[14.15] | The Arrow of Retribution [In Depth Guide - AP/Letha/On Hit Builds]
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Choose Champion Build:
- On hit | Attack Speed
- Burst | Lethality
- Burst / Magic On-Hit| AP
Recommended Items
Runes: Press the Attack | Laning
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10-180 Bonus Health
Spells:
Flash
Heal
Items
Ability Order On Hit Skill Order
Living Vengeance (PASSIVE)
Varus Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Draven
| STRENGTHS - Strong early / Huge snowball potential / Good mobility / Outdamage you every state of the game / Presure in lane / Can comeback easily | WEAKNESSES - Easy to preshot abilities due to axes pattern / Weak to CC / Easy to abuse | WHAT TO DO ? - Play EXTREMELY safe in early game. Preshot his axes and charge your Q to make him lose them. Mid/late game is pretty much the same, don't get too close to him otherwise he will destroy you in 3 or 4 auto attacks. Very favorable matchup for LETHALITY Varus. Harder for ON-HIT / AP.
Leona
LETHA / AP / ON-HIT
Leona
LETHA / AP / ON-HIT
Champion Build Guide
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 Zeri, Jhin or Aphelios. Varus is one of the champion I love the most in the game because of his high versatility and his spell/auto attack playstyle. 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 Varus is one of the if not THE most versatile AD Carry of the game. You can literally build any sort of damage on him, it would be great. Ap , léthality , on-hit are all viable options that can give you an advantage in your games. Most of the other adc's can only build 1 or 2 builds, but you, as Varus, you can build so much more than that. It is his main strengh. Your kill pressure in lane is massive due to your Q Piercing Arrow maxed with your W Blighted Quiver. The reset of your spells with passiv Living Vengeance is a key factor allowing you to take more trades in lane and outburst the ennemies. Your ultimate Chain of Corruption will create a lot of chaos during teamfights. You will stun one person and then, most of the time, the entire team ! |
- 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, Varus is an immobile ADC that lose a lot of strengh if he's being rushed at by any champions such as Camille, Rengar or even Talon. You need to stay in the backlane and be carefull about everything that is surrounding you. Be ready to Chain of Corruption someone that is a bit too close to you. You are VERY reliable on your abilities, meaning that if you miss a Q Piercing Arrow or a E Hail of Arrows will result on you being useless for the rest of the fight. 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 Blighted Quiver passiv marks and activ damage on Q Piercing Arrow. Example : Malphite / Sejuani / Lissandra / Zeri / Yuumi |
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| When ? |
If you're playing ON-HIT or AP Varus top. Since Lethal Tempo got removed, we don't have much choice to go for the ON-HIT option. Example : Malphite / Sett / Darius / ect.. |
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Biscuit Delivery allow Varus to stay more in lane and sustain trades or poke. Since he has no bad matchup in lane, it's a reliable option but not the best. Magical Footwear is a great rune for Varus because you want to take a lead in early game, reducing the cooldown of your Magical Footwear + it allows you to keep 300 golds of boots for free. Super usefull. Cosmic Insight is an amazing rune on Varus due to the high CDR the rune is giving you. Summonner Spell CDR and base CDR is trully outrageous for this champion. Cash Back is an option to consider especially if you're planning to play First Strike on Varus. It allows him to snowball very hard since he can generate lots of golds and lethality items are cheap. Jack of all Trades is also a very fitting choice for Varus. Since you're building many different stats during the game, the value of Jack of all Trades is really good. |
Gathering Storm is a great option if you're playing with an enchanter supp and your goal is to reach lategame. Will grant you more AD since you're building mostly attack speed items. Absolute Focus is great as I mentionned just right above it, if you have an enchanter support that can provide you great survavibility during fights and in general. Manaflow Band is great if you want to scale a bit of mana early on before you get your Tear of the Goddess. You can trade with E or Q, proc Comet and get a stack of Manaflow Band. Scorch is also great if you want to focus on poking the ennemy lane in order to create some presure through it. Transcendence is a rune I do not consider as good as Absolute Focus. Since you're gonna be more likely to be full health 99% of the time (if you play Lethality), you don't need extra Haste since your items are already giving you a lot. |
Overgrowth is insane if you want to increase your survavibility by just adding more hp to your build. You wont even notice it in game the first time, but in most games, you'll gain a huge 200 or 300hp from it and sometimes, it can do the difference. Bone Plating has it's utilities espacially if you're facing lots of CC or All-In champions such as Nautilus/ Samira or Pyke/ Tristana. Very situationnal but good to consider. Conditioning is really good as well for a scalling centered Varus. It's giving a tons of resistances and allows you to survive easier to many situations. |
(You can cancel this process by keeping the arrow more than 4 seconds, canceling the spell, refunding 50% of the mana cost)
The area of Hail of Arrows stays for 4 seconds, slowing and inflicting Girevous Wounds to ennemies inside of it.
