Overview
If you are my age, then you also went through an emo phase in school in the aughts. Vex is a champion that embodies the cringiest moments of those years and then turns those memories into nukes that she throws on Summoner’s Rift. She’s got extremely great pick potential and can disrupt fights at all points in the game -- enemies who doze off for even a second may find themselves quickly deleted. Click here for the latest data on her best builds, including Runes, Items, Summoner Spells, and more.
Keys to Remember About Vex
Vex's biggest draw is her playmaking potential with Shadow Surge [R], which means you should constantly be looking for picks with it. You can catch enemies who are taking recalls or rotating through their own jungle off guard if you are able to get deep vision on them. It's also great at diving lower health enemies under turret as long as you have support from your team.
You can also be extremely disruptive with engages for team fights thanks to your passive providing an AoE fear when combined with your ultimate -- enemies that clump are just asking for you to jump on them, but be careful that it's still within range for your team to actually follow up.
Strengths
Vex has a pretty straight forward kit in terms of being able to dump damage onto enemies. Her biggest strength is the pick potential on Shadow Surge [R], which can allow her to jump onto enemies at extremely long distances. This is best paired with great vision control that allows you to catch people rotating through their jungle or trying to recall in a greedy spot. It also lets you start fights whenever you want throughout the game, which can be paired with Zhonya’s Hourglass to bait enemies into sticking around for a fight. She also has good wave clear early, which means it’s easy to push waves and then disappear into fog of war to threaten enemy side lanes.
Weaknesses
Tracking her Doom n’ Gloom [P] can be an awkward experience for players unaccustomed to her, which might cost you a chance to land a big fear on multiple members with your Shadow Surge [R], for example. And while Personal Space [W] and the fear on the passive gives her great defensive utility, she can still struggle against champions with high mobility who can repeatedly jump on her. Without mobility tools, she can be ran down in long lanes or by long range CC.
Game Plan
Early Game: Mistral Bolt [Q] is great for hitting both the minion wave and enemy champions simultaneously, so look to angle yourself properly for that. Your goal is to generally control the wave and then roam once you can clear it quickly.
Mid Game: You want to continue pushing whatever lane you’re responsible for and then roam around and look for picks with Shadow Surge [R].
Late Game: The plan remains the same as in the mid game, though you can also look for big team fight engages if you’re able to land your ult into a clump of enemies with your passive ready.
