Please I ask u to take your time and give your dedication to read, analyse, use in-game, and then give me feedbacks and constructive comments about this guide. If you got any questions about any of my choices on skill preference, item or gameplay, feel free to ask me about it.

Welcome guys ! Vanguard27 here, and I'm going to present u with my humble, very first guide for the amazing Viktor, The Machine Herald.


If youre new to Viktor, take a look at this Play Video Play Video

PROS Very high AOE burst dmg High AP ratio on all skills Useful shield to trade with Power Transfer Good AOE CC with Gravity Field Powerful poke and farming tool with Hextech Ray His ulti, Arcane Storm cause silence and track stealthy units..=D Free +3 AP per lvl from his HexCore

CONS SQUISHY!!! Mana hungry if you spam without wisdom walks in slow motion D= Arcane Storm must be controlled while using other skills to maximise his damage output Hextech Ray is hard to hit using smartcast and even harder to master :/ 1 item slot less than other champion..poor Viktor

The distribution of points in Masteries are pretty self-explanatory. We'll be playing Viktor as a AP carry, so we will be priorizing everything possible to make his Skills cause more dmg and more often, therefore our masteries will be like 21/0/9.

For runes, I use pretty standard runes that I would use on any AP carry;

MARKS

: Greater Mark of Magic Penetration
For more powerful magic damage.

SEALS

: Greater Seal of Mana Regeneration
For early game mana sustain.

GLYPHS

: Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power
For more AP throughout the game.

QUINTS

: Greater Quintessence of Ability Power
For early game damage

Feel free to use other runes to suit your playstyle. Runes listed above by no means the ones that suit mine. There are always better runes for everybody's needs.

For summoner spells, these 2 would be my most recommended:

Flash: This is the mandatory summoner spell for almost any champion in the league. In high level play, you would be likely to see 10 Flashes

Ignite: will provide additional burst to skill sets as it stacks with Arcane Storm and Augment: Death passive

You can substitute with other summoner spells to provide your needs, but never go without Flash !!

Well, this would be the sequence that I would use most of the time.

The main skill used will be Hextech Ray, so we will be priorizing his use, maximizing it ASAP (of course, max ultimate 1st ).

However, I get 2 points on Power Transfer to provide more trading power as the shield
provided became stronger obviously. After that I will put more points into Hextech Ray until maxed.

What about Gravity Field you asked? Well, you can get 1 point early if your jungler is ganking early.

This is your passive. Basically it provides with an item called "Hexcore". It grants you 3 AP per level at the expense of an item slot. D=
Here are the possible upgrades that you can buy at the in-game shop
Augment: Power upgrade your Q to grant 30% movespeed for 3 seconds upon casts. Also provide 220HP and 6 HP regen/5sec
Augment: Gravity upgrade your W cast range by 30%.Also provide you with 200 MP, 10% CDR and 5 MP regen/5sec.
Augment: Death upgrade your E to deal an additional 30% magic damage over 4 seconds. Also provide you with additional 45 AP.

IMO, Augment: Death is the best augment you can buy with Viktor as you are going to need the additional AOE damage with your Hextech Ray.
Otherwise you can always buy any other augments that suit your playstyle.

Your Q skill. Its a 600 range targeted nuke that deals 80/125/170/215/260(+65% AP) magic damage and returning to you to provide a shield of 40% damage dealt. A nice skill to have, as a nuke and trading tool. The shield it provide helps lessen the damage you will take in trades and in teamfights, thus providing survivability.

Your W skill. Its a AOE "heavy slow into 1.5sec stuns" that has an AOE to cover choke points and affects all enemy units crowding at one place. Surely will be nice if all enemy champions are inside to take the brunt all of your team AOE Damage. =D

Your E and main farming skill. Viktor shoots a laser from his robotic hand to deal 70/115/160/205/250(+70% AP) magic damage to all enemy units. Basically you will want to hit as much as you can with this as the damage is the same no matter how much you hit with the laser. Plus the burning effect from Augment: Death, yeah it hurts :P

Your renowned Ultimate. Viktor conjuges a storm in an area, dealing 150/250/350(+55% AP) magic damage and silences for 0.5sec. The storm will latch on an enemy champion for 7 secs, dealing further 50/75/100(+25% AP) magic damage on units nearby. In teamfights, this ability alone deals A LOT of damage to the enemies along with the silences, they will start to run..=D

Now for the items that i've chosen for my Viktor matches, and it's always your choice to buy yours though. I'll just give my opinion on how to build him my way. Let's go on, shall we?

