Hello, and welcome to my Varus guide. First off, I'm sorry for all the weird meta shifts around Varus. So far this season, we've gone through probably three different builds being the most viable, and it's been tough keeping up. Anyway, Varus is a Marksman who can either be played in the bot lane as an ADC or as a mid laner. This guide focuses on his intended role, ADC. Varus has a lot of poke in his Piercing Arrow. He also excels in trades, thanks to his Blighted Quiver stacks, which are then triggered by his Q or E. With an ultimate invaluable in fights, grade-A trading, and nice scaling out of the early game, Varus is a very solid choice for the bot lane.

Varus' best build in preseason still seems up for debate. For awhile it's been the lethality build, but recently the on-hit Fleet Footwork build has risen. I won't be switching which are the 1st and 2nd builds on my guide quite yet, but will be sure to once the season starts and a superior build begins to emerge. Till then, I've included both in my guide.

Pros

+ Good DPS due to on-hit/W stacks. + Great poke/chunking of squishies with Q (pen build). + Good peel with E and R + R good for 1v1ing + Good scaling (if you get peeled for in fights) + Great tank killer + R useful in fights

Cons

+ Immobility is biggest glaring weakness + Q poke weak late (pen) + Can be hard to position in teamfights + Q less effective against tanks (pen) (still pretty good considering the state of tanks) + Can't chunk out enemies as well as crit ADCs like Tristana, Xayah, Caitlyn, etc. (crit/onhit)

Hoo boy. Instead of making an entire guide for each build, I thought I'd just list the strengths and weaknesses of each below (PLEASE DON'T THINK I'M LAZY <3).

Pen Build:
This build is coming back a bit after the start of preseason. With the new runes, as well as with the decline of Ardent Censer supports, the poke based lane is stronger, which helps out champions like Varus, Jhin and Miss Fortune who build lethality. I'll have to swap around the first build in this guide (again) but I'm actually content with this change, so long as it isn't as unbalanced as it was in season 7.

Guinsoo's Build:
This on-hit, auto attack style of playing Varus first arose in patch 7.5, when Blade of the Ruined King was buffed. This build is similar to his build back then, but as the meta progressed, on-hit based ADCs like Varus and Kog'Maw started to build Guinsoo's Rageblade first item, and became a mid-game force. The first 3 items are mainly focused on bolstering his on-hit damage, with items such as Blade of the Ruined King, Wit's End, and Runaan's Hurricane.

Crit Build:
Worse overall than Guinsoo's build, but this build excels in chunking out targets (like a Tristana or Caitlyn). However, the key difference between Varus and these champions is that Varus is highly immobile, which gives him much less insurance on risky plays. Simply put, you have two options for crit build. Either take Essence Reaver first, followed by a Zeal item and Infinity Edge, or take Infinity Edge and 2 Zeal items instead.

Essence Reaver Build:
This build was prominent in the start of the season, when utility ADCs (aka ult-bots) like Ashe and Jhin were prominent. You get 30% CDR from building Essence Reaver and the two other crit items, which lets your ulti off cooldown frequently. Also, it allows you to use Piercing Arrow for some light poke and Hail of Arrows for some self peel often. You also get good DPS with this build, albeit without much mobility.

Heal
Great for laning, can save support too. Even for chasing it can be useful movespeed wise.


Flash
Escapes, engages, positioning, yolo baron steals, et cetera.

(Please don't flash into the baron pit if you're trying to steal on Varus though)

Pen Build:

The runes that I recommend are found in the overview at the top of the guide, but I'll explain them as well as other options here.


Primary Tree: Sorcery


Arcane Comet

This benefits your poke-based style. It can proc on either your Q, E or R, and the Q/E procs are very helpful in lane (E's slow makes the comet shot easier to land).


Summon Aery

An alternative to Arcane Comet. It has a shorter cooldown than Comet and is harder (impossible) to dodge, but also does less damage. Given the longish cooldowns of your abilities, it's more efficient to take Arcane Comet.


Manaflow Band

This benefits your lane mana management a lot. Stacking your tear can take while, so this can keep you spamming your spells in lane to get an advantage.


Nullifying Orb

This can be useful against a high AP bursty team or even an annoying AP harass support like Zyra or Bard. If you can live without it, take Band.


The Ultimate Hat

Meh. You build CDR anyway with Youmuu's Ghostblade, Ionian Boots of Lucidity and Duskblade of Draktharr. Sure, it becomes more useful than Manaflow Band later in the game, but the advantage that Manaflow gives you in lane is more useful.


