Hi, I'm Spreekaway and welcome to my Cho'gath middle guide. Cho was the first champion I ever bought, and since then I've been hooked. I think I played him basically every game from level 10 to level 30. I was platinum in season 2 with quite a few games as Cho (and even more in normals).

Lately I've been experimenting with playing Cho middle, and I'm convinced that it is the best place for Cho, provided you build him properly.



Cho'gath is one of the scariest champions in the game. Everything about him, from his appearance, to the spikes he makes come out of the ground, to the NOMNOMNOM that is his signature, just feels terrifying. With my build and tips in tow, you'll be making opponents say "Cho My God."

8-21-12: Guide Released

8-23-12: Guide Approved

8-28-12: Updated item builds to be more flexible

10-27-12: Added matchups with Syndra and Elise, changed item build to reflect DFG nerfs

12-7-12: Major update for Season 3, new item build, added matchups with Zed and Kha'zix.

Please remember that these Season 3 changes are still very new to everyone. I don't claim to know everything yet and I will update when I have more experience with the new changes.

12-14-14: There were minor Cho nerfs in the new Preseason Balance patch. was changed from 34+2*level to 21+3*level. The breakeven is at level 14, where much of the utility from the passive was already used. I don't think this is so significant -- Cho still has ridiculous sustain. Another minor nerf was the buff to smite; it's now slightly harder to steal objectives with Feast. Again, not such a big deal.

Apologies for the lagginess (my internet is OP...)

Runes Masteries and Commentary vs Zyra
Part 1:


Part 2:

I will admit, Cho'Gath middle is somewhat of an unorthodox pick. He's seen far more often in top or even jungle. While top and jungle cho are by no means bad, I feel his place is in middle.

• Great wave clear/wraith clearing
• Long duration silence on (3 seconds at max rank) shuts down casters extremely hard
• Safe pick, no hard counterpicks
• High sustain for both health and mana than most opponents
• Good enough burst to 100-->0 squishy laners
• Able to push waves and do jungle camps extremely fast
• Controls dragons and buffs extremely well
• Unorthodox pick, many players won't know how to handle you

• Melee autoattack against primarily ranged champions
• Fairly low damage (especially if you build tank or fall far behind)
• Some heroes can kite/dodge your and

• Can build tankier (since you have another AP carry in mid)
• Able to use more effectively
• Most of the time, you won't have to deal with ranged heroes harassing you with autos
• Able to stay in lane for a long time
• Able to freeze lane

• No escapes, quite easy to gank
• Pushes lane with all abilities (allows enemy to control creeps easily)
• Rarely has kill potential
• High mobility bruisers can juke your abilities

• Very fast clear speed
• Amazing sustain
• Great control over buffs and objectives once you hit level 6
• Can transition into a tank

• Struggles to duel enemy junglers
• Weak ganker, unless his lanes have hard CC or enemy lanes lack escapes of any kind.
• Semi-blue dependent early

Cho is somewhat situational. He's definitely weak to kiting and mobility. His initiate is based on hitting a difficult skillshot.

You normally want to pick Cho when you have a team with more reliable CC and initiate. His and are amazing followups. So, he does great with people like etc.

It's often a bad idea to pick Cho against enemies who are highly mobile and can juke your skillshots. Try to avoid picking cho against people like , etc.

Season 3 brought a much improved utility tree, some nice defensive masteries, and an offensive tree remaining largely the same. Though Cho can benefit from all 3 trees, I think Offense is not very useful for Cho past 9 points. The two mastery pages I've been using most often are:

9-0-21


The utility tree has some very nice stats for Cho, especially summoner spell cd reduction (Cho is very flash dependent as he is a melee caster with no gap closer) and regular CDR. The gp10, buff duration, mana and movement speed are nothing to scoff at either. The weakness of this page is that it will leave you much squishier than defensive spec.

9-21-0


The defensive tree is also good for Cho. The extra armor can make it easier to lane as a melee autoattacker, while the increased % of health, tenacity, and reduced crit damage will make Cho that much harder to stop late game. You may want to run this page against difficult lanes who can harass you hard. This disadvantage of this build is that you lose out on the goodies in the utility tree which tend to be much harder to itemize for.

Conclusion: Test out these pages (or some combination of all 3 trees perhaps!) and choose whichever one suits your playstyle best. I'll try to have a more definitive conclusion when the season has progressed a little bit.

I run this in the majority of matchups. It's versitile enough to work well in pretty much any matchup.




Same page as above, with health per level yellows replacing armor. I'll take this if the enemy only has one source of AD damage.




This page is much different. You don't need MR glyphs against an AD opponent, while the Armor quints will allow you to shrug off their harass. Make sure you only run this when you're sure to be against an AD lane. If you wind up in a difficult AP lane without MR, you're in big trouble.


9x Mark of Insight (Magic Pen): . AP mids pretty much exclusively run these. It's the only type of red that offers anything substantial.


9x Seal of Resilience (Flat Armor): Melee champions typically will want to run armor, since they take a lot of autoattack harass as well as creep damage.

9x Seal of Vitality (Health/Level): These runes can help you survive a difficult lane against heavy magic damage. You also might want to use these against an enemy team full of magic damage.

9x Seal of Replenishment(Flat Mana Regen: Though I personally don't think Cho needs mana regen, those more inclined to spam spells may prefer these yellows.

Blues

9x Glyph of Warding (Flat MR): Cho makes very good use of this magic resist. If he can survive burst, he can normally heal it all back with his passive. Furthermore, the effectiveness of these resists grows even more once Cho begins to gain health with his Feast stacks.

9x Glyph of Force (AP/level): I normally only run these against heavy AD lanes for whom I do not need magic resist. However, more aggressive types may prefer these runes as they allow for higher damage and burst potential.

