Welcome to my Chogath build :) In the concept of finding a tank that doesn't require that much items, I found myself upon Cho'Gath, the Terror of the Void. He has a lot of dependency on his skills, and I hope, in this build, you'll learn and use Cho'gath as well as the better players of LoL.

Note : Build 1 is for laning Cho'gath, Build 2 is for Jungle Cho'Gath.

21/07/11 - Reactivating guides, may take some time
10/07/11 - Seriously lazy, now gonna release it. (Reordered skills)
08/07/11 - Finished final touches.
03/07/11 - Finished all the skills as well as AP Cho'Gath items
02/07/11 - Created build and implemented beginning features

There is a place between dimensions, between worlds. To some it is known as the Outside, to others it is the Unknown. To those that truly know, however, it is called the Void. Despite its name, the Void is not an empty place, but rather the home of unspeakable things - horrors not meant for minds of men. Cho'Gath is a creature born of the Void, a thing whose true nature is so awful most will not speak its name. Its fellows have been poking at the walls that divide dimensions for a crack, a way into Runeterra, where they can visit their own personal paradise of horror upon the world. They are called the Voidborn, creatures so ancient and terrible that they have been removed from history altogether. It is rumored that the Voidborn command vast armies of unspeakable creatures on other worlds, that they were once driven from Runeterra by powerful magic lost to antiquity.

If such tales are true, then the rumors that follow must be equally true - that one day, the Voidborn will return. Even now, something dark stirs in Icathia, perverting the summoning rituals of the League to allow the presence of Cho'Gath. It is an alien creature of malice and violence, a thing that causes all but the most stalwart to cringe in fear. Cho'Gath even appears to feed on its predations, growing and swelling as it gorges itself. Worse yet, the creature is intelligent, perhaps greatly so, making most wonder how such a monster could be contained. Fortunately, the power of the League's summoning has confined Cho'Gath's presence exclusively to the League of Legends. It is here that summoners use Cho'Gath's Voidborn abilities to help decide the fate of Runeterra. The Terror of the Void knows what fate it would choose for Runeterra, given half the chance.

Woe betide the day when Cho'Gath grows weary of the League.

Cho'Gath is a tank/mage hybrid, not too different from Vlad, besides the fact that Vlad doesn't have MP, which makes Vlad much easier to play. So, I'll list the pros and cons of Cho'Gath.

Pros
- Not dependant on items as much as other tanks
- Able to deal decent damage despite severe mp problems
- Great passive that heals every time you kill(anything)
- Able to deal True Damage (Unaffected by armor/MR)
- Very tanky

Cons
- Reliant on skills before mid/late game
- Not a great damage dealer
- Mana problems
- Target for ganks (Not teamfights)

For runes, I take


Marks :

Mark of Insight to increase damage dealt. Note that this is not really the best, and can be replaced by Mark of Replenishment (MP regen)

Seals :

Resilience gives a healthy boost to your tankyness early game and is essential for jungling. Swap this with Seal of Evasion (dodge) if you want (for lane only) or Seal of Replenishment (MP Regen) or Vitality/Fortitude (Health) , whichever you like.

Glyph :

Warding gives MR which is great for you to be tankier early game. Swappable with Replenishment (MP Regen) and Force/Potency (AP)

Quint : Pretty much any of the above types (Insight/Replenishment/Resilence/Vitality/Fortitude/Warding). All of them work well, but the best would be Fortitude for the tankyness you get early game.

Generally, Cho'Gath can take ANY summoner's spell, but lets just list them in good order.

Teh Pwntage



Flash would be one of the best, the burst teleport and make you land a rupture/silence easier and also, its good for teleporting to eat people.



Invaluable to a Jungle Cho'Gath, but take note, its useless later after you got your feast.



Walking away, the enemy team likes to engage. So, with this, you have not much problems. It also can be used to defend, in which vorpal spikes will pwn minions


Yes, its good. Since Cho'gath has a free slot (Flash is in the other most of the time), why not take it? Good defence against opponents and you do get kills if they get murderred by towers under fortify (Unless your teammate has hit them)


Exhaust is really good for your team, especially when they don't have much. The slow gives you early kills and the attack speed debuff pwns them late game.

