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Choose Champion Build:
-
DFG AP Cho'Gath
-
On-Meta Boring Cho'Gath
Recommended Items
Spells:
Flash
Ignite
Items
Ability Order
Carnivore (PASSIVE)
Cho'Gath Passive Ability
About Me
Intoduction
EDIT: A newly updated of this guide will be coming out.
Greetings, fellow summoners.
I'm a5v Astra, and I main mid-lane: mostly AP Nidalee and AP Cho'gath, for competitive games. I was Bronze Season 1, Gold Season 2, and Diamond Season 3. I recently hit Diamond IV, or around 2,200+ ELO.

Credentials
I personally believe that ELO doesn't necessarily correlate with quality guides, or that you have to be super-high ELO to post a decent guide. All it takes is careful insight, and the ability to translate that insight into a readable form. That being said, I'd like to reassure you that I am a somewhat high level player, with loads of experience under my belt!
Here's my main account.

Here's my alternate account that I use to help pull friends out of Bronze ELO via Duo-Queue.

Here's a5v Astra's LoLKing Cho'Gath record.

And CKarlMarx's LoLKing Cho'Gath record.

.
.

Build Summary
This build focuses on 100-0'ing opponents.
Unlike most Cho'Gath builds, this does not itemize to be tanky.
Instead, I consider this build to be closer to an Assassin's role.
Why not play an assassin then? Cho'Gath has tons of utility in teamfights, such as an AOE Knock-up


Core Build:
Item Sequence






Needlessly Large Rod
1200

Fiendish Codex
850

Deathfire Grasp
3100

Frozen Heart
2500

Abyssal Mask
2650

Guardian Angel
3200

Rabadon's Deathcap
3500
The main point here is the rush into


At the start, I begin with









In the early-mid game, you'll be able to pick up

After that, build situationally. Is their Top AD Bruiser fed? Pick up


Example
As an example,
Here's some footage from a recent Diamond Ranked game.
This should give you some idea of how powerful the


Here's a new video. I just played the game this is recorded from yesterday.
-
Basically, in this video, I got so far ahead with those two early items that I could afford to screw around and buy other activatables



You'll notice that I deviate from my normal build, and I even used different runes. However, the deviations I made actually made me _less_ powerful. I switched to Flat AP runes, which gave me a slight edge early lanephase, but it was actually less damage at Level 7 than the page I suggest here. I started




Please note: Do NOT full combo if you do not have enough mana. When starting to play





Pros: | Cons: |
- ![]() - No counter itemization really exists* - ![]() - Highly durable from ![]() - Unconventional. Might throw off a few opponents. - Full combo can one-shot enemies early/mid game. - Last hitting creep is fairly easy ![]() - Diverse itemization is easy and acceptable. - Clears waves and jungle camps easily. - Secure soft objectives (Dragon / Baron) with ![]() |
- Melee in a predominantly ranged lane. - Countered slightly by %HP or DoT poke. - Mana hungry. - Hard to teamfight with appropriately. - Will push lane whether you want it pushed or not (think ![]() ![]() |
* (if opponent buys early



At level 6, (Full Combo) Magic Penetration Marks lead to an advantage of 8 damage.
At level 13, Magic Penetration Marks lead to an disadvantage of 6 damage.
Either way, at level 6, full combo should deal just around 1k damage after resistances.


{autoattacks} x2



Either way, at level 13, full combo should deal just around 2k damage after resistances.



{autoattacks} x2



If you want to see/check the math here is the link to my Google Spreadsheet document.
I'm fairly sure this math is all correct, but it's possible I'm incorrect, as I don't have much experience with this. If you see a mistake, I would love if you sent me a private message or commented somehow.


I really recommend taking


They're simply essential to this build.












