Cho'Gath Build Guide by sexygoatz

Introduction

Hello summoners, I am sexygoatz of the NA server. I am currently 1500 elo. I am not by any means a pro player nor do I pretend to be. I am simply a player who believes that his build is the right way to build Cho'Gath. The build that I have is unconventional and many people prefer to build him in other ways. My goal by writing this guide is to make people believe that Cho'Gath is viable when built as a bruiser rather then a mage. The entire idea behind bruiser Cho'Gath is him attacking quickly with Wit's End, dealing massive damage with Vorpal Spikes and the target not being able to get away with Frozen Mallet. All the while being tanky enough to survive the enemy peeling for the carries. The synergy is there, simply waiting for you to exploit it. If you feel ready to do so, then read on further.

PRO's and CON's

Pro's
[*] Extremely safe laner with his passive Carnivore
[*] Able to trade very well in lane once Wit's End is completed
[*] Strong against AP top lanes such as Vladimir, Kennen and Rumble
[*] Very good at sticking too squishy Targets and destroying their health with Frozen Mallet and Wit's End
[*] High cc
[*] Fun to play

Cons
[*] Not very viable in many top lane matchups (I will explain these in further detail later in the guide)
[*] team dependant (as in: generally comps must either be built around him or he must have a good matchup in top or he is obsolete)
[*] Not able to push as well as AP Cho'Gath.
[*] Against high cc teams he may struggle in teamfights (champions like Nautilus and Morgana come to mind)
[*] His hitbox grows as he gains stacks of Feast (this makes it easier to hit you with skillshots)

Runes

These are the best possible runes for bruiser Cho'Gath. They give emphasis on your attack speed which is his best stat. It also movement speed as well as giving you good early game armor and late game magic resist, both of which are essential to being able to tank.

One alternative to movement speed Quints is to get flat attack damage Quints instead if you are struggling with last hitting or want to be able to trade better in lane.

Masteries

The masteries are fairly straightforward. As with many bruisers We use the 9/21/0 mastery setup on chogath.In the offense you cant really substitute anything out, Summoner's Wrath and Brute Force are completely nessacary, And Alacrity is nice because bruiser Cho'Gath scales best with attack speed more then any other stat. we get Weapon Expertise because it helps lategame when the enemy team is armor stacking.
In my opinion the defense tree is the most powerful tree. In season one it was the utility tree but now I believe it is the defense tree. The stats offered from this tree are too nice to pass up which is why every champion except for carries atleast puts 9 points into this tree. We grab the standard 3 points into Hardiness and 1 point into Resistance . However you may decide to reverse these if you are against an AP top or you are worried about magic damage on their team. We put 3 points into Vigor because it synergizes nicely with your passive Carnivore and Philosopher's Stone. We also grab 4 points into Durability and the point in Veteran's Scars . The Durability mastery helps you scale extremely well into the mid and lategame, while Veteran's Scars helps you early game against champions with high harassment.
Moving down the tree we get points into Indomitable . This may seem like a useless mastery, but if you add up all the times you will be taking damage throughout the game. it is extremely worth it. This also applies to minion and monster damage. So you will take less damage from Baron, Dragon etc. The next mastery we get is Enlightenment . We get 3 points into this because the 8% CDR at level 18 is downright awesome. We get 2 points in Initiator because the movement speed is nice but its not that significant. We only get 1 point into Honor Gaurd because Its honestly a pretty bad mastery. When you consider your resistances at level 18 with a full item build the damage you are taking is not significant enough for 1.5% (the amount reduced with 3 points into the mastery) to make a difference.
Then obviously we get Juggernaut because its amazing for Cho'Gath. The 3% maximum health is incredibly strong because he has such high health with Feast and Frozen Mallet. This will in turn increase the AD that you get from Atma's Impaler if you choose to buy it. Also the 10% reduced disable duration is nice too.

Summoner Spells

These summoner spells are pretty standard on most bruisers. Flash is an all-purpose summoner spell. It's uses are limitless, basically every champion except for a few need flash. Cho'Gath has no escape mechanism so Flash is basically a must.

