Veigar Build Guide by europeanorigin

S3 REWORK

Dear reader,

This guide is currently under rework due to the change of the S3.
As you may have witnessed, these changes were quite strong and thus brought a lot of change to this build. I have updated the Top Chart to reflect more up-to-date strategies.

I have also included a "fun build" under the name "Split Push Oriented Veigar (DO NOT DO THAT)". If you take a look at it, you'll quickly realize that it is not viable in many circumstances. I, however, managed to make it work as part of a broader push strategy, that my team and I put in place.

Finally, I'd like to remind you that Veigar is for the moment not amongst the most viable pick for solo queue. If you want to play mid ranked for the next few patches, I invite you to pick Pantheon, Wukong, or Talon for a free win. To be honest, you can currently say "Who needs an AP carry anyway?" and be right...

These are hard times for the APs...

Introduction

Veigar

WHY TELEPORT ?

Quoted:

1. teleport. ****ing really? not going ignite RUINS veigar's kill potential all game. If you go teleport, you're doing it WRONG.

Thank you for such constructive comment... First of all, I have stated in the summoner spells section (which you didn't read obviously) that you could pick Teleport OR Ignite.

I am not forbidding you from taking Ignite. I prefer Teleport, it's true. And I'll justify it by an increased laning presence and that will grant you some AP (I agree 20-30 more AP is not going to compare to 450 true damage in late game).

Speaking of AP, I remind you that you get this free AP by last hitting minions, which means getting more money, and intervening on a pushed turret will bring you a lot of XP, giving you a fair advantage during mid game.
Speaking of money, you can easily get 400 gold out of a pushed turret, which means building items earlier, and 400 gold is actually more than what a classic kill would bring you.

Speaking of kills, you pretend that not picking ignite will RUIN Veigar's kill potential during the ENTIRE GAME. How so ?

• In late game, you can take down most AP/AD carries with a single combo, and that's your job, it's not to go against tanks/off-tanks.
• So maybe, it's during early game that ignite is purely awesome ? It sure helps getting kills mid, dat little combo topped off with an ignite sure does its work, but teleporting behind ennemies when a fight's getting hot on TOP LANE or BOT LANE gives you even easier kills, grants assists to your team (yay! more gold for the team!), and thus increases your overall kill potential. It does not mean Ignite's useless during early game, it's just NOT THE SAME TARGETTED champion. Ignite's good to take down the MID carry, who'll say "wtf just happened there ? I got blasted in less than a second", while teleport will be good to take down the BOT carry. And the one who becomes the bigger threat for your turrets/inhibitors is often the AD carry. So if you slow the progression of the AD carry during early game, the lane of your AD carry will be easier, and their AD carry will have even more difficulties, and you'll increase your chances of victory. You maybe flaming right now saying: "OMG, this is such a waste of your ultimate, not targetting the ap carry, you noob !". Is it really? In early game, most AP carries have 100 AP. That makes an increase of 80 damage before magic resists takes in and after that it's about 50 damage increase... which is, give or take, an auto attack. And to quote you:
  
  
  Quoted:

  If you nuke someone down for 1000 damage, enjoy your 40 health back.
  
  
  which must mean you consider 50 HP nothing.

So to sum up, Teleport does not ruin your potential damage in early game, as it allows you to gank bot or top lane, and I can assure you a 3v2 situation is often stronger than ignite to get a kill. (Pro tip of the day : you can teleport on wards).

During mid game, Teleport offers you more mobility and ganking power, while allowing you to farm safely, increasing thus your damage, both by increasing your Q stack, by getting bigger items earlier, and by leveling up faster. Teleport is actually helpful to increase your burst damage during mid game.

And when it comes to late game, Ignite takes it over Teleport, I must confess. But you'll have had an edge during the rest of the game, so you should be able to keep momentum... after all, you're veigar!

So, I'm very sorry but yes I do consider Teleport as a truly viable spell on veigar. I also consider Ignite very viable, it's just that I find teleport actually more helpful for the team and ignite more helpful for veigar only (it's a point of view, not the absolute truth, don't come and flame again on this particular statement).

May I also add, that the two best rated build on veigar at the current moment (10.09.12) also consider Teleport as a good summoner spell choice, and one even states that he also prefers teleport. So yes, I must be CRAZY and WRONG to chose this summoner spells!

Finally, I invite you to watch the game between CLG.NA and SK Gaming of the World Championships for season 2, if you want to discuss the need of Teleport on the AP mid in a more general way.

WHY SUCH RUNES ?

Quoted:

2. Your runes are a ****ing mess. 1 Movespeed quint? I just don't get it. Spellvamp quints? Give me a break. Pack movespeed quints or pack ap quints. Hell, I'll take flat health quints over spellvamp quints. If you nuke someone down for 1000 damage, enjoy your 40 health back.

OK, it may seem like a mess, but that's because of a teeny operation to slightly increase the sustainability.

I, unlike you, consider spellvamp runes to be decent to get a little more sustain in the lane. It's an opinion and we could discuss that later (actually I discuss it a bit later in this thread). Therefore I would go for 3 spellvamp quintessences.

But I also consider Swiftness like a must on veigar, for veigar is not the fastest champion around. But as you can see, I didn't do it. I didn't pick the mastery Swiftness but picked Transmutation instead. And here is the logic behind:

if I take 3 Greater Quintessence of Spell Vamp and 3 points in Swiftness , I'll get 6% spellvamp and 1.5% MS. But with the build I have chosen, I get 4% from the quintessences + 3% from the masteries in spellvamp and 1.5% MS from the quint. So in the end, I get 7% instead of 6% spellvamp.

This is something you call optimization. Sorry if it makes thing look like a mess. I think you'd probably have preferred me to pick 3 quints of transmutation, that would have been more "classic", and you could have flamed on the Spellvamp part only. It must have disturbed you a lot, I'm sorry, I hope you'll be able to sleep tonight. Sorry.

You have proposed to go for 3 Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed instead. This possibility is ALREADY IN THE GUIDE. You must not have read that part. (FYI: it's in the Runes section, just go to the reflexion part)

Same goes for flat AP quint, I stated that it was a tradeoff between sustainability and damage during early game. Must not have read that part too. [A quick note about the AP runes, they don't help you farm more, they just help you farm better, meaning an increased rate of success on last hit with baleful strike]

And wait! You were speaking of flat HP runes ? They are also considered as viable in this guide. You must not have read that part (wow, that's a lot of parts you didn't read).

---

So now for the flame part on the Transmutation quints. They are NOT useless. I love it when you say:

Quoted:

If you nuke someone down for 1000 damage, enjoy your 40 health back.

