*Wiggles tentacles in a wave-like fashion*

Welcome to my Vel'koz mid guide!

I currently have around 600K mastery points on Vel'koz, with around 350k in the mid lane, and around 250k playing him support/bottom lane.

I wanted to make a useful Mid lane Vel'koz guide for you all since I've played a lot of him at this point and have some helpful information to share.

After you've read this guide, be sure to check out Azzapp's V'k mid guide here on Mobafire as well, he knows a great deal about the squid beast and I've learned a lot from him as well.

With that said, let's get on with the rest of our guide!

"It is unclear if Vel’Koz was the first Voidborn to emerge on Runeterra, but there has certainly never been another to match his level of cruel, calculating sentience. While his kin devour or defile everything around them, he seeks instead to scrutinize and study the physical realm—and the strange, warlike beings that dwell there—for any weakness the Void might exploit. But Vel’Koz is far from a passive observer, striking back at threats with deadly plasma, or by disrupting the very fabric of the world itself."

"His insatiable hunger for knowledge has led Vel’Koz across the world, to its highest peaks and darkest depths. Cunning and methodical, he has quietly watched entire civilizations rise, stagnate and decay, spent centuries combing the ocean floor for its secrets, even scrying the movements of the stars in the heavens above him."

"He carries all of this knowledge back to the great rifts in the fabric of Runeterra—so that the Watchers might know what he knows—and will annihilate, without hesitation, any mortal who stands in his path."

"For the Void is eternal, and it will consume us all."

https://lol.gamepedia.com/Vel%27Koz

Pros

+ Absurd poke with Q (High damage, low cooldown, & low mana cost) + Ridiculous range and kill potential with Q and Ult + Few terrible matchups since he can farm safely with is long range Q + Super high damage (can melt tanks with passive true damage) + His AoE ultimate is one of the best teamfighting ultimates in the game, you can solo carry teamfights with a good ultimate + Super annoying to play against! (dodging the Q geometry is hard and mentally taxing) + Decent CC because of his knockup, and his Q and ultimate slow the enemy + Can go Glacial Augment and offer a ton of utility to the team, and still do tons of damage

Cons

- SUPER squishy - Pretty weak pre-level 6 (low kill pressure without ult) - Low mobility - Pop-up can be hard to land, especially against champs with dashes - Runs out of mana early if you use all of your abilities - Bad against assassins and high damage champs with gap closers - Relies heavily on landing skillshots and requires excellent positioning to not die and be effective

* Arcane Comet is probably the best keystone rune choice for Vel'koz, in my opinion. It lets you do a ton of extra poke damage throughout the game, and you're going to land your comet 90% of the time because your Plasma Fission will slow their movement speed.

*I like to take Manaflow Band here because it gives you an extra 250 mana pool once you get it stacked up, and increases your mana regen. These are both great for you because you'll be spamming your spells often, due to your kit and high CDR, and you'll need mana to do that.

*You can take Transcendence or Absolute Focus as they are both good. In my experience Transcendence is better because it allows you to reach the CDR cap sooner, and gives you extra damage once you build over it (which you will if you follow this rune set). If you want a stronger late game go Transcendence and if you want a stronger early game go Absolute Focus. I normally go Transcendence since V'k isn't that strong early game, but is an uber, late game tentacle monster.

*I prefer Gathering Storm here big time! Gathering Storm helps you morph into even more of a late game monster while Scorch is basically useless late game, but is a bit annoying for the enemy in the early game. I find that the early game for V'k is mostly about farming for the mid & late game, and poking instead of farming tends to just burn mana you could use on wave clearing and poking doesn't result in kills that often. That's why I prefer Gathering Storm over Scorch here, but your mileage may vary, especially if you like to play aggressively or if you're playing against an easy matchup.

