My name is rachichu and I am a Vel'Koz Mid OTP. I currently stream Vel'Koz gameplay 4-5 times a week at 11AM EST over on my Twitch Channel. I have been playing League of Legends since S8, but took a break between S9 - S12. S12 was my first season back to the game in a few years!
I have been playing Vel'Koz since I started League of Legends. I began my journey in Support, but learned to prefer his Midlane playstyle. I peaked Rank 6 Vel'Koz NA on my smurf account, liandrys tempest.







This guide is intended for those of you that wish to pick up Vel'Koz - it is just a little taste of what he is capable of! Vel'Koz is a fantastic champion, and I believe everyone is capable of becoming a successful pilot. As always, please do take a lot of my comments with a pinch of salt. This guide is simply a way to aid my stream community with their questions, and intended primarily to encourage thought and creativity - not to be taken as fact!

Vel'Koz has a lot of very obvious counters but not many are aware of how strong he is as a counter-pick. Vel'Koz thrives into short-range mages such as Anivia, Swain and Veigar. He is always able to do consistent DPS and has builds that can deal with a variety of champions. He can kite extremely well for an immobile mage, with a lot of his abilities providing slows or knock-ups.

However, he has incredibly obvious counters and is prone to dying to jungle interference. Junglers such as Hecarim and Ekko can give him a hard time. He also can be countered incredibly easily by high mobility. Being an older champion, he is sluggish - and his counters take advantage of this.

Organic Deconstruction (Passive)

Vel’koz’ abilities apply a stack of Deconstruction to enemies hit for 7 seconds, refreshing on basic attacks and subsequent applications. This effect stacks up to 3 times. Vel’koz’ passive does not have a target cool-down. The third stack consumes them all to deal 33 - 169 (+ 50% AP) bonus True Damage.

Plasma Fission (Q) RANGE: 1100 COST: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 mana COOLDOWN: 7

Vel’koz fires a plasma bolt that deals magic damage to the first enemy hit and slows them by 70% decaying over a duration. Plasma Fission can be recast after 0.25s which splits the bolt, each split firing perpendicularly in opposite directions applying the same effects to enemies hit. Enemies can only be hit once by this ability and the splitting bolts cannot strike the same enemy twice. Killing an enemy with Plasma Fission restores mana.

Void Rift (W) RANGE: 1105 COST: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 COOLDOWN: 1.5 RECHARGE: 19 / 18 / 17 / 16 / 15

Vel’koz cracks a rift in the target duration that opens after a 0.25s delay. Cascading through the area after 0.25s and dealing magic damage to enemies within. After 0.75s, the rift will collapse, dealing magic damage and granting sight of the surrounding area. Vel’koz’ Void Rift has a very small damage value and ratio respectively. This ability is best used as an Organic Deconstruction application.

Tectonic Disruption (E) RANGE: 800 COST: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 mana COOLDOWN: 16 / 15 / 14 / 13 / 12

Vel’koz hurls a disruption that lands at a target location after 0.76s, dealing magic damage, knocking them up and stunning them. Please note that this ability does NOT cause suspension! Vel’koz E can be cleansed, but one must flash after to have the effect fully removed, similar to a suspension.

Life Form Disintegration Ray (R) RANGE: 1555 COST: 100 mana COOLDOWN: 120 / 100 / 80

Vel’koz channels for up to 2.6s to project an energy beam, dealing magic damage every 0.2s and slowing enemies by 20% lingering for 1s. Vel’koz’ Life Form Disintegration Ray applies Disintegration every 0.7s to enemies hit. Applying 3 Disintegration stacks causes the target to become Researched. Researched enemies take true damage from your Life Form Disintegration Ray instead.

