Welcome to my guide for a really nice AP mid Viktor, The Machine Herald. This is my first Mobafire guide so I would appreciate any and all feedback that you guys may provide.

It took me a good amount of time to make this guide, if you are thinking about downvoting my guide I would like you to reconsider and give me feedback in the comments. Thank you for taking time to read my Viktor guide.

AD: Attack Damage; some abilities scale off of attack damage, and all basic attacks scale off of attack damage.

AoE: Area of Effect; an ability or item bonus that does damage in a certain area.

AP: Ability Power; most abilities scale off of ability power, basic attacks do not scale off of ability power but there could be basic attack enhancers which increase your basic attack damage.

CC: Crowd Control; in some way debuffs or interrupts your champion (knock up, slow, suppress).

DoT: Damage over Time; Does damage over time, magical/physical/true damage. Can be applied by red buff, item passive, or by an ability.

MS: Movement Speed; the speed your champion moves; units per second.

MR: Magic Resist; lowers a champion's damage on an ability by the amount of damage it does and how much magic resist you have.

Pros

Poke in and out with your Hextech Ray.
Stun enemies for you and/or your teammates with Gravity Field.
Gets a shield to protect him from some damage with his Power Transfer.
Three unique item choices to augment his abilities.
Great burst damage with the right augment.
Nice farming with his Hextech Ray.



Cons

Squishy.
Vulnerable to enemy CC.
If you don't play him right people may look at him as useless.
Needs either health, magic resist, or armor.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: The runes give you Magic Resist against those AP mid laners.
Greater Seal of Mana Regeneration: Viktor has one of the, if not lowest base mana regeneration in the game. He needs mana regeneration to help him stay in lane easier.
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: These runes give you Magic Penetration to help cut through some of the opponent's Magic Resist.
Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: These runes give you a lot more MS, because you need it. Viktor has very low base movement speed, as low as Ezreal and boots won't just satisfy his need for speed.

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Alternative Runes

Greater Glyph of Ability Power: You can use these runes to get that extra AP. I don't think its worth sacrificing the MR just for a little bit of AP.
Greater Seal of Armor: You can get this runes if you are going against an AD caster or a manaless champ, but Viktor has one of the lowest base mana regen in the game and he needs what ever he can get.
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: I don't like taking these runes because they just add AP to your beginning game which falls of late game. MS on the other hand stays needed the whole game and saves you in some cases.

: This is a unique passive. It starts off Viktor with a hax core. This item cannot be sold. You can evolve it into three other augments (See Augment Chapter for Reference). The hex core starts you off with 3 AP per level.

: This ability sends out a object to the target dealing damage and shielding you for 40% of the total damage. If you get your Augment: Power, your Power Transfer speeds you up by 30% which helps in chasing or fleeing combined with your Gravity Field.

: This ability sets up a field with slows enemies slowing them and stacking up to 4 times. When it reaches four stacks in two seconds, it stuns them for a short duration. Augment: Gravity increases the range in where you can set up the field.

: Viktor's third arm shoots out a ray of lazerness and damages enemies in a line. It has a very long poke range and can be used to even poke Orianna. Augment: Death adds a DoT to the ray for 30% of the total damage dealt.

: This ability summons a large electrical storming dealing damage and silencing an enemy for 0.5 when summoned. It then does DoT to nearby enemies, the storm gets slower the farther it is from Viktor.

> > >
I start off my ability sequence with my Power Transfer for more shield and damage on it. Afterwards, I put two points in that I start to put the rest of my points into Death Ray for the extra poke, damage, and AoE. I max my W last because I could care less about the CD that's why I got an Athene's. I take my ult whenever I can, I can say that goes without saying.

: This Augment upgrades your Hextech Ray to have a little bit of damage over time. When you stack it with Liandry's Torment and Rylai's Crystal Scepter. It will nearly double the damage coming from the damage over time.

: This augment upgrades your Power Transfer so it gives you a 30% MS boost. A Rylai's Crystal Scepter, it will slow the enemy AND speed you up. They will never catch you or escape with your Gravity Field. Get this augment if they have a fast team or someone pretty fast so you can keep up.

: This augment gives a longer range for the stun/slow which will make it easier to catch people in team fights while staying out of the actual fight. Your teammates will love you. I get this if the enemy team is more close range oriented, so in team fights I can stay on the outside and put my Gravity Field in.

: These give you a nice amount of mobility to dodge skillshots and avoid early ganks.

: Nice health if you've been harassed or ganked. Good counter to ignite if you might just die by the last tick.

Early Game

: These give a nice amount of health, AP, and mana regen just what Viktor needs if he is behind. Don't try getting these if you're ahead, you are better off if you don't stop building your core build.

: These give you a good amount of magic pen to stack with your other magic pen items.

