Veigar is an overpowered, God-tier mage who players should never pass up the opportunity to play.
Veigar is one of the only champions in League of Legends who can build infinite stacks of damage from his passive, another being Nasus, though Veigar’s passive is by far the most powerful of its type.
Players can accumulate stacks of static ability power from Phenomenal Evil Power (passive) by damaging enemy champions, securing takedowns against enemy champions, or by killing enemy minions by using Baleful Strike (Q) as long as the minions were last shot using Baleful Strike (Q).
Speaking of Baleful Strike (Q) itself is a directional ranged ability that deals damage to the first to enemies hit. Baleful Strike (Q) does not give priority to champions over minions and is best used for collecting stacks of Phenomenal Evil Power (passive), though it can also be used as a sneak attack against enemy champions, by first allowing it to pass through one enemy minion before ultimately damaging the intended champion.
Players in ARAM should prioritize damaging and securing kills on minions using Baleful Strike (Q) as getting stacks of Phenomenal Evil Power (passive) in the early-game will set Veigar players ahead of all other champions. Frankly, players can avoid the need to die and buy items for a good portion of the game simply due to how easy it is to build up stacks of Phenomenal Evil Power (passive).
Veigar players have access to an AoE spell called Dark Matter (W) that also scales with Veigar’s passive, though players should do their very best to avoid killing minions with it as using Baleful Strike (Q) will give them more benefits.
Dark Matter (W) works extremely well with Veigar’s Event Horizon (E) which places a circular cage on the ground, causing any enemies that try to pass through it to become stunned, including Tristana when she uses her Rocket Jump (Tristana’s W)
Finally, Veigar’s Primordial Burst (R) is a targetted ability that will deal more damage to enemy champions who are missing more maximum health.
Primordial Burst (R) is fairly short-ranged, however, if used on low health champions consistently, Primordial Burst (R) can be used to secure takedowns of the biggest threats on the enemy team, including tanks like Singed, Amumu, or Dr. Mundo.
Primordial Burst (R) is most effective on Assassins and Marksmen (ex. Tristana, Sivir, Ashe, Varus, Xayah, and Jhin) as many mages struggle with bursting down fast/rapid damage dealers, Veigar can fair a better chance by executing a quick combo.
Start off by placing an Event Horizon (E), throw in a Baleful Strike (Q), drop some Dark Matter (W), and finish off with a Primordial Burst (R). Hopefully, if you’ve built a good amount of Phenomenal Evil Power (passive) you will execute enemies immediately on a whim.
QUICK RUNDOWN:
SUMMONER SPELLS: Flash, Clarity/Heal [Defensive], Ignite/Exhaust [Aggressive]
RUNES: Dark Harvest, Taste of Blood, Eyeball Collection, Ultimate Hunter // Manaflow Band, Transcendence
ABILITY POWER UP: Q, W, E
FIRST BUY: Lost Chapter
BUILD ORDER: Luden’s Echo, Sorcerer’s Boots, Rabadon’s Deathcap, Zhonya’s Hourglass/Banshee’s Veil, Morellonomicon, Void Staff
SUMMONER SPELLS FOR VEIGAR IN ARAM
FLASH
Flash is a must when it comes to playing Veigar, simply due to the fact that it can be very tricky to escape as a mage, even with abilities that stun like Event Horizon (E).
While I wouldn’t recommend using Flash to get Veigar forward into battle, unless there are already teammates fighting, since all of Veigar’s abilities take a bit of time before they damage.
As awesome as Veigar is, he is no good at dealing quick damage, so as tempting as dropping a Primordial Burst (R) is, it might not work out in your favour.
CLARITY (IGNITE or EXHAUST)
Depending on how well players can control their mana and whether players are building Luden’s Echo or Archangel’s Staff, players may want to choose to take Clarity to keep their mana up in order to continuously damage enemies.
Realistically, Clarity isn’t the most aggressive or impressive summoner spell to have on your build, the most aggressive being Ignite and another helpful aggressive, yet defensive summoner spell being Exhaust.
If you’re ever building Archangel’s Staff, do not take Clarity… it makes absolutely no sense!
I like to choose Exhaust most frequently, simply due to the fact that it will slow down Assassins and Marksmen, who are Veigar’s biggest threats and can ensure that Veigar players have an equal opportunity bursting them down.
Ignite is more for that slow burn when enemies are already low on health and I wouldn’t really recommend taking it unless you’re regularly in close combat with enemies as Veigar (which really shouldn’t be the case.)
