[Guide] Support Vel'koz

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

January 13 2015 09:52 GMT

About Me

I go by the name FLABREZU on the NA server. I'm currently diamond 1 with support being my most played role this season. I've always preferred poke/mage supports (Karma, Zilean, Sona, Lulu), so picking up Vel'koz was right up my alley + Show Spoiler +

and he quickly became my main support.

Why Play Vel'koz?

- Great poke and AoE burst
- 3 abilities with CC
- Good catch potential
- Unlike other poke supports, still does good damage when behind
- Show your ADC who's boss by outdamaging them in half your games
- Best ability ranges of any support
- Easy to pick up

Summoner Spells

Flash and exhaust. You can take ignite if you want, but I don't recommend it. If they're in range for you to use one of them, there's a much better chance you'll need exhaust to stay alive.

Skill Order

The only time I'd take W at level 3 would be if I'm anticipating an all in, in which case W will give more damage. Otherwise, you're better off with the extra poke from Q.

Masteries

Pretty standard. Taking 9 points in offense gives a total of 10% CDR as well as extra ability power, and expose weakness is pretty nice in team fights. You don't need any points in defense.

Runes

These are a couple of the rune pages I use. Really, any AP page is fine. Just keep in mind that you're very squishy, so you might want to use a more defensive page like the second one against scarier lanes.

Abilites

PASSIVE - Organic Destruction

This is one of the reasons why Vel'koz is able to do so much damage with so few items. The stacks will last for 7 seconds. Adding another stack will refresh the stack duration; auto attacking will refresh the stack duration as well, but not add a stack. It's hard to actually proc your passive at the early levels in lane because your Q cooldown is too long, so if you're able, try to use autos to try to keep the stacks refreshed.

[image loading]

Q - Plasma Fission

This ability basically just rules. Low mana cost, great slow, huge range, can hit up to 3 people, pretty low cooldown and its unpredictability can make it hard to dodge. It's relatively strongest at level 1, doing more damage than abilities like Lux E, Ziggs Q or Syndra Q.

In lane, you have to work around the other team's minions to land these. If there are too many minions and they can easily just stand behind one to dodge the Q, wait for a better opportunity. Constantly move around to try to get better angles.

When you do get an angle, try to figure out which direction they dodge. People will generally just do the same thing over and over, so if you see that they try to dodge by running forwards, detonate it early until they change their dodging pattern. If you have a clear path to them, you generally want to shoot the Q directly at them instead of at an angle.

At rank 5, this gives a 70% slow for 2 seconds, making it incredible for peeling and kiting.

If someone's running away from you and is slightly out of range, you can fire this at a slight angle to get some extra range (geometry haha lol).

[image loading]

W - Void Rift

This ability has the potential to do a lot of damage because the double proc also gives you two passive stacks. It's very hard to land unless your enemy is very close to you or you combo it with your E.

In lane you'll generally only want to use this to proc your passive or in all ins. Don't try to use it just for general poke; the damage is too low for the mana cost and, it's very easy to dodge and you don't want to waste your charges.

Since it works on a recharge system with a static cooldown of 1.5 seconds, it's very good for getting off quick bursts of damage in all ins. It also offers amazing wave clear; if you ever need to shove the wave when your opponent backs, this is one of the best support abilities.

[image loading]

E - Tectonic Disruption

This is the ability that if you can land at level 6 in lane, you're probably at least forcing some summoners. When you throw this out, immediately follow it with a W and then a Q. If it lands, you can follow up with R if you think you can secure a kill. Landing this on multiple people in a team fight can single-handedly win games.

Similar to a Thresh hook, this offers great catch potential if you can wait in a bush for someone. The hard CC isn't quite as long, but the slow follow up is very strong, and unlike Thresh, you can often kill people by yourself.

Never throw this out mindlessly; the cooldown is fairly long and champions like Vayne or Graves can dodge it extremely easily if they have their dashes up. Against champions like Caitlyn or Corki, you can try to predict their escapes by throwing this behind them. If they instinctively try to dash backwards, you'll cancel it and can often secure a kill.

