Vel’Koz is a midlaner who trades mobility for raw power, allowing you to melt through your enemies, whether they are frontline tanks or backline carries.

Ability Overview

Passive: Organic Deconstruction - Vel’Koz’s abilities apply a stack of Organic Deconstruction. At three stacks, the enemy is Deconstructed and dealt a burst of true damage. Vel’Koz’s basic attacks do not apply a stack of Organic Deconstruction, but they do refresh its duration.

A powerful passive, it’s part of what makes Vel’Koz so powerful. The true damage also scales with Ability Power, making it significant at all parts of the game. You’ll also want to do your best to keep auto-attacking an enemy champion that has one or two stacks of Organic Deconstruction, as it’ll keep refreshing the duration of the stack and proc your passive without using your full combo. There is also no cooldown to Organic Deconstruction, meaning that you can proc it multiple times on the same enemy. The passive also ties in significantly with Vel’Koz’s ultimate, which we’ll get into later.

Q: Plasma Fission - Vel’Koz fires a bolt of plasma that splits in two at 90 degree angles upon reactivation or upon hitting an enemy. The bolts all deal magic damage and slow the enemies hit. Additionally, when this ability kills an enemy, you gain half of the mana cost back.

Vel’Koz’s Plasma Fission is unique in League of Legends. It’s the only skillshot in the game that splits, allowing you to potentially hit 3 enemies with it. It’s main strength, however, lies in the unpredictability of the ability and the range and angles that you have at your disposal. You can use Plasma Fissure to harass enemies behind the minion line. You can use Plasma Fissure to hit enemies at awkward angles that they won’t be able to avoid. You can even use Plasma Fissure to chase down kills that you normally wouldn’t be able to get. The only real limitation to how you use Plasma Fissure is your imagination and the range of the ability.

You can take this at level 1, 2, or 3, depending on the situation and what you’re going for in lane, and you want to max this second.

W: Void Fissure - Vel’Koz opens a rift to the void in a line, dealing magic damage along its path. After 0.25 seconds, the void rift explodes, dealing damage again. Vel’Koz can store up to two charges, and has a 2 second cooldown between casts. Each instance of damage applies a stack of Organic Deconstruction.

Void Fissure is Vel’Koz’s main form of waveclear, application of Organic Deconstruction, and damage during fights. It passes through minions, enemy champions, terrain, etc. In lane, you can use it to clear the minion waves, allowing you to shove in your lane opponent. Because of the nature of Void Fissure, you can also use it to harass your lane opponent through minion waves while you push the wave at the same time.

You’ll want to take Void Fissure at level 1 or 2 and max it first.

E: Tectonic Disruption - Vel’Koz disrupts an area, causing it to explode and knocking up anyone caught in it for 0.75 seconds. Enemies close to Vel’Koz are knocked slightly away from him in the direction Tectonic Disruption was cast.

Tectonic Disruption is Vel’Koz’s only form of hard crowd control and it is perhaps the cornerstone for Vel’Koz’s combo in the early game. If you hit Tectonic Disruption, you can follow up with Void Fissure, which will proc your Organic Deconstruction and hit the enemy for significant damage. A good way to use Tectonic Disruption is to target your lane opponent as they go for a last hit. This’ll let you hit them with it and then follow up with Void Fissure. Be careful after you use Tectonic Disruption though, as it will leave you vulnerable. You’ll take this at level 2 or 3 and max it last.

R: Life Form Disintegration Ray - (Passive) Deconstructed enemies become Researched, which lasts for 7 seconds. Basic attacks and abilities refresh Research. (Active) Vel’Koz channels a ray of energy, dealing magic damage and slowing all enemies who are caught in its path. Enemies who are Researched take true damage instead of magic damage.

One of the most powerful ultimates in the game, Life Form Disintegration Ray can shred through the enemy team. When used in conjunction with your other abilities, Vel’Koz can single-handedly carry a teamfight and disintegrate the enemy team, be they tanks or carries or anything in between. Even on its own, you can easily burst an enemy champ who doesn’t respect the damage and range Life Form Disintegration Ray has.

