Varus
Build Guide by Alvatorz
[14.11] | The Arrow of Retribution [In Depth Guide - AP/Letha/On Hit Builds]
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Choose Champion Build:
-
Burst | Lethality
-
On hit | Attack Speed
-
Burst / Magic On-Hit| AP
Recommended Items
Runes: First Strike | Best Setup
1
2
3
Inspiration
Sorcery
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+65 Base Health
Spells:
1
2
3
Standard Choice
Flash
Heal
Items
Ability Order Lethality Skill Order
Living Vengeance (PASSIVE)
Varus Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Extreme
Major
Even
Minor
Tiny
None
Low
Ok
Strong
Ideal
Aatrox
All Threats are listed in "On-Hit" Varus section !
Aatrox
All Synergies are listed in "On-Hit" Varus section !
Ideal
Strong
Ok
Low
None
Aatrox
All Synergies are listed in "On-Hit" Varus section !
Champion Build Guide
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![]() Hey everyone. My name is Tyspect and i'm a French diamond ADC. I've started playing League 7 years ago and focused on ADC's 4 years ago. I do play most of the ADC's but some of them are my little favorites, like ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() My peak elo is Diamond 1 but I do want to achieve Master rank in the end of the year. I am French so if there's any mistake or error in the guide, don't hesitate to mention it in the comments, i'll check them as fast as possible !! I'm also streaming on Twitch occasionnaly and creating content on Youtube so if you want to join me there, you are welcome ! |

+ Super versatile in builds/runes + Great teamfight potential + Really good in 1v1/1v2 + Has no bad matchup in lane + Strong in early/mid/late game + High carry potential ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Your kill pressure in lane is massive due to your Q ![]() ![]() ![]() Your ultimate ![]() |
- Lack of mobility - Skillshot dependant - Hard to play and harder to master - Hard to comeback when behind - Weak to all in - Requires game knowledge Despite his very strong lanning phase, fighting potential and utility, ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Lastly, remember that you need a lot of game knowledge to know what to build or when to build it in order to be usefull during the game, it's very important ! |

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| When ? |
AP is a build that allows you to burst a lot of champions in the game in one simple shot. The whole build turns arround your W ![]() ![]() Example : ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |

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INNATE: When
Varus kills a unit (minion, ward, turret ect..), he gains bonus Attack speed for a short period of time. The Attack Speed bonus is increased by 40% upon scoring an enemy Champion takedown.

TIPS:
Varus passiv allow him to win multiple trades in early game due to the attack seed buff you get every time you last it a minion. But it can be usefull in many other situations. If you're hitting a turret, don't hesitate to kill a minion right before you hit the turret, and do it again when your passiv fade away, giving you the opportunity to hit the turret more than you would originnally done.

AP
: Usefull in early game. - LETHALITY
: Usefull in early game. - ON-HIT
: Important part of the kit !



ACTIVE:
Varus charges a powerfull arrow, slowing himself for up to 4 seconds. The more you charge the arrow, the more range and damage the arrow will have.
(You can cancel this process by keeping the arrow more than 4 seconds, canceling the spell, refunding 50% of the mana cost)

(You can cancel this process by keeping the arrow more than 4 seconds, canceling the spell, refunding 50% of the mana cost)
RECAST:
Varus fires a
Piercing Arrow in the target directtion, dealing physical damage AND detonating every BLIGHT effects dealing bonus AD/AP damage.


TIPS:
Varus
Piercing Arrow is his main source of damage in any builds possible. Most of the time you will want to use it to detonate every BLIGHT stacks possible on the ennemy team, but if you're playing LETHALITY
you'll be able to poke for a huge ammount of damage. This ability is a skillshot so you'll have to get used to it if you want to land as much
Piercing Arrow as you want. Learn ennemies movement and try to figure out where they will dodge as soon as you will charge your
Piercing Arrow.





AP
: Important part of the kit ! - LETHALITY
: Important part of the kit ! - ON-HIT
: Usefull in most stages on the game.



PASSIV:
Varus's basic attacks deals bonus magic damage and applies stack of BLIGHT up to 3 staying for 6 seconds.
Varus Q
Piercing Arrow and E
Hail of Arrows can detonate ALL the stacks to deal bonus damage.




