With the rise of people playing Viktor in the Top Lane, I thought it important to let you know why other mages, especially Vel’Koz, can see similar success in the same role. Mages in the Top Lane have been seeing their larger amounts of success thanks to their kiting ability. Many popular picks in the Top Lane are either Tanks or Bruiser/Fighters that can be kited rather easily if the Mage knows what they are doing, and this guide aims to show you how to be successful with Vel’Koz in this role.

Before we get into how to really play Vel’Koz, let us first look at his abilities. Vel’Koz’s Passive is Organic Destruction. This is a very simple yet powerful passive that makes it so when three of your abilities land on your opponent, they take bonus True Damage. After putting a point into your Ultimate ability, this passive also now Researches enemies. Enemies that are Researched will now take True Damage instead of Magic Damage from your Ultimate ability. Enemies remain Researched for 7 seconds, and this cooldown resets back to 7 seconds when auto attacking them while they are Researched as well as being hit by any of your abilities.

Vel’Koz’s Q ability is Plasma Fission. This ability shoots a plasma in a target direction that splits into two plasma bolts when it reaches its maximum range. This ability can be recast before it reaches its maximum range to split the skill shot early. This split is perpendicular to the initial cast direction and can make for some very interesting plays! This ability deals Magic Damage and slows the enemies hit by 70%. This damage and the slow duration are increased as the ability is leveled up. Killing units with this ability refunds 50% of the Mana Cost. If you manage to hill three units with one cast of this ability, then you can actually gain mana equal to 50% of the ability’s cost.

Vel’Koz’s W ability is Void Rift. Void Rift opens up a void in a target direction dealing Magic Damage that detonates after a short time, dealing more damage than it did on the initial cast. This ability has the potential to add two stacks to enemies that are hit if they are hit by both the initial cast and by the detonation of the opened void. This ability stacks up to two times so that it may be cast in quick succession of the preceding cast. There is a 2 second cooldown between casts if you have two stacks to cast.

Vel’Koz’s E ability is Tectonic Disruption. Vel’Koz forces a small area to blow up dealing Magic Damage as well as knocking enemies up and slightly knocking them back. This ability allows Vel’Koz to easily kite and push enemies away that may get too close to him.

Vel’Koz’s R ability is Life Form Disintegration Ray. This ability channels a laser for 2.5 seconds in the direction of your cursor. You can shift the direction of this channel by moving your cursor to where you would like. Enemies caught in this laser will be slowed by 20% while also taking Magic Damage for the duration they are caught in the ability. Enemies that remain in the beam will also gain stacks of your Passive periodically. Again, keep in mind that Researched enemies will take True Damage and not Magic Damage. This is one of the reasons Vel’Koz can be so successful in the Top Lane as he has immense Tank shredding capabilities with the massive amounts of True Damage that he will be dealing.

Before getting into the laning phase with Vel’Koz, let’s look at the Rune Page you will want to run before you get into the game. You will want your Primary Tree to be the Sorcery Tree, taking Arcane Comet as your Keystone. Arcane Comet is pretty much a guaranteed hit when hitting an enemy with Plasma Fission as the slow from the ability will force them to stay in the area the Comet will affect. The other keystones just do not synergize as well with Vel’Koz so Arcane Comet is the best choice here. Manaflow Band is going to be your next choice. The other options are just not as powerful on the Champion and stacking mana is never a bad thing for a Mage like Vel’Koz. Moving down the Tree you will look to take Transcendence, as increasing your CDR will allow you to poke the enemy more often and since you will be building CDR items as well, you will benefit from the bonus AP granted by overcapping on CDR with Transcendence. For the final Rune in the Tree, you have two options: Gathering Storm and Scorch. Scorch is helpful in the early game but becomes not as effective as Gathering Storm will be later in the game. This is up to personal opinion, but I prefer Gathering Storm for the increased scaling throughout the game. The second Rune Tree you will want is the Inspiration Tree, specifically Cosmic Insight and Perfect Timing in this Tree. Cosmic Insight again for that buff to your CDR and Perfect Timing to help you survive and contributing to the Zhonya’s Hourglass you will want to get in your game.

