Zac: play into tanks that can't consistently harrass you, like Shen, Tahm Kench, Mundo, etc. Get hp/resistance items like Sunfire or Visage so they pose zero threat to you in lane and just free farm. I think he's a weak jungler because he clears slow and speed = gold. Jungling tanks basically commits to snowballing or losing because dps junglers can gank more while nearly doubling your farm
Garen: he's The Mighty Man Missile. Especially effective vs melee champs that need spells like Riven, Jax, Darius (Renekton is a different story, however). Any champ you can get on to, silence and spin is a good matchup. You can also shove in weak clearers like Zac, Shen and Tahm to roam. He needs a damage item (I recommend Black Cleaver) and then just get tanky. Don't worry about lifesteal, you get MASSIVE sustain based on max hp
Vel'Koz: Play him into lanes that can't get on top of you. Like all wave clearing mages, you can survive a Zed lane ONLY if he sucks and lets you. Everybody plays Zed, so ban him or don't pick Vel blind. Max your W first to keep the wave pushing (this protects you from being dived). Then just kick your feet back, farm and wreck team fights. Build Athene's (that passive is just SO GOOD for teamfights, you get a massive boost of mana back), then some heavy AP like Dearhcap. Consider taking full Mag Pen runes. You can get 20 flat pen from Marks, Glyphs and Quints.
For trying to get aggressive with Vel, hit W+E at once to try and make them take all 3 procs of your passive at once. If they're at about half hp, as soon as the E lands, ult. You'll kill almost any mid that way.
Best of luck! :D