Veigar is very depend on a good farm early. He is OP against a squishy or AP heavy team. But even so, he is very situational and not really viable in most teams.

To be a good Veigar, you must know your role at all points.

The runes for Veigar are focused on his early game and helping his farming.

- Magic Pen Marks: standard for burst caster...
- Flat Mana Regen Seals: More efficient up to lvl 6. After you get a Tear of the Goddess, you are no longer mana hungry, so mana regen isn't too important. You should get Tear around lvl 6, so it works out the best.
- Flat Cooldown Glyphs: Again, focuses more on early game. As you need to farm primarily with Baleful Strike, you need the cooldown as low as possible early on.
- Flat AP Quints: standard

9-0-21 Masteries are standard for casters

9 Offense
Working down to the Magic Pen

21 Utility
Work all the way down the tree. You can take the extra point in Neutral Buff duration over Movement Speed. But it is generally better to give someone else the Blue Buff, and Red is worthless on you.

Get a Doran's Ring to begin with. It stacks very nicely with your passive and flat mana regen runes. The health gives you better lane survivability.

Try to stay in lane as long as you can, up to level 6. At this point, you should get at least 975 gold. At this point, try to push the lane a little so you can go back to the fountain and get your Tear of the Goddess. If you have to go back early, get as many of the items for the Tear as you can. If you have extra gold, you can get a ward or maybe some potions, but these are generally not necessary for Veigar. (See laning section)

Go back to lane, and keep farming. You should be able to harrass now, and possibly get a kill. Again, keep farming with baleful. You need all the gold and AP you can get. Next buy basic boots and Needlessly large rod. By now, you should have about 165 AP and be about level 10-11.

You can try to help some other lanes now, picking up some easy kills and helping your farming. Finish rushing Rabadon's Deathcap, then sorc boots.

After you get Archangel, you should be constantly taking out their carry. Whenever there is a standoff, try to sneak around through the jungle and stun-dark matter-ult-baleful the carry. They should be blown up after the combo, and you team can finish them off. You should not be dying at this point of the game. Only taking out their carry and running away, or staying and waiting for stun or dark matter to cooldown and kill the guys running away.

As late game starts, get a void staff. The other team/carries/squishies may be trying to get a bit of magic resist to counter your dark matter and especially your ult. Void Staff will help punch through that bit of defense and keep nuking their carries.


Why not Mejai's?
Mejai's is a very good item if you can keep the stacks up. You can get the stack up very high through mid game, and should not be dying. However, by late game, you turn into more of a utility, but still need your damage. You can't garauntee that you'll be able to get away. You have a higher chance of dying, so you become pathetically weak and useless with all the soulstealer stacks gone.

MAX BALEFUL FIRST! NO QUESTION! You need all the farm you can get... Baleful stike will give you the money and the eztra AP quickly and effectively.

Next max dark matter. At level 3, it should be able to kill the caster minions.

Last, max your stun. It can be used to escape, as well as garauntee a hit on dark matter, but it can do all this with just 1 point. Late game, it becomes more important because it can incapacitate the entire enemy team and allow your team to jump in and ace them.

Ult is OP against AP teams as it scales with both yours and your targets AP.

Try to solo mid. If there is someone better, like a carry, let them have the lane. DO NOT 2v1 lane... You will die or get zoned out nonstop...

If you cannot get mid, go duo lane bot. You can easily pick up first blood at level two with your laning partner. Have your partner go in as you stun and baleful them. Your partner should be doing most of the rest of the damage, but if the cooldown ends in time, baleful them again to get first blood. Don't tower dive with veigar... In a duo lane, you should act as more of a utility, helping your partner get kills or assists. Preferably you should only last hit with baleful as to not steal all the cs. You should be able to kill the enemy a few times, so your lower cs will be made up through kill/assist money.

For the first few level, its difficult to last hit. But it is the most important. Use Baleful to get last hits whenever possible, as it gives extra AP. Otherwise, just last hit with basic attack.

Most of the time, it is benefitial to be pushed nearly to your tower. The tower can nearly 2 hit the melee minions, so you can last hit that last bit of hp and get the gold. With high enough Baleful or Dark Matter, you can 1 hit the casters.

Don't harrass anyone in lane. You are too mana hungry until level 6 or so to do anything to them. You should be constantly moving around, making it difficult to land skill shots on you. Don't follow a predicable path for this same reason. Be smart and actively avoid their skill shots when it comes. You can be easily harrassed, so make sure you're aware of the enemy.

By level 12, you can probably take out their carry with a full combo, so focus them. Try to sneak around the back of their jungle and nuke the carry before the team fight begins. It'll give your team a serious advantage in the fight.

Finally, late game, if you cannot nuke their carry anymore, stun as much of their team as you can as the team fight begins. Its an easy way to pick up assists and help your team dominate. While their team is stuck in the stun, dark matter them and deal damage when you can. Do not use your ult though. Save that for the AP/squishies carries or if someone has relatively low health or is running. Rylai's is very good for late game on Veigar, as it can slow their entire team after the stun is up.