Welcome to my very first guide! With this guide I want to show you guys the way I play Cho'Gath - Born of the Void. Since this is my first guide, feel free to leave comments in stead of downvoting it instantly. This guide has room for changes, so your help is welcome :) With that said, know that I play League of Legends for fun and that I'm not a professional gamer.

Cho'Gath is quite versatile: he can go Solo Top or Jungle and while there are many ways to play Cho'Gath, I think the Supportive Tank-build suits him best. However, he can be played as a Damaging Sorcerer too. Therefore you can find two builds.

This guide is set-up in the following way:

» First there is a Pro's/Con's Section, Runes Section, Skills Section & Jungling Section. These sections are general and apply for both builds.
» Next you'll find the Sustain Build, with a Masteries Section and an Item Section, which only applies for the Sustain Build.
» On the bottom you'll find the Damage Build, with a Masteries Section and an Item Section, which only applies for the Damage Build.
» I've also added an experimental (and now my favorite) build
» You can click these emblems to go to the corresponding section.

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Cho'Gath is an easy to understand champion, but his (Q) will take some practice to succesfully land each cast. Expect to take time and practice, as with most champions, to fully understand him.

In order to write this guide I read a lot of other guides on Mobafire, Solomid, etc. If you feel like I used or 'copied' your work, leave me a message and I will list you here.

Special thanks to:
Lucorian5 for his help in the comments.
martjan for his help in the comments.
trednore2 for his help in the comments.
bioshock for his help in the comments.

LaCorpse for his Ahri Guide.
theBMB for his In-Depth Item Guide.
Hahano Who is your jungler and what does he do?

Pros: + Huge Model + Great sustain with passive + Versatile + Very good farmer + Almost unkillable late-game + EATS enemy champions + Good CC in teamfights + Awesome skins + High Damage and High Burst + High Health ( Feast )

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Cons: - Long cooldowns - Mana-hungry early-game - Losing stacks of Feast hurts. - Squishy at first - Very slow - No natural escape - His Rupture can easily be dodged

I use the same runes for both builds, because I think these runes just fit Cho'Gath best. I go for:

• Mark of Attack Speed goes well together with Vorpal Spikes and makes jungling go faster.
• Seal of Armor one of my favorites. It offers some defence, good for sustainability in early jungle and later on.
• Glyph of Magic Resist one of my favorites. It's always nice to have that extra bit of magic resist when playing Tanky.
• Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed Since Cho'Gath is slow, we can use this to speed him up a bit.

Summoner Spells

Smite is a must.

• Combined with Feast = 2000 True Damage to Baron , Dragon and other monsters at lvl18.
• Speeds up jungling and gives more sustainability.
• Together with Summoner's Resolve it gives you extra gold.

Choose one of:

• Flash
  Ability to escape the Baron and Dragon pits and offers a good escape possibility overall.
• Ghost
  Offers a good escape possibility and makes it easier to chase enemies (and hit with basoc attacks and Vorpal Spikes when ganking).
• Teleport
  If you want to gank a lot this could come in handy if you wish. Have you just ganked top lane and is there an awesome opportunity on bot lane? Teleport to a ward and be there when the enemy doesn't expect it and pushes the lane. However, getting away without Ghost or Flash when things go bad gets hard.

Champion Skills

Carnivore (Passive):

Recover HP and MP with each kill, which gives you some amazing sustainability. This passive allows him to maintain his health and mana, making him a great solo laner and jungler. Thanks to this passive, you will not need any Health Potion after your first trip back. Keep in min that it has been nerved.
20 + (3 x level) Health Points
3.25 + (0.25 x level) Mana Points

Rupture (Q):

Nice skill to initiate or slow enemies (chasing you). This skill combined with Feral Scream (W) allows for an awesome combo: Knocking enemies up, slowing & silencing them and dealing some nice damage! Place Rupture in the path of any moving enemies, as it is a delayed ability and can be easily dodged.

Feral Scream (W):

Silences and damages enemies. At lvl5 it grants an amazing 3 second silence. This makes it the perfect ability for interrupting the casting of spells like Requiem.

Vorpal Spikes (E):

Nice for jungling and clearing minion waves. You can toggle it ON or OFF, which allows you to attack turrets without accidentally hitting an enemy champion behind it.

