Viktor is absolutely trash right now

Viktor has been in an extremely bad spot for ages now. He was chain nerfed around 4-5 times in a row. He has countless problems and I'm going to note down every one of his problems that I can think of. I've been maining him since S5, in EUW fluctuating between D4-D1.

His burst is worse, his poke is worse, his damage is worse overall (Deathcap and void staff price nerfs) because his items were nerfed.

He is simply inferior to Orianna/Syndra/Cassiopiea. I would rather take Brand or Veigar than him because he's so weak.

All his damage was taken from BURST and moved to DPS. There is absolutely NO SURPRISE in Viktor's kit. When he used to have good burst with E+R, you could surprise people from bushes or with flash and win a teamfight. Now you are purely reliant on hitting a good gravity field.

Then once he found strength again even after the Core nerfs (mana nerfed) and lucidity boots (used to be 15% cdr) and mastery changes (you used to be able to take 5% CDR in offence tree, then they added it far down and you had to choose between 5% CDR overcharge and penetration (unfortunately you have to pick penetration).** So basically they made it harder to get CDR on him,** he has way less mana to work with and way less damage because DCAP and Void are too expensive now.

He found strength with Rylais and a way to get over the fact that his burst was removed. Rylais was then nerfed.

Viktor's poke has been weakened. His E primary damage used to do more damage, it was nerfed and moved to the secondary. This would be fine, expect that the secondary part of the lazor now has a huge delay. So Viktor previously would hit harder with the first part of E AND the second part would hit OFTEN. Now you hit with a measly first part of E with no chance of hitting the second part. So basically, he was a psuedo-poke champion, now he can't be a poke champion.

The 1250g core costs too much. He's too susceptible to getting wrecked early. He falls behind worse than any other mage. Viktor's winrate with the Hexcore MK-1 is 17.19%!! He is so weak against being camped by the enemy jungler.

Riot decided to pigeon-hole him into being more of a DPS mage. He used to be a burst mage (E+R) with decent DPS (Q with high CDR) and good control (W). Now he's a mediocre burst mage with slightly better DPS (but not really because it's all delayed). Orianna can surprise shockwave (from bush, flash shockwave or just hide the ball) to catch people out. Syndra can use her stun to catch people out or simply flash R a priority target. Even Anivia can use her Q to catch people. Brand can use W+Q to catch people. Viktor has just no catch potential whatsoever (if you've ever played Viktor you know that W and Rylais aren't good enough). He is purely defensive and only works in comps where you have to kite backwards and the enemy chases you.

The best time to pick Viktor would be with a J4 and maybe a Gnar. Basically lots of lockdown. Viktor's combo may be good with J4, however Orianna/Syndra/Anivia/Brand would simply be better unloading their combo into J4's Cataclysm. So I see absolutely no reason to pick Viktor. He's a complete noob trap.

He has insane item slot issues. If you've ever played Viktor you'll know what I'm talking about. It's only gotten worst in the S8 preseason with Minion Dematerializer, Stopwatch, Biscuits and more. You've also got Doran's ring, Dark Seal, refillable potion, pink wards and the Core itself.So this is an issue in the early/mid game where you start finding yourself struggle to decide whether you can sell something for a pink ward, or sell your refillable.

The item slot issues persist into the lategame, where you have to sacrifice more than any other AP champion, item-wise. If we attempt to piece together a 6 item build... You have to get the Core+Boots, 2 Items. You need Rabadons (good luck affording this though) and Void Staff. That's 4/6 items. Now you can start looking at ways to get CDR, Movement speed, Health, resistances and MANA! I think I speak for most Viktors when I say that Rabadons is a distant memory of the past. You need to solve too many other item problems to even think about it. 40% CDR is also a dream from the past, yet other mages are able to achieve it with Morellonomicon.

His strengths are that he can seriously bully some champions around lvl 1-3 and that his lategame kiting is very strong. However you are still susceptible to just being burst down. When do you ever really see Viktor's running rampant and kiting/killing everybody? Other champions can kite nearly as well with Rylais and his early bullying is matched by Orianna/Syndra... Yet they teamfight better, are less susceptible to ganks, have better ults, better CC, have better itemization AND don't fall behind as badly. Orianna still provides crucial shields/CC and Syndra can stun and clear waves even when behind. If Viktor doesn't get his Core upgrade he's done for.

Not only is he outclassed by other mages but he also has bad matchups against assassins. Zed, Fizz, LB and Ahri (assassin?) can all seriously bully you around. once they hit 4. The main problem comes when junglers get involved. Viktor is really bad at 2v2s early. He also can't invade well or defend his jungler because his early CDs are high and he has mana problems.

You can't solve your mana issuse like the other mages can with Morello or Tear or RoA because you need to god damn core. I've tried Morello/Tear/RoA before and after the core and they all feel clunky because you are either left with NO CDR or no tankyness. Every other mage in the game can get their mana/CDR/tankyness sorted out in 2 items. Viktor especially needs the tankyness because of how easy it is for junglers to jump on him. Orianna and Syndra can get out of it in a pinch with shield/slow/resists and a stun respectively. TF gets to go RoA into Lich+Zhonyas, a nice well rounded tanky+CDR+damage+utility build. Orianna/Syndra get to go Morello into Ludens+Liandry, again CDR, tankyness, utility (grevious wounds, HP% shred) and mobility. Annie/Brand/Veigar can build Morello/RoA and achieve the same things. Even Anivia's itemization is better, she gets to use synergistic mana items which scale off of each other, they make her tanky, with tons of mana and good utility.

Overall the biggest problem he has is that he has no way to make plays. All you can do is sit back defensively and clear waves, whereas before you could burst people who got close. There is no reason to pick him over Orianna/Syndra, who have better burst, better DPS, less mana issues, better surprise-playmaking and better itemization. When you play Azir/Orianna/Syndra you can make a play to catch them out, Viktor simply doesn't have this available to him.

Oh and his winrate is 45.07% in KR. He is ranked 45/46. It's almost laughable. bare in mind that Viktor is a straight forward champion with little to no learning curve, unlike Orianna. So his winrate being this low is quite worrying.

++++Suggestions:+++++

• I would suggest making his core 1000g again for starters.
• [Crazy idea, will probably make some people disregard this entire post] Make his core not take up an item slot. This would make him have less item slot issues, better lategame. ++++++++++++++++++++++++

I just made this post because I'm quite jaded and am done playing Viktor now. It seems that Riot are not even aware of his current state.