Bet they can't, and here's the funny part. The last champion they made was also their "perfect" champion in terms of game health
is balance
is Life
0 nerfs and 0 buffs, 0 QQ and 0 praises
Something tells me Ao Shin will break the game even more than ekko has ( Return to your location across the map, just wat were they smoking)
Dengeden9 votesVelk is an interesting example, actually. He's kind of a ranged Cho'Gath, tbh. Very predictable abilities but decent lane and TF presence. The thing is, being predictable can be pretty bad for a squishy mage. He sort of gets outclassed by other poke mages because of it (and then there's the fact that his passive is pretty redundant). And as a support, he's not in the meta.
But I digress: You go ahead and come up with one. They are incredibly difficult to balance and even more difficult to set apart from other champions. Immobile champions are either poke oriented or big tanks thar hope they're important enough to get focused. There are insane scaling carries like Kog'maw and kite me- kite me tanks like Garen and Taric. See the problem yet? Or do you need to insult Riot some more?
( Return to your location across the map, just wat were they smoking)
Are you kidding me?
Bouffon dAnglais3 votesyeah, but tp is restricted by targets and cooldown. also, its a summoner spell.
Rando McGee1 votesNow I'm thinking about TPing to top lane, getting the kill quick, then ulting back to mid and possibly getting a kill there.
Dengeden1 votesMy point stands, it's not like this use of Ekko ult is some sort of game breaking mechanic that players have never seen before.
Pheonixwish6 votesBro, you just crossed the line. We can't have a champ like Vel in this meta. No way. Guards, train your lasers on Altricad. Praise mobility. Praise it forever.
(secretly hides with Anivia and Tentacle Monster "Their time will come. And we'll be ready...heheHeHeHAHAHAHA-")
shadowstorm322 votes
huehuehue...
(and no, i do not count the random ms boost on W as mobility. Lord pizzaboots shall reign.)
IcyPepper5 votes( Return to your location across the map, just wat were they smoking)
If he wastes his ult to return to the map, well... there goes some of his burst. And a smart player wouldn't just stand near his echo (hue) right after he recalls in the first place.
Right?
ChaoticPinecone3 votesthe thing is, Ekko (from what i can see) doesnt have a reason to use his ult in lane unless its an escape (which he already has). and in lane, how often is your enemy going to be standing near the shadow + you want to be in their face?
his damage comes from his insane autoattack burst. He Q's you for a stack (or two), E-auto for the passive proc, then autos you to death with his % missing health damage while soaking everything with his massive shield. the way he is tuned ATM, he doesnt need the ult for burst.
Anotherherolost1 votes
If he wastes his ult to return to the map, well... there goes some of his burst. And a smart player wouldn't just stand near his echo (hue) right after he recalls in the first place.
Right?
Who exactly recalls in sight of an enemy champion?
UnluckyWizz1 votes
If he wastes his ult to return to the map, well... there goes some of his burst. And a smart player wouldn't just stand near his echo (hue) right after he recalls in the first place.
Right?
you forgot 
YOU BEEN WARNED1 votesOn the other hand, his is instant with the shortest CD. It's one of the strongest ults in the game.
Aboylova925 votesFor me, Vel is one of the most fun champions for me to play. He's a poke/combo mage that feels EXTREMELY satisfying when you land his skills. His lack of mobility/squishiness also keep him very balanced. Vel has had pretty much the same winrate since he's come out, give or take a few points, and apart from that one time they were talking about changing his ult around to make him "more popular," he's just been doing his thing. I don't play a lot of mid's anymore, but he is someone that I'll take almost all the time if mid's open.
Slamurai Jack4 votesThe joke is that is still the strongest champ to have come out since Season 3 ended. Sure, 
,
, 
,
,
, were all stronger for a little bit, and they all got nerfed for it. But Vel'koz, immobile and untouched by Riot, remains OP to this day, and he will continue to do so unless people recognize just how strong he is (Which they won't because muh mobility). And I'm not talking about support either. Scarra doesn't have a 31-13 record on Vel'koz mid this season for no reason.
