- This guide is entirely based on my own thoughts.

- I'm releasing this incomplete and have no deadlines of any kind. It's a constant work in progress so please excuse all the cases of misspelling and mistakes in grammar.

- As of right now I'll try to update the guide as frequently as I can and my plan is to expand it as far as possible (read: until I get bored of it).

- I'll try to get the more important things out of the way earlier and leave things like individual match-ups for next season.

- There are multiple ways of playing League starting from rune sets and item builds. I'm completely aware that there's multiple working ways you can play Viktor and am just sharing my exact thoughts and preferences about different things.

- whether you agree or disagree with me, feel free to leave any kind of comments. I'll try to respond to any possible questions as soon as possible.

- I'd imagine that there's something about this guide that can teach you something about Viktor but if you're actually looking to learn Vik and have multiple questions, I'd definitely recommend joining the Viktor Mains Discord server. A bunch of great folks. (Ya Boi included)

https://discord.gg/TfGyr3W

I'm Juippi aka wumbou on some platforms (League included (EUNE)). I started playing League at end of season 3 and got properly hooked to the game during the course of season 4. I started playing Viktor at some point during season 4 and he's been what I've considered my main champion ever since. In the earlier seasons I used to play a couple of other mid lane champions besides Viktor. During the last year, however, I've intentionally cut down my champion pool to Viktor only.

During season 7 I played a total amount of 559 games of Viktor mid, 510 of these being ranked. In the 2017 ranked season I managed to hit my peak at high Diamond IV however after a decently long streak of tilting I finished the season in Diamond V. During the time I was in form I was ranked the #60 Viktor in the world by Lolskill.com's toplist. While mastery points are something that didn't exist back when I started playing Vik, I've managed to gather around 800k so far. One of my personal goals for season 8 is to get that number to 1M.

http://eune.op.gg/summoner/userName=wumbou

http://www.lolskill.net/summoner/EUNE/wumbou

Here's a brief rundown of Viktor as a champion. I will touch more deeply on most of these things in other parts of the guide.

Viktor is a control mage, pretty much exclusively played in the mid lane. Viktor excels at controlling zones and putting out large amounts of AoE damage with his E Death Ray and ultimate the Chaos Storm. He can also achieve high numbers in single target burst with his Q Siphon Power, especially once combined with Lich Bane. Viktor's W Gravity Field is a great zone control tool that can decide entire team fights when placed correctly. Viktor also has a unique passive which allows him to augment his staff upgrading his abilities in the process.


As a champion Viktor's really dependent on his mobility and the player's ability to maneuver him. Viktor does not sit behind his front line and lay out constant poke nor does he charge straight in and use all of his spells to obliterate a single champion. He instead runs around the fight abusing his mobility and tries to do as much damage as humanly (i'm sure there's some rly clever joke I could insert here) possible. Viktor is great at killing front line tanks but also has the burst necessary to deal with the back line carries.


As many of you might be aware of, Riot has a difficulty rating that divides all of the champions to three groups: 1) Easy, 2) Medium, and 3) Hard. Out of these three Viktor falls into the third category. While he's rated as a three in terms of difficulty, he's still a fair bit easier than many of the really complex and mechanically demanding champions like Azir and Riven. Because his natural squishiness and the lack of instant hard cc along with the unusual vector casting used to cast his E Death Ray, he's still definitely on the harder side of champions. These qualities also make him more demanding in terms of decision making. One wrong move and you might just end up taking a break in the fountain.

Pros + Godlike Wave clear with E Death Ray + Good lock down: AoE slow into an AoE stun with W Gravity Field + Rather mobile with augmented Q Siphon Power + Plenty of AoE damage with E Death Ray and R Chaos Storm + E Death Ray has no cast time which enables quick turn-around bursts + Q Siphon Power has extremely good synergy with Lich Bane + Fast burst with the combination of Q Siphon Power and E Death Ray + Scales really well with passive Glorious Evolution + Great zone control + Great lane control on levels 1-3 + R Chaos Storm interrupts channels + Fun to play

Cons - Fairly weak between levels 1-3 and the purchase of Hex Core MK-1 - Squishy, getting crowd controlled is a certain death - The extra mobility is entirely from ms buffs instead of leaps/dashes - Rather mana hungry - Often requires some team play to execute perfectly - Lacks instant hard CC - A bit underpowered ATM Note: since this is based on my personal preference, there's way more green than there's red.

