Vel’Koz has received quite a few buffs across the span of League of Legends Season 13, increasing the true damage from his passive, as well as his base and attack speeds. Turns out the devs are eager to give him even more, though, as the Eye of the Void has been given yet another set of “experimental” buffs on the LoL PBE.
The changes to Vel’Koz’s base stats dropped with League of Legends patch 13.22, and were followed up by a buff to his passive in 13.23. Despite these changes, though, the champion’s play rate is still relatively low compared to the MOBA‘s other control mages, and he sits at the bottom end of League of Legends‘ midlane tier list.
As a result, Riot is doubling-down on its buffs, adding a series of “experimental” changes to the PBE. As stated by lead designer on League of Legends, August ‘August’ Browning, these are to “give him better defensive options by making E more reliable when cast at short range.”
The changes, at the moment, mean Vel’Koz’s E (Void Rift)’s travel time now scales with distance, varying from 0.25s up to the original 0.55s. The ability now spawns at cast location, too, not at Vel’Koz’s, and the circle denoting the ability’s AoE now only spawns after 0.25 seconds, instead of immediately. This means it’s harder to dodge overall – especially if you land it from over a wall.
While these feel like relatively small changes overall, they’ll give Vel’Koz a lot more of that defensiveness Riot has mentioned. He’ll be better able to stop high-mobility champions in their tracks (especially jungle gankers), which oftentimes win out the matchup because of how immobile Vel’Koz is.
Given his complexity, I’m not sure if we’ll see him in the midlane every game following these changes, but they’re certainly great for Vel’Koz mains – after all, he’s been largely untouched since 12.10, and that was a long time ago. “My heart is filled with joy,” writes one, while another comments “doing the Lord’s work my friend.”
Will this shake up the LoL tier list? We’ll have to wait and see. However, there’s another big thing happening on the PBE, and that’s all of the new League of Legends Season 14 content. Trust me when I say Vel’Koz will be loving them.
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