Feast (R):

Feel hungry? Feast! Nomnomnom. This ultimate is just awesome! And one of the best in League of Legends if you ask me.

• True Damage
• High damage vs monsters
• Gives you extra HP for each stack. Stacks are gained by killing Champions or Monsters with it. The maximum amount of stacks is 6, you lose half of the gained stacks on death.
• Makes you one hell of a HUGE monster.
• If you want to go for a build with lot's of AP this attack will deal a lot of damage to a single enemy.

Note: If Cho'Gath gets Feast stacks before level 11, he will be healed when he levels Feast.
Note: A red particle effect will appear underneath champions that will die from Feast.

Tips and Tricks:

You have some nasty CC, so use it. In a teamfight, Rupture their damaging champions or the guys going after your carries. Silence as many people as you can and then eat the nearest close-to-dead person.

You can cast Rupture where you are standing if you predict that someone will be coming all up in your jammy (think of Lee Sin or Warwick). This allows you to go from defensive to offensive very quickly.

In a fight, your job is to protect your team not to kill people. Do not chase down the stragglers or divert from the group. Use your Rupture to peel enemies off of your team and Feast to burst down important targets.

When learning to land Rupture start off leading where you think the enemy will go to. Then remember what they did to juke it the first time. If you found that they juked up then ran down to draw out the rupture, be more patient with it next time.

Skill Sequence

For faster jungling I prefer taking Vorpal Spikes(E) first.
Then take Rupture(Q) for extra damage (and an early gank opportunity if needed or possible).
Then take Vorpal Spikes(E) again and next unlock Feral Scream(W). Now you are ready to gank.
I prefer taking another Rupture(Q) after, for a bit more damage when ganking, followed by taking Feast (R) on Level 6 of course .


Remember to always stack Feast (R). It has a "low" cooldown ±60 sec. and the extra HP it offers comes in in really handy. Also note that this skill does 1000 damage to monsters like Golem & Lizard buffs, Dragon & Baron . If you think that there isn't going to be a teamfight or gank-possibility in the next minute, just use it on a minion or monster .

When you are playing Cho'Gath, you're looking to mostly farm and countergank. He will do a much better job at this and is dangerous any time after level 2, when he learns Rupture.

For Jungling I prefer the rather standard route. Always focus the strongest monster (The biggest wolve, The blue wraith, The Big/Blue Golem, The big lizard) and make sure your Vorpal Spikes is turned ON (it glows).

1 Ancient Golem
Ask your team to help you, so you can save your Smite for Counter Jungling. If you feel like playing less agressive, or if your team refuses to help you - just use your Smite here, because it's cooldown will be gone when you get to Red Buff .
2 Wolves
3 Wraiths
4 Double Golems
5 Lizard Elder

Always keep an eye on the Minimap for Ganking Possibilities. Also make sure to show your face now and then on lanes that get pushed hard to scare enemies, but watch out: giving away your position on a lane can make other lanes play more aggressive.

After completing the first route: gank a lane! Make sure to give the second Blue Buff to the Champion on Mid-lane if he/she wants to, this gives them an edge on their opponent.

Also remember that Wards win the game! Make sure to always buy a ward or two when you have your Second Back (see Item Build) completed.

Click here to learn more about Wards
Click here to learn more about Jungling

In the next chapters I will focus on the Sustainability build. It is up to you to decide if you want to play Sustain or Damage. This built is my personal favorite, since this built makes you almost unkillable and gives you the oppurtunity to keep annoying the enemy team with your CC or tank towers & monsters. As you've got a high base AD, a nice combo when landing (Q) + (W) + Some basic attacks in combination with (E) on an enemy and your ulti does True Damage, you will still be able to do some nice amounts of damage to the enemy team when building this way.

