EPT
Cho'gall
First Impressions
Analysis and Pro Opinions
Prepare for trouble- and make it double!
The Cho'Gall Virus has been running rampant, an epidemic spreading across the world at an alarming rate -- and we couldn't be happier about it! As a reminder, Cho and Gall are two separate Heroes sharing the same body. Cho is the melee Warrior in control of movement whilst Gall acts as a ranged Assassin with the ability to speed Cho up whenever necessary. Since they're individual Heroes, two players are required to queue together in order to play them. Cho'Gall was given out for free to all Blizzcon attendees (including Virtual Ticket holders), and the "Cho'Gall Virus" can be spread to you by winning two games as Cho'Gall while playing with a friend who owns him.
Scaling aside, last patch also brought with it a change to how drafting in Hero League works as well. Now duo-queued players will always select Heroes at the same time, allowing for Cho'Gall to appear in Hero League if desired.
As predicted, we saw a LOT of Cho'Gall within the first week of his release. In Quick Match, it was hard to play a game without a mirror match. With his popularity came a rise in Heroes you don't always see in QM or HL, but we'll get to that shortly. For now, let's break down his abilities and what it's like to play as both Cho and Gall.
Abilities
Cho is a Warrior of unmatched might who charges fist-first into battle, controlling movement and Basic Attacks. While Gall cannot move on his own, he is a formidable Assassin armed with a devastating set of dark spells. Neither of them rely on ability costs in the form of rage or mana. Gall is also able to cast whilst Cho is mounted, and has access to his basic abilities if Cho enters a Garden Terror or Dragon Knight.Cho
Trait
- Two-Headed
- Gall is permanently attached to you, going where you go.
Basic Abilities
- Surging Fist (Q)
- 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.
Consuming Blaze (W)
- Ignite nearby enemies, dealing damage over 4 seconds. If this hits an enemy, gain Health over 4 seconds.
Rune Bomb (E)
- Roll a bomb that damages enemies in its path. Gall can use Runic Blast (E) to detonate it, dealing damage in an area.
Heroic Abilities
- Hammer of Twilight (R)
- Passively increases Basic Attack damage by 25%. Activate to swing the Hammer, which deals damage, pushes enemies away, and stuns them for 0.75 seconds.
Upheaval (R)
- After 1 second, pull enemies toward your location, slowing them by 25% for 3 seconds and dealing a small amount of damage.
Gall
Mount
- Hurry Up, Oaf! (Z)
- Increase Cho’s Movement Speed by 60%. This effect decays over 3 seconds.
Trait
- Two-Headed
- Permanently attached to Cho, going where he goes. You are immune to Stun and Silence effects.
Basic Abilities
- Shadowflame (Q)
- Deal damage to enemies in a line.
Dread Orb (W)
- Throw a bomb that will bounce three times, dealing damage to enemies on each bounce.
Runic Blast (E)
- Detonate Cho’s Rune Bomb, dealing damage around it.
Heroic Abilities
- Twisting Nether (R)
- After 1 second, enemies are slowed by 40% while you channel, up to 5 seconds. Activate to deal damage.
Shadow Bolt Volley (R)
- Unleash 20 Shadow Bolts over 4 seconds, each dealing damage to the first target hit. The bolts fire in the direction of your cursor.
Cho
Something to note right off the bat is that Cho's charge does not go through walls or terrain. It will run you by Heroes, though, so if you're Entombed and trapped between a rock and a Skeleton King you can use Surging Fist to hopefully escape. The same applies to Gall's Shove talent. If you want to be clever by charging through terrain, think again. Otherwise, this ability does exactly what it says: after a cast time, it allows you to charge in the direction of your choice. You can't cancel the charge after winding up, so be careful activating this -- if you decide too late that you don't want to charge anywhere, you're going to be a sitting duck until you do.
If you're wondering what talents to get on Cho right now, all you have to do is read it and think, "does this buff my W?" If the answer is yes, it's probably a safe talent to choose. The amount of healing you receive from Consuming Blaze is ridiculously useful, and as it improves via talents the wave clear becomes incredible. This ability also affects buildings, so cozy on up to a tower and consume that blaze if you're feeling adventurous.