(it would be 70 HP, not 40 HP, proof that you didn't even read the top chart entirely before starting to flame)

It shows that you are actually missing the point of spellvamp runes. It's not about gaining a little more health after a combo, it's about consistently regenerating health, and thus staying in lane longer, making you able to farm more.

"But 7% spellvamp is nothing !" is what you'd say. No. You'd say "But 4% spellvamp is nothing!", but that's another story. But is it really useless?

Let's take a game I played following this guide. It was a 42 minutes long game, quite intense. I ended up dealing 243704 magic damage. And boy, I farmed!
So now let's have a look at the total HP regenerated thanks to the spellvamp :

243704*0.07 = 17059 HP!

I'll take that. thank you. That's equivalent to +33 HP5! (yes 17059/(42*60) makes 6.7696 HP regeneration per second, so +33 HP5). That is absolutely insane if you compare it to the greater quintessence of vigor. Another quick calculation : the passive of Force of Nature would grant veigar him a regeneration of 1.75% of max HP per 5 seconds. That's about 32HP5 on veigar level 18.

Oops, these completely useless runes seem to be equivalent to the power of this insane passive! So, of course, as it's not HP but HP5, it will not make you much more tanky during a fight, but during laning phase, it's just plain awesome.

Flame to your heart's content, I'll still invite people to go for the Transmutation runes on veigar.

WHY ATHENE's first ? (Explained a second time)

Quoted:

3. Athene's first? are you freaking kidding me? DEATHFIRE LAST? holy ****, man. This is so wrong my face hurts. Lich bane? no void staff? sweet mercy.

Ooops, you must have read the top chart only. By reading the recommended Items and the situational items, you'd have understood a few things, like:

• Lich Bane is not recommended, only situational.
  
• Same goes for Void Staff (which is in the guide, contrary to what you thought).
  
• And finally that Deathfire Grasp is NOT COMMING LAST in the build.
  
• There are actually other possibilities for building the 3 situational items (they are the 3 last items in the top chart) like : DFG, Hourglass, Void staff, for instance.

Situational items are all up to you, and yes I am bold enough to consider DFG as a situational item. hey! if you don't think it's a situational item, just pick it as soon as possible, I don't forbid you from doing this. And it can come in 4th place if you are an afficionados of it. (The 3 first being : Athene's, Boots and rabadon's)

But 4th place is probably not early enough for you. I presume you consider Sorcerer's Shoes and Rabadon's Deathcap to be obvious items to pick quickly, or else I'm speechless.

So your issue must be with Athene's Unholy Grail as a first pick.

And no, I am not freaking kidding you. If you had read the section Starting Items, you'd have seen that Athene's Unholy Grail almost provides veigar with a permanent blue buff (which then allows your jungler to have it, making his jungling more efficient, and his ganks more powerful, but you musn't have considered that League of Legends is a team game).

In addition to that it provides you with slightly more AP than Deathfire Grasp and with additional magic resist. A quick calculation also demonstrated that by just picking +40 magic resist you'd cancel the effect of DFG . So the logical reasonning of any AP caster when seeing a veigar going for DFG, is to pick some extra magic resist (and there are actually very good items that increase your magic resist).

Actually, it would be 40 MR only during the early game, after it goes up to 110 MR in late game as your AP grows, and that's why I consider it to be a very good late game item.

So you'd be much more tanky, and you'd have a permanent blue buff that would allow you to harass your opponent (making him vulnerable to ganks), and that would be kidding you ? You'd reduce his farm ability, while not reducing yours... that's one of the objectives of any late-game hero during early game!

Playing with veigar is not about killing the enemy champ in one blow during the first few levels, you don't have enough power for that ! It's about team play and being there when your teammates needs you, and there you can launch a combo against a full-HP hero ('cause you're not alone, ya know ?)

The only argument that could hurt this strategy is the cost : "DFG is sooooo much cheaper and you get free gold from kage" is the classic sentence, I'm afraid. But then again, I refer you up to the section "Starting Items" or to other guides, or to your personal experience, to notice that veigar needs mana in early game. Oops, there is no item in DFG that brings mana regeneration. there used to be, but there isn't anymore. At that ancient time, I also went for DFG ('cause, ya know AP, MP5, CDR, Awesome active, what else you'd ask for ?), but now you need to find a source of MP5 first. Most guides proposes you to go for 2 doran's ring (see the current (10.09.12) top-rated guide on veigar for that). If you add up the costs of these 3 items, you almost have the same cost as an athene's.

To sum-up, more tankiness, blue buff, same AP, same cost. I'll stick to athene's as a first item, if you don't mind.

(And don't think athene is that awesome on everyone, it's only thanks to Equilibrium that it's so powerful. So it's a niche item on veigar)

You don't max a spell by level 9? Oo. NOOB !

Quoted:

4. The ultimate sign of a noob is that when they write a guide, they don't max a skill by level 9. They just put points randomly because they have no idea what they're doing.

" - Hey! What if spells actually had different effects?
- Maybe one spell would be good for one thing and the other for something else.
- That would be awesome, dude!"

Well, veigar has spells that target different things, like champions and creeps (yes, these are two different categories, trust me on this one). Just a little breakdown for you guys :

• Baleful Strike is for creeps
• Dark Matter is for champions
• Event Horizon, for champions
• Primordial Burst ... obvious

Now, quick Q&A :
what makes Baleful Strike awesome ?

Its passive of course! You'll get 1 AP for every last hit you'll get with baleful strike.

Does this passive increase with levels ?

No, not for the creep part at least. But you need at least 2 levels to make sure you'll get last hits!

Another quick Q&A :
How do you do damage against champions ?

You hit them of course!

How do you hit them ?

With any spell you have!

Which spells deals the most damage ?

easy, it's Primordial Burst and then Dark Matter and then Baleful Strike. Dark Matter AP ratio is awesome, much stronger than the one from baleful strike, and it has a much stronger base damage too!

So, what is your main source of damage against champions ?

it's Primordial Burst! Wait no! It's Dark Matter! You cast it more often!

And how do you make sure to hit the champion ?

you stun him with Event Horizon ! You'll need it at level 2, 'cause at level 1, the opponent can evade it if he has boots.

Finally, which spell do you max at level 9 ?

Well Dark Matter is definitely what you'd need to harass the enemy player (I remind you that with this build veigar is mana free). But I need Baleful Strike at level 2 at least to gain some AP, and I need Event Horizon at level 2 too, if I want to actually do damage. But wait! I also need Primordial Burst to deal tons of damage! So that makes 5+2+2+1 = 10! I can't max out dark matter by level 9! Either I would gain a lot less AP with baleful strike, or I wouldn't land my dark matter safely! It is not viable for me to max dark matter!

