Hello Summoners :)

My name is Impoid and this is my first guide, I know that gets said a lot however this in genuinely my first ever guide and I hope you find it useful.
I play under the summoner name Prodaption on the EUW Server, I've been playing for just over 3 years or so now and have played thousands of games in this time.

I hope you don't take my Gold rank as an indicator that I don't know what I am talking about as I don't rank much because I am not fond of the ranked scene.

The aim of this guide is to hopefully bring a better understanding to any players that don't know or would like to know how Vel'Koz support works.

I will try and go as in-depth as possible when explaining my decisions, I would like to thank you now for looking at this guide and hope its helps you improve with Vel'Koz.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

High Poke
High Damage
Great Mid/Late Game
Amazing Ultimate
Strong Jungle Skirmishes
Low Base Cooldown on spells
True Damage

Cons:

Weak to all ins
Only 1 hard CC
Squishy
No escapes
Skill Shot reliant

A Detailed analysis of why I picked these runes:

Magic Pen Reds - Provides the most damage throughout the game and helps take advantage of his high base damage.

Armor and HP per level Yellows - Just enough armor to survive auto attack harass in lane and just enough HPPL to make you slightly more survivable in the mid and late game.

AP per level Blues - Gives small amount of AP early however mainly chosen to give Vel'koz a strong scaling into the late game.

AP Quints - Gives a strong boost to damage in the early game, allowing the early levels to be a lot easier on Vel'koz.

Explanation of Mastery Choices:

As Vel'Koz you do not feel the extra points in the defensive tree do much for you and die just as fast, however after playing around with the masteries for a while I found that a simple
9-0-21 set up was the best way to go.

The extra points in offence really help the early game allowing more damage output whether it be from more cooldown reduction or more starting AP.

The points in the Utility tree is standard support stuff with a couple mana points taken to connect with my tear of the goddess purchase.

Explanation of Spells:

Organic Deconstruction (Passive) = Vel'koz's skills apply stacks of Organic Deconstruction for 7 seconds on every enemy hit. Upon attaining 3 stacks, they take 25 + (10 x Vel'koz's level) amount of true damage and the stacks are consumed. Basic attacks refresh the duration of the stacks. Stacks can be applied to multiple enemies at the same time.

Plasma Fission[/b] (Q) = Vel'koz fires a bolt of energy in a line, dealing magic damage and splitting in a 90¤ angle upon hitting an enemy, with 2 bolts going in opposite direction. Each enemy hit is also slowed by 70% for a few seconds. Vel'koz can reactivate the ability to split the bolt at will being able to hit a total of 3 targets.
Tip for use: Using angles and self detonations to increase the effective range of the spell.
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 seconds

Void Rift (W) = Vel'koz opens a rift in the ground that proceeds forward in line roughly having a travel time of half a second, dealing magic damage to every enemy hit. After a 0.25 second delay, the rift explodes, dealing a second amount of magic damage to every enemy standing on it. Void Rift is charge-based, and Vel'koz stores a charge after a period of time that is affected by cooldown reduction. Maximum of 2 charges can be stored, and there's a static cooldown of 1.5 seconds between their uses allowing for easy use of weaving other abilities for more passive procs.
Tip for use: Use in conjunction with other CC effect either your own or your allies for an easy 2 stacks of your passive.
Range: 1050
Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 Mana + 1 Charge
Recharge time: 19 / 18 / 17 / 16 / 15
Magic damage (1st hit): 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 (+25% AP)
Magic damage (2nd hit): 45 / 75 / 105 / 135 / 165 (+37.5% AP)
Total magic damage: 75 / 125 / 175 / 225 / 275 (+62.5% AP)

Tectonic Disruption (E) = Vel'koz hurls an anomaly at target location, dealing magic damage to all enemies hit and knocking them up for 0.75 seconds. Any enemy close to Vel'koz is slightly pushed into the direction where the skill is fired.
Tip for use: Judge were the enemy will be when firing as the spell has a small delay before landing.
Range: 850
Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 Mana
Cooldown: 16 / 15 / 14 / 13 / 12
Magic damage: 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 / 190 (+50% AP)