Rune Bomb is his major siege ability and requires a Gall who pays attention. You throw out a bomb which, after a second, Gall is able to detonate to deal plenty of damage. The range on it allows you to siege towers from the start of the game without going into range of their shots or pick off enemies from a distance. It completely ignores terrain so it can be thrown through walls or over terrain as well. A fairly loud, clear exclamation is made by Cho when he uses Rune Bomb, so if your Gall is listening, they will know to get ready to detonate.
His Heroics are very situational and it's split down the middle as to which you should pick. The passive increased damage from Hammer of Twilight is really nice for an aggressive Cho, and the active ability allows you to disengage from feisty assassins like Kerrigan or Sonya with ease. Upheaval, on the other hand, brings the fight to you. It's range is incredible, and if an enemy is close to you when you cast, they will fly right by you and end up behind you. It's an incredibly useful combination Heroic, but only if your team is prepared to fight in close quarters.
Gall
Hurry Up, Oaf! is a skill Gall has that most players don't notice for at least their first few games. It replaces his mount ability and allows him to speed up Cho whenever he feels like it. Make sure to pay attention to its cooldown and be ready to coordinate an escape with Cho when the inevitable 4-man gank comes looking for blood.
Shadowflame is a narrow beam of darkness that acts as your main harass with a very low cooldown. It has a long range, hits all targets in a line, and can be upgraded with talents if you so choose. Use this to dismount the enemy, reveal cloaked opponents, and damage everything in your path.
Gall's W is by far one of my favorite abilities in the game. He creates what is essentially a giant shadow blob of goop that bounces twice down a path after its initial impact. It is slow moving but has a pretty good radius and distance to its bounces, meaning you can siege with this if you don't have any Heroes to worry about. Just keep throwing goop at towers. At level 13, every talent choice modifies Dread Orb in some way, and two thirds of the talents require you to hit enemy Heroes to activate bonuses.
Outside of Heroics, Runic Blast is the only ability you truly need to coordinate with Cho for to make super effective. On its own, it does nothing until Cho casts Rune Bomb. Cho chooses the direction the bomb is rolled. You are able to see where its end point will be as well as its damage radius, but it's up to you to activate the bomb when you choose. Typically, this is used for early siege damage or long-rage wave clear if your lane is too dangerous to have Cho near the minion wave.
You won't see his first Heroic, Twisting Nether, chosen very often in day-to-day play. The constant slow and potential damage it can put out is devastating, but unless you have a team able to keep you up in the heart of a fight you lose out on a lot of damage. It also requires Gall to either continue casting if you want the slow effect, or blow it up immediately thus rendering the slow somewhat ineffective. It can combo very well with Cho's Upheaval, but from my experience the slow isn't noticeable enough in the current meta to really feel impacting early on. Shadow Bolt Volley is the go-to Heroic on Gall right now. It's a constant barrage of damage against your enemies with fairly long range and the ability to redirect. This Heroic can be blocked by both towers and minions alike so, until you get the level 20 piercing talent Shadowfury, you'll need to be acutely aware of your surroundings or risk wasting your time and damage on minions or towers.
Talents
As far as talents go, Cho's builds are pretty straightforward. While you can always have fun with your builds, any website or guide you look up will have the "if it buffs Consuming Blaze, pick it" mentality. It's all about stacking the bonuses of one ability to increase your survivability and siege potential. Gall is luckier in that, while he can choose to stick to buffing Shadowflame in most tiers, there is a lot more flexibility and potential for alternate build paths and situational picks. While Gall seems to be in a good place talent-wise, Cho could definitely use some more versatility. That being said, being able to get both an invulnerability from Molten Block (Cho's version of Ice Block) at level 13 and a two-second Unstoppable buff from his level 20 talent The Will of Gall, he's not lacking for optional sustain.