Runes




Note: These runes aren't really standard, but it works with how I play.
Check out the rationales below.
Quints : Movement Speed x3

Glyphs : AP per Level x9
Seals : AP per Level x9

Marks : Magic Penetration x9

Classic caster with 21/0/9.
These are semi-flexible, and I would play this against most standard mid-laners.
Against strong laners (such as LeBlanc) or AD Bruisers, you might want to change to 21/9/0.
Going 21 up the defensive mastery tree is certainly viable on
Cho'Gath, but it isn't in the spirit of this build.
These are semi-flexible, and I would play this against most standard mid-laners.
Against strong laners (such as LeBlanc) or AD Bruisers, you might want to change to 21/9/0.
Going 21 up the defensive mastery tree is certainly viable on


Carnivore
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).
[ Innate ]
Last hitting becomes all the more important with Cho'Gath. There are plenty of reasons to last hit well, but

This scales with Champion Level, and helps sustain you in lane infinitely.

Rupture
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 / 305 (+100% of ability power) magic damage, and have their movement speed slowed by 60% for 3 seconds.
[ Q ]
A circle AOE Knockup that slows afterwards, it has a decent cast range but needs to be aimed! There is a half second delay between the time you press Q and the time it actually knocks up, so be sure to compensate properly.
- The worse thing you can do is try to start a fight with


- If you're looking for the early/mid game in-lane instakill. You'll have to start it with





Feral Scream
After .5 seconds, Cho'Gath screams in a cone in front of him, silencing enemies for 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 / 2.25 / 2.5 seconds and causing 75 / 125 / 175 / 225 / 275 (+70% of ability power) magic damage.
[ W ]
A cone-shaped AOE silence that deals fairly high amounts of damage. Your go-to for harassment inlane. Note that unlike



- I max this during lane phase, as it's the best way to harass without fear of retaliation. It has a fairly long range, and if you hit it, the enemy won't be able to cast spells back at you for a significant amount of time.
- Another reason to use




- As with all AOE abilities, come team-fight phase, you'll want to hit as many enemies as possible. It's worth repositioning slightly to hit additional targets. Also, note that although it is your main source of non-ultimate damage,


Vorpal Spikes
Cho'gath's physical attacks launch spikes which deal 20 / 35 / 50 / 65 / 80 (+30% of ability power) magic damage in a line in front of him. The width of these spikes increases the larger Cho'gath is.
[ E ]
Spikes (slowly) shoot out in the direction

-


_ Under enemy tower, attacking it? If the enemy champion is nearby, turn OFF

_ When counter jungling, it's sometimes best to leave a present for the enemy jungler. Instead of clearing the entire wave, leave a small minion so the camp respawn timer doesn't begin. Now, this is actually kind of hard to do because

_ If you ever want to freeze your lane, turn OFF

Other than that, you're pretty much good to go!
- Because






By hitting the creep in Dark Blue, I was able to kill the far-away minion in Light Blue.

Feast
After .5 seconds, Cho'Gath devours an enemy unit, dealing 300 / 475 / 650 (+0.7 per ability power) true damage (1,000 to minions) that ignores armor and magic resist. If the target is killed, Cho'Gath grows, gaining 90 / 120 / 150 extra health (max 6 stacks). Each stack of Feast gives Cho'Gath 8.3 attack range, up to 50 bonus range. Cho'Gath loses half his stacks (rounded up) upon death.
[ R ]
The defining part of


- Note that you gain stacks when you use

- With AP


_ Going back to base anyways (best time).
_ Opponent is full HP.
_ No objectives are up in the next minute (dragon, baron).
_ Shoving creep waves (eating the cannon minion is tasty and will help your creep wave).
_ When you die late game and have less than 4 stacks, eat minions as soon as possible and try to avoid teamfights while

- The True Damage portion of this ability is amazing. Unlike



- When below 6 stacks, you'll want to use this to last hit, if possible. Sounds obvious but in some cases it isn't. This might end up with you kill-stealing from your allies, but honestly, the kill means more to you than to them (all things being equal). Don't be afraid to kill secure with

- That being said, at 6 stacks of




- Most of the time you can steal Baron Nashor and Dragon fairly easily. Walk up,






- You'll also be able to, post-level 6, secure your own

- Even the threat of having

- You can turn around jungle ganks with





R>>W>>Q>>E
Start with

Like most ultimates, level

Prioritize



Obviously, we level







Keep in mind that a lot of mid AD champions




It's actually useful against every champion, because during the Silence period, you'll be able to cast summoner spells




