Veigar Build Guide : Veigar - A Vicious Villain :: League of Legends Strategy Builds

Introduction

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Hi, I'm PsiGuard and welcome to my guide. In this guide I will describe what I believe to be an effective way to AP carry with Veigar.

This is not a short guide, and I don't refrain from describing my reasons and advice in great detail. If you're looking for a way to build Veigar and don't have time to read my guide, simply consult the build above. If you wish to learn more about how to solo mid with Veigar however, or are surprised at my choice of items, runes or masteries, please read on.

Legend

(for any abbreviations you don't understand)

Pros/Cons

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+One of the best nukers in the game.
+Limitless AP cap.
+Built-in hard CC.
+Easy last-hitting.
+Great mid-game farmer.
+Hard-counters squishy carries and mages.
+Snowballs naturally with .
+He's a little evil Yordle.

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P
R
O
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C
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-Very squishy.
-Weak early game.
- is your only defense mechanism.
-Mostly single-target focus.
-Fairly long cooldowns.

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C
O
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Masteries

21/0/9

This is a standard aggressive page for pretty much any mana-using AP mid laner. is taken to reduce the cooldown of and eventually as well, so you'll get a lot of use out of it every game. versus is a bit more preference, but I find the summoner spell CDR to be more valuable than the small boost to my mana pool. If you need more mana sustain, I suggest just buying a . You'll usually want to get it at some point anyway.

Why Brute Force and not Mental Force?

Runes

Primary Runes

: Magic pen is a big deal on casters, especially with the season 3 changes to the order in which magic pen is applied (now flat pen works quite well with %pen like ). These marks will help you punch through your opponent's base magic resistance, and with the help of , allow your spells to deal significantly increased damage, especially to weaker targets without much magic resistance. There really aren't any alternative marks.

: These are the safest seals for literally any champion in the game. Since Veigar's early game is rather weak, it helps to have the extra durability to mitigate minion aggro, autoattack harass, physical damage from jungler ganks and even the occasional tower shot. I wouldn't recommend any other seals unless you feel confident that you won't need the early durability in your matchup. Especially with the rise of AD mids, you're going to need more than just your base armor in most games.

: In the early game, Veigar's first priority is to last-hit and farm AP and gold safely while leveling up his spells until he's ready to burst his opponent. Since Veigar's early game is quite fragile, MR glyphs will help you stay in lane by recovering from harass and surviving burst combos from the enemy AP. Having a solid early game will set you up for a great mid game, since Veigar's AP count snowballs naturally with farm and kills. MR glyphs are pretty standard on most mid laners anyway since you'll usually have to trade spells when harassing.

: MS quints may seem like an odd pick on a burst caster, but for Veigar they provide some utility that he can really make use of. Veigar has no trouble amassing large amount of AP and dealing a lot of damage, but his low survivability and high cooldowns can make it difficult to survive after you blow your combo. Movement speed allows you to dodge harass, avoid CC, position for your combo and escape pursuers when you're on cooldown. These quints will give you a lot of early game mobility for dodging harass and getting in range for your stun.

Alternative Runes

Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration: If you can live without early armor, you can use these seals to increase your mana regeneration when your blue buff is down later in the game.
Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power: If you're against a passive AP without much kill potential or an AD mid, you can swap out your MR glyphs for some more mid-game ability power. These glyphs give you some nice extra burst, but against typical AP mids, you can't afford to lose the MR.
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: These quints are still strong if you're in an easier matchup in which you want to be more aggressive early game. Most of the time you aren't going to be doing a whole lot of harass early game, so you won't really use the AP boost, but if you're confident in your matchup then you can choose to go for more aggression instead of the utility of MS quints.

Summoner Spells

: You really shouldn't be playing Veigar without this spell. In mid lane, it's invaluable for escaping jungler ganks or lethal aggression from the enemy laner. You can also use it aggressively to - for a surprise nuke on a passive opponent. Late game it becomes an important escape tool since you'll have very high burst but long cooldowns which makes you rather vulnerable.

