Vel'Koz definitely needs patience and practice to trigger that satisfaction, but man, when I'm nailing my laner with every split Q and can just feel them flaming their jg in team chat... *chef kiss*
When i got into lol, it was because of the lore and champion design. I liked the Velkoz design and lore so much i decided to play the game because of him. Now im a Velkoz main, and i can't imagine that changing. Im also glad he has low playrate, because i can play him in almost every game.
@@aatroxtheworldender933 You sholdn't use your e blind. Use it in combos with q. He will get slowed, and then you can e,w,ult. You can also use it to deny chasing opponents. Sometimes you can use it to farm under tower, but thats not ideal.
No one plays him case teammates can easily KS him with his predictable DoT Ult. Other reasons are really minor except survivability like against someone like Yi. Tho great and fun in URF
@@MangaGamified I cant speak for everyone, but KS is the least of issues as Vel'koz. Generally, kills don't win games (they help but you can still lose with kill advantages). In fact he isn't that good in urf because his Q still cant be used until it has finished recasting. I play him a lot and he is super fun (he was the second champ I played in league) but the learning curve was there. Not mechanics, but flawlessly positioning is key. Cheers!
What especially got to me is "League is looking like less of a chess game and more of a first person shooter". People have been saying this for years (in fact, I have a screenshot of a comment from the original forums where someone was joking about this around 5/6 years ago, saying that the game should be renamed to "League of Duty" or "League Strike:go") but it still makes me sad, because I got to Mobas from RTS and MMO games, as the genre is basically the combination of those two things while being more popular (so more ability to play with friends), but it seems like the reason behind the popularity is the explosiveness, so Riot is building into that instead of the strategy element which is just annoying. At this point, I feel like normal summoner's rift should be a turbo mode or something, lol.
@@sandortojzan5409 sadly this is going to kill the game faster. But maybe that is Riot's endgame? Maybe they're trying to milk it for all its worth the next 2 or 3 years then drop it before it stops making them money. Then they transfer their audience over to the other games and such. Idk its one of the things I would/could do if I was in charge all I cared about was money. (Random economist prove me wrong if you're reading this)
After thinking about it a bit, i think i found one of the leading reasons i decided to share my findings because i find it fascinating Taking my journey with this channel as an example: i got into the chennel being in full belief that this is gonna be a generic dull content farm like many other league videos, because that's how the channel sells itself the thumbnails scream "click on me" to the point where they feel repullsive, the titles don't help that a single bit, and the voice isn't imidiatly apparent to belong to a person that actually emotes (no offense) and in the meanwhile behind all that there's some good quality content that dwelves deeper into the misc things that make a game tick with pretty good editing around both visuals and sound , with at least one thing so thought provoking that it made me pause the video to process it. So it boils down to: it presents itself like a group of videos made for the 'dull masses', while having non of the jingly keys and flashy lights to keep those people around. leaving the algorithm in a pickle A fascinating case, and a causionary tale for many: clickbait requires precision, or else you will sell yourself as something you aren't
Selective reading being a thing and rejecting to listen to any long documentaries. Short sentences become more important and long ones that people put their heart and soul are usually skipped. I bet you even barely read that one or even skipped my comment xd
Too much mobility and lack of any abilities for these kinds of mages to use as a counter. You predict and land the knock up, you don't get to "outplay", you get to only stop the assassins play they were making and MAYBE trade evenly which is bullshit. When really you should out trade and be rewarded for predicting and landing the knock up but nope.
I feel like he missed out on the most fun part of Vel: picking him as support and watching the enemy support suffering becouse their adc tanks every Q I throw at him
@@aatroxtheworldender933 Problem is its easy to counter. It can be amazing in some situations but in many cases its just a worse lux ult. If you hit sth with lux before ulting your ult deals 1,2ap +680 on max lvl. Vel deals 1,25ap+800 over 2,5sec. Lux needs 0,75sec. Yeah he can deal true dmg but does it really matter that much? Only vs tanks. You deal true dmg to adc,apc anayways with ludens and mpen boots. Lux ult also has more than 2x range and half cooldown. Its a good ult but you have to stay at 1 place for 2.5sec to deal full dmg.
@@chiidybang370 yeah but also a half eaten leather boot can also play lux, along with lux being simply not that fun to play given your skillshots are very easy to hit or very easy to spam (Missing E is harder than hitting vel e). You are less a tactical missile and more an indiscriminate shelling.
Yeah Vel was released in 2014 when not everyone and their mother had a dash. Now champions like akali, irelia, yasuo, yone, zed, etc. are constantly picked mid and just offer more outplay potential. The thing about Vel is his kit is it's just so straight forward. Someone like Qiyana gets many more options out of any one of her abilities where as Vel only has limited options. He offers a lot of obvious counterplay where it's not difficult to understand how to beat him compared to other champions with high mobility and such.
The way you described the mindset required for this character the more I realized I should main him . That is my playstyle "slow and methodical in a game attrition " . That is pretty much my exact playstyle lol. That's also why I main casters in the dark souls series. Its a game of patience and methodical planning when you want to strike and with what you should strike with . Deciding if you want to go for combos to snowball or poke with light magic in a game of attrition . You must do what the situation demands .
Very good video, as a velkoz main I really like that Chess like play style as it is much more strategy and less go in and just get a penta, also I like it better than xerath and zigs cause how much more damage he can deal at close range. I don't see much velkoz but as long as I can pythagoras my way to the enemy nexus I'm all for it
Cars: “learning vel’koz comes with less satisfaction.” Me: “I dunno, firing a giant death ray and disintegrating 2 or 3 enemies instantly seems pretty satisfying to me.”
I've started playing and damn it's so fun, both for the damage and the aesthetic tbh. I wish we had more artillery mage champions, really adds a new flair to the game
Sadly, artillery mages only thrive in slow paced, siege metas, which are very boring to a lot of people. Vel'koz is the best of the artillery mages since he has actual burst potential with his ultimate, but generally speaking poke mages aren't that fun to play or play against for a lot of players.
Velkoz was my first main and I really enjoy his slow methodical playstyle, I like the chess aspect and his Q is the best skill shot in the game. In general my favourite class is artillery mages like vel xerath and zigs. And I really dislike to play against and play as champions with a lot of dashes and blinks. For the same reason I also enjoy tanks what with their engage and knowing when to go all in and keep the enemy pinned down
Vel'koz's best niche right now is probably cover/suppressive fire. He works best by, as you said, keeping the enemy pinned down. That's probably the role artillery mages will have to fill since general poking doesn't work anymore in this day and age.
