Introduction
As everyone knows from the FOTM tier list, certain champions like Zed, Leblanc, Katarina, and now Ahri and Azir dominate the popularity contest when it comes to mid lane. But which of the lesser known mages can also hold their own in the shadowy underground world of the mystics? Read on!
For those of you that regularly follow the solo queue tier list, this probably comes to you as no surprise. I've been a strong proponent of Vel'koz for a very long time, and believe that his waveclear, poke, and insanely strong passive true damage really make him a dark horse of mid lane.
Not only that, but his mana costs are insanely cheap for a champion that can spam so many moves in such a short period of time.
Due to his high base damage, most Vel'kozi (Vel'Kai?) choose to stack magic penetration items and liandries right away, which allows him to scale strongly into late game despite any magic resist items an enemy team might build.
2. Morgana
Ever since she was relegated to a support role with the release of the blue gold trinket, Morgana's been very under the radar as a mid laner. In fact, she's actually more popular as a top laner in the pro scene due to tactics in China and Europe.
As a mid laner, Morgana brings to the table everything she usually does as a support:
- The most annoying shield in the game
- Insanely long snare with extremely short cooldowns
- Her frustrating ultimate + zhonya initiation combo
Additionally, she gets to make use of her super safe laning phase via her insane waveclear and built-in spell vamp.
3. Wukong
I find it interesting that people will choose to play Riven, and even Irelia mid instead of Wukong. Although he has no built-in sustain and higher mana costs, his 1v1 and 1v2 burst damage is absolutely insane for how easy it is to pull off.
For people looking for a new "cheese" type champion with Jarvan consistently nerfed, I'd say Wukong is a strong go-to choice. With Lissandra's extreme popularity top lane, playing Wukong mid is flexible as your top pick allows your team to still have some AP damage.
Honorable Mentions
Malzahar: Mal definitely gets an honorable mention, as his play rate is very low at the moment. I expect to see him rise very quickly, simply because everyone else in this game was nerfed and now utilizes the "Last Man Standing" rule. We're already seeing QQ on the forums though, so I don't see him as underrated at the moment.
Brand: With his oppressive laning phase, built-in ignite, and deceptively long stun time, Brand is a high skill, high reward champion that can melt entire teams by himself from an unwarded bush. Like Malzahar, he's electing the "Last Man Standing" rule. However, I think Annie currently does his job better as she has more mind-gaming ability.
Got more choices? Comment below!
YES I TOTALLY AGREE WITH THIS POST AS A MID LANER MYSELF!!!!!
ReplyDeleteFor me I just started praticing Talon and Diana.
ReplyDeleteThey may lack some DPS against strong bruisers, but good enough vs assasins. And more importantly, to anticipate the comeback of long range mages (hi Lux, Ziggs, ...) - as of the arrival of nerfs to assasins and short range nukers.
I find Vel'Koz's kit awkward to use tbh. (Mind you, I'm used to burst) I feel like I'm too far back for my spells to pose any threat. When I do get close enough, I feel risky/vulnerable. Any tips?
ReplyDeleteplay zyra, u'll get that risky feeling all the game :)
ReplyDeletethe real thing with wukong mid is trying to get it through champ select...
ReplyDeleteHey Suntastic, I'm almost scared to ask since I'm already not happy about it, but what do you think of the changes Veigar will be receiving?
ReplyDeleteWhat about swain
ReplyDeleteSwain is the king of this, one of few mid laners that can walk away from a gank with a double kill. However, he has no dash so no one likes him, except me ofc XD.
ReplyDeleteSwain main here :-p
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing the reason he didn't include him is because he considers Swain stronger in the top lane than mid, which is probably true in most match ups, swain makes melees cry :-D
And then if you get beaten in lane if only for a bit, you can be sure that your team will blame it on "troll pick"
ReplyDeleteThat is definitely try but he has Swain really high up in mid as well, higher than Velkoz. Also IMO since Swain can roam from mid, he can snowball much harder in mid than top. He can also run Ignite in mid more often giving him easier First Bloods.
ReplyDeleteVel mid main here. I felt pretty vindicated to see this article, but I can get why he's underplayed. He definitely plays pretty weird, but it's quite fun once you learn it.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say that the only thing that matters is landing plasma fissions, but you really can't use him to his full potential without it. With a chalice of harmony first b, and a liandrys asap after that, it's some really solid poke. When you get practice with the geometry and timing, it has absolutely stupid long range, with really weird angles that make it a hard skillshot to dodge: most people are used to dodging side to side.