HEAL
If players are hoping to have a way to keep their health up or simply need another form of escaping, Heal may be the summoner spell for you.
Not only does Heal give players a good portion of their health back upon triggering the summoner spell, but Heal will also provide players with a healthy speed boost that can help them escape situations where they are about to be killed.
Heal is one of the most defensive summoner spell players can take unless they want to simply shield themselves using Barrier.
RUNE TREES FOR VEIGAR IN ARAM
Veigar plays like many other mages such as Morgana, Anivia, Brand, Heimerdinger, Karthus, Teemo, Zyra, Soraka, Ziggs, and Malzahar where he can either use domination runes or sorcery runes.
Domination/Sorcery tends to be more aggressive than Sorcery/Domination, especially if players are able to harvest a good amount of souls by securing enemy takedowns.
Sorcery/Domination is recommended for players who would like to build high amounts of Ability Power and have issues with keeping their mana up. Since players will not have access to Dark Harvest, players may notice a plateau of damage from building Sorcery/Domination.
DAMAGE HEAVY/BURST RUNES FOR VEIGAR (DOMINATION/SORCERY)
DARK HARVEST
Damaging champions below 50% deals 20-60 (+ 15% AP) damage based on your level. Each soul that you harvest adds +2 AP.
Players will only be able to collect souls every 45 seconds or can reset Dark Harvest’s cooldown to 1.5 seconds by being part of an enemy takedown.
Dark Harvest stacks should be fairly easy to collect on Veigar, especially with his Dark Matter (W) as it has a fairly large area of effect and is especially aggressive in tandem with Event Horizon (E).
Dark Harvest scales especially well when players build enough stacks of Veigar’s Phenomenal Evil Power (passive) as players should be able to quickly burst down enemies who are below 50% health.
TASTE OF BLOOD
Players will heal 18-35 (based on level) +10% AP when damaging enemy champions and has a cooldown of 15 seconds.
While Taste of Blood isn’t the most aggressive rune that players can take, Taste of Blood does provide players with a substantial amount of healing, which can be helpful in clutch situations.
I would recommend Taste of Blood over Cheap Shot, which is my usual recommendation, simply due to the fact that Veigar players do not have access to movement impairments as the only movement impairment is his Event Horizon (E) which both has a delay and doesn’t have the range players will want in order to place it effectively when trying to proc Cheap Shot.
Taste of Blood should be able to sustain Veigar’s health without the need of Ravenous Hunter or Rod of Ages, making Veigar’s build geared towards being more aggressive or damage focussed than other mages.
EYEBALL COLLECTION
Collect 1 Eyeball per champion takedown, up to 10. Each takedown will provide players with 2 AP. Once players have received 10 Eyeballs they will also receive an extra 10 AP.
Eyeball Collection is the only Rune you will be able to use in ARAM from this tier of Runes.
ULTIMATE HUNTER
Reduces the cooldown of the player’s ultimate ability by 5% (+4% per each unique champion killed) up to a maximum of 25% CDR at 5 stacks.
While I would usually take or recommend Ravenous Hunter on mages because of the healing it provides, Veigar players are going to want to have their ultimate off of cooldown as often as they can have it, simply due to how powerful it is.
Since Primordial Burst (R) has the ability to scale in damage based on how low on health enemy champions are players can effectively burst down enemy champions and will want to be able to access this ability a few times a minute for its full capabilities.
MANAFLOW BAND
Hitting enemy champions with an ability will permanently increase your maximum mana by 25 (cooldown 15 seconds), up to a maximum of 250 mana. Although players will receive an increase in the maximum mana they can have, proccing Manaflow Band will not provide an increase in your current mana.
Once players have capped out their maximum mana at 250 bonus mana, they will receive 1% of their missing mana every 5 seconds.
Veigar players can benefit from Manaflow Band especially if they do not build Archangel’s Staff or take Clarity as a summoner spell.
Manaflow Band can be replaced with Scorch if players want a bit of extra damage, though, players may notice that they are out of mana more frequently if they are extremely aggressive with their abilities.
TRANSCENDENCE
At level 10 players will receive 10% CDR and 2 AP for every 1% CDR that goes over the 40% cap (or 45% if using Cosmic Insight).
I love Transcendence on Veigar as it makes it much easier for players to deal more damage as they will easily be able to obtain 40% cooldown reduction.
