Thoughts on the new Vel'Koz changes in the PBE(?)

I'm not sure whether everyone's seen it yet but here's the summary of changes on the PBE as of the time I made this post:

W: W1 width increased to better match that of W2

R: Range increased to 1550 from 1500 to better match visual Base damage reduced to 350/475/600 from 500/700/900 AP ratio increased to 1.5 from 0.6 Slow reduced to 15% from 20% Slow now stacks on targets, up to 5 times

My problem isn't really with W's change, that's just QoL. My issue is with the changes to Vel'Koz's ult, except the range change as that's also QoL. While this essentially is a buff to his power with the new bonus AP ratio, i'm not liking how the slow stacks on targets. Essentially a full channel will slap targets with a 75% slow which combined with Rylai's and that new 1.5 AP ratio makes for a dangerous 90%. This puts Life Form Disintegration Ray on par with Nasus's Wither as one of the strongest slows in the game. Considering how this will affect his team-fight power even further I find it insanely risky of a change. As much as i'd like Riot's reasoning on this I'd love to hear the community feedback on it as well since Vel'Koz is my favorite champion and main Mid-laner.

EDIT: Ok so I found out that these changes are meant to nerf support Vel'Koz. I can tell right here and now that this does nothing but buff support and nerf mid. Quoting the Diamond 1 player known as Sevenix from the PBE forums:

"Vel'Koz is a classic Glass Cannon champion, he has very high damage output on a long range while having really no actual escapes. This means that if he every gets focused he will probably go down damn fast, just as Kog'Maw. This is the reason he currently doesn't work that well as a midlanes but works really well as a Support. As a midlaner he would build AP and becomes quite a big threat to the enemies, meaning he would get focused first thing in every teamfight and seeing how the meta for the last year or so been relying heavily on high mobility champions the Mid'Koz Will die fast, probably before he gets to use his ultimate. Support'Koz on the other hand is never really the main target, during the lanephase the enemies will most of the times try to go for your Marksman, at which point you can slow them with Q, or even knock them back with E if they get too close. You are often able to simply sit back just out of range of the enemies skills and harass them, keeping them on low health in order to make sure they dont dare do anything too daring as engaging.

Vel'Koz Damage The passive means you don't have to build AP in order to deal some proper damage. This is especially important to Support'Koz and its what makes him a really good support while similar champions that rely on long range AP Harass never works quite as good.

Impact of the Proposed Changes Support'koz wasn't all about damage anyway Lowering the base damage like this makes it look worse than it is considering you still have to account for the 1 or 2 passive procs you can get during the ultimate. Adding the stacking slow is a Huge Buff to Support'Koz So your ultimate wont deal as much damage as before but the extra slow means you will have a much easier time to help your Marksman or Jungler catch up to them. Adding the better scaling damage is a Nerf to Mid'Koz The increased slow will seriously do nothing for Mid'Koz, in teamfights where he would use his Ultimate it is Impossible to use the ult at a time where all 4-5 enemies Dont have a dash up. Not to mention the better scaling on the Ultimate now makes Vel'Koz even more a threat and he will be nuked down even faster. He will become very similar to Katarina in that his ultimate will be something the enemies will simply save one or two stuns for. There is a reason there arent a lot of Katarina players in Diamond, or even Platinum.

Impact on Vel'Koz gameplay Mid Gets a Nerf Higher Damage Bigger threat means more focus. Still as vulnerable Better 1v1 capability. In general this means Mid'Koz will probably die more, And Im not sure he will die with more kills than before. Support Gets a Buff Slightly lower damage. Much better slow. (Better Support) Reduced 1v1 capability. In general this means Support'Koz will steal less kills, will probably be a bit Stronger on level 6 and will probably die less than before.

Conclusions I love to play Vel'Koz as support but I know Riot designed him as a midpick and probably want to make changes to push him in that direction. He will still be too much Glass in mid and even if he becomes more Cannon he will struggle a lot in the current Assassin/Bruiser/Dasher meta. This is a slight buff for Support'Koz but while giving Mid'Koz more damage is good for Mid, it just makes his lack of escape more critical and I think he will be harder to play Mid'Koz after these changes."

Sevenix is right. I agree with every aspect of his post.