So, Viktor is now one of the lowest winrate champions gold to master.
I was a Viktor fan since I started playing. He was my first favorite champion (I started playing after his rework). I enjoyed playing him when he was unpopular, and pros had not discovered how good he was.
However, I no longer have much desire to play him.
His reliable damage was nerfed by putting most of it in the aftershock of his E. Items he depends on for nailing his damage were nerfed (Rylais). His powerspikes from his hexcore was nerfed, which nullifies a lot of the benefit you got from having it. His R is trash now, low damage in long pulses. No longer a reliable way of securing kills because of slower speed and lower damage.
What does he really have left? I don't think people really understood all that Viktor gave up for that burst damage. He is one of the worst duelists in the game, barely able to survive if caught out or dived on. He is entirely based around his Q and E to contribute anything to a teamfight, and his E can be difficult to hit and has a long cooldown - so you might only get one spell rotation before the fight is over, and you might not be able to hit the enemies that matter the most with maximum damage. Your W is nice, but not the biggest amount of utility unless it stuns, but that's unreliable (especially without rylais), and it has a long cooldown so you get one shot during a teamfight.
Viktor is in a weird position with regards to his design that makes it difficult to fit in. -You use to deal great burst damage on a long cooldown, which makes you good at assassinating other mages or ADCs, but you lack the mobility/survivability/CC that would make you good at doing that. -You aren't picked primarily for your CC/utility. Your W has value as a response to an enemy team engage, but you get one shot, and it's really the only thing you have. It's not reliable or available or flexible enough to be what you bank on contributing. -You have the potential for long range and high damage, which makes you potentially good for poke and siege, but your E is on such a long cooldown that you can't cycle enough to be a good poker while still having your E in reserve to deal with a diving assassin or engagement. -Q is your most reliable and fasting recharging form of damage, but you often can't survive getting that close unless the enemy is distracted on someone else. -You're not a good roaming ganker from midlane. Lacking speed and reliable CC. -You don't really blow up teamfights the way other mages do, because tanks can shrug you off and you only get one burst in most cases; and you might not be able to get to the ADC/assassins/supports to make the most of it. Being able to hit more than one player, especially with your aftershock, while rewarding, just doesn't seem worth all the other downsides you put up with.
Are you early game? Not with your hexcore and E waveclearing powerspikes removed. Are you mid game? Doing what exactly? You aren't a good roamer. You're not the best teamfighting APC mage for midgame either. Your over-reliance on items cripples you at this stage if you're not ahead. Are you late game? Your high cooldown and unreliability on E makes you a decent poker but not that great. You can't burn through a lot of magic resist and HP, even with full items, because your spells are high cooldown one shots. You get blown up quickly so it's difficult to execute your combos, you may not be able to get to the enemy ADC or APC with your spells without getting dived on.