Vel’koz is easily onde of my favorite champions, and probably the reason as to why I love artillery mages and want more of them so bad. I love his design, craving for more voidborns and his gameplay, being able to melt everyone from so far away that they can’t to much.
Vel'Koz was the first champion I picked out when I first started playing. Rule of Cool, he has a great design. Just today I soft-hit Rank 6 with him (I got the tokens, I just need the secondary material to upgrade) after a string of really good matches. From discovering Mobi Boots, to learning how to ward, to basically lobbing unseen missiles through walls that nobody can see coming to deal supplementary damage for my teammates, Vel'Koz has become my favorite. Its sooooooo satisfying to get a full combo off and melt someone to slag chunks, or reduce an entire line of enemies in a teamfight to goo.
But lulu counters poke mages. I main xerath support and hate going against lulu because her shield lvl 1 out shields my entire Q or W damage. Healing supports also counter poke supports such as Nami
I really don't feel like he's not rewarding, the huge ult you can get in some teamfights are amazing, the most satisfying play is the Q R max range one shoot combo 📐
I'm a Vel'koz main & while I agree on some points, I feel a lot of satisfaction from playing him. It feels so good bursting someone down or melting tanks with true damage. But the best feeling of satisfaction is seeing how much damage I did at the end of the game. Also luring enemies in a choke point & destroying the entire enemy team is very satisfying for me. Also i'm the kinda guy who dislikes picking whatever is "op." Vel'koz is always pretty decent. Never really strong but never weak either.
@@Lulink013 True but nearly every mage has that problem though. + Vel'koz can peel for himself quite well with his slow & knockup if you manage to land them. Still a pain to lane against very mobile champs though.
Amazing video, only one disclaimer. I think that to master such a difficult champ as velkoz isn't unsatisfactory, on contrary its one of the best things you can do in a game so flashy and forgiven to everyone but you. In other words. It feels good to beat other guys who has guns with sticks and stones!
I appreciate it! I'm still relatively new to the league scene :) The majority of gamers don't enjoy these types of content because they're very heavy in terms of subject matter and analysis. That's why there's a lot of those stream highlight channels like "9999 AP ONE SHOT" because those are able to be enjoyed for the purposes of entertainment. My videos are discussion based, which means they're not as easily able to be appreciated unless the person is invested in the content.
Something I think is interesting, is that I got into this game because it was a Chess game. It was an RTS where macro understanding often times mattered more then micro understanding, and as the game has shifted more and more towards flashy, fast-paced games, the less satisfied, and more and more annoyed I have become with League. I know the 40 minute slug-fests aren't fun to watch for your average viewer, but I will always miss those games, when they came down to hard sieges and baron fights.
I still enjoy playing some flashy and fast champions like Zed and Riven, but the reason I got into LoL was to play Azir, so 20 minute snowballs aren't really the game I want to play
Vel'Koz does not fail as a champion, but he fails as a villain. Champs that are successful are not only those with good kit, but those you can identify yourself with. Tentacles and giant eyeball..that's a tall order for a player to identify with.
I think Kled would be a good pick for a video. He has a lot going for him; fun and simple kit, great voice acting, just a really fun character. ... but he has a very low pick rate. (I know a few reasons why, but I'd like to see your take!)
i started playing league recently and i main vel'koz, i personally love his gameplay and find it way more satisfying to hit a very difficult skill shot to kill the enemy midlaner or to r in a team fight and seeing their health bars go down insanely fast then dash 5 time and spam your abilities.
as a xerath main, i feel what you say, but with xerath i can at least never put myself in a position where they can flahs/delete me in a tf because i can always just use my ult form really far away to help, with vel koz thats imposible
As a Vel main, the danger is actually quite helpful. It gives me a slight edge to be as punishing as possible, I never counter roam before 14 min and am always trying to push my opponent out of lane to get that sweet plate cash. That being said, I do find myself caught out a lot, so I try my best to keep my summs up to barrier and flash away.
It honestly sucks to see such amazingly designed champs not get the love they deserve. Sure they're not like Ahri or Fizz who are more aggressive, but isn't that what a game like league supposed to be? Like a game of chess? I'm not a fan of poke mages, but I do main Xayah who has a similar playstyle of "waiting for the opponent to make a mistake." Catching your opponent off guard and punishing them is the most satisfying thing ever. It sucks nowadays people would rather be fast paced rather than strategjze, i get iy but at the same time i feel like that's the appeal of league.
If riot ever implements another artillery mage, I feel they would need to be able to burst someone down with a combo like vel'koz does. Like how lux can poke with q and e, and then q ult. Ziggs also has a huge burst with his ult, and xerath ult is a great finisher provided you can land it.
Thank you so much for making this video. As a Vel main it's really frustrating that they have not touched him in terms of patch updates in like YEARS. Literally I think all he would need to help put him in a much healthier place, and an increased pick rate would just be a few simple tweaks to his kit. Maybe adjust his numbers a little bit, but more than that I think giving him a touch more range on his q either in terms of the forward range on it, or the horizontal range which I would like more than just a forward range buff as it allows for more skill expression. I also think he would GREATLY benefit from his w applying Grounding to the area. It would give him an answer for all the champions who can just run in on him and pop him in .5 seconds or make it just a little bit more manageable for him as a support. Being able to have one more tool that isn't necessarily hard cc but can impact a fight. It allows for Vel'koz to do all the things he wants to do without ripping his identity away from him.
I would add some sort of defensive option - his e better to land, or change to a shield. Therefor aoe root if you hit onother spell after W second instance proccs, and E then a dash behind the next friendly champion giving them both a shield and movement speed. And his ult faster to move. Played him as noob first time against a poke - senna - Lane and felt pretty helpless. Especially when the jungle assassine gank came. And so much runes, abilities, items give lifesteal/omnivamp now to counter poke...
@@axt5998 the nice thing about playing these champions though is getting good at skill shots helps a great deal on other champions. Like if I get autofilled support I will sometimes play morgana and just nail Qs left right and center lol
It's super satisfying playing with this guy in late game as a support. People disregard your q more often than not and that's when I snag some juicy kills
As a Velkoz main I absolutely love how Velkoz works and the only thing I would say Riot should change is some quality of life on his E so thats not a projectile preferably the same with his W but E especially
I am surprised Kog'Maw is not on the list of artillery mages. When you play him Ap, you heavily poke enemy champions, so much so your mana runs out quick. Especially his Ultimate, it is literally an artillery.
