Vel'Koz

Vel'Koz is an AP mage in the adc, and on patch 16.11 they grade out as a strong pick — a 54.5% win rate, 0.9% pick rate, 10,000 ranked games sampled. On the power curve, Vel'Koz is a scaling champion: comparatively weak early, but one of the strongest picks on the map once core items come online — so the plan is to survive the laning phase and take the game over late.

How Vel'Koz wins: sieging objectives and turrets with sustained pressure, and grouped 5-v-5 teamfights, where Vel'Koz tips the fight. The kit grades 9/10 siege, 7/10 teamfighting, 7/10 waveclear. Play around where Vel'Koz is thin, engage and roaming (2/10, 2/10), and the enemy loses their angle.

The most-played core build is Luden's Echo, Shadowflame, Rabadon's Deathcap, which holds a 57.3% win rate across 358 games this patch. Pick the enemy team to adapt each item slot to the specific matchup.

The matchup to respect is Janna, where Vel'Koz sits at just 46.8%, the lane swings the other way into Draven (62.8%), and on the team side, Vel'Koz gains the most from a Udyr (+12.3% pair win rate).