[image loading]

R - Lifeform Disintegration Ray

It's a huge fucking laser that does a ton of damage. The range on this is INSANE (longer than a Nidalee spear). The range is actually slightly longer than how the animation appears, and you can sometimes get unexpected kills.

You'll generally be comboing your ult with other abilities, so as long as you have at least 1 stack of your passive to start with, this can do 500 base magic damage + 170 true damage + 60% AP ratio at level 6. This is more than some mage's ults do at rank 3. And it offers a 20% slow for 1 second.

Since this ability lasts for 2.5 seconds and you're completely vulnerable while using it, you have to make sure to position yourself well before starting it. If someone's able to get on you after you start it, there's a good chance it'll get cancelled or they'll just kill you. Keep in mind that you can use exhaust during your ult.

Since this is an AoE ability, you'll obviously want to hit as many people at once as possible in a team fight. It's great comboed with multi-knockup E's, other AoE hard CC's like Sejuani ult, as well as J4's ult.

Items

Starting items:

[image loading]

Sometimes I see people starting with a ward. What is this, season 3? You don't need that shit.

Standard item path:

[image loading]

Make sure to buy health/mana pots as needed.

Items to consider after:

[image loading]

Finishing Liandry's is what I'll do in the majority of my games. Since your Q slows for 2 seconds, you get almost the full benefit from the liandry's passive.

[image loading]

If they have someone like Zed jumping on you constantly, you're going to need zhonya's or you'll just die instantly.

[image loading]

At this point people will probably have at least some magic resist. Since you have 37.8 flat penetration, if someone has 58 or less magic resist, you will be doing true damage if you have void staff.

Offers a bit of AP, aegis aura and will cap your CDR. The new active is also quite strong for split pushing or for sieging if you have baron.

[image loading]

If you need some extra peel or you're having trouble against some kind of pick comp that keeps catching your team out, this can be a strong item.

[image loading]

If you're up against something like a Rammus, Fiddle or maybe Morgana you should consider this. Keep in mind that it will NOT work against suppresses, debuffs or knock ups.

[image loading]

Personally I never get this, but if you're a risky kind of person you could consider it. You'd probably want to get it earlier though, and I think the core items are too important.

[image loading]

I don't think this is the greatest item for support Vel'koz. It offers no utility and void staff will give you more damage for its cost. If you happen to back with enough gold for an NLR and just want more damage you could consider this though.

[image loading]

You could get this if you really need the slow for peeling. I'll usually just stay on spellthief and sell it once I can get my sixth item, though. Unless you're able to hit a bunch of people with the active, it kind of feels like a worse version of Twin Shadows.

[image loading]

At some point upgrade your sightstone. It only gives an extra 150 health and one more ward charge for 800 gold, so it's pretty low priority.

[image loading]

You could get this against something like a LeBlanc who keeps blowing you up. For surviving assassins, zhonya's will generally be better though.

Match Ups

Janna

Generally a pretty easy and straightforward match up. All she's really going to do in lane is shield her ADC to help push the wave/go a bit aggressive or shield herself and go up to try to trade autos. Avoid getting hit by either when they have the shield.

If she's with a Sivir they'll probably try to constantly shove the wave, so you'll probably want to auto some minions to help your ADC shove back. If she's with a Graves, watch out for the shield + quickdraw/buckshot combo. If she's with a Caitlyn, it can potentially be a more difficult lane depending on your ADC as he may get zoned off some CS because of Caitlyn's long range + extra AD from the shield.

Jinx

Jinx's lack of mobility makes her an ideal target for Vel'koz. Once you're 6, landing an E will often result in her just dying. If you do land an E, make sure she hasn't thrown out flame chompers before you ult, as getting rooted will cancel your ult. Be careful of the range and damage of her fishbones; you generally won't be able to auto harass her.