BLIGHT: For each stack of BLIGHT consumed, the target is dealt bonus magic damage. Against champions or Epic Monsters, consumming the BLIGHT effect will also result on reducing basic abilities cooldown by 12% up to 36% for 3 stacks of BLIGHT on a target.
ACTIVE:
Varus next Q
Piercing Arrow(within 5,5 seconds) is EMPOWERED to deal a percentage of the target missing health as bonus magic damage increasing depending of the amount of time you kept
Piercing Arrow charged.(Maximum damage if you charge
Piercing Arrow at maximum.




RECAST:
Varus end
Blighted Quiver and places it on a 1-second cooldown.


TIPS: This ability is
Varus bread and butter. The champion itself is fixed arround it. Dealing bonus damage with BLIGHT effect makes his trades in early game way more relevant and on top of that you can refresh your cooldowns, allowing you to burst your opponents even more. Empowering your next
Piercing Arrow is also a huge part of the trading pattern during laning phase AND during teamfights.


AP
ACTIVE : Important part of the kit ! - LETHALITY
ACTIVE : Important part of the kit ! - ON-HIT
PASSIVE : Important part of the kit !



ACTIVE:
Varus fires a
Hail of Arrows at the target location that lands after 0,5 seconds, dealing physical damage.
The area of
Hail of Arrows stays for 4 seconds, slowing and inflicting Girevous Wounds to ennemies inside of it.


The area of

TIPS: This ability is
Varus main early trade. Being able to slow ennemies AND inflict grievous wounds is massiv. It has a low cooldown as well so you can spam it as much as you want but keep in mind that it also detonate BLIGHT stacks, allowing you to refresh your other abilities.

AP
: Usefull in early game. - LETHALITY
: Important part of the kit ! - ON-HIT
: Usefull in early game.



ACTIVE:
Varus unleashes a tendril of corruption in the target direction that roots the first champion hit for 2 seconds, revealing it. Every 0,5 seconds, champions that are rooted by this ability are inflicted by BLIGHT effect over 1,5 seconds to the maximum stacks.
Upon impact, the tendril roots of the ground and root any champion that would be stuck inside of it for more than 2 seconds. They subsequently become infected as well, taking the damage and effects of the base
Chain of Corruption
The tendril can keep spreading as long as there is new champions to corrupt.(champions that as already been corupted can't be corrupted again).

Upon impact, the tendril roots of the ground and root any champion that would be stuck inside of it for more than 2 seconds. They subsequently become infected as well, taking the damage and effects of the base

The tendril can keep spreading as long as there is new champions to corrupt.(champions that as already been corupted can't be corrupted again).
TIPS:
Chain of Corruption is your most usefull ability in your entire kit, making even a bad
Varus being able to reverse an entire teamfight. The ability to root an entire team is massive, and applying BLIGHT effects to any champion struck by it can allow you to deal massiv damage with your abilities without risking to die putting some stacks with your auto attacks.




This skill order is focusing on
Varus W
Blighted Quiver. It gives bonus On-Hit damage (based on AP] on every auto attack, making it a very good option for ON-HIT
builds. Combine with a
Guinsoo's Rageblade and
Kraken Slayer both dealing AP damage, you got an insane machine gun dealing bonus damage every 3rd auto AND every auto basically.
On the other hand, it's activ ability is a HUGE AP
Damage buff that will obliterate most of the champions. If you have 3 stacks of BLIGHT on the ennemy, then the damage will increase for each stack you're explosing and deal magic damage based on missing health. If you combine the passiv of the W and the activ, you gain a spell that deals damage based on the max health of your ennemy AND his missing health. Cool. Really decent skill order for AP
builds aswel.





On the other hand, it's activ ability is a HUGE AP



This skill order is mostly focused on ADdamage sources of
Varus kit. Since W has a lot of AP ratios and damage, we focus our attention on
Hail of Arrows witch has the AD ratios that we need for LETHALITY
build.




This section will be the most complete part of the guide, explaining every items for every

AP
,LETHALITY
and finally ON-HIT
.
Please be aware that this entire section is subject to changes due to buff and nerfs that
Varus or the Items could suffer !




