Veigar is one of the oldest mages in League of Legends. Yet he’s a threat to many mid lane and bot lane picks in the game simply because of how powerful his kit is.
And so, all LoL players must know how to counter Veigar if they want to climb in solo queue, regardless of their elo.
Veigar has a combination of burst damage and AoE crowd control that allows him to dominate team fights and carry the late game.
But Veigar has no mobility, requires lots of farming, and struggles to slay mobile champions. So, exploiting these weaknesses may help you counter Veigar in League.
Of course, things aren’t always so simple. And every Veigar player pilots the champion differently.
However, you must know the fundamentals of playing against Veigar in LoL if you want to have the best chance of beating him each game.
That said, let’s talk about everything that counters this champion and learn how to actually beat Veigar in League of Legends!
How to Beat Veigar in League of Legends? (Veigar Counter Strategies)
Since there’s so much to be said about how to win against Veigar in League, I’ve broken it all down to the most useful tips you can start implementing today.
So, if you struggle to win games against Veigar, this is what you can do.
Understand Veigar’s Abilities (Veigar’s Abilities Explained)
Here’s a quick rundown of how Veigar’s ability kit works in League of Legends.
This information is crucial for knowing what this champion can do to you at any point in the game.
Veigar’s passive – Phenomenal Evil Power allows him to stack bonus ability power when he slays minions with Q or hits an enemy champion with one of his abilities.
In other words, Veigar can increase his AP without even buying items. And there’s no cap on how much bonus AP he can get. So, the longer the game goes on the stronger Veigar gets.
The Q – Baleful Strike is a simple bolt ability that does damage to the first two enemies hit. It travels in a single lane and gives Veigar one stack of AP per minion slain or champion hit.
His W – Dark Matter is a spell Veigar casts at a target location. After a brief delay, this ability strikes the ground dealing damage to all enemies in the area.
The thing you have to remember about Veigar’s W is that it has 100% AP ratio. This means that the spell will always do high damage, no matter if Veigar has items or not.
So, always try to dodge Veigar’s W!
Veigar’s E – Event Horizon is the large cage he uses to trap enemies inside. And it stuns everyone that touches the walls of the cage, both from inside and outside.
Event Horizon is what allows Veigar to counter many champions in League of Legends. And if he stuns you with it, he can quickly one-shot you.
And Veigar’s R – Primordial Force is the most dangerous ability in Veigar’s kit. It’s a simple point-click spell that does a massive amounts of damage, especially to enemies on low HP.
Veigar players usually cast Primordial Force last and use it as a finisher. So, don’t stick too long when you’re fighting Veigar because his ulti can slay you even if you have 50% health.
That’s how Veigar’s abilities work in League of Legends.
Be Very Aggressive Against Veigar in the Laning Phase
Now that you know how Veigar’s abilities work and that he’s a late game carry, it’s time to talk about how to actually win against him.
And the first thing you can do to beat Veigar in LoL is to stop him early on.
If you have some experience of playing in lane against Veigar, you’ve probably noticed that all Veigar players are generally passive. They don’t fight too much early on and prefer to farm instead. And this is because they want to stack Veigar’s passive and get more AP.
So, you can’t allow Veigar to farm freely during the laning phase. You must harass him and poke him as often as possible, preferably every time he goes for stacking minions with Q.
Veigar’s damage before level 6 isn’t very high, so don’t be afraid to go for trades or all-ins.
If you can’t slay Veigar with your champion, another useful strategy is to force him to stay under his tower and roam around.
To do this, you need to shove the minion wave fast enough and immediately start moving. And this has two benefits.
First, it makes it so Veigar misses a few minions on his turret, so he has less stacks on his passive. And second, Veigar isn’t a great roamer and he can’t follow you to the bot lane if you push him first.
So, you must play aggressively against Veigar early on!
Play Assassins or Other Mobile Champions
Veigar’s biggest counters in League of Legends are assassin champions. And the reason for this is that assassins have all the right tools for countering Veigar.
First of all, every assassin has a strong level 2 or level 3 burst. For example, Zed and Fizz can both assassinate Veigar on level 3 if they play well enough.
Because of this, you can play very aggressively during the laning phase with an assassin. We already covered why putting pressure on Veigar in the early game is good, so playing an assassin is always a good strategy.
And second, almost all assassins in League of Legends have dashes or other ways to escape Veigar’s E. And that is the biggest counter for Veigar in LoL!
Veigar depends on his E to make his targets stationary. And when they’re stunned, he can cast W>Q>R quickly and one-shot them.
However, if you escape Veigar’s wall with Katarin’s E, Zed’s W, Fizz’s E, and similar other spells, Veigar can’t do any damage to you.