Viktor's got a really interesting and unique kit. Here's a more in-depth look at every one of his abilities.

Viktor's passive Glorious Evolution is one of the more unique passives in the entire game.
It makes you start the game with a Viktor specific item Prototype Hex Core that you can upgrade during the course of the game. There's three different upgrades for the item: Hex Core MK-1 (cost: 1250g), Hex Core MK-2 (cost: 1000g) and the Perfect Hex Core (cost: 750g). Each upgrade gives you more ap/level and a chance to upgrade one of your basic abilities. Upgrading the hex core is a core part of Viktor's kit and it's something you'll end up doing in every game.


Viktor's Q Siphon Power Is Viktor's main source of single target burst.
This is the spell you should start with in 99% of the cases. (The last 1% involves some pretty clown fiesta level invading btw). Siphon Power is a good tool for trading because of the shield it gives once cast. It's also the reason Viktor is so strong between the levels 1 and 3. Siphon Power also happens to be the reason Lich Bane is a core part of most of the valid Viktor builds. The empowered auto attack has perfect synergy with Lich Bane's passive, making the burst rather insane once you get some ability power. Once upgraded, Siphon Power gives Viktor a burst of movement speed every time it is cast. This movement speed plays a major role in how you're supposed to teamfight with Viktor. Siphon Power should always be upgraded second.


Viktor's W Gravity Field is the only form of crowd control in his kit.
It's a really unique form of CC as it is a slow that turns into a stun once a champion has been in it for too long. It's great at catching overextended enemies and covers a fair bit of space while lasting a good while which also makes it very ideal for zone control. Gravity Field has the ability to stun multiple people in team fights where players have to focus on multiple things at the same time. However, it can, in many situations, feel a bit lackluster during the laning phase as you'll need some practice and often times a mistake from your opponent's side in order to get them stunned. It has a lot of potential but is fairly inconsistent without some help from your teammates. When upgraded, Gravity Field also pulls the stunned enemies into its center making it even better for catching people off guard as a team. Gravity Field should always be your third and final upgrade.


Viktor's E Death Ray is the bread and butter ability of his kit.
Death Ray is the ability you'll want to max-out first as it is your main damage tool in pretty much every point of the game (perhaps excluding the levels 1 and 2 where his Q is really powerful). The other reason for maxing E is the wave clear it provides. Death Ray is one of the best abilities in the entire game for clearing minion waves. This makes Viktor very good at defending allied towers or shoving waves under the ones on the enemies' side. Death Ray uses vector cast: an unique cast method utilized only in two abilities in the game. These being of course Viktor's E and Rumble's ultimate, The Equalizer. Because of vector cast, Death Ray's cast time is actually non-existent. This allows viktor to execute some pretty surprising turn-around bursts and makes it really hard for the opponent to dodge the spell during laning phase. Once upgraded, Death Ray gains an additional aftershock effect. The aftershock deals decent damage and enables Viktor's godlike wave clear but also shares some qualities with Gravity Field as it's really hard to hit on a single enemy in a 1 vs 1 setting unless they make a crucial mistake. Death Ray should always be your first upgrade and you should look to get it as soon as possible in most games.


