He absorbs his bow, lest he be tempted to use it in the Institute Of War; it slithers into his palm to rest. The polish of the chamber is immaculate, so that in its ornamental shields and blades his form can be seen reflected; "his" form, though he can never recognize it as his own. His arms disappear into black gauntlets of a liquid that can’t entirely decide on a shape; brackish muck creeps from his toes nearly to his navel, scabbing over into plates.

What might seem purely black is, upon closer inspection, almost infinitely complex in color; it travels his surface like an oil. Varus wonders if it might have claimed more since yesterday, lapping as it does at what pure flesh remains. He decides that he is, on the whole, satisfied with their arrangement - even if mirrors show him a creature like this.

I am not broken, he tells himself. Not broken. I simply have a different shape.

REFLECTION

Teaching is learning.

Showing Theshan where to hold the bow, how to draw, and how to remember his breath gave Varus a better understanding of these things himself. His son would need to know these things for himself; his father had been anointed Temple Guardian, after all. He wouldn't always be there.

Varus wasn't there now, strictly speaking; none of this was real, and his clever eyes knew it.

This was some game Summoners played to amuse themselves with aspirants to the League. But here was his son, blessedly alive. He tousled the boy's warm hair. Varus knew what was coming, and he took such blessings where he could. The two of them looked up the hill, up, until they saw the Temple itself.

It was older than the village, much older. A statement from a bygone era of plenty, there was no pragmatism in its construction.

"A Pit of Pallas," said the son who was not his son. "There is a Pit of Pallas there."

"I did not know it at the time, but yes," replied Varus.

"They left a single man in its defense?"

"They did."

Much surprised him about his new role. The old prayers he'd said every day since he was a boy, it seemed, were missing a few grave syllables; the Elders had been holding out.
Tattoos of the clever Owl, applied to the face, chest, and arms had altered his perception; this too was surprising. Then, there was The Pit. Round, and just five feet across, it was hard to imagine that this featureless disc could be the source of so much concern.

He was most surprised, perhaps, when - on his first night's vigil - it began to speak.

Not with words, no - words would have been much easier to deflect. It spoke in moments, mostly: images, sensations. It knew of people, it could taste them on the air. It knew that they had a hive at the base of its hill, where they writhed in their nonsense bodies. Varus could sense its confusion, and something like hurt; the isolation of the temple had accrued in it. It wanted to show him something he would like. It wanted to make something for him. Its urge was to please.

This was not the "implacable beast" he had been sworn to contain.

Once, as Varus entered the sanctum to perform the morning's Rite of Sealing, he was made to see himself, surrounded by others of his village, standing with a young man's vigor while those around him
withered like crops, their skins falling off like sacks. He could sense that it seemed somehow pleased with itself.

"Now?" it offered, confident in the reply.

"No," replied Varus.

When it spoke next, he ceased to exist in the present altogether. Instead he waded through ankle-high blood, the ripples he made growing and rising until they roared and crashed. He heard a voice, then, or the idea of a voice, which said, pleadingly, "Now?"

The bite of the incense, with its teeth of rosemary and oak, cut through the vision. He fell back on the palms of his hands, turning and scrambling to load the brazier. It tipped on its copper chain, spilling and searing his hands.

"NOW?"

It crashed against his mind, but the Owl asserted itself. It gave him will enough to pull himself along the mazelike walls to the doorway, where he could see the village burning; again, he had to see it all again.

He ran, though he didn’t entirely know why; there was a part of him that thought if he took this path, slid down this face instead of that, maybe it would be different. Perhaps he would not find his broken wife alongside his broken boy alongside his broken bow; perhaps he would not pick up that bow and bring it back to the Temple.

He was wrong.

He was given a vision then of a thousand, thousand dead. It was a wedge pounded through his ribs and into his heart. He fell to his knees.

"Now?" It was almost a whisper.

"Now," Varus whispered back. "Now, **** you."

And when he did so it broke a dam deep in the earth, so that the placid disc of the pool reached up from its heart and splashed out, leaving jags of hot black glass standing wherever it touched. It was flowing through the air, around the curling smoke until it struck Varus off his feet. It peeled his hand, digesting it, consuming the bow. It ate both arms, and both legs, stopping out of... respect, if respect it may be called, for the Owl; it would not surpass the markings. In a moment of detached madness, Varus wondered how long that would last.

The Reflection wavered, and a summoner panted with exertion; the images wrested themselves from their bindings, careening through a nightmarish series of scenes with an animal immediacy. The room solidified, rendered overbright by the alien senses which collected the last few years of Varus’ grim past:

Only the tips of each of his toes touched the ground; Varus knew the force couldn't be far. When he overtook them, the cart at the head of the column had the wisdom to encourage its horses. Those without wisdom, or those cursed by circumstance, began to die with terrible speed.

As Varus slowed, an apparatus with a bow's purpose, if not its shape, leapt to life for the first time at his wrist. He needed not be instructed in its use; a man was instantly pierced, burst like a wineskin. This proved a true inspiration to his fellows, who found within themselves a speed they never knew possible; though even at this speed, they were still beings of flesh and blood. Insufficient.

