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Recommended Items
Runes: Standard jungle
+8 Ability Haste
+10% Tenacity/Slow Resist
+6 Armor
Spells:
Flash
Smite
Items
Ability Order Standard jungle
Carnivore (PASSIVE)
Cho'Gath Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Vayne
Every champion that does %max health damage (ESPECIALLY IF IT'S TRUE DAMAGE) and/or can kite is a threat to you. Luckily her early game is relatively weak, so try to shut her down ASAP.
Malzahar
Anyone who can set them up so you can land your q as a first hit is ideal.
Malzahar
Anyone who can set them up so you can land your q as a first hit is ideal.
Champion Build Guide
INTRODUCTION
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PRE-GAME
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GAMEPLAY
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EXTRAS
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★ About me ★ Pros / Cons |
★ Abilities ★ Runes ★ Summoner Spells ★ Items ★ Combos |
★ Jungle Route ★ Early Game ★ Mid Game ★ Late Game ★ Advanced Strats |
★ Final Thoughts ★ FAQ ★ Change Log |
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Hi! I'm bluelunged, a LAS player who plays mostly jungle and mid. I have a lot of unorthodox picks and this is one of them, but that doesn't mean it's troll or weak. In fact, Cho'Gath jungle is extremely powerful as an utility jungle to help your team carry. If you wanna play with me add me at "bluelunged", I'm always playing in LAS. I will post updates and improve my guide with your comments, suggestions and ideas, so feel free to comment below or ask so I can expand my FAQ section. |
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Carnivore (Passive): Whenever Cho'Gath kills a unit, he recovers 20 - 71 (+2.83 each level) Health and 3.5 - 7.75 Mana (+0.25 each level). |
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Rupture (Q): Ruptures the ground at target location. After a delay of 0.5 seconds, enemies are launched into the air for 1 second, dealt 80 / 135 / 190 / 245 / 300 (+100% of ability power) magic damage, and have their movement speed slowed by 60% for 1.5 seconds. |
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Feral Scream (W): After 0.5 seconds, Cho'Gath screams in a cone in front of him, silencing enemies for 1.6 / 1.7 / 1.8 / 1.9 / 2 seconds and dealing 75 / 125 / 175 / 225 / 275 (+70% of ability power) magic damage. |
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Vorpal Spikes (E): Cho'Gath's next 3 basic attacks have 50 bonus range and launch a volley of spikes in a line, dealing 22 / 34 / 46 / 58 / 70 (+30% of ability power) (+ 3% of target's maximum health (+ 0.5% per Feast stack)) magic damage and applying a 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50% slow that decays over 1.5 seconds to enemies hit. |
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Feast (R): After 0.5 seconds, Cho'Gath devours an enemy unit, dealing 300 / 475 / 650 (+50% of ability power) (+10% of bonus health) true damage. Against non-champions, the base damage is increased to 1000. If the target is killed, Cho'Gath grows, gaining 80 / 120 / 160 extra health. Each stack of Feast gives Cho'Gath 4.9 / 6.2 / 7.5 attack range, up to 49 / 62 / 75 bonus range. |
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Now that Predator has a much lower base cooldown, you can swap this one for Ultimate Hunter or Ravenous Hunter if you want more early game pressure, provided you can get those stacks. However, I still prefer ingenious, just because of the amount of active items I use, and because predator will still be up much more often. |
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Starting items: Take talisman over machete, because you need the mana sustain and it synergizes better with cho. You want to start with only one Health Potion and a Control Ward instead of Refillable Potion because cho already has a healthy clear, and with the jungle item buff, you should never drop below 30% health. For your trinket, start with Stealth Ward, and then switch to Oracle Lens on your first back or before (explained in early game section). |
First Back: You're aiming to back at 1275 gold (full clear + one kill + a little tax), so you can afford all of this. If you can't afford it, a full clear should allow yo to buy Boots + Ruby Crystal, which is a safe back. Always prioritize boots so you can start really ganking, and change your trinket if you haven't already. From here on, buy a Control Ward EVERY. SINGLE. BACK. and place it before backing, so you buy another one. |
Ninja Tabi > AUTOATTACK RESISTANCE Choose them if the enemy has a lot (3 or more) of autoattack based champions, say, Tryndamere top, Yasuo mid and the adc. Mercury's Treads > TENACITY Take them if they have lots of hard CC (stuns, snares, roots, etc.), NOT SLOWS. Boots of Swiftness > SPEED Take them any other chance, or if they have lots of slows in their comp. These are the best boots for cho, allowing you to escape and to avoid being kited so easily. |
Core items: You want to finish your jungle item (discussed in summoner spells), then your boots (discussed above) and then: If you are ahead and your team is winning, go for Titanic Hydra and stomp them (remember that the active resets your autoattack timer). If the teams are even, go for a Turbo Chemtank and start to gank all the time so you can build a lead, and if your team is behind, go for a defensive item, farm, and try to come back. |
STOPWATCH After you finish your 2nd item, you will likely have used your stopwatch, and will want to upgrade it into something (so it stops using inventory space). So here are your options. |
GARGOYLE STONEPLATE This will be your choice 90% of the time, even if ahead and with a titanic hydra, because of the huge resistances it gives you, and the fact that it nearly doubles your ultimate's damage. Try to activate it while you're surrounded by more than 2 enemies so you maximize its effect, and take into account that it reduces all the damage you do while it's active by 60% (not your ult's damage, that's true damage). |
ZHONYA'S HOURGLASS 9% of the time, when you are SUPER ahead and want the AP, the enemy is 4/5 or 5/5 AD, and they are focusing you. |
After you finish your Stopwatch: If your team is ahead, go for the option you didn't go before with your core items ( Titanic Hydra if you started with Turbo Chemtank and viceversa). If your team is behind after you bought your Stopwatch item, then go for a defensive item.