The decent



Clairvoyance is a good spell, it can replace 2 wards, giving vision needed and stuff. Also, it has the shortest cooldown. Remember to use it if you have it!



Fountain spells are generally good early game, but late game, they don't have much of an effect.



Cleanse is good to remove debuffs, but take note, tanks don't get aimed that easily.



Yes, Ghost sucks on Cho'gath. Ghosting doesn't neccessarily mean that you will reach your opponent while flash has an almost certainty to get there. Other spells would be better.


Its not exactly that useful, seeing that you do burst damage. However, in the case of a person who survived your rupture, flash, silence and feast combo, this may be good.

Teh nub



Nope. This is kinda useless. 35 damage doesn't make a diff most of the time as compared to other spells.



You died and lost your stacks. Get over it.

Cho'gath's main purpose is to be a tank, which is why I decided to go for pure tank :)

Defensive Tree

Row 1 : Hardiness and Resistence for obvious reasons, take Mender's Faith if you have heal.

Row 2 : Strength of Spirit > Dodge Masteries. You'll get more mana later on. Take Dodge Masteries if you have seal of evasion

Row 3 : Harden Skin is the best. Take Nimbleness if you maxed Dodge Masteries or else take as little as possible on Defensive Mastery since creeps aren't that strong.

Row 4 : Veteran Scars is a must to max. Cleanse Mastery is not really that important since you don't need to cleanse debuffs that often.

Row 5 : Ardor helps alot. A LOT. Both the AP and Attack speed are good for you. Take Reinforce if you take fortify.

Row 6 : Tenacity. Not much of a choice, seeing its the best anyway.

From Defensive Tree, go on to either Utility or Offence

Offensive Mastery

You are a mage. Guess what you take?

Row 1 : AP, since AP is better for you.

Row 2 : Sorcery is good, and helps a lot.

Row 3 : Archaic Knowledge. Cause its better for mages.

Utility

Row 1 : Good hands > Persevereance. You don't regen (Spellvamp/Lifesteal not in) that much anyway. Take ghost/teleport mastery if you have either of those summoner's spell.

Row 2 : Exp gain is better than 5% extra max mp, seeing that you won't reached past 2k mp w/o archangel's staff/manamune, meaning less than 100 mp. (Note : Somewhere I read that expanded mind is bugged. Not sure if its true tho)

Row 3 : You take... NOTHING. If you are a jungler, take Buff time increase. Otherwise, put the last point in defence unless you have Clarity.

Greed is useless. It gives 1 gold per 10 seconds, meaning 6 gold in 1min, 180 gold in 30min. Its useless.

Utility Mastery is useless for non-junglers. Its not as if you take buffs that often anyway.

Meditation is useless. 1mp/5sec isn't that good.

Cho'gath is a great CC champion and damager, as well as a tank. Each skill section below details how that skill is good, and how it can be used.

You recover 34 hp and 7 mp per kill at level 1, 68 to 15.15 mp at level 18.

When someone with a global damage ulti like Karthus or someone who had ignited/done a damage over time (DoT) spell on you, with less than 50 hp, do your Rupture and Feral Scream at creeps. You'll regen quite a bit and live. (Note that most targets will die under that combo. If you targetted Chariot Minion/Golems/Buff monsters/Dragon/Baron Nashor, you may not kill.

Also note that you can use Feast to regen too!

Rupture is an small AOE skill that has a short delay, 10 sec cooldown and high mana cost early game. However, it is a long ranged knock-up skill, so it can do stuff like stopping Katarina's Death Lotus and Nunu's Absolute Zero, as well as a good slow afterwords. In short, its a canceller of channeling spells.

While laning, it is best to rupture both your lane opponents as well as creeps. Always target around them or slightly behind them(but still can hit) so it will maximize your chances of hitting. After all, which people wants to walk to a Cho'gath in front of them?

Rupture can also be used defensively. When in a gank, rupture the ground you are on. People tend to pirioritize hitting you but get hit back over dodging the rupture and coming back again. Either way, you have a higher chance of survival.

