Veigar/Strategy

Skill usage

 * Consistent use of to last-hit minions is key in amassing ability power, but make sure you have enough mana regen to maintain it. Because of the last-hits needed to make this possible,  is a good choice for a solo lane.
 * Early ranks of have a higher cooldown, so remember to also use your auto-attack to get last hits.
 * An easy way to last hit with is to let the tower hit melee minions twice then follow it with a . Let the tower hit caster minions once along with one auto attack and a.
 * Starting from rank 3 becomes a mana-efficient harassment tool.
 * If possible, try to finish off enemy champions with . It'll give you 1 more AP, in addition to the passive AP gain after killing an enemy champion.
 * is one of the strongest stuns in the game-it stuns for 2.5 seconds at max rank and is AoE. With practice, it's easy to stun or cage at least 2 or 3 players.
 * While being chased through the jungle can be used to block off a choke point for a successful escape.
 * Aiming so that enemies are on the edge and thus immediately stunned is vital in trapping champions with escape mechanisms or.
 * You can use impact animation to cordon off your foes; place the spell near the champion but angled towards the direction in which he is most likely to retreat.
 * Starting from level 4 of you can use it for killing half or whole minion waves, as it instantly kills minions by then.
 * Placing a ward at the enemy wraith camp means you can use and  to clear it whenever it spawns, for easy gold and XP that the enemy jungler is denied. Care should be taken as to missing opponents and the location of the jungler when attempting this, however.
 * Using your against enemy champions with high ability power can have devastating effects.
 * Using with  can crush an AP carry before their team can react.
 * Use to increase success rates in landing . Remember, enemies in the center can move into the stun-ring just to avoid your.
 * Also, using his nuke combo of, , and then , in that order, will allow you an easier hit with . Due to being targeted, it should be used third so that it is ensured to hit.

Build usage

 * Getting mana regen items such as early game allows an early gank without having to return to base to get mana.
 * As one of primary strengths comes with spamming  to gain ability power,  and  are natural upgrades to benefit from a larger mana pool at the same time. A charged  is also a potent item to gain AP.
 * is a prime offensive item on, since it amplifies the ability power gained from.
 * benefits all AP casters, but is only recommended if you are doing well and can continue that gameplay.
 * A gives  some much needed health and mana for a good early game. It also opens him up to upgrading to a  for extra health.
 * The active effect of synergizes very well with Veigar's kit. Be sure to use it first in any nuke combo, as it only factors in a target's current health and not their max.
 * In addition, the passive cooldown reduction will bring cooldown closer in line with the cooldown of the active itself. When combined with an additional 15% cooldown reduction, they come within single-digit seconds of each other.
 * Spell Vamp and Magic Penetration items will greatly improve Veigar's survivability in most builds.

Countering

 * Zoning during the laning phase will deny him from farming ability power from last-hitting minions with his  as he is fairly squishy and weak at early game.
 * Although deals massive damage, it has a considerable delay before it lands. Use this to avoid the spell.
 * If the wall of misses you during placement, avoid walking into the wall as it will still stun you for the full duration.
 * As a purely combo based mage buying a is the best way to counter him as it essentially negates one of his spells, making him unable to initially unleash a full combo upon you.