Vel'Koz
The Eye of the Void
a² + b² = c² where c is the hypotenuse while a and b are the legs of the triangle.
+ Show Spoiler [changelog] +
V4.13:
Void Rift.png Void Rift
Missile width increased to 88 from 65 to match visuals.
Lifeform Disintegration Ray.png Life Form Disintegration Ray
Range increased to 1550 from 1500 to match visuals.
V4.12:
Plasma Fission.png Plasma Fission
Projectile will now split after Vel'Koz has died.
V4.5:
Base armor increased to 16 from 12.
V4.4:
Texture upgrade to his classic skin.
V4.3:
Added.
Void Rift.png Void Rift
Missile width increased to 88 from 65 to match visuals.
Lifeform Disintegration Ray.png Life Form Disintegration Ray
Range increased to 1550 from 1500 to match visuals.
V4.12:
Plasma Fission.png Plasma Fission
Projectile will now split after Vel'Koz has died.
V4.5:
Base armor increased to 16 from 12.
V4.4:
Texture upgrade to his classic skin.
V4.3:
Added.
+ Show Spoiler [Disclaimer] +
I spell "laser" wrong like fifty times here, but that's because it SHOULD be spelled "lazer" because wtf give Z's some love yo
Welcome students, Professor GhandiEAGLE is here to teach you about a certain math concept. Gather 'round, motherfuckers, because I'm here to show you a whole new world.
That's right
GEOMETRY
ge·om·e·try
jēˈämətrē/
noun
Definition(s):
1) the branch of mathematics concerned with the properties and relations of points, lines, surfaces, solids, and higher dimensional analogs.
2) bustin' out hot-ass lazers and zappin' fools from angles so sexy they give Euclid a boner.
Let's look at some sick-ass pros and cons
Pros
- True Damage on his passive
- Powerful poke
- Amazing waveclear
- Absurd damage
- Silly midgame power spike
- Unpredictable skillshots
- Generally scary laning phase
- Doesn't need any of that yung chalice shit
- Is a teamfighting beast if you don't die to assassins
- Purple is a top-tier color
- Lazers. BIG ONES.
- He's honestly one of the most fun champions I've ever played
Cons - No mobility
- Incredibly squishy
- Cannot even mentally function near a Fizz
- Very hard to play correctly
- Reliant on hitting all abilities consistently
- Falls off hard lategame
- Little CC or lockdown
- Who the hell wants to go and do remedial math?
- Not everyone is good at geometry yo
Skills
Health: 380 (+76)
AD: 51.66 (+3.142)
Health Regen:4.5 (+0.55)
Attack Speed: 0.625 (+1.36%)
Mana: 250 (+45)
Armor: 16 (+3.5)
Mana Regen: 7 (+0.6)
MR: 30 (+0)
Range 525 (Ranged)
Movespeed: 340
Abilities
Organic Reconstruction
Each of Vel'Koz's damaging abilities apply a stack of Organic Deconstruction Deconstruction to enemy units for 7 seconds, up to a maximum of 3 stacks. Upon reaching 3 stacks, they will detonate and deals 25 + (10 × Vel'Koz's level) true damage to the enemy unit.
Basic attacks will refresh the duration of the Organic Deconstruction Deconstruction stacks, but will not add additional stacks.
Tips
+ Show Spoiler +
- Organic Deconstruction is an spell effect and a debuff that detonates upon reaching 3 stacks.
- The stacks' duration can be refreshed on-hit.
- Applies spell effects as a single target ability.
- Hextech Revolver Spell vamp is fully applied.
- Rylai's Crystal Scepter will apply a 35% slow.
- True damage ignores all forms of damage reduction, except invulnerability.
Summary
Vel'Koz has surprisingly low ratios for the amount of burst damage he's notorious for, and this passive is the reason why. This true damage is MASSIVE, considering how many times he's able to proc it in a single rotation (4 times if you're really good). This gives him an incredibly dangerous midgame, as he has the CDR to proc it consistently, and true damage doesn't become irrelevant until lategame (where admittedly Vel'Koz falls off a bit since his scaling is lackluster). It's a good passive, and intelligent usage of it shows a good Vel'Koz player.
