I'm KilllaZ (TheLanePolice / Kommeschon) and this is my guide for a beloved champion of mine, Vi. My currently Ranking on all three accounts is Platinum, one of them will be a Vi main in Season 5. I played her quite often and consider myself a decent player on her. Anyways, if you have any advices / made other experiences with her at some points, don't hesitate to comment. But for now, lean back and enjoy. PS.: If you are interested in my statistics with Vi, check out the spoiler below!

PRO

CON

Cease and Desist perfect for diving carrys in end game Very strong duelist and teamfighter Pretty easy & fast jungle if you finally got your jungle item High mobility Strong early ganks, if performed the right way Blast Shield prevents damage in jungle Her kit provides natural tankiness aswell as natural high damage

Weak when getting countered in own jungle Cease and Desist can't be cancelled -> may kill you sometimes Vault Breaker can be interrupted

Greater Seal of Armor

You don't want to take anything than this, you need it for early jungle. If you don't take it, you will get destroyed by minions. With Blast Shield and 9 points in the defensive part (masteries), its enough physical defense tho.

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Greater Mark of Attack Damage

Well, no choice here either. You can try to use armor penetration, but i would recommend flat AD to do your jungle faster. Additionally you've got enough armor penetration with Black Cleaver and Denting Blows anyways.

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Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist

This is simply the choice of every jungler I know so far. At level 7, the scaling runes outperform the flat ones and since you are jungler, you only see a mage before midgame when you gank mid. Take them to get more use out of your runes in endgame.

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Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage

Why attack damage on quints? Because I love attack damage. If you are an easily feared player, go for Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed, but since Vi got a nice escape with her Vault Breaker I would recommend that little bit more damage provided by these quints.

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OFFENSE TREE With Double-Edged Sword you deal as much damage as possible, since you are also tanky, you should be able to tank these 1% more damage easily. CDR with Sorcery to have your Vault Breaker up more often. Brute Force gives more damage, always fine. Since you always try to get a combo out Vault Breaker -> AA -> Relentless Force to apply your three stacks of Denting Blows, so Spell Weaving actually makes sense. Attack damage and increased damage against low life enemies with Martial Mastery and Executioner should explain itself. Blade Weaving is pretty good on Vi because she uses more spells than expected, with the hit combo she applys three times spell damage, using this mastery to the maximum. Warlord provides an additional damageboost on your bonus AD. Remember, your basic stats won't count into that. Devastating Strikes let you penetrate their armor even harder, three points for maximum success. Havoc increases your overall damage, easy decision.

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DEFENSE TREE Block reduces incoming basic attack damage for a total of 2. Not the world, but needed for Tier 2 defense masteries. Tough Skin reduces the damage while jungling, also for a total of 2. Since we skilled Block we can prevent even more damage, from every enemy champion damage source. We are melee so we gonna take 2 less damage. Veteran Scars gives us 36 HP flat health. Juggernaut provides us with 3% additional maximum health, best what you can skill with 9 points in the defensive tree.

There are two categories of items, must-have and viable ones.

Must-have:



No matter what happens, you have to get these items in the course of the game, to secure your damage.

Viable:


When I play seriously and tryhard, I get these two items almost everytime, just because they are the best items in their defense category avaible (my point of view). Denying a spell (maybe a stun aswell) and slowing enemys to flee / catch up, paired with awesome stats and health? You should buy them, but care, if you play against full AD enemies, consider to put Banshee's Veil out to get a Sunfire Aegis in your endgame build.


A pretty decent item with a nice passive, still I prefer Randuin's Omen over it. If you got only AD enemies, make sure to grab this one instead of Banshee's Veil. Otherwise I would drop that item for a Guardian Angel or Blade of the Ruined King.


This is a highly discussed part of my build, even with friends or when I get to look at other builds sometimes. For me, its Blade of the Ruined King OVER Trinity Force. That's not only a personal decision, but some kind of logic:
Your passive at your Denting Blows is extremly strong, since it gives attack speed, armor penetration at the target and chunk away >10% of maximum health. The point is, Blade of the Ruined King grants you attackspeed, a bit AD and another passive + lifesteal. Conclusion: You can trigger your most powerful spell way faster and more frequently, you can sustain fight due to the provided lifesteal, and you even got another passive to slow an enemy carry while getting health back.
Trinity Force is a nice choice on other champions aswell, but the perfect synergy between Vi and Blade of the Ruined King takes the point here.
So if you don't grab both because you dominate hard, take Blade of the Ruined King, or you will stay forever in bronze ;)


If the game is not falling to one team too easily, then grab a Guardian Angel instead of Blade of the Ruined King. This is the defense endgame build overall then. You know the advantages of guardians angel and the psychical threat.


