This is Terris (in game I'm known as "Medrin Cemos" and I am pleased to let you know I have played several games (a rough count is around two-hundred to four-hundred). With Veigar, the Tiny Master of Evil. And believe me, he is VERY evil. Veigar is pretty amazing because, like the build says, if the enemies take a careless step too close to your impressive stun range, they're out for the count. I can't tell you how many kills I've gotten on an Ezreal simply because he thinks he can just harmlessly jump away. :evil snicker:

this guide is not meant to be followed like a bible. It is a summary of everything I do to play Veigar and my style is different from the next summoner's style. So please do not down-vote or leave flame comments just because you "KNOW" the Archangel's Staff is completely unnecessary on Veigar. You play him the way you wish to play him and only use my guide as a reference! Now, without further ado, I present to you my Veigar, the Tiny Master of Evil build.


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

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Pros + Inarguably the best nuker in the game. (Limitless AP Cap) + Pretty cool skins. + Only mana champion that doesn't have to ever have the blue buff. (But it's nice!) + Insanely hard cc with huge range. + Relatively low CD's late-game. (Including ultimate) + A yordle wearing final fantasy clothes!

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Cons - One of the squishiest champions in the game.(Unless you like to build tanky mage.) - Only one escape that is sometimes unreliable against blink champions and flash. - Loooooong CD's early to midgame. We take the Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction and Sorcery in an attempt to minimalize the impact of this. - Mercury's Treads and Banshee's Veil are annoying counters. - Focused insanely hard by half-decent teams especially when fed. - Full combo is hard to master.

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I go into the offensive tree: 21/0/9, because Veigar is a full burst champion/nuke champion. Meaning that final point in the offense tree is a MUST to ensure the kill. (As well as the last auto-attack in early game situations!) Now of course masteries are the SUMMONER'S preference, so if you absolutely swear by the 9/0/21 set-up, by all means go for it!

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• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: Veigar's skills scale exceptionally well in the game, so a huge amount of flat AP to start the game combined with a Doran's Ring or other runes that grant AP will devestate the opponent early game. And Veigar NEEDS domination of a lane.
  
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: This magic penetration is a must on most if not all AP casters, but especially a nuke champion like Veigar. This, combined with only your masteries grants 20% penetration already! (Unfortunately you can't do much with that mid-late game,) so add a Void Staff and Sorcerer's Shoes, then not even tanks can take your damage. Which is incredibly helpful when you need to proc Volibear's passive, or simply get him out of the way so your team can kill the squishies. But note that the tank should be your LAST target or if you can stun the tank into a "successful" initiation under your turret and then burst him down, your team can then also handle the squishies. Point: Penetration, (Hah-hah, that's what she said >_>) and nearly true damage on squishies=good.
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power: This scales extremely well into late game, and, combined with all of your other runes, grant you a whopping sixty AP. That's more than a Blasting Wand!
  
• Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power: Same reason as above. This amount of extra AP from nothing but runes, and Veigar's EXTREME AP scales will result in that much more damage for our little yordle.

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My PREFERRED spells;

Ignite: This spell WILL give you first kill in mid lane, if not first blood. That extra seventy damage and an auto-attack from the yordle adds up to about 120 extra damage combined with your Dark Matter, and Baleful Strike. Although this spell IS replaceable.

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Ghost: This spell has saved me from so many level two ganks, attempts to kill, pursuits, and all kinds of other things I take it always 100% of the time because it synergizes perfectly with your Event Horizon. I've also got the first kill in mid lane from this spell because the speed allows for auto attack blows when you have no more skills to use, which results in a kill for you. To use this spell in that manner, hide in any mid lane bush, wait for them to push to at least halfway, then pop ghost, run out, and because of your stun's massive range, stun them then unleash your full combo igniting them along the way, getting your first kill. And kills are Veigar's favorite thing. Baleful Strike attests to that. Stealing champion's AP and souls and all... However, THIS SPELL CAN BE REPLACED BY FLASH.