I'm a velkoz main as well, but I go support with him. And I feel comfortable with him bc ik I can make his q hit and proceed to start like a lvl 3 fight. Vel support is awesome.
You can't really get the same feeling from other champions when in late game you literally MELT multiple enemy tanks from 100 to 0 in two seconds! Vel'koz is fun, he is very fun
I always found it ironic that my main is Kassadin but I still love to play Velkoz despite them being as different as possible. I think your line about the tactician aspect sums it up.
When i started lol i looked into a lot of different champions and when i first played vel'koz i discovered his Q was my favorite hability in the game. Since then i've been maining him and i enjoy the low pick rate as vel doesn't get banned.
Low mana cost, fast cooldown, decent damage, causes slow and very satisfying to score a hit. Particularly if you hit with the split or hit multiple enemies. It's a fantastic skill shot.
Some of the most fun I’ve had is playing vel support with xerath ADC with my friend botlane, the poke makes it really tough for the enemy team early game
in season 5 it was my one of first champ to main to this day, in start i named my self Sauron 56, not knowing velkoz is even a champ, and than when i seen him in shop i said, well, i see
I think one other reason is his range, yes he is a long range mage but compared to Ziggs or Xerath who can make their presence felt from far away Velkoz Requires you to be in the vicinity due to how his abilities work, this allows you to easily get caught out
I've recently become a Vel'koz main but ever since his release I always liked his design and his kit both of which felt extremely unique even for a void character. I do like that he takes some skill to play because landing a long distance split shot Q on someone will always feel satisfying to me. And the true damage from his passive just feels so nice especially when up against tanks, makes you feel relevant even in the late game. I just wish artillery mages we more popular. I feel like good positioning and being able to land skillshots should be rewarding and I love being able to kite and snipe enemies from a distance.
As an ex-xerath main, there is at least some good thinks when I see a xerath or vel'koz it is always or a pretty good player who knows there champion or someone that is trying to play them.
I actually like the fact that velkoz isn't popular since I can play it pretty much every game w/o worrying the ban or being picked by the opponent, and his kit not only deals true damage, but has a decent amount of cc/slows to help him get away from being chased or ganked
As a Vel'koz main this video encapsulates perfectly what happened to my squid, I mained him since release and from season 5 to 8 I got to platinum and nearly diamond multiple times just playing him as supp or mid, but as time went on and new champs with stupidly op passives and abilities were released it became increasingly harder to outplay and outright just play Vel'koz (and Xerath wich was another one of my faves) to the point I just left the game in the middle of 2020 and have just sometimes got back to play aram or urf... its very sad for me the intense shift in design the game took...
yeah tbh you got pretty much everything covered. i main vel'koz and tbh, its such a different game when you're really playing him. its the BEST feeling in the world when the enemy is tilted in all chat and you sit in a bush, then just go full on E, W, Q, W, R and just MELT them. also he's so fun in urf (:
Q Splits off in direction of nearest enemy -dmg base on how far off 90 degrees, maybe have split multiple times, W charge 2/2/3/4/5, increases range of other W charges from point of W, can go into W / shoot abilities into W if have second open. E also knock back himself an allows him to turn self faster during R, R shoots 1/3 beam(s) depending how far you are targeting, 1 far 3 close at widening angles.
As a Vel koz Main, the main problem is that Artillery class needs more love. Thats all. But It is a unpopular class type after all so i hope to see the next yordle champ which is a artilery one.
As a Rengar main, mages without dash or good enough cc are doomed, look at this meta, Assasins are sooo broken, they cant escape my oneshot, only if they have hourglass, doe my ult is on 30 cd in late game,and you need to buy hourglass like third item or second idk, never played mages, poke mages feel weak, assasin mages and battle mages are strong af and that is sad, i kinda find more skill and satisfaction in poke mages like vel koz or xerath.
@@aatroxtheworldender933 Ngl I wouldn't have thought from your username that you were a Rengar main, but either way I agree, cool thing about artillery mages is that they have built-in counterplay options (ergo, if you get in close or catch em with hard CC, they die like an asthmatic ADC). Problem is with current artillery mages is that they don't have the tools in their kit to even be particulary good at what they do; Xerath has no way to deal with MR stacking tanks and can't deal with assassins at all while Vel'koz and Ziggs' ability projectiles are so slow that the extra bit of range they have doesn't really matter since you're unlikely to hit em anyway - and god help you if there's a Yasuo/Samira on their team who can delete your abilities, let alone an untargetable champ like Fizz, Zed or Talon who can just negate your entire kit with a button press and proceed to beat you like an incel's meat. Plus, the difference in range between classes isn't that great anyways, like most battlemages have ability ranges not much greater than many melee champs, while artillery mages aren't that much more than battlemages (especially ones like Ryze or Brand who can chain their abilities off minions) so the trade-off for decreased mobility and higher cooldowns just ain't worth it.
@@aatroxtheworldender933 Fair enough, he is pretty awesome thematically, I just think the main issue is he's held back by his slow as fuck Q animations. Like if they scaled with attack/movement speed then at least he'd have a better chance against CC and the modern movement-meta.
Very much late to this video but as a velmain like my brothers in the chat, Vel is an amazing champion that imo is far more rewarding than Xerath or even most assassins. There's just no joy in those champs for me, no oomph, being good at vel shows you're good at the game. Cause even though his skill floor is high, his ceiling is not. You eventually will reach the point where your mastery of the champion will not matter and your game knowledge does, and it's extremely rewarding to win the game of chess when you know your opponent isn't even playing the same game as you.
Vel'koz main here, i feel like the champ has nowhere to be in this new league of legends where everybody can have a dash, a one shot mechanic or simply there is champs that performs better with less practice
I literally one tricked my way to diamond 2 last season with velkoz, and decided to quit this season because all of the new champs and items with dashes, makes it so unplayable as a velkoz main
I think, a possible way of making artillery mages more "flashy" and engaging is by shifting their skillshots to a longer cooldown, faster projectile speed and higher damage style, so that they are actually like artillery.
Vel'Koz is the first champion I ever got mastery 7 on, and my second played champion ever. I enjoyed the video and I agree with you on why he isn't played. I think he's a very fun champion once you get used to him, and he can be a really great support in the right team comp.