: Often seen as the "First Blood spell," is devastating against enemy champions in the early game. The extra true damage will often give you just enough burst to kill an enemy, especially as a nuker. Late game, it can still be used to finish off low champions (the true damage bypasses resistances) and is also great for reducing healing on regenerators like , , and pretty much anyone with lifesteal or spellvamp. This spell can give you more lane dominance than any other and is usually my go-to spell.

: This spell is generally better used by more experienced mid laners who know how to pull off a successful teleport gank. You can use to gank one of the side lanes by teleporting to a ward in the brush. Veigar has pretty good ganks if you land and can contribute a lot of damage. You can also take this spell as a precaution if you expect to have a very difficult laning phase where you won't be able to use the kill potential from . If you don't need it to gank, you can use it to hold your tower when you need to recall but the enemy mid is going to push your lane. Just recall to base, buy some items and back before your opponent can push your tower.

: This spell can also be very useful if you are caught by a strong CC spell. Most of the time you should just endeavor to stay away from dangerous CC, but if there's a particular CC that is definitely going to cause you problems, you can take this summoner to neutralize it (works well against champions that rely on one CC to combo). Keep in mind it won't remove suppression like .

: This can sometimes be useful against opponents with really scary burst, usually assassins or single-target burst mages. You might want to take this if you expect to have trouble with someone like or bursting you down in lane or team fights.

Abilities

Equilibrium (passive): Not the flashiest passive in the game, but it definitely comes in handy. Veigar is quite a mana-hungry champion, and can often run low without blue buff. This passive allows you to run at 0 mana indefinitely, giving you enough mana to maintain farming with your Q. Don't rely too much on this though, as it takes a while to regenerate enough mana to use your full combo. This passive has great synergy with other sources of mana regeneration.

Tips and Tricks:

Equilibrium is more effective when combined with other sources of mana regeneration, including runes, masteries, items, and even blue buff.
Equilibrium can allow you to stay low on mana, but make sure you save up enough for your combo if you call for a gank, or you think you can take your opponent head-on.
Last-hit a lot with Baleful Strike early game to make the most out of this passive. Staying low on mana means you're spamming your Q as much as possible (just make sure you're actually last-hitting).

Baleful Strike (Q): Sort of a mix between and , this spell is used mostly for farming early game, and later becomes part of your burst. It is your only spammable spell, so be sure to keep casting it in team fights after you've unloaded your full nuke. Always LAST-HIT minions with this spell. You can farm up a lot of AP just by last-hitting. This spell is maxed first because it's spammable, it's your farming tool (which you need early), and it permanently increases your AP on every last-hit. You'll also get bonus AP for every champion kill even if you don't use this spell to last-hit them. This bonus increases with the level of the skill, so it's a good idea to max this skill quickly.

Tips and Tricks:

You don't have to last-hit a champion with this spell to get the AP bonus, so don't worry about using this spell as a finisher.
All the AP bonuses you get from this spell are permanent, with no cap. Maintaining a high creep score and kill count will give you a significant advantage over most other champions. This ability gives a very strong late-game, since Veigar's AP can keep climbing even with a full inventory.
Leveling up Baleful Strike will not only make it more effective against champions, it'll allow you to last-hit more easily and often
The bonuses from this skill allow Veigar to make good use of Rabadon's Deathcap as your first main item. Normally casters should build some more AP first, but Baleful Strike lets Veigar get straight to the more powerful items.

Dark Matter (W): This is a very powerful spell, though it is difficult to use. Like , this spell drops a delayed AoE nuke at the target location. Allies and enemies can see the spell before it lands, so it can often be easily dodged or blocked if your target isn't disabled. The high AP ratio and base damage on this skill make it an important component of your nuke by mid-game. Try to hit multiple targets with this spell, especially when pushing minion waves or engaging in team fights. can do ridiculous damage if you can manage to land it.