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Flash: This spell is extremely good for newer Veigar players. The "flash surprise" is super-effective. Just stun them with your new massive stun range, unleash your combo, then ignite and finish for the kill.

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Teleport: I used to use this spell all the time, and it is still perfectly fine. It depends on the summoner's preference. Replace Ignite with this. (Also, if your team warded the enemy's blue buff and you see the opposing AP caster getting it, it's fun to wait until they're almost done, pop in, Primordial Burst them, then run away with your own little blue buff.)

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Equilibrium: This passive is so highly under-estimated it depresses me. But THIS passive allows you to stay in mid lane longer than any other opponent even if they are packing mana potions. This skill gives you MORE mana regeneration for the % of mana you are currently missing. Combine this with mana regen runes and you will be un-movable (except for health) in lane. And if you find you don't even have enough mana to use a Baleful Strike then just go back to your turret, chill for about a minute, auto-attacking minions for the last-hit, and bam! You are at half mp or more. Continue more harrassing. Also, this passive allows you to never NEED the blue golem buff during late game with a fully stacked Tear of the Goddess / Archangel's Staff OR the wonderful shiny and new item: Athene's Unholy Grail.

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Baleful Strike: This skill is what defines Veigar as the most powerful nuker in the game, with a theoretically limitless AP cap. It functions as a little Mejai's Soulstealer that is PERMANENT. There are so many godly and wonderful things about this passive and skill in general it's ridiculous. For one, if you last-hit a minon with it (which is extremely easy to do with your runes) it gives you one permanent AP. Upon any kill Veigar makes, it grants up to five permanent AP. So if you get ten kills you already are rocking up to 50 AP. That's STILL more than a Blasting Wand. And that's how he has limitless AP and why everyone asks my favorite question: "how do you have so much AP?!".
You're going to want to max out Dark Matter before this skill, but make sure this skill is at least level three before maxing out Dark Matter and before Event Horizon.

• This skill is AMAZING at harassing your opposing mid champion before level 6. Always harass if they come into range of it, but don't chase them to the turret to hit them with it. You want to knock them to half health or one-third, then finish them off as soon you hit level 6 with your full combo and Ignite they will NOT survive.
• This ability has a super short CD compared to all your other skills, so if you are ganked by say Nocturne, Baleful Strike him, then run to your turret stunning him at the turret when he uses Paranoia on you. It will do enough damage so that you can finish him off with it AGAIN after he attempts to run from the failed gank resulting in a yummy kill for you. Point: Short CD, abuse it. Start and end with it.
• This skill is best used to pop an enemy's Banshee's Veil before you do your full combo. And remember, farm up this skill from the first minion you hit in the game at 2 minutes, to the last minion you hit in the game at 60minutes. Get those free Blasting Wands!!!

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Dark Matter: This is Veigar's secondary "Q_Q" skill. It is aoe, has good range, and best of all has a 1:1 AP ratio! You always, always, always, always, cast this immediately after your Event Horizon. ALWAYS. Late game this skill takes out 2/3 of an Ashe's health. It is quite nice. Unfortunately it has a long time to land. It is about double the time to land than Kog'Maw's Living Artillery. Which is exactly why Veigar has the stun. =3

You're going to want to max it out first, but not before Baleful Strike is level three. Once Baleful is level three, max out Dark Matter asap.

• This skill is an amazing zoning tool and builder for your Tear of the Goddess. It also is really good at harassing in combination with your Event Horizon.
• This skill is easily dodged, but because of it's large range and delay, you can place it ahead of a fleeing champion with your ghost then they'll either run into it, or are forced to dodge it so your baleful finishes them resulting in that lovely "You have slain an enemy."
• In late game, and especially with blue buff PLEASE! SPAM THIS MOVE AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE!!!!! It is a powerful move and forces people to move, perhaps away from their minions and RIGHT INTO Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab!!!!! Not to mention if they don't manage to dodge it because they are focusing on when to initiate or farming, it does MASSIVE damage. So really, late game: SPAM THIS *censored* LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!!! (And in some cases, it does. This is part of Veigar's role in stand-offs, mentioned further below.)