Life Form Disintegration Ray (R) = Vel'koz roots himself and channels a huge laser up to 2.5 seconds, dealing damage to every enemy caught in the line every 0.25 seconds. This skill applies stacks of Organic Deconstruction every 0.5 seconds, up to a maximum of 5 stacks. Enemies hit are slowed by 20% for 1 second.
Tip for use: Position yourself just out of range of any CC that may interrupt you before firing to allow for a huge Ult.
Range: 1575
Cost: 100 Mana
Cooldown: 130 / 110 / 90

Take points in your ultimate, Life Form Disintegration Ray at levels 6, 11 and 16 respectively. Max Plasma Fission (Q) first, it’s your main poking tool and has greatest range with most flexibility whilst also providing a strong slow and maxing it will increase it's duration.

Second, max Void Rift over Tectonic Disruption for the damage and lower recharge time.

The skill we're going to be using the most frequently during the lane phase is Plasma Fission. While the cooldown doesn't decrease per rank, it still has easily the lowest recharge rate of all Vel'koz's skills. Also, the slow duration is increased from 1 second to 2 seconds when fully leveled, like many heavy slows within league. The base damage is the second highest out of the basic skills. As a benefit using Plasma Fission is less likely to push the lane when you don’t want to, since you can manipulate its track freely and also has the ability to hit the wimpy ADC's hiding behind there strong minions XD

We max Void Rift 2nd instead of Tectonic Disruption because it's our second most damaging skill and the cooldown of the charges is reduced with each rank.
However at rank 5, Void Rift deals the highest amount of base damage out of the 3 basic skills and has the highest AP scaling, assuming both parts hit the enemy of course. This is also Vel'koz main wave-clear ability and the reason he's a strong sieger. When going mid lane, you’d usually max Void Rift first for maximal push and farm strength. Tectonic Disruption is our utility skill with the lowest damage, as such will be maxed last.

In Short:
R > Q > W > E

Items and why we get them:

Frost Queen's Claim = Great Item throughout the game, once full item sell for more AP.

Archangels Staff = Strong Shield great amount of AP and plenty of mana for more poke.

Ruby Sightstone = Standard support item allows vision across the map.

Boots of Lucidity = Easy Cooldown reduction allowing more procs on passive.

Void Staff = Get when enemy stack MR.

Hourglass = Get when getting focused.

Rabadons Deathcap = Buy when enemy are not buying MR.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter = Applies a huge slow to all your abilites, purchase if you need more CC.

Liandry's Torment = Purchase when enemy has little to no MR.

Banshee's Veil = Buy when enemy team has high AP burst damage.

Athenes Unholy Grail = Replace tear with this if they have a heavy AP team.

Zekes Harbringer = Great if your ADC is fed and you got a bunch of assists.

Banner of Command = Get if enemy team has alot of AP.

Twin Shadows = Buy if you need MR and some CC.

Morellonomicon = Buy when the enemy team have alot of self healing, replacement for tear.

Mikail's Crucible = Buy if you need to get your carry out of hard CC.

Vel'koz is extremely aggravating for every enemy ADC to lane against - even more so without a sustaining support. Just remember to never use your E on an ADC that hasn't used his dash ( Relentless Pursuit, Quickdraw, etc.) first by baiting it out with an item activation or Q. The most dangerous marksmen to your well-being are Graves and Vayne, albeit both can be even outdueled late game (Testing complete and comfirmed).


Vel’koz holds 2 things over nautilus, blitz and Thresh: He can safely poke them while not exposing himself, and he has tools to disengage his ADC (and himself) from them, or simply blow them up if they are too careless. His true damage also bypasses especially Nauties durability, making the poke and ultimate hit really hard even on him. Be careful to not get engaged upon yourself, it's always easier to peel for others than yourself, missing your E can mean life and death in most cases so use wisely.