Tips and Tricks:

Use Event Horizon to set up a target for Dark Matter so your target can't dodge it.
Dark Matter reveals the area where it was cast, so it's a great tool to check bushes or around walls.
If you can't stun, try to anticipate where your target will move, then place Dark Matter in their path.
In team fights, you may not even need to stun in order to land Dark Matter.
Dark Matter is very predictable. Beware of enemies with shields, especially Sivir's Spell Shield and Nocturne's Shroud of Darkness. Breaking these shields with a spell will actually give Sivir mana, or provide Nocturne with an AS boost.

Event Horizon (E): Veigar's only CC ability, is a spell with a bit of a learning curve, but is an indispensable component of Veigar's nuke. This spell creates a ring about the size of dragon's area, or 's . Any enemy unit that hits the EDGE of this ring will be stunned for several seconds (depending on the ability's level and their tenacity). This ability can be used very effectively as a defense mechanism, but is also a great way to line up a target for your nuke.

Tips and Tricks:

Spell Shield, Shroud of Darkness and Banshee's Veil can be used to absorb the stun, while Quicksilver Sash, Mercurial Scimitar, Cleanse, Unbreakable Will and Remove Scurvy can remove the effect of the stun instantly. Ragnarok, and Black Shield protect their target from all CC effects. Flash, Arcane Shift, Riftwalk and other blink spells can hop right over the stun wall. Take inventory of each champion on the enemy team that has a way to circumvent your stun so you aren't surprised.
Event Horizon can be used to split up the enemy team if placed correctly. The radius of the ring is quite wide, and can prevent the enemy team from coordinating.
Dashing or displaced enemies will be stunned upon arrival if they passed through the wall.
Keep an eye out for tenacity items and abilities like Mercury's Treads and Insanity Potion. Tenacity can allow enemies to escape the stun sooner, which may allow them to dodge your Dark Matter, especiallyt if Event Horizon is at a low level.
Try to position this spell so that the edge connects with the target champion. Trapping a ranged champion inside the circle may allow them to escape, or even come after you.

Primordial Burst (R): This ability gives Veigar a serious advantage over many AP carries. This ability is built for incredible single-target burst, growing stronger with both Veigar's and the target's AP. This ability is great for bursting down AP champions, but is also effective at killing any squishy, or even finishing off a tank. Make sure you are ready to do your entire spell sequence before using your ultimate. Firing prematurely can cause your enemy to retreat and escape your grasp.
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Tips and Tricks:

Again, keep an eye out for spell shields. It's a terrible feeling to watch your ult be completely cancelled by Banshee's Veil, Spell Shield or Shroud of Darkness. Intervention and Unbreakable Will are also dangers. Some champions can become untargetable with spells like Sanguine Pool and Playful/Trickster, or they may use Zhonya's Hourglass to negate your ultimate entirely. Pick your target carefully and keep track of which of their life-saving abilities are available and which are on cooldown.
Check your enemies' health and AP numbers to see who is the best target for Primordial Burst. Usually this will be the AP or AD carry.
Try to use Primordial Burst at the end of your spell combo when possible, just in case your enemy manages to escape earlier than you expected. That way you won't have wasted your ultimate on a lost kill.
Primordial Burst has a fairly lengthy cooldown, so try to be sure you'll net a kill or assist before firing it.

Skill Sequence

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is obviously first priority to maximize your nuke. is important to level up early since is far too unreliable in the early game. horizon comes next, then is maxed last. This ability sequence will give you a lot of early Q farm, a pretty safe laning phase and a strong mid-game nuke.

Why max Event Horizon before Dark Matter?

Why isn't there a point in Dark Matter at level 4?

Why don't you just get one point in Baleful Strike for last-hitting?

Keep in mind that other skill orders can also work well. You are perfectly welcome to max W before E if you so desire. You pretty much have to max Q first for the reliable damage and lower cooldown though.

