Veigar Build Guide by Tehbatdad

Disclaimer

This is how I, Tehbatdad, play Veigar. My guide is NOT the perfect way to play Veigar. But at the same time, my guide is not imperfect, either. Everyone's play styles are different and if this guide works well for you, awesome! If it doesn't suit your play style, then I hope you find a guide that does.

If you have any questions or issues, I encourage you to leave a comment and ask me. I'll do my best to answer them and if I, myself, cant, I'll seek advice from someone who might be able to. My only request is that you dont automatically troll this guide down because you just made a guide and you want to see your guide on top. To prevent trolls, as of 3/1/11, I have added the "require comment to vote" feature.

This guide isn't meant to be the best out there. There are a lot of great Veigar guides on this website and I am honored to be up there with them.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Excellent Burst Damage
• Harasser
• Pusher
• Farmer
• AoE Stun

Cons:

• Squishy
• Slow Early Game
• Mana Dependent (Early Game Only)

About Veigar & Story

Story

To most, yordles do not conjure images to be feared. The easygoing half-pint race, though fierce, is often regarded with some degree of joviality. Every now and again, however, a yordle turns so bad that, even at its small stature, it strikes terror into the hearts of others. Veigar is such a twisted yordle - a master of the magical black arts and a corruptor of cosmic energy, making him one of the most feared sorcerers on Valoran. Veigar was once one of those unusual yordles who chose to trade with the outside world. Imprisoned in the city-state of Noxus for years, Veigar slowly went mad in isolation from his people. He eventually escaped, but instead of returning to Bandle City, he sought tutelage from dark wizards across the land. Now he seeks to end all conflict on Valoran, by bringing all of the city-states to their knees, regardless of affiliation.

''Who says evil needs to come in a fearsome-looking package?'' - Veigar

About Veigar

Veigar is a very unique caster. In fact, he is considered to be the anti-caster. Veigar against any other AP nuker or caster usually ends up with Veigar winning (if played correctly). However, Veigar is also one of the extremely squishy champions because what he lacks in survivability, he makes up for in damage bursts. Its crucial to play this little guy defensively because "the best offense is a great defense", and I believe that to be true. You can still dish out tons of damage while playing defensively. You just have to think one step ahead of your enemies.

Another thing that makes Veigar so unique is the ability to permanently store Ability Power from last hits, which will be covered later on in this guide.

Runes & Explanations

Runes:

• Greater Mark of Insight is a fantastic choice for any AP carry, especially Veigar. These Magic Penetration runes combined with his Boots and Voidstaff is a fantastic amount of Magic Penetration.
• Greater Seal of Focus is extremely helpful with Veigar. The more CD reduction means more last hitting at a faster rate. This CD reduction is, of course, helpful overall with the rest of his abilities--especially Event Horizon, given its the biggest CD (apart from Primordial) that he has. With these runes and the masteries, you are sitting at 9% CDR at level 1---Which is pretty nice!
• Greater Glyph of Potency gives you approximately 9 ability power. You should have about 10 ability power at level 1 thanks to the first tier in the offense tree.
• Greater Quintessence of Fortitude is a great idea for any squishy champ to help balance their early game. Given Veigar's natural squishiness, the 78 extra HP helps keep you in lane a bit longer and reduces some squishiness.

Note: I am currently working on a per-level rune page for Veigar. Once its completed and I've tested it, I'll add them in with my thoughts.

Masteries - 9/0/21

For Veigar, I've gone the standard AP caster/carry masteries.

Offensive Tree:

• Archmage's Savvy x3 , Deadliness x1
• Sorcery x4
• Archaic Knowledge x1

Defensive Tree:
No talents are taken here. They are better used in Utility.

Utility Tree:

• Spatial Accuracy x1 , Good Hands x3

Note: Good Hands>Perseverance because the the trade off is far better. 10% reduction on death timers could save a tower or inhibitor from certain doom from an enemy push compared to the measly mana/health regen.

