Vel'Koz Build Guide : [14.4] Diamond APC-Bot / Support Vel'koz - Peer Review

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I had a question, why would you go chetmtech purifier over morello since you can never proc the 50% heal reduction on it?

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I’ve not updated the guide to reflect that I’ve removed Chemtech. The antiheal on Morello ended up being more important than I expected. If it wasn’t, then Chemtech would be more worthwhile even without the enhanced healing reduction.

Morello is 80 AP for 2,500g
Chemtech is 55 AP and 20 Haste for 2,300g

For Vel’koz, who loves ability haste, the latter wins out. In a vacuum anyway.

Over time I’ve found that the extra healing reduction is just too important when it’s relevant, and when it isn’t relevant, I never built Chemtech anyway (since there were better options).

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Great guide, i am not so sure about ghost because you will die before you even have the chance to use it, thats why i prefer exhaust or barrier, but i dont believe its off meta, i think that when your team has a lot of ad you can surely play most mages at bottom lane, even vel koz, great guide!

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Thanks! I actually tried Exhaust for a while, but found that because of how absurdly squishy Vel'koz is, the Exhaust tended not to make a difference in my overall survivability. Kind of a "If I was in a place to need Exhaust, there was enough overkill to finish me off anyway" kind of deal.

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Dude
THIS IS NOT JUST A GUIDE!! THIS IS DIAMOND GUIDE!!!
Now I know why vel'koz always does me right, because whoever is playing that character is probably FOLLOWING YOUR GUIDE!!!
So, please delete it xD
Anyways, this is really a good guide, thank you :>

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Hey it's your buddy Rasta here! How did you BB Code the stat shards in your Runes Chapter?

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Hey Rasta! Here's the relevant section for ya!

Scaling CDR, Flat AP, and Armor

A standard package that also uses to turn the scaling CDR into scaling AP.

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Hey Rasta! Here's the relevant section for ya!

Code:

[columns][nextcol width=72][img=https://www.mobafire.com/images/shards/time.png height=35 width=35]
[img=https://www.mobafire.com/images/shards/diamond.png height=35 width=35]
[center][img=https://www.mobafire.com/images/shards/shield.png height=35 width=35][/center]
[nextcol width=20]
[nextcol]
[spoiler=Scaling CDR, Flat AP, and Armor][size=4]The only Stat Shard that might seem strange is the CDR. Why go for it if you're already hitting 45% CDR?
The problem is that the 10% CDR from the Stat Shard doesn't finish stacking until level 18, and you don't want to wait that long to cap out on CDR. However, with [[Transcendence]], you can hit 45% CDR and then overcap the CDR Stat Shard into "Scaling 20 AP, the Stat Shard".[/size][/spoiler]
[size=4]A standard package that also uses [[Transcendence]] to turn the scaling CDR into scaling AP.[/size]
[/columns]

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nice velkoz guide brother, thank you for sharing with us.

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Hi! Thanks for the guide, I'm interested in buying and trying out Vel'Koz support at some point and this was pretty helpful. What do you think of the newer AP item Spellbinder? Does it work on support Vel'Koz or are there better options? Thank you!

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Glad this piqued your interest! The problem with Spellbinder is that because of how short the duration is, you're only really getting off one rotation of spells before the effect ends.

In other words, it's not really that great at increasing poke damage (which is Vel'koz's whole Schick) and instead is all about increasing a sudden amount of burst damage.

Since burst isn't the highest consideration, it's better to focus on other items that will add overall higher damage, like Liandrys.

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Ah okay, that makes a lot of sense. Thank you for the quick answer!

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Love the quick guide on Vel'koz. Wasn't exhaustive to read and was informative and to the point. Great design too, appreciate the work and effort gone into this! Keep up the good work!

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Hey, I'm struggling on the new patch. What would you recommend in terms of runes and fist items?

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I will be updating the guide by tomorrow; fortunately there should be relatively little change! The loss of FQC is annoying, but the tradeoff is that now Vel'koz can more quickly get Liandrys, which is big damage.

