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Viktor Build Guide by

[S11] [Items Update Included] Adapt, or be removed.

Updated on

9.8

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Build Guide By 283 19

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283 19

1,577,187 Views

80 Comments

Viktor Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (80) More Viktor Guides

Runes: Standard

1 2 3 4

Precision

Fleet Footwork

Presence of Mind

Legend: Tenacity

Coup de Grace

Sorcery

Manaflow Band

Transcendence

Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor

Spells:

Refer to Spell sections

Exhaust

Flash

Items

Starting Items

First Back

Shoes

Pick your augment

Mythic Choices

Optional Choices

Example Build

Ability Order

Viktor Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Akali

Extreme

Poke early but play safe post-Level 4

Alistar

Ideal

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Alistar

Ideal

More Viktor Counters

Welcome to my guide on mid lane!

I used to hit Challenger in soloQ with 60% games as and was a Challenger mid laner, and managed to reach Diamond 1 in SoloQ & Challenger Flex Q (Mainly by solo play) with over 70% win rate in . Despite not having as much ranked experience currently, I can comfortably say I am still a connoisseur and am still keeping myself updated with this champion specifically as I've only ever played him seriously throughout different seasons, iterations and metas

This guide will prepare you towards playing as easy as possible, sharing insights of him through multiple sections that will guide you from pre-game to post-game. Do not hesitate to pm me or leave a comment to ask me questions as not everything can be covered in a written guide and I could not cover everything I can't think off, so work my brains too if you're at it

If you think this guide have helped you, feel free to drop an Upvote if you enjoyed it or find it useful, or Downvote it if you feel this guide is lackluster of anything (Share why you think so, of course.)

I've peaked at Rank 52 around 360 mid-season LP but this is the highest ranked I got in pictures but you can trust me :)

High Variation on Build Choices

With the removal of Hex Core, now finds himself in a comfortable spot where he is able to freely choose what item paths to pursue. He can use most of the mages' Mythic items and is comfortable with items that aren't catered towards him (such as and ). The same statement holds true to rune choices as well, at least until optimal choices are found.

Strong Utility & Damage in Teamfights

The AoE stun from makes you able to control enemies' positioning through changing the favoured spots for teamfight. brings a lot of damage into teamfight and with proper micro managing, you could sneak up enough damage to force a retreat. is also one of the best teamfighter in the whole game due to his obnoxious AoE burst from proper usage of & combination

Mildly Feast or Famine Playstyle

Might be weird seeing this as a key point on a mage, nonetheless but this is the key takeaway from his transition from season 10 to season 11. His passive change has changed him from a safe, rewarding and threatening late game monster to a volatile mage capable of snowballing early games as well. In games where you get early leads, it's easy to snowball as him whereas in slower games without much activities you scale worse than before. The high volatility in his playstyle differs your experience every game, in a good light or not.

Versatile in Playstyle

Viktor is versatile and can function in most team comps; he's jack of all trades but the master of none. He has good wave clear, but lacks reliable wave clear; has strong burst, yet uncomparable to assassins; has great teamfight, yet can't turn whole fight around solely. He's pretty team-dependant, but you can still work him out as a solo carry depending on your mechanics and playstyle

High Learning Curve

is quite easy to understand and play as long you have good grasp of using his and simple mechanics/understanding of game. However, requires good understanding of the game & being indecisive on using your spells. If you're able to use comfortably (whether it being normal cast or quick cast), you'll find it easier to try this champion out

Weak to Ganks

is weak to ganks due to the fact that he has no instant form of CC that can help him, his takes time to stun and with the mobility creep going around, it's not reliable early.

Jungler-dependant & Low Kill Pressure

has a decent early game, but have almost no kill pressure unless you heavily invest your build/setups towards getting early kills. You would need to have a few items before being able to solo kill the opposing laner or simply rely on your enemy doing major mistakes in lane. However, having a good jungler will fix these issues and allow you to snowball hard.

Electrocute : Procs easily on Viktor but rely on you being close in range to pull off the combo. Go this if you love a burst-y playstyle or into short ranged matchups. You can take this into tougher lanes as well with resolve tree secondary against assassins for better laning phase.
Dark Harvest : Dark Harvest takes time to scale before it starts outnumbering Electrocute in damage and it's not preferred to take this into a losing matchup as you'd need more damage early. Luckily, it's easy to proc this due to your long range laser poke and in a huge teamfight it'd be really strong if you can stay alive throughout the fight. The effectiveness of this keystone varies between games based on how many stacks you're capable of getting.
Cheap Shot : Probably not the best rune of available ones - Cheap Shot helps you deal more damage to enemies that are CC-ed, even slowed. This is barely usable, as Gravity Field doesn't have a permanent uptime, and you'd only have a reliable slow after 3000 fragments. The damage is insignificant and not noticeable so AVOID THIS RUNE entirely.
Taste of Blood : Helps you sustain in lane and give flat health instead of Ravenous Hunter which requires time to scale. It procs on hitting abilities so you get healed even when poking with Hextech Ray. A must get if you're keen on sustaining in lane.

