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Spells:
Flash
Heal
Ability Order
Living Vengeance (PASSIVE)
Varus Passive Ability
Introduction
I'm IAMANIKOLAS and I play on EU West.
At first when I saw the leaks for


So when


But this didn't knock me off, I played a few games with a few friends and started to get the rotation in my fingers, and everything was less confusing now, ever since I've been rocking botlane with my real life friend playing an awesome support!
That made me figure, that I should make an In-depth guide on how-to-

Please feel free to both up and downvote, but do me the favor and tell me what's good and bad about the guide, so I can improve it, and make this a better guide for all of you.
Happy reading
IAMANIKOLAS
Ever since his small leaks a month ago or so, I was stunned, and as said in the introduction I researched his abilities and fell even more in love.
I personally think he's one of the top AD carries these days, because of his passive and amazing early game harras, he can easily zone someone, and has an easy time getting ganks from his Jungler due to his slow and ultimate, which have netted me a lot of early game kills.
If he's paired up with a CC-heavy support like
Alistar or
Leona, he can give the enemies a work for their money, and outfarm them.
I quickly found out that
Piercing Arrow is not supposed to be charged when in direct combat, I genereally just instant cast it to proc my
Blighted Quiver but more about that in the next section.
I also think that
Varus is more of a Bursty AD-carry unlike a sustained DPS-Carry like
Caitlyn the reasons for that is that his abilities proc
Blighted Quiver which is around 10-12% max HP on a Carry since they wont be stacking a lot of defensive items, while other carries are more focused on Auto-attacks, you are a bit more Hybrid, and capable of doing both bursty damege, and sustained damege very nicely.
I personally think he's one of the top AD carries these days, because of his passive and amazing early game harras, he can easily zone someone, and has an easy time getting ganks from his Jungler due to his slow and ultimate, which have netted me a lot of early game kills.
If he's paired up with a CC-heavy support like


I quickly found out that


I also think that



TIER 1 OFFENSE
Summoner's Wrath
I don't pick this mastery since it doesn't benefit neither of my summoner spells, now if you've choose to get
Exhaust pick this over 1 point in
Butcher
Brute Force
I pick 3/3 in this simply because more AD = more damege, and we like that.
Butcher
I grab 1/2 in butcher simply because I don't need neither
Summoner's Wrath
or
Mental Force
TIER 2 OFFENSE
Alacrity
Attackspeed is awesome for us, and it leads us into
Weapon Expertise
Sorcery Cooldown reduction is decent if you've chosen the
Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction glyphs, but otherwise I wouldn't recommend it.
demolotionist Take this if you need to take down towers faster, I wouldn't recommend it either.
TIER 3
Deadliness
I take 4/4 because it increases my damege and it leads me to
Lethality
Weapon Expertise
This mastery is just pure awesome! 10% armor penetration, just something we love!
Arcane Knowledge
This could work for you, to improve the damege of blighted arrow haven't tested this myself
Havoc
Don't take this, the damege increasement is just not worth it for 3 mastery points
TIER 4 OFFENSE
Lethality
10% extra crit damege is awesomesauce!
Vampirism
3% Lifesteal is decent for early and late game, it gives you a bit more sustain in lane, nothing much.
Blast
This is not an AP guide.
TIER 5 OFFENSE
Sunder
+6 armor penetration, is very nice paired with your Greater Mark of desolation and your Greater Quintessence of desolation your enemies armor will be minimal!
Archmage
This is still no AP-guide
TIER 6 OFFENSE
Executioner
Simply amazing! 6% extra damege when the enemies are below 40% health! This helps you snipe down the enemies with
Piercing Arrow when they're running off!
TIER 1 DEFENSE
Summoner's Resolve
I pick up this talent because I have heal as summoner spell, this can and will save your life when you're low on HP.
Resistance
Pick this if the enemies team is AP heavy, or you're going mid where you will meet loads of AP.
Hardiness
3/3 this helps you out quite a bit a long with your
Greater Seal of Armor making you take less damege from the enemy carry at bot lane.
Tough Skin
... Well.. If you plan on jungling I gues.. No..
TIER 2 DEFENSE
Durability
4/4 more HP pr. level.. Why not?
Vigor
It has a minor effect, but it could work if you're solo lane and out of pots. Not worth it in my opinion
TIER 1 UTILITY
Summoner's Insight
I chose this because 15 seconds off
Flash is a life safer, I cannot count the times I didn't have this mastery and I died because I had a few seconds cooldown on my
Flash this is a mastery I wont play without.
I have tried messing around with other different builds and nothing really fits me, you can feel free and try out some other builds, and if you manage to find something useful, please don't hesitate to link me the build and tell me why you chose these talents.