Runes and Builds I will not be going into every single rune in depth, however, here are some things I think that are important to mention! Arcane Comet is the perfect rune for Vel'Koz. It gives him poke in the laning phase, and an extra little bit of damage later on in the game. Ultimate Hunter gives Vel'Koz an extra boost to ultimate haste, which late-game is incredibly useful for such a powerful ultimate ability. Gathering Storm and Scorch serve different purposes for you and deserve a mention; Gathering Storm is excelent for when you expect enemies to itemize a lot of Hp - and Scorch for more aggressive, kill orientated lanes. DOMINATION VS INSPIRATION Domination is a great secondary tree choice for when you have a significant amount of kill pressure in a lane. It also scales decently well, but it is nice to have a little extra damage into short range mages and melee champions that you can bully. Inspiration is great for when you are planning on sustaining through the lane phase and not playing too aggressively. These runes aren’t too bad for early game fights, but do really well at getting you through the laning phase with minimal risks. Previously, Shadowflame was optimal build pathing for Vel'Koz, but due to further testing on the current patch - Horizon Focus, as anticipated, is now a stronger option. I will conduct a bit of testing to see which build path provides his highest DPS again - and update here as my testing is concluded. The previous build has been removed since I no longer believe it is his mathematically highest DPS available option. • I will also be looking into including Seraph's Embrace paths. This will require a different set up so might take me a little while. For the time being, I still believe it is situational, and not for every game! The important thing to remember about Vel'Koz is that every match-up can be won. Vel'Koz is an incredibly versatile champion, and with enough skill and time - every match-up has a possible angle to win. Please, don't be discouraged! Take your time and learn the strengths of your personal playstyle, as well as what Vel'Koz is capable of. Some match-ups, granted, are very difficult and natural counters - which make it harder to succeed. (Such as Yone, LeBlanc - when powerful, and Zed) The Rylai's Issue Play Video Please check out the video above for an in-depth answer to why Rylai's is a poor choice on Vel'Koz. Unforunately, I wish it was, but the video explains why it isn't! There aren't many items that Vel'Koz simply cannot build, but this is definetly one of them. If you would like more in-depth analysis to other items within his build path, please do consider commenting on this guide or on the Youtube video linked above. Frequently Asked Questions Q: What Summoner Spells should I take? A: Flash, Teleport and Barrier are the best options for Vel'Koz. He can get great recalls off with Teleport due to his ability to push waves in incredibly fast, but can also benefit from the safey of Barrier into certain matchups. Q: What do I do into Assassins? A: Into champions such as Zed and Talon, the most important thing to remember is that they can be abused in lane prior to their level 6 spikes. You should harass them and hit level 2 first. Remember, they have more effective roams than you! If you cannot follow up on their roam, push the wave and make sure they are losing gold that way. Q: Why do I lose even when I’m ahead? A: Vel'Koz can be killed just as easily as he is killable. Positioning is probably letting you down, and you’re dying at the wrong time. Remember to abuse your range, and only try for picks when you are certain it will not result in a negative overall outcome. Q: When does Vel'Koz have his spikes? A: Vel'Koz is a Mid-to-Late game champion. All the builds I highlighted within this guide rely on you having a strong laning phase with good CS to hit the items you require to be effective. As with all control mages, you are waiting for level spikes, too. Vel'Koz starts dealing immense amounts of damage (potentially) at level 3. Past this, you are strongest at levels 10, 11, 16 and 18. You should have three items (at the very least) somewhere between levels 14 and 18, to get the most of his spike, if not before. Q: How do I play the laning phase? A: It’s not as difficult as it may seem. Generally, you want to start Plasma Fission and segway into 3 points into your Void Rift. This allows Vel'Koz to clear the wave easily, and make sure you get as much CS as possible. As previously mentioned, you benefit a lot from having full pockets, so make sure you are always getting as much gold as possible. Your follow up early is weak, but if needed - make sure you do. Keeping the wave in optimal states for you will help you become less vulnerable. In order to learn how to manage waves, I recommend this video by my friend Zianni. Q: How do I play Mid-to-Late? A: Vel'Koz thrives during these stages of the game. By this point, you should at lest 3 items, and be ready to deal a lot of damage without being in harms way. Vel'Koz kit works incredibly well with teamfights, and if you are ahead - you should be looking to use this to your advantage. Your range combined with your consistent damage should be enough to win you most team fights if you are positioning well. Alternatively, you CAN sidelane into some team compositions, though, if there are a lot of high mobility assassins on the enemy team, I would not reccomend doing so.

Thank-you so much for checking out my guide. I will update it as I see fit (when buffs/changes occurs that are relevant to Vel'Koz) and do my very best to improve it as time goes on. If there is anything more you would like to see in this guide, please do not hesitate to reach out to me on any of my social medias, linked here. I put a lot of time into this guide, but I am always open to improving it with your feedback! Any and all comments help. Please leave a thumbs up if you learned something, or simply can appriciate my effort :)