This guide stands to teach two like-minded fools how to play Cho'Gall. With the changes to Cho'Gall many months ago, his power levels have still remained mostly untouched (if you look at win rates). Slinkyfest and I (McSlaughter) have played 250+ games of Cho'Gall together and enjoy a 57% win rate according to Hotslogs (https://www.hotslogs.com/Player/Profile?PlayerID=5068463). I'd like to think we've made a ton of mistakes in order to help you make fewer in your journey to Cho'Gall stardom.

First and most important, Cho'Gall is two heroes in one (wow! thanks captain obvious!) and needs to be talented in co-operation. Failing to build one co-cohesive talent set frequently creates clunky, poorly optimized builds that don't have a clear goal in mind. I've separated the builds into three main goals; 'tank', 'siege' (eventual ranged carry) and 'murder baby' (melee carry). The builds listed aren't concrete, however, and should be modified slightly depending on your situation. If you're rolling quick match like we are then you're not going to know ahead of time who you're with; during that loading screen get ready for a discussion and pick a build based on the ultimate you need from Cho. Draft will allow for the most diverse selection of builds from Cho'Gall as the team can be hand-crafted.

Draft brings us to the second point; who to ban and why. As we discussed, Cho'Gall is in fact two heroes in one and suffers greatly to heroes with global map presence; Abathur, Zagara and TLV are the greatest of these threats. Brightwing, Dehaka and Falstad also come into play here but lack the same potency in seige/xp and, IMHO, aren't worth a ban. Damage dealers rarely can one v two Cho'Gall with the following exceptions; Kharazim, Butcher, Leoric, Ilidan and Greymane can all pose high threats in team-fights and ganks

Once the game has begun positioning becomes number one priority and depending on what you build at later levels, your positioning will change. What lane to be in and when to take mercs becomes crucial as un-necessary walking rapidly loses the team XP. In three lane matches, one person is to stay with Cho'Gall while the other two solo. In smaller maps Cho'Gall can swap between lanes, setup ganks and swap back before the next wave is to fall. In larger maps, ganking with two can be highly detrimental to XP even on success, so playing the poke and siege game while waiting for objectives is usually the idea. If you don't know where to be standing with Cho'Gall you are screwing it up for two. Most importantly, talk with your Gall to make sure you're getting angles properly and getting in range for siege damage.

Last I've got some points that should be kept in consideration no matter the game;
1) Cho'Gall can often solo many bosses throughout the different game modes, especially late game
2) Cho'Gall can also easily stick damage onto enemy structures
3) Shadowflame out-ranges turrets narrowly with proper Cho positioning.
3) Bombs should be placed to hit both heroes and minions/structures as often as possible
4) Surging fist hits all structures you slide along and carries Cho around corners
5) Only the wind-up portion of the punch is unstoppable, leaving Cho temporarily vulnerable.
6) Gall's Shove should be saved for after Surging fist in most cases as occasionally Gall's cursor will end up on the opposite side during the attack, causing a backwards travel.
7) Gall's Shove is not affected by stuns or roots and can save Cho from followup damage.
8) Gall is both a carry and assists in the support role by way of communication, merc timings, map awareness and second opinions!
9) Body blocking is as huge boon to this big boy and can completely cover an enemy gate.
10) Surging Fist can easily position for body blocks to save fellow heroes, punch between.

TANK
The focus of this build it to start team fights and keep enemies silenced, it also has the highest chance to survive fights. Well placed bombs will not only increased damage (uncapped) but at later levels will cooldown (sometimes instantly) and silence teams. Throw a bomb before you ult that target and watch them disappear when Gall pops off. At level 13 this build does especially well vs objectives with high numbers of minions (Braxis Holdout for ex.) At level 16 this build really comes online as successful Surging Fists through at least 2 heroes will all but instantly refresh the punch and now also heal and are unstoppable. While you're punching through the team, your other abilities are coming off cooldown and the damage continues. At level 20 the true power of Cho'Gall comes online as Cho is now gaining armor (not physical or magical, but both) with every takedown, capping at +50 or 75% total, at whim. The longer the game goes the less likely it is that a comeback for the enemy will occur. You can modify this build to add Fuel for the Flame and/or Hammer of Twilight in certain cases.

SIEGE
The focus of this build is on taking out structures, single target objectives and dealing damage from afar. This build also aims to clear threats from the support rather than pull in enemies for a team fight. Pick this build when you have a team with a dedicated tank that plans on playing the kite/siege game, a healer is an asset. At early levels the talents are used to gain damage on objectives, dismount heroes while running and stay healthy while Ogre Rage is up. Later on the damage to objectives increases and Gall gains the ability to mini-stun enemies during fights. Level 20 is where this build shines as you've finally acquired the ability to ranged carry and kite like no other. Modifications to this build swap out Enraged Regeneration for Power Surge for increase mobility. Fuel for the Flame can also be swapped for Consuming Fire where early healing is needed.

MURDER BABY
The focus of this build is to turn Cho into a melee carry in situations where you team doesn't have sufficient damage and you're sure you can safely get in range to do damage. At the same time this build requires a dedicated tank and healer to allow him to do damage without dying. At level 7 this build really starts coming online as Gall gains 75% CD each time Ogre Hide is activated; as Cho wants to be in melee range, this is beneficial for both temporarily. By level 13 Cho can start quickly assassinating out of position heroes with a well-times Surging Fist, Hammer of Twilight as he now has the followup attack speed to stick that last bit of damage. Once Cho gains level 16 the Unstoppable and Gall gains slow on Shadowflame it really gives him free reign to chase and retreat at will. Modifications to this build aren't recommended.