TIER 2 OFFENSE




demolotionist Take this if you need to take down towers faster, I wouldn't recommend it either.
TIER 3





TIER 4 OFFENSE



TIER 5 OFFENSE


TIER 6 OFFENSE


TIER 1 DEFENSE





TIER 2 DEFENSE


TIER 1 UTILITY



I have tried messing around with other different builds and nothing really fits me, you can feel free and try out some other builds, and if you manage to find something useful, please don't hesitate to link me the build and tell me why you chose these talents.
Passive

On champion kill or assist, Varus gains 40% attack speed for 6 seconds.
On minion kill, Varus gains 20% attack speed for 3 seconds.
This passive is simply AMAZING! Imagine this scenario, you meet the enemy team at baron and a teamfight starts, you got into a great position and got down one of the enemies, you now attack 40% faster giving you a very nice boost against the other team, and since you are or should be the biggest threat on your team, your threat is now 40% faster, and believe me, 40% matters A LOT!
It also helps a lot on last hitting minions in my opinion. Have you ever tried seeing two minions on the edge of death, but you can only get to kill one of them, well this sweet passive can help you change this. Kill the first one and your chance to get the other one is now better.
This can also be used for some more intensive harras on the enemies, and make one shot into two, giving you ~8% max hp bonus damege on your next spell cast.
Tips and Tricks
- Last hit a minion before you harras your enemy with Auto-attacks, this can make the difference between getting one or two attacks off, and therefor getting a better proc from your
Blighted Quiver
- Last hit a minion before you harras your enemy with Auto-attacks, this can make the difference between getting one or two attacks off, and therefor getting a better proc from your


Varus starts drawing back his next shot, gradually increasing its range and damage, then he fires it, dealing minimum 10 / 43 / 77 / 110 / 143 (+1.0 per attack damage) to maximum 15 / 65 / 115 / 165 / 215 (+1.6 per attack damage) physical damage, reduced by 15% per enemy hit (minimum 33%).
While preparing to shoot, Varus cannot autoattack or use abilities, and his movement speed is slowed by 20%. After 4 seconds, Piercing Arrow fails but refunds half its mana cost.
Now this is your bread and butter skill, this is your harras early game and late game, and a way for you to proc your

I max this skill first because it's damege is simply superior to both


This spell can easily take 1/3 of the enemy carries HP when fully charged, and it's not that easy to juke in my opinion.
Tips and Tricks
- Charging this spell inside a bush will make it more surprising and therefor harder to juke
- By double tabbing (or just tabbing q if you're using smartcast) will instantly fire the arrow in your cursor's direction, giving you a nice way to proc
when in direct combat
- When running next to the enemy, charge the spell to full and fire it in front of them, this will make them decide if they should stop up to juke it, or keep running and feel the pain.
- Use this to snipe down runners, or enemies recalling from afar
- Charging this spell inside a bush will make it more surprising and therefor harder to juke
- By double tabbing (or just tabbing q if you're using smartcast) will instantly fire the arrow in your cursor's direction, giving you a nice way to proc

- When running next to the enemy, charge the spell to full and fire it in front of them, this will make them decide if they should stop up to juke it, or keep running and feel the pain.
- Use this to snipe down runners, or enemies recalling from afar

