Cho'Gath Evolution Concept

While Cho'Gath's current kit is serviceable, inevitably he will have a rework to bring his gameplay and appearance in line with the rest of the game. He has a strong character identity, namely the Giant Monster of LOL. However, he doesn't fulfill that fantasy to its fullest potential. He gets bigger and gets more health, but his movement and abilities fail to convey any sense of weight (if anything, by the same you've gotten big, you likely have several items to make you go faster). He functions the same way whether big or small (with only his E growing with his size); he's just a bit harder to kill and does more damage with his ult.

I argue Cho'Gath's main themes are Giant Monster, Evolving Monstrosity, and Eldritch Being. Looking at characters with similar concepts (namely Tiny from Dota and Evolve) and taking inspiration from giant monster movies (like Shin Godzilla, who is also an evolving monstrosity who shoots purple lasers), I considered: what if instead of his growth being tied to his ultimate, it's his passive similar to Kayn? Let's say Cho'Gath absorbs the biomass of his fallen foes, filling a bar above his portrait, with large enemies and champion take-downs giving more. Once he fills the bar, he can evolve, entering a cocoon or something. He wouldn't be able to act during this time, so he'd have to be tactical about where and when he evolves. The evolution takes a few seconds, during which he's vulnerable. This way, he can't evolve in the middle of combat, and the enemy can delay his evolution (and subsequent power up) by being aggressive. Once he evolves though, Cho'Gath gets bigger, his appearance changes, his stats change (he becomes tankier but it comes at a trade-off of some sort, like casting time), and his abilities are slightly altered depending on his current weight class (again, similar to Kayn). Befitting an unstoppable force, let's say Cho'Gath has five weight classes, named after the strength of cyclone strength (which is also used for the Kaiju in Pacific Rim, so double points.

• Category 1: His starting size. He begins small and pale and emaciated, little more than a feral animal in his thoughts and movements. He's much weaker in this state and relies on his speed than tankiness (which changes as he evolves).
• Category 2: Attained in the early game. Cho'Gath's chitin hardens and takes color and a primitive intelligence emerges. He's still more fragile than his later forms, but he's not quite as squishy anymore.
• Category 3: Reached Cho'Gath's most recognizable form, reached in the mid game. Average abilities and stats.
• Category 4: Becoming more of a threat, but he's also slower and telegraphs more to compensate. He's not only intelligent, but actively malicious, taunting people about their inevitable doom at his hands.
• Category 5: Cho'Gath's maximum size and most powerful form, a lumbering titan of horrifying stature and form. Like it's mentioned in the newest void lore, purple light pours from the cracks in his armor. He wouldn't be able to reach this form every game, but if a game drags out, he can attain his form and become a true juggernaut. His abilities are more telegraphed, but his damage and CC are stronger to compensate. Personality wise, he becomes his most sinister and ominous, a conduit of the Watchers' rage and hatred toward reality.

By dividing his sizes into distinct recognizable classes, his evolution isn't just a health stack anymore. His gameplay actually changes overtime (but not so much as to become an entirely different champion; just one who shifts his focus), and it's something clear and distinct for his opponents to read. "Okay, he's at this size, so I have a good grasp of what he can do right now." He naturally grows more powerful as the game goes on, but he shouldn't feel weakened in the early game for it; evolution should feel like a reward. He should feel like Godzilla by the end of it; slow, but hard-hitting and hard to kill. Perhaps once he reaches a certain size, he can't exceed a certain movement speed (like 450 or 500), but excess movement speed is instead turned into Tenacity (similar to how Pyke can't build health and it's instead converted into AD). That way, he isn't slow as molasses, but he isn't zipping through the battlefield toward the backline (as fun as that is), but he isn't punished for excess movement speed either; it still helps him initiate a fight by virtue of making him harder to stop.

Having different voice-lines for all of his forms? That isn't realistic. He wouldn't need a lot of lines for each form, since he's constantly changing. You could split the workload. All five forms equating to the voice load of one normal champion (especially when he doesn't talk much in his early forms).

Have his model change with every evolution? That sounds like a lot of work; that'd basically make him an ultimate skin. I wouldn't say the change has to be huge. After all, he should still be recognizable as Cho'Gath at a glance. However, Dark Star Cho'Gath presented and already demonstrates his model evolving with time as he grows larger.

but at the end of the day, this is just a concept that might not work in practice. I think it'd be super fun though.