I love playing VelKoz. That tactical viewpoint may bore others, but not me. The moment when I finally see the chink in my foes armor, finally see exactly what I need to do? It's the reason I keep playing League.
I gotta say though as someone who plays him a lot: if you get those stacks and that true damage ult in a teamfight and blow everyone up it feels so good! Cassiopeia, Azir and Vel'Koz are my most played midlaners and mid is currently my main role. I do play on a team as well and I will say it's easier there because I can explain to them how Vel'Koz wants to play fights and how to play with it. In solo queue I prefer Cassiopeia of the 3, but I'll still play him here and there just because he's fun :D
As a Vel'koz main it's pretty sad to know that he will never ever be played more only because of the meta and seasons changing because back, when things were slow paced he was good. But now that everything is pretty fast paced and everything can jump him he's very vulnerable and kinda bad since he has no other escape other than flash.
When I first tried the tentacle poker, I immediately like the fact I didn’t have to react to flashy fast team fights. We lost but I had a fun time randomly poking champions out of no where
In retrospect, I think these tactical champions are actually very enjoyable to watch. With the oversaturation of dashes and big mechanical plays it's super satiafying to see a champion that slows down the game a bit and punishes careless agression
retired vel coz main here: its super fun to land bisected qs but the main problem i had when playing was all the assassins in mid lane, its so frustrating to trade well all game and and just get shredded because zed flash ulted and you dont have a zhonyas
Do you play on EU West? It seems when I watch NA vids they get a big variety of mid champ opponents but whenever I play on EUW my opposing mid is assassin 90% of the time.
As a Vel'kos main i gotta say, he IS fun if you enjoy invoking TERROR in the hearts of acds, supports, and midlaners like I do. There's something magical about watching them hug the tower like it'll save them...........
My first main was Vel’koz an I think he is in a good spot right now and is one of my favorite champions to play especially since the item rework making him do higher damage and allowing him to build more diverse than before.
After a hundred games of Kled, I went back to my old main Velkoz and I miss him so much. I enjoy calculating and poking my enemies with sideways Q and then ulting them to death. It's sad that he's in a bad state with his immobility and rise of dashers but he does deal great damage.
Vel'Koz definitely needs patience and practice to trigger that satisfaction, but man, when I'm nailing my laner with every split Q and can just feel them flaming their jg in team chat... *chef kiss*
plus that laser is always satisfying in a teamfight. it always makes me cackle how hp are shredded with his disintegration ray
When i got into lol, it was because of the lore and champion design. I liked the Velkoz design and lore so much i decided to play the game because of him. Now im a Velkoz main, and i can't imagine that changing. Im also glad he has low playrate, because i can play him in almost every game.
I like to play vel koz, but man, his e is soooo hard to land. Other abilites are aswesome only e is the most hated.
@@aatroxtheworldender933 You sholdn't use your e blind. Use it in combos with q. He will get slowed, and then you can e,w,ult. You can also use it to deny chasing opponents. Sometimes you can use it to farm under tower, but thats not ideal.
@@zoubekukrutny9266 ahaaaaa, thanks for that, i dumb
Bro, same lmao. I only picked up league cause I saw Vel
As a Swain main of 5 years I with I could get those days back.
as a velkoz main, I see him a lot
I'm trying to figure out if this is a joke of self awareness or not...
Vars lol
As a vel koz main,i dont
Vel'Koz mains see everything. We even see why kids love the incredible taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.
same
As a velkoz main this entire video makes me insanely sad.
Your understanding of the velkoz situation is perfect, but this is what makes it sad
No one plays him case teammates can easily KS him with his predictable DoT Ult. Other reasons are really minor except survivability like against someone like Yi.
Tho great and fun in URF
@@MangaGamified I cant speak for everyone, but KS is the least of issues as Vel'koz. Generally, kills don't win games (they help but you can still lose with kill advantages). In fact he isn't that good in urf because his Q still cant be used until it has finished recasting. I play him a lot and he is super fun (he was the second champ I played in league) but the learning curve was there. Not mechanics, but flawlessly positioning is key. Cheers!
I love to play velkoz mid it is so good but I dont know why people dont want to play him
What especially got to me is "League is looking like less of a chess game and more of a first person shooter". People have been saying this for years (in fact, I have a screenshot of a comment from the original forums where someone was joking about this around 5/6 years ago, saying that the game should be renamed to "League of Duty" or "League Strike:go") but it still makes me sad, because I got to Mobas from RTS and MMO games, as the genre is basically the combination of those two things while being more popular (so more ability to play with friends), but it seems like the reason behind the popularity is the explosiveness, so Riot is building into that instead of the strategy element which is just annoying. At this point, I feel like normal summoner's rift should be a turbo mode or something, lol.
@@sandortojzan5409 sadly this is going to kill the game faster. But maybe that is Riot's endgame? Maybe they're trying to milk it for all its worth the next 2 or 3 years then drop it before it stops making them money. Then they transfer their audience over to the other games and such. Idk its one of the things I would/could do if I was in charge all I cared about was money. (Random economist prove me wrong if you're reading this)
Why do these videos only get a couple hundred views but have outstanding amounts of care and work put into them
I'ma just keep making them until eventually one of them goes viral haha!
Thank your common denominator human being.
After thinking about it a bit, i think i found one of the leading reasons
i decided to share my findings because i find it fascinating
Taking my journey with this channel as an example:
i got into the chennel being in full belief that this is gonna be a generic dull content farm like many other league videos, because that's how the channel sells itself
the thumbnails scream "click on me" to the point where they feel repullsive, the titles don't help that a single bit, and the voice isn't imidiatly apparent to belong to a person that actually emotes (no offense)
and in the meanwhile behind all that there's some good quality content that dwelves deeper into the misc things that make a game tick with pretty good editing around both visuals and sound , with at least one thing so thought provoking that it made me pause the video to process it.
So it boils down to: it presents itself like a group of videos made for the 'dull masses', while having non of the jingly keys and flashy lights to keep those people around. leaving the algorithm in a pickle
A fascinating case, and a causionary tale for many: clickbait requires precision, or else you will sell yourself as something you aren't
@@GameTobenetois A more insightful take than I expected, enjoyed, thx!
Selective reading being a thing and rejecting to listen to any long documentaries.
