Hey guys! This is WitsEnd, and this is a guide to the most OP mid-lane mage, Veigar. Veigar is a high damaging, high CC mid-lane mage, with good zone control. He is awesome in group fights and in quick exchanges. However, he lacks mobility, survivability, and utility. Veigar shreds tanks and destroys low-mobility mages in exchanges, but beware of high-mobility burst assassins.

Pros

Insane burst damage
Good crowd control
Strong late-game scaling
Good waveclear

Cons

Low mobility
Very squishy
Mana-hungry
Weaker laning phase

Veigar has fairly straightforward kit. Baleful Strike should be your first spell in most scenarios, as it is a basic poke-oriented skill shot that also grants permanent AP on minion takedown. Dark Matter is another efficient damaging spell, awesome for one-shotting back-line minions or zoning out your enemy. It's cooldown reduces by 10% for every 50 stacks of Phenomenal Evil Power. Event Horizon is what transforms Veigar from a good mid laner to an excellent one. It allows you to quickly zone establish lane pressure and it makes Veigar extremely useful in group fights. Despite the delay, an AoE stun (or even just a trap!) is a great tool for your team.

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Passive Veigar's passive allows him to build up one permanent point of AP for every minion kill he lands with his Q and every time he hits an enemy with a skill.
Baleful Strike This is the first skill you should max. Farming with this skill and poking your enemies will allow you to build up permanent ability power with Veigar's passive.
Dark Matter This is the second skill you should max. A good zoning took in early game, it's also a great quick wave-clear or AoE champion-bust in late game. This spell gains 10% CDR for every 50 passive stacks.
Event Horizon This insane source of CC is the last skill you should max on Veigar. Whether this sets up ganks in early game, turns around group fights in mid-game, or just zones out your enemy, this is a great tool which sets Veigar apart from other mid-laners.
Primordial Burst A standard point-and-click ultimate execute, this is your fight-finisher. Don't be afraid to use this to get kills, because you will instantly have 10% of the CD refunded with Presence of Mind.

Unfortunately, Veigar has low utility and mobility. Flash is an essential first summoner spell on him. As for his second summoner, you have two options. Personally, I prefer Teleport. Many people will take Ignite just for the extra early-game damage, but late in the game that damage is nothing. Teleport is a great spell because for Veigar because it will allow him to get into lane after a death or a poorly timed trade when your lane is pushing so that you can continue to get your stacks and farm rolling.
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Primary Runes

This is the best keystone under the Sorcery tree for Veigar. Because he doesn't have any slows to proc Arcane Comet, taking Aery will be more efficient.
Providing for a nice amount of sustain in early game, this is the best rune in its tree after 8.7. I don't advise you to take The Ultimate Hat because you will max CDR very soon and it won't be relevant.
Because you're not taking The Ultimate Hat, I recommend Transcendence. Providing a nice amount of CDR after level 9, this is a decent rune. Another option would be Celerity against more mobile laners.
A staple on any late-game scaler, this runes greatly enhances your late-game strength.

Secondary Runes

Veigar is extremely mana-hungry. There isn't much you can do to help with that in early game, but you can stay on the field of battle much more with this rune, because you'll be getting takedowns almost twice a minute.
Because your ultimate is a low-health execute, this rune is the best option you have. It accounts for clutch situations when your Primordial Burst leaves the enemy almost (but not quite) dead.

Other Options

In harder lanes, like against Zed or Talon, you should take inspiration. You might need the free stopwatch to block enemy all-ins and it also gives you a nice gold advantage.
Biscuits provide a nice amount of laning sustain in early game. Against poke-oriented champs like Karthus I recommend this rune.

First Items
The first choice that any player faces during the game is what first items to buy. On Veigar, I usually choose from one of three paths.

Doran's Ring and two Health Potions are the standard opening items on AP champions because they grant you laning sustain and AP. The passive mana regen can end up playing a huge role.

In easier lanes, like against Kayle or Teemo, you can easily start with Dark Seal and Refillable Potion knowing that you'll dominate lane and hit your mid-game powerpike much ealier. However sustain could be a problem.

In a very difficult lane you should start with Corrupting Potion. Although your base stats will be lower, it might be easier to survive in lane until you can build your Lost Chapter.

Invading
Early on, the enemy jungler may often try to invade your base in order to get a level on you with a kill or two (or maybe your team will try to invade!). It is not a good idea to skill your first skill until you have made sure that early fights will not be happening. However, if either team is trying to invade, skill your Event Horizon first. Your Event Horizon is one of the only things that make Veigar so efficient as a group fighter. If you skill Event Horizon first, continue as normal after that.