ThePlasticSpork39 votes[{quoted}](name=Slamurai Jack,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=VYenkzNV,comment-id=0004,timestamp=2015-05-29T06:31:02.217+0000)
The joke is that
Even if Vel'Koz is a powerful as you state him to be, the reason he doesn't get nerfed because he's not even half as frustrating to deal with as any of those champions you listed, except for maybe Braum, who is also pretty well designed IMO. His kit is simple and, at best, accomplishes a few things, but accomplishes those few things really damn well. That is good design compared to, say, Gnar or Kalista, who have a little bit of everything that their respective class of champion would want and then some.
If a Vel'Koz catches you with his highly telegraphed knockup and consequently melts you, it doesn't feel like bullshit. When a Kalista rends you for a quarter of your health bar after hopping all across the rift, it feels like bullshit. When Yasuo crits you 5 times in a row because free stats OP, it feels like bullshit.
That's the difference.
Slamurai Jack1 votesI'm pretty sure that the assassins in mid that are supposed to counter me cry bullshit when I 100-0 them at lvl 6 the moment they try to jump on me. Hell, I don't even take a combat summoner on Vel'koz; I take TP because I don't need exhaust, barrier, or heal to beat with the assassins that "counter" me. Vel'koz is a stupidly strong laner and his only real weakness is a good Fizz or Leblanc and junglers that can easily get behind you with hard CC; Pantheon, Lee Sin, Reksai, etc.
BetaDude404 votesEasiest possible way to ever counter a Vel'Koz:
: Stand behind him
Although it may be somewhat difficult for you to get there depending on who you're playing, this is by far the easiest way to counter him, especially if you're AD. If you're directly on top of or behind him, suddenly he can't reliably land Q or W. He might be lucky enough to smash you with an E, but its innate delay gives you a fraction of a second to move a short distance. And he's definitely not going to try and ult you at this range, simply because you can out-turn the laser by walking right beside him. If you're AD, then just continue basic attacking and using abilities, and the fact he's squishier than Teemo will show forth. He will try to run, no doubt about it, and he might go as far to pop a flash, which will give you a much stronger advantage the next time you go in on him, for he doesn't even have a speed boost. The only thing preventing you from catching him is his amazing peel.
You counter his passive simply by waiting a couple of seconds before going back in again. You counter his Q by standing behind the big purple arrow thing. Now it's physically impossible for it to hit. Otherwise, just get on the other side of your minion wave You counter his W by not standing in direct proximity to minions, and always moving. Even if you're hit once, the second burst is easy to escape You counter his E by also continuously moving. Although this one has the least amount of telegraph, it is also the smallest ability he has, and frequently changing direction may make it harder for him to hit. If it DOES hit, though, then the results could be catastrophic, so use as much effort as possible to dodge this ability You counter his ult by either diving the instant he starts using it, which is when he's most vulnerable, or by just knowing to stay the fuck away if you think he's about to use it. Never underestimate the damage on his ult, nor the range. A Zhonya's also really helps against it.
He's strong if you just let yourself into a passive lane. You HAVE to be aggressive and harass him from farm and exp. If you don't then it'll be nice and calm until Vel decides he wants to be aggressive on you, and suddenly you're bombarded by endless poke and harass, to the point where he might end up zoning you. Even then, a reliable gank from a jungler should dislodge him from his throne if he gets caught pushing too far. His peel might also allow him to escape, or even possibly turn the fight into his favor as well. Vel has a lot of strengths, don't get me wrong, but anyone not willing to exploit his weaknesses don't understand how to play against him. Simple as that. He does fair stronger against assassins than most other mages due to his peel, but a competent Talon or a good Zed just simply melt Vel, especially if they dodge his abilities.
Sinister Snail3 votesTo be fair, "get to melee range" is the winning strategy against most squishy casters. What makes said casters balanced or not is how difficult that is, and what they can do about it once you're there.
Vel makes it really hard to close from long to medium range safely, but most assassins can jump on him and kill him from mid range. Hence why a good velkoz will always ward his flanks very carefully.
Vel'koz is my favorite champion :)
Rrett1 votesI play mid a lot, and when playing against velkoz it's particularily effective to get in melee range.
Back when veigar was still good, I'd dodge every single skill shot from a velkoz and then just walk around him doding everything and killing him over the next 10 seconds.
Zair Umbras1 votesI hope you realize that Braum's E, much like Yasuo's W, do not block Vel's ult. Braum himself will take less damage, but the beam still goes through and hits everything behind.
