1. Introduction 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Pros 1.3 Cons 1.4 Detailed Overview 2. Abilities 2.1 Basic Abilities 2.2 Usage 3. Talents 3.1 Talent Introduction 3.2 Level 1 3.3 Level 4 3.4 Level 7 3.5 Level 10 3.6 Level 13 3.7 Level 16 3.8 Level 20 4. Specific Maps 5. Final Words

Cho'Gall is an exciting take take on what a hero can be in a MOBA game. Putting heave emphasis on teamplay and coordination, Cho'Gall is representing some of the core values of Heroes of the Storm: This game is a lot more fun with a partner!

In this guide, we're going to focus on Cho. We will be taking a look on how to play him and what to consider when making decisions.

Before we start looking into the specefics, I want to make this perfectly clear: coordination is everthing when playing Cho'Gall. Two players with low personal skill levels but great coordination can easily beat two players with high personal skill levels but poor coordination. Only once you realize how important coordination and communication is, you will start seeing serious progress with both Cho and Gall

Let's take a look at the pros and cons of Cho:

Pros:

Strong lane pusher
Good initiator
Good on objectives
Nice CC
Nice sustain
Difficult to kill

Cons:

Difficult to play
Requires voice-com coordination with Gall
Requires high map awareness
Less map precense as you "miss" one player
Weak to polymorphs
Weak to silence
Lacluster level 20 talents


Cho is defenitely the more difficult half of Cho'Gall. Since you're in controll of the movement for both Cho and Gall, you need to not only be aware of how your positioning affects your gameplay, but also how it affects Gall's.
Staying in range of enemies so Gall can hit with Shadowflame and Dread Orb is essential for Gall to have any chance of performing well. Once again, coordination and communication is key here.

Furthermore, you need to remember that your movement represent two heroes at all times, which means that you have to be extra aware of what is going on during the game. Representing two heroes, it is important that you're always ready for objectives, as your team will not able to complete them without you.
Beyond this, you're also a very capable lane pusher, so you should see to push where possible at any time you're not doing objectives, but avoid overextending. Even though Cho'Gall has decent escape mechanics, being caught and getting killed rewards the enemy team with 2 kills sinstead of 1, so try to avoid this.

Since you're two heroes in one body, this also means you will have one player less for soaking xp. Therefore, you need to ensure that you donnot waste time out of XP range, as this can very negatively affect your team. Awareness is essential when playing Cho.

Cho is a great initiator with both Surging Fist and Upheaval. That being said, you shouldn't always be engaging fights, as this may lead to the enemy team focusing you down quickly. If you have another warrior on the team, try to let him engage, and then follow up with deadly impact.

Lastly, be very carefull around polymorphs and silences. Sinces this incapacitates both Cho and Gall, these effects suddenly have a double impact. When playing against Brightwing always keep track of when she uses her polymorph, and wait going all out before it is out of the way.
Likewise, keep track of Sylvanas's silence, as this disbale both you and Gall. Being unaware of these effects will often lead to your quick demise.

Here you will find a list of Cho's abilities, followed by a brief discussion on how to best use each ability. Talent explanations can be found in the following chapter.

Abilities

Trait

Gall is permanently attached to you, going where you go.

Q

Cooldown: 13 seconds

Wind up for at least 1 second temporarily slowing yourself, then reactivate to charge in a direction. Enemies in your path are knocked aside and take damage.

W

Cooldown: 12 seconds

Ignite nearby enemies, dealing damage over 4 seconds. If this hits an enemy, gain Health over 4 seconds.

E

Cooldown: 8 seconds

Roll a bomb dealing heavy damage to enemies in its path. Gall can use Runic Blast to detonate it and deal massive area damage.

R

Cooldown: 15 seconds

Passively increases Basic Attack damage by 25%. Activate to swing the Hammer to deal damage, push enemies away, and stun for 0.75 seconds.


Cooldown: 60 seconds

After 1 second pull enemies towards your direction, slowing them by 25% for 3 seconds and dealing damage.