Now let’s look at how to play Vel’Koz in the laning phase in the Top Lane. As for Summoner Spells, Flash is of course a must and Teleport for the Top Lane is also what you might look to take. This allows you to get back to lane quickly and also gives you chances to Teleport throughout the map to assist your team. If not Teleport, then Heal will be what you want as the healing and quick bonus movement speed will often allow to survive potential ganks or if they gap close on you and you miss some of your skill shots.

When playing Vel’Koz usually you will want to max your Void Rift first to help you better push the waves but, depending on the match-up in the Top Lane, it can be better to max your Plasma Fission first. If you are against someone who can easily close the gap between you, like Riven, then maxing Plasma Fission helps as you get the increased slow duration on your Q ability as you level it up. What you will want to do in lane is trying to match your opponents push, so if it is someone who can clear waves quickly then maxing Void Rift first is not bad either. Keep in mind if you max Q first then max W second and if you max W first then max Q second. Using Riven again as an example, if your opponent is someone who can clear the wave rather quickly but also have a strong gap close, then it is still better to max Q to keep this Champion away from you. In lane, you will want to look to trade with your opponent from a distance as you will likely have the range advantage. When they look to close the gap, kite away from them, slowing them with your Q and knocking them back with your E while also throwing a W under them. This is the best way to punish opponents that make the mistake of chasing after you. Vel’Koz is very much a poke-heavy Champion, so use this to your advantage, poking them down at each chance you get. Taking this idea, let's look how to handle teamfights.

Before teamfights break out, it is always nice to try and make sure your opponents have the disadvantage going into the fight. Vel’Koz, being a very poke-oriented Champion, can zone out some Champions or chip away at their health before they fight. This obviously helps out the whole team as the opponents will be weaker going into the fight. When the fight does actually break out focus on staying back so that you can safely drop your abilities on the enemy team. You will ideally want to peel away Champions looking to dive you and your ADC with your Tectonic Disruption. Of course, you'll want to throw your Void Rift under them while doing this to apply your Passive stacks onto them, so that when you use your Life Form Disintegration Ray you will be dealing True Damage to them rather than Magic Damage. When done correctly, this combination while your team is fighting them absolutely melts the enemy team away. Your Life Form Disintegration has really high Base Damage combined with great AP scaling, so making sure that you are dealing True Damage with it when possible is very powerful against the enemy team.

As far as builds go for Vel’Koz, items that provide CDR and AP are really the way to go. Starting items are usually going to be The Dark Seal and Refillable Potion. But the core items you will want are Luden’s Echo first and Liandry’s Torment or Morellonomicon second. If the enemy team has a lot of healing, then Morellonomicon is the better choice, but in terms of maximum damage output, you will want Liandry’s Torment. For Boots, Sorcerer’s Shoes are a good buy, but look to get Boots that will work best in your specific game.

Your third item will be building Zhonya’s Hourglass out of the Stopwatch provided by your Runes, as the active on the item is very powerful and can save you more often than not. Rabadon’s Deathcap is a very powerful fourth item as well, as the raw damage it provides works greatly to Vel’Koz’s benefit. For your fifth item you can look to take Void Staff, or maybe Banshee’s Veil if the enemy team is AP heavy. Void Staff is okay, but since you will be dealing a ton of True Damage, the Magic Penetration the item provides is not as efficient on Vel’Koz as it may be on other Champions.

Rylai’s Crystal Scepter is also a strong fifth item as it provides that extra slow on top of the slows already being stacked on the enemy by your abilities, and it synergizes really well with Liandry’s Torment, one of your core items. I recommend trying Vel’Koz out in the Top Lane in a couple of Normal Games first to get a strong feel for how to play him and really understand how strong he, and other mages really are in the Top Lane meta. Hopefully you all see the power and potential provided by Vel’Koz and good luck in your next excursion out on Summoner’s Rift!

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