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Runes: Typical/Vs AD
1
2
3
4
5
6
Sorcery
Inspiration
+8 ability haste
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor
Spells:
1
2
Bread & Butter
Barrier
Flash
Items
Ability Order ABILITY ORDER
Organic Deconstruction (PASSIVE)
Vel'Koz Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Extreme
Major
Even
Minor
Tiny
None
Low
Ok
Strong
Ideal
Blitzcrank
Same as bard, if he's bot lane be on guard because if he roams mid and hooks you you'll probably die.
Ideal
Strong
Ok
Low
None

*Wiggles tentacles in a wave-like fashion*
Welcome to my Vel'koz mid guide!
I currently have around 600K mastery points on Vel'koz, with around 350k in the mid lane, and around 250k playing him support/bottom lane.
I wanted to make a useful Mid lane Vel'koz guide for you all since I've played a lot of him at this point and have some helpful information to share.
After you've read this guide, be sure to check out Azzapp's V'k mid guide here on Mobafire as well, he knows a great deal about the squid beast and I've learned a lot from him as well.
With that said, let's get on with the rest of our guide!
"It is unclear if Vel’Koz was the first Voidborn to emerge on Runeterra, but there has certainly never been another to match his level of cruel, calculating sentience. While his kin devour or defile everything around them, he seeks instead to scrutinize and study the physical realm—and the strange, warlike beings that dwell there—for any weakness the Void might exploit. But Vel’Koz is far from a passive observer, striking back at threats with deadly plasma, or by disrupting the very fabric of the world itself."
"His insatiable hunger for knowledge has led Vel’Koz across the world, to its highest peaks and darkest depths. Cunning and methodical, he has quietly watched entire civilizations rise, stagnate and decay, spent centuries combing the ocean floor for its secrets, even scrying the movements of the stars in the heavens above him."
"He carries all of this knowledge back to the great rifts in the fabric of Runeterra—so that the Watchers might know what he knows—and will annihilate, without hesitation, any mortal who stands in his path."
"For the Void is eternal, and it will consume us all."
https://lol.gamepedia.com/Vel%27Koz
"His insatiable hunger for knowledge has led Vel’Koz across the world, to its highest peaks and darkest depths. Cunning and methodical, he has quietly watched entire civilizations rise, stagnate and decay, spent centuries combing the ocean floor for its secrets, even scrying the movements of the stars in the heavens above him."
"He carries all of this knowledge back to the great rifts in the fabric of Runeterra—so that the Watchers might know what he knows—and will annihilate, without hesitation, any mortal who stands in his path."
"For the Void is eternal, and it will consume us all."
https://lol.gamepedia.com/Vel%27Koz
Pros
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+ Absurd poke with Q (High damage, low cooldown, & low mana cost) + Ridiculous range and kill potential with Q and Ult + Few terrible matchups since he can farm safely with is long range Q + Super high damage (can melt tanks with passive true damage) + His AoE ultimate is one of the best teamfighting ultimates in the game, you can solo carry teamfights with a good ultimate + Super annoying to play against! (dodging the Q geometry is hard and mentally taxing) + Decent CC because of his knockup, and his Q and ultimate slow the enemy + Can go ![]() |
Cons
|
- SUPER squishy - Pretty weak pre-level 6 (low kill pressure without ult) - Low mobility - Pop-up can be hard to land, especially against champs with dashes - Runs out of mana early if you use all of your abilities - Bad against assassins and high damage champs with gap closers - Relies heavily on landing skillshots and requires excellent positioning to not die and be effective |
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*


*I like to take

*You can take


*I prefer


*I love

*The two choices here are



*If you don't think you'll be building Zhonya's then you can try out the Domination tree as your secondary tree instead of inspiration.
*

*




*


*


*



*

*I prefer the


*I prefer the extra CDR from




*I feel like V'k loses too much damage from losing




*

*


*


*All four of the options here are pretty good in my opinion. I think the best option though is