Runes

Vel’Koz’s main rune page will always be Sorcery. The benefits from it are too good to pass up. For your secondary tree, I recommend going Inspiration, though you do have options from each of the other trees.

Sorcery - Arcane Comet, Manaflow Band, Transcendence, and Gathering Storm

Arcane Comet - When you damage a champion with an ability, a comet fires from your position to theirs, striking and damaging in a small circle when it lands. If Arcane Comet is on cooldown, hitting an enemy champion reduces the cooldown.

Arcane Comet is a great rune for Vel’Koz because you’re almost always guaranteed to hit it. In the early game most enemy champions you’ll be facing are too slow to avoid the comet. Also, Plasma Fission, Tectonic Disruption, and Life Form Disintegration Ray all have either a slow or a knock up, meaning that even in the later stages of the game Arcane Comet has a high chance to hit.

Manaflow Band - Manaflow Band permanently increases your maximum mana by 25, up to 250 bonus maximum mana. After you reach this cap, Manaflow Band restores 1% of your mana every 5 seconds.

An excellent rune on Vel’Koz as it provides more mana and mana regeneration, both of which Vel’Koz loves to have. With getting as many spells off as possible important to proc Organic Deconstruction, it's important to have the extra resources necessary to cast these spells.

Transcendence - Gain 10% cooldown reduction at level 10. Any cooldown reduction over the cooldown cap is turned into adaptive power (AP for Vel’Koz).

Cooldown reduction is very important on Vel’Koz as his cooldowns are rather high. The lower your cooldowns are, the more abilities you can use, which is also important for procing Organic Deconstruction on the enemy team. You also definitely want to have your Life Form Disintegration Ray on as short a cooldown as possible because of how powerful it is during a team fight.

Gathering Storm - Every 10 minutes, gain stacks of Gathering Storm, which grant you adaptive power (AP for Vel’Koz).

The best choice of rune here. The longer the game goes, the stronger you get. At 20 minutes, it’s the equivalent to having an Amplifying Tome for free. At 30 minutes, it’s the equivalent of having a Needlessly Large Rod.

In general, for your secondary tree you’re almost always going to go into Inspiration. It’s the best choice, with several options for which two runes to pick. However, some of the other runes are not terrible choices if you wish to go into them.

Inspiration - Inspiration is the tree that I go into on Vel’Koz, taking Magical Footwear and Cosmic Insight. In general though, you can go with a combination of either of those two, Biscuit Delivery, and Perfect Timing.

Magical Footwear - After 10 minutes (minus 30 seconds for each takedown), gain “Slightly Magical Boots” for free. These boots give all the same bonuses as the regular “Boots of Speed”, but with the added bonus of 10 extra bonus movement speed. However, taking this rune disables “Boots of Speed” for you and doesn’t allow you to purchase tier 2 boots until you receive your boots. This is a good rune for Vel’Koz because of his lack of mobility and reliable hard crowd control. It’ll give you that extra movement speed needed to outrun and chase down your enemies and dodge skillshots.

Perfect Timing - Gives you a “Stopwatch” that becomes active at 8 minutes. However, it contributes only 250 gold to the items that it builds into. In addition, it also reduces the cooldown of those items by 15%. A good choice against assassins like Zed or Talon, as it gives you the ability to avoid an early all-in by them, which can give you enough time needed to get your defensive items up to survive against them.

Biscuit Delivery - Receive a “Total Biscuit of Everlasting Will” every 3 minutes until the 12th minute. The biscuit restores 15% percent of your missing health and mana and permanently grants you 40 mana. Selling the biscuit also grants you the mana and 60 gold. If you have a full inventory the biscuit will wait until you have a free space to appear. A good option if you feel like you’ll be taking a lot of damage in lane and want that extra sustain to make it through the laning phase.

Cosmic Insight - Gain 5% cooldown reduction and increase your cooldown reduction cap to 45%. Additionally, gain 5% cooldown reduction on summoner spells and item actives. A great choice of rune for Vel’Koz because of the extra cooldown reduction you get from it. It also synergizes well with Zhonya’s Hourglass, which is especially important if you’re being dived a lot during teamfights. The cooldown reduction on the summoner spells too will help you survive with your lack of mobility.