First, Boots+ 3x Health Potion. This will provide you a versatile start to face any kind of lane opponents and the speed helps to escape nasty ganks. Well, the pots? Sustain, of course.
You can also opt for an early Crystalline Flask combined with pots to get some Godlike sustain in lane.

On your 1st B, always try to get a pair of Doran's Ring and a Sight Ward. That Dorans is gonna be your early game item to sustain your mana, your HP and early AP. Wards, why you asked? Wards is important in laning as you can detect incoming ganks, your opponent going to gank other lanes and securing objectives. That mere 75g is the one that may save your life .

Then, you must rush for your Sorcerer's Shoes and Augment: Death. Why? The magic pen combined with masteries and runes will make you dealing almost TRUE DAMAGE with all your skills and start killing people. The augment will help you to creep minion waves by spamming your Hextech Ray upon the minions. With the augment, the caster ones will instantly die and leaves the melee ones to die in one last hit.=) You should have no worries to spam your laser as you should have blue buff by now if you have a good-mannered jungler.=P

By now, the item you will be going to buy would be to provide the current need during the game. If you're doing well in your laning, rush your Rabadon's Deathcap and continue to destroy your enemy or buy Rylai's Crystal Scepter to provide some survivability and permaslows with your burning lasers and storms. If you're getting burst by the enemy AP carry, get Abyssal Mask for the extra MR and a Zhonya's Hourglass if all skills is aimed upon you. If you got your Rylai's, why not take advantage of the slows by getting Liandry's Torment to add some spices of torments in them.=D

In late game phases, the enemy should have adapted their items as well to fight against your team. Therefore add some shredding power with a Void Staff if the enemies are stacking MR. Otherwise, you can add some more devastating burst to your auto-attacks with Lich Bane plus the mana and extra movespeed it provides.

Owh, yes.. forgot about one thing. If you ever think that your lane opponent or any enemy champion are feeding you, get a Mejai's Soulstealer early to capitalise on them. The item build is always should be to adapt on your current situation in-game. Therefore, buy them at your own risk.=P

How do you lane with Viktor?

Well, IMO he is a champ which has several ways to lane effectively. But here I'm just going to emphasise on how to lane aggressively with Viktor. In laning phase, it is well known by everyone that last hitting is one important 'skill' to have as continually auto-attacking minion will have your lane getting pushed hard, ending up yourselves getting ganked by enemy junglers.

Even so, you can also last-hit minions with an occasional Hextech Ray to your opponent's face to dominate the lane. How to do this? well, you can just aim your laser on the dying minion while directing towards the enemy laner. Yea, maybe it needs some practice to do things nicely and if you are doing this right will soon bring them to low health and your opponent will start eating their pots and have themselves back to base. And you will just be full health or maybe just OK to keep farming.=)

Right after you get your Augment: Death, farming will become much easier. Just fire your laser at the minion and most of them will be most likely dead. Even if they don't, you can just last hit them for the gold. Another thing that your harasses will be deadlier with the increased AP and burning effect of the augment. They will keep eating their pots, recalling, wasting money, losing exp and farms, and be scared of your power.=D

If they ever gone back or dead if done right, push your lane and start ganking lanes in need. This way you will also help your partners to snowball and gain advantage over your enemy team. YEA, GANKS FTW!!

Usually team fights will start to happen when Mid tower is down, contesting dragon or maybe even fighting over the Baron Buff. This is when you should be careful in lanes and get out there alone by yourselves. Stick with your teammates and stay in the back while keep firing your laser at the enemies. You are, for sure dealing HUGE AMOUNTS OF DAMAGE with your skills. Try to have all the Blues up for yourselves to sustain your lasers.