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Event Horizon: This skill is what makes Veigar, Veigar. Next to his Baleful Strike of course. This is the only aoe LONG stun in the game. You hear that? AOE LONG STUN which is exactly why it does no damage. Because if it did, it'd be so broken everyone would focus Veigar ALWAYS. ALL the time. Now, it's important to notice: ONLY THE EDGE STUNS THE CHAMPIONS!!!! Meaning they can flash out of it, blink out of it, dash through it (but still get stunned) and teleport out of it. So yeah, if you are facing a "jumpy" champion such as Akali, Pantheon, LeBlanc, Katarina, etc, hit them with THE EDGE OF IT. This skill is what makes or breaks a good Veigar, so learn it well!

Max it last.

• This skill has massive aoe and massive range. Use that to your advantage and place it SLIGHTLY behind an enemy champion. They almost always freak out and run right into it, but here's the trick, as soon as you place it, IMMEDIATELY cast Dark Matter in their area. This will guarantee a Dark Matter hit. Of course try and follow up with your baleful.
• Use this massive aoe when your saving allies in the jungle. Place it in a key pathway so the entire enemy team has to run into it, go around, or wait for it to end. All the options take way too long so unless they're desperate enough to waste their blink skills, that ally is saved. I have gotten so many "I LOVE YOU MEDRIN!"'s because of this stun.
• ALWAYS use it to set-up your combo, but remember, Mercury's Treads or Banshee's Veil WILL ruin hitting with your Dark Matter, thus negating half of Veigar's damage.

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Primordial Burst: Now THIS skill is what ensures the kill. Especially on AP enemy champions. Towards the end of the game it is EASILY possible to one-shot the enemy AP carry with this skill. Why you may ask? Because it is a 1.2 ratio in itself, PLUS 80% of the enemy's AP. Which is why this skill is Veigar's true "Q_Q" skill. Unfortunately it's not nearly as effective on tanks. But you shouldn't be focusing tanks anyway. You just CAN with the void staff.

You're going to get this sexy ultimate whenever you can of course.

• This should usually only be used to finish the kill. However you CAN use it if you feel you NEED to let the opponent know you mean business and to scare them off your farm. Usually a Morgana getting hit in the face with this WILL back off of you. Unfortunately without this skill you are extremely open to getting killed due to your lack of damage. Choose wisely when you use this skill. It has an extremely long CD at level 1 with no CDR.
• This skill is a CLICK. Meaning if you click the enemy champion in time right when they flash, it WILL FOLLOW THEM. And STILL guarantee your kill. (Which always results in vulgar swearing or "Q_Q"-ing) So pretty much you always want to use this even if they are extremely low health and your entire team is around. They may very well flash away, heal, then come back and kill you like Morgana would.
• You always want to finish with this move. The Dark Matter and Baleful Strike you should've cast after your Event Horizon will weaken them, but will NOT kill them unless they are already low health. So be sure to cast it almost all the time unless you know you do not need it.

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You always get your ultimate whenever possible on 99.5% of all champions minus those with weird skill orders/builds, like Udyr or those who don't have an ultimate to level Karma. Besides those few champions or special summoner builds, you ALWAYS get your ultimate whenever possible. Now, as repeated several times already, you ALWAYS max your Dark Matter AFTER your Baleful Strike is level three. Finish off with your stun for the much larger stun duration, and somewhat lower CDR. Please note: If you need a longer duration for your stun put SOME points into it earlier. But only if you need it. Things where this would happen would be if Irelia is mid because the entire enemy team un-smartly chose all melee people, or if they got Mercury's Treads. Also remember, level your skills according to what you believe you need more of.

