Hello, I am Officer Vi! I have been maining Vi since her release in 2012. I have over 4 million mastery points on Vi in total. I have been diamond since Season 6, and have peaked Diamond 2 in Season 2022. Preseason 2022 has added some pretty fun changes to the game which didn't have much of an effect on Vi in general. The biggest change for her is the Hextech map which allows you to pressure lanes and setup plays much faster. So far, I have been having the most fun and success with a bruiser build. I intend to go over this build and its many options in this guide. Be sure to check out my socials by clicking the icons on the left! I intend to start streaming more often and also upload videos to my YouTube page.

As soon as I first saw Vi's animated splash on the login window in 2012, I immediately knew I needed to pick her up. I hadn't played jungle before, but I ended up loving her gameplay as well. The reason I say this is that you should always pick your champions based on if they appeal to you and if you enjoy their gameplay. You will enjoy the game more this way and will have a more positive outlook on the game.

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Pros

Cons

- Good early 2v2 and 3v3 with decent CC and lockdown - Good at taking objectives - Build is versatile depending on the team comps - Great lockdown after 6 - Can assume the role of carry - Very fun and satisfying combos

- Struggles to 1v1 early - Very slow clearspeed - Very weak before 1st item - Easily invaded early - Very reliant on hitting Q - Outpaced by meta junglers - Easily outplayed in higher elo - Low ultimate damage

Vi is a light fighter whose primary purpose is to lock down and kill the priority enemy champions. In this section, I will review what your goals should be at each stage of the game.

First Clear
	Red Buff Start: Red Buff > Raptors > Gromp > Gank or invade enemy red buff. The purpose of this path is to get to level 3 as fast as possible and force a gank or invade. If on blue side of the map, I will almost always try to invade the enemy red buff after level 3.
	Blue Buff Start: Blue Buff > Gromp > Wolves > Gank OR Raptors > Red > Crab > Gank. This start is generally less aggressive, but also allows for a faster full clear if you choose that path. You should ALWAYS start Blue > Gromp > Wolves, but can vary the clear afterwards. Sometimes you can go directly to red and then gank or proceed with a full clear.
Early Game (Levels 1-6)
	Your primary objective here is to apply pressure and gank a few times early while still efficently farming to 6. Vi is particularly vulnerable while clearing her jungle at early levels so be sure to keep an eye on the enemy jungler and get some early control wards to guard your jungle. You will generally want to avoid contact with most meta junglers. I would recommend going with a level 3 rush into gank/invade if you can. Vi has a slow 1st clear so if you go for a full clear, the enemy jungle would have likely already been able to impact lanes. If you do a 3 camp clear, you can either respond to an enemy level 3 gank, or gank before they finish their full clear. You can also look to solo dragon after 1st back.
Mid Game (Levels 6-14)
	This is Vi's greatest powerspike and is when you should be looking to apply heavy pressure on the map by engaging fights. When you hit 6, you should look to gank immediately. ALWAYS remember to play to your win condition. Cease and Desist is a great tool for ganking bot lane. It will most likely lead to a kill which leads to a dragon afterwards. If there are no available ganks, look to setting up vision for dragon and rift herald. Vi quickly solos these objectives at this point. Remember to not waste too much time running around the river or forcing bad ganks. Farming is still very important for Vi since she is an item reliant champion.
Late Game (Levels 14-18)
	While Vi is still very strong in the late game, it can become tricky here. Your purpose in the late game heavily changes depending on what the enemy team drafts. If the enemy team has lots of CC, it will be much harder to engage fights by diving the enemy backline. I prefer to try to make picks at this stage of the game which lead to objectives. If you must fight, focus on disrupting the enemy backline if possible If your team has superior teamfight, look to play very similarly to how you played mid game. If your team has horrible teamfight and the enemy team drafted an LCK comp, your best bet is to splitpush and make picks when possible.

Flash is an absolute must have summoner spell for Vi. It's essetial for your Vault Breaker + Flash combo.

I prefer to take Chilling Smite 100% of the time. Vi is very reliant on landing Vault Breaker and Chilling Smite helps with this. It also helps you stick to targets. This can also be used to break spell shields before you land Vault Breaker on a target. Challenging Smite can be a good choice if you are looking to duel more often, but I still don't think its necessary. This choice comes down to personal preference, although I beleive Chilling Smite to be bettter.