Celerity

Grants movement speed as well as damage based on bonus movement speed. Movespeed is always useful of course, and the extra damage just adds to the benefit.


Absolute Focus

This rune is better on Varus than on most other ADCs, since his damage is very safe. This allows you to stay topped off on HP while still enjoying the extra damage from the rune.


Scorch

This gives your poke a lot of extra oomph, very strong in lane. Deathfire used to be a popular keystone for lethality Varus, and its replacement suits him just fine.


Gathering Storm

This helps with your scaling, but I think Scorch is still better, as it complements your lane as well as your item power spikes.



Secondary Tree: Precision


Triumph

One of the best runes in Precision. After getting a kill or assist, you recover 15% of your missing health, which can be life saving both in lane or in fights. Recommended.


Presence of Mind

Upon a kill, assist, or level up, you recover all mana used in the last 5 seconds. It can be useful, but most of the time will probably seem like overkill. IMO Triumph is better.


Legend: Alacrity

This synergizes well with Varus' passive. Alacrity gives you an attack speed buff on a kill or assist. With relatively low attack speed, lethality Varus benefits from this in fights.


Coup de Grace

This gives you a little bonus AD upon a takedown for 10 seconds, but more importantly, allows you to deal 10% more damage to targets below 40% health. This is a good way to surprise low health enemies with the damage from your poke. Recommended.



Crit or On-Hit Build:


Primary Tree: Precision


Fleet Footwork

Fleet Footwork Varus has begun to emerge, being pioneered by a lot of pro Korean ADC players. It goes well with either enchanter or protector (mage or tank) supports, and helps Varus' low mobility and low sustainability in lane.

Overheal

Overheal adds to your improved lane sustain. It's especially good with Relic Shield.


Triumph

Triumph is a great sustain rune. You recover 15% of your missing HP on takedowns, which is amazing for living through close teamfights. The 25 gold doesn't hurt, also.


Legend: Alacrity

Alacrity goes great with Varus' passive, [Living Vengeance]. When you get a kill or assist, your attack speed will be off the charts, setting up for the rest of the right or for tower or objective takes.


Legend: Bloodline

Grants lifesteal on takedowns. Your passive can act as a pseudo-Alacrity, so take this if you think Alacrity is overkill.


Cut Down

Cut Down synergizes with your identity as a tank killer. You already have plenty of on-hit with this build, and this rune only adds on to the tank shredding that the build brings.



Secondary Option: Domination


Manaflow Band

Good for lane sustain and helps boost your Overheal shield.


Zombie Wards

Great for improving your team's vision control, especially since ADCs generally ward less.

Passive: Living Vengeance
This passive buffs your attack speed by 20% for 3 seconds upon a minion kill, and by 40% for 6 seconds upon a champion kill. The minion aspect can be very useful in burning down towers, and the champion aspect can be useful in fights. For example, if you kill a carry early on, the increased attack speed can make it easier and faster to whittle down their front line.

Q: Piercing Arrow
Upon cast, you draw back your bow, and upon click, you fire. You gradually gain more damage the more you charge. This ability is excellent for harass and trading due to its high damage and range. However, it doesn't do a lot before your first back, so don't go spamming it at level 1 expecting huge damage. In trades, try to get stacks of W onto your target before proc-ing them with Q.

W: Blighted Quiver
Gives your auto-attacks bonus magic damage, as well as applies stacks of Blight to the target, stacking up to three times. The "blighted" target can then be damaged with a damaging ability to pop the stacks and deal extra damage. This allows you to trade very well. A nice combo to use in trades would be three autos to apply stacks of Blight, and then either a Piercing Arrow or a Hail of Arrows, depending on whether the target is running or not (Hail if they are, Piercing if they aren't). This can be used for normal trading, but if you want to execute an enemy, get the three stacks, use Chain of Corruption to lock them down, shoot a Q in, and if they're still alive, E to slow and auto to finish them off.

E: Hail of Arrows
This ability deals good AoE damage if maxed and also provides an AoE slow. It pops stacks of Blight, and also helps a lot with waveclear when combined with your Q. It can also help Varus kite and chase fairly well, but you should still be wary of overcommitting.

R: Chain of Corruption
This skillshot shoots some chains (that KINDA look like tentacles) at the enemy, which roots them, deals some damage, and applies 3 stacks of Blight. If other enemy champions are in the area, the spell can spread to them, considering they stick around. As you can imagine, this spell provides for great follow up. Since there are 3 new stacks of Blight, both Q and E can deal heft damage, while saving the other spell for even more follow up. Use this to quickly take down a priority target, or simply as a means of engage, chase, or escape. Get comfortable and familiar with its range.