Zombie Ward : Pretty niche kind of rune. Although being a very good rune, I will only take this when I run Domination as primary tree; as there are other secondary options in Domination tree which are better than this.
Ghost Poro : An interesting rune but only to be taken in primary tree - do not waste a rune slot on this if you're going Domination secondary tree. It helps you to provide vision around your lane and is consistent in placement moving from brushes to brushes. It'll go on a minute cooldown if scared away but you will know enemies' positions with that. Helps during roam when you place a Ghost Poro in a brush while moving towards side lanes to find out if your enemy laner went to match roam you as well
Eyeball Collection : Easily the best choice in the row for now, take this if you had to choose. With the high snowball potential of Viktor and the fast-paced meta recently, it's easy to stack this. Helps you scale better alongside your passive with similar mechanics.
Relentless Hunter : Pretty weak rune for Viktor since he isn't a roamer, and the movement speed it provides isn't useful in fights (Only effective out of combat)
Ravenous Hunter : Great rune to pickup even if Domination is your primary or secondary tree. Gives a lot of sustain (hard to notice) in fights and lane, making you more durable in fights and lasts longer. Coupled with Taste of Blood, you will have enough sustain in lane. Take this every time you go domination tree

Arcane Comet : Great for poking in lane with Hextech Ray, its a follow up damage and helps in your AoE damage. The early game damage it provides isn't that bad compared Electrocute damage. Though it can be dodged but most of the time. Often outshined by Aery, this keystone is only better in teamfights where it might hit multiple enemies.
Phase Rush : Phase Rush is a wonderful option now that it is buffed and used by most mages. I would not pick this personally as there are similar effects of this keystone in item choices. A personal preference.
Summon Aery : Summon Aery provides decent follow up damage to your pokes and have no cooldown (Except travel time for her to get to you back). Definitely the best choice if you're not too keen on Phase Rush.
Manaflow Band : The best rune in this row - you get more mana up to 250 that will ease your mana hunger in mid game. It's easy to proc with Viktor since your Hextech Ray can't be dodged if you use it well and the passive mana regeneration is useful since you're going to spam a lot of spells throughout the whole game.
Nullifying Orb : A discount Hexdrinker being placed on a rune slot, only get this against dangerous matchups such as LeBlanc or Syndra.

Transcendence : Better rune now that Ability Haste isn't as widely available as CDR before. Current Viktor's build barely give any Ability Haste so this is a must need.
Celerity : Strong rune only if you incorporate movement speed or including it in everything you do, could synergize well with your upgraded Q speed boost.
Scorch : The early damage this provides is strong for poking enemies out of lane, giving you extra pressure in lane. Extra damage, can't go wrong either way.
Gathering Storm : Works in lane where you can't reliably use Scorch effectively and looking towards a long game. This rune is great for prolonged games and acts as a cushion in situations where you fall too behind. Only downsides are that games usually don't last longer than 30 minutes and the time interval between each stat boost is too big to be reliable.

Unsealed Spellbook : The only usable keystone in this tree.
Magical Footwear : You could save gold using this rune by not upgrading a boots earlier - saves more gold to get your next items and so on. I personally do not take this because I value Perfect Timing more if I had to pick one but its more of personal choice.
Perfect Timing : A generous rune that gives you Stopwatch at 14th minute - which isn't that impressive but it's still a discount towards Zhonya's Hourglass.

Biscuit Delivery : Take this for amazing sustain in lane - up until 6th minute which should suffice for laning. This enables you to stay in lane longer until certain gold goal and coupled with defensive summoner spells you shouldn't be dying in lane from solo kills
Future's Market : I take most of the time (in Inspiration primary) because it allows me to reach core items earlier than usual. You could also get next item when you lack small amount of gold - the debt can be easily be paid off with your insane waveclear or taxing jungle camps.
Cosmic Insight : Good choice if you have to pick this row.
Time Warp Tonic : Mediocre choice unless paired with Corrupting Potion.