Short sentences become more important and long ones that people put their heart and soul are usually skipped. I bet you even barely read that one or even skipped my comment xd
It's not an issue with velkoz. It's the whole class getting pushed out slowly.
Too much mobility and lack of any abilities for these kinds of mages to use as a counter.
You predict and land the knock up, you don't get to "outplay", you get to only stop the assassins play they were making and MAYBE trade evenly which is bullshit.
When really you should out trade and be rewarded for predicting and landing the knock up but nope.
Not to mention Riot only releasing anime champs for the last two years or so just so that they can make more skins for them.
I love when the assassin misses everything and still kills you
video: vel'koz is a champion that requires a lot of thinking
me: i just pushed buttons and they worked
Bro me too
Me in a teamfight: oh hey a triple, Q this guy for the quadra, oh fuck i missed, W E... oh cool a penta
@@doctornoodlearms1770 when in doubt, press R
plasma go brrrrrr
I feel like he missed out on the most fun part of Vel: picking him as support and watching the enemy support suffering becouse their adc tanks every Q I throw at him
You're a Vel'koz newbie if you don't land every Q on both the ADC and support 😝.
Lol i love seeing them losing their minds even my adc
Adcs are like magnets attracted to my qs lmao they just love getting hit by them
Its more fun to ult them under turret
every single time i hit a good q on him its incredibly satisfactory plus the amount of kill pressure from his ult is huge
His ult can win you teamfights, its one of the most dangerous ults.
@@aatroxtheworldender933 Problem is its easy to counter. It can be amazing in some situations but in many cases its just a worse lux ult. If you hit sth with lux before ulting your ult deals 1,2ap +680 on max lvl. Vel deals 1,25ap+800 over 2,5sec. Lux needs 0,75sec. Yeah he can deal true dmg but does it really matter that much? Only vs tanks. You deal true dmg to adc,apc anayways with ludens and mpen boots.
Lux ult also has more than 2x range and half cooldown.
Its a good ult but you have to stay at 1 place for 2.5sec to deal full dmg.
@@chiidybang370 it moves?? if he takes anti heal, he can swipe through their whole team and anti heal them all. compare that to lux's stationary ult.
@@chiidybang370 yeah but also a half eaten leather boot can also play lux, along with lux being simply not that fun to play given your skillshots are very easy to hit or very easy to spam (Missing E is harder than hitting vel e). You are less a tactical missile and more an indiscriminate shelling.
"He gives much less satisfaction"
Do you know how it feels to outplay someone with the perfect q? That is true satisfaction
Oh YES, it is
calculus :D
Thats true gayness and proof that ur a gay noob
yeah dont know why, but i love the Q and R on him also Xerath R is awesome.
I also love how you can just erase waves from existance with him in mere seconds
As Vel'Koz OTP, I'm fine with champion being unpopular, makes it easy to pick and is almost never banned
They can't ban you if they forgot you are there :) It would be a great pocket pick on a competitive team as well, nobody expects V'K
Mid or supp 👀
This. One of the perks of playing Taliyah for example.
He’s part of the old group of champions that dont have a dash blink heal and shield in his kit while being tanky. He’s actually balanced
Tanky?
@@danieleduardomorenoperez1886 idk what hes smoking but hes not tanky xd
@@coolmanbob2096 are you both purposefully misunderstanding the comment?
Tanky??
We’re all velkoz mains here
No
vel'koz gang
Nice to see the 12 of us here
Ofc
In ARAM only lol
I thought velkoz would be popular . He looks good plus has great skills .
He looks good but apparently not as good as freaking e girl and edgy champs
@@JunJun.. I wanna see a mod that makes you play Vel but with Kaisa's model and see how players react.
@@amandaslough125 thts just hentai in disguise
Yeah he has stun great damge skill true damage all just no ms
@@orionar2461 wth
Yeah Vel was released in 2014 when not everyone and their mother had a dash. Now champions like akali, irelia, yasuo, yone, zed, etc. are constantly picked mid and just offer more outplay potential. The thing about Vel is his kit is it's just so straight forward. Someone like Qiyana gets many more options out of any one of her abilities where as Vel only has limited options. He offers a lot of obvious counterplay where it's not difficult to understand how to beat him compared to other champions with high mobility and such.
i wouldnt exactly call winning a fight because you had 87 dashes and about 5 hours of s an "outplay"
The way you described the mindset required for this character the more I realized I should main him . That is my playstyle "slow and methodical in a game attrition " . That is pretty much my exact playstyle lol. That's also why I main casters in the dark souls series. Its a game of patience and methodical planning when you want to strike and with what you should strike with . Deciding if you want to go for combos to snowball or poke with light magic in a game of attrition . You must do what the situation demands .
Mission accomplished! :D
Maybe you should also try to play Teemo. He is all about making mind games and creating ambushes on choke points.
@@O_Coisa_Ruim I mean, you're not wrong and I WANT to agree...
But as a cho'gath/tank main, I cannot.
Delete ranged top laners.
@@idunno7131 ranged toplaners are an easy matchup for tanks as long as its not vayne
these are extremely informative videos that are criminally underrated
I appreciate it :3
everyone: karthus has a low effective range
me in fountain: dies to karthus R
I felt that 🙂
Very good video, as a velkoz main I really like that Chess like play style as it is much more strategy and less go in and just get a penta, also I like it better than xerath and zigs cause how much more damage he can deal at close range. I don't see much velkoz but as long as I can pythagoras my way to the enemy nexus I'm all for it
I think his kit is brilliant and style is perfect for his lore.
Cars: “learning vel’koz comes with less satisfaction.”
Me: “I dunno, firing a giant death ray and disintegrating 2 or 3 enemies instantly seems pretty satisfying to me.”
I've started playing and damn it's so fun, both for the damage and the aesthetic tbh. I wish we had more artillery mage champions, really adds a new flair to the game
Sadly, artillery mages only thrive in slow paced, siege metas, which are very boring to a lot of people. Vel'koz is the best of the artillery mages since he has actual burst potential with his ultimate, but generally speaking poke mages aren't that fun to play or play against for a lot of players.
@@VarsVerum Yeah because they require opponents to man up and get in there but most players are gentle creatures with no guts.
@@HighLanderPonyYT "riot i cant 1 shot x champion and I DONT LIKE IT NERF THEM"
@@jeph7434 lul
Playing velkoz means getting rewarded for playing calm and precise, and I love that.