Leona

People generally seem to think that Leona counters Vel'koz, but from my experience, he can have the advantage in this match up. You can play aggressively at level 1 by using your trinket ward in their bush and autoing + Qing Leona any time she gets close to you. Once she's about to hit level 2, however, you need to keep your distance. You should never get hit by a Leona E pre-6.

If she goes aggressive on your ADC and manages to land an E on him, instantly throw out an E + W + Q combo. If you do it fast enough, your E can land before she even gets her stun off. Even if she does get the stun off, you can generally win the trade as you'll generally have the minion advantage when she's engaging.

Once Leona hits 6, the lane is much more difficult. You need to have good ward coverage, as she provides incredible gank assistance, and if your flash isn't up when the jungler comes, you're pretty much guaranteed to die. If she ults and the enemy jungler isn't near, you'll need to juke forwards or to the side to avoid getting stunned. You often won't be able to avoid the slow, so you'll need to throw out an E at either her or their ADC to prevent them from getting on you.

Soraka

Pretty annoying to lane against. Any poke you get on their ADC she'll quickly heal back up while staying far enough back that you generally won't be able to land Q's on her. You'll generally be in little danger from dying however since Soraka doesn't do much damage and she provides next to no gank assistance. At 6 you have some kill potential, especially with a bursty ADC like Graves. Be careful of using your ult if she's near you though, as her E will instantly cancel it. Let your team know when she hits 6 (her rank 1 ult has a base heal of 225 if target is under 40% health).

Thresh

Unless you put yourself in danger of being hooked or are against an amazing Thresh player, this shouldn't be a difficult match up. It's pretty easy to poke with Q and occasionally get some autos in when Thresh goes up to collect souls. In general you don't want to trade autos though because of Thresh's E passive and most people will be running AD marks.

If your opponent will hit level 2 first, you'll need to hang back and play safe until you can hit level 2 as well. If you go up, Thresh can walk up on you to try to land a hook or flash flay into hook. If Thresh ever starts randomly walking up to you in lane phase, be very cautious as there could be a gank incoming. Thresh offers some of the best gank assistance because of his ability to lantern his jungler into lane, and when combined with a flash flay or hook, you'll be in a lot of trouble if you haven't backed off.

Vayne

While Vayne doesn't have a particularly strong laning phase, she does pose somewhat of a problem for Vel'koz because of her high mobility. It's very difficult to land abilities on her because of tumble's low cooldown. Once she hits 6 and ults it can be near impossible at times because of the stealth and her passive, and 2v2's can become difficult. Be careful of getting condemned into walls, as it'll usually result in you at least having to blow a summoner.

Vayne's auto range is quite low, so try to get in autos in when you can. If the side bush is unwarded and Vayne's near that side, you can often come out, auto, and go back in to avoid retaliation and minion aggro. If she's just used her tumble, look for opportunities to land an E (tumble has a 6 second cooldown at rank 1; lots of Vayne's will level W to at least rank 3 before putting more points into Q). If she does have tumble up, you should very rarely try to use E on her as it's way too easy to dodge and the cooldown is quite long. + Show Spoiler +

I know this is a Vel'koz guide, but if you're picking into a Vayne I'd recommend Zilean, as he absolutely wrecks her.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

General Laning/Support Tips

Some of this will probably be fairly basic for some people, but I see a lot who don't realise some of this stuff.

Jungle Cheesing: Until it's patched, it's fairly common right now for people to start a jungle camp to get an EXP advantage and then try to all in at level 2. You'll be able to tell if your opponents started at a jungle camp if they're missing health and one of them has 1 CS (and hasn't killed a ward/trap). Be careful and play a little bit back, particularly if you're up against someone like Thresh or Leona. Warn your ADC that they started the jungle camp as well.

How to auto attack: When you first get into lane, you'll want to constantly be autoing minions that aren't close to dying. Pushing to hit level 2 faster and forcing your opponent to farm under tower at the early levels will give you the advantage. Always look to auto attack your opponents as well, but be careful of trading. ADC's and most supports will do more auto damage and be tankier/have more sustain than you, so look for opportunities when your opponent won't be able to hit you back (when their ADC is about to CS, when they don't have vision of you, when they're in a big minion wave and have to retreat before hitting back).