*I love Cosmic Insight on V'k because it gives you an extra 5% CDR at the start of the game, and because it increases your CDR cap by 5%, which allows you to spam your abilities more often, and crucially have a sub 60 second ultimate cooldown at level 16. (This is incredibly punishing for the enemy late game because if you get fed you can basically 100-0 their squishies using just your ultimate, and you can do that every 55 seconds or so)

*The two choices here are Perfect Timing and Magical Footwear. Personally, I prefer Perfect Timing because I often like to build into Zhonya's, especially considering how many assassins get picked right now, and because you get a free stopwatch you can bait in tower dives with. I find tower dives happen quite often so it's nice to have the stopwatch to save you and maybe get you a free kill when your tower kills them. Another reason I prefer Perfect Timing is because I like to get boots early to outmanuever the enemy mid laner by using the extra movement speed to dodge their skill shots, and to get within range to land my own. The extra movement speed also helps you with running away from ganks, so honestly I don't like waiting 12 minutes for boots.




*If you don't think you'll be building Zhonya's then you can try out the Domination tree as your secondary tree instead of inspiration.

* Ghost Poro is great because it gives you extra AP and extra vision, both of which V'k needs if he wants to thrive and survive. When your wards time out they'll leave behind a Ghost Poro that grants vision of that area until an enemy champion comes along and scares it away. This is great because you'll have more vision of the map for longer, which means more knowledge about where the enemy is, allowing you and your team to adapt accordingly.

* Relentless Hunter is nice because it gives you extra movement speed (when out of combat) which lets you roam around the map faster, but also let's you speed within range of the enemy to land your abilities and make plays happen. You can also try out Ingenious Hunter if you plan on running Everfrost since it will reduce its cooldown by a lot.




* Glacial Augment is an often overlooked but very strong keystone rune for Vel'koz. Since Vel'koz already has a ton of damage, but needs to get set up to land his combo's, Glacial Augment & Everfrost allows him to make his own plays with the crazy slows they both provide. You can also use your slowing auto attacks to punish your lane opponent and set up easy to land knockups and combos. Even an auto, or flash auto, can ensure that a successful jungle gank happens.

* Perfect Timing is my favorite choice here because it saves you 600 gold for Zhonyas, should you choose to accept it, and if you don't buy Zhonya's your free Stopwatch will save your life in a pinch and possibly get you a kill or two with a failed enemy tower dive. Magical Footwear can be good here as well but I like to buy boots early, especially since you want to be abusing your slows even more by having more MS than your opponent.

* Biscuit Delivery is my favorite choice here. It keeps you topped off on HP and mana, which means you can punish your lane opponent more and if they aren't running Corrupting Potion then you can usually out-sustain them. Minion Dematerializer can work here as well but I think Vel'koz already has good enough waveclear that he doesn't really need the extra minion clearing boost more than he needs the extra HP & mana before his 1st and 2nd backs.

* Approach Velocity is the best option here for Glacial V'k. That's because it lets you get within range to land your combo after you land a Q or your GLP on an enemy, or to stay on the heels of an enemy you've slowed with your Glacial auto attack.

*I prefer the Sorcery secondary tree here but many prefer the Domination secondary tree.

*I prefer the extra CDR from Transcendence and damage from Gathering Storm over having the minor burst from Cheap Shot and extra item CDR from Ingenious Hunter.

*I feel like V'k loses too much damage from losing Arcane Comet, Gathering Storm, and Transcendence, but the choice is up to you, try them both out and see which you like best.




* Electrocute is the best rune in terms of doing damage for combo's. Since V'k loves to combo and kill people this is a good rune for V'k, however, you do miss out on a lot of poke damage. Also, Electrocute is much harder to proc on Vel'koz than Comet is but if you can proc it then it is very powerful.

* Cheap Shot gives you a little extra true damage burst when you hit your combo, which is nice. Taste of Blood also is a decent option here since it will keep you topped off on HP, and because you won't be able to proc Cheap Shot very often most likely.

* Eyeball Collection or Ghost Poro are both good options here. Eyeball Collection will give you a bit more damage than Ghost Poro but G.P. offers extra vision which is really nice for not getting ganked, and it's easier to stack up sooner than Eyeball Collection.

*All four of the options here are pretty good in my opinion. I think the best option though is Relentless Hunter because it will let you move around the map faster, dodge skill shots, and get in range to land your skill shots. If you are running GLP then it might not be a bad idea to go with Ingenious Hunter instead.

* Transcendence & Gathering Storm are my favorite picks secondary picks because they offer you a ton of damage and scaling, both of which V'k loves in the mid and late game.

