Kog'Maw

Detailed Tips

1. 01

   Alcove Strat - Level 1 try to rush into the topside alcove with E start to avoid being zoned off the wave level 1. Being zoned off leaves Renekton in a terrible position, however being in the alcove prevents losing XP and losing any necessary HP. Once you achieve the first wave of XP, try to leave the alcove safely through bushes and walk towards your side of the wave state.

2. 02

   Play For Level 3 Kill Angle - Once you reach level 3, Renekton will be able to utilise his fast and high damage combos against Kog’Maw. While Renekton has the ability to start trading against Kog’maw, do keep in mind that Kog’Maw will always win extended trades until you have your ult. Try to keep your HP up and stay out of range, while playing for fast combos until Kog’Maw is 30%HP for lethal range.

3. 03

   Respect Kog'Maw's Poke - Kog’Maw’s poke is surprisingly good most stages of the game, due to his W’s max HP damage and his naturally high attack speed playstyle. When fighting Kog’maw we want to try and avoid fighting extended trades, as he’s able to sustain heavy damage the longer we fight vs his lethal tempo and W activation. Playing with D Shield and Second wind, while playing with the intent to do quick in and out combos, will allow us to prevail in being able to eventually kill him and outsustain his damage. Try to also avoid fights with his W activated, as his overall damage will be a lot higher compared to without.

4. 04

   Play Wave On Your Side - Playing the wave on your side essentially means playing wave states on your side of the map, via abusing wave manipulation tactics or freezing on your side of the map. Simply use this to help you combo on your laner, taking away any space from them being able to trade you back (This also helps prevent the enemy running you down with their extended or sustained movement speed abilities). You can also use this wave state to run down your opponent with your abilities up, helping you obtain kills a lot easier vs stalemate or ranged match ups. Look to do this when your opponents are below 50% HP, or potentially make a mistake to provide you an all in opportunity to run them down.

5. 05

   Quick Trades - E > Q > AA > W > AA > E Out / E > Q > W > E / E Q E - These combos allow for Renekton to get quick damage off in being able to keep health up and whittling his opponent down, use these to get your laner low and look for a low HP kill with flash.

6. 06

   Rush Plated Steelcaps - Rushing Plated Steelcaps will allow you to tank against Kog’Maw’s on hit damage, allowing you to take longer fights and present you the opportunity to kill Kog’Maw with your R powerspike. Having the mobility from boots also allows your E speed to increase, on top of providing you mobility to stay on top of Kog’Maw, or allow you to stay out of his range.

7. 07

   Play For Ganks - Kog’Maw is by no means an easy lane with how cheesy and flexible his item and build choices can be. Kog’Maw’s biggest weakness is his lack of mobility into solo laning, making top lane an overall nightmare choice when the wave is pushed towards his opponent's tower. Make sure to exploit Kog’Maw’s weakness by pinging your jungler to gank, then try to force the initiation with your dashes and stun them for your jungler to one shot. Once getting a kill or two on Kog’Maw, you will be able to easily snowball and kill Kog’Maw at will.

8. 08

   Abuse Renekton's R Powerspike - Prior to this point in the match up, if Renekton has farmed safely and rushed defensive boots in the match up, Renekton is now ready to fight his opponent in an all in. Renekton's high base damage and stats from his R, allows Renekton to completely stat check his counter match up. Simply wait for the enemy to make a mistake, then go all out and kill your opponent.

9. 09

   Build Eclipse, Stridebreaker or Profane - Go Eclipse for consistent power through mid game and damage mitigation with the shield. / Go Stridebreaker to cripple Kog'Maw's mobility and provide teammates with additional utility. / Go Profane for full damage focused playstyles.

10. 10

    Mid Game + Teamfighting Tips - Kog’Maw’s role within the mid to late game, is playing as a scaling on hit tank carry, allowing him to melt anything that even comes close to him. Kog’Maws’s ability to stack bork, rageblade into tank items can be very annoying and borderline unplayable to play against as Renekton. Our overall objective is trying our hardest to hard snowball the early stages of the game, then utilising our lead and overall power to hard carry teamfights and secure every objective we can. Within these stages before Kog’Maw powerspikes with his later scaling build, Renekton can reliably one shot him as well as being able to build versatile items through the game to help increase his chances of closing out the game. If Kog’Maw is farming within the side lane, Renekton can try to play within bushes and look to one shot him repetitively with his lead, or he can force hard pushes if Kog’Maw decides to leave the lane. While Kog’Maw is also trying to scale towards getting his items in side lane, Renekton can use his lead to roam in the enemy jungle and look for one shot plays to kill his jungler, or use that time to flank enemies within the mid lane. In teamfights, try to play to kill Kog’Maw, as Kog’Maw’s high damage and shred can pose a lot of issues in being able to take extended fights. Try to use your flash or dashes, to access onto Kog’Maw, while using your W and full combo right after. If you can eliminate Kog’Maw from the fights, his team will lose a lot of utility and damage in being able to shut down the Renekton pick.