Quints

3x Quints of Swiftness (Movement Speed): Movement speed is quite good for cho. It allows you to stay out of harass range easier as well as allowing you to catch up to fleeing opponents to Rupture or Feast them.

3x Quints of Resilience (Flat Armor): Run these against difficult AD lanes who you fear can zone you. Note, that you might prefer Movement Speed against melee ADs because it allows you to harass them with Vorpal Spikes more effectively.

3x Quints of Potency (Flat AP): These are the best option if you cannot afford the expensive Movement Speed quints.

is pretty much necesssary for cho. You lack any other form of gap closer or escape, yet two of your skills require being in melee range.

gives you the ability to finish people off in middle. It's a crucial part of your combo and has gotten me many kills.



A solid spell for top lane Cho, but I don't think its needed for mid Cho. You rarely get forced out of lane, and since mid lane is so close to the action, you can just walk wherever you need to be. (Note for season 3: Homeguard + TP cheese can be rather good on Cho, but who knows if it will last in the game -- I think Riot may remove homeguard MS after using a teleport.)

I would encourage your support or jungle to grab this. If they don't, I suppose you could, especially if they have an important target to exhaust.


Flash is far more useful as an escape/gap closer spell.

You can bait people with this ability, but it won't help you much later.

You can bait people with this ability, but it won't help you much later.

Whenever Cho'Gath kills a unit, he recovers 34 - 68 (+2.5 each level) health and 3.5-7.75 mana (+0.25 each level).




This passive is just amazing. Very few champions get mana sustain and health sustain, and even fewer to the extent that cho does. The downside is, you actually have to last hit well.





Ruptures the ground at target location. After .65 seconds, enemies are launched into the air for 1 second, dealt 80 / 135 / 190 / 245 / 305 (+100% of ability power) magic damage, and have their movement speed slowed by 60% for 3 seconds.

Cooldown 9 seconds

Cost 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 / 120 mana

Range 950



This skill can be difficult to hit, but it is probably one of the strongest abilities in the game if hit. An AoE knockup (the best CC in the game) with a large slow immediately following it. Not only that, but it also has extremely high base damage AND a 1.0 AP ratio.

On the other hand, the cooldown and mana costs are long, especially early. Thus, you should try to avoid spamming it until you get some CDR and items.




Cho'Gath screams in a cone in front of him, silencing enemies for 2 / 2.5 / 3 / 3.5 / 4 second(s) and causing 75 / 125 / 175 / 225 / 275 (+70% of ability power) magic damage.

Cooldown 13 seconds

Cost 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 mana

Range 300



This spell is much easier to hit than Q, and still packs quite a punch. The base damage is nothing to scoff at, nor is the AP ratio of .70. Furthermore, it is a long duration silence which can be very difficult for the enemy caster to deal with. Often, it's a good idea to use this ability before trying to land Q because it will prevent the enemy from flashing or using a dash move to escape.

However note the high cooldown. In teamfights, (even with 40% cdr) you want to make sure you silence high priority targets (especially the enemy AP).





Toggle: Cho'gath's physical attacks launch spikes which deal 20 / 35 / 50 / 65 / 80 (+30% of ability power) magic damage to a line in front of him.

Range 40



This ability is not quite as great as cho's other moves, but it is quite helpful for last hitting as well as adding a nice bonus to his autos late game. One downside of being mid lane cho is that you won't be able to use this ability too much.





Deals 300 / 475 / 650 (+70% of ability power) damage to target champion, or 1000 damage to target minion (ignores resists).

If the target is killed by Feast, Cho'Gath grows, gaining 90 / 120 / 150 maximum health (maximum 6 stacks). Cho'Gath loses up to half (rounded up) stacks upon death.

Cooldown 60 seconds

Cost 100 mana

Range 100



True damage that scales great with AP. This is your signature move, the NOMNOMNOM followed by "An enemy has been slain" feels so satisfying. The health steroid is also extremely strong, worth about 2 giants belts of health when fully stacked at lvl 16.

You can and should use this ability on minions to stack up , if there is no imminent fight.

This ability also works great for stealing/securing buffs and dragons/barons. It always does at least 1000 damage to minions, which is more than max level smite. You can tell your jungler to smite at about 1600 and you will finish it by eating.

• Rupture is Cho's most important move. If you want to be a good Cho player, you need to land these consistently.

• As you can see, rupture has a fairly long range and radius. The problem is, not only is there a delay before the ability goes off, but Cho'Gath also does his own animation which makes it really obvious he's rupturing somewhere.

• In lane phase, before people get boots 2 or increased movement speed, it's often possible to drop rupture right on top of them as they last hit.

• The most reliable way to hit rupture however, is to aim it behind them slightly. Most people, upon seeing Cho's animation start will start to run away, right into the rupture itself.

• Always smartcast Rupture. You often need to be able to use it quickly.
• It's often a good idea to use before using . Not only will the enemy be unable to flash or use mobility spells, but the silence often makes them start to run away.
• Predict your opponents movement. The easiest Rupture to land is the one on the enemy fleeing for their life, because they rarely change their path.
• Try to cast Rupture from where you can't be seen, so the enemy doesn't get a warning from your characters animation.
• You can use Rupture to see into the fog of war. If it hits something, you will see them.

Level 1: Always get Rupture (Q). It is extremely good for level 1 fights, and also helps the jungler most on their buff.

Level 2 and 3: Feral Scream (I used to get E to harass melee opponents back in S2, but with the removal of Indominable I no longer think its worth it)

Level 4: Vorpal Spikes. This will help you last hit and do a little extra damage if you can get in range to auto attack them.



--> --> -->

In my opinion, this is a no brainer for mid Cho. You won't get off enough autos with Vorpal Spikes to make maxing it worthwhile. Your Feral Scream is much easier to hit than your Rupture, and putting more points into it ups the silence duration. Therefore, I always max Feral Scream first

I also believe it makes sense to max Rupture second. After all, you are playing the role of a caster, so powering up your melee auto attack is of dubious importance.