Fleet Footwork : A good keystone into most matchups. Gives some decent sustain in lane without relying too much on potions while working as a budget Phase Rush. I take this solely due to precision primary choice, there's no better options.
Presence of Mind : Amazing rune, probably the best rune currently; you get insane mana regeneration upon poking enemies. Paired with Doran's Ring, you'd rarely run into mana draught in early game.
Legend: Tenacity : Having more tenacity is always nice, since you don't really benefit off lifesteal nor attack speed. Legend: Alacrity can be chosen if you really don't need the tenacity and looking for alternative.
Coup De Grace : Best choice in the row if you have to pick one.

Grasp of the Undying : You can take this into tough melee matchups, mostly Zed and Talon lanes. Taking this would increase your health from resolve tree and increases your tankiness with sub runes from its tree. Keep in mind you're sacrificing damage for survivability against them, and while Grasp does damage; its not as much as other damaging keystones.
Shield Bash : Very good rune for early game, giving you extra stats upon every Q. The only good choice in the row.
Bone Plating : Consider getting this against poke matchups like Xerath or against high risk matchups like Talon and Vladimir. This rune helps you survive through most all-ins when its up & you take lesser damage in a short trade.
Second Wind : Take this against poke matchups where you don't feel confident dodging spells; works well throughout the game too.

Flash
is heavily reliant for because he does not have any defensive capabilities on his own and its useful for making plays and clutch escapes, take this 100% of the time.

Ignite
is a pretty strong spell to have higher kill pressure in lane and helps out in zoning enemies from engaging on you. Getting this would help you kill enemy easier, and you should take this if you have a jungler that could gank really early. It's the best spell to pick if you want to snowball from early on.

Ghost
is not that great to pick up anymore for due to the abundance of movement speed sources from everywhere else. It can still be used if you prefer it but it's really not the best choice.

Heal
Heals you for a nice amount and give a sweet burst of movement speed that allows you to reposition quicker in fights, and having can turn around early 2v2 fights between laners and junglers. Try not to take this against enemies that would take usually ( & ) as it would reduce the heal. The small movement speed from it is nice too.

Exhaust
Probably the best spell now, lowkey - debuff on damage is crucial (-40% damage) and really shuts down champions with less mobility and even assassins. I take this into blind matchups and it works for every situation, timing it right is clutch.

Cleanse
This spell works so good vs heavy CC comps (ex. Works great versus , , . You're able to cleanse / also and making use of it really wins you trades, or manage to escape dangerous situations or ganks.

Teleport
Great tool to maximize your global presence, securing objectives, pushing turrets and helping sidelanes with surprise counterganks. Taking can lead to defensive or offensive playstyle and will maximize your farm even if you're behind thanks to your amazing waveclear tool. Wouldn't recommend taking this since the cooldown is very high, and isn't the best TP user.

Barrier
Very useful spell now, short cooldown that shields more than and protects against bursts, is stronger in prolonged fights and you don't want to get burst quickly in a fight. Great in all situations.

PASSIVE
ABILITY

Glorious Evolution (Passive):
This is a self-buff that gives a new currency upon last hitting every minion or neutral creeps. You need 100 of the currencies (Hex Fragments) to upgrade/augment your abilities. Farming cannon minions properly is key towards speeding up your augmentations. Gives 25 on champion takedowns as well. This passive is what makes such a snowball-y champion, augment upgrades impact him a lot positively. Unlike previous version of this passive, his scaling potential is worse now in exchange for a better early to mid game.

Siphon power (Q):
This skill is great for last hitting while pumping your short-term with its shield as well. This ability contributes a lot to your burst after you rush a and will hurt more than . Despite that, do not max this over because you will lose the main factor of your lane control and maxing this makes you easy to be pushed in instead of pressuring the lane. It does not scale with mana anymore so don't think about mana builds.

Another tip to mastering is to learn how to animation cancel this skill. I have not much to say but I'll link few videos that will explain it :
>LS's explaining it
>Another detailed explanation

Gravity Field (W): Your one and only CC skills in your kit. Max them out last as it only increases the movement speed reduction while the stun duration remained unchanged. This skill works best in choke points for hitting several enemies at once. It needs time to ramp up and isn't an instant CC so its not that great in an open space. Coupled with you can pressure/block an area in teamfight for a few seconds.

