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Varus
Patch 16.2.1
BotDifficulty
Medium
Strength
Early
Mid
Late
Win Condition
Control the pace of teamfights with . Use your superior range to soften targets with , then look for a pick with your ultimate to start a 5v4. In fights, focus the closest target and use your % HP damage from to melt frontliners before the enemy backline can reach you.
Playstyle
Versatile backline marksman who alternates between long-range poke and high-speed tank shredding. You excel at capitalizing on enemy mispositioning using your ultimate and high burst damage from percentage-health procs.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- +High utility for an ADC with providing hard CC and area denial
- +Exceptional tank-shredding capability via percentage-health damage procs
- +Built-in healing reduction with allows you to win trades against sustain lanes
- +Flexible build paths (On-hit or Lethality) make you hard to itemize against
Weaknesses
- -Zero mobility—if you get caught without Flash, you're usually dead
- -Highly reliant on landing skillshots; missing or a fully charged kills your pressure
- -Mana hungry early game if you spam for waveclear
- -Weak against high-mobility assassins who can dodge your
Abilities
Killing anything gives you Attack Speed. Killing a champion gives a MUCH bigger buff and bonus AD/AP. Always try to last hit a minion right before you engage a trade to have active.
Your primary poke tool. The longer you hold it, the more damage and range it gets. It has a high cooldown unless you use it to detonate stacks on a champion, which refunds its cooldown. Never tap this unless the enemy is 1 HP.
Passive: Your autos apply stacks (up to 3). Your other abilities pop these for % Max HP damage. Active: Your next deals missing health damage. Save the active for when the enemy is below 40% HP to execute them.
Fires a hail of arrows that slows and reduces healing. Use this early in a fight against healers like Soraka or champions with high lifesteal. The slow also makes landing a follow-up much easier.
A long-range root that spreads to nearby enemies. It's your only self-peel and your primary initiation. It also automatically applies stacks over time to the target, allowing for a massive burst combo.
Teamfight Role
Front-to-Back DPS & Utility Carry
You play behind your frontline. Use either to catch an out-of-position carry or to peel for yourself when jumped. Focus on stacking on the enemy tank and popping them with or . Your presence makes it impossible for enemies to ignore you due to the healing reduction from .
If you are playing a Lethality build, your goal shifts to sniping the enemy backline with fully charged + from out of vision before the fight even starts.
Combos
Standard Trade
Auto-Auto-Auto -> -> Auto-Auto ->
The goal is to stack three times before using an ability. procs the first set and slows them, making the second set of autos and the final easy to land.
Burst All-In
-> Auto-Auto-Auto -> +
Lock them down with . While they are rooted, get your three autos in. Activate right before releasing for the maximum execution damage.
The Instant Proc
-> ->
Used when you don't have time to auto-attack. applies stacks over its duration, which you immediately pop with , followed by a quick as the root ends.
R-Flash Surprise
-> Flash (during windup)
You can buffer and then Flash to change the launch position. This gives the enemy significantly less time to react and extends your catch range.
Power Spikes
| Spike | Why |
|---|---|
| Level 2 | The synergy between and stacks allows for a huge health lead if you land 3 autos and an E. |
| Level 6 | is one of the best setup tools in the game. You can now set up ganks or kill the enemy ADC if they step slightly too far forward. |
| Level 9 | is typically maxed first, giving you massive poke damage and a lower cooldown for detonating stacks. |
| Level 11 | Second rank in reduces the cooldown significantly, allowing you to look for picks more frequently during mid-game rotations. |
| Level 16 | Max rank and scaled damage means you can shred through even the tankiest frontlines in seconds. |
Tips & Tricks
- • active deals damage based on missing health. Never use it at the start of a fight; save it for the final execute.
- •If an enemy is standing in your , their healing is reduced by 40%. This includes potions, Heal summoner spell, and Lifesteal.
- • spreads! If the enemies are clumped, hit the tank with and it will root the carries behind them automatically.
- •Your cooldown is reduced by a flat amount for every stack you detonate on champions. High attack speed means more casts.
- •Kill a minion before you start a trade. The extra attack speed from helps you get those 3 stacks for much faster.
- •You can hide the charge animation by standing inside bushes or behind terrain to make it harder to dodge.
Common Mistakes
- ✕Using without charging it in a trade.→You deal negligible damage and waste your main tool for detonating stacks.
- ✕Holding for the 'perfect' 5-man spread.→You often die without using it. Using it to pick off one person or peel for yourself is always worth it.
- ✕Spamming to clear waves early game.→You will go out of mana and lose all kill pressure or the ability to peel for yourself.
- ✕Forgetting to auto-attack between abilities.→You miss out on the % HP damage from , which is your primary source of damage against tanks.
- ✕Walking up too far to land an auto-attack without vision.→Since you have no dash, you are easily punished by any CC or assassin, leading to an instant death.
AI-generated guide • Patch 16.2.1 • Cached