Devourer Vi: The Good and The Bad

I've seen a lot of people comparing Devourer on Vi to both Warrior and Cinderhulk. And I have a few choice opinions and words to get out there, seeing as how most of them say that it's more a troll item than anything on her.

It. Is. Devastating. You can still build tanky if you need to, and yes it is a more damage-oriented style for her, as well as more of a late-game strategy, but that's one of her gameplay options. She doesn't have to specifically be a bruiser or a tank. Yes her passive on her W does a lot of damage on its own even without the player needing to build any damage. Yes with her E it seems somewhat redundant to get Devourer on her. Truth is, Vi is a very powerful champion either way. Whether you play her well or not honestly, she's in the meta right now and some of you don't even know it. Anyway, let's get on with the discussion and the stats.

Warrior first. Yes, it's a good item on her for early game damage and control. Especially now with its buff with 60 AD and 10% CD reduction. This can be a very effective item, yes. If you need the early advantage whether your team is behind or you want to try to stomp early. With that item, you can build defensively and still have damage behind your blows, even not getting much attack speed. Problem is, you're not going to survive much unless you can just straight up do more damage than your opponent(s). Which brings in the tanky build from earlier.

Which brings up Cinderhulk. Yes, its health and health scaling can be very effective in a tank build if your team is squishy. That with Ninja Tabi or Mercury Treads can be a great way to start off as a beefy, more supportive and lock-down style of support... jungle... hybrid thing. But it will drastically reduce the amount of damage you'll be able to do.

Now there's a choice to be made on which jungle item you'll actually get. Whether it's the Sabre, the Knife, or the Blade. All three have different bonuses. The Sabre gives you bonus damage when you smite a champion, making it powerfully effective on both Warrior and Devourer. The Knife is good for Cinderhulk because it'll give you the warding and more supportive edge and provide more vision on your map. The Blade is good on any of them, and a well-rounded item for whichever you want to use, whether you go Warrior, Devourer OR Cinderhulk, because of the slow on the smite. nobody talks about Runeglaive... But let's talk about Devourer for a while. [slayer-jinx-wink] Yes, it does take a while to get it sated. Your team will need to be able to keep itself sustained and able without you for a while. But it's not game-breaking. If anything will be, it'll be your Devourer buff. The main problem everyone seems to be talking about with the Devourer method is actually farming enough to get it sated. Thing is, you don't need to seclude yourself to the jungle to rush its ending buff and get it powerful ASAP. That's the problem some people see too often with Vi's in the jungle trying Devourer. Yes you can rush it, but honestly she's too powerful of a ganker and bruiser to not gank even though she has Devourer stacking. And I will admit that one of the weaknesses or counters is plainly counter-jungling. If she can't kill the big monsters and get that stacking going, then she's not going to be having a good time. That's truly the only weakness to her when she wants to get Devourer stacked and get the power advantage overall.

Now the good thing about Devourer compared to the others is the attack speed and bonus damage on hit. After Devourer, it's highly recommended that you get a Blade of the Ruined King. The power of this item is magnified with the Devourer because of the attack speed of both items combined. Not to mention her W passive.

It is one of the most powerful combinations you can think of in mid to late game, and you can still build all the tank you want. The power of this build is in the fact that it takes just those two items to do everything you want damage wise. After those, you can build as much tank as you could dream. Spirit Visage or Banshee's Veil, and Randuin's Omen, Sunfire Cape, or even Deadman's Plate can be added to that with Ninja Tabi or Mercury Treads depending on the team you're facing. The last item you need since you have 5 now, (those being Devourer of your choice, BotRK, boots, and two of either above for armor and MR) can be either another tank item such as Warmog's Armor or Guardian Angel. Or if you're feeling safe enough as is, you can go for the BM and go for Black Cleaver or Titanic Hydra, since both are powerful in both health and damage, and the Black Cleaver has bonus armor penetration to go along with your W passive. And since you have the attack bonus of Sated Devourer, you're going to be attacking really quickly, doing a ton of percentage health damage with each second attack going with your W passive and the BotRK.

If you want my honest opinion, the people that say that Devourer is weak on Vi compared to the early/mid game bullying of Warrior or Cinderhulk. I say they're right in one regard; the early game. But the late game falls incredibly short compared to the destruction and survival potential of the Devourer path.

Now that's the items dealt with. Let's move to runes and masteries. Since those are powerful, especially now. People always push for you to get Attack Speed runes of some sort with at least 12% AS. Sometimes even 15% for jungling.

I want to tell you that if you want to go Devourer, you don't need that bonus attack speed, and I can show you what I use instead. I've already told you that you have plenty enough attack speed with Devourer and BotRK alone.

http://puu.sh/lmsPA/d4f127c7a0.png Armor Seals and Quintessences, Armor Pen Marks, then scaling MR Glyphs. (you can also use AD marks, but opinion is opinion) That's my rune page when I play Vi using any of the jungling items, or even going top lane with her and not getting a jungle item at all, and instead getting another damage or tank item, or just since I don't have the jungle item, I go with Black Cleaver and Titanic Hydra. Getting both when going top lane can be very effective.

As far as the masteries go... http://puu.sh/lmtrd/d5d3f0727c.png You can do it in a more offensive way... (image was supposed to be Fervor of Battle, not Warlord's Bloodlust. And puush broke so can't get a new one rn) http://puu.sh/lmtoK/8bba2369d6.png Or more of a defensive way. Depends on how you want to play.

This is what my build generally looks like, with branching patterns, and in no particular order. either boots any MR or armor will work or even Or dmg or healing or even

That's one of the most prime build paths when going Devourer on Vi. You're still incredibly tanky, you hit like a truck with the speed of time-skip Luffy and your only weakness is that it takes a while to get there because you need the Devourer to get sated. Which means do Dragon and get Scuttle Crabs as many times as you can. Dragon especially. It'll boost you and your entire team hard.

You can test this on your own in normals or customs with friends, or you can add me on League and see how I do it. Summoner name: phyziKal

Vote on the poll below on which jungle item you prefer on Vi after testing out my method a few times. Just not in ranked at first.