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• : These are for the early game CDR because with this CDR, Deathfire Grasp, and your masteries/runes you come out with maxed CDR without the blue buff or an Elixir of Brilliance. Now, THESE BOOTS CAN EASILY BE REPLACED BY SORCERER'S SHOES LATER! You DO NOT have to keep them. (But you don't need the blue buff, and the elixirs one gets are usually almost always only at the end of the game.) Also, the 20 FLAT penetration only helps early to early-mid game. In general with your almost 20% magic penetration you get innately it's much better to get these so you can spam your skills, save yourself, and kill more people more often. However, it is completely up to your discretion and playstyle. ^_^
  
• : This is INARGUABLY an item that is required on ALL Veigars it does an amazing amount of damage to all tanky champions, and SPECIFICALLY tanky MAGE champions . Pretty much when you get this item (around level 9 is good) NO SQUISHY CAN SURVIVE YOUR FULL COMBO. EVER. So yeah. That's why it's the next main item. Oh, and the fact it builds quickly and easily from your Kage's Lucky Pick is also extremely nice. However, if you are fed to hell, by all means, Rush that Rabaddon!!!! <3 I usually always get this because I am much easier and closer to the Blasting Wand than the Needlessly Large Rod but if you have the money, get that Rod. Of course after your early Rab, immediately rush this item still.
  
• : Self-explanatory. This is core on ALL mage champions, and specifically nukers like Veigar or LeBlanc.
  
• : With the lack of Sorcerer's Shoes and only your masteries/runes, you need all the Magic Penetration you can get. However we get this later because after your Rabadon, only THEN will they (tanks, tanky mages, tanky AD, etc.) start stacking MR. However, if you are fed to hell and they immediately focus on countering you, get this immediately after your Deathfire Grasp. You may also choose to rush a survivability item depending on HOW focused you are and HOW good you are at staying behind your team.
  
• : This item sends your AP through the ROOF and is what defines you as a nuke. Only Veigar the nuke can EASILY reach the goal ONE-THOUSAND AP. Which, of course, with my build, is what this sets out to do.
  
• : The only survivability an expert Veigar will need. Because, let's face it, you may be capable of dealing earth-shattering damage that breaks the game and results in a 1.2k critical strike despite never auto-attacking or having ANY AD items (This LITERALLY happened to me once... me and my friend ROFL'd so hard.) and the mere sight of you sends the entire enemy team back, but- after you use your full combo to kill one-champion, YOU'RE DONE.
  
  
  Your CD is simply too high (despite having max CD almost all times) to stun and kill one person then run away while stunning again to secure a get away. ESPECIALLY if the enemy team is rocking hard cc like Nasus's Wither or Taric's Dazzle. So yes, if you are fighting a defensive battle and you burst down one champion you are gonna be so open to death it will be an insta- 4v4. Which is why you use your full combo, pop this amazing sucker, then watch as your team engages an entire distracted 4 enemy champions because they want your blood THAT bad. Then you ace and win. Hypothetically, anyway. The reality of that happening is questionable. But here's the point: pre-burst combo: you are fine and can kill anyone. post-burst: You will die in 1.2 millaseconds. So this baby here keeps you alive long enough for you to have your stun back, or for your team to save your as*.

• : This is a standard start for most AP casters, and a newer Veigar NEEDS all the sexy stats this beginning item gives.
  
• : You can never ever go wrong with magic penetration on an AP caster.
  
• : You need this core item on all Veigars. And same reasons as mentioned above.
  
• : You're probably trolling and are NOT a nuke without this. (And see above.)
  
• : Same reason you need this as when you need it with my preferred build, they're stacking MR now, and you can't do much with only 18.55% magic penetration.
  
• : This item I was completely totally stoked about and STILL am. It's pretty amazing, and without the Ionian Boots of Lucidity, and Tear of the Goddess, this item replaces, and comes in all one amazing sustainability package of utility and death. What more could our Yordle want? And, of course, the magic resist helps out newer Veigars who don't quite realize the damage a LeBlanc does. Please note you can get this whenever you deem neccesary. It is up to your discretion.
  
