One day I thought of how Vi's E would be very annoying to lane against. Now that ravenous hydra is prevalent, we can use the wave clear to be more available for taking objectives and turrets, or invading the enemy's jungle. Even if ravenous hydra is getting nerfed, we mainly use it for the wave clear rather than healing.

Hypothesis

- Annoying poke and wave clear prevents enemy top laner from getting pressure or roaming
- Ravenous Hydra sustain makes the enemy's trades less value, forcing the enemy to get real value
- Q makes escaping very simple and easy
- Vi is a simple champ, even easier when not jungling
- Two CC abilities | easy setup for ganks | some pressure when behind
- Passive shield makes trading easier
- Auto-reset helpful for clearing towers
- Jungler tier roaming

Possible Downsides

- Q is very punishable when whiffed
- Fast mana consumption
- No real sustain without items
- Q can be caught when getting ganked or all-ins
- Off-meta

Some recommended secondary runes

Although the keystone is what I think is best for Vi, secondary runes are more flexible. Here are secondary runes from each path.

Precision

Overheal
Can act as an inconsistent Bone Plating. Hard to use during early laning phase.
Triumph
Triumph is a very common rune in the top lane, especially for divers like Vi.
Presence of Mind
Making your mana more sustainable from a secondary rune makes your builds more flexible, this would be more useful than triumph if you're not looking for kills, but is more than overkill if you're building a tear item.

Legend: Alacrity
You get enough attack speed with your W and lethal tempo.
Legend: Tenacity
Very rarely is tenacity more important, however, it is there when you absolutely need it.
Legend: Bloodline
More often than not you're going to get the most value from bloodline than any other legend runes, especially in laning phase.

Last Stand
The best of the three, triumph and bloodline are generally better as secondaries.

Domination

Cheap Shot and Sudden Impact
Both do a similar job, increase your damage output after hitting your Q. I think Cheap Shot would get more value in both short trades and long fights.
Taste of Blood
Going to proc very often, makes laning phase a bit easier.

Ghost Poro, or Eyeball Collection
If you're not very bothered with putting down wards often, eyeball collection is going to be the best. However, since you can roam so often, you'll have more chances to get the most value out of Ghost Poro. Zombie Ward isn't good as it relies on you knowing where and enemy has placed their wards, and oracle lens isn't the best pick unless you plan on roaming a lot.

The Hunter Runes
Treasure Hunter or Relentless Hunter are going to be your best bets. Your items power you up tremendously, and both Treasure Hunter and Relentless Hunter can help you get that extra gold you need. Ultimate Hunter is unnecessary due to your already high amount of ability haste, and Ingenious Hunter is wasted.

Sorcery

Manaflow Band
Same use as Presence of Mind, but probably better. Gives 6 bonus AD with Muramana
Nimbus Cloak
Useful when running ignite to run down enemies easier. Unnecessary for escaping ganks.

Transcendance
Ability haste is always useful, especially on Vi. Cooldown refund can help you escape fights. The other two aren't as useful for Vi.

Scorch
Bonus damage to your poke can matter a lot, however top lane generally has a good amount of sustain.
Water Walking
With Vi top, roaming is already something you're meant for, this upgrades it a step further.
Gathering Storm
Most games (at least for me) usually last about 30 minutes. A boost of 29 AD seriously helps with Vi's good ad ratios.

Resolve

Shield Bash
The passive shield gives you an extra boost to your damage. The other two are unnecessary or pointless.

Conditioning
Conditioning is best when you're going for a more tanky build for team fights. It being useless for the first 12 minutes is a massive disadvantage.
Second Wind
Second Wind is best against constant poke. Very rarely better than Bone Plating
Bone Plating
Bone Plating is the best generally, as it always gets some value.

Overgrowth
Gets you more health later.
Revitalize
This can apply to a lot of your items and your passive.
Unflinching
Same application as Legend: Tenacity, when they have a lot of CC.

Inspiration

Hextech Flashtraption
Due to you needing to charge it, it's hard to use on Vi.
Magical Footwear
Saves you 300g. This rune is bad when you want to roam a lot early
Perfect Timing
A diver like can get a lot of value out of stopwatch, even if it's for only one time during the entire match. If you sell it, it'll save you 410g than if you bought and sold a regular stopwatch.

Future's Market
A faster snowball with a diver is great. Vi makes good use of her items.
Minion Dematerializer
Excessive. Use it on Cannons.
Biscuit Delivery
Solves two of your main problems during laning phase; mana and sustain.

Cosmic Insight
Your summoner spells are very good, getting them up faster makes a huge difference.
Approach Velocity
If you're going lethal tempo, this adds a lot in securing kills.
Time Warp Tonic
Gives you a little boost in trades or winning a kill, otherwise a bad choice since corrupting pots isn't useful on Vi.