So, if you’re an assassin player, Veigar shouldn’t be too much of a problem for you.
Read Also: Top 5 Best ADCs Against Assassins
Build Magic Resist and Spell-Block Items
I already mentioned that avoiding Veigar’s E is the best thing you can do against this champion. He’s a short-ranged mage and if he can’t stun you, you can always dodge his burst.
However, if you’re playing a champion with no dashes and jumps, you simply must build spell-block items!
In League of Legends, there are only two spell-block items – Edge of Night and Banshee’s Veil. The first one is for AD champions and the second for AP.
Both these items give you a magical shield that negates the first ability that hits you, including Vegiar’s E. This means that if you have Banshee’s Veil or Edge of Night, you can walk through Veigar’s cage and not get stunned.
Banshee’s Veil even gives you a bit of magic resist which leads me to my next point – build a lot of magic resist early on.
Since Veigar’s AP grows regardless of his items, he always has a good amount of damage. So, buying your defensive items earlier will help you survive his burst and not feed him.
One good tip is to always build Mercury’s Treads against Veigar, regardless of what you’re playing. These boots give you enough magic resist for the laning phase, but also tenacity.
Tenacity helps you break out of Veigar’s stun faster, so they’re the best boots to get here.
Read Also: How to Counter Leona as an ADC and Support
The Best Champion Counters for Veigar (Which Champions Counter Veigar?)
Fizz
Does fizz counter Veigar?
Fizz is probably the biggest counter for Veigar in lane. He has everything that’s good against Veigar. Fizz can dodge all of Veigar’s damage while Veigar is the perfect target for Fizz’s all-in.
Fizz’s E – Playful/Trickster allows him to jump over Veigar’s E. However, this ability also lets you avoid the damage from all of Veigar’s abilities, including his ultimate!
Fizz is a very mobile champion and can always catch up to Veigar or escape him if he needs to. He has a lot of damage early on and can pressure Veigar into being extremely passive and irrelevant.
Read Also: Top 15 Best Off-Meta ADCs
Zed
How do you counter Veigar as Zed?
Zed is another champion that works very well against Veigar.
First of all, you can use Zed’s W – Living Shadow to jump over Veigar’s wall. And just like Fizz’s E, Zed’s R – Death Mark can be used to dodge the damage from Veigar’s ultimate.
When it comes to the laning phase, Zed has a lot more advantages than Veigar. For example, his damage is much higher early on and he can assassinate Veigar as soon as level 3.
One thing you need to remember is to buy items like Edge of Night and Maw of Malmortius when you play against Veigar. They help out a lot!
Read Also: Top 5 Best Champions Like Zed
Akali
Does Akali counter Veigar?
Akali is a very strong counter to Veigar in League of Legends. She has multiple dashes and can easily dodge Veigar’s stun.
But her W – Twilight Shroud also allows her to completely avoid Veigar’s damage by staying invisible.
Playing Akali into Veigar should never be a problem if you’re an experienced Akali player. Sure, the first few levels might be tough, but you can always go for a fight once you reach level 3.
On the other hand, Akali has a more tanky build than most assassins in League. This means that getting one-shot by Veigar is pretty unlikely.
So, Akali vs. Veigar is in favor of Akali!
Ekko
If you want a champion that always counters Veigar in the mid lane, I’d recommend you to go for Ekko.
With Ekko’s R, you can dodge Veigar’s ult and get out of his cage. This ability can be used to heal up or do damage which is also easy to do versus Veigar (if he’s slowed, he can’t dodge Ekko’s R).
Ekko is really a safe counter for Veigar. He has an easier playstyle and he’s pretty forgiving.
So, even if you dive Veigar under his turret and fail to slay him, you can always get out with your R button.
Katarina
Katarina is an amazing Veigar counter. She is the complete opposite of Veigar and has all the right tools for the job of punishing him.
First of all, Katarina’s E – Shunpo is the best spell for countering Veigar’s E. It’s a point-click jump that always gets you out of Veigar’s cage without a scratch.
Second, Katarina is a slippery champion and can avoid Veigar’s damage. This is especially true for a good Katarina player that knows where to jump and how to reset Shunpo.
And lastly, Katarina has enough damage to threaten Veigar at all stages of the game. No matter whether you are level 6 or 16, Katarina can always assassinate Veigar in LoL!
Read Also: Top 7 Best Champions Like Katarina
Yasuo
Does Yasuo counter Veigar?
Yasuo can be a great counter pick for Veigar in the mid lane. Besides his dashes (super-useful for dodging Veigar’s Q, W, and E), Yasuo has his W – Wind Wall to block Veigar’s ultimate.
On top of that, Yasuo is an AD champion and has access to a lot of great attack damage items.