Example of Choke Points

Death Ray (E): Always max this first because its your bread and butter. is your sole poke ability and waveclear ability. It has no cast time which means you can cast it while moving making it a very strong spell and also part of the reasons why movement speed is very important for . Line the skill at the beginning of a wave and aim at enemy champions + minions at the same time to push efficiently. The key point is efficiency, this skill uses lots of mana early on but if you have good mana sustain you should be able to get away with missing a few of it in lane. It is only worth using this to poke enemies (ignoring minions) after rank 2.

ULTIMATE ABILITY

Chaos Storm (R): Summons a singularity after dealing initial damage (the initial cast interrupts channelings like 's ) and allow you to control it momentarily. Every 2 seconds it will tick (will come out a circle on the singularity to indicate it's about to proc) and deal a lot of damage over the time. To net an unexpected kill, line up your on enemy as your it almost tick. You should learn to micromanage this skill because it's very important in maximizing your damage in fights; leave it to auto-follow any enemies if you can't - it works as a zoning tool as well.

Start this item if you need better sustain in lane. Use this always in a prolonged fight, or try to poke enemy while you're under its healing effect to maximize the burn buff. Coupled with , you'd have much more sustain and you'd rarely face mana issues. is still a better start but this is just an alternative to try.

has always been a great item for Mages throughout the seasons. It allows you to ignore 15 of enemies' MR - you're more deadly against low-magic resistance enemies. If you don't need the stats from other defensive boots, this is a default purchase.

have always been a great alternative choices to Mages and is great to have when you're slightly behind because its 200g cheaper than the costly . Get this if you want more Ability Haste.

Helps in roaming or positioning yourself amidst teamfights. While they are much inferior in stats or effectiveness than other boots, it is a situational buy when your struggling in teamfights or facing lots of slows.

You're gonna be building it most of the time if you're losing to heavy burst mages or poke champions in the mid lane like , or even fighting jungle or support (That constantly locks you down). Consider getting this before or after your first purchase if you think you will be killed easily or if they have high CC comps.

Very strong items after preseason changes, extremely high gold efficiency making you profit off its stats even if enemy doesn't have high MR thanks to the lack of good MR tank items nowadays. Getting this second will never go wrong - extremely good build path and has a low cost.

's second part of benefits a lot from , and its what helps his burst that is mostly underestimated when his is on cooldown. If you can get in range to AA often in fights this item might be more valuable as a 2nd item.

This item should be your first rush against fighting assassins if your struggling with them. Try to get as soon as possible on your first back as getting it earlier you can stack the passive and gain more Armor to aid you in lane. You can easily bait enemies to yourself after placing and then use the active, to bait or to survive longer while waiting for your to follow them

This item pumps up your AP by a massive 35%.I recommend getting this right after your mythic item if you could afford the components. Else, get it somewhere later in the game. You can never go wrong with this item.

Never really a big fan of tear/mana-stacking items but if you're looking to get this, get an early recall off for to start stacking it early. Finish this item soon after mythic choices - most mythics give good amount of mana to complement the passive well.

Amazing stats with versatile components. If you've no movement speed related items, you could compensate with this; a budget but surprisingly pretty impressive. A 3rd~5th item purchase, I don't recommend getting this right after mythics.

Your go-to item if you love battle-mage style of going in & out of fights focusing primarily on bulkiness & Q spams. Pairs up with very well for that purpose. A good purchase if you need some extra armor/MR. is still a better item against tanks.

is the very same and strong item as its previous iteration. Its passive complements well with whatever you have to do, just a very solid mage pickup - you can never go wrong with it. being its component is also amazing, gives you very potent mana sustain in lane.

Same components advantage as . What separates this with the former is its active - amazing for setting up for and an extra on demand extra damage. However, the active's range is pretty short so it's a good buy into melee matchups. The extra health also makes you a little bit sturdier.

You're not supposed to buy this, but you can. The extra tankiness and potent raw damage is worth getting if you don't have a need for bigger mana pool. The components are amazing as well; perhaps the best in mythic category in my opinion, covering variety of choices based on your gold balance. is lowkey way too strong and you could probably cheese a kill with it.

Very solid item against tankier teams. Amazing core items consisted of and making it really easy to build into. This item gives ability haste on legendary items so it's another alternative to buy if you prefer high AH builds but dislike . Due to the nature of this item, it complements battle mage playstyle well; so you'd have to survive in fights long to make it worthwhile. Major gripe with this item would be that it provides ZERO health which could have an impact at times.

Niche build you can try with more impact in teamfights and damage against champions but sacrifices waveclear and early lane pressure. Augment second and get this item second after or . You can get this item first if you managed to gather 200 Hex Bits before any big purchases. This item is pretty weak now for solo lanes but if you ever go Bot lane it's an item worth considering.