Itemization

Starting Items

Standard Start: Sight Ward x4 x2
Flask start: Sight Ward
Against weak ganking jungler: x2

stacks with to give around 5 mp5 if you're farming Q a lot. It builds straight into (or ) and leaves you plenty of room for a ward and some potions. This is a very balanced start that I consider standard on Veigar.

gives renewable sustain which becomes cost efficient if you'd be buying health pots in laning phase. It's pretty good against high harass lanes, particularly AD laners that will look to harass you low enough to be bursted down. I tend to use this start if I don't plan on rushing but go for instead. You could also start if you're really scared of an AD mid.

Situational Early Game

is a cheap, cost-effective item that'll give you more health to survive burst, mana regen to sustain you in lane and AP for stronger lane presence. You might want one or two (no more) of these if you're having a tough early game.

is an item you'll want to build very early if you plan on getting later in the game. It's a good option for mana sustain if you don't want to build (if it's an AD mid or you aren't taking much magic damage in lane). with is a pretty strong combo against AD mids, though if you don't want to get later, you can just opt for a couple s instead.

is a great item for early game safety and farming. It gives a lot of cheap mana sustain for farming and harass when you don't have blue buff, as well as some MR to help you resist harass and burst from magic damage. You'll probably want to build this to deal with stronger AP opponents.

is a great item for laning against dangerous AD mids like and . It builds out of pretty cheap items and you can get a bit more cost-efficiency out of it by stacking the passive. You'll generally want this early if you're laning against an AD mid and you can even rush a quick .

Boots and Enchantments

are your standard boots for the significant increase in spell damage. Having a high burst from your spells is what makes Veigar such a dangerous opponent in lane and in team fights. If you can buy these boots without endangering yourself, you should absolutely do so.

are your fallback defensive alternative for boots. Against very dangerous lane opponent with high burst and/or strong CCs like , you might want to opt for these defensive boots. The MR will work nicely with and the tenacity will allow you to escape CCs much earlier, which can save you from taking a lot of damage or even dying. If you're having trouble surviving in lane, doubling up on s and upgrading them into and is a good way to protect yourself against tough early game opponents like .

isn't very flashy, but it helps your overall mobility in team fights, allowing you to get in range for your spell combo, then get out a bit more quickly. You'll probably want to get this enchantment eventually if you don't need one of the alternatives more.

decreases the cooldown of your by 75 seconds. This can be very beneficial if the team fight matchup necessitates that you have up as often as possible. You might want to pick this up against someone like , who can pull you out of position with , or , who can trap you with . If you chose to take as well as , I highly recommend this enchantment since it will reduce the cooldown of both spells.

is a situational enchantment on any champion. If there are team fights happening close to your inhibitors or inside your base, you can use this enchantment to heal yourself at fountain more quickly between fights and get back to defending your base with the huge burst of movement speed. It's pretty useless if nothing's happening close to your base though, so don't expect to pick this up every game.

Core

is an essential part of Veigar's kit since he has extremely high single-target burst potential from his base damages and free AP from . The few seconds of damage amplification give you a tremendous increase in single-target burst damage with the rest of your spells. Since gets a lot of its scaling from your target's AP and has good base damage, you'll want this item to amplify that damage rather than just stacking AP. An early is also pretty nice since it'll allow you to farm your a little more often.

doesn't always have to be built right away, but it's an incredibly strong item for squishy APs that are vulnerable to being caught or focused. This item is an essential early buy against heavy AD comps and assassins, but is all-around just a good item to get at some point in the game. Using the active invulnerability well can significantly improve your effectiveness in team fights.

is going to be necessary at some point to combat the MR that the enemy team will inevitably build at some point. You can delay this item a bit if the enemy team doesn't have any significant MR yet, but usually you'll want to build it as your 3rd or 4th item since the enemy jungler or support will usually get and a lot of people run MR runes anyways. Note that magic pen will increase all the magic damage you deal, including base damages and the part of that scales off enemy AP.