You got only one slot left, but you seem to make no damage to their toplaner and jungler? And you still didn't got enough armor penetration through Devastating Strikes , Denting Blows, Stalker's Blade - Warrior and Black Cleaver (after five hits the summed up penetration is 51% + 20)? Then go for Last Whisper to get to a total of 86% armor penetration. That should be enough right?
I would rarely consider taking this item, but if you need it, take it!

You should be able to get a decent build now, so lets keep going with skills and how to use them shortly after. I would recommend to follow the build chart at the top of the page and to play her tanky, only in a few games Vi can be played full offensive.
Well and don't forget to ward!

Take these two summoner spells, you can't jungle without smite (won't be able to buy jungler items & you won't get buffs from neutral camps by smiting anymore). Also Flash got no equal enemy, you can escape with it and surprise enemies with a flash while you charge Vault Breaker. So you got no choice, take these two summoner spells, you won't find better one for a jungle Vi.

Your next spell grants you a shield over a certain amount, if the passive is not on cooldown. Extremly useful in the jungle because you simply take less damage. If you duel yourself with someone, always check how long your shield is gonna take to be back up and take it in consideration to rather stay and take the shield than fleeing. It will take a few games to manage this, but you sure will soon. Note: The third stack of Denting Blows won't activate your passive, you have to use an active spell.
This is your main source of movement, peeling and engaging. Vi charges and rushes towards to the pointed location. When she hits an enemy, she deals damage and knocks up enemy champions a little bit. Not much, but enough to hit your combo. While charging, the spell range increases, aswell as the damage. But consider that Vi can be interrupted casting her Vault Breaker!
You max this one first, but skill it first at level 2! The reason why you want to max this is pretty clear, you can gank more often and you can skip walls and save time while clearing your jungle.
This ability is a passive one. On the third hit on a target you will gain attackspeed over a short period of time and you will deal 10% + x% of your enemys maximum healths as physical damage. You get +1% on this damage for every 35 extra AD you've bought. Additionally you will crush 20% of your enemies armor.
Skill this ability on level 1 and max it as a second skill. It will help you to clear big jungle camps faster, aswell as doing drake / baron. You will be able to duel someone from lane with this ability aswell, so consider to take it. Maybe someone told you to max Relentless Force because you can clear faster than with Denting Blows, but this is not true. With the increased max health damaged (remember, jungle got buffed aswell in season 5) and the bonus attack speed, you are actually faster this way.
Your next auto attack is enhanced, dealing AoE (area of effect) damage to enemies behind your primary target and additional damage on your primary target. This spell can charge up to two charges, you get one charge every 8 seconds when maxed.
Skill this at level 3 and max it last, you need it primarily to cancel your auto attacks (see Dueling).
Your main spell in teamfights. Vi connects and pulls herself towards an enemy, knocking him up, dealing damage. She will knock enemies away on her way to the target. You need this spell to get to one of the main threats of the enemy team. If you get to fight someone melee, nearly no one can stand against Vi. More to the usage of this ultimate in Teamfights.

Smite Gromp and finish it with the help of your top / bot. Continue with blue buff and go ahead to your red. Make sure that you won't get invaded (ward in jungle entrance) and do red buff with Smite. This will restore a good amount of health and with your health pots there should not occur a problem.
After this, the world is ready for you. Show yourself with a gank in mid to burn Flash or to grab a kill, continue farming jungle minions or go back to base to shop. It depends on how much life you lost at camps / while ganking. You will surely figure it out yourself, after a few games you will be a good jungler who can estimate his power pretty well.
Additionally, because the new season brought a new Smite interaction, which gives you something if you smite a jungle minion, I will provide you a short list:

Smiting...

Gromp : ... provides a buff, which applies poison for a short amount of time on enemies who hit you.
Murkwolves: ... will spawn a moving ward, automatically spotting enemy champions and rushing to them.
Raptors : ... will provide you with a "smaller" red buff, dealing bonus true damage to enemies on hit. It will not slow tho.
Krugs : ... provides an ability, that stuns a minion every 5th attack.
Blue Sentinel : ... restores an amount of mana, increasing the less mana you have.
Red Brambleback : ... heals you for a good amount of health, more if you got not much life left.