Helping your ADC CS: When under tower, if a caster minion is at full health and the tower is about to attack it, auto it once so that your ADC can then kill it with one auto. If a minion has enough health that your ADC can't kill it in one hit but the tower can, auto it until your ADC's able to kill it. Being able to do these things reliably can net your ADC a large chunk of CS that he'd otherwise miss, so make sure to practice it.

MORE TO COME

Prog

United Kingdom1470 Posts

January 13 2015 11:09 GMT

3 points:

1. I think it would be great if you go into detail about mid-/lategame warding with Vel'Koz. Not where to ward, but how deep into enemy territory you are willing to go at which time. I find it a general disadvantage with Vel'Koz and Zyra that they are really squishy, imobile and want sorc boots, so deep warding becomes very risky and you have to rely on your teammates to heavily protect you. (The only thing you have going for you are brush check options)

2. I don't know if you can say something valuable about a Vel'Koz - Zyra comparison (because you don't play her), but I feel like they have a similar role. Both do an insane amount of damage, have great teamfight, some cc and strong poke in lane. Both deal damage without many items and both are really squishy. So why should someone pick Vel'Koz over Zyra (or vice versa)?

3. Is there any value for pure utility items on Vel'Koz? Most of the pokey supports can be played either way. Zyra with Mikaels/Locket is not unheard of and I personally play my beloved Karma with Mikaels and Locket most of the time. Why is this not a good idea on Vel'Koz? Or maybe is it sometimes, but you just don't like to play him that way?

Edit: A 4th point: Why magic pen and not hybrid pen marks? You do not lose too much but get better auto-attack value in lane.

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

January 13 2015 11:39 GMT

On January 13 2015 20:09 Prog wrote:
3 points:

1. I think it would be great if you go into detail about mid-/lategame warding with Vel'Koz. Not where to ward, but how deep into enemy territory you are willing to go at which time. I find it a general disadvantage with Vel'Koz and Zyra that they are really squishy, imobile and want sorc boots, so deep warding becomes very risky and you have to rely on your teammates to heavily protect you. (The only thing you have going for you are brush check options)

2. I don't know if you can say something valuable about a Vel'Koz - Zyra comparison (because you don't play her), but I feel like they have a similar role. Both do an insane amount of damage, have great teamfight, some cc and strong poke in lane. Both deal damage without many items and both are really squishy. So why should someone pick Vel'Koz over Zyra (or vice versa)?

3. Is there any value for utility items on Vel'Koz? Most of the pokey supports can be played either way. Zyra with Mikaels is not unheard of and I personally play my beloved Karma with Mikaels and Locket most of the time. Why is this not a good idea on Vel'Koz? Or maybe is it sometimes, but you just don't like to play him that way?

1) I'll add stuff about warding at some point, but going into the enemy jungle is actually pretty easy just with shooting a Q into bushes before going in. You can't wander through their jungle like Thresh or someone, but getting wards at their jungle entrances/raptor bush shouldn't be a problem.

2) I don't have a lot of Zyra experience, but I think that Zyra has more kill potential in lane but less sustained poke because of her mana costs, and Vel'koz does way more damage in team fights. He also has better self-peel (unless Zyra has ult), slightly more armour/armour per level, 15 more movement speed and longer range poke, so he's overall safer.

3) It's possible, but definitely not my style. I played a ton of support Karma this season as well, and always preferred morello/liandry builds on her as well. I think you'll fall off pretty hard late game as Vel'koz if you're just building utility items. You'll kind of be in a weird place where you're still squishy, don't really do damage and don't have much utility compared to other supports. I think you're probably better off picking a different support in that case.

ketchup

14521 Posts

January 13 2015 11:57 GMT

Nice, was waiting on someone to expand on support Vel'Koz. Is there a reason you take 21 utility for velkoz? As in, do you always take 21 utility regardless of lane match ups? Can you expand on this a bit more?

