Kog VGU, literal Living Artillery

I've been thinking about the flavor of changes Kog'Maw would warrant to really justify a VGU. We've got at least one Rioter on record saying they think Kog could use one, but he's obviously pretty low on the priority list given that there are other champs who look worse and/or have more of a negative impact on game health when they're good. But that doesn't mean Koggers is in any less need of one. His damage, while great, doesn't really net him much in the way of a niche. As I'm sure most of the Boards know by now, I'm a big advocate for making Kog the team-focused Tank Buster via placing a bit more focus on his Q resist shredding to better distinguish him from the selfish Tank Buster (that would be ).

Giving Kog a better defined niche is well and fine, but how would you alter him enough to really justify a full VGU?

It was Battlecast Kog that got me thinking. He's got that big howitzer on his back, which is a pretty cool, distinctive feature. What if that were a feature on ALL of Kog's skins? And what kind of gameplay could center around it? We know Kog loves attack speed due to his W, but his spammy Ult clashes with it. Using that Ult can easily disrupt Kog's basic attacks, and Riot wants Kog to be the quintessential spell-weaving Marksmen. Then it hit me. What if Kog used his back-cannon for his spells and his mouth for his basic attacks, and the two didn't interrupt each other at all?

Enter Kog'Maw, the Cannon-Puppy

Passive - Bio-Arcane Barrage: Kog'Maw's basic attacks and spells do not interrupt each other. His basic attacks mark his target, causing his next spell to deal (percentage) of their Max HP as magic damage. His spells likewise mark his target, causing his next basic attack to deal (percentage) of their Max HP as magic damage.

But why? This new passive allows Kog to freely spam basic attacks and spells alike with a mark that encourages him to spell-weave as much as possible. Since this thing is his passive now, the %HP damage would be de-emphasised in favor of the more interesting parts of his kit. I don't believe it's healthy for Kog's strongest feature to be his stat-check button.

Q - Caustic Spittle: (Passive attack speed removed, now a targeted spell, range matches Kog's basic attack range, cooldown is equal to Kog's basic attack rate plus 2.0/1.5/1.0/0.5/0.0 seconds.) Kog'Maw fires a corrosive projectile that deals magic damage and shreds [(flat value) or (percentage), whichever is greater] of the target's resistance for four seconds. This debuff stacks with itself (additive on the flat shred, multiplicative on the percentile shred) and refreshes the duration.

But why? This new Q preserves the feel of Machine Gun Kog without breaking OnHit itemization in the process. It allows him to rapidly eat through a target's resistance, setting them up for a lethal one-two punch from his team. This would be Kog's main tool for proccing his Passive, though it would probably end up being fairly mana-gated. Might result in Mura and Reaver being more attractive options.

W - Acidic Frenzy: Passive: Kog'Maw gains bonus attack speed. Active: Kog'Maw gains massively increased attack range on his next basic attack and half that range for the next 8 seconds.

But why? Kog just wouldn't be Kog without his long attack range. Since this ability no longer has any OnHit damage, the passive attack speed has moved here. To spice the ability up a bit, Kog gains significantly more range on the first shot he lobs, which would aid his ability to trade pretty significantly.

E - Void Ooze: Kog'Maw fires a medium range blob of ooze, dealing magic damage and slowing the primary target. After a delay, the blob bursts, splashing stacks of Caustic Spittle from the primary target onto all nearby enemy units in a wide area.

But why? This skill serves two purposes. The first is to give Kog some soft CC to allow him to do his job. The second is to double down on his resist-shredding niche. If you start blasting the enemy Tank and then toss Void Ooze on him, suddenly it's quite dangerous for the enemy team to get close lest they get their resistance nuked into negative values.

R - Living Artillery: Kog'Maw fires a super long range artillery shell to the target location, dealing minor magic damage to all units hit and applying Free Food to them for four seconds. Free Food reveals the target and causes them to take bonus magic damage equal to (percentage) of their current HP from allied basic attacks and spells (full value for single target spells and basic attacks, half value for area of effect spells, quarter value for damage over time spells). Living Artillery's impact damage is massively increased against units below 25% HP. Living Artillery has a minimum range of 300.

But why? Riot has done some weird stuff with Kog's Ult recently. They don't want it to be a poke, but they didn't want it to be totally useless against target's above 50% HP, either. This is the way to get the best of both worlds, I think. You want to hit healthy targets so that both you and your team can take advantage of that tasty %Current HP damage. And that current HP damage helps gnaw targets closer to execute range. As a bit of added counter-play, Living Artillery has a minimum range of 300 so Divers and Assassins are rewarded for jumping on Kog's squishy butt.

Welp! There it is. A modern Kog for a modern world. The proposed VGU touches all the points that Riot keeps bringing up with Kog (team focused hyper carry, super-vulnerable if jumped on, late game scaling spell-weaver, ect) and refines them into a coherent niche. Kog would function as the damage centerpiece of a team, serving either to heavily augment the damage of a high utility team or otherwise allowing Mages and Assassins to decisively remove stubborn targets.