Heya! This here is my COMPETITIVE guide to the underestimated Kog'Maw. I'm rekirtS, and have been playing competitive games for a while now. Started back when Starcraft was first released that I really got into competitive gaming, but since then I've played SSBM, Halo, a little of Street Fighter, DotA, and now... League of Legends. I, like 90% of the forum, consider myself mid/high Elo. In this guide I will show you how I play my personal Koggy, and hopefully convince you to give my build and strategy a try, and hopefully convince more people to pick up Kog'Maw as their main. For those who are gonna look up my profile regardless, at the time of writing this guide I'm around 1450 rating solo queue, and above 1350 in 5v5's (though I don't 5v5 nearly as much... I bet I could definitely improve it with some games!). Shrug, hope its enough for you to consider this guide. If not... bite me (lol, its a Kog guide... bite me... Hardy harr harr!).

First things first, this is a strict AP, solomid guide. If you wanted an AD carry, you've come to the wrong place, and stay away from my hero. There is no reason whatsoever to pick Kog over another AD carry. Go play Ashe, Corki, or Trist. Kog has little range and only a situational slow to his disposal, and can't compete damage wise. Instead, we will be playing Kog the right way, as an AP hero. Oh. And you absolutely need Kog'Maw caterpillar skin, no exceptions. He just the most adorable thing in the world, yes he is!

My first guide, so critique away. Just a heads up, its pretty big, page and a half. Shrug. Read the parts important to you. Maybe I'll have a short version somewhere... I'm always up for some Kog'Maw discussion. Alright, without further ado... Lets get this guide started! Oh, and AD and Hybrid Kogs will be bashed alot in the thread. Forewarning...

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Table of Contents
Stats
Abilities
Pros and Cons
Masteries
Runes
Summoner Spells
Item Build
Skill Build
Early Game
Mid Game
End Game
F.A.Q.

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Stats:
Damage: 46 (+3 / per level)
Health: 440 (+84 / per level)
Mana: 255 (+40 / per level)
Move Speed: 310
Armor: 10 (+3.5 / per level)
Magic Resist: 30 (+0 / per level)
Health Regen: 1 (+0.11 / per level)
Mana Regen: 1 (+0.1 / per level)

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Abilities:
A pretty lacking passive to say the least. Sure its fun when you blow someone up for the first time, but if you're using this more then three or four times in most games, you're feeding. As an AP carry, your job is to stay alive and not to die. You don't want to give your enemies all that legendary gold for all the killing sprees we'll be getting right? Haha, if you do die though, as you undoubtedly will, make sure to give them a parting gift. If theres no enemies in range, you can always blow up on some creeps for a good hundred gold or so. Remember, deals true damage, so laugh at the Rammus whose defense stancing trying to migrate the damage.

An interesting time where this passive helps very much is early game. Keep in mind its situational, but an important thing to note is your enemy will not get the kill UNTIL you blow up. This means if that Ashe you're up against took a couple tower hits killing you and walked away with a little HP, if you get the kill with your passive, you will get first blood gold, and not the Ashe, instantly turning the tables. Keep this in mind while you lane. First blood gold can change who wins the middle lane.

Has a decent passive intended at making Kog more of a hybrid hero, but Riot didn't design Kog'Maw the greatest in that respect... but it helps push turrets down a little. The damage is nice, with a good AP ratio too. The only thing hurting this is the pitiful range of the active. Its really really bad for a hero thats designed to play from a distance. We will level out this skill last. Late game however, don't forget you have this ability and use it as an extra nuke to whoever gets close to you. It has the same AP ratio and even higher base damage then Void Ooze, so don't hesitate to use it, especially during long game. If only it had larger range...

Edit: Its as if Riot answered my prayers! Patchnotes says this ability will get a slight increase in range. However, its very slight, and I still recommend ignoring this ability until end game.

And this is the ability where most people get the wrong idea on how to play Koggy. Sure, you deal decent damage to the tank the whole six seconds its up... However, you should never be targeting the opposing teams tank. Only when hes alone and you gank him would you ever target him. In teamfights if I see you using this ability to target the tank "because it deals %hp" I will rage at you. Shen is not the one killing your team, thats the Ashe and Annie behind him. I know hes big and scary and in your face, but if you attack him then hes done his job. Do NOT use this ability to kill tanks. Repeating one more time... Do NOT use this ability to kill tanks. Absolutely crucial.

So now that I've taught you how not to use the ability, lets talk about how TO use it. Early game, it augments your normal attacks to deal about double the damage they would be, even at rank one or two. Your range is also increased alot. This is helpful to counterharrass that Ashe who thinks she can just kite you around. However keep in mind that it only lasts for six seconds, four attacks at most early game, then after you will return to your very low range. This ability also helps you hit turrets while in a much more safer position, and helps get the last hit on a fleeing champ. You can also help your jungler nab dragon much quicker, and also get that golem buff with a friend. Don't be afraid to use this on a squishy character. Just because they're not stacking a lot of HP doesn't mean this won't deal damage, cause most the time they won't have a bunch of MR either. Late game the damage to squishies is VERY noticeable, in fact it can even outdamage Void Ooze with only one or two attacks. This ability is best used in a teamfight after a fight has broken down, and a couple of their members are retreating. But whenever you can get in a good position to use this while safe go for it.

