Hi there, I'm Saelevan and I'm here to introduce you to one of my favourite champions: Viktor, the Machine Herald.

Viktor is a very bursty AP Mage, and as such is perfectly suited for Mid Lane play, his high damage, kiting potential and decent cc makes him a highly viable pick for any team composition.

This is my first champion guide so any feedback is more than welcome!!

Pros

Very bursty
VERY strong laner due to him outranging most AP carries
Great waveclear
Good teamfight AoE damage
Excellent duelist
Difficult to counter
ROBOT MAN LASER FIRING AWESOME-DUDE


Cons

Kinda squishy
If he gets behind, he stays behind
Ultimate can be somewhat difficult to place in a teamfight situation

I personally use the scaling AP page because I kinda enjoy the excessive burst damage and tend to position myself well in fights so I don't get taken out as easily.

These runes are by no means the be all and end all, many other pages will be good for different situations (Armor yellows against an AD heavy team for example) or if (god forbid) you're up against a Fizz, you will need MR blues

I personally switch between 21/0/9 and 21/9/0 depending upon the matchup.

21/0/9 is for a lane in which there's little 100-0 potential in your lane opponent or you're not going to be taking much harass from them ( Anivia, Twisted Fate or Ryze for example)

21/9/0 is for the polar opposite, where you need the extra HP and resists for lane (laning against Orianna, Cassiopeia or Brand)

Viktor's passive is Evolving Technology. This gives Viktor a hex core that takes up one inventory slot and can be upgraded into one of three augments:

Augment: Death
Augment: Gravity
Augment: Power



Viktor's 'Q' is Power Transfer. It's a targeted nuke that deals 80 / 125 / 170 / 215 / 260 (+65% of ability power) magic damage, returning 40% of the damage dealt as a shield for 3 seconds.

This ability is maxed second.



Viktor's 'W' is Gravity Field. Viktor conjures a gravitational imprisonment device, slowing all enemies by 28 / 32 / 36 / 40 / 44% of their Movement Speed and stacks every 0.5 seconds. At 3 stacks the target will be stunned for 1.5 seconds.

This ability is maxed last



Viktor's 'E' is Hextech Ray. Viktor uses his robotic arm to fire a chaos beam that cuts across the field in a line, dealing 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+70% of ability power) magic damage to every enemy in its path. This ability can be cast whilst moving

This ability is maxed first.



Viktor's Ultimate is Arcane Storm. Viktor conjures a singularity at the target location, dealing 150 / 250 / 350 (+55% of ability power) magic damage and silencing enemies in the area for 0.5 seconds.

As it churns, it deals 50 / 75 / 100 (+25% of ability power) magic damage every second to nearby enemies for 7 seconds. The storm moves faster the closer it is to Viktor.

Activating this ability again while the singularity is active will redirect it.

As this ability is an ultimate, it is taken at levels 6, 11 and 16.

To start, you may want to buy Doran's Ring and two Health potions for the early game Mana Regen, AP and minor sustain in lane. Starting builds are always going to vary depending on who you're laning against.

Against any AD caster, start with Cloth Armor and 5 Health potions unless you're highly confident in your ability to avoid harass and/or their 100-0 potential.

Finishing your Augment: Death is mandatory, specially for laning due to the AP it provides and the passive it affords your 'E' (an added burn effect). Once you have this item, you can one-shot caster minions with your 'Death Ray' and with a small amount of extra AP a full minion wave.

Sorcerer's Shoes should be your next port of call due to the movement speed and magic penetration it provides for a slight boost in damage.

Rabadon's Deathcap is a must-buy item on Viktor due to the burst potential it affords you. With this under your belt, your Hextech Ray will tear through even the tankier members of the opposition, specially if it's completed early.

Zhonya's Hourglass is also a must-buy on Viktor, not just for the flat AP it gives, but for it's amazingly OP active (STATUE TIME!!!!!!!!!) causing your champion to become invulnerable and untargetable for 2.5 seconds. This item is perfect for either saving you in a teamfight or countering the burst of an assassin champion like Zed, Ahri or Fizz. Against particularly bursty mid laners you should finish this BEFORE the Rabadon's Deathcap.