Though what it fired wasn’t an arrow, it behaved as one; it ruined as one, travelled through the Noxian insignia, out of one gasping soldier and into another, exploding with six thirsting tongues that gripped and snared. With every death Varus shot faster, until by the end there was no sense that each shot was discrete. The Prey simply ran until it fell. It was elegant horror.

Time passed quickly. There were more hunts, and more blood; mercies were promised, but withheld. Darkness swirled with the scent of wet leaves, oddly sweet, the broken bodies of men and women rendered wholly abstract in the course of their annihilation. Varus knelt over a sundered cart to seize a communique, pierced through by one of his sharp tendrils; it revealed the names of yet a few more Noxian dogs, responsible for issuing the order...

The ****ing order. What they took from him he would repay a thousand-fold.

A summoner stepped forward, her mask of judgment impassive, her presence sweeping away the last threads of the vision. "Your purpose here is clear. You have discerned that among our Champions there exist Noxian agents. This, all of this," she waved her hand, "is the prosecution of some vendetta."

"You understand, of course, that your vengeance is not the purpose of this League?" she said, eyes narrowed.

"By now, you surely realize," said Varus, or the Amalgam which stood before them cloaked in Varus, its tongue swollen and black. "It is the only purpose I have left."

Varus' abilities are kind of mixed, he has two AD and two AP abilities. But one of his AP abilities is actually a passive that turns his basic attacks into abilities as well. It also detonates when hit by his two AD abilities turning them into AP abilities as well. Therefore he has four AP abilities and his basic attacks do AP damage, talk about extreme AP.

Runaan's Hurricane gives you all the attack speed you need (and you do need it) as well as spreading your blight to three opponents instead of one (all at full power). Rabadon's Deathcap and Deathfire Grasp give you all the ability power you'll need, on top of an awesome second ability that makes it all the more worth it. Locket of the Iron Solari is there for its health and the ability to shield not only you from fatal damage but your nearby allies too. as for the last item (and even locket of the iron solari) you can chose basically whatever you want.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter gives you ability power and some much needed health in addition to its fun slowing ability. Nashors Tooth gives you ability power and attack speed, but it's really only there because a coupla of you believed it would be better than Runaans Hurricane.

In order to work AP Varus you need to keep from running out of mana as much as possible, hence the mana regen. Attack speed helps you place your Blighted Quiver stacks faster. Magic penetration helps your magic damage get through an opponent's defense. And attack speed helps you get your blight stacks off faster.

i believe that everything here is for the best. generally you'd go with utility for an ap champ but AP Varus is very squishy so you need a bit of defence.

Your abilities will do way more damage when you max your Blighted Quiver first. After that you are free to max either of your other two abilities whenever you feel would be best, although in my experience slowing your enemies for longer helps get off more blight stacks before you snipe them to death.

These summoner spells are the result of weeks of study and testing. With my fighting style Exhaust and Ignite work the best. Exhaust slows and nerfs your opponent while Ignite deals a ton of damage and stops any attempt at recovery in it's tracks. But feel free to explore with your summoner spells and give me feedback based on what you find. My goal isn't to make a great build it's to help you guys completely own with AP Varus so he can finally get the respect he deserves, so tell me what works and let's improve together!

' main combo is to put three Blighted Quiver stacks on your opponent, then Chain of Corruption, three more Blighted Quiver stacks while he's stuck in place, then Hail of Arrows, finally three more Blighted Quiver stacks while they're slowed and Piercing Arrow, this will give you a kill every time (except once in my experience aginst a with epic life steal). Using your W, E, or R before stacking blight on an opponent is not a good idea (even though it may slow them) unless the single opponent you're facing would be slowed down enough for two or three allies to catch him, other than that instance always stack blight on an opponent before using your abilities, AP Varus wont work without them.

One of the most basic mistakes people make when going AP Varus is their perception, people think of Varus as an adc even after they've chosen to play him as an apc. For AP Varus to work at all you have to straight up build and play him the exact same as a spellcaster. AP Varus doesn't snipe with his q except if the enemy has like 5 health left to get the kill before they can run away. He's kind of like , except instead of wasting an ability on setting your enemies aflame you get to do it with every basic attack. So other Brand players would probably love AP Varus too.

I tried making this guide before several times and it's been insta-downvoted. Having forced comments to be made to vote they left nonsensical letters and half-statements simply so that they could push the down button. The idea of AP Varus is so alien to them that they don't even care about my argument they instantly downvoted it because they didn't understand. Thus 50% of the votes here are going to be the same as well but this will have to be my last shot at enlightening the world.

Play Video This guy is a little eccentric but I love his video, it shows Varus' true colors.

Varus is more than another league of legends champion to me, I have been trying to figure out the proper way to work him since the day he came out. I guess you could call it an obsession. This will be my first league of legends build, if it actually gets accepted this time. Anywho, now that I have explained all this hopefully you will see Varus' full potential. Just always make sure that you stack blight, and play as a mage.