Veigar Build Guide by Soul Ember

Introduction

About me


Hi there! Before we get into the meat of the guide I thought I would tell you a little bit about myself. I have been playing since season 4, favoring Mid lane and ADC. I started playing Veigar hardcore a few months ago and have found great success in doing so. Using Veigar's versatile kit I have managed to greatly increase my win rate in ranked, having around a 68% win rate on Veigar after playing over 80 ranked games with him.

Pros / Cons

Pros

High burst potential
Snowballs super hard
Low cooldowns late game
Infinite scaling
Has one of the best CC moves in the game
Works well in almost every team comp
Can still do well if shut down early game

Cons

Weak early game
Very vulnerable when his E is on cooldown
Skillshot based
Default voice can get annoying at times

Abilities

In the making

Early/Mid/Late Game

Early Game

So pre-6 your only job is to farm for your Phenomenal Evil stacks. You shouldn't worry too much about trying to get a kill in lane, as you're kill potential is not very good until you hit 6 (and even then it's not great until about level 8.) When you get into lane level up your Q first and last hit minions whenever possible with it. If you see a minion is getting low I recommend you auto attack a minion near it so that you can get multiple kills with your Q, as it can hit a maximum of two targets. Also keep in mind that cannon minions count as two stacks of Phenomenal Evil, so you should go out of your way to make sure you last hit those with your Q. When you reach level two don't put a point into your W or E until you know which one you need. Put a point into W if your laner is shoving the wave and put point in your E if you get a gank or are being ganked. If neither of those situations arise then just wait until level 4 to level up both of them. DO NOT use your E or W to poke before your first back. If you don't have Catalyst of Aeons you will run out of mana really quickly and will have to back earlier than you want. Keep your eyes open for Teleport plays around the map, even if your damage isn't great early your E can easily land you a kill or assist.

Mid Game/Late

Once you hit level 6 you're kill potential is greatly increased. That being said, I find that level 8 is an even bigger power spike, as your Rod of Ages is starting to gain stacks at this point and the 2nd point in your W makes it so you can kill someone with your combo when they're at about 60% HP rather than 50-55%. I know this doesn't seem like a super significant amount, but people are much more cautious once they drop to about half HP, so this makes it more likely to catch someone with your E and get your full combo. After you hit 6 you should be looking to roam to the bottom lane whenever your wave is pushed in (just W and Q the caster minions to shove the wave.) Just take extra care to not miss too many minions as it hinders Veigar more than most champions since it means he's missing out on Phenomenal Evil stacks. Once you start team fighting your main objective is to CC as many people as possible with your E and then W all of them. If you start a team fight like this, particularly in the late game, it makes it so 2-5 members of their team start the fight with 30-60% of their HP missing. After this you want to use your R to blow up their ADC or any other DPS they have. It's also not a bad idea to use your R to finish off any tanks that are low on HP, but you should only do this if you think their CC will impact the team fight significantly. Make sure to stand behind your front line and spam your abilities whenever they are off cooldown, aiming your W at the biggest cluster of people as it almost always goes unnoticed in all the chaos. It's also super important that you tell your team to not engage until you get a good E off (unless your team has other good CC to start the team fight, in which case you should use you E after the initial engage.) Even if you somehow get blown up right after landing the initial E and W, it still usually results in you winning the team fight as long you got around 3 people.

Items

Rod Age vs. Morellonomicon First Item

So most people will tell you to build Morellonomicon as your first item and to not build Rod of Ages at all. I have no problems with going that build, but I think Rod of Ages gives you better Mid-game stats that make it easier for you snowball while still giving you the sustain that you need in lane. The only downside to building Rod of Ages is that you do not get the 20% CDR while you are in lane, so it makes it a little harder to farm for your Phenomenal Evil Stacks. That being said, I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've been ulted by a Syndra and lived with less than 50 health thanks to Rod of Ages, so I think the extra tankiness is well worth prolonging Morellonomicon

When to Build Rabadon's Deathcap vs. Void Staff

Rabadon's Deathcap and Void Staff are both HUGE power spikes for Veigar, but which one is the best to build first? Normally Rabadon's Deathcap is useless until you have at least 3 AP items, but since Veigar gains AP with his passive it is good on him after he has 2 AP items. That being said, Void Staff is much cheaper than Rabadon's Deathcap and the magic penetration it gives you makes it more cost efficient than Rabadon's Deathcap in terms of the damage is gives you as long as your target has more than 36 MR. Since even ADC's usually have that much MR it is generally better to build Void Staff first. I've included a video that goes more in-depth about which one to get if you're interested in seeing the math behind it.

Spells

In the making.