Vi Build Guide by zumafour2zero

SOLO BARON XJ9 STYLE! [WARNING UPDATE]

WARNING UPDATE: Haven't tested since both the buff and nerf of this item. If you test it out please let me know!

Yeah its not even a joke. With the right amount of gold you can solo Baron between minutes 17-21. Check out 4th jungle build for the items you will need.

Thanks!

I have had a lot of fun making this guide and I just want to say thank you for all of you who up voted and most importantly messaged me with gameplay advice ideas and item queries. You guys are what made this all enjoyable for me. Keep it up!

I'm really busy with college work right now but there are several chapters that I want to get to ASAP. So much work QQ. I Don't see me getting out a major update any time soon but I still respond to PM's, and less frequently guide comments. I will try to remain as reachable as possible.

Dear Downvoters COMMENT!

Is there something you don't like in the guide that deserves a down vote? TELL ME. If you have a point I will obviously take it into consideration and update the guide. I've done it several times already. Let me know! I'll make the guide better, all your input counts. I just added this section because I've been hovering around 84% for some time now however I'm getting more votes. I would like to know why I'm being down voted so I can work to improve it.

Feedback from up votes is helpful, but feedbacks from down votes are plausibly more constructive!
Thanks!

-Zuma

THIS GUIDE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION COMMENTS APPRECIATED QUESTIONS WILL BE ANS

New Things:
Credit to XJ9 for figuring out how to solo baron with Vi. Check it out its posted as the last jungle item set!

Upcoming Goals:

Lifesteals Synergy with Resistances and Shields (gonna be a key chapter includes red post)
Tips and tricks for each of your abilities
a. Saving excessive force for when they last hit
b. Walk/Look in one direction Juke with Q elsewhere
c. Delay your ult, time it too absorb CC after a Q initiate. In potential 5v5 when the carries haven't showed up yet save your ult
d. Use Ravenous's active!! Nuff said.
e. Use passive to save your life (hardly ever happens but you can proc your passive on a minion if you need too)
Visual Update
Anti-Tank Playstyle
How to Peel- So You Want To Be a Tank?
Screenshots and Photos (Jungle camps)
Items Section Updating Regularly
Summoner Skills Section
Rune Section
Mid Lane Vi? Laugh at AD casters

Introduction to VI

VI is an incredibly versatile sustained burst champion that can be played in top lane or in the jungle. I call her sustained burst because like poppy, with short late game cool downs, she can continuously burst down opponents. She can deal tons of damage at melee range and two gap closers to get her there. Once there however she does not have a natural way to keep her in melee range (slows/non-ultimate stun). For this reason, both Movespeed and CC through items will be your best friend. I have had great success since the release of this champion and am introducing the community to the way I like to play her. I would love to hear other peoples views on her items/playstyle/tips&tricks. So whatever it is comment, please vote and tell me your likes dislikes. If I like your input I will add it to the guide and cite you in it. This guide is under construction so if you feel it is lacking, do not vote yet and let me know what I'm missing. Thanks! Let's get started.

Oh I almost forgot, I think I'm funny so be sure to read my notes and long paragraphs. If something is really long best believe its just as funny as it is resourceful

To get started, if you haven't already watch Vi's champion spotlight
Note her chasing capabilities, diving potential, and dueling potential.

Pretty Pros and Caustic Cons

Positivos
+ High Burst
+ Low Cooldowns Late Game
+ High Ratios
+ Built In Flash
+ Combo of Varus Nautilus Lee Sin Vayne and Riven all in one
+ People will tell you your OP when your actually pretty balanced
+ Built in Shield with Passive
+ Can activate E twice in a row allowing you to reset attack timer twice
+ Strong Harass
+ Good Initiate/Disengage
+ Two Gap Closer's
+ A little Movespeed goes a long way
+ Can teach you how to Dougy
+ Incredibly Fun To Play

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Negativos
- High CD Q at lvl 1
- Needs to be in Melee Range to do damage
- No non ultimate Hard CC (there is a knock to the side on your Q)
- Can't Stick to opponents without items
- Squishy if built glass cannon
- Can get away with building little to no survivability if you know how to hit&run (Think Talon)
- Not dressed promiscuously D:

When To Use Each Build

I have listed here 4 ways of building Vi. One being Bruiser, the second being AD Caster, third being Offensive Tank, and finally Anti-Tank and their jungle counterparts. The first three builds are meant as an anti-carry strategy. Bypass the tanks, kill the squishies. In the anti tank build while you still need to kill the carries, which you do with relative ease, you are granted emence tank melting power through Armor Pen, Mixed Damage, On-Hit effects, Percent Damage, and Denting Blows. I will explain when to use each build.