If used to protect, always target slightly in front of your teammate. By the time the rupture comes up, your teammate will be inside it, thus, cannot be hit unless they rushed in and tried to kill.

Rupture is similar to a long stun if hit. If you can, bait your opponent to rushing your tower, and strategically place rupture so the tower hits the enemy and that he has little chance of escape.

Max this 1st if you are confident of your aiming skills.

Note : I have decided that by the time you max this, you should have at least a Catalyst or a meki pendant/mana regen item. Either way, you don't need to care about the extra 40 mana as much as the tiny damage from spikes.

Fun fact - Rupture's animation is the ground rumbling. If you have a Rammus on your team, rupture may make your opponent think that your Rammus is haxxing and doing Tremors from far range :) This makes them less able to dodge, seeing that they won't exactly try to juke it (Tremors can't be juked much anyway, its just constant damage in AOE)

Feral Scream is a silence spell that does decent damage. It affects targets in a cone, has a 13 second cooldown and decent mana cost. It reacts instantly, which is one reason why its sometimes piroritized over Rupture

As with all silence, it can stop ALL channeling spells. This is better than Rupture in channeling spell cancel since it is instantianious.

However, it has a major drawback, being short ranged (Roughly same area hit as with Rupture), longer cooldown and weaker damage as compared to Rupture.

To use Feral Scream effectively, try it in a combo like rupture (if hit), flash, Feral Scream, Feast etc. Most of the time, you rely on a stun/knockup to hit your target better.

3 second stun is wayyy more important than you think. Try to aim AP fragiles with this spells such as Veigar and Karthus, seeing they can easily be killed by standard combos.

Maxed this 1st if you aren't confident of your aiming skills.

Note : I have shifted this earlier if you don't take Rupture. However, maxing this 2nd isn't that good an option, since you probably do more damage with rupture and vorpal spikes than this anyway. Also, mana problems.

Fun fact : Feral scream is really annoying to spellcaster champs. Don't underestimate its uses :)

To me, Vorpal spikes is the skill you have to max out 1st. It is a toggle skill, similar in using as Ashe's frost shot. What they do is slightly different. While Ashe slows, Cho'gath does damage in a straight line of where he faces. With Rylai's Crystal Scepter, he should be able to slow enemies with vorpal spikes too.

Being a toggle skill, when aiming towers with enemy champions, its best to turn off vorpal spikes. This way, the tower won't target you for accidentally hitting the enemy champion.

Positioning yourself is important. It can be a good harrass early game.

This skill can be prioritized 1st. It costs NO mana and does 80 damage +(20%AP). If you plan to be the main damager, this skill is important. Remember to take items like Nashor's Tooth, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Rod of Ages and Rabbadon's Deathcap for a ton of damage.

Note : This skill is versatile. Be it maxed 1st, 2nd or last, this skill will provide quite good abilities in team battles. However, you should max this 2nd or 1st if you spam crazily :)

Fun fact : Using this skill on minions before a teamfight can damage some of their champs early on, especially if you are a AP champ.

This is your ultimate, a 60 second cooldown godly skill. Whenever you use this skill/upgrade this skill, you'll notice yourself swelling in size. The bigger you are, the fatter and tankier you are :)

Most of the time, this skill should be used as a finisher. 650 damage is a lot, and a few targetting their fragiles, a single feast can end one.

It increases your hp by 120/150/180 (I think) per stack. You lose half of your stacks rounded up if you die. To protect your Feast, I suggest items like Guardian Angel and Force of Nature, to prevent you losing stacks and recovering fast.

Fun fact : OMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOMNOM. Tasty.

There are a ton of items that help Cho'Gath, be it AP, Armor, Health, Attack speed, Magic Resistence et cetra. I have listed the items in different sections below.

Note that some items are repeated, if they have not came out in the same section.

Green marks good, white marks decent, grey marks not so good, red marks OMFG?GTFOFROOB despo type items :)

However, the general items are here.



No good Cho'Gath will leave home without this :) It prevents your stacks from falling and is invaluable.



