Varus Build Guide by Nazuraith

Chapter 1

Hello, welcome to my first guide on Mobafire. This guide (obviously) is on Varus and covers a collection of the thoughts and ideas that I've gathered through research here on Mobafire, my own gameplay, and watching other people's gameplay (Yay new spectator mode).

Hopefully, I have been able to put together a logical reason behind all my choices in how I build Varus. As a new champion, I know he is subject to changes, and that it's possible that people will find new/better ways to play this totally awesome character. If you have any suggestions, new ideas, or different reasoning, please comment and let me know. I'm also happy to explain anything further if I wasn't clear enough. Please try out the build and leave a comment if you feel that this build deserves a downvote, so that I can better both the guide and my playing as Varus :D



Also, thank you jhoijhoi for teaching me how to use all of the coding in creating this guide and for allowing me to use parts of her template, which you can find here.







I've decided to start this guide with a quick summary. Basically, this is a VERY in-depth guide concerning Varus, with ALL the information I take into consideration when building him.

However, to make sure you're not disturbed by the length of this guide, I will summarize the main points of the guide for those that do not wish to spend the time it takes to read it all.

• Exhaust allows easy get-aways and works both offensively and defensively, this along with Flash make up for Varus's lack of escaping abilities.
  
  
• I level up Piercing Arrow first so that I can have high damage poke, and high damage burst when I detonate my Blighted Quiver stacks. If you're less used to skill shots, leveling up Blighted Quiver provides a more reliable damage output.
  
  
• I rush The Bloodthirster instead of infinity edge because Varus's Piercing Arrow synergizes better with it, and it gives him better early game lane sustain, as well as increasing his over-all burst damage ability.
  
  
• I go for flat Attack Damage marks and Quintessences, as well as a 21/9/0 mastery build, in order to boost my early game attack damage, and burst ability.
  
  
• I grab Hail of Arrows as my first ability, because the slow and heal reduction serves better in level 1 fights, allowing for get aways, Heal crippling, and chasing down First Blood.
  
  
• Varus plays the first half of the game as a burst champion, but plays the second half of the game as a Range DPS champion.
  
  
  

If you have any thoughts or questions on these ideas, please, read further into the guide :)






Varus is an AD Carry unlike any other. In the title of this guide, I call him a AD-Burst Hybrid. Although half of his skills level up with Ap, I do not think that building any AP on him is effective. No, so how can Varus be a hybrid? The hybrid isn't in the build, it's in how he is played, and how he progresses through the game.

If you've played Varus, you'll probably noticed that when you faced off against that Caitlyn, you lost. How Varus was portrayed in the champion spotlight made him look like a, win the fight, snipe off the enemies as they leave, kind of champion. However, winning the fight is the limiting factor in that dream, and when Caitlyn owns you.. Well. She's the one that gets to do the sniping.

So now what. Have we wasted our money on Varus? Well, this is why I love Varus so much. Unlike the other AD champions, Varus plays through the early/early-mid game as if he was an AP Caster. As an AP champion, would you sit there auto-attacking the enemy carry? No of course not. Where Varus excels, is in large bursts of damage through stacking Blighted Quiver, detonating his stacks with Piercing Arrow, and sealing the kill with MORE stacks detonated with his Hail of Arrows, both cutting off their ability to heal up, and slowing down the enemy champion to keep them in range for a possible long range Piercing Arrow to take the kill (dreams really do come true ^^). Varus can often burst down the enemy carry once you've gotten them around 50%-70% life, which shouldn't be hard when you're landing Piercing Arrows.

To take advantage of Varus's burst potential, instead of rushing Infinity Edge, we rush the AD carry's Deathcap: The Bloodthirster. This will give you an early lead on any carry that is holding out for an Infinity Edge, securing your lane dominance, and your role as carry in the late game. Although maxing Blighted Quiver first gives you some good poking options with low mana cost, Piercing Arrow's high damage output overrules blighted quiver's % health damage, which scales better in mid/late game.