Usage

Q

Surging Fist should be to engage, chase or disengage during fights. The damage of this spell is irrelevant, you lose far more damage not basic attacking while winding up Surging Fist than you gain from hitting with it, so don't spam this ability.

Saving Surging Fist for the right moment can often mean the difference between life or death for you, or scoring you that extra kill by getting Gall in range to hit with his Shadowflame.

Finally, note that you can be interrupted during the wind up time of Surging Fist, putting the spell on CD and leaving you without a means to escape. Try to keep track of enemy stuns and interrupts, and prefferably use Surging Fist only once your enemies has depleted all their interrupts.

W

Consuming Blaze is your main defensive ability and also applies a decent damage over time effect. This ability is used well in combination with Rune Bomb to clear minion waves and works as your mains souce of sustainability during the entire game.

IF you pick up Blazing Bulwark (and you really should), always try to apply Consuming Blaze on as many targets as possible, as you can get up to 10 charges of Block from it, based on number of enemies hit.

Furthermore, if you pick up Twilight Veil, keep in mind that keeping Consuming Blaze ready for incoming burst may increasy your chances of survival drastically. This is not essential for use of Consuming Blaze, but will improve your overall toughness.

E

Rune Bomb is your main source of damage can be used to devastating effect in combination with your other skills. When using Rune Bomb it is important to note that the main damage comes from the detonation, meaning that it is very important to communicate with your Gall about the timing of the bomb.
When laying down a bomb, try to tell your Gall the intention of that bomb, such as "Hit the tower" or "try to hit Nazeebo] with it". This will drastically improve the efficiency of your Rune Bombs.

One thing to note with Rune Bomb is it's slow acceleration at first. This effectively means that Rune Bomb is not particularly good at hitting enemies you're chasing, but should rather be used in more stationary fights, or when running away from your enemies.

The slow nature of Rune Bomb also means that you have to plan ahead when trying to hit enemy heroes. Sometimes, throwing the bomb at where you think the emeny hero is going will allow you to hit them more often. Alternatively, you can try to use the bomb as a way to prevent your enemies from going in certain directions, as many will often try to avoid the bomb. Take this into consideration when deplying Rune Bomb.

Lastly, if you pick up Rollback (which you should), remember that Gall doesn't have to detonate the bomb as it is rolling away from you, but can also do it as it returns. If you missed the bomb when you threw it initially, try to position yourself in a way that will make it hit your enemies on the way back.
Also, when Gall detonates the bomb, it will return to you immediately rather then going the full length.

R

Hammer of Twilight and Upheaval will be discussed in the talents section.

I will be going through all of the talents individually, the discussion of the talents here apply to all the builds. One thing to note, is that it is always a good idea to coordinate your talents with Gall, this is especialle true for your heroic talents.

Color code:

Red borders means that this talent is bad, or mediocre and placed amongst good alternatives. Avoid picking these talents.

Yellow borders means that this talent is situational, and you should make your decision based on your situation. Read descriptions for more guidelines.

Green borders means that this talent is good, or at least the best amongst the alternatives. You will be picking these talents often. Still, consider your situational options.







Surging Dash is not exactly bad, it just is not as good as Blazing Bulwark. The extra range is nice, the speed is kinda meh. Don't pick this.


Blazing Bulwark is the only real option in this tier. Being able to store up to 10 charges of block with this talent, it is a great contributing factor to Cho'Gall's survival. Best case scenario this gives you 7-10 charges of block (you won't see this one any other hero). Worst case scenario you will still get 1-3 charges of block, where pretty much every other hero in the game has a maximum of two charges. Pick this talent at all times.


Fuel for the Flame is just downright bad. This is one of the most disappointing regeneration globe talents in the game, simply because it is not a permanent bonus, but rather a one-time bonus on your next Consuming Blaze. On most maps you will find yourself constantly fighting outside of the lanes, where there are no regeneration globes available, rendering this talent completely useless. Never pick this.





