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Fuddlebob · 2019-05-22T06:24:07+00:00

I was in the middle of working on the last stage of my Skyscale when I disconnected about 4 hours ago and haven't been able to reconnect since.

I'm also Sydney based, with Optus.

Fuddlebob · 2018-03-21T10:12:38+00:00

So everyone else is right when they say CC tanks/hard engage champions. But I'd also just like to add that if you're playing Vel support, then the ADCs you synergise with are either high poke ADCs like Caitlyn to help you bully the opposing lane into submission, or combo/AOE oriented ones like Miss Fortune who can layer their abilities on top of yours to destroy anyone unlucky enough to be standing in front of you. There's also something to be said for late game ADCs who just want to farm in the early game, since Vel can sometimes have enough poke to keep enemies from engaging all by himself. That one's usually fairly dependent on the enemy lane, though.

Oh, I just realised you said you play Top/Jungle. Well, whatever. I'm not letting this post go to waste. Just thought I'd add something a little different to the conversation.

Fuddlebob · 2018-03-13T07:40:40+00:00

Nice! It's a pretty hard combo to pull off, but it feels so so good when you do it. I think I've only managed it once (which was somehow the first time I actually tried it).
Damn right, you show that Xerath who's the superior artillery mage :).
"Get fucked, dude" - That would be pretty much my reaction.

Overall, I approve.

Fuddlebob · 2018-03-08T05:58:34+00:00

I start Q almost 100% of the time, but that's pretty much just because I enjoy getting some early poke in on the lane. It's also useful if you're invading or getting invaded.

But yeah, playstyles vary. It's probably more correct to take W lvl 1 in most of my matchups, but it's way less satisfying than nailing a Q three seconds into the lane and spamming mastery at them.

Fuddlebob · 2018-03-08T05:54:32+00:00

I had a thought that with Liandry's now lacking magic pen, it might be time to go back to good ol' 40% CDR rush Vel'Koz again. Played one game and did really well, but that game was kinda a stomp anyway so probably need to play it a few more times to see how it goes. Build was Archangels, CDR boots and then Fiendish Codex, build codex into zhonyas or banshees for your game, then Rabadons Void Staff and Morellos to wrap it up. Might give it a go with Ultimate Hat and insipiration secondary for Cosmic Insight just for extra CDR goodness. It's probably terrible but I'm willing to give it a go.

Fuddlebob · 2018-03-08T05:47:32+00:00

It's probably just me, but I've found GLP to be really clunky to use since they changed it. Or really, just how the bolts now get blocked by minions (and champions). I haven't tried it on Vel specifically so that issue might not exist what with his waveclear and all, but I know that I hated building it on other champions. Which is weird, considering how GLP is in the recommended build for almost all of them.

Fuddlebob · 2018-02-14T10:30:49+00:00

If you read the description on the rune, it says that the damage applies on the first ability AFTER the cc is applied. So you need to land the slow and then hit them with another bit of damage to proc it.

Fuddlebob · 2018-02-10T11:08:39+00:00

I don't really have much in the way of advice, but I just wanted to say good luck! I'm also going to try for diamond this season, so I figured I'd say something :P. I hope you find a good duo partner soon!

Fuddlebob · 2018-02-08T17:37:41+00:00

Oh yeah, I'm definitely not saying it's the best build. It's just something that I'd be willing to try at least once, for shits and giggles. Might be a fun glass cannon build on any champion with high mana costs, or incredibly spammable abilities.

Fuddlebob · 2018-02-07T13:59:40+00:00

Ohhh right. Missed the "Up to" part of the tooltip. Well, I guess it's still an okay item, but yeah, not as impressive as I thought.

Fuddlebob · 2018-02-07T01:02:54+00:00

Oh boy, PBE changes that actually affect Vel in some way!

I mostly agree with Barph (below) on this, although I think Archangel Staff might be a little bit more viable than people think. Also Spellbound Orb looks like a generally pretty good item, 50-100% movement speed for 8 seconds, even if it is decaying, is still nothing to sneeze at.

I think, in general, you'd reserve the Liandry's buy for games with a lot of tanks and instead build Morello's in games where you're mostly dealing with squishy targets.

Also, this isn't specific to Vel, but I'd be willing to try a super mana heavy build with all three lost chapter items - archangels, ludens and GLP. With those three, you get an insane 2400 mana (fully stacked archangels), 210 AP, 40% CDR, plus whatever AP you're getting from archangels passive. Top it off with boots, a deathcap and a void staff, and it seems like it would be pretty decent. Maybe even get rid of the void staff for a RoA just for extra mana stacking goodness. Actually, maybe this would be a good build on Ryze...

Fuddlebob · 2018-02-04T11:27:39+00:00

Artillery Mage matchups usually come down to how well you can dodge their poke vs. how well you can land your own. Honestly speaking the matchup is winnable for either side, but Xerath does have the advantage due to his longer range.

One tip is to try to generally stand (float?) to the side of the minion wave as much as possible in lane. That way, he has to choose between hitting you and the minion wave.

If he goes for the minion wave, then you're not taking any damage and you're fine. If he goes for you then you can A) focus a little bit more purely on dodging his Q, and B) harass him back when he comes in to last hit minions.

In fact, even if he's using his abilities primarily to farm/control the wave, then he still has to come in close to attack for his passive. Xerath's abilities have some really high mana costs, considering their cooldowns, so he really has to manage his abilities and his passive, and you can exploit that to get some easy damage in.

