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Vi Build Guide by

[S3] Vi - One Girl Wrecking Crew!

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Vi Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (39) More Vi Guides

Spells:

Flash

Ignite

Items

Name

Ability Order

Vi Passive Ability

Introduction

Notice: Guide won't be getting updated anymore. If you want to know why visit this link:

Click Here

Yo yo yo! Cyber here with a guide for , The Piltover Enforcer as a Top Laner. I wasn't really planing on making a guide for Vi for quite a while mainly because I got slaughtered my first 2 games with her (both of them vs Pantheons) but I played a little bit after that and I discovered a very nice item build for her. And since I played her in the PBE before she was released and I already know quite a lot about her I figured why not. Now before we begin I'd like to say something.

This guide IS NOT finished yet and I'll keep working on it as I discover and learn new things about Vi. At the moment this guide will help you out if you're new to Vi and have no freakin idea what to get for your runes, masteries, items, etc. I'm not a 100% sure if my build is like super good so please do try it out and only downvote the guide if it's not good and you just don't like it. Thanks!

Oh and one last thing. If you like this guide or any of my other guides and want to contact me for some reason here are some ways to do so:

1) Skype - terminator_xp
2) via buddy request in League - username is submit95 (EUW)
3) via PM here

Let's start shall we?

Pros and Cons

Pros:
+ High Damage Output
+ Good Burst
+ Easy Farming with E
+ Great Initiator
+ Scales well with AD
+ Good at trades thanks to her Passive and her high early game damage

Cons:
- Not the tankiest Top Laner
- No sustain
- While charging her Q her movement speed is decreased
- Early laning phase can be tricky

Masteries

For my masteries I go deep into the defense tree and a little bit into the offense tree. Why you ask?

Defense - With my runes I start out with 74 AD at lvl 1. I already have enough offensive power so getting some early defenses helps a lot. Your early levels are kinda tricky for you (depending on your opponent) so you don't really wanna go 100% glass cannon as Vi. Plus the defense tree is really good in S3 so why not.

Offense - After getting what I need in the defense tree I get 9 points left so I just place them here for some extra fighting power.

Runes

Precision

Fleet Footwork

Phase Rush

Greater Mark of Attack Damage

Standard AD Marks that work for almost any top lane bruiser. They give your more damage and let you last hit more easily. Armor Penetration Marks are also fine but I prefer these.

Greater Seal of Armor

Armor Seals to deal with other AD Bruisers. These are really helpful for your early game since you're not really tanky as Vi.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist

Magic Resist Glyphs against any Magic Damage dealers you might meet at top lane. Like the Armor Seals these help a lot early game. If you're not against an AP based champion and you have an extra rune page use Scaling Magic Resist ones.

Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage

Same as the AD Marks. These help out with last hitting and combined with the AD Marks you start out with 74 AD which is pretty good. Armor Pen Quints might work but I recommend you just take these. They are the safer choice.

Summoner Spells

Helps out a lot when trying to kill the enemy laner or someone else. Even more helpful when you're against someone who has a healing ability like Rengar, Volibear, Mundo, etc.

The most used and popular summoner spell. Flash is a standard summoner on almost any top lane champion. Use it to make plays, escape ganks, get kills, etc. You can use this in conjunction with your Q. Flash doesn't interrupt the charging of your Q so you can use this and Q to finish someone or catch them when they're out of position.

Skill Order

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

So at level 1 I grab my Q because when fully charge it deals the most damage out of your abilities and you can escape early level 1-2 ganks from the enemy jungler with it. At level 2 I grab E for more damage and harass. At level 3 I get W for more fighting power during trades and duels with the enemy laner. After that I just max E mainly because it's a bonus dmg auto-attack reset skill kinda like Jax's W. While doing this I throw some extra points in Q here and there (it does do nice damage despite being a CC/Utility spell). I max W last because it's good enough with 1 point in it. Obviously max R whenever possible.