Runed Gauntlet Is not particularly strong. Even though Cho does a lot of damage with his basic attakcs (especially with Hammer of Twilight, getting a 75% bones on only one basic attack simply isn't that strong, at least not when only 1 of your abilities can activate it. You will not be seeing yourself picking this talent.


Rollback is a great talent. Not only does it allow your Gall a second chance at detonating the bomb in case he missed it, it also gives both of you a chance to play around people trying to dodge the bomb. As it returns to Cho'gall where he stands rather than the point of origination, this allows you to change the path of the bomb once it returns. Furthermore, it adds a small ammount of bonus damge as it damages enemies on collision. In this generally weak tier, you will be picking this talent pretty much all the time.


Seared Flesh is just a bad talent. Unless you have some attack speed synergy (and even then it wont outperform Rollback), this only allows you to do 25% increased attack damage on targets with a 4 seconds duration. This will always ammount in less or the same ammount of bonus damages as Runed Gauntlet, with a higher cooldown. Avoid this talent.





Power Surge doesn't do a whole lot for you to be honest. The wind up time isn't large enough to bother anyone and as long as you look at your screen while you play, you shouldn't be missing the knockback of Surging Fist due to it's width. Rather lackluster.


Fire Eater is an okay-but-not-great talent, placed in a tier with disappointing alternatives. It defenitely synergizes well with Hammer of Twilight, but since it requires you to be basic attacking enemies with the Consuming Blaze debuff (which only lasts 4 seconds), you wont always benefit from this. Still, it does give you some extra sustain, and since your primary role is to avoid dying, this is the talent you will be going for.


Frenzied Fists Is just bad. It feels like they placed this talent on the wrong ability. Surging Fist is not a skill you will be keeping on cooldown, but rather one you will save for chasing or disengaging. And even then, it only applies to the next 2 melee attacks, which is not that amazing. Avoid htis talent.





Hammer of Twilight is a solid choice in all situations. The extra basic attack damage makes is a nice damage boost for Cho, helping out in fights and on objectives. The best part is the activated effect however. Being able to dish out a knockback followed by a stun every 15 seconds makes Cho a CC beast.
In fights, you should always try to use the activated effect to stop your enemies from channeling spells ( Surging Fist, Ravenous Spirit, All Shall Burn etc.), or to peel enemies from your more vulnerable team mates. Hammer of Twilight does an excelent job at peeling if you manage to flank your target so that you both knock him away and stun him. Do not be afraid to use it often, it has a very short CD.

Once you and your Gall become good at coordinating, Hammer of Twilight can also be used for knocking enemy heroes and minions into a second or third bounce of Dread Orb. This can also be used to knock your enemies into other effects, try to play with it, it feels very rewarding when you succeed.


Upheaval is more situational than Hammer of Twilight. It is conciderably more difficult to put down a good Upheaval than it is to make good use of Hammer of Twilight.
You should only pick this talent if you're already winning. Upheaval does very little for your team if you find that you are consistently losing team fights, in fact it often results in your pulling most of the enemy team into your team, giving them a free initiate.

However, if you find that your team is ahead Upheaval can be a good choice. It is excelent for chasing down enemy heroes after winning a teamfight, as the range is fairly long. Furthermore, if you have allies with good AoE CC like Uther or Gazlowe and you're capable of coordinating with them, Upheaval can be used to great effect by gathering the enemy team close together. Be carefull not to counter your own team by dragging people out of things like Mosh Pit.

As a last note, Upheaval performs better on some maps than others. On maps with NPC boss units that have AoE hard CC (like Battlefield Of Eternity, Haunted Mines and Infernal Shrines), you can use upheaval to drag most of the enemy team into these effects. This requires good timing and can be difficult to execute, but if done right, you can win an entire teamfight just by pulling off this trick.





