Kog'Maw VGU idea (and why he could use one)

I know he's not a big contender for VGU's right now, but his model is aging and riot clearly wanted to change him even if they did miss the mark. Current Kog is fun but his kit is caught in this sort of purgatory where it needs to be balanced for both his midlane and ADC builds, particularly in his ult which has overall lost a lot of its usefulness since the update. I want a visually good-looking kog who maintains the feeling of a tank shredding adc with lots of skillshots that make an ap mid still viable.

##Quick list of issues with current Kog'Maw

• Extremely high highs and extremely low lows, to a greater extent than most ADC's due to his team reliance.

• Lots of people complain about how reliable the core damage of ADC's is, and Kog is one of the biggest offenders of this, essentially just wanting to auto attack constantly. He was a little better when triforce was more in favor pre-rework but now he doesn't even really need to make proper use of his spells tbh. If kog'maw becomes meta there will be no end to the complaints about his binary kit, I assure you.

• His passive provides him with very little, he needs to die to get any use out of it and it's easy for foes with any mobility or shields to completely nullify it. It only scales with levels so Kog players have no agency over how much damage it does regardless of how they build. If the Kog'maw plays properly and doesn't get killed the passive is completely useless to them. Also I'm slightly convinced that it locks you out of using last-second summoner spells the instant before you die, including heal which has cost me many times. (I definitely have a much higher rate of failing last-second summoner spells on kog vs every other adc. Maybe it's just me though.)

• His ultimate can never be allowed to be strong. AP kog abuses it too heavily to create uninteractive gameplay, and even now is one of the least interactive lanes in the game post-6. When kogmaw is behind he can't use it to chip at his enemies because it does no damage unless he's winning, and ap kog just uses it to instaclear waves with e+r. He doesn't build triforce anymore so really it's just good for extra damage in close trades. It separates good and bad kogs but it doesn't feel very ultimate.

• His identity has shifted from a spell-slinging triforce adc like corki into a reworked machinegun, and now he's just sitting as a slightly less interesting reworked machinegun. Skill expression is limited, leaving Kog'maw as possibly the most vanilla ADC currently in the game.

##Goals of VGU:

• Restore the feeling of being machine-gun like/make his presence in teamfights feel more dramatic.

• Add more obvious skill expression

• Provide him with a useful passive

• Create a kit that allows his to retain both his identity as an artillery midlaner and a tank shredding ADC without being subpar at both.

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#REWORK

##Passive: Pre-Digestion (Or Caustic Spittle) Kog'Maw's abilities leave residual acid in his saliva, causing his next basic attack to shred enemy resistances. Shred= 7% Duration= 4s Stacks 1/2/3/4 times, increasing at levels 6/11/16. Subsequent applications of caustic spittle over the stack cap refresh the duration. NOTE I moved the effect on his old Q into his passive in order to nudge him slightly more towards being a spell slinging marksman again. It only slightly outperforms his old maxed out Q in terms of shred when fully stacked at level 16.

##Q: Bio-Arcane Barrage Cooldown= 15/14/13/12/11 Cost= 55 Mana at all ranks Kog'Maw fires a corrosive projectile in a target direction, dealing a small base damage plus 5/6/7/8/9% of target's maximum health magic damage to the first enemy hit (Capped at 150 on minions and epic monsters). Upon hitting a champion, minion, or monster the projectile bursts, dealing the base damage to all enemies in a small area around the initial target. Can be fired twice more at no additional cost within the next 4 seconds. The third projectile explodes at twice the size and applies the %hp damage to all enemies hit. Scaling= +1% per 100 ad/ap Flat damage scales with 50% AP NOTE: I'm not sure what base numbers would be good for the flat damage.

##W: Mouth-Watering Cooldown= 17 seconds at all ranks Cost= 40 Mana at all ranks For the next 8 seconds, Kog'Maw's basic attacks gain increased range and reduce the cooldown on his other abilities by .5 seconds. Additional enemies hit by runaans hurricane bolts do not increase this. Range= 630/650/670/690/710 NOTE: Encourages him to continue to build attack speed since the cdr it grants effectively scales with it.

##E: Hunger of the Abyss Cooldown= 22/20/18/16/14 seconds Cost= 60/70/80/90/100 mana Kog'Maw leaps forward a short distance, stopping at the end of its range or at the first champion or large/epic monster he collides with. If he hits a champion or large/epic monster, Kog'Maw bites them, dealing 7/9/11/13/15% of their maximum HP as true damage (Capped at 200 on large/epic monsters). Kogmaw heals for 0+50% of the damage dealt. Minions and small monsters in his path are pushed aside and briefly feared. Base heal= 30% AP NOTE: Kog'Maw is supposed to be a void puppy exploring the world the only way he knows how, with his mouth! His current kit fails to convey the eating aspect of him in any form. Imagine the animation for this as a puppy or a kitten playfully pouncing on a toy. Would have a short delay right before casting of him getting ready to pounce or something, maybe just barely shorter than when galio jumps back for his Justice Punch. The delay should slightly justify the high damage, since unlike galio, this is a squishy adc leaping into your face and it makes him vulnerable to enemy cc and skillshots.

##R: Living Artillery. Cooldown= 28/26/24/22/20 seconds Cost= 100/120/140 mana Kog'Maw slows himself by 20-40% and charges a mass of acid in his mouth for up to 5 seconds, increasing damage, radius, range, and self slow over the first 2s. When released, Kog'Maw launches a ball of acid in an arc that damages, briefly roots, and slows all enemies hit. Minimum Damage= 100/140/180 (+65% bonus ad/35% AP) Minimum Radius= 100 Maximum Damage= 200/280/360 (+130% bonus AD/70% AP) Maximum Radius= 200/300/350 Maximum Range= 1200/1500/1800 NOTE: This ability functions like a hybrid varus q/zac e. Base damage is identical to the current ultimate but instead of being reliant on enemy HP% it relies on a charge time. In terms of range it is similar to a zac e, he could just instantly spit it out but it would only land right in front of him. Acid ball moves in an arc rather than coming down from the sky.

#Final Comments

Mana Costs subject to change. I tried to keep them around roughly how much his kit costs him currently except the ult, and his mana growth may need to be adjusted.

Kog'Maw will be a monster if he survives in a fight, rapid basic attacks will ensure that his abilities are up often and his enemies resists stay down. Protect the Kog comps will still be advised if he's in the AD carry role except now the Kogmaw themself has more room to either make mistakes or show their mastery with the damage from bio-arcane barrage being gated by a skillshot. AP kogmaw will lose the inherently unbalanceable R spam but trade it for a much more powerful spell with a long-ish cooldown that is more rewarding to land. The spammability of the new q should help with the overall longer cooldowns and slightly reduce the down-time on his spells, but nashors tooth may become a necessity to give him some additional cdr from his new W.

A good portion of his damage can now be body blocked by the enemy frontline while the backline works to take Kog'Maw down, and there is in general more counterplay than either being nowhere near him or blowing him up as fast as you can lategame. His earlygame will still be weak, perhaps even weaker than his current earlygame (But hopefully not as bad as it was immediately post-marksman update). I've taken away the bonus attack speed in his kit due to the nature of the new W, but it could be but back into the spell if he really needs it I guess. It just felt like extra un-needed power to me since pretty much nobody maxes q first right now.

That's all for now, comments and criticisms are always appreciated!