A very potent AoE nuke. The first thing to note on this attack is the slow is just SICK. 60% at rank 5 will keep you safe from many possible enemies. However... This is Kog'Maws only escape mechanism. You must use this ability smartly to keep yourself safe. Use it in a way that the enemy will have to run on it as long as possible to get to you. When ganking with this ability, use it so the enemies escape path is covered in Ooze. In short, you must learn good positioning with this ability to make the best use of it. However, don't forget the best part of this ability is the damage, not the slow, in a teamfight throw it so you can deal the most to their team. An opponent stuck in the Ooze is a sitting duck for your ultimate and able to be kited with your W.

Early game use this ability where you can kill a creep or two and also harrass their solo. Remember at rank 5 you can instagib ranged creeps with one Void Ooze and a Living Artillery. This usually works for the Wraith creeps too. Keep your farm up!

Bread and butter of Kog'Maw. Bottom line is if you cannot aim this ability then pick another hero. However, once you master this ability down, there is nothing more satisfying in this game then sniping their last member down from 2000 units away as he desperately tries to run to his fountain. Don't forget to use this ability to scout brushes in the jungle and dragon and baron.

An important thing to note about this ability is the bonus 150% damage only applies to the BASE damage, not any extra damage gained from AP. This is kinda a bummer, but we can combat this weakness by having a *slightly* different item build, as I will detail later.

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Pros and Cons:
Pros:
-- Extremely long range. Can deal damage while at a safe range.
-- Squishy killer. Usually does well against Heim, Ashe, Trist, other squishy carries.
-- Can pick off runners after a teamfight breaks down.
-- Deals burst and sustained damage. Very surprising damage.
-- Rewards good play and individual skill.
-- Underestimated and underplayed.
-- Joke is OP.

Cons:
-- Position dependent. You must learn when and where to fight, and how to contribute to the fight without taking excess damage.
-- His main damage skill (R) will take time to learn. You must learn to predict and read your opponent.
-- Not the best ganker.
-- You are squishy and you will be targeted if you are doing your job right.
-- Melee dps with an ability to close the distance (Jax, Xin, to a lesser degree Akali) will be the bane of you, either pack Exhaust or position yourself exceptionally well.
-- Cannot fit into every team lineup. And if you use your first or second pick on Kog'Maw you're only hurting your team. Best played on a premade who knows what you're playing. Don't get me wrong, I play Kog in solo too, just wouldn't pick him with the first or second pick.
-- Average middle. Will not starve the opponents in most cases, but desperately needs to get to level 6 and level 11 as fast as possible to contribute the most.
-- Skill dependent. Think the AP version of Corki.

These are just the basic pros and cons. If you think the pros describe qualities you like, and the cons are things you can work around, I think you just might like Koggy ^^;.

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Masteries:
The common 9-0-21. I'm sure you can figure it out. But heres the link...

http://leaguecraft.com/masteries/100...03140032031301.

Be sure to nab improved ghost and improved flash in the utility tree, if you choose to use both as I do. Otherwise always nab your preferred mastery.

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Summoner Spells:
Ghost and Flash. Learn it and love it. These spells both change your position, which is key on Kog. Both are also "get out of jail free cards", which some might Q.q about, but ignore them. If ghost and flash are get outa jail free cards, then exhaust and ignite are "put into jail" spells, just as stupid.

However... If you're adamant on using different ones, be my guest. Cleanse is okay, and what I used to run before the nerf. Teleport can be nice in lower Elo, but you should learn to live without it. I sound like the typical carry, but Fortify/Clair/Heal/Rally (lolrally) are support/tank spells, though Clair is really nice and I wouldn't be opposed to running it, but get the mastery for it! Ignite is unnecessary, as you can finish off opponents with your R, and you should not be too close. Exhaust is good if you see a strong melee dps on their team, be sure to get the improved mastery! I find Clarity unnecessary, learn to manage your mana people.

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Runes:
Reds MUST be Magic Penetration (duh) and I HEAVILY suggest health quints. Seals and glyphs you can go whatever direction you please. Mana regen/lvl, dodge, hp/lvl, and armor are good seals... while mana regen/lvl, CDr flat or scaling, and magic resist are good glyphs. Make a decision for yourself. I use whatever runepage can double up with whatever other caster I play at the moment. Can't go wrong with mana regen yellows and CDr glyphs.

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Item Build:
Now the fun part right? I'm sure half of you just skipped to this part without reading any of the above. Shrug, it is pretty important, and will probably single
handily determine if you like my guide or not.