Offensive Tree

• Improve Ghost with Summoner's Wrath
• Choose
  » Cooldown Reduction with Sorcery
  » Ability Power with Blast
  » Magic Penetration with Arcane Knowledge
• or
  > Attack Speed with Fury
  > Attack Damage with Deadliness
  > Armor Penetration with Weapon Expertise

Defensive Tree

• 10 extra gold on use with Summoner's Resolve makes our Smite more usefull
• Jungling made easier with Tough Skin and Bladed Armor
• More sustainability with Durability Hardiness & Resistance

Utility Tree

• Cho'Gath is kinda slow, Wanderer helps us a little with that
• Improved Recall speaks for itself
• We take Mastermind so Cho'Gath can use his Smite (and other summoner spells) more often.
• Since we're in the Jungle: Runic Affinity
• Since Cho'Gath is mana-hungry: Meditation

SPACE SPACESight Ward

Practise playing with Cho'Gath to know how many Health Potion you feel best with. Warding the river warns your team when the enemy jungler is on his way to gank. Never forget that wards win the game especially at lower ELO's.

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While the Boots offer us extra movement speed, the Spirit Stone gives us HP & MP Regen + extra damage vs monsters with it's two passives. If you weren't able to farm enough, first buy Boots and finish Spirit Stone after.

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We want to move quickly A.S.A.P. and therefore we now upgrade our shoes to Ninja Tabi, which gives us armor, extra Movement Speed and a nice Passive. For sustainability and our first Core Item ( Spirit of the Ancient Golem) we built a Giant's Belt, which gives us 400 HP.

Why take Ninja Tabi? Because we already gain Tenacy from Spirit of the Ancient Golem, and if we need Magic Resist we can buy a Side-Item like Null-Magic Mantle or Negatron Cloak instead. Of course you can decide to take Mercury's Treads instead when the enemy team is AP Heavy.

This is our first Core Item. It offers 30 Armor, 500 HP, 14 HP Regen, 7 MP Regen, 25% more damage to monsters and Tenacy almost everything we need for sustainability, except for Magic Resist (which we gain with Mercury's Treads)

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Blasting Wand gives us some more damage, that can come in handy in teamfights. Null-Magic Mantle gives us some Magic Resist, which we missed by taking Ninja Tabi. Frozen Heart offers the second most armor in the game (10 less than Thornmail). The aura is beneficial for tanks since they can help alleviate the damage on the rest of their members, since the passive really affects team fights as it lowers the DPS from the enemy AD carry. I prefer to build Glacial Shroud first over building Warden's Mail first, since it offers us mana and we're mana hungry.

Enchantment: Furor

UNIQUE Passive: Furor - Whenever you deal damage with a single target attack or spell, you gain 12% movement speed that decays over 2 seconds. Can be applied to any tier 2 boot.

Enchantment: Captain

UNIQUE Passive: Captain - Allied champions running toward you gain 8% bonus movement speed. Nearby minions gain 20% bonus movement speed. Can be applied to any tier 2 boot.

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Abyssal Mask is one of the items designed to give Mages a little extra survivability, but the AP boost and magic resistance reduction aura are really nice on Cho'Gath too. Aegis of the Legion is a great item for support, tanks, and tanky DPS type characters. It's relatively cheap and can actually make a difference in a team fight. Keep in mind that the aura is unique, try to make sure there isn't more than one person on your team with this item. Since the latest patch we can upgrade it to a Runic Bulwark which makes it even more awesome than it already is!

Note: as with all Aura items, you benefit from the aura itself too - which gives you 30 armor, 400 HP, 60 Magic Resist and 10HP/5Sec.

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Wit's End is a nice item while it offers Attack Speed (works well with Vorpal Spikes) and Magic Resist.

Buy Banshee's Veil against any team that is heavy on CC or to counter ults like Requiem, Ace in the Hole, Hemoplague etc. This item also offers good all around stats, especially since it builds from a Negatron Cloak. It's a great anti-mage item and can save you from traps. However, do not become too reliant on the shield. Some enemies, like Dr. Mundo have abilities with extremely low cooldowns that can easily pop the shield, so be wary.

Randuin's Omen has a nice active that works both agressive and defensive: slow enemies to grab the kill or slow enemies to run away. Remember to use the active, or this item is mostly a waste considering its stats for its price.

Items you could consider (but I personally won't buy):

Spirit Visage

Warmog's Armor

Rod of Ages

Iceborn Gauntlet

Twin Shadows

Items you just should NOT buy

Guardian Angel

Thornmail

Zhonya's Hourglass

Cho'Gath doesn't often get focussed.. maybe when the enemy is sick of your CC or when you're already low on life, they will focus you, but more often they won't. The fact is that we do want take damage! Taking these items removes the chance of getting focussed completely. Cho is annoying for the enemy due to this simple fact: If they don’t focus Cho he will CC their whole team repeatedly. If they do, he will take forever to die.