Other Strong Items

is a pretty obvious buy for Veigar, along with most AP mids. You can't always get away with buying it early since it just gives raw spell power rather than any sort of useful defensive stat. Keep in mind that you do NOT need this item to burst someone down in one combo. If you're having trouble surviving team fights, get first.

is actually worth buying now because of its active component (plus it got buffed a bit in the AP department). Veigar can stack a pretty quickly since is on a low cooldown and you'll be using it often to farm. Upgrade to when your tear is almost capped so you'll get immediately or in a few spell casts. You can use the active to protect yourself from assassins or burst from the enemy AP carry. Keep in mind the shield is stronger when your mana pool is high. Use it to block damage before or after using to buy yourself more time.

gives a a decent amount of AP and MR, a lot of CDR and some really good mana regen. It's not a must-buy because you can get CDR from blue buff and and you won't always need the mana regen. It's a pretty expensive item, but it can be worth it if you want a to lane against a tough AP opponent in mid. It's pretty nice against poke comps and just magic damage in general.

gives the same amount of CDR as Athene's, but is more cost-efficient and gives a bit more AP too. It's more of a glass cannon version of Athene's since it's more cost-efficient and prioritizes AP over MR and mp5 to some extent. I'd generally recommend this if you need more CDR, but don't feel the need for the MR from . The passive is pretty nice against healers and regenerators. Note that you can proc the passive with your autoattacks due to .

is a hefty defensive item, but it may be necessary in some games. It gives a good amount of mixed survivability, so it's effective against both magical and physical damage. It also gives some health regen to sustain you in poke wars, which is pretty nice because Veigar has no way to regain health without potions or allied healing spells.

is pretty situational but effective against dangerous spells that can render you vulnerable or take a chunk out of your health (the most notable being and , among others). It gives pretty good effective health against magic damage, so you'll generally want this against predominantly magical teams. If the enemy has lots of mild poke, your spell shield will be wasted, so either avoid the mild poke spells or build if you can't make use of the spell shield.

Items Not to Get

is an iffy item on Veigar. It's not really bad per se, but it just doesn't offer anything important to Veigar. are a much better offensive option and you can get CDR from blue buff and other items. The CDR simply isn't worth the loss of burst damage from Sorcs.

is usually too risky to build on most APs, but on Veigar it's simply never necessary. allows you to snowball naturally with champion kills without the risk of losing stacks. Veigar's damage output doesn't really need a boost and your core AP items are much more reliable anyway.

is a great item that Veigar simply cannot afford to build. Spellvamp is nice, but on a burst mage it isn't going to matter if you get caught. Health recovery is no substitute for survivability or one of your core damage items, and as such, this item is simply not worth buying.

Laning Phase

Veigar has a somewhat weak laning phase compared to a lot of other casters. You'll probably be a bit pressed for mana, and you won't have much burst until you get . In the very early game (pre-6, generally), you have three jobs to do:

1. Last-hit every minion you can. Use whenever possible.
2. Keep the minions in the center of the lane. Do not push the enemy tower, and don't let your opponent reach yours, lest your tower steal all the minion kills.
3. Don't take so much harass that you're forced to recall. and help, but not if you are constantly taking free damage and run yourself out of potions.

If you can perform these three tasks adequately, you'll have farmed up a lot of AP, you'll be at decent health, you'll reach level 6 without a death and you'll probably be fairly low on mana.

Note: If you're not in an unfavorable matchup, you can be aggressive early game with and autoattacks. Veigar's early game harass is not as weak as some people think and you might surprise yourself at how much of a bully you can be early game. Just make sure the harass is actually effective at zoning and you don't just blow mana and lose CS.

As you approach level 6, consider your opponent's survivability. Ask yourself these questions before going on the offensive. Press Tab to take a look at their items and summoner spells if you need to.