Precision - Going Precision on Vel’Koz isn’t a bad idea. If you decide to go into this tree, I recommend going Triumph, Presence of Mind, Legend: Tenacity, or Coup de Grace. Situationally, Cut Down can also be strong on Vel’Koz, depending on the team comp.

Triumph - After a 1 second delay, champion takedowns grant you 20 gold and restore 12% of your health. A good choice of rune on Vel’Koz, though outclassed a bit by Presence of Mind. The decision you’ll need to make is if you value the health restoration, which can be life-saving, or the mana-restoration and ultimate cooldown reduction, which will allow you to pump out more damage.

Presence of Mind - Champion takedowns, after a delay of 1 second, restore 20% of your maximum mana and refund 10% of your ultimate’s maximum cooldown. This rune is pretty powerful on Vel’Koz if you decide to go into the Precision tree. The mana restoration is good as it’ll keep you from running out of mana in a protracted teamfight (so long as you’re getting champion takedowns), and the ultimate cooldown reduction is great on Vel’Koz considering how strong it is.

Legend: Tenacity - Gain up to 30% tenacity each time you kill a champion, epic monster, large monster, or minion. This rune is good against teams with a lot of CC. Considering how immobile you are, the extra tenacity can certainly help save your life.

Coup de Grace - Deal 7% increased damage to champions below 40% maximum health. Additionally, gain adaptive power (AP for Vel’Koz) when you takedown a champion. A good rune that’ll help you finish off kills on low health champions. The little power boost you get from it is nice too.

Cut Down - Gain bonus damage against champions with with more maximum health that you. A pretty strong rune against a tanky team. Vel’Koz is pretty good against tanky enemies thanks to his ultimate, so this’ll give you that extra boost to help bring them down and poke them out.

Domination - Another decent choice to go on Vel’Koz. I recommend going either Cheap Shot or Taste of Blood and Ultimate Hunter.

Cheap Shot - Basic attacks and abilities deal bonus true damage to movement-impaired enemy champions. The ability that impairs the target will not trigger this. Considering that 3 of your 4 abilities have some form of movement-impairment, I would say this is pretty good on Vel’Koz. You’ll almost definitely want to take this if you’re going into the Domination Tree.

Taste of Blood - Heal when you damage an enemy champion. This rune is good if you think you’ll need the extra sustain to get out of the laning phase.

Ultimate Hunter - Reduce the cooldown of your ultimate. Increases with bounty hunter stacks. The best choice of rune to take on Vel’Koz when going into the Domination Tree as it’ll bring your ultimate cooldown to around 40 seconds.

Resolve - Resolve is probably the worst tree to go on Vel’Koz. It gives you more defensive options though, so if you’re not feeling confident about a matchup, then you can always go into Resolve. I would recommend taking Bone Plating, Second Wind, or Chrysalis. Any combination of these three runes will help you in the early game at the cost of mid and late-game power.

Bone Plating - After taking damage from an enemy champion, for the next 3 seconds the next three spells or attacks you receive from that same champion deal reduced damage. A good rune for when you think you’re going to be getting harassed in bursts a lot in lane and it works well in conjunction with Second Wind.

Second Wind - After taking damage from an enemy champion, gain health regeneration equal to your maximum health. This works well in conjunction with Bone Plating, as it gives you that extra sustain in lane to stay healthy.

Chrysalis - Start the game with 50 bonus health. After four champion takedowns, convert that health to gain bonus adaptive power (AP for Vel’Koz). It’s a good rune to take against an assassin like Fizz or Ahri, and it’ll give you a little extra boost of power after you get the champion takedowns.

Summoner Spells

Flash - Always take Flash on Vel’Koz. It’s too good to not take it. Flash gives you the mobility to escape over a wall, chase down an enemy, dodge a fatal skillshot, etc. It has everything you need.

Barrier - Barrier is a great defensive summoner comparable to Heal. It isn’t affected by Grevious Wounds, shields for more than Heal heals, and it has a shorter cooldown too. This is the summoner spell I usually take on Vel’Koz.

Heal - Another good defensive summoner spell that can also help out your team in a pinch too. Heal heals both you and an ally in range and gives you both a burst of movement speed.

