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Didn't see a thread here for eyeball, so I figured I'd make one.
My experience is almost exclusively with Vel'Koz support. He's a natural support because his base damage is good but his ratios are terrible. He is a well-rounded mage that brings a variety of things to a team: poke, crowd control, and massive area damage from range.
He's a weird support in that he isn't trying to semi-carry like a Leblanc or Annie support, but can still wind up doing massive damage -- it's not unusual for a Vel'Koz support to have one of the highest damage dealt to champions on the team. He can itemize for other things and still pack a punch thanks to his passive and ult.
Pros: --Tentacles --4 aoe damage spells: does massive damage even with no AP --Good range --Teamfight-deciding ult
Cons: --Tentacles --Everything is a skillshot --Needs to keep opponents at range; rather fragile --Can't "make plays"; no initiate or mobility
Abilities:
Organic Deconstruction: + Show Spoiler + Your abilities add stacks of Deconstruction which last for 7 seconds. At three stacks, the stacks detonate and deal 25 + 10*level true damage.
This makes your spells sting a bit more, and can add a surprising amount of damage by the end of a game. Since you aren't building a void staff true damage "outscales" magic damage even harder for you than for AP carries. Your ult applies 5 stacks in total, meaning if you've tagged a target once with anything else, you may get two procs off. 900 magic damage plus 360 true damage on several team members is nothing to sneeze at.
Plasma Fission: + Show Spoiler + "Geometry!" Fire a plasma bolt which splits upon reaching 1050 range, hitting a target, or reactivating the skill. The two bolts fly at right angles to the original direction for another 1050 units. This deals 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+ 60% AP) damage and applies a decaying 70% slow for 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 seconds.
Cooldown: 7s Mana cost: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60
This is your bread and butter poke spell. It's cheap, but don't waste all your mana on it in lane; it does a fair bit of damage and makes targets dodge (wasting time), but if you're using it for poke you're not going to get the true damage procs. You can extend the range by a factor of sqrt(2) (to ~1500) by firing it at a 45 degree angle to the intended direction, and can do "trick shots" around creep lines.
I prefer to max this first, because of the short cooldown and increasing slow duration. CC is good, damage and poke is good.
Void Rift: + Show Spoiler + Open a rift to the void 1050 units long that explodes First for 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 (+ 25% AP), and then again for 45 / 75 / 105 / 135 / 165 (+ 37.5% AP) an instant later. Both hits apply stacks of Deconstruction. You can cast this while moving or casting another spell (but not your ultimate, AFAIK.)
Uses charges; 2 charges max, reloads 1 charge every 19 / 18 / 17 / 16 / 15 sec. Mana cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70
This spell doesn't do much damage unless both procs hit, but covers a lot of area (good for teamfights), and is a convenient way to stack up Deconstruction. Combo this with either Q or E to ensure both procs hit.
I max this second.
At level 9, you're at 2 points in W, one point in Q. Landing both will do 365 magic damage + 115 true damage -- nothing to sneeze at.
Tectonic Disruption + Show Spoiler + Mark an area on the ground which explodes an instant later, doing 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 / 190 (+ 50% AP) damage, knocking enemies into the air, and knocking them back if they are close to you.
Range: 850 Cooldown: 19 / 18 / 17 / 16 / 15 Mana cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70
Max this last; it's your one-point-wonder crowd control skill. Can also be comboed with W for an Organic Deconstruction proc. Hitting multiple people with this in a teamfight can be devastating.
Organic Life Form Face Melting Ray + Show Spoiler + Channel a big ol' laser for 2.5 seconds, doing 500 / 700 / 900 (+ 60% AP) damage over the duration to anything in the beam, applying a stack of Deconstruction every 0.5 seconds, and slowing them for 20% for 1 second. Vel'Koz can spin while channeling, sweeping the beam over targets.
Range: 1575 Cooldown: 130/110/90 Mana cost: 100
Even though it doesn't seem like it, this is a support skill, not an AP carry skill. This is one of the most devastating ults in the game as far as raw damage goes, but it is FincCky in its use. You can't use it up close (since you won't be able to spin fast enough to keep people in the beam, plus you'll get cc'd or die) and you can't use it outside of an engagement (since it can be juked). In order to get all that damage, you need something else to keep your target at tentacle's length: your cc, or better yet your teammates.
Use this from the back of a teamfight or -- better -- use it from over a wall in the jungle. In my most recent game, the final teamfight took place near red side bot outer tower; I was late to the engagement and was in their jungle, but was able to get close enough to knock up a few people and then ult over the wall, devastating their team. They can either scatter to minimize the damage (at which point your team kills them), or bathe in purple lasery death.
Summoners, Masteries, and Runes + Show Spoiler + Flash/Heal or Flash/Exhaust. Exhaust is great because it means you can slow someone diving you to hold them still, then lead your combo with your E and blast them.