Velkoz was my first main and I really enjoy his slow methodical playstyle, I like the chess aspect and his Q is the best skill shot in the game. In general my favourite class is artillery mages like vel xerath and zigs. And I really dislike to play against and play as champions with a lot of dashes and blinks. For the same reason I also enjoy tanks what with their engage and knowing when to go all in and keep the enemy pinned down
Vel'koz's best niche right now is probably cover/suppressive fire. He works best by, as you said, keeping the enemy pinned down. That's probably the role artillery mages will have to fill since general poking doesn't work anymore in this day and age.
Vel’koz is easily onde of my favorite champions, and probably the reason as to why I love artillery mages and want more of them so bad.
I love his design, craving for more voidborns and his gameplay, being able to melt everyone from so far away that they can’t to much.
Vel is such a fun champion, he deals 2k true damage with his R and it feels powerful, even more powerful than garen or Darius ulting
I'm still a newer player, he was my second pick. Eye'm now a Vel'Koz Main.
Vel'Koz was the first champion I picked out when I first started playing. Rule of Cool, he has a great design. Just today I soft-hit Rank 6 with him (I got the tokens, I just need the secondary material to upgrade) after a string of really good matches. From discovering Mobi Boots, to learning how to ward, to basically lobbing unseen missiles through walls that nobody can see coming to deal supplementary damage for my teammates, Vel'Koz has become my favorite. Its sooooooo satisfying to get a full combo off and melt someone to slag chunks, or reduce an entire line of enemies in a teamfight to goo.
Why No one plays Vel'koz
Me, a Lulu Main: Life is suffering sseing him as support
But lulu counters poke mages. I main xerath support and hate going against lulu because her shield lvl 1 out shields my entire Q or W damage. Healing supports also counter poke supports such as Nami
I really don't feel like he's not rewarding, the huge ult you can get in some teamfights are amazing, the most satisfying play is the Q R max range one shoot combo 📐
oh yes :P
Its the Bermuda Triangle!
I'm a Vel'koz main & while I agree on some points, I feel a lot of satisfaction from playing him.
It feels so good bursting someone down or melting tanks with true damage.
But the best feeling of satisfaction is seeing how much damage I did at the end of the game. Also luring enemies in a choke point & destroying the entire enemy team is very satisfying for me.
Also i'm the kinda guy who dislikes picking whatever is "op." Vel'koz is always pretty decent. Never really strong but never weak either.
I agree with your points but against some match-ups you really feel the pain of not having a mobile champion that can get away from trouble.
@@Lulink013 True but nearly every mage has that problem though. + Vel'koz can peel for himself quite well with his slow & knockup if you manage to land them.
Still a pain to lane against very mobile champs though.
Vel’koz is an absolute blast for me in ARAM.
As a vel main, I agree heavily on the "satisfaction" factor: landing Qs in lane feels so good
Vel’Koz is strong, but fast champions and champions with a bigger range can counter him
Amazing video, only one disclaimer. I think that to master such a difficult champ as velkoz isn't unsatisfactory, on contrary its one of the best things you can do in a game so flashy and forgiven to everyone but you. In other words. It feels good to beat other guys who has guns with sticks and stones!
You were right about everything, but you missed one crucial part of what makes Vel'Koz Vel'Koz... The Ctrl+3 spam- OHHH DARNN
big agree.
The videos are so high quality lmaoo how did these not blow up
I appreciate it! I'm still relatively new to the league scene :)
The majority of gamers don't enjoy these types of content because they're very heavy in terms of subject matter and analysis. That's why there's a lot of those stream highlight channels like "9999 AP ONE SHOT" because those are able to be enjoyed for the purposes of entertainment. My videos are discussion based, which means they're not as easily able to be appreciated unless the person is invested in the content.
@@VarsVerum it's only a matter of time hehe
Something I think is interesting, is that I got into this game because it was a Chess game. It was an RTS where macro understanding often times mattered more then micro understanding, and as the game has shifted more and more towards flashy, fast-paced games, the less satisfied, and more and more annoyed I have become with League. I know the 40 minute slug-fests aren't fun to watch for your average viewer, but I will always miss those games, when they came down to hard sieges and baron fights.
I still enjoy playing some flashy and fast champions like Zed and Riven, but the reason I got into LoL was to play Azir, so 20 minute snowballs aren't really the game I want to play
Vel'Koz does not fail as a champion, but he fails as a villain.
Champs that are successful are not only those with good kit, but those you can identify yourself with. Tentacles and giant eyeball..that's a tall order for a player to identify with.
I think Kled would be a good pick for a video. He has a lot going for him; fun and simple kit, great voice acting, just a really fun character. ... but he has a very low pick rate. (I know a few reasons why, but I'd like to see your take!)
Karen P HOLY SH** WHERE ARE WE?!
I never thought i would play league until i saw his splash art, i now play league for hours a day and main him
vars: vel koz requires geometry
me a mad science and math student: Challenge Accepted!
i started playing league recently and i main vel'koz, i personally love his gameplay and find it way more satisfying to hit a very difficult skill shot to kill the enemy midlaner or to r in a team fight and seeing their health bars go down insanely fast then dash 5 time and spam your abilities.
funny how my entire champ pool has a why no one plays them videa
as a xerath main, i feel what you say, but with xerath i can at least never put myself in a position where they can flahs/delete me in a tf because i can always just use my ult form really far away to help, with vel koz thats imposible
As a Vel main, the danger is actually quite helpful. It gives me a slight edge to be as punishing as possible, I never counter roam before 14 min and am always trying to push my opponent out of lane to get that sweet plate cash. That being said, I do find myself caught out a lot, so I try my best to keep my summs up to barrier and flash away.
It honestly sucks to see such amazingly designed champs not get the love they deserve. Sure they're not like Ahri or Fizz who are more aggressive, but isn't that what a game like league supposed to be? Like a game of chess? I'm not a fan of poke mages, but I do main Xayah who has a similar playstyle of "waiting for the opponent to make a mistake." Catching your opponent off guard and punishing them is the most satisfying thing ever. It sucks nowadays people would rather be fast paced rather than strategjze, i get iy but at the same time i feel like that's the appeal of league.
If riot ever implements another artillery mage, I feel they would need to be able to burst someone down with a combo like vel'koz does. Like how lux can poke with q and e, and then q ult. Ziggs also has a huge burst with his ult, and xerath ult is a great finisher provided you can land it.