Season 3 is here, and with comes several new items and many changes to the way items work. With it, come many questions about how to itemize Cho now. Let's start by considering what stats we want to get on Cho.



IMPORTANT: Cho does NOT need health from items. He gets two giants belts worth of health from his feast stacks

• Cooldown Reduction. Cho's base cooldowns are extremely long, and he needs them to be up sooner to be useful. That extra Rupture or Feral Scream could win the fight for you.
• Armor/MR. Cho gets an enormous health steroid so buying resists gives him more effective HP than buying health itself.
• AP. Don't forget, you are filling the traditional role of the AP caster, so you need to do some damage.

Cho'gath has the luxury of having enormous natural sustain, so he has the ability to start a variety of items in Season 3. It really comes down to personal preference but I normally choose between

A: Typically I get this item first in easy lanes that don't have much reliable harass. Be wary of starting this against dangerous earlier gankers like or , since getting chunked by a gank could force out of lane It's nice to be utility specced so you can at least get a buscuit to sustain in the case of emergency.

B: You can customize this to the situation (for instance, replacing pots with a second ward against an especially dangerous ganker). This build allows you to sustain through the most powerful early harass and survive until you are strong enough to punish them. The flask is very nice throughout the game on Cho since he can have some mana problems. Your level 1 ward also allows you to be less worried about the enemy jungler.

C: This build is good when you want to build chalice --> athenes (I'm not convinced that this is the way to go anymore, but if you still like it, these are the starting items to go with).



Cho can use a variety of boots to great effect.

A. Get Mercs against hard magic lanes, or against high CC teams when you lack tenacity from the defensive tree.

B. Get Sorcs when you are crushing your lane and you want to snowball it.

C. Choose this if you are against an AD lane, the enemy team is heavy AD, OR your bot lane is feeding out of control.

In my opinion the ideal enchantment for Cho is . The other options don't provide very much for his skill set.



One of the greatest advantages of Cho is the extreme variety of items that can be good on him. That being said, I believe that there are 4 ideal options for your first item:

A: This item was my core recommended item back in Season 2, but since then it has sustained some significant nerfs. Though I still think it is a good item on Cho, I only get it now when I'm significantly behind, getting denied blue buffs, and/or in a difficult matchup. I think the mana from the flask is enough to sustain you in most situations and I'm not pleased with the much lowered AP value on this item.

B. This item (now cheaper) is a good option to rush now. It provides you with a really high amount of burst. If you can make do with the mana sustain from your flask, I would rush this item.

C. If you're really far ahead, getting this item will allow you to snowball the lane. An extra 20% damage on Rupture and Feral Scream can be quite nice (as well as the 15% health damage) can really do wonders for you. I personally prefer Deathcap, but I can definitely see the argument for DFG

D. ONLY if you're against a difficult AD lane (think of it as the Athene's purchase for physical opponents). It will help you survive but it won't do much to make you a scary AP caster.

Your 2nd item is much easier to select. Get a if you got a CDR item first, and get a CDR item if you got Deathcap first. Most of the time, you will only need one CDR item.

Only get a 2nd CDR item in one situation:

• You are defensive spec (i.e., no CDR from utility tree)
• Your jungler/the enemy team is taking blue
• You benefit a lot from the other parts of the item

So, you have your core build of 3 items. What should you buy for your other slots? Let's look at the options:

• 

Get this item if you need MR or if you have a double AP comp.

• 

Good as a 6th item if you are getting focused. It provides nice resists along with the passive. Also, there's nothing more terrifying than a 6 item Cho'Gath with a giant halo around him!

• 

If you're against ///, and you need a way to escape their ults.

• 

Getting extra health isn't ideal on Cho, but this item works well as a 5th or 6th item. You have enough resists with and that building a little extra health makes some sense. Also, the extra AP scales nicely if you have a deathcap. The real reason to get this item however, is the passive. It makes Cho's spells (including his autoattacks with ) slow the enemy, which can help him stick to his targets.

• 

Most of the time, is enough armor. If it isn't, you can consider this item. It offers a lot of armor, as well as a nice passive since you have magic penetration.

• 

Get this as a last item if the enemy is stacking MR. You'll be fairly squishy with this, so be careful that you only get it when absolutely necessary.

• 

This item procs on all of Cho's autos. It can be good against a particularly tanky team. % damage is quite nice, although I do think that it significantly delays your build. Experiment with it for now, but I suspect it will be nerfed in an upcoming patch anyways.

• 

If you chose not to get a Frozen Heart, this item can work nicely as a substitute. It helps you hit
enemy autoattackers with your abilities and brings a very nice active to the table.

• 

This item is one of the most OP in the game, but it's not good for a mid laner. Leave it for your jungle or support. If they don't get it, it can work alright on Cho.

• 

You don't need the health or the passive much, so // are much better for magic resist.

• 

This will slow more than Rylai's (since counts as an AoE spell), but the AD is nowhere near as useful to us as the AP from Rylai's (which scales with Rabadons).

• 

You don't need CDR from this item, since you would be giving up the crucial stat of tenacity. Stick with and

• 

I don't think Sheen synergizes particularly well with Cho's high cooldowns and lack of a gapcloser, so I can't recommend this item.

• 

Your relatively long cooldowns and lack of a gap closer don't play nice with this item. It could work if you're ridiculously fed though.

• 

This item can work on cho, just because he has a tendency to live through fights. However, you don't really want to rely on it since you already have your feast stacks to worry about.

• 

or provides better stats for Cho.

• 

Cho already has great health/mana regen from his . Getting this just weakens lane phase.