Plasma Fission
Range: 1050
Cost: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60
Mana Cooldown: 7
Magic Damage: 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+ 60% AP)
Slow Duration: 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2
Vel'Koz fires an energy bolt that deals magic damage and slows the first enemy hit by 70% for a few seconds. The slow decays over the duration. After a brief delay, Vel'Koz can activate Plasma Fission again.
SECOND ACTIVE: Vel'Koz splits the energy bolt in two, each in opposite directions perpendicular to the original bolt. Each of the secondary bolts deal magic damage and slow the first enemies they hit, respectively. The initial bolt will split automatically upon reaching maximum range or hitting an enemy unit.
Tips
+ Show Spoiler +
- Applies spell effects as an area of effect ability.
- Spell vamp is reduced to one-third effectiveness.
- Rylai's Crystal Scepter will apply a 15% slow.
- Magic damage will be mitigated by magic shields.
- Spell shields will block the ability, but will not prevent the split.
- This ability is blocked by Braum's and Yasuo's walls
- An enemy cannot be hit by multiple bolts. If blocked by a spell shield, you still count as having been hit and cannot be hit again.
- There is a short delay before the ability can be reactivated. While primarily to prevent accidental detonations, it adds a minimum distance travelled of approximately 500 units.
1050 is the maximum distance that each bolt can travel. Factoring in the split, Plasma Fission can hit targets up to 1485 units away.
Summary
Vel'Koz's standard main skill, and the center of all that is geometrical and angular. Shooting it once will fire the ability, and reactivating it splits off the bolts, meaning that, with some creativity, one can hit just about anything, regardless of how an enemy is hiding behind a creep wave. This isn't necessarily the go-to maxing skill on Midlane Vel'Koz, but for support Vel'Koz it's essential. The damage is high throughout the game, and with proper geometry it has quite formidable range as well. At level one, this skill may end up being the most valuable on your team, since it has a hit-confirm sound, long range, and an ability to hit multiple bushes at once.
It's incredibly difficult to describe how to geometry properly, and it's such a funky concept in league that it really does take a few games to get it down correctly. The temptation is typically to re-activate the ability right when the orb is parallel, but the ability is incredibly responsive, so with the movement speed in LoL and the travel time of the ability, it's almost guaranteed that, with this way of thinking, you're going to miss. For the purposes of landing it on an enemy, I would regard it similar to the way one would regard Malzahar's Q. Pop it behind the enemy, rather than right on top of them. This may seem intuitive but it's honestly much harder than you would expect.
Oftentimes, the best route is to just shoot with the front of the Q, and not try to style with the geometry. It's a very easy skill to land when you don't try and consider the Side-Angle-Side theorum, and typically trying to swag on people with geometry just ends up making you look like a dumbass.
This ability is one of the three big ways that Vel'Koz can transform teamfights. If you're REALLY good with geometry, you can start engagements by slowing up to three people with a single Q (and doing significant damage to them as well), making the cleanup almost automatic in some cases. Unless you're supremely confident in your knowledge of Pythagorus, however, it's typically better to go for the almost assured single Q than splitting off early to try and land a double. It seriously is really hard.
It is important to note how powerful this ability is when it comes to styling on people as well. When you're chasing this fool and he knows he's done, pop off some angular swag action. After fucking him over with your high school diploma, be sure to use your taunt, which brings up a drawing board. This displays that you calculated the geometry in your head, and that your math was clearly sound. Ideally you put the board he writes on over their dead bodies.
Void Rift
Range: 1050
Mana Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70
Ability Cooldown: 1.5
Ammo Recharge: 19 / 18 / 17 / 16 / 15
Initial Magic Damage: 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 (+ 25% AP)
Detonation Magic Damage: 45 / 75 / 105 / 135 / 165 (+ 37.5% AP)
Maximum Damage: 75 / 125 / 175 / 225 / 275 (+ 62.5% AP)
Vel'Koz stores a charge of Void Rift every few seconds and can store up to 2 charges. The recharge time is affected by cooldown reduction.
Active: Vel'Koz opens a rift to the void that cuts through the ground in a line, dealing magic damage and leaving behind a trail. After a 0.25 second delay, the entire trail detonates, dealing magic damage to enemies standing upon it.
Tips+ Show Spoiler +
- Applies spell effects as an area of effect ability.
