Viktor has recently received a light rework in patch 10.23. His Machine Herald has had his Hex Core removed to make the transition to the new item system smoother. To compensate for the loss, Riot has given him better starting ratios and a new passive to upgrade his abilities.
Viktor has always been a very specific pick in professional League of Legends. His previous Hex Core passive made him strong in specific metas that catered towards snowballing and cheap items. He has had a decent presence in the draft phase since Season 4, and has at times been a common pick in the LCK.
Viktor entered the pro scene in Season 5 with teams picking the champion late into that year’s summer split and continuing to the World Championships. He was, and still is, seen as a decent matchup into other popular mages. He was also used to counter more aggressive champions, such as Yasuo.
Viktor really became a staple in the game the following season. He had a 30% presence in drafts across all professional games that season with over 521 games played. He would never again be that popular. He dove into single digit presence even as teams began to flirt with the idea of playing the champion in other lanes.
Korea and China are the regions that have logged the most games piloting Viktor. Korea has seen over 400 games with Viktor, while China has had 378. Other regions each have about 100 fewer games on the champion and do not have a single player in the top five for games played or won on the champion.
Overall, Viktor does not have a great win rate ratio in any of the three lanes where he has appeared. His win rate is a disappointing 44%, and his best lane is bottom at 46%. Viktor also generally does not have good overall stats for gold and experience difference at 15 minutes. These stats can ultimately be chalked up to the champion needing to snowball the game in order to be most useful. The games where Viktor loses, he loses hard, and that does not make his averages look good.
Viktor is a favorite among China and Korea, and the players that pilot him best are from those regions.
Lee “Crown” Min-ho has the most games played with the champion, clocking in with 64 total games at a 53% win rate. Lee “Kuro” Seo-haeng is next in games played at 46 with the second highest win rate of all players with more than 25 games at 74%.
The player with the best win rate piloting the champion is another world-renowned mid laner, Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok. He has a staggering 79% win rate with 25 games played. Viktor is also one of Faker’s most played champions professionally.
Viktor has seen a downwards turn in play in Season 10, and while he has still been picked up at times in the LCK and LPL, he hasn’t broken into the mainstream like some other mage picks. Other mages have an easier time scaling up to their item breakpoints and do not require the resources that Viktor has traditionally needed. Now, without his Hex Core and with a new passive that revolves around kills and assists to gain upgrades, maybe the champion can regain some of the popularity that it had in its past glory days.
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