• 

Don't get this item, Cho doesn't need the health or the sustain and it significantly weakens his mid game.

• 

A great item, but not really suited to an AP damage dealer. Not strictly required for living in teamfights, so stick with the big three for your CDR needs.

• 

You don't need more sustain in lane, nor do you need the health. Stick with .

• 

No gap closer makes it hard to suggest this item. Also, it has been going out of style lately because of the high mobility champions in the League now.

• 

You're not really a bruiser, and you don't use sheen procs very well. Though most of the stats are pretty useful, leave it to your top lane.

• 

Buying pure health is inefficient for Cho. Also, the fact that it needs to be stacked up means that you will have to delay more high priority items. Skip it, and grab a if you need more health.

• 

All of Cho's abilities are high cooldown and/or AoE, which doesn't play nice with spell vamp. Don't bother with this.

• 

This item works great for bruiser/tank Cho but it doesn't really synergize with an AP caster build.

• 

Since you don't have an escape, most of the time you'll be in just as bad a situation after returning from Zhonya. Sure, the stats work decently for Cho, but there are definitely better options.

• Cho has one of the strongest level 1 teamfights in the game.
• Remember, you can blindly rupture bushes to avoid facechecking
• Be patient with your rupture. Try to let your teammates use more reliable CC or wait for a good chance to hit multiple opponents at once.

• Play passively, and try to conserve mana at early levels.
• Once you get two points into , look to harass the enemy with it.
• Make sure you CS accurately; your sustain depends on it.
• Know that you can clear wraith camps quickly as early as level 4.
• Make small trades; do NOT let your opponent all in you.
• You will outlast almost every other AP.
• If your opponent stays around with low health after level 6, hit one Q and they're dead.

• Try to avoid overextending for cs. Go do wraiths or try to roam.
• If the enemy jungler appears, wait for them to use their gap closer, then use your very slightly behind you.
• Be wary of junglers with a high amount of CC or mobility as your may be unable to save you.
• Remember you have an enormous amount of CC and damage. If a jungler comes with low health, it's very possible to simply combo them and enjoy a nice meal.

• Cho also excels at helping his own jungler get kills.
• Silence them as the jungler approaches to prevent a flash
• Wait for your jungler to use their cc before using rupture.
• If you chain your CC properly, it is normally an easy kill.

• Once you get your feast, you can often look to setup a kill.
• First, trade with your opponent and get them down to about 50-60% life. Remember that you will quickly regain any health you lost, wheras your opponent will not be so fortunate
• Now you want to hit them with a . You might miss a few times, but keep trying.
• As soon as you hit your , immediately follow up with and . Either + or try to walk up to them. With a few autos with , they are very likely to die.
• Don't get greedy and try to get stacks off of them. You're better off ensuring that you actually get your feast off (before they flash or use a jump move).

Apologies about the poor quality and shoddy camera work :)

Overall, Cho'gath has relatively few counters in my opinion. His high sustain and tankiness means that few people can actually force him out of lane.

That being said, certain champions like and have the sustained damage output to potentially shut you down. You don't have to worry much about burst casters like or since assuming they can't one shot you, you will just kill a few creeps and be back to full again.



Easy Matchups:


Skill Matchups:

Hard Matchups:

• 

Ahri can be a difficult lane for Cho. She has quite high damage and can harass you pretty hard while you're trying to cs. She can also potentially use her ult jumps to dodge all your skillshots. It's vital to silence her properly when she tries to all in you. If you miss, you will almost certainly lose the trade.

Difficulty Level: Medium

• 

Akali is quite easy to deal with. She struggles to trade with you early because of your and your . Like most assassins, she prefers squishy targets which you are most certainly not.

Difficulty Level: Easy

• 

Anivia is pretty easy to deal with as well overall although she can be annoying at times. Early game, be aware of her super high range autos as well as the powerful Q-E combo. With your movement speed quints and masteries, it shouldn't be too difficult to dodge. Try to push hard on her early game, when she struggles to CS at her turret. Once she hits 6, try to silence her as soon as she uses her ult. I find it pretty easy to land my skillshots on her because of her low base movement speed.

Difficulty Level: Easy

• 

Annie is no problem at all. Cho's too tanky to be one shot, and annie has no mobility spells or sustained damage. Furthermore, she's easy to push against. Still, watch out for her high range autoattacks early and her burst at level 6 if you're low.

Difficulty Level: Easy

• 

AP blitz is somewhat underrated, but he's not especially good against Cho. Push on him early and punish him with and a every time he tries to last hit. Make sure you don't get hooked into turret or baited by his mana shield. Also, ward up your lane. Blitzcrank is one of the best at setting up ganks for his jungler.

Difficulty Level: Easy

• 

Brand can be a little tricky. He has a lot of poke and a powerful burst that you always have to be scared of. Be very, very careful while last hitting. Go in at the last possible moment and prepare to dodge his flame pillar. You can also pretend to go in and then back out instantly to bait him to waste his spells.

Difficulty Level: Medium

• 

Cassiopeia is probably your hardest matchup. Her damage early is insane, and it's pretty easy for her to hit her Q while you last hit (because of your melee autoattack). Follow the same advice as for brand. Also, if she does hit a Q, immediately go up to her and use to prevent her from following up with Twin Fangs. Assuming you survive early game, you can start to outsustain her harass as soon as you get chalice. She has no escapes and is rather squishy so ask for ganks or man up and kill her yourself.

Difficulty Level: Hard

• 

You don't see AD carries mid very often, but they can be really annoying for Cho. Caitlyn's range and traps are beyond frustrating for a melee character. Luckily, you have quite nice sustain, armor runes and have the option of rushing a glacial shroud. Hopefully, you'll be able to take advantage of their lack of AP carry later.

