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By GamGem ResearchLast updated 18 Oct 2026

Vex Counters, Build and Runes — Mid Lane Matchups · Patch 26.20

the Gloomist

Patch 26.20 · Stats from the 26.18 Master+ sample (1,822 games).

Vex, the Gloomist, marks any enemy who dashes near her, Doom 'n Gloom fears and interrupts dashes, and Shadow Surge lets her dash to a marked champion. Most counted Master+ Vexes ran Electrocute, and Luden's Echo then Shadowflame was their go-to build. Ahri, Twisted Fate and Viktor beat her most often. Yasuo and Yone she was favored against. Sylas, Akali and Zed were about even.

Mage

Patch 26.18 · Mid · Ranked Solo/Duo · Master+ · EUW · KR · NA · 1,822 games · Preview sample

League of LegendsPatch 26.18MidRanked Solo/DuoMaster+EUW · KR · NA1,822 gamesPreview sample

Role snapshot (Mid)

BTier

Win Rate: 50.4%
Pick Rate: 2.8%
Ban Rate: 1.5%

1,822

Games

High

Confidence

Most common path

170 games

57.6%Win Rate

Start

Flash

Ignite

Other first item

37 games

45.9%Win Rate

Start

Flash

Teleport

Runes

Patch 26.18

This exact page: taken in 17.6% of games·45.5% win rate over 321 games.

Primary

Domination

Electrocute

Hitting a champion with 3 separate attacks or abilities in 3s deals bonus adaptive damage.

Taste of Blood

Heal when you damage an enemy champion.

Grisly Mementos

Collect 1 memento on champion takedowns, up to 18 total. Gain 6 Trinket Haste for each collected.

Ultimate Hunter

Unique takedowns grant permanent cooldown reduction on your Ultimate.

Secondary

Sorcery

Manaflow Band

Hitting an enemy champion with an ability permanently increases your maximum mana by 25, up to 250 mana. After reaching 250 bonus mana, restore 1% of your missing mana every 5 seconds.

Transcendence

Gain bonuses upon reaching the following levels:Level 5: +5 Ability Haste Level 8: +5 Ability Haste Level 11: On Champion takedown, reduce the remaining cooldown of basic abilities by 20%.

Shards

Attack Speed
Adaptive Force
Health

Other keystones taken

Stormraider's Surge16.6% taken · 56.1% win303 games
Arcane Comet3.1% taken · 52.6% win57 games
Dark Harvest2.9% taken · 38.5% win52 games

Tree pairs

Domination + Sorcery57.8% taken · 49.4% win1,054 games
Sorcery + Precision15.3% taken · 57.0% win279 games
Domination + Precision13.1% taken · 51.3% win238 games

Skill Order

Which ability to max first, and the level each point goes in — Vex's most common path.

Mistral Bolt

Launch a damaging missile that accelerates mid-flight.

Cooldown 8/7/6/5/4s · 45/50/55/60/65 Mana

Personal Space

Gain a shield and damage nearby enemies.

Cooldown 16/15/14/13/12s · 75 Mana

Looming Darkness

Summon a damaging and slowing zone that applies Gloom to enemies.

Cooldown 12s · 70/80/90/100/110 Mana

Shadow Surge

Fire a missile that marks an enemy champion.

Cooldown 140/120/100s · 100 Mana

Max Order

QWE

Max Q first, then W, then E. Take R whenever available (6 / 11 / 16).

Level-up Order

QMistral Bolt
WPersonal Space
ELooming Darkness
RShadow Surge

Ability	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
QMistral Bolt		Q		Q	Q		Q		Q
WPersonal Space			W					W		W		W	W
ELooming Darkness	E													E	E		E	E
RShadow Surge						R					R					R

Matchup map (Mid)

How Vex performs against enemy mid laners

Levels 1 – 18 · Master+40%60%Vex's win rate

≥ 60%Very favorable

55 – 60%Favorable

50 – 55%Even

45 – 50%Unfavorable

40 – 45%Hard

< 40%Very hard

Conditional build matrix

Recommended items by enemy team composition

Master+ · Patch 26.18

Mythic / CoreFirst major item

Core 2Second item

Core 3Third item

BootsBoot slot

SituationalPick as needed

Scaling — minute 10–30

VexMid average

Gold

102030

Damage to champions

102030

Counter plan — how to beat Vex

Dodge the primary — its rotation is one skillshot; sidestep it and the rest is chip
Punish the cooldown — Vex is exposed while its rotation is down
Ward the flank — vision is what turns its best opening into a worse one
Respect the spike — Riot rates the kit 0/10, so a practised player gets more out of it than the average
Trade on your terms — take the fight where its damage lands on nobody