THORNMAIL > AUTOATTACK RESISTANCE AND HEAL REDUCTION Take it if the enemy team heals a lot and none of your teammates has enough braincells to buy grievous wounds ( Morellonomicon, etc.). RANDUIN'S OMEN > CRIT RESISTANCE Choose this item if the enemy has 2 or more champions that rely on critical strikes, like Tryndamere, Ashe, Yasuo. FROZEN HEART > AUTOATTACK RESISTANCE AND CDR If the enemy team is heavy autoattack based, and none of them heals a lot, or someone in your team bought Morellonomicon or Mortal Reminder, you can take this instead, as it gives more armor and also CDR. DEAD MAN'S PLATE > MOVESPEED AND SLOWS If none of the conditions above apply, or you need a second armor item, take Dead Man's Plate, as it gives you an amazing pasive, useful for chasing, ganking or escaping, as well as very good stats. |
Magic Resistance items: Take Adaptive Helm if the enemy team has consistent magic DPS or spams magic abilities ( Brand, Cassiopeia, Ryze, Karthus), take Abyssal Mask any other time you need MR. Locket of the Iron Solari can be useful if your support didn't buy it and you need to stack MR. |
Warmog's Armor: If your team is ahead, and the enemy team has mixed damage, Warmog's Armor is a perfect fifth or last item for cho, giving you extra health, extra CDR to work with, and an amazing passive which will eliminate the need for recalling (unless it's for buying or mana problems of course). |
Consumables: Elixir of Iron works wonders with Cho, giving you a little extra health, extra tenacity, and helping your team follow you with path of iron (gives them movespeed behind you). Buy it when you base, already have 4 items completed, and have an extra 500 gold to spare after buying your other items. You can also buy it if your inventory is full (even if you're full build) and it will activate automatically without taking an inventory slot. Remember to buy a Control Ward every back (prioritize the ward over elixir if you can't buy both), and use it before backing, I usually buy between 6 and 12 control wards per game, depending on how long it lasts. |
You're a tank, a frontliner, in teamfights your role is to protect your carries and CC the enemy assasin. If you can Feast someone who gets low enough, do it, BUT ONLY IF IT DOESN'T STOP YOU FROM PROTECTING YOUR CARRIES. That said, cho still has 2 combos that you need to know:
This is your assasination combo. If you're in a bush and a lovely little Vayne comes to facecheck, it's your chance to break their heart (and maybe keyboard too). Charge your Predator when they're 1 second from entering the bush, so it's ready just in time (and they don't see the icon above their head until it's too late). Use Feral Scream to silence them, your Challenging Smite and immediately hit an autoattack with your Vorpal Spikes activated, once they're slowed land your Rupture, hit another autoattack and use Titanic Hydra to land the third vorpal spike. Lastly, as they're landing from your Q, use Gargoyle Stoneplate and finish them with your Feast (remember that using Gargoyle Stoneplate gives you more health, which in turn, gives your R more damage, but don't use it too early because it lowers the damage from all your other abilities).
If it all goes well, they will die before the silence ends and will go AFK. If by any chance, anyone else saves them, or they are tanky enough to survive (which is RARE, you wouldn't try this on a Galio), RUN. You won't have any CDs, of CC, or any more damage, so your best option is to escape. They will need to recall, and you can regroup with your team to secure an objective.
Useless info: At level 16, with only the items listed above and with 6 Feast stacks, this combo will deal: 1282 AD + 1099 AP (before resistances) + 1131 True Damage. That's A LOT.
