10. Vel’koz

Vel’koz is a long-range poke mage that plays primarily mid lane or support. His high base damage, crowd control, and true damage make him an excellent pick in many team compositions and a devastating team fighter late game. His long-range abilities allow him to play relatively safely in the early game as well.

So how do you play Vel’koz?

• Try to angle your Plasma Fission (Q) around minions to hit enemy mid lakers who think they’re safe hiding behind the wave. You can also use the same ability as a straight line skill shot. 
• Cast your ultimate, Life Form Disintegration Ray (R), when your passive is ready to trigger. This will allow you to get the most damage possible out of the ability. 
• Abuse your range in the lane, and play far back when possible. If assassins get on top of you, you have very few tools to deal with it, so preemptively stand as far back as possible. 
• Shove the lane when the enemy mid roams. This is especially the case if it’s a champion you cannot duel in the river, such as Fizz, Zed, and Viktor. This will cause them to miss gold and experience, punishing them for trying to gank your teammates. 

Here's Azzap's Vel'koz gameplay: showing you how to do it like a pro!

9. Brand

Brand is a mid-range burst mage that excels in the mid lane and support roles. His stun, percent health damage, and massive area of effect damage make him a force to be reckoned with in multiple roles, dealing huge upfront burst damage as well as damage over time. 

How to play Brand: 

• To guarantee hitting the stun on your Sear (Q), cast your Conflagration (E) first. This will allow you not only to guarantee to get your passive down but put you at a range where it’s hard to miss your Sear (Q) as well. 
• Cast Pillar of Flame (W) after your stun to make sure it hits. If you follow the above tip, it will trigger your passive as well. This is your main combo. 
• Cast your ultimate, Pyroclasm (R), on as many lumped up, tightly grouped enemies as you possibly can. This will allow your damage over time and passive area of effect to spread, making you a devastating teamfight champion. 

Here's Huzzy's Brand Gameplay! Take a look!

8. Vladimir

Vladimir is a tanky, life-stealing burst mage who makes his home in the mid-lane and top-lane. His safety, healing, and burst make him a strong pick in the current meta, and his area of effect makes him an effective team fighter as well as an effective duelist. 

Vladimir tips and tricks: 

• Vladimir earns ability power from building health, and health from building ability power. Don’t be afraid to mix some tank items into your build!
• Save your Sanguine Pool (W) to escape from ganks or avoid big damage abilities from your enemies. It has a long cooldown, so be careful how you use it!
• Use your ultimate, Hemoplague (R), first in your combo, as its damage amplifies other damage you do on targets you hit with it. 
• Spam your Transfusion (Q) to get your bloodthirst stacks. When you have two stacks, your movement speed and damage of your next Transfusion will increase dramatically. This will allow you to trade with the enemy in the lane effectively. 
• Try to wait until you’re close to having a full item and/or level 9 to all-in the enemy, as you're a weak early game champion, and need the time to scale your damage and health up. 

Watch former League professional Voyboy hit the rift as Vladimir!

7. Xerath

Xerath is a long-range poke mage who plays mid-lane and sometimes support. He excels at harassing enemies out of the lane by using his exceptionally long-ranged abilities to poke them constantly, all while keeping himself safe with crowd control and refreshing his mana as well. This makes him a great pick, but sometimes weak against champions with a lot of gap-closing potential like Yasuo and Zed. 

How to play Xerath well: 

• Stand behind your minion wave at all times. Xerath’s abilities are able to be cast with no regard for the minions, so use your minions to block enemy projectiles and discourage them from coming near you, all while you poke them and push in their minion wave. 
• Be careful of pushing too fast. Since your abilities naturally push the wave, be careful of being overextended. Xerath has no escape or mobility, so he can be vulnerable to ganks. Ward the enemy jungle with your jungler to try and stay safe. 
• Combine your passive, mana surge, with your Doran’s Ring passive by last hitting minions with your auto attacks to gain back a lot of mana. This will allow you to continue poking without having to back. 
• In teamfights, stand extremely far back, preferably by your support. Cast your ultimate Rite of the Arcane (R) first, and aim it at enemy squishies to try and take them out of the fight. Then use your other abilities to deal damage, and use your Eye of Destruction (W) and Shocking Orb (E) to protect yourself and others. 

 

Here's some amazing Xerath play for you to watch and learn from!

6. Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia is a late-game hypercarry mage who deals massive damage in the late game, has great crowd control and utility, and can carry games single-handedly. Her low cooldowns and extra damage items make her hard to handle quickly, although she does have to wait for some of her items to scale. 

