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Vel'Koz Build Guide by Rudolph

AP Carry Vel'koz (Patch 5.20) - The Pattern Is Clear

AP Carry Vel'koz (Patch 5.20) - The Pattern Is Clear

Updated on October 14, 2015
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Rudolph Build Guide By Rudolph 60 9 1,260,729 Views 49 Comments
60 9 1,260,729 Views 49 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Rudolph Vel'Koz Build Guide By Rudolph Updated on October 14, 2015
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1
QuintessentiaLs | November 14, 2015 12:24am
Any updates for Vel'Koz and the new masteries setup?
1
Evilthorn666 (1) | November 28, 2014 3:09am
I just beat a yasuo's A** then followed up to shut down the fed wukong (8/0) any time we had a team fight. This guide is pretty good the W did more than the Q can 1. you can use it 2x 2. it keeps people from engaging cause they are scared :)
1
thrallscuz2014 | November 4, 2014 3:34pm
In all honesty i have to say that most of you are incorrect, due to the simple fact that it depends on your opponent. Vs an assassin say Katerina ? u wanna max your E first for the stun/knock up which also ends her ult. Q is heavily a skill shot attack which is usually only better when vs say a xerath. so personally i start with e/w/q/e/w/r/e/w and so forth. that's just my preference though.
1
ArcticAngel0075 | July 22, 2014 12:51pm
hey

I'm wondering what the best startup is and why:

1x Faerie Charm
1x Stealth Ward
4x Health Potion
2x Mana Potion
1x Warding Totem

OR

1x Doran's Ring
2x Health Potions
1
Joxuu (336) | July 13, 2014 2:22pm
-1 for the fact that I dislike your items, masteries and guide is still under construction.
1
Machlen | July 13, 2014 2:00pm
Voted +1
love it
1
Zergrush (1) | July 3, 2014 12:06pm
Voted +1
Helped me a lot!
1
Empress Ellie (1) | June 24, 2014 7:37pm
Voted +1
This is a really good build. I use it almost 100% of the time I play Vel'koz. He's my main at the moment. Just needs to be tinkered with depending on the enemy team. :) Thanks for writting it. :D
1
Rudolph (4) | June 23, 2014 1:34am
NSX5 wrote:

I fully expect you to skim this, but I hope it helped. [didn't read over, sorry)

I read every word, and I agree with most of what you said.
I really appreciate your response!
1
chiheilao (1) | June 20, 2014 10:51pm
Voted +1
Great guide, helped me alot
1
NSX5 (1) | June 15, 2014 9:27pm
Hey, first of all thanks for the guide Rudolph! It was a great starting point when I decided to go back to Vel'Koz (from Lux main) as I initially thought he was a terrible champion.

Because I've pretty much *****D Vel'Koz in ranked and ever since I learnt your guide, I've won 20 games and lost 10 in ranked (which is pretty interesting for me as I'm not a very disciplined player) and rarely ever lose my lane if the pick is right. I've probably stacked up around a hundred normal games as Vel'Koz in a short amount of time.
Any team you play against that doesn't try and shut you down when initiating a teamfight is destined for loss, the amount of damage vs champions you deal every game is an interesting stat you should check, I tend to trump every single player in the game with damage.

I'd like to point out what helps players like me. Bearing in mind I'm in Silver V (can't play much ranked due to University and training in Normals) I do spend a lot of games laning vs Gold/Plat because my friends from back home are high elo and I'm usually the one low rank on the team with no border, these tips are based on experiences from a combination of bronze to plat.

First of all, lane opponents with difficulty rating max 10. I'm writing this because I really disagree with matchup information, I don't consider some champions to be hard to lane against.

-AD Laners are pretty much solid **** to lane against. Zed, Talon and Yasuo are criminals.

x Yasuo - Freaking 8/10! I've managed to trump Yasuos that aren't comfortable with the champions with auto attacks and aggro, if they're not using sweeping blade or respecting the PASSIVE, it helps to do this. ALWAYS Request a Yasuo ban. ALWAYS, Vel'Koz is not a safe pick vs yasuo. IMPORTANT: See Tip about summoner spells on x Zed

x Zed - 7/10. This guy gets a massive surge in strength if he picks up first blood. Watch the shadow, a good Zed will always return to his shadow if... a) vel has used stun b) a few abilities are on cooldown c) Vel is ballsy enough to go near it. PRO TIP: Run exhaust against him, and pop it when he ults. It makes him laughably weak as most Zeds can towerdive you if you're 0/2/0 because of them. If you really want Zed to ignore you for the WHOLE GAME get a zhonya's hourglass (see below), it is also interestingly humiliating if your adc is Sivir and your jungler is Nocturne.

