Months later and Veigar still isn't forgotten

This is just some background information. Main article starts later.

I'll say this first, because i would like to make it clear. I am not a highly skilled player. In fact, I am honestly quite bad. I do (or did), however have a strong grasp on LoL and was highly analytical of LCS and other pro scenes. I just was not very capable of operating and employing that knowledge in game. Heat of the moment I guess.

Secondly, I mained Veigar ever since I started the game. It was back in season 2 and all my friends would talk about how he was only "okay" but could be mastered. And I played the poop (substituting harsh language :P) out of him. For years I played him and learned his match-ups. I would even say I got to the point of being a decent Veigar player, when my overall mechanics were poor. I just knew the character and how to play him. But my point is, I may be a little biased, but i really do try my best to remain objective here.

DFG was removed in patch 5.2 and most players agree with it, including myself. Obviously some champions suffered from its removal, and to a degree, Veigar did, but overall he was still playable and in only a slightly worse spot.

Anyways, Veigar received some.....changes... in 5.4. And with only a few extra games played with him, I actually quit LoL. Not a sob story, but he was butchered. I came back for a small period because the next few patches had some nice buffs: stun will stop dashes and Q got longer range and moves faster. But it really was just not enough. Recently I have tried a few more games with him due to peer pressure, but he is just not a good champion. Because i am in a low skill setting, I can win with him. I get free farm and can burst people with Q-R. My friends would say, "See, he is still good." But its obvious that they are wrong. My opponents are bad, not "I am good."

So where am i going with this? Honestly, I am not sure. I don't expect anyone to really read all of this and I certainly don't expect Riot to. But I guess it makes me feel a little better throwing in my two cents.

MAIN ARTICLE As someone who had always enjoyed the game, I know change is always around the corner. I was there when Jinx could literally be played any position and succeed with ease (even jungle). So the attention brought to Veigar by the Korean scene as support brought to light something we all already knew. Veigar's stun was broken. It was a .25 second delay (no indicator), AoE, 2.5 second stun. Yeah it had high mana costs, but that really wasn't an issue. It was NOT dodge-able.

I compare it to Nasus and his W, wither. We all knew how amazing it was, but Nasus was not good in high level play. He was easily bullied out of lane and made pretty much useless. But he found a spot as a jungler, and people began to realize just how broken it was (95% Attack speed and move speed reduction at max rank). So it was nerfed and he has seen very little competitive play since, except for a few niche times. And I think this is perfect. Nasus was never meant to be a mainstream top laner or jungler, but he is still viable in certain match-ups. And since his nerfs, he has surfaced with success against other farm heavy, late game tanks that could not bully him out (Mundo mainly). So while he still is a problem in low skill levels, he is not seen much in pro/ high level play because they know how to deal with him.

I would like to point out though that i said he is not seen much in high level play. There are still times where he is an optimal pick. If the enemy is setting up for a late game comp, merely meant to survive the early game, Nasus is an ideal counter-pick. And this will happen in top level play.

Back to Veigar. We would see Veigar every now and again in competitive play as a mid lane counter pick before season 5. Pretty much only once a split, if that. But it did happen. Once people began to abuse his stun, things needed to be changed. And honestly, a lot of people, while not being supportive, were understanding of the situation. Unlike Nasus, though, Veigar's kit was based around his stun. Nasus can still q farm and q others even with his nerfed W. Veigar had another skill designed to only hit champions that were stunned. Other than that, it was wave clear and a brush checker. But Riot did what they could. The changes have since not been received well. Some claim he is better now than before, but for the most part, he is agreed to be worse off.

MOST IMPORTANT PART The biggest thing is that no high level player has agreed with the changes. A user known as CrestKnight has done a good job speaking of this.

> {quoted} > > veigar has < 30% win rate in master+ since patch 5.4, 0% in the last month (picked 4x and won 0).
> > its because people recognize his weaknesses at that level (to dive champions and poke(no regen/spell vamp and low health pool)... and assassins) and people who are capable of forcing him out of lane entirely to miss cs, it severely gimps him when he doesn't have his farm. > > its so easy to deny a veigar or just towerdive and pop him from 100-0. > > because his stun isn't instant, he can not do anything other than flash, tower intimidation, team peels, or die. there is no wiggle room, he has no outplay mechanic. he is team reliant now more than ever. > > > this should clear things up - dabox quit. > bjergsen who occasionaly played veigar in ranked hasn't played him at all since 5.4, has stated who the meta champs were (zed and viktor being the strongest) and urgot was a niche pick to counter those dive assassins, and several others were sub par but could accomplish things. veigar didn't make the list (among 15mid laners he mentioned). > > other players like scarra, hotshotgg, pobelter, faker, XWX, all have stopped playing him entirely.

This is the most convincing argument I hear. With Riot now an Official sport in the USA, I would assume they would listen to the professionals that study the game as much, maybe even more, than the actual programmers and creators. And with Veigar seeing almost no play in high skill levels, and others out right ditching him, it should speak volumes as to where he really stands. It should really be heard when professionals and challenger players speak outright against the changes. DaBox was renowned for his Veigar, but he literally saw no way of making this new version work.

Veigar is likely up for an update sometime in 2016 (at least a visual update), and maybe they have something planned, but no high level player sees a reason to pick him as he stands.

Conclusion Veigar needs some change. He currently is very "punish" heavy, meaning he capitalizes on others making mistakes. And while having a degree of this is essential to all champions, making one that relies solely on this is poor design. Veigar needs something to be able to create plays and survive on his own.

Thank you for your time. I would love to hear feedback on this.

If a Red commented on this, it would be amazing, but i understand that Riot needs to be very careful with this issue. Not to mention, sadly, Reds get attacked by the fanboys whenever they do speak, so perhaps it is just better to remain mute on this issue.

-BucKeTz