• : Also the final item in a newer Veigar build, however if the newer Veigar finds that he is having a hard time without survivablity, then rush this item. (Also see above for detailed reason why.)
  
  
  In summary: this build allows you to get a lot of killing power while allowing you to use your spells as much as possible.
  
  

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  Farming
  
  
  Now, despite popular belief Veigar is NOT Baleful Strike farm-dependant.
  Sure it makes you a force to be reckoned with, but if you are lacking an extra fifty Baleful Strike'ed minions, you are fine... IF you choose to level up and farm safely with your Dark Matter. Situations that tend to force this to happen are: if you are doing very poorly against a LeBlanc, if a very tanky champion is mid, or the enemy is building tanky, Vladimir, Morgana, and Mordekaiser. Or if you are just having a bad game. Play it safe and DO NOT feed the mid lane champion. Not only will the team get pissed at you and in turn you yourself will be pissed, but you will allow an EASY win if they get fed. Not to mention a Veigar without any farm sucks. No matter what. ALWAYS. So THIS is why you level up and max Dark Matter first in case this happens to you.
  
  
  Now then, with that said, farming with Veigar is pretty easy.
  ALWAYS Baleful Strike a minion for THE KILL and when your Baleful Strike is on CD, auto-attack for the kill. Farm and gold is extremely important for Veigar which is one of his downfalls. However, he is so exceptionally good at farming (if you play smart!) you almost never encounter this problem, ESPECIALLY if you established lane dominance. Which leads me to the next thing...
  
  

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  Zoning and Harassing
  
  
  Veigar is extremely mana-hungry early game.
  However, this is solved with Equilibrium, and Meki Pendant or Doran's Ring. But don't go spam your skills over and over till all you can do is wait for enough mana to charge for a Baleful Strike. Be smart with your spells and only use them in a combo if you are sure you'll hit at least 70% of your attacks on the enemy. However, even if you run low enough on mana to where you have to wait for enough mana to charge up a Baleful Strike, then go back to your turret, chill for a little while, and then come back with half your mana ready while the enemy is almost out and wondering: 'How the hell did you get that much mana again? Must've had a pot...'.
  
  Of course, that's if your lane is going easily.
  You have to change your tactics for a Katarina because she can blink nuke you. In this case you do not recklessly stay in her range, you either A: safely farm and ZONE her with your stun and Dark Matter, or B: Play extremely aggressively and land a lot of damage on her while attempting to dodge counter-harass. In order to do that you HAVE to land your stuns 80% of the time, know your damage, and KNOW HER DAMAGE. As you can see, it all depends on who is mid. But, I can give you a mostly full-proof plan against mid laners; if you are fighting against a champion you have either A: never laned against before, or B: typically doesn't mid lane, then ALWAYS level up your Dark Matter first and safely farm and harass with that. It has longer range for a reason; use it! Why you want to do this is mostly because that champion, having gone mid when most who play said champion don't, is very, very, very, skilled and as such dominates all mid laners, or is simply a hard counter to you. And because they're a hard counter (and they're a counter for a reason) PLAY SAFE!!!!!
  
  

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  Teamfights
  
  
  Here's Veigar's role in teamfights: run in, instantly reduce to 4v5, then gtfo!!! (Since everyone at this point wants your blood, you function as extremely good bait... meaning the entire enemy team is gonna' kill themselves chasing you because they're ignoring the Vayne whom is the only AD Carry and as such SHOULD have been focused first rather than wasting their life and logic chasing after you.) Finally, (after either A: you ran the frick away and gave your team an ace, or B: you evaded them and they switched their attention to your team) come back as quickly as you possibly can and then spam Dark Matter, Event Horizon, and Baleful Strike on squishier champions. THAT'S his role. He is an anti-carry, super-bait. (Which, because of that, is why he needs a Zhonya's.) And then after it's become 3v5 or 3v4, continue doing what you're doing and either A: be the only one alive, B: ace the enemy team so hard you only lost one champion on your team. Which, more-often-than-not, happens to be you, the super bait. Or C: Have a very poor team and all die, resulting in a defeat.
  