Core Items:
1. Dorans Ring and a Health Potion.
2. Tear of the Goddess
3. Sorc Shoes/Mercury Trends/Ninja Tabi
4. Haunting Guise
5. Archangels Staff
6. WARDS

Thats it! Thats the core build. While you're probably expecting some godmode build with six awesome items that every guide suggests, but you will not farm that much outside a 60 minute game. These three items (assuming you sold the Ring at one point) will carry you through 3/5's (yay for weird fractions!) of the game. At that point you will start building a situational item, which I will detail below... However before I do, I'd like to go over what we have in these three items, and what makes them apart of the core build.

The Ring early game is worth "delaying" your build as it will put you at ~~750 HP with quints, with enough mana regen to keep you using Ooze and Bio-Arcane smartly. The AP boost is decent. Another bonus is the Ring, Tear, and meditation will give you plenty of mana regen until you finish the Archangels Staff.

Tear/Archangels Staff should explain itself. A lot of mana regen, spammy R helps get extra mana, and it all converts into AP. A nice item for Kog. While some may suggest RoA, or Rylais, but the mana regen is awesome and makes it so you don't need to buy a Chalice to keep up in spell spam. Don't forget to use a R when running through the river to build up charges, when you're at full mana. You will be lacking some survivability. Play smart. Even though tear is not an AP item, Kog'Maw deals fine damage just with it, trust me. Similar of what a Corki can do with a Catalyst early. Still can dish out solid damage.

Sorc Shoes too, should be easy to understand. The more magic penetration the better. However do NOT be stubborn and refuse to buy any other boots. If you're up against alot of CCs, or alot of AD characters, buy the respective boots ****it. Don't make me rage at you.

Haunting Guise is probably the most underestimated item in the game. It gives three stats, HP, which is welcome on any character. AP, the focus of this build, and most importantly... Magic penetration. With Sorc Shoes and runes, you will have ~50 Magic Penetration. You will be hitting for true damage against most non-tanks in the game. Especially before you get to super high Elo, where they get smart and get resistances and teams always have an Aegis, then you will still be dealing considerable damage. The gold per stat with a Haunting Guise is awesome. The only downfall is it does not upgrade into anything. Which is fine, really. You should not come close to using all six item slots, and if you are... you can always... You know... Sell it. Not a biggie at that point in the game.

However, the REAL reason we buy a Haunting is because the way our ultimate works. If you recall correctly from the skills section, AP does not get the bonus 150% damage against champs. So instead of (160+.3(AP)) x 1.5 its (1.5 x 160) + .3AP, simplified 240 + .3 AP at rank three. However, magic penetration works on the overall damage! So while I could have an Needlessly Large Rod with my gold (80 AP) a measly 26 added damage on my ultimate, instead I get some HP, 25 AP (8 damage) and 20 magic Penetration, which increases the amount of the BONUS +80 damage actually deals to the enemy, which is far more worth it. I hope you can follow... In short, Magic Penetration is an awesome stat on every caster, but even better on Koggy. Don't believe it? Try it yourself. I can add some mathcraft here if you want me to, in future updates. But I think I explained it well.

tl;dr: penetration is much better for Kog'Maws ult then AP, making Haunting Guise just an incredibly awesome item on him.

Wards are there every time cause too many people neglect wards. They're cheap, only three or four minion kills, and save your life many times over. Your team should always have dragon warded, and if you're at low Elo just buy them for the team. A gank at dragon early is awesome. I know you're a carry, but don't forget wards. You don't need them every time you go back, but if they've got popular ganking champions, please do buy.

After the core items consider these items... I usually get Rylai's and/or Banshee's in about 75% of my game, and a Zhonyas/Mejai in the other 25% when we're just stomping. Void staff is situational... Yes, we're getting ALOT of survivability. I'm tired of carries (Koggy among others) being super squishy. You need to be able to get away from a Jax jumping in your face, if you die in two seconds their team WILL demolish yours.

Items to consider after our core three:
-Banshees Veil: Awesome item, MR is always nice, Spell shields blocks a good 200 damage at least and a stun at best. More HP the better. I know Kog is a carry, but you need to live through battles folks. You can build this straight after the core build, Koggy doesn't need alot of AP to be effective. The 50 magic penetration will continue to wreck carries.

-Rylais: Awesome for a slowing ult, makes chasing even easier and more annoying. Good survivability, better for when the MR and Spell Shield of Banshees isn;t as useful. Against AD team this might be a better item. In longer games, I usually end up with both this and Banshees Veil.

-Zhoynas: If you're just facerolling and the team are downies and still not targeting you get this to hit even harder. Don't forget to use the active if you're focused kiddies.

-Mejai's: You may say its late to get this item, but this item is so ridiculously cost effective after just five stacks. If you can manage a couple of assists between deaths (not hard at all) you can usually come up positive with this item.

-Void Staff: If... and ONLY if... The opponents main damage dealers are stacking MR, THEN sell your Haunting Guise and buy this item. Not BEFORE. Not for the Cho'Gath stacking HP and MR. Not for the Singed with a FoN. Not for the Shen. For their DEEPS. Usually if I'm playing with my pro premades I eventually upgrade to one of these.