• Awareness x4 , Expanded Mind x2
• Meditation x3
• Quickness x3 , Blink of an Eye x1
• Intelligence x3
• Presence of the Master x1.

Summoner Spells & Explanations

Summoner Spells:

My two picks for Veigar is Teleport and Flash.

Teleport: Nothing better for a nuke then to be able to control the map. This allows you to jump all over the map making it perfect for getting the gank or an assist, which will help build up your stacks of Mejai's early on. Not to mention, Veigar is slow. Would you rather have him hobble the minute long jog to your allies or would you rather be able to teleport near them, drop a stun, and wreck them?

Flash: Flash is incredibly helpful for both offense and defense. It helps you escape through what would have been a gank and into safety. It also allows you to set yourself up in a position where you can kill or even flash after a chasing enemy to get that last baleful off. This is a great add on for our little tiny master of evil because he isn't the fastest of champions to begin with.

Other Possible Spells:

Clarity: Clarity can keep you in a lane longer than normally possible because you easily have enough mana to harass, harass, harass, harass, harass and last hit. However, with the items given, you have enough mana regen + Veigar's passive to keep you afloat with mana. Clarity's usage is more important early game, not late.

Ignite: Damage. You are a nuker, so ignite would add to your damage burst. This is true. However, it isn't necessarily needed with this build, because you will be tearing through them so much as it is. Not to mention, you have to get relatively close to use ignite on someone and as I will mention later on, its best to say in the back of team fights out of trouble. Ignite is purely user preference, however, and I wont discourage you from using it.

Exhaust: This used to be my second choice and here is why. Veigar doesn't have much survivability, as we all know after becoming the victim of one or more unhelpful ganks. Exhaust could and often times would act as a chunk of survivability for our little caster. Along with the damage decrease it gives out, it also lowers some magic resist if you are talented for it.

Exhaust can also act as a slow to help a teammate catch up to the prey that just barely slipped out of your hands and adding an assist to your score.

Ghost: Mobility. I've already mentioned before that Veigar is slow, so I will admit that having a speed boost is a pretty good way to make him a bit faster and add to the survivability. But as I will mention later on in this build, you should never be at the front lines, always behind your team nuking from a far. Like Ignite, Ghost is user preference.

Spells Not to Get:

Rally: The main perk to this is that it boosts your Attack Damage. Thats good, right? WRONG. I assume that by coming to this guide, or this champ for that matter, you realize that Veigar is an Ability Power user and benefits in no way, shape, or form from AD. EDIT: Unless you are talented for this summoner spell, then it should give 20-70ap depending on level which is a lot more than ignite for offensive purposes. - Credit given to Wumbamba

Clairvoyance: This isn't really viable for Veigar. The reasoning behind that is because you never need it. You dont have a global ult like Ezreal or Ashe. You aren't support (aside from your stun helping in team fights) so you dont need to be casting to figure out where the opposing team's jungler is. And more importantly, it adds no survivability to Veigar.

Fortify: If you picked this, you are bad and should feel bad. The only reason I could see a Veigar picking this spell, is because A) its taken as a joke or B) Someone really thinks they cant hold their tower (thus, being bad).
I did see a Veigar with this once. His reasoning was "I use it so that the turret gets the minions low to last hit easier". Made me want to flip something over..
(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ Kinda like that.

Heal: Alright, Alright. This could figuratively help in the early game if you need to stay in your lane longer. But as middle to late game rears its head, your heal is not that great. Let a tank grab it or a support champ.

Revive: This says two things to the opposing team: "I am gunna die a lot, so I need Revive" and "Hey, look. I dont know what I'm doing." Really. Its not worth it.

Smite: Never have I seen a Veigar use this spell. You aren't jungling, so why would you grab it? Also, you should be last hitting the minions with your baleful. To smite a minion is pretty much preventing you from getting 1AP permanently.