x Talon - 8/10. I still need more data on this kid but him teleporting behind your ult is not nice. Keep your finger over the R when you ult and be ready to cancel it when he uses cutthroat. Rake is really easy to dodge if you utilise the angles on Vel's Q to harass. Save your stun for the trades, if you use your stun he will cut-throat and it'll be very difficult to out trade him. Save the trades for retreat, Q,W when he moves towards you, if you damage him he'll back off because the slow is quite scary if you miss, he'll cutthroat and you need to retreat or feign retreat. If he stays on you, land the W,E combo and carry on retreating till you can Q,W (your Q should be back up from earlier and another W will be back). I started picking up pinks at his 6 and just dropping at the edge of the tower's trusight range especially vs Evelyn/Twitch/Rengar. If he attacks the ward,W,E,(Q),W Ult. (depends on if there are obstacles)

AD Laners make roaming harder because they can trash your tower when you're fed.

Building against AD Laners: I've found rushing Seeker's to be extremely sucky for laning, it ruins their kill potential but getting an item that doesn't provide mana makes the rest of the game precarious. If you get first blood and have good farm, I'd recommend building mana into morellonomicon (if team is all AD/ have a mundo, volibear, sion, tanky darius, support healer) or chalice and codex (if team has high damage AP such as fiddlesticks,lulu support, lux support)

Laners I love laning against (win 90% of the time)

~~The Roamers~~

x LeBlanc 3/10 (if you land your skillshots) 6/10 (if she exploits her mobility, becomes a farm game) 8/10 (if she's come back in lane with kills and level 6) - there's not much she can do to out trade you before 6. My little game I play with LB is 'Proc Le Passive'. Simple, pull off a combo and make her passive trigger. I can usually do this before level 4. Don't be afraid when she closes on you, she's not an assassin till she's fed. cast W in a straight path flowing between you, her and her teleport location. This guarantees you a hit on her which is why she's particularly weak early game, a full combo after this often procs the passive. Has she snagged you with that ridiculous tether? Well if you're at max range she'll only want to move towards you so show her what you think of that with a Q,W,E,R. Remember LB is hindered by range so exploit your geometry, it can be such a mindf__k to people who are new vs Vel.

Your main job when laning vs LB... NEVER LET HER ROAM. ?, ?, ! if she's off screen for more than two seconds in a lane, pushed or not. She will focus you (more than the ADC usually) if she gets back up, and you will be defenceless.

x Katarina 4/10 (pretty much all the time). I haven't laned against Katarina much, but the last three times (ever since I studied her and learnt how vulnerable she is early game) I killed her before my level 3. E,W just too stronk! The queen of resets has the misfortune of laning against you. She can spam bouncing blades all she wants, but sooner or later she'll be in to last hit --> W, auto attack EVERY time she comes near but avoid minion aggro at all costs. She will eventually grow sick of this punishment and shunpo away --> W,E auto attack. If you pull this off when she's out of health potions AND shunpo ignite away and throw some W's in her path for good measure.
Why?? She's melee, and instead of Akali's shroud (we'll get to that) her defensive measure against Vel is quite weak because he has a lot of abilities to replace missed shots. At Level 6, safe your E for her ult and don't even use it to survive a gank, she WILL use it to try and secure the kill. If she uses it with no minion cover (if you have no E, Flash as far away from her) then combo her. Without MR or a significantly stronger build, you will melt through her with your 500 base damage, extra ~100 true damage and possible knockup.

x Akali - 5/10 (she's not easy to kill because of her shroud, but she shouldn't kill you. Don't let her roam!) Like Katarina, but she'll use her Q to farm more because it doesn't push the wave. Her pesky shroud will be dropped when you ult, hard to see, damage is drastically reduced. Don't get cocky, stay away from her shroud and conserve mana, though if she doesn't respect you when she's in the shroud, keep an eye on cannon minions and W,E when she shows up to last hit (only when you're great on mana).
She will recover.
If Akali is bad on farm and has no kills a 20m, she probably won't. All it takes is a bad call for drake, you win the teamfight and she shows up and shrouds your team then she builds THAT GUNBLADE. Nuff sed, Akali's a demon.

x Kassadin 3/10 (if he thinks he can kill, trade you for damage or disrespects your passive) 6/10 (becomes a boring farm game if he shows up with a Flask, well aware of your lane dominance and only farms while waiting for gank). Like the Roamers, doesn't take too much effort for him to recover. At level 6, cosy up on your turret, ganks incoming.