Maybe, I should go and max out baleful strike! But then when I would want to harass, my main source of damage would be the spell I use to farm... I'd have to choose between harass and farm. But Okay! That would leave me with 1 point for Dark Matter and two points for Event Horizon. Raaah, this sucks! I won't do any damage with Dark Matter! And my harass power won't be as efficient, or will take up on my farm because I'll use my Q to lower the enemy's health.

If only I was not bound to this max out by level 9 stuff... Oh wait! I don't have to! Problem solved! so 2-3 points for baleful strike, depending on my confidence in my last hit, and 4-3 points for dark matter, 2 points for the stun and one for the ult. I maximize my damage against champions while ensuring me a good farm with my Q! The perfect mix.

Then there is the rest of the sequence. From level 9 to level 13, you won't have to put up with lots of team fights and you won't meet these bastards with mercury's thread or some tenacity of any kind. Therefore, a level 2 Event Horizon should be enough. Use these levels to maximize your output damage! If you actually find yourself confronted to champions who get out of the cage too soon, don't hesitate to level Event Horizon. From level 14 onwards, there will start to be more 5v5 fights, and increasing Event Horizon grants him 0.25 second more of stun, it's insane in team fights!

The spells on level 17-18 can be interverted, depending on the need of your team for a longer stun or not.

Once again, I'm sorry flamers, but Veigar is not bound to the simple view of max one spell by level 9, the other by level 13 and the last one by level 18.

Pros / Cons

spaaaaaaace

Pros + Strongest AP Hero + Godly stun + Excellent Passive + THE Nuker

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Cons - Extremely squishy - Quite hungry for mana - Strongly relies on farm - Low escape capacities

Masteries

Masteries
4/4	4/4	1/1	1/1	3/3	3/3	3/3	3/4	4/1	3/3	1/1

Masteries
4/4	4/4	1/1	3/2	4/1	4/3	1/4	1/1	3/3	3/3	2/3

Archmage

Executioner

Executioner

Meditation

Awareness

Intelligence

Mastermind

Veigar

Veigar

Runes

Runes
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration 9	Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration 9	Greater Glyph of Magic Resist 9	Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed 1	Greater Quintessence of Spell Vamp 2

• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: the words AP caster say it all.
  
• Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration: Veigar is quite demanding in terms of mana regeneration. These seals will help him get this mana regeneration.
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: these makes Veigar less squishy against most hero mid during early game.
  
• greater quintessence of swifness: This small buff in movement speed helps veigar evade more easily skill shots or agressive mid heroes. You can take up to three if you feel like it.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Spell Vamp: these grant veigar a small buff in sustainability. (You'll gain about 15-70 HP for each spell you cast).

Reflexions on the possible runes for veigar, and why you shouldn't really pick them

Marks

The other marks that are eligible for veigar are :

• Greater Mark of Magic Resist - You shouldn't pick these, as they'll only grant you 6.93 magic resist. The Greater Mark of Magic Penetration will on the other hand grant you 8.55 magic penetration. In addition to that, flat magic penetration runes stack extremely well (the more you have, the more each is powerful), while magic resist runes work the opposite way (the more you have, the less each is useful). If you want a proof, check the formula to calculate the damage output.
  
  
• Greater Mark of Ability Power - You'd gain 5.31 AP. Yay for that! That would translate into an increase of 3 damage on Baleful Strike... and an increase of 14.9 damage on a full combo (and that's without taking into account MR)... On the other hand, a full combo (or any spell, actually) with the Greater Mark of Magic Penetration would see its damage increased by 6% on somebody with 30 MR. If you'd want the Greater Mark of Ability Power to be stronger than the Greater Mark of Magic Penetration, you'd need to fight against somebody with 300 Magic Resist or more, while you are at level 6 and didn't manage to get any AP from your Baleful Strike. Does this sounds realistic ?

Seals

The other seals that are eligible for veigar are :

• Greater Seal of Ability Power - See the discussion above about the Greater Mark of Ability Power.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor - This actually could make sense on Veigar, as they are the best runes out there that increase the armor of a hero. However you'd sacrifice some mana regeneration for this. I have been thinking about these for quite some time now, and with the entry of Athene's Unholy Grail into the game, it is possible that you don't have to take Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration and then you could take those instead. It's all up to you !
  
• greater seal of replenishment - Although they are quite decent, they are outperformed by Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration as soon as level 6, so it's up to you to see whether you need a lot more mana regen during the 5 first levels, or during the levels 6-10 (after you won't have much mana issues anyway).

Glyphs

The other seals that are eligible for veigar are :

• greater glyphs of potency - Let's have some fun with potency runes again. Hey, this time it's 10.71 AP ! That's a lot for the beginning ! Or is it ? It makes an increase of 6.43 damage on Baleful Strike when hitting on a minion (0 MR). It can help you secure some farm, but not so much. Indeed, Baleful Strike level 2 will see an increase of damage on creeps of less than 4%, and a full combo would only gain 28 damage. And in late game it would translate into less than 2% increase in AP. While on the other side, Greater Glyph of Magic Resist would provide an increase in durability of 8.96% in the beginning (if the enemy caster picked Greater Mark of Magic Penetration) and while this gain would become smaller and smaller with the added Magic Resist of items, it would still be higher than 4.5% in late game. Once this has been explained, I think the choice becomes crystal clear.
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power - Extremely powerful rune on most AP carry, and yet useless on veigar... this woud grant him a small boost in damage in the late game (about 4%) while not being useful in the beginning. But it does make some increase in damage. Still not worth the survivability the Greater Glyph of Magic Resist offers.

Quintessences

Why did I pick Greater Quintessence of Spell Vamp ? Well it gives you a small boost of survivability. It can be replaced by two other Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed.

Do not take Greater Quintessence of Ability Power for that they don't bring much in the end. It's a tradeoff between survivability and damage, that you'll have to make.

What about Greater Quintessence of Health. These can be accepted. I still prefer spell vamp runes over flat HP runes, because as I have said earlier, you'd gain about 8-20 HP in early game for each spell you cast, or you'd only have 78 more HP to spend. In one case, you start with less but gain more and in the other case you start with more but gain less - I'll let you chose your strategy.