-Red/Blue/Green elixers: These things are OP. Mix them in with your core build whenever you want. Blue first, but really can't go wrong. Red for HP/Turret damage, Blue for CDR and AP, Green for AS if you need Bio-Arcane Barrage damage vs bulky team or something.

-Guardian Angel: You can use this when you're getting targeted against more dpsy teams I suppose, but I much prefer a Rylai's. The revive on this item is pretty sexy though, and comes with some nice defense stats.


Items I don't reccommend:
-Nashor's Tooth: CDR isn't very important, truth be told. The difference between the .3 seconds you'd be saving on your ult (our main damage) is tiny. And if you've got a nice (read: good) team, they should be helping you with golem. We already have a nice regen item.

-Hextech Blade: AP hero, horrible item, grossly overpriced, we have a better slow. Take your pick.

-Lich Bane/Sheen/Trinity: We're not auto attacking frequently. I know they sound good in theory with our ult, but the key is to be away from the fray.

-AD items: Go play Trist. Honestly. If you're still convinced Kog can match up against the big three AD carries, you're bad and should feel bad.

-Abyssal Sceptor: Haha, truth be told you probably won't be close enough at times for the aura to actually work. MR is nice. AP is nice too. -MR aura is sexy. Not a terrible item, I just feel BVail is better for survivability, and Void Staff is better at lowering MR at this point. If you need 70+ Mpen to deal good damage to squishies, its time to make the switch to the Void Staff. However, I guess it has a niche if you have a team with alot of AP... but make the aura *****s buy this .

-Rod of Ages: Delayed too hard in this build. If you prefer it instead of Archangels be my guest. I just find the mana regen and max mana too irresistible to pass up. If however, you've got a team whose dedicated at giving you golem all game (or have a Soraka mana bot), RoA or Rylai's make an excellent alternative to AA staff. The catalyst is an awesome item early game item to lane with.

-Zerker Greaves/Boots of Mobility: You're doin' it wrong.

-Bloodrazor: "But Bloodrazor stacks with our W rekirtS! How can 10% max HP be bad?!?!?". Silence. First off, Bloodrazor costs a whopping 4k gold. With that gold, we get a Tear, Guise, and boots, and a blasting wand. Nearly our entire core build. And With our AP ratio, we'd be dealing an extra 1 damage (7%) on our attacks with our W, that penetrates 20 MR. This AP and MR also benefits our ultimate (which you should be spamming) and our Void Ooze (our nuke). While you do get AD bonuses on the Bloodrazor, you cannot compare to the damage output of Ashe/Trist/Corki with a IE. You can't. Do not try. Six seconds of your W to have good range is not enough to aid in a teamfight, and it has too long of a cooldown to use reasonably. You have too short of a range and no escape mechanisms to play AD. You instead have ridiculous range with your nukes. If I haven't made my point yet, AP Kog > AD Kog.

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Skill build:
1. Void Ooze
2. Bio-Arcane Barrage
3. Void Ooze
4. Bio-Arcane Barrage
5. Void Ooze
6. Living Artillery
7. Void Ooze
8. Bio-Arcane Barrage
9. Void Ooze
10. Bio-Arcane Barrage
11. Living Artillery
12. Bio-Arcane Barrage
13. Caustic Spittle
14. Caustic Spittle
15. Caustic Spittle
16. Living Artillery
17. Caustic Spittle
18. Caustic Spittle

R >> E >> W >> Q... Unless you're pushing towers, then a rank of Q for the 13% armor pen can make a difference. I would stress not straying from the skill build though. However... Always adapt to your game.

Time for the in-game strategy...

Early game:
This guide is a SOLOMID guide, and I will detail it as such. While Kog isn't completely reliant on it, he needs to get to levels 6 and 11 as fast as possible, without hurting your team... and middle lane is the easiest way to get him there. If you are taking the side lane, I would recommend in most games just to take a less level dependent character. You cannot be farming exp while your team is 5v4ing in the middle, or they will die and your turret(s) will be destroyed. Understand? Take the middle so you can be helpful roaming with your team midgame.

With that said, nab your Dorans Ring and a health potion and head to middle. If you have a jungler who starts at golem, you will be in charge of being his lookout. Be a team player, later in the game he will be more inclined to help you nab golem yourself. ANd if you see they have a jungler who usually starts at golem (Amumu comes to mind, Fiddlesticks too) now would be a good time to go scout it with your team. However, assuming nothing unusual happened, you should be in mid and your creeps should be coming.

Our goals in midlane are as follows...

I. First and foremost, we will not die. Unless you get first blood with the kill, we cannot be feeding their carry. Just the worst thing you can possibly do, and you will give your fellow Kog'Maw players a bad image. Also you're not getting experience while you're dead.

