Froggen and Overpow Weigh In On Vel'Koz

Vel'Koz, the Eye of the Void has his sight set on the LCS, preparing for his debut into the pro scene in a couple weeks. We sat down with two of EU's top mid laners, Alliance's Froggen and ROCCAT's Overpow, to see what they think of the tentacle monster slithering its way towards the Rift.

To Push Or Not To Push

Right off the bat, the two players disagreed on Vel'Koz's potential in the early laning phase. Overpow described Vel'Koz as "an amazing pusher from level one, [with] excellent lane control and average teamfights." Froggen was less impressed with Vel'Koz's early game, however, saying, "Vel'Koz doesn't seem to be that strong at first sight. The few times I matched up against him in mid, he seemed to be rather lackluster in wave clearing and poking at the same time." Their conflicting views of his push potential caused them to also give opposing advice for the early game. Overpow thought players should embrace Vel'Koz's wave-clear potential and "simply push the enemy to his turret and gain advantage using your low mana cost spells to harass." But Froggen was more concerned with Vel'Koz's susceptibility to ganks than his wave clear, and gave almost the exact opposite advice. "Don't overextend all the way up to the opponent's tower, because you don't have a gap closer and will have a hard time getting away from a gank if the jungler gets behind you."

Explosive Potential

One thing that both players did agree on is that Vel'Koz can throw out a whole heap of hurt when he lands all of his abilities. "His passive is really underrated," Overpow explains, "at least from what I've seen in solo queue. People build him full AP, without any sustain or HP items. 200 true damage every three stacks, which he can get off easily with two spells is [very strong]." Froggen didn't quite go so far, but he does respect his damage—if you let him hit you. "If Vel'Koz can hit a champion with all of his abilities, he deals a ton of damage..." he says. "It's pretty easy to avoid if you have a gap closer, though. Usually, he won't be able to lock you up because you can always dodge his stun with your gap closer. If Vel'Koz goes aggressive, it's easy to kill him as he'll have his stun/knock back on cooldown." Minions can't dodge abilities, though. Overpow recommends playing Vel'Koz against champions that have problems last-hitting under their own turret, so that you can simply push the minion waves down the lane. He also likes the matchup potential against champions with low sustain and he thinks melee assassins "shouldn't be a problem." On the other hand, Froggen lists Zed, a premier melee assassin, as one of the main problematic champions for Vel'Koz, due to his mobility. "If Vel'Koz can't hit his spells, he will lose out on damage from his passive. Because of this, mobile champions like Zed and Leblanc will have a good time against him."

Starting Advice

If you're on board with Overpow's aggressive plan for pushing lanes with Vel'Koz, he recommends leveling his abilities in a specific order—R>W>Q>E—and to invest heavily in wards. He suggests purchasing 2-3 wards every time you visit the fountain to help you keep an eye out out for ganks, and to ask your jungler for help keeping them up. Froggen's advice falls in line with his more defensive approach to Vel'Koz. "If you want to learn Vel'Koz, it's important that you note what he's good at and what he's bad at. Don't overextend… Try to poke enemies with Plasma Fission, and if they go aggressive on you, lay down Void Rift and Tectonic Disruption to give them a hard time."

Will We See Vel'Koz in the LCS?

Because of their stark differences in opinion on the power and playstyle of Vel'Koz, it's no surprise that Overpow and Froggen also have very different expectations for when we'll see the tentacle monster in the LCS. "I'm almost 100% sure that we will not see Vel'Koz played," Froggen says. "I rarely see him in solo queue, so I don't think players value him that high. He would be banned or picked if he was valued." And even though Overpow thinks Vel'Koz is a "really interesting" champion whose potential is "quite good," he's not ready to guarantee his appearance in the LCS. "He's easily counterable," he explains, "so I guess we'll have to wait and see if teams want to risk picking him in the last few games." If we do end up seeing Vel'Koz in the LCS, he might not pop up where we're expecting him to. "I've seen a few people run him as a support," Overpow says. "He has good poke on lane and fairly high damage." It's extremely hard to predict what's going to happen in the LCS, especially when it comes to new champions. We can't wait to see what impact Vel'Koz has on the Rift when he's unlocked later this month. Josh Augustine's favorite champion is Thresh, he's never enjoyed a Darius, and he will always go for the kill, even when he knows he shouldn't. He currently works as a game designer on EverQuest at Sony Online Entertainment. He’d love to talk with you on Twitter.

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