I was always under the impression that aggressive supports should still take 21 offense for a large majority of their lane match ups. The plan being that I want to take control of the lane early on so I can roam aggressively as well.

Also, your ruby sightstone image link is broken

Meedio

Finland10 Posts

January 13 2015 12:01 GMT

Don't upgrade into Frostfang first, personally I'd skip it entirely in favor of earlier sightstone/morellos. The item is so gold inefficient it's not even funny, especially when compared to the massive bang for the buck you get from the Morellonomicon.

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

January 13 2015 12:09 GMT

On January 13 2015 20:57 ketchup wrote:
Nice, was waiting on someone to expand on support Vel'Koz. Is there a reason you take 21 utility for velkoz? As in, do you always take 21 utility regardless of lane match ups? Can you expand on this a bit more?

I was always under the impression that aggressive supports should still take 21 offense for a large majority of their lane match ups. The plan being that I want to take control of the lane early on so I can roam aggressively as well.

Also, your ruby sightstone image link is broken

The extra points in offense are mostly useful later in the game. 5% extra AP, arcane blade and % penetration don't really do much early. Meanwhile, at 20 minutes you're missing out on around 250 gold from greed and scavenger, you can't trade as hard in lane because you can only get 2 health pots, you miss out on 5% CDR and it's harder to roam since you have 17 less movement speed (without boots). It's pretty rare to see 21 offense on supports.

Yeah, I tried a couple different ruby sightstone images, and for some reason neither of them worked. Hopefully it just starts working, or I'll find another one.

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

January 13 2015 12:27 GMT

On January 13 2015 21:01 Meedio wrote:
Don't upgrade into Frostfang first, personally I'd skip it entirely in favor of earlier sightstone/morellos. The item is so gold inefficient it's not even funny, especially when compared to the massive bang for the buck you get from the Morellonomicon.

Skipping frostfang is also fine, but it's still strong early game. Yes, the stats it provides may become less useful as the game goes on, but it doesn't really matter since it's paying for itself with the extra gold it provides. If you get sightstone instead, your poke does less damage and you can't poke as much since you don't have as much mana regen.

_merK

Germany11 Posts

January 13 2015 12:51 GMT

What do you think about skipping frostfang in favor of Amplifying Tome? I imagine it helps your poke quite a bit and you are building it into Morellonomicon anyway.

Prog

United Kingdom1470 Posts

January 13 2015 12:53 GMT

On January 13 2015 20:09 Prog wrote:
Edit: A 4th point: Why magic pen and not hybrid pen marks? You do not lose too much but get better auto-attack value in lane.

This edited 4th point got lost. I think it is relevant though. Losing ~2.4 magic pen is no biggy, getting 8.1 armor pen is pretty good for early trades though and I think early trades are generally more important for supports.

On January 13 2015 20:39 GolemMadness wrote:

Show nested quote +

1) Good to hear. There are just a couple of little things that change with slower/squishier supports that are pretty difficult to describe. Usually you know from your experience how deep into the jungle you are allowed to go when you see opponents at position x, y and z. But its not something you consciously think about while playing. So while "you can't wander through their jungle like Thresh or someone" makes perfect sense for people who have experience with these kinds of supports (e.g. no zyra player will ever go for a deep pinkward early on, whereas mobi boots supports can do that sometimes even before getting a sightstone), others who usually play champions like Thresh/Braum/Alistar benefit from a little more guidance.

2) I think you are right on the Zyra kill potential and mana point. I'm not convinced about more dmg in teamfights, but that is very hard to say with so many variables of plantdamage and various aoe spells (and I'm on the other side of the spectrum, having experience with Zyra but little with Vel'Koz). He definitely has the edge in terms of safety with higher range and movespeed but brings a little less teamfight cc.