PASSIVE ABILITY

ORGANIC DECONSTRUCTION (Passive): Organic Deconstruction is Vel'Koz's passive ability, it does true damage to enemies for each three abilities of yours they get hit by (each ability hit we call a "stack" of your passive, you'll notice little white triangles above the enemy when they have stacks on them). Your stacks last for 7 seconds, each new ability that lands will refresh the timer to 7 seconds, and each auto attack will refresh the timer, though auto attacks don't apply stacks. Your Q can apply 1 stack, each W can potentially apply two stacks, your E can apply 1 stack, and your ultimate can apply 3 stacks. Typically you'll be able to apply your passive once or twice to an enemy, or enemies, during a fight (multiple people can be hit by your passive at the same time!). Though unlikely, Vel'Koz has the maximum potential of applying 9 stacks (3 procs) of his passive with his full combo.

Play Video

Q

PLASMA FISSION (Q): Plasma Fission is Vel'Koz's main poking and damage ability. It has very long range and you're able to recast it while it's in mid flight to change change its trajectory (shooting at a 45 degree angle will give you maximum range from this ability, and often times makes it much harder for the enemy to dodge). The recast portion of this ability is much faster than the original cast, you can use this to your advantage and it makes dodging this ability much harder. This ability has the capability to hit 3 enemy champions, or minions, as once it hits a target 2 additional Plasma Fission's will spawn and fly off in opposite directions. Each unit killed by Plasma Fission will refund 50% of it's mana cost, which means, if you kill 2 units with it you'll get all your mana back, and if you kill 3 units with it this ability actually lets you regen mana!

Play Video

W

VOID RIFT (W): Void Rift is a relatively speaking low damage ability, but one cast of Void Rift can potentially yield two stacks of your passive. This is because Void Rift has an initial damage portion when it's cast, and then an additional damage portion after a delay. There are two ways to help ensure you land both portions of its damage. #1 is to land your knock up and then immediately use your Void Rift, this is the most guaranteed way to land both of the damage portions and ensure you proc your passive true damage. Way #2 is to land your Plasma Fission and then immediately use your Void Rift. This way is less reliable since the enemy will just be slowed and not knocked up but it can & does still work. In summary, the main function of this ability is to get stacks of your passive, and not necessarily do damage by itself.

Play Video

E

TECTONIC DISRUPTION (E): Tectonic Disruption is Vel'Koz's only form of hard CC and it's very important you get good at landing it. This ability is often the difference between life & death. The reason this ability can be difficult to land is because there is a delay between the time it is cast and when it actually lands. With practice you will get the hang of it though. Many of your kills will come from when you successful land this ability, allowing you to land your other abilities and two rotations of your passive.

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R

LIFE FORM DISINTEGRATION RAY (R): Life Form Disintegration Ray is Vel'Koz's most powerful ability and is possibly the longest named ability in League of Legends xD. This ability does a ton of damage and is what gives Vel'Koz a ton of kill pressure once he reaches level 6, and beyond. The beauty of this ult, and a lot of people don't know this, is that once you proc your passive one time your ult will do entirely TRUE DAMAGE instead of magic damage. For this reason you'll want to try to proc your passive at least once before using your ultimate. (This ability makes melting tanks much easier due to all the true damage you can do with it). Your ult by itself can apply three stacks of your passive, so even if it only does magic damage, at the end of its cast it will apply a proc of your true damage passive. (Be careful when using your ultimate as you can be disrupted by CC after using it, so try to position somewhat far away from the enemy before using, one thing you can do after landing your knock up and other abilities is to take a quick step backward and then use your ult so that they can't retaliate with CC and stop your ultimate, or wait until they use their ability that can cancel your ult and then use your ult). The last tip about your ultimate is that you're able to move up to 90 degrees after casting your ultimate (90 degrees is 1/4th of a full circle for you non-geometryers).

Play Video

*This combo hurts like a ***** when it hits the enemy because it procs your passive and slaps them with true damage. I don't go for this too often before getting at least a Sapphire Crystal or Lost Chapter because it costs a lot of mana, but if you're playing into an easy matchup then go for it. Get ready to use your E (Tectonic Disruption) when the enemy is about to last hit, especially if it's a cannon minion, this will make predicting their movements and landing your knock up much easier. Also, when an enemy champion auto attacks a minion they are momentarily animation locked, which means they can't move, which makes landing your knock up that much easier.


