Greetings, Mobafire. It's me again, your friendly psychopathic neighbor Awkward Penguin (IGN: Prinplup) from the Garena PH server. I'm happy to say that after months of struggling with this chaotic and unfair Dynamic Queue, I'm finally back at Diamond! Hooray!

Lately I decided to continue playing my smurf account (IGN: Pottaishi) just for sh*ts and giggles, and I got the hang of playing mostly one champion with that account: Veigar. He's such a fun, pubstomp-y champion that it's almost always a guaranteed win in levels below 30. His late game potential is simply INSANE. And when I finally reached 30 and started playing ranked, I'm proud to say that Veigar is one of the main reasons why I made it to Platinum III with a 66+ % win ratio (and no more than 100 games played yet).

Months ago, on a very lonely and boring night, I decided to play some Normal games with my main account. I stumbled upon Veigar, and remembering that I do have the Final Boss skin (thanks, ex) I decided to give it a shot again, this time with the new Hextech item, specifically Everfrost. The changes brought by the Mage update also inspired me to practice playing this guy again. And boy, the results are so great, getting him to Mastery Level 7 on both accounts was truly a breeze.

Before going further, I just want to emphasize that this build guide, for the most part, is a HIGHLY AGGRESSIVE way of playing Veigar. Everfrost shines the most when you use it to pop a cap on your foes left and right like a mid lane gangsta, though it can also be used defensively.

Why play Veigar?

• Absurd late game power, matched by only a few mid laners.
• Relatively safe laning phase thanks to the changes made to Baleful Strike.
• A bane to siege comps, thanks to wave-clearing power given by Dark Matter and the infamous no-zone, Event Horizon.
• Primordial Burst is now an execute, meaning it's now effective on ALL targets, even tanks and AD mid laners.
• Fits on most team compositions.
• Infinite AP scaling thanks to his passive and Q.
• Final Boss Veigar. Simply the best Legendary skin in the game.

Why not play Veigar?

• Runs out of mana real quick pre-6.
• Super weak early game. You'll get **** on by most mid lane picks, but that's fine.
• No mobility. When your Flash is on cooldown, you're pretty much screwed when caught.
• Blue buff and cooldown reduction dependent.
• Needs some time to farm minions with Q to be significant come late game.
• Can no longer one-shot people with Baleful Strike + Primordial Burst for the ultimate is now an execute that gets stronger with each missing health. This is where Everfrost steps in.
• He's tiny. :/

My choice of runes for mostly any mid laner I use. Mainly because I'm lazy to mix and match, but hey, they're legit against most mid lane threats.

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration is an obvious pick. You deal 99% magic damage, hence, magic penetration.
Greater Seal of Armor is a no-brainer against AD mid laners like Zed, but feel free to switch it to something you prefer, say, Greater Seal of Scaling Health.
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist because most of the time you're against an AP mid laner, and if it is someone like LeBlanc, well, you need this and a prayer.
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power for that extra oomph in your abilities. After all, they really scale well with AP compared to most AP champions.

I use 12-18-0 with Thunderlord's Decree as keystone. The burst potential is really sick, and you can even do quick procs with it early game with a mix of autoattacks and Baleful Strike. 18-12-0 with Deathfire Touch is fine as well, and some people use it with great success. Unfortunately, I do believe that keystone mastery hates me (I lose with it all the freaking time with the champions I try with it) so I don't bother picking it anymore.

Pottaishi's Veigar Mastery Tree

Ferocity

• Sorcery - Veigar IS an evil sorcerer. No way you can miss this one.
• Feast - Helps you stay in lane for longer. You can pick Double-Edged Sword if you want, though.
• Natural Talent - You don't really lifesteal and spellvamp at all.
• Oppressor - You have a stun and a slow thanks to Everfrost. Do yourself a favor and get this.