This is your ganking combo. Use Predator or Turbo Chemtank to initiate from the bush, then smite and Vorpal Spikes to slow them. Silence them so they don't use any mobility spel and then Rupture. Keep attacking them to finish with your Feast for that precious stack. If they don't have any mobility spell, and you know their Flash is on cooldown, you can use your Q before your W once they're slowed, and if your laner hard CCs them (like Malzahar's R), you can use your Q as your first spell (time it so it lands as soon as the other CC ends).
Blue Side If you're on the blue side of the map, you're gonna start at red. Your AOE spells, combined with Hunter's Talisman's passive makes for a fast and healthy clear, but be careful with your mana. Start at red, then Krugs (smite) and then Raptors. Go then to Wolves, Blue Sentinel (smite), and Rift Scuttler (at this point you have a hard time dealing with Gromp). After scuttler, look for a gank on top or mid, or an invade if you haven't seen the enemy jungler at his red or you know he went botlane. If none of these are possible, kill gromp, and back. |
Red Side If you're on the red side of the map, you will start at blue. Kill blue, then Wolves, Raptors, Red Brambleback (smite), Krugs and then Rift scuttler (smite). Then look for gank or invade opportunities. In both cases (blue or red side), use a potion when needed, and ask for help if you see the enemy jungler at scutler (with your CC and a teammate you can easily get a kill). In both cases (blue or red side) after you back you can start to do full clears. |
If you start on the top side of the map, you can do the same route but backwards. You want to do this if you think the enemy jungler can steal your other buff early, or if it's a very strong early jungle, or if your botlane is easy to gank at level 3.
Your goal in the early game is to reach level 4 as fast as possible. The ideal path is to do a full clear (excepto gromp), then scuttle, and then gank, but you may encounter difficulties along the way. If you see the enemy jungler at scuttle, don't be afraid to fight with him if it isn't someone like Elise or Xin Zhao. If you kill him, you can look to steal one or two camps before backing. Of you didn't fight, or avoided fighting, try to gank a lane before backing, you might get a kill or at least burn the enemy summoner spells. In rare cases, the enemy jungler will be nowhere to be seen after you finish scuttle, in those cases, don't be afraid to look into their jungle, you might find them clearing a camp, and you can get an easy kill. |
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Once you reach 6, you have to decide to gank, or to secure herald/drake. Always try to make plays when your Feast is off CD, try to never have it available for more than 30 seconds. When you finish your boots and jungle item, decide if you want an aggressive item or a defensive one, and try to make a play with a dive under tower to use your Stopwatch. Most times they don't expect it. Remember to always use your [control ward] and [oracle lens] before ganking or going for an objective, to clear the vision, and keep track of where the enemy jungler is, to warn your teammates and be ready for a countergank. |
Once you have your Titanic Hydra or Turbo Chemtank, your ganks will almost always mean a kill. At this point you should be level 11 or near, so you can start killing normal monsters with your R to stack it but remember to ALWAYS prioritize champions and objectives. If you got a lot of kills on early, or a lane is super ahead, snowball with them and look for an early victory/baron. If you're behind, group and look for picks with Turbo Chemtank so you can secure an Elemental Drake or a tower. |
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If you reach the late game, there are only 2 possible scenarios:
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Hi! This section is meant to help you understand some of the tactics I use in this guide, while also giving you other ones to try and master, to become the best jungler and Cho'gath you can!
This is a general jungle strategy a lot of people use, which consists of going straight for the opposite side top buff, warding it, then backing and changing your trinket to Oracle Lens, and going for your buff. The reason to do this, is because you get a lot of value from that ward, knowing when the enemy jungler goes for his buff gives you insight on which jungle route he took, depending on how many CS he has when he gets there. Also, your Oracle Lens will be off CD really soon, so you will have it to safely gank at level 3, or secure that scuttle crab. This also translates into other strategies. |
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BLUE SIDE | RED SIDE |
Try to enter their jungle in a way that they wont see you, opposite to the ward you placed, so you will see them first. They should be doing their raptors/wolves at the same time you're doing your second buff, so you will have a little time to walk towards their buff and steal it. If you see them (with the ward you placed) finishing their raptors/wolves before you started moving towards their jungle, then abort mission, because you probably won't be able to arrive on time. It's also important to use your Oracle Lens as you're arriving, to make sure they don't see you coming.
This is a super high risk, high reward strategy, that consists on invading their raptors as soon as you finish yours, to try to get a kill and get them behind. If it works, you will get a huge lead, but it can easily backfire and get YOU behind, so be very careful on choosing when to do it. Take note that it only works if you start on the blue side of the map. |
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Here is a video, by youtuber "KingStix", who is a jungle main, explaining this strategy in detail. He uses it on Evelynn, but I tried it with Cho, and works even better bc of how fast you clear raptors and the CC on your Q. The video is 11 minutes long, but the first 3 minutes are more than enough.