*If you can land your Q first, and you're within range to use your E, the slow from your Q will make landing your E much easier, and then follow up with your W once the knock up lands. You can mix up the order of this combo if you hit your knock up first, follow up with W, and then hit them with you Q, it doesn't matter it's just difficult to land your Q sometimes since there will often be minions in your way.

*You can also use your Q as a decoy to force the enemy to run near their minions to dodge it, then hit them with your E + W. This works well for landing your E + W and getting a rotation of your passive off. This decoy technique also works incredibly well for getting kills once you get your ultimate.

*Also note, you can hit the enemy with an auto attack after you've popped them up and used W, then you can back after and they won't be able to return any damage on you. Your auto attacks do a lot of damage in the early game.

*Final note, you can switch up the order of the combo and use W before E. If you use W then E the combo is a bit faster because W has no cast time, however, I feel like it's easier to land the W once you knock them up, but it's up to you how you want to do it.

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Luden's Tempest is one of the single best items for Vel'Koz Mid. It gives you 20% Cooldown Reduction, it gives you 600 extra mana, 90 AP, and it gives you an extra 100-200 AoE burst damage when you have it stacked up and you land a spell. The Lost Chapter component is usually our first item that we rush because V'k is a mana hungry champion and runs out quickly if he doesn't get any mana items.

I love Everfrost on Vel'koz because it allows him to set up plays for himself, and for his team. If V'k can't set up his combo's, and he doesn't have a team that can do that for him, then it can be very hard to win games. GLP gives basically all the same stats as Luden's, except GLP has 10 less AP (which is about 30-40 damage off your full combo), but GLP does about double the burst damage that Luden's does, it can slow multiple enemies and get picks/win teamfights, and it costs 400 gold less to complete. GLP is better at slowing people with Glacial Augment but you can also run it with any other rune set since it's basically the same as Ludens, only less poke, more burst, and has utility from the slow. *If you run Ludens don't get GLP, and if you get GLP don't get Ludens.*

Sorcerer's Shoes are the typical go to choice for V'k Mid. They let you negate 18 of the enemies magic resist, which is about half of their MR in the early game. Once/if you pick up Oblivion Orb you'll be negating almost all of the enemies MR if they don't build any and will be doing full true damage with all of your abilities! You might want to consider getting Mercury's Treads if the enemy has a lot of CC and/or magic damage (like LB, Elise, etc). You also might want to consider getting Ninja Tabi if you're playing against a Zed or if the enemy team as a lot of AD and auto attackers. You should usually just stick with Sorcerer's Shoes though so that you can maximize your damage since it's usually going to be up to you to carry your team to victory.

Rabadon's Deathcap can be an incredibly good item on Vel'Koz because it is going to give you way more damage on all of your abilities, and make your passive do way more true damage. The downside with getting Rabadon's is that it costs a lot of money and thus takes a long time to build. Within the time it takes your to build Rabadon's you might have already finished a whole item and picked up a piece or two for a different item, which could have been the difference between you/your team winning fights with your opponents. The other disadvantage of Rabadon's is that it doesn't give you any defensive stats or offensive stats other than AP, so you might not want to build it if the enemy has too many assassins on their team that can delete you. That said, Rabadon's is one of my favorite items for V'k mid and makes carrying with your insane damage much easier.

Morellonomicon is a great item for Vel'Koz if the enemy isn't building too much magic resistance, or if the enemy has high heal/sustain champions like Soraka/Vladimir/etc. Building Oblivion Orb, and waiting to finish Morello's, is also a great option because it gives you extra AP, HP, and Magic Penetration for only 1600 gold. If you suspect the enemy will be stacking MR, or is going to have 2+ tanky champions, then consider going straight for Void Staff and either skipping Morello's or picking it up later.

Void Staff isn't always necessary to build on Vel'Koz Mid but it is a very nice item to grab if you think the enemy will be stacking magic resistance, or if they have 2+ tanky champions on their team. You'll often want to skip Morello's and go straight for Void Staff if your team has 3+ AP champions (since they will/should build MR to counter your team comp), or if the enemy has 2+ tanks on their team.

