Veigar Build Guide by XXStone

55%

12 Votes

League of Legends Build Guide Author XXStone

T... T... TANKGAR!

Last updated on October 3, 2012

9,125

Build Guide Build Guide Discussion

Discussion (11)

Build 1 (Cheat Sheet)

Champion Build: Veigar

Recommended Runes

Purchase Order

Ability Sequence

Mastery Tree Is Outdated

WARNING: These masteries are still using the old tree and have not been updated to the new tree by the guide author. As such, they will be different than the masteries you see in-game.

Masteries

Offense: 9

Defense: 0

Utility: 21

Guide Table of Contents

Introduction

Pros / Cons

Rune and Mastery Discussion

Skills

Items

Summoner Spells

Tactics

Summary

Frequently Asked Questions

Introduction

Hey Mobafire, I'm a veteran player and I've decided to share my build for him as a guide. When I first started playing League of Legends, I knew I wanted to be a glass cannon player. Veigar's stats are what brought me into him - maximum Ability Power with minimum defense and offense. He was the first champion I had gotten, and I've been playing him ever since.

But sometimes, glass cannon isn't enough. After trying a few of the build guides here (such as Veigar, the Tiny Master of HOLYGODSOMUCHBURST by FreeStyleKneePad) I realized that I would always be put as #1 on the enemy's hit list. Every time a teamfight came along, it was stun/silence, then insta-death for poor . What if you could have that nuking power, and still have to have the entire enemy team to focus you before you die? This is where the legendary top-tier uber-fed pentakill TANKGAR comes in.

Pros / Cons

Pros

+Massive damage
+Good against AP-stackers
+Takes a while to kill
+Farming your gives you more AP
+Champion kills gives you more AP

SPACE

Cons

+Squishy early game
+Useless until level 3
+Weak against
+Magic Resistance shuts him down
+He's too strong, expect nerfs

Rune and Mastery Discussion

These are really up to your personal preference. But I'll give suggestions of which I would pick. I'm not gonna say "GO ALL DEFENSIVE STUFFS" because Veigar still needs to do damage.

Runes

- In my opinion, the only Marks worth getting on Veigar. Lets him bypass some Magic Resistance.
- A little AP is always nice. However, this is very little and would only help in the beginning.
- 9 of these adds up to 31 extra health. Again, only helpful in the beginning.

- I take these runes because I feel that has more trouble against AD characters. Personal preference.
- 9 of these makes 48 extra health. Nothing to scoff at in early game.
Greater Seal of Vitality - Adds 175 to your endgame health. Better than the above option, but meh.
Greater Seal of Replenishment - I wouldn't take it unless you're having mana problems. has no problem with mana regeneration thanks to his passive, .
- Almost nothing in early game. Not as viable as the above option.
- Same as the .
- Don't even give enough mana to be able to use . I would take or over wasting rune spots.
- No. just no.

- Helps with spamming to farm AP. It could save your life.
- 9 of these adds 27 to your endgame AP - or 9 extra at level 6. Preferable over .
- Definitely would help early game.
- You are an anti-mage. Taking these could seriously demoralize your enemy casters.

- I love these. 15 extra AP helps you secure last-hits with and poke enemy champions.
- Hey, the movement speed bonus is useful in all situations.
- 3 of these adds 113 to your mana pool. Could be useful actually.
- 78 health is nice early game, but the 15 AP is probably more beneficial for you. You need that early damage.
- At only 1.64% reduction, take over these.
- Let's say that you have 3 of these, and maxed out for 9% spell vamp. Even if you do 2000 damage with a nuke from all of your abilites, that only gets you 180 health back. Not viable on Tankgar.
- 2.18 Magic Penetration isn't worth wasting a Quint.
Greater Quintessence of Knowledge - You need mana early game, the situation's not bad late. Waste of a rune for .
- You don't need this, trust me.

Masteries

I go 9/0/21 for the 10% Magic Penetration and utility bonuses. 21/0/9 is viable for the additional damage. I wouldn't put points in Defensive masteries on .

Skills

Equilibrium - Veigar's passive ability. It increases your current mana regeneration by 0.75% for every 1% that you are missing. For example, if you have 10 mana regeneration/5 seconds and have 0 mana, this passive would give you 17.5 mana regen/5. It doesn't completely solve Veigar's mana problems (well, late-game it does) but it seriously helps. Not a bad passive.