For example, he can build Immortal Shieldbow which makes it practically impossible for Veigar to burst him down. And the same can be said for items like Death’s Dance.
Sivir
If you’re facing a bot lane Veigar, one of the best ADCs for countering him is Sivir.
And it’s obvious why Sivir works so well against Veigar. She has a spell shield on her E button which makes Veigar’s cage practically useless. And as long as Sivir has her E, Veigar can’t stun her.
Additionally, Sivir has a long-ranged playstyle with the lethality build. So, she doesn’t even need to get near Veigar to deal damage to him. And that complicates things for Veigar!
Lastly, Sivir can speed up all of her allies to either catch up to Veigar or dodge his CC/damage.
Read Also: Lethality Sivir Build Guide
Ezreal
And another ADC that has a similar playstyle to lethality Sivir and counters Veigar in the bot lane is Ezreal.
Ezreal’s E – Arcane Shift lets you jump over Veigar’s cage. And it’s even better than Katarina’s Shunpo because you don’t even need a target in order to use the ability.
Much like Sivir, Ezreal can deal damage to Veigar and poke from range. All of his abilities require aiming, but they allow you to stay in a safe spot while dealing damage.
If worst comes to worst, Ezreal can always build counter items when he’s against Veigar. This includes AP and AD items.
Read Also: AP Ezreal Build Guide
The Best Items Against Veigar (Items that Counter Veigar)
Even though I mentioned most of the items that counter Veigar already, I’ll go over them once again and explain why you should build them.
And if you’re up against Veigar and you need to stop him, don’t hesitate to delay your core item build. Go for one of the items in this below and don’t allow him to scale for the late game!
Read Also: The Best Items Against Vayne
Banshee’s Veil
If you’re playing an AP champion into Veigar, the item you should prioritize the most is Banshee’s Veil.
Not only is this item great for countering Veigar’s stun, but it also gives you magic resist. And with the bonus magic resist, you’ll be able to survive Veigar’s burst damage.
Banshee’s Veil gives a spell shield that blocks the first incoming ability. This can be any of Veigar’s damaging spells as well as his stun.
Edge of Night
Edge of Night is the equivalent of Banshee’s Veil but for AD champions.
Instead of magic resist and ability power, Edge of Night grants you bonus health and attack damage. It makes you a bit tankier, so it’s a useful item to have.
Edge of Night has the same effect as Banshee’s Veil – it gives you a shield that will block the next ability. And with it, you can walk through Veigar’s stun.
Crown of the Shattered Queen
Crown of the Shattered Queen is a fantastic mythic item for all AP champions in the game. It’s a defensive option for countering assassins and burst mages such as Veigar.
With Crown, you’ll also have a shield on yourself. However, this shield doesn’t block the effect of the next ability. Instead, it reduces the incoming damage.
But the great thing about Crown of the Shattered Queen is that you can never get one-shot as long as you have the shield on. So, definitely use that against Veigar!
Immortal Shieldbow
Immortal Shieldbow is the AD version of Crown of the Shattered Queen. It’s an anti-burst item specifically made for ADCs, but many fighter champions use it too.
With Immortal Shieldbow, you’ll get a shield if you drop to low HP. This will help you against Veigar’s R and allow you to soak up the damage.
Remember, Veigar players usually cast R when you’re on low health. But the shield from Immortal, the ability can’t really slay you.
Maw of Malmortius
Maw of Malmortius isn’t a mythic item but it’s as useful as one, especially when you play an AD champion into Veigar.
What Maw of Malmortius does is that it gives you a magic shield that only blocks magic damage when you drop below 30% HP. This shield activates automatically, so you can keep on fighting.
Additionally, Maw gives you 50 magic resist! This can be a huge advantage for you, especially if you purchase this as a second item.
Quicksilver Sash
Quicksilver Sash is an anti-CC item in League of Legends. Its active allows you to break free from most crowd control effects in the game, including Veigar’s stun.
I’d say that QSS is a must-have item against Veigar for any ADC in the game. It doesn’t have the biggest cooldown and it’s super-useful when it comes to team fights.
You can upgrade QSS into Mercurial Scimitar or Silvermere Dawn. The first one gives you more damage while the second makes you a bit tankier.
Conclusion
That was all on how to counter and beat Veigar in League of Legends! All of these tips should be combined together if you want to increase your chances at winning against Veigar in each match.
Of course, some Veigar players are better than others and they’re aware of their champion’s weaknesses. In these games, it won’t be so easy to counter Veigar.
But if you do what I told you in this guide, you’ll be in a very good position to carry against him.
That said, I hope you found this post informative and helpful.
Good luck against Veigar!