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).
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.
This section will be the most complete part of the guide, explaining every items for every Varus build existing, wich means
Please be aware that this entire section is subject to changes due to buff and nerfs that Varus or the Items could suffer !
LAST UPDATE : 14.13
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Opportunity is an insane item on Varus. It allows you to burst instantly every single target you decide to focus with your combos, increasing your lethality by 10 before and into a combo ! So you can just Chain of Corruption, then land a charged Piercing Arrow and you'll still get 10 lethality bonus at the end of the combo. Just don't wait too much to land for your Q, otherwise the buff will fade away and you'll miss a huge opportunity (hehe) to get a free kill.
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After patch 13.14, Varus got severly hit by the changes of Opportunity and his own changes. Manamune is back and needs to be built in order to give Varus enough mana/damage to burst ennemies with his LETHALITY
build. It's not a necessary item since you can build full Letha if you are confident enough and snowballing.
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Going hand in hand with Opportunity, Hubris is an incredible item for Varus. It literally has the same condition as Opportunity. If you kill a target within 3 seconds, you will gain 15AD (+2 per target killed) for 90 seconds, wich is massiv for Varus. Those 2 items are made to be built together with is perfect for our lethality build !
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As a Lethality Varus, there is no better option than Youmuu's Ghostblade if you need Movespeed and damage. It has decent stats, a price of 2700 golds and has an active ability that will help you to go back in lane, move on the map or navigate during teamfights. This item has been nerfed in terms of stats but I still think it's a really decent item to go on Varus.
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Serylda's Grudge is an amazing item in general but espacially against tanks. The slow from your abilities will help you and your allies to chase down the survivors of your devastating Chain of Corruption and Piercing Arrow combos. It's a must have item if there is at least 2 tanky champions in the ennemy team, because of the 30 bonus armor penetration it's giving.
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Problematic CC's such as Ashe Enchanted Crystal Arrow or Nautilus Depth Charge can be such a bother for Varus,so, why not buy an Edge of Night ? As long as you stay behind your team and you keep it active, your life will be way safer and you will focus more on your skillshots and damage than on your own survavibility.
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I don't have a lot to add to this section since there is really no other option for LETHALITY Varus since these boots give the most Haste in the entire game. AND on top of that they are super cheap. Really good deal, stick with it.
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Kraken Slayer is actually a new first item comming up with the new patch. Since Varus lost most of his power and AD, Kraken Slayer gives us an extra bit of damage every third autos and a lot of good stats to go along, I think it's actually a pretty good item to consider on Varus.
STILL IN TESTING ! |
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Guinsoo's passiv is MASSIV for Varus cause it combines with his W Blighted Quiver, making him a strong auto-attacker. Since Varus attack speed got greatly decreased in patch 14.13, Guinsoo's Rageblade is a most buy on Varus for it's attack speed and multi procs, especially if you play ON-HIT
to fight bruisers and/or tanks.
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Blade of the Ruined King is undeniably a great item on Varus, life steal, attack speed, damage, passiv ect... Because of Varus 14.13 changes, BOTRK lost of it's power but is still viable against High HP composition with Kraken Slayer or without it.