3) You can still say something like this: I pick Vel'Koz for his pokey lane dominance, so I can bring my adc out of laning phase in a very good position. Lategame I do not need so much damage because the team has enough damage anyway, so I can afford to build utility to keep important members safe from being picked of.
I do think that you are right to build ap heavy, just like I think it is better to build ap heavy on Zyra, but I can see an argument for getting at least Mikaels relatively early.

739

Bearded Elder29903 Posts

January 13 2015 13:32 GMT

#10

No trinket in starting items?! ^^

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

January 13 2015 13:40 GMT

#11

On January 13 2015 21:53 Prog wrote:

Show nested quote +

On January 13 2015 20:39 GolemMadness wrote:

4) Hybrid pen is fine also. It's potentially slightly better early, but slightly worse later. I take hybrid pen on Karma since I tend to get off more autos with her.

1) Yeah, I'll try to put in more information about warding. It's a bit harder in text compared to video though.

2) I think that unless you're doing a lot of damage with your plants or are able to get off way more AoE than Vel'koz, Vel'koz will always do more damage. Just Vel'koz's ult will do almost as much damage as all three of Zyra's abilities at level 11.

3) Sounds like a job for Soraka. Always wins lane, more influence on other lanes and more utility.

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

January 13 2015 13:45 GMT

#12

On January 13 2015 21:51 _merK wrote:
What do you think about skipping frostfang in favor of Amplifying Tome? I imagine it helps your poke quite a bit and you are building it into Morellonomicon anyway.

It's probably fine. You can use the extra gold to get a couple of mana pots.

On January 13 2015 22:32 739 wrote:
No trinket in starting items?! ^^

FINE.

Meedio

Finland10 Posts

January 13 2015 14:15 GMT

#13

On January 13 2015 21:27 GolemMadness wrote:

Show nested quote +

If you care about early game you're actually hurting yourself by going Frostfang. It's an investment - you're spending gold into an initially subpar/overcosted item that will make you richer (=stronger) in the long run. Thing is, the extra gold generation is only 300g per 10 minutes even in the ideal (and pretty unrealistic) case where you proc the item every time it's up. In reality it probably hovers around 150-250 gp every 10 minutes which I don't find all that impressive. If I only cared about lane dominance after the first back I would probably opt for a Doran's Ring instead. Maybe even Forbidden Idol which sacrifices the AP in favor of CDR and an earlier Morellonomicon.

Personally, however, I value vision very highly so I would gladly let go of the slight extra lane pressure (I mean, Vel'koz is quite a powerful lane bully regardless) in favor of a Sightstone rush.

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

January 14 2015 01:49 GMT

#14

On January 13 2015 23:15 Meedio wrote:

Show nested quote +

The point is that it's reasonably strong early and is good over time as well. A doran's will be stronger, but not only does it take up an item slot that will make it much harder to build morello/haunting guise/buy pinks, but you actually lose gold since you'll have to sell it. You also won't be able to make use of the passive since you don't really CS.

Skipping frostfang for sightstone is fine, but it's mostly just personal preference.

JazzVortical

Australia1825 Posts

January 14 2015 02:14 GMT

#15

I haven't played SuppKoz since the Mejai's change, but I imagine it's definitely not a bad buy if you can get it early. He can stay pretty safe in fights with his range. He should procure stacks easily too, since he can rack up assists easily. Trouble is, raw ap isn't great for him. He can't put it to use on utility like a Janna can, only damage.

I think your underselling getting W by level 3 a tad. You can be very aggressive with all three spells at your disposal. Hitting an E with a follow up W absolutely trucks ADCs, because it's a guaranteed passive proc as well. I think if you have to play conservative and rely on poke its fine to get another in Q, but if you can be more aggressive (eg a really early trade went in your favour), I prefer getting a point in all 3 skills by level 3.

nafta

Bulgaria18893 Posts

January 14 2015 20:02 GMT

#16

What do you think about finishing the frost queen item?Also if you are blue side would starting w to get golems over pushing the wave be worth it?