II. Farm gold and exp. Our second most important goal is to farm gold and exp. You're not CRAZY dependent on items like some characters, but a tear on your first trip back is a good item to shoot for. Learn to lasthit, do NOT push to the enemy tower-- it only makes you susceptible to ganks and more room for them to chase you for a kill. Instead, try to keep the creeps right in the middle of the lane. A good tactic to learn is to last hit WITH a turret shooting the minion. Its totally dependent on your level, but usually you can hit a ranged creep, let the tower hit it once, and hit it again to get the gold. Or two turret hits and one of your attacks vs a melee one. Changes when your minions are hitting on it too, but you will need to learn how to judge appropriately and last hit. Last hitting could mean the difference between boots or not... Learn it baddies.

III. Harass your opponent. Notice how this comes AFTER not dieing and AFTER farming. If they have a super carry (Corki maybe...?) who you team DESPERATELY wants to starve, you shouldn't have picked Kog, instead you shoulda picked maybe Katarina, or Heim. I hope you realize by now Kog is not meant to be played against EVERY team. But that doesn't make him a bad character. Back to harassing, an easy way to do this and accomplish your second objective is to use Void Ooze to kill a couple creeps and hit your opponent at the same time. Learning to position your Void Ooze is important early game.

With the three Kog'Maw commandments of solomid out of the way, lets go over more specific strategies. As solo mid, you will encounter one of three opposing heroes...

A) A ranged carry, B) a mage, C) a bulky melee, or D) a pusher.

A) This is your Ashe, Trist, Corki, Nidalee, Twisted Fate, and Ezrael. They will probably be who you lane against in 2/3's of your games. Fear not, these are generally not difficult solomids, and who I personally prefer to be matched up against. They will concentrate on last hitting as you do, and you will be trying to outfarm each other. Little harassing will take place, but generally you will not be bursted down. And if you play well, you will not be denied gold. Remember to use Void Ooze to hit both them and nab a few creep. A few fights will take place, so harass with your Void Ooze and kite them while they're in the slow with your W, but remember to be careful of these characters blink mechanisms. Keep the creeps preferably closer to your tower, as they can all chase well. Be especially mindful of Ezrael, as he can harass VERY well. Position yourself between your creeps and run into the side bushes if necessary. Ezrael is a very tough middle for Kog'Maw, but hes a burden for any character really. Bottom line here is farming will take place until about level six. Be sure not to die, these are the ones you don't want to feed. At level six your harassing ability will be increased tenfold with your ultimate, at that point you can usually make them blue pill. Be careful of their ultimates as well.

B) Annie, Anivia, and Karthus are the most common. Casters are generally the funnest lanes. Its vital you know how large the range is of who you're up against. If you don't know what range Annie can and cannot stun you at you're in trouble. Play a practice game with these three and see how large they're abilities are... cause this battle will be one completely be about who can position themselves best and harass better. Note that your Void Ooze will outrange all of these three abilities, but is a slower moving projectile, so use it smart and follow up with some Bio-Arcane hits. Careful for opponents mages who pack Flash or ghost. A ghost + Wall by Karthus followed by Lay Wastes will quickly take you from 50% hp to 0%. At level six your range is not OP yet, but should outrange these casters still, so try to get a couple of cheap shots on them.

C) Heres where Morde, Katarina, Xin, Pantheon (not so much since the nerf), and to a lesser extent Cho'Gath (but never seen mid/high Elo) fall. These will perhaps be the most difficult middles. But don't worry, everyone struggles with these jerks. I'll cover Morde and Kat more specifically, as they're the most common these days. Against Morde you can pretty much give up on any shot of first blood (unless he has a god complex)... just farm farm farm and farm some more. If you catch Morde without creeps nearby, you can harass with Void Ooze and Bio-Arcane, but don't waste EXCESS mana, and don't let him harass you. Katarinas a punk, and will be difficult. Learn the range of her attacks well, use Void Ooze to farm, kite with Bio-Arcane AFTER she shunpus and tries to run away. Keep her at relatively the same hp you are and you're fine, at level six you will be golden. These two are the most difficult, the others shouldn't be that bad. Same ole story, Void Ooze, farm. Just keep them off your turret till level six.

D) And last but not least, Sivir and Heim. Lame, very lame hereos, but you actually match up well against Heim. Keep the minions off your turret and weak with Void Ooze. Keep them at a low hp and call for ganks against the two of them as needed. Keep your turret up. At level six you truly shine against Heim. Snipe snipe snipe and keep him below half, and get his ass ganked. Sivir is a little different, but as long as you don't leave her alone in the lane shes not nearly as dangerous as Heim.

And that is pretty much it for the early game. By now you should be level seven, give or take a level. Prepare for middle game! I don't want to say middle game is the most important part of the game, buts its pretty freaking important.