Cunning

• Savagery - Makes last hitting a breeze.
• Secret Stash - Upgrades your potions into cookies. Tip: you can use cookies while being Ignited or while near death to make you survive at least one tick of damage. If you're running Corrupting Potion, however, get Assassin .
• Merciless - A great mastery to put your foes on their knees.
• Dangerous Game - You'll be dropping bodies here and there. You need this to keep going and to survive near-death scenarios.
• Intelligence - Wanna know what's better than 40% cooldown reduction? Yep, you guessed it right, 45% cooldown reduction.
• Thunderlord's Decree - As mentioned above.

My choice of spells for a killing machine such as Veigar.

Flash - Just get this. No questions asked. This one's really non-negotiable, trust me.

Ignite - Now, the second summoner spell, here we discuss. As I have said in the Introduction part of this guide, this build encourages aggressive play: always on the lookout for kills and assists. Ignite is simply the best for this job. Come mid game, even without your ultimate, if you catch a squishy with your Event Horizon they're pretty much toast with a Baleful Strike + Dark Matter + Everfrost + Ignite combo. Since you still have your Primordial Burst, you can reserve it to secure another kill or execute a hard-to-kill opponent, say, a rampaging tanky bruiser Jax or Cho'Gath.

The only alternative for Ignite that I'll suggest is Barrier and Teleport. The former is great against extremely bursty mid lane opponents ( Zed, Talon, LeBlanc, etc.) and the latter promotes better map presence. Don't bother with the rest of the summoner spells.

Now let's check out Veigar's amazing skillset.

Phenomenal Evil Power - Passive

Thanks to the Mage Update, Veigar's passive was changed from something comparable to the old Chalice of Harmony into something that makes him deadlier as the game progresses, enabling him to acquire more and more AP by hitting people and killing things with his abilities. Nothing much to say about this one, other than ALL abilities landed count when it comes to champions, so that includes your no-zone, Event Horizon.

Baleful Strike - Q

Simply your bread and butter ability. If Nasus has his Siphoning Strike, then you have this: an infinitely scaling ability that makes you more and more powerful with each killing blow. Bless the Mage Update; they may have taken the point-and-click nature of this ability, but now its range is much more longer than before (enabling you to last hit minions from a safe distance) and it now has the ability to hit 2 targets along the way like a Lux's Light Binding. Sweet! Now you can stack up 2 minions at a time in one spell cast! Or a minion AND a champion hit! Or 2 champions! Or whatever!
Tips and Tricks:

• Mastering the maximum range and the missile speed of this ability is crucial. It may take some getting used to, especially when hitting moving targets.
• Try to reserve the spell for the cannon minion and not to miss with it.
• Always aim for a double hit! Find angles where you can fire your Q in the most efficient way possible.
• Being a linear skillshot, always remember that it can no longer passes through minions, so if you manage to stun a champion hiding behind his/her minion wave, you might need to reposition to hit that champion with your Q along with your full combo.
• Watch your mana! You no longer have that mana regen passive, but thankfully they lower the mana cost of Baleful Strike. You'll still run out come Level 5-6 though, so you might want to recall first before finding ways to kill people.
• The bonus works on jungle monsters, too. Double against large ones like the Blue Golem, even. Never forget that!

Dark Matter - W

I love this ability. One of the few 100% AP scaling spells in the game, this will surely put more than a dent to any targets in the game, even the toughest of tanks. You can easily delete squishies with this and Baleful Strike. The only sad thing about it is that ridiculously long delay (1.2 seconds) before landing. Use it to clear minion waves fast when pushing or defending from a siege.
Tips and Tricks:

• Due to its delay time, you need to be fast in executing your FULL combo upon catching an enemy with Event Horizon. Start your combo with this one. With enough practice, this should be all just muscle memory to you.
• With max CDR this ability becomes ridiculously spammable. DROP EM NUKES ALL OVER THE PLACE!
• Even without your stun you should be able to land this spell in a chaotic teamfight as well as during chasing. Just drop it where you think the target will go 1.2 seconds later and boom.
• Try not to spam it a lot during laning phase, especially pre-6. You'll run out of mana quick, you won't be able to last hit minions with your Q, and pushing the wave will not help you at all.
• Getting buffs and objectives is easy as cake with this ability.

