On the current LoL Patch 13.24 PBE, Riot have revealed some experimental Vel'Koz buffs which could make the champion much better. Unfortunately, they are not guaranteed to ship yet.
The Vel'Koz community has been on a rampage lately, boycotting the champion, as well as posting multiple suggestions to improve the champion on Reddit. While he did get some buffs in LoL Patch 13.23, most of the community was not satisfied and felt like the devs were ignoring them.
Well, now August "August" Browning, Lead Designer on League of Legends, revealed some experimental changes they've added to the Public Beta Environment (PBE) to see whether they can make Vel'Koz a better and more fun champion.
LoL Patch 13.24: Vel'Koz Buffs Added To The PBE
The Vel'Koz community has been extremely outspoken about the state of their champion right now. There were multiple posts on social media calling on the League of Legends balance team to help the champion out and make him better in both the mid lane and support position.
Experimental Vel'Koz changes by Riot August by u/Conankun66 in leagueoflegends
While Riot did buff his passive in LoL Patch 13.23, it wasn't enough. Now, Riot August has revealed that there are some experimental Vel'Koz buffs on the PBE which the team is testing out to see whether these could help Vel'Koz. The team is trying to give the immobile mage some better defensive options through his E, as well as make it more reliable.
Vel'Koz was released on February 27, 2014. He is a long-range mage in League of Legends, known for his laser-like abilities that deal true damage. He excels at poking enemies from afar, providing vision, and bursting down foes with his high-damage spells.
E - Tectonic Disruption
- Travel time: .55s >>> variable, from .25s - .55s based on distance
- Missile spawns at Vel'koz's location >>> missile spawns at cast location
- No longer draws the circle indicator until after the .25s cast time (this will it hard to dodge if you can't see him or aren' paying attention)
- Fixed a bug where the spell would fizzle when V'K flashes or is knocked back at max range
These are some small changes, but it seems that the player base is welcoming them, since Vel'Koz' E has been one of the abilities that players wanted Riot to look at.
We have actually done it. Unbelievable, praise Riot.This whole Vel'Koz boycott into new season saga went way better than anyone could have hoped.We have to keep an eye out on Vel'Koz because there are many changes in a short span and it might result in him being a bit over... https://t.co/iGwIIh3dPQ
— Azer Dugalic (@Azzapp_LoL) November 21, 2023
Vel'Koz mains are even saying that if these experimental buffs end up being a bit too strong, that Vel'Koz could be nerfed in some other way to make him less OP in the future – something like reverting the passive buffs from Patch 13.23.
Overall, it's great to see that the balance team is taking player feedback into account and actually trying to make a champion more fun to play, as well as fix some major bugs. So now it's just a matter of time to see the next big champion Subreddit going on strike.