[Patch 14.10] SEASON 14 Azzapp's Guide To Vel'Koz [MID/APC/SUP] (2024)

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MID LANE SEASON 14 ULTIMATE GUIDE

Skill order is one of the most debated things about Vel'Koz. Maxing Plasma Fission gives you higher burst and kill potential but weaker wave management. On the other hand maxing Void Rift gives you better wave control but less kill potential. Over the years of playing Vel'Koz I have devised a skill order which I believe to be optimal in most cases. I like putting 3 points in Void Rift by level 5 which gives you just enough pushing power and helps you through the early game when Vel'Koz isn't the strongest and you wouldn't be going for kill anyway. After 3 points in Void Rift I proceed with maxing Plasma Fission to increase the slow duration and burst potential. Obviously you will be getting points in Life Form Disintegration Ray when available and after maxing Plasma Fission you will proceed with maxing Void Rift.

In most cases at level 1 you will want to take Plasma Fission. It is more reliable for farming early game, less mana consumption and you might get some poke damage.

Early game as Vel'Koz you're pretty safe and you will most likely not get ganked before 3 minutes so you want to make as much as pressure as you can. You are at your best when you are pressuring enemy and holding him on the ropes.
In some match up-s like Azir, Aurelion Sol, Taliyah, Orianna etc. you will not be able to outpush so picking up Void Rift level 1 and Minion Dematerializer can save you from taking a lot of damage trying to control the waves.

Vel'Koz is a champion that scales very well with levels, so you have to try and take advantage of spikes for level 2,3 and 6 during the laning phase. If you are controlling the waves and having slightly more pressure than the opponent, that means when you get close to a level up you can get it way sooner than the enemy.

Level 2 spike will rarely kill since you only have Plasma Fission and Void Rift available to you so in best case scenario you will get 2 rotations of Organic Deconstruction, but it might just be enough to give you a good lead in lane or even force a Heal or Barrier.

Level 3 spike works in a similar way except you have access to your only hard cc ability making you more of a threat and better at setting up a gank. At this point it is possible to make enemy use Flash defensively.

Up until this point Vel'Koz was a relatively weak champion, even if you landed poke it wouldn't have been that impactful. From level 3 and on you gain more and more control.

Level 6 powerspike is definitely responsible for good majority of my solo kills in lane. When you reach level 5 and about 60-80% of experience one good trick to use is zone them towards the wave with your Plasma Fission and then prematurely drop your combo on the wave immediately leveling up your Life Form Disintegration Ray which is at least going to cost them a Flash and in many cases give you a kill.

At this point you will have 3 points in Void Rift which will enable you to out-pressure even the stronger pushers in the game. Use that lane priority to get deeper wards on enemy raptors or river. Many junglers tend to be careless in solo Q and they feel overly safe in their jungle. Using your vision and knowledge you may be able to get a long range kill on some unsuspecting junglers. If you are unable to force your lead in lane and get a kill, try using your map vision to devise a nice roam. Vel'Koz roams tend to work great on side lanes due to map curvature and geometry. In many cases you are able to get a kill or an assist from the edge of the river which will cost you hardly any cs.

Vel'Koz is a high range, high damage, unique control mage. He is not a mechanically demanding champion but he does require you to have a lot of game knowledge. Most of Vel'Koz plays are created in your head in advance rather than reactionary. Based on a particular game and what you have observed, you need to imagine what you are going to do in certain scenarios. Playing Vel'Koz is very similar to playing chess. It's all about mind games and predicting what are your opponents options and most likely moves.

You are very vulnerable immobile mage, so in order to survive and make the most damage possible you will have to be playing the "counting game". That means paying attention and counting every single dash, flash, jump, etc..

Many of you players think that in order to be a good Vel'Koz player you have to be good at hitting skillshots, but it goes way beyond that.
In order to truly master Vel'Koz, there are couple of keys.
First and most important you need to work on your game knowledge.
Second, you need to work on your positioning, which directly ties into your game knowledge.
Third, you need to work on your skillshots, which directly ties into your positioning.

In teamfights Vel'Koz very often plays a similar role to that of an ADC but with slightly more range.
For beginners and even experienced players good rule to go by is just to NOT die. That is a bit harder than you think because you will very often overreach and try to deal more damage than it is possible in certain scenarios. First try to analyze the threats. Who on the opponent team can kill you and how. You need to know how close you can get without compromising your life. You have built in true damage with Organic Deconstruction so focusing the frontline is actually very useful. Later on as you gain more game knowledge and experience you will be able to understand the win condition in almost every single game and thus modify your teamfight goal.

If you are doing an extremely good job in a specific game you will hardly ever have teamfights. In an optimal scenario you would be dancing right outside of the enemy team's engage range and dishing out poke.

Vel'Koz is insanely good at sieging turrets. If you maintain good position and you land decent amount of your poke, the opponents will be rendered useless under their turret. If they make a forced engage with low HP they will lose, if they back off they will lose the turret. Playing good poke/pick style will win many teamfights before they even start.

This is it for one of my first attempts in a written guide. I really hope I have managed to transfer at least some useful information to you guys. I would really appreciate any feedback regarding this guide since I plan to make more and keep this one updated.

If you really enjoy talking Vel'Koz and/or have further question I would be happy to answer any of you either on my Youtube or live on my Twitch stream.