*


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PLASMA FISSION (Q): Plasma Fission is Vel'Koz's main poking and damage ability. It has very long range and you're able to recast it while it's in mid flight to change change its trajectory (shooting at a 45 degree angle will give you maximum range from this ability, and often times makes it much harder for the enemy to dodge). The recast portion of this ability is much faster than the original cast, you can use this to your advantage and it makes dodging this ability much harder. This ability has the capability to hit 3 enemy champions, or minions, as once it hits a target 2 additional Plasma Fission's will spawn and fly off in opposite directions. Each unit killed by Plasma Fission will refund 50% of it's mana cost, which means, if you kill 2 units with it you'll get all your mana back, and if you kill 3 units with it this ability actually lets you regen mana! |
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VOID RIFT (W): Void Rift is a relatively speaking low damage ability, but one cast of Void Rift can potentially yield two stacks of your passive. This is because Void Rift has an initial damage portion when it's cast, and then an additional damage portion after a delay. There are two ways to help ensure you land both portions of its damage. #1 is to land your knock up and then immediately use your Void Rift, this is the most guaranteed way to land both of the damage portions and ensure you proc your passive true damage. Way #2 is to land your Plasma Fission and then immediately use your Void Rift. This way is less reliable since the enemy will just be slowed and not knocked up but it can & does still work. In summary, the main function of this ability is to get stacks of your passive, and not necessarily do damage by itself. |
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TECTONIC DISRUPTION (E): Tectonic Disruption is Vel'Koz's only form of hard CC and it's very important you get good at landing it. This ability is often the difference between life & death. The reason this ability can be difficult to land is because there is a delay between the time it is cast and when it actually lands. With practice you will get the hang of it though. Many of your kills will come from when you successful land this ability, allowing you to land your other abilities and two rotations of your passive. |
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LIFE FORM DISINTEGRATION RAY (R): Life Form Disintegration Ray is Vel'Koz's most powerful ability and is possibly the longest named ability in League of Legends xD. This ability does a ton of damage and is what gives Vel'Koz a ton of kill pressure once he reaches level 6, and beyond. The beauty of this ult, and a lot of people don't know this, is that once you proc your passive one time your ult will do entirely TRUE DAMAGE instead of magic damage. For this reason you'll want to try to proc your passive at least once before using your ultimate. (This ability makes melting tanks much easier due to all the true damage you can do with it). Your ult by itself can apply three stacks of your passive, so even if it only does magic damage, at the end of its cast it will apply a proc of your true damage passive. (Be careful when using your ultimate as you can be disrupted by CC after using it, so try to position somewhat far away from the enemy before using, one thing you can do after landing your knock up and other abilities is to take a quick step backward and then use your ult so that they can't retaliate with CC and stop your ultimate, or wait until they use their ability that can cancel your ult and then use your ult). The last tip about your ultimate is that you're able to move up to 90 degrees after casting your ultimate (90 degrees is 1/4th of a full circle for you non-geometryers). |
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Level 3
*This combo hurts like a ***** when it hits the enemy because it procs your passive and slaps them with true damage. I don't go for this too often before getting at least a


