My name is SkellyBirb, and I play on the NA server under the name "Hextech KogMaw". I was low gold in Season 9 and am constantly testing out builds in normals for my own playstyle. I've come to enjoy League the most by playing a lot of different off-meta builds and created my MOBAFire guides to share them. A lot of these builds I would suggest playing in normals, however if you master them they can definitely be a good situational pick in ranked depending on match ups. However, I would avoid first picking these in ranked, and for some of these builds, I'd avoid entirely in ranked.

Varus definitely isn't your traditional support, but he's come to be one of my favorite support picks. Varus works into most match ups and has surprisingly good synergy with most ADCs. This is simply a fun way to play Varus that I feel not many have considered.

There are reasons beyond being fun why I play Varus support though. He can easily earn gold with Spectral Sickle because of his long range. Combined with building Youmuu's Ghostblade early on, which is a bit cheaper than a lot of first items for AD champions like Infinity Edge or Essence Reaver, as well as dealing more damage than either of those.. He dishes out a ton of damage with Piercing Arrow and has a great long range execute with the active on Blighted Quiver. Lethality Varus isn't anything new and has been known to be taken mid lane before, but it brings something fresh when playing it support. It also has much more carry potential than a lot of enchanters or tanks, similar to mages like Brand.

Pros

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-Great Poke
-Easily stacks Spectral Sickle
-Long Range
-Good Coordination with most ADCs
-Good Execute
-Decent Crowd Control with Hail of Arrows and Chain of Corruption
-Few counters

Cons

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-Squishy
-Immobile
-Mana Hungry Early Game
-Doesn't have heals or shields like many supports

Runes

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Sorcery

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Arcane Comet - Arcane Comet makes the most sense for lethality Varus in any role. Landing Hail of Arrows will almost always hit the comet, and you will spamming abilities to constantly throw them at enemies. It'll generally do the most of the course damage over the course of the game. Summon Aery would guarantee damage if you hit, but it doesn't have the same scaling as Arcane Comet, so I wouldn't suggest it.

Manaflow Band - This is a must for lethality Varus as you will go through a lot of mana and the extra mana is great. I'll take this whether I bring Arcane Comet or Dark Harvest because of how useful it is.

Transcendence - This is another necessity for lethality Varus. You won't be building a ton of CDR, so getting a guaranteed 10% will really help him later in the game in comparison to other options. This is another rune I'll take no matter what keystone I use.

Gathering Storm - This is great for helping Varus stay relevant late game. Varus support doesn't struggle much early on due to his range and he'll usually benefit from it more than he would with Scorch because of his AD scaling on his abilities.

Scorch - A second option for Varus support that'll help him out in the early game, but isn't as great in the late game. I never take this personally, but it is an option.

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Domination

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Dark Harvest - Dark Harvest is great if you can constantly get stacks for it. You'll deal a lot of damage with it and it works well with Blighted Quiver's active. The biggest issue with it is that it isn't as consistent as Arcane Comet.

Cheap Shot - If going Dark Harvest, this is without a doubt the best option for Varus. He has Hail of Arrows to activate it easily. He doesn't have a dash to activate Sudden Impact and he'll be hitting from far away making him usually stay at high health, not needing Taste of Blood.

Ghost Poro - This really comes down to preference, but I ward quite a bit and this'll guarantee stacks over time. As long as you know where to ward, you can stack this quite quickly.

Zombie Ward - This works well if you can clear out enemy wards consistently, but I tend to find Ghost Poro better.

Eyeball Collection - This is my second option besides Ghost Poro. You can stack it fast, but if you aren't able to get kills or assists it could take a long time to stack. Varus has a lot of poke, so it could make enemies back off making it hard to kill them.

Ravenous Hunter - This is my option as your abilities will deal most of your damage, so healing off them is great. It's not necessary though as you want to be staying a decent range from your enemy anyway.

Relentless Hunter - This is good for getting around the map late game, but you won't be roaming much early game, so I personally prefer Ravenous Hunter

Ultimate Hunter - This is a great choice since Varus would be able to use his ultimate to engage a lot more fights and catch enemies out or could be used to disengage from fights. It's probably the best option, but it comes down to preference.

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Inspiration

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Magical Footwear - Free boots with extra movement speed. It's a good rune, with the only downside being you have to wait for the extra movement speed, especially if you don't get many kills early on.

Biscuit Delivery - This gives you more sustain and should be used mostly for the mana as it'll permanently increase your mana by 50 and restore 10% of your missing mana, which is great early on since Varus is a mana hungry champion.

Cosmic Insight - A great option as it'll let Varus use all his abilities more, and there's no real downside to it. If I go Inspiration secondary, I'll always take this and then I'd choose between Magical Footwear or Biscuit Delivery. Magical Footwear if I'm not worried about lane, or Biscuit Delivery for sustain in lane.

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Bonus Stats

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+9 Adaptive
+9 Adaptive
+6 Armor

Armor can be changed out for Magic Resist if they are an AP heavy team and AP bot.

Spectral Sickle - This is without a doubt the best support item for Varus and he can stack it extremely easily, so always start with it.


Ionian Boots of Lucidity - The best option for boots as you will struggle to get 40% CDR. I never go any other boots as the CDR is too important to give up.

Youmuu's Ghostblade - This should be the first lethality item you get. Despite Umbral Glaive seeming more like a support item, you want to deal damage. This also allows you build Caulfield's Warhammer for CDR before finishing the item.

Duskblade of Draktharr - Provides more cooldown reduction, which will be your final 10% needed for maximum CDR with Transcendence, Ionian Boots of Lucidity, and Youmuu's Ghostblade. It gives the most lethality of any item and will gives a decent passive that can help burst enemies.

Umbral Glaive - A Cheaper item that'll help you clear wards. It's great for a support building lethality, but provides a little less lethality than other lethality items.

Edge of Night - This is great into team comps that have hooks like Blitzcrank.

Executioner's Calling - A good item if you don't need the armor pen but still want healing for reduction from grievous wounds.

Lord Dominik's Regards - Helps deal more damage against tanks and gives percent armor penetration instead.

Mortal Reminder - Serves the same purpose as Lord Dominik's Regards, but provides grievous wounds for team comps with a lot of healing.

Guardian Angel - More AD and some Armor along with a revive for a fairly cheap price. A good late game option when death timers are getting high.

Thanks for taking a look at my guide. I'd love to hear if you tried it out and how it went, as well as any additional feedback. If you have any other item suggestions that aren't included in my build, I'd love to hear them and test them out. If they work well, I'd likely add them to my guide. I also would appreciate votes and comments that help me improve the guide and show how liked or disliked the guide is!