Skill Explanations

Blast Shield

Innate: When Vi's activated abilities damage an enemy, she gains a shield equal to 10% of her maximum health for 3 seconds. Blast shield has a 18 / 13 / 8 second cooldown.

A very nice passive for trades. Keep in mind that the shield isn't that big and the cooldown on it in early levels isn't that short so don't stick around too much when trading with the other laner if you think he'll damage you a lot when the shield breaks.

Vault Breaker

First Cast: Slows your movement speed by 15% while increasing damage and dash range over 1.25 seconds.

Second Cast: Vi dashes forward, dealing physical damage and applying Denting Blows to all enemies hit. Vi stops upon colliding with an enemy champion, knocking it back. Vault Breaker deals 75% damage to minions and monsters./color]

Range: 50 - 600
Cooldown: 18 / 15.5 / 13 / 10.5 / 8
Cost: 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 mana
Minimum Physical Damage: 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+70% bonus AD)
Maximum Physical Damage: 100 / 160 / 220 / 280 / 340 (+140% bonus AD)

This is your gap closing ability. When fully charged it deals a lot of damage. Keep in mind however that you slow yourself down while charging it. Use this ability to close the gap between your opponents, go through walls (it has a lot of range when fully charged), catch someone who is out of position for your team or to escape ganks and sticky situations.

Denting Blows

Passive: Every 3rd attack on the same target deals additional physical damage equal to a percentage of the target's maximum health, reduces its armor by 20% and grants Vi bonus attack speed for 4 seconds. Denting Blows deals a maximum of 300 damage against minions and monsters.

Bonus Physical Damage: 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10% of target's max health (+1% per 35 bonus AD)
Attack Speed Bonus: 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50%

Similar to Vayne's W however it deals bonus physical damage based on the target's max health and not true damage. A good skill for 1v1 fights because it not only increases your DPS but it gives an attack speed buff. In lane try killing 1 minion with 3 hits just to trigger the attack speed buff and trade with your opponent while having the buff on.

Excessive Force

Active: Causes Vi's next basic attack to deal bonus physical damage to the target and enemies behind it. Vi periodically charges a new punch and can hold up to 2 charges at once.

Range: 600
Cooldown: 1
Cost: 60 mana + 1 charge
Total Physical Damage: 5 / 20 / 35 / 50 / 65 (+115% AD) (+70% AP)
Charge Reload Time: 14 / 12.5 / 11 / 9.5 / 8 seconds

Your main damaging ability and the one you'll be maxing out. This is a great ability for 1v1 fights, easy farming, pushing and harass. Use it to simply harass your opponent in lane by hitting minions that are in front of him. The damage is the same to every target which is nice and the range on the ability is actually longer than you might expect.

Assault and Battery

Active: Vi targets an enemy champion and chases it down, knocking it up for 1.25 seconds, dealing physical damage. While charging, Vi is immune to crowd control and will knock aside enemies in her way, dealing 75% damage to them.

Range: 700
Cooldown: 130 / 105 / 80
Cost: 100 / 125 / 150 mana
Physical Damage: 200 / 325 / 450 (+140% bonus AD)
Physical Damage to Secondary Targets: 150 / 262.5 / 375 (+105% bonus AD)

Holy **** this Ultimate is awesome. It's kinda like a Warwick Ultimate (I guess). The range on it is pretty big and it can catch people off guard quite easily. It can be used both to initiate and as a finisher depending on the situation. However keep in mind that when you target someone with it you start going to their location and end up behind them so if your target is near the whole enemy team you might wanna think before using it. Other than that this ultimate is a great initiation tool and a great finisher for 1v1's. Oh and this ability actually deals damage to everyone you pass through while going to your target but it's not as big as the damage dealt to the target.

Items

Keep in mind that the item build might change as I play Vi more but this one has worked for me so far and is pretty good in my opinion.