I love maining Vel, I often find myself playing solely off the mini map than the rest of the screen lmao
Thank you so much for making this video. As a Vel main it's really frustrating that they have not touched him in terms of patch updates in like YEARS. Literally I think all he would need to help put him in a much healthier place, and an increased pick rate would just be a few simple tweaks to his kit. Maybe adjust his numbers a little bit, but more than that I think giving him a touch more range on his q either in terms of the forward range on it, or the horizontal range which I would like more than just a forward range buff as it allows for more skill expression. I also think he would GREATLY benefit from his w applying Grounding to the area. It would give him an answer for all the champions who can just run in on him and pop him in .5 seconds or make it just a little bit more manageable for him as a support. Being able to have one more tool that isn't necessarily hard cc but can impact a fight. It allows for Vel'koz to do all the things he wants to do without ripping his identity away from him.
I would add some sort of defensive option - his e better to land, or change to a shield. Therefor aoe root if you hit onother spell after W second instance proccs, and E then a dash behind the next friendly champion giving them both a shield and movement speed.
And his ult faster to move.
Played him as noob first time against a poke - senna - Lane and felt pretty helpless. Especially when the jungle assassine gank came. And so much runes, abilities, items give lifesteal/omnivamp now to counter poke...
Thank you this is exactly the play style type of champion I was looking for
My three most played champs are Xerath, Vel'koz, and Ziggs *cries in artillery mage*
sme XD
@@axt5998 the nice thing about playing these champions though is getting good at skill shots helps a great deal on other champions. Like if I get autofilled support I will sometimes play morgana and just nail Qs left right and center lol
It's super satisfying playing with this guy in late game as a support. People disregard your q more often than not and that's when I snag some juicy kills
As a velkoz main i think he really shines as a support,kinda like brand (a support that 'supports' by having really good dps)
Velkoz is terrifying when it is played by good player. One R and most of your are melted down.
As a Velkoz main I absolutely love how Velkoz works and the only thing I would say Riot should change is some quality of life on his E so thats not a projectile preferably the same with his W but E especially
Vel'koz gives you satisfation when you proc your passive. Is like "You chained 3 habilities? Good, heres more damage"
I am surprised Kog'Maw is not on the list of artillery mages. When you play him Ap, you heavily poke enemy champions, so much so your mana runs out quick. Especially his Ultimate, it is literally an artillery.
AP kogmaw is one of 5 true artillery mages.
rest are velkox xerath ziggs lux
I'm a velkoz main as well, but I go support with him. And I feel comfortable with him bc ik I can make his q hit and proceed to start like a lvl 3 fight. Vel support is awesome.
Three Houses music fits very well. Good job!
Keep up doing these informative videos, they are gold.
Fire emblem music in general is great background music xD
You can't really get the same feeling from other champions when in late game you literally MELT multiple enemy tanks from 100 to 0 in two seconds! Vel'koz is fun, he is very fun
Vel isnt being pushed out. He's being pushed into becoming tier 1 support :D
Meanwhile i began maining him in season 7 when i began playing cause purple lazers look cool
I always found it ironic that my main is Kassadin but I still love to play Velkoz despite them being as different as possible. I think your line about the tactician aspect sums it up.
i love vel'koz, he has such an interesting concept
he's just a silly little guy
When i started lol i looked into a lot of different champions and when i first played vel'koz i discovered his Q was my favorite hability in the game. Since then i've been maining him and i enjoy the low pick rate as vel doesn't get banned.
Low mana cost, fast cooldown, decent damage, causes slow and very satisfying to score a hit. Particularly if you hit with the split or hit multiple enemies. It's a fantastic skill shot.
@@davidhughes5842 Couldn't agree more
Back in 2017, I saw Oh Darn!. I became a Vel'koz support main right then and there. I will carry this torch forever.
vel' is always my pocket pick when i want to just have a fun time in mid
Some of the most fun I’ve had is playing vel support with xerath ADC with my friend botlane, the poke makes it really tough for the enemy team early game
in season 5 it was my one of first champ to main to this day, in start i named my self Sauron 56, not knowing velkoz is even a champ, and than when i seen him in shop i said, well, i see
I think one other reason is his range, yes he is a long range mage but compared to Ziggs or Xerath who can make their presence felt from far away Velkoz Requires you to be in the vicinity due to how his abilities work, this allows you to easily get caught out
I've recently become a Vel'koz main but ever since his release I always liked his design and his kit both of which felt extremely unique even for a void character. I do like that he takes some skill to play because landing a long distance split shot Q on someone will always feel satisfying to me. And the true damage from his passive just feels so nice especially when up against tanks, makes you feel relevant even in the late game. I just wish artillery mages we more popular. I feel like good positioning and being able to land skillshots should be rewarding and I love being able to kite and snipe enemies from a distance.
Well, as a main vel'koz and xerath, I always see this type of champion.
As an ex-xerath main, there is at least some good thinks when I see a xerath or vel'koz it is always or a pretty good player who knows there champion or someone that is trying to play them.
yeah as a main, its kinda amazing when i get to fight another one of me, and it always devolve into a tennis duel in the middle lane, i like it
I actually like the fact that velkoz isn't popular since I can play it pretty much every game w/o worrying the ban or being picked by the opponent, and his kit not only deals true damage, but has a decent amount of cc/slows to help him get away from being chased or ganked
As a Vel'koz main this video encapsulates perfectly what happened to my squid, I mained him since release and from season 5 to 8 I got to platinum and nearly diamond multiple times just playing him as supp or mid, but as time went on and new champs with stupidly op passives and abilities were released it became increasingly harder to outplay and outright just play Vel'koz (and Xerath wich was another one of my faves) to the point I just left the game in the middle of 2020 and have just sometimes got back to play aram or urf... its very sad for me the intense shift in design the game took...
i have no idea what you mean I always see velkoz..
yeah tbh you got pretty much everything covered. i main vel'koz and tbh, its such a different game when you're really playing him. its the BEST feeling in the world when the enemy is tilted in all chat and you sit in a bush, then just go full on E, W, Q, W, R and just MELT them.
also he's so fun in urf (:
Q Splits off in direction of nearest enemy -dmg base on how far off 90 degrees, maybe have split multiple times, W charge 2/2/3/4/5, increases range of other W charges from point of W, can go into W / shoot abilities into W if have second open. E also knock back himself an allows him to turn self faster during R, R shoots 1/3 beam(s) depending how far you are targeting, 1 far 3 close at widening angles.
