Talk:Vel'Koz/@comment-9048637-20151108223258/@comment-9048637-20151118154841

Blue buff's unreliable. Even if you're managing to secure every one and your jungler is donating it to you the moment it spawns, it's got a significant down time. And it's a rare game where you'll secure every blue. Furthermore, if anything it's more important to be getting the most you can for free when you're not winning. If you're winning, then your runes and masteries count for less, relatively, because you're got more gold so you're getting more from items. When you're going even or losing, though, those free stats that you're guaranteed become more important, and are rather more likely to make that crucial difference between a comeback and a loss.

Mana pots... ehhh. I did buy a lot of them, so I'm not going to pretend it doesn't affect me. That said, there are a couple of points to consider. Firstly, not only have most champions gotten their base mana stats buffed to compensate, but there's also the new Meditation mastery, which is honestly fantastic. Yes, it means you have to pass up Merciless, but on mages I honestly feel that that's not too bad, since your damage tends to come out first to soften the enemy up rather than being held in reserve to clean up (unlike ADCs), so I don't feel too bad about giving it up if I want Meditation. Secondly, as mages go, Vel is probably one of the least affected, since his mana management is frankly very forgiving (since his abilities are gated more by his ability to hit them, being all skillshots). I'm not saying it's impossible to OOM yourself on Vel, but I hardly think he's going to be the big loser of the mana pots removal. Also, corrupting potion is pretty beast. So there's still that.