In late game, Varus has built up enough AD and Attack Speed, that he can easily transition over to the role of the traditional Range DPS Carry, as his auto attack damage surpasses his burst potential. This transition is what sets Varus apart from other Carries; instead of having a slow early game, he picks up speed earlier and fills a similar play-style and role of an AP Burst champion.

To see how I build Varus to accomplish this transition, READ ON. :D

spaaaaaaace

Pros + Long Range Nuke + Early Game Burst + Multi-Target Root + Slow/Reduce Healing + Pretty Good Farming + Damage That Scales With HP + Epic Laugh :D

space

space

Cons - Very Squishy - No Escape Ability - SOOOO MANA HUNGRY.. - Positioning Dependent - Easy To Punish - Completely Skill Shot Based - Often Focused - Questionable Dance.. :P

I'm going to jump right into the meatiest and most controversial part of building Varus, his skill progression.



Living Vengeance:
Living Vengeance is Varus's passive ability. Whenever Varus kills a unit, he receives bonus attack speed. (20% for 3 secs upon killing a monster/creep, and 40% for 6 seconds upon killing or assisting in the kill of an enemy champion.)

This ability can be used in two different ways. The more obvious way is using the ability to clear out creep waves surprisingly fast. The second way is using the ability in fights. In team fights, you will snowball after your team gets that first kill, and you get that 40% extra attack speed.



Piercing Arrow:
Piercing Arrow is Varus's Q ability. Piercing arrow is a long range skill shot, which can be turned into quite a nuke in both early and late game. Piercing arrow has a charge time, but can be fired sooner for a smaller percentage of it's satisfying damage. Piercing Arrow is a skill shot and scales with AD.


This ability can be utilized in many different situations. Because of it's long range, you can use it to poke your enemies, farm creeps when you're zoned, and to snipe off fleeing enemies. Piercing Arrow, like all your abilities, can also be used to detonate stacks of Blighted Quiver.




Blighted Quiver:
Blighted Quiver is Varus's passive W ability. Blighted quiver adds a flat amount of magic damage to Varus's auto attacks (good for early game damage and last hitting creeps) that scales with AP. Blighted Quiver also causes your auto attacks to stack Blight on any number of targets at a time. Blight stacks can be detonated by any of Varus's abilities to do magic damage based on the target's maximum health (the % damage done also scales with Ap, on a 0.01% ratio).

This ability is the reason Varus can stand toe to toe with other AD carries and makes Varus scale well into late game team fights due to it's health% damage. Early game, this ability is basically a free Doran's Blade as far as damage, and will help you last hit creeps, and poke your opponents when they get close. Your goal with this ability is going to be to proc the stacks with an ability every three auto attacks (the maximum stack amount).

Your ability use should be something like: W-W-W-Ability-W-W-W-Ability-W-W-W-Ability. The abilities that you use will depend on the situation, however you will often want to open with either R (to immobilize your enemies), or Q (because it's cool down is shorter than W's, and you will often get to fire it twice in most later game encounters).



Hail of Arrows:
This ability is Varus's E ability. Hail of Arrows deals damage in an AOE zone, creating an area that slows and applies a 50% healing debuff to enemy units that walk through it. Hail of Arrows is a skill shot and scales with AD.

This ability is Varus's escape, and main utility. This skill can be used to slow enemies for chasing, or for getaways. However, it continues to maintain its usefulness in stationary battles due to its healing debuff. This ability is especially useful to counter enemy champions that often rely heavily on vamp or healing effects such as Vladimir, Dr. Mundo or Warwick (as well as any AD carry in the late game).



Chain of Corruption:
Chain of Corruption is Varus's ultimate ability. Chain of Corruption roots an enemy to the ground, dealing magic damage and spreading to enemies around the impact over two seconds, rooting and dealing the same amount of damage; Chain of Corruption will not hit any enemy unit more than once (sadly). Chain of Corruption is a skill shot and scales with AP.

This ability is great, as it allows you to grab some easy ganks/kill secures and can even make a great initiate in team fights, as it will grab one enemy, and the rest of the team if they stay too close; either they will lose a champion before the fight, or they can jump in at a disadvantage. However BE WARNED, this skill only ROOTS your enemies, it does not stun them! If they are ranged, they can still attack you!