	Blast Shield is Vi's only source of sustain/tankiness in her kit. Using any ability will cause blast sheild to activate which sheilds you for 15% of your maximum health. Every proc of Denting Blows reduces the cooldown by 3 seconds. Be careful to not waste an ability if Blast Shield has a short cooldown. It's often better to save the ability for the shield.
	Vault Breaker is Vi's most important ability. This ability is your engage, gap closer, burst, and sometimes escape. The longer you charge Q, the more damage it does. You should look to use this ability to engage fights and stick to enemies. If you are already on top on an enemy, just tap the ability to provide damage and CC.
	Denting Blows is the primary source of Vi's sustained DPS. Every 3rd auto attack, you will deal a percentage of the target's maximum health, gain attack speed, and shred 20% of the target's armor. I prefer to max this ability second as it helps clear camps, objectives, and makes your 1v1 stronger.
	Relentless Force is a simple auto attack reset that can hold 2 charges. The auto attack deals increased damage and does AOE damage in a small cone behind the main target. This spell is also the main spell you will be using to proc Sheen off cooldown.
	Cease and Desist is Vi's ultimate ability. She chases a target down while knocking back enemies along the way before knocking up and damaging the target. This ability has three main uses: diving the backline, avoiding CC, and gap closing. I would only use this ability to engage a fight if your team is guaranteed to follow up quickly. If no one follows up, the taget will likely flash away and you can easily be kited.

Patch 12.10 has changed rune choice quite a lot. I believe that Domination keystone's are nowhere near as good since burst damage got nerfed. I now believe that Precision keystones are the best on Vi in all situations. I also prefer to take more defensive or utility focused runes for my secondary tree.
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Keystone Runes
	This is the best rune for Vi. It provides decent damage and great sustain for teamfights later in the game. DO NOT be fooled by thinking it doesn't proc often or by seeing a low healing number. This doesn't account for the damage it has provided via the AD. This rune is especially great with the 12.10 patch which extended most fights. If you were to see Vi in professional play, I guarantee this is the rune you would see.
	This is my personal favorite rune for Vi. It makes you a 1v1 machine and also is very strong for all ins. The only reason I don't use this as the primary rune for the guide is because Conqueror is a lot easier to use and is generally more versatile.
	This rune has felt very underwhelming since patch 12.10. This rune is designed for bursting people as fast as possible which is much less viable now. If you liked this rune before, I would play around with Lethal Tempo now.
	This rune can also be a good option for Vi if you are looking to be more of an ult bot. The tank stats will make you tankier for skirmishes, but you will also have to rely on them more for damage. I would rush Divine Sunderer into Black Cleaver if you opt for this rune. You will need the extra damage.

Minor Runes
	This is the best rune to take in this row. The heal on kill can save you many times.
	This is the best rune to take in this row. The attack speed helps get you through early game.
	This is the best option 90% of the time in this row. Extra damage to low health enemies is the most consistent.
	Free boots is excellent on junglers and the extra movement speed is a plus as well.
	This is a good choice for junglers. It allows you to smite more often which guarantees you will have upgraded smite for the 1st rift herald while the enemy jungler doesn't.
	This should be the only consideration in this row. It got nerfed in 12.14, but I still think it's a decent option.
	This is the main reason you take resolve second. Take this against teams with heavy CC. It got nerfed in 12.14, but I still believe it to be a strong rune.
	This rune is amazing. It helps you snowball the game a tad better and helps a ton during fights late game.
	Obvious choice for being a jungler. This will give you an extra boost in speed for ganking lanes and also helps during objective fights.
	This is the only rune you should take in this row. The lethality has obvious synnergy with Vault Breaker. This rune received a decent buff in 12.14. You will do more early game damage with this rune.
	If you took red tree, you are going to be making more plays around the map. Movement speed helps tremendously for this.

Top Row: Attack speed every game. Some people like taking double adaptive force, but I disagree with this. It slows down your main burst combo earlygame and makes auto attack resets harder to pull off consistently. I have also heard people say this speeds up your 1st clear, but this is incorrect. I have tested this extensively.
Middle Row: Adaptive force every game. No question.
Bottom Row: I normally took armor, but have been taking scaling HP as of lately. The breakeven point is around level 5 which isn't a problem in the jungle. I still think it's a good idea to take armor against aggressive early game junglers or if you see yourself fighthing a ton.

Since patch 12.10 dropped, I have removed the old lethality carry builds from the guide. I don't feel that they are good anyomre. I still believe that the bruiser build (which I will be referring to as the "Standard" build now) is strong. I have also updated the carry build to be DPS focused instead of burst focused.

READ FOR PATCH 12.13: Divine sunderer is being changed this patch to focus less on tank shreding and more on sustain. This should still be Vi's best mythic item. Vi's kit has decent tank shred built in so I don't see the loss of this being much of a problem. It's annoying that the item is gaining base AD ratios since Vi has pretty low base AD. The extra sustain will be nice to have.

