Everyone’s favorite Tiny Master of Evil is actually one of the strongest mages in League of Legends. He’s an absolute late game monster who can one shot his enemies without even breaking a sweat. Here’s everything you need to know to get you started playing Veigar.

When we talk about the strongest mages, a lot of players tend to leave Veigar out. They underestimate how powerful he can get if he manages to reach the late game. While yes, he is powerful and has a rather simple kit but it’s a little hard to play as him in the current meta. Most mages simply outrange him and assassins in the mid lane have a lot of mobility to easily get close to Veigar. That shouldn’t discourage you though since playing Veigar can be very rewarding and satisfying especially if you reach his power spikes. Let’s take a closer look at his kit.

Champion Abilities

Veigar’s abilities are all burst damage spells. His kit revolves around dealing as much damage as possible. In a lot of ways, he is similar to ADC hyper carries who can demolish the entire enemy team because of their DPS. In fact, there are some instances when Veigar can be played in the bot lane instead of an ADC.

Passive – Phenomenal Evil Power

Veigar is the greatest Evil to ever strike at the heart of Runeterra – and he’s only getting bigger! Striking an enemy Champion with a spell grants Veigar a stack of Phenomenal Evil, giving +1 Ability Power permanently. Takedowns grant an additional 5 stacks.

This is the biggest reason why Veigar is a late game carry. Similar to the stacking mechanic on Nasus’ Siphoning Strike, the aptly named Phenomenal Evil Power also makes Veigar stronger but instead of increasing the damage on a single ability, this passive increases the damage on all of Veigar’s ability because of the increase in ability power. The best part is that this also INFINITELY stacks. So yeah just hitting an enemy with an ability can give you +1 ability power. Phenomenal Evil Power indeed.

Q – Baleful Strike

Unleashes a bolt of dark energy, dealing magic damage to the first two enemies hit. Killing a unit with this also grants Veigar a stack of Phenomenal Evil. Large minions and large monsters grant two.

Nothing too flashy about Baleful Strike. It gives you additional stacks for Phenomenal Evil Power and it can be spammed quite frequently. This is Veigar’s main offensive ability and can be incredibly powerful as early as 10 minutes into the game. 

W – Dark Matter

After 1.2 seconds, dark matter falls from the sky to the target location, dealing magic damage. Additionally, every 50 stacks of Phenomenal Evil reduces the cooldown of this ability by 10%.

This ability has very high burst damage. This can easily take out half of your opponent’s health when you have enough ability power. It has a pretty long range and a decent AoE as well. This is great for clearing minion waves and as an overall nuke when trading with your opponent.

E – Event Horizon

After a 0.5 second delay, Veigar twists the edges of space around the target area for 3 seconds, forming a pentagon of walls. Enemies who attempt to pass through the perimeter are stopped and stunned.

Veigar’s only form of crowd control. This is best used in tight spaces where your enemies don’t have much room to avoid it. This gives Veigar a lot of opportunities to set up a kill during ganks. It can be a little hard to land at first because there’s a delay, but once you get used to it, it’ll be an invaluable part of your combos.

R – Primordial Burst

Blasts the target with primal magic to deal magic damage, increasing based on the target’s missing health. Damage is maximized against enemies below 33% health.

Primordial Burst is exactly what it is. It’s a burst damage ability. It’s great for executing low health targets and securing kills. Never lead with this ability during a fight as it loses a ton of its damage. 

Runes and Item Builds

There’s not much to say about Veigar’s item builds. Your primary focus should just be stacking as much ability power as you can while avoiding magic items that have damage over time passives since Veigar won’t have much use for it. It’s also worth considering to pick up items that can help increase his overall survivability.

Starting Items

For starting items, Veigar has a lot of options. Out of these choices, the best items to start with are Doran’s Ring and a Health Potion. Doran’s Ring has everything Veigar needs in the early game like ability power, mana regeneration, and bonus damage against minions. The other two options are kind of situational. If you plan on including Archangel’s Staff into your build, then Tear of the Goddess is a good starting item. If you plan on having Mejai’s Soulstealer in your build, then you should start with Dark Seal instead.

Mythic Items

For your Mythic items, there are only two choices. If you want to play it safe and could use extra crowd control because you’re against a slippery opponent, you should purchase Everfrost. This gives you AP, health, mana, ability haste, and an active that deals magic damage and slows enemies in a cone. Not only that, enemies caught in the center of this active will be rooted. If you feel like you need more burst damage, Luden’s Echo would be the best choice for your Mythic. You can go with either one depending on your preference. If you were to ask us, the safer choice would be Everfrost.

Full Build

After purchasing your Mythic, the next item you should rush is Zhonya’s Hourglass. This item will increase Veigar’s survivability and help him outplay his enemies when they try to go all in on him. For boots, always go Sorcerer’s Shoes for the bonus magic penetration. Next, you can purchase Rabadon’s Deathcap to further increase your damage. Since you’ll be quite vulnerable, your next item should be Banshee’s Veil since it gives you both AP and magic resist plus a passive spell shield that blocks an ability that comes your way. Finish off your build with a Void Staff for additional magic penetration.

Other Viable Items

Since your focus on Veigar is just to build more damage, you can make a case for every AP item to be viable on him. The most notable items that can be used on him for certain situations are Mejai’s Soulstealer, Morellonomicon, and Archangel’s Staff. Mejai’s Soulstealer is a great item since it gives you more AP the more kills you get but it’s a little redundant because of Veigar’s passive Phenomenal Evil Power. You’ll have an abundance in AP anyway so you wouldn’t really need this item. Morellonomicon is great when enemies have a lot of heals because of its anti-healing properties thanks to Grievous Wounds. Archangel’s Staff is a great alternative item since it gives you a lot more mana to work with. Try to mix and match different items on Veigar and see what works for you.

Runes

For runes, you’ll go with the Domination tree and take Electrocute as your keystone. This will increase your burst damage every time you perform a combo. Next, take Taste of Blood, Eyeball Collection, and Ravenous Hunter. These runes will help increase Veigar’s healing and overall damage. For secondaries, take Manaflow Band for the mana regeneration, and Gathering Storm for that late game ability power increase. For rune shards take double Adaptive Force and either Magic Resist or Armor depending on your matchup.

Useful Tips

1. Veigar can be very mana dependent early on so you can’t spam your abilities as much. In the early game, try to use your abilities wisely instead of mindlessly throwing them out to help you build stacks for your passive.
2. Because he lacks mobility, Veigar is easily susceptible against assassins who can get close to him. Champions like Zed or Diana can counter him hard and should be banned in champ select if you plan on using him.
3. Veigar is very fragile so you should always take a defensive summoner spell with you. The standard set is to take Flash and Barrier. If you want some additional roaming power, you can swap Barrier with Teleport. Cleanse is also a good alternative especially when against a team with a lot of CC.

So there you have it! That’s all you need to know about playing Veigar in League of Legends. Be sure to check back with us again for more guides on your favorite games. Have fun and we’ll see you on the Rift!