Varus Build Guide by sos448

Introduction

Hi everyone, I'm Sos448, and this is my Varus Guide. I worked hard to make this guide and it is my first ever guide I have made.
I would appreciate any and all feedback.
If you are reading this while it is under construction I do ask that you hold back your down vote but don't feel like you need to hold back your up vote.
Thank you.

Pros VS Cons

Pros + Amazing poke + Game Changing ulti [icon=chain of corruption + Good burst + Good harass

Cons - Squishy - Getting the full effect of can be hard - No escape plan or skills - Requires basic skill shot needs

Masteries

These are standard masteries for most ADC's.
There is a possible 21/0/9 but I find this more effective in lane for farm and harass.

Runes

• Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: For 9/10 ADC's these are the best Quints for you, increases your base start damage for that early lane harass and farm.
  
• greater mark of armor penetration: Late game when the enemey has caught on that they need armor to protect them from you, these will help, along with Last Whisper make their purchase useless.
  
• Greater Mark of Attack Damage: If you find it hard early game to get good farm then these runes will help you do that.
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: Those annoying AP supports ( Sona) can really hurt early game, and late game in team fights they just give you that edge over the enemy APC.
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: If you don't find AP supports annoying, then these are better as they give better protection late game but worse protection for the first 10levels or so.
• Greater Seal of Armor: What can I say, you will be against the enemy ADC. You don't want scaling armor because they will be able to out poke you early game, it's common sense for these ones.

Summoner Spells

Flash: This is must have on 9/10 champions, it can help you get out of sticky fights, over walls or just out of harms way, also having flash makes it much safer to tower dive as you can get in, get the kill, and then flash out before the enemy support has time to do anything.

Barrier: Barrier...the best spell to make your opponent **** themselves. Just when they think they will be able to kill you, BOOM, shield, and they turn to run because now you have the health to out damage them.

Ignite: Oh whats that? You are trying to heal? I don't think so! Oh whats that, you think you can run away with only 200health? I don't think so! Ignite is a good spell and many of us have gotten out of a fight thinking, yes I made it, only to notice ignite is going to kill you in 3 seconds

Cleanse: A good counter to enemy supports such as Taric, I don't use it for Varus but it is still a good spell

Ghost: Yeah you run fast, but when there is 1 of you and 5 of them, what you really need is to be able to Flash over a wall, ghost i tend to use with the more slower, close range, champions

Teleport: Not much to say about teleport, can be used to gank, both directly (teleporting onto a minon in the middle of a fight) or indirectly (teleporting to a ward in a nearby bush) apart from ganking and getting to and from lanes, I don't see much use when playing ADC

Abilities

• Living Vengeance:This is a great passive when you have a clear lane to farm in or even early lane to give you that edge on the enemy farm, or when a fight breaks out. On a champion kill or assist or a minon kill, Varus gains attack speed for 6 seconds.
  
• Piercing Arrow (Q):This is your skill shot, with practice this is a great skill for getting finishing shots and running champions or even stealing buffs and dragon/baron. This is your main harass skill as it has low mana cost and long range.
  
• Blighted Quiver (W):With every basic attack the player or minon you hit gains one stack (stacking up to 3 times) when you hit that minon or champion with the stacks you will get extra burst damage, this is good for burst damage. Also the passive on this skill is that your basic attacks do extra magic damage.
  
• Hail Of Arrows (E):This skill is debated to be Varus best harass as it has good range, and slows for you to be more accurate with Piercing Arrow but as I don't find it hard to land hits with Piercing Arrow I would disagree. This skill is a good healing debuff and slows enemies in a wide area once it is upgraded.
  
• Chain Of Corruption (R):This is Varus ulti, it is an AOE snare that it game changing! You can turn team fights around in a second with this. The first person that is hit gets snared and then enemies nearby will slowly get snared if they are not careful. What I find good about this skill is in team fights people are so busy they don't notice they are about to get snared and you can use this to your advantage.

Items

Good base attack speed early game and basic movement speed. Really helps get stacks of Blighted Quiver.

One of the best life steal items for ADC's, the easy minon farms allows you to quickly get max stats and it really does help with staying in lane, mid game you will be healing 100+ on minons per basic attack if you build right.

Yes it is a bit expensive but the pure damage, crit chance and !!extra crit damage!! is unbeatable. Combine this with Phantom Dancer and you will be ripping through anything in your way.

There are 4 good things about this item, first is that you get great attack speed for your money, and who doesn't like attack speed? Secondly you get extra crit chance to go with Infinity Edge and who doesn't like high crit damage & high crit chance? Thirdly you gain extra movement speed - why is this important you may ask - this is because Varus has no escape skills! So the extra movement speed just gives you that slight edge. Finally, the passive, no unit collision, countless times I've gotten away with 10 health because my chaser has got caught running around a minon and countless times I've lost a kill because I got caught running around a minon and they have just gotten away.

Lets slap Volibear round the face when he buys a Warmog's Armor is the active passive summed up. Extra life steal, damage and attack speed, explains itself really.

When they start building armor, the best thing to do is to repay them by buying armor penetration. It's just the polite thing to do I think. Also if you don't have greater mark of armor penetration then this item is a MUST HAVE.