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Thanks! Any thoughts on going ardent censor, banner/zz-rot, aftershock and font of life against heavy assassin or full engage comps?

I haven't tried it out of the practice tool yet but the theory is that you get speed, cdr, mana regen and ap from ardent; speed, cdr, high resistances and split pushing power from banner/zz-rot. Your allies also get to proc ardent through font of life with q/e/r.
You become unkillable to all-ins if you hit one e because of aftershock and aftershock now scales off of ap for some reason.
Your going to be building a support item that gives health and liandries that gives health so stockpiling resistances makes more sense than before. If aftershock is viable then zeke's harbinger makes sense as well as you can now bait in the middle of a fight. This all might not be viable though, I'd have to try it out in a normal.

I do think that Ascended is better than Watchers because, despite giving less damage and mana regen, it costs 300 less gold. Faster morelloes/liandrys!

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TL;DR? Sounds okay, but very likely to not work out too well.

I could actually see some value out of this build. You do get some team utility that is usually absent.

However, you will have to weigh these new gains against what you are losing.

8 Things to Consider

First thing I need to point out about Aftershock is that in general, it is counter-intuitive to Vel'Koz attributes as a long range artillery. In order to actually deal damage with it, you need to be within range of the assassin/diver/vanguard. And by taking this keystone, you give up Arcane Comet which doesn't require sub-optimal positioning.

Second, Aftershock isn't always guaranteed because Tectonic Disruption (E) isn't always guaranteed since it is another aoe skillshot with a delay on its landing (Similar to Gragas R).

Third, the scaling on Font of Life comes from 1% of your max HP, which is not much even with HP items. And similar to my previous point, the cc is not always guaranteed on a 4 skill-shot kit as compared to Alistar, Blitzcrank, Braum & Leona who can apply cc just by landing empowered auto attacks.

Fourth, Banner would be more optimal than ZZ'Rot since Banner promotions are independent of the item holder's stats... and it is just overall more gold efficient and can be considered for another source of income. ZZP gets more value based on the max HP of the item holder.

Fifth, Ardent Censer also goes into that unreliable category since Vel'Koz does not have any healing or shielding built into his kit. And having to rely on FoL is a situational condition that relies on the situational condition that your teammates are in range to attack the marked enemy. Other than AP & MS & CDR, The item does not synergize well with his kit as a whole.

Sixth, Zeke's Harbinger is in the same category as Aftershock since it requires you to be too close. You might not even consider using Ghost as a summoner spell at this point. Heal would be more optimal due to the change in positioning requirements.

Seventh, Ascended costing less may seem good for costing less gold, but Vel'Koz has a low base HP Regen. The mana coins could help in laning, but it requires him to walk to the wave, which could jeopardize positioning.

Eighth, assuming you take Sorcery as a secondary for Transcendence & Gathering storm, you lose out on Inspiration giving you free boots and 5% CDR for maximum poke potential. And losing Ultimate Hat for shorter cooldowns on LDR.

Running Aftershock with Eye of the Ascended, Ardent Censer, Banner of Command, and possibly Redemption seems like a good combination of items for team utility. However, what would Vel'Koz offer by using this setup? What does he do that another champion in the support role wouldn't already be doing but better?

I am not saying the idea is bad since you have more team utility and some safety against ridiculous hard initiations and assassinations. Similar to his Tank Karthus guide, Vel'Koz lacks innate tankiness and would be really selfish to give up damage for survivability. And you also have to consider late game scaling where most carries get penetrations so tanks lose value.

One of AD's (as well as mine) most common phrases about Vel'Koz is that he can be unforgiving to play as and play against. This build path would require a lot of "Things to go right" and require almost flawless execution... which could also be said about the original build.

My final thoughts would be that there would be not enough rewards gained for other opportunities lost. I encourage you to read the author's reasonings to why he did not run similar rune and item builds on Orianna Support in that guide... and Orianna actually has built-in utility and more reliable CC.

TL;DR? Sounds okay, but very likely to not work out too well.