Varus' basic attacks deal bonus 10 / 14 / 18 / 22 / 26 (+0.25 per ability power) magic damage and apply Blight for 6 seconds (stacks 3 times).
Varus' other abilities detonate Blight, dealing magic damage equal to 2 / 2.75 / 3.5 / 4.25 / 5% (+0.01% per ability power) of the target's maximum health per stack..
This is the ability which makes you bursty, and this is what makes last-hitting a breeze.
There's not really much to say about this ability.
Tips and Tricks
- Always try to get 3 stacks of Blight on an enemy before you use an ability, to maximize your damege
- Always try to get 3 stacks of Blight on an enemy before you use an ability, to maximize your damege

Varus fires a hail of arrows that deal 65 / 105 / 145 / 185 / 225 (+0.6 per bonus attack damage) physical damage and desecrate the ground. Desecrated ground slows enemies' Movement Speed by 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 45% and reduces their healing and regeneration by 50%.
This is your only escape tool outside of summoner spells and





Tips and Tricks
- Using
Hail of Arrows offensively by either reducing healing, slowing down or blocking an escape path, can net you a few kills
- You can use this spell to proc your
Blighted Quiver
- Using

- You can use this spell to proc your


Varus flings out a tendril of corruption that deals 150 / 250 / 350 (+1.0 per ability power) magic damage and immobilizes the first enemy champion hit for 2 seconds.
The corruption then spreads towards nearby uninfected enemy champions, applying the same damage and immobilize if it reaches them. The corruption will continue to spread until there are no further unaffected targets in range.
This skill is simply amazing! Consider it a ranged


When I read the ability description, I thought this would be a one-target immobolize because it would be easy to outrun the proc, well guess what? - It's not, pair this lovely spell with

Tips and Tricks
- Using
Hail of Arrows to keep the enemies in range to get afflicted by
Chain of Corruption
- This spell can easily turn the tables if used correctly in either a 1v1 or a teamfight
- Use this spell in a losing teamfight and your team needs to get away, this paired up with
Hail of Arrows can pretty much secure your escape
- At the right moment when the enemy team is clustered together (i.e. at Baron) this spell WILL win you teamfights
- Using


- This spell can easily turn the tables if used correctly in either a 1v1 or a teamfight
- Use this spell in a losing teamfight and your team needs to get away, this paired up with

- At the right moment when the enemy team is clustered together (i.e. at Baron) this spell WILL win you teamfights
The reason I choose Armor Penetration over flat AD-marks and Quints, is because they scale way better into lategame, and even earlygame this will make you hit most casters like they have no armor at all, remember this is my personal choice, you can pick whatever you feel is the better benefit for you.
The reason why I choose flat armor seals, is because the current Meta places an AD carry and a Support at bot, the support isn't much of a damege dealer, but the Carry is, and therefor I aim for some defense which scales decently into late game
The Magic Resist pr. level is because I tend to have troubles against casters, since they are able to burst me down in seconds, this may help me survive and take them down while they still have cooldowns.
Alternative Marks








Alternative Seals
Greater Seal of Vitality These guys are gonna give you some extra HP every time you level up, and it ends up to 175 with 9 of these, this doesn't sound like much, but it can save your from the last tick of



Greater Seal of Replenishment

Alternative Glyphs



Alternative Quintessences







The reason I choose
Flash +
Heal is simply because, my teammate is usually support and he runs
Flash +
Exhaust giving our team the damege reduction, as well as giving me an "oh! sh*t!"-button to push.
If he would run
Clairvoyance I would of course grab
Flash +
Exhaust
The reason I pick
Flash is because, this is our get-outta-jail-card, we can teleport over walls to either chase or escape.
Use this to get into a better position to get off your ulti or to get behind your tanks when caught out of position. The possibilities are endless!