Summoner Spells

Flash: The swiss army knife of any summoner

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Teleport: great for increased presence in lane, and for some quick gank bot or top

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Ignite: Ideal to finish someone, very good against off-tank. Good synergy with Deathfire Grasp

Teleport

Ignite

• 1 - Teleport helps you coming bot during an enemy's gank, and can save your ad carry and even give you some easy kills (as bot lane is all about bruising the enemies during the early game)
• 2 - Ignite has a short range, shorter than your shortest ranged spell ( Baleful Strike). In addition to that it increase the duration of the combo, forcing to take higher level of Event Horizon earlier, and if the enemy has some tenacity, it is possible not to be able to land the combo completely because of the time lost travelling to launch ignite. Thus you'd miss the Dark Matter, which does more damage than ignite on most champions in late game.

Spells Explanation

Chalice of Harmony

• Equilibrium stacks up with Chalice of Harmony and Athene's Unholy Grail passive ! It also stack with the blue buff.
• Equilibrium naturally works with runes, masteries, and items.
• Equilibrium is often overlooked in building guides
• Equilibrium is used at its best when spamming spells !

• No cap on the AP gain
• the AP gain on champion kills is a passive of Baleful Strike. You can kill champion with auto attacks and you'd still get the bonus AP.
• Leveling Baleful Strike only increases the AP gain in case of champion kills, not minion kills. (It also reduces the cooldown)
• A good farmer usually gains 150-250+ AP out of this spell only !

• Dark Matter has a long delay, but a well placed Event Horizon can do the trick.
• Dark Matter grants vision of its landing point. It's a great way to check bushes.
• Dark Matter lands in the form of a rainbow when using the Leprechaun Skin. Awesome, isn't it?

• Use Event Horizon to seperate a member from his team.
• Use Event Horizon to block entire paths in the jungle when retrating.

• Aim for the squishies is not forcefully the right motto ! Vladimir is an excellent target for primordial burst while being quite tanky.
• Don't use Primordial Burst on anybody, use it only on the carries. An ultimate on Garen is most probably a wasted ultimate.

Skill Sequence

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

> > >

WHY NOT MAXING OUT BALEFUL STRIKE BY LEVEL 9 ?

Most people max out Baleful Strike by level 9, to ensure that they will get the last hit with it and gain their precious AP. It also reduces its cooldown, thus allowing Veigar to farm even more with his (Q).

I do not agree with such a strategy.

A level 2 Baleful Strike is already more than enough to secure last hits. That's why reaching level 2 should be your priority.

But reaching a level 2 Dark Matter by level 5, and an Event Horizon will help you harass the enemy champion. I see some of you raising an eyebrow... "What ? Harassing with Veigar ? Is that even possible ?"
It is indeed possible and doesn't cost you so much (160 mana E+W, while you have a 10+ mana regen per second). Basically you'll need as much time to replenish your mana pool as it takes for your stun to come on cooldown.
And once you've reached level 8, you should try one last harass, or land a full combo.

So while my skill sequence seems hard to understand, or completely random, there actually is a logic begind. It has been designed in order to maximize what one could take out of Veigar.

WHY ONLY TWO LEVEL OF EVENT HORIZON BEFORE LEVEL 14 ?

While only one level of Event Horizon is sufficient to land safely a Dark Matter on a champion with no boots or a slow champion with Boots of Speed, it quickly becomes insuffisant to land a Dark Matter against champions with Sorcerer's Shoes or else.

With two levels of Event Horizon, Veigar is able to secure the landing of Dark Matter even on champions equipped with such boots.

By level 14, you should have more than once been ganked (sucessfully or not) and have ganked a few times. This is the moment when everybody gather and teamfights start to appear. From this moment on, your stun is yours only anymore. It's the one of the team, which means they'll need time to react to your stun. Besides, you should now have champions in front of you with mercury's threads or some other tenacity capacity.

From level 13 on, a longer stun is then required.

Wraith Control and Veigar

First of all, what is wraith control ?

It all depends on the strategy you go for !

If you prefer maxing baleful strike by level 9, you'll be extremely bad at clearing wraith camp, as your AoE spell - Dark Matter - will only be level 1, which means you'll have to clear out all the wraiths with your Baleful Strike and auto-attacks. This will take some time, and you'll lose quite some HP to the harass of the wraith and time/XP/gold on the lane, which makes this not very efficient...

If you follow the strategy I propose in the previous section, your capacity to clear the wraith camp will increase incredibly! With a single Dark Matter, you'll obliterate the lesser wraiths and you will be able to land safely a Baleful Strike on the major wraith. The total time required to clear the wraith camp is then about 1.5 seconds ! Besides, you will not have to circle the wall between the wraith camp and the mid lane, you will be able to do it through the wall, which means an even more reduced time to clear the camp.

Starting Items

There are two early game sequences possible depending on who Veigar is laning against.

Item Sequence
Meki Pendant 390	Health Potion 35	Health Potion 35	Chalice of Harmony 880	Boots of Speed 350	Sorcerer's Shoes 1100	Fiendish Codex 820	Athene's Unholy Grail 2600

Item Sequence
Boots of Speed 350	Health Potion 35	Health Potion 35	Mana Potion 35	Chalice of Harmony 880	Sorcerer's Shoes 1100	Fiendish Codex 820	Athene's Unholy Grail 2600

Ahri

Ziggs

Swain

Zyra

Chalice of Harmony

Meki Pendant

Health Potion

Boots of Speed

Chalice of Harmony

WHY CHALICE OF HARMONY/ATHENE AND NOT KAGE/DEATHFIRE GRASP FIRST?

Most builds for Veigar revolve around the Deathfire Grasp. I must admit it is an incredible item, extremely powerful. It has besides been buffed, thanks to an increase in range (750!).

However to get this set up going, you'll need mana regeneration. Some builds propose to go for Tear of the Goddess (Have you guys gone wild ?) or for two Doran's Ring (that's more like it). This does give a boost in HP and AP which is quite significant. But the increase in mana regeneration isn't that great (10 MP5), and it delays your global build by almost 1k gold.

Thus most Veigar players rely on the blue buff and have difficulties during the early game if they don't have it. With the deathfire grasp first, you become extremely dependent of a buff that last 2:30 minutes, which can be stolen, or just taken by the jungler.

On the other side you have Veigar with the Chalice of Harmony. The mana regeneration is on another level! With an 80% empty mana pool at level 8, you'd regenerate 65 MP5 (versus 40 MP5). It' a Baleful Strike for free every 6 seconds !

And once you've reached Athene's Unholy Grail, you'll have 3/4 of what the crest of the ancient golem would give you. That is 15% cooldown reduction (instead of 20% with the blue buff) and 100 MP5 (instead of 133 MP5)! So you'd have your personal blue buff, that cannot be stolen and on top of that, it would also give you some AP (90 AP vs. 80 AP for deathfire grasp), and some magic resist (40 Magic resist) and a passive that refreshes your mana pool on kills or assists. And the blue buff would then be available for the jungler/top/support.

