Feeding Time - Kog’Maw in Professional Play
Fans from Season 2 remember the popularity of the classic “protect the Kog” compositions. The return of support-style solo laners like Lulu and Soraka in conjunction with some favorable Kog’Maw balance changes on Patch 4.4 have brought these compositions back into vogue. Unlike another flavor-of-the-month ADC Lucian, Kog’Maw rarely works as a plug-and-play champion, and you’ll often see teams built around him in professional games.
Quite a few of Kog’s theoretical positives make it seem like he’s well worth the investment. His long range and high damage output provide exceptional siege potential, and the recent trend towards longer longer games means more opportunities to utilize the hyper carry snowball effect. Despite these big advantages, Korea is the only region in which Kog’Maw has recently seen more than a 50% win rate in the last handful of his games. It’s time to investigate Kog’Maw’s uptick in popularity and see how the more successful players set themselves apart.TEAM RELIANT?
Kog’Maw has the potential to have the longest auto attack range that isn’t access through a long cooldown ultimate. At its max rank, Kog’Maw’s Bio-Arcane Barrage allows him to auto attack from 710 units away, which is a massive 210 unit increase from his basic auto attack. One of the 4.4 Patch changes that launched Kog’Maw’s return removed the mana cost on Bio-Arcane Barrage, allowing him to use it whenever it was off cooldown, removing much of Kog’Maw’s mana problems during team fights.
The long range siege in action.
In addition, the range of Caustic Spittle saw an increase in exchange for making it a skillshot. More importantly, however, its applied passive effect changed from a flat armor reduction to a percentage-based one, increasing the ability at which Kog’Maw can ramp into the late game. This combination allows Kog’Maw to sit from a safe distance, apply the armor debuff, and shred through the health of both enemy champions and turrets alike.
In theory, Kog’Maw’s range provides him with a lot of safety and self-sufficiency, but without a reliable escape mechanism like Relentless Pursuit or Arcane Shift, Kog’Maw needs a little help from his friends. A solo lane Lulu or Soraka provides him with the protection of heals and shields, and he is most commonly paired with Thresh, as Dark Passage provides Kog’Maw with the escape mechanism he’s lacking. The Copenhagen Wolves have even gone so far to as to add a jungle Yorick to the mix for that extra bit of safety. Watch how Woolite’s team saves him from an uncomfortable position in their game against ROCCAT.
USING VISION
A team built around Kog’Maw should provide him all the tools he needs to succeed, but despite the popularity of these compositions in the European LCS and North American LCS, his Summer Split win rates aren’t stellar. In Europe, Kog’Maw has a 50% win rate, and in North American and the LPL Playoffs, Kog’Maw has lost all four of his games. Even with every safety precaution available, Kog’Maw players have struggled. The downfall of “protect the Kog” compositions is that they place too many eggs in one basket. If every other member of a team is there to prop up Kog’Maw, the squishy and immobile ADC can be taken out by a couple assassins, regardless of the amount of protection provided.
In fact, one of the more successful recent Kog’Maw games features Deft from Samsung Galaxy Blue in the Champions Spring finals. In the final matchup, Heart played Nami, Dade played Twisted Fate, and Save’s Lulu ultimate were used to protect Spirit’s Kha’Zix, who went for a less tanky build. Deft, on Kog’Maw, relied primarily upon his own positioning to stay safe, using terrain in many fights to do damage over walls. To maximize this effect, Deft built both Trinity Force and Blade of the Ruined King for mobility and stick potential, allowing him to kite and chase opponents.
This wasn’t the only game where Deft found success without his team primarily focusing on keeping him alive. In the game following, Dade picked up Ryze, and Save went for Irelia. Though Heart managed to hook the Thresh pick, this still meant that neither of the solo laners of Deft’s team provided reliable protection - unless you count the Safeguard of Spirit’s Lee Sin.
On Summoning Insight, Locodoco and Monte Cristo called Kog’Maw “very safe.” His ability to use Living Artillery to check vision on a low cooldown from a long range prevents his team from entering unsafe fights. It’s this ability to understand vision and positioning that sets Deft apart from many of the other Kog’Maw players.
Kog’Maw saw five wins in his last five appearances in Champions Winter, and Deft controlled him in four of them. He constantly used Kog’Maw’s ultimate to check over walls and relied on obstacles to hide him from lockdowns and assassinations. It seems it’s Deft’s understanding of vision and terrain that gives him the Kog’Maw edge, and not a cushy composition.
FEEDING TIME
So when does this little void monster take off? As we’ve already noted, Kog’Maw doesn’t have to be surrounded by trusty allies to get the ball rolling. Paweł “Woolite” Pruski, who has attained some recognition in the EU LCS for his Kog’Maw, has told us that Kog’Maw has “really strong trading after level six,” which means that you can win the 2v2s with the right amount of patience. Woolite doesn’t, however, encourage much trading before then. “If you can’t all in him in lane he is unstoppable,” he says, implying that Kog’Maw still needs protection from early ganks.
As such, when ClearLove managed to steal away Kid’s Kog’Maw’s vision in the LPL Playoffs with a pink ward, it was open season. So while a clutch Wild Growth from a Lulu certainly doesn’t hurt, the key to a good Kog’Maw game is vision control in order stay safe in early levels and maintain range in team fights. Luckily, the campion already comes with a kit that makes a lot of this possible - and the rest can be bought in the item shop for a little extra pocket gold.
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