I first picked up Vel’koz to learn skill shots, but I had so much fun with his a and ult that I started to main him
I love Koz, but I do understand that my games tend to last a lot longer than most. I just love the combo-based gameplay.
The best part about Vel'koz is that you get to explain the Pythagorean theorem.
i totally agree with everything here. great video.
As a Vel koz Main, the main problem is that Artillery class needs more love. Thats all. But It is a unpopular class type after all so i hope to see the next yordle champ which is a artilery one.
As a Rengar main, mages without dash or good enough cc are doomed, look at this meta, Assasins are sooo broken, they cant escape my oneshot, only if they have hourglass, doe my ult is on 30 cd in late game,and you need to buy hourglass like third item or second idk, never played mages, poke mages feel weak, assasin mages and battle mages are strong af and that is sad, i kinda find more skill and satisfaction in poke mages like vel koz or xerath.
@@aatroxtheworldender933 Ngl I wouldn't have thought from your username that you were a Rengar main, but either way I agree, cool thing about artillery mages is that they have built-in counterplay options (ergo, if you get in close or catch em with hard CC, they die like an asthmatic ADC). Problem is with current artillery mages is that they don't have the tools in their kit to even be particulary good at what they do; Xerath has no way to deal with MR stacking tanks and can't deal with assassins at all while Vel'koz and Ziggs' ability projectiles are so slow that the extra bit of range they have doesn't really matter since you're unlikely to hit em anyway - and god help you if there's a Yasuo/Samira on their team who can delete your abilities, let alone an untargetable champ like Fizz, Zed or Talon who can just negate your entire kit with a button press and proceed to beat you like an incel's meat. Plus, the difference in range between classes isn't that great anyways, like most battlemages have ability ranges not much greater than many melee champs, while artillery mages aren't that much more than battlemages (especially ones like Ryze or Brand who can chain their abilities off minions) so the trade-off for decreased mobility and higher cooldowns just ain't worth it.
@@Neion8 i dont want to play Aatrox anymore, he sucks this season, but i keep him on my account cause i like him.
@@aatroxtheworldender933 Fair enough, he is pretty awesome thematically, I just think the main issue is he's held back by his slow as fuck Q animations. Like if they scaled with attack/movement speed then at least he'd have a better chance against CC and the modern movement-meta.
"Vel'Koz isn't flashy,"
Vel'Koz with max build literally turning the entire enemy team into a puddle: Allow me to introduce myself
@@Jadddddddddddddddddd Oh I know the pain, I play him
Very much late to this video but as a velmain like my brothers in the chat, Vel is an amazing champion that imo is far more rewarding than Xerath or even most assassins. There's just no joy in those champs for me, no oomph, being good at vel shows you're good at the game. Cause even though his skill floor is high, his ceiling is not. You eventually will reach the point where your mastery of the champion will not matter and your game knowledge does, and it's extremely rewarding to win the game of chess when you know your opponent isn't even playing the same game as you.
Vel'koz main here, i feel like the champ has nowhere to be in this new league of legends where everybody can have a dash, a one shot mechanic or simply there is champs that performs better with less practice
I literally one tricked my way to diamond 2 last season with velkoz, and decided to quit this season because all of the new champs and items with dashes, makes it so unplayable as a velkoz main
I think, a possible way of making artillery mages more "flashy" and engaging is by shifting their skillshots to a longer cooldown, faster projectile speed and higher damage style, so that they are actually like artillery.
Vel'Koz is the first champion I ever got mastery 7 on, and my second played champion ever. I enjoyed the video and I agree with you on why he isn't played. I think he's a very fun champion once you get used to him, and he can be a really great support in the right team comp.
I started playing league a week ago, I’m around level 20 now, and without exception all champs I bought and play have shown up in this series...
I love playing VelKoz. That tactical viewpoint may bore others, but not me. The moment when I finally see the chink in my foes armor, finally see exactly what I need to do? It's the reason I keep playing League.
I gotta say though as someone who plays him a lot: if you get those stacks and that true damage ult in a teamfight and blow everyone up it feels so good! Cassiopeia, Azir and Vel'Koz are my most played midlaners and mid is currently my main role. I do play on a team as well and I will say it's easier there because I can explain to them how Vel'Koz wants to play fights and how to play with it. In solo queue I prefer Cassiopeia of the 3, but I'll still play him here and there just because he's fun :D
As a Vel'koz main it's pretty sad to know that he will never ever be played more only because of the meta and seasons changing because back, when things were slow paced he was good. But now that everything is pretty fast paced and everything can jump him he's very vulnerable and kinda bad since he has no other escape other than flash.
artillery champs are still fun. change my mind
also once you get to lategame artillery becomes heavy artillery
When I first tried the tentacle poker, I immediately like the fact I didn’t have to react to flashy fast team fights. We lost but I had a fun time randomly poking champions out of no where
In retrospect, I think these tactical champions are actually very enjoyable to watch. With the oversaturation of dashes and big mechanical plays it's super satiafying to see a champion that slows down the game a bit and punishes careless agression
retired vel coz main here: its super fun to land bisected qs but the main problem i had when playing was all the assassins in mid lane, its so frustrating to trade well all game and and just get shredded because zed flash ulted and you dont have a zhonyas
Do you play on EU West? It seems when I watch NA vids they get a big variety of mid champ opponents but whenever I play on EUW my opposing mid is assassin 90% of the time.
@@davidhughes5842 i play in south east asia
It is at least nice that every time urf comes around, velkoz gets picked more in normals and ranked
As a Vel'kos main i gotta say, he IS fun if you enjoy invoking TERROR in the hearts of acds, supports, and midlaners like I do. There's something magical about watching them hug the tower like it'll save them...........
My first main was Vel’koz an I think he is in a good spot right now and is one of my favorite champions to play especially since the item rework making him do higher damage and allowing him to build more diverse than before.
After a hundred games of Kled, I went back to my old main Velkoz and I miss him so much. I enjoy calculating and poking my enemies with sideways Q and then ulting them to death. It's sad that he's in a bad state with his immobility and rise of dashers but he does deal great damage.
All the velkoz mains watching Vars talk about how technical and hard velkoz is: I am genus
Who's here after the buff announcement?
Yo, them buffs are real nice
i can hear that he has never been in a snowball fight