TL;DR
- Vex’s passive punishes mobile champions with fear and bonus damage on dashers
- Her E ability reduces passive cooldown significantly when hitting multiple champions
- Shadow Surge ultimate resets on takedowns, enabling multi-kill opportunities
- Positioning and timing are crucial due to slow spell animations and lack of escapes
- Early game weakness requires careful farming and jungle awareness
League of Legends Patch 11.19 introduced Vex, the Gloomist, bringing a new anti-mobility mage to the mid lane. This comprehensive guide breaks down her complete kit with strategic insights to help you master her unique playstyle and maximize your impact in games.

Passive (Doom ‘n Gloom)
Vex’s Doom passive features a resource bar that gradually charges over time. When fully charged, her next basic ability will inflict fear on all enemies struck, creating crucial crowd control opportunities during engagements.
The Gloom component applies a mark to nearby champions who use dash abilities, including Flash and Blast Cone interactions. Your subsequent auto-attack or spell detonates Gloom marks for bonus magic damage. This mechanic has no cooldown, making Vex exceptionally effective against highly mobile opponents like Yasuo, Irelia, and Lee Sin.
Pro Tip: Track enemy dash cooldowns to anticipate when you can apply Gloom marks for maximum pressure.
Looming Darkness (E)
Vex’s E ability, Looming Darkness, features a wind-up animation that slows down significantly at maximum range. The spell deals area damage and applies Gloom to all targets hit, including minions and monsters. Crucially, hitting champions with this ability reduces Doom’s cooldown by 25% per champion, while minions provide only 10% reduction.
Shadow Bolt (Q)
Her Q ability, Shadow Bolt, is a wide skillshot that narrows and accelerates as it travels. Both the initial wide section and the narrowed projectile deal identical damage values.
Personal Space (W)
Personal Space (W) provides instant self-shielding and surrounding area damage, making it your primary defensive tool against all-in attempts.
Common Mistake: Many players waste W preemptively instead of saving it to counter enemy engage patterns.
Ultimate: Shadow Surge
Vex’s ultimate, Shadow Surge, shares similarities with Kai’Sa’s W in terms of range but travels slightly slower with a wider hitbox. During the dash animation, Vex becomes unstoppable, and the ability fully resets on champion takedowns.
Strategic Insight: Maintain optimal distance in fights since her spell animations are relatively slow and predictable. Vex experiences significant early game weakness due to extended cooldowns and modest damage output. She’s particularly vulnerable to ganks as she lacks reliable escape mechanisms outside of her ultimate.
Positioning is paramount – stay near tower early and coordinate with your jungler for protection during laning phase.
Mastering Vex’s Power Spikes
Vex reaches her first significant power spike at level 6 when she gains access to Shadow Surge. The second major spike occurs when she completes her first core item, typically Luden’s Tempest or Everfrost. Her late-game teamfight potential becomes immense with full cooldown reduction and proper fear timing.
Optimization Tip: Against dash-heavy compositions, consider building Zhonya’s Hourglass earlier to survive engages after using your ultimate.
For comprehensive gameplay strategies beyond champion mechanics, check out our Complete Guide to strategic decision-making.
The content above draws inspiration from Skill Capped methodologies. If you found this guide helpful, consider subscribing and liking the content. For those seeking LoL Accounts, MmoGah offers various LoL Accounts for sale with secure transaction processes.
Related strategic content: https://www.mmogah.com/news/lol/lol-patch-11-19-best-champions-tier-list
Action Checklist
- Practice E into Q combos to maximize passive cooldown reduction
- Memorize dash-heavy champion matchups to anticipate Gloom applications
- Master ultimate reset timing in practice tool with dummy targets
- Study positioning guides for immobile mages to improve survival rates
No reproduction without permission:OnLineGames Guides » LoL: A Short List of Things You Need to Know About Vex Master Vex's abilities with expert tips, strategic insights, and common mistakes to avoid in League of Legends