You probably want at least 9 in offense, but going up to 21 isn't essential; you're not going to be building huge amounts of AP, nor are you an "executioner".
How much you put in the defense and utility trees depends on what you're up against: kill lane vs. poke lane vs. farm lane.
For runes, you probably want armor or hp yellows, mpen reds, AP or HP quints (depending on the lane), and mana or AP blues. You should be playing far enough back that you don't get caught by a Leona, for instance, so a Leona lane doesn't automatically mean "get your safest rune page".
Items + Show Spoiler + I'm not going to give a hard and fast build because it depends on what you've got and what they've got. Vel'Koz doesn't like AP as much as an Annie or Karma, but likes mpen, CDR, and all of the other goodies that supports like (vision, locket if they have lots of magic damage, etc.)
Usually getting Spellthief is reasonable -- you're going to be poking, you might as well get paid for it. However, Frost Queen's Claim's active just gives you more of what you already have. Getting coin is reasonable too; the active is better and it gives you sustain against poke lanes, at the cost of Less gold and no AP.
You don't want to start Doran's shield ever; you are not around to trade blows with people. If you're worried about getting all-inned start ruby crystal and make an early sightstone; this will save you a good bit of cash in wards, at the cost of giving you no mana regen.
You'll want a chalice pretty quickly to sustain your mana costs, but you also want to get a Liandry's as soon as possible if it looks like there are going to be sieges involved. Yes, you're a support, but three of your abilities snare, they're all AoE, and this makes you into a relevant poke threat; you'll wind up getting more Liandry's procs in teamfights than you think.
I also like the new Spooky Ghosts (Twin Shadows) as a late game luxury item; knowing where people are is crucial for you, since you are squishy but also need to land poke. I'd rather have that than a Zhonya's or Deathcap, since it's not that much less AP, and Zhonya's isn't great on you unless people go out of their way to dive you.
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I've been playing a bit of Vel too.
As support I've been going spellthief into sight stone (usually after second spellthief upgrade), into morellonominominomicon (after finishing frost queen's claim). From there is usually Guise. I'll get a Mikaels instead of morello if the team is desperate for the active. Usually you can't get too much more than that, but a void staff would come next.
I don't care if it isn't efficient, but as support I max all three skills simultaneously. It just feels right.
I've played him mostly mid. He is all about positioning, which I really enjoy. Certain team comps will wreck you. A smart Vi will mean you'll never get a full ult channel off for example. From mid, I'll go Grail, guise, void, Liandries, rylais generally. Last item is situational. Usually I'll get a death cap, or Zhonyas for people like zed. If fed, I'll go death cap after Grail. Sure his ratios aren't the highest, but it's still worth it in my opinion.
Rylais is usually enough defence. With it, Vel has excellent kite potential.
That's all I got for now.
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I never played Vel'koz (only against), but I wonder why you recommend mpen reds and not hyprid pen on support. His range is decent and his attack animation is pretty good, so I think you should get a couple of autos in the early game. Especially against melee supports those would work out slightly better than only mpen I think.
Also you should rarely get HP quints. Armor Quints and HP yellows are more efficient than HP quints and Armor yellows.
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auto attacking isn't as big of a thing as it was in the dorans era, with spell thief being good (and having no hp regen) you are really looking to only make extremely one sided trades as the support, really only Annie (because range) and Sona (because heals) get to auto a ton nowdays, karma kinda can if she shields herself first but I'd rather just spend that mana on an extra Q at the stage of the game where autos matter.
that and half the reason for picking Vel'koz is for max ult damage in team fights, I just don't see split pen being that valuable on him unless you are going to open Dorans (which isn't awful in some match ups but more often than not you'll want spellthief lvl1)
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That's news to me. Auto attacking is still a very big thing in my league (diamond 3) with absolutely every ranged support. And spellthiefs does proc also with autos, so I don't see why people should auto less with spellthiefs.
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I've changed my mind after doing some math, I was going to make an argument that any auto attacks by Vel'Koz should be in tandem with multiple spells as you are well within his full combo range. I was also going to make an argument about how since the most common build is to rush 30 mpen (mpen is exponentially valuable) magic pen is better. But looking at the numbers split pen runes just give too much stats for the money, 8 arp is ~50% armor pen on a lot of bot lane champions lvl1, and you only lose 2 mpen to do so.
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It's interesting to me that I've heard so many pros say Vel'koz sucks. I've played him 30+ games mid, and I haven't felt weak in lane all that much.
Vel'koz has an amazing poke kit. He has a great range on his Q and W. The mechanics of W means he can attack at this range three times in quick succession. By playing safe early game I can build up the mana regen/cooldown reduction items I need to throw a lot of Q's and W's in the mid-game. I don't even have trouble with strong 1v1 laners like Kayle, Zed, Katerina as long as I stay aware of positioning. I've played vs. Ziggs often and it's a fun matchup with a lot of skill involve.