Please be aware that this entire section is subject to changes due to buff and nerfs that


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Opportunity is an insane item on
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Going hand in hand with
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As a Lethality
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Problematic CC's such as
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In the actual meta,
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I don't have a lot to add to this section since there is really no other option for LETHALITY
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Mythic first ! From all the ADC items, there isn't a lot of choice of
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What any on-hit champion is building because it's broken ?
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A great way to deal damage to multiple targets if you know you're gonna take huge teamfights is to build a
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Playing ON-HIT
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Need more attack speed for your build ? Nahh, just kidding. Yes you do. Anyway,
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Finally, the last section of this itemization guide, AP
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Let's talk about the second star of this build,
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I don't really have a lot to say about
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Tanks are such a bother right ? Then you're at the good place. As I said before, AP
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An other great defensive option is
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To increase your ability to one-shot people, having
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This section will be talking about the few combos
Varus has. Why "the few" ? Because
Varus isn't a super hard character to master and to utilize as it's full potential. He actually is kinda easy when you understand the abilities and the connection they have with each others. I hope this will help you understand more about him and will guide you trough the process of mastering
Varus !





This combo is an early game combo, allowing you to burst out your opponent during a trade or to reduce your W
Blighted Quiver or Q
Piercing Arrow cooldown.
IMPORTANT NOTE : As you can see during the video, even if you auto attack right after your E
Hail of Arrows fall on the ground, the mark will still explode, deal the damage AND refund your cooldowns. Wich means, yes,
Varus E as a 1 second of being activated on the ground, allowing you to proc your marks during this time, meaning that if you do 3 auto attacks into E
Hail of Arrows into Auto attack, the last auto attack will proc an additionnal BLIGHT stack, really good for you during a trade !



IMPORTANT NOTE : As you can see during the video, even if you auto attack right after your E




This is the most basic
Varus combo. With this one, you will be able to outburst most of your opponents. You can get the most damage out of your W
Blighted Quiver and your Q
Piercing Arrow. Nothing too complicated.





Want to surprise the ennemy ? Or you're too far away to hit your R ? Then you should consider using R
Chain of Corruption and then flashing to increase it's range. As you can see in the clip, not only it increase the range of your R, but its travel time is also greatly reduced ! Don't use it too often tought. Always remember that your
Flash is your only way to escape in most situations.

Here you go, those are the most IMPORTANT combos for
Varus. You can experience those by yourself and try things !
Varus isn't that hard to master so try it yourself !



Don't mind the flash in the begining.Please.
This is the most complete combo on
Varus. Nothing too complicated, just remember to use your abilities between every 3 auto attacks to maximize your damage and your utility.

Here you go, those are the most IMPORTANT combos for



| How do I play ? |
Try to poke your opponents with your E ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
| How do I play ? |
Your items are expensive. Stick to farming for the first 10 minutes of game. You can obviously trade since you're ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
| How do I play ? |
SOLO LANE : You have one of the strongest early game in term of range, damage and trading. Either toplane or midlane, you excel in those early fights, allowing you to outburst most matchups and take a strong advantage for the rest of your laning phase. DUO LANE : Same as ON-HIT ![]() ![]() |

| How do I play ? |
Now that botlane turret is gone, you can go toward midlane and stick here for the rest of the game. Your ability to spam your ult ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
| How do I play ? |
Botlane turret is done ? Time to go midlane. Keep up the good work and keep killing those minions. If the early game went well, you should now have your ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
| How do I play ? |
SOLO LANE : Keep up the presure you built in the early game. Now you're a strong side laner that wants to presure and split push but don't forget to watch your map to check if your teammates needs help. A little R ![]() DUO LANE : AP ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |

| How do I play ? |
Stick with your team and try to play obejctives like ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Tou have 2 ways of playing ![]() ![]() and catch, or play with a cc already popped by your own team. If you play for picks, ping your team that you are gonna R and ping them back if you miss it. If you play with your team, then you can't miss your R, come on. |
| How do I play ? |
Stick with your team and wait for them to do the job. You're a turret now. Stay with the tankier unit of your team and use your ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
| How do I play ? |
SOLO LANE : Play with your team , you're their highest AP ![]() DUO LANE : Same as mid game, play with your team and try not to miss your abilities. They are the key of your victory. You can ![]() |

There it is, here comes the end of the guide !
To conclude, Varus is a super cool champion that just need a bit of game knowledge to be played at his full potential !
Hope you liked reading it, it was my first in depth guide, tell me if you need anything else !
Thank you so much and remember, The guilty will know AGONY !
To conclude, Varus is a super cool champion that just need a bit of game knowledge to be played at his full potential !
Hope you liked reading it, it was my first in depth guide, tell me if you need anything else !
Thank you so much and remember, The guilty will know AGONY !

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