Any other items I listed at the top of this guide are also fine, this section is purely to explain the 6 most COMMON items for Varus and why they are good.

Your Supports

Taric will give armor, heals and stuns. He is a tank and the stun making Blighted Quiver deadly. I give Taric a 9/10

Infinite mana and health. Good if you are new to Varus however no slows, stuns or escape / engage skills. I give Soraka a 6/10

A good Sona gives you heals, does LOADS of damage, and can reduce the enemy ADC's damage with her passive or even slow the enemy ADC with her passive, a great AOE stun and can make you run fast. I give a good Sona 9/10 A bad Sona can heal you, kill steal you, and leave you to die / die a lot as she can be squishy. I give a bad Sona 1/10

Leona has great CC, a great initiate and is great for helping you get out of a sticky situation. The only problem is she has no heal for you. If you are used to Varus I give Leona 7/10

He is a tank. He has a heal. He has a knock back. He has a knock up. Yes the heal may be small, but a small heal is better than no heal, and if Alistar can get his headbutt knock up combo right, it's a double kill for you and your ulti. I give Alistar 9/10

What can I say about Nunu. He doesn't really offer you much apart from he can take hits, he slow a little and gives you a buff which is doesn't really max out that quickly anyway. His ulti it good for team fights but can be counters easily. I give Nunu a 4/10

Nami has a OK heal but she has a good trap with her Aqua Prison and her ulti is a good move to engage with. Overall I find playing with Nami enjoyable but most importantly helps with good sustain early game, picking people out in fights and good at disengaging. I give Nami a 8/10

I AM NOT A FAN OF Thresh. However, he has a grab, slows and knock ups. He does great damage and can really take some hits. I give Thresh a 7/10

SHE CAN SHIELD THE TURRET! Now that's just cool. This is good shield for you and good knock ups that she can just leave in a bush waiting for the right moment. Her ulti can come in very handy but can counter you in a way that you miss your skill shot or your ulti, you need good communication but it does work if you know what you are doing. I give Janna a 6/10

Finally our little fairy Lulu (you should read her lore if you haven't already). With her big F OFF ulti I do enjoy playing with her as a support. She can disable your enemy and has a handy speed boost this is good for Varus as it's hard to disengage if your Hail of Arrows is on cool down. I give LuLu a 7/10

Tactics

Basic tactics - Before the team fight starts, stay back and do some annoying pokes with Piercing Arrow when the team fight starts stay back, DO NOT engage the fight, that is not your job. In a fight lay waste with your Hail of Arrows to reduce healing and focus the most fed/most squishy player on the enemy team. If someone tries to run or the person you are focusing gets 3 stacks of Blighted Quiver then use your Piercing Arrow to ruin their day. At some point, probably 3 second after the engagement, throw in your ulti.

More advance tactics - Get 2 or 3 stacks on you Blighted Quiver and then use you ulti, continue to get stacks and then use your Hail of Arrows, finally continue stacking and finish with Piercing Arrow

Harassing tactics - Here's the trick with this, you want to get them low enough so you can kill them in one shot, but if you get them too low, they will go back, and if they aren't low enough then you wont get the kill. I find that people underestimate the power of Blighted Quiver so if you can get the EXACT damage you will do taking into account how many stacks and the players health and armor, you can easily pick up kills early game before level 6.

Going against supports with heals - This can be annoying as your pokes can become a waste of mana, you need to be able to do more damage than the heal but also use less mana, that's important as you can out sustain the enemy support and he/she will be forced to either heal themselves over the ADC or just go back for mana. When the enemy support goes back, it's a free push, farm and harass for you.

Common Match Ups

EASY

Her harass has a really long cool down early game, and you do a LOT more damage than she does. Be aggressive! But stay near minons so you don't take free volley to the face.

MEDIUM

She is a very good laner and has very good farming skills, luckily for you, in most damage exchanges you can walk away better if you are smart about it, let her 90 Caliber Net away or run away and then firer your Piercing Arrow to activate your Blighted Quiver

MEDIUM

I'll sum this up quick, short fights you win, long drawn out fights, you lose. This is due to the DPS output of your skills vs his.

MEDIUM

You have better range than him, you need to use this to your advantage. If he uses Quickdraw to get in close he can win fights, so play safe and keep your distance and you should be fine.

HARD

Draven is a very hard champion to go against. Many people say Varus counters Draven but I don't really see how. 7/10 times I do have a hard time against Draven. I don't know if this is due to the skill level in supports or just the skill level of me and Draven but I find him a difficult laner.

For more infomation about counters, try checking out this website Varus counters

Summary

Overall Varus is a really fun ADC and has a really fun poke that is very satisfying when you get a good kill from it. As long as you respect that you can't get out of a fight very easily then you will enjoy your game if you win or lose. (Unless you are one of those crazy ragers who go afk after one death)

Thanks for taking the time to read my guide, I have put a lot of effort into this and I would appreciate any and all advice from you guys.

I'd like to do a huge shout out for jhoijhoi as this is my first guide so I had no idea how to do the bb code or get into the database so her guide to using the code and database really came in handy. Credits to jhoijhoi check her stuff out here.