Ionian is the race of wannabe weirdos who are pro enough to mantain being wannabe weirdos :) No not really. But Ionian boots give you Cooldown Reduction, so you can Nomnom a lot. Other viable boots include Ninja Tabi and Mercury Threads for defensive while Sorceror's shoes for spellcast and Berserker Grieves for Attack speed

If your team lacks the pain giving abilities, or you are simply owning the game so much that tanking is not needed, these items are for you!

Rabbadon's Deathcap

Rabbadon's Haxcap

This item is the MUST in your core item list for Cho'Gath. While it is suggested that you get Morello's Evil Tome or some other AP item first, Rabbadon is a must for its great AP boost (30% of total). Having this by end of early game means a really hard time for your opponents, especially if you got the mana to do so.



Morello's Evil Tome

Morello's Evil Tome is one great item for AP Cho'Gath. It gives great mana regen, so you don't need to invest there any longer, as well as CDR, which is quite good, with Ionian boots bringing it to 35% CDR. Most importantly is the 75 AP, a great AP boost. Its cheaper and better early game as compared to Abyssal's Scepter, relatively decent late game for the CDR boost.



Zhonya's Hourglass

To stop your AD enemies raping you, just annoy them with this :) Stalling for time for CDs is usually hard, but with these you have a better chance against a AD champ team. The AD version of Abyssal Scepter



Abyssal's Scepter

Abyssal Scepter is one great item on Cho'Gath, facing off Magic Damage Champs. These includes AP spellcasters such as Veigar and Annie, Attack speed based champions with magic damage items (Malady/Sword of the Divine/Wit's End/Madred's Bloodrazor) and most spells. This is great for tanky Cho'gath with extra damage.



Rylai's Crystal Scepter

This is one great item, replacing Rod of Ages if you already have a means of getting MP, or if you don't spam it much. With each hit you slow several targets (untested, but Vorpal Spikes IS magic damage after all). Overally, even without the slow, its great for its AP and HP, being one of the best items possible.



Rod of Ages

Rod of Ages is one of the items I like to rush. By mid game, you don't ever need much of the mana regen anyway. Before that, you may have problems, but after getting Catalyst the Protector, you'll have no problems :)



Your Great great great X1000 Grandfather's Will

Spellvamping is good, plus it probably can spellvamp your health back to near full with a couple of combos :)



Deathfire Grasp

This contains your basic mana needs as well as an anti-tank unique active, which means, you r@pe everyone :)

Trinity Force and Lich Bane

Untested, but if it works, you get a charge each time you hit an opponent! Please tell if it does or not (It probably doesn't, or else Cho'Gath is godly)



Void Staff

One of the only late game items in white, in front of green items. Void staff isn't that good as many think because there is only 1 tank usually. Unless you have a tanker party in your opponent's base, there is not much point getting % magic penetration.



Mejai's Soulstealer

Yes, we all hate snowball items. But for Cho'Gath, its good. Did you ever seen a Cho'Gath who dies that fast?



Haunting Guise

Haunting Guise is a great mid game item, giving hp and AP, your best two friends. Not to mention magic pen, which makes early game skills nearly true damage.



Moonflair Spellblade

Moonflair is a good mage/tank item. It gives tenacity and 50 AP, equivilant to a blasting wand and half of an amplifying tome. It is 1290, 860 from Blasting Wand, so the remainding 430 is roughly equivilant to the price of an amplifying tome, but replacing 10 AP for 25 tenacity.



Nashor's Tooth

Nashor's Tooth is an item for Cho'Gath AP/AS combi, stacking 5 of them means Vorpal Spikes is a pain to mess with. However, I'll rather take 2 phantom dancers, 1 Rabbadon's Deathcap and a couple of other AP items to help way better seeing the movement speed and AP increase over the CDR. If taken not for novelty, take only one, it will be enough. (Cooldown reduction is max at 40%)



Malady

Malady gives attack speed, magic damage per attack (1 target) and magic resist reduction with each hit. Its like a mini Vorpal Spike, and its decent. Take this if you plan to take a lot more attack speed items.


Hextech Gunblade

Hextech may be good for most, but for AP Cho'Gath, or in fact any Cho'Gath, its not good. Will of the Ancients is much better, being cheaper and higher AP, seeing the active is unneeded (2 CCs and Rylai makes it impossible to not being able to chase) and the damage/lifesteal sucks.