Ignite is for securing kills. trust me, you will have a lot less champions run away from you with that little sliver of health.

OTHER VIABLE SUMMONER SPELLS:


This is good for competitive play if you feel like you can make plays across the map with it, also its good if you are against a strong pusher such as Singed or Mordekaiser.


In my opinion flash is better in most cases, but its still viable if you feel you will get kited without it.


I dont ever really get this on Cho'Gath but you might want to grab it if no one else has it and you are up against like Tryndamere or something.

NON VIABLE SUMMONER SPELLS:


Leave this to the AD or support


huehuehuehue must spam moar!!!


Not viable on anyone except for Karthus, Twisted Fate or Pantheon


Never really have tried it on anyone, but it seems to be pretty weak



HOW I last hit cannon minion?


Dont even go there

Ability Order

The ability order for bruiser Cho'Gath is much different then for AP Cho'Gath. In this build you prioritize your Vorpal Spikes because that is the majority of your damage when building attack speed. Also if you maxed Feral Scream or Rupture the mana cost goes up by a significant amount for each, and the extra damage isn't even worth it if you don't have any AP.

Items

On bruiser Cho'Gath your may end up getting a variety of items, but basically in every game you can follow this path:

START:
x3
or
x5 Directly into

First trip back:
Philosopher's stone

Then:
or

Core:
Against heavy AD:
into then finish

Against heavy AP:
then finish

Late game build vs heavy AD:


Late game build vs heavy AP:
shurelya's reverie

OTHER VIABLE ITEMS:
You may want to get this if they have a rediculous amount of aoe damage
This is good if the enemy has a burst caster that is fed ( Veigar, LeBlanc, Annie)
surprisingly this is actually sometimes a really good buy, especially against Olaf, who gives you problems.
this is a very good item to get if they have a large amount of consistent magic DPS ( Ryze, cassiopea)
I have never gotten this item on Cho'Gath but i can see how it would be effective against an hp stacking team.
This is a good source of early magic resist and helps you have better sustain with Carnivore.
surprisingly this item gives excellent stats to bruiser Cho'Gath. It gives you good CDR and then builds into which gives you good stats as well.
I never really liked this item on anyone, it relies on kills to be effective and Cho'Gath already has a built in Warmog's Armor with Feast. but if it floats your boat then go for it.

