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By GamGem ResearchLast updated 18 Oct 2026

Viktor Counters, Build and Runes — Mid and Bot Lane · Patch 26.20

the Herald of the Arcane

Patch 26.20 · Stats from the 26.18 Master+ sample (9,099 games).

Viktor, the Herald of the Arcane, upgrades one ability with every 100 Hex Fragments through Glorious Evolution and steers Arcane Storm across a fight. Master+ played him Mid and often in the bot lane, almost all on Deathfire Touch, and his one printed path is Blackfire Torch, Hextech Rocketbelt, Zhonya's Hourglass. Twisted Fate, Galio and Anivia beat him most often. Orianna and Yone he did better against.

Mage

Patch 26.18 · Mid · Ranked Solo/Duo · Master+ · EUW · KR · NA · 9,099 games · Preview sample

Role snapshot (Mid)

ATier
Win Rate
50.4%
Pick Rate
13.9%
Ban Rate
15.2%

9,099

Games

Very High

Confidence

Win rate by lane

  • Mid49.6% · 5,808 games
  • Bot52.6% · 2,989 games

Most common path

665 games

58.6%Win Rate

Start
FlashTeleport

Runes

Patch 26.18

This exact page: taken in 17.4% of games·47.6% win rate over 1,583 games.

Primary

Sorcery

Deathfire Touch

Damaging a champion with an ability burns them over time.

Manaflow Band

Hitting an enemy champion with an ability permanently increases your maximum mana by 25, up to 250 mana. After reaching 250 bonus mana, restore 1% of your missing mana every 5 seconds.

Transcendence

Gain bonuses upon reaching the following levels:Level 5: +5 Ability Haste Level 8: +5 Ability Haste Level 11: On Champion takedown, reduce the remaining cooldown of basic abilities by 20%.

Scorch

Your first damaging ability hit every 10s burns champions.

Secondary

Resolve

Bone Plating

After taking damage from an enemy champion, the next 3 spells or attacks you receive from them deal 30-60 (based on level) less damage. Duration: 1.5s Cooldown: 55s

Shield Bash

Whenever you gain a shield, your next basic attack against a champion deals bonus adaptive damage.

Shards

  • Attack Speed
  • Adaptive Force
  • Health

Other keystones taken

  • Summon Aery2.3% taken · 48.8% win211 games
  • Arcane Comet1.8% taken · 49.4% win168 games
  • First Strike0.7% taken · 47.5% win61 games

Tree pairs

  • Sorcery + Resolve49.1% taken · 49.9% win4,469 games
  • Sorcery + Precision45.0% taken · 51.5% win4,095 games
  • Sorcery + Inspiration4.5% taken · 45.7% win411 games

Skill Order

Which ability to max first, and the level each point goes in — Viktor's most common path.

Q

Siphon Power

Viktor blasts an enemy unit with magic damage, which grants him a shield and empowers his next basic attack.

Cooldown 9/8/7/6/5s · 45/50/55/60/65 Mana
W

Gravity Field

Viktor conjures a heavy gravitational field that slows enemies caught within its radius.

Cooldown 17/16/15/14/13s · 65 Mana
E

Hextech Ray

Viktor uses his biomechanical arm to fire a Hextech Ray that cuts across the field in a line, dealing damage to all enemies in its path.

Cooldown 12/11/10/9/8s · 60/70/80/90/100 Mana
R

Arcane Storm

Viktor conjures an Arcane Storm on the field, dealing magic damage and interrupting enemy channels.

Cooldown 120/100/80s · 100 Mana

Max Order

EQW

Max E first, then Q, then W. Take R whenever available (6 / 11 / 16).

Level-up Order

  • Q
  • W
  • E
  • R
Ability123456789101112131415161718
QSiphon PowerQQQQQ
WGravity FieldWWWWW
EHextech RayEEEEE
RArcane StormRRR

Matchup map (Mid)

How Viktor performs against enemy mid laners

Levels 1 – 18 · Master+40%60%Viktor's win rate
≥ 60%Very favorable
55 – 60%Favorable
50 – 55%Even
45 – 50%Unfavorable
40 – 45%Hard
< 40%Very hard

Conditional build matrix

Recommended items by enemy team composition

Master+ · Patch 26.18
Mythic / CoreFirst major item
Core 2Second item
Core 3Third item
BootsBoot slot
SituationalPick as needed

Scaling — minute 10–30

ViktorMid average

Gold

102030

Damage to champions

102030

CS

102030

Counter plan — how to beat Viktor

  • Dodge the primary — its rotation is one skillshot; sidestep it and the rest is chip

  • Punish the cooldown — Viktor is exposed while its rotation is down

  • Ward the flank — vision is what turns its best opening into a worse one

  • Respect the spike — Riot rates the kit 9/10, so a practised player gets more out of it than the average

  • Trade on your terms — take the fight where its damage lands on nobody

Ability details

  • P

    Glorious Evolution

    Viktor gains Hex Fragments whenever he kills an enemy. With every 100 Hex Fragments he obtains, Viktor permanently augments an active ability. After upgrading all of his basic abilities, he can gather 100 Hex Fragments to augment his ultimate ability.

