[2.6a] Varus Guide - Varus in the Mid Lane
Varus in the Mid Lane
Pros
- Strong early game powerspikes
- Can Build AD and AP
- Lane Bully
- Good Team Fight utility with Ult
- Strong Long Range Poke
- Good AOE damage
Cons
- Immobile, needs to not be threatened in teamfights for best effect
- No disengage ability if Ultimate on CD( Ultimate useless if enemy have quicksilver)
- Extremely Squishy, Weak to burst combos
- Self CC on abillity casts
- Does not scale as hard as hypercarries (Jinx, Tristana etc.)
- Skill Shot dependent champion
Varus Build
Best Build Guide for Varus
Item Build Description
Additional information on the items
AD Varus - Good for Deleting Squishies
AP Varus - Good if enemy has a lot of tanks as
Blighted Quiver
does damage based on enemies max health%
Starting Items - Long Sword for AD, Amplifying Tome for AP
For AD build, Rush
Manamune
as quick as you can, you want to be able to reach
Muramana
as quick as possible so you can powerspike faster than your lane opponent, after finishing
Manamune
, you can either build
Ionian Boots of Lucidity
or go for
Youmuu's Ghostblade
, but if you didn't build
Ionian Boots of Lucidity
before
Youmuu's Ghostblade
, make sure to build boots as your 3rd item after building
Youmuu's Ghostblade
. You can switch the order between
Mortal Reminder
and
Edge of Night
depending if the enemy has a lot of healing or not.
For AP build(Only recommended against Tanks), Go for
Rod of Ages
as 1st item if you want to scale, or
Nashor's Tooth
for extra damage. If you built
Rod of Ages
as your 1st item, build
Nashor's Tooth
as your second and vice versa, Afterwards, Build
Rabadon's Deathcap
and
Liandry's Torment
before building
Infinity Orb
.
Varus Runes
Best Runes for Varus
Summon Aery - Good for Poking and dealing extra damage to your enemies.
Brutal - despite being nerfed, it is still one of the best runes in the game.
Adaptive Carapace - can be switched with bone plating if enemy has a lot of burst, Hunter Titan has been nerfed so it is now less powerful but still useful if your enemy laner/team has a lot of CC.
Sweet Tooth - for better sustain in lane, can be switched out for Hunter Genius if feeling confident
Conqueror
- better if team comp is built around team fighting
Brutal
- best domination rune for
Varus
.
Bone Plating - helps against being bursted
Hunter Genius - the ability haste helps you get your abilities off CD quicker.
Skill Order
How to distribute skill points
Summoner Spells
When to take which summoners
Combos
Learn how to maximize the champions potential
Standard Trading Combo, Make sure to have have Blighted Quiver activated and have max blight stacks for maximum damage with Piercing Arrow .
All-In Combo, Chain Of Corruption builds max blight stacks after 3 seconds so 1 AA is enough to have 3 blight stacks, then use Hail Of Arrows to proc the first 3 then use your Blighted Quiver and AA 3 times and then use your Piercing Arrow to execute enemy.
Execute Combo ( effective if enemy is fleeing and below 20-30% max HP)
Varus Matchups & Counters
Detailed information on how to play matchups and counters
The Dark Child. her range is very weak so just keep poking her with your Piercing Arrow and try to zone her away from as much farm as possible. make sure to dodge her Pyromania as that gives her a brief window to all in you. Her burst is stronger but your poke is better, don't be scared to all in her if her passive is not on max stacks.
Pre Level 5
In the Early Game, just look to farm as much as possible, ward the left side river as most Junglers clear the Red Brambleback Camp before heading to the Blue Camp(if the map is reversed do the same). Don't poke if the enemy isn't trying to engage, you want to conserve mana before you finish building Manamune , Poke the enemy with your Piercing Arrow if he gets too close. I generally don't recommend looking for Roams unless you have full river and brush vision as you are extremely squishy and don't have any realistic get away tools except for [flash].
After Level 5
At this point in the game, you should have finished Manamune and Ionian Boots of Lucidity or [youmuus ghostblade], try to look picks and set up your team for successful ganks, don't be afraid to use your ultimate to initiate teamfights. In a teamfight, your [varus:1] has great range so try to snipe and zone away the enemy backline [ADC or Mages] first and let your team clean up.
Late Game- Level 10 to15
At this point of the game, you should have at least 3 items built and be decently fed. Make sure to stick with your team in the late game as you are very vulnerable by yourself, I would advise setting up your team for picks using your ultimate. I do not recommend split pushing as you have no real getaway abillity.