LoL Wild Rift Varus Build & Guide (Patch 5.0) - Runes, Counters, Items, Ability Analysis

S Tier

Class: Marksman

Recommended Lane: Dragon

Best Varus Wild Rift build guide for Season 11 Patch 5.0 of WR. With our Varus guide you will learn which items to build, runes to select, skill order, who counters Varus, and how to use abilities properly.

Recommended Builds

Starting Item

Boots

Core Items

Complete Build

Runes

Starting Item

Boots

Core Items

Complete Build

Runes

Varus is a deadly killer who loves to torment his foes, driving them almost to insanity before delivering the killing arrow. He is an ADC caster who excels in killing enemies from afar, rooting the enemy team or dispersing them, and dealing both DPS and burst damage.

Varus Wild Rift Build Recommendation

Here are Item Build Recommendations that works on this champion and which are the best build for Varus Wild Rift in this patch.

Critical Retribution

This is the standard build for Varus Wild Rift which focuses on increasing his attack speed and critical damage in order to maximize the DPS from his Blight passive and attack speed bonus.

Blade of the Ruined King – Grants percentage of current HP bonus damage which synergizes well with the percentage of HP damage from Varus’s kit.
Ionian Boots of Lucidity – Varus has long ability cooldowns so this boots is a good way to reduce them without compromising your item build. Although, when facing too much damage you might want to buy Mercury’s Treads against AP heavy teams or Plated Steelcapss against AD heavy team compositions instead. Upgrade with the Stasis Enchant to counter burst damage champions or upgrade with the Quicksilver Enchant to counter heavy crowd controls.
Runaan’s Hurricane – The two extra projectiles from this item applies all the on-hit effects you have which include the bonus magic damage and Blight marks from your W, Blighted Quiver, and the on-hit effect from Blade of the Ruined King as well.
Infinity Edge – Increase your auto attack DPS through this item that grants high attack damage, crit rate, and increased critical damage output.
Bloodthirster – Grants a good amount of physical vamp and overhealing through physical vamp grants you a shield.
Phantom Dancer – This item is a good countermeasure against burst damage champions because it grants you a shield when your HP drops below a certain percentage.

Lethal Retribution

This Varus Wild Rift item build is for snowballing in the early game if the enemy champion scales better than you like if you are against Vayne or Jinx. This item build deals good damage immediately after building the first item.

Manamune – grants a lot of AD to scale Varus into a late game build capable of one-shotting any opponent he chooses to do so.
Youmuu’s Ghostblade – Grants armor penetration and bonus magic damage, movement speed, and attack speed at max stacks which is good for bursting down opponents.
Mortal Reminder – Grants the highest amount of armor penetration and makes all your physical damage apply Grievous Wounds as well.
Black Cleaver – Your physical damage will reduce the armor of your targets, up to six times. Plus, it grants bonus movement speed for kiting enemies.
Guardian Angel – Counter burst damage ultimate reliant champions with this item which grants you the Resurrect passive which basically grants you a second life.

Runes for Varus in Wild Rift

Listed down below are the best runes for in Varus Wild Rift.

For marksmen like Varus, they will greatly benefit from Lethal Tempo as it grants a burst of attack speed.
Conqueror – Grants you a stacking bonus damage boost for every damage you make. Doing the combo will make you even deal more damage with your Q, Piercing Arrow.
Brutal – Provides bonus damage and penetration.
Loyalty – Increases you and your lane partner’s dual resistance.
Sweet Tooth – Grants bonus gold and regeneration from eating Honeyfruits.

Spells

In our Varus Wild Rift Guide, here are the best champion spells that you can equip on him.

Heal is a must for ADCs because it is a clutch summoner spell that heals both you and a nearby ally and grants bonus movement speed as well.

Flash should always be chosen as a summoner spell for Varus because he is an immobile ADC with no natural escape mechanism in his kit.

Skill Order

1st, Piercing Arrow, is maxed first because it is your main source of damage. 2nd, Blighted Arrow, is maxed next to increase your DPS then 3rd, Hail of Arrows, is maxed last because it offers enough utility even at level 1. Get a point in your ultimate whenever possible.

Abilities

Living Vengeance

Passive

Gains 40% Attack Speed for 5 seconds on a champion kill or assist, 20% on non-champion kills.

Piercing Arrow

Active

Hold: Draws the bow, gradually increasing the range and damage for the next shot. Movement Speed is slowed by 20% while preparing to shoot.