Pen/Lethality:

Manamune
You need to get a tear first back, in order to have enough mana to be useful. Don't upgrade it for a while though, as it takes longer to stack than someone like Ezreal or Cassiopeia.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity
Best boots on pen Varus. Lets you do Q damage more often. not much else to say.

Youmuu's Ghostblade
Gives good mobility thanks to active, also some lethality and CDR. TLDR it makes your arrows start to hurt.

Duskblade of Draktharr
Good stats, also good for vision control. The other passive is also good if you can make use of it (extra damage+slow upon auto attacking after emerging from being unseen).

Edge of Night
Used to be great on pen Varus, still can be useful. Takes a second to charge up but is essentially a get out of jail free card if you misposition in fights.

Lord Dominik's Regards
Take if you need hard armor pen, as in the enemy team has a Shen and Nasus. This item is especially good at helping to chunk tanks due to the Giant Slayer passive.

Mortal Reminder
IMO better than Dominik's on Varus, since your arrows won't do that much to super tanks anyway.

Maw of Malmortius
Snag this puppy if you need both CDR and a way of staying alive in fights, especially against teams with AP assassins (or just AP hard carries in general). Can also be taken last.

Mercurial Scimitar
The key element of this item is, of course, the Quicksilver Sash component, which pretty much denies enemy attempts to lock you down with CC. It also gives great lifesteal and damage.


On-Hit:

Guinsoo's Rageblade
This has moved to first item on on-hit builds like Varus and Kog'Maw. It gives a great power spike when couples with your second on-hit item, and makes you strong in early game teamfights. Plus, it gives you a bit of AD, which can be helpful for poking.

Berserker's Greaves
Gives you DPS and movespeed. Simple enough.

Wit's End
Auto attacks on enemy champions increase your MR and drain theirs, making your on-hit autos all the more powerful and also making you safer. A fine addition to any collection.

Blade of the Ruined King
The ultimate jack-of-all-trades ADC item. Gives AD, lifesteal, attack speed, self peel, and on-hit damage. Gives you a reliable early game, and a good platform to jump off of to reach the 50% crit power spike in the mid game.

Runaan's Hurricane
Spreads your damage around well, useful for waveclear, useful in teamfights. You also have great attack speed at this point.

Infinity Edge
This crit steroid brings your DPS to the next level. Increases crit damage as well as crit chance, all bundled with a nice 70 AD.

The Bloodthirster
Keeps you healthy in fights and when pushing or sieging. Also gives good AD.

mercurual scimitar Mercurial Scimitar
Gives decent enough MR, and AD, and lifesteal, but the crucial component is the QSS active. It lets you escape hard CC, so time it well.

Lord Dominik's Regards
Take if you wanna shred armor stacking tanks/bruisers that you couldn't otherwise kill.

Mortal Reminder
Take against healing champs like Vlad/Soraka/Darius/Maokai.

Maw of Malmortius
Take against burst mages like Ahri/Viktor/Vlad, or even more DPS based ones that can take you by surprise, like Cassio.

Guardian Angel
Taken rarely, make sure your team can save you while you're in the process of coming back to life.

Phantom Dancer
Increases DPS in fights a lot, also increases mobility a bit (can walk through minions/monsters/champs if close to enemy champs.

Varus, being an ability-based champion (with semblances of auto attack reliance), does damage fast and best through his ability combos. These are mainly facilitated by popping your W stacks with an ability for extra damage. Below is a list of such combos.

The Pre-6 Combo:
Move Orders:
3 W Autos -> Q -> E -> Autos
OR
3 W Autos -> E -> Q -> Autos

These 2 sets of moves are mainly used in lane trading, which you should almost always win, given sufficient mana. The first set (ending in an E) should be used if the enemy laner is already low and you're looking for a kill, hence the late slow for follow up. The second can just be used to harass and chunk, due to it going straight from the E to the Q, since the slow from the E can help you land the Q from a safer distance.


The Ulti Engage Combo
Move Order:
R -> Q -> 3 W Autos -> E -> Autos/BORK active

Basically, you use this combo to take out a priority target at the start of a teamfight or objective (one that you caught out) or as a means to winning a 1v1. Before you use this combo, be sure that your damage is sufficient, as it is very mana hungry and also burns your very useful ultimate. The ulti as the first move not only prevents enemy escape, but also applied 3 stacks of Blight, which allows for a high damege Q immediately after. If their summs are up, don't hesitate to E early if you think it'll help you secure the kill (due to the slow).