: These give nice MR against your laning partner. The tenacity will also help if the other team has a lot of CC.

: This item is main on Viktor, he is very mana hungry and when he drinks out of this chalice they go away. The MR helps in lane against an AP champ or just in general.

Mid Game

: This gives you a really good amount of base AP and then its passive increase your total AP. Almost always necessary on AP casters.

Late Game

: This gives you more AP, health, and magic penetration. The passive on it gives a small damage over time. Like I said above combine it with Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Hextech Ray, you'll get a mean DoT on your abilities.

: This item drastically increases your burst damage, 50 + 75% of your AP after using an ability. Try to space out your ability usage with basic attacks in between. Lich Bane gives you mana, AP, and MS. The MS helps a lot with Viktor because he has a low base MS.

: This gives health, mana, and AP, just what you need. It also increases its AP over time. whats not to love about it?

: This gives 100 AP, 50 armor and it has a really unique active. I get this if I am usually against an AD heavy team or an AD mid. The unique active really helps if you're getting focused during team fights. The enemies will either waste their AoE's on you or move onto another one of your allies.

: Good amount of AP. Its passive lowers MR by 35%, really nice if they start stacking MR.

: Gives same amount of AP as Void Staff, but instead of having a % of magic pen, it reduces nearby enemies's MR by a flat 20. It also gives 45 MR, nice against a burst mid.

: It gives you AP and health. Its passive makes your spells slow enemies. If you combine this item with your Power Transfer, phew, their gonna have a hard time.

: This item gives 50 armor and 30 MR, but that's not what set it apart from other items. Its unique passive allows you to revive and get back into the fight. After three seconds, you have 30% of your mana and health instantly regenerated. Good against bursty teams.

: A perfect summoner spell for anything. You can use it to run away and to chase. This is a necessity on Viktor due to his lack of escapes.
]: Helps a lot if you get pushed out of your lane. Allows for a quick uninterrupted recall if you are getting chased. You can also use this to set up a nice gank.

Substitutes

: helps you kill those people who think they are going to run away at the lowest of health. Makes a good combo with Liandry's Torment proc'ed with Rylai's Crystal Scepter and then your added ult.
: This is really good if the other team has a lot of CC. Nice and helpful. Did Skarner ult? Nope. Does Darius have Hemorrhage on you? Nope.
: You can use this in replace for Flash. Allows you run faster but you can't go through walls. There is a chance the enemy might stun or slowing, just negating the whole summoner spell itself. Although it is better than Flash if you're wanting to chase someone.

: If you use your mana conservatively you won't need this spell.
: Viktor is pretty squishy, nice to have a heal once or twice. If you stay out of poke range, or able to predict their abilities you won't need this spell. Isn't it fun it heal bait though?
: NONE SHALL ESCAPE!!!

When farming as Viktor you should focus on farming rather than harassing your enemy at early levels. Wait until you spend a few points in an ability first until you harass. When farming, you should use your Hextech Ray, if you see a large minion wave with simi-low health minions. You can also use your Power Transfer to secure a minion if you are to far away to get it or fear that minions might get it.

In early game; Use your Power Transfer to harass if they are low ranged, or have DoT harass because your shield will make it in time to you to block the DoT. Use your Hextech Ray to harass if the enemy is in a minion wave so you can hit the minions and your lane opponent to be mana-cost efficient.

In mid-late game; You want to only harass with your Hextech Ray, or else you might get CCed if you wander to far in to Power Transfer. You should have a large enough mana pool to be able to harass with your Hextech Ray.

Viktor Counters:

What mechanics do these champs all have that makes Viktor good against them? They all either have to get in close to combo, have melee AAs or they are susceptible to burst.

Gragas is melee and only has one harass.
Ryze is another champ who has to get in close to Viktor.
Mordekaiser has a pesty shield, but if you stay away from minions it won't do him any good. He has to get in close to harass and he is melee.
Swain has a lot of survivability, just burst him down and you'll be good.
Elise doesn't like burst and her spider form is melee, which she has to get in close to finish you off.


Viktor is countered by:

What mechanics do these champs all have that make them good against Viktor? They all either have large amounts of burst, or long range CC.

Brand has a large amount of damage if he c-c-c-combos you. His stun is decent range.
LeBlanc has a huge burst early and late game although her presence drop significantly. When she uses Mimic on you and it'll silence you if she used sigil of silence first.
Orianna has long range harass and a shield. She can slow you with her ball and pull everyone in with her ult.
Evelynn has a long range slow and can deal a lot of burst damage or consistent damage. She can remove the slow that your Gravity Field sets up and continue to chase.
Zyra can just put some seeds down and throw an ability over it to harass a lot. On of the plants can slow you, also Zyra has a snare and a large AoE knockup.