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Viktor was released about a hundred years ago, and nobody liked him because he was useless. Literally nothing about him was good, and there was no way to contend with any of the other popular mages.

But thankfully, all your prayers to Based God have been answered, and Viktor received some buffs. I don't care what those buffs were, but if you're as hard as I am right now, it doesn't matter. What DOES matter is that Viktor will slap your shit. Let's talk about skillshots for a moment; you like skillshots? I love skillshots, but you don't know shit about skillshots until you reliably hit Viktor's Death Ray. People talk about good utilization of champion skills as the measure of separating the great players from the good players.

Well if this is the metric, knowing how to use separates the good Viktors from those who are better off licking windows. Don't even attempt Viktor unless you can pinch tits with that Death Ray.

Now that we've got that out of the way, lets talk about Viktor's role. If you read my last guide, you know I'm a huge stickler for great team composition and synergy. If you didn't read my last guide, it's right here:

http://www.solomid.net/guides.php?g=15698

I'll wait.


So I'll assume you read it. Good. Now you know why my Lewis Black-esque brand of caustic humor will never be appreciated. But enough about that, let's answer the question of "What Does Viktor Brings to a Team?"

The simple answer is Area Control. Viktor's and are both excellent spatial control skills. The does stupidly good damage, has ridiculous range, and it can be used while moving; its the best goddamn skill in the game. You can zone out an entire team and literally draw the lines of battle.

, also happens to be one of the best counterinitiation tools in the game. It has the potential to stun multiple opponents, cut off choke points, and split enemy formations. Gravity Field gives your teammates some breathing room against the enemy frontline, and it also makes enemy retreat nigh-impossible. The downside is that it is a somewhat wasteful and clunky single-target stun and is difficult to use while dueling. In lane, effective usage of , will make you practically ungankable. People will think twice about tower diving you, and you can even use it to halt entire creep waves in front of the tower. In this way, Viktor is simultaneously excellent at pushing and stopping enemy pushes.

The rest of Viktor's kit is based around area and single target burst. is a great nuke, while his is a retardedly powerful AOE damage spell. In this way, Viktor is analagous to Karthus and Anivia. Viktor has excellent AOE burst damage, as well as powerful crowd controlling capability.

Viktor is not for everybody, and his skills force you to play a certain way. He's not a jack-of-all-trades mage like Brand or Malzahar; you can't just throw him in with any team (but that's not going to stop you from trying, I'm sure). Let me crack an egg of wisdom on you guys and help you get a better conception of what Viktor does.

1. VIKTOR IS NOT AN INITIATOR

Viktor's strongpoint is turning Soft Crowd Control into Hard Crowd Control. What I mean by this, is that Viktor can chain his onto slowed or rooted targets and stun them for an even longer duration.

What Viktor CANNOT do is lead a stun with his . The range is very short, and advancing into range completely telegraphs what you're about to do. Furthermore, is very easy to avoid once it's up. You need to catch people in it or force them to move through it. Viktor capitalizes on the Crowd-Controlling abilities of his teammates to extend the disable duration; he does NOT bring strong Crowd Control on his own. This is ESPECIALLY APPARENT when a jungler attempts to gank your lane, and sits there waiting for you to stun the opponent. That's not going to happen. Viktor stuns AFTER the jungler, not before. If your jungler doesn't understand this concept, point him to this guide. If he still doesn't get it, I hope the tribunal will be lenient when you AFK or rage at him.

2. VIKTOR SHOULD NOT SPLIT PUSH

Viktor is an incredibly strong lane pusher. With minimal items, he can oneshot creep waves with , which allows you to spend most of your time in lane harassing or assisting in ganks. It's awesome.

But Viktor is an exceptionally poor split pusher. Why is that? Well, he's really slow. Mobility is the hallmark of a good Split Pusher. While you might be tempted to go off and push other lanes with your insanely good creep-clearing ability, you will almost certainly be chased and killed. Also your teammates will hate you.

3. DON'T EMPHASIZE PAST LEVEL 4

Viktor is not meant to duke it out with other mages over a long period of time. In fact, you don't really want to be anywhere near the opponents unless you're going in for the kill. This may seem counterintuitive, given the short ranges on , , and Viktor's surprisingly good autoattack; but understand that the bulk of your lane presence is the imminent threat of your . Viktor's greatest strength when it comes to lane harass is that can be cast while moving. This means that every time your lane opponent attempts to harass you, you can easily line up your , then respond with for a big spike of damage.

However, harassing people solely with puts you entirely at their mercy, and the only reason I get a point of first is because it does more damage than Level 1 . Viktor's might trick you into thinking that you can run up, harass with it, and win trades due to the shield.



That strategy only works from levels 1-3. You can get some damage on the opponent without much consequence this way, but past those levels, becomes purely defensive. The casting range on puts you at a severe disadvantage relative to your opponents, and the shield will not protect you from retaliatory fire. Stick to your for harass and use to help last hit.

4. VIKTOR CAN'T TOP OR SUPPORT

Apart from the obvious reasons of why Viktor makes a terrible jungler, you shouldn't play him anywhere but solo mid. You might be thinking: "HEY PASTOULIO, MOST CHAMPS THAT CAN SOLO MID CAN ALSO SOLO TOP"

Shut up.

That's not the case here. Viktor gets wrecked in solo top because you can't really trade with a bruiser until at least level 4. Furthermore, most bruisers possess scaling Magic Resist, so you should stay the hell away from top lane. As far as Crowd Control goes, your is great, but it's not going to stop Jarvan or Udyr from tearing your nuts off once they get in your face. Your poke won't even phase them; it's pointless. Faggots like Swain can solo top because allow him to slow, root, and sustain himself. Viktor is not Swain, and should only be played solo mid.

And if you want to try some asshole version of support Viktor, please stick to normals and hope to whatever god you pray to that you're not grouped with me.

New Masteries mean I have to fucking explain this shit and write more after a long day of watching glue dry at work. The bar is calling, so I'll do my best to be brief.



So here's the standard setup. I go deep enough into the Damage tree to pick up everything. I also really like Spellsword. I do a lot of autoattack harassment as Viktor, and this mastery just makes you hit harder all around. It's great. I've been experimenting with Sheen/Lichbane quite a bit, and this just makes those items even better.

I go deep enough in the Support tree to pick up the buff extension. Viktor is very blue-dependent in the early game, and you will want to savor that Ancient Golem ball-sweat for as long as you can. I prefer movement speed and huge pools of mana to regeneration, so I skip Meditation; and I drop a point into Artificer because... why the hell not?



You could also try the defensive option. This gives you a little bit of magic reisist/armor. Feel free to go 3/1, 2/2, or 1/3 in those masteries, depending on matchup; the point of this build is to get that extra scaling health so you can add it to your health-scaling-runes and be the jew overlord of hit points.



Or you could go full biscuit and become the Biscuit Knight of the North. I don't recommend this. In fact, never do this.

QUINTS: AP or Movement Speed
I like MS Quints because Viktor is SLOW

REDS: Magic Penetration
Do you like being able to do damage? Good.

BLUE: Scaling AP
Viktor is all about scaling.

YELLOW: Flat Armor or Scaling Health
I prefer Flat Armor these days.

There's some freedom here in your Seals, and you can pick whatever works for you. I used to run scaling AP Seals, but then I pulled my head out of my ass and decided to go with Scaling Health Seals (Thank you for the suggestion, Lackasadaisy. Go read Lacks' Vlad Guide http://solomid.net/guides.php?g=13381).

The tradeoff is a totally underwhelming 1 AP/level in favor of a little bit of buffer health for Viktor. He needs this health because at early levels where runes matter, he's often putting himself right in the middle of the fight, and you need some survivability in that regard. You don't do any damage when you're dead.

If you find yourself coming up against a gimmicky mid character like Talon or Pantheon, you're going to want armor seals instead.

