Welcome to a simple guide to learning Varus

Warning: Varus is mostly out of meta. This doesn't mean he can't be successful!

This is my first guide, so any feedback will be appreciated!

Pros / Cons

Varus can be useful in numerous situations.

Runes

Varus is an adc that relies heavily on his attack speed, let alone his basic attacks. After all, his passive Living Vengeance, is giving him attack speed after each kill, scaling with level.

Precision runes

That's why Lethal Tempo is the best rune to start with. Precision will give him enough attack speed boost to dominate his lane opponents.

Triumph is a very useful skill, as you won't need Overheal , because of the shield of Bloodthirster, or Presence of Mind, because his ultimate is in a relatively low cooldown and his mana costs are low as well.

As I mention, Varus is all about attack speed. Legend: Alacrity is the stacking rune I use. If you feel unsafe and need some lifesteal, you may pick Legend: Bloodline instead. Legend: Tenacity is a bit useless on Varus, in my opinion, though against an opponent with high CC, like Leona, it could prove useful.

Coup de Grace is very useful because of your Q spell, Piercing Arrow and your W spell, Blighted Quiver. When you activate Blighted Quiver, your next cast of Piercing Arrow will deal a percentage of the enemy's missing health as extra damage. Coup de Grace also helps deal extra damage based on the percentage of missing health of your opponent, so their combination is pretty useful. I don't tend to use Cut Down, or Last Stand, because Varus Varus can have items to deal with tanks and he is too squishy to utilize Last Stand as he may need to.

Domination runes

On Domination you should choose Taste of Blood and Ravenous Hunter . Early and Mid game, you will be poked as hard as you will poke, so getting your health back up will be very useful, as your support most possibly will not be able to heal you. Also, you can choose to get Ultimate Hunter instead, so that the ultimate Chain of Corruption is in a significantly lower cooldown.

Skill Sequence

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Varus's main kit is his snipes with his Q Piercing Arrow and the damage he deals if he pops the 3-hit W Blighted Quiver passive on his target. Piercing Arrow should be maxed first, to poke your enemy as much as you can. Then max Blighted Quiver, as the passive basic attack and spell damage, and the percentage of missing health damage will increase. Lastly upgrade your E Hail of Arrows, because most of the time you won't be using it to deal damage by itself.

Laning Phase

Now let's get to the point: How to play Varus in lane.

For Botlane or Traditional ADC:

While in early game, stick to farming as much as you can. Varus is very dependent on his items, so the earlier you get them, the better. Use Piercing Arrow to poke your enemies and deny some farm from their adc. A well-cast Piercing Arrow can also prevent the enemy jungler from ganking, or the enemy support from engaging, ke sure you know when to use it and where to target. By the time you get Blighted Quiver, land some Auto Attacks on the enemy and then poke them with your Piercing Arrow to deal more damage. From level 2 you can also start engaging in battles with your support, though it's not recommended. By the time you get Hail of Arrows, you are ready to engage in battles. Start by Auto Attacking the enemy (doesn't matter Support or Adc) to trigger the Lethal Tempo, then switch focus to the enemy Adc. At 3 stacks of Blighted Quiver you should cast your Hail of Arrows to quickly pop the damage off the passive. Continue hitting the Adc and when you reach 3 stacks of Blighted Quiver, activate it. If the enemy is retreating, then fully charge Piercing Arrow and hit the Adc. If they are in close range, don't charge it at all. Instead, cast the empowered Piercing Arrow instantly. The enemy Adc should now be dead and you can switch focus to the enemy support.

Always watch out for enemy ganks. Poking can deal enough damage to alert the enemy to gank you! When the enemy support desperately tries to engage, consider backing off a bit to avoid the gank, or use your Piercing Arrow to possibly ward the jungler off.

Remember! Don't use your Blighted Quiver enchanted Piercing Arrow just to poke! The damage is greater if the champion is lower on HP.

For Midlane or Conventional ADC (Not recommended):

Now, Midlane ADC is not the best choice right now, because the assasins are raging on midlane and there is no support to help you other than the occasional appearance of your jungler. With that in mind, you should stay behind in lane and farm with your Q and/or, if the enemy midlaner is an assassin, after level 2. Remember not to overstay in your lane, or you may be burst easily.

In a case similar to Lux or Malzahar opposing you, a great spell to pick instead of heal would be Ghost or Cleanse.

It would be great if the jungler is a premade person of yours. If not, communicate with him constantly and let him know whenever you are ready to engage to the opposing midlaner. After 2 ganks like that, you should be set for early game to dominate your opposition. Farming and poking is similar to the ADC section.

Mid-Game Phase

As Season 8 is not a season where Adc's thrive, Mid-Game can be divided to two categories: Whether you are fed, or whether you fed.

If you are fed...

If the guide worked for you early game, then congratulations! You should be pretty much fed in Mid-Game. If you haven't destroyed the bottom Outer Turret yet, move it to the top of your priorities. Then move on to the Mid lane and call the rest of your team to push. Stay back and whenever you have your Piercing Arrow available, fully charge it and poke the enemy. Stay in the backline and when one of the team engages, cast your ultimate on the enemy that dived in the fight to start the stacking the Blighted Quiver passive and start focusing their squishy targets, most importantly their Adc and their Mid. Whenever they target you, use your flash towards your team to avoid being hit too much. Use your heal when one of your teammates is getting low, or when you are losing too much health. Count 5 or 6 Auto Attacks and then cast your Hail of Arrows to deal the damage from Blighted Quiver. Once you finished the teamfight, if you are victorious, push the Midlane towers, even if the rest of your team is going for objectives like Dragon or Rift Herald.

If you fed...

If you fed, don't give up! Nothing is lost yet. After all, it's only mid-game. While in Mid-Game, you should focus on farming and gaining gold. Push bot for the turrets, or any other lane that their outer turret isn't destroyed. Inform your team that you shouldn't do teamfights 4v5 and that they should help you get kills or assists to get more gold. You should be eligible for teamfights after you have completed Guinsoo's Rageblade, Berserker's Greaves and maybe Runaan's Hurricane. Whatever the case, stay in the backline and follow the instructions for teamfights given in the other spoiler. It's important never to give up because you can always turn the tides of a fight as an Adc.

Note for playing against Mordekaiser:

Mordekaiser's ultimate is classified as CC. If you have a Morgana as a support, remind her to time her spellshield so that you don't get sucked in the demon realm. If not, when you get with him in the realm, make sure that you DON'T have your Lethal Tempo activated, as he will get some of the Attack Speed as well. Root him in place, dodge his Q and E (they are usually casted together), then melt him down because of your excessive Attack Speed. Alternatively, use your Quicksilver Sash or Mercurial Scimitar and escape the demon realm to safety.

End-Game phase

This is Varus bread and butter.

In this phase, it doesn't matter whether you are fed or you fed. What matters is the successful teamfights that you should have (and you don't need to be fed for those). You may think that your Piercing Arrow doesnt deal any damage at all, but you should always charge it and aim the most squishy enemies, that is the ones with the least health and resistances. After the teamfight, focus on getting objectives like Baron or Elder Dragon and head for their nexus.

Conclusion

To conclude...

Varus is a powerful Adc with much potential, even in Season 8. If you can cope with him being very squishy and easily killed late game by the ton of Assassins this season has, or the CC that the enemy has, then Varus can be a much promised champion in your hands. Just know how to use him!

Regards, MallisTheGreat

Please leave a comment, it will really help on my future guides! Thanks in advance!