Viktor's R Chaos Storm sticks with a familiar theme from his W and E.
It is an AoE spell with a fairly low initial damage. It also interrupts channels when cast, making it very useful against champions like Vel'Koz and Miss Fortune with channeled ultimates. After being cast, the Chaos Storm becomes movable and starts to tick spikes of AoE damage at 2 second intervals. If you manage to keep enemies under the storm, it can deal very high amounts of damage over time. Here is where it's similar to Gravity Field and Death Ray though: it has the potential to cause lots of destruction but often times the enemies manage to outrun the storm after 1-2 ticks. This being said, with clever uses of the Gravity Field and some help from your teammates, this ability can both melt down front line tanks and annihilate back line carries. It is important to note that the Chaos Storm's movement speed is higher when it's closer to Viktor. This is one of the reasons why mobility is considered more important on Viktor compared to the other control mages. When upgraded, Chaos Storm gains extra movement speed which is really helpful for keeping the enemies underneath it. Chaos Storm gets automatically upgraded upon the purchase of Perfect Hex Core.

The optimal rune set-up + my thoughts about each of the individual runes used.

Sorcery is the undisputed best primary tree for Viktor. If for whatever reason you want to run anything else, I'd suggest to go with Domination and Electrocute. Electrocute is really strong and remains very easy to proc on Viktor. Domination's lower tier runes, however, do not compare to the ones in Sorcery.


Summon Aery's clearly the best keystone for Viktor right now.
It further increases your power early and helps you to achieve the first hex core upgrade faster. Summon Aery, especially in combination with the other early game orientated runes from Sorcery, makes Viktor's early power very strong. Like most positive things, this comes with some drawbacks:

1) You don't really have a keystone once you get to the late game as Aery barely scales at all. (This isn't a problem since Viktor scales well with his passive, the Glorious Evolution. )

2) You're forced to carry around a dumb-looking spirit fox for the entirety of the match. Because of this (and perhaps some other reasons), some people like to run Arcane Comet but when it comes to Viktor Aery's just better due to its reliability and early game power.


Manaflow Band is very strong and kinda stupid, far exceeding both of the other options.
It becomes very useful since as Viktor you will very rarely be picking up any mana regeneration. They (Riot) already nerfed this but the extra 15 seconds do not make a difference imo. I've seen some people hyping up The Ultimate Hat but in my mind the rune just isn't made for champions like Viktor with medium length ultimate cooldowns. Instead you should be picking this on champions with either very long or very short ultimate cooldowns (e.g. Karthus, Karma)

Celerity is IMO the optimal pick for Viktor since the champion is largely based on mobility.
In mid-to-late-game situations it also gives you some extra damage when you use your augmented Q. Transcendence is also a valid option if you're seeking for some CDR from your rune page. The problem with this comes when thinking about the 10min wait vs. the 10% CDR value and whether you actually need to cap out your CDR in the first place.

Scorch is also picked to make your laning as strong as possible during the early levels.
It got nerfed recently but it's still good at getting control of the lane early. If you wish to pick something else, Waterwalking is rather good. Waterwalking helps you roam and gives you some extra maneuverability in team fights located in the river. Gathering Storm is basically a bad meme. It gives you large amounts of AP in the late game but is practically non-existent before mid/late game. TL;DR Scorch for early game, Waterwalking for roams and mobility, Gathering Storm for late game (pls don't).


Inspiration is (at least in my mind) the best secondary tree for Viktor to run. Some people prefer to pick Domination for the extra sustain but The extra help during the laning phase is far more important in my eyes.


Future's Market allows you to reach the first hex core upgrade sooner.
This is the one rune I'd pick pretty much every game. Viktor's biggest weakness is his laning between level 4 and the purchasing of Hex Core MK-1 and with this rune you're effectively cutting that time. The argument I see is that if you cs perfectly you don't need this rune to get to 1250g. One has to remember that this can also be the difference between having boots and not having boots or being able to afford potions/wards and not buying them due due to lack of gold.

Cosmic Insight is pretty self-explanatory; it's flat CDR.
It's useful for cutting the cooldown of your active items and summoner spells. (obviously) (Synergy with Ionian Boots of Lucidity) Pick this in a situation where the enemy does not have a major kill threat, like an assassin of some sort, that'd force you into picking Perfect Timing.