Note that all levels "(Level 1-6)" are general. The phases of the game aren't dependent on your level, this is just an approximation.
: Focus on last-hitting: you want to farm up as much as you can for early
Needlessly Large Rod.
: Harass lane opponent with
Feral Scream.
: Be aware of ganks, and don't needlessly use your counter-initiate spell
Rupture for no reason (like attempting to harass. It's too mana costly early to do this often early).
: Because your skills are AOE, you'll find yourself pushing the lane a bit. Try to not overexpose too hard at this stage of the game. Turn off
Vorpal Spikes if you want to, as it will help you keep the lane frozen in the ideal spot (last hitting is easier with spikes on, though).
Doran's Ring
Health Potion x2
: Decide if you can afford to all-in your lane opponent. At this point, you'll want to continue harassing with
Feral Scream, but be even more aware of your ability to
Rupture. If you land one, you can take them to at least 1/2rd health with this combo
Rupture ->
Feral Scream -> Autoattack.
: Try to hang around lane until you reach 1600 gold or so. If you have low health or are forced out of lane somehow, try to buy sight ward x2 and maybe some
Health Potion. Then return to lane and farm farm farm.
: If you have a sight ward, I recommend placing them offensively. A great place is the enemy's wraith brush. This allows you to play aggressively.
: Shove your creep wave to the enemy tower, especially if the enemy mid laner is somewhat lacking in the ability to last hit under turret. While your lane is shoved, you have a couple seconds to spare. Either go to your own wraith camp (if your jungler isn't nearby), or go to the enemy wraith camp (when their jungler isn't nearby). You're fairly strong, so don't feel too queasy about invading. The sight ward in their brush will give you early warning anyways. Note that by taking down the wraith camp,
Carnivore gives you back HP
and Mana
, so feel free to use a spell or two to quickly clear. If you have
Feast up, I'd recommend using it on enemy wraith camp instead of just lane creep.
: Tell your jungler that he doesn't need to help you with blue buff (ancient golem). You can clear this by yourself. Try to time
Feast so it will be up around 7:30 and 13:00 gametime.
Doran's Ring
sight ward x2
Needlessly Large Rod
: You should have recently picked up
Needlessly Large Rod and have rank 2
Feast, so at this point, you can expect your damage output to be massive.
: This is where aggression plays in. Earlier, a sight ward near their wraith camp was nice but not essential. At this stage, make sure to always have a ward there.
: If you EVER see the enemy jungler holding mid lane with half health, OR being in his red-side jungle with half health, I strongly strongly recommend camping their wraith camp brush. Head over there as quickly and stealthily as you can, and sit in that brush. For a video example, refer back to that video I showed earlier. Here's another link to the same video, but it'll start from the wraith camp kill.
: Try to keep your lane shoved like before. Take either (or both) wraith camps at your leisure. If the enemy team clears out the camps, feel free to kill all but 1 or 2 of the minions at their wraith camp (you may need to turn off
Vorpal Spikes to avoid leaving one. Sometimes, the enemy jungler will just leave the camp denied and ignore it. If thats the case, go ahead and take the whole camp. You want it to respawn.
: If any of their buffs are up and you see the enemy jungler ganking a lane far away, swoop in and take the buff. Even if they aren't far away, try to sneak up on them, wait until the buff is just about to be killed with smite,
Rupture under both enemy jungle and buff monster,
Feral Scream both, and if they're both still alive, you have two options:
_ Kill the enemy jungler with
Feast.
_ Steal the buff with
Feast, then finish it with
Vorpal Spikes.
Just check the damage on
Feast right before you decide. It's usually better to just kill the enemy jungler, and then finish off the buff, but there are cases where it's better to just kill the buff and get out. You actually have one more option, and that's to let them take the buff, and THEN kill them, giving you both the buff and the kill for less work. I'd avoid this if possible and stick with one of the other two.
