Vi Build Guide by britishpleasure

Introduction

Hello everyone and welcome to my jungle Vi guide! In this guide i'll explain an effective way to play jungle Vi. The great thing about Vi is that there is so many effective ways you can actually set her up for jungling so hopefully this could be a good start for finding out what works best for you. I hope you enjoy this guide and bring victory to your team with brute force and style!

Pros / Cons

Pros
Great escape and initiate skills
Pretty fast clear time in the jungle
Amazing ganks even at early levels
Still very strong even when tanky
Can quickly hunt down targets with Assault and Battery
She's a total badass

Cons
Can easily get zoned since she's melee
Vault Breaker can be very predictable and easily avoided
Sometimes your ult can put you into a bad position
Really likes to tease poor Caitlyn

Runes

Greater Mark of Armor Penetration
These runes are great for doing even more damage to champions. Your Denting Blows will be even more powerful since it deals bonus ad damage and it really works well with The Black Cleaver.

Greater Seal of Armor
I'd highly recommend taking these runes because they will really help you take a lot less damage in the jungle so you can clear camps and gank more often. If you also combine the Greater Glyph of Armor you'll being doing that even more effectively.

Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage Having that little extra bit of ad can really make the difference in how much damage you'll do. If you really feel like you need even more early ad consider taking the Greater Mark of Attack Damage with these.
Other Options:

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist
I feel you really don't need these runes since you'll be building magic resistance and will be mostly in the jungle and ganking but if you know you're going up against a heavy ap team then these runes will be very useful. However if you know you'll be needing that extra magic resistance early look into getting Greater Glyph of Magic Resist

Greater Mark of Attack Speed These runes will be really useful early game since I recommend taking Denting Blows first. You'll be able to get your stacks more quickly resulting in a lot more damage and faster clearing.

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed These will really help in the early game since your movement speed will be really low since you're not starting with boots. It will really help with getting in quicker when ganking and as they always say, "Its only fun, If they run".

Masteries

For Vi I like to go 21/9/0. This really focuses on being able to deal a lot of damage while having some survivability which is very important.

Offence Tree:
Fury is useful because the more punches you can throw out the more damage you will do!
Butcher This will help you do that little extra bit of damage to monsters.
Deadliness The more ad you can get the better!
Havoc does make you do a bit more but this is mostly a place holder
Weapon Expertise This is very important in making sure your Denting Blows do even more damage.
Lethality Your crit hits will be doing even more damage.
Brute Force Having that early ad could be very helpful.
Frenzy Everytime you crit you gain bonus attack speed which is great on Vi.
Sunder This really goes well with your Greater Mark of Armor Penetration.
Executioner When your enemies are weak this will help finish them off!

Defense Tree:
Resistance and Hardiness are useful for getting more resistances so you can be even more tanky early game.
Durability and Veteran's Scar will offer you quite a bit of hp which will help you be more tanky

Summoner Spells

I personally feel the best set up for Vi jungle is Flash and Smite but there are other possible options for her as well so that it could better suit your play style.

Recommended Spells:

Flash
Possibly the most versatile spell in the entire game. This can really help you get a kill or help you escape. This is the best way to be able to put yourself in a spot that will give you the most advantage.

Smite
This skill is a must have when playing jungle Vi. Not only will it help you clear a lot faster but it can also be used to either steal or secure monsters such as Dragon or Baron Nashor

Ghost
If you find yourself needing to stick onto an enemy and don't want minions in the way then take this. This can also be used in escapes if the need arrives but I just feel Flash does a better job.

Teleport
If you want to push a certain lane but you're to far away then this will help. This spell can also be used in making surprise ganks giving your enemies little time to react.

Ignite and Exhaust
These spells are very useful if you want to really make sure to secure a kill. Exhaust could also really help with escapes but its not as effective as Ghost or Flash

Skills

Blast Shield
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.

This is a very strong passive and will help you get through the jungle with even less damage. Make sure at early levels this passive is up before starting new camps.

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..

This skill can be an amazing gank tool when used right. I always take this at level 2 so I can quickly get into jungle camps and do some early ganking. I personally level this last because of its very high cool down and its pretty easy to miss this skill so I feel it's better to put level her other skills first.

