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