Bruiser This is my go to build for well balanced teams. Tons of Movespeed and Damage splashed with a healthy portion of CDR and Tankyness. Great build to chase down mobile carries like Ahri or Corki. I often pick this item route to counter the dreaded Vayne & Alistar combo lanes.

AD Caster/Tower Eater I find this to be the most fun of the four build paths. If you already have two tanks on your team and you want to play Vi for her damage and strong initiation this is the build to go. With a heavy focus on AD your abilities will be dealing TONS of damage. a full Q scales to 1.4 and lets you combo your AA-E-AA-E with the short CC and gap closer it provides. You still have strong mobility due to Vault Breaker and the max CDR granted by Ionian Boots of Lucidity. One of the best features of this build is that not only can you insta-gib carries with your combo late game and survive it, but you can tank towers because your E auto attack combo deals damage to turrets. If you really need to backdoor grab a Ohmwrecker and go to town on their towers. If the whole team comes to stop you Assault and Battery the champion on the end of there formation flash if you have it and Vault Breaker to safety.

Offtank This is a very strong path for Vi. I only build in this manor when there is no "true" tank on my side or we really need the extra beefiness. This build works because with her high ratios, she can build a lot of defenses and still put out tons of damage. You can peel with both your Vault Breaker and your Assault and Battery and still take out carries given the opportunity.

Anti-tank This is a build I developed inspired by both EZYoda and watching Wickd play Irelia. This build focus's on Attack speed, On hit Effects, and Denting Blows, to deal damage. With this build you still focus the carries but have the Armor Pen and Percent damage to take out tanky enemies as well. I only take this route when the opposing team has 3-4 tanks, or bruisers on their team. Or one or two really annoying tanks with taunt like Shen and Rammus. Punish them for there insolence.

If you have any questions/ideas/build comments PM me! You might just inspire a new build for me two post up and acknowledge you on!

Your Role As An Anti-Carry! Q&A [Crucial Teamfight Info Inside]

What is an Anti-Carry?
An Anti-Carry is a champion whose job is to bypass the line of tanks and take out the opposing AD and AP carries. Examples are Irelia and Poppy. In late game there goal is to either kill, or zone their carries from the fight. In order to do this, a champ needs Crowd Control Reduction (stuns, slows, silences ect.) because tanks like Leona, Cho'Gath, and Amumu will all try to stun and peel you off their carries. Since Vi needs to be in melee range to do any damage; tanks will do anything they can to keep you away from their most precious carries. Other than CC reduction, Anti Carries need gap closers, burst, survivability mobility, and a bit of CC helps as well (when doesn't it).

What makes Vi an anti carry?
Her kit of course! She has all the things listed above that an Anti Carry needs!

Gap Closers such as Vault Breaker and Assault and Battery help you get past the tanks and bruisers to get you in melee range of the carries.

I have already explained elsewhere why Vi is a burst champion, but why is burst beneficial to an Anti Carry? Lets use the ADC as an example. In most games, by late game that will be your main target, and the opposing team will do everything they can to protect their ADC. How do ADC's work? They deal physical high DPS and have survivability through lifesteal and positioning. They have low health but gain it back by dealing a lot of damage. You need to burst them down 100 to 0 with a full round of your skills. If not they have a chance of regaining all this life back through their high DPS. A dead AD carry can't lifesteal their health back to full. This is why burst helps you so much. They position themselves away from targets that can CC them or deal damage to them. This helps them keep alive, and lifesteal back health they have lost from skirmishes. Use your kit and burst to get up in the carries face and prevent their escape. The sooner you kill them with your burst the less damage they will put out in the fight. This rule goes for both AP and AD carries, and why your role in teamfights are so crucial.

Mobility helps not only getting you to the carries, but fleeing the scene afterword as well. Once you kill an AP or AD carry you will have a big target on your head. Vault Breaker can often times get you away from the scene of the crime. If your having trouble with this part Guardian Angel isn't always a bad idea.

