The midlane of Summoner's Rift is, as of now, controlled by Assassins, namely Zed, LeBlanc, and Fizz, and those who can survive a lane against them, such as Lux or Ahri. Immobile mages, especially ones that are unable to farm from afar with long-ranged, spammable spells, are currently suffering. However, Viktor stands out from the mass of short-ranged control Mages that sit unused.

Courtesy of Sakan

Why Viktor?

From a look at his pure numbers (courtesy of Champion.gg), Viktor sees a playrate of just below 5%, slightly above Corki and Lulu. There are few Mages ranked above him, the aforementioned Lux and Ahri, as well as Lissandra, Annie, Twisted Fate, and Orianna. All of these champions possess something Viktor does not have- reliable and instant crowd control, save Orianna, who has been a reliable pick for the past half-a-dozen seasons and refuses to fall out of viability. So how does Viktor fit in? His crowd control has short range, requires the enemy to stand in the field, and has an extremely long cooldown of 17 seconds at Rank 1, and almost always leveled last. So, why him?

Viktor fits in as a champion who is effective at nearly all stages of the game, with his passive granting him three major power spikes as a part of his kit. Viktor's sole struggle in the game is the first 1000 gold before he can acquire his first Hex-Core upgrade, typically applied to his E. Once that task is accomplished, he's able to freely snowball out of control with absurd ratios and massive, instant damage. A decent Viktor player can deploy all of their damaging spells, the enhanced AA from Q included, in less than a second. Both E and R have an instant cast time, and cancelling your Q's animation allows you to fire the auto before your Q's projectile has returned, often resulting in an instant kill on your enemy laner should they be at less than half health.

Additionally, Viktor benefits greatly from Keystone Masteries, allowing him to be played in two different ways. Viktor can take Deathfire Touch, and be played to poke and harass in lane and out of it, abusing the large, unpredictable range on his E, as well as the damage over time from his ultimate, or as a massive burst mage, as all of his abilities (save his CC spell, W) have multiple-hit components, very easily proccing Thunderlord's Decree.

Itemization

Viktor also possesses a rare trait in meta midlaners right now - the ability to build almost any AP scaling item and have some part of his kit synergize with it. In fact, his most popular items (courtesy of Probuilds.net) are split evenly beyond his first two, which are almost always his second tier or third tier Hex-Core, followed by Rylai's, Zhonya's or Abyssal Scepter. Likewise, his kit is deceptively utilitarian, allowing for great peeling and kiting capabilities, especially when combined with Rylai's Crystal Scepter.

The most popular Viktor builds focus on building an amount of cooldown reduction, taking Lucidity Boots and possible CDR or Scaling CDR runes, as his Q and E can easily reach very low cooldowns, allowing for an Ahri-like playstyle, kiting around the edge of fights while throwing out a rotation of spells every few seconds. This all combined with the massive innate AP granted to him by his Hex-Core makes Viktor a massive AP Carry, and a very influential factor in teamfights.

Strategies

Viktor's large amount of point-and-click damage, which is nearly all of his kit, allows him to surprise people and kill them before they can physically react, with moves such as a queued enhanced Q auto plus a flash being literally undodgeable, lending him a massive amount of kill pressure in his lane. This is the reason that an overwhelming majority of Viktors take Ignite, allowing them to kill enemy laners or even reverse ganks, bursting down the lower-level jungler before the laner can grant them assistance.

Other summoner spells that Viktor runs often are Ghost and Heal, which are more defensive and utilitarian options for players who either are not confident in their lane matchup, are confident enough that they can kill without Ignite, or simply wish for a movespeed boost to facilitate kiting in teamfights and chases. Note that into most Assassin matchups, Viktor players oftentimes take Ignite rather than the exhaust or barrier a similar mage might take, as his rapid burst can allow him to avoid a death to a Zed dive or LeBlanc combo by simply making them explode first.

Weaknesses

Viktor's early game is barricaded behind a 1000 gold door- simply bullying him out of lane before he can get 1000 gold with a stronger champion can delay his power spike massively and hurt him for the majority of the midgame as well. A key component of Viktor play is being able to survive this weak early state. Additionally, Viktor is weak to mobile Assassins, especially when behind. A well-played LeBlanc can dodge the entirety of his Death Ray and jump past his Gravity Field, or just spend a small enough duration in it to avoid a stun.

Where will he be?

Viktor currently sees a small level of professional play, and has recently received a nerf to his E's base damage, affecting his early game wave-clearing slightly. Viktor's role in a teamcomp is typically an AP Carry, a deterrent to backline diving thanks to his gravity field, and a source of powerful, safe wave-clear. Previously, Viktor's upgraded E could one-shot caster minion waves starting at level 7, but now Viktor must wait until level 8. It's a small nerf, and has affected Viktor so little that more nerfs may be incoming should he continue to be played as he was pre-nerf.

While Viktor is not slated for adjustment in the upcoming Mage Update, his items and masteries may be affected by it. Judging by the direction they took for the ADC Update and Juggernaut Update, Riot will potentially rework a less used AP item, such as Liandry's Torment, into a specialized item for Mages in particular (Sorry, Rumble!), or create entirely new ones, ala Deadman's Plate or Rapidfire Cannon.

Judging from past adjustments and meta shifts, Viktor will remain in a very similar place, and potentially emerge as a powerful FOTM pick after the update, due to his already-strong state.

Courtesy of Svogthos

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