STILL IN TESTING ! |
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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 Runaan's Hurricane. The item is giving you attack speed and critical chance. Runaan's Hurricane projectiles also applies your BLIGHT effects, so keep this in mind ! That's more target to shoot at and your E Hail of Arrows in a teamfight can do the difference on multiple targets since it's a healing debuff AND a slow !
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Playing ON-HIT
makes you a glasscanon AD Carry for your first items since Kraken Slayer, Guinsoo's Rageblade and Blade of the Ruined King are damage/attack speed items. If you need some survavibility in your build because there is some assassins such as Kha'Zix, Talon or gap close champions like Camille or K'Sante. I think Jak'Sho, The Protean is a way better option and i'll explain why under this section.
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Need more attack speed for your build ? Nahh, just kidding. Yes you do. Anyway, Berserker's Greaves are the best for ON-HIT
Varus. Plated Steelcaps or Mercury's Treads are also an option but always prioritize Berserker's Greaves.
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Finally, the last section of this itemization guide, AP
items ! The reason WHY AP Varusexists, Riftmaker. With his incredible AP stats, haste, health and insane mythic passiv value of 2% omnivamp and 8 AP per items, it is with no hesitation THE best item to go. His passiv is also MASSIV, converting every single AP damage into TRUE damage, making it THE best option to deal with tanks !
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Let's talk about the second star of this build, Nashor's Tooth. Attack speed is a value that you wont find a lot in this build, due to the use of other AP items. Nashor's Tooth will be your first item to buy if you want to trade with your opponents. It synergize really well with your W Blighted Quiver's passiv and activ and is just perfect for the early game since you'll mostly fight with your auto attacks more than your R Chain of Corruption.
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I don't really have a lot to say about Rabadon's Deathcap, it increases Varus ability to one-shot people and his AP in general, really good item to get early on ! Be aware that it's still 3600 golds, so it's a huge investement to deal with.
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Tanks are such a bother right ? Then you're at the good place. As I said before, AP
Varus is a nightmare for tanks, but, if they manage to build MR to counter you, then Void Staff is your friend ! With his 65 AP and 40 magic penetration, you'll have more than enough magic penetration to deal with those tanks.
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Lulu, Karma or Milio are giving you some trouble ? You can't one-shot all of these peasants with your abilites because of their shields ? Oh don't worry, I have the perfect item for you, let me introduce Shadowflame. With it's ability to increase your Magic Penetration if an enemy as been shielded, Shadowflame is definitly a great item in term of damage and shield breaker.
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Horizon Focus is naturally a great item for Varus. It's passiv allows you to deal more damage to target you hit from 700 range or you root with your R Chain of Corruption, increasing the damage taken by the target of 10% for 6 seconds. Now just imagine hitting a carry like Zeri with your Ultimate, charging your empowered Q Piercing Arrow with your W Blighted Quiver and shooting it with your Horizon Focus activated AND 3 marks of BLIGHT. Yes. It will be OBLIGHTERATED(i'm sorry.)
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An other great defensive option is Banshee's Veil. Same as Edge of Night, having a spell shield to cover your back is really good espacially if there is some special abilities that you want or need to avoid !
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To increase your ability to one-shot people, having Sorcerer's Shoes to get more Magic Penetration is even more exciting. It's also the only interesting boots you'll get from all the existing ones, so don't bother with the others !
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Jak'Sho, The Protean is an AMAZING item for Varus. In my opinion, you should build it in every ON-HIT[/b]
builds. Paired with Terminus it gives you a tons of resistances, especially with Conditioning and Overgrowth on your side runes. It's versatile, allows you to build MR or ARMOR depending on the biggest threat. Really great item.
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Same thing as above, Force of Nature is a situationnal item that can help you against heavy AP comps and with a lot of CC.
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Guardian Angel is the default choice of final item. Gives you an extra life, AD, Armor and the possibility to build a Stopwatch before finishing your Guardian Angel is super strong espacially if you're being focused really often.
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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 !
