Cheat Sheet
Itemization
Played as a support, Vel'Koz is a champion who's meant to poke. Thanks to his skills, he can easily attack the enemy botlane to make it quickly lose the advantage. His items are therefore oriented towards reducing cooldowns, regenerating mana and increasing his overall power.
Starting Items
As most supports that rely on poking, Spellthief's Edge is the mandatory starting item since it will allow you to generate gold when touching enemies with spells or auto-attacks. Accompany it with Health Potions, and remember to change your starting relic to Oracle Lens when your support item evolves into Frostfang.
Boots
Depending on your play style, you can either opt for Sorcerer's Shoes which will increase your damage, or for Ionian Lucidity Boots. Both are viable options.
Core Items
- Luden's Echo is your main damage-dealing item, admittedly because of its unique effect, but also because it will solve most of your mana issues.
- Zhonya's Hourglass is especially recommended on Vel'Koz since he's really vulnerable to crow controls while having no escape spell at all.
Situational Items
- Morellomonicon will prevent your opponents from healing just after you burst them. It's especially useful in the botlane because most ADC use Heal as a Summoner's Spell.
- Liandry's Torment provides, like Morellonomicon, HP and AP. But if the item is powerful, it is primarily due to the passive that inflicts damage on the opponents' max HPs. It's especially powerful when played against a composition in which there are many tanks.
- Void Staff greatly amplifies the power of the magical penetration that Morellonomicon and Sorcerer's Shoes give you.
- Rabadon's Deathcap makes your amount of AP explode, it's a particularly powerful item when you already have 3/4 AP items.
How to play Vel'Koz
Vel'Koz is a very fragile champion but he can deliver an incredible amount of damage, even when played as a support. In this situation, his role will be to constantly attack the enemy AD carry to prevent him from taking advantage.
- Level 1: Choose Q - Plasma Fission to start poking your opponents.
- Level 2: Choose E - Tectonic Disruption to stun an opponent trying to attack you or to help your ADC fighting them.
At the beginning of the game, Q - Plasma Fission will be a very effective weapon. It will have the ability to slow down the opponent's support or carry while inflicting magical damage. Combined with your W - Void Rift and your passive Organic Deconstruction, you will be able to take advantage of your lane quickly.
The middle of the game is often difficult for Vel'Koz as he has no spell to escape. If you are skilled, you will often avoid a stun or aggression at your carry with your E - Tectonic Disruption. Your main objective is to inflict maximum damage with your abilities set while protecting your AD carry with your E - Tectonic Disruption or your Q - Plasma Fission.
At the end of the game, during teamfights, Vel'Koz can prove to be a real pain in the neck for the enemy team. His skill Q - Plasma Fission can slow enemies down by up to 70%. If perfectly placed, the spell can hit two targets.
Vel'Koz's endgame will often be limited to staying behind the entire team in order to strike a devastating R - Life Form Disintegration Ray. Nevertheless, you will be motionless at the moment of your ultimate, so be careful of your placement before using it.
Match-Ups
Tips & Tricks
- You can cast your Q - Plasma Fission and activate it as soon as your enemy thinks he is out of range. It is necessary to keep in mind that it operates in an angle at 90° which leaves a lot of possibilities to make sure that your target won't be able to dodge it.
- Cast Q - Plasma Fission just after your E - Tectonic Disruption to immobilize your target and launch your W - Void Rift twice in a row. Vel'Koz's passive Organic Deconstruction will have time to do additional damage.
- To take advantage of a maximum of damage on an isolated target, apply very quickly Q - Plasma Fission to slow it down and as soon as the slowing down effect is applied cast R - Life Form Disintegration Ray. If the combo is carried out quickly and if the target does not have a flash, it will be very easy for you to kill it in only one blow.
- The same combo is quite possible using E - Tectonic Disruption instead of Q - Plasma Fission — if it is executed quickly.
- Vel'Koz is pretty much the AP equivalent of Vayne: remember to use your passive at your advantage since it will inflict a tremendous amount of damage.
