What's up Mobapeeps, I'm RinPhyrus, an NA summoner and a jungle main. Vi's been one of my favorite champions for quite a while now, so I'm here to share a little love for the Piltover Enforcer, and maybe teach you a little something along the way. Vi is an awesome champion, and a super fun one at that. Her damage output is through the roof (deleting people with only three finished items), she's surprisingly tough, and her mobility can catch a lot of people off guard. If you play her right, you can easily carry teams in soloqueue with vicious ganks and powerful initiation. A quick note about my playstyle: I like playing Vi. I also like playing Tanks. However, what I DON'T like is playing Vi as a tank. She's a high-damage bruiser with a lot of carry potential if played properly, so that's how I play her. Hopefully after trying out this build, you'll find yourself feeling the same way about her as I do! Anywho, now that that little blurb is out of the way, let's dive in, shall we? (And yes, C2V is on because I like feedback, even if it's short. Shoot me.)

Pros

+ Very fun and rewarding to play + Scales well, with high carry potential + Can delete almost anyone late game + Her ganks are very effective + Low cooldowns make it easy to spam her Q-E combos

Vi is a truly dunkalicious champ, and honestly, I think playing her is the most fun I've ever had in League. I could ramble on and on about her good side all day: she's bulky without sacrificing damage, she's a terror in any team fight, and on top of all that, she's the best-looking champion in the game. THAT'S RIGHT, I SAID IT! *deep breath* Anywho, Vi's got good clears, insane ganks and a kit that's just plain fun, so what's not to love?

Cons

- Without items, she can be a bit weak - Easily shut down by hard CC - Has a tendency to leave her team behind - If you fall behind, it can be hard to contribute to fights

Listen, I'm obviously a bit biased in Vi's favor, but I'd be an idiot to not acknowledge her weak points. She relies heavily on her items, some of which are quite pricy (looking at you, Trinity Force). Hard CC is the bane of Vi's existence, and a well-timed stun or snare can smack you right back to your fountain. However, what I feel to be Vi's most glaring weakness is the sense of confidence you'll feel when playing her... the same confidence that will make you Q-R the enemy carry, not thinking far enough ahead to realize you're now surrounded by the enemy team. We've all been there (Rengar mains especially understand where I'm coming from), but as long as you play smart, you'll be mashing faces in no time.

All righty, now it's finally time to talk about Vi's kit. Vi's arsenal is not only powerful, but also streamlined to allow for a lot of potential without an over-the-top level of confusion. Her spells are as follows:


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Vi's passive is Blast Shield, a shield that scales off of her max health. When the shield is ready, all you need to do is hit an enemy with one of her abilities, and you activate the shield. Great for tanking jungle camps early on; however, it does not activate when you land your Denting Blows. Also strengthens her initiations, so make sure it's up before Vault Breaker'ing onto them.


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We max this first, no questions asked. Vault Breaker is a gap-closer and knock-back, allowing Vi to lay into her opponents with ease. Getting the hang of her Q is the first step to cleaning house with her; charging it while on the move can catch people off guard, and it does pretty decent damage.


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This passive ability is one of the reasons Vi is absolutely insane. Every three hits, I deal extra damage, reduce their armor, and get attack speed that allows me to continue proccing it even faster? Yes please. Stacks very nicely with many of the items I use on her, especially the early armor pen from Ranger's Trailblazer - Warrior.


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Vi's E empowers her next two punches, hitting multiple enemies and dealing bonus damage that scales primarily off of AP (hence the usefulness of Trinity Force on her). Also, it triggers Spellblade twice in quick succession, which is a definite plus. This is your main damage-dealing spell, so get used to mashing that E key!


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Vi's ult is a targeted dash/knock-up with a surprisingly long range, which allows Vi to leap in on enemies who foolishly think they have a chance at escape. Once cast, her charge cannot be stopped; this allows her to pull off anything from redirecting to chase down an enemy who flashes through a wall, to leaping straight to the enemy backline and giving their Sona a good thrashing.

Pretty standard runes, but I'd like to note that my quints are AS rather than flat AD or Armor Penetration, because in the early jungle, what you really need is higher AS to set off Denting Blows as often as possible. Vi's innate armor penetration (plus several of the items we're building on her) make the runes for it a bit unnecessary, but if you prefer flat AD, go right ahead!

Now let's talk about your items for a moment. After all, you'll need some boss weaponry to properly dominate your opponents' rear ends, so before we get into tips and tricks of Vi, here are some of her primary items.

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One of the best items on Vi, if you ask me. The CDR means you can land E's for days, and the stacking armor reduction is total bull when you pair it with Denting Blows. Always get a Cleaver, end of discussion, 'cause it's the first (and perhaps largest) step towards giving your opponents nightmares.


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There's really nothing that needs to be said about the good ol' Triforce except "Oh God yes". Having a Sheen passive on top of Relentless Force helps you make kiddies cry, and to put it simply, every one of this item's perks helps Vi tremendously. Always a solid buy.


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THIS. FREAKING. ITEM. I will never fall out of love with this thing. Build this bad boy, and you'll be one-hitting camps and ending team fights in three punches in no time. After all, it stacks with the burst from Relentless Force, so night-night, enemy carry! Also, if your team needs a little bulk, you can swap to Titanic Hydra to better complement any defensive items you build.

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Honestly, no jungler is complete without this item. It provides tank stats while still augmenting your prowess when it comes to dealing damage, especially when ganking or catching out squishies. The passive is simply too good for this guy to be lumped in with other tank items.