Doran's Ring

This is one of the best starter items, giving HP, mana regen, AP. Those are 3 of the things you'll almost always need, especially in early game fights.



This item gives you AP and AD, improving only your vorpal spikes by a decent amount. Try not to take this, even though its cheap.



Archangel's Staff

This isn't such a good item. It may have your mana needs, but it isn't that good. Best to be left at Tear of the Goddess until late game.

There are 5 main components in Tanks. They are HP, Overall tank, Armor, Magic Resistence and Regeneration. Each has its purpose. Oh, and you'll see this message for the other 4 parts too.

HP, among the five, is one of the most important at early-mid game. In most games, the opposing team is balanced, so you'll meet more than your fair share of damage dealers. Therefore, HP is the best to upgrade since it makes you able to tank both AD and AP champions.


HP



WARMOG's Armor

The greatest item for you besides Guardian Angel, the best tank item ever. It gives a total of 1350 hp at maxed stats and you don't lose them. It costs only 3000 gold, which makes it the best HP item for Cho'Gath. The only drawback is it doesn't give much but tankyness, so I suggest getting a mana item and GA earlier than this.



Rod of Ages/Banshee's Veil

Rod of ages is a great item for Cho'Gath, giving HP, MP AND AP. Therefore, Cho'Gath can deal a decent amount of damage yet being tanky enough to be called a full tank. Banshee's Veil is better if you face some insta-nuke spell(Karthus's ult, Nidalee's javelin toss etc) or a combi-type opponent (Brand/Alistar)



Soul Shroud

Soul Shroud is a great item for Cho'Gath. Now, you may wonder, why not take Shurelya's Reverie? The answer is because Soul Shroud is aura based, meaning that even though the regen isn't as good, but when laning with a mana dependant opponent, you need not harrass half as much :)



Rylai's Crystal Scepter

Rylai is a great item on Cho'Gath, the slow from vorpal spikes + rylai combo (Untested) is good. However, there is a mana constraint, which makes it not as awesome as it seems.



Shurelya's Reverie

The upgrade of Phil's stone and Kindlegem (get phil 1st) is good, but it gives moderate hp at the cost of a lot. The regen isn't so great, so try not to rely on it. However, the active is good for chasing down single opponents, but problem is that you are slow by most standards, meaning it won't help that much.



Spirit Visage isn't an awesome item. Despite the heal and regen seeming good, its not really that useful to Cho'Gath, despite his passive. With Kindlegem, I'll rather take something else like Soul Shroud or Shurelya's Reverie instead of Spirit Visage. Its not like the health regen is that great late game.

Catalyst the Protector

Catalyst the Protector

Catalyst the protector is the best item for Cho'Gath early game. Its cheap, it gives hp, it gives mp and it gives a great passive, making it the best early game item possible for Cho'Gath. It upgrades to Rod of Ages for AP, or Banshee's Veil for Magic Resist.



Heart of Gold

Heart of Gold is a great item for tank Cho'Gaths. It builds up into Randuin's Omen, but before that, its a great money giver (getting it for 15min gives you 450gold, which is redeeming half of the cost) and health boost. A great early game item.



Kindlegem

Kindlegem is a great item, giving HP and CDR. However, it does not give any mana. Take this only if you spam, but already have a mana-regen/mana item.



Sunfire Cape

You may wonder, why not sunfire? Personally, I'll rather have 3x the amount of health and armor with only 2x the amount of gold, meaning Warmog and Thornmail. Plus the fact that you don't get up and personal with the person unless you already ruptured him from the rest of his team, meaning he's dead anyway, 35 bonus damage per second is kinda useless. Otherwise, getting close means Feast, which means he dies and not needing sunfire.



Leviathan

Leviathan is a snowball item, for tanks. It isn't all that awesome but for Cho'Gath, its a possibility. It gives a max amount of 820 hp for 1275, a great item on Cho'Gath since he doesn't die much. However, Cho'gath is kinda slow - don't expect that many kills.



Haunting Guise

Haunting Guise is a great item if you don't spam that much. The magic pen makes it much better for AP Cho'gaths who needs a slight need of tankyness.