Whenever a team fight start, try to spam your Hextech Ray and if possible, aim for carries at the back. BUT NEVER endanger yourselves to do that. Let the bruisers and tanks to initiate the fight and when the enemies pile up, get Gravity Field on them and launch Arcane Storm upon them. Keep spamming your Hextech Ray and blast anyone attacking you or escapers with Power Transfer. If you landed all your load on the enemies, most of them will be low on HP and maybe you can land some kills . Even if you don't, you will be most likely get at least 3 assists.=)

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So you think you know where to ward?

For all those that think warding is just the job of the support – you are sorely mistaken. Map control is one of the most important concepts in this game. Without proper map control your team will lose games. Having a ward in the correct spot or removing vision from the enemy team can make or break team fights, baron and dragon attempts.

Why do you get wards?

[*] See incoming Ganks
[*] See attempts at objectives (Baron/Dragon)
[*] So your team can push advantage and invade enemy jungle
[*] Catch enemy jungler
[*] Split push enemy turrets
[*] Initiate on unexpecting enemy champions in brushes
[*] Allies can teleport gank or teleport and assist in team fights

Who Buys Wards?

[*] Everyone in the game. However the AD carry will likely buy the least amount and the support will generally buy the most during the course of the game.
[*] Generally speaking: 60-70% of the wards should be the Support. 20-30% should be jungler and 10-20% should be the AP and AD carry.
[*] Everyone buys wards (not just the support)

Where to Ward?

This area is one of the most popular warded spots in the game, by both teams. The more I play support the more I realize it is better to ward this area with a pink ward instead of a green ward (probably more in competitive play than solo queue). In competitive play it is just more likely that there is going to be a ward there. This spot provides the most vision for both mid and bot lanes to know if the jungler is going into the river area. The same holds true for the purple side entrance to wraiths. This will allow your team vision if the enemy team has a strong counter jungling jungler. If this is the case ; you will often see teams ward this location at level 1 to prevent counter jungling by the enemy team (assuming you are purple side).
Another one :

This is a popular spot to ward if you are playing the mid lane because it allows you vision to both invasion to your wraiths (if your purple) and ganking from the river mid brush. This is often a highly contested brush during mid and late game when Baron objectives are trying to be met. It is common you will see in competitive play that this brush is pink warded instead of green warded for the likely case there is a ward by the enemy team in this location.

This area, and even higher up on the curve than shown on this (closer to the trees around golem) are often used to have vision before the Dragon Objective is taken. You MUST assume that the enemy team has this warded in almost all cases before doing dragon. It is VERY common you will see competitive teams use a pink ward in this spot because of how often is is used.


Credits to LiQuiD112 for these guide to warding pics=)

Likely match-up at the Mid lane:

Champ:Difficulty/10:Tips on match-ups
Ahri:7.5: Fighting Ahri may be harsh, care for her Charm and take note of her Ult Spirit Rush is up, she is way too mobile for you to catch her

Akali:7: Pre lv6 would the perfect time to shut her down, otherwise it'll be you which is going down; harass her heavily and ask for early ganks to get a kill on her.

Anivia:5:Always avoid her Flash Frost to avoid her Frostbite biting you hard. Care for jungle ganks if you are going aggressive against her as her wall may be troublesome without wasting Flash. And NEVER get EGG-BAITED!!

Annie:3.5: This little has less than your Hextech Ray, harass her to death!!. Experienced Annie players will flash-stun ParatrooperTibbers on you, so care for Pyromania marks.

Brand:5: His long range on most of his skills might pose a problem, but they are easy to dodge by the way, so you should no problem. Just care for ignited minion though as Conflagration and Pyroclasm can use them to get to you.D=

Cassiopeia:4: Her skills are short ranged, abuse this by harassing her hard with Hextech Ray. Be careful not get caught in Petrifying Gaze, she will destroy you instantly. Overall easy match-up with care.

Diana:7: She has all your weakness; gap closer, burts damage and shields. Care for her Crescent Strike as the ult Lunar Rush can proc twice and it hurts.
If she ults on you, launch Gravity Field on yourselves to deny further damage and poke her from distant Hextech Ray.

