Veigar/Strategy

Skill usage

 * strength as a mage comes from his overall high damage, the zoning potential and CC of his, and mage-killer . This, combined with his theoretical infinite ability power stacking, makes him a dangerous opponent as a mage.
 * suffers from low mobility and durability, making him reliant on his allies to protect him. His and  are both delayed, making him especially vulnerable to being initiated upon as he will do little to nothing before his death.
 * If you don't already use smart cast, consider it when playing . His kit has high damage but is heavily reliant on landing his combo of spells as fast as possible; choosing smart cast will make it easier to use all spells at once, especially when using additional skills such as.
 * Consistent good usage of is key to success as, amassing ability power from minion and champion alike.
 * Keep track of your mana pool, especially in the early game. If you simply use  only to farm, the enemy will soon start to harass you; juggling between using  with auto attacks on enemies while still farming minions is key to dominating a lane early game.
 * Be firm about the . Having the extra CDR on will let you hit every minion with it and have the mana to sustain farming and harassing.
 * Early ranks of have a higher cooldown, so remember to also use your auto-attacks to get last hits.
 * Try to dual last-hit minions for double the AP gain with when given the chance, as it will greatly speed up his rate of achieving dominance later in the game. With decent itemisation for AP you should be able to double-tap ranged minions from full health, or 1 ranged minion and 1 half-damaged melee minion.
 * 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.
 * If possible, try to finish off enemy champions with . It'll give you 2 more AP, in addition to the passive AP gain after killing an enemy champion.
 * is one of the strongest stuns in the game - it will interrupt dashes, stuns for 2.5 seconds at max rank and is AoE. With practice, it's easy to stun, cage, or zone at least 2 or 3 players.
 * To escape, can be used to block off a choke point, or in the jungle an entire pathway.
 * Consider further leveling of if the stun isn't holding enemies long enough for  to land. This is usually due to Tenacity or similar individual champion abilities. Since  is one of the hardest hitting skills in your kit, it is another key to dominating your lane all so that you can farm using  with less harassment from a passive enemy.
 * Be wary that is no longer instantaneous and comes with a 0.5 second delay to cast, being unable to immediately stun as it used to with its edge. Unlike other stuns, it will interrupt dashes such as  and , allowing  to nuke them off-guard.
 * Always be more cautious when is not available, as it is one of  most important abilities. It has a long cooldown, making  an easy target when it's unavailable, especially against enemies with high mobility and damage (like ).
 * 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 Raptor 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, due to it scaling off your target's AP as well as yours. As such, prioritize mages with your ult.
 * 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.
 * When shoving the lane so you can recall or leave, consider using   on the enemy minion line as it approaches, concentrating the minions to an area and then landing.
 * Practice using  nuke combo in the right order, initiating with  to stun, followed by, and if you're going for a kill, cast  now, and lastly  to pick up the kill for permanent extra AP. Due to being a targeted spell, it should always be used after casting  since it is sure to always hit.
 * Always check to make sure that there is no one blocking target if you're planning to use his nuke combo.  can only hit up to two targets in a linear fashion, and will be wasted if there are more than one enemy in between, leaving his opponent alive for a time to escape or to counterattack.
 * An advanced tactic is to use  before landing . While it is difficult to master, if you have aimed both spells correctly the enemy won’t be able to escape before the  can land.
 * Another advanced tactic, you can sometimes use  to bait an enemy with a skill / ability such as, place the stun just near them but without actually stunning them, they may activate their  simply believing they are removing your stun and then still walk into your stun ring.
 * has good synergy with tanks that build armor such as and . Because  punishes champions who build AP, this will force the enemy team to play attack damage based champions or build ability power based champions with attack damage builds (including certain ability power scaling champions like, , , , , , and  where the said champions are known for their build flexibility). This in turn will allow  and  to simply build armor and health items to mitigate the enemy team's attack damage and allow  to burst down the enemy team with his magic damage.

