Viego, the Ruined King himself, is finally arriving in League of Legends. The first champion of Season 11 is set to take over the jungle ⁠— and maybe a bit more of Summoner’s Rift. Here’s everything you need to master him.

Viego, when it boils down to it, is the first crossover champion in League of Legends. The Ruined King himself is not only being added to the MOBA, but he’s getting an entire single-player game made about him too.

However, his crossover isn’t some joke appearance.

He has the real power to shift the meta drastically, especially in the jungle and top lane. If you want to pick up Viego when he releases on League patch 11.2, we’ve got everything you need to know right here.

Viego’s abilities

Viego’s kit is the best of all the bruisers. He has healing inbuilt into his passive, has an execute on his ultimate, and if you manage to fall behind, you can steal an enemy’s soul and use their fed items instead. Pretty good deal, right?

Passive: Sovereign’s Domination

Viego’s passive is arguably the strongest part of his kit. It allows him to possess enemies after they die, picking up their abilities and items, as well as an ultimate reset. If you manage to pick off the enemy carry, Viego can possess them and tear through the fight.

Q: Blade of the Ruined King

How apt of a name for the Ruined King. His Q is a pretty simple waveclear tool, however its passive is interesting. He deals a percent of the target’s current health as on-hit damage, double hitting after using an ability.

This means you’ll want to weave in auto attacks between your ability casts to heal off of these charges, as well as maximise your DPS.

W: Spectral Maw

This is Viego’s gapcloser and CC ability, all in one. Viego charges up and dashes forward, stunning the first enemy hit. The stun duration increases, but the dash range and damage don’t as you charge it. You can tap it for a quick refresh of your Q passive, or surprise enemies with a huge charge from out of vision.

E: Harrowed Path

Viego’s Harrowed Path really makes him lethal in the jungle. He spreads mist along terrain, becoming camouflaged and gaining attack speed and movement speed while fighting in it. You’ll want to through this down at the start of every trade, using the invisibility to lurk around.

R: Heartbreaker

His ultimate is pretty simple. He dashes forward, attacking the lowest-health enemy in range, dealing damage based on their missing health. It’s an execute he has on refresh with his passive, as he regenerates charges by stealing enemy bodies, allowing him to pull off some Darius-esque plays.

Best runes for Viego

Viego’s runes are pretty flexible. As with most bruisers, Viego thrives with Conqueror for long fights. Partnered with Triumph, Legend: Alacrity, and Coup de Grace ⁠— the typical AD duelist page ⁠— he manages to keep his high DPS while also buffing his execute on low health enemies.

However, that’s not the only rune you can take. You can choose to take Dark Harvest and greed for stacks, becoming an assassination machine by the time late game rolls around. You can also opt for Grasp of the Undying if you want a more tanky build. However, in most games, Conqueror will have the best payoff.

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Best build for Viego

Of course, what’s the Ruined King without his sword? Viego benefits a lot from Blade of the Ruined King, and while it’s not a Mythic item, it’s powerful enough with his kit to rush first.

Then you can look at what Mythic you need, and he’s pretty flexible too. If you need to bust through tanks, you can take Kraken Slayer. If you want extra healing, Immortal Shieldbow is fine. For better dueling, you can look at Trinity Force. All three are good, but Trinity Force is the best way to go in general cases.

A typical bruiser-duelist build is very strong on Viego from there. Death’s Dance, Guardian Angel, Silvermere Dawn, and Sterak’s Gage are all strong. Wit’s End is good situationally as well as Mortal Reminder, and if your team needs it, you can opt into a more tanky build with picks like Force of Nature and Thornmail.

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On the other end of the scale, you can opt for an attack speed on-hit build. With his Q scaling based on attack speed, and overall having a lot of on-hit in his kit, you can quickly assassinate foes if you opt into high attack speed items.

How to play Viego

Viego’s jungle clear is a bit slow if you do take him into the jungle. He scales nicely, but early on, he struggles with a lack of DPS. Because of this slow clear, you might prefer to take him into the top lane. He can still play around the alcove to make use of his shroud, and his slow clear won’t be as punished.

His trading with Q passive allows him to win almost every short fight early too. Despite appearances that he seems weak, having the double hits and heals inbuilt means he can sustain through enemy damage, while also dealing more if you weave abilities and autos together.

Regardless of how you start ⁠— or what role you play ⁠— your ability max is always going to be the same: Q into E into W. His W doesn’t gain much on levelling it up, but his E scales nicely late.

In teamfights, you want to be refreshing your ultimate as much as possible. That means taking over the souls of your enemies and putting them to use. You’ll want to prioritize damage dealers in most situations, however stealing the soul of a tanky foe isn’t a bad idea too if your team loses their frontline early.

This flexibility in his kit makes him a very versatile champion. He can truly be anything his team needs, even if it’s just for a fight. The best Viego will always be able to assess the situation and figure out what champion’s soul would be the best to keep the advantage.

Viego is set to release sometime on LoL patch 11.2, which launches Jan. 21.

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