  

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  Stand-offs/Poke Wars
  
  
  I have been a part of so many of these it is ridiculous.
  This happens when your entire team pushes mid-lane, (or any other lane) and the entire enemy team is there to greet you under their turret. I'm sure ALL of you are going: "ooooh, yeah... I hate those...". So pretty much this is what happens: your team chills right outside of turret range and the enemy team chills under their turret. Obviously they have the disadvantage if they were pushed, but both your team, and them, KNOW a teamfight will be extremely close. So this is what happens. A stand-off, or if they have some poking abilites Caitlyn's Piltover Peacemaker, Kog'Maw's Living Artillery, or Nidalee's Javelin Toss/Takedown, a poke war begins. (Assuming, of course, your team has some poking skills too).
  
  In THIS kind of "teamfight" Veigar's role is ridiculously funny, and simple: Wait for them to mis-step while spamming Dark Matter. This goes all the way back to the example at the beginning: say Ezreal is chilling with his team, defending the turret, killing minions, and just because he has flash and Arcane Shift, steps just close enough to Veigar... so that Veigar can choose to stun him straight-up with the ridiculous range on Event Horizon. And BAM! YOU INITIATED WITH THAT STUN! Now one of two things will happen: You will insta-kill Ezreal with only your Primordial Burst and Deathfire Grasp, and reduce the stand-off to 4v5 and start to push the turret more with your ranged carries and tank, OR! Your tank and team will go after Ezreal with you, (resulting in a for sure kill no matter how many Zhonya's he may have -although you can only use one active-) and then Ez's teammates will go after him trying to save him, and this will result in a 4v5 full turret dive usually resulting in an ace in your favor. Then you push the lane all the way to the two Nexus turrets and back off. This is what has almost always happened for me. USUALLY.(Although sometimes it resulted in an ace AGAINST us because the opponent had a hard cc team.) It is all about abusing your hard cc stun range. And THAT is Veigar's role in a stand-off. As you can see, he is a very evil, very powerful Yordle that probably CAN do ranked. However this isn't a ranked guide, so don't try it in ranked then blame me for your failure. However, if you do try it and it worked amazingly well, then tell me about it, comment, and upvote! =)
  
  

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What Veigar needs:

• A very competent team. (If they just stare at you as you initiate by yourself, you're screwed.)
• Able to hit 70% or more of the time with his stun as well as help teammates to escape.
• Insane AP (easily achievable with Baleful Strike, and the above listed items.)

How Veigar works:

• Run in, insta-kill target, run-out.
• Come back quickly and help team to ace OR play super bait and ruin enemy's position while giving team ace, unfortunately you'll likely be the only one dead... but it's all good if your team pushes hard!
• Zone control and great fear of getting hit=great field power.

Thank you SO MUCH for reading my long guide and please leave a comment and FEEDBACK AND CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM (I'll be happy to change it if you present your ideas in a respectful manner.)

Many many many thanks go to "Riku777", "paynechips", "Tobi Ukada", "Zeroville811", and "Animeniac18" for being amazing teammates, supporters, and effective members in a game while I am playing Veigar, the Tiny Master of Evil. (Also the thanks go out to whoever I forgot to mention. Love you guys!!!)

You made this build possible, so thank you VERY much. <3 <3 <3

~Ciao!

Terris (In-game name: "Medrin Cemos")

06/12/12: Completely changed guide into a "chapter" form, as well as added specific opponents section to be progressively updated.

06/13/12: Changed purchase order, added Annie to Specific Opponents section, some wording changes and additional details added.

06/14/12: Added Ashe to Specific Opponents section.
06/18/12: Added Brand and Caitlyn to the specific opponents list.