These Veigar changes are coming up short
I've played a lot of Veigar. I love the evil little fuzzball. So I've been quite antsy to see these post-DFG changes.
I was at first kind of happy to see what Riot was going with for the first draft. They weren't obviously subjecting him to a total rework, and that was my main concern. But as I look them over and read others' comments…these just don't seem to add up.
The Nerf (DFG)
Veigar lost DFG. In and of itself, that's fine by me: I didn't like having to rush the same item every game, and I didn't like having to hit yet another button (especially given the way that ranges and spell-queuing can combine to make the game effectively ignore a button press). Obviously, though, it's a power hit: there's a reason why you rush it on Veigar. Or rather, there are a few.
- DFG made it much easier to get that first kill that ends his lane torment and gets him snowballing. Once you had DFG, if you set it up properly and your opponent was a little careless (as they often are after dominating you in lane and getting full of themselves), you could very often turn it into a kill, which helps you get another kill, and another.
- DFG significantly expanded the range of Champions that Veigar could potentially take out. Rather than just being able to blast squishies you catch out of position, DFG makes it possible to kill AD mids, or assassins/fighters who are leaning a bit tanky. This meant that you could potentially defend yourself from a tower dive if you hit with the edge and threw everything.
- DFG was basically a second ult. If fed, you could use EWQR to kill one squishy, and then later throw DFG+EWQ to blast another. (The risk, obviously, was that you'd come up a little short on that first squishy, and end up getting killed with nothing to show for it. It was a double-or-nothing move.)
- DFG also allowed you to get a stunless one-shot against especially squishy targets. By throwing DFG+Q+R at a squishy, you could kill them, while saving your stun to help your team. Again, a risky "double-or-nothing" kind of move. It also might let you fake out the enemy team, if they're watching for the ragecage: "hey, wait, where did Ashe go? I didn't see Veigar stun any-" (STUN) … YES! BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
All that goes away without DFG. So it's a pretty big power hit. It's too great an exaggeration to say that DFG's removal was comparable to a 20% reduction on Veigar's damage across the board. That's not quite true, but when you add in the 15% max health shred, and consider how much more important burst on a critical target is to Veigar than gradual damage on random targets of opportunity, I think it's not an unfair summary.
The changes
So, with that in mind, let's look at the changes.
http://i.imgur.com/NGQ4Bo6.png
Q - Baleful Strike Changed to a skill shot that stops on the second unit hit Grants 1 AP for each unit killed Range increased to 850 from 650 Cooldown changed to 7/6.5/6/5.5/5 from 8/7/6/5/4
If you can hit two Champions with it, then sure, that's a double-damage buff. Being a longer-ranged skillshot also might help with farming. I really don't know here; I haven't tried it, and I'm not sure how exactly it would play out. So, okay, sure. This seems vaguely "right", depending on how the skillshot works in practice.
http://i.imgur.com/PFX8Gp8.png
R - Primordial Burst AP Ratio reduced to 1.0 from 1.2 (Ratio on enemy's AP unchanged) Mana Cost flattened to 125 at all ranks from 125/175/225 Cooldown reduced to 120/100/80 from 130/110/90
Given how closely R was linked to DFG, I'm startled to see a damage nerf on this ability. They say that he ends up getting more q-farm, but even if he's getting an extra +100 AP each game, that doesn't really compare to the impact of DFG (15% max health and +20% not just to Primordial Burst but also to his other abilities, AND whatever your team adds on top).
I do like that they kept the enemy AP ratio on there. It's awkward given the rise of AD mids, but I always thought it was nice that Veigar hits extra-hard against the mage who bullied him in lane. Besides, going AD mid is costly in other ways.
http://i.imgur.com/spZ5Wzx.png
E - Event Horizon Has a 0.75 second delay with a warning particle before the walls appear Mana Cost decreased to 80/85/90/95/100 from 80/90/100/110/120 Cooldown reduced to 18/17/16/15/14 from 20/19/18/17/16 Range increased to 700 from 650
Wait, WHAT? Of all the changes, this gave me the greatest cause to doubt that Veigar mains were involved in the changes.
Don't get me wrong: I didn't like the emphasis on hitting with the edge, either. It was like trying to land a really awkward curved "skillshot" that still looked like you just pushed a button and instantly, effortlessly stunned your target—a really annoying combination, because it feels weak but looks OP. My least favorite part of Veigar matches was feeling like an idiot whenever I missed with the edge, which basically made the stun useless.
That said, a .75s delay? As others have said, that's like Cho's Rupture. Except longer. Does Riot not realize what most modern Champions can do to a tiny yordle mage in .75s? He can no longer stun an ulting Kat, or fight back against a tower dive. (As unpleasant as it was, at least with the old stun, a tower dive meant a quick round of "try not to freak out, and actually aim your stun while Zed slashes you to pieces".) Not only that, but this makes it much harder for Veigar to (e.g.) catch fleeing enemies.
There needs to be more to this. Some have suggested a slow-field inside the stun, for instance. Maybe make it actually stop dashes at the wall, rather than leaving them beyond the wall but stunned (which seems really counterintuitive). But yeah, something.
http://i.imgur.com/IDumGLK.png
W - Dark Matter Mana Cost reduced to 70/75/80/85/90 from 70/80/90/100/110 Cooldown reduced to 10/9.5/9/8.5/8 from 10 at all ranks
About the same, which again is problematic, in that before you were either hitting multiple targets without DFG (if you were really crafty and landed a stunless teamfight meteor) or else hitting one target with DFG.