Sometimes it can be a lot smarter to hold on to your Tectonic Disruption and Void Rift if you don't have any idea where the enemy jungler is. They're not only your best tools to repel gankers, but also a chance to turn the gank around on the ganker. When the enemy jungler ganks, try to separate the laners from him/her with Plasma Fission. Then use Void Rift + Tectonic Disruption to chunk their health with Organic Deconstruction. Remember to keep kiting (stutter stepping) between spells and when your spells are on cooldown to maximize your survival. If the enemy jungler doesn't give up at this point, your Q should be up again, so ping him and lauch the projectile at him to prevent easy escape. Use Exhaust or Ignite to burn their Flash or secure a kill.
The notes above are last resort, remember to ward efficiently and try to avoid gank all together as missing an E or Q can mean the death of your carry, yourself or both of you.

Your Main objectives during the lane phase:

Upon entering lane help push the lane and get that early lvl spike and assert dominance
Poke the enemy and try and make them miss farm
Peel for your ADC in any all ins
Make sure your ADC feels safe to farm as much as possible
Roam mid if you feel your ADC can hold their own
If your ahead ward enemy Jungle.
Keep Dragon Warded at all costs.
Keep botlane warded at all times.

A lot of people struggle with this dilemma however I have devised there are two good stratagies you can do in this situation and all you have to do is ask yourself does the enemy mid laner have good waveclear.

If yes (for example Brand, Ziggs ect) Push to scond tier turret bot lane and try and take that one as well. Do not do this if you do not have enough wards to do so as you will get ganked (tested and confirmed) Go back get wards/refill your sightstone and push to the second tier tower.

If no (for example Fizz, Yasuo ect) Roam mid lane with your ADC and siege their mid tower, this will be unexpected and by the time the jungler and others arrive their tower will already been destroyed giving you two towers easily.

The reason you do not go mid if they have good wave clear is because they will be able to hold you long enough for help from their jungler and defend that tower meanwhile giving their botlane enough time to take your botlane tower for free.

In teamfights, you want to position yourself at the backline, peeling the tanks and juggernaughts off your carries and yourself, while ''Analyzing'' the entire enemy team with your well timed ultimate. Choose wisely when it's the right time to ultimate, as completely failing it may cost you that teamfight, whereas a perfect one will usually result in turning the tide heavily in your favor. Sometimes though, there won’t even more many teamfights due to your ability to poke and pick off single targets, similar to Nidalee and Xerath, ideally followed by fast and efficient objective securing E.g Dragon,turrets and baron in the later game.

Amazingly through testing and many many games my results Vel'Koz doesn’t seem to have any real hard counters in current bot lane meta - he has the tools and means to destroy every other support. The key to succesfully laning with Vel'koz is making sure you hit most of your spells. However, as fun as spamming your purple tenticle monster magic is, remember to keep an eye on your mana bar. If you don't have enough mana to repel a gank with AT LEAST one E, you might find yourself in deep trouble. Spamming your Q for harass doesn't eat a whole lot mana, but you have to think is it better to save mana for a full combo or not. Not only does it seep a noticeable amount your mana pool, but it also functions as both your heavy poke / all-in combination AND escape mechanism. As soon as you have more mana regen and CDR (Tear and boots) you can feel pretty carefree to spam abilities at your opponents - obviously don't take the piss or you will find yourself oom, and nothing is more pathetic than watching a mage trying to out auto attack and ADC.
Plenty of practice with Vel'Koz is definitely worth it due to when you get him right he can easily carry games, but if played wrong can feel like your a wet noodle trying to knock out a full tank Garen.

I hope you enjoy my guide and hope you have more understanding how to play him and the botlane itself.
My build may not be as ''standard'' as others out there but I find in genuinely works for me.
I have enjoyed making this guide and hope to make better and bigger guides in the future.
This guide will be updated on a regular basis and updated for every patch if anything happens to change regarding Vel'koz or his matchups.

Thank you for taking the time to read this guide, even if it was just to check the item build :)but I do hope it served you well

Enjoy the tentacle monster in all his glory whether it be spamming spell or spamming emotes while yelling ''OH DARN''

If you have any feedback you would like to suggest feel free to comment I would love to hear from you all.

Have a good day and good luck in league.


Prodaption