Release: Fires the arrow, dealing 74 to 111 physical damage (10 + 110 AD to 15 + 165 AD), reduced by 15% per enemy hit (minimum 33%).

Piercing Arrow’s cooldown is reduced by 4 seconds if the arrow detonates Blight stacks on at least one enemy champion.
Piercing Arrow fails if not released after 4 seconds, but will refund 50% of the Mana cost.

Blighted Quiver

Passive | Active

Passive: Attacks deal 12/16/20/24 bonus magic damage (12 + 20% AP) and apply Blight for 6 seconds (stacks 3 times). Varus’ other abilities detonate Blight, dealing magic damage equal to 5.5% (5.5% + 0.01% AP) of the target’s max Health per stack.

Active: Doubles the bonus on hit damage from Blighted Quiver’s passive for 6 seconds. The next Piercing Arrow deals bonus magic damage equal to 7% to 10% of the target’s missing Health, increased by 0% – 50% (based on Piercing Arrow’s channel time).

Hail of Arrows

Active

Fires a hail of arrows that deals 70 physical damage (70 + 60% bonus AD) and desecrates the ground for 4 seconds. Desecrated ground slows enemies by 25% and applies Grievous Wounds.

Grievous Wounds: reduce healing effects by 40%

Chain of Corruption

Active

Flings out a tendril of corruption that deals 150 magic damage (150 + 80% AP) and roots the first enemy champion hit for 2 seconds.

The corruption then spreads toward nearby enemy champions, also immobilizing them on contact. Immobilized units gain 3 blight stacks over the next 3 seconds.

Abilities Analysis

Innate: Living Vengeance

Varus gains bonus attack speed after killing all kinds of enemies. Champion takedowns, kills or assists, grants double the attack speed amount.

Kill a minion or a jungle monster before joining fights for the bonus attack speed but if the fight happens near minions, your passive will most likely activate immediately because Varus deals a good amount of AoE damage.

Q | 1st: Piercing Arrow

Piercing Arrow is Varus’s nuke and poke tool. It gains more range and deals more damage as it is charged. Varus cannot attack or cast other abilities while charging and it deals less damage after every unit it hits.

Varus is slowed during charging and you have to release the arrow in order to fire it, choosing not to fire it will refund half of its mana cost.

Your enemies will fall back and avoid your Piercing Arrow at all costs because it deals a lot of damage so only use it when the enemy is crowd-controlled or while under bushes.

Apply Blight to enemies using your auto-attack as much as possible before hitting enemies with Piercing Arrow to deal way more damage.

Activate your 2nd, Blighted Quiver, first before using Piercing Arrow on enemies with less than 60% HP to deal enormous execute damage.

You don’t always have to charge it to the max especially when engaging in a 1v1 duel.

W| 2nd: Blighted Quiver

Blighted Quiver is Varus’s steroid ability. It increases his DPS through the bonus magic damage on-hit effect and makes hit attack mark enemies with Blight which can be activated using his other basic abilities. The bonus magic damage and blight also apply through the extra attacks that Runaan’s Hurricane gives.

Activating Blight deals bonus magic damage based on the enemy’s max HP.

Activating Blighted Quiver doubles the bonus magic damage and grants 1st, Piercing Arrow, bonus execute damage which increases the lower the enemy’s HP is and the longer the ability is charged.

E | 3rd: Hail of Arrows

Hail of Arrows is an AoE damage ability that also grants debuffs to affected enemies. It slows and applies Grievous Wounds to targets under its area.

It is fairly easy to hit enemies with Hail of Arrows as it has a decent AoE and projectile speed so it is your most reliable way to activate your Blight stacks.

The Grievous Wounds effect is important as a counter to the Heal summoner spell and other sustain abilities all throughout the game. It also neutralizes the enemy’s vamp effects which grants you a good amount of edge in 1v1 or 2v2 duels all game long.

R | Ultimate: Chain of Corruption

Chain of Corruption is an amazing team fight crowd control. It is a single target root that spreads out to nearby enemy champions and will continue to do so as long as there is a champion that hasn’t been rooted yet in the vicinity of the last rooted target. Chain of Corruption spreads after the first root has finished and so on.

Rooted champions are marked with a full stack of Blight for three seconds.

