The Current State of Kog'maw Analysis

Too long ; Won't Read : Kog'maw ADC worked in season 5 because he was good and lane bullies sucked at the time. Now he just can't function in season 6 with the advancements in itemization and ADC meta in general.

In season 5 Kog'maw ADC was a relatively decent pick. If you knew what you were doing, you could easily get away with the pick in 90% of situations. He wasn't necessarily weak, but he wasn't overbearing either. He still lost a good amount of matchups but there was an actual reason to pick him over beyond just liking the champion. He had a larger and more reliable power spike with into was way stronger than that IE/Bortk rush in the mid-game. He had a comparable if not better mid game than all 3 those champions, because of the massive burst (He could easily one-shot a squishy or chunk a tank super hard with a well executed combo Bork-W-Auto-E-Auto-R-Auto-Q-Auto-R-Auto) that came from the sheen procs, his W, his ult and pre-nerf Bortk, on top of the fact that you didn't have to rely as much on RNG as other carries. However, he was so item-reliant that any champion could outtrade and bully him out of lane. His damage was higher, he wasn't as safe as the other champions later in the game who could simply kill the front line faster (like Vayne or Jinx) than he could or just burst down the enemy backline without being in as much danger (Like Twitch or Jinx with her rockets) as the other champions. Not to mention, the stronger lane bullies and some of the more aggressive supports weren't nearly as strong as they are now. were either in a terrible spot or extremely obscure same goes for . Another thing that contributed to his success is the fact that he could invest in smaller components so that he could optimize his item and level spikes much safer than other ADC's. He could sit on a long sword, ruby crystal, amp tomb, mana crystal etc. instead of having to wait 1500 gold for BF like crit carries.

Okay to be fair Jinx pretty much did everything in season 5.

TL;DR Kog'maw worked because he had much more reliable and earlier item spikes than most hyper carries, but lost that reliability later on despite having just as if not more damage than them, and Aggressive lanes weren't as popular or as powerful.

Times have changed since then, and like a fossilized relic revived from the ice age, Kog'maw is in a state of "HOLY SHIT, WHERE AM I?" His revert was very hastily done and poorly planned out, because he was indirectly Olaf'd by the meta. He's in a state where there's absolutely no reason to pick him over any other AD Carry in the entire game (Except MAYBE ) right now and there are a few reasons why that is which I'm going to go into.

Hyper Carry Matchups and Itemization Developments

Crit-based carries have a way better mid-game and much earlier power spikes due to the changes and developments in the marksmen metagame and itemization. On top of the fact that Crit is way better mid-game (IE/ER + hurricane will give you 50% crit, on top of the aoe and on-hit it gives. Then the bonus crit damage or CDR.) and way cheaper (6200 v.s 7133 gold). Now, ADCs are rushing BF sword into zeal and getting an earlier attack speed item which is significantly more optimal for laning DPS than just rushing IE. Not to mention how all of these champions have gotten direct and indirect buffs over time. Now that BF sword is 1300 gold, crit ADs who want IE/ER will be able to back just as quick as Kog'maw for a power spike. Below I've detailed a few matchups that went from close winnable to absurdly difficult due to the changes.

- Has an even better lane against Kog'maw with her rework. She went from a 60/40 to 80/20 against Kog with her rework. Before she could just poke the shit out of him, shove him into turret and take potshots at him. But at least you could trade with her with W and all-in her at the first item spike. Now she has the burst damage to compete with Sheen with her Headshot-E-Q-Headshot combo, and she can zone him even farther away from his turret making it even more dangerous to farm. Her lane pressure artificially closes the item gap because it's easier for her to get CS and easier to zone you from CS. Now factor in that she uses that very same amount of gold just as effectively now, she has even more pressure and that the gold difference between the item spikes is in her favor now and you have a complete nightmare of a matchup.

- Another moderately even matchup for Kog'maw turned to a nightmare with the advances in marksman itemization. In season 5 this matchup was actually even imho, she had a decent edge in the very early laning phase with the availability of her rockets alongside the extra attack speed her minigun gave her. But if you go at least even, if not 5 or less cs down, before first back, you'd have phage before she got BF sword and by time she got it, you would already have sheen and you'd be able to burst her down with your combo. Now she gets BF Sword when you get phage, and making it way easier for her to snowball the matchup, outscale the fuck out of you and take over the game than it was before. Now, you can't fight her at any point as Kog unless your support makes a godlike play or you somehow managed to snowball the matchup in your favor. She just out-DPS's you where you were strong (1-2 component item spike and mid-game) and has even more of an edge on you where you were weaker.

Laning Gods Return Now With Early Armor Penetration

Lane bullies like Draven, Lucian, Miss Fortune are not only good but very abundant. They've even brought a friend with them and now they're all building flat armor pen. These matchups are so bad for Kog'maw now, especially Jhin and Lucian. They don't even have to play that well to win the matchup either, they literally just zone you off with their presence, forcing you into an extreme CS deficit (usually 30 if you're really good, but generally 50-100 CS). There is next to nothing you really do against these champs if they play at least decently,

Kog'Maw's Itemization

No one knows what the hell to build on him anymore. Triforce covered a lot of his issues during the laning phase and helped give him such an amazing mid-game (on top of having 2 huge level spikes like level 2 ulti and max W). Now Triforce isn't nearly as good for him as it was before because it no longer gives crit which is HUGE. Sure the CDR and extra attack speed are nice, but he had didn't need either of those as much considering that a lot of his damage later comes from his crit. There are a few ideas floating around about going Rageblade and/or ditching the Trinity altogether and rushing Bork for lane sustain, but honestly as far as itemization goes, only time will tell.

Overview

It's pretty obvious that the ult buffs, as great as they were for Ap Kog'maw, didn't do enough for AD Kog'maw. He's still hovering at an abysmal 43% win rate on a 0.57% play rate. That is absolutely absurd. His early lane is way too exploitable now, even for a hypercarry and as a result he can't even compete with other hyper carries like Jinx, Caitlyn and Twitch. His counters are running absolutely rampant and they're stronger than ever. His itemization is completely fucked, everything is either too expensive, doesn't work or is completely terrible to begin with. He's so 80's right now and he desperately needs buffs to get him with the times especially with the nerfs to fervor coming in the future.

So how can we help Kog'maw?

Well, he needs buffs to his early and late game especially. His late game isn't as powerful as it used to be. It feels like he gets completely outscaled in terms of damage and reliability by Jinx and Cait who are leagues beyond him at every stage of the game. I think he needs base stat tweaks, give him a little more base AD and give him the flat or the minimum magic damage on his W (like he had pre-rework) to give his early game a huge boost. Then I'd take off the mana cost of his W because it wasn't there before. Then the last thing I'd do is that I would give him 2% max hp damage on his W to make up for the Bork nerfs in the preseason and the fact that his late game just isn't terrifying anymore. That's what I'd do anyways. I wanna see what ideas you guys have for buffs.

Or you could delete Caitlyn

http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/925/494/218.png_large

Bonus thing for people who give a shit : Why I love AD Kog'maw and why I prefer AD over AP

I love AD kog'maw because I just love doing these crazy spell weaving combos and being in the heat of a late game teamfight. I've always been a risk-taker at heart and being in a situation where I'm constantly in danger (in video games at least) just excites me. I love AP kog'maw but it feels like I do a lot of nothing after I've blown my combo on someone and it's doesn't feel as exciting or as rewarding as AD Kog'maw in my honest opinion. There's nothing better to me in this game than solo-carrying a team fights with immaculate positioning. That's why I took the time to write this dumb post.