Liandry's Torment is a great item for doing damage for Vel'koz Mid, especially if you're behind. It's great when you're behind, or even, because it will let you do a bunch of extra damage even when you don't have that much AP yet. Personally, I like going Luden's Tempest/ Everfrost, Oblivion Orb, then straight for Rabadon's Deathcap most of the time, but Liandry's Torment is a great 2nd-5th option. Definitely pick this up if the enemy team has a lot of tanks, or as a final item because you can potentially one shot squishy champions with your Q + Ludens + Arcane Comet + Liandry's burn. The extra HP from this item is also nice for increasing your survivability.

Zhonya's Hourglass is a great item that will save you all the time in the assassin meta. This item is not always mandatory, but it is required when you play against high AD burst damage champions like Zed/Rengar. This item is also nice versus high AP burst champions (Fizz/LeBlanc/Evelyn), or champions with long duration CC where you'd likely get killed before being able to move (Morgana/Lux). Finish this item 2nd/3rd, or ASAP once you've burned your free Stopwatch if you're playing against Zed/Fizz.

Banshee's Veil is not always mandatory, but it is necessary when playing against certain high AP burst damage champions, or champs with CC that will result in your death, like Zoe/Ahri/Malphite/etc.

Twin Shadows can be an excellent item to pick up on Glacial Vel'koz because it creates even more pick potential for your team. I personally don't love it since I don't like giving up the damage or survivability from other items but it can be very good if your team has plenty of damage already, or if you team has no way of engaging or getting picks.

Your job during the early game (aka laning phase) is to stay healthy, not get ganked, get good CS, and finally to look to poke the enemy laner and go for a kill should the opportunity arise.

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Staying Healthy:

Staying healthy is all about staying out of range of the enemies abilities and auto attacks. This is generally pretty easy to do because you have some of the highest range in the game.

Watch out for them to try to use an ability on you when you go for a last hit. You have to learn when to go and attack a CS, when to use an ability to get the last hit, and when to give up the CS entirely.

Against your hardest matchups, like Yasuo, Fizz, even Zed, you often times have to give up quite a bit of CS, but that's fine, your only other alternative is getting all-in'd and dying or getting so low you have to base, in both cases you'll be missing more CS than you would by just playing safe and giving up a couple.

You hard beat your hard matchups in teamfights later in the game so play for that.

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Don't Get Ganked:

This one is sometimes easy and sometimes hard, like when the enemy jungler is duo with their mid laner and is camping you.

You always want to keep a ward in the mid brush, or even better deeper in the river so that you can see if the enemy jungler is trying to flank you.

Sometimes you can just run away from a gank, or throw a Q at them and run away, but certain high mobility and high CC junglers will make it very hard for you to get away.

Generally speaking try to always play safe and assume you're about to get ganked unless you see the enemy jungler elsewhere on your mini-map.

If your flash is down hug your tower like your life depends on it, because it does.

V'k is a very low mobility squishy champ, and your lane is in middle of the map, both of those facts make you a prime target for getting ganked.

You don't need to get overly aggressive in the early game, you don't have enough damage pre-6 and you don't have enough mana yet to spam your abilities, typically you just want to play safe, farm, and not throw your lane/game by trying to do things your champ isn't designed to do.

You're a mid & late game teamfight monster so play for that, not early game kills and aggression.

Make sure you watch your mini-map and help your jungler if you see him fighting for the scuttle with the enemy jungler, scuttle fights are huge for the junglers so winning it and setting your jungler ahead and setting their jungler behind is huge for your team winning the game.

That said, you might want to just spam ping your jungler to flee if you are low on mana, or if your mid lane opponent and their jungler are strong early game champions since you know you'll lose a 2v2 fight if it happens.

With any luck your jungler will be smart and give it up and just go elsewhere to farm.

Also, don't follow your enemy mid laner into brush you don' have vision of, or if they are the kind of champion that can kill you.

Always take the safer route, and even then use Q's to check brush before entering, unless you see them on the mini-map.

There's a lot of roaming champs you can't follow because you'll die if they get on you, ping your allies to fall back, shove your lane instead of following, and hopefully your allies understand you can't follow because of the matchup.