- This is your Q ability. With 3 , points in , and a , it does 100 damage at level 1. At level 1 though, you're not going to be using it to hurt enemy champions. But if you are, you're either wasting your mana or in an early teamfight. You need to save your mana for this ability's strong point: killing minions.

Baleful Strike is 's power-up in the game. Every time you kill a minion with , you gain 1 AP. Kill 100 minions with this? You've just gotten 100 extra AP.

Also, it gives you AP whenever you kill a champion, equal to the skill level. For example, if you have 2 points in and kill with or something, you gain 2 AP. 3 if you killed him with Baleful Strike.

- This is the bane of minions. Huge damage and an area effect. What's that? 40 minions are attacking your turret? Well, drop these for the 1,000 gold you're about to get.

This is a major part of your combo when nuking enemy champions. It's downside, however, is that it acts similar to 's . It's extremely obvious when you're using this, and only stupid people are going to walk into it. Use before trying to hit someone with .

It also sucks up mana like crazy.

Dark Matter

- This is Veigar's one and only defensive ability - you drop this massive ring on the ground with E, and anyone that walks into its edges will be stunned. You can use it to trap people in the center, save a teammate that's running away, lock someone in a turret, set someone up for your , etc.

This ability has the potential to stun the entire enemy team, and can make or break team fights. Everyone gets mad at you if you miss... so practice with this ability a lot. And 2.5 seconds makes it almost as unfair as 's ultimate.

- The mage-killer. If it weren't for this ability, you couldn't call Veigar an anti-mage. If you are fed, you can kill someone with this ability alone. It's so overpowered it's hilarious. (Also, I'm pretty sure this is the name of a monster truck.)

Let's say that you have 500 AP - not too hard to get when you're farming your . You have 3 points in , and you're using on a that has 400 AP and 40% magic resistance.

Since does 500 damage + 120% of your AP + 80% of their AP, let's do a little calculating.

(500+500x1.2+400x0.8) x 60% = 852 damage after resistances!!!

Obviously that's not enough to one-shot Lux, but if you're super-fed and have over 1000 AP, then it could happen.

The point is: every time you use this, someone should die.

Items

Core Items:

You should get these items every game.

- I love this item. Since it was reworked recently, it adds even more damage to Veigar's combo. The 15% CDR is nice, and if you have 500 AP this does 45% of their health in magic damage to the target. Deathfire Grasp is basically for mages.

- I used to take on Veigar, before i knew any better. 20 Magic Penetration is a big deal, especially early on. I have enough CDR from , , and my .

- What's that? A massive amount of AP? That's perfect for Veigar, and really any AP character. Even .

Before I went Tankgar, I would follow up these items with an , a , and a for maximized damage output. Sometimes I would even replace the with an . But unless you're the king of dodging CC, you're going to get killed - fast.

My new build adds these items to my list.

- This is an all-around good item. A bunch of HP, mana, and a decent amount of AP. There's a reason why I've always built it on .

- Normally I wouldn't get this item, I would get another to procure more AP from 's passive. But this is Tankgar. We're going for good damage with great survivability. The 500 health is massive, and the 80 AP helps too. I never seem to notice the slow though. Maybe it's because they die too fast?

- This gives you more HP than any other item in the game. Do you know how demoralizing it is to see a 4000 HP Veigar nuke two of your champions at the same time? This is the overkill. A fully-stacked would probably be more beneficial, but similar to the effect, it magically makes everyone target you.

So the full build is

but you can substitute for a or something if you really feel that it's necessary.

Summoner Spells

Exhaust

I always take this on tanks, but Tankgar is not a true tank. There are better options for you, I believe. There may be a time when you wish you had this though.

Ghost

There's an ongoing debate about whether to take this or . I would say , since it gives you better juking opportunities, but it's just my personal preference.

Heal

You are not the AD carry, it's not your job to rush into team fights and deal damage to everyone. You run in, do your combo, then back up. I can see it being used early game, or to bait someone, but I don't use it on Veigar.

Revive

Only viable if you want to take and , and are part of a team with , ,, and or .

Smite

I have heard legends about Junglegar, but that's not what you're going for.

Surge

Why is this even an ability? I would only take it on someone like or who benefit from both AP and attack speed.

Teleport

Allows you to protect your lane forever. Go back to heal/buy stuff, then just tp back. Can also be used for an instant gank. If no one else on your team is taking this, then go for it.

Cleanse

Meh. I've never cared for this one. I can see its uses, but is better in my opinion.

