Viktor Mid S12
THE MACHINE HERALD
JolGreengor
Best Overall Runes
Spells
Skill Priority
Best Overall Build
Intro
Hello everybody, my name is JolGreengor. I've been playing league since Season 9 mostly for fun. Season 10 I was Talon main and did hit diamond 4 for first time. But in Season 11 I have discovered Viktor and got Grandmaster with him. https://ru.op.gg/summoners/ru/JolGreengor/champions
Viktor is versatile control mage, providing poke, peel, burst and sustained damage. You can adjust your runes and itemization to suit your playstyle.
Why you should play Viktor
Viktor is a solid pick that can fit into most team comps. He provides both utility and solo carry potential. You will not climb fast with Viktor, unlike champions like Zed, Talon, Quyinna, etc because he is rather slow to become active. But sticking with Viktor you will learn great midlane fundamentals and get expirience that will help you with learning other control mages.
Also he is super cool and aesthetically pleasant to play.
Pros
- Good scaling
- (After E evolve) Great wave clear
- Poke dmg
- BEST Choke points control
- Mechanically easy
- High skillcap
- Very smooth power curve
- Flexible, can be adjusted for any playstyle
Cons
- (Before E evolve) Poor wave clear
- Mana hungry in the early game
- Squishy
- W stun is not guaranteed
- Weak if enemies have multi-threat comp
- Not a solid sidelaner
Runes
Phase rush: Bread and butter no brain setup, good in every situation. Great balance between lane pressure and scaling. Quite useful against champions that rely on running you down.
Against artillery class: If you face champion that outranges you and will not let you proc Q damage. Sustain and ms for dodging skillshots. Also comet helps with push. Good for poke. Ex: Lux, Vel'Koz, Xerath.
Against melee: Runes with most dps. Purpose of this rune setup is to win trades against assassins or slayers, so they dont pose kill threat to you on lane. Chase them with autos once they set their abilities on cd.
Electrocute: Rune setup with best burst damage. Makes Viktor a lane bully like Syndra, dominate your lane, win the game. Beware jungle ganks.
First strike: Works great with Viktor. If your aim is not to win lane, allows you to get to powerspikes earlier. Super easy to proc with E. Take against other control mages.
Unsealed spellbook: Special rune setup. Essentialy, it redirects some strength from your runes to summoners spell.
Runes after all are rather preference thing. Take what works best for you!
- Extra note
- Phase rush
- Against artillery
- Against melee
- Electrocute
- Unsealed spellbook
- First strike
Summoner Spells
Always take flash: its invaluable both as defensive and playmaking tool. TP: If you unsure of what to take as secons summoner spell, get Teleport. Opens opportunities to farm sidewaves and macro-based plays. In 90% games take teleport.
Ignite: Take it in low-range matchups to boost your kill potential. Ex: Sylas/Katarina/Yasuo Defensive: Barrier is better for towerdive outplays. Exhaust is more aggressive option, better for 2v2 situations.
Heal: Take it if you duo with jungler, or playing in challenger. Best 2v2 summoner.
Ghost: Smurf choice. This summoner spell provides most gold value by increasing movement speed which is great for kite and chase situations.
- Summoners:
Skill Path
Common skill path looks like this:
- Skill Path
Viktor
However, dont level up any ability at the start of the game. If you being invaded and your team responded to enemy in your jungle start with W instead and throw it into choke point. It will guarantee your win in early fight.
Also, if enemy does not let you proc Q, levelup E and throw it at them. Do not sit at full mana because its waste of mana regeneration.
And at level 3 don't be at haste to get 2nd E levelup. If you think 2v2 action is about to start, or you about to get ganked it's better to take W instead.
Item Builds
Choose corruption potion as starting item in heavy trade matchup (Ex: Le Blanc), if you struggle with cs or new to Viktor opt for doran ring instead. Aim to first back at 1300 gold to get lost chapter.
Mythic choice: Mostly Luden. Against tanky front-to-back teamcomps Liandry. Get Everfrost for additional peel/kiting, enabling Everfrost+W stun combo. If you struggle with assassins go for Crown of the Shattered Queen.
As soon as enemy carry start to build magic resistance get void stuff. Ping your team to get antiheal, it's not your job to prodive heal reduction. If no one listens get Morello, it's stats not so bad.
Get Rabadon 3th or 4th item, start to build it if you feel that you must carry and have 1250g at base.
- Item set
Game plan
When thinking about game and ways to win it I like to compare myself to an artist that is about to paint picture of victory. Except there are 9 monkeys that randomly splashing paint everywhere. It's only natural to want to have more paint (influence) for yourself.
