Vel'Koz/Strategy

Official Strategy
Vel’Koz is a creature of raw power, not speed, and as such carries out his finest research on the mid lane of Summoner’s Rift. The towers here are placed closer together, giving the Eye of the Void less distance to travel when enemy junglers dare to get between him and his research subjects. A short autoattack range means Vel’Koz is often in the thick of the fighting, but he has the necessary tools in his abilities to dissuade his lane opponent from engaging. Enemy midlaners within their own minion waves are vulnerable to poke through Void Rift, while opponents caught in the open make easy targets for Plasma Fission. Using abilities frequently benefits Vel’Koz: fully stacking Organic Deconstruction against his opposing laner deals substantial true damage, forcing his counterpart to choose between moving in to secure minion gold or retreating until their Deconstruction stacks have dissipated. Aggressive enemies risk a quick death once Vel’Koz catches them with further rounds of Void Rift followed by Tectonic Disruption, while those that flee are still subject to considerable ranged harass. With clever aiming and timing of Plasma Fission’s second cast, Vel’Koz can both steer his ability around enemy minions and gain additional range through geometric finesse.
 * Mid lane

Vel’Koz becomes an entirely different beast once he gains access to Life Form Disintegration Ray. His ult deals devastating amounts of damage to all enemies caught, but its long channel time and slow turn speed makes initial positioning absolutely paramount. Because of this, Vel’Koz does best bringing his ult to bear following a few successful rounds of poking, after his opponents are sufficiently researched with Organic Deconstruction and wounded enough to keep their distance. Even the minion cover often granted by distance is ignored by Life Form Disintegration Ray’s absolute power, which fully affects all enemies within its substantial range.

As teams start skirmishing around Summoner’s Rift, Vel’Koz is safest positioning himself within or behind his allies, harassing his enemies with repeated casts of Plasma Fission and Tectonic Disruption. When caught in unfavorable positions, Vel’Koz fires off Plasma Fission while retreating to kite his pursuers and positions Void Rift in choke points to dissuade enemies from following further. In favorable situations, Vel’Koz uses the same ability to separate his subject from its pack before unleashing Tectonic Disruption and Plasma Fission to quickly catch and dispatch them.
 * Teamfights

In full-scale teamfights, Vel’Koz again works best from the back line, tossing out damage and crowd control with Plasma Fission as he builds Deconstruction stacks on his enemies. Allied protection is key here as enemy bruisers, once they get to Vel’Koz, make short work of the tentacled glass cannon. Still, Vel’Koz has a few tricks of his own to ensure his safety: Plasma Fission makes for an excellent kiting tool, while the combined knock back and knock up from Tectonic Disruption allows Vel’Koz to reposition away from danger. Finally, once enough enemies are primed from his harass, once his team has set up a safe area for Vel’Koz to channel in, the Eye of the Void unleashes Life Form Disintegration Ray to melt through the massed enemy ranks and leave his foes staggering under sheer, overwhelming damage.

Skills Usage
Vel'Koz's Q has a high base damage, low mana cost and short cooldown, making it his main poke/harass tool. W is his best farming tool and applies 2 out of 3 stacks of his passive. His E is his CC and can be used to disengage (as he has no real form of escape) or to disrupt channeled enemy abilities.

Note that your passive can be maintained with auto-attacks. This is especially useful for early harass as you can't cast spells fast enough to maintain it otherwise.

Like all channels, your ultimate can be interrupted by CC. Make sure that most of your enemies crowd control is wasted before using your ultimate to ensure maximum damage.

Although it will take some practice you can catch people off with your Q angle. This is essential for a good Vel'Koz player.

Do not underestimate the power of your passive. You can burst down tanks quite easily due to the true damage. So it is highly recommended to use your abilities in quick succession. One such combo would be E->W->Q. Vel'Koz's abilities have a low mana cost and short cooldown, so keep that in mind.

This is quite obvious, but do not forget that your ultimate can pass through people and deals full damage to all targets, while also applying multiple stacks of your passive in quick succession. However, aim it carefully because it only lasts about 2.5 seconds and the laser adjusts to the position of your cursor at a slow pace. Also, beware of champion abilities that can disrupt it.

Build Usage

 * Vel'Koz's high base damage, CC, and additional passive true damage makes CDR one of the most valuable stats.


 * Vel'Koz AP ratios are somewhat low, making AP less useful than on other mages, but still desirable.
 * Vel'Koz's high base damage gives him good mileage out of Magic Pen.


 * Since many of his abilities have some form of CC (heavy slows, knock-ups), Liandry's Torment is also a good build option.
 * Because spamming your skills is required to activate your passive, Vel'Koz can become very mana hungry early on. Buying a Chalice of Harmony or a Catalyst the Protector is recommended.
 * Having low mobility and one form of hard CC, Vel'Koz is vulnerable to assassins' burst damage. Zhonya's Hourglass's active is very helpful in letting you survive a burst.
 * Vel'Koz's autoattack is one of the fastest for a mage, getting Wit's End or Nashor's tooth will provide harass against kitable champs as well as apply magic resist debuff

Recommended Team Compositions
Playing as Vel'Koz requires you to be on your toes because you are incredibly squishy. Someone on your team with disruption like Vi or Malphite will help you stay alive due to the fact you are in the back lines. Someone with lock down like Thresh or Cho'Gath will allow you to channel you ultimate without getting interrupted.

Countering
Vel'Koz is a high damage quick burst champion due to the fact that he can hold up to 2 stacks on his W and his ult can inflict 5 stacks of his passive in one full channel. Having an ability such as a silence or knock up will shut down his combo enough for you to counter attack or run away. Someone with high mobility like Kassadin or a skill shot block like Yasuo can effectively counter or shut him down.
 * Vel'Koz's range is his best defense, all his skills are skill shots, and he has no reliant escape. Thus, high mobility champions such as Fizz or Ezreal can counter him.
 * His true damage passive makes magic resist less useful for countering him. It may be better to purchase movement speed enhancing items in order to avoid more of his attacks, and health to reduce the percentage of health that his true damage deals.
 * Lifeform Disintegration Ray is very powerful, but he turns slowly. It can be best avoided by walking around him. Remember that the closer you are to him, the easier this become.
 * Remember that Vel'Koz can keep up his passive stacks with his auto attacks. When you have two stacks make sure you back off so he can't update the stacks.
 * Pay attention to Vel'Koz's Tectonic Disruption if it misses, and he is out of position this is the best oportunity to engage/cc him giving you an edge in the fight since that is his only defensive spell. This should either land you a kill, get him out of the fight, or burn one of his Summoners spells.