SUSTAIN DAMAGE FOR VEIGAR (SORCERY/DOMINATION)
ARCANE COMET
Damaging enemy champions with an ability causes an Arcane Comet to be thrown at the enemy’s current location. The Arcane Comet can deal between 30-100 plus 20% AP. Damaging enemy champions with abilities will help reduce the cooldown of Arcane Comet, though the cooldown sits between 8-20 seconds based on player levels.
Although Arcane Comet can deal a decent amount of damage every 8 seconds, it is pretty easy for enemy champions to avoid it. Although Arcane Comet can be avoided fairly easily, if players have difficulty taking their enemies’ souls while trying to proc Dark Harvest, chances are they are going to do much more damage with Arcane Comet.
I’m not a big fan of Arcane Comet on Veigar as he doesn’t have a great amount of access to movement impairments, making Dark Harvest the better option for my playstyle as I don’t find it as difficult to collect Dark Harvest stacks.
MANAFLOW BAND
Hitting enemy champions with an ability will permanently increase your maximum mana by 25 (cooldown 15 seconds), up to a maximum of 250 mana. Although players will receive an increase in the maximum mana they can have, proccing Manaflow Band will not provide an increase in your current mana.
Once players have capped out their maximum mana at 250 bonus mana, they will receive 1% of their missing mana every 5 seconds.
Veigar players can benefit from Manaflow Band especially if they do not build Archangel’s Staff or take Clarity as a summoner spell.
Manaflow Band can be replaced with Scorch if players want a bit of extra damage, though, players may notice that they are out of mana more frequently if they are extremely aggressive with their abilities.
TRANSCENDENCE
At level 10 players will receive 10% CDR and 2 AP for every 1% CDR that goes over the 40% cap (or 45% if using Cosmic Insight).
I love Transcendence on Veigar as it makes it much easier for players to deal more damage as they will easily be able to obtain 40% cooldown reduction.
GATHERING STORM
Gain adaptive damage for every 6 minutes of gameplay. The stats are as follows: 0, 8, 24, 48, and 80 AP
Gathering Storm is especially powerful if you have Rabadon’s Deathcap, though it depends on whether you prefer Scorch or not. Scorch can seal some last hits, though Gathering Storm can provide more long-term sustain.
TASTE OF BLOOD
Players will heal 18-35 (based on level) +10% AP when damaging enemy champions and has a cooldown of 15 seconds.
While Taste of Blood isn’t the most aggressive rune that players can take, Taste of Blood does provide players with a substantial amount of healing, which can be helpful in clutch situations.
I would recommend Taste of Blood over Cheap Shot, which is my usual recommendation, simply due to the fact that Veigar players do not have access to movement impairments as the only movement impairment is his Event Horizon (E) which both has a delay and doesn’t have the range players will want in order to place it effectively when trying to proc Cheap Shot.
Taste of Blood should be able to sustain Veigar’s health without the need of Ravenous Hunter or Rod of Ages, making Veigar’s build geared towards being more aggressive or damage focussed than other mages.
Players can also take Eyeball Collection.
ULTIMATE HUNTER
Reduces the cooldown of the player’s ultimate ability by 5% (+4% per each unique champion killed) up to a maximum of 25% CDR at 5 stacks.
While I would usually take or recommend Ravenous Hunter on mages because of the healing it provides, Veigar players are going to want to have their ultimate off of cooldown as often as they can have it, simply due to how powerful it is.
Since Primordial Burst (R) has the ability to scale in damage based on how low on health enemy champions are players can effectively burst down enemy champions and will want to be able to access this ability a few times a minute for its full capabilities.
SKILL LEVEL UP RECOMMENDATIONS & TIPS ON HOW TO PLAY VEIGAR IN ARAM
BALEFUL STRIKE (Q)
Upon killing/last-hitting an enemy minion, players will receive 1 stack of Phenomenal Evil (equal to 1 Ability Power) and if players secure a kill against a large enemy minion they will receive 2 stacks of Phenomenal Evil.
Players will also receive a single stack of Phenomenal Evil for every enemy champion hit by it.
Players can use Baleful Strike every 7 / 6.5 / 6 / 5.5 / 5 seconds and will deal 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+60% AP) magic damage to the first two enemies hit.
Baleful Strike costs 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 mana to cast and should be used to focus low health minions as that will raise the chances of players building enough stacks of Phenomenal Evil to secure easier takedowns later on in the game.
