What’s a Cho’Gath, you might ask, and it would be a fair question. The last time Cho’Gath was even remotely part of the meta, he wasn’t exactly doing what his makers intended. Far from being the big, bruisery tank that he was meant to be, Cho’Gath was instead a presence in the middle lane, where he did a great job of countering the assassins that were popular at the time. Cho might not have a place in the top lane or in the jungle, but he’s proven to always be exceptionally good at shutting down AP assassins in the mid lane, or at least he did three years ago or so.
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Then the Cho’Gath “rework” hit. In truth, it simply made the champion weaker. He could no longer lose Feast stacks, which was an important part of why he was an ineffective tank before, but they also now didn’t give enough for it to matter, especially if Cho’Gath couldn’t find champion kills with it. More importantly, the rework did nothing to address Cho’Gath’s actual problem: his kit belongs back in 2009, not 2017. League of Legends has changed quite a lot in the last eight years, and Cho’Gath’s kit has aged worse than nearly any other champion in the game.
He, for all intents and purposes, has two real abilities: his Scream and Feast. Rupture is far too inconsistent to be relied upon, as even immobile champions can simply ignore it, much less a champion like Fiora or Yasuo, and Vorpal Spikes might as well not exist past the ten-minute mark, even if Cho’Gath does max them.
Well, one of those two problems will soon be disappearing. Meddler took to the Forums today to give some great news to the League’s Cho’Gath lovers: Vorpal spikes will soon be seeing a rework.
“What we’re currently testing there is changing E to an active rather than a toggle,” Meddler said, “and it empowers Cho’s next three auto attacks with the AOE spikes that deal % max enemy hp as magic damage and apply a decaying slow. CD’s really short when leveled. Goals there include giving Cho a more juggernaut like damage profile (able to hurt beefier front lines better if they’re all he can reach), putting a bit more interaction into use of the E and adding a bit of power.”
If these changes do go live, it will be a great first step towards helping Cho’Gath become relevant in the current game. As a tank that has no backline access, one of Cho’Gath’s core issues is that he also doesn’t do any damage to tanks. Giving him some percent damage to play with, especially on a short cooldown, will help give Cho’Gath seems slightly less out of place in teamfights, and is sure to help his jungling as well.
