Mage / Artillery
Beginner Rule
If Vel'Koz starts channeling Life Form Disintegration Ray (R), move unpredictably or break line of sight if possible.
Vel'Koz is an artillery mage who excels at long-range poke and burst damage. He wants to wear enemies down from range before finishing them with Life Form Disintegration Ray (R). Many beginners underestimate how much damage Vel'Koz can deal if left alone in the backline.
Level 6 – Ultimate creates huge burst potential.
First Item – Poke becomes much harder to handle.
Two Items – Can dominate teamfights from range.
Long-range poke
Knock-ups
Passive true damage
Ultimate channel
QWhat it does
Fires a plasma bolt that splits in two on manual reactivation or on hitting an enemy.
How to play against
Manually split the bolt toward your dodge path. Be unpredictable — the split can angle in two directions.
WWhat it does
Opens a void rift dealing an initial burst then a second burst after a delay.
How to play against
Two-part — move out after the first hit. The second explosion is the larger damage.
EWhat it does
Causes an area to explode knocking up enemies in a short range AoE.
How to play against
Short range knockup is his combo enabler. Don't stand right next to him.
RWhat it does
Channels a beam following his cursor for 2.5 seconds. Fully stacked Deconstruction targets take true damage instead.
How to play against
He's immobile while channelling. Perpendicular movement against the beam direction is your dodge. He can't move so dive him if you're close.
Q → Poke
Core lane pattern.
E → W → R
Standard burst combo.
Full Combo → Passive Proc
Maximizes damage.
Organic Deconstruction: his abilities apply a stacking debuff on enemies. At 3 stacks they take a burst of true damage. Three ability hits deal a true-damage proc — back off after taking two ability hits.