Players should also always use Baleful Strike whenever enemy champions are in range in hopes of grinding stacks off of them.
I would recommend maxing out Baleful Strike first as it will raise the chances of you collecting Phenomenal Evil stacks by annihilating enemy minions.
DARK MATTER (W)
For the cost of 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 mana players can call down an AoE that lands after 1.25 seconds dealing 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 / 300 (+100% AP) to all enemies hit.
Dark Matter’s cooldown is a maximum of 8 seconds and the cooldown can be reduced by collecting stacks of Phenomenal Evil to as little as 0 seconds, though the average player will see this ability cooldown to 3-5 seconds depending on how skilled they are.
Players can also simply reduce the cooldown of Dark Matter by using pieces of gear that include cooldown reduction.
Dark Matter is by far the most powerful standard ability on Veigar, especially if players are against teams who clump regularly.
Dark Matter should be used regularly and powered up second as it will mostly be used against enemy champions in order to farm stacks of Phenomenal Evil (and obviously deal damage.)
Unlike Baleful Strike (Q) players cannot farm stacks of Phenomenal Evil when last-hitting enemy minions, meaning that the increased damage from Dark Matter’s power-up isn’t as important.
Since players also do not receive increased cooldown reduction from powering up Dark Matter, players don’t really get much more out powering it up other than static damage.
EVENT HORIZON (E)
For the cost of 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 mana players can place a cage that materializes in 0.5 seconds and lasts 3 seconds.
Event Horizon will knock down and stun all enemies that pass through its edges for 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 / 2.25 / 2.5 seconds.
Event Horizon is especially powerful against clumped up enemy champions and can be used every 18 / 16.5 / 15 / 13.5 / 12 seconds.
Players should try to place Event Horizon around enemy champions instead of placing the Event Horizon in front of enemy champions, as it will raise the chances of the ability stunning enemy champions.
Players should take notice of when enemies are about to engage or initiate as Event Horizon can commonly stop enemies from jumping on players.
Other than the extended stun, which I admit is very powerful, players have no real reason to power up Event Horizon early and can always rely on upgrading it last.
PRIMORDIAL BURST (R)
For the cost of 100 mana players can target an enemy champion dealing a minimum of 175 / 250 / 325 (+75% AP) magic damage and dealing 0-100% bonus damage based on target’s missing health.
Players can use Primordial Burst every 120 / 100 / 80 seconds and is best used when enemies are missing at least 67% of their maximum health.
The only issue I find with Primordial Burst is its fairly medium-short range. As powerful as it is, Primordial Burst is definitely an ability that players will have to get used to using.
GEAR BUILD FOR VEIGAR
LUDEN’S ECHO
90 Ability Power, 600 Mana, 20% Cooldown Reduction and can cause extra AoE damage to help proc Dark Harvest? Yes, please.
Luden’s Echo is remarkable for the amount of CDR it provides players and the huge amount of mana and damage.
Luden’s Echo is an absolute must when it comes to playing Veigar as Veigar’s abilities have fairly short cooldowns and Luden’s Echo is just going to provide him with that bit of extra damage.
Luden’s Echo is especially powerful on a Dark Harvest Veigar as it can assure that you harvest souls from all affected enemies.
SORCERER’S BOOTS
Sorcerer’s Shoes will provide players with magic penetration and movement speed.
RABADON’S DEATHCAP
Need to amplify all that sexy Ability Power? Grab Rabadon’s Deathcap for 120 AP with a 40% AP increase.
Rabadon’s works best with Gathering Storm, however, is just useful no matter what.
MORELLONOMECON
Morellonomicon will provide players will Ability Power, dealing 70 AP and giving players an extra 300 Health, which will also work very well with Liandry’s Torment.
Morellonomicon provides players with 15 Magic Penetration as well as Grievous Wounds for 3 seconds.
Morellonomicon is a must build for Veigar players, but when to build it will depend on who you are up against.
If you’re up against a team of tanky enemy champions or champions who do a lot of healing, I definitely recommend building Morellonomicon 3 or 4th. If not, build it whenever else you want or need it!
ZHONYA’S HOURGLASS OR BANSHEE’S VEIL
Zhonya’s Hourglass or Banshee’s Veil both provide players with a chunk of ability power and 10% cooldown reduction.
Zhonya’s Hourglass also provides players with armour while Banshee’s Veil provides players with magic resist.
VOID STAFF
It’s always great to have magic pen, especially if you’re up against a tanky team!
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