Introduction

Viktor is a champion that has been around a long while in the competitive meta, both in ranked and professional play. This is all with good reason, as his consistent damage output late game as well as his strong laning phase makes him a good addition to any team comp. This guide will help you get through his sometimes difficult laning phase.

First off, let’s just recognise that Viktor is a very hard champion to play. His mobility does not really come online until close to level 7 and even then it’s only a small speed boost, making him very vulnerable to ganks. Also his E (Death Ray) can be a very tricky spell to land in clutch situations, as well as the importance of good placement of his W (Gravity Field).

Runes and Masteries

Before we look into the actual laning phase, we have to look at a proper Runes and Masteries set up. The masteries are pretty simple depending who you are against, you can run assassin if you are confident in the match-up and versus assassins and other control mages. If you are not too confident or just want a safer laning phase you can also run biscuits.

The rest of the masteries are pretty standard as you want the burst from the Thunderlord's to help your DPS and harass in lane.

The Runes can be varied slightly when going into certain matchups. The most popular Runes that people are running currently are 9x Magic Pen Marks, 9x HP Scaling Seals, 3x AP Quints, 3x MR Glyphs and 6x Scaling CDR Glyphs. Most of the runes are pretty standard for mid lane, except the Glyphs. Now you are thinking why run 6x Scaling CDR? Well the reason for this is down to your build path gaining very little CDR, but we will go over this later. Now, the Scaling CDR runes give 10% at level 18, which also means you get some nice scaling throughout the game. Alongside this, CDR is vital to Viktor’s kit as you need to be able to get of you spell rotation off consistently.

The other rune set up is a little safer as you swap out the 6x Scaling CDR for 6x MR Glyph’s to make 9 MR Glyph’s total, resulting in 12 MR to start the game with rather than 4. Both pages are viable and I would suggest trying both and seeing which you are more comfortable with.

Itemisation

Itemisation is very important on Viktor as he is very reliant on a couple of items and when you do get around to finishing them, they reward you with a big power spike. Your starting items are very standard, picking up a Doran’s Ring and 2 health potions. Your first back is arguably the most important one as it will determine a multitude of things in terms of your itemisation.

For lane opponents that have a lot of kill pressure on you, for example LeBlanc, Orianna and Cassiopeia, you might want to pick up a Negatron Cloak if you are being pressured by them early. For most other match-ups, getting your first Hex Core (picking the E (Death Ray) upgrade) is going to be better as it will help you with both harass and wave clear. Both of these backs will happen at different times as Negatron Cloak costs considerably less, so don’t be too afraid of going back early if you are getting chunked heavily by these high kill pressure lanes. Picking up boots after your first Hex Core is also quite important as Viktor as no real mobility early, plus the CDR is very good as discussed earlier.

The first item that you will be looking to finish is the Hex Core in most match-ups. This is due to the upgrades you will get plus how gold efficient the Perfect Hex Core is. However, if you are facing a heavy kill pressure lane, as we discussed earlier, it is safest to get the first upgrade on your Hex Core in order to wave clear then finishing your Abyssal Scepter. At this point you should be getting some CDR in order to rotate you spells quicker enabling you to be the consistent damage dealer your team needs, therefore finishing your CDR boots is your next port of call.

Your next major power spike will come when you start to build the second (or third if you went Abyssal) item, Rylai’s. This item is very key on Viktor, as it has great synergy with your ultimate’s bonus movement speed from the Perfect Hex Core, coupled with making the second delayed burst from your E (Death Ray) harder for the enemy to avoid.

The next items in your build path are situational. If you find yourself snowballing, a Deathcap or Lich Bane are good items. Deathcap provides raw damage and a Lich Bane is picked up in order to get the maximum benefit from your Q (Siphon Power). If the enemy team is building MR, a Void Staff is very important and can be very effective if picked up as your next item. You should then follow this up with a Deathcap. I find a lot of Viktor’s build paths are very open ended once you have completed your Hex Core and Rylai’s.

Laning

Viktor has one of the strongest levels 1-3 in the game, in terms of trading potential. His utility from his W (Gravity Field) helps him avoid early ganks and his burst potential with Thunderlord's in amazing for harassing enemies early game. To take advantage of this you must either be levelling your Q or E first followed by the other one at level 2, this will give you a huge spike in power when combined with Thunderlord's. For heavy early wave clear match-ups you can start with E. However, due to it being a long cooldown and costing a lot of mana to cast, it's almost always better to start with Q. This gives you the ability to still push the wave as fast as you can with empowered autos.

Rushing level 2 is quite important and making sure you obtain it before your opponent is key. This will enable you to trade with your combo, which I will explain in a second, with them not having much to answer with. Viktor is a control mage, so looking for straight 1v1’s is not really in your agenda unless you deem it safe with a high potential to win. His true power is in his wave clearing potential forcing roaming champions to have to either sacrifice waves to roam or be forced to stay in lane. This however does not mean you can’t roam. Look for opportunities by clearing your wave in mid and looking around the map for fights and objectives that could be taken.

Trading Combo

Now the trading combo is pretty simple and can be done one of two ways, depending on how your opponent has been playing. The first way, and what is shown in the GIF, is opening up with your E and then Q->Auto Attack. This will give you the Thunderlord's proc, giving you an extra chunk of damage. Alongside this, your Q also gives you as small shield to prevent a few Minion autos or a returned auto from the enemy laner. The second way of opening is a little more consistent. You start with a Q->Auto Attack, then follow it up with an E. This second way of trading is going to be a little better in most situations as if someone has been hit by the E first, they will more than likely want to back off in case of the follow up to proc Thunderlord's. However, by opening up with a Q->Auto Attack, it enables you to use the amazing range from your E to hit them as they are trying to back off, all while using the small shield to protect yourself from minion damage.

Your W (Gravity Field) is a very powerful tool to use when laning. It enables you to cut off the routes into your lane when a Jungler is trying to gank, while also helping you chase people you are trying to kill. First thing to recognise is that it is not a guaranteed stun as they have to remain in the field for 1.5 seconds. Using this knowledge, it is always best to place the gravity field close behind you if people are pursuing you so they walk into it and don’t start out in the centre, as they will have to travel a greater distance to pass through it forcing them to either back off or get stunned.

As a side note, if you are facing melee champions in your lane that requires to be next you to in order to do damage, it can sometimes to be best to place it on top of yourself and for you to stand inside it. Another small note about your W is that it does almost cover half of the lane’s width. This meaning you can funnel people into a certain area of the lane making them play reactively and make your E a lot easier to hit.

After the Early Lane - Levels 6+

At this point in the game, you should at least have the first Hex Core upgrade along with a set of tier one boots. If you are lucky and had a couple of kills, you are maybe looking at the second upgrade of your Hex Core. When you hit level 6, your true power becomes unlocked, so don’t be afraid to take aggressive trades as long as it’s safe to do so. Your ultimate deals a lot of damage over time so dropping it early in fights will maximise the damage output. However, controlling it can take some getting used to. Clicking on a single target with your ultimate while it's already out and active will make it lock on and travel towards them, so use this to your advantage. My final tip is that when you hit level 7 your E with its upgrade from the Hex Core will clear the backline of minions.

Thanks for reading. There are a few finer details that I have not covered, however I will be covering them later in a different piece.

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