The difference between zyra and velkoz is zyra just needs to sit next to person getting dived and punch the keyboard so all skills go off and die and it is acceptable while velkoz has to stand a bit further out of the fight and focus on poking and being in good position to ult.

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

January 15 2015 01:03 GMT

#17

On January 14 2015 11:14 JazzVortical wrote:
I haven't played SuppKoz since the Mejai's change, but I imagine it's definitely not a bad buy if you can get it early. He can stay pretty safe in fights with his range. He should procure stacks easily too, since he can rack up assists easily. Trouble is, raw ap isn't great for him. He can't put it to use on utility like a Janna can, only damage.

I think your underselling getting W by level 3 a tad. You can be very aggressive with all three spells at your disposal. Hitting an E with a follow up W absolutely trucks ADCs, because it's a guaranteed passive proc as well. I think if you have to play conservative and rely on poke its fine to get another in Q, but if you can be more aggressive (eg a really early trade went in your favour), I prefer getting a point in all 3 skills by level 3.

It partially depends on what ADC you're up against. I'd say it's more worth considering getting W at level 3 if you're up against an immobile ADC like Jinx or Ashe. If it's a Graves, Vayne or Ezreal, it's going to be pretty tough to land an E most of the time. Essentially, if you take W at level 3, you're saying "I'm going to land an E before I hit level 4."

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

January 15 2015 01:08 GMT

#18

On January 15 2015 05:02 nafta wrote:
What do you think about finishing the frost queen item?Also if you are blue side would starting w to get golems over pushing the wave be worth it?

The difference between zyra and velkoz is zyra just needs to sit next to person getting dived and punch the keyboard so all skills go off and die and it is acceptable while velkoz has to stand a bit further out of the fight and focus on poking and being in good position to ult.

That's weird, I had frost queen under items. I must have accidentally removed it. Overall, I'd say it's rarely going to be good. Maybe if you're having a lot of problems against something like a Udyr that's just running at your team and you need an extra slow you could consider it. Usually I'd rather just get twin shadows instead.

739

Bearded Elder29903 Posts

January 19 2015 15:51 GMT

#19

Mr Tentacles freelo in Plat, confirmed. I guess I'll stick with him for S5 as support, shit is fun and does tons of dmg.

Zdrastochye

Ivory Coast6262 Posts

January 20 2015 13:19 GMT

#20

Yeah I just played a support Velkoz in a game last night, my takeaways:

E is very easy to hit, slightly larger Nami bubble.
Geometry takes some getting used to, hitting one champion is usually easy enough but I imagine with some practice hitting two (or three!) becomes common.
No reason to not build just like an AP carry, spellthiefs > sightstone > go AP now works out well.

I'll have fun trying him out some more and comparing his damage to more damage-y supports a la Zyra.

739

Bearded Elder29903 Posts

January 20 2015 18:01 GMT

#21

Damn, I just can't stop playing Vel'Koz as support. He deals a little bit more dmg than Zyra and his E is awesome. Once you hit that Q into E into instant W, you can lazer 24/7.

+ Show Spoiler +

MurphyJayGaming

United States19 Posts

January 21 2015 16:13 GMT

#22

I played him for a little bit and thought he was the flavor of the month. Until last night when I played with one and he just destroyed lane. I will certainly be giving this a go tonight and will be back with updates/questions.

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

February 06 2015 10:59 GMT

#23

Off to a pretty good start this season. 63% win rate over 24 games. I added in some match ups and updated some other stuff as well.

+ Show Spoiler +

Probably gonna be replacing Xpecial pretty soon

IntoTheWow

is awesome32274 Posts

February 06 2015 13:18 GMT

#24

GMadness, would you mind giving me a item shop order? Such as you did with sightstone. I imagine after sstone, forbidden idol is priority since it gives capability to spam and cdr. At the same time haunting lets you survive a little more and gives raw damage.

What do you usually do? Thanks!