Clarity

I take this on in 90% of the games I play as him. There is nothing more satisfying than luring a half-dead out, using this, then instantly stunning and nuking them. Isn't as useful in late game, but gives you a strong start.

Ignite

This is a good summoner spell. I don't take it because I have confidence not to nuke unless I'm sure I can kill, but I have lost a few kills because I haven't had it. Also good against and .

Promote

No no no. You want to use on minions, not murder them with a siege tank. Better on for maximum tower pushing.

Clairvoyance

It's nice to have this on the team, but it's not for you.

Flash

Everyone seems to use this, it can save your life. I personally don't use it on Tankgar, but I probably should. I'm just sick of seeing / noobs everywhere.

Tactics

You start the game with a Doran's Ring, or Boots of Speed and 3 Health Potions, or maybe an Amplifying Tome.

You are going mid lane as Veigar, of course. Unless you're laning with a friend or something.

I'm going to make this very clear: the less your opponent harasses you, the better. You do almost no damage ta level 1, and your main objective early game is to farm your Baleful Strike. Best case scenario is that you're against a Kennen - you stay behind minions, and he's useless. Ahri is also a decent enemy, since she only has skillshots and pushes the lane to your turret.

If you're unlucky and against a Heimerdinger who keeps spamming his Hextech Micro-Rockets, you will probably be unable to attack him because a good Heimerdinger will stay by his H-28G Evolution Turret. Other bad opponents are Ryze because of his abilities not using AP, LeBlanc because she can beat the **** out of anyone, and Kassadin because Veigar can't stop him EVER.

If you are against one of these champions, or someone who you think is better then you, play defensively and only worry about farming your AP. Maybe ask for a gank from your jungler.

The most important ting is to keep building up that Baleful Strike. I usually feel good if I have 50 AP from it at the 10-minute mark, 100 at the 20-minute mark, etc. Later on it will be harder to farm because your teammates will be greedy and try to split farm with you, so do it while you can.

At level 6 you can start trying to nuke your enemies. Weaken them with , then unleash this combo on them:

If you have , then this is the combo:

Using after will still allow the percentage of their health to be taken away before they are damaged, since takes a while to drop. I also use last, so that if they away then it isn't wasted early.

If you set the as your first item, use these keys:

E -> W -> 1 -> Q -> R

This combo will demolish any glass cannons that the enemy team has, as long as you're not underleveled. It can also be used to scare off tanks, but you should save this nuke for a kill. and will have a similar cooldown if you took the right masteries, which is convenient. Be sure to let your teammates now when your nuke is ready.

If you have the time to gank, go do it. Veigar ganks are legendary, and they WILL burn up a summoner spell if they want to survive. Your is deadly, and they should know it.

It is hilarious playing as . In one game, I was playing against an in the middle. She was fully healed and going in to drop the on me, and I saw an come out of the jungle to gank me as well. Here's what happened: I used on Annie, then nuked her from full health to nothing almost instantly. I watched Amumu run away crying back into the jungle.

Don't underestimate your ability to fight other casters.

Late-game is where you have the chance to go Tankgar. Smart enemy players will be telling each other to focus you... which comes back to hurt them when you have 4000 health. It takes forever to get the full build, but when you do I can say that if you have a competent team, you should be unstoppable. The other team will have to deal with a nuking tank that can stun everyone.

Unfortunately for this build, is Tankgar's downfall. Simple solution: if you see a with one, nuke that person first. It comes with the benefit of taking down their main damager as well.

Summary

You start out as the glass-cannon that Veigar is known for, then build him into an unstoppable force. Squishies will run from the sight of TANKGAR, because they know that one Event Horizon and it's all over.

If you try Tankgar, give me a comment on how it works out. I'm interested in seeing if other people will enjoy playing Veigar the way I do.

-XX Stone

Frequently Asked Questions

Why would I want to play Tankgar?
Playing Veigar without defensive items leads to him being focused and killed almost instantly. This build gives him a lot of survivability while still being able to nuke.

What if I don't want to play Veigar as a tank?
Then don't.

I don't want to use Warmog's Armor on Veigar. Can I change it to something else?
Go for it. If you have more success with a different set of items, let me know.

What would happen if two Tankgars played against each other?
An unstoppable force would meet an immovable object.

I play Kennen, and I can't ever seem to beat Veigar. What can I do to fix this?
Don't play as Kennen.

Did I enjoy this guide?
I hope so.