Early game (0-15 min)
The most important stage of the game. Due to chaotic nature of soloque it's matter of your hands to take over the game and win it for your team and for yourself. Midlaner's main job is to move for river skirmishes or teamfights or objects: faster than opponent. Or to recognize incoming failure, ping your team back and get objectives somewhere else.
So, how do I approach the mid wave? It's important to recognize potential threats in game on loading screen: aggressive non-farming junglers, diving/roaming supports/toplaners, your potential of winning isolated 1v1 duel against enemy midlaner, potential of winning 2v2 skirmish of midlaners with junglers on their side. There are 3 main ways to manipulate wave: slow push, fast push and freeze. Slow push is basically pushing with little minion advantage as slow as possible. Fast push is throwing everything you have as fast as possible. Freeze is making enemy wave strong enough to kill your waves close to your tower without moving. To do freeze enemy wave must be larger than yours by 4 minions (or 1 siege and usual 1 minion). Freeze is used to deny opponent farm, make them vulnerable for ganks and protect yourself agaisnt ganks and opponent trades, downside: they enabled to roam without you taking plates and usually when freezing you dont have vision control. Fast push gives little tempo and makes lane less interactive: good in some matchups. Slow push is how you win the game. It helps you to win trades, get a lot of tempo to setup vision control or roam, sometimes you can even turn gank into doublekill because of minion power or deny opponent whole bunch of cs by diving them. Big downside: if you get ganked and killed it's a game over.
That being said, at some point of your climb irelia otpers, akali onetricks and other yasuo mainers starts to become a big trouble for slow push strategy. Their overbuffed champions can easily kill you 100 to 100 even inside of your stacked double minion wave. Or after crushing stacked wave they'll crush their own wave and setup freeze to deny your farm or kill you. The solution to this problem is to do neither, and keep wave state neutral, posture defensively and keep harassing them with E's. I'll breakdown most common matchups down game plan part.
Mid Game(15-30 min)
Midgame starts once first tower fell and everyone is doing rotations across map. Biggest decision you can make: group with team vs splitpush. When making that choice consider:
- enemy ability to catch you on splitpush
- enemy ability to dive you (while you solo under turret)
- your team ability to win teamfights
- your ability to make picks
If nothing seems likely to work out, defend turrets and wait for opportunities. Mid outer turret is essential for map control: you can easily defend it with evolved E, slow down pace of the game and make it more likely for enemies to make mistakes.
Late Game(30+ min)
At some point everyone gets 3+ items, there is Baron Nashor and potentially Elder Drake spawning. What you should do: stick with team, get object priority. It takes 1-2 teamfights won to win the game. Poke enemy team, look for picking someone with your overwhelming burst damage. Play slowly, don't get picked off yourself, peel your team, disrupt enemy team with good W and R usage and most likely you'll win. Late game is where Viktor shines the most.
Common matchups
Usually we'll try to use offense as mean of defense. You'll outperform most assasins in teamfights if they didnt get early lead. Remember: just because champion counters you it doesn't mean that player that play them will execute their advantage correctly. Test your opponent!
- Breakdown
Ability usage tips
Q - Siphon Power
The only notable thing - ability animation cancel. Feels kind of weird at first, but what you have to do is: after casting q click on enemy, so you can save about 0.5s animation time.
W - Gravity field
The key point to understand: without additional control it is possible to simply walk out of gravity field without getting stunned, but not through it.
Drop it in choke points, under yourself, under your carry to peel them. Get to the objectives first, ping your team.
When playing against melee threats take defensive stance while W on cd - its your main control tool.
Can be used to freeze enemy minion wave by stunning them.
Predict where enemy wants to walk to, good consistent W placing is what divides good and best Viktor players.
E - Death ray
Death ray is one of those abilities that can't be dodged without boots or some dash if used accurately.
Angles, angles, angles. It's all about angles! Whether hitting multiple enemies, hitting aftershock (second explosion) damage or manipulating minion wave (either not touching it entirely or dealing max dmg) you have to pick angle carefully.
E cast range is 525, laser travel distance is 500. Thus, its range 1025 which makes it one of the longest range abilities.
Can be used to check brushes. Make sure to not die facechecking ever again!
You won't make a good Viktor player without consistently hitting good E's at max range. If struggling try to reduce mouse sensitivity.
R - Chaos storm
Do not hesitate to throw it at enemy for burst damage, paired with W it can often burn their flash or make them leave lane.
Sometimes it's beneficial to throw it at enemy wave and clear it instantly. (Usually when hit lvl 6 to oneshot wave and take reset).
Follows enemy even if they moved out of vision.
Chaos storm is also a disrupt. In some matchups crucial part. Remember to hold your R for disruption against Anivia/Galio/Katarina/Lucian/TF/etc.