It's been fun making this guide :D Please leave your comments and experiences with it, so I can improve and we can all enjoy Cho'Gath
Q:
Why does nobody ask me questions about my guide? |
A: Because you just uploaded it :(. |
Q:
Is Arcane Comet a viable runepage on cho jungle? |
A: Yes, it may be, but it makes your early ganks a lot harder since you don't have the movespeed to reach the enemy, and it will only give damage to all your ganks in early. Predator does more damage, and with the other runes I use, the CD goes down to 80-55 seconds, which is still more than arcane comet, but it's enough to use it almost every gank. |
Q:
Is Nimbus Cloak plus Hextech Flashtraption a good combo on cho? |
A: Not really. For what I've tried, Hextech Flashtraption is SUPER situational, and as Cho, you will use it maybe 3 times per game, which is not worth it in my opinion, as even with surprise ganks, it doesn't compensate what you lose by not taking Predator. |
Q:
Is he good at 1v1 early game? So can I just rush in and kill easily or does it depend on what champion and how fed they are? |
A: He is good, and you can rush and kill easily, but he's not an 1v1 champion. That means that you have to know the matchups, it depends on the enemy champion. For example: An enemy Xin Zhao, Olaf or Lee Sin can easily win an 1v1 because of the sustain or because they can avoid your damage. On the other hand, a Fiddlesticks or Kayn have no way of winning if you fight on the jungle. For ganking is the same, you can't just go and gank the 2/0 enemy Darius, even with your toplaner, you have to be careful. I think cho's strenght relies in the fact that once you have landed your first AA they have no way of escaping you (even more with red buff), so if you are invading and the enemy starts trying to escape instead of fighting, you probably have a kill there (if you land your q obviously). ALso, level 6 is a huge powerspike in your kill potential. TL DR: Be careful, learn your matchups, and once you're level 6 maybe relax a bit. |
Q:
Eyeball Collection vs Zombie Ward? |
A: Both runes give you the exact same stats, but the difference is, since I'm going with Oracle Lens from the beggining, and ganking a lot, I tend to clear a lot of wards, which gives me stacks a lot faster than killing opponents. I tend to max out on 10 stacks at around 10-12 minutes on all games with Zombie Ward, but you won't normally have 10 kills/assists to max Eyeball Collection at that time. |
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Ultimate Hunter vs Ingenious Hunter? |
A: As much as I love having my ultimate as often as possible, I've noticed that I can have a lot more impact on the game if I have Predator and my other items more often. At max stacks, Ultimate Hunter gives you 25% CDR on your R, which reduces to around 13% if you take into account the normal 45% CDR from your build, because they multiply, not add up. That, reduces your Feast CD from 44 (with 45% CDR) to 34, which isn't that much. On the other hand, Ingenious Hunter fully stacked will give you 40% CDR on your active items, which reduces to 38% because of the rune Cosmic Insight, but it's still a lot. If you consider the high cooldowns on your active items, taking 40% from all of them instead of 11% from just your short-cooldown ultimate makes a lot more sense. I think it may come down to personal choice, but I promise you, most games you will get around 15 R stacks anyway, and that CDR on your Predator will make the difference. |
Q:
Relentless Hunter vs Ingenious Hunter? |
A: The first one is only about speed out of combat, which will help when going to gank, but most times people wil try to throw an ability at you to try to slow you down, which will negate it's effect, and in those cases, Ingenious Hunter is a better option. NONETHELESS, with the 10.12 patch coming, and the changes to Predator it could be a lot more viable to take Relentless Hunter or Ultimate Hunter, so I'm waiting excited. |
17/06/2020: A lot of changes from Katasandra's comment, to improve the quality of the guide <3
15/06/2020: Updated for patch 10.12, taken into account Predator changes.
07/06/2020: Updated for patch 10.11. Fixed the table of contents, added a lot of little changes suggested by MagicalRock.
23/05/2020: Updated the whole guide based on comments from Janitsu. Changed the order of some chapters, added videos, planning on adding more combos and Strats :D
20/05/2020: Updated for patch 10.10. Added advanced strats section. Planning on expanding it A LOT, I have a lot of ideas. Also Excited for future changes to Predator on patch 10.12.
22/04/2020: Updated combos, jungle path and game sections. Added some matchups. Planning on adding an "advanced strats" section where I'll give detailed explanations on some of the things i mention in the guide.
21/04/2020: Taking into account PsiGuard's comment, I updated the build section, abilities section, items section, summoner spells section and runes section. Also added some matchups and synergies. I plan on updating the rest this week.
15/04/2020: Updated for 10.8 patch, added jungle changes to early game section and items.
12/04/2020: Created guide
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