Long-ish Thoughts on New Viktor after a couple games

There are three main things about the changes to Viktor:

1. The mid-game power spike is completely gone
2. The new laser is not as fun/good as the old laser
3. Late game is definitely stronger

My first game with the new Vik, I tried doing the Q augment first. I was thinking I could do a kind of "stick-and-move!" style of lane harassment. The flaw there turned out to be that Q really needs to be developed to be scary -- that means Q + Augment + Sheen. It was obviously a better choice to do E + Augment + Boots + Codex/Chalice because it is just tons more & safer damage + (CDR or sustain).

My second game, I was distraught to find that I could not as-easily clear waves with my E + Augment on first back. The harass was also noticeably less powerful than it used to be since the opponent had to be sluggish to ever be hit by the second laser. W was not useful for this because W and flash are Vik's only escapes from ganks and all-ins during laning -- I did not want it on cooldown constantly to just do a little extra damage. I also noticed that I could no longer clear 6-wave minions in-transit with a single while running around because the secondary explosion won't hit everything. It seems like a small thing (and really, it is), but it was noticeable as a Vik main. All-things-considered, I've verified that I would rather have the 30% burn than the 40% explosion. Optimally would be a 40% burn, if you're looking to buff :-)

Another note is regarding the W augment. So far as I can tell, there is no time that this augment will ever, by any non-joke build, be taken anything but last. It is honestly kind of useless. Since Vik is typically mid, you probably won't have Yasuo on your team, so the displacement doesn't matter. There is a theory that you can W then E to make everyone get hit by the secondary blast, but that won't ever happen because E outranges W so badly and you want to get it off as many times as possible during a fight. It is basically a useless gimmick that Vik gets when he upgrades his ultimate. I wish you would redesign it. If opponents would continue to be slowed after the stun wore off, then pulling to the center would be useful (as it would maximize their slow time). As it stands . . . really what is the point? Give it a larger AOE, make it stun faster, make the slow linger -- do something to make the W augment something other than "your ultimate is faster and your W makes you chuckle."

Late game, the additional AP and mana are both very noticeable and appreciated. At full build, the new Viktor is definitely stronger and safer than old Viktor since you get the speed from Q, the damage of E, and all that AP. It is very nice to have him scale into long games like every other champ, but I can't help but feel that he is no longer "scary" in mid game like he used to be and that his identity has taken a huge hit now that his laser is no longer scary.

Also: misses + (although rylai's still has a strong synergy with his Q augment for kiting).