WHAT, DO YOU NOT LIKE GETTING KILLS? TAKE FLASH IGNITE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.



These would replace Flash, based on your preference. If for some reason you find yourself in Top Lane, I'd probably take Teleport instead of Flash.

Ghost is an acceptable alternative to Flash because it improves your chase game immensely, and this is an area in which Viktor is exceptionally weak.



If you want to try these skills in place of ignite, go right ahead. Heal is really the only one I'd consider, and I don't even like it that much. Cleanse could be good, but if you're finding yourself wishing you had cleanse, you're probably doing something wrong. Exhaust doesn't really do much for Viktor. is kind of like having Exhaust already.

Viktor starts with a Hex Core that provides him with stats and can be upgraded in the store to augment one of his abilities. The Hex Core can only be upgraded once, and cannot be sold back to the store.



THIS PASSIVE IS GETTING BUFFED "SOON."

And that's awesome, because your passive is actually pretty good. This gives you the most raw AP of any mage-style champion; with Death Augment, you cant hit some pretty stratospheric AP thresholds as the game goes on. A more subtle contribution of this passive is the sheer amount of scaling it provides. Think about it: you have masteries which give AP based on level; runes which give AP based on level; and a passive that does the same. All those multipliers stack up very quickly!



Viktor sends a device at an enemy unit to blast them for magic damage, which then returns to him granting a shield for up to 3 seconds with an amount equal to 40% of the damage dealt before reduction.

• Range: 600
• Missile Speed: 2000

Cost: 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 mana

Cooldown: 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 seconds

Magic Damage: 80 / 125 / 170 / 215 / 260 (+0.65 per ability power)

Shield: 32 / 50 / 68 / 86 / 104 (+0.26 per ability power)



When Viktor first came out, everybody thought that they'd build Augment: Power, Rod of Ages, and Rylais and be an unstoppable health tank mage. Yeah that was embarrasing. This skill fools a lot of people into thinking that Viktor can win damage trades with it, but that's not true at all. This skill requires the projectile to return to you before you get your shield, and while the return speed was buffed, it's still not instantaneous. This means that just about every other character will get their damage on you BEFORE ITS SHIELDED, and BECAUSE YOU ARE IN RANGE TO HIT THEM WITH THIS ABILITY, THEY'RE ALMOST CERTAINLY GOING TO HIT YOU TOO.

This is not an offensive skill; it is purely defensive. It is meant to be spammed on people in the process of wrecking your face. This forces enemies to eat through the shield if they want to kill you.

**NEW** - Prior to the Season 3 release, Power Transfer would shield you for 40% of the damage done by the skill. Now, it shields you for a flat 40% of its total damage. This is a buff, because now the shield is no longer affected by the damage reduction of opponents.



Viktor conjures a gravitational imprisonment device in an area near him, slowing all enemies that pass above it. Whilst under its effect, enemies generate stacks every 0.25 seconds; at 3 stacks the target will be stunned for 1.5 seconds.

• Cost: 65 mana
• Range: 625 (812.5 if upgraded)
• Activation Time: 0.25 seconds

Cooldown: 17 / 16 / 15 / 14 / 13 seconds

Slow: 28 / 32 / 36 / 40 / 44%



Gentlemen, what you are currently looking at is the sexiest counterinitiation tool in the game. This skill should physically arouse you. This ain't no Gragas Ult/Janna Ult/Blitzcrank-Just-Pulled-Alistar-By-Mistake-And-Now-Everybody-Is-Getting-Raped, this is the god damn GRAVITY FIELD. This skill allows you to punish enemies and win teamfights. It's an absolute danger zone that people MUST AVOID. Use it to cut off escapes, disable a frontline, stop minions from pushing the lane, and prolong the crowd-control of your teammates.

Let's focus on that last bit. More than any other skill in the game, Gravity Skill is superb at securing a kill. This is because effective use of Gravity Field extends the crowd control abilities of your teammates by two whole seconds. That's huge. Notice that I did not once say that your Gravity Field should be used to initiate fights; this is because it can't. Nobody is just going to run into it; you have to drop it on people! This means that they are either already suffering some crowd-control, or you are DANGEROUSLY close to the action.

This also means that you're entitled to be frustrated when a Jungler patiently waits for you to stun your lane opponent so that he can jump in. When you gank for Viktor, the JUNGLER GOES IN FIRST, AND THEY'D BETTER BE PLAYING A JUNGLER WITH SOME CROWD-CONTROL.



Viktor uses his robotic arm to fire a chaos beam that sweeps across the field in a chosen path, dealing magic damage to every enemy it hits.

• Range: 700-1400

Cost: 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 mana

Cooldown: 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 seconds

Magic Damage: 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+0.7 per ability power)



Viktor's Death Ray is the best skill in the game. It's got incredible range, damage, and scaling. Every time you hit a target with Death Ray, it will make your opponents sweat. This thing does ABSURD damage, with great scaling. It gets 45 freaking damage per level, which means that it more than DOUBLES in damage by rank 3, and TRIPLES in damage by rank 5. The scaling is ridiculously good, especially when you consider the contribution of Augment: Death (bringing the total AP ratio of the skill to .91 -- that's a nearly 1:1 AP ratio on your best skill!). Death Ray allows you to harass like a champ and push the lane with unparalleled power. There are very few characters who can outpush a Viktor, and NO CHARACTERS can deny Viktor farm. Your Death Ray can stretch across the lane and get you those last hits, no matter who you're facing.

I'm not going to lie though; this skill is the end-all-be-all of Viktor. You must learn to use this skill if you want to be a good Viktor. The best part about Death Ray is that it can be cast while moving. This means that Viktor IS ALWAYS DANGEROUS. Viktor is EASILY capable of killing you while you are chasing him down. In fact, chasing Viktor practically guarantees that he'll hit you easily with his Death Ray. At later levels, this will be damage you cannot shrug off.



Viktor conjures a chaos storm at the target location, dealing magic damage and silencing enemies in the area for 0.5 seconds. As it churns, the storm deals magic damage every second to nearby enemies for 7 seconds. Activating this ability again while the singularity is active will redirect it. The storm moves faster the closer it is to Viktor.

• Cooldown: 120 seconds
• Range: 700

Cost: 125 / 175 / 225 mana

Initial Magic Damage: 150 / 250 / 350 (+0.55 per ability power)

Magic Damage Per Second: 50 / 75 / 100 (+0.25 per ability power)

Total Magic Damage: 500 / 775 / 1050 (+2.3 per ability power)



This is Viktor's magnificent finish. Never doubt the power of this ult. It does incredible damage at all levels. This skill is what allows you to dominate teamfights and duel like a champ. Think of Chaos Storm as a Tibbers that does more damage, silences, can be controlled, and can't be stopped until it ends. CHAOS STORM LOCKS ON TO STEALTHED TARGETS IF YOU TARGET THEM WITH THE INITIAL CAST, AND WILL FOLLOW THEM WHILE THEY ARE STEALTHED. Always use this ability to deal the most possible damage, and always try to hit multiple enemies instead of single targets (even if you're trying to silence). Dead enemies deal no damage, and Chaos Storm excels at making things dead. Don't forget that you can position the ult after you cast it, so move it to the location in which it deals the most damage.

This spell CAN lock on to opponents, but bear in mind that you must maintain close proximity to the Storm, because Chaos Storm's "movement" speed varies inversely with the separation distance between you and the storm. This means that the closer you are to it, the faster it moves; the further you are from it and it won't budge. This spell becomes absolutely bonkers when you get a Rylai's; as nobody will be able to escape its lock on. Furthermore, it will slow anyone caught in its aura.

Use Chaos Storm to score kills, but be aware that your teamfighting ability depends almost exclusively on you landing this spell on clustered enemies. You will not be able to teamfight very well while Chaos Storm is on recharge, and it does have a long cooldown. However, if you can get a solo kill by utilizing your Chaos Storm, go for it. Kills are kills!