If he would run



The reason I pick

Use this to get into a better position to get off your ulti or to get behind your tanks when caught out of position. The possibilities are endless!
Alternative Summoner Spells
Ghost
This spell is hands down, the best chasing ability when it's for a longer run, you will be able to keep up with most enemies and secure the kills. The escape possibilities on this ability isn't as good as
Flash because this doesn't involve wall-jumping or tricking the enemy, you will be hard countered by a slow or stun while Ghost is active.
Ignite
I generally have a Rule-of-thumb that Ignite is for APs, but occasionally I pick it, when I meet a heavy heal team like
Dr. Mundo or
Soraka to be able to counter them, or if my team simply haven't picked it up yet.
Don't get me wrong, it's a great ability, but I prefere using it on combo-based champions like
Kassadin or
LeBlanc to finish of my opponents if my combo can't.
Personal choice I suppose.
Cleanse
This is an often overlooked ability, considering how
Varus don't really have an escape spell, this could give him an opening to get away, and since the buff to
Cleanse it's actually a very viable spell, if you have reflexes and you know what kind of crowd control (i.e. stuns, silence, immobolize and more) you need to get rid off.
Don't take this if you have bad reflexes.

This spell is hands down, the best chasing ability when it's for a longer run, you will be able to keep up with most enemies and secure the kills. The escape possibilities on this ability isn't as good as


I generally have a Rule-of-thumb that Ignite is for APs, but occasionally I pick it, when I meet a heavy heal team like


Don't get me wrong, it's a great ability, but I prefere using it on combo-based champions like


Personal choice I suppose.

This is an often overlooked ability, considering how


Don't take this if you have bad reflexes.
Everything else, is pretty much a no-go for
Varus

I generally tend to start with
Boots and 3 x
Health Potion simply because I need the movement, to chase and escape, and I need the potions for some sustain as well as countering
Ignite or other Damege-Over-Time. These starting items generally give me enough sustain in lane till I can afford a
B. F. Sword. If you happen to have a bad game and can't afford
B. F. Sword at your first recall, go ahead and buy 1-3
Doran's Blade because they simply give you a lot more than what you pay for, and you can just sell these guys whenever you can get something else.
You could also start with
Doran's Blade IF you play with a support that can heal you ((i.e.
Taric,
Soraka,
Kayle or
Karma among others) otherwise I wouldn't recommend it.






You could also start with





Alright, you've gotten into the game and we're 15 minutes in and some people on your enemies team is fed, you will need to get some early advantages over him or her.
Here is a list of items, I would personally use against certain opponents.
Cloak and Dagger
These fellas will help you against enemies who are very CC reliant, and you just REFUSES to buy
Mercury's Treads this can and will save your life against a very fed
Sion using his
Cryptic Gaze from afar.
Executioner's Calling
This item is godlike when fighting a heavy heal team (i.e.
Swain,
Dr. Mundo,
Soraka and more) The on-use effect on this item is SO good, I cannot express it enough! You WILL need this against the above mentioned champions and a handful others. This will make their healing be reduced by 50%, that's an ignite without damege for free!
Frozen Mallet
Buy this item if you badly need the slow for kiting, or you really lack the extra HP it provides, I tend to buy this item when I need to kite certain assassins or good chasers.
Last Whisper
I know this item is in the main build, but sometimes people wont be buying armor to counter you, either because they don't see you as a threat or they're simply dumb. Anyways, this item will make you slice through their armor and is generally an awesome kit for you to have when you need to take down that
Rammus or
Shen
Madred's Bloodrazor
This item is sent from HEAVEN against HP-stacking tanks (
Dr. Mundo), you will shred through their HP and get high attackspeed as well, this item is GODLIKE (pun intended)
Maw of Malmortius
A rather new item to the League, and I see potential in this, extra damege when you're low on HP - this is a big "DON'T ATTACK THIS TARGET!!!"-sign. This item also provides a great spell shield, blocking magic damege when you get low on HP. I would get this item when I'm focused by an AP heavy team.
The Black Cleaver
I get this item when I'm playing against mostly bruisers or tanky DPS as
Riven,
Shyvana or
Irelia as they wont be stacking that much armor against me, but generally i prefere
Last Whisper over this.
Quicksilver Sash
Improved
Cleanse + Magic resist in one item, this is amazing! Use this if you play against
Malzahar,
Warwick or other CC-heavy enemies.
Here is a list of items, I would personally use against certain opponents.

