Talk:Veigar/@comment-8185594-20150316203813

I've been having a lot of success with 5.5 Veigar, and I'd like to share how I play him.

First and foremost, the way you play Veigar now is very different from the way he used to play. He's no longer completely focused on catching an enemy and deleting them, although he can still do that to an extent. His strength lies in kiting and peeling, with the ability to follow up engages very well. The reason behind this quite obvious: the Q gained 200 range in exchange for being a skillshot. This makes it harder to hit enemies if they're running away (due to the range limit and more room to juke), but is much better at kiting with (since they'll be running towards you and are more predictable). Also, since his stun is no longer guaranteed, it's better used to zone out the enemy backline if their frontline engages.

In terms of laning, you have to recognize the fact that he is very weak early on now. Also, you're going to have huge mana issues if you want to apply any kind of pressure, more so than pre 5.4. The way I've circumvented this is by running Magic Pen Reds, Armor Seals (or Health Scaling if mid and jungler are not AD), MR Glyphs (or CDR if mid and jungler are not AP), and Mana Regen Quints. The last one probably sounds like a very stupid thing to do; why would you replace AP quints for Mana Regen? I've personally found that with the addition of Mana Regen Quints and 3 points into the Meditation mastery, you don't have mana issues even if you spam Q. This allows you to have constant lane pressure through poking Qs through a minion. Even if it misses, you get cs out of it and your mana constraints are minimal. The reason this didn't work with pre 5.4 Veigar was because 650 range was well within range for retaliation, so you needed more damage to back it up (hence AP quints were necessary). Also, new Q can somewhat compensate for the lost AP if you prep the wave  (W -> auto a few times -> Q to kill 2).

For masteries, I go 22/5/3, although it's mostly based off of preference. Meditation is necessary, and I find Block and Unyielding too valuable to drop (As much as I would like to add Veterans Scars and Juggernaut, it is not possible without sacrificing other things you can't afford to lose). I opt for Butcher and Feast rather than Double-Edged Sword because I'm more focused on surviving the lane than killing the enemy (although it happens if they decide to all-in poorly, which happens all the time).

In terms of items, I go Dorans Ring + 2 pots -> Another Dorans Ring + Forbidden Idol + Boots + Pots + Wards -> Morellonomicon + Sorc Shoes + Greater Stealth Totem -> Rabadon's Deathcap -> Luden's Echo/Voidstaff -> Luden's Echo/Voidstaff -> Situational Item. In certain matchups you'll want to rush Armguard/Negatron right after the 2nd Ring and Forbidden Idol if they either deal too much damage (cough cough Xerath cough) or unavoidable damage (like a certain redheaded knife ballerina...). Morellonomicon is mostly there to reduce the cooldown of your stun so that it's downtime is not as long. I get Rabadon's second since if you've been able to Q farm decently, you'll end up with ~ 550 AP after you buy it, giving you a massive powerspike. Luden's is there to make you more mobile and deal even more damage if they don't buy significant MR. Voidstaff is a given; if they have MR, get it. If I purchased Negatron/Armguard earlier, I change that into Abyssal/Zhonyas. I don't feel that Zhonyas is necessary on this champ (unless you're against Zed/Yasuo), since he plays far back enough to where you shouldn't get caught out. And even if you do get caught, Zhonyas will not save you on this champ since he has no innate mobility.

Overall I don't think Veigar needs massive buffs. You simply cannot play him as you used to; consider him as a completely different champion. I think if they increased his Q range by 50-100, that is all he needs to be on a level playing field (he does NOT need lowered initial CD and increased mana gain). Will I be playing him in ranked? Maybe after several more games, but definitely not as a first pick.

As some proof that this post has merit, here is my match history:

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