Core Items

Mercury's Treads

My main choice for boots. While casting your Ulti you're immune to crowd control so having these will decrease any CC abilities the enemy team might use on you after your Ulti has finished casting.

The Black Cleaver

One of the 2 damage increase items you'll be getting. It gives stats that Vi benefits from a lot. CDR, HP, Attack Damage and Armor Pen. What more do you want from this item? It's just great and lets you do your job as an Anti-Carry/Initiator more easily.

The Bloodthirster

The 2nd damage increase item you'll be getting. It gives lots of AD and great sustain for longer team fights and 1v1's. This combined with Black Cleaver gives you TONS OF DAMAGE!

Guardian Angel

Your super awesome defensive item. It gives you an extra life. I take it because it lets me live longer after I ulti the enemy AD/AP Carry (and kill them if possible). Just try not to die in a place where you'll die again after you're revived and you'll be fine with this item.

Optional Items

- I usually grab 2 of these when I go back to base for the first time just because they're so cheap and they provide good early game stats. You can skip these if you want but I recommend getting them.

- Only against hard AD match-ups (Darius, Riven, etc). Sell them later on and get your Merc Treads.

- These are really good against opponents that you dominate. Selling them later on for Merc. Treads is optional like Ninja Tabi but if you think you can get away with it keep these boots.

- I would grab this if I'm dominating and I have some extra money left. If not get it mid to late game.

- Also good but I prefer Furor.

- Ehh..dunno about this. Makes you tankier but I don't really build Vi tanky so only get this if you're going for a tanky build and you need a slow.

- Your passive does get stronger based on your HP so getting this might actually be good if you wanna be tougher to kill.

- Pretty good item. Better on Jax in my opinion but it's nice on Vi too. Get it when you need a slow and you don't wanna get Tri-Force or Frozen Mallet.

- Umm...it could work..maybe.. but I feel like it'll make you a bit squishy so only get it when dominating.

- Great item on Vi! The only reason I don't get it as a Core Item is because it costs quite a lot and it takes time to build it.

- If going a bit tankier get this against Physical Damage.

- Great item against magic damage but it's quite expensive.

- A good item when you're going for a tankier build and you want to dive the enemy team head on but I wouldn't get it when I'm going for more of a damage Anti-Carry build.

Early Laning

Early laning is actually very very tricky for Vi and it is dependent on the enemy laner and you. Some enemy laners are either too tanky for you or deal more damage than you in 1v1's so against an opponent who has either more damage than you or is tankier than you I suggest you play really really safe and only get last hits that don't let the enemy laner get free damage on you.

However if you're against someone who is weak early game like Singed for example don't hesitate to trade with him early on and don't miss out on last hits at all since he can't really stop you from getting them.

Remember..don't..underestimate your opponent when playing Vi. She's not super squishy and she deals a lot of damage but you never know if the other laner will surprise you or if youll suddenly get ganked outta nowhere. Be careful early game!

A nice little tip that I already gave in the skill explanation is use your E for harass. Just hit a minion that is in front of the other laner and it'll deal the same damage to him as well. You can do this twice in a row if you have 2 charges.

Team Fights

In Team Fights you fulfill 2 roles. Either that of an Anti-Carry or an Initiator:

Anti-Carry - If you're trying to be that Anti-Carry that just eliminates AD or AP Carries from the game don't go right into team fights. Wait for an opening, Ult the enemy AD or AP Carry (depending on who is the bigger threat) and destroy him. With my item build that shouldn't be too much of a problem. After you do that keep on fighting the rest of the enemy team or try and escape if they start focusing you too hard.

Initiator - Your goal as an initiator is simple. Ult someone (that isn't a tank and is preferably the ad or ap carry) right away and let your team do the rest. Your goal after that is to do as much damage as possible or peel for your carries if you're going for a more tanky/off-tanky build.