These fellas will help you against enemies who are very CC reliant, and you just REFUSES to buy




This item is godlike when fighting a heavy heal team (i.e.




Buy this item if you badly need the slow for kiting, or you really lack the extra HP it provides, I tend to buy this item when I need to kite certain assassins or good chasers.

I know this item is in the main build, but sometimes people wont be buying armor to counter you, either because they don't see you as a threat or they're simply dumb. Anyways, this item will make you slice through their armor and is generally an awesome kit for you to have when you need to take down that



This item is sent from HEAVEN against HP-stacking tanks (


A rather new item to the League, and I see potential in this, extra damege when you're low on HP - this is a big "DON'T ATTACK THIS TARGET!!!"-sign. This item also provides a great spell shield, blocking magic damege when you get low on HP. I would get this item when I'm focused by an AP heavy team.

I get this item when I'm playing against mostly bruisers or tanky DPS as





Improved




My favorite support for





Pair up these 3 wonders with her







I personally prefere to play with a


A very popular support champion, which is very understandable!
Janna also brings a lot of crowdcontrol to the team as well as an ultimate capable of turning a teamfight into your favour!

Pair her




Now take, all of the above and pair that up with


A very nice support for


Another great support for you! This bad boy can tank, he can damege and he can crowd control like no other! With his




Now with his ultimate




This is a support I havent played with myself as Varus, but I've played him myself, and the combo's I can make with a Varus is unmatchable.

Now this support is know for her healing, which is a job she does quite well! her


With




Her ability


Her ultimate

A decent support in my opinion, but I'd personally rather play with the 3 above.

A very underestimated support, she is capable of shielding you for nice amounts as well as healing you for quite a bit.
Her




This can give you the speed boost you need to chase an enemy down and even slow them.
She also brings


A decent support again, but I personally wouldn't choose her.

A support I am not too familiar with, he does seem to bring some benefits to




Now if we take a look at








A rather new lille fella to join the ranks of the League of Legends, and she's doing quite well! Her




whimsey is a movement boost, as well as an ap boost for you! Although when




MORE WILL COME
At this phase of the game, your goal is to farm, farm, farm and farm some more.
When occasions happen, and your enemies are overextending or pushing your lane badly, call for your jungler, and chain your crowdcontrols together, and take them down.
Generally aim for around 100-150 CS (creep score - minion kills) before the mid-game, so you can have some decent items.
When occasions happen, and your enemies are overextending or pushing your lane badly, call for your jungler, and chain your crowdcontrols together, and take them down.
Generally aim for around 100-150 CS (creep score - minion kills) before the mid-game, so you can have some decent items.
At this point a few towers have been destroyed, and you have some decent gear and you are starting to be a threat to the enemies.
The fights for dragon and baron now starts, remember to make sure they're both warded, if neither your jungler or support does it, or refuses to do it, it's your job as the better player to do it.
Your goal in this part of the game is to stick together as a team most of the time, so you're not getting 1 v 5'd making the next teamfight a 4v5 and with the lack of a carry.
Your goal is to push together as a team, win teamfights (more on this later) and control the dragon and baron.
The fights for dragon and baron now starts, remember to make sure they're both warded, if neither your jungler or support does it, or refuses to do it, it's your job as the better player to do it.
Your goal in this part of the game is to stick together as a team most of the time, so you're not getting 1 v 5'd making the next teamfight a 4v5 and with the lack of a carry.
Your goal is to push together as a team, win teamfights (more on this later) and control the dragon and baron.
Now everything just got serius, tanks are durable, carries hurt and assassins eats you in seconds. This is the part of the game where EVERYTHING matters, if you lose a teamfight, chances are you lost the game.
At this point you need to stay calm in teamfights and keep your focus, this is key to winning teamfights, you and your team needs to focus on bringing them down one by one, and it's your job to do the damege, by focusing down the other enemies heavy damege dealers, you have in most cases won the battle.
A rule of thumb is this priority list AD carry > Assassin > AP carry > Support > off tank > Tank
Keep that in mind before the teamfight, and figure out with your team who's the biggest threat, don't go for easy kills such as the hardly geared support, focus down the fed
Vayne or
Caitlyn because it's the carrys doing all the damege.
At this point you need to stay calm in teamfights and keep your focus, this is key to winning teamfights, you and your team needs to focus on bringing them down one by one, and it's your job to do the damege, by focusing down the other enemies heavy damege dealers, you have in most cases won the battle.
A rule of thumb is this priority list AD carry > Assassin > AP carry > Support > off tank > Tank
Keep that in mind before the teamfight, and figure out with your team who's the biggest threat, don't go for easy kills such as the hardly geared support, focus down the fed