Standard Core
	This is hands down Vi's best mythic. The Sheen damage is better than Trinity Force and you have considerably more sustain, but lose out on the attack speed and movement speed. These stats can be made up for by other means.
	I prefer to take defensive boots with this path. I recommend taking Plated Steelcaps in most games. The enemy team will almost always have an ADC so they are immediately valuable. Mercury's Treads should only be taken vs teams with extreme CC.
	This is the best second item for the bruiser build. It gives you everything you want to do damage, sustain, and make plays. Keep in mind that you can only dive if you are fed enough to kill the enemy carry. This item feels very underwhelming if you aren't able to get the heal and reset.
Optional Damage Items
	Since patch 12.3, this is now Vi's best magic resist item. All stats are welcome and the omnivamp on the shield is a very nice addition. I would take this item if you need MR on the standard build.
	This is a fantastic item to build on Vi while going into the late game. If you plan to build this item in the late game, feel free to build Stopwatch earlier if you think it will be valuable. Stopwatch will completely change fights and can often win you the game.
	This is a fantastic option as a second item and is a great source of grevious wounds. The stats are very efficient for the amount of gold you pay.
	Aim to build this as a 3rd or 4th item if your team is all AD or if the enemy is stacking armor. This is an excellent late game choice after the 12.10 changes.
	This is a great MR option if most of the enemeys magic damage is in tanks and you don't need the health that provides. I would recommend taking this with the carry build ONLY if you don't need extra health.
	This item can also be a great late game purchase when going the standard build. I would build this if you find yourself needing to be the primary damage threat for your team or end up split pushing more often.
Optional Tank Items
	This is the best armor tank item for Vi. Make sure to use the active before the enemy combos as the damage reduction helps a ton.
	This is the best MR tank item for Vi. The passive works great with Blast Shield and can help with sustain on the carry build.
	This item can replace Randuin's Omen if you are against heavy healing champs such as , , .
	This item can be built if againt extreme AP teams with champions such as Cassiopeia. The movement speed is very nice.
	This is mathematically the best armor item in the game right now. Fantastic choice if you don't need health.
Other Items
	Since 12.10, I have removed all Lethality builds from the guide. I have tried them all and no longer think they are viable. If you need to play a high damage carry style, aim for DPS now and not burst. Blade of the Ruined King will do more burst damage than most of the lethality items. Not even joking.
	This item has a high winrate, but I personally do not like it. I feel like I lack damage and sustain when taking this item. The Sheen damage of Divine Sunderer is higher AND it heals you which healps a ton. I also believe that the mythic passive and build path of Divine Sunderer are far stronger. If you are missing the attack speed from this item when building Divine Sunderer, take Lethal Tempo. In the end, this comes down to personal preference. If you still prefer this item to Divine Sunderer by all means build it. This is just my opinion from my experience.
	I have taken this item a few times since the 12.10 changes and have actually been surprised. The build path is fantastic since it has 50 AD in components and helps a little bit with clearspeed. 1v1 and all in damage is considerably worse than Divine Sunderer since you lose the Sheen. This item should be taken if you just need play like Zac to dive and cause mass disruption in teamfights. Once the item is complete the clearspeed and objective damage is worse than Divine Sunderer as well.
	No. Vi's kit is not set up to be a tank. The only reason you see this item is pro play is because pro junglers play with VERY little gold income. Their sole purpose is to push R on the enemy carry and have the rest of the team immediately follow up. This level of coordination is nearly impossible in SoloQ. I even think that it isn't optimal for pro play. She also requires lots of AD in order to do any meaningful amount of damage. If you need to be tankier, just build Divine Sunderer > Black Cleaver > Tank items > Sterak's Gage as a final item late game.

This section is a WIP. I am either going to create a link to a full combo guide on YouTube or try to embed some WebM clips onto this page of the combos. Let me know what you would prefer!

Main Engage Combo

Vault Breaker > Auto Attack > Relentless Force
This is Vi's primary combo. You will ALWAYS use this when engaging. Relentless Force is used as an auto attack reset. This combo is the fastest way to proc Denting Blows.

Fast Ult Combo

Vault Breaker > Auto attack > Relentless Force > Cease and Desist
This combo is used if you know you will kill the target or if you need to provide the maximum possible lockdown for your team to follow up. I would not recommend using this combo in normal situations since it puts both of your gap closers on cooldown. It's easy for enemies to escape after this if they survive.

Full Combo

Vault Breaker > Auto > Relentless Force > Auto > Auto > Relentless Force > Cease and Desist > Vault Breaker
This is the main combo that you should be using when engaging 1v1s and skirmishes. The purpose of this is to save Cease and Desist until the end of the fight. It should be used to catch back up after they have blown Flash or their other gap closers. Cease and Desist its not a major part of your damage. Keep in mind that an uncharged Vault Breaker will be doing only slightly less damage than a rank 1 Cease and Desist.

Q Flash

Vault Breaker > Flash > Release Vault Breaker
This is Vi's most reliable gank combo. It allows you to cover a very large distance and is often necessary to pull off early ganks.

Flash Q

Vault Breaker > Release Vault Breaker > Flash
This is a more advanced version of the Q Flash combo. This combo is much harder for the enemy to outplay since its a lot faster and is harder to predict. This combo is a lot harder to pull off than Q Flash. I would recommend using Q Flash most of the time. This should only be used if you are trying to lock an enemy down without giving them time to outplay Vault Breaker.

Ult Flash

Cease and Desist > Flash
The purpose of this combo is to CC people who are outside of the main path of your ult. Before your ult lands, flash at a nearby enemy to reposition yourself and CC them as well. Vi will keep dashing towards the original target, just at a different trajectory.