    Passive — never cast

  • Q

    Siphon Power

    Viktor blasts an enemy unit with magic damage, which grants him a shield and empowers his next basic attack.Augment: Siphon Power's shield is increased by 60% and Viktor gains bonus move speed after casting the Ability.

    Cost 45/50/55/60/65 ManaCooldown 9/8/7/6/5sRange 600

  • W

    Gravity Field

    Viktor conjures a heavy gravitational field that slows enemies caught within its radius. Enemies who stay in the field for too long become stunned.Augment: Viktor's spells apply a slow to enemies.

    Cost 65 ManaCooldown 17/16/15/14/13sRange 800

  • E

    Hextech Ray

    Viktor uses his biomechanical arm to fire a Hextech Ray that cuts across the field in a line, dealing damage to all enemies in its path.Augment: An explosion follows in the Hextech Ray's wake, dealing magic damage.

    Cost 60/70/80/90/100 ManaCooldown 12/11/10/9/8sRange 525

  • R

    Arcane Storm

    Viktor conjures an Arcane Storm on the field, dealing magic damage and interrupting enemy channels. The storm periodically does magic damage to all nearby enemies and can be redirected by Viktor.Augment: The Arcane Storm moves 25% faster, and whenever champions die after taking damage from it, the storm grows and increases in its duration.

    Cost 100 ManaCooldown 120/100/80sRange 700

Viktor balance history

Riot's notes from patch 25.S1.1 to 26.20 change Viktor in 2 patches. The latest is patch 25.24, published 2025-12-02.

  1. Patch 25.242025-12-02

    QSiphon Power

    • Shield40-115 (based on level) (+18% AP)to40-140 (based on level) (+25% AP)
    • Bugfix: Fixed a bug that caused Viktor bot's shield to calculate incorrectly.
    • Bugfix: Fixed a bug that caused Q's tooltip AP ratio to be inaccurate.
    Why, in Riot's words

    Viktor's in need of a little more power right now, and we'd like to do that by leaning into his strengths as a mid-range battlemage. To do this we're increasing the shield on his Q so that he can stick it out better when going in to look for trades against opponents.

  2. Patch 25.S1.22025-01-22

    QSiphon Power

    • Empowered Attack Bonus Damage20/45/70/95/120 (+100% AD) (+60% AP)to20/45/70/95/120 (+100% AD) (+50% AP)

    RArcane Storm

    • Damage per tick65/105/145 (+45% AP)to65/105/145 (+35% AP)
    Why, in Riot's words

    Viktor is still doing a bit too well after 14.24's micropatch nerfs. So we're simply bringing down his late-game damage from places he shouldn't miss terribly.

Viktor skins (9)

Riot's data lists 9 looks for Viktor with their own art, the base skin included and 25 chroma variants.

ARAM performance

EstimateS
Win Rate
53.5%
▲ 1.2%
Pick Rate
2.6%
▲ 5.3%
Ban Rate
0.3%
▼ 1.6%
Damage dealt
101.0%
Damage taken
103.7%
Healing
97.6%
Shielding
97.6%
Ability Haste
+8

Best ARAM build

Patch timeline

Riot’s notes

This champion’s win rate on each patch the preview sample spans, over its own games there. What actually changed each patch is in Riot’s own notes.

  1. 26.1951.1% over 2,720 games+0.8
  2. 26.1849.7% over 4,884 games-0.9
  3. 26.1751.6% over 1,450 games—

Viktor's base stats against all 173 champions

StatViktorRankMedian
Base health600=116th620
Health per level100=117th104
Base armor23=144th30
Armor per level4.4=114th4.6
Base magic resist30=110th32
Magic resist per level1.3=93rd1.55
Base attack damage53=145th59
Base attack speed0.658=54th0.656
Attack speed per level2.11%=107th2.5%
Move speed335=74th335
Attack range525=46th175

Viktor at level 1 and level 18

  • Viktor reaches 2300 health at level 18 — 600 at level 1 plus 17 × 100, the 41st-lowest of 173 champions on patch 26.20.
  • Viktor reaches 1170 mana at level 18 — 405 at level 1 plus 17 × 45, the 49th-highest of 145 mana users on patch 26.20.
  • Viktor reaches 97.8 armor at level 18 — 23 at level 1 plus 17 × 4.4, the 30th-lowest of 173 champions on patch 26.20.
  • Viktor reaches 52.1 magic resist at level 18 — 30 at level 1 plus 17 × 1.3, the 34th-lowest of 173 champions on patch 26.20, shared with 43.
StatLevel 1Per levelLevel 18Rank at 18
Health600+1002300133rd of 173
Mana405+45117049th of 145
Armor23+4.497.8144th of 173
Magic resist30+1.352.1=97th of 173

Riot Data Dragon 16.20.1. Growth curve: League of Legends Wiki — Champion statistic.

Riot's tips for Viktor

Playing Viktor

  • Hextech Ray is a powerful poke and a strong area of denial tool. Use it in combination with Gravity Field to control your enemy's position.
  • Make sure you choose the right augment at the right time.