Always remember to compete for the drake, there are some horrifying statistics out there. At the moment (Patch 4.20), 75% of the teams getting the first drake are winning. Thats pretty devastating, so remember to ward it (or remind your supporter when you can't) and fight for it. I won't explain the new drake and baron interactions in this guide, feel free to inform you about that: Click me to get to the official League of Legend changes in Season 5!

Your first time ganking is at level 3, after you finished your red buff. If you are playing on purple team, gank top first. If your allied top laner pushed his lane, drop a ward in the river, to prevent ganks from the enemy jungler and continue by going mid. You should at least burn a Flash while ganking, so always choose a good path.


You want to come from behind the enemies to hit your Vault Breaker and knock the enemy back to your ally. If you don't succeed to hit your Vault Breaker follow up with Cease and Desist if it would be successful, otherwise go back into your jungle and try again later. Most people feel save when they escaped a gank. Punish them by ganking again pretty fast.
If you don't have an opportunity to start a gank with your Vault Breaker, use Cease and Desist and Randuin's Omen to get behind them and knock them back with your Vault Breaker.
No matter if you get a kill or not, you should always land your basic combo which will be explained in Chapter 10.

Try to duel as much as you can during the game. Vi is extremly strong in a 1v1 situation and normally wins the fight. If you want a high rate at success, you need to learn the following combo:
You have to start the fight with your Vault Breaker. Follow it up with an IMMEDIATE auto attack while the enemy is in the air. Then cancel your auto attack with Relentless Force and auto attack with the enhanced hit. If you do this right, the enemy won't stand a chance avoiding these three hits (which will trigger your Denting Blows). The enemy can only Flash or jump away in a short time window. If the enemy flees after your attack, make sure to follow, if he does flee in a warded area. Consider to break the chase when he makes his way to his allies. Dont be greedy, time is playing for you.
Remember in close fights, that your passive blasting shield grants you a surprise effect, aswell as you can hurt for a hell load of HP with your combo (if used right).

Conclusion: Vault Breaker -> AA -> Relentless Force = key to victory

In a teamfight you can take two roles for your team, you can peel for your carries or dive for the enemy carry.


If you peel for your carries, focus on your Vault Breaker to interrupt enemy jumps or dashes. If you apply your three stacks of Denting Blows, your ADC shouldn't have a hard time anymore. You can stick to the enemy you caught, but keep yourself close to other threats, for using your Cease and Desist on enemies if you need to stop them again. If your team gets engaged, use your ultimate wisely to disorder the enemy team and helping your team to get a focus. Vi is not easy in teamfights, but she is not the worst to learn either. Concentrate on peeling first, before diving on enemy carries, when your team gets engaged.


If you mastered a few games with Vi and you got some kind of feeling for her damage, her cooldown and her possibilities, try to initiate the fights or turn them around alone by diving on to the enemy carries. I recommend to take the enemy who stands behind his whole team to disorder all with your Cease and Desist. Also take care of Flashes and dashes avaible for the enemy champion. Choose the one who can't escape over the one who could.
If you engage a teamfight, try to hit your combo (this one) on a squishy or priority target. If you loose your mobility by using Vault Breaker wrong, the favor can turn very quickly. Try to initiate from a side where they don't expect you to be, if necessary use Flash while charging Vault Breaker. Use your ulti to dive on a carry if you want or save it for a good possibility to save your carries or to kill someone who is fleeing or kiting. If you got both your Vault Breaker and Cease and Desist on a high cooldown, consider to flee for a while to avoid unnecessary damage while being kited.

If you need any further information about teamfights, leave a comment, I will respond ASAP. Mostly I do is automatically, so I may missed a few points there.

If you made it here, you know pretty much everything I do and you are ready to try playing Vi. Don't give up, the first games maybe hard while you learn the mechanics, but she is a good tool to raise in ranked games and also a lot of fun.

I gave my best to cover all you need in this guide, but if you see something I have to correct or something you want to have in the guide, don't hesitate to tell me in the comments. This is my first in-depth guide and I want to improve, so leave your opinion aswell. All I have left to say is: