Varus is an extremely long-range marksman and makes it on my “top list of champions never to re-roll on while playing ARAM.”
Although Varus doesn’t have the most health, Varus players can use his range as a way to stay back from the majority of damage that is sent his way. While Varus has 4 abilities, like all other champions, his W acts as an amplification of his Q, making Varus a fairly easy and straight forward champion to play.
Varus’ Q, Piercing Arrow, allows Varus players to charge a long-range shot that deals damage to all enemies and champions it hits. Piercing Arrow, is not only powerful but it can also secure kills on multiple champions at once. Think of Piercing Arrow as the Attack Damage version of Xerath’s Q, Arcanopulse.
Players should try to use Varus’ W, Blighted Quiver, as often as it is on cooldown to empower Piercing Arrow. Blighted Quiver’s active causes Piercing Arrow to deal more damage, including a percentage of affected enemies’ missing health. Straight up, Blighted Quiver’s active can help you seal Pentakills, if not at least a couple of champion kills in one swoop.
Varus’ E, Hail of Arrows, is an ability that players will not need to rely on as it is mostly for slowing enemy champions. While it will be tempting to farm minions with Varus’ E, I recommend players avoid it, especially if they are dealing with mana issues.
Varus has an exceptionally powerful ultimate, Chain of Corruption, which will immobilize the first enemy champion it hits. If other champions are in range, Chain of Corruption will spread until there are no other unaffected champions in range.
QUICK RUNDOWN:
SUMMONER SPELLS: Flash & Heal
RUNES: Fleet Footwork, Triumph, Alacrity, Coup de Grace // Cheap Shot & Ravenous Hunter
ABILITY POWER UP: Q, W, E
FIRST BUY: Vampiric Scepter, Boots
BUILD ORDER: Blade of the Ruined King, Berserker’s Boots, Infinity’s Edge, Guinsoo’s Rageblade, Runaan’s Hurricane, Youmuu’s Ghostblade
COMBOS: Players should always be aware of Varus’ stacks of Blight, where can be identified by the floating orbs around affected enemy champions. Upon detonating the third Blight orb, Varus players will gain bonus attack speed and magic damage.
Players should try to slow enemy champions with E, Hail of Arrows, attack enemy champions with R, Chain of Corruption to immobilize them and provide them with 3 stacks of Blight, hit W, Blighted Quiver and attack all affected enemy champions with Q, Piercing Arrow, taking advantage of all of Varus’ passives triggered by Blight stacks.
Blight is the main aspect of Varus that players will want to keep an eye on as Varus’ other abilities don’t stack or interact, other than the mentioned W and Q.
SUMMONER SPELLS FOR VARUS IN ARAM
FLASH
Although Varus doesn’t have the most mobility, the fact that players can play far back with Varus allows him to be able to disappear or stay safe in aggressive situations. Varus is a champion that you can Flash forward to secure a kill or could Flash backwards to remain safe.
Before Flashing forward I would always make sure to check to make sure your Q is off cooldown as Varus players may have to use it in clutch situations. Although Varus deals a lot of damage using his auto attacks, sometimes players will not be able to deal enough damage to secure the kill.
HEAL
Heal is a bit of a staple when playing marksmen. Heal will help provide a little speed boost to ensure that you’re able to get away from dangerous situations, especially when you’re low on health.
Varus players can also use Barrier if they prefer it to heal, however, as someone who prefers health on Marksman, Heal is usually my choice.
RUNE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR VARUS IN ARAM
There are technically two “META” ways to play Varus, though, I find playing him as a traditional Marksman tends to be a lot more beneficial.
Varus can choose runes that are very similar to fellow Marksmen like Vayne, Miss Fortune, Kindred, Caitlyn, Tristana, Sivir, Ashe, Xayah or Jhin, though some players will choose to use bursty Domination runes as they would on Mages like Karthus, Brand, Anivia, Teemo, Soraka, Zyra, Ziggs, or Malzahar.
The following guide will take you through the benefits of choosing either rune formation and what situation or teams each may be most helpful in:
RUNES VARUS CAN USE FOR SUSTAIN (PRECISION/DOMINATION)
The Precision/Domination rune tree is my absolute favourite type of rune build when it comes to playing Varus, as it ensures that you are always dealing as much damage, without having to rely on sealing skill shots.
Precision/Domination will help ensure that Varus has the attack speed that he needs to deal sustained damage and depending on what runes you choose, the runes may help sustain your health throughout the battle.
I would recommend focussing on choosing runes that help increase your damage when playing Varus as he is most helpful when it comes to chomping down enemy Tanks. Speaking of Tanks, Varus is going to be much more helpful if he begins shredding tanks with his basic attacks, sealing kills with his W + Q “combo.” If played well, Tanks shouldn’t be a problem at all!
FLEET FOOTWORK/LETHAL TEMPO
Become Energized by using basic attacks or moving. When fully Energized, 100, Varus’s next basic attack will restore between 3 to 60 (+30% bonus AD) health, based on the player’s level.
Players will also receive a 20% movement speed buff for 1 second.
Since Varus is a ranged champion, she will only receive 20% of this healing when attacking minions.
Varus players should try to stay back when in ARAM, as players will have a hard time escaping enemy champions if they are jumped on. If Varus players take any damage, they should pull back briefly while healing off of minions until it is safe to jump back into battle.
Fleet Footwork falls off a bit in the late-game, but players can definitely benefit from having it still, especially as you build attack speed.
Alternatively, players can also choose to use Lethal Tempo, especially if they are confident in their ability to regain health when they are in battle. Lethal Tempo is the much more aggressive rune, especially as it provides players with a 40-110% attack speed (based on champion level) and can ignore the speed cap for 3 seconds.
Lethal Tempo works amazing with Varus’ Blight stacks and will work even better with attack speed gear as Varus will be able to quickly shred through enemy champions. Lethal’s Tempo has a short cooldown, coming in at 6 seconds.
As a tip, you may want to build some life steal gear when playing Varus with Lethal Tempo, this will make sure that you will never drop too far down with your health. At the same time, players will not need or want too many life-steal pieces of gear.
TRIUMPH
Triumph is one of the most powerful runes that players can take while playing ARAM, especially if your team gets a number of kills in a row.
Players will receive 6% of missing health as well as 10 Gold every time they participate in a champion takedown. Players will experience a 1-second delay before they get their health from securing a takedown.
Similar to Fleet Footwork, Triumph makes it so players don’t have to worry about building Life Steal until mid to end-game.
ALACRITY
Alacrity provides players with 3% (+ 1.5% per Legend stack) bonus Attack Speed, up to 18% when players have 10 stacks.
Alacrity is a sneaky Rune that I didn’t realize was a staple with Varus at first. Securing enough kills to receive the 18% Attack Speed can be game-changing, especially if players haven’t died and thus do not have a way to access the shop.
Alacrity won’t help carry you throughout the whole game, but it will make sure that you get a few extra feathers out onto the field before your enemy gets a chance to burst you down.
COUP DE GRACE
The fourth Rune is definitely a personal choice, but I always like to choose Coup de Grace because it gives you 8% more damage to enemy champions below 40% health.
Coup de Grace is extremely powerful, especially when paired up with Varus using his Q combined with his W. Coup de Grace can essentially help seal a kill especially because there is no cooldown on bonus 8% more damage.
CHEAP SHOT
Cheap Shot will deal 10-45 (based on level) bonus true damage to champions who have impaired movement or actions. Cheap Shot has an extremely short cooldown, being 4 seconds.
Cheap Shots works extremely well with Varus’ E, however, players may want to trade this rune for Eyeball Collection if they are on a team of champions who do not have abilities that impair enemy champions’ movement.
RAVENOUS HUNTER
Abilities Heal for 1.5% of damage + 2.5% per every champion takedown for a maximum of 5 stacks. Healing is reduced to 1/3 on AoE damage.
Ravenous Hunter will not provide players with the most healing, however, it is nice to receive a healthy chunk of health from high damage-dealing abilities like Varus’ Q.
DAMAGE HEAVY/BURST RUNES FOR VARUS (DOMINATION/PRECISION)
Domination/Precision a very, very scary type of Varus to play, especially because Dark Harvest can lead to an outstanding amount of damage.
I find if you’re going to choose Domination as your primary rune tree, you need to commit to dealing long-ranged damage with Varus, instead of relying on his basic attacks. Domination Varus is for players who aren’t comfortable being close up into battle or aren’t as comfortable with the idea of kiting throughout team fights.
Players are still encouraged to build some attack speed on Domination Varus, but items with cooldown reduction tend to be more helpful. Reason being? Domination doesn’t work the best with tanks, especially on its own.
Varus, being a Marksman, will still want to be equipped to be the most Tank shredding he can be, as players can not always rely on other teammates to do the damage. Though, another strategy involves equipping Varus players with a great deal of lethality, so they can focus on shredding “squishies” relying on team fights to take down tanks. Again, the way in which players prefer to build Varus is going to depend on their playstyle, however, I still would say Precision/Domination is more versatile than the about to be described Domination-Precision.
DARK HARVEST
Damaging champions below 50% deals 20-60 (+ 25% AD) damage based on your level. Each soul that you harvest adds +2 adaptive damage.
Players will only be able to collect souls every 45 seconds or can reset Dark Harvest’s cooldown to 1.5 seconds by being part of an enemy takedown.
Dark Harvest works the best when players use Varus’ Q as it will often secure a soul from a tremendous distance. A Varus with Dark Harvest is terrifying, especially for Assasins and other Marksmen.
Varus players are encouraged to focus all of their Q shots, especially the ones that are empowered with W, at enemies with low maximum healths, especially if they have already taken damage. The shorter your Q’s cooldown, the more chances you’re going to be killing them repeatedly before they even have a chance to jump in.
The only issue I find with Dark Harvest Varus is when enemy champions jump in on you, as players will not be able to keep themselves up without attack speed or healing. So, it’s going to be your job to avoid that situation by keeping them dead!
CHEAP SHOT
Cheap Shot will deal 10-45 (based on level) bonus true damage to champions who have impaired movement or actions. Cheap Shot has an extremely short cooldown, being 4 seconds.
Cheap Shots works extremely well with Varus’ E, however, players may want to trade this rune for Eyeball Collection if they are on a team of champions who do not have abilities that impair enemy champions’ movement.
EYEBALL COLLECTION
Collect 1 Eyeball per champion takedown, up to 10. Each takedown will provide players with 1.2 Attack Damage up to 12 bonus Attack Damage. Players will gain a total of 18 Attack Damage.
Eyeball Collection is the only Rune you will be able to use in ARAM from this tier of Runes.
RAVENOUS HUNTER
Abilities Heal for 1.5% of damage + 2.5% per every champion takedown for a maximum of 5 stacks. Healing is reduced to 1/3 on AoE damage.
Ravenous Hunter will not provide players with the most healing, however, it is nice to receive a healthy chunk of health from high damage-dealing abilities like Varus’ Q.
COUP DE GRACE
The fourth Rune is definitely a personal choice, but I always like to choose Coup de Grace because it gives you 8% more damage to enemy champions below 40% health.
Coup de Grace is extremely powerful, especially when paired up with Varus using his Q combined with his W. Coup de Grace can essentially help seal a kill especially because there is no cooldown on bonus 8% more damage.
PRESENCE OF MIND
There aren’t many instances I would take Presence of Mind in ARAM, to be honest, however, it’s quite essential for Domination Varus.
Presence of Mind restores 10% of your maximum mana 1-second after an enemy takedown. Players will also receive 5 maximum mana up to 10 times for a maximum of 500 extra mana. Although Presence of Mind used to reduce your ultimate cooldown, the way it stands is still extremely powerful for Varus players.
SKILL LEVEL UP RECOMMENDATIONS & TIPS ON HOW TO PLAY VARUS IN ARAM
When playing Varus there is a pretty clear-cut way you’re going to want to upgrade your abilities, though, players have been known to alternate between powering up their W or E second.
In my opinion, players should upgrade their abilities in the Q, W, E form as I would rather have the bonus from it than the bonus from the E.
PIERCING ARROW (Q)
Varus will draw his bow back, increasing the distance his arrow will go as well as the damage it will deal. Piercing Arrow will deal a minimum of 10 / 47 / 83 / 120 / 157 (+1.1 per attack damage) to maximum 15 / 70 / 125 / 180 / 235 (+1.65 per attack damage) when using Piercing Arrow by itself, though Piercing Arrow can be amplified with Varus’ W, which we will cover shortly.
Piercing Arrow deals less damage per enemy hit, reducing the amount of damage by 15% up to a minimum of 33%. Even when dealing 33% damage, Piercing Arrow’s damage is impressive, so get to shooting multiple enemies!
As Varus charges up his Piercing Arrow, Varus will not be able to auto-attack and his movement is slowed by 20%.
If Varus does not use Piercing Arrow and instead charges for too long (4 seconds), players will receive half of the mana cost back.
As mentioned earlier in this post, players should be aware of the number of Blight stacks enemies have, as if players detonate Blight stacks on a champion, Piercing Arrow’s cooldown will reduce by 3 seconds.
Upgrading Varus’ Piercing Arrow will reduce it’s cooldown to 18 / 16 / 14 / 12 / 10 seconds, while raising its mana cost to 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 mana.
Piercing Arrow has the best damage scaling on Varus’ kit, making it the top contender for abilities to be upgraded first.
BLIGHTED QUIVER (W)
Blighted Quiver has two parts to it, a passive and an active. As a passive, Varus’ basic attacks deal a bonus of 7 / 10.5 / 14 / 17.5 / 21 (+0.25 per ability power) magic damage and a stack of Blight for 6 seconds, up to a maximum of 3 stacks.
Upon detonating any stacks of Blight with abilities (E or Q) enemies will take extra 3 / 3.5 / 4 / 4.5 / 5% (+2% of ability power). Due to the fact that this is enemies will take passive magic damage, Varus players might want to build items like Guinsoo’s Rageblade to amplify this damage.
As an active ability, which wasn’t always the case, Varus deals an additional 6 / 8 / 10 / 12 / 14% of the target’s missing HP damage can be increased to a maximum of 50% (to 9 / 12 / 15 / 18 / 21% missing HP) if Varus is left to fully charge.
In all cases, the damage from Blighted Quiver is capped to 360 against minions.
HAIL OF ARROWS (E)
Hail of Arrows used to be my favourite Varus ability, but I stopped using it as often when I played in ARAM. Hail of Arrows deals 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 (+0.6 per bonus attack damage) physical damage as an AoE spell and also slows down enemy champions by 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 45% for .25 seconds. During the .25 seconds, players also reduce their healing and health regeneration by 40%, refreshing if players stay within Hail of Arrows’ zone.
Ranking up Hail of Arrows will reduce the cooldown to 18 / 16 / 14 / 12 / 10 seconds. Having Hail of Arrows accessible at all times is appealing when players are against a group of tanks or an enemy team that likes to clump up. Although I’m about to contradict myself below, Hail of Arrows should be maxed out second (or sometimes even first) if enemy teams are clumped up all the time. Take advantage of the cooldown and the amount of movement speed it reduces, all with the significant chance that they will not be able to heal/regen when in your E.
While I can’t deny that Hail of Arrows’ damage is significant, I mostly use if for the health regen and healing reduction. Since I don’t rely on gear or runes that provide me with mana, using Hail of Arrows gets expensive. It makes sense for someone who takes Presence of Mind or has teammates with Clarity, but as I play Varus as a Tank shredding Marksman it doesn’t make sense.
It’s safe to say that if you focus on Domination-Precision builds, Hail of Arrows should be powered up second and if you focus on Precision-Domination builds, you should level up your W.
GEAR BUILDS FOR VARUS IN ARAM
As mentioned, there are a few different ways that players can choose to build Varus, depending on what it is they are hoping to do with him.
I’ve sectioned out the ways I like to build Varus when using the two different rune builds. Although they are separated, I would recommend looking at both as there are some qualities of each you may find helpful while playing either build.
BUILD FOR SUSTAIN/MARKSMAN (PRECISION)
BLADE OF THE RUINED KING
Giving players 40 Attack Damage, 25% Attack Speed and 12% Life Steal, Blade of the Ruined King is one of the essential life steal options players can choose to build on Varus. While I recommend building Blade of the Ruined King as your first item when you are new to Varus, players may benefit from building Guinsoo’s Rageblade first once they become comfortable with Varus’ low health.
The most enticing thing about Blade of the Ruined King is that basic attacks deal 8% of the target’s current health as bonus physical damage. This makes shredding tanks fairly easy, while still giving you the same effect on lower health champions. The minimum bonus physical damage players will deal is 15 AD.
As an active, players will deal 100 magic damage to the target champion, causing them to move 25% slower for 3 seconds.
BERSERKER’S BOOTS
I don’t think I have to explain this… Attack Speed Boots for an Attack Speed Queen. You can thank me later for my brevity.
GUINSOO’S RAGEBLADE
Although Guinsoo’s Rageblade doesn’t deal a whole lot of damage, coming in at 25 Attack Damage and 25 Ability Power, Guinsoo’s Rageblade has many passives that make up for it.
Guinsoo’s Rageblade deals an extra 15 magic damage upon hit, 15% Magic and Armour Penetration and Basic attacks grant an additional 8% Attack Speed on the already 25% attack speed for up to 8 stacks. Meaning, players will be dealing basic attacks 73% faster. Damn, right? Especially with Lethal Tempo.
Guinsoo’s Rageblade is quite essential for any Varus to build, simply because of the amount of magic damage he deals from his W’s passive.
INFINITY’S EDGE
I’m someone who likes meaty damage against enemy champions and so I find Infinity’s Edge to be helpful when playing Varus. Infinity’s Edge deals 80 Attack Damage, 25% Critical Strike Chance and also deals 25% critical damage.
I often build Infinity’s Edge second these days, but it really depends on how well my team is doing. If they simply need me to deal more damage, especially after I’ve built attack speed, Infinity Edge is the way to go.
RUNAAN’S HURRICANE
There’s nothing sexier than watching a Varus tug his bow in rapid succession. As soon as my husband told me that Varus was gay, I said… damn, yeah I get it.
If you want to take as much delight as you can with Varus’ attack speed, make sure you build Runaan’s Hurricane, especially because basic attacks deal 40% AD damage to 2 enemies that are nearby the initial target.
Runaan’s Hurricane is a gay boy’s wet dream when it comes to shredding all nearby champions and provides Varus players with 40% Attack Speed, 25% Critical Strike Chance and 7% Movement Speed, making this slippery man, very powerful.
DEATH’S DANCE
50 Attack Damage, 30 Armour, 30 Magic Resist and 10% Cooldown Reduction, can I ask for a more balanced item in the game?
Death’s Dance not only provides players with steady stats, but it also allows players to heal for 15% of the damage they deal, although they will only receive 33% of damage from AoEs.
Varus will also take 20% of the damage he receives as a bleed over 3 seconds, making it easier for him to stand still and attack. Enjoy being a bit tankier, especially in team battles!
DOMINATION/LETHALITY BUILD
DUSKBLADE OF DRAKHARR
60 Attack Damage, 10% Cooldown Reduction, 21 Lethality and if players are unseen for at least 1 second, your next basic attack will deal an extra 30-150 AD.
BERSERKER’S BOOTS
I don’t think I have to explain this… Attack Speed Boots for an Attack Speed Queen. You can thank me later for my brevity.
YOMUU’S GHOSTBLADE
55 Attack Damage, 10% Cooldown Reduction, 18 Lethality, 40 Movement Speed (out of combat) and another active 20% movement speed for 6 seconds.
BLADE OF THE RUINED KING
Giving players 40 Attack Damage, 25% Attack Speed and 12% Life Steal, Blade of the Ruined King is one of the essential life steal options players can choose to build on Varus. While I recommend building Blade of the Ruined King as your first item when you are new to Varus, players may benefit from building Guinsoo’s Rageblade first once they become comfortable with Varus’ low health.
The most enticing thing about Blade of the Ruined King is that basic attacks deal 8% of the target’s current health as bonus physical damage. This makes shredding tanks fairly easy, while still giving you the same effect on lower health champions. The minimum bonus physical damage players will deal is 15 AD.
As an active, players will deal 100 magic damage to the target champion, causing them to move 25% slower for 3 seconds.
GUINSOO’S RAGEBLADE
Although Guinsoo’s Rageblade doesn’t deal a whole lot of damage, coming in at 25 Attack Damage and 25 Ability Power, Guinsoo’s Rageblade has many passives that make up for it.
Guinsoo’s Rageblade deals an extra 15 magic damage upon hit, 15% Magic and Armour Penetration and Basic attacks grant an additional 8% Attack Speed on the already 25% attack speed for up to 8 stacks. Meaning, players will be dealing basic attacks 73% faster. Damn, right? Especially with Lethal Tempo.
Guinsoo’s Rageblade is quite essential for any Varus to build, simply because of the amount of magic damage he deals from his W’s passive.
RUNAAN’S HURRICANE
There’s nothing sexier than watching a Varus tug his bow in rapid succession. As soon as my husband told me that Varus was gay, I said… damn, yeah I get it.
If you want to take as much delight as you can with Varus’ attack speed, make sure you build Runaan’s Hurricane, especially because basic attacks deal 40% AD damage to 2 enemies that are nearby the initial target.
Runaan’s Hurricane is a gay boy’s wet dream when it comes to shredding all nearby champions and provides Varus players with 40% Attack Speed, 25% Critical Strike Chance and 7% Movement Speed, making this slippery man, very powerful.
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