• Greater Mark of Attack Damage: Chosen for early game damage, and because attack damage synergizes well with Varus's abilities.
  
  Other options are
  
• Greater mark of Desolation for the armor pen which scales well into late game
  
• Greater Mark of Attack Speed which helps you stack Blighted Quiver faster. (You should probably go for these if you're planning to max Blighted Quiver first, but we will get to that later.)
  
• All of these options work in all of the lanes.

• Greater Seal of Armor: Chosen to make exchanges with your fellow AD-Bot-Laners more favorable, and to increase gank survivablity.
  
  Other options are
  
• Greater Seal of Attack Speed if you just can't get enough attack speed (Not worth it in my opinion)
  
• Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration for the extra Mana Regen (I chose the per-level Seals because they beat the flat ones by level 7, and are .2 away at level 6, which is when you'll A. Be more likely to be looking for kills with Chain of Corruption and B. You'll need to use more skills to keep the enemy at bay, as they will also have their ultimate up.)
  
  In middle lane, I choose Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration because we won't need the armor until later in the game (where your base Armor will be fine, and you can make up any deficit with an armor item).

• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: Chosen for the much needed magic resistance later in the game. If you're struggling with an AP carry, these runes and an item like Banshee's Veil or Hexdrinker (Or later Maw of Malmortius) should give you the survivability you need to stay around long enough to do your job.
  
  
  If you're taking middle lane, you could opt for getting Greater Glyph of Magic Resists, so you have a better early magic resist. However, in late game you'll be less fortified.
  
  
  Once again, you could grab some Greater Glyph of Attack Speeds if you're an attack speed mad-man, but I don't recommend it (even if it will increase the speed of your pokes when stacking blight).

• Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: Chosen for the same reason as the Greater Mark of Attack Damages.
  
  Other options are
  
• Greater Quintessence of Health which decreases your natural squish-i-tude and boost your early game win chance
  
• Greater Quintessence of Desolation for the armor pen (scales well through the game, but you lose the early game advantage)
  
• Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed for EVEN MORE ATTACK SPEED~~~

• : Berserker's Greaves are core because YOU WANT ATTACK SPEED, both as an AD carry, and for stacking Blight, YOU WANT THIS. You could switch these out for Mercury Treads for the tenacity, but I feel like if there is THAT MUCH CC on the other team, (enough for the boots to be worth it), then you're going going to get caught regardless of tenacity. So, in my opinion, Berserker's Greaves, kill them before they kill you.
  
• : Blood Thirster, I not only make this item core on Varus, I suggest that this is the FIRST thing you get, after the one or two Doran's Blades. This item will both turn your Q into a nuke, (160 more damage~), but will give you MUCH better lane sustain, and with a blue buff, you'll be set for quite awhile. Once you get this item, you should be able to root and burst down the enemy carry once they reach 70% health, (otherwise known as after you hit them once with your Piercing Arrow ;D).
  
• : Phantom Dancer, very important. Right after you get The Blood Thirster, you'll have a significant boost to your damage output. So what's left but to be able to get extra movement speed to chase down those squishies, extra attack speed and criticals to stack your blights, and fire a 320 damage Piercing Arrow right into their forehead?
  
• : This weapon is the final nail in building the bridge to carry your team. At this point, you're doing about 200+ damage at 1.6 Hits each second, with 29% vamp. This weapon will ignite your nuclear warheads, turning your 200 dmg into 700 dmg on your 45% chance for critical hits! Unless the enemy team can get together, get past your team and focus you, they're in for quite a lot of time spent respawning.
  

• : This item is great for the amount that it costs, and adds survivability to Varus. I feel that it is worth getting your second item. Depending on how well you are farming, you could consider getting a second blade to greater increase your damage output early game. If you get two of these, you have 9% vamp with your mastery, and an extra 160 health. (As well as 32 more damage on your Q :D)
  
• Wriggles Lantern: This item is good for the extra armor, damage, last hit-ability, and vamp. I will sometimes get this item if I'm not able to stomp all over my lane. However, if you have an advantage, I would suggest instead pushing it and continuing to rush The Bloodthirster.
  