*If you can land your Q first, and you're within range to use your E, the slow from your Q will make landing your E much easier, and then follow up with your W once the knock up lands. You can mix up the order of this combo if you hit your knock up first, follow up with W, and then hit them with you Q, it doesn't matter it's just difficult to land your Q sometimes since there will often be minions in your way.
*You can also use your Q as a decoy to force the enemy to run near their minions to dodge it, then hit them with your E + W. This works well for landing your E + W and getting a rotation of your passive off. This decoy technique also works incredibly well for getting kills once you get your ultimate.
*Also note, you can hit the enemy with an auto attack after you've popped them up and used W, then you can back after and they won't be able to return any damage on you. Your auto attacks do a lot of damage in the early game.
*Final note, you can switch up the order of the combo and use W before E. If you use W then E the combo is a bit faster because W has no cast time, however, I feel like it's easier to land the W once you knock them up, but it's up to you how you want to do it.
Level 6 Combo
*Use E when the enemy Mid is going for a last hit. If looks like your E will land then use W, then Q (angle it if minions are in the way), then drop your ultimate to kill them or burn their flash. If they enemy is low then often times your Q doesn't need to land to kill them. You can even not re-active your Q since the enemy might flash into it as they try to flash away from your ultimate.
*Be mindful of the enemy's CC before using your ultimate because their CC can stop your ultimate before you can do all of your damage. Sometimes it's best to take a quick step back before casting your ultimate to ensure you are out of range of their CC, or to delay using your ultimate until after they use their ability that can cancel your ultimate.
*After landing a Q, you can land your E much more easily, then use W, and then use your ultimate, this will often kill them or make them use their flash.
*Remember, you can also use your Q as a decoy to force the enemy to run into their ally minions, which then lets you hit them with your E + W combo, and your ultimate.
*Use E when the enemy Mid is going for a last hit. If looks like your E will land then use W, then Q (angle it if minions are in the way), then drop your ultimate to kill them or burn their flash. If they enemy is low then often times your Q doesn't need to land to kill them. You can even not re-active your Q since the enemy might flash into it as they try to flash away from your ultimate.
*Be mindful of the enemy's CC before using your ultimate because their CC can stop your ultimate before you can do all of your damage. Sometimes it's best to take a quick step back before casting your ultimate to ensure you are out of range of their CC, or to delay using your ultimate until after they use their ability that can cancel your ultimate.
*After landing a Q, you can land your E much more easily, then use W, and then use your ultimate, this will often kill them or make them use their flash.
*Remember, you can also use your Q as a decoy to force the enemy to run into their ally minions, which then lets you hit them with your E + W combo, and your ultimate.
Q + R Combo
*This combo is great for surprising an enemy squishy champion and getting a free kill.
*Shoot a Q at a roughly 45 degree angle and instantly fire off your ult (straight ahead is 0 degress, to your left is 90 degrees, so right in the middle of that is 45 degrees, and that's where you want to shoot your Q). Often times as the enemy flees your ult they will accidentally walk/flash right into your Q, and it feels damn good when that happens
*This combo is great for surprising an enemy squishy champion and getting a free kill.
*Shoot a Q at a roughly 45 degree angle and instantly fire off your ult (straight ahead is 0 degress, to your left is 90 degrees, so right in the middle of that is 45 degrees, and that's where you want to shoot your Q). Often times as the enemy flees your ult they will accidentally walk/flash right into your Q, and it feels damn good when that happens
Flash Combo
*Q has a delay and it stops you from moving momentarily when you cast it, which means if you're chasing someone down they might get out of range before Q hits them. If you hit Q, then flash right away, your Q will instantly cast after flashing and it will be more likely to catch the enemy before they can get away, or cause them to burn their flash as well.
*This combo is great for chasing someone down, or for catching someone off-guard and getting a pick. Use your other abilities afterwards to secure the kill if needed.
*Q has a delay and it stops you from moving momentarily when you cast it, which means if you're chasing someone down they might get out of range before Q hits them. If you hit Q, then flash right away, your Q will instantly cast after flashing and it will be more likely to catch the enemy before they can get away, or cause them to burn their flash as well.
*This combo is great for chasing someone down, or for catching someone off-guard and getting a pick. Use your other abilities afterwards to secure the kill if needed.
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Your job during the early game (aka laning phase) is to stay healthy, not get ganked, get good CS, and finally to look to poke the enemy laner and go for a kill should the opportunity arise.
Staying Healthy:
Staying healthy is all about staying out of range of the enemies abilities and auto attacks. This is generally pretty easy to do because you have some of the highest range in the game.
Watch out for them to try to use an ability on you when you go for a last hit. You have to learn when to go and attack a CS, when to use an ability to get the last hit, and when to give up the CS entirely.
Against your hardest matchups, like Yasuo, Fizz, even Zed, you often times have to give up quite a bit of CS, but that's fine, your only other alternative is getting all-in'd and dying or getting so low you have to base, in both cases you'll be missing more CS than you would by just playing safe and giving up a couple.
You hard beat your hard matchups in teamfights later in the game so play for that.
Don't Get Ganked:
This one is sometimes easy and sometimes hard, like when the enemy jungler is duo with their mid laner and is camping you.
You always want to keep a ward in the mid brush, or even better deeper in the river so that you can see if the enemy jungler is trying to flank you.
Sometimes you can just run away from a gank, or throw a Q at them and run away, but certain high mobility and high CC junglers will make it very hard for you to get away.
Generally speaking try to always play safe and assume you're about to get ganked unless you see the enemy jungler elsewhere on your mini-map.
If your flash is down hug your tower like your life depends on it, because it does.
V'k is a very low mobility squishy champ, and your lane is in middle of the map, both of those facts make you a prime target for getting ganked.
You don't need to get overly aggressive in the early game, you don't have enough damage pre-6 and you don't have enough mana yet to spam your abilities, typically you just want to play safe, farm, and not throw your lane/game by trying to do things your champ isn't designed to do.
You're a mid & late game teamfight monster so play for that, not early game kills and aggression.
Make sure you watch your mini-map and help your jungler if you see him fighting for the scuttle with the enemy jungler, scuttle fights are huge for the junglers so winning it and setting your jungler ahead and setting their jungler behind is huge for your team winning the game.
That said, you might want to just spam ping your jungler to flee if you are low on mana, or if your mid lane opponent and their jungler are strong early game champions since you know you'll lose a 2v2 fight if it happens.
With any luck your jungler will be smart and give it up and just go elsewhere to farm.
Also, don't follow your enemy mid laner into brush you don' have vision of, or if they are the kind of champion that can kill you.
Always take the safer route, and even then use Q's to check brush before entering, unless you see them on the mini-map.
There's a lot of roaming champs you can't follow because you'll die if they get on you, ping your allies to fall back, shove your lane instead of following, and hopefully your allies understand you can't follow because of the matchup.
*With all that said, try to play in the middle of the lane, or towards the side of the lane that your jungler is on. If a scuttle fight breaks out you can get there more quickly if you're playing the side of the lane that is closer to where your jungler is. Also, if you get ganked your jungler will be closer to come and help you out.
Get Good CS:
Getting good CS is all about getting good at last hitting with auto attacks, and using your abilities intelligently to farm.
It's also about not getting low on HP so that you can't be all-in'd when trying to get CS, and that comes from knowing matchups and playing smart so that you don't get blahp'd by assasins/Yasuo at level 2/3 when you should have been playing more safely.
You really don't do that much damage early because you'll be leveling W to maximize your waveclear.
Also, know which junglers love to level 2 gank and play super safe versus them (Lee Sin/Twitch/Xin Zhao/etc).
Once you hit level 5 (level 3 on your W) you'll be able to use one W on the wave and use E on the caster minions and kill all the casters. Then another W and a Q on the melee minions and you should have cleared the whole wave, if it isn't a cannon wave.
One thing to note is don't be afraid to Q low HP minions, especially when you need to play safe, because you get 50% of your mana back from each minion you kill with it. If you can kill 2, or even 3 minions, you can get all of your mana back, or even extra mana back.
Poking The Enemy Laner:
Personally, I don't think it's super worth it to try to poke the enemy laner until after your first back, but it can be rewarding if you can land your Q's consistently, or your E + W combo a few times (and auto attacks), or if you're playing into an easy matchup.
It's usually always good to use your first few Q's once you get lane to try to harass and pressure the enemy mid-laner since you'll have lots of mana and it lets their midlaner know he needs to be worried about you and that he isn't going to get to farm for free.
Even though you don't want to blow all your mana before your first back harassing your enemy, you DO always want to be pressuring them. You do this by always dancing in and out of their auto attack range, and in and out of their ability range. You want to constantly try to bait and dodge their abilities.
Once 1 or more of their abilities is down you can get super aggressive, run towards them, and force them back away from the minion wave. This causes them to back off and loose CS, or to fight you, in which cause you should win because you can hit them with your abilities but they can't because their abilities are on cooldown (unless it's Yasuo or a few other bad matchups where you get wrecked regardless).
Once you hit your first back and get some mana and/or AP, maybe even a Lost Chapter, then you want to start looking to poke the enemy with Q's, and/or to look for E + W/W + E combo's when they go for last hits (especially cannon minions since they'll try to go for the cannon minion 98% of the time, and if they don't you'll cost them a lot of gold by forcing them off it).
Generally, this is how you get solo kills in lane, poke the enemy down with Q's and/or go for a knock up when they go for a last hit and kill them with your combo.
Once you hit level 6, make sure you try to poke them down to about 60-70% HP before going for an E + W combo into your ultimate, otherwise they'll usually get away with a little HP, which is actually ok, especially if you burn their flash.
One trick you can do to get a surprise kill is once you're about to hit level 6 you can use a Q to force the enemy towards his minions, then use your W + E on him and the wave, which will kill the CS and level you up to 6, then level up your ultimate and use it to kill him.
This can be a very effective strategy to get you an early kill if their mid laner is low, or an effective way to burn their flash.
Warding:
Always try to keep a ward in the mid brush or a little bit deeper in the river, then hug the side of the lane that your ward is on so that you have more time to run away from the enemy jungler.