: Make a play for dragon (with your team, of course).
Feast is a huge source of damage (after your
Needlessly Large Rod), probably about 1070 damage to creep/monsters, and 700 damage to champions. When the enemy team comes for it, you can either use
Feast on dragon, or on the upcoming fight. It all depends on how close the enemy is, and how quickly they respond. If your team is low health and you'd rather avoid the incoming fight, then
Feast dragon and get out. Otherwise, I'd recommend saving
Feast for an enemy champion, even if dragon is about to die.
: Pick up
Deathfire Grasp. This is the shining time for AP
Cho'Gath. You can expect to deal about 1500 with this combo
>>
>>
>>
. Add in
Ignite if you can/want to, and try to
Deathfire Grasp before
Rupture finishes its 0.5 second delay. (If you can it would be great, if you can't it's okay).
: I've said this before, but camp the enemy jungler. Do it. Do it shamelessly. If they start warding their jungle, start
Vision Warding it. As they walk into you, do the combo as stated above, but let them walk into you before your
Rupture. Don't
Rupture when they're still far out, as this might let them escape before you can get over there and unleash full combo.
: Chill and farm lane or take your jungle while
Deathfire Grasp is on cooldown.
Doran's Ring
Deathfire Grasp
Boots
sight ward x2
Vision Ward
: Your main goal while not teamfighting is to pick off people and stay farmed and at 6
Feast stacks. You'll need to be careful about being aggressive in enemy jungle now that you're no longer in laning phase.
: I recommend buying
Ionian Boots of Lucidity for the cooldown, but feel free to choose based on how the game is progressing. Also, if you feel like you don't need
Enchantment: Homeguard, then try out
Enchantment: Distortion
: Begin building proper items for the game. Counter the enemies who are most fed with your itemization.
Cho'Gath is super strong and will deal tons of damage (even without tri-force, phreak!), regardless of your itemization (if you have my setup, anyway). Feel free to build defensively if the situation calls for it.
Abyssal Mask is a great item choice, especially against a double AP comp (AP mid and AP top/AP jungle).
: Usually while playing
Cho'Gath you'll find yourself in the front line, initiating (or attempting to initiate) fights with
Rupture. This
Cho'Gath has other roles though, and while you might find yourself trying to start a fight with a good
Rupture, your real place is the mid line. You are the team's AP Caster and source of magical damage, so don't try to soak damage. Although
Feast makes you fairly tanky, soaking isn't your goal (you aren't
Dr. Mundo). In an extended fight, see if their AD Carry is engaged. A good portion of the time, the enemy AD Carry will be focusing on kiting/chasing one of your front line teammates. If this is the case, try to save
Rupture for the ADC. Wait until they're autoattacking, and drop
Rupture right underneath them, then combo
Feral Scream
Feast.
Flash and
Ignite if you feel the need. 9 times out of 10, this will immediately take out the enemy ADC, since you have your own CC lock and True Damage burst.
: Just like
Rupture, try to save
Feral Scream for the enemy caster, instead of burning
Feral Scream on the enemy front line. If you have to, it's okay, but try to use it on the casters if you can.
: All that being said, don't dive way past the enemy front line if you don't have a team that will back you up. A 1-for-1 trade (you for their ADC) is usually NOT worth it, since you will most likely be fed.
: Remember what I said about stealing Dragon and Baron earlier (in the
Feast section).
Rupture their team,
Feral Scream their jungler,
Flash and
Feast the objective if you can, and your team is following behind to back you up. Generally dragon is worth 2 champion kills, so you dying for it is worth, but I would avoid diving+dying for objectives if possible (if your team isn't coming).
Doran's Ring
Deathfire Grasp
Ionian Boots of Lucidity
Rabadon's Deathcap /
Rod of Ages
Abyssal Mask /
Guardian Angel /
Randuin's Omen /
Zhonya's Hourglass
//Early Game (Levels 1-6)
Goals:
: Focus on last-hitting: you want to farm up as much as you can for early