Chain of Corruption is equally great for picking off high-priority enemy champions or during team fights. Because of the root and blight marks, enemy champions hit by Chain of Corruption and then combo’d will more than likely be killed immediately. In team fights, the enemy team will be forced to split off and disengage because they will suffer from a team-wide root if they do not.

Combo: Ult + 3rd + AA + 2nd + AA + AA + 1st

Varus Early Game Guide

Varus is a champion who is strong all-game lane. You just need to play carefully with him because he is a squishy immobile ADC.

In the early game, Varus has strong poke and wave clear thanks to his 1st, Piercing Arrow and when combined with his 2nd, Blighted Arrow, he can deal serious damage.

Varus can burn through his mana if you spam his abilities so play it smart and focus just one of the enemy with your poke if hitting both is not possible.

Try to time your usage of 3rd, Hail of Arrows before the enemy heals because it applies the Grievous Wounds effect. This is especially effective when going for an all-in because the enemy will instinctively use their Heal Summoner Spell if they are controlled.

Use your Chain of Corruption immediately when you reached level 5. If there is no good opportunity to use it immediately, save it for the first dragon battle.

Varus Late Game Guide

In the mid game and late game. You become a potent killer who is capable of dealing extreme amounts of burst damage to a single target, a teamwide root and %HP based DPS.

The only downside you have is your lack of survivability and mobility. So your game will boil down on how well you position yourself on team fights and avoid danger.

If you successfully put your yourself in a position where you can freely hit enemies, you will more than likely win the fight and therefore, the game.

Synergies

For our Varus Wild Rift Guide, we highly recommend using him with the following champions as they synergize well with him.

Alistar is a great pair for Varus because he has tons of crowd control which he can use to pin down enemies while Varus is raining arrows on them. Alistar is also a great peeler which is good for Varus because he has no defensive abilities.

Braum is another champion with great peeling and initiation capabilities.

All Varus Wild Rift Counter Champions

In this section, we’ll specifically show champions that can easily counter Varus in Wild Rift.

Varus is a skill shot heavy champion so he would naturally have trouble against a mobile ADC like Vayne. If Varus fails to shut down Vayne, she will outscale him hard in the late game.

Kai’Sa has extreme mobility and potent 1v1 DPS. If you cannot shut her down in the early game, she can easily pick you off in the late game.

Pros & Cons About Varus

Here are some pros and cons if you are playing with Varus in Wild Rift.

Pros

Varus deals an amazing amount of hybrid HP-based damage which makes him a good pick to counter tank heavy compositions. He also deals a good amount of DPS as well as burst damage so he a safe pick in any composition.
Varus has a long range with his auto attack and abilities which allows him to damage enemies safely from afar.
His abilities grants a lot of utility as well. His 3rd, Hail of Arrows, slows down enemies and applies Grievous Wounds and his ultimate, Chain of Corruption, applies a root which can potentially control all of the enemy team.

Cons

Varus is a skill-shot-heavy champion which can be a limiting factor for beginners who wants to play him.
His abilities are his main source of damage but his abilities have a relatively high cooldown which limits his damage output.
He is a squishy immobile champion so if he is caught alone and without flash, he is more than likely, dead.

FAQ's About Varus in Wild Rift

How good is Varus in Wild Rift?

Varus is a (Tier S) champion. He is a good damage dealer who excels in killing both tanky and squishy champions. His only downside is that he is challenging to play due to his skill-shot-heavy kit and lack of mobility and survivability.

What role / lane should I play with Varus in Wild Rift?

Varus is played in the Dragon lane as the ADC. He can also be played as a Mage/Marksman hybrid in the middle lane.

What abilities do I level up with Varus?

What items should I build with Varus?

Varus either builds Blade of the Ruined King and Runaan’s Hurricane which is great against high HP champions or he builds Manamune and Youmuu’s Ghostblade for his burst type gameplay.

What Runes should I use when playing as Varus?

Conqueror grants you a stacking bonus damage boost for every damage you make. Doing the combo will make you even deal more damage with your 1st, Piercing Arrow. His other runes are Brutal, Loyalty, and Sweet Tooth.

Any tips so I can be better with my skill shots with Varus?

Missing your 1st, Piercing Arrow and ultimate, Chain of Corruption is extremely detrimental to Varus’s damage output. So to make sure that you’ll hit your abilities, wait for the enemy to dodge so you’ll know their path before activating your abilities. The more patient you are with your casting, the higher your accuracy will be.