If the jungler ganks from the side you don't have vision on then run towards your tower, or just run away from him and loop back around to your tower. Don't run straight for your tower if it means the enemy jungler will catch you, thus resulting in your death or flash burned.
Periodically check your yellow trinket timer and throw down your ward whenever it comes up.
You want to be looking at your mini-map every 2-3 seconds, that way you will always know what's going on on the map, and whether you're about to be ganked or not.
Summary:
The early game for Vel'Koz Mid is about playing safe and not dying, maximizing your CS so that you become strong in the mid & late game, and poking the enemy and looking for kills, but mostly once you get some items & levels.
Staying Healthy:
Staying healthy is all about staying out of range of the enemies abilities and auto attacks. This is generally pretty easy to do because you have some of the highest range in the game.
Watch out for them to try to use an ability on you when you go for a last hit. You have to learn when to go and attack a CS, when to use an ability to get the last hit, and when to give up the CS entirely.
Against your hardest matchups, like Yasuo, Fizz, even Zed, you often times have to give up quite a bit of CS, but that's fine, your only other alternative is getting all-in'd and dying or getting so low you have to base, in both cases you'll be missing more CS than you would by just playing safe and giving up a couple.
You hard beat your hard matchups in teamfights later in the game so play for that.
Don't Get Ganked:
This one is sometimes easy and sometimes hard, like when the enemy jungler is duo with their mid laner and is camping you.
You always want to keep a ward in the mid brush, or even better deeper in the river so that you can see if the enemy jungler is trying to flank you.
Sometimes you can just run away from a gank, or throw a Q at them and run away, but certain high mobility and high CC junglers will make it very hard for you to get away.
Generally speaking try to always play safe and assume you're about to get ganked unless you see the enemy jungler elsewhere on your mini-map.
If your flash is down hug your tower like your life depends on it, because it does.
V'k is a very low mobility squishy champ, and your lane is in middle of the map, both of those facts make you a prime target for getting ganked.
You don't need to get overly aggressive in the early game, you don't have enough damage pre-6 and you don't have enough mana yet to spam your abilities, typically you just want to play safe, farm, and not throw your lane/game by trying to do things your champ isn't designed to do.
You're a mid & late game teamfight monster so play for that, not early game kills and aggression.
Make sure you watch your mini-map and help your jungler if you see him fighting for the scuttle with the enemy jungler, scuttle fights are huge for the junglers so winning it and setting your jungler ahead and setting their jungler behind is huge for your team winning the game.
That said, you might want to just spam ping your jungler to flee if you are low on mana, or if your mid lane opponent and their jungler are strong early game champions since you know you'll lose a 2v2 fight if it happens.
With any luck your jungler will be smart and give it up and just go elsewhere to farm.
Also, don't follow your enemy mid laner into brush you don' have vision of, or if they are the kind of champion that can kill you.
Always take the safer route, and even then use Q's to check brush before entering, unless you see them on the mini-map.
There's a lot of roaming champs you can't follow because you'll die if they get on you, ping your allies to fall back, shove your lane instead of following, and hopefully your allies understand you can't follow because of the matchup.
*With all that said, try to play in the middle of the lane, or towards the side of the lane that your jungler is on. If a scuttle fight breaks out you can get there more quickly if you're playing the side of the lane that is closer to where your jungler is. Also, if you get ganked your jungler will be closer to come and help you out.
Get Good CS:
Getting good CS is all about getting good at last hitting with auto attacks, and using your abilities intelligently to farm.
It's also about not getting low on HP so that you can't be all-in'd when trying to get CS, and that comes from knowing matchups and playing smart so that you don't get blahp'd by assasins/Yasuo at level 2/3 when you should have been playing more safely.
You really don't do that much damage early because you'll be leveling W to maximize your waveclear.
Also, know which junglers love to level 2 gank and play super safe versus them (Lee Sin/Twitch/Xin Zhao/etc).
Once you hit level 5 (level 3 on your W) you'll be able to use one W on the wave and use E on the caster minions and kill all the casters. Then another W and a Q on the melee minions and you should have cleared the whole wave, if it isn't a cannon wave.
One thing to note is don't be afraid to Q low HP minions, especially when you need to play safe, because you get 50% of your mana back from each minion you kill with it. If you can kill 2, or even 3 minions, you can get all of your mana back, or even extra mana back.
Poking The Enemy Laner:
Personally, I don't think it's super worth it to try to poke the enemy laner until after your first back, but it can be rewarding if you can land your Q's consistently, or your E + W combo a few times (and auto attacks), or if you're playing into an easy matchup.
It's usually always good to use your first few Q's once you get lane to try to harass and pressure the enemy mid-laner since you'll have lots of mana and it lets their midlaner know he needs to be worried about you and that he isn't going to get to farm for free.
Even though you don't want to blow all your mana before your first back harassing your enemy, you DO always want to be pressuring them. You do this by always dancing in and out of their auto attack range, and in and out of their ability range. You want to constantly try to bait and dodge their abilities.
Once 1 or more of their abilities is down you can get super aggressive, run towards them, and force them back away from the minion wave. This causes them to back off and loose CS, or to fight you, in which cause you should win because you can hit them with your abilities but they can't because their abilities are on cooldown (unless it's Yasuo or a few other bad matchups where you get wrecked regardless).
