Cho’Gath’s new E convinced me he doesn’t need a rework

I think it is fair to say that about a month ago almost everyone would have suggested that Cho’Gath needs a rework. Even if you don’t agree, I have at least been pining for the biggest void creature to get some massive changes. He felt passive to play and looks atrocious. One of those things remains true, but with his 7.14 changes I have changed my mind about Cho’Gath’s immediate need for a rework.

This change was odd and fairly simple. Instead of his E being a toggle-able ability, it is now activate-able and lasts for three autos. It is funny how minor that sounds and how fantastic it feels. This combined with his infinitely scaling Feast stacks and the removal of any on death punishment leads Cho to feel so much more engaging to play. Instead of simply trying to hit your knock-up and use the silence to burst a target down to Feast range, you have an ability that lets you stick to targets.

The Feast stack game itself also feels like a far more interesting version of something like Veigar or Nasus’ stacks. Instead of constant, tedious smashing of minions, Cho’Gath has to think carefully of how he wants to stack. Using Feast on a minion or jungle creep means that it won’t be up for a possible fight down the line. But then again, neutral monsters are essentially free stacks (up to six) that are guaranteed to make you more powerful. It is a system that keeps every game unique.

This small update has turned a champion that I thought was boring and awful into someone I am excited to play. This goes to show that maybe everything we as a community complain about isn’t fixed by taking a whole new kit and shoving it into the skin of an older champion. That works great for some cases, but others can be fixed with seemingly small iterations.

What Cho’Gath still desperately needs is an update to his face. He looks really ... not good right now. He is old and needs some help, but if that visual update came alone and left his kit relatively untouched, I don’t think it would be too much of a problem. His newest splash art is rad and alien, I hope we get to see a change that makes him similar looking to that in game.

I have no doubt that Cho’Gath will get a full rework eventually, but this latest update has pushed its necessity back months if not years.