Top-lane Matchups

This isnt a particularly difficult matchup, you can even be a little bit agressive before level 6, but then you should be passive and try to freeze the lane. (Pro tip: turn off vorpal spikes when you are last hitting, having it on will push the wave). Once she is 6, try and bait her into dashing towards you, then call your jungler over and lock her down with Rupture and Feral Scream.
Darius has alot of kill potential on his lane opponent basically as soon as he hits 6, so try not to get harassed before then. He also has no sustain. Let him shove the wave and be passive. Do not attempt to trade with him early game.
I havent experimented very much with this matchup, she seems to trade well early due to her auto attack deflection Riposte. Don't attempt to trade with her in the early game. Her massive steroids are too much for you, however she has no cc so her killing potential on you isn't very high as long as you are last hitting well. Remember that you don't get the Carnivore bonus unless YOU get the last hit on the minion so better last hitting= better sustain.
Unless he decides to troll you and run crit runes (its happened to me before. F***ing scumbags) this is a very easy matchup. Once you hit level 6 and have Feast you should try and go in on him. If he is harassed down a little bit and you land a Rupture+ Feral Scream plus 2-3 auto attacks then Feast+ Ignite will make him walk the plank!
DEMACIIAAAAAAAA!!!!!!! A relatively easy matchup. Study his playstyle, if he decides to harass you past your creepline. call your jungler over and bait him onto your dinner plate. .
Oh sweet baby jesus, the Queen of top-lane, Dennis's menace, I present to you the four time Cage fighting defending champion: IRELIA, THE WILL OF THE BLADES. This is quite possibly the worst matchup possible for cho'gath. You can trade with her from 1-9 but after that she will dominate you and your whole team. I suggest not picking cho'gath into Irelia, but if you get counter-picked then there is ONE strategy that I find works well. If you are blue side then convince your team into giving you blue buff and then go ward their red buff. The second the enemy team's jungler shows face on the map you take his red buff. Having double buff is really the only way you could ever hope to beat irelia in a 1v1 and even then its a strech.
He has no natural sustain so this a very easy matchup. The only problem you may run into is if the jungler decides to camp your lane. Jarvan IV has alot of CC and helps with ganks very well. So buy some wards! (see the warding section) You can force trades early because you will heal it all off and he wont.
Jax is well... interesting, this matchup can be pretty easy if you play it right. If you can get an early jungle gank and then this is a very easy matchup. If not then you have to play safely once he hits 6. He does a large amount of both physical and magic damage, so its difficult for many bruisers to itemize against him. Try and race him to complete your Frozen Heart and Wit's End before he completes his Trinity Force and Bilgewater Cutlass. Both you and Jax want to farm like crazy until lategame and then be a hyper-carry for the team. So the best strategy for beating Jax is to ignore fighting him and outfarm him, because having more gold then your lane opppnent essentially means you won the lane.
Kayle tends to dominate alot of other bruisers in top-lane, but you ignore most of her harassment with Carnivore. I reccomend that you start with Cloth Armor and five health potions and you will actually win some trades if you land your skills. However once she is 6 you want to back off because she has her ultimate and will win a 1v1 engagement. However after you complete Frozen Heart which should be your first item after gp10, then you will start to win trades again.
This a very easy matchup, as long as you dont get hit by Thundering Shuriken and stay back when he has his Electrical Surge auto attack active. You can see his shuriken have lightning around it so stay back until he uses it on a creep. You dont have a lot of kill potential on this chipmunk because of his Lightning Rush. your best strategy is to wait
This is a very interesting matchup where it really depends on the skill of both players. If the Lee Sin is extremely aggressive and lands his combos correctly then you will lose. But if you can be a beast and dodge his Sonic Wave then you will beat him. Lategame you outscale him so try and be passive and not get harassed.
Not even Cho'Gath can stop the rock. But yeah, Malphite will win every trade with you because of Ground Slam and Granite Shield. See if you can get a jungle gank or get red buff and you may be able to beat him.
Nasus's goal is to farm and get to lategame. You need to try and stop him during MID-GAME. Cho'gath has a much stronger midgame then nasus. Farm like crazy until like 20-25 minutes and you should have your Wit's End, Phage and your Glacial Shroud. Pick up red buff then proceed to wreck his face.
The only two champions HotshotGG can play facing off in lane. Who wins? the answer is nobody. Neither of you have enough pressure to force the other out of lane. Both of you have excellent sustain. You win late game so try and be passive during lane-phase and beat her in farm
Olaf has excellent early game harassment with Undertow and Reckless Swing so try and let him shove the wave. He wins trades with you the whole game so try and be passive and help your team out in other ways.
Pantheon is extremely potent early game. His harass with Q is very strong especially once he gets The Brutalizer and is able to spam it constantly. Watch out for his diving capability as his Aegis of Zeonia resets his passive allowing him to block a turret shot. Try and stay out of his harass range and sneak in to grab last hits if you can. But whatever you do DON'T let him get a kill on you. Pantheon will snowball very hard if he can grab even one kill on you. Also as a note watch out for when he tries to gank other lanes with Grand Skyfall
This matchup is rather interesting and I havent experimented with it very much. He will try and harass you with his Devestating blow, however it is mana intensive and you will sustain most of it back with Carnivore. Watch out for his dives as his ultimate Diplomatic Immunity makes her immune to all forms of damage not from her ultimate target and ALL forms of crowd control. Other then that she is a fairly easy matchup.
Renekton has a lot of early game pressure but he falls off nicely late game so out-farm him and proceed to gloat in the post-game chat.
Yet another interesting matchup. Riven is an excellent top-laner right now because she can take on multiple play styles. She can be agressive and go for kills, or she can be passive and scale well into late game. Try and adapt to her play style. If she is being agressive then call your jungler over for a gank. If she is being passive then match it and be passive as well. Remember your goal is to get to late-game on Cho'Gath.
Such an easy matchup. You ignore all his attempts at "bullying" with Carnivore. Just outfarm him early game then stomp him mid-game when you have [wit's end]
Shen will attempt to harass you immensely early game. You can heal most of it off with Carnivore but similarly with Jarvan IV you will be open to jungle ganks as shen assists in them very well. (see section on warding).
Try and delay his catalyst the protector for as long as you can, because after that he will proceed to split push your team to death. I suggest taking Teleport against him. this will deny him from split pushing freely.
Your main strategy with Teemo should be to buy Yordle stompers as soon as you can and then crush his face beneath your heel.
This can be a difficult matchup if he farms well and then is agressive during mid-game. Start Cloth Armor and get Ninja Tabi on your first trip back. attempt to steal the enemy red-buff when you can so that Tryndamere cant get it. See if you can get a gank on him pre-6. Try and Get Frozen Heart as soon as you can.
This is a pretty easy matchup as long as you dont trade with him early. Both of you are basically immovable objects in lane so try and out-farm him the best you can. you offer more utility late-game so try and get there.
One of the best matchups for Cho'Gath. All his harassment is nullified by Carnivore and you dominate him in trades when you get Wit's End.
Warwick is kind of annoying but let him harass you all he wants. He will run out of mana very quickly. You cant really ever trade with him. As he has in-combat sustain and you dont. And you also both build pretty much the same items. However, you offer much more late game utility then he does. Try and bait him into harassing you to make him lose farm and be open to ganks. You will sustain all of it back so don't worry if he lands a few Hungering Strikes on you.
This is not particularly a hard matchup, his harass combo E>Q>W, while deadly, is incredibly mana intensive and is on a very long cooldown. You have natural sustain and he doesn't. Abuse this.
Some people have a lot of problems with this guy. Personally I never really have with Cho'Gath. You will sustain most of his harassment with Carnivore and he will shove the wave with his ghouls, thus opening him up to ganks.