I cannot stress enough how great that ult is for sniping down people sitting in their tower, after they're spooked from a lot of poking.
Save the knock up for ganks, saves my tentacled ass so many times.
Void rift is the only spell with no CC, but it has no cast time: set it to smartcast, and throw it simultaneously with his q or e, which ensures you'll finish off the true damage stack.
Oh, and don't forget, his autos go through wind wall, and refresh his passive stacks on enemies. Use them to make sure they'll be ready for the next damage trade between your cooldowns.
The article was dead on when it talked about his build: building straight AP is a mistake. With the slow on his q and ult, liandrys gives him so much extra damage. Get sorc shoes and void staff soon after that, then I like a zhonyas.
The nice thing about the way he builds is that he doesn't have to be fed to do a lot of damage, thanks also to his strong base damage and true damage. This is also what helps him be a strong support.
At any rate, I hope people find this helpful. He's not for everyone, but he definitely could get a bit more attention.
Mordekaiser is pretty underated, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteBecause it is not the usual. People see a wukong mid and automatically think that it's a troll pick. Wukong mid is pretty nasty, his damage output is very good and THAT ULT
ReplyDeletevelkoz and brand no escape and too many skillshots for noobs (xerath has bigger range and is better)
ReplyDeletemorgana you don't lose lane but after lane feels like you don't do damage
wukong, lose vs most mages until level 6
malzahar is good, easy to farm and trade
Ap kog main here!! Too strong after 20 games I have always done the most damage on the team, usually game. He doesn't have that many bad matchups, swain being the only *oh god this is painful stahp it right now qq gg*.
ReplyDeleteI would add a Good Anivia and Swain to this list ! :)
ReplyDeleteAs long as you stay back and farm, Swain shouldnt be a problem unless they have a vi jungle or something. But ya ap Kog for president.
ReplyDeleteI used to love vek koz mid as he was my main. Unfortunately, so many champions counter vel koz, especially all of the assassins that counter him so hard.
ReplyDeleteAlso, brand is one of my favorite mid laners. He is ridiculously strong and you were spot on with "oppressive laning phase." It's honestly optimal to have a 1v2 when brands ult is up as it is so easy to melt both. I think brand is easy though even with his spell effects. Grasping them shouldn't take long at all.
ReplyDeleteI think Swain is best suited top. Swain has short range for a mage and is best not playing against high burst. Mid Lane tends to have more burst and higher range which makes it not the preferred lane.
ReplyDeleteI would add Anivia and Heimerdinger.
ReplyDeleteAnivia and TF :3
ReplyDeleteAssassins were killed out in 5.3 so mages are making a come back
ReplyDeleteSwain is a god
ReplyDeleteYeah Swain top is so stupid and oppressing. He is my only cheese champion top because the sheer amount of no counter play he has. He wrecks other AP tops like Lissandra
ReplyDeleteSwain has gained some attention recently, he's not as underrated as before.
ReplyDelete(maybe after the nerf bat to Kata and Lissandra, it's Swain's turn?)
LEAVE MY FREELO WUKONG MID ALONE
ReplyDeleteMordekaizer es numero uno en brasil! huehueahueehuehu
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, I can play Xerath, Azir, Veigar, and most AP mages but I CANT PLAY VEL KOZ, I JUST CAN'T PLAY HIM. HELP ME SOMEONE
ReplyDeleteMorello must have had a nightmare about assassins recently, seeing that he raped every single assassin with his nerf bat.
ReplyDeleteHi Spade, even though I'm a gold elo I think I have some tips for you to play as Velko:
ReplyDelete-Positioning is obvious, you play with xerath.
-Bread and butter combo is w+e, the knock back hold the enemy for the second hit and with the ability to use w in movement this combo turns into a great disengage/engage tool (unless you fight against an assassin, if so only bread and butter if he can't jump on you before the stun).
-I personally use the q only for poke, during a team fight I keep my concentration in bread and butter + ult, once you use your skills you become an instant target, using the ult before using your q can turn out to be the extra time you'd need with the ult to kill the opponent.