Very few matchups necessitate that you level before ; this is because Power Transfer is exceptional at softening incoming predictable damage. But if you want to be smacking bitches harder than Sweet Sweetback, you gotta level that .

Aranium, who wrote the FEATURED VIKTOR GUIDE (http://www.solomid.net/guides.php?g=20631) suggests delaying until level 8. I disagree. The extra damage you get from Rank 2 in no way makes up for the lack of versatility you suffer by not having for the first ten minutes of the game. You're either going to get ganked and die with zero escape ability, or you won't be able to help your jungler when he comes to gank. Gravity Field is an absolute must, and you should get it at Level 3 or 4 depending on the situation. For instance, if the enemy team has a Shaco jungler, you may want to pick up Gravity Field at 3. Do not delay until Level 8, you will regret it.

I take one point of because at early levels, it does more damage than . It also lets you win trades. But don't think for a second that you will continue to win trades by leveling your . Other AP Carries will laugh at your pitiful , and if your only response is to get right up in their grill and eat whatever they're serving, feel free to keep leveling .

But if you want to win the lane, is the only acceptable answer. Starting at rank 2, it starts doing crazy damage, with crazy range. You can start pushing the lane and doing some long range harass. won't do that.

I then get a point of at level 4. Take it at level 3 if you feel like you're in danger of being ganked. This is of concern if the enemy is doing some gimmick shit like Jungle Shaco or Twitch. will save your ass.

Level 5 is where shit starts hitting the fan. Rank 3 is one of the highest damaging skills among all AP carries, and you can really start bullying the lane. Ever seen Viktor outpush a Morgana? I have; every time I play Viktor.

Viktor is [no longer] slow like you, because all champions got a 25 Movement Speed bonus in Preseason Patch 3, and boots are no longer as immediately awesome as they used to be. You can now actually get away with a Doran's Ring start, if you're feeling ballsy. I take Movement Speed Quintessences, so they actually do more for you if you DON'T start boots.

With that said, you might want to consider a Crystalline Flask start. If you buy 6 or more health potions during the early game, a Crystalline Flask would have paid for itself. It's a nifty little item, and lets you start with a ward, while still being sustainable. If you feel vulnerable in the early game, this is a solid start.

As usual, do or if you're facing gimmicky shit.

In ranked, I really favor the opening because it is safe You don't want to be the guy that gets ganked because you didn't have freaking wards. Be a credit to your team and live to carry them later.



Sorcerer's Shoes were the go-to choice for Viktor's footwear. Now that Sorc Shoes have been nerfed slightly, I'm thinking that it may be more worthwhile to go with Ionian Boots of Lucidity. Testing will tell. Of course, if you're getting blown up, don't be afraid to go defensive and get Tabi or Merc Treads.

For enchantments, Homeguard/Furor/Alacrity are clearly the best, and in that order. Furor even lets you pretend like you have Augment: Power; because it lets you kite people with your . The other choices are not viable.




Doran's Rings are increasingly becoming a situational item for my particular playstyle. I tend to buy them when I am forced out of lane early, and don't have enough money for a major item. They give you just enough "oomph" to stay competitive with your opponent, but they don't scale at all. If you can get at least one kill for every Doran's Ring you buy, they will have paid for themselves.

Instead, I've been going straight for Augment Death, because it gives you absurd damage. You will be keeping Augment Death for the entire game, so it's fine to have it early because you'll just be sitting on it anyway.

The bottom line about your Early Game Build is this: Get your Augment Death and Boot Upgrade, and if you feel that you need something extra, get 1-2 Doran's Rings.

Also, if you happen to be playing against a pesky AD Caster in mid, is your best friend. Viktor's creep clearing ability will allow you to stack that thing up in no time at all, and the stats will actually be conducive to you not getting fucked over. It even builds into ; what's not to love?




This is the only cashmoney item worth buying, but I wouldn't go out of my way to get it before finishing any of the items that build from it: . Those items tend to be so cheap that it's really not worth sitting on a when you could just buy the higher-tier items outright.




This is now the most important phase of the game, and the decisions you make here will directly decide the outcome. Choose well.

First we require some basic familiarity with the item options available. If you're having a really good game thus far, there's nothing wrong with getting a straightaway; because you want everything that builds from it. Other items are more situational, so allow me to present a flowchart to aid in the decision making process.



These items are not picked at random. Everything builds into something you will want at a later stage in the game, and each is very situational. If you are dominating the lane, you will want items that press your advantage; if you're losing, you want items that will keep you alive long enough to contribute to fights. Knowing which item to pick comes with experience, but that's why I'm here to help.

Any idiot can throw on a Deathcap and explode noobs, but the path to domination is not always straightforward. Viktor cannot afford to have a bad midgame; so choose your items based on what you need to beat your opponents.




Inventory space is at a premium with Viktor, so versatile items make the best possible use of his 5 slots. Deathcap has been nerfed again, but it is still absolutely mandatory. The upside to the Deathcap nerf is that it makes and more attractive. Rylai's is still quite good, and now has incredible synergy with (which you will probably want to get in most games).

If you went with Doran's Rings, don't sell them until you need the inventory space, because they're still useful items. BUT WHEN YOU REPLACE THEM, HERE ARE YOUR OPTIONS TO CONSIDER:



This is your go-to option for when the enemy team has multiple right-clickers. The active is decent because Viktor's ultimate can still deal damage while he is invincible. This item is better now that Deathcap is worse.



Abyssal is probably your best bet if you want some magic penetration. Void Staff is not a good buy most of the time because it just doesn't bring enough utility to your limited inventory space. Abyssal gives you an aura of magic penetration, a decent amount of AP, and some magic resist. That's very cost effective.




*IMPORTANT* -- Viktor needs a little bit of Cooldown Reduction in his builds. Obviously, the easiest methods to acquire it will be from Blue Buff + , but you're going to want to incorporate at least one CDR item to push you to the cap. *GETTING TO 40% CDR UNBUFFED IS A POOR USE OF VIKTOR'S LIMITED INVENTORY SPACE; YOU'RE FINE WITH 15-20% UNBUFFED*



Lichbane works on Viktor. It gives you an extra way to deal tons of damage, and because of your sizeable AP pool and moderately-spaced cooldowns, you will actually make pretty good use of the autoattack damage. has a synchronous cooldown with Lichbane, so you will get guaranteed procs when using . The appeal of Lichbane is that it gives Viktor, a burst AP Carry, the ability to maximize his total damage per ability cooldown; in that you can autoattack between spell casts for significant damage.



After a fair amount of testing with this item, I can say that it isn't as awesome as I initially thought. Sure, it has synergy with and , but Liandry's is primarily a poking item. You get this item so that you can deal damage as a percentage of the target's health over time, but this will rarely kill the target; instead, it just functions like a cattle-prod, and forces them away from objectives. Viktor is capable of playing this kind of game, because is a great poking tool (but it is still not optimized for ). Overall, keep this item in mind, but recognize that it is a situational item for when you need more poking ability than straight-up burst. And don't forget: if you get this item, always pair it with .



An extremely solid midgame choice. Get this item when you need a blend of mana sustainability, magic resist, and cooldown reduction. A comfortable point to get your is AFTER your Augment. In this way, you have enough damage to afford delaying your other big items until later, and the Chalice lets you lane harder and longer. When you decide to get Athene's, the goal is NOT to have infinite mana (Blue Buff does that for you already). You get Athene's Grail so that you can engage in teamfights every couple of minutes without having to go back to the fountain. By "teamfights", I mean any encounter which is not a 1v1.

I've been getting this item quite a bit lately (most AP mids do). It's good, but if you have to sell something late game to make room for a better item, this is unfortunately the one you have to ditch.