Pro-DFG will argue that DFG will do more damage due to its awesome active. But is that true ? I'll take the case of a mirror match between two veigars, with Greater Mark of Magic Penetration and Greater Glyph of Magic Resist.
Veigar A will have Sorcerer's Shoes, Deathfire Grasp and two Doran's Ring.
Veigar B will have Sorcerer's Shoes and Athene's Unholy Grail.
Both veigar are level 12 and +50 AP on Baleful Strike.
In this case the damage made by veigar A is equal to 1040 HP (including the active).
And the damage made by veigar B is equal to 1100 HP.

How can the veigar B deal more damage to the veigar A while not having the active of DFG ? Simply because of magic resist.

So, to sum up : By picking Athene's Unholy Grail over Deathfire Grasp, you'd almost have a permanent blue buff, and you'd be more efficient in terms of damage dealt/damage recieved. I hope you now see clearly why you should pick it first.

Laning against Leblanc or Talon

LeBlanc is one your worst lane match-up. There is basically only one way to protect yourself against her : buying loads of magic resists, and keeping up your stun the moment she comes to you (since a recent update, Leblanc is now stunned when going through Event Horizon). This starting build is horrible but it seems to be the only one truly working against her.

Item Sequence
Null-Magic Mantle 400	Health Potion 35	Mana Potion 35	Chalice of Harmony 880	Boots of Speed 350	Mercury's Treads 1200	Negatron Cloak 720	Meki Pendant 390

Talon, also know as the anti mid. Actually Talon isn't dangerous for veigar until level 3, at which he can tore up a veigar in two hits. Go for Doran's Ring and Chain Vest. Once again, an ugly build for an ugly anti-veigar.

Item Sequence
Doran's Ring 475	Boots of Speed 350	Chain Vest 720	Mercury's Treads 1200

Recommended Items

Item Sequence
Athene's Unholy Grail 2600	Sorcerer's Shoes 1100	Rabadon's Deathcap 3300

• : The newest item for mage. And it's a fit on Veigar! This items prevents two of veigar's major flaws : his "squishyness" and his hunger for mana. Imagine : it grants him 15% cooldown and about 12-21 mana per second! It's almost a blue buff! Don't believe me? the crest of the ancient golem would grant him 20% cooldown and 15 to 25 mana regen per second. In addition to that, it gives him 40 magic resist and 90 AP and replenishes your mana on kills and assists. What else?
  
• : The boots of any AP caster. It's flat magic penetration makes some tremendous damage in early game (you'll almost do true damage)
  
• : The cap of any decent mage. You'd feel cold without it. Practical during rainy days.

Situational Items

In this section I'll describe the situational items that can be taken with veigar :

• : One strange item in a Veigar build. Well once again, it's an awesome item. Increased durability thanks to the magic resist AND the +7% in movement speed. Increased damage thanks to its 80 AP. And the passive... Or how to destroy a turret faster than you can say "BOOM!". Yes, because you'll have about 800 AP, so that means you'll hit turrets (and champions) with 900 damage. Four spells, and the turret is down. Excellent in late game.
  
• : You're owning the ap carry but the ad carry is always focusing you ? Or maybe the bruisers are a bit too nasty with you ? Grab a Zhonya's Hourglass! Some armor, some AP, and invincibility for 2 seconds. Excellent against AoE teams.
  
• : The most picked item for Veigar after Sorcerer's Shoes and Rabadon's Deathcap. Some cooldown reduction, some AP, and an unholy active : it will enable Veigar to take down bruisers who come at him, and even hit on tanks.
  
• : Very powerful item in late game. Lets Veigar tear through almost anything. Quite cheap. Lacks survivability.
  
• : Used to be good on Veigar. But since the range of the passive has been drastically reduced, it has become less effective. Still useful for the AP and Magic Resist. The passive now only comes in handy when fighting melee heroes...
  
• : High survability item. Grants HP, MP and MR. Provides also with a shield that absorbs one spell every 45 seconds. Useful protection against some poke hero (like Blitzcrank or Nidalee)
  
• : Grants a lot of HP,MP and AP. But it takes some time to get there, it normally is a first item pick, but it can be taken as fourth if survivability seems to be an issue. Not my favorite item.

Deathfire Grasp

Void Staff

Lich Bane

Lich Bane

Zhonya's Hourglass

Banshee's Veil

Is Deathfire grasp essential for Veigar ?

Don't flame me for asking the question ! Nor for trying to answer !

Let me break it down for you : Deathfire Grasp has an extremely powerful active that synergizes perfectly with Veigar's combo (it's the first spell you should cast after the stun, and it's your longest range spell). It does tons of damage and pretty much secures every kill on AP/AD carry.

But is it only about security ? Is it not essential for veigar if he wants to kill ?
I'll try to answer that question by analyzing the increase in damage of Deathfire Grasp during late game and mid game.

Veigar

Void Staff

Deathfire Grasp

Lich Bane

Zhonya's Hourglass

Deathfire Grasp

• 600 AP :
  
• 700 AP :
  
• 800 AP :
  

• 600 AP :
  
• 700 AP :
  
• 800 AP :
  

Baleful Strike

Veigar

Deathfire Grasp

Fizz

Deathfire Grasp

Rabadon's Deathcap

Deathfire Grasp

Rabadon's Deathcap

Deathfire Grasp

Rabadon's Deathcap

Rabadon's Deathcap

Deathfire Grasp

Rabadon's Deathcap

Rod of Ages

Deathfire Grasp

Kage's Lucky Pick

Rabadon's Deathcap

Deathfire Grasp

Deathfire Grasp

Game Phase

Game phases with Veigar are pretty straight forward.

I came across a guide which did this part so well, that I spent all the time I was reading at it laughing my a** off.

You can find the said chapter here

I invite also you to read the whole guide, it's a different approach to Veigar, and you should never limit yourself to one build/guide. (I prefer my way, but that may be biased :o)

Laning against ...

In this section I have gathered most of the champions you could meet mid.
It does not aim at providing you with the way to win against such or such champion, but to give tips to manage more effectively against them.

If you feel like there is a champion that's missing, or if you think of some tips that are not present, please feel free to add them in the comments. I'll update it later with credits.

ahri

4/10

Ahri is extremely reliant on her skill shots to deal damage. In addition to that, most people consider veigar to weak against Ahri. That is why most Ahri player will try to hit you with Orb of Deception. It is actually quite predictable, and you can juke it easily if you have taken Boots of Speed as a first item.