Denting Denting Blows
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.

This is a great passive ability. It is very similar to Vayne's Sliver Bolts but it does bonus ad damage instead. Your ability's can also add more stacks to your passive and timing your ult with this passive can be very devastating.

Excessive Force
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.

This skill has a lot of AoE can hit a lot of targets if positioned correctly. I like to level this skill first because you'll be able to store charges more quickly.

Assault and Battery
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.

This is Vi's ultimate and it's an amazing skill. It can quickly close the gap with your targets and set them up for a lot of damage. It is also very useful in team fights to help you hunt down those important targets that are hiding in the back. However you may find yourself in some really bad positions sometimes so be careful when you plan to use it.

Items

For jungle Vi you want to start with Hunter's Machete and five Health Potion's.

Jungle:

I feel like this is one of the best jungle items you can get on Vi and in some cases even when you're top you can really find use with this item. This item offers armor, ad, life steal, and a passive that procs bonus magic damage to monsters. It will really help you clear the jungle fast. It also gives you a free ward which is the greatest item in the game.

These boots are very useful because it offers tenacity which lowers cc and the extra magic resistance is nice. However if you're going up against a heavy attack damage team then consider taking Ninja Tabi instead. If you plan on getting an Enchantment i'd highly recommend taking either Alacrity or Furor because you'll need to be able to stay on your target to really hurt them but Furor does a better job at sticking onto an enemy and Alacrity is better for moving around the map.

this item is a must have on Vi. It gives ad, hp, cool down reduction, armor pen, and armor reduction. It also synergies with your Denting Blows for even more armor reduction and damage!

This item will ensure you deal,"Tons of Damage"! This is an amazing item on Vi because she benefits from every stat. It gives you bonus ad, ap, attack speed, hp, mana, crit chance, movement speed, and 2 passives.

When you have to deal with a lot of ad then this item is the way to go. Though it isn't built off a gp5 anymore it now offers a lot of hp and a great amount of armor. It also has a great passive that lowers the attack speed of people attacking you and an active that slows people around you.

When the enemy team has a strong ap threat then this is the way to go! This item offers great ad, magic resistance, and two awesome passives. when you're low on hp this item gives you a shield that blocks ap damage and at the same time you'll gain more ad since you're hp is low.

This item gives you some armor, magic resistance, and the ability to be revived if you lose all your hp. This item in a way has been nerfed in a way but since you'll be pretty tanky by the time you get this you'll greatly benefit from this item.

Other choices:

If you feel you're doing enough damage and need something to counter the enemy ap then this is the best item for the job. It gives not only a decent amount of magic resistance but it also gives more hp, mana and a bubble that is very useful against moves such as Rocket Grab or Requiem.

This item offers armor, hp, magic resistance, and health regen. It also offers your team an aura that will really improve their resistances.

This is a great item for Vi. It offers a lot of ad, life steal, and an amazing amount of health regen. This item offers a lot of AoE with both its passive and active. Though this item is great I feel it's very pricey but in some situations can be worth it.

If you really need that extra hp and armor but still want a bit of offence then this is the way to go. This items passive is really useful at giving you constant magic dps versus either monster or champions.


Summary

Remember to not always follow a set build when you're playing. You should build based on how your game is going and get what you think is best.

Jungling

You can almost start with any skill when playing as jungle Vi but I feel taking Denting Blows could be the best option. I personally like to start at Wolves then move onto blue. From there you can choice to either do a gank or continue to Wraiths then back to Wolves so you can be level 3 before starting red or gank with almost your full combo.

Counter Jungling:

When you plan to counter jungle be sure to fully charge your Vault Breaker and charge into your target or camp but be careful because you might put yourself in a bad position and you just used one of your good escapes.

Summary

I really hope my guide has given you a better understanding on how to play jungle Vi and a good base for finding your own style of playing her. Vi is a very fun champion to play and very good at helping your team get ahead! If you have any pictures or videos of games you played using this guide that you want to show off then you may send them to me and i'll be more then happy to put them up. Now go and bring your team to victory using brute force and style!

There is still A LOT I want to add to this guide so please stay up to date with any changes that may come.

Credits:

The art used in this guide belongs to 2gold and iamsointense. You can find the art and them Here and Here