Build usage

 * , like most mages, benefits most from building ability power, cooldown reduction, and mana regeneration. However, due to his decent base damages and scalings, magic penetration in particular is an excellent stat for him.
 * Getting mana regeneration items such as a or  early game allows  to stay in lane as long as possible to farm . Even a  can help, as the mana regenerated is still increased by.
 * With changes towards along with, it is recommended to take Chalice of Harmony item.png   Chalice of Harmony  as your sole mana-regeneration item. It's regeneration based on missing mana is more than doubled thanks towards it's synergy with , and it works quite well with  mana pool, ensuring that you almost always never go out of mana. It can later be upgraded into  for the much needed cooldown reduction along with being able to restore nearly a third of your maximum mana on kill or assist, which can also be more than doubled, effectively restoring him around half of his max mana.
 * is another route to take, besides granting mana regen it will also increase mana pool. A charged  carries the potential to grant AP matched only by, and once transformed into, can be activated for a shield based on your current mana when in need for defense.
 * If you've decided to build, it is worth considering building as well, as it provides a substantial increase to your max mana which in turn increases your ability power due to the passive on.
 * The changes to have delayed its power spike, and thus is niche based on what route you take.
 * A is almost always a necessary item for  as enemies will likely be building a lot of magic resist to survive your damage output.
 * Alternatively, an can be built as a more defensive item since  must come dangerously close to deal his full combo.
 * is a prime offensive item on, since it amplifies the ability power gained from.
 * While  would usually benefit any AP caster, it isn't necessary on  since he gains permanent AP from killing enemy champions and it is a rather risky purchase considering his vulnerabilities.
 * If you are up against an AD assassin such as or, it is advisable to build a , as it will overall reduce the amount of damage taken, increasing  survivability in lane whilst providing the much needed ability power. It can be stacked for more ability power and armor, and later be upgraded into a  that can be used to counter  or , respectively.
 * can often become a target to be shut down by an enemy team, especially early game. Investing in health may sometimes become necessary to survive, whether it's surviving long enough for allied champions to peel enemies off, or to last long enough for spells to come off cooldown.
 * One option is buying a, it gives health and mana for a good early game. It also opens him up to upgrading to a for extra health, mana and ability power.
 * The passive on  that grants mana regeneration upon leveling up will also be boosted by.
 * With becoming a prime target in late game due to his powerful capability to shut down carries, it is often necessary to invest in at least one defensive item such as a  or . Although it will sacrifice a portion of his power, it can often prevent a fatal turning point of a match.
 * Spell vamp items/runes can improve  survivability against champions, especially the ones with good poking abilities. It will however, hinder his damage output, and is not recommended with the recent changes to, as it will be 1/3 as effective than before.
 * can scale well with . In addition to the slight increase in mobility, the proc adds another nuke to his kit, making him good at instantly deleting priority targets.
 * , while lacking the additional power, offers CDR and the same mobility and an active to catch enemies out or escape.

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.
 * This is important because if is allowed to farm and get items and ability power, his combo will be lethal late-game, being able to instantly kill almost any champion, even AD champions if they are squishy. The only champions who can survive his combo are bruisers and tanks with a lot of health and magic resistance, and even then, it will take more than half of their health, leaving them low enough for any ally to pick them off.
 * Unlike other champions with stats that can increase infinitely, such as and, Veigar is built with items that leave him very squishy himself. Due to this, it is imperative to avoid being stunned by ; if you do this, burst Veigar down.
 * Although deals massive damage, it has a considerable delay before it lands. Use this to avoid the spell.
 * Keep in mind that although will interrupt dashes, it will not stop dashes and abilities that explicitly state it is unstoppable, such as ,  , and . Along with  and , they serve as one of the best counters to shut down  when coordinated as a team.
 * If the wall of misses you during placement, avoid walking into the wall as it will still stun you for the full duration.
 * Pay attention to cooldowns. If Veigar uses  or  (or both), this is where he is the most vulnerable. Take the opportunity to kill him as fast as possible.
 * If you are playing an AP champion, avoid approaching until his  has been used as it can spell instant death or bring you close to it.
 * A common mistake amongst mages is to build when laning against Veigar, when they should build  instead. While the extra damage will be missed due to not having magic penetration, the extra magic resist and tenacity are helpful due to . The sooner you get rid of the stun, the better chances you have to survive Veigar's combo.
 * In fact, it is recommended to build Mercury's Treads on any champion on your team if there is a Veigar on the enemy team, as it will decrease the chances of him being able to land his mortal spell combo.
 * As a purely combo based mage, buying a is an excellent way to counter him as it essentially negates one of his spells, making him unable to initially unleash a full combo upon you.
 * A is a cheaper but no less useful alternative, primarily as you can negate the stun from  at will and thus avoid the standard follow-up.
 * If is giving you a hard time in early game if you are AP, try rushing a  and build it into an  as he will no longer be able to successfully harass you until he has his . Champions like  with a naturally high magic resist have the advantage over.
 * If you are AD, is the option to build, instead.
 * Because is dependent on the target's ability power, champions who mainly benefit from AD items such as , , ,  and  are effective counters against . Be wary that unless they invest on some health and magic resist, even these champions will be instanuked by Veigar's combo, late game.
 * Also, be careful while building a team consisting of attack damage builds, as can counter that by asking one of his teammates to play a champion that punishes attack damage heavy builds such as  or.
 * is a strong counter to . First abilities scales better in mana rather than ability power, which makes  useless. Second,  is often built tanky (including, , and most mana items), which makes it relatively difficult for  to burst him down. Finally,  has better lategame scaling than  and can build  instead of  to render 's  even more useless.
 * The majority of damage output is magic damage, hence items such as  will mitigate his damage output by a large margin. Banshee's Veil also negates one of his spells, which is vital, since Veigar is a combo-based champion.
 * If you are laning against as a mage, consider build alternatives that invest in relatively low ability power, such as magic penetration and cooldown reduction builds. Your own damage may be reduced, but this could well prove an acceptable trade-off to being less vulnerable to being gibbed by . If compatible to your playstyle, Lich Bane would be a good pick up as while it does not give the highest raw AP it adds substantially to your burst.
 * Also consider building % health damage items like, , or on-hit effect items that deal magic damage like , , and . Many on-hit effect items either scale in attack speed, or do not have a lot of ability power, which makes less effective, which in turn, allow you do some reasonable damage against  without having to deal with his burst damage.
 * can leave allied champions completely immune to Veigar's combo, making Kayle somewhat of an indirect counter to him. But if Veigar decides to focuse Kayle herself, if she is stunned by, she can't cast on herself, and will fall to his spells just like any other AP champion.
 * Champions like and  can use their spell shields to avoid being stunned by Event Horizon, and better duel.