• : Good to buy if the enemy is really stacking defense. If they aren't putting their defenses past about 100, it would be better to just get a The Black Cleaver, as it will give you more attack damage, attack speed, and more armor penetration.
  
• : This is a good defensive item if the enemy AP Carry has gotten dangerous, as it gives you some more magic resistance, some health/mana, and a shield that blocks a spell every 45 seconds. However, when fighting against a good caster, they can use a lesser ability to remove your shield before using the rest of their combo.
  
• : This is a more offensive option to Banshee's Veil. Not only does it give you Magic resist and a shield that negates 400 magic damage when you REALLY need it, it gives you 55 attack! As well as a passive that can boost that to 80 attack! This item can give you the split second you needed to vamp some life back and live through that pesky AP's barrage! I feel like this is better then losing the shield over a lesser spell. However, it doesn't give you the HP Banshee's Veil does. Counting the extra hp from Banshee's Veil, that spell shield only has to negate more than 25 damage for it to beat Maw of Malmortius in survivability. However, MoM gives you more damage (which could add to vamp). It's all your decision, and may differ on the situation.
  
• : I get this to get less squishy. I often get this item, as it helps slow enemies so you can get kills and better increase your ability to carry the game. If you're losing, it gives you some more HP, and makes it so you can KILL all the low health champions that always seem to get away when you're losing...
  
• : Gives some good magic resist AND armor, however I rarely get this, as the passive just lets the enemy dance around your body before they kill you again. EH.
  
• : If you've been majorly fed, you can always get another one of these for the extra 100 dmg and 20% vamp, which will boost your survivability as well as dmg output. Try and secure your fed status, but don't go overboard with damage, as eventually the enemy team will get a clue and start focusing you.
  
• : Attack speed is always good, movement speed isn't bad, and more critical shots is great. Stack those blights all the faster, run away all the quicker.
  
• : An overall good build for a carry, gives you the Magic resistance and the ability to get out of CC. (Very important to NOT get shut down as the AD carry.) This is a very common item among AD carries. (Suggested by Phil Collins)
  

Early Game:

Early game, you want to start off with Doran's Blade and Hail of Arrows, this will give you the utility to possibly nab a first blood early on in the game. It also helps in team ganks, if your team is together enough to do that.

FARM. FARM. FARM. As the AD carry it is your DUTY to get those last hits. Poking takes second to creep killing. If you can go in for a kill, try and clear the creep wave first. It will both reduce the damage you take (those creeps will screw you up in the early game), and ensure you got your farm in.

I would suggest waiting until about level 5, or when you get your 2nd Doran's Blade, to start shooting off your Piercing Arrow without trying to stack Blighted Quiver first. This way you can do chunks of their HP, and you still have the Mana to stay in lane. Before that, it often isn't worth it.

If you are leveling up your Blighted Quiver first, then wait until your blight stacks are level 2. In early game, you can conserve even more mana, as level 1 Piercing Arrow only takes 65 Mp. However, later on it will be better to proc your stacks with Hail of Arrows, once your Piercing Arrow gets beyond level 4. By learning how to properly line up your shots, you can gain some NICE burst damage, taking up to a third of enemy life.

Always try and get 1-2 health pots when you B, and if your support isn't doing a good enough job, a ward or two.


Mid Game:

In mid game, you want to make sure that unless you're already fed, KEEP FARMING. Always keep late game in mind, as that is where you play your key role in the game. If you're already fed, begin your carrying now, and get an early win. :)

By about now you will have your Blighted Quiver up to a decent level, at least half way. You'll want to try and start stacking blights on your targets before using your abilities again. (It's always a good idea, but when it's only level 1, it has less of an effect.) By utilizing your blight stacks, you gain massive burst damage, and can take down most enemies once you've hit them in the face with a couple Piercing Arrows.


Late Game:
At this point you should be SO FARMED, that you have your core items done a long time ago(if you haven't been completely shut down by a nasty Urgot or something). If this is the case, your main damage source has passed on from your burst damage, to a constant Range DPS role.