*With all that said, try to play in the middle of the lane, or towards the side of the lane that your jungler is on. If a scuttle fight breaks out you can get there more quickly if you're playing the side of the lane that is closer to where your jungler is. Also, if you get ganked your jungler will be closer to come and help you out.

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Get Good CS:

Getting good CS is all about getting good at last hitting with auto attacks, and using your abilities intelligently to farm.

It's also about not getting low on HP so that you can't be all-in'd when trying to get CS, and that comes from knowing matchups and playing smart so that you don't get blahp'd by assasins/Yasuo at level 2/3 when you should have been playing more safely.

You really don't do that much damage early because you'll be leveling W to maximize your waveclear.

Also, know which junglers love to level 2 gank and play super safe versus them (Lee Sin/Twitch/Xin Zhao/etc).

Once you hit level 5 (level 3 on your W) you'll be able to use one W on the wave and use E on the caster minions and kill all the casters. Then another W and a Q on the melee minions and you should have cleared the whole wave, if it isn't a cannon wave.

One thing to note is don't be afraid to Q low HP minions, especially when you need to play safe, because you get 50% of your mana back from each minion you kill with it. If you can kill 2, or even 3 minions, you can get all of your mana back, or even extra mana back.

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Poking The Enemy Laner:

Personally, I don't think it's super worth it to try to poke the enemy laner until after your first back, but it can be rewarding if you can land your Q's consistently, or your E + W combo a few times (and auto attacks), or if you're playing into an easy matchup.

It's usually always good to use your first few Q's once you get lane to try to harass and pressure the enemy mid-laner since you'll have lots of mana and it lets their midlaner know he needs to be worried about you and that he isn't going to get to farm for free.

Even though you don't want to blow all your mana before your first back harassing your enemy, you DO always want to be pressuring them. You do this by always dancing in and out of their auto attack range, and in and out of their ability range. You want to constantly try to bait and dodge their abilities.

Once 1 or more of their abilities is down you can get super aggressive, run towards them, and force them back away from the minion wave. This causes them to back off and loose CS, or to fight you, in which cause you should win because you can hit them with your abilities but they can't because their abilities are on cooldown (unless it's Yasuo or a few other bad matchups where you get wrecked regardless).

Once you hit your first back and get some mana and/or AP, maybe even a Lost Chapter, then you want to start looking to poke the enemy with Q's, and/or to look for E + W/W + E combo's when they go for last hits (especially cannon minions since they'll try to go for the cannon minion 98% of the time, and if they don't you'll cost them a lot of gold by forcing them off it).

Generally, this is how you get solo kills in lane, poke the enemy down with Q's and/or go for a knock up when they go for a last hit and kill them with your combo.

Once you hit level 6, make sure you try to poke them down to about 60-70% HP before going for an E + W combo into your ultimate, otherwise they'll usually get away with a little HP, which is actually ok, especially if you burn their flash.

One trick you can do to get a surprise kill is once you're about to hit level 6 you can use a Q to force the enemy towards his minions, then use your W + E on him and the wave, which will kill the CS and level you up to 6, then level up your ultimate and use it to kill him.

This can be a very effective strategy to get you an early kill if their mid laner is low, or an effective way to burn their flash.

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Warding:

Always try to keep a ward in the mid brush or a little bit deeper in the river, then hug the side of the lane that your ward is on so that you have more time to run away from the enemy jungler.

If the jungler ganks from the side you don't have vision on then run towards your tower, or just run away from him and loop back around to your tower. Don't run straight for your tower if it means the enemy jungler will catch you, thus resulting in your death or flash burned.

Periodically check your yellow trinket timer and throw down your ward whenever it comes up.

You want to be looking at your mini-map every 2-3 seconds, that way you will always know what's going on on the map, and whether you're about to be ganked or not.

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Summary:

The early game for Vel'Koz Mid is about playing safe and not dying, maximizing your CS so that you become strong in the mid & late game, and poking the enemy and looking for kills, but mostly once you get some items & levels.

The mid-game for Vel'koz Mid is about getting gold through farming and continuing to scale, assisting your teammates in skirmishes & securing objectives, and finally not dying.

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Farming & Scaling:

Often times your teammates will all come mid, which denies you gold and exp, which can be frustrating.