Frozen Mallet/Trinity Force

Frozen Mallet is a great HP item, and it also gives a slow. The damage part is kinda redundant, but then again, you may want the slow per hit, seeing your cooldowns are long.
Trinity Force is slightly better, seeing it has movement speed boost as well as sheen's extra damage effect, but its not as tanky and the slow isn't 100%. Still viable though.

There are 5 main components in Tanks. They are HP, Overall tank, Armor, Magic Resistence and Regeneration. Each has its purpose. Oh, and you'll see this message for the other 4 parts too.

Overall tank is another good early-mid game item-based stats. These items give you good tankyness and bonuses, while its still best in laning phase. In laning phase, see if your opponent does more 1) Magic damage or 2) Physical damage. For your overall tank, take ingrediants that are blocking more of that damage as opposed to taking health is good, yet you must complete them before any large scale pushing/team fights.


Overall tank



Guardian Angel

The best item for Cho'Gath. it gives great armour, decent magic resistence and the best item ability for Cho'Gath - Revive. Since you technically didn't die because of GA, you don't lose stacks while being able to get back into the fight. Get some health regen items, you'll need it.



Aegis is a great early-mid item. It gives HP, Armor and Magic Resist, your best 3 friends. As for which is better, take the one that suits your lane. Armor for ADs, Magic Resist for APs and health for both. It also have a great aura that boosts damage, armour and magic resistence which is significantly better early game than late.

Err, yes 2 items. Lol.

Anyway, these items give both Mr AND armor, which is pretty much equivilant to health at early game.

There are 5 main components in Tanks. They are HP, Overall Tank, Armor, Magic Resistence and Regeneration. Each has its purpose. Oh, and you'll see this message for the other 4 parts too.

For Cho'Gath, Armor is pretty much one of the best options. Best Armor items have to ability to slow/return damage whilst others can't be as good. However, just because I said that, don't get pure Armor w/o any Mr! For most games, thats suicide.



Randuin's Omen

Randuin's Omen is the best late game item which has good purposes early game (HoG gives lots of $$). It has Frozen Heart's attack speed slow, plus its own movement speed slow and is roughly 2500 in most games because of HoG. Its a great anti-autoattacker item, but I don't know if it stacks with Frozen Heart's or not.



Frozen Heart

Frozen Heart gives great armor and CDR. With the bonus mana, you can spam all your spells in several combos and continue to have enough mp to chase down champions.



Thornmail

Thornmail is the greatest item for anti-carries early game, seeing its only 2k yet its rivaling Frozen Heart and Randuin's Omen as anti-carry items. Against a strong carry team, I suggest you get Heart of Gold early on, followed by Thornmail, and finally Randuin's Omen. Other items may be in front or behind this combo.



Warden's Mail

Get this early against a AD team is a great option. Its cheaper than even thornmail and has the tanky capabilities. Suggestion, take Heart of Gold and Warden's Mail, then go for Thornmail, is way better than getting a full Randuin's Omen (No gold bonus for slow)



Zhonya's Hourglass

Personally, I frown upon this if you are a tank Cho'Gath. The active is useless (unless all your teammates can get to safety with you baiting etc) and there are far better armor items. However, its here since it has a rough GA effect (Not as good, but at least you choose when to activate)) and is good when you have decent regen.



Doran's Shield

One good item, but it doesn't satisfy Cho'Gath's mana needs. Take only if you don't spam skills.



Ninja Tabi

Yes, Tabi is one of your best choices of boots. If you find yourself not spamming, feel free to take this.



Sunfire Cape

No thanks, I'll rather use my skills. Cho'Gath rarely sticks close to enemy champions anyway, which is why flash is needed a lot, but burn 100+ hp before your target runs, what's the point? No one aim tanks, and even when they do, its ranged carries mostly, so sunfire is kinda useless there. They only do so for harrassment. Its not good since you don't get up and personal, like Amumu's Bandage Toss or Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab. Even so, I hate sunfire on most of my champions since I rather have Warmog and Thornmail, which is slightly less than half the cost but 3x more stats each.