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The following items are all viable options for Viktor.

Void Staff. Pick this up if the opposition are starting to stack MR, or if you're quite far ahead and wanna decimate even more.

Abyssal Mask. Pick this up if they have a lot of AP damage or if you made a boo-boo and fed their AP mid.

Lich Bane. Unfortunately Viktor's late game is not brilliantly amazing like other mids. lich Bane however fixes this issue by adding something extra to his burst. Don't get me wrong, Viktor will blow up the opposition AD/AP carry, but will start to struggle against the tankier top laner or jungler.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter. If you're getting bursted hard and need a bit more HP, this item is for you. This item is also particularly potent if you need to Kite your opponents a lot.

Liandry's Torment. I personally don't like this item, but it does synergise well with Rylai's.

Morellonomicon. Amazing item on Viktor, the CDR, mana regen and the beautiful Grievous Wounds passive (enemies taking magic damage at below 40% health with have all healing effects to them reduced by 50%).

Athene's Unholy Grail. Some people like it, some don't...but you can't argue with 20% CDR and mana regen.

This is the part of the game where Viktor excels. His harass, waveclear and sheer robotiness makes him a dream laner.

Early game, Viktor is very mana hungry, as a result, save your spells (specifically Hextech Ray) for harassing and not for waveclear...YET. As soon as you get Blue buff, SPAM AWAY, SPAM IS GOOD, WE LOVE LASER SPAM.

Once you've picked up your Augment: Death you can basically one-shot the entire wave. Last hit Cannon minions with your Power Transfer to ensure you get dem coins!!!

In terms of damage trades with other champions, you want to harass mainly with you Hextech Ray but if your lane opponent is silly enough to come close to you, use your Power Transfer to both damage them, and shield yourself from their potential counter attack.

If you get ganked, try and avoid cc. If this is impossible, then quickly place Gravity Field upon yourself and run like a bat out of hell, always save your Flash for the last second, you wanna try and NOT use it if at all possible.

On the other side of things, Viktor is great for setting up ganks, specially vs melee champions such as Diana, Zed or Kha'Zix. This is due to Vikto's 'W' ( Gravity Field) As you advance, try and set this up in their escape path. If you're successful then they'll get stunned, which makes that person a free 'E'/'Q' combo, which (if you're level 6 onward) you can follow up with your ultimate, Arcane Storm. This will either kill your target outright, or silence them for long enough to prevent their Flash as you Ignite them and run away laughing!

The mid-game is when you'll start running into these situations. Early in the game it's over the Dragon. the later the game gets, these fights will erupt around the Baron

Viktor's role in teamfights is to deal as much damage to as many people as robotically possible!

During the pre-fight skirmish, harass with Hextech Ray but don't decimate your mana. Bear in mind you're a squishy mage of squishiness and CAN NOT TANK...

When the inevitable fight breaks out you have two options. The first is to get all of your damage off immediately and then run to the back line, or peel for your adc to protect him/her from damage.

In either instance you want to try and hit as many people as possible with your Gravity Field. this will open up opportunities to land a guaranteed Hextech Ray to Arcane Storm combo. Those abilities alone can win a teamfight if timed correctly. Just remember the focus of all of your damage should ALWAYS be their squishy AD/AP carry!!

If an opponent dives through the team at you, use your Power Transfer to shield yourself and damage the diver. If you haven't used your Gravity Field yet then place it on top of yourself to slow/stun the diver.

Always remember, a teamfight is not won unless you can get an objective as a result of it!!

In this section, I'm going to go through the more common lane matchups and give them a rating between 1 and 10, 10 being ridiculously hard and should never be played against.