In team fights, you will have to be EXTRA careful about your positioning. Be aware of what your team is doing, and place yourself in strategic positions. One of the major downfalls of Varus is that he doesn't have any way to get out of sticky situations (apart from flash). This makes you VERY VERY EASY to focus, don't give the enemy the chance.

Although you should never try to initiate, you should learn to recognize situations where you can take advantage of your ultimate. If your team is ready for a team fight, and the enemy Graves gets a little bit out of position... BAM. Snag him with Chain of Corruption and your team has a free kill, if the enemy team tries to salvage the situation, your chain will spread along the other enemies, effectively giving your team a nice advantage. If an opportunity does not present itself, try and save your ultimate for when the enemy is bunched together, or when your team is chasing down enemies and mopping up the fight.


Tips and Tricks:

• In early game, try and kill minions between first attacking a champion to gain the boost from Living Vengeance to stack blight faster.
  
  
• ALL of Varus's abilities are skill shots, I HIGHLY recommend using smart cast to fire off quick Piercing Arrows and Hail of Arrows
  
  
• Charging up your Piercing Arrow from the bush = an unprepared champion and an easy shot (as Piercing arrow has a quick projectile speed)
  
  
• When an Enemy is running under their tower and you know you can't catch up with them, ALWAYS hold Piercing Arrow out for it's full duration in order to be able to do maximum damage, and have maximum range.
  
  
• Learning how to lead with your skillshots is one of the defining traits of a good Varus Player, the enemy won't always be running in a straight line towards or away from you.
  
  
• Often times, it is worth waiting for an enemy to already be stunned for you to use your ultimate, this is less important the better you are at skillshots

Comment with any more tips you think should be shared! :D




You made it to the ending! If you actually read through all of that, I commend you. I hope you appreciate the work that I've put into the guide, and I hope it helps you develop your skills with Varus.

And, to run through the summary points in the beginning again:

• Exhaust allows easy get-aways and works both offensively and defensively, this along with Flash make up for Varus's lack of escaping abilities.
  
  
• I level up Piercing Arrow first so that I can have high damage poke, and high damage burst when I detonate my Blighted Quiver stacks. If you're less used to skill shots, leveling up Blighted Quiver provides a more reliable damage output.
  
  
• I rush The Bloodthirster instead of infinity edge because Varus's Piercing Arrow synergizes better with it, and it gives him better early game lane sustain, as well as increasing his over-all burst damage ability.
  
  
• I go for flat Attack Damage marks and Quintessences, as well as a 21/9/0 mastery build, in order to boost my early game attack damage, and burst ability.
  
  
• I grab Hail of Arrows as my first ability, because the slow and heal reduction serves better in level 1 fights, allowing for get aways, Heal crippling, and chasing down First Blood.
  
  
• Varus plays the first half of the game as a burst champion, but plays the second half of the game as a Range DPS champion.
  
  
  

Ask questions!! :)







This is where I place the evidence of your success! :D






These are all the guides that I read that both gave me, and helped develop my ideas on how to build Varus. (As well as make this guide.)

Jhoijhoi: http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/making-a-guide-101506

CellOne: http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/this-is-not-caitlyn-in-depth-analysis-of-varus-by-1-7k-210488 (proof that Varus isn't Caitlyn)

GrandmasterD: http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/varus-there-is-no-salvation-210383

Phil Collins: http://www.mobafire.com/profile/phil-collins-209225

Yokiharo: http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/varus-the-arrow-of-pwnibution-last-updated-17-05-2012-212532



Guide was published: 05-18-12, 12:51 AM
Fixed some formatting, added in Quicksilver, Trinity, and a new cheat sheet option. Thanks for the comments!: 05-18-12, 11:18 PM
Removed trinity, changed item build progression, Yay comments! 05-20-12
Replaced all the photobucket photo links with imageshack ones. Lol. Suchapain. Also added 0's in front of all the 5's in the dates in the changelog. ^^ 05/21/12
Oops. Missed one. 05/22/12
Maintenance. 05/24/12
Edited the Item Progression 05/25/12