How much health do they have left?
How much mana do they have left (if they use mana)?
Will they be regenerating their lost health any time soon?
Do they have defensive summoner spells like Flash, Cleanse, Barrier or Heal?
Do they have defensive abilities like Black Shield or Sanguine Pool?
Do they have any CC like Null Sphere, Nether Grasp or Pyromania?
Can they out-burst you if you attack?

Use your judgment to try and predict the outcome of your initiation. This may take some practice, so if the enemy gets away with a smidgen of health because of a clutch , remember to check that for next time before engaging.

If you decide to attack and are in a good position, use your spells in the following order:
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If the enemy isn't dead by the end of that combo, run back to your tower before they can retaliate. If they're almost dead though, you can try to finish them off with a couple autoattacks or another .

Remember to call MIA (also known as SS), and let your team know if your opponent is late returning to mid lane. After you kill the enemy mid, you can expect their jungler to either gank or at least cover the lane to hold the tower. Be very careful if you want to push the tower, as their jungler may be ready to gank you with your ult on cooldown.

If you're ever having trouble laning in mid, try to coordinate with your jungler to set up ganks, or ask him to cover mid for you if you need to recall to base. Find out from your jungler if he can give you the next blue buff. Your jungler should be able to afford to give up blue after their initial route.

Don't be afraid to buy some wards as well. Generally warding near the enemy wraith camp is a good spot, but you can also ward in the curved brush leading towards either team's blue buff or the small brush in the middle of the river by baron and dragon.

Team Fights

Before the team fight starts, there is generally some poking and posturing going on with both teams in an attempt to weaken or pull an enemy out of position. Stay near a tanky ally that can block dangerous skillshots and make sure you are out of range of enemy CC. You may be able to use to hit multiple enemies without even using . Spam if it is safe enough for you to do so.

As the AP carry/nuker, your job is to burst down the squishy enemy carries. For most nukers, this means the ranged DPS, but for Veigar you can also target the enemy AP carry. Since scales 80% off of the target's AP, your nuke is more damaging against champions who are stacking AP. That said, AD carries are usually squishy enough to die from one nuke, so targeting either type of champion is fine. Generally you will nuke the enemy that is the weakest, the most dangerous, and/or the most out of position.

Once the team fight starts, choose your target and execute the following string of abilities:
-->-->-->-->-->
Obviously don't overdo it. If you know the enemy is going to die from your first three spells, don't bother wasting your ult or summoner spells on them.

Whether your combo was successful or not, you're going to have an enemy team out for your blood. It's a good idea to back off behind the safety of your teammates (especially if you initiated). Use if you have it and you need to escape focus. If your team is fully engaged and you're being attacked, you may want to use the active on to buy you a few more seconds. This will give your abilities some time to cool down and will often leave the enemy wondering what to do for the next couple seconds while your teammates whack at him. He may even shift his focus entirely.

After you've disengaged from the fight and allowed your spells to come off cooldown, jump back in and use whatever you have to finish off weak or dangerous enemies. Use if it's up to give your teammates an advantage. If you're extremely low on health, just retreat and let your teammates clean up the kills.

After a successful team fight, you may choose to grab jungle buffs, take dragon or baron, push a tower, or just recall to base to shop and recover. Be sure to make good use of the enemies' death timers and keep an eye on them if you're pushing.

If you lost the team fight, just do whatever you can to escape. Use to juke enemies in the jungle, dodge lethal spells or CC, or put some more distance between you and your attackers. Remember to use to slow your pursuers if it's off cooldown. Don't sacrifice yourself for your tank. Your team is going to need you alive to defend your towers, and you're probably going to be worth more gold.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading my guide, I hope that some parts of it prove useful to you. If you appreciated my guide or approve of my build, feel free to hit the Like button up top. Please leave any comments, questions or suggestions below and I will try to get back to you. I appreciate criticism, as long as it's constructive.

I look forward to reading your comments, and good luck in your future games!