Strengths
- Incredible mobility
- Has a knock-back charge, a short dash with Shove, a speed buff from Gall, invulnerability via Molten Block, and Unstoppable
- Master of contesting capture points such as Watchtowers or Shrines
- Strong siege and engage potential
- Does well on smaller and 2-lane maps
- Gall can keep dishing out damage while mounted
Weaknesses
- One for the price of two
- Having one less hero on the battle field means it takes more coordination to soak efficiently on 3-lane maps
- Polymorphs and certain Heroics, like Devouring Maw, take both Cho and Gall out of the fight
- Having one less hero on the battle field means it takes more coordination to soak efficiently on 3-lane maps
- High risk, high reward
- His siege and large belly are intimidating, but if he goes down that's two kills for your opponent, not just one
- Vulnerable to roam squads and not very strong at roaming himself
- Percentage health damage is incredibly effective
Professional Opinions
On Kit, Design and Implementation:
Tetcher, Caster
[When it comes to Gall's resistance to stuns and silences] I like it, if it wasn't there I think Cho'Gall would be pretty useless as every stun becomes a 2 for 1. Surging Fists + Hurry up, Oaf! are so good for outplays and escapes, and as much as [both Cho and Gall] rock, they do have to work together to succeed. I love the way he was released (although rip QM). The community really gathered around it and spread C'G to everyone before I even got a chance to play him at all. Equinox, Murloc Geniuses
His design and kit seem very fun and powerful. He has very strong early game dominance in a lane with a lot of poke and single target damage in team fights. Gall specifically has some of the highest damage output in the game. The later the game goes, with Rising Dread + Double Back and Giant Scorcher + Shadowflare + Double Trouble, you do so much poke and single target damage. That combined with Upheaval + Shadow Bolt Volley makes your team fight presence really scary. You can get easy picks or easy AoE combos from doing Upheaval into Ring of Frost, Precision Strike, Lunar Flare, Mosh Pit, and a bunch of others. Overall, I think his design is amazing and super fun to play with friends, and his kit is fun too.Fury, Murloc Geniuses
Blizzard has done the impossible yet again with another hero, having two players control one hero I have never seen before and it actually works out well. His kit feels pretty well made for a two player controlled hero; you have Cho who is your Warrior, he has a engage tool with self sustain while Gall is your Assassin role who deals a lot of damage while having Cho lead him around. Players will have to also coordinate his Rune Bomb ability. Also, both Cho and Gall get their own Heroic abilities at level ten which should be also coordinated because that is the most important thing to know how to do when playing Cho'gall. Not only do you have to coordinate with both ogre heads but you can do some nasty combos with other Heroes such as Jaina, ETC, maybe Gazlowe? Nah!Babael, Caster
Cho'gall's design is fantastic, from a casual point of view, this creates a lot of hype around the game where something new and unprecedented is created. I absolutely love the kit and feel of the hero. I do think Gall's kit is way overpowered and will need to be balanced.Mirr, Team Relics
Cho'gall is by far the most brilliant idea in any MOBA I have played. Good thing about it, too, is it seems to be competitively viable.Bakery, Team Dignitas
Cho'Gall is incredibly fun to play, especially when playing with a close friend. The amount of times I've heard "NO GO THAT WAY" is too many to count. Getting a great Upheaval off and combining it with something like a Devouring Maw or Mosh Pit is fantastically fun, and also very powerful. His weakness is definitely the fact that he can't utilize both the tank and damage sides of his kit - if he is tanking then he will be killed relatively quickly and will the team will lose not only the tank, but also their damage dealer. However, if he's in the back, he won't be able to utilize his ability to tank.Gillyweed, Caster
In my opinion, the most important thing about Cho'Gall is how different he is than other Heroes. The idea of "spreading the Cho'Gall virus" and two players for one hero has renewed interest in the game for a lot of people. I know he's the most fun I've had with the game in a while!LucifroN, Team Liquid
From what I've experienced, Cho'Gall is too weak at the moment. Even if Gall does as much (maybe even more) damage than a top carry, and Cho is a decent tank in numbers, they get punished way too hard from some spells such as Seven Sided Strike, Anub's Web and so on. Having one body less makes soaking harder and I feel that he is too easy to kill from cc combos and such. Overall, the cons of having two Heroes in one outnumber the advantages that the champ itself might offer.On Professional Play and Meta Changes:
Tetcher, Caster
I like Cho'Gall's spot at the moment. I will be interested to see how pros run him. He fits into the bruiser role very nicely with Hammer of Twilight but has the potential for really good combos with Upheaval into Twisting Nether (add an ETC and we have ourselves a good old-fashioned Wombo!) Equinox, Murloc Geniuses
I see him being in the meta when picked against the right comps and possibly dominating in pubs.Fury, Murloc Geniuses
I can say he will be seen in the meta, My only concern is people will think it's okay to pick him very early in the draft but there is actually a lot of ways to easily deal with Cho'gall, such as Heroes who can auto attack and get Giant Killer at level 13 or having a monk for Seven Sided Strike. Leoric is also a strong counter to him with just his Drain Hope ability. But as long as you draft him later on he can catch people off guard and he destroys minion waves and structures early in the game. Also his team fighting ability is pretty strong as long as you build a comp with more crowd control effects and high damage.Babael, Caster
Yes, he is already being discussed by pros in various scenes. Basically some feel that he is like a mini boss that can be used for split push. As long as Cho does not over extend and chase, Gall's long range damage is very devastating.Mirr, Team Relics
Yes, I believe Cho'Gall will pop up in the meta. Tier 1 pick on certain maps even. Our team has been testing Cho'Gall in scrims recently. He works very well on long drawn fights in maps such as Battlefield of Eternity and Infernal Shrines because of his ability to out range enemy assassins and his infinite sustain.Bakery, Team Dignitas
I actually think that a well played Cho'Gall can be incredibly impacting, especially past level 20 when Gall receives Shadowfury. However, the amount of time needed to learn to play Cho'Gall, and the amount of time the rest of the team needs to put in to learn to play around Cho'Gall, might mean that we won't see him for a while, even if he is a top Hero.Gillyweed, Caster
It's hard to figure out how much we will see him competitively. Having one less body on the field presents some difficulties, as well as the fact that he doesn't bring much crowd control to fights. Probably like the other weird, niche Heroes we have, there will be teams who have good Cho'Gall players and only those teams will occasionally break him out. LucifroN, Team Liquid
In my opinion Cho needs to be buffed in some way in order for him to have some kind of impact in competitive play, his Q for instance feels very underwhelming and I think the champ is a bit too squishy for what it is. I don't think Cho'Gall will see any competitive play until it gets buffed.On Map and Composition Viability:
Tetcher, Caster
I've seen a lot of people running him with The Lost Vikings for the extra xp soak, making it easier for Cho'Gall to roam. Him on a two lane map is wonderful; I'm not sure yet but probably smaller maps will be better as lane roaming is a much bigger deal with him for both xp and ganks. Many, many things counter him,[...] anything that can take them out the fight while preventing Gall for doing anything, basically. The thing is though, all Heroes have counters but that is why it's a team game and not a 1v1 game. A solid composition will help cover for each others' weaknesses and play off of each others' strengths.Equinox, Murloc Geniuses
He's great on larger maps like Cursed Hollow where you can split push more or to have room to poke. He works in comps that have a good amount of CC and engage plus another high damage dealer; however, the same thing that works with him is great against him. Drafting him early isn't really viable due to how many counter picks he has (anything with Giant Killer, or any comp with a lot of CC and single target damage) so you might not see him a lot in competitive until people learn him very well and learn how to draft around his counters.Fury, Murloc Geniuses
I think Cho'Gall works well on maps like Sky Temple and the new map coming up Towers of Doom where you have to fight in a specific area for a while. He is literally a raid boss when trying to take him down so objectives where you have to stand in one place to capture it is really good for him. You can poke really well with Gall's abilities while being a steel wall as Cho for your team.Babael, Caster
- Very good: BoE, Tomb, Dragon Shire
- Normal: Haunted Mines, Blackheart's Bay, Sky temple
- Bad: Cursed Hollow, Infernal Shrines, Garden of Terror
Small: Battlefield of Eternity, Tomb and Dragon Shire would be awesome. Since Cho'gall is essentially a permanent Abathur Hat, if the battleground is small he can easily join the fight. In Dragon Shire, where team fights are scarce, he can easily hold a lane and apply a lot of push potential. Often the top lane, which opens up opportunities for Sylvanas-centric 2 lane exp soak pushing.
