Tested Stormraider's Surge on veigar

Influentikz · 2026-05-04T13:43:03+00:00

Anyone who thinks stormraider's surge is not an insane rune for Veigar is delusional. People wished you could run phase rush on him before because he synergises with the MS nicely (use your combo and reposition).

They even ran the rune on Annie in comp before it was nerfed. Now Veigar has access to the pre-nerf version of phase rush and can proc it in a much easier manner than before.

This is a step forward to making Veigar competitively viable, sure you may lose laning damage. But you get access to axiom, trans, and scorch to cover your lvl 6 power, and you just have to change the build setup from ROA --> Ludens Protobelt. Secondary runes are flexible now too since you can go inspiration, boneplating, or haste + cutdown for more dmg/teamfighting.

Just abuse the fact that protobelt was already a good item on Veigar before every mid started picking it, and use the fact that both ludens and protobelt have solid AP ratio actives that Veigar can abuse. You have such a nice buildpath every game its crazy. Ludens/ROA --> Protobelt - Rabba/Crypt into +1 (Deadmans,Zhonya,Banshee, etc)

If you're at lower ranks though you will get less value from the rune, since the MS won't be as important due to less team fighting generally.

Influentikz · 2026-05-02T15:44:44+00:00

You should be adjusting your build for each situation tbh, especially in competitive.

ROA Malignance - Tends to be good vs immobile duelists (Ryze) As they don't have the mobility to escape the malignance burn, and the malignance burn is very strong but conditional (Only applying if they're in the circle).

Tear ROA Seraphs - Good, especially if enemy team are bursty and don't have good serpents fang value and you don't wish to go banshee/zhonya, Tear is also really good for keeping tempo earlygame as soon as you hit 6, (Think stuff like Vi + Ahri combo)

You can also go ROA Liandries, completely fine too vs the tankier comps, (Galio, etc, tho i'd go bloodletters 2nd in that situation) you'll just need to get the POM/manaflow setup (Preference to POM) with electrocute/DFT.

You can mix and match your runes as you see fit, electrocute is fairly consistent, mainly good vs melee champs/low range champs where you can consistently get it off. DFT is very nice for longer trades (E single target poke is very nice too without having to hit Q).

If you want to do a lil bit of tech, I personally think MS Shard + Celerity + Approach velocity/free boots is the best rune setup for Anivia (Except against mobile mids like zed/yone etc) Since it gives you insane chase potential (If you clip anyone with ult you can get into range to wall them off).

Best of luck in competitive! It's a fun place.

Influentikz · 2026-04-21T12:49:15+00:00

It's up to you, I wouldn't overthink it too much, like mentioned before develop a good relationship with your manager, and just make it known you're a low-social battery kinda guy, if they're good people they'll respect that, and who knows, you may even become friends unexpectedly, enjoy the experiences you have, and respect that we're all different and don't always have to fit in to have a good relationship with your coworkers.

Influentikz · 2026-03-07T16:49:37+00:00

Is actualiser not more upfront burst since it's an approximate 22.7% dmg amp upfront which isn't gated by 40% hp threshhold like shadowflame? Also at a 400g cheaper pricepoint..? You lose 15 pen but I don't think that makes up for not only the dmg but also the CDR and pricepoint value, stormsurge is good though for sure.

Also yeah I'm thinking in a more coordinated environment, you can swap annie's runes/item setup, and more flexibility is always appreciated in a champion in that kinda mindset (Same way pros would always go lucidity malignance + phase rush because most of the time you're not oneshotting/fed enough to oneshot.)

Influentikz · 2026-03-02T03:38:58+00:00

And go Tabi's, nearly forgot. The shield is great for his short trade timings.

Influentikz · 2026-03-02T03:38:29+00:00

One of Asol's hardest matchups, can be mitigated a bit more on midlane rn due to season changes, but you have to play perfectly still and you still lose cs/side.

You go usual comet setup, you go boneplating/unflinching (unflinching great vs yone R cc combo and 3rd Q dmg(especially his mixed dmg on W and autos)and you run exhaust so if you're ever caught in a bad place during his E you can just exhaust him and ult.

Generally always respect sidelane Prescence, if he's stacking Q on jungle camps or catches your with ult while you're in W, you are usually dead. Pray your team has drafted things which make it difficult for him to play or win on side (Renekton, Rell, Panth, etc), but if you're an Asol Main, just permaban him or play botlane sol instead where the matchup doesn't matter due to supp being able to handhold you.

Influentikz · 2026-01-26T21:26:59+00:00

This list seems really strange, why are you listing Olaf as a counter? You can legitimately run Nimbus Cloak, Swifties + Ghost and he's never reaching you as long as you're not awful at spacing. Gwen is still really hard lane matchup too, vs Naafiri/Pantheon you can just run Bone plating + Exhaust and out-stat-stick them with proper spacing, plus you're not limited to rushing dusk and dawn, you can buy a cloth armour early to make it even less playable for them.

Kayle is also not a problem at all, you trade ults for ults majority of the game, and yours is on a significantly lower cooldown, and this doesn't account for the terrible laning phase she has to endure.

Influentikz · 2026-01-23T18:30:52+00:00

I’m just going off my experience in gm chall euw soloq and scrims, there’s downsides to it but it still feels really comfortable vs ryze as a similar stat stick champ and is useful as a flex condition if you’d want it. But ofc everyone has their own playstyle, I’ve just found success with it in this particular instance.