Farming
Farming is very important for all mid-laners, as having higher CS than your opponent could possibly mean having a full item more than they do. When your team’s APC is better-equipped than the enemy team’s, you are much more likely to win group fights or even 1v1 exchanges. On Veigar farming is even more important than on other mid-laners. His passive Phenomenal Evil Power grants him 1 permanent AP per minion killed with his Baleful Strike. Baleful Strike can hit up to two targets at once, so try to line up low-health minions and finish them off at once. This means that you should not worry about sustain or anything else, but do everything you can to not only farm well and not miss minions, but to farm with your Baleful Strike. You should be aiming for at least 5 minions killed per minute- hopefully at least 3 per minute with your Q!

Poking in lane
Another important aspect of laning is poking. When an enemy gets too close, punish them with a Baleful Strike or a Dark Matter. Not only does this establish lane pressure early on, but remember: hitting an enemy champion with your ability grants you 1 AP permanently. Try to avoid pokes from your opponent, however, as Veigar lacks sustain and a good poke by your enemy can often lead to an unpleasant exchange. Against high-mobility assassins, such as Katarina or Zed, try to play defensively. Farm under tower and only poke if they get too close. Enemies like that can burst you down while avoiding your CC.

Exchanges
At level 3 (and not earlier) you can start forcing exchanges with the enemy mid-laner. If the enemy tries to engage before then, back off and keep farming. Keep in mind that it’s very important that you already have each of your skills and about 15 stacks of AP from your passive Phenomenal Evil Power (poking is your friend!). The next time that your enemy gets within range of your Event Horizon cast it. Try not to cast the walls far around the enemy champion, as they can still move and avoid skill shots while they are inside the circle. Try to cast it so that the wall will touch the enemy champion on cast- effectively stunning them on the spot. Keep in mind, that once you have stunned them (at least for now) you have only 1.5 seconds to do all the damage you can do to them before backing away. Cast your Dark Matter instantly (as it has a 1.2 second delay) and your Baleful Strike right after. This combo will deal at least 300 damage on the spot: that’s 30-40% of the enemy’s health gone in a blink. You can almost guarantee that they will burn a Health Potion for that (or even a Flash), and they for sure will be more careful while farming in the future. (And if they aren’t, pull off the same combo again). While your Event Horizon (and probably Q) is on cooldown, do not engage. You are likely to get bursted down to low health very quickly, and you can’t do anything to stop it.

First back
After staying in lane for about 10 minutes, it’ll be time for your first back to base. The first item that you should try to build is Luden's Tempest. The 90 AP and 20% CDR are awesome on their own, and the mana boost as well as AP stacking makes it a great first item to buy. On first back, start building it by buying Lost Chapter. Although it’s mana sustain isn’t too great, it’s still an effective item in keeping up lane pressure, well wroth 1100.

Between early and mid game you'll be able to roam. The pros of roaming is that you'll be able to help out your fellow laners and possibly pick up a few kills, but the cons are that you lose some farm, leave your lane vulnerable, and put yourself in a position where you can easily be caught out. Personally, I believe that in a high-pressure lane the pros outway the cons, and it'll allow you to proc your Presence of Mind often. Mid-laners are the best roamers because they have easy access to both other lanes. However, you should still be careful and only roam in certain situations. Before you roam you should: 1. Make sure the river you're roaming to is warded, 2. make sure the lane you're roaming to knows you're coming, 3. push in your minion wave. The last is probably the most important, because it makes the enemy lose vision on your section of the lane, and forces the enemy laner to waste time clearing your wave. The 10-20 seconds gained could be precious in getting those two bot-lane kills.

When to roam? When you see an enemy laner pushing in hard, or one of your laners is struggling, you should roam and help. Often your jungler will be busy farming or trying to set up a gank elsewhere: that's where the responsibility falls onto you as a midlaner. Also, if you catch sight of an enemy jungler in river readying to gank, you should roam and try to turn the fight around. Veigar can set up awesome ganks with his AoE stun and insane damage output. Use this to your advantage. The best roams happen when the enemy laner is backed (or dead). Blow up the enemy laner, push in your wave, and roam. Almost every Veigar roam against an enemy without a clear escape results in a lane wipe.