Once you hit your first back and get some mana and/or AP, maybe even a Lost Chapter, then you want to start looking to poke the enemy with Q's, and/or to look for E + W/W + E combo's when they go for last hits (especially cannon minions since they'll try to go for the cannon minion 98% of the time, and if they don't you'll cost them a lot of gold by forcing them off it).
Generally, this is how you get solo kills in lane, poke the enemy down with Q's and/or go for a knock up when they go for a last hit and kill them with your combo.
Once you hit level 6, make sure you try to poke them down to about 60-70% HP before going for an E + W combo into your ultimate, otherwise they'll usually get away with a little HP, which is actually ok, especially if you burn their flash.
One trick you can do to get a surprise kill is once you're about to hit level 6 you can use a Q to force the enemy towards his minions, then use your W + E on him and the wave, which will kill the CS and level you up to 6, then level up your ultimate and use it to kill him.
This can be a very effective strategy to get you an early kill if their mid laner is low, or an effective way to burn their flash.
Warding:
Always try to keep a ward in the mid brush or a little bit deeper in the river, then hug the side of the lane that your ward is on so that you have more time to run away from the enemy jungler.
If the jungler ganks from the side you don't have vision on then run towards your tower, or just run away from him and loop back around to your tower. Don't run straight for your tower if it means the enemy jungler will catch you, thus resulting in your death or flash burned.
Periodically check your yellow trinket timer and throw down your ward whenever it comes up.
You want to be looking at your mini-map every 2-3 seconds, that way you will always know what's going on on the map, and whether you're about to be ganked or not.
Summary:
The early game for Vel'Koz Mid is about playing safe and not dying, maximizing your CS so that you become strong in the mid & late game, and poking the enemy and looking for kills, but mostly once you get some items & levels.
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The mid-game for Vel'koz Mid is about getting gold through farming and continuing to scale, assisting your teammates in skirmishes & securing objectives, and finally not dying.
Farming & Scaling:
Often times your teammates will all come mid, which denies you gold and exp, which can be frustrating.
Unfortunately, Vel'koz is not a good sidelaner since he can be killed so easily, but if everyone is hogging up CS in the mid lane then you can drop down to one of the sidelanes and clear a wave or two if it is pushing into you or close to the tower.
Keeping up good CS is very important for Vel'koz Mid.
Unless you're getting a ton of kills you need the gold from high CS to stay ahead or even in items so that you can blahp the enemy team in the late game teamfights that will usually decide the fate of the game.
Assisting In Skirmishes:
If a fight is obviously going to result in you & your team losing then ping your teammates away and get out of there, there's no sense in throwing your life away because your teammates made a bad call.
If you can safely throw a Q or GLP to help them run away do it, but don't die for them.
That said, if the fight seems somewhat winnable then you should help your teammates. You should be pretty strong at this point and a good combo can turn the tide of the fight.
Look for opportunities to knock up one or two of the enemy front liners, hit them with the full combo, and take them out of the fight.
Often times having the man advantage means your team will automatically win if the enemy re-engages, but often times they'll just concede the objective.
Not Dying:
Your presence is huge in teamfights so you need to prioritize not dying so that your team doesn't get disintegrated without you.
Always stay close to your tower when farming, especially if your flash is down, and never push up to tentacle slap their towers unless you know exactly where 4 or 5 of the enemy team members are.
If you do push up to slap their tower then have your Q primed & ready to slow the enemy down or keep them at a distance whilst you regally float away.
If you have
Everfrost then you can play a bit more aggressively and super soak thy foes if they show up and you can get out of there.
Farming & Scaling:
Often times your teammates will all come mid, which denies you gold and exp, which can be frustrating.
Unfortunately, Vel'koz is not a good sidelaner since he can be killed so easily, but if everyone is hogging up CS in the mid lane then you can drop down to one of the sidelanes and clear a wave or two if it is pushing into you or close to the tower.
Keeping up good CS is very important for Vel'koz Mid.
Unless you're getting a ton of kills you need the gold from high CS to stay ahead or even in items so that you can blahp the enemy team in the late game teamfights that will usually decide the fate of the game.
Assisting In Skirmishes:
If a fight is obviously going to result in you & your team losing then ping your teammates away and get out of there, there's no sense in throwing your life away because your teammates made a bad call.
If you can safely throw a Q or GLP to help them run away do it, but don't die for them.
That said, if the fight seems somewhat winnable then you should help your teammates. You should be pretty strong at this point and a good combo can turn the tide of the fight.
Look for opportunities to knock up one or two of the enemy front liners, hit them with the full combo, and take them out of the fight.
Often times having the man advantage means your team will automatically win if the enemy re-engages, but often times they'll just concede the objective.
Not Dying:
Your presence is huge in teamfights so you need to prioritize not dying so that your team doesn't get disintegrated without you.
Always stay close to your tower when farming, especially if your flash is down, and never push up to tentacle slap their towers unless you know exactly where 4 or 5 of the enemy team members are.
If you do push up to slap their tower then have your Q primed & ready to slow the enemy down or keep them at a distance whilst you regally float away.
If you have