The Minor CC you have will interrupt there auto attacking and therefore their lifesteal. This can give you an upper-hand in duels. It also prevents the ADC from walking away from a fight. Often times they will a jungle camp, and regain all of their health.

You taking out both the enemy teams carries without dying will in most cases win you the teamfight. Often times just absorbing all of the enemy team's CCs and taking out a single carry will the battle in your teams favor, even if you die while killing the carry.

Wait... doesn't everyone focus the carry?
Yes of course, but you have the skills and survivability to get to the carries first, absorb the initial CC through masteries and items, and burst them down before your allies might even be able to get to them. If you can start off a fight by killing either of their carries you put your team at a HUGE advantage.

Masteries

A lot of people seem confused as to why I went this route with my masteries. I take the defensive masteries over the offensive ones simply because Vi scales so well with AD, that she is going to want to build more AD over survivability. By opting for these masteries not only do you get more out of the survivability that you buy but you have have great CC and slow reduction that makes it impossible to peel you off the enemy carries. I'll go through one by one what masteries make the defensive tree viable.

http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/mastery-tree-planner#&tree1=1-0-3-0-4-0-0-0-1-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0&tree2=0-0-4-0-2-2-0-0-2-1-1-0-3-3-0-2-0-0-1&tree3=0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0&v=2

Lets start with offensive masteries
Sorcery Your damage comes CDR and not attack speed. Take this over Fury
Summoner's Wrath We take this because you get bonus move speed on Ghost and Exhaust you can opt for the fourth point in Sorcery instead.
Deadliness Take four points in this for the extra AD but mostly to get Weapon Expertise
Weapon Expertise All around perfect mastery for your role. Vi Does very well against tanks and will also help shred the little defenses that their carries will have.

If You go 21/9/0. Viable but not recommended

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Destruction I would opt for this as a very viable option. Vi eats towers like its her job using AA, Excessive Force, AA, Excessive Force. This will make towers go down even faster. if you are going 21 in defense DO NOT get this over Weapon Expertise (duh)
Lethality and Frenzy Not the best masteries for Vi since she is not really a crit strike champion. Might make some sense if you opt for Triforce however I explain later why I find Iceborn Gauntlet a bet choice.
Brute Force Get this for the AD, this is one of the reason's you would go 21/9/0 but again i feel there is more utility and use in the defensive tree.
Sunder Great mastery for Vi as she loves Armor Pen.
Executioner Good mastery on many champs, however the way I build Vi your enemies won't be escaping with low health anyway. I feel she benefits a lot more from Honor Guard

9/21/0 The Moment We Have All Been Waiting For.... Why Defensive Tree?

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Durability Free Scaling health, synergizes with your passive Blast Shield. Take all 4 points
Hardiness and Resistance I get two points of each, this makes both you and your Blast Shield more durable.
Tough Skin and Bladed Armor You may want to choose these instead of Magic resist for jungling. Your choice.
Veteran's Scars The I walked away with 10 health mastery. Stacks with passive.
Relentless Reduces CC and reduces slow on your Vault Breaker. This stacks with your Boots of Swiftness Give you a whopping 30% slow decrease. This helps with your landing and running away with Vault Breaker and helps mitigate soft CC. A great reason to use Defensive tree.
Safeguard Wether you are diving towers or tanking them this mastery helps from your first gank (be you jungler or top). And mid game where you just want to take towers out. Imo a better option than Destruction only because it serves multiple purposes.
Tenacious 15% CC reduction and stacks MULTIPLICATIVELY with Tenacity. Not only do you start the game with tenacity, you also get increased tenacity when you buy your Zephyr/ Spirit of the Ancient Golem. This Mastery is essential on Vi
Juggernaut 4% increased Max health. Stacks with health items, stacks with passive, increases the minimal survivability you buy so that you can opt for more offensive items. What more is there to say?
Legendary Amor 3.5% extra Armor and Magic Resist? Sure. I only put two points in this.
Honor Guard This grants you 3% reduced damage. This stacks with ANY kind of survivability item wether it be Health, Armor, or Magic Resist. Stacks with passive, makes you naturally more tanky, and an all around better mastery than Executioner .