Mid game:
At level 7ish, middle game begins. Now, you should take a quick look at your mana and health levels. If they're both above halfish, or somewhere you're comfortable with, take a look at sidelanes and see if either could use a gank. Assuming yes, fake a blue pill if you can, and but get to the side where you're ganking. Let your allies know, and then initiate the gank with an ultimate shot or two. Do not take excess shots here, as your mana will still be low, so try to hit whose the squishiest. At this point your opponents should be running for the hills, and then you can slow them down with a well played Void Ooze, and then pound on them with your Bio-Arcane Barrage. You must try to get as much out of the slow as possible. Its a great slow, but has to be used smartly. Hopefully your allies will contribute in some way (stun, slow, massive deeps) and one of you will get a kill. If not, its alright, you've made them back and you can either attempt to push that tower or blue pill yourself.

And... if nobody was a good ganking target, you should continue to farm gold and harass their midsolo. Careful however, they will have their ultimate too. Don't get caught up in an arrow of Ashes. You should be able to get them to back with ultimate harass and Void Ooze (at which point farm another creep wave and back yourself), but if not again, no biggie. Some middles are just too annoying sometimes. If you are getting completely outplayed, remember the first rule is NOT to die, do not be afraid to go back and come back with more ammo, and maybe bring a friend.

At this point, whatever path you've taken, you should be back at your base. Pick up your Tear and maybe boots, if you stayed relatively long or if you got a kill. If you got especially starved or had to back super early, you may not be able to afford your tear. If so... buy boots and as much of your tear as possible. With any extra cash, buy a ward for dragon if your team doesn't have one or a ward for their golem. Or just a ward to protect yourself from a great ganker (Shaco perhaps?) in a top or bottom lane. Anyways, look at the sidelanes, if theres a good person to gank, head there and gank. Ult > Ult > Void Ooze > Bio-Arcane > Ult usually does the trick. Pick off any runners with your ult, but careful, at this point your shots will take up ALOT of mana. Otherwise just go back to middle lane, and continue to farm exp. The faster you are at getting to level 11, the better you'll be.

However, when you're around level 8/9 or so everyone on your team will probably have hit 6 by now, and the little skirmishes and ganking/roaming will probably begin. Preferably have your team get you golem at this point, unless another caster needs it more. If you don't get it, its alright, you have alot of mana regen at this point, just manage your mana and keep an eye on the stacks of your ultimate. Anyways, help your team get dragon, help them push, and generally, past low Elo games you will be with atleast some of your team. Its usually a bad idea to farm alone now. Anytime you blue pill buy your Sorc Shoes if you can, and as much of your Haunting Guise as you can. These items are really cheap, and you can usually have them before level 11. If you see a creep push and you can take it alone, do so, the gold and exp is valuable to you. Level 11 is really key. Don't forget about your Void Ooze + Living Artillery combo to quickly farm the wraith camps and ranged creeps for exp and gold.

When the mini-fighting occurs you want to be as far back as your ultimate range (which admittedly, at level 6, isn't a whole lot) will let you. Let your tanks/support initiate the fight, and then you go in and pick off their squishies. Remember remember remember, we are aiming for the SQUISHIES. Not the closest person to you. Even if it means putting yourself in danger, use artillery against their squishies. The idea of the fight is to kill their damage dealers first, and then the tankier ones. If the enemy team starts to target you, pop ghost and/or flash and jet outa there. Look for walls you can flash over to keep yourself out of harms way, but also contribute to the fight (if, for example, the fight is near the rivers flash over the walls and continue to nail them with your ultimate and abilities). Use ghost to escape, let their team forget about you, and reenter the fight. It may feel dirty to let them focus your teamates, but you're the carry, and your job is to kill, not to soak damage.

When you win skirmishes (fights with 4-6 characters total), attack the tower with your team, and when you lose them, try to defend yours. Yada yada, but the turrets are good sources of income and experience, welcome on any character. Do not back just because you have no mana, stay and push the towers. Also, control the dragon with your team, yada yada, exp and gold. I know it should be common knowledge for some of you pros, but I see so many times where everyone continues to farm alone instead of group up and push and grab dragon. The gold and exp you get from turrets, kills, and dragon (let alone map presence) far outdoes your farm by yourself.

You can defend turrets relatively easy with Koggie. Use your Void Ooze to kill/damage the incoming creep wave and then Living Artilleries to finish them off or scare away enemy champions. Remember, get the AD carries away from your towers first, and then the Morde/tank/etc. Activate Bio-Arcane as needed. You should be able to get them off your tower all while at a safe distance, especially at levels 11 and 16.

Anyways, by now you should have pushed a couple of turrets, and they probably have pushed a couple of yours. You should be able to complete your Archangels Staff (sell your ring for 200 extra gold for it. You should have no problem using your spells at this point (and I hope you weren't having trouble before...). And now, our core build is complete. 50 magic penetration, ~130 AP, and +25 mana regen, +200 health, are solid, round stats for Kog'Maw. We're not a glass cannon, and we will be dealing excellent damage, while also able to spam your abilities. We also make the best out of our best skill (Living Artillery) and we will WRECK squishies. I really feel this is the absolute best build for Kog'Maw, and I've tried alot of builds.