Noteworthy...

Nidalee - Vel'Koz thrives against champions that step out of cover to take skillshots. land the Q then follow up. It becomes unpreictabe a) at her level 6 (because her mobility and gap closing are dangerous as are her cougar attacks) and b) if you take a spear (because she will outlevel you and have full health due to sustain when you come back to lane if she forces a back.) If you hit your skillshots, less spears will be taken and you'll have a safer laning phase but vs Nidalee it could turn into a lengthy farm game.

Morgana - Most infuriating laning opponent. Absolutely safe from your CC and magic with black shield and will most likely concentrate on outfarming you and keeping you in lane. She will run out of mana at some point, especially when black shield is forced by using your E so feel free to go ham if she tries to milk the farm.

Annie - She can surprise you. More information when low elo players learn to play and pick her in mid (played against a high elo player which wasnt fun)

Anivia - Will auto attack harass and dive you before level 3 in most cases, don't try and match damage because you both will die once you're ignited... then she's reborn and flashes away. Congratulations, you have provided her with gold for mana sustain at her level, have fun avoiding dat ult.

~~UNPLEASANT AP LANERS~~

Fizz - Obvious reasons, can burst you down with your full health if he lands ult, tricksters your E and Ult. Feel free to W when he tricksters and try and kite. If he closes in on you always start off with Q. Pain incoming. Keep your health up, close to max as much as possible.

Ziggs - Terrifying burst damage, and ridiculous Q poke. He will outfarm you for good measure and wreck your tower if you leave lane, don't ult if he can kill you with his ult...lol. Watch for the passive, give him space when it's up.

TF, Lux and Karthus are generally quite easy. Lux should never get her light binding on you, TF should never stun you, Karthus should never get wall of pain on you and don't be baited by him giving up his life for the kill/assist.

OTHER GENERAL TIPS

Rylais is an absolute game changer it's my third build after boots and mana item, unfortunately the pre-requisites are terrible, none of them do much for kill potential. When you get it, KITE AWAY! Note, this is why ZH is so hard to get because you'll need mana item, boots and then rylais, those items will increase your survivability and reduce your kill potential. Farm away if you have to get ZH.

I like surviving ignite with the instant health biscuits provide, and blue buff is only compulsory on Vel when he has to build ZH (you're screwed if Diana is your jungler)
I prefer mana regen to an extra 5 movespeed. Kitelord Vel'Koz is better off surviving laning phase and building rylais than trying to dodge skillshots which is possible eitherway.

Vel'Koz works really well with supports, help them ward the jungle if there are no objectives or farm, if it's leona and you can fight it, his tide of damage on the rooted target should earn you a kill.

I wouldn't really ult without ONE stack of organic deconstruction.

Plasma fission has a relatively large explosion when it splits. this allows you to hit targets that thought they were safe it also seems (like lux's light binding split) to prefer champions to minions.

Always be aware of champions that can interrupt your ult. A whole bunch of em can.

When I'm fed and close to rylais (like super fed) I do run boots of swiftness with alacrity, especially against permaslowers. Wish them luck when they try and catch you. If mobo's hadn't been nerfed they'd be my boots of of choice... EVERY TIME as I used to run on Lux to get in laser range.)

I've started running Q against Yasuo. Notice he gets a shield when his Flow (unique secondary bar) well you never want to waste mana procing that. Hit him with a basic (even through windwall) and run away as minions turn on you. Let his whirlwind time-out. Now's not the time to let him catch up. Don't allow him to cap close to you, especially with two or three stacks of tempest as he can just ult you in melee range.


I fully expect you to skim this, but I hope it helped. [didn't read over, sorry)

If you're interested in looking me up - NeoSlayerX5 EUW.
My stats do change when I begin experimenting vs match-ups!
1
Altos19 (1) | June 15, 2014 5:41pm
Voted +1
Very good, ill use it my next match
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