Today's FOTM relates to a much requested champion, Viktor! With his high visibility in LCS, it's no wonder that he's gained popularity amongst the masses. However, what does he actually provide and is it that much better than other champions? Let's take a look...
Introduction
As requested, let's do a Flavor of the Month (FOTM) rundown on the master scientist with a fast growing fanbase, Viktor! With his powerful AOE burst damage, trading, and poke power, his popularity is rising like the tide. What makes him good though? Let's check it out:
Viktor's Strengths
Generally, most Viktor's max their Death Ray first, followed by his Siphon Shield. In lane, his Q allows him to trade heavily as it gives a shield and an empowered auto attack in lane.
His Death Ray is an extraordinarily strong ability with Augment - Aftershock. This ability works very well in chokepoints, and for those skilled enough with him in lane, he can easily chunk down enemies quickly providing he can manage to hit them.
These two abilities, combined with his powerful mini-fiddlesticks ultimate and AOE CC make him extraordinarily strong if he can funnel teams into a single spot. Needless to say, his damage potential is extremely high, although his skillcap is as well.
Recent Developments
Patch 5.5: Fixed a bug where the detonation on upgraded death ray was canceling Viktor's autoattacks
Before this, the last adjustment was on Patch 4.18, which was actually a nerf that removed criticals from his Siphon Power.
Outside of direct patch changes, the removal of DFG and nerfs on popular mid laners certainly affected him, but not in a direct way.
Statistics
As you can see from the chart above from Lolking.net depicting his win rate and popularity at Diamond level, His play rate has risen dramatically over the last few months. However, if anything, his win rate has actually fallen.
This leads us to the following conclusions:
- Viktor is not overpowered in solo queue, and possibly not even strong;
- Viktor is a very difficult champion to use to his maximum potential; and
- Viktor is a difficult champion to pick up.
Conclusions
While Viktor's damage potential at chokepoints and in strong team synergy is very high, it requires more finesse to pick and choose favorable locations to do battle.
As a professionally coordinated team pick I think he definitely does very well, and can carry games "by himself", but in solo queue, that "by yourself" isn't quite enough, even at the highest levels of play.
I used to use Viktor a lot (post rework) and he was insanely fun, but too hard to use in pressured situations...
ReplyDeleteHe's strong if used right, but yeah needs an insanely long time to get good at. I guess I'm pretty average with him and I only play him due to him being fun, but in no way am I that good at him...
I feel like he's one of those champions where you need to main to be good at...I only ever play him so often to be average >___>
I main Viktor and I've carried multiple games..gotten many quadras. Only 2 champions I have a higher win rate with is Rumble and (top lane) Quinn.
ReplyDeleteBut I see where you're saying, if you miss your E, you lost your fight. Though the amount of AP he can get is so rediculous.
Viktor's upgradeable unique item makes his build kinda expensive compared to other kids and he is often snowball reliant, but it is harder to snowball on him than someone like katarina. The damage of Viktor's E is really insane once he gets a few AP items tho. I always found his ultimate to be a bit weird, since the DoT portion doesn't have particularly high DPS and Viktor plays as more of a burst mage than DPS. The DoT portion of the ult does about 2-3 times -- depending on Viktor's AP -- the damage of the cast portion over 7 seconds, but 7 seconds is a long time for Viktor to remain in a fight. Unless he's going 1v1 against a full tank Nunu, someone should be dead within 7 seconds.
ReplyDeleteA the end of the Viktor's Strengths section "his skiilcap is as well".
ReplyDeleteOff-topic: Talon needs a new skin. ;_;
ReplyDeleteFixed
ReplyDeleteA legendary skin ! :D
ReplyDeleteI started playing LoL last year around May... since I love RPG... I read the lore of almost all the champs and Viktor was my favorite mid laner although... I was pretty bad at using him but I really like all the attention he is getting and with diligent practice I am getting better.
ReplyDeleteYes!!! the damage is crazy.... the upgrade only costs 1k, not that much, and you can snowball easily. He dominates lane usually if you can play. E has big range. the thing with Q when your next basic attack does more dmg, the dmg is huge
ReplyDeletestop spamming your site on Nightblue's donations thx
ReplyDeleteSpammerino
ReplyDeleteViktor is not a strong champion??
ReplyDeleteOh well.
Oh.
Gotta go.
What exactly is being spammed? I don't promote on twitch...especially not on other people's streams.
ReplyDeleteYour explanation regarding skill cap is REALLY barebones. I do agree that only good Viktors can access his immense power, but explanation is needed in how his kit is high skill cap rather than just looking at win rate.
ReplyDeleteSmall area of effect, relatively dodgable spells with visible travel times
ReplyDeleteWell there is afro viktor joe from SEA region
ReplyDeleteone trick pony Viktor, challenger player
I played Viktor before he got picked in LCS :C
ReplyDeleteI would take pretty much anything >.<.
ReplyDeleteI mained Viktor once before the rework.
ReplyDeleteSuper op. Before and after rework. They never knew.
Man, I started playing Viktor just before he started gaining popularity and I was excited to have discovered this secret powerhouse. He's fun to play too, and I love his lore. But now people are finding out about him and they'll learn to play against him and the popularity might get him nerfed. Damn.
ReplyDeleteHe's surely one of the harder champions to play correctly - although his E has long range, you have to be close to the enemy to use it to its max potential. His R cast range isn't long AND you have to remain near it for the full effect to go, and his Q (which doubles as his DPS spell) is an auto-attack.
ReplyDeleteHowever... if you learn how to play him, he brings *everything* to the table: Sustain damage, INSANE burst damage (I've 100-0'd enemies in less than one freaking second), great pushing potential (especially with Luden's Echo) and great CC. He's also a decent roamer thanks to his Q augment and his CC.
