Can We Just take a Moment to Appreciate the Most Balanced Champ in the Game

1st he have to......analyze some kids to learn that.

{quoted}

I actually made a thread asking if his lack of popularity was due to some particularly glaring weakness. Of course he's not very mobile but people basically told me he was balanced and thus not worthy of a pick.

It's basically that. Why pick a balanced champ when you can pick the OP ones? That's not to say Vel'Koz can't hold his own. In fact if you ever see someone pick him in ranked prepare your behinds because anyone who picks him is USUALLY a main. Seriously though he can win games with 1 good ult. The amount of shredding that thing can accomplish is mind blowing.

[{quoted}](name=Sky Shadow,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=xAVKM82O,comment-id=0006,timestamp=2015-05-30T04:53:59.963+0000)

It doesn't get much more balanced than this guy.

ha ha ha

to be honest, Nasus is probably more to the unbalanced.

He can buy 6 tank items and still outdamage every single person in the game. He's melee, but you can't kite him with his slow, it lasts too long and slows for too long. His ultimate makes him insanely tanky on top of already being a tank, and even if you try to poke him he can easily lifesteal it up. he doesn't have a lot of weaknesses aside from high ranged adcs. I wouldn't call him freelo and he actually has a real skill base, but yeah I could see a few small nerfs to him so that he can't just build 6 tank items and still 1 shot people.

Even if Nasus isn't unbalanced he's probably one of the most unfun champions to play against in the game. Not a great example of champion design.

{quoted}

I would say to give it time, but honestly, I don't see him ever becoming OP. ...Just saying that makes me feel like I'm gonna eat my words >_>

Seriously, though, just being an immobile artillery with an ult that keeps him from moving for its duration makes it hard for him to be overpowered, especially with the relatively slow turn radius on the thing.

But yet, he's viable in his own way. He has clear weaknesses, clear strengths, excels in some situations, falters in others.

{quoted}

actually they changed his ap ratios a few times because he could insta-nuke you with his combo

he's still powerful and his kit is still the same though, but it's much better than being able to delete a tank in one combo and more than 50% of the enemy team with your ult

V5.6: Lifeform Disintegration Ray Vel'Koz can now cancel his ultimate by taking Thresh's Lantern. V4.13: Void Rift Missile width increased to 88 from 65 to match visuals. Lifeform Disintegration Ray Range increased to 1550 from 1500 to match visuals. V4.12: Plasma Fission Projectile will now split after Vel'Koz has died. V4.5: Base armor increased to 16 from 12. V4.4: Texture upgrade to his classic skin. V4.3: Added.

Full change list from release. They upped his Armor due to global Armor Rune changes. Every champ got a boost that patch.

I don't know where you're getting this "changed AP ratios" idea.

balanced as in he is strong, but no op and doesn't crowd out competition for his role. He also has well-defined strengths and weaknesses. These are all what make a champion balanced.

{quoted}

That's all he has, though. Damage.

And a suspend and 2 slows. And poke, cause its really not fair to classify all damage the same, or else Maokai would be the best ADC.

It's easy to tune a champ when all they are is one number.

Which number is that for Vel'Koz? His true damage passive's damage-on-proc? The passive's stacks-to-proc? His base damage/rank on which skill? Which AP ratio? The range? What -one- number are you talking about, cause Vel'Koz certainly doesn't have just one number in his kit.

He'll never be viable, though, because he lacks mobility and he lacks the range needed to do without mobility.

Like Annie? Or maybe Zyra?(He outranges her, and they have similar mobility). Does Urgot count as mobile to you cause of the ult? If not, Vel'Koz outranges him too. Mundo? Shyvana?

You are right that he's not seen at the pro level, but saying he doesn't have range/mobility enough to be there when others exist on that stage with less range/mobility than him is ludicrous, as is claiming that a champion with decent "only has damage". Looking at Champion.gg, his scores are such that he might be ok now, or he might just be a pocket support pick for some mid laners, idk, hard to tell, but there's more than one reason a champion doesn't appear on the pro scene. One of them is that the pro meta doesn't always expand wide enough to the entire champion pool, even among viable choices. For instance, there were lots of mundo tops in the early season, and almost everyone forgot about poppy top as a counter, something that seems completely obvious in hindsight. Poppy didn't change in that time frame, people just...didn't keep her in mind when planning things.

Cassiopeia balanced? LOL WHAT? Nasus balanced? LOL what?