// Good day, peoples of MOBAfire! This is going to be my guide to Veigar, The Tiny Master of Evil. Veigar is one of my favorite AP casters, even though his use in ranked play is quite limited, since he's easily focused/counter-picked.

• Do I like to ONE/TWO/THREE-SHOT people?
• Do I like champions with a LIMITLESS AP CAP?
• Am I willing to accept a TERRIBLE EARLYGAME and embrace a WONDERFUL LATEGAME?
• Am I DECENT at LAST-HITTING?
• Do I like MIDGETS WITH AWESOME SKINS?

// If yes, Veigar is the champion for you!

Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.

To most, thoughts of yordles do not conjure images to be feared. The easygoing half-pint race, though fierce, is often regarded with some degree of joviality. Their high-pitched voices and naturally cute forms inspire something of a protective instinct in the larger races, or at least bring to mind images of children playing at being adults. Every now and again, however, a yordle turns so bad that even at its small stature it strikes terror into the hearts of others. Veigar is one such twisted yordle. As a master of the magical black arts, as well as a corrupter of cosmic energy, he is one of the most powerful sorcerers on Valoran.

As a child, Veigar was a normal yordle with one small exception - he had a deep curiosity for the world beyond Bandle City. The young yordle spent much of his time studying the rest of Valoran, and he jumped at the chance to join a business that traded with other major city-states. Unfortunately for both him and the world, a deal with Noxian trader turned into shady business and went bad; Veigar and his companions were subsequently set up to take the fall. Arrested by the authorities, he was imprisoned within the walls of Noxus for years. Such isolation is very dangerous for yordles - undoubtedly why his cruel jailers did such a thing - and Veigar was slowly driven mad.

He eventually escaped, having become a twisted version of his former self. Instead of returning to his people and Bandle City, he sought tutelage from dark wizards across the land. With his demented will focused on one task, he quickly became a dangerous and powerful wizard in his own right. Now he seeks to end all conflict on Valoran by bringing all of the city-states to their knees, regardless of their affiliation. The League of Legends is the perfect tool to help him meet his ends - for now.

Who says evil needs to come in a fearsome-looking package?

spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace

Pros + Limitless AP cap, nuff said. + One of the - if not the - highest burst in the game. + Amazing farmer/last hitter. + Godly lategame. + Looks amazing, awesome skins.

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Cons - Extremely squishy. - No natural escape mechanics. - Awful, awful early game. - Burst is limited without your ultimate. - Annoying voice.

// I take the 21/0/9 mastery setup, aimed at giving me an increased earlygame and some mana-sustain in the utility tree. Also, the reduced Death Timer is nice as well.

KEY MASTERIES:

• Summoner's Insight : The small reduction to Flash's cooldown. It might not seem much, but this is absolutely key in your early laning, when Event Horizon's stun isn't as big as it will be later on.
• Sorcery: Even though it isn't a 1-point mastery, I'm still going to discuss this one. It's an extremely important mastery for any AP caster, seeing how 4% COOLDOWN REDUCTION at the beginning of the game is extremely, extremely nice to have.
• Arcane Knowledge : +10% MAGIC PENETRATION at the start of the game is so. Freaking. Beastly. Seeing how every laning opponent you go against will have 30 magic resist or so (Unless they start with a Null-Magic Mantle or take some points in the Defense Tree... Which is uncommon to say the least).
• Executioner : 6% DAMAGE TO TARGETS BELOW 40% HEALTH. At first, I was really sceptical over this mastery, seeing how the extra damage seems really small... But, it isn't. The difference is notable, definitely, especially in the early laning phase.
• Runic Affinity : 20% INCREASED DURATION ON ALL NEUTRAL BUFFS. Exalted with Baron Nashor, Crest of the Ancient Golem, Blessing of the Lizard Elder... All will be increased by 20%. Seems small, difference is notable in the lane. You'll see.

• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration:Extra magic pen never hurts. This will help out your early game damage, but fall off lategame quite heavily, when you're beginning to be focussed.
• Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration: Take these. The difference to the time you can stay in lane with +50% mana is noticable. Great choice of Seals for one of the most mana needy champions in the game.
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power: These give you AP, and makes you become stronger the longer your laning phase takes. You might prefer the Greater Glyph of Ability Power, but I prefer the AP/PL.
• Greater Quintessence of Health: These make Veigar less squishy in lane and harder to kill. I tend to take these to help against ganks and make it harder to be pushed out of the lane.

Ignite: Just... Take it. It's your job as an AP carry to have this. Blocks healing, so it counters Volibear and Soraka pretty well.

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Flash: Excellent spell. Initiation, escape... And that all for a moderate cooldown. A really nice spell, although the nerf to this spell will really screw you over sometimes.

• Equilibrium: Chalice of Harmony, but with 0,75% Mana Regen instead of 1%. This is just an awesome passive, a great boost to your mana sustain.
  
• Baleful Strike (Q): Veigar's bread and butter when it comes to last hitting, poking and bursting. You gain +1 AP PER CREEP KILL and +5 AP PER CHAMPION KILL/LAST-HIT. This is just what makes Veigar such a creepy character. His AP never stops rising.
  
• Dark Matter (W): Meh. Just... Meh. Lategame: Awesome. Burst. 100% scaling. Early game: Meh. Allows for easy, low-risk farm, but will make you waste awful amounts of mana, and leave you OOM before you can say "Oh hi, Lee Sin!".
  
• Event Horizon (E): An AoE stun... But only on the edges of it. This is an extremely useful thing to have in both teamfights and 1v1's or ganks. When you get ganked, just put this baby around you and walk away barely scaved. But there's one problem: Lee Sin, Master Yi and Fizz can all dash through it. Oops.
  
• Primordial Burst (R): Other than having a badass name and being capable to MELT YOUR OPPONENT'S FACES this ability doesn't do that much. It has a 120% AP scaling and also deal additional damage equal to 80% of the enemy's AP. Basically, when you hit LV 6, you can 1v1 just about every AP carry you go up against and live to do it again.

// In general, bursting as Veigar isn't as much of a skillspam/button mash like Ryze's. Veigar's burst requires timing. You need to land the Dark Matter, or else your burst will be gutted.


// I typically start out with Event Horizon, for the nice stun. Then I throw down a Dark Matter on the enemy, followed up by a Baleful Strike into a Primordial Burst. If they're still in one piece, I use my Deathfire Grasp and finish them off with another Baleful Strike.


// Feel free to experiment with your bursting combo. There's no good or bad in the bursting, unless you initiate with your Dark Matter.

• : // Really the only good boots for Veigar. The magic pen is the only reason you're taking this. Although if you're up against a Rammus or an Ahri feel free to take Mercury's Treads to counter those annoying taunts.
  
• : // Not taking this item on Veigar is like jungling as him; Just not right. This is a huge boost to your damage. Your effectiveness will just double as soon as you get this item.
  
• : // Adds a 4th spell for your burst, gives AP, CDR and MP/5. This is just a great item for Veigar, since it's easy for him to attain high levels of AP.
  
• : // Veigar is all about spamming skills. This will help with your need for mana and also gives you bonus AP while at it. Very good item.
  
• : // Again pretty self-explanatory. This adds some nice AP to your pool, while also giving you some of dat tasty MPen, which is always nice to have against enemy AP carries, who don't get that much MRes anyways.
  
• : // I take this item to help fight Veigar's natural squishyness. Seeing how Dark Matter can just about 1 shot entire minion waves, you're going to easily max this armor.
  
• // I only take this when there's a fed Karthus beating my arse, or when I feel like there are too much spells being lobbed at me. I take this instead of my Warmog's Armor if I need to get it.
  
• : // Cheap, yet gives you nice AP and CDR. Take this whenever you can.

12/27/11: Guide published!

Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.