DFG has been completely revamped... again. Now it gives a shitload of AP; and though the active ability is now different, the purpose remains unchanged. When there is a target on the enemy team who absolutely, positively MUST DIE, get DFG. The nuke and debuff pretty much guarantee a kill. The cooldown reduction also makes this an incredibly attractive item on Viktor, plus, it gives you another option to build out of .



A lot of people are building this item now, and I'm starting to the see the appeal. This item directly competes with , but provides more AP and CDR at the cost of mana regen and magic resist... which is okay sometimes. I wouldn't really care much about the passive because you already have , and Viktor can just blow people up anyway, but shoot, this item is cheap, and you can always sell it later. Remember to get at least two kills with it so that you break even on the cost.



You should really only consider this item when you need sustained regeneration instead of (or in conjunction with) health-padding. This item shines when you want to win trades against characters that try to harass you to death without hard disables. To elaborate, this item is good against characters like Swain, Vladimir, and Ryze. See what I'm getting at? Spell Vamp is super efficient with both your and , allowing you to recoup health and win damage trades exceptionally well.



RoA is just okay. It gives a bit more health, less mana, and has some nerfed sustainability (just like Catalyst). However, it's still a solid choice, provided you're already crushing the lane. As per usual, an early Rod of Ages is a very good snowballing caster item... or at least it used to be. With all the newfangled items out there that just do so many things, the boring flat-stat upgrades provided by RoA just seem lackluster in comparison. Right now RoA lacks item synergy, and that's what puts it quite low on my priority list right now.



Viktor is just about the only mage where Void Staff is a situational item. It just doesn't bring enough to the table, and Viktor only has five slots to work with in his inventory. However, you will need this item if you're facing some serious magic resist. Forgo your Abyssal Scepter in that case. Void Staff is also a very attractive item when paired with a Deathfire Grasp.



This item is absurdly good on Viktor because you often attract lots of crowd control. Most of your spells put you in range where someone can easily jump on you or exhaust/ignite/suppress you. QSS can save your life, but the downside is that your inventory is strained even further. Don't be afraid to build this item if you can use it effectively.






When you need more Armor than a Zhonyas can provide, this item helps. It's got a little bit of everything you want; and the passive ability is great for kiting. It doesn't deal Lichbane-level damage, but at least you can slow someone while you run.



If you're not good at using QSS and/or Abyssal Scepter just isn't enough, this is your go-to magic resist item. It stops caster combos cold. Most of the time, however, you'll be fine with QSS and Abyssal. Get the Catalyst after your two Doran Rings and save it for as long as possible before turning it into a Veil.





Even with the new Seraph's Embrace... thing... I'd still go for Zhonya's if you want a survivability option. Viktor takes a while to farm up , but hey it could work.


Tried it. It sucks. Don't bother.





Am I crazy? YES. YES I FUCKING AM. Don't count this item out; just look at those stats! 20% Spell Vamp? Kinda cool.
50 AP? Nice.
+10 Mana Regen? YES PLEASE.
10% CDR? Make sweet tender love to me.

Wikifags also says: "Spirit of the Spectral Wraith is gold efficient even without its spell vamp stat and three passives effects."

Who cares if you never take smite? This item is cheap as hell, and can help you transition better if you got off to a rocky start. At the very least, you'll be able to oneshot minion waves with even faster than normal!



Okay, I have experimented quite a bit with this item, and it still isn't something I would get in most games. However, because Viktor's base regeneration stats are trash, this item can improve your lane sustainability. I would only consider getting Miracle in total farm-fest games where the extra regen will be worthwhile.



Very cheap, gives you an additional slow and allows you to have some stealth detection. Seriously, this item rules. Don't keep it around past the midgame, however. If you get a few kills with it, the item will have served its purpose. Remember: get at least two kills with this item, and you will have broken even on the cost.

Never get this item. It is a waste of your Augment. Nothing about it is good. The Movement speed might trick those of simple mind into thinking they can harass with while being fast and tanky, but this is a lie. has garbage range, so the movement speed is redundant when you have to be up close to hit someone with it anyway. This means that the speed boost will only help you escape; and if that's the case, why are you so damn close to the enemy team?

Never get Augment Power.




Not only does get 30% more damage as a burn over time, but you also get 45 AP. THAT'S AWESOME. Augment Death is your #1 choice in almost every game. The amount of damage you get to throw around is simply absurd, and as I have stated many times, Augment Death is the only Augment which gives you stats comparable to a 6th item during lategame.




There will be times when the extra range on your make all the difference when it comes to teamfights. If you stand to get zoned so hard that you can't even drop or , you should probably consider Augment Gravity. Now, you will not deal nearly as much damage with this Augment, but you will be a somewhat better teamfighter. The range upgrade for your is quite significant, so much so that you can now almost initiate fights with it (although that's still not what you should be using it for).

Getting this augment means that you have to account for a massive playstyle shift, because you become less of a wrecking ball and more of a disabler.

THE FIRST THING YOU SHOULD DO IN ANY GAME IS LEASH FOR YOUR JUNGLER. IF YOU WANT THEM TO GIVE YOU EVERY BLUE, BE NICE TO THE JUNGLER.


Viktor does not have a weak early game. He's got a decent autoattack and his allows him trade favorably with most other AP Carries. The shield component of Power Transfer even helps you to come out on top in short skirmishes. It's not likely that you will get kills with your , but you will get some damage on the opponent.

Early Game is pretty much the only time in the entire game when you will actively try to harass with your , becqause your opponent has limited options for retaliation. Later on, however, this becomes less feasible, because as I said before, we will not be leveling first. That's dumb.

Instead, you will confuse your opponent by mixing early game up-front aggression with midgame long-range harass. Levels 1-3 are when you should be trying to mix in autoattacks and 's with your harass and last hits. After that, it's time to flex that . From this point on, only use your to last hit minions and opportunistically harass.

Always try to position the so that it scores you some last hits as you harass (primarily so the mana doesn't go to waste). This takes some finesse, but is possible. You should never SPAM , because it is expensive. will be capable clearing minion waves in one sweep at later levels, which makes Viktor one of the best farming champions in the game; but more on that later.

So back to Early Game. Your opening items should be chosen to give you an edge against whoever you're facing; but Faerie Charm/Boots/Crystalline are generally safer starts. Don't make the mistake of not buying starting wards in Ranked.

Eventually your jungler will come to gank your lane; and hopefully they will be smart enough to realize that THEY should be initiating on your lane opponent, and not wait for you to do it. Your only stunning abilitiy is , and it has terrible range; furthermore, nobody is going to let you get close enough to drop it on them. The jungler must initiate the gank, but it will almost always result in a kill because is just that damn good. Now, you might be tempted to start with a Doran's Ring because of the large amount of AP you'd get from your passive item and the Ring, but a slow Viktor is FOOD. Besides, your first trip back should be netting you your first major items. Personally, I've being forgoing the Double Doran start in favor of Augment: Death, but there's still nothing wrong with Double Doran.

In 90% of games, I tend to get Augment: Death. It is the only one of your augments which is truly cost effective in terms of bonus AP, and it makes your do a shitzillion more damage. Sometimes you WILL want to get Augment: Gravity, but under no circumstances will you ever be getting Augment: Power.

When you hit 6 and get , you should be aware of its damage potential. Think of it like Annie's Tibbers, except on crack. It does much more damage, and doesn't get minion blocked. It can't tank turrets, unfortunately, but fuck you just kill people and take the turret anyway. Viktor can duel pretty much any champion when he has his ultimate available, so learn to gauge the damage so you can get kills.

As Midgame rolls around, you'll start to notice something: You can clear minion waves ridiculously fast.

You have several options: wait for more minions, harass the opponent, or gank lanes. Normally the choice is between harassing and ganking. Mana should not be an issue for you at this point because your jungler should be feeding you every blue buff; and trust me, you need them. Viktor is very mana hungry, and you have to play very conservatively when you don't have blue buff. SPEAKING OF BLUE BUFF: YOU NEED IT. ALWAYS.