- Spell vamp is reduced to one-third effectiveness.
- Rylai's Crystal Scepter will apply a 15% slow.
- Magic damage will be mitigated by magic shields.
- Spell shields will block one component of the ability.
- This ability is blocked by both Wind Wall and Unbreakable
- Both damage portions will apply Organic Deconstruction stacks.
- Void Rift utilizes a stock system.
- It is not possible to have more than one Void Rift active at a time.
- Vel'Koz can cast Void Rift while moving, but not while attacking.
Summary
Void Rift is a pretty underrated ability on Vel'Koz, and apparently a lot of people are rather surprised to hear that I actually max it almost as often as I max Q (on midlane Vel'Koz, at least). The ability to hit every single creep with the ability is inevitably invaluable as an AP champion in a lane that could potentially be passive, and the cooldown is very short. Additionally, the mana cost is incredibly negligible, even considering how spammy the skill can be, which means that it's totally reasonable to use this skill for harassment as well as waveclear. Overall, though, the move is really simple and anyone can pick up how to use it after their first game.
Support Vel'Koz uses this ability as a one-point wonder to get passive stacks more easily (since it can get two stacks, one from start of ability and one from explosion), but beyond that there's nothing to mention on it. Jungle Vel'Koz (NOT AS BAD AS YOU WOULD THINK) maxes this ability first for good clear.
The way to harass with this ability safely (since the range is spotty) is to shoot it along with your Tectonic Disruption since they can be shot at practically the same time. Provided that you land your E, you immediately detonate your passive, and if you're particularly good with your E, you knock them away from you (since your E has properties similar to Command: Shockwave) and you can spam your swagtentacles as you float away.
Tectonic Disruption
Range: 850
Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70
Cooldown: 16 / 15 / 14 / 13 / 12
Magic Damage: 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 / 190 (+ 50% AP)
Active: Vel'Koz hurls an anomaly at the target location. When it lands, it collapses, dealing magic damage and suspending enemies hit for 0.75 seconds. Enemies close to Vel'Koz at the time of impact are also slightly knocked back.
Tips
+ Show Spoiler +
- Applies spell effects as an area of effect ability.
- Spell vamp is reduced to one-third effectiveness.
- Rylai's Crystal Scepter will apply a 15% slow.
- Magic damage will be mitigated by magic shields.
- Spell shields will block the ability.
- Suspension is a sub-type of Stun, not a sub-type of Airborne. As such, it is affected by crowd control reduction and can be removed.
- The direction of the knockback is relative to point of cast, not Vel'Koz's position at the time of impact.
- The time required for Tectonic Disruption to land is continuous, roughly 0.5 seconds, meaning the travel time is not dependent on how far from Vel'Koz the spell is cast.
Summary
Again, another really simple ability. Its powerful ability to guarantee further damage from relative safety, and basically wins teamfights when you land it on multiple people. I don't need to talk about any of that though because it's all basically common knowledge anyways.
What is important to mention is that Tectonic Disruption is a very formidable disengagement tool. My favorite example is a game against an Amumu who could never reach our team, because, every time he landed a Bandage Toss, I intercepted him with my E as he flew towards the person he hit, and knocked him up instead of being carried into our team basically nullifying his engage. This skill feels really good, and it's easier to land than you'd think considering it has a travel time.
Lifeform Disintegration Ray
Range: 1550
Cost: 100
Cooldown: 130 / 110 / 90
Maximum Damage: 500 / 700 / 900 (+ 60% AP)
Active: Vel'Koz roots himself in place and unleashes a disintegrating energy beam forward in a line, damaging all enemies caught in its wake in 0.25 second intervals and slowing them by 20% for 1 second.
The ray's trajectory will update over the duration to face the cursor and will end after 2.5 seconds have elapsed, by being interrupted, or if Vel'Koz recasts the ability.
Organic Deconstruction can not be applied more frequently than once every 0.5 seconds.
Tips
+ Show Spoiler +
[list]
[*]Applies spell effects as an area of effect ability.
[*]Spell vamp is reduced to one-third effectiveness.
[*]Rylai's Crystal Scepter will apply a 15% slow.
[*]Magic damage will be mitigated by magic shields.
[*]Spell shields will only block one interval of damage.
