My name is Slinkyfest. You've never heard of me. Recently my friend McSlaughter and I have played a few hundred games of Cho'Gall to a 56.6% win rate on QM. This guide was put together due to the number of compliments we received on our builds, along with its relative success in that game mode. According to hotslogs we are "Master" level QM players with an MMR ~2781 at this time. That is to say, we are effective with these builds, in QM. We can't promise it will work elsewhere, but it works for us.

This is designed to be a fun, happy go lucky guide to crushing your opponents skulls with one of the most interesting heroes in MOBA history.

For more information on McSlaughter's parallel Cho guide, click here.

Tank
The tank build designed for initiation and capitalizing on Cho's Upheaval along with rapidly burning down towers after the team fight is won.

Taskmaster to avoid basic attack heroes. Tracer will reset this every clip and a half making it a useful way to reach safety if being chased.

Otherwise detonate bombs on waves and squishy heroes. Given its long range, bombs are great for taking down towers as well or last hitting fleeing heroes.

Always hold on using that ult until either its a guaranteed kill, or your Cho ults. He is the initator here and you are as

The Will of Gall provides your capstone, allowing you to snowball all the harder. Unlike The Will of Cho it does not have a cap. Enjoy rolling 1500dmg bowling balls at people every few seconds.

Siege
This could also be considered our ranged carry build, designed for doing maximum damage as far away as possible. Good for when the objective doesn't reward team fights or you already have a few bruisers on the front line. By level 13, the Double Back / Rising Dread combo allows you to easily duo bosses in short order.

Murder Baby
Ahhh, Cho'Gall is everyones favourite murder baby! This will squeeze as much damage out of Cho'Gall as humanly possible. It is not an every match build, but if you have too many tanks, too many supports, or really want to bust some heads, this is the build for you.

Toggling Ogre Rampage with Cho is the way to ensure you get the most out of your abilities. Your Shadowflame hits often, and hard because of Searing Shadows and will allow your Cho to catch any hero you deign focus due to Shadowsnare. This build is exceptionally good at taking down frontline fighters very quickly. If an enemy team is unprepared they may not realize their tank died until you've already geeked the mage.

Twisting Nether has more reliable damage and ability to secure kills. A 50% speed debuff is steep, especially as it can last for up to 5 seconds while your Cho goes ham.

Shadow Bolt Volley has issues with reliability. It's easy to juke, and slow to retarget. It really comes online at 20 when each bolt pierces, but by then it may be too late and the kills you could have secured with Twisting Nether never happened. It does not synergise with upheaval very well as the enemy pulled may appear behind you and is not a very good deterrent when being chased as again, it is easily avoided by the heroes most likely to chase.

Shadow Bolt Volley is more satisfying however. With the pew-pew and the lamentations of their womenfolk when it lands. It is also more effective when you need a little more damage on the core in a last ditch push or when you need to face melt a diablo.

There is a reason Twisting Nether is in each of my builds, however. I suggest trying both and making your own decision on these enormously fun ults.

All CC is more effective against Cho'Gall, just as all take-downs are twice as effective. Cho'Gall is a dual-hero and it shows.

There are some abilities that have additional utility against Cho'Gall given his presence as the only dual-hero in HoTs. Anub'araks Cocoon, Ana's Sleep Dart, Stitches Hook / Devour, Zeratul's Void Prison, Medivh' Ley Line Seal, Kharazim's Seven-Sided Strike and so on.

An exception to this is Zagara's Devouring Maw, as she loses her global map presence by going team fight which will lead to a severe xp drop on their side. It is still very effective, but less effective than the global ult typically.

As a dual-hero, Cho'Gall forces a reduced map presence on his team in exchange for improved team fighting potential. Certainly by lv 20 Cho'Gall can be a collossus. Global heroes can reduce this advantage exponentially by increasing the level gap between teams and Cho'Gall may not be able to resolve that themselves.

As two heroes, Cho'Gall needs to be front and centre in defending forts, initiating or fending off team fights and preventing dives on allies. Cho'Gall cannot chase a murky/single viking across the map to prevent him from soaking a lane, as even an unorganized team will take advantage to press in your towers, your vulnerable heroes or gank the silly Cho who ran off to dither with murlocs. That means his allies need to fend off solo lanes which are being pressed by .25 of a hero. A Cho'Gall cannot prioritize a murky across the map or more ground can and will be lost.

Be aware that

• Shadowflame out ranges turrets by a slim margin. Use this to your advantage to score some free hits when things are quiet.
• Shove is a lifesaver, whether its avoiding a gank, dodging skill shots or catching a fleeing enemy hero.
• Learn to communicate with your Cho. Explain intention until you can read your Cho.
• Call out targets you want to focus or targets your Cho may have not seen. This works exceptionally well with invisible heroes.
• Use your lack of a body to your advantage. You don't need to worry about positioning anything but your skill shots, so maintain map awareness at all times instead.
• Your wards detect invisibility. Use them to avoid ganks and support your most vulnerable team members.
• Gall's abilities do not dismount Cho. Therefore, if necessary, you can pop waves and harass as he runs past and stay just out of their reach.
• Gall can continue to use his abilities while inside vehicles. This means a Cho'Gall Dragon Knight, Garden Terror and Triglav Protector can be shoved, and have additional dps support from the attached Gall.
• Cho'Gall does not count as two heroes for the purposes of pushing/capturing objectives, which means he is objectively weaker on Hanamura.
• He can still fire from inside the boss objective after being swallowed. Make of that what you will.
• You can kill murky after he has Octo-grabbed to unstun your Cho.
• Shove will not remove Octo-Grab from Cho, you simply appear a few map units away.
• Ana's level 7 talent Mind-Numbing Agent applies to both Cho and Gall. Unless you go murder baby, most of your damage will be coming from abilities so watch out.