If you're able to harass well as Viktor, you've probably got a good handle on the . It's something that takes practice, but will reward you well. Mastery of the Death Ray is not something that can be conveyed in words; you have to become good at hitting this skill in order to play Viktor seriously.

So let's talk about Ganking. Again, you should be relying on teammates to initate the gank, even when you're the one assisting in the gank. When you gank for teammates, always approach in a route perpendicular to the escape path of your targets. This allows you to line up shots better with your , as well as to cut off their escape route with and . If you can, get close enough to , because every little bit of damage helps. Remember that can be used while moving, so don't stop chasing them and shoot on the move.

Viktor is a surprisingly good tower diver due to his moving ultimate, but his long cooldowns will sometimes mean that you will chase off the opponent without killing them, so be prepared for this inevitability and don't overcommit by wasting your summoner spells.

Midgame is one of the strongest points in the game for Viktor, because there are very few champions who can push you out of lane; and even fewer champions outrange you. There are NO champions, however, who can stop your farm. extends halfway up middle lane from the tower, so it is very difficult to deny Viktor's farm. However, if you do find yourself getting outpushed, you can completely halt the progress of a minion wave with your (and this is an EXCELLENT and UNIQUE use of the ability). Remember how I said Viktor is incredibly good at controlling space? He can completely control the flow of creeps with , all without killing them or pushing the lane himself.

The rest of your Midgame should be focused on farming, roaming, acquiring blue buff, dragon, and completing your core build.

So you think because Viktor has a domineering midgame that he suffers some late-game falloff? You think the lack of a 6th item means that Viktor is bad?

WRONG

Here's a picture of lategame Viktor:



Check the text on that Ultimate of yours. Over the course of 7 Seconds, it will deal 1050 damage with a 2.3 AP ratio. With a Deathcap, Rylai's, and Death Augment, you will have around ~550 AP. Your ultimate rips tits.

But Viktor isn't just a walking ultimate at that point; he's also a walking . That Death Ray has a .7 scaling ratio, so its hitting for about 700 a shot. Bear in mind, this is all AOE damage, so if you happened to hit a clustered team with your AND , you can basically give the rest of your team the day off.

Now, has a pretty debilitating cooldown, which hinders your teamfight ability. Once every two minutes or so, you're the God of Death. Between cooldowns however, you're more like Death's Janitor. You can still contribute to fights with and , but don't expect to blow people up instantly without the ult.

People tend to think that because has a silence, that it should be used to interrupt channels. Well, this is an acceptable use of , but given the choice between hitting three people and interrupting a Malzahar ultimate, I'm just gonna hope that my teammate has a QSS. The damage of is too good to considering using the skill as a simple interrupt.

For Viktor, every team fight will be fought in a relatively similar way.

• You wait for the initiation and drop your to protect your teammates from the enemy's frontline (also known as COUNTERINITIATION).
• Then you drop your in the place where it will do the most damage. If you MUST use it to interrupt someone, make sure its an important target (like Malzahar or Warwick).
• Hit as many people as you can with
• Clean up or protect yourself with .
• Repeat until everyone is dead.

has super high priority because it protects your teammates exceptionally well. You don't want to blow all of your spells trying to kill the enemy carries/assassins/mages only to turn around and discover that all your teammates are dead. Open with to stun opponents and give your team enough time to react, THEN lay into them with your skills.

Before and during teamfights you should be poking with . This should be second nature to you by now because you've probably been using the to poke since the laning phase.

Now, assuming you have a , you can actually kite melee opponents with and . Bear that in mind if Tryndamere jumps on you.

A certain excellently written Riven guide has a great matchup section which many guides try to emulate. Key to that section are skill order preferences and starting items. Viktor doesn't have those options. Viktor's skill order stays the same in every game out of necessity. There is no benefit in any matchup from leveling or over your . Death Ray is just that good.

As for items, the only matchups where I wouldn't get Boots/Pots are against Leblanc or some gimmicky AD mid. I'm not going to cover a matchup against every POSSIBLE matchup, but generally be aware of who you're facing. If you think you'll have trouble, start with a resist item and potions. Viktor is not a character that can comfortably start with .

I'll rate each matchup with a number indicating the relative difficulty of the lane:

1 <-2--3--4--5--6--7--8--9-> 10
<easiest ---- most difficult>

This can be a really annoying matchup. Pre-6 Ahri can be poked down relatively easily with , , and autoattacks. After she gets her , however, Ahri is almost completely ungankable, and you won't even be able to kill her unless you bait her. Ahri can easily escape from your and by using her ultimate, so what you will need to do is try to catch her in-between jumps. If you wait until the first or second cast of her ultimate and , , and (IN THAT ORDER) you will surprise Ahri, likely forcing her escape with the remaining jump(s). At best, you can kill her; at worst, you got her to waste her ult and leave lane... either that or she killed you. Better luck next time!


Dear god this is a painful matchup for Akali. Your renders her useless if she stays in it, and your has a strong chance to blindly hit her. She can still deal strong burst damage when she gets her ultimate, but you can zone her so hard that it will be impossible for her to get close. And if she does, just yourself, drop , and kill her.


The Anivia match can go either way depending on how well either of you land your skillshots. Her poke is better than yours if she can hit her stuns, and Anivia with Blue is the scariest champion in the game. help immensely in this fight. You have to hit Anivia with very well-timed harass and exploit every missed skillshot. Don't try to kill her by yourself, that just wastes your mana. Viktor's cooldowns don't allow him to burn through her egg-phase alone, but you can damn sure force her out of lane, and that will be your goal in this matchup. Farm Farm Farm. Late and Mid game, your full burst is much higher than hers. If you must try to kill Anivia solo, don't do it without your ult; you need that damage-over-time to burn through the egg.


This match is a joke. If you are decent at landing your , you will win every single damage trade against Annie. If she's holding onto her stun aura, feel free to push the lane with and force her to cast spells. You can also just chunk her with long-range Death Rays and there won't be a thing she can do about it. Of course, you'll probably die to a flash combo, but you can do the exact same thing to her, and your abilities hit harder.


Brand will teach you to get really good at shooting on the move. Mobility () is the key to winning the lane against Brand, but don't ever try to straight-up trade with him. Brand will win just about any pure damage fight you get into, so try to keep him at a distance. You won't be able to zone Brand, but you will be able to stop him from getting close, for fear of your and close range abilities. Viktor is NOT a counterpick to Brand though, and the lane will be difficult.


Everything I said about Brand goes double for Cass. Your goal in this lane is to farm as much as possible. Cass outdamages you in a straight-up fight, so you should really try to keep your distance. Viktor has problems against mages with low-cooldown consistent damage skills (of whom Cassiopeia is the posterchild). Viktor is primarily a high-cooldown burst champion, and Cass can kill him over the course of a prolonged fight. Don't let that happen and only engage on your terms. Cass and Viktor have about equal range, but believe it or not, Viktor's poke is better.


Cho'Gath doesn't often go mid, but when he does, you can really put the wood to him. The thing with Cho is that you need to harass him opportunistically so he doesn't regain all his lost health through his passive. This means that you should harass him while minions aren't around, or punish him for even daring to approach the creep line. Cho has some powerful crowd-controlling moves in and ; but the key to outplaying these skills is by dodging Rupture and staying out of range of Feral Scream. Early game, Viktor really can dominate Cho'Gath, but lategame Cho takes shit from nobody. Seriously, stay away from him after level 16, he's scary. The upside is that the bigger Cho gets, the easier it is for him to get stuck in .


You poop on Diana until she gets . Then the fight is slightly more even. Bear in mind that you can simply throw at your location, and any champion with a gap closer is going to cry. If you can survive her initial burst, you will pretty much destroy her, as with Akali. She DOES hurt though, so don't skimp on defensive items. tends to zone Diana pretty hard, but a smart Diana will learn to harass you when it's on cooldown--bear that in mind.


