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Need Help as Beginner Cho'Gath

SrirachaLimes·6/13/2015, 12:56:37 AM·1 votes·548 views

I've lately picked up Cho'Gath and have so far played 8 games as him. While I actually find him to be pretty easy and fun to use, I have only ended up winning 50% of my games thus far, despite the fact that I win lane in every single game (since Cho'Gath is naturally good in lane); thus, I'm assuming my problems arise mid game in areas such as roaming and itemization. I think I do fairly well in team fights, but in games where my teammates are relatively weak, it's somewhat difficult to keep them safe even with my Q and W. Are there any good team fighting strategies that would improve my Cho'Gath play if people like my adc or apc are lagging behind but can still come back?

Beyond team fighting, I'd also like to ask questions about roaming. Although Cho'Gath is very slow, he does have good cc. I recognize that if I'm doing well, it'd be best for me to share my power with my team and hopefully make life easier for the other lanes by giving them kills or assists. Sadly, I don't know when to roam. I know that when I decide to roam, I should clear the current wave as fast as possible and push it to the enemy tower, then leave to another lane, but I'm not sure when it's appropriate to do so. Are there any clear times when it's NOT a good idea to roam? What if I'm going even with my laner (e.g. we both have 0/0/0, or 1/1/0, and cs remains relatively the same)? Should I roam then? What about when we're going even but my cs is relatively higher than theirs? The reason I ask is simply due to the fact that Cho'Gath takes a very long time to get to other lanes and back to his. I mean, I usually use teleport, but sometimes when I'm top and I want to gank mid lane and there isn't a ward, I have to walk there. Should I get boots of mobility for such situations? It would help with roaming, but it wouldn't provide the same benefits as merc or sorc shoes later on in the game (the latter I actually haven't gotten in a game yet).

Also, concerning itemization, if I'm doing well but overall my team isn't, should I go more tanky or more damage? Thus far, I've been building an initial damage item and then building the according tank items to match the enemy team, and after 2 or 3 tank items, I decide to get another damage item. I usually start ROA on Cho'Gath and because farming is easy with his E ability, I can get it fairly quickly. I'm not sure what other damage items I should get beyond this. Would Trinity Force be a good follow up damage item in the later game? Iceborn Gauntlet? Zhonyas, Rabadon's, Abyssal, and Rylai's Scepter?

If anyone could help answer these questions, it'd be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

8 Comments

Raivica6/13/2015, 3:49:20 AM2 votes

I'm not necessarily great at top or cho in particular, but about the part where if you're going even, that's...tricky. If you roam and pick up a kill/assist, then you'll be ahead of them, but if you don't, then they have the potential to get the lead on you in cs.
Also, I normally prefer cdr boots on cho, if I'm not going tanky, or at least, not as much as I normally would. But depending on your build, you may not need that. I like abyssal on cho, because it gives you the defensive stat as well as a bit more damage. Same with rylai's. I wouldn't get deathcap unless you're REALLY ahead, because it's expensive and takes a while to build...but so does zhonyas, which I'd still recommend more. I'm biased towards being tanky, though. Hopefully you'll find someone else to give an opinion on that! Also, when you take towers, turn off your E, just to make sure you won't be autotargeted by it if your spikes happen to hit someone. (Then again, I'm bad with remembering to toggle it back on.)

Toa of Death6/13/2015, 5:27:32 AM2 votes

http://www.solomid.net/guide/view/120517-chogath-build-guide-apc-jungle-fighter-by-jiggaflip#chap9 This guide helped me out so much with Cho. Don't be dissuaded by the unorthodox build, it works trust me. It has info on anything you need from roaming to how to deal with different champs to what items not to buy and what to buy for what situation. Only thing it doesn't have is the Ekko match up but not even that matters.

NemeBro6/13/2015, 5:51:01 AM2 votes

The very first thing I notice when looking at your Cho games is that you're taking Cho mid lane and then building him tank. If you have AP damage elsewhere and a lack of tanks, this might be fine, but look here for example:

http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/1852575588/227154901?tab=overview

You have a Garen and Braum on you're team, and little magic damage elsewhere. You are tanky for an APC, but you should not be the main tank.

Ninja tabi? No. Get sorcerer's shoes if you take Cho mid and you're not the main tank. Getting some early armour is fine. I sometimes get a frozen heart on Cho mid, since the cooldown reduction is very nice on him. But you need more damage. A Zhonya's hourglass might have been better. Another great item on an APC like Cho is an Abyssal Scepter, for extra damage, tankiness, and MR piercing. I typically build Cho as a balance between bruiser and APC, with my endgame build being something like Rod of Ages, Abyssal Scepter, Sorcerer's Shoes, Zhonya's Hourglass, Frozen Heart, and Spirit Visage. I find this build to be fairly successful, with a good mix of tankiness and damage, but of course you can drop the tank items for more typical APC items like a Luden's Echo or Rabbadon's or Void Staff or whatever. You're simply not doing much damage with the build you have. The best way to peel for your ADC is to kill the person trying to take them out.

As far as roaming, I don't typically do it. He's not great at it. What he is great at, however, is counter-ganking. I get a significant portion of my kills by coming to the rescue of my jungler or bot lane.