: Harass lane opponent with

: Be aware of ganks, and don't needlessly use your counter-initiate spell

: Because your skills are AOE, you'll find yourself pushing the lane a bit. Try to not overexpose too hard at this stage of the game. Turn off

Items:


//Early Mid Game (Levels 7-10)
Goals:
: Decide if you can afford to all-in your lane opponent. At this point, you'll want to continue harassing with




: Try to hang around lane until you reach 1600 gold or so. If you have low health or are forced out of lane somehow, try to buy sight ward x2 and maybe some

: If you have a sight ward, I recommend placing them offensively. A great place is the enemy's wraith brush. This allows you to play aggressively.
: Shove your creep wave to the enemy tower, especially if the enemy mid laner is somewhat lacking in the ability to last hit under turret. While your lane is shoved, you have a couple seconds to spare. Either go to your own wraith camp (if your jungler isn't nearby), or go to the enemy wraith camp (when their jungler isn't nearby). You're fairly strong, so don't feel too queasy about invading. The sight ward in their brush will give you early warning anyways. Note that by taking down the wraith camp,




: Tell your jungler that he doesn't need to help you with blue buff (ancient golem). You can clear this by yourself. Try to time

Items:

sight ward x2

//Mid Game (Levels 11-13)
Goals:
: You should have recently picked up


: This is where aggression plays in. Earlier, a sight ward near their wraith camp was nice but not essential. At this stage, make sure to always have a ward there.
: If you EVER see the enemy jungler holding mid lane with half health, OR being in his red-side jungle with half health, I strongly strongly recommend camping their wraith camp brush. Head over there as quickly and stealthily as you can, and sit in that brush. For a video example, refer back to that video I showed earlier. Here's another link to the same video, but it'll start from the wraith camp kill.
: Try to keep your lane shoved like before. Take either (or both) wraith camps at your leisure. If the enemy team clears out the camps, feel free to kill all but 1 or 2 of the minions at their wraith camp (you may need to turn off

: If any of their buffs are up and you see the enemy jungler ganking a lane far away, swoop in and take the buff. Even if they aren't far away, try to sneak up on them, wait until the buff is just about to be killed with smite,


_ Kill the enemy jungler with

_ Steal the buff with


Just check the damage on

: Make a play for dragon (with your team, of course).





: Pick up









: I've said this before, but camp the enemy jungler. Do it. Do it shamelessly. If they start warding their jungle, start



: Chill and farm lane or take your jungle while

Items:



sight ward x2

//Mid to Late Game (Levels 13-18)
Goals:
: Your main goal while not teamfighting is to pick off people and stay farmed and at 6

: I recommend buying



: Begin building proper items for the game. Counter the enemies who are most fed with your itemization.


: Usually while playing












: Just like



: All that being said, don't dive way past the enemy front line if you don't have a team that will back you up. A 1-for-1 trade (you for their ADC) is usually NOT worth it, since you will most likely be fed.
: Remember what I said about stealing Dragon and Baron earlier (in the





Items:









Thanks for reading the guide.
I didn't really want to mention this until the end, but this is my attempt at writing a guide, so I'd appreciate comments (hopefully constructive?).
Is there something I could do better? Tell me about it, I welcome your feedback.
Anyways, good luck out there guys. I reached Platinum ELO primarily with AP
Cho'Gath and AP
Nidalee, so I have no doubt that with some practice you'll be able to dominate.
Cho'Gath really doesn't have a lot of counterplay (besides what I mentioned), so you should feel the power fairly soon after trying this build out.
Once again, thanks for reading. I appreciate it.
-a5v Astra
Note: Sigh, I accidentally made this a general guide instead of a champion guide. It seems theres no way for me to change this. What do I do? ~ ~
I didn't really want to mention this until the end, but this is my attempt at writing a guide, so I'd appreciate comments (hopefully constructive?).
Is there something I could do better? Tell me about it, I welcome your feedback.
Anyways, good luck out there guys. I reached Platinum ELO primarily with AP



Once again, thanks for reading. I appreciate it.
-a5v Astra
Note: Sigh, I accidentally made this a general guide instead of a champion guide. It seems theres no way for me to change this. What do I do? ~ ~
12/4/13 (Pre-Season 4)
Made the guide S4 compatible.
8/13/13 (Patch 3.10)
Replaced my old math with spreadsheets. Hit Platinum 1, so I updated my introduction.
8/4/13 (Patch 3.10)
Did the theorycraft and realized that AP/lvl Marks are just bad, and Magic Penetration is indeed better in this case. However, realize that

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