Vel'koz's R can win a teamfight for your team if you time it right. The best advice I can give to make sure you get it off is... Tickle them with the tip instead of going balls deep.
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Uh, what? Most champions have ~20 base armour level 1 now, and if they use armour runes it's over 25, almost 30 if they run defensive masteries too.
I'd see it more valuable on champions like Sona or Lulu than Vel'Koz though.
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surveying the wiki for about 10 different bot lane champions I'm seeing 13-18, with Leona being 22 but fuck intentionally picking into that match up, I dunno I still run mpen because I'm greedy for team fight damage but on paper I can't just say split pen sucks when they clearly don't
I agree split pen is lulu/annie/sona territory for me
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I will freely confess I'm only silver 2, and made a Velkoz thread because 1) I find him fun to play and would like a discussion, and 2) there wasn't one. I run mpen reds because, tbh, I don't have split pen (I really should get some). Still, I find myself not really using velkoz autoattacks much past level 3. Perhaps I am playing too scared, but my mentality is to get in, unload spells, and get out before the trade-back. Vel'Koz's spells are so long-ranged that you really want to be holding them at range 800+ anyway; getting within autoattack range seems to give you only a little extra threat, while exposing yourself to a lot of return fire.
I might run hybrid reds if laning with a short-ranged adc who likes to go all-in (a vayne or a graves, say) who will also be closing to close range in trades.
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I remember Koreans were running Vel'Koz as support for a bit but he ended up disappearing off the map. Anyone know why this is?
I think he is a really strong support and I consistently win bot lane with him in low diamond solo queue at the moment. Don't really understand why most people place him mid when I think he is the champion who can deal the most damage in the game with the least itemization. Over 50% of my games I have the highest damage dealt on my team as a support. The only benefit he gets from being mid is faster levels which helps with his passive but his passive doesn't really account for more than 20% of his damage anyways. My true damage dealt whether I play mid OR support as Vel'Koz according to my match histories is around 15-20% every game. Also funneling a bunch of gold into someone who has semi-low AP ratios who can be shut down quite easily in team fights seems like a bad idea to me. Good players and teams try to bait out your ultimate or keep up their CC to prevent you from using it safely whileas if you're playing support you can force out ultimates and summoners while you still have a threat (mid laner) who has an easier time doing their job. It just seems crazy to me that someone who has utility, some of the highest damage in the game, and very little need for gold isn't played in the support position more.
His match-ups are fairly easy too. At first when I made the transition from mid to support as Vel'Koz I had this idea that the current meta supports would destroy him (Braum and Morgana) but they honestly don't. Braum's shield doesn't block Vel'Koz ultimate for anyone but him, and Braum doesn't really have an answer to good Vel'Koz play. The CDs and range allow you to poke down Braum and the ADC constantly without ever being in range of his Q. As with Morgana she is a bit more difficult as a spell binding means you're pretty much dead but it is the same deal otherwise. Vel'Koz Q is on a 7 second cooldown and it doesn't cost a lot of mana. With the ability to hit multiple people with all his skills, even a good spell shield will not make or break a situation. My only "challenging" match-ups I've experienced so far were against good Leonas/Blitzcranks. And I feel like the majority of the problem wasn't Vel'Koz but my misplays or just in general how squishy supports do against those two champions.
He is still incredibly hard to play and even with all the games I've put in with him I do miss my E and Q in situations where I feel like I shouldn't but that is what makes him very fun. He has (in my opinion) the highest skill cap to play very well. There are some team fights or skirmishes where I feel like if I landed one of my skills correctly that I missed I could have turned around all by myself. Also he requires a ton of effort in mind games and "being aware" that other champions don't.
Anyways here is a screenshot of the last ranked game I played as support during a game that was pretty even in gold and kills until the very end: http://i.imgur.com/RwIlqXp.png
For runes and masteries I use 9/0/21 and 2 armor quints, 1 magic pen quint, magic pen reds, mana regen yellows, mana regen blues + magic resist per level blues. I'm still heavily experimenting with them and I'm not particularly good at making "optimal" rune pages but this one currently feels comfortable to me. After trying AP quints, health quints, etc etc etc I just felt like he benefited so much more from getting the mana regen to keep up his very aggressive laning phase. So I'm just wondering if anyone else plays him as support and how they build him / what their thoughts are on him.
I'm just absurdly gay for Vel'Koz.
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I think it is kinda the same problem that Zyra has: Very squishy and no tools to safely ward alone in lategame. So every mistake or risk can be heavily punished in lategame. The usual supports in tournaments are kinda forgiving either by being tanky or having tools to not get caught (Thresh, Braum, Morgana, Zilean).
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