Elise:6: Her Neurotoxin and Volatile Spiderling / Skittering Frenzy hurts a lot and her Cocoon is very deadly if followed by jungle ganks. Never stay in lanes at low HP as her Venomous Bite will be mostly likely instakills you. Poke her hard with Hextech Ray to force her lose farms.

Evelynn:5: In early game she wont be too problematic and you can shut her down early. But her ganks on side lanes will be harsh on your team if you don't ward properly. In late game she will just sneak behind your team to burst your team's carries so pay attention and buy oracle on your team's most unlikely targeted teammate prior teamfights.

Ezreal:2: He can burst down easily teamfights and his laning at mid is not that good. Abuse this by harassing hard with Hextech Ray and shove the lane to cut down his farm. AP Ezreal can't last hit well under turret.

Fiddlesticks:6: You cannot kill him easily in laning phase due to powerful sustain on Bountiful Harvest. His Reap harass will be harsh if bounces multiple time on you and his Terrify is a harsh opener to ganks. And care if he's missing, or the last thing you'll hear is "CAWCAWCAWCAWCAWCAWCAWCAWCAW".

Fizz:9: He is no doubt a great counter to Viktor, so play with care!! Avoid attacking with his Playful / Trickster up. He would just make you miss all your skills and strike you back to death. Harass him with Hextech Ray and pray he blows his E then you can go for the kill.

Galio:5: Well, the fact he is tanky make you unable to burst him down easily and he can sustain well in lane. His Resolute Smite pokes hard even he has low AP. So play with care and not get caught in his ult. If he ever use his Idol of Durand, launch your Arcane Storm to negate it.

Gangplank:4: The new champ that's viable pick at Mid. His Parrrley hurts and your pokes much useless as he can just Remove Scurvy to heal back up. Farm lane and try to force him back to base.

Gragas:3: This fat Coca-Cola drinker has pretty much skillshots and plus the fact he's melee you should be able to shut him down with constant Hextech Ray. Care for his Explosive Cask as it will make escaping ganks harder due to knockback.

Heimerdinger:7:He pushes lane harder than you can with his turrets and his harass don't need him to target you which is bad. Try to ask for early ganks to shut him down otherwise you will be forced to guard your lane forever.

Karma:5: Mid Karma might pose some problem with her strong pokes and sustain, but luckily she's pretty short ranged. Zone her out with Hextech Ray and you should be fine.

Karthus:6.5:Well, nothing to say about the champion that just hit his R yo win. Avoid trading at close range as he is quite painful to deal with. Burst him down quickly and get out of the range of his passive. Recommend early Zhonya's Hourglass to evade Requiem.

Kassadin:10: Oh no.. Its him... Never pick Viktor if you ever know you're going to lane against him. You can try to shut him down early with Hextech Ray from a far, but post lv6, he will just destroy you over and over.=(

Katarina:7: This kitty must be shut down early game. Zone her out and deny her farm and call in ganks to ruin her day. If she is let loose she will wreak havoc in team fights due to her Voracity. Poke her down with Hextech Ray and retaliate with full combo if she ever get near you.

Kennen:5: Evade his Thundering Shuriken to negate his damage combo and if he rush to you Power Transfer him to negate some damage and fight with full force if he try to do the same. You got more firepower in your skillsets than Kennen's. Otherwise poke him hard with Hextech Ray.

Kha'Zix:8: One of hard counter to an AP carry mid. He is slippery with his Leap and his burst and pokes post lv6 is too stronk for Viktor to handle. Poke him hard to deny him farms and call ganks when he's OOM or when any chances pops up.

Kog'Maw:6: Trading with Kog'Maw will be painful. just poke him with long range Hextech Ray so he can't farm peacefully and he susceptible to ganks if he ever push his lane. Abuse it as he has no escapes.

LeBlanc:9: She is well known for her kit to one-shot carries. Therefore stay at long range and get her with Hextech Ray pokes to whittle her down and never risk your life to score a kill unless you're sure that any of her skills is on CD.