Runic Feedback is a good talent, it gives you a nice ammount of extra damage as Rune Bomb is one of your main damage sources. It is particularly good for pushing lanes and teamfights, as it reduces the cooldown per enemy hit. This means that if your Gall detonates the bomb on all 7 minions in a wave the bomb only has a 1 second CD. As with Upheaval, pick this talent if you're ahead, as it will help you maintan this position.


I AM Hurrying! Is rather disappointing to be honest. It doesn't add much in terms of duration, and once you're slowed it doesn't matter much anyway. Steer clear of this talent, it is not worth your time.


Molten Block Is an excelent talent. You can often find good use for it (tower diving, high burst heroes like Kael'thas and Nova, or avoiding heavy CC), but keep in mind that it is primarily defensive. The damage output of the immolation aura is not that strong, so pick it defensively.

If your team is well ahead of the game and the enemy team does not have any high burst or heavy CC heroes that often target you, Molten Block wont do much for you. You should mainly pick this talent if you find that your team is behind, or the teams are evenly matched.

Also note that activating Molten Block pauses Gall's Shadow Bolt Volley for the duration of Molten Block. Shadow Bolt Volley Resumes once you are out again, but since this heavily impacts Gall's gameplay you should always try to coordinate the use of Molten Block.





Twilight Veil is a very decent all-round talent, as it helps you achieve your goal of not dying. Since Consuming Blaze is already being used defensively, you don't have to make any changes to your playstyle after picking this talent.

This talent is obviously particularly good against high burst mages. Once you get more experienced with Cho, try to use it just before getting bursted.


Surge of Stamina is another decent choice, as it once again helps you stay alive. It provides you with resistance to all types of damage for alonger period than Twilight Veil. However, since you're not trying to keep Surging Fist on CD during fights, you wont always benefit from this talent, which makes it a bit situational.

If you find yourself to be engaging head with Suring Fist a lot, Surge of Stamina is a good choice, otherwise Twilight Veil will often be more beneficial.


Crippling Blow is actually not a bad talent, it is just placed the wrong tier. The slow is quite substantial, which is good for chasing down enemy heroes or disengaging, but since your primary objective is to become as tough as possible, you wont be picking this talent.




Before jumping into the level 20 talents, I just want to make this clear: Cho's level 20 talents are not strong at all, in fact they are rather lackluster. This means that you are basically free to pick wichever level 20 talent you want, as you wont be seeing these talents have a huge impact on the game.


C'Thun's Gift is (sadly) to go-to talent if you picked Hammer of Twilight. The extra range is nice enough as it can help you land that killing blow, butmost of the time during fights you will be up in your enemy's face anyway.
The slow can be usefull however, as it makes chasing your enemies a bit easier. It is not an impressive talent though, as it is just a dumped down version of Nexus Blades. Meh.


Favor of the Old Gods Is the only decent choice in this tier. Getting 50% damage resistance for 5 seconds after pulling the enemy team towards you is really nice.

However, as we already discussed, you will most be picking Upheaval when you're ahead, meaning that the damage reduction will often be redundant. Still, it's a decent talent.


The Will of Gall is a situationally good talent. If you find yourself matched against a team with a lot of CC, be it slows, stuns, roots or whatever, The Will of Gall can be really effective. It does require good coordination with Gall, but thatis the mantra of playing Cho'Gall.

If the enemy team does not have any important CC however, this talent is completely redundant. This talent could have been really good, almost mandatory, if it only had been placed in an earlier tier. Coming this late in the game, you will often not see more than 1 or 2 uses of it, if any at all. Pick it situationally.

Coming soonâ„¢.

As a parting word, I would like to remind everyone that as with all guides, these are guidelines not objective truths. You are free to play Cho anyway you like, the most important part is that you're having fun while doing it!

I hoped you have enjoyed this in-depth look at Cho and if you have, don't forget to give it a like. If you have any suggestions for improvement, or in case I have made a mistake somewhere, feel free to throw it in the comments, but try to keep it constructive.

Thank you for reading!