Perfect Timing is mandatory against assassins like Zed and Talon.
Against major kill threats you can pick this to ensure survival from one otherwise fatal all-in. This can also be a good pick if you expect to get ganked a lot. Picking this also reduces the cost of Zhonya's Hourglass. It's important to note that you can pick this into any match-up you feel uncomfortable in. You can always just sell the Stopwatch if it turns out safe enough to not purchase an Hourglass.

You should pick Flash in every situation.

Flash is the basic summoner spell you pick in most games for most champions.
Viktor's no different: pick this in every game. Also important to note: Flash is supposed to be used on F and not on D.

Your second Summoner Spell depends on what you're playing against:

Heal is the spell you'll want in most situations.
Since it gives hp and ms It can save you from dying in lane or getting ganked. It can also save a teammate of yours which can be really helpful in early skirmishes. Heal is the ideal spell to pick against most mages. (e.g. Orianna)


Exhaust is the ideal summoner spell for playing against assassins.
It decreases their damage output and makes it possible for you to survive their burst. The slow also allows you to escape in many situations. Examples of champions you should take Exhaust against are Zed, Talon, Fizz and sometimes even burst orientated mages like Syndra.


Cleanse is your go-to spell when you're playing against champion(s) with lots of hard cc.
It allows you to break the cc before the follow-up spells land and kill you. Many players underestimate the power of Cleanse and having the ability to be hit with a cc and still survive is very valuable for a squishy champion like Viktor. Examples of champions that you should take Cleanse against are Ahri, Lux and Veigar.


Barrier is the spell you'll want when playing against high-range poke champions.
Barrier is a decent take in situations where there's a predictable high-damage and high-range spell. Examples of champions that you can take Barrier against are Karthus, Ziggs and even some mages with high burst like Syndra.


Ignite is a spell you should consider in one situation only: If you're playing against a Vladimir.
It decreases healing and nothing else you're facing in the mid lane should have that kind of healing in their kit.

Much like the runes-section, here I'll be listing down all of the items you might wanna build as Viktor and give out some of my thoughts about each one.

Starting items

When talking about starting items in the same sentence with Viktor, there's only one choice.
That, of course, being the Doran's Ring. Sure, you might see some people running around with a Corrupting Potion or perhaps even Dark Seal but neither of those compares to Doran's Ring when it comes to being optimal. It's the perfect mix: some health, some mana regeneration, some ability power and a passive that gives you back a surprisingly large amount of mana just from farming properly.

First back options

With Viktor there's generally 2 options when it comes to your first buy.

Hex Core MK-1 is the far superior option.
It has a high price of 1250g without any components whatsoever but damn does it feel good to get it in time. It is safe to say that Hex Core MK-1 has to be the most important purchase you'll make in a game. So important that you should be looking to rush this item every single game before even thinking about anything else. The augmented Death Ray makes it easier to clear waves and the mana and AP you get from it is a nice bonus.

Lost Chapter is the worse one of the two.
While Hex Core MK-1 is obviously way better of an option, you might sometimes run into a situation where you just need to buy something and can't get to 1250g. In these situations Lost Chapter might just be your best bet. It gives you some ap and mana regen every time you level up. Please note that purchasing Lost Chapter means that you have to build Morellonomicon. Building Morellonomicon in turn means you're going to have to use a build different from the classic one. In this case, I'd recommend the "morelliandrys build" that I've mentioned earlier in the guide. One of the common rules that should help you with sorting out your build is as follows: Morellonomicon and Lich Bane should never end up in the same build. Instead, Morello's has great synergy with Liandry's Torment.

Get early Boots

Viktor has great synergy with movement speed - take advantage of that early.
I personally like to get Boots as early as possible. Preferably in the first back alongside Hex Core MK-1. Early tier-1 boots help you to dodge skillshots, rotate on the map and keep enemies under your ultimate longer once you reach level 6.

Second back options

There's a couple different versions of the second buy. You can either continue upgrading your hex core, buy something defensive or double down on your movement speed by upgrading to tier-2 boots early. I've seen some people even rush a Lich Bane at this point but that isn't something I'd recommend.