The Donezo Combo
Move Order:
Poke with Q -> E -> As many W autos as you can (up to 3) -> Q or E -> R -> Q

This is a situational combo, so only take this if you see an opportunity. If you see an enemy get particularly low due to your or your team's poke, start aggressing more on it. E so you can get in auto range, and pop the stacks with Q. Then if you really think you can finish them off, you can ulti for 3 more stacks and fire off a Q when it comes up for a heap of damage. Due to the high damage of this combo over a long period of time, it's good for taking down tanks.

Varus' early game and laning phase are fairly strong compared to those of other ADCs. With the long sword + 3 pots start, you get a lot of lane sustain and a little more effectiveness with your poke than you'd get with a Doran's blade. However, if up against a tough lane, you'll run out of health fast in trades without a Doran's item, even with the two extra pots. Part of the reason ADCs like Jhin, Varus and even Ashe get Long Sword starts (other than getting earlier item spikes) is to increase the efficiency of poke by sacrificing the health lifesteal provided by Doran's, replacing it with 2 more pot's worth of sustain. If anyone gets on your tail, shoot a Hail of Arrows to dissuade them. I wouldn't poke too much with Piercing Arrow before your first back. Your mana will disappear and you won't have an escape tool with your E. I'd prioritize my poke to after I've landed a couple autos, to make the most of my mana. Manaflow Band does help this. After you get Tear of the Goddess and maybe some attack damage, your harass becomes far more potent, and also far safer to do, thanks to the spammability that Tear+Manaflow gives your abilities. If you have a support like Zyra, Malzahar, Nami, Thresh, Braum, et cetera (Basically a hard engage supp) you do have the option of looking for a kill (hopefully on an overextended AD carry) with Chain of Corruption, since your support can supply follow-up CC really easily, and you have great easy to land damage on immobile targets (unless up against a Braum, he can block your damage with Unbreakable). Be wary of counterengages, especially long range ones such as Ashe ult, since your target can still cast spells even when snared. You are very immobile in lane, however, so your number one priority should be not overextending. Don't be greedy with auto attack harass, and don't flash in for kills unless you're really sure that you have the kill locked up (this means keeping track of enemy summs, having river vision so the enemy jungler won't show up). Position defensively in early fights, you're squishy and immobile, but can also be the MVP of a fight if you land your arrows. Make sure to charge them for maximum damage.

Here's where you start delivering judgement to health bars. By now you likely have Youmuu's Ghostblade, a triple threat of damage, CDR and mobility. Don't be afraid to use its active, even just to rotate or get to lanes faster from base. You can also harass enemy champions by comboing your abilities, but the best way to get kills is to wear them down over time (but not so much that they're forced to back), and then look for an ulti engage to finish them off or at least blow a summoner spell. With Ghostblade active and E, you have a fighting chance at simply outrunning the enemy engage. Still, if you're farming a side lane or even 1-3-1ing in mid lane, make sure you have defensive wards. I've said before that you can make or break a teamfight, so if you get ganked in a side lane or flanked and locked down by a tank in mid, your team loses a lot of pressure and poke. Be liberal with your poke if your team wants mid game fights (depends on composition). A Caitlyn at half health before a fight cuts her chances of being as useful as you by a lot. As for your ulti, prioritize assassins like Kha'Zix or Zed that can instagib you or your mid laner, or use it to nab backline carries that are out of position and can be collapsed on easily Again, still do your damage from afar, they can still burst you while in your ult. Make sure to aim or predict well, and remember that your chances of getting kills by fishing with your ult goes up a lot with teammates on standby.

Varus has an interesting late game, provided you survive it. You have the capability of taking out half a squishy target's health bar with one Q, but are not nearly as useful against tanks (your saving grace being a fully stacked Muramana). Stay behind your frontline, hit literally anyone who's in range (preferably enemy carries), and try to land a good Chain of Corruption onto those carries. Try to group with your support if you're in a side lane or the jungle, with a little peel you can kill most enemies, but don't underestimate how hard someone can blow you up if they get close, ESPECIALLY crit based ADCs like Tristana, Twitch or Sivir (they can surprise you with a burst of damage before you have the chance to react). Kiting and repositioning between autos (stutter-stepping) is also crucial. It adds a degree of unpredictability that makes it that much harder for enemies to get on top of you, as well as giving you an easier way to react. Your primary source of damage is still your Q, but autos are a stronger option than they were in the mid game, provided that you're autoing from a safe position.

NOTE: I'm starting to get into this guide again, so early/mid/late game, supports, and teamfight sections coming soon! :D

Thanks for reading!