[*]Lifeform Disintegration Ray's trajectory does not update instantly should you move the cursor from one side of Vel'Koz to the other - it rotates gradually.
[*]The damage dealt at each interval is not regular. The pattern for the damage appears to be X, X, 2X, repeat.
[*]Applies spell effects as an area of effect ability.
[*]Spell vamp is reduced to one-third effectiveness.
[*]Rylai's Crystal Scepter will apply a 15% slow.
[*]Magic damage will be mitigated by magic shields.
[*]Spell shields will only block one interval of damage.
[*]Lifeform Disintegration Ray's trajectory does not update instantly should you move the cursor from one side of Vel'Koz to the other - it rotates gradually.
[*]The damage dealt at each interval is not regular. The pattern for the damage appears to be X, X, 2X, repeat.
Summary
OH MY GOD THIS ABILITY IS SO COOL ITS A GIANT FUCKING LAZER HOW DID IT TAKE RIOT SO LONG TO ADD SOMETHING LIKE THIS
ITS A LAZER. ITS PURPLE. IT'S HUGE. WHAT THE HELL THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER
-Me basically every time I play Vel'Koz.
Honestly this ability is so strong that it still even blows my mind on occasion. It has the potential to be really weak if you're not committing yourself to it, however, and so if you have poor positioning this can really feel like an underwhelming skill for how badass it is.
This shit goes through EVERYTHING. You can straight-up hit five people in a line and still get CS if there are minions in the way. It's a giant slow, and an absolutely absurd amount of damage, at a very respectable range. There are just a few tricks you need to keep in mind.
This shit is pretty immobile. It can follow champions pretty well, but you can't move once you've casted it, and unless you really let the damage ramp up you're not going to be turning any heads. Additionally, if opponents expect the lazer, they can get behind you and you're forced to turn off the lazer since your rotation speed is pretty awful. Because of this, the Disintegration Ray is best used after all of your other abilities.
This ability is definitely something you can pop out early if you have the chance to score a quick kill, however. When you're siegeing a turret and a stray Tectonic Disruption lands, W-Q-R is almost guaranteed a kill, even when people aren't stacked up for it.
It's also good to note that the third tick of the ability is the strongest by far, so make sure that you're focusing on landing that one before landing the others. This ability is also great for tearing through spell-shield champions, and it single-handedly fucks over Yorick (kills his ghouls and keeps 'em down).
Seriously though it's a big fucking lazer.
Skill Order
Midlane Vel'Koz (Waveclear needed): R>W>Q>E
Midlane Vel'Koz (Waveclear not needed or poke needed): R>Q>W>E
Support Vel'Koz: R>Q>E>W
Jungle Vel'Koz: R>W>Q>E
Laning
Laning is simple on Vel'Koz in the mid lane, as he has the capacity to play as a powerful lane bully and waveclear champion, a la ziggs, or he can safely play a passive game against assassins/junglers. Having a knock-up/slow combo tends to deter people who want to dive, especially when Vel'Koz can kite enemies with his W (which has no cast time) and his multi-man slow potential. However, a shoved Vel'Koz really does struggle against persistent junglers if he doesn't have sufficient warding. A good few wards in the river makes it easy to kite junglers, but you're a squishy 'lil hentai, so play like it.
Vel'Koz is a relatively rare champion right now, so you can really take people by surprise at level 6 and completely erase them out of nowhere. Remember that a single Tectonic Disruption leads to a guaranteed round of abilities, and can 100-0 people at level 6 (particularly if you hit 6 before them because you're maxing W and shoving hard because of it).
You're fairly slow and immobile, so roaming isn't too bright an option in most cases.
Siege/Dragons
Q is king here. Using good geometry you have pretty good range, and almost constant slows being hurled into the dragon pit is a very good thing. It's also important to note that, if you're sitting in a safe position, your ult can be very similar to The Equalizer thanks to the slow it gives. It's not nearly as good, but it is easier to land, and it can move to follow people if you need it to. Velcro is basically a beast at dragon fights. When you're siegeing, if you're not needing it for potential disengage, don't be afraid to start chucking Tectonic Disruptions towards the enemy team in the hopes that one lands. If it does land, you can immediately commence a death combo and kill that person, and your team can probably do even more than that.