Event Horizon - E

Veigar's self-peel and catching/initiating tool, and a really hard one at that. The stun duration, at higher levels, is absurdly long for a basic ability. Unfortunately, it now has a 0.5 second delay before activating, so fast champions are much harder to catch than before.
Tips and Tricks:

• Don't forget that enemies will only be stunned if they touch the edges of the no-zone, so if you want a quick stun do try to drop the edges of the zone where you think the target will be 0.5 seconds after.
• When a melee opponent is in front of you and you want to escape, just drop the edges on your current location.
• Dashes ( Spirit Rush, Quickdraw, etc.) and jumps ( Leap Strike, Rocket Jump, etc.) will be stopped dead in their tracks when they touch the edges during their travel. Blinks ( Arcane Shift, Flash, etc.), however, can easily escape your Event Horizon.
• It's a one-point wonder early game, but consider investing a few more points in it against slippery targets.
• It stuns all enemies, even minions and jungle monsters. Use it to kite the Blue Golem when getting buffs to avoid unnecessary damage.

Primordial Burst - R

Ah, Veigar's infamous ultimate. Used to be the bane of existence of all AP carries, this ability was modified: they removed the bonus damage from the target's AP and made it deal way more damage to lower health targets instead. In a nutshell, you can no longer literally one-shot an AP carry with this baby, but now it's effective against ALL targets. Remember when you're kinda regretting the idea of using this against tanky targets? Well, no more of that. Use this insane ultimate to kill EVERYONE. Every time this spell's up, it's almost certain that someone in the enemy team will hit the dirt. Hard.
Tips and Tricks:

• The maximum damage is obtained when the target has 33% of his/her max health left. That means 1/3 of his/her health bar, so have a visual estimate before unleashing the killing blow.
• It's a projectile, so Wind Wall and Playful / Trickster can screw you over real bad. Dang!
• Your kill potential is extremely high every time this spell's up. Make the most of it by ganking and finding people to murder with it. This is also one of the reasons why CDR is precious to Veigar.
• Being chased by someone dangerous and fed BUT squishy? A quick Baleful Strike + Everfrost + Primordial Burst to the face can make that loser disappear.
• If somehow you screwed up and got caught like an idiot in a teamfight, just throw your ult at the nearest squishy or low health target. With CDR it's gonna be up when the next teamfight occur anyways, and you'll be helping your team greatly even if you died first.

Pretty straightforward, damage-oriented skill build. Baleful Strike is bread and butter so it's maxed first. Get Event Horizon at Level 2 for protection against early ganks. Again, put one or two more points in it against fast-moving champions so you can combo them better with your spells. Max Dark Matter after Baleful Strike for tons of damage. Put points in Primordial Burst every time you can since it's such a deadly ultimate.

Now, let's talk about them items.

Core Items

The Pew Pew Gun of Doom
Ah, GLP. As I have said, the star item of this build. Since I have several reasons why I rush this item on Veigar, might as well make a bullet list.

• Catalyst of Aeons is a great laning item. Helps you come out of near-death duels thanks to the health it provides, and mana for more stacking.
• You can actually save yourself from damage over time spells like Ignite or Malefic Visions by spamming spells randomly in the air, thanks to the Eternity passive.
• Even before you get the better Frost Bolt active, Hextech Revolver's active, Magic Bolt, is strong on its own, and can actually help you burst down your lane opponent come level 6 after your first back. It's what I get most of the time between the two ingredients.
• Again, you can no longer one-shot a target with Primordial Burst unless they're really behind and you're so far ahead. Sometimes, Baleful Strike + Primordial Burst might not be enough, as well. Put a Everfrost active between that combo and you can 100% kill any squishy even without a stun.
• The active is AOE and it scales with AP! Since Veigar can easily reach 1000 AP in most games, this item active will really HURT.