Difficulty: 6-7

Ahri is a highly agressive laner, but is highly reliant on skillshots for her damage. As Viktor you outrange her and will be able to avoid a large portion of her lane harass. Ahri's real danger comes at level 6 where her mobility really comes into play and will be difficult to kill unless you get a sneaky Gravity Field stun.



Difficulty: 2

Akali is laughably easy, she can't trade with you pre-6, and post-6 you just have to place Gravity Field on top of yourself when she uses Shadow Dance and unleash all hell on her face.



Difficulty: 5

Anivia is a weird lane simply because it becomes a farm fest, neither of you will kill the other unless one of you is very stupid. So just farm up and wait for team fights.



Difficulty: 7-8

Annie is one of the more annoying matchups due to her overpowering burst damage when she hits 6, the only good thing you can take from that lane is that you out-range her. When playing against Annie, take every opportunity to harass with Hextech Ray and wait for your jungler to gank before you go in. just be careful of her flash ults!!



Difficulty: 5

Brand is not a particularly difficult matchup as he's predominantly skillshot based. So long as you keep moving around to avoid his harass, you'll be fine. Brand has to be quite close to use his full combo, so he gives you the perfect opportunity to unleash all of your abilities on him so long as you avoid his 'Q' ( Sear)



Difficulty: 7-8

Cassiopeia's main strength is her lane harass with her Noxious Blast and Twin Fang combo, but once again, the Noxious Blast is avoidable damage. if she harasses you enough, she will kill you, every time. Plus side is that if you're careful, you can out-harass her.



Difficulty: 3

Diana in lane is very similar to Akali, the main difference being Diana's burst is much more potent and hurts a lot more at level 6. playing against Diana is all about reaction time and dodging her Crescent Strike.



Difficulty: 5

Elise mid isn't seen very often, but when she is mid, she'll be squishy as all hell. To avoid almost all of her harass just stay behind minions. If you poke her enough with you Hextech Ray she'll be too scared to come near you.



Difficulty: 6-7

Ezreal Mid is becoming more and more common, specially with the ''Blue Build'' and double ADC comps becoming increasingly popular in 5v5 ranked. His ability to re-position himself with Arcane Shift and harass with Mystic Shot make him difficult to pin-down and as a result difficult to lane against. Rules for Ezreal are the same as any other matchup, Hextech Ray the lil' bastard into submission, just be prepared to miss a few as he dodges them.



Difficulty: 10

Fizz is Viktor's worst nightmare all wrapped up in a fishy overlay, he can dodge all your harass with his Playful/Trickster and just straight up kill you 1v1 when he gets his ultimate ( Chum the Waters). If you do find yourself unfortunate enough to be in this matchup, you have to win early. harass him out of lane and make SURE you hit 6 first. You're going to need a lot of jungle help in that lane unless your opponent is really bad...



Difficulty: 6

Galio is only difficulty 6 because of his annoying tendency to build MR. In terms of laning against him, so long as you dodge his skillshots all will be good. He's melee so punish him to all hell when he tries to last-hit.



Difficulty: 4

Gragas, being another melee mid laner has a horrible time vs Viktor, for exactly the same reasons as every other melee mid. The difference with Gragas being he brings a bit more damage to the table without being reliant on his gap-closer ( Body Slam) to deal his burst, rather to re-position himself.



Difficulty: 6

Heimerdinger, much like Anivia will just become a farm lane because you have no gap-closer to reach him. in lane just kill his turrets whenever they are up and try to out-poke him.



Difficulty: 8-9

Jayce is an annoyance in lane for whoever he goes up against other than Tryndamere who straight up out-duels him. the key to playing against a Jayce is to avoid his enhanced Shock Blast at all costs...you're squishy...that bastards gonna do some work on you...Get a Zhonya's Hourglass early and farm farm farm!!



Difficulty: 4-5

Karma isn't too much of a worry due to her not being reliant on burst damage, rather the sustained damage from her 'Q' ( Inner Flame) and it's mantra-enhanced counterpart. As soon as you hit 6, if you can catch her, you can kill her.