Upgrading your hex core to Hex Core MK-2 is the choice you'll end up going with in most games.
It's 250g cheaper than the first upgrade and gives you a fair bit of extra mana and ability power (based on your level of course). The now augmented Siphon Power also makes you way more mobile compared to earlier. This is very ideal considering the team fights and skirmishes in the approaching mid-game.

Seeker's is one of two options for a defensive item as your second buy.
Seeker's Armguard is the correct choice if you're playing against an attack damage based champion and need the armor to survive the all-in. For 1200 gold it has a great build path and a nice passive that you gives you extra armor for killing minions. Because of this Seeker's Armguard is widely hated by AD assassin players. It's entirely viable to buy it early, fully stack the passive and just sit on it for a while while completing other items. Seeker's Armguard should later be completed into Zhonya's Hourglass.

No one without the other. Null-Magic Mantle is the second defensive option for your second back.
Null-Magic Mantle is the right item to pick up if you're opposing an ability power user and having a hard time. At a price of 450 gold, it is significantly cheaper than it's armor counterpart. This being said it also gives you comparatively less stats and has no passive to speak of. Sitting on a Null-Magic Mantle for long periods of time is quite hard when compared to the armguard (especially on a champion like Viktor with only 5 open item slots). Eventually you should be looking to upgrade your Null-Magic Mantle into a Banshee's Veil.

Boot options

When deciding which boots you want to buy, you gotta once again look at the situation. Generally speaking there are 4 different boots to choose from. Personally I like to upgrade to tier-2 boots after I've purchased Hex Core MK-2.

These are the boots you'll end up choosing in most of your games when going with the classic build.
They are very ideal for the purposes of the classic build because of their cheap price and the CDR they give. Viktor needs around 20-30% CDR to operate properly and since I very rarely play with Transcendence, these suit the build and rune page that i'm running rather well. The passive reducing the cooldowns of your summoner spells is certainly a nice bonus.

These are the more traditional boots for mage characters.
They quite literally just make your spells to deal more damage. Buying Sorcerer's Shoes makes your burst a fair bit stronger but effectively playing with them requires an alternative source of cooldown reduction. Personally I prefer the Ionian Boots of Lucidity due to my preferred rune page not having Transcendence.

Here we have the defensive boots for playing against heavy attack damage compositions.
It is quite rare to be in a situation where buying Ninja Tabi is actually worth it. This is the case because the armor item you'll usually want is most definitely the Zhonya's Hourglass. This being said there might be games where the enemy team has lots of AD and/or AA based champions. In those situations Ninja Tabi might just be worth considering.

Finally, we got the defensive boots for playing against heavy ability power compositions.
In many ways these are exactly like Ninja Tabi but instead of AD, they're designed for playing against AP threats. They also have different passives: where Ninja Tabi protects you against auto attacks, the Mercury's Treads actually help you to escape crowd control by shortening the time you're being cc:d. These are honestly quite good but considering you're already getting MR from an item such as Banshee's Veil, the purchase of Mercury's Treads may not be that essential.

The two core items

This is the first core item in the classic build.
Perfect Hex Core is significantly cheaper than the first and second upgrade. 750 gold isn't a high price for the amount of extra mana and ability power you end up getting (based on your level, naturally). The extra movement speed for Chaos Storm is also really helpful when it comes to keeping enemy targets under it. Many people used to skip this upgrade before when the augment prices were flat 1000g cross the board. Even nowadays some people prefer to leave this for later parts of the game and get some immediate power (such as a Lich Bane) instead. This being said since the prices got adjusted and the final upgrade got 250g cheaper, many people have been completing this first just for the Chaos Storm ms.


Here we have the other core item of the classic build.
Lich Bane truly is a glorious item on Viktor, especially in the late game when you've got some ability power and magic penetration to back it up. Like the "classic build" most of the other modern day Viktor builds also include this item - and for a good reason. While Lich Bane is a great item on Viktor, it's also one of the bigger traps in all of Viktor builds. Lich is great if you're running away with a win but doesn't provide much if you're getting instantly killed by an assassin or a burst mage three seconds into the fight. Because of this it might often be worth it to go for a defensive item before thinking about the godly burst Lich Bane could give you. It's without a doubt a late game scaling item - some extra wait isn't going to make it any worse. Personally, I like to build Lich Bane second if the enemy team doesn't have any major threats that would force me into building a defensive item.