Cleanse: I can see many situations where this could be helpful for escaping from the grasps of your enemies. However, you never should put yourself in situations where you would have to need a spell like this. Try and stay behind your team and dont wander off alone.

Play Style: Middle

How to Play Veigar in Middle:

To me, Veigar is a champ that is best played middle. This is for a couple of reasons: solo experience, better last hits, always 1v1, never 2v1 or 2v2, etc etc.

Last Hitting

The most important reason you will want to grab mid, however, is to boost your early game AP farm with your Baleful Strike. I urge you to focus ONLY on last hits with your Baleful Strike. With the runes given, you will have about 10 Ability Power at level 1. By focusing on only last hits, you can get about 50-60 AP or so before you have to back. A good way to stay in lane long, is to stay behind your creeps. Don't auto attack them; instead, only last hit with your Baleful when they are low enough to secure a kill.
Note: You wont always be able to stay in lane that long because your opponent may harass you non stop.

I can not express how important it is to NOT harass until you have farmed a little. At levels 1-5, your Baleful Strike will not hit as hard as you would like it to against your laning opponent. Why would you even waist a Baleful Strike on harassing when you could gain one AP permanently?

I, myself, don't usually harass until levels 6+ focusing only on farm. This will get you gold and AP early game.

Solo Experience

The faster Veigar gets to level 6 and to Primordial Burst the better. Veigar's ultimate is extremely useful given its semi-short cool down. With your solo experience, you should be able to hit level 6 within the first 10 minutes of game play or so. From that point on you are able to help gank the side lanes.

Ganking

Ganking should probably be done once you have Primordial Burst. At the same time, however, that doesn't mean you cant help gank earlier than that. If and when you do go to gank either top or bottom lane, make sure you let your team know either by saying so in chat, or by pinging the champ you are considering killing. Without this necessary bit of information for your team, you could be sitting there in their river bush without doing anything except splitting experience three ways and wasting time. Ganking is very resourceful both for you and your teammates. It allows you to get stacks on your Mejai's Soulstealer and allows one of the side lanes to apply pressure on the opposing team's turrets.
Note: It is best to leave lane when there are no creeps near you or your opponent has backed to their base. This way, the last place you were seen is in middle thanks to Fog of War

Tips for Middle Laning

Veigar is squishy and therefore prone to ganks from the opposing team whether it be from a side lane MIA, or a jungler. That being said, Sight Wards are your best friends. Upon every return to base, make sure you have enough for Sight Wardx2; one ward for each of the river bushes separating the middle lane from the rivers. For three minutes, you guarantee that you can see when someone is lurking for a gank.

Suppose you don't have time to recall and purchase some wards. Well, your Dark Matter can act as a small clairvoyance on the spot you drop it. It clears the Fog of War in that specific spot for about 1.2 seconds and you can check if someone is creeping in that bush.
Note: If you do not have a jungler, or even if you do, by rank 2 or 3, your Dark Matter should be enough to one shot the wraith camp. This can be cast from your lane, giving you exp + gold while staying in lane.

Play Style: Lane

Play Style: Laning

This section is for those who prefer to play Veigar in a side lane or were forced to because someone insta-locked and wont get out of middle.

Last Hitting

Overall, the idea is very simple for the side laning. Farming is just as necessary and essential to Veigar early game as it is in middle. The only main differences is that you will be splitting experience with a lane partner. That being said, it is best to go with either your tank or a support--someone who will let you get most of the last hits.

I say this because last hitting with your Baleful Strike is just as important in side lanes as it is in Middle. Granted, your farm may not be as great and your early game AP lower than that of middle, but its still hugely important.

Best Laning Partners

As mentioned, champs who are willing to share on creeps or who don't rely on creep kills would be best to lane with. Some champions who fit such a role would be any support: Taric, Soraka, Janna, and Sona. There are other champs, too, that would fit that role. Those are mostly tanks, though, such as: Alistar. Amumu, Rammus, etc.