Yosuke Apperu1 votesBest feeling ever is cutthroating velkoz right as he ults XD Not as many play talon mid tho as other champs are played.
MetalGearTeemu1 votesBest feeling ever is cutthroating velkoz right as he ults XD Not as many play talon mid tho as other champs are played.
to be fair if Vel ulted you or a kat for that manner while in range for your blink its his own damned fault, because his ult can certainly outrange it. Hue.
Yosuke Apperu1 votesEhhh, katarina possibly, but a gank from a talon through bushes? XD Basically you're saying don't use your ult against them :p
LankPants1 votesVel's a weird champ match-up wise.
While his match-ups vs popular assassins range from even (vs LB) to slightly positive (vs Zed and Kat) he actually has a lot more trouble with less popular assassins, namely Akali, Rengar and Talon. These champs can either burst him down before he can even move or have an easy time dodging his skills with stealths and general high mobility.
His match-ups vs conventional combo mages also leave a lot to be desired. He has almost no way to win a match-up into a good Syndra or Brand player and champs like Malz, Morg and even Zyra can be a real pain for him to deal with.
Also he has one counterlane that's probably amongst the worst in the game, Vel vs Ahri is almost an unwinnable match-up
Slamurai Jack1 votesAkali used to be a really easy matchup since her ult would put her in a perfect position to eat an effortless full combo. It's harder now that she goes behind you, but I still would put it on the easier side. I don't find Ahri too bad either. If you play around your minions, you shouldn't get charmed and you can survive her all in and retaliate. It's pretty much impossible to escape a jungle gank if you're facing Ahri though. Imo, the hardest matchup is Fizz post-6. He can pretty much just run at you and ult you every time its off CD, Q onto you and start autoing, and use E to dodge any retaliation.
As for other mages, I havent found them to be much of an issue, especially the ones you mentioned. Vel'koz outranges Malz, Zyra, and Brand by a considerable margin and can combo them quickly and easily due to their long cast times. If you max W, you can very easily shove any of those champs in after lvl 7, even Malzahar and Morgana. And I don't know why you mentioned Syndra; I've always found the matchup quite easy even before she was nerfed. You outrange her, outharass her, outpush her, and your 100-0 potential is stronger until well into the game. For combo mages, the only ones I've ever had issues with are Orianna because of her shield and ult, and a good Xerath because he's the 1 champ in mid that outranges you. Another mage that can be an issue, but not necessarily in lane in Lux. During laning phase, you massive outdamage her and can easily full combo her if she ever dares to follow up on a snare with an auto attack. But later on in the game, Ulting can give her a very easy E-Ult combo which can kill you.
Altricad4 votesVel's kit is really strong and he can do decent damage without building a lot of AP due to his passive. But it never feels overbearing, as he is so squishy and can easily be taken advantage of. Just the other day, I was chasing a low health rek'sai who tunneled FIVE TIMES in a row before I was like " f*k it, I need a Vi ulti to kill her"
Also, Vel mid is countered very very hard by since he can block 3 of his 4 abilities and can shove the lane as fast as vel for NO COST.
Also, yasuo scales like BS to late game with his crits, while Vel relatively falls off when people can just 3 shot him late game.
Don't get me started on kalista, Riot finally removed that 25% extra dash which imo should've never been released on her in the first place.
Azir was perma ban few weeks after his release in high elo, then took a trip down nerf ave and reached 40% win rate
Also, if Vel'koz is that OP, why don't I see Bjergsen/ any pro mid-laner play him? Why do they play but not Vel? reason being he's not bullsh*t like phreak said "Pros play champions that are bullshit"
and everyone you listed ( except for Vel) were all bullsh*t at some point of time
Slamurai Jack6 votesFor Vel'koz vs. Yasuo, on paper, the matchup should be heavily in Yasuo's favor. However, as someone who plays both Yasuo and Vel'koz a fair bit, thats not really how it works out. For some strange reason, Wind Wall does not block Vel'koz' knockback, which gives him a decent amount of leverage in 1v1, and more than enough time to get a full combo off. And once laning is over, Vel'koz actually gains a huge advantage vs. Yasuo if he has a decent tank line in front of him. Literally all it takes to kill Yasuo is 1 piece of CC from a tank, smacking him with your combo and then ulting, and theres nothing Yasuo can really do about it. Obviously if Yasuo's team is ahead and can just run over the Vel'koz team or he has a Malphite to get easy ults, Vel'koz is going to have a hard time. But in general, the Yasuo vs. Vel'koz counter is only theoretical; Vel'koz wins 58% of the time according to champion.gg.