Now do you see why the Defensive tree is incredibly viable on Vi? It scales up all the defensive items she buys so that she can afford to build more Damage. The CC reduction found in this tree can only be bought elsewhere through items and even STACKS with it if you opt for those items. Try the Defensive Tree. See what you think. PM or comment if you have any questions.

Unique Skills

Blast Shield

Vault Breaker


Denting Blows


Excessive Force


Assault and Battery

Why Cooldown Reduction Instead of Attack Speed?

Vi's damage comes for her abilities. While she is more useful to the team as a bruiser than an AD caster, she needs both Attack Damage and Survivability. Since her damage comes from skills, you need Cooldown Reduction also known as CDR. You deal your damage in bursts not sustained damage per second like and ADC. Think about Riven and Renekton. When was the last time they followed you auto attacking? Never. Your not Tryndamere. You already get some attack speed through Denting Blows and a DOUBLE attack timer reset from Excessive Force. This lets you get 4 auto attacks off in a very short amount of time, and two of them deal bonus damage that scales on AD. Case and point, CDR not Attack speed. A little attack speed will help with Denting Blows to take out tankier targets. However there is no reason to go out of your way for this attack speed. Zephyr grants AD, CDR, Tenacity, Movespeed, AND attackspeed. This will help you fulfill the role of Anti-Carry and let you deal both more burst and DPS damage.

Don't build attack speed Vi. Just don't. (Exceptions made for On-Hit Effect builds)

Why Movespeed?

The one thing Vi is missing in her kit is the ability to stick to her targets after she gap closes. Building items like Frozen Mallet and Iceborn Gauntlet's help you stay on your target once you get to them. Movespeed however, helps you get to the enemies to apply these effects. This is only the general use for Movespeed.

Two of Vi's moves require her to be at point blank melee range. These skills are Denting Blows and Excessive Force. Having more move speed than the opposition will let you chase and land these skills without any CC. If your MS is greater than the opponents they simple will keep eating autos. This will help you chase down multiple targets so you don't have to waist your precious Vault Breaker on a target right in front of you.

Movement speed helps you initiate with your ult. You can get in position and get to their carries with this. The CC reduction will keep you on their carries along with your MS. You will stay on their carries and attract most of the tanks focus. On the flip side if you built tank kill it helps you stay on tanks with CC such as Alistar and Leona. Take some CC, shake it off, chase with MS and Vault Breaker.

Map Presence. Nuff said really, hop walls, get into position quickly put pressure on the map.

Items

So now that you know what alternative stats we are looking for; lets figure out which items Vi benefits the most from! As a versatile character there are a large number of items that I find viable on Vi. I will start with some of my favorites.

Boots of Swiftness

You can call these 'preference' but I actually think these are suited for her kit for a number of reasons. Primary reason is since you have to be at melee range, keeping your base movement speed ahead of the opponents makes it a lot easier to land your Excessive Force and Denting Blows. It also reduces the slow on your vaultbreaker. Coupled with Relentless it is noticeably easier to land Q. It helps with also helps with chasing however, NEVER BUY THESE BOOTS WITHOUT GRABBING AN ITEM WITH TENACITY. Tenacity items i tend to buy are Zephyr when I'm top, or occasionally Spirit of the Ancient Golem when i'm jungling.

Mercury's Treads

I pick these up late game after the movement speed is not as useful and fights are less mobile. I sell my Boots of Swiftness and tenacity item for these and a defensive item.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity

I buy these when i play her as an AD Caster. Helps her combo her skills and get more than one Vault Breaker off in fights. Will let you max out your CDR to 40%.

Enchantment: Alacrity

Helps chase and over MS for your Q to land and to stay in melee range.

Enchantment: Furor

Great for when you need help sticking to enemy carries while your on them. Great for when the opponent has champions like Alistar and Volibear where your CC reduction doesn't reduce the time on Knock Ups and flips, your gonna need raw move speed to catch back up to their carry while the tanks wait for there cool downs. Increases your stickiness after you touch them.

Enchantment: Homeguard

When you have to constantly defend base or make it back to the lanes quicker because your team needs you to initiate, these will get you right back into the fray. Stacks well with all of our accumulated movespeed.

