Hello guys! My name is Nick, but my league account names are thezacisback and lucario200151 (lost password to lucario200151 and unable to recover). I am a silver 3 player that mains jungle and mid. I have about 350k or so on veigar so far, and plan to play him more so that I can update this guide to the next level. Veigar is a super fun champ that can 1 shot people if you're careful enough!
Anything I can do to improve this guide? please email me @lucario200151@gmail.com for suggestions!
my opgg

pros

powerful ult
can 1 shot
stun he has lasts for a long time
op passive
easy to pick up and learn

cons

super squishy
aside from his e, no escape that is built in
the main target for most teams with adc being not as strong
reliant on abilities and mana
One of the worst early games
enemies can escape his e with flash, or a blink, but not a dash.

Passive: Phenomenal evil power

This passive is quite possibly the strongest passive in the game... Just hit a champion with an ability, and you get 1 ap! What makes it even better, is that if you kill someone OR you get an assist, you get 5 more ap!! Unlike most champions, you are getting stronger every single fight, even at full build, making longer games easier for you to win.

q:baleful strike

This is the ability that will be most helpful to you on this champion. All you have to do is last hit a minion with it(which is when they are around 1/4 hp in the early game) and you will get 1 stack per minion that it kills... so up to 2 stacks per cast! This will be your main way to stack up your passive seeing as it is the only ability that you can last hit minions with. You also still can stack it with champions.

w: dark matter

The w is the ability that kind of fits in the middle of everything. It will do more damage than your q, but less than your ult. I would look to use this on bigger waves after you q to get the 2 stacks to enhance wave clear. This ability, unlike q, doesn't give a stack per minion kill, but still does give on hit of a champion with it. It is the middle ability of most of your combos, and top it off, every 50 stacks you have with your passive will grant this ability cdr!

e:Event Horizon

This ability will make all the rest of the abilities easier to hit, with a stun that lasts for a short time at rank one, but forever at rank 5, so max this second! Dashes cannot get someone out of it, but blinks(like Ezreal e, Pyke ult etc), and things that make a champion invulnerable(like fizz e), and flash are the only ways to exit it.Use this to your advantage, and try to zone champs who use their way of escape from it. If they use their way of escape, place this ability. If they use it to escape, then they are that much more vulnerable to getting hit by your q or ult (w is really hard to hit on moving targets).

ult: Primordial Burst

This is your most powerful ability! It does tons of damage, and it just does more the lower health the champion you use it on is! I would use this to secure a kill after you get all the stacks from your other abilities, and don't waste it on a target not worth it!

All runes I take are as follows
*I updated it so that there are not as many runes and its not as long

Picture of the runes i take in case you dont want to read all that nonsense below :)

Primary runes

sorcery

arcane comet

take this most of the time when you play Veigar. This will be your best bet, and easy to land considering you have a stun. It makes your damage output that much better, and the rune I take about 90% of the time.

secondary runes

sorcery

Manaflow band

this rune is extremely helpful in the early game, because you get 25 extra mana per ability when the rune is up(stacking up to 250). in the late game, you will be that much less likely to run out of mana, and it gives mana regen as well!

transcendence

This rune is the most helpful, because on Veigar, we want to max out our cdr cap as fast as possible. Once we max it, we could use transcendence to get more ap when we build cdr.

Gathering storm

This is the rune to take, because as you get more stacks, gathering storm will basicly amplify that and give you more ap! this is probably one of the strongest runes for veigar, and in late game, you will be unstoppable!

Inspiration

Magical footwear

This is a good rune to take on veigar, because you don't have to worry about 300 gold that you will have to spend, and rather than stopwatch, which is just for Zhonyas, this will permanently give you extra movespeed.

Cosmic Insight

a very resourceful rune to take. Will allow you to spam spells even more as it maxes your cdr cap at +5%, and gives you that cdr. goes really well with transcendence and I would recommend taking it.

When to pick

pick when other team is a tanky team
pick when the other team has no blinks or invulnerables(fizz e, ev ult, etc.)
pick when your team has lots of cc
pick when your team has a front line to protect you

when not to pick

if the other team has lots of burst damage
if your team has no frontline
has blinks and invulnerables to escape your e
high mobility champs that go past front line easy

flash

This summ is taken 99.99% of the time(the one game you don't take it on is special). It is a great escape tool, and should be used mainly for defense to escape a bad fight. The most resourceful summoner spell in the game.

barrier

This summ spell is taken in a more passive matchup so that someone with high burst does not try to jump on you and think that you are going down without a fight! higher cc matchups also take this.

Exhaust

This summ spell is taken in a matchup where there are low cc high damage champs (something like a yi without ult) where you can slow them AND reduce the damage that they output so that it makes an easier fight for you to win, or a good point of disengage.

heal

If you know you're going to get lots of ganks, I would reccomend using this spell, as it will heal you and your jungler when needed. otherwise, I feel that something like a barrier does the job better.

teleport

Since the nerf, you will not take it as much. Plan on taking this if you can stay in lane for long amounts of time before you have to go back. Riot made it more of a "skill" spell. currently, ignite is a better spell to take, because it gives you more resource now that Teleport has a minute longer cooldown

cleanse

this is a very rare summ to see in a game, and thats because there are many other summs that are better, so take this only if you think you are in a game where the other team has LOTS of cc to use all at one time.

ignite

This is the main summoner spell I would look to take. If you think you can get a kill(more like know), you should use this as a soft engage. This spell is really awesome when used right, and it will provide you with more than Teleport.