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 !
| How do I play ? |
Try to poke your opponents with your E Hail of Arrows and one you have it, your Q Piercing Arrow. Farm at the same time. Trading pattern is not so dependant of your support since you're either playing Hail of Blades or Arcane Comet, making you more on your own. Back when you get enough golds for Tear of the Goddess, 1 or 2 Long Sword or Serrated Dirk. The easy part with LETHALITYtimer Varus is his ease to build only Long Sword and being able to build his main items anyway, giving him lot of ad. |
| 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 Varus but it's really support dependant. Having an engage support like Thresh or Rell is an amazing thing because it gives you the time to stack your Lethal Tempo during trades and BLIGHT marks on the ennemy. If you're playing with Lulu, Milio or Karma, play passiv until you get ganked or your opponents does a mistake. |
| 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 you have to be reliant on your support for the early game. Your damage arn't here yet and you'll have to wait for your Nashor's Tooth in order to be usefull. Farm safelly and watch carefully what your support and opponents are doing so you get catch in a delicate situation. |
| 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 Chain of Corruption due to your rune Ultimate Hunter and your huge CDR, allows you to create catch on 1 or several people. Those catch will be really important for the rest of the game, since you can play create a numerical advantage before huge objectives like Baron Nashor or Dragon. You are really fragile and need to stay several meters away from the fights. Don't be too far thought, champions like Kha'Zix, Camille or Shaco could take advantage of that. |
| 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 Guinsoo's Rageblade and your Kraken Slayer. If it's not the case, you can farm midlane minions and Raptors and/or Murk Wolf. Just ask your jungler before, of course. Keep an eye on what is happening between toplane and botlane, in case you need to join a fight in a hurry. Your DPS will be warmly welcomed and your utility as well. Play safe and wait for your team to engage any objectives or figts. You're a "short" range carry, don't get greedy. |
| 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 Chain of Corruption can deffinitly do the job. DUO LANE : AP Varus is a mix beteween ON-HIT and LETHALITYtimer playstyle. Play behind your teammates and wait for good opportunities to use your ultimate Chain of Corruption and shoot an empowered Q Piercing Arrow with Blighted Quiver. The difference with LETHALITYtimer Varus is that your Q Piercing Arrow deals no damage. All of your AP damage are comming from your Blighted Quiver and your Chain of Corruption. Be SUPER CAREFULL with those abilites, use them VERY wiselly. |
| How do I play ? |
Stick with your team and try to play obejctives like Baron Nashor or Dragon/ Elder Dragon. Play carefully, remember that you are a long range assassin that has to burst out people. But in order to burst, you need to stay alive . You're full build now so any Chain of Corruption, W Blighted Quiver Q Piercing Arrow should one shot any squishy champion. Remember, at this point of the game, you have something like 30 seconds cooldown on your R, wich is ridiculous. Try to use it as often as you can, but still wisely. Tou have 2 ways of playing Varus Chain of Corruption. You can play for picks 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 Chain of Corruption only to follow up moves or to prevent an assassin/bruiser to jump on you. Don't use it to catch anyone, this isn't your job. Your dps will be gadly appreciated if you stay alive. Be patient and remember ! You put a LOT of auto-attacks, so remember using your E Hail of Arrows or Q Piercing Arrow sometimes to maximise your utility and dps ! A good E in the middle of a fight can be such a pain in the ass due to it's grievious wounds ! Missing your abilities is ok since you're playing ON-HIT . Most of your damage will be on your autos and this is why learning to kite is something super important, espacially with Varus high attack speed ! |
| How do I play ? |
SOLO LANE : Play with your team , you're their highest AP damage dealer of the game, a high range mage that has the power to one-shot anyone he can, IF you land your skillshot ! You can still push some waves on the side lane to give your team and advantage but ask your jungler to shadow you since you're really squeeshy. 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 Chain of Corruption pretty much everything, even tanks, so try to hit anything with your R and use everything you can, then back off and wait for your cooldowns. This is your main weakness. You can still go in and put some autos but be SURE to leave after it or to have a protection with you. |
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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