Unfortunately, Vel'koz is not a good sidelaner since he can be killed so easily, but if everyone is hogging up CS in the mid lane then you can drop down to one of the sidelanes and clear a wave or two if it is pushing into you or close to the tower.

Keeping up good CS is very important for Vel'koz Mid.

Unless you're getting a ton of kills you need the gold from high CS to stay ahead or even in items so that you can blahp the enemy team in the late game teamfights that will usually decide the fate of the game.

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Assisting In Skirmishes:

If a fight is obviously going to result in you & your team losing then ping your teammates away and get out of there, there's no sense in throwing your life away because your teammates made a bad call.

If you can safely throw a Q or GLP to help them run away do it, but don't die for them.

That said, if the fight seems somewhat winnable then you should help your teammates. You should be pretty strong at this point and a good combo can turn the tide of the fight.

Look for opportunities to knock up one or two of the enemy front liners, hit them with the full combo, and take them out of the fight.

Often times having the man advantage means your team will automatically win if the enemy re-engages, but often times they'll just concede the objective.

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Not Dying:

Your presence is huge in teamfights so you need to prioritize not dying so that your team doesn't get disintegrated without you.

Always stay close to your tower when farming, especially if your flash is down, and never push up to tentacle slap their towers unless you know exactly where 4 or 5 of the enemy team members are.

If you do push up to slap their tower then have your Q primed & ready to slow the enemy down or keep them at a distance whilst you regally float away.

If you have Everfrost then you can play a bit more aggressively and super soak thy foes if they show up and you can get out of there.

Late game for Vel'koz is all about teamfighting, and not dying/positioning.

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Teamfighting:

A good ult channel on the enemy team practically guarantee's your team wins the fight if it's an even 5v5 battle.

Don't be afraid to hold your ultimate for the right moment. Using it too soon can mean you won't have it when you need it and your team loses the teamfight.

Also, don't be afraid to go for a Q + Ult combo on one of their squishy champions. Making the fight a 5v4 can be a worthy use of your ultimate, especially if it's their fed carry.

If the Q + Ult fails then your team can always fall back, but if it succeeds then your team will have a much easier time at winning the fight or taking objectives.

In the late game your Ult + Q combo will kill squishes in about 1.6 seconds so it's very hard for them/their team to react in time to save them.

Sometimes it's worth it to nuke their squishies with just your ultimate because if you're strong enough that alone will kill them, or knock them so low they have to base.

From that point your team can then take a tower, or Baron/Dragon much more easily.

If your team is doing Baron and the enemy might try to steal, save your Q, E, and Ult to zone the enemy team away from walking up to the Baron pit. Your abilities do a lot of damage and slow/knock up, so most of their champs won't be able to walk up and contest the objective.

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Not Dying/Positioning:

Vel'koz has the power to completely turn teamfights around in the late game.

Because of this you are going to have a big bulls-eye, pun very intended, on you and you must be very careful not to get picked off by CC or by enemy *******s... I mean assassins.

Positioning is important for Vel'koz all game but it becomes even more crucial once you hit the late game.

Keep your distance from the frontline and look for opportunities to knock someone up and hit them with your combo.

While you keep your distance from the frontline also always be looking around you and your mini-map for an enemy or assassin that might be trying to flank you.

Watch out for and keep your distance from late game ADC's, even if you think they'll be an easy kill/have 100 HP left.

Most of them have dashes and can dodge your finishing ability and then 2/3 shot you with 700 damage auto attacks.

Never go anywhere without your team, even if you have a tower the enemy can easily dive and kill you under tower at this point if you don't have help.

This section is at the end but it's probably the most important once you have the basics down.

Vel'koz, just like all champions, is played differently into every different matchup, and depending on how the enemy laner plays their champion, and depending on how you feel like playing V'k that day, you'll want to adjust your approach.

Below I have a long list of links of top level Vel'Koz players playing into different matchups in the mid lane.

Try to disintegrate their play style, how they play each matchup while in laning phase, and try to absorb what they are doing in the mid & late game.