This section covers what you should get at first ~ 3rd back in different category of gold

Option #1 : 700g Minimum
Path : + +

I would get this against hard lanes where I usually stress on using mana to farm from a safe distance and need the extra health from for defensive purposes; boots is important for dodging skillshots and if you have extra gold, else opt for Health Potions. E.g. , , matchups.

Option #2 : 870g Minimum
Path : +

Can never go wrong with more AP.

Option #3 : 500g Minimum
Path : + +

A niche item to pick since increases healing from refillables and have a higher mana throughout the laning phase. Usually get this versus non-threatening matchups or matchups that you think you could bully them without receiving much damage in return such as and

Option #4 : 900g Minimum
Path :

This item is way too OP for you not to buy it instantly. EXTREMELY gold efficient and you can get up to total of 45 Armor, making you almost impossible to die without enemy committing hard on you.

Option #5 : RICH
Path : /

Building closer towards Mythic items.

Heading into the game, you should plan how you're going to play out the lane in champion select, the matchup sections below gives you a base guideline on how you would play the lane out

Generally, your whole early game's objective is to get mythic items as early as possible while not fully conceding the lane priority. Farming passively will give enemy opportunities to roam and take the lead so you should have a balance approach to the lane, being aggressive when needed. In an even range matchup; try to get early Q AA poke off enemies once they get too close; but try to avoid being too close to their minion wave to avoid pulling aggro. Only start poking enemy with once you allocate at least two points into it because the first level of it barely deals damage and doesn't help at all in pushing the wave (Unless you're last hitting minions, line them up together!).

Make sure you have wards on a side of the lane and usually try to hug the side where your jungler is closer so they could come assist if you get ganked. is very weak to ganks until level 6 and it will set you very far behind if you get caught in one.

Play like your usual mid laner, roam or get deep visions when wave's pushed or get good recalls off to have item advantage. The only key thing in lane is making the full use out of your , only using it to poke whenever is up, etc.

The mid game part is vital but won't be at his strongest state as long as mythic item remain unpurchased, you should have upgraded by now so just perma push whenever you can. Look for small skirmishes and get leads from thereon. Your goal in mid game is to secure as many objectives possible with your team and try to collect as much gold from farming lanes and jungle. Narrow down your item builds from hereon as well.

In teamfights, you should not go too front in the fight because you're squishy and aren't that tanky unless you go for tanky build. Use from afar and to stun their frontline. If most of their frontliners got stunned with teammates' abilities, put down and chain the stun while using to burst them down. Your main objective is to deal as many damage as possible by hitting as many enemies at once. Do not hesitate to inside if your frontlines engages on them, a simple and will deal extremely a lot of damage.

Try to get a pick on their carry before a teamfight breaks out if possible; can easily burst them with + + 's AA, and don't afraid on burning on them is fine since they are the primary damage of their team. You should be able to kill their carry if they aren't too ahead, or atleast force a recall/. A single teamfight won in late game can mostly turnaround the game or make a comeback since you can push turrets and get Baron/Dragon.

I recommend checking out Dun (Viktor one trick from NA), high elo mid streamers and other mid laner pros for a general grip on how he should be played.

Jungler

1. Sejuani

2. Graves

3. Lee Sin

4. Ivern

5. Nunu & Willump

6. Rek'Sai

Support

1. Alistar

2. Bard

3. Blitzcrank

4. Morgana

5. Thresh

Ahri

Akali

Anivia

Annie

Aurelion Sol

Azir

Cassiopeia

Ekko

Fizz

Galio

Irelia

Jayce

Karma

Kassadin

Katarina

Le Blanc

Lissandra

Lulu

Lux

Malzahar

Morgana

Neeko

Orianna

Ryze

Seraphine

Swain

Syndra

Talon

Twisted Fate

Varus

Veigar

Vel'Koz

Vladimir

Xerath

Yasuo

Yone

Zed

Ziggs

Zoe

You actually made it here! Well, good job I guess. This is my first guide yet I tried very hard to make it nice as possible and I wanted to give a shout out to :

- jhoijhoi's Making a Guide guide

- Vynertje for giving crictisms about the guide (Check out the Review Shop here !)

- Seth346 / Crs Dekar for giving his review on the guide ! Check out his Detailed Riven Guide too !

- utopus for reviewing my guide ! Check him out ! :)

- Sir Wellington for his honest opinion on this guide ! Check out his review shop if you are interested

- To anyone whos supported this guide by reading it ! ^^