Difficulty Level: Medium

• 

This is possibly the most boring matchup in the whole world (yes I have played it...). Both sides silence each other and then run away and sustain back off creeps. You can't do much but farm unless your opponent makes a big mistake. Maybe your best bet is to rush Fiendish Codex and hope to get your silence back up before his. This could force him onto the defensive.

Difficulty Level: DON'T PLAY BLIND PICK...

• 

Similar to Caitlyn, this guy can really be annoying. Even worse than Caitlyn is the fact that he has a great escape move and does three types of damage. You may want to get a Glacial + Chalice and hope to hang on until later. Again, he's manageable, especially with help from your jungler, but he can definitely cause some problems.

Difficulty Level: Medium-Hard

• 

You don't really see many darius mids but if they wanted to face you in top, they might swap with their AP. Anyways, this isn't too tough a matchup in mid. Just try to dodge his pulls and avoid getting all-ined. You can hit him with your spells easily since he lacks mobility spells. He's super easy to gank so ask your jungler to help you out.

Difficulty Level: Easy-Medium

• 

Diana's pretty easy to handle since she doesn't do well with tanky guys like cho. Punish her with your whenever she tries to melee a minion. Most of the time, if she jumps on you, you'll easily win the trade with and . Just be careful not to hang around with low health and make sure you ward your lane to discourage her roaming.

Difficulty Level: Easyish

• 

As of right now, I don't Elise is threatening at all as an AP mid. Her damage is pretty low, and her scaling is pitiful. I haven't gotten the chance to play this matchup yet, but I believe Cho should easily win. Harass her whenever she goes into her spider form, and look for a chance to burst her.

Difficulty Level: Easy

• 

AP Ezreal really struggles against Cho. Just push the wave over and over. There's practically nothing he can do about it. He does have some nice burst damage if he can hit his skillshots so make sure you dodge them/ stay away from him. Also, he has an amazing way to juke your abilities so it will probably be very difficult to harass him or kill him. It doesn't really matter though, if you can force him to lose CS at the turret while you roam or take wraiths.

AD Ezreal, while not seen very often, can cause some minor annoyance to Cho with auto attack harass. It might make sense to grab a Glacial Shroud before your Athene's. You can still push on him, but as AD he can actually CS under turret.

Difficulty Level: AP: Easy/ AD: Medium

• 

Cho wrecks poor fiddle pretty badly. His drain is practically screaming " ME!." If your is down, you can even just him. He's so squishy without his drain that most of the time, you can just 100-0 him with , and . You also want to push on this guy hard since he can't really last hit at his turret. You'll have an easy lane, as long don't let him surprise you with an ult from a random brush.

Difficulty Level: Easy

• 

Fiora mid can work on certain squishy champions, but Cho isn't one of them. You'll win pretty much every trade, especially if you rush a glacial. As usual, push on her since she has poor wave clear.

Difficulty Level: Easy

• 

Again, like most assassin types, Fizz can't do much to Cho. Punish him with whenever he tries to last hit. His many jumps can be neutralized with a simple silence. He has pretty weak wave clear, so you can push him hard if you want.

Difficulty Level: Easyish

• 

A snoozefest. You'll both stack tons of MR and clear waves instantly. Early game is your best chance to do something. His sustain is definitely not as good as yours and your autoattacks will hurt him pretty badly. You may be able to grab a kill at level 6 with your . Otherwise, if you want to do anything to him later, you'll have to go for a more Attack Speed oriented build with Wit's End or something. I would recommend just sticking to the usual build and just try to farm your jungle and roam more effectively than he does.

Difficulty Level: Naptime

• 

Don't see much GP mid anymore, but he's no big deal for Cho. Get a glacial and you'll win every trade, especially if he goes Gp5. Also, he has weak wave clear, so shove the lane.

Difficulty Level: Easy

• 

Gragas can be a bit tricky. Gragas and Cho are similar in many ways with their melee autoattacks, high sustain, good waveclear, etc. The difference is, Gragas has mobility while Cho has CC. This is really a matchup that comes down to skill. I don't think you'll die to gragas unless you fall really far behind, but he can definitely outlane you if you don't your and . You can harass him early with , when he tries to last hit, but he will probably just heal it all back with his passive.

Difficulty Level: Medium

• 

Heimer is quite an annoying champ, but Cho is well equipped to deal with him. Most of the time you can hold back his pushing by just sustaining off the creeps and his turrets. Yes, does work on his turrets. If you can get close enough to land a skillshot, you can get a kill pretty easily.

Difficulty Level: Easy

• 

AP janna isn't as popular after its nerfs, but it can be really frustrating, especially for someone like Cho. Her high mobility and waveclear makes it hard for you to do much. If you can land your and , it might be possible to kill her. Otherwise, just try to farm. You'll be far more useful for damage later.

Difficulty Level: Easy-Medium

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Haven't laned against a karma personally, but I'm told she can be pretty annoying in lane. Still, she lacks the damage to force you out of lane, so you can farm pretty easily. Don't get baited by her shields and heals and you'll be fine.

Difficulty Level: Easy-Medium??

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Karthus can be tricky, especially if he knows how to dodge your abilities. If you land your however, you can often 100-0 him. Make sure you dodge his Qs in lane, and try to deny him from farming as best you can. Remember that you have two ways to cancel his ult if he's dumb enough to channel it while in your sight.

Difficulty Level: Medium-Hard

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Kassadin is a super easy matchup. Before level 6, keep the lane in the middle, and harass kassadin with every time he goes to last hit. After level 6, shove the lane constantly to keep kassadin from roaming. If he riftwalks into you, STAND YOUR GROUND. He cannot burst you completely. Remember that most trades end up good for you because you have so much more sustain.

