Veigar is one of if not the best single target nukes in the game. However what many do not give him credit for is his incredible stun that can make or break a team comp and force enemy carries to take an item slot to itemize against him. Arguably his greatest strength is not in his ability to kill a single target but to pressure an enemy team into playing much more cautiously then they would otherwise be comfortable with.

Pros

Ridiculous late game burst
Best non ultimate stun in the game
Great Space Control
Unlimited AP cap and therefore unlimited damage potential
Against high AP champs can afford to build more defensively while still guaranteeing a one combo kill

Cons

Limited escape options, you burn the stun and you better hope you stopped everything coming at you
Relatively high skill cap landing the stun on edge perfect is a must.
Extremely prone to counter builds an early Merc Treads is hell for most veigar builds though this one mitigates it!
Very farm reliant

As far as Summoner Spells go for the purposes of the build and the its priorities you want to take

this is a no brainer take it or die to the second you get caught pushed to far and the enemy jungle comes from the far side.

Ok generally clarity is just not a good summoner to take in lieu of others but in this case we're making an exception. Between the recommended runes masteries and setup Veigar should never be out of mana once you hit midgame. Furthermore nothing hurts more to an enemy mid than to see Veigar with no mana suddenly pull out his full combo when they attempt to dive the defenseless yordle. The only reason I generally take this over ignite for Veigar is because late game you will either kill an enemy or you wont with your combo and anyone who can survive it should not be targeted over the enemy carry so don't bother far better to be able to at least drop a basic combo if you are running low on mana. Furthermore it's great for sieging up with mana dependent pokers especially if you can stun w the enemy team on the tower along with your allies poke damage.

artificer out for other things on the support tree and as far as the offense tree you really just want the magic pen. If you can't kill it with your full combo an extra couple ap probably won't do much and 5% extra damage shouldnt make to much of a difference for the targets you should be pursuing

Ok Pretty straight forward here. Veigar's passive works off of your current mana and your mana regen. 1% faster overall per 1% mana missing.
is an easy way to take advantage of it. Don't worry too much about the magic resist or ap that normally goes here you will be relying more on your ability to land your stun and avoid damage all together than anything else.


Don't bother with AP you aren't an early game champ and the AP will come as you farm.

I cannot stress enough if you get caught you will die... So just don't get caught combined with the masteries you will start with a nifty 370 movement speed baseline. Between that and your stun and there is very little that should catch you once you get your second tier boots. The armor is only for that bit of poke otherwise you should either be killing the enemy before they have a chance to retaliate or be out of their reach when they try. It's also much easier to dodge skillshots when you move as fast as most people with boots at a baseline.

I'll keep this short straight and to the point.

max this first. This is your best friend. This is what lets you outscale just about any other character in the game. It is your poke for when someone gets a little to antsy and it is a pretty sizeable nuke as well late game.

Get this at level 2 and get it to level 3 by level 10. This shuts down from absolutely ruining your day. Also don't forget to autoattack in the early game in conjunction with this and your q. Getting a q and 3 or 4 autoattacks is nothing to sneeze at when your opponent is only level 1-2.

not much to say its a slow falling nuke. Technically all you need to land it is either luck or a level 1 event horizon. However, Mercury treads or tenacity makes it much safer to have a level 3 event horizon before trying to use it to get a kill or consistent damage. That said if the enemy mid is constantly pushing down your tower prioritize this wave clearing monstrosity a earlier so you don't fall too far behind but for the most part you should be fine.

The crown jewel of ults against an ap champion. This is Veigar's great equalizer if he has fallen behind because as long as he has some magic pen the stronger the enemy champion is the better this spell gets. Upon entering the midgame combined with the deathfire grasp this should give you a 1 combo kill. That said don't be afraid to use it even if it doesn't grant a kill. Sometimes just forcing the opponent out of lane can be worth it despite the long cooldowns and the fact that your mana will be down to nothing if you cast a full combo at level 6 but that is one of the reasons why you are taking clarity. It frees up the option to dominate the lane and if the opposing champion has any ap and is below half hp you've probably killed them anyways.

What's to say try to last hit with q when possible but if the opportunity presents itself poke the enemy champion with it. Mana should be abundant even with just elise's miracle and . Your jungle is your best friend when it comes to farm because you want that blue to q as many as you can.

Veigar is ridiculously item dependent lets go into a few important ones. Remember all items are situational and if you are getting face rolled don't just stick to a particular build get what you need. If you need to build a tank because the enemy team keeps 3 man diving you by all means get that or what have you that you need to survive long enough to remove their carry from the field.

I won't go into boots you if you need magic pen,tenacity, magic resist, armor, or what have you I think you can figure out which ones you should pick.

What is there to say get this before level 16 and it's a free item slot and you get hp regen mana regen and a faster clarity.

This is the bread and butter of your midgame kills. Target the ap carry, ad carry, or whatever squishy you want dead on the enemy team and unload everything after casting this.

Magic penetration is a must do not let a spirit visage or negatron cloak get in the way of absolutely wrecking an enemy champions hp bar.

AP booster not much else to say other than its a nice thing to have but it is also the most expendable or second most expendable item that veigar could get. He has infinite AP this just pushes that over the top.

Probably one of the more underestimated items for veigar. It's a free extra nuke and more importantly it provides movement speed and a bit of extra ap. But most importantly the movement speed with the extra bits that help him tacked on. Especially for late game your goal should be to avoid getting caught. To be quite honest it's a better defense than Zhonya's because most of Veigar's cooldowns are too long for it to make much of a difference anyways and the extra nuke is more likely to save him in a 1 on 1 than the invincibility would.

Generally I get this for enemy AD assassins, if the enemy team has been blowing a lot of important spells on me or an enemy team that has a lot of globals that could potentially catch you/