Rupture & It's Uses

Generally with Rupture you dont want to use it unless you have blue buff or can GARUNTEE that either they will get hit by it or you can force them into a bad position. This is because it is very easy to dodge in many situations and costs a very significant amount of mana. Here are some examples of the proper use of Rupture:
The red lines indicate the directions that Urgot can travel.By the way, special shoutout to Chiyeung ( Urgot)

Warding during lane phase.

Its important to ward your lane. every warding spot has its own value. You need to learn to adapt to the situation at hand and ward accordingly. The blue x's represent warding locations if you are on blue team and the red x's represent warding locations if you are on red team

Team fighting

Team fighting with Cho'Gath is fairly straightforward. There are two paths you can take with most bruisers. You can either dive the enemy carry or peel for your carry. You need to analyze both compositions and decide which is better for the given situation.

1st example: If you have a Kog'Maw on your team and he has 15 kills and 350 CS. But the enemy team has a Nocturne that is also fairly fed, you will want to peel for Kog'Maw.

2nd example: The enemy team has a Vayne that has 15 kills and 350 cs, BUT she has a weak tank line. In this situation you will want to coordinate with the other tanks on your team to bring her down asap.

Summary

Cho'Gath is a lean mean killing machine if you can put him into the right team composition and get a good lane matchup. You will be dealing tons of damage with your Wit's End and make sure they dont get away with Frozen Mallet all the while being tanky with Feast, Frozen Heart and other items. He is not that hard to play once you pick him up. The only hard thing about him is landing the Rupture (see Rupture and its uses) and remembering to turn off Vorpal Spikes when not pushing. Thanks so much everyone! this was my first guide and I hope you like it!

Change log

Added Pantheon, Poppy and Wukong to Top-lane Matchups (8-18-12)