You can even taunt her by staying next to your creeps, in a way she could reach you with Charm. She'll spend half her mana trying to hit you.

Once you have Chalice of Harmony you can start being aggressive, by launching Event Horizon and Dark Matter on her. Keep Baleful Strike for the creeps ! She'll lose a fair amount of HP and will be forced to spam her abilities on the creeps to regenerate her HP.

Ahri is a fair pusher against veigar. Do not try to push her over ! She has a high mobility and if one of her combo land while you are near her turret, it is probable that you won't be able to reach your turret back. Not mentioning the greater risk of ganks.

To sum up, Ahri is a good champion against veigar during early game, but a wary veigar will easily evade most of her damage, while staying safe near his turret (not under the turret). By the begining of mid-game, veigar will just tear through her.

akali

5/10

Akali becomes dangerous at level 6. Before that, you'll just have to back for a few seconds when hit with Mark of the Assassin, in order to not procc the buff.

When Akali uses Twilight Shroud use dark matter near your lowest HP creeps to counter her ability to farm without retaliation.

You should buy 2 Vision Ward, one for each bush around mid. This will nullify her Twilight Shroud and help you deal damaga while staying in a safe zone.

After level 6, Akali will come straight to you after casting Event Horizon. So do not use this spell if you are not near or under your turret. It can also be used defensively when she uses Shadow Dance to dash to you : Place the outer ring almost on top of you, in order to prevent her from following you and dealing additional damage.

anivia

6/10

Anivia is often considered to be a fairly easy match up for veigar. Not so true, actually.

First of all, you can forget about killing this bird of frost alone. His passive, Rebirth, makes it near damn impossible to kill him alone, if you are not an AD carry. To kill him you'd have catch him by surprise 2 times ! One time to put Rebirth on cooldown and a second time to actually kill him before Rebirth starts to work again. Against a good Anivia player, it's practically unfeasible. I invite you to keep your combo for the ad carry of the bot lane.

Anivia has low mobility but all of this birds skills are skill shots that can be extremely annoying. A successfully placed Flash Frost, combined with a Frostbite can be extremely powerful. It's an easier skill shot to evade than those of Ahri.

Anivia is an extremely good farmer/pusher and often builds up quite tanky. So you won't be bullied much when laning against him, but you'll have a hard time not to be outfarmed, which means you'll get less gold than him, and you will have difficulties killing this bird.

In team fights, Anivia proves himself extremely useful, and can once again prevent you from killing an enemy champion. His capacity to farm an entire minion wave in very little time also makes him a great pusher, forcing your team to be on the watch for a discreet push from Anivia. Additionally, Anivia has a slow and a stun...

Anivia won't make your life impossible, far from that. But you won't make his life terribly hard too. And his presence in team fight can be much greater than yours. You'll need frequent early ganks if you want to have the edge on this bird.

annie

6/10

Annie has an incredible burst damage when reaching level 6. She is a smaller kind of veigar, that could stun with his ult and have some additional magic resist when needed. Quite awesome, isn't it ?

You'll have to watch out for the number of spell she has cast, in order to protect you from the deadly stun of her passive, Pyromania. During early game and mid game, she can have the edge over veigar quite easily, zoning him out. To counter that, you'll have to cast plenty of mini-combos [event horizon, Dark Matter] on her.

During mid game, she can one shot a low magic-resist carry. Take another Null-Magic Mantle before starting your Rabadon's Deathcap.

Hopefully she scales less into late game than you.

To sum up, watch out for her spells. Stay out of range, ask for help from the jungler. In case of a gank against Annie, you should let yourself get stunned, so that she will be helpless against the jungler, while you'll quickly be able to go back in the fight with a flash and Event Horizon. But as you have guessed it's dangerous, and you'll have to be wary!

cassiopeia

6/10

Cassiopeia is a skill shot based hero, but contrary to ahri or anivia, her skill shots are actually quite hard to evade, even with boots. She can harass you quite effectively, even under your turret.
Cassiopeia is a very strong early game hero, and you'll have difficulties fighting back. Especially since she can evade Dark Matter if you have been hit by Noxious Blast.

Cassiopeia is however quite squishy. During the early game, you'll have to wait for a gank. In late game, you'll destroy her no matter what she tries to do, if she didn't get fed during early-mid game.

cho'gath

3/10

Cho'Gath is a very healthy hero, that can deal tons of damage to you if you get caught by his Rupture.

To counter his Rupture, start with Boots of Speed and the 3 Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed strategy.

If you manage to evade most of his rupture, you can easily harass him as soon as you have Chalice of Harmony. Remember one thing though : if Cho'Gath plays carefully enough, you'll have difficulties taking him down during mid-late game, due to his Feast stacks. There is no apparent threat in Cho'gath for veigar.

Diana

8/10

Painful Diana will harass you with her Crescent Strike (which is almost a free spell considering the mana cost), and she will pull veigar in a dangerous position thanks to her Moonfall. And on top of that she is quite tanky, and naturally builds up magic resist!

A very bad match-up for veigar. A good eye can help you predict where Crescent Strike is supposed to go, and evade most of it, but the curvyness of this spell makes it harder to understand. You'll need some battle scars before being able to evade it correctly.

Remember that if you are struck by Crescent Strike, Diana can pull off her combo : Lunar Rush, Pale Cascade, Moonfall and if she has time Crescent Strike and Lunar Rush. At level 9 she deals so much damage (about 900 on a doubled combo), that she can burst down Veigar without even losing her ultimate.

The trick is to evade the Crescent Strike, if you manage to consistently evade 95% of her crescent strike, you'll be able to survive. Now to farm is another thing...

Buying some additional magic resist is also recommended.

evelynn

2/10

She will farm, you will farm.

If Evelynn tries to harass you, answer back with a mini combo Event Horizon and Dark Matter. play behind the creeps.

Evelynn is very squishy, thus some harass and a full combo will take her down starting from level 11. (or even before !)

Call for MIA each time you didn't see Evelynn for 5 seconds, especially if she bought Boots of Mobility.

fiddlesticks

2/10

Fiddlesticks has a lot of CC, but is fortunately very squishy.
Fiddlesticks is one of the mid heroes with the highest sustainability, thanks to his Drain. However this sustainability can be easily countered by a well placed Event Horizon, that will interrupt the HP drain from fiddlesticks.

The strategy is to farm, farm and farm again. Veigar has a stronger farming power than Fiddlesticks. Once you have farmed enough, you'll be able to kill him in a combo.