Defensive options

This is the defensive option against threatening AD champions.
Zhonya's Hourglass is a great option to buy as your second item if you're facing champions like Zed and Talon. It allows you to negate a large portion of their burst just by using it's passive. Hourglass is one of the strongest active items in the entire game since it can legitimately save you from anything. This being said there will be situations where it might just delay the inevitable. Even if you decide to go damage early you may have to build an hourglass later in the game. It's not a core part of this build unless the situation needs it to be.

This is the MR counterpart for Zhonya's Hourglass.
Banshee's Veil is a good buy when you're facing threatening AP champions or champions with lots of crowd control. It gives you more ability power than the hourglass but has a weaker passive. Instead of actual untargetability, Banshee's Veil gives you a spell shield that completely absorbs the first spell it's hit with. This can bring a good amount of extra safety in team fight situations where it is very ideal to not get hit with any kind of crowd control. One of the major weaknesses of Banshee's Veil is that it is fairly easy to just knock the shield down from a distance with a long-range spell. Just like with Zhonya's Hourglass, Banshee's Veil should be purchased as a reaction to something in the enemy team and therefore is not a core item by itself.

Other items

This right here is your answer to tanks building magic resist.
Void Staff is really considered the best late game AP item you can have (This, of course, depends on the situation. This is mainly based on the comparison between Void Staff and Rabadon's Deathcap). Not only is it the only item with % magic pen, its value has also risen due to Deathcap being considered worse and worse. It gives you 80 ability power and its passive is pretty self explanatory: you deal more damage to high-MR targets. Void Staff is by no means an early game item. You should be looking to build it as your 3rd-5th item depending on the situation (= whether the enemy team is buying magic resist or not).

Here we've got the widely controversial, former king of AP items.
Rabadon's Deathcap is without a doubt in a way worse situation it has been in a while. In many cases the passive(s) makes the item. When you have an item that has a passive that only gives you flat ability power, however, you may end up in a situation where the items with better passives rise up on the food chain and overtake the place of the old king. Nowadays, Rabadon's Deathcap is widely beaten by items such as Void Staff and Liandry's Torment that have better passives and also happen to cost way less and have better build paths. While this is the case, there might just be situations where you'll be an item off of achieving full build and don't really have anything in particular to buy. In these situations one option is to just go for the extra AP from Deathcap.

This is the one item responsible for the dethroning of Rabadon's Deathcap.
Liandry's Torment has largely taken Rabadon's Deathcap's place as the dominating AP item. It doesn't give you as much pure ability power but instead you get a better build path, lower cost, some health and two very good passives. These being +15 magic penetration and a current hp burn that's useful for killing high-health targets. Because of its great build path, Liandry's Torment can easily be purchased in parts. A great example of this is buying a Haunting Guise for the magic penetration, sitting on it for a while and completing other items in the process.

A ghost from the past am I right?
Rylai's Crystal Scepter was obviously nerfed and is nowhere near the item it once was. It gives less AP than it used to. The slow is also weaker than it used to be. This being said there's still situations where it's considered okay to buy this and take a trip down the memory lane. Nowadays you'll want to buy Rylai's Crystal Scepter in order to successfully kite bruisers like Nasus and Darius in the late game. The slow is still a great way to empower things like Chaos Storm or the augmented Death Ray. However, the item doesn't really provide enough bang for your buck in these days.

Well, this is a weird one.
Luden's Tempest gives you 100AP, extra movement speed and a movement based Statikk Shiv like proc of magic damage. The general rule of this item is that you're going to want to either build it very early or very late. I do not remember the last time I've bought this item, nor do I have any kind of personal experience with it. Because of this I'll leave this here and will try to update it in the future.