Skills & Skills Order

Skills and Skill Build:

• Baleful Strike: Single target damage spell that does 80/125/170/210/260 magic damage plus 60% (.6 ratio) of your current Ability Power as damage. Passive: Veigar gains 1 AP permanently from any last hitting any minion with Baleful Strike and a 1/2/3/4/5 AP permanently for last hitting any champion with a damaging ability.
• Dark Matter: AoE damage spell that deals 120/170/220/270/320 magic damage
  plus 100% (1 to 1 ratio) of your current Ability Power as damage after 1.2 seconds.
• Event Horizon: Veigar's stun, when placed, anyone (champion or minion) who passes through its perimeters becomes stunned for 1.5/1.75/2/2.25/2.5 seconds. Because of its long cool down, use this sparingly.
• Primordial Burst: Veigar's Ultimate. Veigar sends out a burst of damage to an enemy champion dealing 250/375/500 magic damage plus 120% (1 to 1.2 ratio) of your current Ability Power PLUS 80% of your target's Ability Power. This is Veigar's main nuke.

The first skill to get is your Baleful Strike. Why? Last hitting. If you are effective in your last hitting, you can get a fair amount of ability power from Baleful without going back to base and buying an actual ability power item. Let's not forget that Baleful is also your main harassing spell, as well.

Example: I usually end up between 80-100AP before my first trip back because I focus on last hitting with Baleful Strike.

Ding! You are level two, congrats. Choose your Event Horizon (stun) next. Because of its high cool down at rank 1 (24 seconds) you should be using Event Horizon sparingly. If you misplace your stun and you are out of turret range, there is a good chance you will die or at the very least have to port back to base before you would want to.

From here on out, you should level your Baleful Strike to five first and your Dark Matter (aoe damage) second. Primordial Burst, your ultimate, should be chosen any time its available to level and your Event Horizon (stun) should be leveled last (aside from the rank 1 early on).

Why in this order? Let me explain... You are a nuker, so you should be playing that way. You should almost NEVER be in situations where you are forced to use your Event Horizon and it shouldn't be used often. Exceptions to this include: getting the last hit on an enemy champ with baleful, successfully landing a Dark Matter, saving your allies, trapping the other team so that your own can catch up for assists. On to the Item Build and the explanations behind it, the stuff you really wanted to read.

Items

Items:

Start off with a Meki's Pendant and one Health Potion, one Mana Potion. Veigar's passive (Equilibrium) makes it so mana regen isn't the biggest of issues. But since you are planning on last hitting with your Baleful, the extra mana regen on top of your passive isn't always a bad idea. The potions are self explanatory.

Before you return to base the first time, whether you have to or you've successfully obtained first blood,try to have approximately 1.7k gold. That should be enough to pick up Tear of the Goddess and Sorcerer's Shoes. Teleport back to your lane and you are back to farming and harassing.

Before your second trip back to base, you need to self assess your play style and see if you are able to get kills or assists. If you have one to two kills already, go ahead and start working on Mejai's Soulstealer. This is a superb item for nukers alike and with a 20x offering 15% cool down reduction, it becomes Veigar's best friend. Now begin finishing your Archangel's Staff

On the other hand, if you find yourself unable to achieve kills or assists, I would encourage overlooking Mejai's because you wont be able to get a 20x any time soon and it is a waste of gold. A great substitution for Mejai's Soulstealer is Morello's Evil Tome. This gives you the 20% CDR, Mp5, and 75 AP. Its a solid win. After this, you should finish your Archangel's Staff

So now you have one of two builds going: 1) Sorcerer's Shoes Mejai's Soulstealer Archangel's Staff or 2) Sorcerer's Shoes Morello's Evil Tome Archangel's Staff.

Next item you should start working towards is your Rabadon's Deathcap. If you can, purchase the Needlessly Large Rod before the Blasting Wand seeing as how it has more AP and is about twice as expensive. If you cant, the Blasting Wand will do just fine.