As for all those other champions, I did say that Riot took the nerf bat to every single one of them, and some of them incredibly hard. As for why pros don't play him, I blame 2 main factors. The first and most prominent in my eyes is that he's viewed more as a high damage support due to his high base damages and somewhat low AP ratios. And he's perfectly fine as a support; he can definitely do work there, especially right around lvl 6. The second reason is one that concerns very high level solo Q and competitive play; namely that he is very weak to having too much attention paid to him, both in the form of being camped in lane and being hard dove in teamfights. Another weakness is that he's particularly vulnerable to ranged AOE hard CC, usually skillshots, such as Gragas ult, Annie ult, Sej ult, Leona ult, etc., which are all very popular in pro play.
Another thing I would like to address is the idea that Vel'koz falls off damage-wise. And while this is true, this drop off is also greatly amplified by what I believe to be bad item builds. For example, nearly every pro I see builds either 
or 
and then no CDR anywhere else, leaving you at only 25% whenever you don't have blue buff. For a Poke/Combo Mage, this is completely unacceptable. Vel'koz scales so hard with CDR that having anything less than 40% late in the game severely gimps both your poking and teamfighting power. Another item choice that I think is a mistake is the idea that 
is mandatory. For the way Vel'koz tends to position in teamfights, the fight is usually already lost if enemy champions are able to get close enough to burst him down. The exceptions to this rule are champions that have special tools to allow them to completely bypass your team to get to you. 
, 
,
,
,
. Against those champions, getting Zhonyas is definitely a must just to buy enough time for your team to realize whats happening and muster some peel for you. But against most team comps, Zhonyas simply isn't necessary and using it is more likely to get you killed than just trying to kite back is.
With that in mind, what do I think people ought to be building? For me personally, there are 2 builds and which one I go for depends on what runes I decide to take. The first setup runs 9 cdr per level glyphs, and the build will give me the full 40% cdr at lvl 18. 
. This build gives you a very strong mix of kiting power, raw AP, and Magic pen to go along with the 40% CDR and allow you to deal absurd amounts of damage even in the end-game. The second setup uses 9 magic resist glyphs for when I'm laning against some of the more dangerous mid champions 
. In that case, I build and then either , or , depending on how tanky the enemy team is. The concept is the same as the first build; max cdr, high raw AP, high magic pen, and lots of kiting power. In either of the builds, you can replace Ludens with Zhonyas if you feel it is necessary, but I pretty much never build Zhonyas unless I'm absolutely forced into it by one of the threats mentioned above.
Vel'koz is one of my favorite champions, and easily my most successful one last season: 62% Win rate, 8.5/3.2/9 KDA over 165 games, and even 58 perfect games (0 deaths) with 5 in a row at one point. I feel that he's an extremely powerful champion that is held back from his true potential by poor itemization choices and the idea that he's just a support and not a true AP mid. I honestly believe that he among the biggest sleeper OP picks in the game and has been since his release, and I encourage more people to try him out for themselves without making assumptions.
Lugg4 votesGreat observation. You are right on track with this one.
Drunk Rummate4 votesYou know what happens when you do that?
You get a champion with an absurd amount of free stats, scaling and/or CC, because thats the only way to balance an immobile champion. Basically we'll end up with another Darius/Yorick/Annie.
Is that really what you want?
Altricad3 votesThere are certain champions in each role that have no mobility and are still good. And srsly, if Riot, as a game developer can't come up with an immobile champion without overloading their kit, then that shows their incompetence.
They're actually quite a few immobile champions that can't dash through walls that are still very much viable. ( even in LCS)
These champions are truly unique, not slapped on with TONS of dashes, and they don't have a lot of free stats either ( except f*k that champion, but at least riot is nerfing her now)
YOU BEEN WARNED2 votesTbh I find all of those pretty cancerous save &
That's coming from a person against mobility creep.
