The Ruined King is officially making his way to Summoner's Rift. His name is Viego, and his face may look familiar to those who keep up with Riot’s games outside of League of Legends. Riot recently showed off their new tactics game titled ‘[Ruined King](https://ruinedking.com)’, with Viego at center stage. When gameplay and art were revealed for the game, many were expecting him to be the next champion in LoL, and here he is.

His passive, Sovereign’s Domination, allows Viego to possess the body of a champion he helps kill. He takes the opponents items, level, and non-ultimate abilities, and gains bonus movement speed towards enemy champions. Viego further gets a free cast of his own ultimate, Heartbreaker (more on that below). It’s a passive the likes of which we haven’t seen before, and though highly situational, could massively benefit players with a versatile champion pool.

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<img src='https://stacked-assets.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/posts/post_10_1.jpeg' alt='Bang' />
<h2>Sovereign’s Domination possessing a slain champion.
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Viego’s Q, titled Blade of the Ruined King, appropriately has a passive BORK item built into it, as Viego’s attacks deal a percentage of the target’s current health as bonus damage. The active is a short-ranged slash, marking the opponent. If Viego auto attacks the target again, the mark is consumed and deals extra physical damage applying on-hit properties.

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<img src='https://stacked-assets.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/posts/post_10_2.jpeg' alt='Bang' />
<h2>Blade of the Ruined King slashing, and marking, an opponent.
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Viego’s W, Spectral Maw, is a slow channel short-ranged stun that can be charged up and used to dash forward. Note that Spectral Maw is an auto attack reset, which will be helpful in bursting opponents down.

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<img src='https://stacked-assets.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/posts/post_10_3.jpeg' alt='Bang' />
<h2>Spectral Maw charging up in preparation of stun and dash.
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The Ruined Kings’ E, Harrowed Path, creates a trail of mist that Viego can move in undetected, gaining movement speed and attack speed. This will make his ganking potential quite potent as enemies may not see him coming until he’s in-lane.

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<img src='https://stacked-assets.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/posts/post_10_4.jpeg' alt='Bang' />
<h2>Harrowed Path hiding Viego in its mist, buffing his speed.
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His abilities all look fantastic, sporting the black and green color palette of the Black Mist.
Heartbreaker, Viego’s Ultimate ability, discards any champion he’s currently possessing and blinks to a targeted location. He then creates a blast that deals physical damage to the lowest percent health champion within range, applying on-hit effects. All other enemies are knocked back.

<div style="width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: column; align-items: center;">
<img src='https://stacked-assets.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/posts/post_10_5.jpeg' alt='Bang' />
<h2>Heartbreaker blinking, dealing AOE damage & knockback.
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Viego’s item path seems to run through his own Blade of the Ruined King, as he has multiple moves that apply on-hit damage. While BORK is a natural fit, the current ADC items that run through Noonquiver are incredibly powerful. Kraken Slayer could be a good option against tankier teams, while Galeforce could work well versus teams where mobility is needed.  

Riot intends for Viego to be a jungler. though Riot’s intents for champion roles don’t always go as planned (see Seraphine as a midlaner). The problem with Viego being a jungler is that his clear speed is quite slow. This isn’t to say he will be unplayable in the jungle, but he doesn’t fit the current jungler meta of having great clear (Olad, Hecarim, Graves, Lillia) for generating map presence.  

The usefulness of his passive is yet to be seen. While very cool, it might not always be advantageous to take over another character (level and items) mid-fight. Also, there is a second delay animation Viego needs to take over the soul, which makes the mechanic feel clunky, though this may be patched to an immediate animation. 

Viego is also quite item reliant, with his damage possibly not coming online until his third item. This is an awful dynamic for junglers, which might point to his most viable lane at top where he would have guaranteed farm and XP.  

I’m curious to see if he fits into the current meta, but my guess is it will take some time to figure out his itemization before he becomes an effective character. I certainly am excited to see Viego’s meta ceiling and will be trying him out when he releases in patch 11.2.

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The Ruined King is Here to Take His Throne

younglawrence

@younglawrence

3:07AM on Jan 14, 2021

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