NOTE: If you are still being targeted first and feel that you need more survivability, I suggest that instead of Rabadon's Deathcap, purchase Zhonya's Hourglass. This also gives you a decent chunk of ability power and the Unique active of the 2 second invulnerability, which has been proven to save you numerous times.

During this time of the game, it should be mid-way coming up closer to the 30-45 minute mark. At this point, you should be lane switching, helping with ganks, and pushing towers. If you chose to buy a Mejai's, getting to a 20x is a priority, even if it is by getting assists with your well-placed stun.

Now you have your Rabadon's Deathcap, giving you a massive chunk of AP and should start working your way to your Void Staff. Obviously you should buy the Blasting Wand first and if not, the Amplifying Tome will suffice rather well. The reason I suggest Void Staff over other items is because by this time, a lot of your opponents, if smart, will start stacking magic resist and the extra magic penetration will be nice.
Note: Many people suggest that a Deathfire Grasp would be an excellent item against tanks or people stacking high MR. I totally agree. I just dont use one. :)

If the game has dragged on long enough, finish it up with a Lich Bane. I often buy the Blasting Wand first, because I am an ability power *****. Its my crack when I play Veigar. Once you have your Lich Bane, after you cast your Baleful, your auto should hit for approximately 600-700AP right after. And, if my math serves right, your rank 5 Baleful will do 260 + ~650(.6)AP = 390ish followed by an auto of 600-700AP? Yea, thats 1k damage right there from one spell and an auto. Its even nastier with your ultimate dealing 500 + 120% AP + 80% Target's AP followed by an auto.

Elixers:

Towards the end of the game, make sure you always have an Elixir of Brilliance active. The boost you get because of your level 18 is always a helpful hand. :)

Given your five items, brilliance elixir, baron buff, and a 20x of Mejai's, you should be at 1100-1300AP ability power (depending on how much farming you've done). Your Dark Matter is now enough on its own to one shot your enemies. Let the slaying begin. Here are the final builds you could end up with. The first is the build listed in the guide, the second is the same build but substituting Mejai's Soulstealer with Morello's Evil Tome.

Build 1 Final:

+

Build 2 Final:

+

Build 3 Final:

+
Build 3 is for the tankier, more survivable Veigar players. While giving some AP with the items listed, it also gives health and some serviceability. With enough farm, you could do some good damage and stay alive longer.

Note: Deathfire Grasp would be a great choice for Veigar if you have a lot of tanks stacking magic resist. Morello's Evil Tome is pretty much a DFG without its active, anyway.

Spell Rotation

Spell Rotation:

In case you couldn't pick up on the correct rotation for Veigar's spells throughout this guide, I will tell you mine.

After successfully harassing your target multiple times with Baleful, you should have enough to kill him. Throw down your Event Horizon ON TOP of your target, so that the perimeter hits them instantly. This will separate the bad from the good and the good from the excellent. Immediately after you drop Event Horizon, drop a Dark Matter on the enemy. It should land on them before the stun wares off. Since Dark Matter takes 1.2 seconds to drop, you can cast a few other spells in the time being. I like to cast Baleful Strike then Primordial Burst to finish them off, guaranteeing a kill and a permanent five ability power to add to your ever-growing amount. If your primordial doesn't do the trick, you might be able to get off a second baleful which should, then, kill them.

Recap:

Those with DFG:

They should be dead by that time. If you manage to add an auto attack in during either of those rotations and you have your Lich Bane, you will be auto hitting them for about 800-1100AP.

Champions List

Champions List:

This section will be dedicated to listing the champions killable from "Easiest" to "Near to Impossible".


SECTION UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Conclusion

Thanks for taking the time to read this guide! Please comment and rate this guide and let me know your thoughts.

I would love to answer questions or answer any thoughts you may have, so just leave a comment! If you think I forgot something crucial to playing Veigar, feel free to let me know.

Edits