Top Team Comps #92: Protect the Kog'Maw

This team composition is an oldie but a goodie. There are a variety of utility based mid-laners that could also work including Zilean and Karma. However, in the current meta the heavy peel of Lulu works best against assassins. In games where champions like Olaf are more prevelant, Karma would be better in order to provide more movement speed. 

Team Composition Score Card

AOE Damage: B
Crowd Control: A
Difficulty (1-5, 5 is hardest): 3
Diving Power: B
Dueling Power: A
Initiation: B
Poke Power: A
Pushing Power: A
Sustain: B
Synergy: S
Waveclear: B

Early Game: A
Mid Game: S
Late Game: A
Super Late Game: B

S = Amazing!, A = Good, B = Average, C = Below Average, F = Bad

Introduction

This team composition is an oldie but a goodie. There are a variety of utility based mid-laners that could also work including Zilean and Karma. However, in the current meta the heavy peel of Lulu works best against assassins. In games where champions like Olaf are more prevelant, Karma would be better in order to provide more movement speed.

Champions

Kog'Maw [Marksman] - The bread and butter of this team composition, Kog'Maw in his current state deserves his #1 position on the solo queue tier list. His ability to rain obscene artillery on both tanks and squishies alike makes him almost impossible to deal with once he picks up his third item. Fighting him head-on is likely to result in a defeat, and your only real hope is to burst him down before he can melt your allies into the ground.

---

Lulu [Mid] - Lulu isn't picked much as a mid-laner, but she performs surprisingly well. Right now she's sitting at a 53% win rate and heavily counters certain melee champions like Fizz and Kassadin. Conveniently, she also synergizes perfectly with Kog'Maw to create an unstoppable mid-game monster.

--

Janna [Support] - Most players enjoy the Lulu/Kog'Maw combination more than the Janna/Kog'Maw combination. But why not have both? Lulu's mid-game Whimsy combined with Janna's shield results in an absurd amount of damage on Kog. Meanwhile, with the two of their ultimates combined killing Kog'Maw is basically impossible.

---

Nunu [Jungler] - Nunu is for all intents and purposes, totally busted right now. He deals insane damage via his Q boosted auto attacks and multiplies Kog'Maw's damage to absurd levels. As if Kog'Maw needed any more help offensively, having Nunu on the team ensures that you can have a team fully focused on defending your marksman and not feel like you're missing any damage.

---

Shen [Top Laner] - Shen is currently a strong champion on his own right now. However, he also fits in perfectly with a protect the Kog'Maw composition. His split-pushing tactics may also bait the enemy team into thinking they actually have a chance killing Kog'Maw 4v5. Use this false thought to bait them into an early defeat.

Key Concepts

• Play around bot lane when it comes to jungle and TP ganks. Keeping Kog'Maw at least even or ahead in the game is crucial to your victory. It's called a protect the Kog'Ma composition for a reason.
• Be sure to coordinate who is building what items early on. While Lulu does not need to go with all support items, you may want to get Ardent Censer on Lulu and free up Janna to get Redemption, Locket, and Crucible earlier.
• Shen should go Knight's Vow mid-game.

Countering

Countering this team is mostly a matter of either assassinating, CC'ing, poking down or by some way removing Kog'Maw from the picture.

Here is an example team that may succeed:

• Zoe [Mid] - Abuse your long range, short cooldown nukes. This enemy team does not have much in the way of healing sustain, so focus on that instead of trying to all-in.
• Sejuani [Jungle] - Stunning Kog'Maw or two of the supports will open up the marksman to potential death. 
• Gangplank [Top] - Similar to Zoe, use your barrels to poke down the enemy team before using your ult to supplement Sejuani's engage.
• Blitzcrank [Support] - With any luck, landing your hook on one of the enemy champions will result in far less peel for Kog'Maw. It doesn't necessarily have to be the big dog himself, as long as you don't pull Shen or Nunu.
• Twitch [Marksman] - There are a lot of squishy targets on the enemy team, and fighting hypercarry with hypercarry will do a lot to help your cause. 

Overall, this team is a less synergized and relies more on Gangplank and Zoe to be skilled. However, Sejuani and Twitch are a great failsafe even if your solo laners have difficulty applying poke.

What do you think about this team composition? Got ways to improve on it? Better ways to beat it? Comment below!

Click here for more team comps!