Ability details

P
Doom 'n Gloom
Vex periodically becomes empowered, causing her next basic Ability to fear enemies and interrupt dashes. Whenever a nearby enemy dashes, Vex applies a mark that can be consumed for bonus damage that also reduces the cooldown of her empowered state.
Passive — never cast
Q
Mistral Bolt
Launch a damaging missile that accelerates mid-flight.
Cost 45/50/55/60/65 ManaCooldown 8/7/6/5/4sRange 1200
W
Personal Space
Gain a shield and damage nearby enemies.
Cost 75 ManaCooldown 16/15/14/13/12sRange 475
E
Looming Darkness
Summon a damaging and slowing zone that applies Gloom to enemies.
Cost 70/80/90/100/110 ManaCooldown 12sRange 800
R
Shadow Surge
Fire a missile that marks an enemy champion. Recast to dash to them and deal damage.
Cost 100 ManaCooldown 140/120/100sRange 2000/2500/3000

Vex balance history

Riot's notes from patch 25.S1.1 to 26.20 change Vex in 1 patch. The latest is patch 26.13, published 2026-06-23.

Patch 26.132026-06-23
ELooming Darkness
- Cooldown13sto12s
RShadow Surge
- Reset Time Window6sto8s
Why, in Riot's words
We feel Vex has had less of an impact in her games than we think she should, so we're giving her a quality of life buff that should make her reset pattern feel smoother so she can have more pop off giga plays.

Vex skins (5)

Riot's data lists 5 looks for Vex with their own art, the base skin included and 33 chroma variants.

ARAM performance

EstimateA

Win Rate: 51.4%; ▼ 0.4%
Pick Rate: 4.7%; ▲ 1.7%
Ban Rate: 0.9%; ▲ 2.6%

Damage dealt: 90.7%
Damage taken: 95.2%
Healing: 94.2%
Shielding: 96.8%
Ability Haste: +21

Best ARAM build

Patch timeline

Riot’s notes

This champion’s win rate on each patch the preview sample spans, over its own games there. What actually changed each patch is in Riot’s own notes.

26.1952.2% over 527 games · small sample+0.3
26.1850.9% over 1,011 games+0.9
26.1745.2% over 279 games · small sample—

Vex's base stats against all 173 champions

Stat	Vex	Rank	Median
Base health	590	=132nd	620
Health per level	104	=86th	104
Base armor	23	=144th	30
Armor per level	4.45	=112th	4.6
Base magic resist	28	=160th	32
Magic resist per level	1.3	=93rd	1.55
Base attack damage	54	=138th	59
Base attack speed	0.669	=38th	0.656
Attack speed per level	1%	=166th	2.5%
Move speed	335	=74th	335
Attack range	550	=9th	175

Vex at level 1 and level 18

Vex reaches 2358 health at level 18 — 590 at level 1 plus 17 × 104, the 67th-lowest of 173 champions on patch 26.20, shared with 2.
Vex reaches 1034 mana at level 18 — 490 at level 1 plus 17 × 32, the 67th-lowest of 145 mana users on patch 26.20.
Vex reaches 98.65 armor at level 18 — 23 at level 1 plus 17 × 4.45, the 40th-lowest of 173 champions on patch 26.20.
Vex reaches 50.1 magic resist at level 18 — 28 at level 1 plus 17 × 1.3, the 4th-lowest of 173 champions on patch 26.20, shared with 1.

Stat	Level 1	Per level	Level 18	Rank at 18
Health	590	+104	2358	=105th of 173
Mana	490	+32	1034	79th of 145
Armor	23	+4.45	98.65	134th of 173
Magic resist	28	+1.3	50.1	=169th of 173

Riot Data Dragon 16.20.1. Growth curve: League of Legends Wiki — Champion statistic.

