Introduction

Hey, everyone! This guide I've written is for a "less meta, more fun" support Vel'Koz! Vel'Koz has never really found his footing on the rift in terms of popularity but that does not mean he isn't viable. With incredibly high damage output and useful CC as well, he fits right in with the Morgana/Zyra supports you often see. This guide is for more aggresive players who understand the importance of positioning. With a little practice, you can find great success with Vel'Koz support!

Runes/Masteries

As you will find out through the rest of my guide, I personally like to play a very aggressive style of Vel'Koz support with high risks and high rewards. This all begins with offensive runes and masteries!

I like to run Magic pen marks, flat armor seals, 7 AP glyphs and 2 flat MR glyphs, and AP quints.

For my masteries, I like to go with the full 21 points in the Offense tree and then spread out my last 9 points between the Defense and Utility trees depending on my lane opponents.

Itemization

As support, I like to start my build with a Spellthief’s Edge, one sight ward, and one health pot. I also like to buy the warding totem until I am able to buy a Sightstone. I personally don’t like to buy boots or begin to build anything else until that Sightstone is complete. In terms of boots, I like to go for the Mobility Boots for the possibility of landing CC on a poorly positioned opponent.

If I realize my other lanes are behind I often bypass the Mobi’s and get Sorcerer Shoes in an attempt to pick up on the rest of my team’s slack. Crucible is a situational item on him that I try to avoid unless absolutely necessary because it can set you so far behind in terms of damage. Items like Liandry’s Torment and Athene’s Grail are both efficient items on Vel’koz. After building one of these core items I like to follow up by finishing the upgrades to Frost Queen’s Claim. At this point, you should be putting out enough damage to almost 100-0 an unsuspecting squishy target.

Your final build may end up looking something like this:

Using Your Kit in Lane

I personally love Vel’koz because of his broken damage output that his kit provides. His base damages on his spells are good considering two of them also include a form of CC. In lane, the main source of his damage will come from landing his Q. If you are good at reading your opponents, you can almost always fire off a Q preemptively when the aggro supports attempt to engage. This is a great counter ability to Thresh’s Death Sentence, Morgana’s Dark Binding, Nami’s Aqua Prison, and Lulu’s Glitter Lance. The only ability/champ I have encountered trouble with in terms of support is Leona because of her ability to stick right onto you. If you see Leona jumped to your ADC a simple E can help break your ADC from the CC, but if she chooses you as your target it is very difficult to escape with an even trade.

Your W ability is very good at getting your Spellthief procs off in lane. The only issue with this is you need to be careful the damage doesn’t execute a minion because then it will put the item’s passive on cooldown. Your Q serves as exceptional disengage to any potential ganks with its 70% slow at all ranks. Landing a Q also opens up the possibility to combo your other two moves in order to proc his passive and deal that extra true damage on an enemy engage.

Teamfights: More Lazers

Positioning on Vel’koz is one of the hardest aspects of playing this champ. Everybody likes to make Geometry jokes about his Q, but it is actually a serious matter. This move is the difference between stopping an engage and letting the enemy through. Similarly to Thresh’s Death Sentence and Morgana’s Dark Binding, Vel’koz is exposed when his Q is on CD.

You should remain in the back lines of team fights with your ADC by your side. Use your W at your leisure to maximize your damage output. The short CD on your Q also allows you to throw them around at the enemy, but saving your E for a catch or a save is crucial. This spell should be used to either interrupt a channeled ult, catch a squishy, or disengage a front line enemy from your squishies.

Vel’koz’ strongest, yet most underrated and overlooked, potential lies in his ability to disengage. An opposing team lacking in gap closers will be stopped in their tracks by the barrage of Qs that this champ can fire out late game. At max rank, the slow lasts for 2 seconds, a long enough time to deter even the most hardcore engager. His moves can all be cast while moving, except for his ult, so a mobile fight that can span from friendly tower to enemy tower or vice versa is his feeding ground. Catching an enemy attempting to engage with a Q can even slow their approach enough for your team to turn the engage on the opponent, blowing by the frontline and diving into the squishies.

Hopefully this guide has provided a little more insight into an otherwise unknown champion. Pull this pick out of your back pocket whenever you feel the need to step up and carry even from a support position. It’s entirely plausible that you top the damage charts at the end of the game, exceeding your “APC” in the mid lane! Good luck on the Rift, Summoners!