Hi, im RedVenator, this is my first guide pretty much ever. I picked Viktor up on release, mainly because he looked fun and unique. I'll admit, he's hardly Morgana but that's not to say he's weak. He's balanced: good damage, good cc, and wins mid lane. Since then, i have seen many people, either playing Viktor, saying he's UP or forum posts about how bad he is. First off, i'd like to dismiss that, Viktor can easily carry games, like anyone can, however unlike alot of other champions there is a greater emphasis on getting him right. Anyway, on with the guide:

Before we go any further, i'd like to cover the pros and cons, mainly so that if your still deciding or you just want a summary it's right here:


Pros:

High Early and Mid game Damage
Quite good CC
insane Poke damage
Dominant Mid-laner
Aoe Damage
The Hex Core

Cons:

Some Late Damage Fall off
Ruined by longer range mages
Disasterous if done wrong
Not as strong as other APs
The Hex Core

So yeah, as you noticed, your passive is a major part of Viktor, it is in a way, his USP. I'll admit it's a blessing and a curse. Why?, early and mid game, the +3 ap per level is great, at level 10 you'll have the same ap as if you built two more doran's. for free. Meaning, while your opponent tries to catch up with your damage, you can be building your core items. However, this all comes at a cost, you have 5 inventory slots. Meaning that you wont be able to fit wards and potions etc. while your building items, which can be troublesome. More seriously, you have 5 slots, therefore you can't buy as many proper late-game items. Also, in order to upgrade your passive you need 1000 gold, yeah, a passive that costs money. D'awwww. Other pros/cons, i feel Viktor's skill set makes him more of a counterpick than anything else, if you have first pick, get someone else. However, any mid-range mage can easily get torn apart by Viktor, why? Lazers. A long-range vector skill shot that does alot of damage and goes through minions, meaning if they push on to you, it's going to punish them ALOT. And if they do try to kill you, then just use stuns and silences to stop them, and get a kill. However, in terms of late game, Viktor wont do as much damage as other characters with the same amount of money, however with rylais and Gravity Field, you can do strong cc, which will do alot for your team anyway.

Pretty standard imo, people do say differently, but personally i've found this to be quite useful, you can use other runes if you prefer, but if your interested in picking up this guy, just follow the afforementioned setup. This rune page is focused on early game dominance, and because of your passive and poke damage, you can reliably get a kill early in the game, thanks to these runes. with the masteries and a Doran's Ring and Hex Core, this will give you 49ap at lvl 1, which will increase per level. Needless to say, if there is a rune page you find much more useful, feel free to use that.

21/0/9, nuff said. Your an AP caster, so take the offensive caster setup. For a while i tried running 9/0/21 on the new masteries, and tbh was a little meh. The main thing that you want from Utility is the mana regen, which you can get with your 9 mastery points. I'm not saying the health regen, CDR and Summoner's CDR is bad, just the damage output from Offense will benefit you much more. Another note, if your below lvl 30, then make sure you max the extra mana regen as a priority, you will need it.

Early Game:
Doran's ring: Health, AP, and mana regen. All very useful, the health lets you survive encounters, and dominate enemies who chose not to start with a doran's, the AP means more damage, and the mana regen means more lazers, absolute viktory! Feel free to buy more than one, for the early game stats if you need a little advantage against your opponent, however, i wouldn't recomend more than two, due to Evolving Technology and the need for a Rylai's.

Sorcerer's Shoes: as you'll be playing Viktor in mid lane (i.e AP carry) you'll want the damage output the magic penetration gives you. However if cc is very apparent on the enemy team, go for Mercury's treads, i don't see any other viable boots to be honest.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter: My god, this is an item custom built for viktor, health, ap and slows, which synegises with your kit VERY well. With your Rylai's it will be very hard for enemies to escape your full combo without blowing everything. In terms of Rod of Ages and Rylai's, this is certainly the better buy for Viktor,as the slows allow you to keep up damage after your initial burst. Though you don't have the mana pool of a Rod of Ages or the boon of a Catalyst the ProtectorCatalyst the Protector, the synergy makes up for it. Remebering that your Doran's Ring, runes and masteries, as well as any blue buffs you get will allow you to keep using your Death Ray (responsibly). In terms of building your Rylai's, I would recommend going for the Giant's Belt first, as the the health pool will mean that you will be able to survive the enemy spell combo, while Evolving Technology means that you will have strong early-game AP anyway.

Remeber to buy health potions and wards peridoically, gold and inventory space allowing.