Difficulty Level: Easy

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Another assassin that is an easy breakfast for Cho'Gath. Poor katarina gets absolutely demolished by Cho. Harass her every time she gets near a creep with and . Never let her use her ulti on you without instantly cancelling it. If she jumps into you, instantly silence her and blow her up with all your skills.

Difficulty Level: Mega Easy

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This guy can be semi-annoying with his auto attack harass. Still, unless he invests into doran's blades, you should be able to sustain most of his harass. Note that you can ask your jungler to gank. Most kennen's extend pretty far because they know they can escape with their Lightning Surge. But Cho can simply silence and set up a gank perfectly. If he maxes Q first, you can keep him at his turret by pushing the wave hard. Otherwise, you can choose whether to push or play more passively.

Difficulty Level: Medium-Hard

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Another melee AD assasin, and another easy lane for Cho. This guy relies on spamming his Qs and your Feral Scream can shut that down nicely. Khazix can be rather difficult for you to kill, but he definitely can't kill you. Build some armor and farm it up and look forward to late game when you do much more than him.

Difficulty Level: Easy

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AP kog got pretty heavily nerfed. Anyways, he is quite weak early game. Push on him hard and he'll lose quite a bit of CS on the turret. If you can deny his blue buff, he's 100% screwed against you. Trade with him as much as you can. He can't hope to match your mana sustain or health sustain.

Difficulty Level: Easy

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Another assasin who fails to dent cho. As usual for this type of opponent, push on them hard. Leblanc in particular is completely awful at clearing waves or even getting cs at the turret. Just be a little bit careful early game. Once you get a little MR and a few feast stacks, Leblanc will be totally helpless (And with her late game... issues, her team will soon be as well).

Difficulty Level: Easy-Medium

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Lulu's mobility and poke is annoying, but her damage is nowhere near enough to drive Cho out of lane. Also, she's rather squishy without her abilties. If you can CC lock her with and , you can possibly one shot her.

Difficulty Level: Easy

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Lux is a burst caster who has some major mana issues, lacks escapes, and is rather squishy. Thus, it's a good matchup for Cho. Lux can do some annoying harass but most of the time, her mana runs out before your health does. Try to keep the wave off your turret since that lets her poke you for free.

Difficult Level: Easy

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Another boring matchup. You don't see malph mid too often (especially since he's permabanned at the moment). You have some advantage in early game because of your superior sustain and harass. But still, it's rather difficult to kill a malphite. If he maxes his Q, you can try to push hard on him. If he maxes E, you can try to kite him (since he doesn't do damage with E except in close range). Still, best to avoid this matchup if you can, just because of how brutal malph is for your AD carry.

Difficulty Level: Easy-Medium

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Malzahar is another burst caster who can't do much to Cho. His specialty is in pushing waves, but Cho is also great at clearing waves back. The relatively weak harass that Space Aids and Voidlings do will be easily healed from . One trick you can use is to drop your beneath Malz right as he drops his pool, since he normally uses pool right before he will ult. It's also possible to cancel Malz ult with your if he starts it at a particularly bad time.

Difficulty Level: Easy-Medium

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AP Yi is rather annoying in lane, but he doesn't really do much to Cho. If you can, try to interrupt his meditate with or . Sometimes, Yi's will get cocky with their meditates at low health, since it gives them 300 armor and magic resist at rank 5. But as we know, does true damage. Mostly, you'll both just farm, and Yi will end up being fairly weak later on.

Difficulty Level: Easy

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I think Morde is a nice matchup for Cho. Your silence and knockup can shut down mord's shield growing. Like most melee mids, try to harass him early with a combination of and . You can let Morde push a little, and have your jungler put some pressure on him. With Cho's help, an overextended mord is typically an easy kill.

Difficulty Level: Easy-Medium

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Morgana is one of the safest AP mids in the game. Still, I think Cho has quite a good time against her. If she gets hit by silence before she shields, she could potentially even die. Meanwhile, I don't think she can really kill Cho, unless you get hit by every binding. Early game, you probably want to push hard if you can. She struggles to push back until she gets more levels into her pool.

Difficulty Level: Easy

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Nautilus is another underrated AP mid, but he gets absolutely demolished by Cho. He can't deal with Cho's damage and CC at all. Just avoid getting hit by Naut's dredge line and you'll win the lane pretty easily.

Difficulty Level: Easy

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This is another rather boring lane. Most Nidalees who go mid are building AP, so their early game is fairly weak. Still, Nidalee just has an enormous amount of sustain, especially with blue buff. Before she hits level 6, she can't clear waves well, so you can try to push her in early. Once she hits 6, it's gonna be hard to hit her with your skills. Your best bet is to try to silence her while she's in human form and then try to land your . Most likely the lane will just become a farm off, but be careful of her burst with cougar form.

Difficulty Level: Medium

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AP nunu is quite annoying in lane, but Cho does a decent job of at least surviving. You don't see Nunu going mid much, because his wave clear is pretty awful. So, your best bet is to push the wave hard. You might be able to burst him if he misplays the lane, but his sustain is possibly even better than yours so you shouldn't count on it. Best plan is just to push the wave and go roam or do wraiths.

Difficulty Level: Medium

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Orianna can be a difficult matchup. Her autoattacks really hurt because of her passive and she has great harass potential with her spells, particularly for a melee hero like Cho. Her shield, if properly used, can mitigate much of your harass with . Still, Orianna lacks a mobility spell, and as such can be fairly easy to hit with . Your best bet is to survive the early game harass and hope to kill her when you reach level 8 or 9.

Difficulty Level: Medium-Hard

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Pantheon is a scary AD mid laner. He has very good harass, a stun, and a global ultimate. However, Cho'Gath is quite good at mitigating the constant spear harass with his . Get an early ninja tabi into glacial and Pantheon won't be able to do anything to you.