Playing Cassiopeia effectively: 

• Build Tear of the Goddess, finish your Liandry’s Anguish, and then complete your Archangel’s Staff. This will allow you to get your best item early, while still not wasting time not scaling the Tear. 
• You can’t build boots, so feel free to buy an extra damage item, tank item, or other items situationally. Damage is normally best since that is the role you play within your team, but if you’re struggling not to die, defensive items can be great as well. 
• Use your Miasma (W) to ward off enemy assassins, tanks, and bruisers with gap-closing abilities. This will allow you to deal damage to them safely even though you’re not very mobile yourself. 
• Make sure to hit your ultimate, Petrifying Gaze, on targets that are facing you, as to stun them instead of just slowing. 

Click to Watch a Challenger player's Cassiopeia game in action!

5. Annie

Annie is a short-range burst mage and control mage with great crowd control and damage. This deadly combo makes her a devastating team fighter, a counter to assassins, and a surprisingly strong duelist as well. 

Annie Tips and Tricks: 

• In the lane, try to charge your passive up all the way to threaten with your stun, but don’t use it right away. Last hit with auto attacks and threaten to stun the enemy if they get too close. 
• Play around your flash. If it’s up, flash + Summon: Tibbers + stun is an incredible team fight engage or duel engage combo. This will do massive damage and allow you to guarantee hitting the rest of your abilities as well. 
• Last hit with your Disintegrate (Q). This ability refunds mana, so coupled with your Doran’s Ring, it will allow you to save a lot of mana you spend. This will make your last hitting much easier. 

Check out this Grandmaster Annie's amazing Mid-lane play!

4. Zoe

Zoe is somewhere between a burst mage and a poke mage, dealing massive damage from long range on a long cooldown. An incredibly unique and at times difficult champion, Zoe can pick up summoner spells, increase the range of her abilities, and jump around the rift in the blink of an eye. 

Playing Zoe: 

• Make sure to pop the balloons you see on the minions. These will give you free summoner spells and item actives you can use with Spell Thief (W). 
• Casting your Sleepy Trouble Bubble (E) through a wall extends its range by the exact amount of wall it went through. This is great when you want to take enemies by surprise. 
• Hitting Paddle Star (Q) on enemies that are asleep amplifies the damage by a lot. Make sure to cast it after Sleep Trouble Bubble (E).
• Make sure to auto-attack at the end of your trades and combos in order to use your passive effectively. 

Watch PekinWoof's awesome Zoe play here!

3. Ahri

Ahri is an assassin-mage hybrid who excels at pushing and roaming, getting picks and snowballing to gain big damage and win games.  Her mobility, burst, crowd control, and wave clear make her a great pick in many different team compositions and metas. 

Ahri tips and tricks: 

• Use your passive’s healing to sustain in the lane, and hit as many minions (and champions) as you can when it’s up. This will cause it to heal for more HP.
• When you hit level 6, try to push the lane in and roam. Your ultimate, Spirit Rush (R), as well as your Charm (E), are excellent ganking tools. 
• In teamfights, use your Spirit Rush (R) to get around the enemy team and try to hit a charm on a vulnerable target. 
• Run Glacial Augment to make hitting your charm easier on mobile targets, or Electrocute into less mobile matchups for more damage. 

Watch Huzzy's Ahri play! 

3. Malzahar

Malzahar is a control mage who excels at locking down mobile enemy champions, shoving in waves to the enemy tower, and damaging all types of enemies from tanks to squishies effectively. 

What makes Malzahar great right now?

• Malzahar’s ultimate, Nether Grasp, is incredible for locking down enemy champions who are trying to attack you and your teammates. Use this when the enemy means to all-in to cancel it out completely. 
• When assassins and other mages attempt to roam, use Malzahar’s great wave clear to push their wave into the tower, causing them to lose a lot of gold and experience. 
• Cast Malzahar’s Call of the Void (Q) first when you trade in the early lane. This ability has a silence, so it will cause the enemy to be unable to trade back with you as effectively. 

Counter assassins in style by watching ZwagXerath's Malzahar play!

1. Viktor

Viktor is a high damage control and burst mage who dominates in his lane, early skirmishes, mid-game, and late game as well. This ability to be effective throughout the whole game, win his lane, snowball, and take control makes Viktor not only one of the best mages but one of the best champions in the game right now. 

Viktor tips and tricks: 

•  Focus on getting hex fragments by last hitting minions and getting kills. This will allow you to augment your basic abilities. The most important ability to augment is Death Ray (E). 
• When you cast your ultimate, Chaos Storm (R), make sure to continue casting it to control it manually. Otherwise, it will stay still. 
• Viktor can push the wave in to punish roamers or roam himself. See what works best situationally, and take advantage of things like weak junglers, immobile bottom lanes, or over-roaming mids. 
• Be aggressive. You have strong trades and all-ins early, and you want the 25 hex fragments from kills to push your hex-core into the next stage as soon as possible. 

Check out RedMercy's amazing Viktor gameplay by clicking this link

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