Viktor counters Evelynn. Lategame, both characters have a lot of burst and are both dangerous, but during the laning phase, there isn't a god damn thing Evelynn can do to you. Viktor absolutely manhandles her. She can't get close enough to without eating a or . The reason this matchup is a 4 in difficulty is because Evelynn tends to roam a lot and gank other lanes; and she can still get fed even if you crushed her in lane. Don't underestimate her burst, but always realize that your burst is better.


Fiddles is... surprisingly difficult to deal with as Viktor. You will run out of mana trying to harass him. It's pointless. He can heal to full by on a single minion, and his crowd control makes it impossible for you to win straight-up damage trades. Your goal is to instead push the lane as much as possible. Fiddles is a shit tier farmer, so push that lane and force him to be under tower. is also quite good at stopping him from healing with .


Fizz can be problematic. Don't EVER underestimate the damage Fizz can do, especially when he has his up. Fizz is one of those sleeper champions that can (100%)>>(0%) people before they even know what hit them. Furthermore, Fizz is incredibly difficult to harass and gank due to his untargetability. You have to play cautiously and not overcommit against the enemy Fizz. However, being a ranged character, Viktor does have the advantage in lane; just don't let Fizz get too close. Fizz tends to be at his most problematic for Viktor during levels 6-9. Once you start getting some ranks into , Fizz becomes much easier to handle and much more susceptible to your harass. There will be windows of opportunity where you can flash-combo Fizz and there won't be a damn thing he can do, just remember to lay down during the silence of your .


Gragas is very difficult to kill in lane, especially after level 6. However, you will mop the floor with him in terms of lane control. Viktor can outpush Gragas, as Gragas can only reliably push creep waves that become clumped; whereas Viktor can oneshot creeps as they file in. Your outranges Gragas by a great deal, and your mobility allows you to avoid his while you attack. If you don't get caught out of position, you actually zone Gragas pretty hard; which frees you up to go and gank side lanes.


You might not believe it, but Heimerdinger is not a good matchup for Viktor. I won't go as far to say that Heimer COUNTERS Viktor, but the odds are definitely stacked against you. His harass actually outranges your own, and his can really fuck up the creep flow. You would actually be able to kill Heimer if you could reliably get close to him, but a good Heimer will always keep you at distance. The saving grace in this fight is that Heimer is incredibly vulnerable to ganks, and his teamfight presence is NOWHERE NEAR as good as yours. If you don't feed horribly during the laning phase, Heimerdinger is a complete pushover in teamfights.


A good Karthus is very scary. There's very little you can do to stop a Karthus from just running up, trapping you with , and killing you. It's happened to me many times. If you don't get that early advantage so that Karthus fears your , he will just walk all over you. Good Karthus players know how to abuse to get kills, so your biggest priority is keeping your eyes open to avoid getting caught. Karthus also has , which can really add up in damage if you aren't paying attention. Sustained Damage is the death of Viktor, and you don't want to straight-up fight a Karthus until you can burst him down instantly. Abuse your mobility and , and for God's sake get some magic resist or his will wreck you. Luckily, Karthus is your bitch during the midgame; every time you Flash onto him he will straight up die to your full combo; there's nothing he can do about it.


Surprisingly enough, Kassadin isn't really as scary to Viktor as he is to most mages. You can farm creeps much better than he can, and can zone Kass completely. Once he gets , there's really no point in calling for ganks on Kassadin, so just try to push the lane past that point. Push push push and outfarm him. Viktor's kit is especially good at stopping Kassadin's combo, in that you can him easily once his wears off. If he doesn't teleport away, then there's a good chance you can blow him up with a combo while he's stunned.


Katarina got remade, and now things are different. She still gets hard countered by a lot of your abilities, but you have an even smaller window of opportunity to use them now that her channel duration on is shorter, and she always gets damage reduction on . Her now hits the full amount of targets at all levels, so back away from minions, and she's no longer harmless in melee range without her ultimate. If she uses to jump you, she's an easy target for /. You need to be the one shutting her down in teamfights, or else she will abuse her OP passive and instantly clean up your team. Remember to always throw on Katarina once she starts channeling Death Lotus.


Kennen can be very difficult for Viktor due to the fact that Kennen's has absurd range. If you get tagged with a Mark of the Storm, which can be applied by autoattacks, Kennen can really hurt you. Your goal in this matchup is to actually let Kennen push, so that he is forced to overextend. is excellent at keeping the creep waves where you want them, so you should try to force Kennen to fight beneath your tower. Definitely try to harass with when possible, but bear in mind that Kennen's makes him a difficult target. This matchup will often come down to the respective junglers on either team, because both of you are really damn hard to gank and can't kill each other without help.


You have a surprisingly easy time vs. KhaZix. Literally all you have to do is autoattack him and use your liberally. As with any champion with a gap-closer, is an incredible stun, and pre-6, you can win every damage trade. The key is not overextending or pushing the lane too hard until you have mana sustain through Blue Buff or . The main thing to keep in mind is that KhaZix still deals ridiculous damage, and his will hit like a truck, starting at level 6. Lategame he will be able to two-shot you, so exploit him in lane while he's still vulnerable. My latest video showcases this matchup.


Fuck Leblanc. Viktor is not a counterpick to Leblanc, but he's not terrible against her either. Even though I think that Leblanc is a bullshit character played only by assholes that needs to be removed from the game; the matchup is winnable. You just need to load up on some magic resist and health. Two will save your life in this lane; but if Leblanc gets a third ring, you should too. Don't get a fourth though, that's just stupid. Starting with is good, as is an early . There's no gimmicky tricks to try against her either; just try to zone her with , don't waste trying to kill her, and don't follow her under tower, no matter close you might be to killing her. Push the lane, win the game.


Lux is apparently viable, and though I hate the character, she may give you some difficulty. Well-placed pokes from Lux hurt, so you want to position yourself well at all times. Luckily, your poke hurts just as much, and if you can dodge her skillshots well, there's really not a whole lot she can do to you. Try to keep away from the minions, which will prevent you from getting tagged with her ; it has a bullshit radius. One thing you might want to try is moving TOWARDS her when she throws , because Lux players will often shoot it behind targets to anticipate a retreat. Lux will never get into a straight-up fight with you, because she'll lose. Dodge well, and keep her on the run. Lux's shield () is also better than yours (); so don't try to trade with her until she's missed at least one of her skills.


Malzahar is CAPABLE of outpushing Viktor, in the sense that he can clear your minion waves faster at lower levels (because that's ALL he'll be doing). But bear in mind that NOBODY can gain a CREEP ADVANTAGE over Viktor, because is really damn good at halting creep waves. This means that you can force an enemy creep wave to halt in front of your tower. Now you have Malzahar exactly where you want him: overextended and ripe for a gank. Malz gets poked by just like any other champ, and the only thing you have to worry about is Malzahar's Ultimate. You can completely negate with good placement of . If it is obvious that Malz is moving to Ult you, you can cut him off with ; this will either interrupt his ultimate after he casts it, or slow him to the point where he can't catch you.


Viktor is a counterpick to Morgana. slices through her shield with impunity, and your skills are much more powerful than hers (assuming you didn't eat her full combo). You can MOVE AND HARASS WITH , so Morgana should never hit you with . You can also push waves much harder than she can (think about THAT for a second), and the only thing you have to fear is her ult (which you can negate by trapping her in while you escape).


You will have a difficult time against Morde, and your Jungler will have to camp your lane to give you the advantage. Mordekaiser is the one champion that can bully Viktor at every stage of the game, because he wins every trade against you. If the Morde is super aggressive, you won't even be able to get near the creeps. Oh, and by the way, his shield is bullshit. The lane is not unbeatable, but you're going to have a very hard time by yourself. You will definitely want some hot jungler help. Luckily, you're more useful than Mordekaiser during teamfights, and will be safely out of his range at that point. Morde will be very susceptible to Gravity Field, but getting to that stage is the problem with this matchup. If your Death Rays aren't punishing him hard enough, think about getting Augment Gravity.