Now, we will start to build towards our situational items. Banshees Veil when AP is dealing the bulk of their damage, Rylai's for the sick slow on our ult and nice HP when the MR on BV wouldn't be as useful (added AP too!), and Zhoynas/Mejais when you're just lolololstomping. But remember if you're positioning well and staying alive, and the spell shield/extra hp isn't needed, Mejai's is an easy item to both generate stacks and keep them with Kog, and is very very cheap. You can definately throw in the Soul Stealer between your BVeil or Rylai's.

End game:
I classify end game after we have atleast our core items and when full fledged 5v5 teamfights start to occur (which, can actually happen very early). By now you should be at least level 11, and have second rank of your ultimate. You can now effectively stay in a very safe range, and be able to contribute to the fight. Before the fighting begins, poke poke poke and poke some more to damage anyone you can hit (preferably carries, then supports, and... if you must... tanks). When the fighting begins, throw down a Void Ooze, and continue to burst with your ultimate usage. If you are being ignored, put on Bio-Arcane Barrage and shred through opponents though auto attacks and your ultimate. If you are being targeted, pop ghost and flash as needed to stay safe and get in a better position. Use your slow to kite your chasers and continue to pummel the carries with your ultimate (but watch your mana, if you're at 5 stacks your ultimate will drain your mana and FAST. Wait a few seconds for it to die off). As teams begin to lose members, continue to throw your Void Ooze at the fray and kite with your ultimate. Bio-Arcane Barrrage is especially useful after the main fighting happens and combined with your ultimate can pick off runners.

Be careful of melee dps like Xin or Jax. Both have easy ways to close the distance and will both shrink your HP fast. If you're in a premade, yell on vent to get them to taunt/stun/wither them, and if you're solo queue, you must use your flash and ghost VERY effectively to stay alive and continue to stay in the fight. If they get you to back off they've effectively made it a 5v4 fight, which is very, very bad. To the best of your abilities you must stay IN the fight but AWAY from melee deeps. Use Void Ooze to keep them out of jump range if possible. Use ghost to run around obstacles and stay in range of their ranged dps and mages. Stay away from the melee dps.

Don't forget to use your Bio-Arcane to increase your range to more safely hit towers at this point in the game. Also don't forget to use it against Baron, that extra 100 damage will help down it as fast as possible.

And thats pretty much it. Super endgame should just be finishing up the game, by this time it should be apparent who will win. If the game is generally close though, don't forget to sell your Haunting Guise for a Void Staff, and get the Rylai's AND Banshees. You should still be able to deal solid damage, although its dropped off since midgame. Target heim/ashe/trist/etc. By now you will have ~~3000 hp, awesome for a carry.

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F.A.Q.:

Why not Nashors?
-- Archangels is far more useful in our core build, and if we try to build it afterwards, we're not using all of its stats. Archangels gives much more AP, and the reagents (namely Tear of the Godess) fits much more better in our core build as we build our boots and Haunting Guise, before finishing the Archangels. The max mana you get from Tear is very useful throughout the game, and easy to stack with our ultimate. Nashors Tooth on the otherhand gives us 25% CDr, and 55 AS if I'm not mistaken. With blue elixer (you should have it on 24/7 after the core build), runes, and masteries, we should be approaching 25% CDr already, and if we have golem, we're at the cap. Even without golem, we're only gaining 15% CDr from the tooth, wasting 10% of it and valueable gold. There are better (cheaper) alternatives for CDr, which isn't even a vital stat for Kog, as his main damage dealer, his ultimate, only trims ~.5 seconds off it, which is not worth investing 3000 gold into... The AS is a completely USELESS stat except when using our Bio-Arcane Barrage. Anytime after that 6 seconds and that 55 AS is doing NOTHING except looking pretty, as Koggy's range is waaaaayyy too short to use. One or two well timed stuns during Bio-Arcane Barrage and you gained NOTHING from the AS. Archangels > Nashors every game people.


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This guide is done, I think. Bout time too, massive wall of text amirite? Well hopefully its not too long. I may go back and fix some things (formatting/add more) as I continue to play Kog'Maw, but this should be ample to jumpstart your Kog'Maw experience. Go out and make me proud fellow monsters and caterpillers! *Sniff sniff*, they grow up so fast. Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed. Gimme your opinion, and I'll get back at ya. I want this to be an excellent guide, so any advice on formatting especially would be helpful. Hope to see you on the battlefield!

Thanks to...

Hyfe's Nasus Guide: Probably the best guide out there, and made me take Nasus as my main tank. Read it here: http://leaguecraft.com/strategies/gu...petitive+Nasus. I tried to look at how he formatted his guide and such.

Zirun's Janna Guide: Helped me get into Janna and even buy her skin. Shes a ton of fun. Again I stole some formatting ideas. Found... http://www.leagueoflegends.com/board...ad.php?t=92349.

And all my friends who put up with my trying new Koggy builds in premades and such even though insisting Koggy is a bad hero . Hope I've proved you wrong and helped carry us to some wins.

