For those that had the chance to watch Blizzcon or get virtual tickets, it was announced that they will be receiving the latest hero to join the Nexus: the two-headed Ogre Magi Cho’Gall. This character introduces a really unique gameplay concept in Heroes of the Storm wherein Cho’Gall is controlled by two players; each one taking up a slot in the party where one controls Cho and the other controls Gall with each player receiving individual set of skills for their respective heads. And right now Cho’Gall isn’t available for purchase, rather he’s made available by playing with someone who already owns him. And he is a mandatory 2-player hero: you cannot play Cho’Gall solo or with AI. If you still haven’t gotten him, we’ll give you a chance to get him at the end of this article.
Since Cho’Gall is a 2-player hero and we’re really pressed for time, this isn’t as in-depth as our Artanis hero focus but I’ll try my best to articulate how I feel Cho’Gall plays and how to best use his abilities in situations I feel they fit best from experience.
Abilities
Cho’Gall’s trait is pretty much about his two-headedness. Cho controls the movement and positioning of the hero while Gall is immune disables like Stun and Silence, granting Cho’Gall some form of defensive trait when Cho is stunned.
Cho
Surging Fist (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 101 (48 + 4% per level) damage.
Consuming Blaze (W)
Cooldown: 12 seconds
Ignite nearby enemies, dealing 294 (140 + 4% per level) damage over 4 seconds. If this hits an enemy, gain a 594 (283 + 4% per level) health over 4 seconds.
Rune Bomb (E)
Cooldown: 8 seconds
Roll a bomb dealing 200 ((95 + 4% per level) damage to enemies in its path. Gall can use Runic Blast to detonate it and deal 601 (285 + 4% per level) damage in an area.
Gall
Shadow Flame (Q)
Cooldown: 3 seconds
Deal 391 (255 + 5% per level) damage to enemies in the area.
Dread Orb (W)
Cooldown: 6 seconds
Throw a bomb that will bounce three times, dealing 393 (156 + 5% per level) damage to enemies.
Runic Blast (E)
Detonate Cho’s Rune Bomb, dealing 601 (285 + 4% per level) damage around it.
Hurry Up, Oof! (Z)
Cooldown: 45 seconds
Increases your Movement Speed by 60%, and allows you to pass through other units. This effect decays over 3 seconds.
Heroic Abilities
Cho
Hammer of Twilight (R)
Passively increases basic attack damage by 25%. Activate to swing the Hammer and deal 377 (164 + 4.5% per level) damage, push enemies away, and stun for 0.75 seconds.
Upheaval (R)
After 1 second, pull enemies toward you, slowing them by 25% for 3 seconds and dealing 110 (52 + 4% per level) damage.
Gall
Twisting Nether (R)
After 1 second, nearby enemies are slowed by 40% while you channel, up to 5 seconds. Activate to deal 750 (356 + 4% per level) damage in its area.
Shadow Bolt Volley (R)
Unleash 20 Shadow Bolts over 4 seconds, each dealing 226 (108 + 4% per level) damage to the first target hit. The bolts fire towards your mouse pointer.
Experience and Thoughts
One of the most stand-out but unsurprising characteristic of Cho’Gall is his tremendously huge health. This makes him a very durable tank and some talents along the way will increase his durability in combat. With at least 8 skills at this pair’s disposal, Cho’Gall is extremely dangerous in 1v1 situations, after all, he is already a team by himself. Early game, Cho’Gall is quite tanky already but up against some high-DPS characters, he’ll get whittled down easily. Being mostly a melee hero, Cho’s Surging First serves as a nice move to engage enemies and scatter their positioning. As the game progresses, talents will add to this heroes’ durability and will eventually make him pretty hard to kill 1v1. His skills also get bolstered pretty well with talents, so depending on the level of proficiency of those using Cho and Gall, and their coordination he can easily power through by himself mid- to late-game.
From experience, Cho’Gall plays best when one player is willfully just going to ride along the way and provide some form of supporting fire as Gall. Experienced players will practically need no communication when using Cho’Gall aside from maximizing talents. I’ve had a plenty of Quick Matches with random folks and went mostly as Gall, just to experience how players respond to being in command of a hero. Mostly, the experience was positive with Rune Bomb timing and complementing heroics the only decisions needed to be agreed on for maximum effectiveness. Cho’Gall can solo lane effectively against many heroes especially melee ones and when assisted with a disabler/stunner, will easily disrupt small team fights when his heroics are used.
Its still up in the air how Cho’Gall plays in high-level play but personal playthroughs, he’ll be mostly used as a brute to bully solo lane opposition with his high-health and high-damage potential. Gall players have the advantage of continuous fire even when Cho is stunned. Right now Gall can still use his skill even when the pair goes for Dragon Knight in the Dragon Shire map, ensuring a high damage opportunity and makes his DK rush something to think about before engaging. Cho players will need to mind their positioning as he is huge, making him a huge target but his health and Surging Fist or Gall’s Hurry Up Oaf or Shove gives him some good escape options. Despite his huge health, its still good to know when not to overextend; Cho’Gall is an instant double-kill for the enemy team because of his trait. His size also grants him body-block opportunities, perfect for choking escape paths or just microing enemies as they retreat back behind the safety of their forts, enduring tower fire along the way. This in turn though makes him a huge and easy target.
Overall, Cho’Gall is a fun hero and a good way to test communication and understanding of the game between two players. While voice communication is an effective way to direct plays between Cho’Gall users, its not 100% required and those using Gall can easily predict the intended results that the Cho players wants mainly from his positioning and attack paths e.g. Rune Bomb has a voice queue for both players when it activates, cuing Gall to time Runic Blast. The same applies for their Heroic abilities i.e. Upheaval + Twisting Nether.
Is Cho’Gall fun to play with? Yes. But you’ll need someone to play with as him everytime you want to.
Giveaway Time
We got five (5) codes to unlock Cho’Gall for those that want to try him out. Just comment your Battle.net ID’s and you’re immediately in the raffle! Open until 11:59PM November 30, 2015.
1 Comment
Great read and I agree for the most part. He’s very fun to use but needs a lot of teamwork for both players to maximize his gameplay.