Alright, most people know how this work out, but I've seen numerous of players not being able to do this, so I'll try to give a few tips and tricks on how to successfully last hitting, and let you know, why this is so important!
First of all, last hitting is relatively easy, try it out against bots, just for practice.
Don't hit the minion AT ALL before it's at very low HP, and low enough for you to finish it with just ONE attack. The reason for this is, you simply DON'T get gold from minions that are killed around you.
Now let's say that a kill on an enemy champion is worth 300 gold, now that's just two minion waves, two or three minion waves are worth the same money as a champion kill, so tell me, which way is the easiest to get geared?
Also when you see two or more minions low enough to one shot, don't hesitate to use a low mana cost ability to get one or two more, that's okay.
Considering the matches i watch on stream the carries usually have 250+ CS by the end of the match, you might say that that is rather hard to pull off and I'm certain that it is, but it's doable, and if they can, so can you!
It's all about the practice, and once this is figured out, it will be a breeze!
First of all, last hitting is relatively easy, try it out against bots, just for practice.
Don't hit the minion AT ALL before it's at very low HP, and low enough for you to finish it with just ONE attack. The reason for this is, you simply DON'T get gold from minions that are killed around you.
Now let's say that a kill on an enemy champion is worth 300 gold, now that's just two minion waves, two or three minion waves are worth the same money as a champion kill, so tell me, which way is the easiest to get geared?
Also when you see two or more minions low enough to one shot, don't hesitate to use a low mana cost ability to get one or two more, that's okay.
Considering the matches i watch on stream the carries usually have 250+ CS by the end of the match, you might say that that is rather hard to pull off and I'm certain that it is, but it's doable, and if they can, so can you!
It's all about the practice, and once this is figured out, it will be a breeze!
Well this is my guide for Varus, and it's in no way finished.
I spent a few hours to complete this, and I think the information should help the average player.
If you read through it all you have my deepest thanks, and please feel free to leave a comment below and either up or downvote depending on what you have learned, please feel free to give me some constructive critics, cuz' anything that can improve a guide can generally improve the Mobafire community.
I'd like to thank jhoijhoi for his awesome guide on how to make a guide on mobafire, please feel free to visit his profile, and read his guides!
Thanks to Bignokki for being an awesome support as Leona! Many thanks to you for making me publish this guide!
Thanks again for reading this
IAMANIKOLAS
I spent a few hours to complete this, and I think the information should help the average player.
If you read through it all you have my deepest thanks, and please feel free to leave a comment below and either up or downvote depending on what you have learned, please feel free to give me some constructive critics, cuz' anything that can improve a guide can generally improve the Mobafire community.
I'd like to thank jhoijhoi for his awesome guide on how to make a guide on mobafire, please feel free to visit his profile, and read his guides!
Thanks to Bignokki for being an awesome support as Leona! Many thanks to you for making me publish this guide!
Thanks again for reading this
IAMANIKOLAS
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