Welcome to the League of Legends Champion Spotlight, featuring Vel'Koz, the Eye of the Void.
Vel'Koz is a mage sent from the void to learn about Runeterra and its native species.
Armed with an array of lasers, Vel'Koz inflicts pain to probe for weaknesses, which in turn teach him to hurt his enemies more effectively.
Vel'koz is a powerful solo laner who operates best from the back lines,
firing off his abilities to keep his enemies at bay while he primes his devastating ultimate.
Vel'Koz's passive is Organic Deconstruction.
Each time he hits an enemy with an ability, he analyzes and marks them with Deconstruction, highlighted here as a third of the triangle.
Deconstruction expires after a few seconds, but Vel'Koz can maintain its duration with basic attacks.
Deconstructing an enemy three times within a short window deals bonus true damage that scales with level.
Plasma Fission, Vel'Koz's Q, serves as his primary harass ability.
Vel'Koz fires a long range bolt of energy that splits at the end of its range,
sending out two secondary bolts that travel perpendicular to the initial bolt's direction.
Plasma Fission splits early when it hits an enemy or when reactivated in midair.
Each of the three bolts slow and deal magic damage to a single target.
One interesting point to make here is that Plasma Fission gains meaningful range when angled correctly –
here Vel'Koz strikes a minion outside of the initial bolt's range and behind another minion, because geometry.
Vel'Koz can use Plasma Fission's range to safely harass his lane opponent even behind the minion wave.
Void Rift is a long range skillshot with two waves of damage.
The first wave is applied as Vel'koz tears a rift into the ground.
After a brief delay, the rift explodes, dealing the second wave of damage to all enemies still in the area.
Both rounds of damage apply Deconstruction, and while the second burst is stronger than the first, it can be easily avoided.
Void Rift has no cast time, meaning Vel'Koz can cast it while moving and combine it with his other abilities to trigger his passive.
Finally, although Void Rift has a lengthy cooldown, Vel'Koz can store two charges of the ability to use in quick succession.
Use Void Rift immediately after your other abilities to help ensure the second wave of damage hits.
Tectonic Disruption sends out a shockwave that, after a brief delay, damages and knocks-up enemies in an area.
If Vel'Koz hits enemies at close range, they are knocked up and away from his position,
helping him create distance from approaching threats,
including assassins, bruisers, and even Teemos.
It's important to note that enemies are always knocked away from Vel'Koz's original cast position even if he moves afterwards.
Tectonic Disruption grants vision, so it can be used to scout over walls.
Tectonic Disruption's knock-up allows Vel'Koz to easily line up his other abilities and burst down enemies.
Vel'Koz's ultimate is Life Form Disintegration Ray,
a powerful channeled ability with the potential to deal tons of damage to tons of enemies.
After activating Life Form Disintegration Ray,
Vel'Koz is immobilized as he fires out a long range laser that follows your cursor for a few seconds,
applying up to five Deconstruction marks to any target depending on how long they're focused.
This means you can deal two rounds of true damage if you tag an enemy with the full channel
and either initiate or follow up with another ability.
There are a few things you should watch out for when using Life Form Disintegration Ray.
First, like all channeled abilities, it can be interrupted by enemy crowd control.
Second, its turn speed is fairly slow, so if Vel'Koz is outmaneuvered, he can reactivate the ability to cancel and reposition.
You can use Life Form Disintegration Ray to focus down fleeing enemies even across terrain.
Before we have a look at gameplay, let's highlight Vel'Koz's key damage combo.
Lead in with your E, casting your W simultaneously since it has no cast time.
This guarantees a burst of true damage from your passive.
Follow immediately with your ultimate to melt your enemy and apply additional true damage stacks.
Landing your E is essential for setting up this combo.
Use it when you can reliably predict your enemy's position, or as a follow up on allied crowd control.
When laning against ranged opponents,
Plasma Fission's low cooldown and high damage scaling makes it your most efficient ability for zoning and lane control.
Cast it frequently from different directions to keep your enemy on their toes.
In contrast, melee lane opponents are more likely to come in close to last hit, providing minion cover from Plasma Fission's harass.
To get around this,
watch for moments when your lane opponent goes in to last hit so you can land Tectonic Disruption and follow up immediately with Void Rift.
Even though he's dangerously low himself, Vel'Koz is able to chunk Pantheon down with this EW combo,
dealing additional true damage with his passive.
This combo works well against champions with gap closers since the knock-up gives you time to back off before they can counterattack.
Here, as Udyr comes in to gank, Vel'Koz moves back in, capitalizing on the stun to land a second EW combo for the kill.
When playing defensively, don't hesitate to throw out several abilities at once.
Vel'Koz is a fragile and fairly immobile champion so he's especially vulnerable to ganks.
Even though his death is inevitable here, his combo's raw power is so high that he's able to take Xin Zhao down with him.
Life Form Disintegration Ray has the potential to turn the tide of a teamfight, but it can easily be shut down by crowd control.
With this in mind, make sure you don't waste the ability too early.
Pay close attention to your allies—if Vel'koz had chained his ultimate with Amumu's, they may have been able to win this fight.
In contrast, here's a great example of when Life Form Disintegration Ray can turn around a fight.
To help Nasus escape after being caught, Vel'koz positions himself behind a wall before safely channeling his ultimate on Ezreal and Brand,
the enemy team's two biggest threats.
Although he doesn't immediately kill anyone, he deals so much damage that the enemy team is forced to retreat.
Finally, let's highlight Vel'Koz's incredible kiting potential.
As he and Mundo flee the enemy base, Vel'Koz is able to slow the chase and poke his enemies down by throwing his abilities out constantly.
As soon as he gains enough distance, he channels his ultimate to pick off two low enemies before continuing his retreat.
Notice his use of barrier and the shield from Seraph's Embrace, which allow him to bait out the fight and ultimately win a 2v5.
As you start building Vel'Koz, focus on ability power, magic penetration, mana and defense.
Vel'Koz operates best from the back lines, throwing out his abilities constantly to maintain distance and whittle down his enemies.
To support this playstyle, it's important to boost both his mana pool and ability power so he hits as frequently and as hard as possible.
A Rabadon's Deathcap and Archangel's Staff are core purchases.
As you scale into late game, Vel'Koz becomes a priority target for the enemy team.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter helps him kite throughout teamfights,
while Banshee's Veil can help him channel his ultimate with fewer interruptions.
For summoner spells, take flash so you can reposition when caught, and barrier to bait out and survive fights.
Thanks for tuning in to the Vel'Koz Champion Spotlight.
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