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Late game for Vel'koz is all about teamfighting, and not dying/positioning.
Teamfighting:
A good ult channel on the enemy team practically guarantee's your team wins the fight if it's an even 5v5 battle.
Don't be afraid to hold your ultimate for the right moment. Using it too soon can mean you won't have it when you need it and your team loses the teamfight.
Also, don't be afraid to go for a Q + Ult combo on one of their squishy champions. Making the fight a 5v4 can be a worthy use of your ultimate, especially if it's their fed carry.
If the Q + Ult fails then your team can always fall back, but if it succeeds then your team will have a much easier time at winning the fight or taking objectives.
In the late game your Ult + Q combo will kill squishes in about 1.6 seconds so it's very hard for them/their team to react in time to save them.
Sometimes it's worth it to nuke their squishies with just your ultimate because if you're strong enough that alone will kill them, or knock them so low they have to base.
From that point your team can then take a tower, or Baron/Dragon much more easily.
If your team is doing Baron and the enemy might try to steal, save your Q, E, and Ult to zone the enemy team away from walking up to the Baron pit. Your abilities do a lot of damage and slow/knock up, so most of their champs won't be able to walk up and contest the objective.
Not Dying/Positioning:
Vel'koz has the power to completely turn teamfights around in the late game.
Because of this you are going to have a big bulls-eye, pun very intended, on you and you must be very careful not to get picked off by CC or by enemy *******s... I mean assassins.
Positioning is important for Vel'koz all game but it becomes even more crucial once you hit the late game.
Keep your distance from the frontline and look for opportunities to knock someone up and hit them with your combo.
While you keep your distance from the frontline also always be looking around you and your mini-map for an enemy or assassin that might be trying to flank you.
Watch out for and keep your distance from late game ADC's, even if you think they'll be an easy kill/have 100 HP left.
Most of them have dashes and can dodge your finishing ability and then 2/3 shot you with 700 damage auto attacks.
Never go anywhere without your team, even if you have a tower the enemy can easily dive and kill you under tower at this point if you don't have help.
Teamfighting:
A good ult channel on the enemy team practically guarantee's your team wins the fight if it's an even 5v5 battle.
Don't be afraid to hold your ultimate for the right moment. Using it too soon can mean you won't have it when you need it and your team loses the teamfight.
Also, don't be afraid to go for a Q + Ult combo on one of their squishy champions. Making the fight a 5v4 can be a worthy use of your ultimate, especially if it's their fed carry.
If the Q + Ult fails then your team can always fall back, but if it succeeds then your team will have a much easier time at winning the fight or taking objectives.
In the late game your Ult + Q combo will kill squishes in about 1.6 seconds so it's very hard for them/their team to react in time to save them.
Sometimes it's worth it to nuke their squishies with just your ultimate because if you're strong enough that alone will kill them, or knock them so low they have to base.
From that point your team can then take a tower, or Baron/Dragon much more easily.
If your team is doing Baron and the enemy might try to steal, save your Q, E, and Ult to zone the enemy team away from walking up to the Baron pit. Your abilities do a lot of damage and slow/knock up, so most of their champs won't be able to walk up and contest the objective.
Not Dying/Positioning:
Vel'koz has the power to completely turn teamfights around in the late game.
Because of this you are going to have a big bulls-eye, pun very intended, on you and you must be very careful not to get picked off by CC or by enemy *******s... I mean assassins.
Positioning is important for Vel'koz all game but it becomes even more crucial once you hit the late game.
Keep your distance from the frontline and look for opportunities to knock someone up and hit them with your combo.
While you keep your distance from the frontline also always be looking around you and your mini-map for an enemy or assassin that might be trying to flank you.
Watch out for and keep your distance from late game ADC's, even if you think they'll be an easy kill/have 100 HP left.
Most of them have dashes and can dodge your finishing ability and then 2/3 shot you with 700 damage auto attacks.
Never go anywhere without your team, even if you have a tower the enemy can easily dive and kill you under tower at this point if you don't have help.
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This section is at the end but it's probably the most important once you have the basics down.
Vel'koz, just like all champions, is played differently into every different matchup, and depending on how the enemy laner plays their champion, and depending on how you feel like playing V'k that day, you'll want to adjust your approach.
Below I have a long list of links of top level Vel'Koz players playing into different matchups in the mid lane.
Try to disintegrate their play style, how they play each matchup while in laning phase, and try to absorb what they are doing in the mid & late game.
If you REALLY want to get good, then you need to learn each matchup, not all at once, but all of them eventually. Try watching a few high level games and then play a few of your own. You'll start learning what to do and how to play. Keep repeating this process and you'll master V'k mid in no time :D
Vel'koz Vs Ahri
Vel'koz Vs Akali
Vel'koz Vs Annie
Vel'koz Vs Cho'Gath
Vel'koz Vs Diana
Vel'koz Vs Fizz
Vel'koz Vs Galio
Vel'koz Vs Leblanc
Vel'koz Vs Neeko
Glacial V'k Vs Orianna
Vel'koz Vs Qiyana
Vel'koz Vs Syndra
Vel'koz Vs Taliyah
Vel'koz Vs Talon
Vel'koz Vs Tristana
Glacial V'k Vs Twisted Fate
Vel'koz Vs Yasuo
Vel'koz Vs Zed
Vel'koz Vs Zoe
Vel'koz, just like all champions, is played differently into every different matchup, and depending on how the enemy laner plays their champion, and depending on how you feel like playing V'k that day, you'll want to adjust your approach.
Below I have a long list of links of top level Vel'Koz players playing into different matchups in the mid lane.
Try to disintegrate their play style, how they play each matchup while in laning phase, and try to absorb what they are doing in the mid & late game.
If you REALLY want to get good, then you need to learn each matchup, not all at once, but all of them eventually. Try watching a few high level games and then play a few of your own. You'll start learning what to do and how to play. Keep repeating this process and you'll master V'k mid in no time :D
Vel'koz Vs Ahri
Vel'koz Vs Akali
Vel'koz Vs Annie
Vel'koz Vs Cho'Gath
Vel'koz Vs Diana
Vel'koz Vs Fizz
Vel'koz Vs Galio
Vel'koz Vs Leblanc
Vel'koz Vs Neeko
Glacial V'k Vs Orianna
Vel'koz Vs Qiyana
Vel'koz Vs Syndra
Vel'koz Vs Taliyah
Vel'koz Vs Talon
Vel'koz Vs Tristana
Glacial V'k Vs Twisted Fate
Vel'koz Vs Yasuo
Vel'koz Vs Zed
Vel'koz Vs Zoe
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*Harass melee champions at level 1 with your auto attacks and your abilities. Most melee assasins whollup you after level 2/3 but they are your ***** at level 1 so make them pay and get them low on HP if you can, it makes their diving you harder once they level up.