That item with the name your friend has trouble saying
Core item to most AP carries ( Veigar is definitely no exception) and with a really good reason. It basically gives all the stats an AP carry needs to survive the harsh environment of Summoner's Rift: AP for damage, insane amount of CDR (which already covers half of the CDR cap), mana to cast more spells, and two helpful passives: one restores mana every time you get kills or assists. Guess what? YOU'LL BE KILLING PEOPLE A WHOLE LOT, and this will keep the ball rolling to annihilate your puny foes. The other applies Grievous Wounds (reduces healing received by half) to low health targets, effectively killing their dream of sustaining back to turn around fights. Seriously, you need this item. Playing without it is simply...incomplete. You're gonna make Veigar sad if you don't get his evil tome for him. :(

"One More CDR item please" Choices

That item you always forget to use
Again, Cooldown Reduction is such a precious stat to Veigar. Unfortunately for us, Morellonomicon + Blue buff only gives us 30% CDR, so we need one more item to put us to the dream 40% cap. Thankfully, they changed Zhonya's Hourglass's build path by including Fiendish Codex in it (also made it cheaper at the cost of less AP, bummer), so now it gives 10% CDR! Fcking sweet, man!
Against someone like Zed, this item is a godsend for mages. Just...don't forget to use the active, okay? The item is totally wasted if you don't use it. Maybe put it in a hotkey that is more accessible than the rest.


Because screw you, LeBlanc and all the other bursty AP mages
The other choice for that additional 10% CDR. If you feel like a.) You don't have to dodge a crucial spell like Death Mark b.) They don't have much AD except for their ADC c.) LeBlanc or other AP mage will burst you down real quick, then by all means pick this item over Zhonya's Hourglass. You gain magic resist, they lose magic resist. Simple. No item actives to forget using, as well.

Game Ending Essentials

"GRYFFINDOR! Oh wait, wrong fandom."
Even though you can reach 700-800 AP (with great Q stacking and lots of kills/assists) as Veigar even without this item, it's simply too good to pass up. Remember, you have insane AP scalings to your Dark Matter and Primordial Burst, as well as your Everfrost, so why stop there? What's keeping you from reaching jaw-dropping, earth-shattering AP levels to obliterate your foes with? Do you want to delete that Sona with just one Dark Matter? Then get this, my friend.


Magic Resist? What's that?
Unless you're fighting against a team of chimpanzees, there will come a time when they're gonna get magic resist to stop the Final Boss. The support will get Locket of the Iron Solari, their tanks will get Spirit Visage, Banshee's Veil or whatsoever. Heck, their AP carry will most likely get Abyssal Mask to counter you in lane. Hence, you need this. Void Staff will ensure that every spell you throw into their stupid faces will hit like a truck. And seriously, who doesn't like that? :D

Welp, show's over. But before you go, some words to live by:

• It's okay to lose your lane as Veigar. Don't worry too much if you gave up first blood or your lane opponent is zoning you hard. Just stack all the minions that you can, farm up your items, and make them pay late game. Veigar, like Nasus and Vayne, are late game powerhouse champions. Patience is key, my dear padawan.
• Learning how to quickly execute his combos takes time. Back then when I'm still starting to main this guy because I was so freaking hyped with Final Boss teaser, I gotta admit that I was slow on following up his Event Horizon. Sometimes I forget to drop Dark Matter, etc. that makes the target escape with small amounts of hp, to my frustration. Worry not, you just actually need to keep on playing him to get the hang of it. Eventually, there will come a point in time wherein your hands will just automatically press the right buttons for you. No kidding!
• It's totally okay now to use your ultimate on low-health tanks, especially when they're actually the largest threat in the enemy team. If somehow one of your teammate flames you and tells you to reserve your ult on their AP carry, just mute the idiot.
• DON'T FORGET TO ROAM, ROAM AND ROAM! Be aggressive! Everfrost needs souls to devour, so get out there, make plays, and murder people!

That's all for now, guys. Have fun zapping people with this Pew Pew Gun Veigar build!