Quick Thought: Cho’Gath Makes His Return in Season 5

In my “Predicting the Meta” series of articles, I felt there was one blatant oversight I made since playing League of Legends during Season 5. One of the champions I have found great success on playing top lane is Cho’Gath, the beastly void monster that provides a dominant laning phase and even greater impact in team fights. There are several reasons why Cho’Gath will become a cog in solo queue and competitive play.

Sustain

For a champion that scales quite well with ability power, Cho’Gath can sustain well against most lane opponents. When approached by a duelist like Riven or Jax, Cho’Gath can escape a fight using his Q ability, Rupture and silence the opponent on his way out with his W ability Feral Scream. Once he hits level 6, Cho’Gath can use his ultimate ability Feast in lane to gain extra health. Farming is also quite easy on Cho’Gath when using his Vorpal Spikes. Starting Doran’s Ring works very well in lane you intend to play aggressive on, and it will help mitigate the amount of mana your abilities cost early on.

Damage

Cho’Gath’s Rupture scales with 100% of his ability power, making it hurt badly when you poke your opponent with it in lane. Ability power also adds a slight amount of damage to your Vorpal Spike empowered auto attacks, your Feral Scream, and scales 70% with your ultimate ability Feast. If an enemy laner tries to attack you, one point in Feast with only 100 AP can deal 370 damage, a massive chunk to turn around the fight. Two points in Rupture can add 235 more damage with these statistics, and it will make Cho’Gath a bully to deal with in lane.

Crowd Control

With his Rupture’s knock up and slow alongside a silence you can land on many with Feral Scream, Cho’Gath can add massive crowd control to team fights in most games. Anyone who can land his skill shots on multiple members of the opposing team can gain a great advantage in team fights.

Peel

Cho’Gath’s ability to peel away opposing team members from brawls using Rupture is a major way he can be used in any team composition. Also, with 6 Feast stacks and an Elixir of Iron, Cho’Gath can be used as a massive meat shield that denies the opposing team from landing crucial skill shots on your team’s carries, which adds to his use. Needless to say that there is nothing scarier than seeing a massive, inexorable force standing in the front lines of your team.

Efficiency

There is no need to build too much ability power on Cho’Gath for his damage to be effective. Building a Rod of Ages and Haunting Guise gives Cho’Gath enough damage to make a difference in trades, while building a Frozen Heart and Banshee’s Veil on the backside provides effective tankiness and enough mana to continue to spam your high cost abilities.