*Look to land abilities, especially your knock up, when the enemy is about to go for a last hit, especially cannon minions. Using your knock up when they go for last hits makes predicting their movements and landing it much easier, then you can hit them with your combo and potentially get a kill.
*Look to fight and use your abilities on the enemy if they use one or more of their abilities either on you or on the minion wave. This is called trading off of cooldowns. Once their cooldowns are down and yours are up you can use your abilities on them and they can't retaliate the damage, which means you have a massive advantage. If you see them blow cooldowns, get aggressive.
*Your E grants vision in brush and over walls so you can use it to check bushes before entering them, or hit blasting cones/vision orbs.
*Use your Q's to check bushes before running into them. This will save you countless times and costs you basically nothing, don't face check bushes as Vel'koz!
*Your ultimate does AoE damage and can potentially damage all 5 enemy champions if you hit them with it. Try to hit at least 2 or 3 enemies with it every teamfight, unless you are using it to finish off a low HP carry, or using a Q + Ult combo to nuke an enemy squishy.
*Use your W against enemy's that are chasing you, either to discourage them from chasing you, or to do damage and get stacks of your passive. Your W won't momentarily stop you when you cast it so there's no reason not to use it when you are running away from someone. Often times people will angle away from your W to not take damage, which allows you to get further away from them and to safety.
*Be wary of using your Q on enemies that are close, even though Q slows it will briefly stop you when you cast it which means the enemy can get within range of you, use their gap closer, and slap you.
*If an enemy uses Zhonya's, and you get the timing correctly, you can cast a Q and re-active it right as their Zhonya's wears off. This allows you secure a kill from very far away, and makes it practically impossible for them to dodge it.
*You can shoot Q's into/over the terrain and make it very hard for the enemy to dodge them.
*Your abilities apply true damage stacks to Dragon/Baron, which makes stealing it if the enemy is doing it much easier. Use W + Q + your ultimate and you can often times steal the Dragon/Baron away from them. Alternatively, you can also use your abilities to melt the enemies that are trying to get the objective, which either kills them or forces them to back off.
*Each matchup requires you to play Vel'koz differently so it will take a while to get good with Vel'koz (always run Cleanse Vs Zoe)(always run barrier Vs Zed)(get Zhonya's Vs Fizz, not Banshee's)(Get Banshee's Vs Zoe & Vs Ahri)(cower in fear post level 1 Vs Yasuo, until a jungler comes to help you)(etc,etc)
*Vel'koz does 3.25 times his AP in damage + the base damage from his abilities (with one true damage stack). With 2 true damage stacks, it's 3.75 times his AP + the base damage from his abilities. If you get another 20 AP you'll be doing between 60-80 more damage with your full combo, and a bit more if you have Rabadon's.
*GLP has the same range as your Q (without angling it) and has about the same flight speed. GLP also has a casting animation, just like Q does.
*GLP doesn't shoot all the freeze rays at once, it shoots from right to left with a delay. If you're shooting at only 1 champion then put your crosshair slightly to the left of them and fire, that way the freeze rays will get to them sooner.
*Your Q & W have the same range.
*Look to land abilities, especially your knock up, when the enemy is about to go for a last hit, especially cannon minions. Using your knock up when they go for last hits makes predicting their movements and landing it much easier, then you can hit them with your combo and potentially get a kill.
*Look to fight and use your abilities on the enemy if they use one or more of their abilities either on you or on the minion wave. This is called trading off of cooldowns. Once their cooldowns are down and yours are up you can use your abilities on them and they can't retaliate the damage, which means you have a massive advantage. If you see them blow cooldowns, get aggressive.
*Your E grants vision in brush and over walls so you can use it to check bushes before entering them, or hit blasting cones/vision orbs.
*Use your Q's to check bushes before running into them. This will save you countless times and costs you basically nothing, don't face check bushes as Vel'koz!
*Your ultimate does AoE damage and can potentially damage all 5 enemy champions if you hit them with it. Try to hit at least 2 or 3 enemies with it every teamfight, unless you are using it to finish off a low HP carry, or using a Q + Ult combo to nuke an enemy squishy.
*Use your W against enemy's that are chasing you, either to discourage them from chasing you, or to do damage and get stacks of your passive. Your W won't momentarily stop you when you cast it so there's no reason not to use it when you are running away from someone. Often times people will angle away from your W to not take damage, which allows you to get further away from them and to safety.
*Be wary of using your Q on enemies that are close, even though Q slows it will briefly stop you when you cast it which means the enemy can get within range of you, use their gap closer, and slap you.
*If an enemy uses Zhonya's, and you get the timing correctly, you can cast a Q and re-active it right as their Zhonya's wears off. This allows you secure a kill from very far away, and makes it practically impossible for them to dodge it.
*You can shoot Q's into/over the terrain and make it very hard for the enemy to dodge them.
*Your abilities apply true damage stacks to Dragon/Baron, which makes stealing it if the enemy is doing it much easier. Use W + Q + your ultimate and you can often times steal the Dragon/Baron away from them. Alternatively, you can also use your abilities to melt the enemies that are trying to get the objective, which either kills them or forces them to back off.
*Each matchup requires you to play Vel'koz differently so it will take a while to get good with Vel'koz (always run Cleanse Vs Zoe)(always run barrier Vs Zed)(get Zhonya's Vs Fizz, not Banshee's)(Get Banshee's Vs Zoe & Vs Ahri)(cower in fear post level 1 Vs Yasuo, until a jungler comes to help you)(etc,etc)
*Vel'koz does 3.25 times his AP in damage + the base damage from his abilities (with one true damage stack). With 2 true damage stacks, it's 3.75 times his AP + the base damage from his abilities. If you get another 20 AP you'll be doing between 60-80 more damage with your full combo, and a bit more if you have Rabadon's.
*GLP has the same range as your Q (without angling it) and has about the same flight speed. GLP also has a casting animation, just like Q does.
*GLP doesn't shoot all the freeze rays at once, it shoots from right to left with a delay. If you're shooting at only 1 champion then put your crosshair slightly to the left of them and fire, that way the freeze rays will get to them sooner.
*Your Q & W have the same range.
That's it boys & girls!
Thanks for reading!
V'k is a great champ, try him out, he's not too hard to learn but he takes a while to master and learn how to position him properly.
If you liked this guide then hit that like button at the top of the page and come follow me on Twitch.
Peace!
Thanks for reading!
V'k is a great champ, try him out, he's not too hard to learn but he takes a while to master and learn how to position him properly.
If you liked this guide then hit that like button at the top of the page and come follow me on Twitch.
Peace!
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