Deserved ELO?

That Karthus sucked man, Karthus is really good against Viktor.

I think the issue is people go "What's a Viktor?"

Or I'm good with Viktor. I know what Karthus's moves do and how to avoid them. He isn't that hard to deal with. But man when he gets fed off bads.

You pick Karthus because he can simply outrange Viktor and farm with his Q until he becomes more useful later in the game. It's a fairly safe lane because Viktor's skills are pretty much all short-mid range so you can't ever really get within range.

I picked him myself against Grandmaster who's at 1700 Elo and plays Viktor as pretty much a second main and I was able to avoid dying* and outfarm him despite him using Movespeed quints and playing incredibly aggressively.

* Except when I derped and walked into his ult as he was running from a gank, but it was k cuz he died too.

I don't sit there and attempt to poke him. I only go for kills with Viktor. If I attack, it's to kill them. Karthus's bubbles and wall don't do much when I've bursted him down in one rotation. Neither character is a direct counter to each other. It's really just how each player goes about their thing. Though i'll agree with False, it's probably a matter of "What's this robot guy and I don't know his moves."

Not according to both the Lolpro Viktor guide and GMD. :P

Well he obviously isn't. There is only three characters I haven't figured out how to beat with Viktor without any help from anyone and that's Galio, Morgana and Fizz. Karthus relies on his Lay Waste too do most of his damage. I simply dodge them. It isn't hard. Don't stand in the AoE toggle move, check. And the wall is irrelevant to me as I kill him before it bothers me.

You have one good game against a Viktor as him, cool. That doesn't mean Karthus counters him.

Same thing right back at ya. Just because you have a great lane against him doesn't mean Karthus doesn't counter vik. I have beaten the **** out of many karthus players with him but against a good one (i.e. Luther) I can't do anything. There are a couple of reasons:

• You can't harass karth, he is constantly out of range and a good karth won't try to make trades.
• Vik is a close combat mage, yet karthus heavily outdamages him. All good karthus players run Exhaust, you're ****ed if you get that on you when close to him.
• Karthus outscales viktor so passive farming works in karth's favour.
• Karthus is an excellent pusher so you probably won't be able to roam.
• His Wall of Pain outranges you by far, if you get caught by it he is sure to land a couple of Lay Wastes before you can retaliate.

Viktor is one of my most played champions and I think I know what I'm talking about. I'm not saying Karthus destroys Vik, he absolutely does not. However, Viktor won't ever kill a good karthus and since karth outscales, he wins. Counters aren't always there to kill, sometimes they just win in other ways.

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As for Viktor's hardest matchups:

• Xerath - Outranges hard and just has a better teamfighting phase.
• Ahri - After level six, her mobility is too much to handle for Vik. I've got to say, never met an Ahri who could beat me. She is hard though.
• Anivia - Basic rules as with Karth, yet you have to kill her twice, she pushes harder and actually can kill you.
• Fizz - Hard to lock down, yet managable if you perform well pre-6.
• Karthus - Well.. I believe we just discussed that.
• Twisted Fate - He can be incredibly hard to deal with, if he is played right.

Imo, play normal draft and get good elo there, if you just want to have fun and not get to professional level.

The gameplay is essentially the same, picks, bans etc. So there is no difference. Occasionally some unconventional team comps may be played, but hey, looking back at the concept of "having fun", it's totally ok.
I think elo system is the same as in ranks. (unsure whether or not they deduct any normal elo for dodging games).
Usually most players take normal draft games with much less eagerness then real ranked games. And due to this you are less likely to encounter real tryhards, extreme ragers etc, unlike at the same level of elo in ranked.
As example, I'll take ranked 1500's (that's where I'm usually playing since I duo q with my friend from higher elo a lot).
In ranked 1500's whatever good and nice players there are, just transform into QQ'ers, ragers and tryhards who go solely for elo (and I'm not saying that's bad or wrong. You WANT to win in ranked), whereas in normal drafts they just play for the enjoyment of the game and it's actually pleasing to play with good people or even if they are not good, there is much less rage/afk **** and so on.

And after you get to average elo in normal drafts, you can definitely get some really high elo ranked players on your team ;)
I've gotten some plat. rank players several times (tbh not all of them were amazing xDDD)

So, if you play the game for the fun, draft mode is a way to go, imo...
Save some nerve system efforts for yourself.

Viktor is my most played champion as well. I don't claim to be a pro, but I'm somewhat (admittedly) a try-hard with him. I don't like to believe in things like tier lists and anything other than absolute counters (IE; Galio Counters all casters). A character like Karthus is more about outplaying him. That's the only point I was trying to make.

And I'll admit I only got somewhat defensive because Luther instantly jumps to the "Oh, That Karthus just sucked; you didn't do as good as you think you did!" type response.