Partholonian2 votesI think Jinx's mobility is some of the least problematic because she has to EARN it. And even then it's "only" a big MS steroid, not a dash through walls or a blink that can get out of 
ult without getting hit by it.
On the other hand, 
has a flash in his kit (non-ult, even) and I don't find him either OP or toxic to play against, in general.
TelekniTech1 votes"only" a big MS steroid? That shit is a 175% movespeed boost.
It's almost biggest movespeed bonus in the game, it's twice faster than 
's E. Almost as fast as homeguards.
There is no way you're going to hit that with Riot's new generic "delayed skillshots"; implying ult hits means she's out of position to begin with (hooked or E'd in a fight, and then she won that too)
Deep Terror Nami3 votesWhat about Braum? He can't ward jump at least lol. Is he not balanced?
Matezoide9 votesHe was pretty broken on release, from what i remember.
Anyway OP, you are right. I always considered Vel to be the most balanced champion in the game. He has clear strengths, weaknesses and will pay the price for fucking up.
Rando McGee1 votesVel is definitely a contender. I think Udyr is another possibility, I don't remember him ever getting touched since I started around the time Diana was released and if I remember right the last time he has a (semi)major change was in season 3 when they changed his turtle stance slightly. Alistar and Rammus are pretty good too IMO.
magic pole5 votes[{quoted}](name=Valkyrie Witch,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=VYenkzNV,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2015-05-29T02:07:18.937+0000)
What about Braum? He can't ward jump at least lol. Is he not balanced?
he can minion jump that op
chipi991 votesHe was really tanky on release.
Slamurai Jack2 votesNot even a little. Vel'koz's combat ability is so strong that the ability to back whenever I please or defend against a split push is worth far more to me than a combat summoner. I'm almost always going to win the lane 1v1 against any non counter and even the counters still usually need jungle help to kill me. That's how good of a laner Vel'koz is. I've even started taking cdr per level glyphs against the easier matchups.
Troy2426212 votesRiot: Challenge Accepted.
% max health true damage Q, can be re-cast for a % missing health nuke. Massive CC on W with a low CD. Huge shield on E, and some sort of obscenely powerful ultimate. Now let's make it ranged, overload the base stats and the ratios, then give it a sh*tload of steroid passives.
Put CertainlyT right on it. Don't worry, though, it won't be overloaded.
Solidair31 votesVel'koz has been buffed tho.
specifically his ult.
SociopathFriend3 votes"To match visuals" ^I call that clarity, not buffing per say
SociopathFriend1 votesBuffed his armor, but otherwise yes. I actually want Riot to do that just so we can see what they come up with, last time was Vel'Koz and he's hella fun to play.
WutsKraken1 votesFalse, Vel'koz was QQ'd for about a week after release about his high base damages (Close to assassin level IF you hit everything) which the QQ'ers didn't realize was because they simply didn't know how to dodge his 4 skillshots and abuse his immobility
Pretty soon people figured out "oh hey, he's a giant freakin squid who can barely move" and then they rekt him
Truly Prideful1 votesI said it when he came out and I stand by it, Vel'koz is legitimately perfect. He feels great to play and his kit works so well as a whole. He has plenty of counterplay, you always understand why he beat you and what you could have changed. He has plenty of build options. He can be played in multiple roles to a good level.
I'm not even sad he's underplayed, it's probably better that way. It will keep this community from getting him nerfed for no good reason.
Krys Star1 votesI'm just waiting for the day Riot realizes it's their more mobile champions that are almost often the most problematic champions. LeBlanc, Zed, Riven, Yasuo, Lucian pre-nerf, Ahri, Kassadin, Katarina, Lee Sin, Fizz, etc. etc. the list goes on and on. Now they made a super mobile champion with high burst, high sustained damage, and the kit to forgive his mistakes.
The Loveless1 votesIf velkoz had a way to shield himself or gain defense, he'd probably be played more (mid lane). Not saying I personally think he's UP, but you know how people don't like playing squishy, immobile champions and getting dumped on.
Fadedpf1 votes
IS life. He crosses walls but that doesnt meant hes broken like . Just wanted to point that out.
pWasHere1 votesThe thing is that Vel'Koz sees pretty much zero play.
Valhalla Rising1 voteseven braum is mobile, I totally agree with op