Difficulty: 3

Karthus is probably one of my favourite champions to lane against due to his squishiness. The only drawback of this is the fact that if you harass him too much he'll just play very passive and hang back to farm. in this matchup you have to bait him into coming forward and pushing. As soon as he does so, punish him with your full combo, gg easy kill.



Difficulty: Pre-6 = 1 Post-6 = 9-10

Kassadin Has a notoriously weak early game, which Viktor can exploit very easily. Denying a Kassadin early game is essential to shutting him down later on. post-6 he simply out-trades and out- harasses you. When he hits 6, switch your attentions to another lane to get kills, because you ain't killing him unless he's an idiot.



Difficulty: 3

Katarina is somewhat similar to Diana except squishier and more mobile. You will decimate her in lane, but when she does eventually hit 6, she will TRY and kill you...this is where you just laugh and ult her as soon as she uses Death Lotus, she's silenced and can't do anything except take your full combo to the face and cry as she tries to get away.



Difficulty: 5-6

Kayle is weird in that she's both melee and ranged. you'll be able to out-harass he early, just remember she has her Divine Blessing to keep her up a little bit in lane. the thing to remember when playing against Kayle is that YOU HAVE TO ULT FIRST...I cannot stress this enough...



Difficulty: 7-8

Kennen's general burst damage and decent escapability makes laning against him a little difficult. All is not lost however. So long as you stay behind minions to avoid his Thundering Shuriken you should be fine. Be sure to punish him if he tries to use his Lightning Rush/ Electrical Surge combo to farm.



Difficulty: 6-7

Kha'Zix, just like every other melee mid-laner, is highly vulnerable to early harass from auto-attacks as well as your abilities. The danger with Kha'Zix however, is his ability to burst you before you have time to react properly. the best way to avoid dying against him is to use your Gravity Field as soon as he uses Leap. This way, he'll jump straight into the stun and will not be able to use his 'Q' ( Taste Their Fear) on you.



Difficulty: 10

I hate everything about LeBlanc no matter how far behind she is, she can still one-shot people...as a result I just get angry and play Diana against her instead so I can make her cry...just...eugh



Difficulty: 9-10

Lee Sin's early game is simply broken...his damage is off the charts and you MUST dodge his Sonic Wave constantly, or risk being taken low enough to be bursted down. Despite his burst however, he is still melee, and can be harassed by the beautiful Hextech Ray and have a little of his burst mitigated by your Power Transfer.



Difficulty: 6-7

Lissandra can cause problems simply because she has so much cc and, despite what she's supposed to be like, is surprisingly bursty. The game here is to avoid being harassed by her Ice Shard whilst harassing back twice as hard with Hextech Ray.



Difficulty: 8-9

Lux is annoying because she's possibly the only champion who's damaging abilities out-range your own, AND her level 6 burst beats yours until you get a Rabadon's Deathcap. In this lane you have to be VERY careful to avoid skillshots, take some MR runes and try and trade evenly, use the cooldowns on her abilities to your advantage and harass in between them.



Difficulty: 4-5

Malzahar is a pretty easy lane. As you're Viktor you can stay pretty far back to farm, so you should never get the Malefic Visions transferred to you. The aim of this lane is to farm to 6, and ult him just as he ults you so his is cancelled out, it takes a lot of practice and prediction, but when done successfully, feels SO good.



Difficulty: 1

Mordekaiser is just looking to die if he lanes against Viktor. Morde's biggest problem is that her has to be very VERY close in order to combo you, and as a result can just be kited. In lane, make sure you don't waste your mana trying to get rid of his shield, only harass him when the shield is down, then at level 6, go in and beast him.



Difficulty: 6-7

Morgana honestly shouldn't kill you in lane, but if you are unfortunate enough to be caught with a Dark Binding, you're pretty much screwed if she's 6, seen as she's able to just walk through your Gravity Field with her Black Shield. In order to avoid being killed by her, stay behind minions and try and make it a farm-fest, both Morgana and Viktor have awesome waveclear, so just try and help out other lanes when you can.