Teleport - A good summoner spell for when you want to have more of a global presence or match someone else’s global presence. It also gives you the option to return to lane rather quickly if you’ve been shoved out of it. Keep in mind it has been recently nerfed, so Teleport isn’t as strong anymore.

Cleanse - Cleanse is very useful against teams with a lot of crowd control, as it’ll prevent you from getting locked down if you can Cleanse quick enough. Take it only against teams with a lot of crowd control.

Exhaust - Exhaust is strong against assassins, as it reduces the damage they’ll deal for a couple of seconds and slows them as well, giving you an opportunity to survive and turn the fight on them.

Ghost - Ghost gives you a bit more mobility and makes you a little bit safer in lane. It also lets you chase down enemy champions too as they run from you. Overall it is outclassed by Barrier and Heal, because they give you much more survivability. It’s worth noting that Ghost does have a shorter cooldown than every other summoner spell except Barrier.

Ignite - Ignite is the aggressive summoner spell. However, you’re never going to want to be in range to actually use Ignite, so I recommend never taking this. Ever. You’re much better off with your other options.

Laning with Vel’Koz

Laning with Vel’Koz is relatively straightforward. You’re going to want to use Void Fissure to farm the minion waves and Plasma Fission for harassing your lane opponent. Void Fissure can also hit every minion in the lane, so pushing the minion waves won’t be too hard for you. Also look for opportunities to strike with a combination of Void Fissure and Tectonic Disruption, as this will deal significant damage and proc your Organic Deconstruction in one shot. This combo is very effective against melee champions, as it is easy to pull off against them. One or two combos and they should develop a very healthy respect for you and start to play really safe.

Ability-wise, I personally start with Void Fissure, as it lets me shove in and assert my dominance over my lane opponent. Starting Plasma Fission is a good option too, though it trades pushing power for a shorter cooldown and a slow.

Once you hit level 6 and get your ultimate, any time you catch them with a Void Fissure and Tectonic Disruption combo, use Life Form Disintegration Ray. At the very least you’ll force them to burn summoner spells, and at the most they’ll die. If your lane opponent is sitting at roughly one-third health, then you’ll be able to kill them with Life Form Disintegration Ray, as many people do not respect the damage it does.

Build

Staring Items - Doran’s Ring and two Health Pots

First Buy - Tear of the Goddess (vs. Assassins or if you can’t afford Lost Chapter on first back), Lost Chapter, Boots of Speed

Early Items - Archangel’s Staff (if you went Tear of the Goddess), Luden’s Echo (go this normally), Ionian Boots of Lucidity, Oblivion Orb or Zhonya’s Hourglass (If against an AD assassin) or Banshee’s Veil (if against an AP assassin)

Mid Game - Morellonomicon, Rabadon’s Deathcap, Void Staff (if they’re stacking magic resistance), Liandry’s Torment (if they’re stacking a lot of health)

Full Build - Seraph’s Embrace or Luden’s Echo, Ionian Boots of Lucidity, Morellonomicon, Rabadon’s Deathcap, Void Staff, Zhonya’s Hourglass or Banshee’s Veil, Liandry's Torment

Matchups (Rating 1 - 5 with 1 being the easiest and 5 the hardest)

Ahri (rating 4) - Take Barrier or Heal as your second summoner and go into Domination, taking Taste of Blood and Ultimate Hunter.

Ahri is a tough matchup for Vel’Koz. Her mobility means that it’s hard to hit her with a full combo or even with a full Life Form Disintegration Ray and even if you start using it, Ahri can cancel it with her E ability.

Early game, try to use the uniqueness of Plasma Fission to harass her from awkward angles and push the waves in with Void Fissure. Be very careful about trying to use Tectonic Disruption offensively, as if it’s down, it’ll give Ahri a nice window to counterattack, especially post-6 with her ultimate up. You can push the minion wave about as hard as she can, so clear it and then either back off or try to get a roam off. If you’re playing too safe and Ahri tries to roam, then push the wave as hard as you can and try to either get a countergank off or gank the lane that Ahri isn’t going to.