Rylais with him also gives him crazy dueling potential. ALSO he can benefit from a tanky build due to his natural scalings and the peel he has with Rylais and his W.
JOIN THE GLORIOUS EVOLUTION.
I wonder when Talon will become the FOTM he's still good IMO but everyone seems to have that stigma that without a silence Talon is shit
ReplyDeletee is like an easier to hit rumble ult, but its still hard and has no cast time, which alot of player doesn't utilize.
ReplyDeleteq requires you to hit the aa to deal damge, which could be tricky.
w is also hard to land because cast time+1.5 second delayed stun.
the ult requires some micro, but is otherwise pretty easy.
What are some recommended team comps with viktor mid?
ReplyDeleteSorry if I'm in the wrong place to ask this.
Are they merging him?
ReplyDeleteyou never know when the rito gods strike
ReplyDeleteI play as Viktor together with my bud jungling as amumu, we carry pretty hard: It's a very nice combo wich i would reconnemend, he ganks 2 times and lane is won so hard. this combo works good for lane and exceptionally well in teamfights
ReplyDeletehes pretty strong atm i think tier 1 should be very viable for where he is
ReplyDeleteViktor can fit practically ANY team comp. He can siege decently, can hold the line while someone else is splitpushing, can poke decently, can burst a single, can bully lane in a proper matchup, his DPS is good enough to be considered a hyper carry (and thus go for a protect-the-carry team comp), with Rylai's he can be the peeler himself and has AMAZING teamfights/wombo combo potential.
ReplyDeleteThus I like to take him at first pick because he is so flexible. However, I think a team fight comp suis him best.
Hi guys,
ReplyDeleteI start to play Vicktor because big riot give me for free... I play the first time in aram and I was really bad to manage the skill, then I continue to play it learning and watching video and I have to say that he really "makes hole".
Is really strong but i have, in the beginning, some farm issue...
I will playing more!!!
Suggested build?
As Viktor, what I like to do is rush your first 2 Hex-cores (if you don't have enough for it on first back get another Doran's or Amplifiying tome as it builds into all of your core items, even boots are fine) then Sorcerer Boots into either Rabadons or Luden's. Next get the one that you didnt get out of Rabadon's and Luden's, and finish your Hex-core. At this point you either want to get Zhonia's, Void Staff, or Lich Bane, depending on what the enemy team have, or how far ahead you are. Don't forget to upgrade Warding Totem >:( Hope this helped!
ReplyDeleteahhhh so the first goal is to upgrade the E and Q with the Hex Core, I was buying Blasting Wand soon as possible and then one Hex Core to update the Q.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Morellonomicon instead Luden's (after the change)? Rylai's sound good but maybe Zhonia's can save your life...
I will try next match that I can go mid (as usual is not easy to go top or mid...)
People are saying to upgrade 2 hex-cores first, I think they're wrong. First, you're paying 1k extra gold right off the bat for an extra 20 ap +1 ap per level, which is good [(I guess, I usually get the first h-c at 5 which means it won't be until 7 or so that I go back to buy, at that point is 11 extra ap at 18 really worth it?)] for late game dominance. The first hex-core is manditory for sure, but rushing a second not so much.
ReplyDeleteWhy?
Because what's the point of extra movement speed on Q if you don't have the AP to chase them down? By the time you grab your second Hex-core upgrade, the enemy midlaner will already have a NLR as well as a Blasting Rod which is +80 ap to your +40 ap. Worth it? You decide.
What I like to do is this, rush the first H-C then move on to my situational (zonyas, rabadons, abyssal) depending who is (and if I) get dominated in lane. Then it's onto what I think is the epitome of Viktor, Lich Bane. If you grab Lich Bane first, you're lacking in overall AP even though your Q blasts them hard, your E lacks a punch, and your E is everything.
After Lich THEN I upgrade my Hex-Core a second time. Now I have the damage to scare off anyone AND now I have the movement speed on my 3 second cooldown Q to chase anyone down who decides to run from me. At this point I'll be around lvl 13-16 and I'll just finish off the rest of the Hex-Core before moving onto my last couple of situationals (pick 2 [ignoring your early situational] Zonya's, Rabadons, Abyssal, Void Staff, Rylai's, Banshee's Veil or Thornmail)
TL:DR Sample build 1= Hex-core 1, boots, rabadon's, lich bane, Hex-core 2 then 3, Zonya's Rylai's
Sample build 2= Hex-core 1, boots, Abyssal Scepter, lich bane, Hex-core 2 then 3, Rabadon's Banshee's
Viktor can also beat out his biggest counters (except a good ahri, Le Blanc or veigar) by W placement, everyone know's what a yasuo or fizz is going to do when he goes in for the kill, an average player's response is to run, a good player uses their W to zone them away from you.
ReplyDeleteWhen yas runs at you, you simply place your W ontop of the minion's he's trying to jump to and that zones away, making it hard for him to land his stacked Q. When Fizz lands his ult on you quickly drop your W ontop of yourself so when he dives he get's stuck, then burst his ass.
Otherwise you just have to get good at landing E's from a distance and that keeps champs away from you. It takes practice but when you get it down, it's unstoppable. W placement and E placement are the 2 main weapons that separate average players from good players.
I really like the "build" and of course can be change during the match (and the opponent).
ReplyDeleteWhat you think about morello? I think can be a good choice in some occasion.
I have a very good match even if we lose I close 14-6-12 and I dominate my lane but we play for 4-5 minutes in 4vs5...
Then i have a match against Yasuo... it was really hard I was lucky that the jungler was very good and clever after we kill him 2 time I was able to kill him easily.