The True Tanky Cho'Gath

[AuraVoid]

Hello everyone i find people who build cho as a tank focus to much on armor and magic resist or too much on health so im here to share my build that balances the three.

Core Items
Warmogs
Thornmail
Force of Nature
Guardian Angel
Banshees Veil
Mercury Treads

Final Value
Armour-252
Magic Resist-219
Movement speed-415
Tenacity-35
Health-3900~4800(full stacks)
Mana-1300
Hp regen-110


Item abilities
Return 30% dmg of auto attacks back
Block next ability ever 45 seconds
Restore 0.35% of max hp every sec
Revives you with 700hp+375mp-5 min cd

*Mind you these values are without Masteries or Runes*

Runes

x9 insight marks,

x9 endurance seals,

x9 shielding glyphs,

x3 endurance quints

Masteries

Skill Order

The sequence for my skills is almost always the same- the first skill is the only one that changes, however, if i am not soloing top i will go Q->E->E then do the same as usual.

Strategies
-This Cho'Gath build is ideal for solo top or doing top with another person.
-Aim rupture where they are GOING to be, not where they are.
-Once you hit 2/5 hp start retreating because people have a habit of focusing tanks when their hp gets low, meaning you will still get out alive AND get the other team to focus you rather than your teammates- the ones doing the damage.

Updates
-8:42 May,14,2012 added updates section and changed alacrity marks to marks of insight.
-10:10 may 16,2012 changed masteries based on schwagbert's input.
-11:38 may 16,2012 fixed the skill order from having leveling your 8 eight times to 5 times and feral scream from 2 times to 5 times.












*I will be adding more to this guide in the future*

 

[Adiados]

Good guide. What runes do you run on him?

 

[AuraVoid]

I added those runes above the masteries- i might change them in the future though.

 

[Schwagbert]

Looks nice, but here's my issues with it (just feedback, not trying to be a ****** or anything lol):

No CDR at all. Mana Regen in Utility. You level W to 2 and level E to 8.

But really, you don't need all the HP runes because of Feast + Warmog's. Also, you only need to build resistance to what you're facing, so FoN/tmail are both potentially overkill. I'd definitely throw in a Frozen Heart for some CDR.

As far as masteries, if you're building as tanky as you are, you don't need the extra damage reduction from Evasion or Honor Guard. You also don't need the mana regen because of Cho's passive. You have 252 armor and 219 mr without runes or masteries, so you don't need the 6 mastery points into mr + armor; you can use them for summoner spell masteries, and Enlightenment for CDR. You could even throw one in Siege Commander if you wanted.


Just my thoughts. :]

 

[AuraVoid]

You level W to 2 and level E to 8.

I'm not sure what you mean there.

But really, you don't need all the HP runes because of Feast + Warmog's. Also, you only need to build resistance to what you're facing, so FoN/tmail are both potentially overkill.

While this is true you have to remember when you have 75% damage reduction it takes 4 damage to take away one point of hp so for every point of hp you are getting in runes you get 4 effective hp making it worthwhile in my opinion.

You also don't need the mana regen because of Cho's passive.

I've taken note of this and i am going to revise my masteries.

Also, you only need to build resistance to what you're facing, so FoN/tmail are both potentially overkill.

Generally teams balance themselves between ad and ap so that is why i build both. Also, FoN gives amazing hp regen which makes it possible to sit in a push and recover your hp quickly which will also take 4 damage per hp point so even recovering just a bit while moving from one palce to another is very effective. For the thornmail not only does it give 100 armor but it returns 30% of the damage back from auto-attacks BEFORE armor making it very potent on ad champs and even allows a little damage on ap champs as they will auto attacks in between abilities.

You have 252 armor and 219 mr without runes or masteries, so you don't need the 6 mastery points into mr + armor

While it is true your armor and magic resist will reach that you must take into consideration that you start off with little armor so i get the 6 armor and magic resist to give me a boost in the early game.

 

[AuraVoid]

Thanks for the input Schwagbert though- it really made me reconsider things in my build. i will be adding new updates tonight! Also, for more information on the effective health you can go read the art of shredding tanks thread I made in general discussion. (The art of shredding tanks | Stratics Forums)

 

[Schwagbert]

You level W to 2 and level E to 8.

I'm not sure what you mean there.

I just meant that on your skill-leveling image you have 2 points in W and 8 in E. ;]

But really, you don't need all the HP runes because of Feast + Warmog's. Also, you only need to build resistance to what you're facing, so FoN/tmail are both potentially overkill.

While this is true you have to remember when you have 75% damage reduction it takes 4 damage to take away one point of hp so for every point of hp you are getting in runes you get 4 effective hp making it worthwhile in my opinion.

This is true. I'm just suggesting that there could be better uses of rune slots (armor, mr, ms, cdr) than just stacking more health on Cho (also, you made a thread about killing tanks... The more health you have the more dmg Kog, Vayne, Varus, Garen, Xin, etc do to you. ;] )

Also, you only need to build resistance to what you're facing, so FoN/tmail are both potentially overkill.

Generally teams balance themselves between ad and ap so that is why i build both. Also, FoN gives amazing hp regen which makes it possible to sit in a push and recover your hp quickly which will also take 4 damage per hp point so even recovering just a bit while moving from one palce to another is very effective. For the thornmail not only does it give 100 armor but it returns 30% of the damage back from auto-attacks BEFORE armor making it very potent on ad champs and even allows a little damage on ap champs as they will auto attacks in between abilities.

This is also true.. They balance their champ selection on carries.. However, one of them may not get as fed as, or even fed at all, the other carry. If you have a 0/8 ap carry, there probably isn't a need for FoN. ;]

You have 252 armor and 219 mr without runes or masteries, so you don't need the 6 mastery points into mr + armor

While it is true your armor and magic resist will reach that you must take into consideration that you start off with little armor so i get the 6 armor and magic resist to give me a boost in the early game.

I agree here as well. I'm just suggesting that you could try other mastery combos out and see how it works. If you're going with a straight tank, though, I'd still probably take both those masteries as you have done.

 

[AuraVoid]

LOL. I just realized that there are 8 in E, now i see what you meant and I think I will always get the FoN because of the movement speed and hp regen (which stacks with hp runes). Also, all of the % hp magic damage is easily countered by magic resist as long as they have no or little magic penetration so it is still beneficial to get the bonus hp. vayne is another story with her true damage.....