Counter Guide

How to Beat Vex

Matchup Guide · Evergreen · 3 Counter Picks

Every time you dash near Vex, she marks you for it, and the next spell she lands cashes it in.

Vex's kit punishes mobile champions. Dash near her and you're marked with Gloom, and her next hit on you turns that into bonus damage and a shorter cooldown on her fear. For an Irelia or a Qiyana, that makes the lane miserable (both lose to her badly). Her weakness is the flip side. Against a champion who doesn't dash, half her passive has nothing to do, and a slow, immobile mage who out-ranges her is the matchup she handles worst. If you're wondering whether she's worth banning, check our solo queue tier list for this patch.

Matchup Snapshot Vex, the Gloomist

Where You Meet HerMid lane

Damage TypeMagic

Why She Is FrustratingEvery dash you make feeds her

MobilityHer ultimate's dash

Biggest ThreatShadow Surge [R]

Hardest CounterVeigar

What a Counter Needs

A kit that doesn't rely on dashing, so Gloom never gets going
Range past her Mistral Bolt [Q], or an answer to the Shadow Surge [R] dash

Patch 26.18 Matchup Data

Who Beats Vex on Patch 26.18

Best Picks Into Vex

Veigar1,662 games54.3%
Hwei1,010 games53.1%
Xerath1,368 games52.9%
Viktor2,187 games51.9%
Vladimir697 games51.9%

Picks Vex Beats

Aurora641 games40.9%
Qiyana712 games41.3%
Sylas2,361 games44.1%
Irelia1,148 games44.7%

Win rates are for the champion listed, in the mid lane against Vex. They come from Nerfplz's own ranked solo queue games on Patch 26.18, Silver and above, 56,304 Vex games in all. Only matchups that show up in at least 1% of those games are listed.

Vex Overview

Strengths: What Makes Her Dangerous

Doom 'n Gloom [Passive] fears on a timer. Every so often her next basic ability fears whoever it hits, for up to a second and a half at higher levels (it also knocks them down).
Dashing marks you. Any enemy who dashes or blinks near her gets Gloom, and hitting a marked target deals bonus damage and knocks a quarter off her fear's cooldown.
Shadow Surge [R] reaches across lanes. The missile flies 2000 to 3000 units and marks the first champion it hits. She can then recast it to dash straight to them (the dash can't be knocked aside). A takedown right after gives her the whole thing again for free.
Personal Space [W] punishes anyone who jumps on her. It shields her and hits everyone around her, with extra reach against anyone who's mid-dash.

Weaknesses: Where You Get In

Gloom does nothing to walkers. If you never dash, you're never marked, and her damage and fear timer both suffer for it.
The fear has a cooldown. Once she's used it, it's 25 seconds at level one before it's back (16 by the late game), minus whatever Gloom refunds.
The ultimate's dash can be stopped. She can't recast Shadow Surge [R] while she's rooted, and she can't dash to a target that's gone untargetable.
Her poke has a limit. Mistral Bolt [Q] travels 1200 units, and a few mages hit from farther than that.

Countering Vex

Any one of these will do:

Stop dashing near her. If your champion has a dash, keep it for when Vex is out of range or her fear's on cooldown (the Gloom check covers a big 1600-unit circle around her).
Trade right after the fear. Watch for the empowered spell. Once it's gone, you've got a long window with no fear coming.
Punish the landing. Shadow Surge [R] puts her right next to you. Crowd control on the spot she's about to land wins the exchange.

Already locked in on a dasher? You can still make it work.

Playing Into Vex Without a Counter

Walk up to trade instead of dashing in. It feels slower, but it keeps Gloom off you, and her damage drops with it.

When the Shadow Surge [R] missile hits you, you've got four seconds before the mark wears off. Move toward your team or your turret, because she's coming to you either way.

Respect Personal Space [W] when she's low. She can shield herself the moment you go in, so a kill that looks guaranteed often isn't (the shield's up for two and a half seconds).

Best Vex Counters

These three each beat her from a different direction. We'd go with whichever one you already know.

Veigar Cages the Landing

Veigar never dashes (he's got nothing to dash with), so Gloom never marks him. Vex loses her bonus damage and the fear refund for the whole lane.

Event Horizon [E] builds a cage that stuns anyone crossing its edge for up to 2.5 seconds. Vex's ultimate ends with her standing right beside her target, and a cage dropped on that spot as she arrives catches her there. Meanwhile, every spell Veigar lands on a champion adds to his ability power for good (and a takedown adds five more).

Xerath Wins at Range

Mistral Bolt [Q] travels 1200 units, and a charged Arcanopulse [Q] goes 1450. Xerath can poke her from a spot she can't hit back from, and his kit has no dash for Gloom to punish. When she commits with Shadow Surge [R], Shocking Orb [E] can stun her as she arrives.

Vladimir Sinks Out of the Surge

Sanguine Pool [W] makes Vladimir untargetable for two seconds, and it isn't a dash, so it doesn't earn him a Gloom mark. Vex can't recast Shadow Surge [R] onto an untargetable target. If she marks him, he can pool the moment she tries to follow, and she can't dash to him while he's under.

Transfusion [Q] heals him every time he hits her, and it's up every few seconds late in the game. Her poke has a hard time keeping up with that.

Itemizing Against Vex

Mercury's Treads shorten her fear by 30%, and the fear is the part of her kit that gets people killed. Banshee's Veil blocks the next ability that hits you, so she has to burn a spell before the real combo lands. Kaenic Rookern suits a lane where she pokes and backs off, since it rebuilds its magic shield after fifteen seconds without magic damage. On a fighter, Maw of Malmortius gives you a magic shield when her burst would otherwise drop you under 30%.