Big: I feel that Lost Vikings is a must if Cho'gall is to be drafted in bigger battlegrounds like Cursed Hollow to ease the exp soaking. However that opens up a plethora of issues with roam-centric enemy compositions. For battlegrounds like Garden of Terror as well as Sky Temple, he provides value given that he holds ground very well and can almost always box out the enemy.
Overall, I find that Cho'gall creates a viable strategy of split push along with a good element of team fight. However, the team running Cho'Gall will definitely have exp soaking issues and will be vulnerable to roam-centric compositions with [Heroes like] Kerrigan and Muradin, Tyrande etc. Also, not to forget that Leoric and Kharazim are HUGE counters against Cho'gall except that the team will need a second healer if Kharazim is drafted for Seven Sided Strike. In theory, this also makes Valla a lot better than other Ranged DPS because Blood for Blood will be so good. Which is why Cho'gall will excel in 2 lane battlegrounds where the team can work better against a roam-centric composition and stay safe.
Mirr, Team Relics
Pretty risky to have Cho'Gall as a single main tank. He works very well with another tank such as Johanna or Muradin with a back line of a high damage dealer such as Valla or Kael'Thas. Healer can be anyone depending on enemy compositions, though Malfurion seems very solid due to the nature of Cho'galls play style - long sustain fights.I don't think Giant Killer assassins are the best to counters Cho'Gall. At times, they take more damage when trying to trade off with Cho'Gall. Heroes like Leoric(upgraded drain hope), Anub with Web Blast and Zagara's Maw are excellent counters to him, it ensures a guaranteed 3v5 teamfight.
LucifroN, Team Liquid
Right now he's strong in maps where you have to constantly fight because that way you don't get punished from having one body less in the map. Also he's OK in early/mid game fights.Final Thoughts:
Tetcher, Caster
[Which head is best?] Cho all the way! I usually main tanks and bruisers as is but now I have no way to complain that no one came with me to objectives 'cause my Gall is coming whether they like it or not.Equinox, Murloc Geniuses
He's really fun, duo with a friend you argue with a lot it's easily the best moments you'll ever have.Fury, Murloc Geniuses
For me personally I feel Cho's talents are kind of meh. His level one talent Blazing Bulwark would be nice if it was easier to hit multiple Heroes with his W ability, Having Consuming Blaze on a 11 second cooldown is way too long to get any stacks of block. His level 1 through 7 talents don't really offer that much towards being a warrior/tank for the team.I would like to thank Team Liquid for this interview, I want to also shout out to all the Murloc Geniuses fans that have stuck with us through the good and bad times and look forward to us playing in any future tournaments! I love all my personal fans who remember me even way back in the Team Curse day.
Babael, Caster
Cho'Gall creates the fantastic opportunity for close buddies to go into a game and have hours of fun coordinating the hero. It is absolutely hilarious to see streamers paired up and their reactions when forced to work together. I hope everyone gets to enjoy Cho'Gall with their best buddies.Mirr, Team Relics
Cho'Gall should be soloing lanes most of the time. If you run a gank-heavy composition like Muradin-Tyrande-Jaina and just keep rotating to his lane, it will hurt the Cho'Gall since it's considered two kills for each successful gank.Gillyweed, Caster
Cho is my favorite of the two to play. He's surprisingly mobile between Surging Fist and Hurry Up, Oaf! but very vulnerable to body blocks. I like to build him to be tanky so we can throw out bombs and orbs for days. How has the Cho'Gall Virus affected you? Do you agree with what the pros have to say? Let us know!
). Won all 5. Hated playing with him on my team but it was mostly my fault (troll pick).