Playing against Viktor

  • Be careful about how close you let Viktor get to you. Viktor's control of the battlefield increases with his proximity to his opponent.
  • Be aware of how many augments Viktor has upgraded by looking at the color of the light on his staff (purple, yellow, blue, red).

Quick answers about Viktor

How does Viktor do against Twisted Fate?
Viktor won 44.4% of 196 counted Master+ games against Twisted Fate. Twisted Fate is one of the opponents that beat Viktor.
How does Viktor do against Galio?
Viktor won 45.3% of 181 counted Master+ games against Galio. Galio is one of the opponents that beat Viktor.
How does Viktor do against Anivia?
Viktor won 36.1% of 72 counted Master+ games against Anivia. Anivia is one of the opponents that beat Viktor. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.
How does Viktor do against Nasus?
Viktor won 41.1% of 90 counted Master+ games against Nasus. Nasus is one of the opponents that beat Viktor. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.
How does Viktor do against Orianna?
Viktor won 58.0% of 200 counted Master+ games against Orianna. It is a matchup Viktor wins more often than not.
How does Viktor do against Yone?
Viktor won 53.1% of 305 counted Master+ games against Yone. It is a matchup Viktor wins more often than not.
How does Viktor do against Ahri?
Viktor won 51.6% of 223 counted Master+ games against Ahri. It is close to even.
How does Viktor do against Sylas?
Viktor won 52.4% of 208 counted Master+ games against Sylas. It is close to even.
What class is Viktor?
Riot classes Viktor as Mage. This site files the champion under Mid.
How hard is Viktor to play?
Riot rates Viktor's difficulty 9 out of 10.
What resource does Viktor use?
Viktor's abilities spend Mana.
What is Viktor's attack range?
525 units — the 46th-highest of 173 champions on patch 26.20 (shared with 17 others).
What are Viktor's abilities?
Passive — Glorious Evolution, Q — Siphon Power, W — Gravity Field, E — Hextech Ray and R — Arcane Storm.
How many skins does Viktor have?
Riot's data lists 9 skins with their own art, the base look included, plus 25 chroma variants.
How much health does Viktor have at level 18?
2300 — 600 at level 1 plus 17 × 100 per level, Riot's own values, before items and runes.
What is Viktor's ultimate cooldown?
Arcane Storm (R): 120/100/80 seconds by rank, before ability haste, in Riot's Data Dragon 16.20.1.
When did Riot last change Viktor?
Patch 25.24, published 2 December 2025 — the latest of 2 patches that change Viktor in Riot's notes from 25.S1.1 to 26.20.

Viktor at a glance

Viktor, the Herald of the Arcane, is a Mage champion in League of Legends. Riot rates the kit 9/10 for difficulty, 2/10 for attack, 4/10 for defense and 10/10 for magic. Viktor spends Mana and has 9 skins with their own art.

Attack2/10
Defense4/10
Magic10/10
Difficulty9/10

Viktor's story

The fully biomechanical evolution of his former self, Viktor has embraced his Glorious Evolution and become something of a messiah to his followers. He sacrificed his own humanity under the logic that eliminating emotion would thereby eliminate suffering—and now seeks to bring the revelation of the hexcore to the rest of the world, even if they're incapable of understanding the benefit. After all, to this master of the arcane, violence is merely a variable necessary to balance the ultimate equation.
— Riot Games, Data Dragon 16.20.1. League of Legends Universe

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Methodology

Data window
Preview sample — a one-time snapshot of 65,406 ranked games (Master+, EUW/KR/NA, patch 26.18), counted by GamGem while our Riot production key is under review. Figures will update daily once it is approved. Counted 26–27 Sept 2026; patches 26.18 (35,477) · 26.19 (18,580) · 26.17 (11,048) · 26.16 (293) · 26.15 (8); by server EUW 22,382 · KR 21,922 · NA 21,065 · EUNE 20 · TR 17. 642 games without a result — remakes ended by vote in their first minutes, and games recorded with no winner — were not counted.
Rank aggregation
Master, Grandmaster and Challenger, pooled — the three ladders the count read its players from. Splitting further leaves samples too small to separate a real effect from noise.
Role assignment
A champion is filed under every lane that holds at least a tenth of its counted games — the position the match itself reports, not the champion’s class. Its headline win rate is across all of them; each lane’s own win rate and games are counted too, and a lane’s tier list ranks by them.
Counters
The two champions in the same position on opposite teams, over that pairing’s own counted games — ranked on the edge pulled toward zero by its sample size, printed raw.
Minimum sample
None — no figure is hidden for being thin. Every rate prints its games, and the confidence band is its 95% margin: Very High within ±1.5 points, High ±2.5, Moderate ±3.1 (1,000 games), Low wider.
Why a build is not a cause
An item is counted when the match ENDS with it, so late items show long games and an item bought when already ahead shows games that were being won. Correlation is what a rate can show; it is not evidence that buying the item caused the win.
Where the numbers come from
Names, classes, abilities, items and runes are Riot Data Dragon. Win, pick and ban rates, builds, keystones, spells and matchups are counted by GamGem from Riot's ranked match records. An estimate, not a count: this panel is not in the preview sample, and is labelled so.

Viktor on video