Nidalee is annoying, but gets stuck in just like everybody else. You don't see her mid too much these days. Be mindful of her and don't get baited stupidly. There's not much point in chasing down a Nidalee because she'll just get away. Just take advantage of free farm while she's gone. If Nidalee gets Blue buff, focus on pushing the lane and not harassing; she can sustain herself indefinitely with that heal (unless you also have Blue Buff, and in that case should constantly be on cooldown).



Orianna used to be a pick-or-ban champion, and ITS HAPPENING AGAIN. Players who remember Orianna when she was a real terror will know to keep one eye on that damn Ball, and this is good practice. The majority of Orianna's harass comes from when you are being stupid and make it easy for her to simultaneously last hit minions and harass with . I find that when I try to kill Orianna in lane, she escapes with a sliver of health due to her shield and speed boost; so don't go all in unless you're sure to get a kill. A smart Orianna will not try to zone Viktor, but instead force Viktor to overextend. Don't fall for that shit, and play safe in lane. Also, don't get into autoattack fights with Orianna at early levels, because her passive will rip you open. In teamfights, try to protect your teammates from her with your . This provides them with a cover zone so they can safely escape from the enemy melee. Orianna is a very synergistic champion, and she brings a ton of buffs to her team. Though Orianna may be dangerous on her own, she makes her team much more threatening in a teamfight. Pick your targets and battles well; big plays son, big plays.


You're going to have a time of this in the early levels. If the enemy Pantheon started with a , he will be trying to kill you by level 3. Pantheon's is pretty much equivalent to your at level 1, but his autoattacks are much stronger; do not be fooled into thinking you can fight Pantheon in the early game. Instead, bide your time and wait until you get your ultimate; only then should you think about going for a solo kill. As is the case in most matchups, proper use of will be your saving grace. If you know that Pantheon is going to use , lay down on your current location and retreat through it. Pantheon's startup animation to means you'll have time to cast your Gravity Field. You will be able to zone Pantheon when you get higher levels of your , but always respect the damage that Pantheon can do. Also, if Pantheon ults you, either run away from it or throw on yourself. His stun gets extended range when he's ulting in, and if you're within the circle he can stun you. Bear that in mind.



Exploit Ryze's weak early game as much as you can. Your can obliterate him at lower levels, but don't ever get close enough where he can combo you. Remember what I said about sustained damage casters? I'll repeat myself again: they kill you in a straight-up fight. Ryze gets more dangerous as he acquires tankier items, but your burst will eventually be able to kill him with little issue. Just don't start a fight when his is still up.


Swain got buffed, and now he's a bit more problematic. As before, Swain's weakness is that he doesn't have any hard disables, while Viktor has a stun and a silence. Abuse your range in this fight and there's really nothing he can do to stop you. Don't forget that you can use to negate a lot of Swain's damage-over-time, even if you must use on a minion for the shield effect; it is preferable to taking damage. Take great care to dodge though, or you'll be wondering where all your health went. When you engage Swain after he gets , make sure you have .



I've never actually played against a Syndra. But in case YOU do, be mindful that some Syndra players are quite good. Syndra is the "new" Viktor, in the sense that she's a really underplayed champ with a dedicated playerbase. However, she also is probably the least played champ, period. Her abilities work thusly: Q creates delayed-blast balls. W grabs minions/balls and hurls them for damage/slows. E hits balls like a pool-cue and you get stunned if you get hit. R does a shit load of damage to a single target. Whatever. Don't underestimate Syndra's damage, and realize that you shouldn't go anywhere fucking near this champion unless you've poked her down considerably. You're going to die if you fight her when she has 2-3 balls out on the field. Her abilities do retardo damage, do not underestimate them. Luckily, Viktor plays a great poke game, and you can really whittle her down and zone her in lane. In teamfights, Viktor is infinitely more useful to his team than Syndra is to hers.


Talon will give you problems. Talon is essentially a better Pantheon, and everything I said about Pantheon goes triple for Talon. The thing is though, that Talon's mana costs are not as prohibitive as Pantheon's; and Talon's burst is much higher. You also can't really bait Talon's with your , because his teleport is instantaneous (whereas Pantheon's has a leaping animation). Furthermore, Talon actually has an ultimate he can use against you, so he is much more dangerous to fight. However, fret not, because if you just mind your distance, you can avoid a lot of the danger. is the main thing you'll want to avoid: it has stupid good damage and will always hit you twice. Talon may be pushing on you with this skill, but if you're quick and aware, can still punish Talon easily. The most important thing against Talon is to not get caught at low health. A combination of , , and will guarantee your death if you get caught. Get some Armor and Vision Wards against this annoying bastard.



Twisted Fate is the only champ in the game who can kill a creep wave faster than you. When TF gets double Dorans, his + combo takes out a line of creeps instantly. However, TF also takes it right up the ass if you get in close. If you can time your harass while his is on cooldown, you can get some heavy damage on him. For added lulz, throw your on his card circle when he uses . TF does have some decent burst damage, and you should always be wary of a flash combo. However, if TF can't kill you in one stun combo, you will pretty much obliterate him.


Veigar counters you hard. Your passive ability gives you a bit more AP than any other champion; Veigar turns this into damage against you with his ultimate (). Veigar's has much greater range than ; this means that you can't stop him from stunning you. All his abilties are longer range and harder hitting. If you get stunned, you die; so a just might save your ass. Being aggressive during the Early Game can pay off, but you're just going to have to bite the pillow and go to your happy place because Veigar doesn't use lube. Veigar is seeing a LOT OF PLAY lately because he is EXTREMELY VIABLE RIGHT NOW, so you're gonna get fed up with this little cockbite pretty quick. You actually CAN outburst Veigar if you are very fast with a combo... especially if Veigar misses his . There is very little trading in this lane because both of you can outright murder each other at 6. Push the lane SAFELY when you can, but try to save your skills for bursting him down.





You can zone Vladimir so hard with your , it is literally painful. At levels 1-3, you can easily win trades against Vlad, because your deals more damage than his . Past level 3, however, you will not be able to win trades with . Bear in mind that if the Vlad has good reaction time, won't shield you before his hits. However, it won't matter at that point because Vlad has no answer to . Furthermore, Vlad's abilities all put him in range of , so he is one of the FEW champions which you can easily stun. Vlad is easily punished during his weak early game, so try to get as much damage on him as possible. Vladimir will usually save his for your ult, but he'll at least eat the biggest damage spike first. Basically don't be stupid and zone the shit out of Vlad. This lane is quite winnable.


Don't ever get close to him after level 6. Xerath doesn't see much play anymore, but there are occasionally people that use him. The range on is about equal to a fully extended beam, but Xerath has to stop moving to cast spells. This makes Viktor slightly better in terms of harass. However, if Xerath stuns combos you, it's all over. You may be compelled to attack Xerath while he's in , but this will almost always end up with you getting stunned and killed. Should you manage to get in close enough to , , and , however... Xerath will probably die. Viktor's only ability with good range is his , but Xerath has three abilities with crazy shitfuck range. Stay mobile, farm when you can, and harass whenever possible.


Ziggs is stupid. If you're a retard and stand near your minions, he's going to hit you with every . Those bombs have stupid low cooldown; and his autoattacks hurt. Ziggs shits damage, but he's solidly a mid-range caster. Your , believe it or not, outranges him. If you can somehow close distance against Ziggs and forcefeed him your combo, Ziggs will die. Just try to dodge his and . His will probably score a lucky kill on you every now and then, but there's nothing you can really do about that.

