Hi Everyone,
Im OOVisionary I've been playing for around 2-3 years and have made it to Plat 2 primarily going Vel Koz mid. The fact that a lot of people don't really use him seems like an advantage to me since I get to use him whenever my team feels obliged to give me mid lane. Enclosed is a usual build that helped me run through gold with ease, so give a shot and see if it'll help you do the same!

Vel Koz in my opinion is a massively underrated mid laner due to the fact that every 3 ability hits he does a flat amount of damage regardless of resistances D: On top of that when you add the thunder lords keystone you can burst people into oblivion. I usually like to start with Q first because it increases the duration of the slow that is applied when it hits someone. Your E is also very important when it comes to trying to get a kill by bursting people. I usually send a Q out and if it hits then it will give you a nice setup for an E W R combo which will in most cases result in at least 1 kill. Once you level your ability to wave clear and siege lanes become very high. With practice you can take on multiple people that are coming at you and walk away with a multi kill. Hopefully some of you starting out playing vel koz or even people that do play him will gain something from this guide!

Pros:

• High Damage
• Lots of Poke
• Great for Team Fights
• Can Take on Multiple People With Practice
  
  Cons:
• Very Squishy
• Position Dependent
• Fairly High Skill Cap
• Landing Skill Shots is a Must
• People Tend to Dive You Out of Everyone on Your Team

You NEED to buy a Zhonya's Hourglass if you expect to survive team fights when they occur due to the fact that YOU are the main target for everyone else on the other team. If you don't purchase this as your 2-3 item you generally can assume you're going to die. Your other core item should be Liandry's Torment due to the fact that when you hit your Q not only does it do the damage from the Q but it does 12% maximum health damage of the person hit! Thats crazy and can make a huge difference when starting a team fight since at least one of the other teams champ is starting below 12% of the max health! Your other item that is essential is either Athene's Unholy Grail or Morellonomicon since this is your main source of mana regen. You can opt out of these items in leu of a damage item but you best be sure that you're hitting EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR SKILLS.

Some people prefer to take their W first but I find that it is much more effective to max your Q first. This is due to the fact that as your Q levels, the duration of the slow that is applied increases also. It starts at a 1 second slow and ends in a 2 second slow, this can be the difference between getting a pick on the other team and just merely harassing the other team with some damage. The skill sequence is entirely up to the person playing but in my opinion I think that maxing Q first is more effective for team fights then W

When farming you want to wait till the absolute last second to auto attack those little minions. Once their health bar hits about 1/8 of the max health, thats when you should auto them. When you finally get all of your skill you can send 2 waves of your W out to activate your passive on them but unless you have some items it won't kill them instantly. Also, another little trick I use to farm is when you have 2-3 minions with low health you want to Q one of them but have the other 1 or 2 lines up so that when the Q splits it hits the other ones so you get that that extra CS!

Ive seen people take Barrier over Heal but I think that its almost pointless to do that. When you take barrier you only get a burst of health for a period of time, if you take heal you get permanent health back, a movement speed boost, AND you can heal someone else around you that also gets the movement speed boost. Also Flash is essential to either escape or engage on team fights. One nifty little trick is when someone goes in on you, you flash away, turn and immediately Plasma Fission into Life Form Disintegration Ray. This will result on a kill most of the time if you have been fighting in lane and have them low.