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

February 06 2015 13:28 GMT

#25

On February 06 2015 22:18 IntoTheWow wrote:
GMadness, would you mind giving me a item shop order? Such as you did with sightstone. I imagine after sstone, forbidden idol is priority since it gives capability to spam and cdr. At the same time haunting lets you survive a little more and gives raw damage.

What do you usually do? Thanks!

Not entirely sure what you mean; the item order after sightstone is in there. As for the components, generally you want the most expensive one you can afford, so fiendish codex is prioritised over forbidden idol for morello, and amp tome over ruby crystal for haunting guise.

IntoTheWow

is awesome32274 Posts

February 06 2015 13:38 GMT

#26

I meant if you always finished morello before taking any haunting guise pieces. Or if you went bootless before morello, or picked up boots 1 before finishing morello and later upgrade, etc

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

February 07 2015 01:25 GMT

#27

I'll pretty much always finish morello before haunting guise. When I buy certain things always depends on the amount of gold I have when I back. So if I have fiendish codex and forbidden idol and back with something like 500 gold, I'll buy boots. If I have enough to finish morello, I'll buy that instead.

IntoTheWow

is awesome32274 Posts

February 10 2015 01:14 GMT

#28

Okay, thanks a lot!

killerdog

Denmark6522 Posts

February 14 2015 17:01 GMT

#29

how does the vs blitzcrank matchup work?

He face tanked my lvl 1 q's to zone me, then we were shoved in from lvl 2, couldn't get within q range without him w-rushing us.

Basically I tried to get bush control, but he just ate two q's in a row as he ran at me, which did almost nothing to him. I was forced back enough that i couldn't hide behind minions so grab pressure had me off lane, and they got the shove on us. Then lvl 2 we were completely cut off the wave, and from then on he just sat in the bush and stepped back slightly if I ever tried to q, and if i ever moved forward to try and get angles, he just w rushed me.

Also dodging hooks early without boots felt impossible, vel'koz is just so fat and slow that he just aims straight at me, and it felt impossible to sidestep.

it felt like i could almost just stand and fight when hooked, but kept barely losing :S

GolemMadness

Canada11044 Posts

February 15 2015 01:52 GMT

#30

Who were the ADC's and do you have the replay? In general the way the match up will work against Blitzcrank will be you'll stand behind your minions to avoid getting hooked. Once your minions start to thin out, Blitz will often start to move up on you, so you'll have to back up. Once your new minion line arrives, you can move up again, and there's not much Blitz can do since you always have the protection of your minions. It's also a bit difficult for him to just run up on you since you have a slow + knock up.

killerdog

Denmark6522 Posts

February 15 2015 12:48 GMT

#31

On February 15 2015 10:52 GolemMadness wrote:
Who were the ADC's and do you have the replay? In general the way the match up will work against Blitzcrank will be you'll stand behind your minions to avoid getting hooked. Once your minions start to thin out, Blitz will often start to move up on you, so you'll have to back up. Once your new minion line arrives, you can move up again, and there's not much Blitz can do since you always have the protection of your minions. It's also a bit difficult for him to just run up on you since you have a slow + knock up.

It was me graves, them kalista I think.

Don't have the replay but me and graves definitely didn't co-ordinate properly level 1, and I can see how I could have played that much safer. But I just found it really really hard to get into positions where I could threaten to q, without being in q range of blitz. Most matchups I can posture really aggressively, get into the enemies brush or zone them back, but here every time I started gaining pressure, the minions would thin out and I'd have to fall really far back again, then once we started needing to ward river instead of lane bush any hope of pushing forward was made impossible since he got free bush control every time the wave thinned, and it was almost impossible to get back without missing multiple q's. (And every missed q he could immediately w and run at me, forcing me even further back, making my adc basically unable to farm.)

I'll record it next time i play the matchup, but it just felt really hard to have any presence, sure I could kite blitz to infinity, but that comes at the cost of completely abandoning my adc, and blitz just turns on him instead

Normal

Please or register to reply.

[Guide] Support Vel'koz

Completed

Ongoing

Upcoming