haste. Because of this, you can use Rupture as a poking skill multiple times before you decide to go all-in.

Timing your Feral Scream is very important. You'll want to use it at the best possible moment to stop an enemy from using a spell. Works great against someone like Fiddlesticks if you have vision on him while he's channeling ult. Flash to him and Feral Scream to interrupt.

As stated earlier, Feast is amazing for Baron/Dragon/Rift Herald steals. It will do more damage than max level Smite, so definitely go for the Baron steal if you can.


Cho'Gath is pretty binary so there aren't a lot of fancy tricks to learn, but there are a few.

Vorpal Spikes will reset your basic attacks, so you'll want to basic attack and then activate it right after for maximum damage.

Although it's not really a trick, timing your combo is essential. Rupture > Feral Scream right before the knockup is over will silence long enough to get in 1 Vorpal Spikes hit + Feast before the enemy can use Flash.

Using Rupture from a bush with no vision stops your enemy from seeing the important windup animation and they will have less time to react to it. Use this to your advantage when you get an item or two. You should look to occasionally sit in a jungle bush and try to get an easy kill.

Feast out-damages Smite, and if you kill Dragon, Baron, or Rift Herald with it, it will give you a stack that does not count towards the minion cap.


Cho'Gath is a very underrated champion in general with the largest health pool in the game. While immobile, he can make up for it with the amount of crowd control, damage, and range on Rupture. He has a good set of unique traits that make him both valuable, and fun to play.

Spoiler: Click to view -1/18/21 -Moved Yasuo down on threat level and updated information on how to play against him. -12/15/20 -Visual update to banners. -12/12/20 -Changed flex rune to ability haste. -11/26/20 -Added video examples of laning against Katarina & Sylas. -Updated solo lane phase info. -Updated team fight phase info. -11/25/20 -Updated all item suggestions. -Updated all rune suggestions. -Removed top lane matchups. -Added some mid lane matchups. More matchups to come! -Changed guide to mid lane guide instead of top lane. -8/14/19 -Added Shen, Akali, Mordekaiser, and Olaf to matchups. -Moved up Sylas, Riven on threat level. -Moved Volibear down on threat level. -8/8/19 -Just some coding fixes! -7/24/19 -Added Morellonomicon to situational items. -6/13/19 -Added Hecarim to threats. -5/30/19 -Changed secondary runes. -Updated skill order slightly. -5/14/19 -Updated and added various threat matchups. -Other small QOL tweaks to the guide. -4/30/19 -Updated ability order to take Vorpal Spikes at level 1. -Dropped Camille to a lesser threat. -4/21/19 -Guide officially created!