*never take ghost or smite*

all of these items are good on veigar

Doran's ring

This will be your primary starting item. You could also go dark seal, but the mana regen and the extra minion damage is better than dark seal mana plus extra potion healing.

Dark seal

This is the item you go if you know you are going to dominate in lane. If you are not so sure of it, don't start this item

Lost chapter

This will be the core item that you build. Most of the time, you will go to ludens, otherwise you will go to archangels staff. very rare to go archangels second, but I guess you could. This is a big item that allows you to be more effective and get towards the 1 shot parts of the game.

Luden's echo

This is the core item of your gameplay. You will gain a powerspike when you complete this item, and it is going to prove of most use to you... even more than any item(except deathcap, which we build late). This is my favorite item to build on him, because it is very resourceful with the mana that it gives me.

Void staff

This item is really helpful in helping to maximize your damage, because it gives you some m.pen. really helpful, doesn't cost too much gold, and will help you to do more damage earlier.

morellonomicon

This item has become more acceptable on Veigar for me, because it gives more m.pen... good for blowing up those tanks later in the game. Grievous wounds is also a great addition, because it makes any healing less effective. Overall, I think this is a good 3rd or 4th item, after Ludens and void staff.

banshee's veil

This item is a defensive item, in which I find really useful against most mages. If you are not ahead, I would recommend building this second or third.

Rabadon's deathcap

This is an extremely powerful item to build later in the game. It is a bit expensive to build, and you need damage quicker than this will give you it early. Once you set the foundation, this is a great item to go for. This is the item that i usually build to make my ap sky rocket after i build all my defensive items.

Zhonya's hourglass

If there is an ad assasin on their team, you should definitely rush this item after lost chapter. It is a great defensive item that is situational, and if their team deals tons of bust damage to you, build this, use it when they are about to burst you, and have your team clean it up for you.

Mejai's soulstealer

Only build this item if you are ahead and don't plan to die, as this will give you tons of ap and movement speed, at the cost of having to risk losing it if you die. If you want the effects just when you need them that mejais gives, you could just go spellbinder, because there is a lot more definite damage in that.

Archangel's staff

Seeing as this is one of 2 items that builds from lost chapter, an item you rush, this could be a second item if you wanted to go for a spam unlimited mana veigar. The shield also helps make up for the lack of damage that this item brings, as it can save you in times of need such as burst damage that is being dealt to you.

Early game(pre 6 and/or pre lost chapter)

Unfortunately, because Veigar scales really well into the late game, his early game is super weak. You have to play one of the safest lanes that any champ in the game can play, or else you will lose because they will get to their power spikes faster than you. All you can do in a lane where it isn't the same for your opponent, is only q to last hit minions, and look to catch the opponent off guard with your e so that you can get a bit of damage off on them, and gain extra ap. Play Video

note for assassins

If you are up against an aggressive assassin, you should go lost chapter and then rush Zhonya's Hourglass so you don't get blown up.

Mid game(post 6 and chapter and still in the lane)

This is where you should prioritize getting the kill. every chance you can, try to land your e so that you can follow up with a w and q. If they are at 1/3 hp from that combo, ult, if not, repeat. You can push up and don't have to play as passive, but be mindful of if the jungler will come in and if your e will be ready for it.

This is what a good roam looks like

Play Video

Late game(post lane phase... teamfights

What you should look to do is engage a teamfight where you e. This will allow for the rest of your team to deal damage. and then, you should look to do the following
e->q->w->ult
For every time someone isn't killed, repeat that, maybe without the ult.
Stay in the far back line, and only go close enough to cast your spells. Let your team do the rest. Eventually, you will get to the point where you will do tons of damage, and you can even 1 shot if lucky enough!

This is your damage output late game if you do well and succeed

Play Video

Even though Veigar has a very weak laning phase due to low damage, high cooldowns, and having mana issues, if you do everytrhing right, you will become a monster that completely demolishes the other team! Your e is a good set up for you to use your other abilities on the enemies, especially if they dont have a spell shield!

Thanks Mobafire team for making me a giveaway winner of the arcade giveaway! I got Final boss Veigar as seen in the videos, and I very much enjoy it!

*Do not try this until you have a good understanding of Veigar... make sure you are doing well using the main build before attempting this*
This build is more centered around building up as much mana as you can to get Archangel's Staff stacked and max out its passive. For your first back, I would recommend buying Tear of the Goddess over Lost Chapter so you can start stacking the passive early. This delays your first spike, so you will have to play safer early.

*Do not try this until you have a good understanding of Veigar... make sure you are doing well using the main build before attempting this*
This build will limit your power, but give you some extra beef that might be needed if you are getting focused or 1 shot. I enjoy playing this build the most, because it gives me the best defense, while still giving me good offence.
You start ROA, because Veigar has mana issues, and starting this will help you a lot,(honestly more than Lost Chapter . Overall very fun build that you should give a try the next time you play Veigar!

8.13: guide created
8.14: with teleport nerfs, changed the summ spell page to say that teleport is not as good.
8.15: updated matchups
8.16: not much added, just some matchups
8,17: No changes
8.18: nothing
9.1: He has stayed relitively untouched, so I made minor updates to this guide
8.19: updated the guide a bit
9.14: It has been a long time, but the guide update is back! I will be adding more and changing small things to make the experience better! The build has changed a bit.