Talk:Vel'Koz/@comment-9048637-20151108223258/@comment-9048637-20151112055303

Oda: Prior to this patch, certainly not, provided you could splash out for the scaling CDR blues. Offensive blues are currently standard on most mid laners; only the mids with particularly weak laning phases (e.g. Twisted Fate) still tend to run MR. So it usually comes down to scaling AP or scaling CDR, and I know which I'd prefer on Vel. So again, that and the old CDR mastery gave you 20% for free at level 18 (or from level 9 onwards when you have blue buff), leaving you free to use the slot you would've spent on another CDR item for something more useful (as Willump points out, Vel'Koz really doesn't need all that mana regen, especially if your first choice is Athene's, though I usually do fine just off Morello's, which I prefer since it's more offensive and the passive is pretty useful).

Now, though... things are messier. I think I understand why Riot has changed it; as things stand, it's very easy to hit the CDR cap on nearly any mage without really sacrificing much of your build, so even mages who don't particularly depend on CDR (e.g. most mage assassins) often wind up with it anyway. I can't say I don't feel a little shafted by it, though; I guess we'll see if Riot take another look at mage itemization soon (as they've said they might, though it's a big 'might').

At any rate, as things stand, I see a few options:

1) Try to get 20% CDR late from just runes. This would involve basically switching out one of your quints (I currently run Mpen, though I suspect most run AP, which is better for your basic abilities - more on this theme below) for another scaling CDR. This is probably the most painless option on Vel'Koz at least, letting you hit that CDR cap while only sacrificing about 2 flat pen or 5 AP, depending on which you were already running.

2) Go double Fiendish build. This lets you keep your current quints if you're especially attached to them. However, it still has all the problems I listed above: Vel really doesn't need that much mana regen (and has no synergy with Nashor's, though why you'd even be considering that now that they've shifted power from the AP to the AS...), he appreciates other items quite a bit (Luden's, Zhonya's, I am now more sold on Rylai's, hell even Deathcap late game) and it also leaves you very inflexible. Not what I'd recommend, in short.

3) Get 10% from runes (probably six scaling CDR blues) and grab Ionian's. I can see a lot of CDR mages liking this one. On Vel'Koz, though, my concern is that sacrificing the flat pen from Sorcs is too much of a hit to your ult power. I guess it depends whether you think Vel's power lies more in his ult or in his basic abilities. The Ionian's root is better for the latter, I think: CDR is much more important for them, and the extra AP you can pick up from your runes is more effective (relatively speaking; Vel's scalings on his basic abilities are mediocre but not awful compared with other mages - it's only his ult which has the legendary bad scaling, again compared with other mage ults). Personally, though, I feel that while Vel's basic abilities are perfectly strong, it's his ult that's the real game changer, especially as part of a wombo combo. So myself, I prefer to keep the Sorcs, since pen is far and away the best stat for your ult, while being comparatively rare in terms of its sources.

4) Don't bother. Kind of an extreme extrapolation of my logic in the previous point, I guess: if Vel's power mainly lies in his ult, well, is it really that important to hit max CDR on him? There's some merit to this, and if I were just weighing up between (2) and (3) I'd be tempted (it's why I'm still planning on running 18/12/0 rather than 12/18/0 for masteries). But given that option (1) exists, I feel that you can find a happier middle ground between ult bot and poke/kite master (being the fuction his basic abilities fill).

That's my take on it, anyway. I'd be interested to see what other people think, though.