Atma's Impaler

It sucks. The armor is low, crit chance is useless unless you are AD Cho'Gath, in which case you don't really need this unless you have stuff like Frozen Mallet etc.

There are 5 main components in Tanks. They are HP, Overall Tank, Armor, Magic Resistence and Regeneration. Each has its purpose. Oh, and you'll see this message for the other 4 parts too.

Magic Resistence is pretty much great, but is not compareable to Armor. Against a fully balanced team with no godly haxxorkinds (or all godly haxxorkinds), it is best to get Armor or even better, health/Overall tank, but Magic Resistence is vital to Cho'Gath as well.



Force of Nature

The greatest item for Magic Resist department, Force of Nature. Besides its already awesome regen (8 per second), it has a skill that regens 0.35 of hp per second, which is great for tankers. Not to mention a slight movement boost when you need it desperately, as well as the fact that it works well with GA to keep you alive till backup comes. Rivalled only to Banshee's Veil, but this shines way better most of the time in late game.

Best Late game for its crazy regen



Quicksilver Sash

One of the God of 3s Magic resist items, its best part is it is cheap, it suits almost all champs (Its cheap) and the better-than-cleanse ability all rolled in one. It is best mid game among the 3, since you start teamfighting and much more ganks so you get to escape better.



Banshee's Veil

Banshee's Veil is one of the greatest items for Cho'Gath. Besides its awesome passive (tank a spell every 45 seconds), its pre-ingrediant is Catalyst the Protector. Catalyst is a great tank item in laning phase seeing a level up in time means a fail kill, as well as the fact that it brings much needed mana. Together, they make Banshee's Veil, one of the greatest MR item, best for disrupting combos and instanuker spells. Best early game because of Catalyst.



Chalice of Harmony

Since you won't have much % of mana, your mana regen will be increasing a lot. The base mana regen is great and the passive is much better, seeing a single rupture at early levels take off a ton of mana, when your max mana isn't much. Great early game item.



Abyssal Scepter

Abyssal Scepter is great for increased damage of your skills, yet a good MR item. When going AP, taking this is good, but when taking Tank, this is best only if you are winning and can afford such luxury items that aren't fully tank based.



Hexdrinker

Hexdrinker may be a good item (blocks only certain spells, not all), but otherwise, its useless. Getting another magic resist item is a bit more expensive and way better, while this gives weak magic resist and a skill that may not block all spells.

There are 5 main components in Tanks. They are HP, Overall Tank, Armor, Magic Resistence and Regeneration. Each has its purpose. Oh, and you'll see this message for the other 4 parts too.

Regeneration is pretty much getting up as fast as possible after fights. But its the most useless of them all. Cho'Gath has a build in heal, just farm a little after a team fight to regen, or just back.

Early game

Level 1 to 6-8

In lanes, your piriroty is to hit both champions and then as many creeps as possible. You have most problems at this stage as no matter what, your hp and mana won't regen fast. Its impossible to take both unless you rush Phil stone and some other items, but the best choice is to harrass from far. If you have problems, just back and return, asking your teammate to play safe. On the other hand, if you are pwning the lane (both you and your teammate), position yourself so your Vorpal Spikes harrass to conserve. At all times, don't last hit unless you need that bit of HP and Mana. Feast whenever you can, or when you can get a kill.

Mid game

Level 7-14

Now, when teamfights begin, you should initiate. Save your feral scream for channeling spells and rupture for damage dealing :) Use feast to target low hp key players, using Feast to kill, rupture/feral scream to damage, and otherwise just basic hitting to their deaths :) Out of it, you should just push on your own as your single combi of rupture and feral scream gets to kill the minions easily, last hitting them via Vorpal spikes

Late game

Level 15-18

The greatest pain comes, and you should be able to ignore it or trash their faces. Either way, you tank so much that makes you almost unkillable with a few people helping you, as well as the fact that you do too much damage not to be taken out early. However, you ARE useless on your own. You can never chase well and you can never run well, so you MUST keep your team alive at all costs, including your own life. For everything else, just try to pick them off, push, destroy and basically dominate the game. Do not die unneccessarily, as you'll be the main power of your team, protecting and destroying.

