Cho’Gath is a simple and strong beginner champion. He is distinguished by tankiness, fine amounts of CC, as well as some really strong true damage figures. To make sure our bases are well covered, today we are gonna explore the greatest Cho’Gath build.
Best Cho’Gath Items
Heartsteel
The absolute core first item for Cho is the Heartsteel. The base HP value that the item will give us is incredibly powerful for the early game gameplay. The item will scale really well into the late game also, since it has a passive that will enable us to periodically deal 12% of our item health as physical damage.
Hollow Radiance
Hollow Radiance is stacked with various buffs that are significant for Cho’Gath. The first buff will give us a shield when immobilizing enemies. The second buff will deal damage to enemies 3 seconds after we have been damaged. Finally, the third buff will do extra damage to enemies surrounding the enemy we have killed. In terms of stats, Radiance has all the stats we need such as HP, magic resist, and ability haste.
Thornmail
Depending on our lane opponent, the third item we will be building could be either Thornmail or Kaenick Rookern. Thornmail will be great against AD-heavy champs, while Kaenick Rookern will serve us best against AP ones.
Regarding Thornmail, its utility comes from its huge armor ratio, as well as the passive which reflects damage back to enemies. The item is also super powerful against high healing champions, as it will reduce their healing by 40%.
Kaenick Rookern
Kaenick Rookern is quite similar to Thornmail. It’s almost as much of a counter to AP as Thornmail is to AD. Rookern will equip us with an amazing amount of magic resist, and a shield, an anti-AP shield that regenerates when we are out of combat.
Jak’Sho the Protean
The greatest item to round out our build will Jak’Sho the Protean. The item comes with modest amounts of both armor and magic resist. It’s quite a versatile item to protect us from varying sources of damage. The key selling point of this item is its Voidburn passive that will increase our resistances the longer we are in combat.
Boots
The best boots for Cho’Gath are usually the Mercury Treads. They are perfect for fending off CC, and reducing magic damage taken. A viable alternative would be the Plated Steelcaps, which will protect us against basic attack heavy champs.
Runes for Cho’Gath
- Grasp of the Undying
- Demolish
- Second Wind
- Overgrowth
- Magical Footwear
- Approach Velocity
The most OP keystone for this build would be the Grasp of the Undying. It’s perfect for generating extra health, as well as increasing basic attack damage. The second rune I usually take is split push, which is great for pushing faster and collecting early plating gold.
The best third rune would be the second wind, which will enable us to sustain much better in the early game. The rune is best followed by Overgrowth for extra HP, magical footwear for free boots addition and Approach Velocity for extra movement speed.
Final Thoughts
Cho’Gath is a pretty simple yet powerful and effective top and mid lane pick. The best build for him is a tank one, composed of a mix of both armor and MR items. Its core item would be the Heartsteel, which will increase its power based on how much HP we generate.
The other beneficial items will be Radiance, Thornmail, and Kaenick Rookern, all serving their defensive purposes. The build is best finished off with Jak’Sho the Protean, which rounds out our stats and gives us a nice boost of both core resistances.