-During lane phase use the q to poke the opponent, don't lose time trying to be cute, shoot it straight if the opponent don't hide, if he get hit start aa, if he tries to engage, bread and butter to the face!
-You can actually cancel you ult (but I presume you already know this)
the thing is, he feels somewhat not impactful, is it just my terrible ultis, or is it that everybody just casually walks out of my ult?
ReplyDeleteI don't want to disagree with you cause I'm silver 4, but isn't stunning then W better because the stun is long enough to land both parts of the W? Just kind of curious.
ReplyDeleteXerath is making a comeback, even against Ahri I did pretty well as Xerath. I partially give credit to the enemy ww who camped bot but didn't get any kills xD
ReplyDeleteXerath is certainly a strong pick now that assassins cant insta gib and he does extremely well against other mages because of his superior range and hard cc
ReplyDeletespade the ace....silver 4....vel koz issues....all caps....i think i found a support main. Isn't that right spade!
ReplyDeleteTrue, but the stun "nerf" did almost nothing to impact gameplay, I just noticed that I had to press the keys somewhat quickly in order to pull off my full combo.
ReplyDeleteUhh, no. I main jungle, I'm the type of JUNGLE OR FEED kind of guy. I use caps because when your the jungler, everyone blames you at some point in the game for a mistake they made, so I get pissed in game a lot. :|
ReplyDeleteI don't want to be rude, but I think it may be your somewhat not so very good ults. In team fights, what I used to do was ult the entire crowd while our tank and carry dealt damage. It was good, but the landing phase, the LANING PHASE. (hell in a nutshell)
ReplyDeleteWhat about clearing 5 waves worth of minions with Sion or Ezreals ult or getting a 5 man fiddle ult when they all low
ReplyDeleteYou get my point here . . . If I wanted to go on, I have a ZILEAN more. For example, what is better than a five man dunk as darius? Or, the feeling of a 5 man ult as gnar, or going bot lane as alkali(enemy POV): An ally has been slain. Enemy double kill! (jungler comes) ENEMY TRIPLE KILL! (mid laner finally notices akali is bot and she is really low) ENEMY QUADRAKILL. Too bad the top laner didn't take teleport.
ReplyDeletei can land rumble ults but not a velkoz ult.
ReplyDeletehmm
What I do in lane is I land my knockup then immediately use my W. If you wait a bit too long you wont hit them with both stacks missing your passive. I usually focus on building lots of mana regen, magic pen, and ability power. Having high mana regen lets you spam abilities. Vel koz doesn't have the best scaling so magic pen is pretty important. Obviously build high ap because hes a mage lol. In lane pay attention to their health because you can get loads of surprise ult kills especially in silver. Keep in mind that your ult does the massive damage AND the passive damage. Essentially what im saying is at level 6 you can kill a lot of squishys at a little under half hp when they don't see it coming by just ulting from godly range. It also helps to add a stack on them before the ult because i think the ult places 5..meaning 1 more stack would let you activate it twice while you are already doing heavy damage. Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteSo theoretically, I should build an athenes then void against AP?
ReplyDeletexD. Vel Koz ults are really easy. Just position yourself a bit far back, and release the death star's hyper lazor.
ReplyDeleteYah its not like assassins just recieved a huge nerf or anything....
ReplyDeleteWukong does not lose vs most mages early. All it takes is one E Q combo that takes the mage to 1/3 health and he learns to back up and use spells to farm pretty quick. Pre 6 is wuks prime kill range in mid. Be more aggressive.
ReplyDeleteI actually forgot one more crucial thing...cdr is very important on him. I would probably build athenes first against a strong ap champ, otherwise morellonomicon. Then liandrys. Then void staff. Then probably an athenes if you haven't picked one up already or morello. the 5th is your digression based on the game. If you are fighting like a zed you would probably build zhonya first. But the last item could be rabadon, zhonya, rylais to work with liandrys well or a defensive item if you really need it (i usually dont build defensive items because vel koz is screwed regardless if he has it or not since he has awful escapes). Pretty much always take magic pen boots. You can carry games with this build if you get ahead. Always try to pull off your passive in the safest way possible and you will shred teams. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteMordekaiser main here :D He kind of loses to almost every ranged/poke match up though. Annie, Cass, Brand, Ahri, Xerath, Ziggs, Orianna, Malzahar, ect. ect. ect.! Those lanes make you hate life...
ReplyDelete