So that's your core Build, to be honest, i see no reason to deviate from this, regardless of Augment (Rylai's benefits all of them), however, from here on out, there is quite a few choices, first, my personal recomendation:

Rabadon's Deathcap: Big-hitting AP, the unniversal item on any mage, due to it's high gold for AP ratio. I know rushing rabadon's is quite popular, but i'd discourage this, as apart from Death Ray, your spells are quite close range, without the defensive stats of Rylai's you will drop, fast. With your Rylai's you will still drop, your are not a tank by any measure, but you'll take more of a beating. Additionally, why have all the AP if you cant stay in range for your whole combo? Therefore, get the Rylai's first, simple as.

Once you have these items, your AP is going to be quite strong, and you'll have one of your augments. In a normal game, this is what you should aim to get in the time, however, if the game is lasting a long time fill your last 2 slots with `situational AP` items. Basically, items that serve speciffic pruposes, which you should build wither due to champion choice or because of what the Enemy is doing.

In a game where everything is going well, I'd recommend these items:

Zhonya's Hourglass: an item with both a nice AP and active effect. I'll be the first to admit i forget to use it sometimes. Something to remeber is that though Zhonya's Hourglass prevents you from taking actions for the duration, if your Chaos Storm is allready out then you can still control it even when your in `stasis` as it were. Note as well activating Zhonya's when your dying of DoT freezes the duration of the damage, you wont take damage, but it wont use up the duration while Zhonya's Hourglass makes you invulnerable.

Void Staff one of the best counters to people stacking Magic Resist to counter those deadly lasers. However, this shouldn't be a core pick, the Percentage magic pen is only better than Sorceror's Shoes or Haunting Guise at large amounts of MR, and will set you back a considerable amount of gold.

Still a nice item despite the change, can give you alot of health from your ult. Synergise with another Ap character and both buy one for extra damage and spell vamp! Realistically, unless Managic resist is a real problem, or you need the Mr of an Abyssal Sceptre Abyssal Sceptre then pick this up.

I'm gonna put it straight out there: I dont really use this item. stats are good, but the gold price is considerable, and i prefer other items. If you like Lich bane, i won't stop you, i just personally build something else.

Man this item is hilarious, and builds from a Kage's Lucky However, as Viktor your mid game is good, and gold gen items arent ideal. I repeat, Ryalai's is the priority. Regardless, can't argue with the Burst of a DFG, gives CDR too. If there is an Olaf, or somebody else who builds lots of health, consider picking this up.

Oh God.... do NOT buy this item. 3k for more mana regen you will ever need as Viktor. AP CDR and MR, but not enough to warrant the price. large base mana regen, chalice regen effect and a mana restore on kill is simply overkill.

Now, that's my thoughts on items, however, With the release of Spectator mode, i have seen a very popular build, that every Viktor seems to run.

Start with
Get triple Doran's rings, getting Sorceror's Along the way
Buy Augment Death
Get Rabadon's or Rylai's crystal SceptreRyali's

Ok, now to pull that build apart:
not starting wih Doran's ring means you cant use laser as much without oom'ing, your damage will be reduced, and you have less health if youa re ganked. Though the potions are nice, unless it is somebody you need to dodge, get a dorans.

Next, when i say one doran's, is good, that doesnt mean 3 is. your passive gives so much AP you can crutch on it to build your core build, 3 Doran's rings is excessive unless how are being completely Dominated.

Now here is the real joke, Augment Death this items requires a good AP base to get the most out of it. BETTER RUSH IT RIGHT? It costs 1k gold too. Thats nearly as much as a Giant's Giant's Belt

This is why people dont see Viktor as decent, the main build people use is so inefficant. don't follow the crowd, build smart, Win games!

This is the crux of Viktor, ultimately any build will have one of the three Augments. This could be Augment Power Augment Power,Augment Gravity Augment Gravity or Augment Death Augment Death. Lets look at each of these:

Augment Death

Health+ 220
Hp regen /5 + 6
Passive: Power Transfer increases Viktors Movement speed by 30% for 3 seconds
Undoubtedly the most fun Augment to use, with the reliable speedup with some CDR, you can do some real fun shenanigans and gives you an extra escape and chasing potential. However, does this make the item good? Sadly not. The stats are fairly bad for Viktor (particularly Mid lane). If you want durability, get the Giant's Belt instead. Considering you cant swap Augments, even getting it situationally at top lane (its only use) will disadvantage you. I repeat this is for Toplane or Trolls only.