Roaming
At around level 6, middle game phase will start. At level 6, you’ll have established dominance in lane, have gotten a solid amount of CS, unlocked your ultimate, and built at least 1 full item. At that point in time, and not before, you are ready to start roaming. Hopefully, you’ve already gotten a kill or two (or at least an assist). Try to catch the enemy jungler out alone if they're not fed. Steal their blue buff and raptors. Catch out enemies alone, and help out your bottom and top laners in group fights. When you see that something's about to happen, run in and help your team out. However, don't stay out of your lane for too much. You still need to continue to farm and push your lane.

Mid-game builds
Veigar has his biggest jump in power at level 6-10. After unlocking his ultimate and boosting up the remainder of his skills, he starts doing ridiculous amounts of damage: hence, he ends up getting a lot of kills, even if he isn't fed. As the game progresses, you'll have a variety of good items to chose from. A core item on Veigar is Rabadon's Deathcap. 120 + 40% AP boosts turn Veigar into an APC beast. It is perfectly possible that in mid-game he will have 400+, or even 500+ AP. Many players will finish their build off with Rabadon's Deathcap, but on Veigar its an essential item that you must rush to do well in mid-game. Once you have bought that, move on a bit to counter-building. Upgrade your boots depending on your enemy. If they are building high magic resist, Sorcerer's Shoes will shred them. If they are squisher, buy Ionian Boots of Lucidity. Either one resonates well with Veigar's purpose in the game. A few other good items to choose from are Zhonya's Hourglass for a slight increase in survivability and good boost in AP, Void Staff to put even more pressure on tankier targets, and Rod of Ages for more long-term purposes. After the 8.4 nerf Morellonomicon is no longer relevant.

The second half of the average game is mostly made up of group fights and ganks. In group fights, use your Event Horizon to stun or zone trap their ADC or APC (or whoever their highest damaging toon is). Ideally, your tank or jungler will then run in and you'll get/he'll steal a double or triple kill almost instantly. However, not every player will be willing to take risks.. even if all enemies are stunned and their's no risk involved! In situations where you're left bare, keep your distance. Poke the enemies a bit with Dark Matter, and then follow up with a Baleful Strike just like you did in early game. Hopefully you'll get a kill off: don't use Primordial Burst unless you're sure it will finish them off. Again, generally your tank or jungler will be there to keep a fight going while the enemies are all stunned for 2 seconds, allowing you to burst them down, winning the exchange.

Veigar's lategame is very similar to early game, with one difference: your AP has increased from 500 to 900-1000. Your strategy should be the same, however: catch an enemy on their own, play your stun well, and burst them down. Clear jungle camps and minion waves whenever you can. When your AP is in the 4 digits, and you have 15+ kills, you may want to start playing aggressively and going into dangerous fights. Do not do this. Instead, continue playing safely as before, and your success will last.

Veigar is a full AP champion. It is best to build heavy AP and CDR items.

Luden's Echo This is the first item you should build on Veigar. With a nice combination of CDR, Mana, and AP, this item builds from your early Lost Chapter and helps you farm with its passive.
Zhonya's Hourglass With a solid balance of armor and ability power, this is one of your core items. Against harder matchups like Yasuo build this item first. Otherwise, you can wait until you're a bit more solid to build this.
Rabadon's Deathcap Some people like to build this item last on mages. However, with Veigar this should be your third item. The huge boost of ability power makes your damage output absolutely wild, to the point where you can one-shot enemy squishies.
Void Staff Although not a core item, this is still usually a nice item to have on Veigar. With a nice AP base, magic penetration allows you to get through the survivability of tanks and shred them just as you would shred squishies.
Lich Bane This item is more common on AP assassins than on mages. However, it could be a game-changer on champions with over 500 AP. The passive effectively adds another spell to your combo.
Mejai's Soulstealer This is a gambit-oriented item. I wouldn't recommend it early on, but late in the game when you have racked up a ton of kills this item can give you more AP than an actual AP item.
Lich Bane Lich Bane is a great last item to build. Late game, the sheen passive essentially adds another nuking ability to your combo, and it will allow you to 2-shot towers. Great item to close out a long game.
Morellonomicon Although not strictly core after early S8, this is still a great item to have. Adding to your AP and health, this item is great for blowing up squishies with low base MR. Slightly greedy item but great in some comps.

Rod Of Ages Being more of an investment item, if you are planning to build ROA you should build it earlier in the game. Build ROA against burstier enemies, especially late-game scalers. This item will give you decent sustain and solid AP.

Overall, Veigar is a very reliable mid-laner, both for beginners and for more experienced players. If you see any errors or anything you'd like me to improve, contact me. I hoped you enjoyed my guide, and good luck playing!