Watch out for his Crowstorm, though. If possible try to stun him while he channels, otherwise, try to place an Event Horizon on him before he fears you with Terrify.

fizz

6/10

Fizz is quite anoying for veigar, mostly because of its excellent burst damage and his Playful / Trickster spell that allows him to become untargetable for a few seconds.

Be careful not to push the lane too much. stay near/under your turret.
If you want to land a hit on Fizz, you should take Event Horizon to levels 3-4 quite quickly and the only possibility to hit him, would then be by landing the stun perfectly over his head, so that he gets stunned immediately.

Good Fizz players are quite the bullies against veigar players. Watch out for the burst and don't feel afraid to recall at mid life.

You should be able to answer back when you'll get your Chalice of Harmony.

galio

???

According to the other guides, this would be painful for veigar. I concieve it could be annoying because of Bulwark and Idol of Durand.
However, I scarcely ever met Galio. And I have never met him since the apparition of Athene's Unholy Grail, thus I cannot tell whether he is such a bully or not.

8/10
according to other guides

gragas

7/10

Grages is tanky. And he has a lot of range with his Barrel Roll. And a lot of sustain thanks to his passive, Happy Hour and Drunken Rage.

Barrel Roll can be deal tons of damage to veigar, if you don't react quickly. Grab Boots of Speed first and rush for Chalice of Harmony.

Zhonya's Hourglass can be a pretty good item to follow up after [[rabadon's deathcap, as it can prevent Explosive Cask if used correctly. Watch out for Explosive Cask at early levels ! It can bring you in a bad position and you'd get torn.

On the other hand, Gragas let's you farm quite freely, and this means you won't be left behind during mid-late game.

heimerdinger

4/10

Heimerdinger is a strong pusher. Let the creeps come to your turret, it's not a big deal.
Just be careful about his Hextech Micro-Rockets and his CH-1 Concussion Grenade.

No need for boots as a first item. Start with Meki Pendant and farm. When you'll have earned enough AP, just destroy him with a combo.

karthus

2/10

Probably one of your easiest match-up.

Grab Boots of Speed, rush for Chalice of Harmony. By level 10, you'll have enough AP to take him down with a combo followed by a full combo.
In late game, cast Primordial Burst to him, that will do the job.

kassadin

9/10

Probably one of your worst match-up.

Null Sphere's silence, Force Pulse's slow and Riftwalk makes him extremely potent against a squishy veigar. He can easily Riftwalk out of an almost perfect Event Horizon.

Kassadin is also excellent at zoning you out from level 6 onward.

Your frame of opportunity lies within the first 4-5 levels, where you can zone him out a little. Ask for a lot of early gank, if you want to have superiority on Kassadin

katarina

3/10

Katarina will try to harass you with Shunpo, so be ready with Event Horizon.
A well placed Event Horizon and Dark Matter will calm her down for a moment.

Each of you will be farming to its heart content. After level 6, if shunpo next to you, wait for her to cast Death Lotus before casting Event Horizon.

kennen

4/10[/color]

Grab Boots of Speed and avoid his Thundering Shuriken.

Be careful not to overextend, kennen can tear through you with his ultimate, Slicing Maelstrom.

when kennen uses [lightning rush], feel free to land an Event Horizon in front of your creeps, this will prevent him from farming easily.

leblanc

9/10

LeBlanc is one your worst lane match-up. There is basically only one way to protect yourself against her: buying loads of magic resists, and keeping up your stun the moment she comes to you (since a recent update, Leblanc is now stunned when going through Event Horizon). This starting build is horrible but it seems to be the only one truly working against her.

Item Sequence
Null-Magic Mantle 400	Health Potion 35	Mana Potion 35	Chalice of Harmony 880	Boots of Speed 350	Mercury's Treads 1200	Negatron Cloak 720	Meki Pendant 390

Good luck !

lulu

???

I would need some feedback on Lulu mid.
Lulu is already a rare champion, and even more in mid.

From what I can guess, she'd have a good poke/harass against veigar during the few first levels and then she would just lose it to veigar's combo.

lux

6/10

Lux has a good poke with Lucent Singularity, which is quite hard to evade.
In addition to that, she has lightning binding to immobilize veigar, giving her a decent start for her combo : lightning binding, Lucent Singularity, Final Spark.

Lux also have a good shield, that protects her and an ally from some damage, and is thus capable of absorbing a good chunk of the harass veigar would try on her.

She is a painful poker, capable of retaliating after a combo from veigar.
However, due to veigar's incredible Baleful Strike, she will lose in terms of power to veigar as soon as mid game.

malzahar

5/10

Malzahar can be deadly if he manages to harass you a little and place his combo : Call of the Void, Null Zone, Malefic Visions and Nether Grasp.

In addition to that, his Malefic Visions help him farm a lot, and you'll have difficulties keeping up with him in terms of farm, although it is possible.

Fortunately, Malzahar is squishy, and thus you'll quickly take the edge against him.

Play safe, and only harass him with Event Horizon and as much spells you can place afterwards. Never break the distance without first stunning him !

mordekaiser

7.9/10

Mordekaiser uses his life as a mana pool, and in exchange gains a shield that gradually decays.
Therefore Mordekaiser is quite weak during early game (level 1-5) if you manage to empty his shield as often as you can. With the help of the jungler, it then becomes possible to kill him.

Beware though ! At level 6, Mordekaiser inflicts a terrible dot, and combined with ignite it can completely shut you down.

Farm safely under your turret, and you should be alright.
Mordekaiser transitions badly to late game, which is when you'll have your opportunity.

Most Mordekaiser players like to roam around the map when facing a veigar, never forget to call for MIA! On the other hand, don't go help your allies and farm instead, you'll be more useful later.

morgana

7/10

Morgana can walk through your Event Horizon unharmed, and she has two immobilizers.
Morgana also builds up tanky with most often a Rod of Ages.

Stay behind your creeps, unless you are absolutely sure you'll be able to evade her Dark Binding. And farm, farm as much as you can.

Don't try to harass her until mid game, it's useless due to the amount of HP she can regenerate through her passive, Soul Siphon.

Both of you will farm decently, but you will have a hard time dealing her damage, while she will have an opportunity as soon as you get struck by Dark Binding.

nidalee

3/10

Nidalee won't do you anything, if you are careful enough not to get hit by her Javelin Toss.
Nidalee is squishy.
Nidalee likes to stack AP.
Nidalee is your prey.

orianna

7/10

Long ranged thanks to her orb, Orianna is capable of zoning you out easily.
In addition to that, her auto attacks deal tons of damage.
The combination of the two, makes her quite painful to deal with.

But once again she is squishy, likes to stack AP and often pushes you to your turret, which gives your jungler opportunity to gank.