Difficulty: 3

Nidalee: Dodge spears...'nuff said.



Difficulty: 7-8[/color]

Orianna is a harass MACHINE...quite literally...as a result you actually have to play kind of safe unless you're getting babysat by your jungler. At level 6 however, there is no contest, Viktor beasts her, just remember to at least try and stun her first.



Difficulty: 7-8

Quinn is one of those annoying ADCs that doesn't actually work as an ADC...but is an absolute beast in a solo lane. This lane you are going to have to just farm until you have your Augment: Death and at least a Needlessly Large Rod before you can blow her up. the rules for harass remain the same however.



Difficulty: 4

Ryze struggles against any opponent that out-ranges him...Viktor obviously does this. Dueling him early is highly encouraged to try and put him as far behind as robotically possible.



Difficulty: 4-5

Swain is ''hard countered'' by Viktor. I personally call this BS because it all depends on how the people play. Against a Swain you want to bait him into using all of his mana early so that when he hits 6, he can't hold his ult for as long as he needs, which means he can be bursted fairly easily.



Difficulty: 7-8

Syndra is kind of evil to lane against due to her low mana cost of her Dark Sphere. this is however, compensated by the horrendously long cooldowns of her other abilities. use those windows to harass her without taking anything back, just try and avoid her stun at all costs.



Difficulty: 10

Talon is VERY difficult to lane against, due to his high burst and gap-closer that doubles as a silence. You will win the lane to start with, but don't get over-confident, at level 6 he can burst you just as badly as you can burst him. Call for ganks if he's hurting too much.



Difficulty: 3-4

Twisted Fate is super squishy, just like Karthus. the only other thing that Twisted Fate brings to the table is a little more cc and his damage is higher than Karthus' early on. because TF is so squishy, you can easily force him out of lane, and the BEST part about this matchup is that you can constantly have the lane pushed up so TF can never gank, and as a result, becomes kind of useless.



Difficulty: 7-8

Veigar is only in the '7-8' bracket because of his one-shot potential. In lane, you out-range him, so you should never be caught in his Event Horizon, if you are however...it's gonna hurt. Try and prevent him from farming his Baleful Strike by forcing him out of lane at every opportunity.



Difficulty: 6-7

Vladimir is an annoyance because no matter how much you harass him, he'll just heal it all back up with his Transfusion. Ergo this lane just becomes a farm fest until you hit 6. in this scenario, you have to open with your ult to silence him long enough to get your full combo off. That is dangerous however, because you could just miss it...it happens...



Difficulty: N/A

Xerath vs Viktor is 100% a skill matchup, they are equally bursty, and Xerath even out-ranges you. If you get tagged by his Mage Chains, MAKE SURE YOU AVOID EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HIS NEXT ABILITIES...or you will die...painfully...On the flipside, it is possible for you to outburst him once he misses his stun. As i said, it's a skill matchup.



Difficulty: 9-10

Zed, being a highly mobile AD Assassin, has the potential to decimate Viktor in lane. If you find yourself vs a Zed, make sure you're sunning 21/9/0 masteries and have armor yellows in your Rune page, start Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potions. Bear in mind he's an energy champion so you can't harass as much as him. However, as he has no natural sustain, your damage will stick, so try and win early. His level 6 is going to hurt no matter what you do, so rush Zhonya's Hourglass asap so you can actually trade with him and come out on top!



Difficulty: 5-6

Ziggs...the yordle equivalent of Nidalee. All you have to do to beat him in lane is dodge his Bouncing Bombs and you'll be sweet. Never underestimate his damage!!!!



Difficulty: 7-8

Zyra is annoying as HELL in lane, mainly due to her range and her damn plants...not worth the 5 gold you get from killing them. You'll never be able to reach her to stun her due to her Grasping Roots so try and keep the harassment to you Hextech Ray. Also...when you do kill her...make sure you avoid the passive...





If there are any matchups I've missed or that you'd like explained, do tell me and I'll do what i can to help you.