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While this item is still strong, I find myself almost always choosing Dead Man's Plate over it. Still, if you need a lot of tank, this guy won't fail you.


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I rarely build that much MR on Vi, but sometimes it doesn't hurt to pick up a Hexdrinker when their Katarina seems decent, and if their APC starts to get really scary, Spirit Visage or Banshee's Veil should be more than enough.


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Are you super fed and wrecking their team fifteen minutes in? Then why the heck not. As for why on God's green earth you'd ever need as much armor penetration as a military-grade anti-tank missile... you know what, let's just leave that one to the philosophers. If you're low on health, go with Lord Dominik's Regards as the upgrade; 9 times out of 10, it's more useful than Mortal Reminder anyway.


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This is the go-to "Wow we have 30 kills to their 9 and they haven't surrendered yet" item, because with that lifesteal and AD, no throats will be safe from Vi's Needlessly Large Rod.


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See above.

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Just don't. I always see people throwing gold at this thing as a "oh **** guyz im not doing enuff dmg" purchase, but please, don't subject Vi to that kind of abuse. It simply feels out of place with her role and her kit, so lay off.

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This one's interesting, but I rarely use it. Vi isn't generally a insta-nuke-then-run-away champion like Rengar, so I feel like it isn't the best on her, though the stats are all right.

I always start on my botlane camp, so Ancient Krug for Blue and Gromp for Purple. Take your Red/Blue, then your opposite camp (Frog and Rocks, respectively). That puts you at level 3, and if you've been playing smart and timing smites well, you should have a respectable amount of health left over. If you're feeling ambitious, you can try a gank before you back, but usually it's smarter to back right away to start throwing together the Stalker's Blade.

The thing about Vi is that without copious amounts of butt-kicking, she'll fall behind just as easily as any other jungler. Map awareness is key, and be sure to keep tabs on Dragon and Baron Nashor, picking up pink wards when necessary (speaking of, you can solo drag easily at 5/6, so keep that in mind). Unless your support is an imbecile, you don't need a Sightstone or anything silly like that.

Vi can be pretty forgiving when it comes to ganking, so be sure to do so regularly. Get into a good position behind the enemy, then charge in with a max-strength Vault Breaker so the knock-back carries them back into your laner. From there, do your best to land both your Relentless Forces, and as long as your laner came in on them with you, you should be able to net easy kills for your team (I'm a strong believer in the fact that ks'ing, or kill-securing, shouldn't be made out to be the end of the world, since it benefits the team no matter who gets the kill. Unless you're being a jerk about it, in which case you deserve any hate you receive.).

Late game, Vi starts to get plain ridiculous, pairing insane damage output with high enough mobility to ensure that maniac Jinx isn't going to get away this time. Some people might say, "Hey man, don't get too thirsty," but those people are WRONG because when you're playing as the Piltover Enforcer and you just finished your Trinity Force and Ravenous Hydra, the thirst had better be REAL, or you'd better be refunding your purchase of Vi after the match ends.

Some may say Vi is an easy champion, but those are the same people who think DFG should still be in the game and that Fizz is balanced, so pay them no mind. Playing as Fathands, you're going to draw a lot of attention to yourself from the enemy team, so you're going to have to play smart to survive. Chaining skills well will be a huge help in that regard.

The most efficient "combo" for Vi is pretty straightforward:

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Q in on the squishiest person within range, then E them, preferably with other enemies in the blast cone. Also, a fun trick is to start charging Vault Breaker, then Flash towards them before releasing the fully-charged Q. Even if they suspect you're in the area, they won't be expecting you to go in on them so fast and from such range. I can't begin to tell you how many times this has landed me a kill or assist on an enemy ADC!

Once you progress into the later stretches of the game, the killer Vi combo for catching fleeing enemies is:

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Vault Breaker'ing towards your opponent allows you to close the gap far enough to leap in on them with Cease and Desist, and the knock-up will allow your team to catch up as well. Two Relentless Force's later, your Q is likely up again! This is an excellent tactic for re-initiating on a team that's on the run, because by closing in on one of their teammates, you can bait the others into trying to save them. Once they take the bait, you can show them the futility of their efforts.

Time for a few words of warning.

In my many games as Vi, I've found that there are times when it's very easy to underestimate how quickly she can close the gap on the enemy team... meaning that I pounce on them, all fists blazing, and my team is still too far away to help me out. It's easy to get mad at times like this, but don't take it out on your team; Vi's kit is monstrous when it comes to closing in on her targets, and 90% of champions just can't keep up with her. Don't be stupid, and don't go in unless you

A) can solo whoever you're launching yourself at, or

B) know for sure that your team will be able to get there in time before you get Shut Down.

If you have any thoughts, corrections, or possible improvements that you think I could make, I would love to hear them! I know that my opinion and strategies regarding this incredible champion probably can't compare to the likes of high-elo players and pros like Based Meteos (may he rest in pepperonis). However, I absolutely adore this champion, and I hope that this guide will help you kick major butt as everyone's favorite sexy cop, Vi.

P.S. Yes, I prefer Officer, although I'll admit Neon Striker is cool too.

2/3/16 - Revamped 'Introductions', added pros/cons section, and corrected some formatting errors.

1/24/16 - Updated masteries, items and runes to keep up with S6 (Rito is killing me here, but at least Vi is still a beast). Also began adding her build for Midlane.

6/7/15 - Cleaned up icons for "A Certain Set of Skills" and "The Armory". Small grammatical changes.