Difficulty Level: Easy

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Riven is quite an annoying matchup for you, although you won't see it too often. Be aware of what item Riven bought to start with. Some Riven's start doran's blade and try to all-in you at level 1 or 2. Your best weapon against Riven is your . She can't dash or do much of anything while she's silenced. So, try to silence and go in for a last hit, then back off. After you get and , you should be able to trade well with her.

Difficulty Level: Medium

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I think this matchup favors rumble in top lane, but it's a different story in mid. Make sure you punish rumble early by pushing the wave hard. He's pretty useless until he gets at least 2 levels into his Q. Later on, if you can get your on him before he uses Q, you'll get a bunch of free damage with . Once you get your chalice and merc treads, you'll outsustain him easily.

Difficulty Level: Easy-Medium

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Ryze is one of the harder champions to face. He has a large amount of sustained damage, good movement speed for dodging your abilities, and a terrifying late game. Early game, be very careful of the enemy jungler as Ryze's flash + Rune Prison can be deadly. If their jungler is a weak ganker however, feel free to shove the lane hard, as Ryze struggles to push waves or even last hit at turret. Ryze will not be able to force you out of lane until he gets some items and blue buff, so you can play rather aggresive. Once he gets his tear and catalyst, I prefer to stay away from him. Push the wave and then go do wraiths or roam. Silence him if he tries to combo you. The worst part about this lane however, is that even if you outfarm Ryze, he'll still be brutal come late game.

Difficulty Level: Hard

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AP shaco is super easy for Cho. You sustain his poke from Two-Shiv Poison effortlessly. Just push the wave constantly, and avoid walking into a nest of traps and you'll win lane easily.

Difficulty Level: Mega Easy

• 

Another simple matchup. Sion used to be FOTM as a roamer, but he's fallen out of favor. Cho can absolutely ruin his day. You easily outsustain his high-cooldown abilities. Also, you can break his shield by simply and auto-attacking once or twice with . Without his shield, Sion won't be able to roam or even outpush you. So you can just survive past laning phase and Sion will be rather useless in teamfights.

Difficulty Level: Easy

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AP soraka can be quite annoying for melees, but you can handle it better than most. Stay out of range of her Starcall, unless you're going in for a CS. Similar to my advice for Cassio and Brand, try to wait until the last possible moment to go for CS. Soraka pushes lane really hard and has no escape ability, so she's extremely easy to gank. She's also rather squishy if she gets CC locked by your and .

Difficulty Level: Medium-Hard

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Swain is tricky because he has a lot of harass and sustain. Try to avoid getting poked too hard by his DoT abilities. Like other hard matchups, play super passive in laning phase and try to just get CS. Unfortunately, the lane doesn't get much better as time goes on. The only way you can actually win is if you can deny his blue buff. Otherwise, your best bet is to try to silence him and burst before he can change into his ulti form. Eventually, it will probably just become a farm lane since both Swain and Cho have so much sustain.

Difficulty Level: Hard

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Syndra's early game harass can be annoying, and she does have quite a bit of burst at level 6. Still, she lacks any form of escape move or sustain and her abilities are largely skillshot based. Just play safe early on, and look to outsustain her as the laning phase progresses. Once you get blue, you can start spamming your abilities trying to catch her in a rupture.

Difficulty Level: Easy

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Talon is an assassin, so it's a good matchup for Cho. He does primarily physical damage so grab a and a early. You can poke him with and while he tries to last hit, and pretty much make his life miserable. Most trades will favor you because Talon has no natural sustain.

Difficulty Level: Easy

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Teemo can be somewhat tricky in top lane, but mid lane tends to be much easier for Cho. Try to stay away from his autoattack harass early. Once you get some levels and a chalice, he won't be able to hurt you much. Just watch out for his mushrooms and you should be fine.

Difficulty Level: Easy-Medium

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AP trist shouldn't be a big issue. Just be careful because she has some of the best burst in the game. Once you get some MR and feast stacks, she'll be unable to stop you from sustaining everything. Remember, if she doesn't get fed, she's pretty much worthless in teamfights.

AD trist can be a problem however. Make sure you realize so you don't get a bunch of MR. As usual for laning against ADs, stay away from their autoattack harass, and stack a bunch of armor with and .

Difficulty Level: AP Trist = Easy-Medium / AD Trist = Medium

• 

This matchup comes down to skill of the TF. A good TF with movement speed quints and good positioning should never get caught from your spells, and can just poke you hard with his Wildcards and Pick-A-Card harass, along with terroring your team with his global ult. However, it only takes one mistake for the TF to get hit by a and just die instantly to your full combo. You need to keep the wave off of your turret, because it gives TF too much free harass and/or the ability to gank with his ulti. Push his tower relentlessly whenever he leaves. Force him to choose between ganking or farming.

Difficulty Level: Medium

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Poor veigar can't win this matchup. The whole point of his champion is to one-shot you, and it becomes very difficult once you get Merc Treads, Chalice, and a few stacks of feast. He's also super squishy and has no mobility at all to dodge your and .

Difficulty Level: Easy

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Viktor can cause you some trouble. He has powerful long range harass with his laser, as well as good trading with his Power Transfer. Still, I think Cho has the advantage just because Viktor lacks sustain or mobility. He also tends to be an easy gank for your jungler.

Difficulty Level: Easy-Medium

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Vlad isn't a big issue. His sustain is weaker than yours by a wide margin until he gets some levels. He lacks the damage to force you out of lane and the silence can be very unpleasant for him. Sure, his pool can be used to dodge your skillshots, but you can always just use your skillshots again when his pool goes back on cooldown.

Difficulty Level: Easy

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Xerath isn't bad against Cho, but he's not great either. Xerath is a weird mix of poke and burst that can get very annoying. He can stay very far back and poke/push the wave with Locus of Power. Most of the time, you can sustain yourself through his harass by just farming and dodging his Qs when you can. Watch out for his burst at level 6. Remember that he is very squishy and vulnerable to ganks. If you see him enter his Locus mode, one trick you can try is to quickly him. He will be unable to switch out of his siege tank mode if you do it properly which means you can land a free on him.