During Teamfights, however, Ziggs deserves a special mention because he plays almost identically to Viktor. Ziggs will hang in the back, chucking his bouncing bombs and controlling people with Minefield and his knockback. His ultimate also outranges yours and deals a lot more burst damage. For these reasons, Viktor does not target Ziggs in teamfights. Doing so will probably result in a fatal overextension, because Ziggs also happens to be really good at kiting. Then there's the rest of his team. Viktor has a slight disadvantage against Ziggs, but if you play better, you can show him who the real machine master is.


Zilean is just a dong. He is annoying as shit to lane against, and he can actually kill you too. Let's talk about bombs. You're going to get hit by them. This is the only matchup where you're going to want to level before . That's right, you level Q before E. Your saving grace is that the damage shield from will soften the blow from his bombs, and he'll run out of mana trying to kill you. Zilean can boost himself out of , so don't even bother trying to hit him with it. You need to time your harass with his bombs and stop him from bullying you. Most importantly, remember that you can still use on a minion to gain the damage shield. You'll start to get more control of the lane around levels 9-13, when you actually have skills that do damage, and Zilean doesn't.



Everybody is whining about Zyra. There's a good trick to beating her: don't get rooted. If you see coming at you, get the fuck out of the way. Sometimes, you can even flash OVER it, right on top of Zyra herself, then obliterate her with your superior damage. Seriously, Zyra is only scary if she roots you; if she can't do that, you win. She has no way to stop your combo otherwise. If worse comes to worse and you're just completely awful at dodging, zone her with , just like any other chump.

This is where I'd like to mention the ideal teammate choices for Viktor. If you happen to find yourself playing with a Viktor solo-mid, consult these champs to determine what to play in order for the best team possible. If a champ doesn't appear in a certain category, it is because they're often better suited for a different role. For example, Alistar is not a great Top Lane character, but he is a decent Jungler and a good support; so I'd mention him in those places.

BRUISER TOP OPTIONS

All of these champions have some kind of spatial control skill which complements Viktor's ability to extend crowd control. The above champions allow your teammates to unleash their full damage potential on incapacitated enemies. Some are better than others, but generally if you're good with one of the above champions, things should work out.

AP TOP OPTIONS

If you want to revive the dual AP meta, these are the champions to do it with. Orianna and Viktor are super best friends due to their ridiculous synergy. Nothing survives the Orianna/Viktor team limit break. All hail the robot overlords.

JUNGLER OPTIONS

Viktor needs a jungler to to initiate ganks for him, because Gravity Field is not an initiation tool. The above junglers all do this exceptionally.

SUPPORT OPTIONS

Though you won't really be seeing much of the support, you'll feel their effects in a teamfight. All of the listed supports synergize with Viktor to varying degrees.

BUT YOU KNOW WHO DOESN'T?

OH SHIT SON, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?

Janna is 100% Anti-Viktor. She will knock the enemy team right out of your . If you have a Viktor on your team, don't fucking play Janna. Same goes for Gragas.

AD CARRY OPTIONS

Well lets say the rest of your teammates derped it up and picked champs that didn't really utilize Viktor's awesomeness to the fullest extent. Picking one of the above carries can fix that, to a degree. Ashe is probably the best bet, but very few players are actually good with her. Ashe's crowd-control easily sets up Viktor's . Graves and Viktor can pull some interesting tricks with -->; and Kennen can run around the map like an idiot while stunning people. Sivir and Miss Fortune are listed because they annihilate clustered enemies; and your Gravity Field is really good at holding people down so your carry can punch them.

In terms of closing words, let me leave you with this: Viktor is going to have his day. Pretty soon, some enterprising, innovating team is going to play Viktor prominently during some high-profile tournament. Viktor will get his vogue for about a month, and then everyone will whine about how he's OP.

The point is, that Viktor is currently an unknown force in this game. He's got a smaller playerbase than just about any other champion, and that's going to change. I'm sharing this with you so you can be right up there with me when this glorious motherfucker makes the big time.

Bear in mind the following:

• Viktor's only hard counter is Veigar, and a good laning phase completely neuters Veigar. There's a reason nobody plays Veigar at high levels.
• Viktor turns around bad games. Your entire team can be feeding and dying. As long as you do well you can HARD CARRY once the fights come to you.
• Viktor is one of the only champions that can easily PUSH AND COUNTERPUSH. Viktor's laning phase is so good I can't even fucking repeat myself anymore about this issue.
• Viktor rewards patience. If you counterinitiate and take advantage of your excellent damage and crowd control, there is literally no fight you can't win or turn around. You really need to get a feel for your abilities to fully realize this.

I'm not even joking, every game I roll into with Viktor, the amount to which I affect every teamfight is staggering. Viktor is a brick wall for the enemy frontline, and absolutely demolishes the enemy backline. No other champion can do this as well as Viktor. As boner-inducing as Viktor is though, he's not really a hard counterpick to anybody but Morgana; but you shouldn't approach Viktor from a counterpicking mindset. Rather, Viktor is a "toolbox" mage, in that his abilities are so versatile that he can adapt to just about every situation. Viktor is as good of an AP carry as he is a powerful teammate. With practice, you can gauge when your abilities are most useful, and best applied.


Get on board with this swag machine and be at the forefront of the machine revolution.

*STREAM: http://twitch.tv/pastoulio
*BLOG: http://pastoulio.blogspot.com

4/26/2013 - Overhaul of the guide in progress; added KhaZix video and KhaZix matchup description.

3/12/2013 - Cleanup, updates, revisions.

3/7/2013 - Added to Exp!*erimental Items. Also, I stream now. Watch me fail.

3/1/2013 - Revised the front page item build.

2/19/2013 - Moved Morellonomicon to Experimental Items. Moved Banner of Command to crap. Added Cho'Gath to matchups.

2/5/2013 - Updated completely for New Items and most recent S3 patch.

12/11/2012 - Tweaked some of the matchups, added Syndra, though I have yet to see one.

12/5/2012 - Christmas came early and I decided to update the guide for the Preseason 3 Patch. Whole bunch of shit got changed, read everything again. And then read it once more. Never stop reading my words. http://i47.tinypic.com/nbensw.png Life is not Faaaaair.

11/2/2012 - Revised build section to include a more prominent focus on how much Deathfire grasp sucks now. Don't know what else you guys want in Matchups; let me know if anyone still fucking reads this fucking guide fuck it I don't even care anymore.

10/11/2012 - Revised build section to include a more prominent focus on how awesome Deathfire Grasp is. Added Diana and Evelynn to matchups. I have not played against a Syndra yet, so I'm not going to do a matchup for her until I see one.

8/16/2012 - Talked about Katarina remake matchup.

7/26/2012 - Added Zyra matchup: Protip, don't get rooted.

7/4/2012 - GUNS AND BUYBALS, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MURRICAH. I edited the sections about Rod of Ages and Deathfire Grasp. I'm personally liking DFG as a core item on Viktor right now, really puts his fat stack of AP to good use. It also cuts tanky DPS like Irelia into manageable slices. Changed my god-awful rune setup. Also added a bit about GP/10 items.

6/16/2012 - Talked about Athene's Unholy Grail. Thought about including a matchup section for non-traditional mid characters, but if you can't figure out how to beat a mid Sivir or Vayne as an AP character, you should probably just stop playing. (Hint: Use your skills on them, they suck without gear. You don't.)

5/5/2012 - Explained Veigar Matchup more.

4/6/2012 - Cleaned up some matchup descriptions-- Fizz, Anivia, Karthus

3/30/2012 - Added Zilean to matchups.

3/29/2012 - Added to the "What Viktor is Not" Section. Also described why my build order is better than the featured guide.

3/22/2012 - We approved now, deal with it. Plugged Lacksadaisy's Vlad Guide (http://solomid.net/guides.php?g=13381). Changed recommended Runes to ones that don't suck. Added Orianna, Pantheon, Talon to matchups list. Added Viktor's Super Best Friends Club.

3/9/2012 - Added Ionian Boots to bursty build.

3/6/2012 - Created changelog; Posted guide.

/2/27/2012 - Tightened up the graphics on level 3.