After the laning phase, always try to keep an eye on where Ahri is. It’s very easy for her to sneak to your backline and either kill you or any of the other carries on your team. Make sure you you stay out of range of her E as well, as if you get hit with it there’s a good chance you’ll die or at the very least be taken out of the fight. Ahri’s do tend to build on the squishier side and she doesn’t have as easy access to her sustain anymore, so you can poke her out if your team is sieging the enemy base.

Build - Instead of going for Tear of the Goddess or Lost Chapter, go for a Catalyst of Aeons and build it into a Rod of Ages, as the health will protect you from Ahri’s burst and true damage. After that, you can continue as normal.

Annie (rating 2) - Take Barrier or Cleanse and go into Inspiration, taking Cosmic Insight and Magical Footwear.

Annie is a skill matchup. She has the potential to burst you out, but at the same time you significantly outrange her and have greater kill potential on her. You can also push the waves a lot harder that she can, meaning you can keep her pushed in and prevent Annie from exerting any pressure on the map.

Early game, you can shove Annie in with Void Fissure and harass with Plasma Fusion. Just be sure to keep an eye on Annie’s stun. If she’s holding onto it and killing minions with auto attacks, she might be saving it up for a gank so play cautiously and/or ward up. Once you’re level 6, you shouldn’t have a problem killing her, but you have to be careful as her kill pressure is pretty big with her ultimate. If you can, try to poke her down to about 1/3rd health before committing to an all-in on her.

Late game, keep your sides warded for Annie, as she might try to Flash over a wall and stun the entire team. A 4 or 5-man Annie stun can easily turn a teamfight too, so be careful and stay far enough away from the other carries on the team so Annie can’t stun everyone at once.

Build - Consider going for a Catalyst of Aeons, as it would make you tanky enough to survive the burst that Annie has. You could also go for a Banshee’s Veil after getting a Lost Chapter or Tear of the Goddess, as that’ll force Annie to pop the Banshee’s Veil shield, which is a bit hard for her to do.

Zed (rating 1) - Take Barrier or Exhaust and go into Inspiration, taking Perfect Timing and Cosmic Insight.

Many people think that Zed is a counter to Vel’Koz, but I think it’s the reverse. Zed’s a melee champion, which Vel’Koz has an inherent advantage against due to how easily it is to hit your combo on a melee champion. The other reason is that Zed’s abilities and play style is very telegraphed and obvious, making it easy to predict and land your skillshots on him.

Early game you can harass Zed with Void Fissure when he goes to farm minions with auto attacks. Once you hit level 2, take a point in Tectonic Disruption. With this you’ll be able to easily proc your passive on Zed and harass him out of lane any time he goes for a minion kill. Keeping him below half health should be no problem at all. Once Zed is level 6 you do have to be a little careful as he can kill you, but as long as you keep your cool, you should be fine.

Late game, if you had shut down Zed, then he’ll be a non-factor for the game. Capitalize on this by sieging with your teammates and forcing teamfights, as a Zed who is not fed is useless and dead. Do keep an eye on him in case he tries to close the gap by farming the side lanes and picking off kills.

Build - The standard build should be fine. If you want to have a little bit of fun with Zed though, rush a Frozen Heart. Chances are it’ll tilt him when he finds out why he’s not doing any damage to you. Combine Frozen Heart with a Zhonya’s Hourglass and you’ll be pretty beefy as well and should have nothing to fear.

The reason the Frozen Heart build works is because part of Vel’Koz’s damage comes from procing his passive and having more cooldown reduction means more spells you can cast to proc it.

Yasuo (rating 5) - Take Barrier or Exhaust and run Inspiration, taking Biscuit Delivery and Perfect Timing.

This is a counter matchup if I’ve ever played one. Yasuo is, in one word, annoying. He’s constantly dashing around, making it difficult for you to hit any of your abilities on him. Yasuo’s Wind Wall also blocks 3 out of the 4 of your spells (does not block Life Form Disintegration Ray), making it tricky to retaliate against him.

In the early game try to do your best to farm up. If you can land any harass on Yasuo then great, but don’t make that your priority. Try to play it safe, farm, and scale into the late-game.

