Kog'Maw remake remake

So! What was the goal of the Kog remake? To turn Kog into an super immobile giga-carry. Within two patches, the AD scaling on his W was axed, taking his giga-carry scaling with it. So what's Kog now?

A super immobile carry with the worst early game around. Not a terribly compelling combination of attributes.

What was Kog before the remake? Well, his standard play pattern was to rush Sheen and use the combination of his W range, his Ult, and his potent base damage values to relentlessly poke down targets while kiting. What does that have to do with rooting himself with doubled attack speed? Beats me.

Now, I don't mind the whole 'root yourself to dish out oodles of damage' thing. There are already quite a few poke-and-Sheen champions. That change was a decent one. But trying to turn Kog into a Giga-carry was a poor plan, as we can see Riot already went back on it. Several other champions already Giga-carry. And Kog really can't compete with them for that team niche.

So what other niche can Kog fill, then? Let's take another look at him, shall we? He has poor mobility (might even call it anti-mobility). He has pretty strong base damage with decent (though not awe inspiring) scaling. He has weak CC. Before the remake his base HP and armor were pretty darn high compared to even many melee champions. And he's got long range. Aside from the range factor, does that particular combination of attributes sound at all familiar? It should.

That's the basic formula for a Juggernaut.

A Marksmen/Juggernaut is a niche that the game lacks. And it wouldn't be too unreasonable, considering that Graves is already filling the Marksmen/Fighter pants. Building Kog with more than the usual supply of defensive or hybrid offense/defense gear hasn't ever been a terrible plan. So why not support that with the option to go glass if you're feeling ballsy? With that said, I would like to pitch a remake for the remake. While I believe it's possible to salvage the current remake with just a few number tweaks here and there, I think Riot would be better off going a bit deeper than that. And maybe providing Kog with a VU while they're at it.

I'll list out the changes, then give an explanation at the end.

Base stats: Base and scaling HP up, base and scaling armor up, gain scaling magic resist, attack speed per level up, base attack range reduced to melee.

Innate - Eldritch Acid: Kog'Maw gains double attack speed from all sources and has an attack speed cap of 5, however his basic attacks have an AD ratio of 0.55 against non-minions. Additionally, his basic attacks and spells apply stacks of Acid to his target for 4 seconds, stacking up to (number) times. Each stack causes his next basic attack against the target to deal an additional 1% of the target's max HP as magic damage, refreshing the stack timer.

Q - Caustic Spittle: Kog'Maw's spits an acidic missile, dealing magic damage (0.7 AP ratio, up from 0.5) and shredding (percentage) of the target's armor and magic resist. Cooldown now improves with skill level, missile width improved.

W - Bio-Arcane Barrage: Toggle Off: Kog'Maw is healed for (amount) on his basic attacks. Toggle On: Kog'Maw roots himself for a minimum of 4 seconds and converts his basic attacks into long-range acid vomit. While rooted, Kog'Maw gains (amount) addition basic attack range per second, capping at 6 seconds.

E - Void Ooze: Kog'Maw spits a peculiar ooze, dealing magic damage and leaving a slime trail that slows foes stepping in it (40/45/50/55/60% slow).

R - Living Artillery: Kog'Maw spits an artillery shell at extreme range that explodes after a short delay. This attack deals 2.666% bonus damage per 1% of the target's missing HP, capping at 200% bonus damage against foes with 25% max HP or less.

Ooookay. So there it is. Kog has two combat modes, melee and able to waddle about or ranged and completely rooted in place. His W would have a minimum duration before it can be toggled off again to prevent Kog from instantly swapping back into melee mode if someone pounces on him. This is also to prevent Kog from using his incredible range to kite (kiting is for Vayne, not turret-champions). Because Kog's range increases over six seconds, this would give him the feel of an actual artillery platform that his team needs to protect while he ramps up. I'm not sure how much range would be ideal here, but I would like to imagine scenarios where Kog sets up in unexpected places and starts raining death from over walls.

Kog would absolutely need scaling MR for the same reason any other melee champion would. He's either going to be in the thick of combat, or he's going to be rooted in place and unable to avoid AoE attacks.

Kog would be losing all forms of scaling on his %HP damage (aside from the target's HP), as a result, I opted to bump the AP ratio on his Q back up to 0.7, which was its old value before it was remade some years ago. Between that, better cooldown at higher levels, and the consistency change to his Ult's bonus damage, I suspect glass cannon AP Kog relying on his skills for his damage output would once again be a very compelling build.

The change to the potency of his slow is mostly meant to allow it to have a little more impact early game than it does at present. In this age of ADCs with hard CC all over the place, a slightly better slow would be a Godsend to Kog.

Though the single most important change here? Kog gets to bite things now! He can eat stuff! Considering that he hasn't gotten to eat a single thing since his release back in 2010, it's high time Kog gets a snack.

So there it is. A more complete remake. As weird as it might seem, Kog would probably fit better anywhere other than bottom lane as a result of these changes. His robust defenses and sustain on W would allow him to take to the Jungle or Top lane, while his improved Q, E, and R would give him a bit more bite mid-lane. Going into siege-mode bottom lane would probably get Kog into trouble against most popular picks there.