Hope yall don't mind, thanks for helping me (even though some of you didn't know it) learn new heros and write this guide.

KAYTHXBAI! Oh, and remember to COMMENT please. I want your feedback.

Edit: As of the new patchnotes, Koggie will be gaining an extra 50 base range on his auto attacks, and the Q nuke range will be gaining some range too. The Q range is helpful, but we will continue to use my skill build. Still cannot justify it over the range of our Bio-Arcane Barrage. The autoattack range will be helpful for soloing mid, help us keep a little bit out of range. Do not let this buff make you reconsider hybrid/AD Kog though, its bad and you should feel bad for building him like so. AP is the ONLY way to go... competitively.

~~rekirtS

Your guide has revealed just how much of a bad I am.

I am ashamed.

That wasn't exactly the intended effect of the guide ^^:. At Kog, I'm assuming? Just keep practicing is the key thing. Read over my guide when you get the chance and lots and lots of practice.

Well, I'm a little disheartened since I fed pretty hard my last game.

I tend to go Nashor's first since it solves some of the mana issue until golem and I dunno, I like CDR. Maybe because I'm messy and spammy, but that's how I went.

I also was a big fan of Boots of Mobility. They're great for defending against creep pushes midgame and Kog can farm the pushes pretty well... but he still doesn't move fast enough to keep up with the team if he starts taking detours and they don't want to wait. They also don't help escape half the time because you get flanked or rammused or master Yi-ed or all of the above and there's no way to escape.

It also really, really sucks if your allies take golem instead of you. Like, majorly sucks. A couple pew pews in the teamfight and you're just done, OOM. On the other hand whenever I have golem as Kog it feels like God Mode, and I feel like a major contributor to team fights.

For some reason though, I've just never taken to RoA or Archangel's. I'll just have to try it out your way for awhile and see if I can do any better than I have been.

i understand the potential of an AP build, and i have used similiar builds and done ok

But recently i find going Rageblade first then Nashor's and Madred's is much more viable on Kog

AP is quite nukey, but it takes too long into the game to really do much damage to carry, by going rageblade and nashor's, u have enough AP to make ur ooze and Q do decent damage, but most importantly boost your AP and AS for your W to dish out ALOT of damage during that precious six seconds. and Madred's actually stack with your percentage damage, so it's just beasty.

I've never found Nashor's to be particularly more effective than the sheer AP and mana I can get from Tear/Arch Angels. The AS, yes, does help when you Bio-Arcane Barrage, but the cooldown on the ability is much too long to particularly take advantage of. Although at rank five the range on the ability is large, you still have to be near the fight, and a well placed Wither or CC will destroy any damage you would have put out. With Kog'Maws tiny attack range, after you use Bio-Arcane Barrage you cannot use that attack speed to help at all.

The CDR is, I admit, very tempting and very useful, I find it not needed. The only real spell it helps spam is Void Ooze, as Caustic Spittle has way too small of a range, Bio-Arcane Barrage is mostly useful AFTER a teamfight breaks down, and Living Artilleries cooldown is already tiny.

And always remember golem buff + blue elixer + runes and masteries = you're not getting much CDR out of your Tooth.

On your second issue, golem is very effective and plain ole fun on Kog'Maw, I admit . While you don't NEED it, its very helpful. But you should have ALOT of mana regen without it. Meditation, runes, Archangels (and max mana from tear) and a high base amount should keep you at ALOT of magic regen.

But, as a general rule, I never let my stacks on my ultimate go above two, three at the most when I'm just poking. Only when teamfights start will I let it go higher and even then I try to find a period to let it cooldown and spam again. Part of learning Kog'Maw is learning how to manage his mana. Practice practice practice.

Boots of Mobility are okay, but your ulti will knock you down to 2 immediately. And the twenty magic penetration/35% CC reduction is very hard to pass up on.

I too, tried hybrid builds at one point, trust me. And those three items will cost a total of ten thousand gold-- without even boots. Its ridiculous to think you could farm that much in a normal game without hurting your team presence. My core build costs half as much. Anyways, ignoring that fact...

Rageblade and Nashor have three stats, AD, AP, and AS. The AD and AS are nice, but ONLY during your Bio-Arcane Barrage. Seriously, if you don't have your W on, you cannot possibly avoid being targetted and instagibbed in close range. And when you do have your W on, as I said previously, one or two CC and you're out of commission and those stats go in the dump.

Bloodrazor is just too ridiculously expensive to rush and does not benefit your main skills at all while building it. Again, can only be REALLY effective after their team running away, or during your W, which is not enough to justify it. My build tries to deal the most damage DURING the teamfight, which is key.

With a hybrid build your precious six seconds are REALLY EXTREMELY precious. In higher Elo games, you will be CCed and you are then out of commission. With an AP build, you are effective throughout the fight.

lol i got the caterpillar skin too....not that cute though

Yeah, I guess, its just a recolor, but I like it all the same haha.