Extras

Just a chapter for some videos, pictures, etc. on Vi. I don't have much to add right now since Vi is pretty new but I'll try adding some more stuff in the future:

Sykkuno my favorite league commentator playing Vi:

A second video of Sykkuno playing Vi:

Vi's champion spotlight by RiotGamesInc:

Fun Facts about Vi

-Vi was designed by gypsylord.

-Vi features several easter eggs:

When Allied with Caitlyn:
-Each gains the cosmetic buff, "On The Case: Piltover's finest".
-Each gains +1 movement speed while near one another.
-Each gains +1 bonus gold if they each participate in a kill.
-Three unique shouts in response to an allied Ace in the Hole.

When against an enemy Caitlyn:
-If Vi taunts while near an enemy Caitlyn, she will perform one of two special taunts. Doing so debuffs the Caitlyn with "Agitated: How Agitating", which will remain until Caitlyn damages Vi or Caitlyn dies.
-Three unique shouts in response to an enemy Ace in the Hole.

-She features a unique shout when she uses Assault and Battery on an enemy Jayce.

-Vi's login theme ("Here Comes Vi") was sung by Nicki Taylor , lead singer of the band "Running the Risk".

-Vi is the second champion whose login theme contains sung lyrics. The first was Diana.

-Vi is the first champion to be revealed by a feedback thread rather than by a sneak peak or art spotlight.

-Prior to her PBE release, Vi's character archetype had been in and out of development for two years.

-Vi has the most jokes in the game, at five, beating out the previous record holders Swain and Lux at four.

-Vi's last two abilities, "Excessive Force" and "Assault and Battery", are named after real criminal charges.

-Vi's dance is "the Dougie".

-Vi's design could be a reference to Borderlands.

-Her head resembles one of the unlockable heads for Siren from Borderlands 2.

-Her background resembles that of Brick - a melee berserker from the original Borderlands, often portrayed with his huge pair of fists.

-"Vis" is latin for "force". To be exact, "Vi" is ablative singular and means "with force", which can be related to Vi's design.

-VI is the number 6 in Roman Numerals. Because of this, many players are attempting to find some significance between the number 6 and Vi.

-Vi is not the 6th champion from Piltover. Vi is the 5th champion released who was born in Piltover — along with Caitlyn, Ezreal, Jayce and Orianna — and one of eight champions who live in Piltover: Corki, Heimerdinger, Ziggs and the aforementioned 5.

-Vi is the 6th champion who can disable itself, along with Caitlyn, Rumble, Varus, Xerath and Ziggs. Channeling and cast-animations are not considered forms of crowd control, however frustrating or disruptive they may be.

Vi shares quotes with Caitlyn either mocking her if they are on opposite teams or praising her if they are allied.
-"Oh, look at me... I'm on the case." (as opposed to just "I'm on the case.")
-"Boom! Headshot."

-Vi refers to Caitlyn as "Cupcake" in some of her quotes. This is likely due to Caitlyn's Yordle Snap Trap featuring a cupcake as the bait.

-Vi's quote when using her ultimate, "Get dunked!" is a reference to the "Dunkmaster" Yi build and video (pro as heck guide to master yi), where the phrase is repeated throughout the video. The quote itself coming from the Indie Game "Charles Barkley's Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden". This quote is now associated with Darius as his ultimate looks a lot like a Slam Dunk

Special Thanks

Much love to jhoijhoi for the awesome line dividers <3
And also much love to TinyStar for the AMAZING guide banners/graphics (whatever you wanna call them) <3 you can check out TinyStar's awesome Signature Boutique here!

Summary

Thanks for reading my Vi guide! It's still not finished like I said but as I play Vi more I'll update it and I hope it'll turn into an awesome guide!

Please comment and vote on the guide and don't downvote without trying the build. If you have any suggestion or ideas feel free to contact me about them via PM or buddy request in league. Or you can just use the comment section. If you do upvote the guide tell me what you like about it and if you downvote tell me what you don't like and what I can change to make it better.

Once again thanks for reading and see you on Summoner's Rift!