Iceborn Gauntlet

I love this item on Vi. Commonly asked questions are: "Isn't the ability power wasted?" andddd "Why not just buy Frozen mallet?/ Trinity Force". There are a few reason's I use Iceborn over these. A whopping 15% CDR is very nice on Vi. The AP isn't completely waisted there is a respectable AP ratio on Vi's Excessive Force. Coupled with the sheen proc, This item provides far more damage than the 30 damage from Frozen Mallet. The slow on both of them are necessary to stick to your opponents. This is why you need at least one of these three items. Frozen Mallet is viable for this because it provides an equally effective slow, where as the slow from triforce falls off. I do not want to hit my opponent twice (AA-E) and then have them flash away without being slowed. A huge reason I build it is because I have no armor elsewhere in the build. Also the AoE slow fits well with her kit. Long story short, Survivability, Sheen Proc, and an AoE slow all in one for less than the cost of Trinity Force, yes please!

Zephyr

I love this item on Bruiser Vi. Movespeed lets you initiate, chase, and land your Vault Breaker. The CDR is essential because most of her damage comes from her abilities. The decent chunk of attack speed makes proccing Denting Blows a breeze. The small bit of Attack damage helps with her scaling. The Tenacity on this item is what makes it core. I strongly suggest buying this item as it allows you to buy Boots of Swiftness and is the reason for me calling her the Inescapable Bruiser.

Warmog's Armor

A great Defensive option for all Vi Builds. Scales well with your defensive masteries. Also scales well with your passive. If you need to step up as a tank for your team this is a great option. Can replace Ohmwrecker In Offtank Build and for AD caster. I do NOT suggest building this with Atma's Impaler. You are not a crit champion there are better items.


Blood Thirster Blood Thrister

Great offensive options for AD Casters and Bruisers with high AD scaling. Offers survivability through life steal. Will heal you while your shielding and in auto attack range.

Black Cleaver

Absolutely Core on Vi. Will grant you health, damage, and armor pen. Health stacks with passive and masteries. Damage for your high ratios. Armor Pen to add to her already Armor Pen intensive kit runes and masteries, makes you an armor shredding beast.

Ohmwrecker

You can easily tank towers mid-late game and with this and your Excessive Force, Blast Shield and Safeguard. This deals bonus damage to towers and resets your Auto Attack timer. Shut a tower a tower for 2.5 seconds and you and your add will have that tower down within seconds.

Maw of Malmortis Maw of Malmortis
Great offensive MR item if going up against a burst mage instead of a CC threat. Buy Against Champions like Brand and LeBlanc.

Ravenous Hydra

Another great item on Vi. Especially if you have an Iceborn Gauntlet. You'd be surprised the amount of AoE damage you would do. With Ravenous Hydra you will heal more with both single target and multi target. You also regenerate and life steal a lot of health, with increases your survivability especially since you have taken measures through your passive, masteries, and items to protect that health. Incedible item if you need damage. USE THE ACTIVE DURING YOUR BURST. I can't stress this enough, It adds soooooo much damage to your burst especially when building mostly damage. Also very useful for split pushing.

Blade of the Rune King Blade of the Rune King

Get this item against health stackers like Shen and Volibear. Also increases damage output against dragon and baron for quick soloing. At one point it was possible to do baron around the 20 minute mark but I am no longer sure where that stands after balancing. DO NOT rush this item. Vi wants burst over dps. 30 AD and some attack speed will be a lot more beneficial after you have a good amount of AD

Not really ideal for juggling or lane. It increases your jungle speed, grants damage, armor, sustain, and a free ward. All good stats however it delays your core build way too much. The single ward is not enough vision anyway, you should be buying wards to protect your jungle entrances on almost every back.

Perfect Item for Vi IF you are the opponents main focus. If you built straight damage mid game and you got the enemy teams attention by taking their carries out one two many times; buy this item. You will be able to initiate with Assault and Battery and take out a carry or two while doing AoE with Excessive Force. This will soften their team up so that your team can clean up and take the focus off you while you respawn. IMPORTANT: After you die watch the fight and look for a hole in the enemy teams formation. A lot of the time a well timed Vault Breaker will get you out of the fight and into safety. If your team has a healing support or you have enough life steal you may even be able to rejoin the fray.

Hall of Fame and Other Photos

This one is just for fun really. I'm posting a few game replays from when I first started playing Vi and I'm gonna post some with items and full game stats when I play her next. This is just proof that the build works.