Out of the laning phase, be careful that you don’t get hit with Yasuo’s knockup while channeling Life Form Disintegration Ray. Also, don’t break off and try to split push against a Yasuo, as you’ll almost definitely lose that fight. Stick with your team and play to your strengths.

Build - If you're having some trouble against Yasuo, trying going for a Rod of Ages into a Zhonya’s Hourglass. Or you could go the Frozen Heart route if you’re feeling a bit cheeky instead.

Leblanc (rating 3) - Take Barrier or Exhaust and run Inspiration, taking Biscuit Delivery and Cosmic Insight.

This is a skill matchup in your favor because LeBlanc’s abilities and play style is pretty simple to understand and easy to predict. However, you can’t underestimate LeBlanc’s damage or else you will die.

Early game, you’ll need to watch out for LeBlanc’s combo as it can do a decent amount of damage to you. But, when LeBlanc goes in for harass is the perfect time to counterattack. If you time it right, you can catch LeBlanc with a full combo and outtrade her. As long as you can keep her below half health then she’ll be forced to play safe for fear of death. Post-level 6, LeBlanc does have a bit more mobility, so try to force LeBlanc to burn her ultimate and her W before you use Life Form Disintegration Ray on her.

After the laning phase, keep an eye on where LeBlanc is so she doesn’t sneak in and assassinate the backline of your team. LeBlanc isn’t the greatest teamfighter though, so if you can force her to teamfight or lock her down, you really shouldn’t have a problem at all.

Build - If you’re having some issues, rush a Banshee’s Veil as your first item. You can also go for a Rod of Ages for the extra tankiness or a Tear of the Goddess into a Seraph’s Embrace for the extra shield to keep yourself alive.

Orianna (rating 3) - Take Barrier or Teleport and run Inspiration, taking Magical Footwear and Cosmic Insight.

Orianna is another skill matchup, and probably one of the most even skill matchups Vel’Koz has. You outrange her with your abilities, but Orianna can outtrade you early on thanks to her passive. Your burst is also greater than hers at level 6, but the utility that Orianna’s ultimate gives can change fights completely, so try to plan your aggression accordingly.

Early game, focus on clearing the waves and poking with your Plasma Fission. If you see an opening, don’t hesitate to hit her with a Tectonic Disruption and Void Fissure combination and then use your Plasma Fission to slow Orianna and reduce the chance that she can harass you back. Once you both are level 6, be careful of the position of Orianna’s Ball and watch out if she starts making aggressive movements, as she may be setting up for a gank with her ultimate.

Out of the laning phase, it’s more of the same with keeping an eye on Orianna’s Ball placement. Try not to stick close to the other carries on your team so that she can’t catch multiple people with her ultimate.

Build - Standard build.

Fizz (rating 5) - Take Barrier, Heal, or Exhaust and run Inspiration, taking Perfect Timing and Cosmic Insight.

Another annoying counter for Vel’Koz, I would recommend avoiding this matchup. It’s extremely hard, but not as hard and annoying as Yasuo. You’ll have to play super safe during this matchup to avoid letting Fizz run away with the game.

Early game focus on wave-clearing. If Fizz engages on you, wait until after he uses his E to try to hit him with the Tectonic Disruption/Void Fissure combo. Poke him with Plasma Fission too and try to hit him with Void Fissure when he goes to minions. Once Fizz hits level 6, he can kill you 100-0 with his full combo, so do your best to avoid getting hit with Fizz’s ultimate. Don’t use Life Form Disintegration Ray on Fizz until after he burns his E too, or else you’ll just have wasted it.

After the laning phase, stick with the team and keep an eye on where Fizz is so that you won’t get jumped by him. Make sure you keep the sides and corners warded as well, in case Fizz tries to be sneaky.

Build - An early Banshee’s Veil will help you against Fizz. You can also go for Seraph’s Embrace as the shield will be invaluable against Fizz.

Twisted Fate (rating 1) - Take Teleport or Barrier and run Inspiration, taking Magical Footwear and Cosmic Insight.

Twisted Fate is a rather easy matchup for Vel’Koz. His playstyle is rather simple in lane and it takes a little bit for Twisted Fate to scale up. You’ll have to keep an eye on him when Twisted Fate hits level 6, as he will try to make plays with his ultimate. To counter this, keep the river warded so that you can follow him if he tries to roam.