Lux:7: All her abilities has longer range and luckily all of them are slow skillshot so you can try your luck to evade them. Just do your best avoid getting binded as Lux's combo can burst you down harshly though.

Malzahar:6: His abilities are easy to evade except his Nether Grasp which is a confirmed kill when a jugnler is nearby so be careful. Try to stay away from minion infected by Malefic Visions

Master Yi:4: Neither you or him can kill each other without the help of junglers so farm up to go into late game as you have more damage potential in team fights. If he want to duel with you, launch your CC after he start his Meditate, he is vulnerable to Gravity Field and Arcane Storm.

Mordekaiser:7: He is hard to deal with post lv6 due to his ult Children of the Grave draining. Whittle down his shield with auto-attacks before harassing with Hextech Ray for more effective damage.

Morgana:4: Basically it is a farm lane. Always avoid incoming Dark Binding especially if ganks incoming as that 3sec binds is a death curse plus with her Soul Shackles. Never waste your mana poking her as her shield negate the damage and her Soul Siphon will her up in no time.

Nidalee:4: Not a hard match-up. Care for sneaky Javelin Toss for the fog of war when she is not in lane, it HURTS. When you're going toe-to-toe with her, burst her down quickly as possible, you won't win an extended fight with a Nidalee

Orianna:7.5: The pokes are as gard as you also can do to her as well. So this match-up will go on farming match and landing skillshots to dominate the lane. The advantage you have is when you manage to dodge her Command: Attack as she can't reposition her ball that fast without it.

Ryze:7: Never let this guy farm peacefully. Always poke him up with Hextech Ray and force him out of lane often. You don't want to know what he can do if he's farmed up. Plus he can't miss anything.=(

Syndra:8: Her harass is on-the-move skillshots which she hold a very huge advantage over you. Always try to predict her movements to hit easily with your Hextech Ray and pay attention to her Dark Sphere animation. Also NEVER let her position a sphere between you two as it makes her easy to land her stun on Scatter the Weak.

Talon:8: A smart Talon can burst you down pretty much post lv3. Keep away from him and force him out of lane with often Hextech Ray and Arcane Storm before Talon can even use his Shadow Assault to escape. A skill match-up.

Teemo:2:Basically free food for Viktor. A smart Teemo would avoid fighting Viktor as his burst pretty much destroy this poor yordle.=)

Twisted Fate:7: In lane, he will push lanes hard to ease him to gank other lanes with his Destiny. His Pick A Card is spammable and provide utilities to destroy you in lane and in also team fights. Deny him farms to impair his mid-to-late game with your Hextech Ray and maybe even try to cancel his Gate if you ever see him teleporting with your Arcane Storm.

Veigar:9:A hard counter for most AP carry. Never get caught in his stun otherwise you will be instakilled. Try to force him out of lane eith constant Hextech Ray harass to impair his late game power.

Viktor:3:Well, not much to say here. If your opponent read this, maybe they can put up some fight. For me, I just can't find a good Viktor yet.=P

Vladimir:7:he has such a strong lane sustain especially if he got an early Hextech Revolver, overall he is a strong opponent to deal with.

Xerath:5:He has a not so strong early game. the range is OP with his Locus of Power therefore you need to evade his skillshots. It's easy to do so though. He has no burst other than his ult Arcane Barrage. Punish him when he uses it to farm.

Ziggs:6: He's pretty long ranged. Sneak up to him to burst him down in teamfights. In lane, poke him out with Hextech Ray to deny him farm and exp.

Stay tune for this sector =D

As I said in the beginning, this is my first guide. I am open to constructive comments, and gonna try any changes you guys propose and, if it ever improved my gameplay with Viktor I'll happily change any of it and give credits to the responsible.

PLEASE, dont flame/troll/comment aggressively and downvote without reading the entire guide and testing it.

And if you liked it, let me know!! I'm grateful to know that all my work was worth it, and I'll be inspired to make new guides!=D

Other then that, goodluck with your future games with Viktor!

"Also, special thanks to jhoijhoi, whose guide teaches on how to make this guide. It helped me A LOT!!" <3

- Vanguard27, signing out -