Quick answers about Vex

How does Vex do against Ahri?: Vex won 38.2% of 55 counted Master+ games against Ahri. Ahri is one of the opponents that beat Vex. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.
How does Vex do against Twisted Fate?: Vex won 38.6% of 44 counted Master+ games against Twisted Fate. Twisted Fate is one of the opponents that beat Vex. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.
How does Vex do against Viktor?: Vex won 42.3% of 52 counted Master+ games against Viktor. Viktor is one of the opponents that beat Vex. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.
How does Vex do against Orianna?: Vex won 37.5% of 32 counted Master+ games against Orianna. Orianna is one of the opponents that beat Vex. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.
How does Vex do against Yasuo?: Vex won 60.7% of 117 counted Master+ games against Yasuo. It is a matchup Vex wins more often than not.
How does Vex do against Yone?: Vex won 59.4% of 69 counted Master+ games against Yone. It is a matchup Vex wins more often than not. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.
How does Vex do against Sylas?: Vex won 50.7% of 73 counted Master+ games against Sylas. It is close to even. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.
How does Vex do against Akali?: Vex won 52.6% of 57 counted Master+ games against Akali. It is close to even. A small sample — read it as a lean, not a rule.
What class is Vex?: Riot classes Vex as Mage. This site files the champion under Mid.
How hard is Vex to play?: Riot rates Vex's difficulty 0 out of 10.
What resource does Vex use?: Vex's abilities spend Mana.
What is Vex's attack range?: 550 units — the 9th-highest of 173 champions on patch 26.20 (shared with 36 others).
What are Vex's abilities?: Passive — Doom 'n Gloom, Q — Mistral Bolt, W — Personal Space, E — Looming Darkness and R — Shadow Surge.
How many skins does Vex have?: Riot's data lists 5 skins with their own art, the base look included, plus 33 chroma variants.
How much health does Vex have at level 18?: 2358 — 590 at level 1 plus 17 × 104 per level, Riot's own values, before items and runes.
What is Vex's ultimate cooldown?: Shadow Surge (R): 140/120/100 seconds by rank, before ability haste, in Riot's Data Dragon 16.20.1.
When did Riot last change Vex?: Patch 26.13, published 23 June 2026 — the latest of 1 patch that change Vex in Riot's notes from 25.S1.1 to 26.20.

Vex at a glance

Vex, the Gloomist, is a Mage champion in League of Legends. Riot rates the kit 0/10 for difficulty, 0/10 for attack, 0/10 for defense and 0/10 for magic. Vex spends Mana and has 5 skins with their own art.

Attack0/10
Defense0/10
Magic0/10
Difficulty0/10

Vex's story

In the black heart of the Shadow Isles, a lone yordle trudges through the spectral fog, content in its murky misery. With an endless supply of teen angst and a powerful shadow in tow, Vex lives in her own self-made slice of gloom, far from the revolting cheer of the “normie” world. Though she lacks ambition, she is quick to strike down color and happiness, stopping all would-be interlopers with her magical malaise.

— Riot Games, Data Dragon 16.20.1. League of Legends Universe

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Methodology

Data window: Preview sample — a one-time snapshot of 65,406 ranked games (Master+, EUW/KR/NA, patch 26.18), counted by GamGem while our Riot production key is under review. Figures will update daily once it is approved. Counted 26–27 Sept 2026; patches 26.18 (35,477) · 26.19 (18,580) · 26.17 (11,048) · 26.16 (293) · 26.15 (8); by server EUW 22,382 · KR 21,922 · NA 21,065 · EUNE 20 · TR 17. 642 games without a result — remakes ended by vote in their first minutes, and games recorded with no winner — were not counted.
Rank aggregation: Master, Grandmaster and Challenger, pooled — the three ladders the count read its players from. Splitting further leaves samples too small to separate a real effect from noise.
Role assignment: A champion is filed under every lane that holds at least a tenth of its counted games — the position the match itself reports, not the champion’s class. Its headline win rate is across all of them; each lane’s own win rate and games are counted too, and a lane’s tier list ranks by them.
Counters: The two champions in the same position on opposite teams, over that pairing’s own counted games — ranked on the edge pulled toward zero by its sample size, printed raw.
Minimum sample: None — no figure is hidden for being thin. Every rate prints its games, and the confidence band is its 95% margin: Very High within ±1.5 points, High ±2.5, Moderate ±3.1 (1,000 games), Low wider.
Why a build is not a cause: An item is counted when the match ENDS with it, so late items show long games and an item bought when already ahead shows games that were being won. Correlation is what a rate can show; it is not evidence that buying the item caused the win.
Where the numbers come from: Names, classes, abilities, items and runes are Riot Data Dragon. Win, pick and ban rates, builds, keystones, spells and matchups are counted by GamGem from Riot's ranked match records. An estimate, not a count: this panel is not in the preview sample, and is labelled so.