How can Kog compete against other Adcs?

Kog And Balls·9/29/2016, 3:38:19 PM·24 votes·2,619 views

Every time I face a Jinx, Corki, or a Vayne it feels like they excel at doing what Kog does only they do it way better. I don't even know what identity Riot wants to push on Kog because it feels like he is trying to fill 3 different niches, but isn't top of the dog pile in any of them. Vayne shreds tanks so much better than Kog, Jinx is the better late game carry and doesn't have her range modifier gated by a long cooldown, Corki brings a stronger magic damage influence to a team and overall better synergy with trinity force, and to top it all off they don't suffer from an absolute dog shit laning phase.

500 base range means you get creep blocked half the time you want last hit without your W. Kog can't follow ganks well he can't run away from ganks well. He can't poke with his ult anymore. Every other adc has decent Ad scaling on every ability and Kog is a complete slave to attack speed. How does Riot look at Kog and say "Yep this is fine everything is fine."

What does Kog do that other adcs can't besides explode when he dies? Is that the niche Riot wants him to fill shittiest passive on a Marksman? Clearly not because Kalista has him beat in that regard as well.

Edit: A common thing Im hearing is "OMG dat late game doe, but only if you are on a team with 4 supports who buff you constantly wipe your ass and hold your hand" and that argument really just goes for all marksmen. Teams should peel for their carries and amplify their damage when able. Kog is just special in that he gets dusted by a stiff breeze if you aren't protecting him.

84 Comments

EndlessSorcerer9/29/2016, 4:55:15 PM9 votes

In exchange for his vulnerability (no hard-CC, mobility, durability), Kog'maw is a massive damage threat. Taking a quick look, his kit provides:

  • A passive attack speed steroid
  • A percentage armor and MR reduction
  • Range increase
  • Percentage health magic-damage
  • A relatively spammable (pseudo-)execute

From one perspective, you have to build a team around him to protect him for him to work properly. This, in itself, can be considered a weakness since it means he has to rely heavily on his allies to function properly and is rather helpless when left alone.

However, you can look at it another way: Kog'maw is the only damage source truly required by his team. He will tear through the enemy team if left untouched and he is rather difficult to build against. As such, he is a great champion to pick when your team composition has relatively low damage and high durability/utility.

While one could argue that he is difficult to itemize penetration for (due to his mixed physical and magic damage), it isn't really that bad. Even ignoring his Q, you can easily itemize armor penetration (Last Whisper) and let your magic damage stand for itself; even without magic penetration, tanks can have trouble effectively itemizing for both armor and magic resistance (and stacking health is a horrible idea against Kog'maw).

Honestly, I would probably try building something along the following lines:

item 3006 item 3078 item 3153 item 3085 item 3036 [Defensive Item] or item 3006 item 1038 item 3085 item 3508 item 3153 item 3036 [Defensive Item]

If you want to compare him against the other ADCs you mentioned:

Corki Kog'maw brings far higher sustained damage from a safer range in the mid- and late-game. Corki is rather burst and poke oriented which can result in him having issues dealing with tanks properly.

Vayne Vayne is a better duelist and arguably kills an enemy tank faster (provided they can keep procing their Silver Bolts). However, Kog'maw is far better at killing multiple enemy tanks simultaneously due to the synergy between W, Blade of the Ruined King and Runaan's Hurricane.

Jinx While Jinx's range-modifier isn't gated by a cooldown (and the AoE splash damage is fantastic), she does sacrifice raw attack speed to use it. While Jinx has fairly low base attack speed in Rocket Form, Kog'maw's attack speed and is unaffected and his Q's passive steroid remains in effect.

Rivuo9/29/2016, 4:15:40 PM6 votes

There is no adc that outscales kog. Maybe jinx does now

NotCounter9/29/2016, 6:37:31 PM5 votes

i think kogmaw would have a niche if they buffed his Q... maybe longer duration and give it scaling. he'd be the adc who does mixed damage but it actually scales well and can touch tanks

Only Play Darius9/29/2016, 7:59:46 PM5 votes

If Sivir Lucian Quinn can make it work with 500 range, so can Kog.

SpecterVonBaren9/30/2016, 3:23:57 AM2 votes

They need to rework his Q and passive.

What about making his Q something to help him get through lanning phase? Make it a bit like Tahm's W and have him able to eat a minion and if he holds on to it long enough then he'll digest it and gain a flat amount of health back (Maybe give it a small AP scaling) and if he activates it then it will act like his current Q except without the mr shred to make up a little for the increased lanning sustain.

Blåbæret9/29/2016, 8:29:39 PM1 votes

No one really cares. Kog was a failed experiment. His kit and playstyle is toxic. No one wants to play against one.