There is nothing too different at the start, so you will still play the same early game. So, I'm copying it over.

Early game

Level 1 to 6-8

In lanes, your piriroty is to hit both champions and then as many creeps as possible. You have most problems at this stage as no matter what, your hp and mana won't regen fast. Its impossible to take both unless you rush Phil stone and some other items, but the best choice is to harrass from far. If you have problems, just back and return, asking your teammate to play safe. On the other hand, if you are pwning the lane (both you and your teammate), position yourself so your Vorpal Spikes harrass to conserve. At all times, don't last hit unless you need that bit of HP and Mana. Feast whenever you can, or when you can get a kill.

Mid game

By now, you should be decently tanky. Make sure you feast whenever possible because YOU NEED IT. Take note by the end of mid game, you should have at least a HP/AP item (Rylai/Rod of Ages), Rabbadon's Deathcap, and an extra. You may want to use Archangel's Staff with the mastery Strength of Spirit for great mana increase, but personally, taking Archaic Knowledge, Strength of Spirit and the rest in utility may be good too.

Late game

Late game. You should have your 3 Rs, RoA, Rylai, Rabbadon, as well as some other items, inclusive of boots (Ionian or Sorc). Personally, I'll go for RoA, Ionian, Rabbadon, Rylai, Zhonya's Hourglass and Abyssal Scepter, swapping posiitions if I wanted to. This way, you are a great tanker and you do great damage. Great for Cho'Gath! Note : GA is a viable option if you'll rather some tankyness at a cheaper cost and available slot for another.

Other items also viable are at the AP Cho'Gath item list.

Jungling Cho'Gath has a lot of problems, one of them is that you MUST HAVE seals of resilence and quints of fortitude. (Other HP/Armor runes also possible).

Start off with the blue golem. If possible, ask a teammate to help you leash with an AOE skill. If he can't, just ask him to hit the WEAKEST CREEPS twice. Its vital. All my Cho'Gaths cannot decently fight Blue Golem even with flying fingers that click on the pot just after I get hit. You rely a LOT on your passive to regen health, and thus, w/o a good leash, you have to improvise, aiming the smaller creeps. Remember to take Vorpal Spikes since your skills costs too much mana.

Following up are the Wolves. Wolves are easy, just a single rupture and a couple of hits.

Next is the Wraiths. Rupture, hits, KO

The red lizard is a toughie. You'll require smite within 15 seconds to kill it without suffering too much damage. It shouldn't be a problem though, especially if you chose to go AP masteries (harder jungle start), getting an earlier smite and Utility buffs.

Golems isn't neccessary. At level 3, you can add either Feral Scream or another on Vorpal spikes. If you want to reach level 4, go for it :)

Now is the phase that most junglers know, but not all. Ganking. At level 4, you should gank as 1) you have an upper advantage, and 2) You still have hp/mp to fight. A successful rupture will often mean a target killed, unless it is to save your teammate. Remember, surviving > killing :)

Be it a Tank Cho'Gath or a very Tank but high AP Cho'Gath, its one of your jobs to initiate a fight. Always aim their nuker before he/she casts nukes or else just aim the carries. Against low health champions without health items, such as Veigar, just use Feast on him when he reaches half health. Seriously. I ate a Veigar that way while being gank :)

Always lead on with Rupture. If it hits more than 2 targets, you should go in and fight. Always save Feral screams for Channeling spells and make sure you stop them as soon as possible for maximum hp saving.

Use Feast to kill less than 1k hp champions if you are AP, and less than 600hp champions if you play tank.

If you have less than 6 stacks, make sure you FEAST as soon as possible to regain stacks. You'll have roughly 4k hp and 150 armor AND magic resist with your items.

I have to thank the following people for their awesome helps :)

myfoot1 - Being my best friend, annoying teammate and helpful in building up my gold :)
fr0ggyfr0g and KingBisc - Cause you guys are awesome, even though I didn't see you guys for a long time :)

And you, who I hope sincerely that you pwn :) Especially if you have read it fully.

OR ELSE GTFO

Lol :)

Leave your suggestions below :)

Upcoming shall be Cho'Gath AD :)