Early game, Twisted Fate is most likely going to push the lane and harass with his Q. If he tries to hit you with his W (Gold Card), then you can counter that by using your full combo on him as he walks up to you. When Twisted Fate isn’t in lane, make sure that your team knows so that they can be prepared for a potential roam from him. If you can, while Twisted Fate roams, shove in to his tower and then either roam to the opposite lane or try to go for a countergank.

After the laning phase, try not to let Twisted Fate play to his strengths of split pushing and catching people out. Stay with your team and try to make Twisted Fate group up with his team.

Build - Standard build.

Zoe (rating 4) - Take Barrier, Heal, or Cleanse and run Inspiration, taking Cosmic Insight and Biscuit Delivery.

Zoe is Zoe. An annoying matchup, but not an unwinnable one. Zoe’s strengths lie in her long-range burst and her slipperiness, with her weakness being how squishy she is. If you can lock her down, then you can kill her with no problem at all.

Early game, you’ll want to try to shove Zoe into her tower and stand away from the minions so that she has to choose between harassing you or clearing the minion waves with her Q. You’ll have to be careful and avoid her E, which will lock you in place and make Zoe deal increased damage to you. Once your both level 6, you’ll have to be careful of Zoe using a point blank E thanks to her ultimate. However, if you can avoid her E and Q then you’ll be able to counter with your full combo. With a full rotation, you can almost definitely kill Zoe.

After the laning phase, you’ll want to be careful and keep the sides warded in case Zoe tries to hit you with an E over the wall. You can counter this by staying together and protecting the person that gets hit by an E. The same tactics in laning phase work on Zoe too; if you can lock down Zoe then you can kill her easily.

Build - A Rod of Ages and Banshee’s Veil will help keep you alive against Zoe. You can also go for a Seraph’s Embrace instead of a Rod of Age for the cooldown reduction and shield.

Ryze (rating 3) - Take Barrier or Heal and run Precision, taking Legend: Tenacity and Cut Down.

Ryze can be annoying, but you can also shut him down if you’re good enough. He’s rather immobile so you can hit him with your combo pretty easily. You just have to be careful that he doesn’t hit you with an empowered E or Q, as it will hurt. Try staying away from any minions that are on low health or affected by Ryze’s E. You also outrange him, so be sure to keep the pressure on Ryze by poking him down. During laning phase you’ll also want to keep your sides warded and let your teammates know when Ryze is missing. Thanks to his ultimate, Ryze has some unique ganking paths than can be fatal to your allies if they are unsuspecting.

Build - Standard build, but consider getting an early Banshee’s Veil if you’re getting bullied, and a Liandry’s Torment after your Morellonomicon.

Talon (rating 3) - Take Heal or Barrier and run Inspiration, taking Perfect Timing and Cosmic Insight.

Talon is a slightly more difficult lane opponent than Zed. He has a wider-ranged harass, a great ability for roaming, and stealth.

In lane, you can still harass him with your Tectonic Disruption / Void Fissure combo and you can poke Talon easily enough with Plasma Fission and Void Fissure. Be careful of Talon’s Q gapcloser, as it has a greater range than you would expect. Stay away from minions too to force Talon to decide between harassing you or clearing the minion wave. Once Talon’s 6, his ultimate gives him access to stealth, so try to force him to use his ultimate to engage on you, so that you have a better chance of predicting where he’ll end up and can counter attack. Also, if Talon does use his ultimate to engage on you, he’ll miss out on about half of the damage of the ultimate, giving you a better chance of survival.

During the laning phase, you always have to let your team know when Talon is missing. Because of his E, he can roam across the map very quickly and has unique ganking paths. Try to keep certain areas warded, like the river and the brush by the enemy buffs, so that you can spot Talon going for a roam.

After the laning phase, keep the sides warded and look for when Talon might try to jump onto your backline. If you can spot him quick enough, you can shut down Talon before he can do anything.

Build - The same build you use against Zed and Yasuo will work against Talon.

That’s all for now for this guide! Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope it helps you out. Comments and criticisms are always welcome too.

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