If you REALLY want to get good, then you need to learn each matchup, not all at once, but all of them eventually. Try watching a few high level games and then play a few of your own. You'll start learning what to do and how to play. Keep repeating this process and you'll master V'k mid in no time :D


Vel'koz Vs Ahri

Vel'koz Vs Akali

Vel'koz Vs Annie

Vel'koz Vs Cho'Gath

Vel'koz Vs Diana

Vel'koz Vs Fizz

Vel'koz Vs Galio

Vel'koz Vs Leblanc

Vel'koz Vs Neeko

Glacial V'k Vs Orianna

Vel'koz Vs Qiyana

Vel'koz Vs Syndra

Vel'koz Vs Taliyah

Vel'koz Vs Talon

Vel'koz Vs Tristana

Glacial V'k Vs Twisted Fate

Vel'koz Vs Yasuo

Vel'koz Vs Zed

Vel'koz Vs Zoe

*Harass melee champions at level 1 with your auto attacks and your abilities. Most melee assasins whollup you after level 2/3 but they are your ***** at level 1 so make them pay and get them low on HP if you can, it makes their diving you harder once they level up.

*Look to land abilities, especially your knock up, when the enemy is about to go for a last hit, especially cannon minions. Using your knock up when they go for last hits makes predicting their movements and landing it much easier, then you can hit them with your combo and potentially get a kill.

*Look to fight and use your abilities on the enemy if they use one or more of their abilities either on you or on the minion wave. This is called trading off of cooldowns. Once their cooldowns are down and yours are up you can use your abilities on them and they can't retaliate the damage, which means you have a massive advantage. If you see them blow cooldowns, get aggressive.

*Your E grants vision in brush and over walls so you can use it to check bushes before entering them, or hit blasting cones/vision orbs.

*Use your Q's to check bushes before running into them. This will save you countless times and costs you basically nothing, don't face check bushes as Vel'koz!

*Your ultimate does AoE damage and can potentially damage all 5 enemy champions if you hit them with it. Try to hit at least 2 or 3 enemies with it every teamfight, unless you are using it to finish off a low HP carry, or using a Q + Ult combo to nuke an enemy squishy.

*Use your W against enemy's that are chasing you, either to discourage them from chasing you, or to do damage and get stacks of your passive. Your W won't momentarily stop you when you cast it so there's no reason not to use it when you are running away from someone. Often times people will angle away from your W to not take damage, which allows you to get further away from them and to safety.

*Be wary of using your Q on enemies that are close, even though Q slows it will briefly stop you when you cast it which means the enemy can get within range of you, use their gap closer, and slap you.

*If an enemy uses Zhonya's, and you get the timing correctly, you can cast a Q and re-active it right as their Zhonya's wears off. This allows you secure a kill from very far away, and makes it practically impossible for them to dodge it.

*You can shoot Q's into/over the terrain and make it very hard for the enemy to dodge them.

*Your abilities apply true damage stacks to Dragon/Baron, which makes stealing it if the enemy is doing it much easier. Use W + Q + your ultimate and you can often times steal the Dragon/Baron away from them. Alternatively, you can also use your abilities to melt the enemies that are trying to get the objective, which either kills them or forces them to back off.

*Each matchup requires you to play Vel'koz differently so it will take a while to get good with Vel'koz (always run Cleanse Vs Zoe)(always run barrier Vs Zed)(get Zhonya's Vs Fizz, not Banshee's)(Get Banshee's Vs Zoe & Vs Ahri)(cower in fear post level 1 Vs Yasuo, until a jungler comes to help you)(etc,etc)

*Vel'koz does 3.25 times his AP in damage + the base damage from his abilities (with one true damage stack). With 2 true damage stacks, it's 3.75 times his AP + the base damage from his abilities. If you get another 20 AP you'll be doing between 60-80 more damage with your full combo, and a bit more if you have Rabadon's.

*GLP has the same range as your Q (without angling it) and has about the same flight speed. GLP also has a casting animation, just like Q does.

*GLP doesn't shoot all the freeze rays at once, it shoots from right to left with a delay. If you're shooting at only 1 champion then put your crosshair slightly to the left of them and fire, that way the freeze rays will get to them sooner.

*Your Q & W have the same range.

That's it boys & girls!

Thanks for reading!

V'k is a great champ, try him out, he's not too hard to learn but he takes a while to master and learn how to position him properly.

If you liked this guide then hit that like button at the top of the page and come follow me on Twitch.

Peace!