Teamfights
What the hell this is so easy. Why even bother asking? Don't be a dumbass. You can't really focus-fire people (without stupidly good geometry), so just hit the biggest clumps of people you can. You're all AOE anyways.
Items
This is pretty simple. Start with a Doran's ring, and get one of two things. Either start chalice and then either pick up grail or boots, if you're against an AP champion, or rush morellonomicon against AD champions or Sustain-AP champs (such as Swain).
Early CDR and early Mobility is key to Vel'Koz being tolerable. Once you have that first CDR item get boots, and work from there to establish a build. Your builds will change depending on the team you're facing (as is typical of AP champions), so make sure you're being smart. That said, the best items on Vel'Koz after the three already named are:
Rabadon's Deathcap
Zhonya's Hourglass
Void Staff
Rylai's Crystal Scepter
When in serious need
Banshee's Veil
Matchups!
Yasuo
Hard as fuck, don't pick into it ever. You actually just lose in every way ever, since the only thing WindWall doesn't block is your ultimate, and with no immediate nukes, you can't hit him if he's near your minions. He's always banned, but seriously fuck this guy. The only thing you can do is have amazing geometry and math the fuck out of his windwall with your Q.
Talon
No silence? This lane just got tolerable. Talons are forced to telegraph when they go on the offensive thanks to Cutthroat's short range, and preemptively using Tectonic Disruption behind you when he approaches basically wins you the trade. He also has long cooldowns that mean you can essentially force him away from minions whenever Cutthroat is not up. Just make sure to never ult before he's used it.
Fizz
Fuck this. Fuck you Atrioc.
Orianna
This almost immediately becomes a farm lane, which suits Vel'Koz just fine. Max W, clear the wave, and don't let Command: Shockwave enable ganks on you. Farm Matchups are no problemo for lazer man, guaranteed midgame is a swell thing indeed.
Twisted Fate
This champion gets absolutely fucked by Vel'Koz. He can't avoid your poke (as long as your math skills are up to par), and you can also choose to shove him in hard at level one so that he never gets farm. Gold card is also a horrible way to disengage from Vel'Koz's all-in, since Vel'Koz can hurl out his first three abilities all at once, and then just ult once the stun ends. Roaming becomes a problem, but if TF starts roaming your best option is to just take his turret quickly.
Zed
Assassins are never fun, but as far as they go, Zed is relatively easy. You can have a healthy series of trade with him Pre-6 due to your hilariously superior range and safe disengage. Additionally, his E is usually too fast for Zed to intentionally Shadow Dash away from. Just remember to E behind you when he ults and dodge the incoming Razor Shuriken, and you should be set. Don't underestimate his ability to kill you, however; it's entirely possible that Zed snowballs this lane out of control.
Lux
Get fucked Ketara. Lux legit cannot do shit here.
Ryze
Manages to be worse than Lux ROFL ez game ez life
Jayce
He's not as hard as a lot of assassins are, due to his shitty chasing power and shittier autoattack range, but Jayce is a strong, fast midlaner and shouldn't be underestimated. Your best bet is to (if he's bad) try and force him into hammering you early on in trades, and then immediately disengaging and kiting. If he Q's into you and you're not about to die, you will win the trade. Also at level 6 you have a MASSIVE advantage, assuming you came into it relatively healthily. Your all-in damage is both safe and retarded as hell, and Jayce has no way to avoid the full brunt of the lazer sans flash.
Other People
Annie sucks, Katarina sucks, and Anivia sucks. Ziggs is harder, but avoid bombs and you'll freeze the wave at mid since you both clear so fast, except you have stronger poke and a massively superior mana pool. It's a war of attrition, and if you go blow-for-blow you win.
Preparation
Before I finish I want you all to get into the game as Vel'Koz properly. Whenever you select Vel'Koz, take a minute to go find some supplies.
1) Protractor
2) Masking tape
3) A pencil
4) Your self-respect
Proceed to tape your protractor to your monitor and begin drawing out geometry right on the screen. Utilize the swag to style on enemies with the abundance of calculations you now possess.
Oh yeah I said this already BUT WARD EVERYWHERE SERIOUSLY ITS HALLOWEEN THERES GHOSTS AND SHIT IN THE DARK AND IT GETS REALLY SPOOKY
Happy Lazering!