Sunfire Aegis

The damage it does is nearly nothing late-game.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter

I think this item belongs to an AP Nuker, not to a Tanky Caster.

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The next chapters will focus on the Damaging Cho'Gath build. It's always nice to deal tons of damage and this is possible with Cho'Gath as I already wrote above. If you don't like to play Tanky just follow this build while it gives you both damage and a bit of sustain.

Offensive Tree

• Improve Ghost with Summoner's Wrath
• Attack Speed with Fury
• Cooldown Reduction with Sorcery
• AP with Blast
• Magic Pen with Arcane Knowledge
• More AP with Mental Force
• Spellsword is nice to combo with Vorpal Spikes
• Even more AP with Archmage
• Increased damage with Executioner
  

Defensive Tree

• 10 extra gold on use with Summoner's Resolve makes our Smite more usefull
• More sustainability with Durability Preserverance & Veteran's Scars

SPACE SPACESight Ward

Practise playing with Cho'Gath to know how many Health Potion you feel best with. Warding the river warns your team when the enemy jungler is on his way to gank. Never forget that wards win the game especially at lower ELO's.

SPACE

While the Boots offer us extra movement speed, the Spirit Stone gives us HP & MP Regen + extra damage vs monsters with it's two passives. If you weren't able to farm enough, first buy Boots and finish Spirit Stone after.

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We want to move quickly A.S.A.P. and therefore we now upgrade our shoes to Ninja Tabi, which gives us armor, extra Movement Speed and a nice Passive. For sustainability and our first Core Item ( Spirit of the Ancient Golem) we built a Giant's Belt, which gives us 400 HP.

Why take Ninja Tabi? Because we already gain Tenacy from Spirit of the Ancient Golem, and for the Magic Resist we buy a Negatron Cloak instead. Of course you can decide to take Mercury's Treads instead when the enemy team is AP Heavy.

This is our first Core Item. It offers 30 Armor, 500 HP, 14 HP Regen, 7 MP Regen, 25% more damage to monsters and Tenacy almost everything we need for sustainability, except for Magic Resist (which we gain with Mercury's Treads)

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Sheen offers us Ability Power, Mana and a nice Passive that increases the damage of our basic attacks after using an ability. Negatron Cloak give us some Magic Resist we missed by building Ninja Tabi. Phage gives us Health, a nice Passive and some AD.

Enchantment: Furor

UNIQUE Passive: Furor - Whenever you deal damage with a single target attack or spell, you gain 12% movement speed that decays over 2 seconds. Can be applied to any tier 2 boot.

Enchantment: Captain

UNIQUE Passive: Captain - Allied champions running toward you gain 8% bonus movement speed. Nearby minions gain 20% bonus movement speed. Can be applied to any tier 2 boot.

Enchantment: Homeguard

UNIQUE Passive: Captain - Whenever you are at fountain, you instantly gain full health and mana, and gain a 200% movement speed boost that decays over 8 seconds (4 second on Crystal Scar). The bonus movement speed is lost upon entering combat. The effect cannot activate while in combat. Can be applied to any tier 2 boot.

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We build a Lich Bane from Sheen so we get more Ability Power, some more mana, 5 Movement Speed Multiplier and an upgraded Passive. From the Negatron Cloak we build an Abyssal Mask for Ability Power, Magic Resist and the Aura. From Phage we built a Trinity Force which gives us a bit of everything.

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I prefer Will of the Ancients because it has an Aura and gives us some more Ability Power and Spell Vamp. However, if you simply want to do even more damage, you might want to go for Rabadon's Deathcap since it increases your Ability Power quite a lot. Runic Bulwark is a nice supportive item and Banshee's Veil is a nice defensive item that counters ulti's like Requiem and Ace in the Hole. Zhonya's Hourglass is nice when fighting a heavy AD team and gives you the ability to make yourself immune to damage when you get focussed (which will hardly ever happen). Rylai's Crystal Scepter has a bit of both damage and defence and Twin Shadows isn't that cool to build.. however if you might think you need it, because for instance there are a lot of jungle fights going on late game, just buy it.