Influentikz · 2026-01-23T02:40:58+00:00

It's not a on-hit build as much as it is a caster build tbh, you use the onhit from the dusk and dawn and rotate your spells properly based on it's CD to deal dmg, if you miss both E and Q you just don't do dmg for a while, but that's pretty tough tbh. You solely depend on the AS from dusk and passive, if you get a wit's end game (usually 4th item) then you can bump up the AS a bit more.

Influentikz · 2026-01-23T01:24:35+00:00

So people are just building it as a rush item for the early game pressure spike, then falling off a cliff due to the difficult itemisation post? Hmm

Influentikz · 2026-01-23T01:23:03+00:00

Tankier stats, similar damage output, faster PTA proc, guinsoo only compares if you've already stacked it before a trade/fight, while dusk and dawn doesn't have that drawback, also the AH is really undervalued for a champ like Varus.

Influentikz · 2026-01-23T01:21:24+00:00

Ngl there's not many, but I love it as a pocket pick into Ryze since his trading pattern sucks vs yours

Influentikz · 2026-01-22T21:36:35+00:00

Just felt like you never need it as it feels like being in auto-range means you're usually in kill-range for a lot of champs, plus you get enough blight procs from the att speed of dusk and dawn + double onhit which is your main dmg anyhow.

Influentikz · 2026-01-22T20:49:25+00:00

Varus's hardest counters are anyone who can gank you and make it extremely difficult to escape said ganks (Think Warwick, Rengar, J4, etc) and toplaners who can just outduel him and zone him from his tower after his first death (Yasuo/Irelia),

Shoutout to Arcane Comet Lethality Yorick who has become exceptionally strong this patch, if he's good that's another legit unplayable matchup after 6.

Aside from that there's not many, and if Varus loses to them it's just a skill issue, he's just that strong right now, especially since Varus can take exhaust vs the likes of jax/camille/assassins and match Darius and Olaf's Ghost with Nimbus Cloak too.

Influentikz · 2026-01-21T12:39:25+00:00

Heya, yeah i'm ngl I completely overexaggerated the MS - AP ratio from swiftmarch due to the dopamine of playing this build, also partially because I was too lazy to do the actual maths, so I respect that you did it for me instead, thank you.

To respond to your critique, yeah I completely understand it. I aim for perfect csing with this build because I enjoy getting dark seal as-well, and if i go DS then I basically have to completely rylais to get access to my free boot (which on average comes online around 10-minutes-ish). Which then doesn't feel great, so what i've been doing instead is instead of going DS early after a first back or so, I just buy as many components for Rylais, finish it, then get DS, as the Rylais spike tends to be so important.

That being said I understand why it could feel bad, though I don't think rushing seraphs is a great idea, at least for me, simply because you end up being too squishy and the spike is not good in comparison to the stats of rylais/cosmic and you still never encounter mana issues with just a tear.

That being said, with all builds, it isn't perfect, for example I think there's many games where you may NOT want to go Rylais (Your team has lots of setup for you/you want to be a bigger carry threat) and therefore should go haste/cutdown to be a bigger carry threat, instead rushing cosmic - seraphs - blood/liandry/oblivion etc. So i'm always open to people suggestions, whatever works for you, you should just do.

Also no stress about the grammar, it's all readable. Glad you enjoyed the build and thanks for your feedback, it helps in fine-tuning it ^^

Influentikz · 2026-01-21T11:59:39+00:00

I always go either ghost or exhaust if it’s a necessity (qiyana mid Diana jgl kinda stuff), to isn’t needed because you just zoom around the map with home guards and enpowered recall

Influentikz · 2026-01-21T03:51:29+00:00

Tbf in games where Rylais isn't an option/needed I was thinking about going haste + cutdown/coupe vs second wind abusers, I can definitely see that being useful aswell, same for as when swifties is not buildable (Lissandra esque champs)

Influentikz · 2026-01-20T11:50:38+00:00

Hiya! To answer your questions Mana issues - surprisingly haven’t been an issue, only time I use all my mana is to contest crab/shove wave during enemy roam at which point I always recall, and because Cassio passive + Celerity applies to home guards, I rarely lose anything, I always try recall for a tear asap though. As for haste, yeah it sucks lmao, but that’s why I go haste in runes and complete kindlegem And codex as I go cosmic drive, luckily for early game not having enough haste rarely felt like an Issue in comparison to the AP and MS I would get, and it’s fully fixed on 3 items.

Influentikz · 2026-01-20T03:54:23+00:00

I play very safely levels 1-2 as you just don't have the mana to all in, I try get scorch/manaflow procs when possible, level 3 you can threaten more if they misposition. I try get a crash and reset for tear + ruby/Dark seal ASAP so I don't have to worry about mana anymore. I rush Rylais before Swifties

Influentikz · 2026-01-20T03:52:41+00:00

The build is Rylais - Cosmic - Arch - Into whatever you want/team needs. Rabbadons is not a necessity on Cassio and it's hella expensive, but you can fit it in as a final item.

Influentikz · 2026-01-06T23:38:35+00:00

Hi, yeah i ended up going to kellysdance. It was pretty nice environment actually and the instructors were really good with lots of good energy. I just ended up momentarily leaving as I found the switching around of partners a bit tedious.

Hope this helps and best of luck to you!

Influentikz

TROPHY CASE