Difficulty Level: Medium

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You don't see many Yorick mids, but he can destroy many typical mid laners. However, Cho does quite well against Yorick because you can simply kill his ghouls to sustain from your . Silence him before he uses his ghouls and you can outtrade him. If he plays it smart, the lane will probably still become a farm off.

Difficulty Level: Easy-Medium

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Ziggs isn't very popular, but he does a lot of poke damage. Like most similar champions, stay away from him as Cho. Bait his skills by pretending to go for CS. Remember his escape is pretty unreliable, so you definitely have kill potential on him once you get .

Difficulty Level: Medium

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Zilean used to be a must-ban in competitive play, but lately he's fallen completely out of favor. Cho does quite nicely against him however. Early game, just push the wave as hard as possible. Zilean is one of the worst farmers at turret in the game. You'll sustain most of his harass with bombs. Furthermore, his ultimate won't be very useful because of your .

Difficulty Level: Easy

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Zed is a melee AD assasin, which means he's quite easy for Cho to deal with. Get some armor early, and make sure you don't give him any early kills. You should be able to demolish him come mid game.

Difficulty Level: Easy

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Zyra is a nightmare to deal with. She has quite a bit of damage and CC. Her plants are especially annoying for a melee autoattacker. Do your best to dodge her abilities, especially her snare. Perhaps try to kill her plants, since they proc your . Be wary of her combo with snare and ulti once she gets level 6. Once you get tankier, you'll hopefully be able to outsustain and outtrade her.

Difficulty Level: Hard

• You start to absolutely destroy your lane around now. Most AP's can't handle your sustain and tankiness.
• Clear waves quickly in middle so you can have presence elsewhere.
• Take as many of your own jungle camps as you can (without hindering your jungler too much).
• Ward the enemy jungle and steal his camps. You start to one shot wraiths with and .
• You can do dragon very quickly with your , so make sure your jungler is ready to go if the enemy ganks top or dies in mid/bot.
• Roam and gank other lanes. You have a lot of CC and can cause a lot of trouble.
• Don't be afraid of fighting in the enemy jungle. Cho loves enclosed spaces because they make it easy to hit .

• Cho is pretty blue buff independent once you get chalice.
• If my jungler can use blue (e.g., Olaf or Amumu), I normally let them take at least the first two blues.
• I like to keep taking blues, until I get my AND for 40% CDR. Athene's pretty much solves any mana issues too.
• Make sure you communicate this to your team. Say something "I don't need blue anymore, Corki should take"

• If you have a chance of getting a kill in lane (they are low on health or really far behind), you normally want to save your feast.
• If you are going to do blue buff or dragon soon, save feast to secure those.
• If you're already max stacks (6) then obviously don't use it on creeps anymore.
• Otherwise, use your feast as soon as it comes off cooldown. It's a fairly short cooldown and getting more stacks makes you significantly stronger.
• If you die, your first priority is to get those stacks back. Your build doesn't have much health, so you absolutely need to stay high stacks.
• Make sure your team knows that you would prefer not to fight until you're stacked up again.

• Keep farming constantly. You are one of the best wave clearers in the game. It's not uncommon to have more than 400 cs at the end of a long game (I had 600 in a recent hour long game).
• Ward their jungle constantly. It's the perfect place to teamfight/catch one of them.
• Your AD carry will start to do more damage than you, and their AD carry will start to actually hurt you.
• You can play two major roles in a teamfight. Either a bodyguard for your AD or a killer of their squishies (i.e., AD carry, AP carry, and support).

• Many don't realize it, but Cho is amazing for pushing towers. His zone control and poke with is exceptional. Believe me, if a Rupture is going down by the turret, 99% of people are going to run for their lives.

• It's often a good idea to stand out of sight, so they can't see Cho start the rupture animation. Think of where blitzcranks stand to hit pulls over the wall.

• Deciding whether to stay back by your AD or try to kill the enemy squishies can be difficult.
• Understand your own team. If you have an Alistar and a Janna, your AD probably will have enough defenders. Go ahead and kill the squishies. On the other hand, if you have an Irelia and a Nocturne, you may want to stay back and keep your AD alive.
• How hard will it be for you to get to the enemy squishies? If they are Ezreal, Kassadin and Janna, you have almost no hope of ever getting to them.
• How fed are you? Generally if you're far ahead, you should try to kill the enemy rather than defend.

• Cho is a great bodyguard for an AD carry.
• First of all, you're so big that the enemy can find it hard to hit your AD with skillshots or even click on him.
• Second, even the tankiest of bruiser will be begging for mercy after you take a bite of them with .
• Third, you can the pesky AP carries and assasins that try to use their spells to burst down your AD.
• Finally, you can knock up bruisers who try to jump onto the ad carry.

• Cho also excels in CCing and destroying the enemy squishies.
• The most important thing you can do for this job is to land your . If you can't land it, you'll get kited and killed. Generally, any squishy hit by Rupture will be killed more or less instantly. It's common for the AD and AP to jump out of the rupture, and leave their support to die.
• Don't discriminate. If you hit the support, most of the time, your best bet is just to kill them.
• After killing someone caught by rupture, you can normally use your silence to zone the remaining squishies. After a short delay, your rupture will be up again. Rinse and repeat.

Cho'Gath is an extremely fun champion, especially as a mid laner. I hope you've enjoyed the guide and have great success with this build. Please feel free to ask questions or offer criticism in the comments. If you're on the NA server, you can also add me in-game (Spreekaway on NA server) to ask whatever you'd like.

Thanks for reading,

Spreekaway