Play carefully, read through her movement to understand where she'll send her ball, and it shall be almost ok.

ryze

3/10

" Ryze is a counterpick for Veigar", I've read this sentence countless number of times. Why do people say that ? Well Ryze stacks mana instead of AP.
To which, I answer back : "So ?"
When veigar takes down an ad carry, he is not relying on the AP this carry has.
Actually, the fact that Ryze stacks mana and not AP in most cases makes even more vulnerable to AP casters, as there are very few items that grants him both Magic resist and mana [banshee's veil, Lich Bane] and they don't stack so well with him. Thus it is more than probable that Ryze will go for Tear of the Goddess, which grants him nothing but mana, no defense stats. he will then go for sorcerer's boots and then he will most probably go for Catalyst the Protector, which has very limited defense stats. (+290 HP which equates to +16 in Magic Resist at level 14). And By level 14, I can tell you that you'll have a lot of burst damage.

Therefore Veigar can easily takedown Ryze during mid game. And he will only have 80 Magic resist in late game, if you take this build, which is considered as the best build on mobafire for Ryze.
You could say this is already a lot as Ryze would also have 2733 HP. But is it ?
Let's go to late game :

• Veigar has 700 AP, 48.55 flat MPen (Runes, boots, and abyssal scepter) and 46% MPen from masteries and Void Staff.
• Ryze has 4485 MP, 2733 HP, 80 Magic Resist and 309 AP, with his full build.

A combo from veigar would in this case deal 2803 HP (with MR & MPen taken into account). Ryze is dead.
A combo from ryze would in this case deal 1475 HP. And it's the best case scenario, in which Spell Flux bounced 3 times on the same target, while in desperate power.

So it seems clear that Veigar outperforms Ryze in late game.

So The problem could be early game. It is true Ryze can be painful at levels 1-3, but as soon as you can start to retaliate with Event Horizon and Dark Matter, it becomes a status quo.

That's why I consider Ryze not to be the Anti-Veigar everyone thinks he is.

sion

8/10

Sion has a very strong early game thanks to his Cryptic Gaze followed up by a Death's Caress. It can kill veigar in two runs at level 3. So you'll have to let him farm as much as he wants, while not being able to do much farm yourself.

If you manage to destroy his shield before it explodes, it won't do damage. It's one of the rare points on which you can attack him.

Otherwise keep calm and aim for late game.

soraka

1/10

Actually Soraka is more of a bully than what you'd think of it at first.
But you'll quickly start to harass her more than what her heal can withstand.

No effort needed, let her push a little, watch out for the silence and that's all folks!

swain

7/10

Go for Boots of Speed as a first item.
Care for Nevermove, and move quickly away from this area.

Farm very safely, behind creeps and as close from your turret as you can.

You can try to harass Swain during early game, if doesn't have the blue buff. That will force him to use his ultimate to regenerate some HP.

Wait for mid-late game, when things will become easier for veigar.

syndra

8/10 ?

You'll have to wait until this champions comes out, for a review about it ^^.
From what I have seen, it will probably a painful opponent for veigar in early game and that will scale less efficiently in late game. (Like it's possible to scale better than veigar into late game ^^)

talon

9/10

Talon, also know as the anti mid. Actually Talon isn't dangerous for veigar until level 3, at which he can tore up a veigar in two hits. Go for Doran's Ring and Chain Vest. An ugly build for an ugly anti-veigar. You can add 2-3 Doran's Ring if you feel like it. Then rush Rod of Ages. then Deathfire Grasp and finally Rabadon's Deathcap.

Item Sequence
Doran's Ring 475	Boots of Speed 350	Chain Vest 720	Mercury's Treads 1200

Stay out of range of his Rake, which is his primary source of damage.

As you can see, Talon forces you to go out of the classic build I propose for a build much more tanky.

twisted fate

2/10

Twisted Fate is a very pleasant opponent.
He is extremely squishy.

Stick it to farm, while avoiding the cards.
When reaching 200 AP, you should start to have fun with him.

Urgot

9/10

Go for Boots of Speed as a first item.
Care for Noxian Corrosive Charge, and move quickly away from this area.

Farm very safely, behind creeps and as close from your turret as you can.

It's useless to harass Urgot during early game, even with the blue buff. Urgot is far too tanky for Veigar

Wait for late game, and maybe things will become easier for veigar.

Veigar

10/10

The best counter pick against Veigar player is a better Veigar.
If you are facing another veigar, it will come down to a fight that lasts less than 2 seconds each time you'll meet. And the one able to succesfully cast Event Horizon will win the game.

It's as simple as that.

Viktor

8/10

Go for Boots of Speed as a first item.
Care for Death Ray, and move quickly away from this area.
Stay out of range of Power Transfer.

Farm very safely, behind creeps and as close from your turret as you can.

You can try to harass Viktor during early game, but the effect is most of the time quite limited.

Wait for mid-late game, when things will become easier for veigar.

Vladimir

6/10

Care for Transfusion that can deal a fair amount of damage in early game.
You can for Vladimir into using it's Sanguine Pool by consistently harassing him with an Event Horizon and Dark Matter. This will make him vulnerable for the next few seconds, and will give an opening for your jungler to gank.

Xerath

6/10

Be careful with his extremely long range.
Back a little as soon as you are hit by Mage Chains.

Farm safely, care for his sudden increase in range thanks to Locus of Power.
It is possible to juke one or two occurence of Arcane Barrage by outsmarting your opponent on where you intend to go.

Wait for mid-late game, and everything will be fine.

ziggs

7/10

Care for Short Fuse it can deal a lot of unexpected damage.
Grab Boots of Speed as first item to juke Bouncing Bomb.

Chalice of Harmony will bring enough magic resist to be able to retaliate equally to his skills shots.

You'll need a lot of concentration against Ziggs.

Wait for mid game and you should have some fun with him.

zyra

3/10

Zyra is a essentially a skill shot hero.
grab Boots of Speed as a first item.

Zyra increases the possibility for veigar to last hit with Baleful Strike thanks to the plants she spawns, and that's something priceless.

Play safe, farm calmly and dominate mid-game.

Summary

Thank you for reading my guide !
I hope it has suited you, and that you have found some parts useful.

Feel free to comment, I'll be glad to discuss my build with you, as long as the comments are actually contructive.

Changelog

27.10.12 : Added the section "Wraith control and Veigar". Changed items in top utility build (removed DFG/ added void staff)
13.09.12 : Added the section "Is Deathfire grasp essential for Veigar ?"
11.09.12 : Added second build and disclaimer.