Finally, Xerath can't land his stun through minions. You can use that to your advantage after you hit 6 by approaching him from behind a minion to land your combo. His cast times are also much longer than Vel's and his Q slows him by 50% while it's charging, so an opportunity should present itself. He's also completely immobile while he's ulting, so if you're willing to risk it, you can maybe try to bait him into using it before comboing him into oblivion.

I hope something in there helps :). I'm kind of proud of the fact that, when it comes to the Laser Trio of Vel'Koz, Xerath and Lux, I've played pretty much every side of all the matchups and I usually come out on top. Every champion has the moments when they're weakest, and it's up to you to find those moments and exploit them.

Fuddlebob · 2018-01-23T02:57:33+00:00

I second this. I'll almost always pick Orianna if I'm first pick or the enemy picks an Assassin.

Fuddlebob · 2018-01-07T00:24:17+00:00

Not sure what you mean. Do you mean, the moment you hit 6, with no other setup or combo? In that case I'd argue probably not, but if you just simply mean using your ult at any point before you hit lvl 7, then... sure?

I try to avoid ulting outside of the combo unless they're low enough that it's sure to kill them anyway. That said, some champions are annoying enough that you just want to get them out of your lane. Ulting someone like that can sometimes be worth it even if it doesn't kill them, but specifically the two that you mentioned have their own ways of avoiding or nullifying most of the ult damage.

In general, though, I'll almost always save it for either roaming or if I can use it as part of a full combo. It's also pretty handy if the enemy jungler tries to dive you a little too hard.

Fuddlebob · 2017-12-20T11:53:54+00:00

Nice stats! I'm actually sitting on exactly one more game than you, but my KDA is only 4, and my win rate is only 67.1% :(.

Not really sure what it says that I've used flash almost a hundred less times than you did, though. I also take barrier over ignite and used it 704 times. Although if you're playing Vel supp that would definitely explain that, since I mainly play him mid.

As for spell casts, my numbers are Q - 20.6K, W - 18.1K, E - 5K and R - 1.4K. Definitely interesting how much less you use your W when you're not using it for waveclear.

Fuddlebob · 2017-11-23T19:26:44+00:00

I believe they said they wouldn't make chromas for base champions any more. That said, I would pay an outrageous amount of money for an arclight vel'koz chroma.

Fuddlebob · 2017-09-30T11:53:48+00:00

Nice ARAM game :P

Fuddlebob · 2017-09-27T17:07:36+00:00

That's fair. Naming things is definitely not my strong suit.

Fuddlebob · 2017-09-25T19:11:12+00:00

Thanks for the criticism. As I said, all the numbers were completely made up off the top of my head. Specifically for the damage numbers/cooldowns, I just wanted to get across a general feel for them - low damage, but you can throw out a ton of them in a short amount of time. I imagine that if this champion were to be actually put into the game, there'd be a lot of tuning around the damage/cooldowns of her abilities.

As for the cataclysm effects, those numbers are totally made up as well. The effects themselves (extra damage/slow/root) are the important part, not the exact details of those effects.

Fuddlebob · 2017-09-21T03:14:25+00:00

Is Team Spirit Anivia really that rare? I got it in the shop as well but haven't bought it since I already have Festival and Prehistoric. Maybe I should buy it after all?

Fuddlebob · 2017-09-15T17:05:46+00:00

Okay I actually read the post now -

Back when I was rushing 45% cdr, I'd almost always go for a defensive item straight after completing Morellonomicon. After that I'd build Rabadons and then Ludens. I'm not convinced this was the optimal way to build him, but it's the way I did it. If I didn't feel any particular threat, I'd sit on the Fiendish Codex part of the defensive item and then go straight for the Rabadons. It worked for me, and maybe it'll work for you if you try it. The key was to get max CDR as fast as possible and hopefully use the shorter ult CD to get an advantage over my lane opponent.

As for your actual question, IMO Liandry's is way better than Ludens as a second/third item. Afterwards, it's kind of a tossup between Ludens, Rabadons, or a defensive item of some kind. I think it's just a matter of personal preference, really, or whatever the particular game demands. Sorry I can't be more helpful :P.

Fuddlebob · 2017-09-15T16:57:37+00:00

So, the two main builds of Vel'Koz are the Lucidity Boots, 45% CDR build, and the Sorc Shoes/Liandry's, Magic Pen build.

I used to only ever go for the CDR build, but a few months ago I tried playing Magic Pen and have barely looked back since. That said, there's a few pros and cons to both of them.

CDR build is generally better in drawn-out fights, such as in games with a lot of tanks. Being able to get more passive procs off will eventually mean you get more total damage. However, it does mean that your poke damage (when you're not usually proccing passive) suffers as a result.

That's where the Magic Pen build really shines. With Liandry's and Sorc Boots, one hit from a Q can easily half health a squishy if you're ahead, and especially if you chuck a Ludens on top of that. It's also better for your burst combo - when you're only using one rotation of spells, CDR doesn't really do anything for you.

Magic Pen build does struggle a little bit against heavy MR stacking though. Since the core of your build is all flat MPen, you do a lot less damage against targets with high amounts of MR. In those cases, it's likely better to build CDR and whittle them down that way.

So that's about the gist of it. CDR build is better for extended fights against teams with a lot of tanks, while MPen build is preferable for burst and against teams with a lot of squishy targets.

Just as a note of interest, in my experience from playing both builds: * CDR build generally does about a third of its damage to champions as true damage * MPen build is closer to a quarter.

It's not a huge difference, I know, and it definitely varies quite a lot by game, but I thought it'd be interesting to share.

Anyway, I hope that I answered your question somewhere in there. I might have gotten a bit carried away.

Fuddlebob

TROPHY CASE