Varus Build Guide : [10.25] AP Varus in Season 11! Mid and

I'm a Varus main, though I've only recently started to note the importance of taking the right runes and building the right items (I'm still learning :)) That being said, I've seen multiple variations on Varus builds and runes and I'm not sure what to go with? I've seen Varus take lethal tempo and then build items like Botrk and Guinsoo's Rageblade but I've also seen recommendations for Varus taking arcane comet and then build sanguine blade and edge of night. I'm not entirely sure what to do with Varus?

I have been wondering for awhile what runes and masteries are best for Varus ADC in yoloqueue.
Mana blues of some kind would help poke more liberally in lane, but you sacrifice MR. AD quints are great, but one or two lifesteal quints helps stay in lane longer. AD reds are also good but ARpen reds or a mix of the two might be better. Armor yellows are classic, but with the new changes, would a mix with flat health be better?.
Masteries are also tricky. 21 in offense is a given, but should I take more for the spell weaving etc? Is it better to take mana points in utility for laning or defense?
He's one of the hardest champions to pick runes/masteries for IMO. What do you Varus players think is best and why?

I see a lot of AP Varus players going with (imo) wrong skill order, runes and builds so I thought I'll share my opinion here. I've theorycrafted this a lot and tried it a lot in-game too, but I feel like I want the opinions of other Varus enthusiasts too so, please, leave some comments. I'm gonna try to answer as soon as my schedule allows me to.
I will be talking about Midlane AP Varus specifically, but most things are the same for Bot and Top as well, I will talk about the differences in your setup for other lanes after I "draw the picture" with the Midlane setup.
Runes:
Attack speed + Adaptive force + ArmoMR depending on your laning opponent.
1.-Hail of blades
Primary: Hail of blades->Taste of blood->Eyeball collection->Ravenous hunter
Precision: Legend alacrity->Cut down
Notes: Basic AP Varus runes, good in all scenarios, not much else to say.
2.-Press the attack
Primary: Press the attack->Triumph->Legend alacrity->Cut down
Domination: Taste of blood->Ravenous hunter
Notes: Really good if enemies have tanky/immobile champions and you can consistently and safely get 3 autos off on them even without the Hail of blades. More damage mid-late game, especially against tanks. Triumph > Presence of mind for 2 reasons: if you use your Q/E only to shove the wave or lasthit without hitting the enemy champ, you don't get the mana regen. The second reason is that you can get blue buffs so the 15% mana recovery on takedown isn't needed for teamfights.
Skill order:
Q->W->E (R on 6/11/16 obviously)
You obviously want to max W second to get as much damage as possible from it as soon as you start finishing your big AP items. No point in maxing it first since it only gives you 1 (one) magic damage on hit per ability level and 1,5% max HP damage from proccing a 3-stack Blight which is only around 10-25 magic damage this early in the game.
Now why max Q over E first? Basically you want to proc your blight stacks with Qs as much as you can since it now amplifies the Blight damage, so you really want it on a lower cooldown, CD goes down by 1,5s per ability level. Besides that it gives you 36-55 (based on charge duration) physical damage per level and also a little more total AD ratio. Also it lets you shove waves quicker since you can hit the whole wave as it is coming, compared to hitting only 3-4 with E. Since you're gonna be starting with either Cull or Doran's blade your Q packs quite a punch early game, especially if used with W active on low HP targets. Mana cost only goes up by 5 per ability level, you can deal with that, if not, just hit up your jungler and hope he gives you a blue buff.
Maxing E only gives you 40 physical damage, 5% stronger slow and -2s cooldown per ability level which in my opinion doesn't outweigh what you get from maxing Q first. Then again, you really want the Q cooldown to be as low as possible in teamfights.
Summoner spells:
Flash+BarrieTeleport/Heal/Cleanse
I'm not gonna go deep with this one since it's not specific for this build. Take a look at your laning opponent's champ, their teamcomp and choose accordingly. Just don't take ignite, low range and you already have Grievous wounds on your E.
Item build:
You want to start with either Cull, Corrupting potion or Doran's blade every game.I like to start with Cull a lot, it allows you to get your items faster and also gives you some early AD. When starting with Cull, take Barrier against bursty champs so you won't get oneshot or Teleport against poke champs so you can go back to heal and grab some pots and TP back to lane.
Starting with Corrupting potion is fine against poke champs like Xerath/Vel'Koz etc but I personally found it better in most cases to just get the Cull with Teleport and go back early with 450g to buy Refillable potion + Boots so you can dodge their poke easier.
Doran's blade is honestly not that good but if you are against some champ that has a weak early game and you really want to fight him early as much as you can just go for it. I pretty much only buy it into Kassadin but you absolutely demolish his early game with it, might be good against some other champs too, not enough testing from my side on this one.
After the starting item, the build is gonna be almost the same every game:
Boots->Nashor's tooth->Riftmaker->Rabadon's deathcap->Void staff->Horizon focus
You should upgrade Boots into Sorcerer's shoes somewhere between finishing your Nashor's and finishing your Rabadon's, depends on how much gold you have when you go back/die.
Feel free to buy Horizon focus before Void staff if your enemies don't have a lot of MR.
Feel free to change boots for Cosmic drive lategame if you have nothing better to do with the gold.
Elixir of sorcery is your elixir of choice every time, as with most mages.
I don't like buying Mejai's soulstealer on Varus because you can get blown up pretty easily, but hey, if you're ahead it can give you a really early power spike on Nashor's + Mejai's even before you get your mythic (Riftmaker).
Other roles:
On botlane just take heal as your second summoner spell, go with the Hail of blades rune setup and change Cut down to Presence of mind or Coup de grace and start with Doran's blade, everything else stays the same.
I strongly advise you not to go toplane because you get ganked and dived really easily but if you really want to ruin some tank player's day then go with the Press the attack rune setup and maybe change the Taste of blood to Cheap shot for some more poke damage with your E. Always get Teleport as the second summoner spell, everything else stays the same.
EDIT: Formatting, formatting and more formatting...
Forgot to mention one thing for the early game:
Never buy a Dark seal early. It is good on most mages and it amplifies the healing from your potions, but it makes your Adaptive force rune swap from AD to AP which is pretty bad early game. Same logic goes for not buying the Amplifying tome alone when building Nashor's tooth, just wait until you have enough gold to buy at least Blasting wand + Amplifying tome before swapping your Adaptive force rune to AP.

Hello fellow Varus mains,
I'm a Varus lover and an enthusiast! Over the time i shared a lot of tips and tricks on this Reddit, but i decided to make a cheat sheet, to gather it all into one place and unite it all. I am not aware of anyone doing anything like this, and i would encourage you all to add suggestions and other tips/tricks i can add to make the sheet more complete.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IIL1Qfd3u78Y70ZU2psLmQwZXPZiYLX3Psnzxys-J9A/edit?usp=sharing
Currently, i am considering adding Value of items and build on Varus, Rune choices and combos. Maybe some other tips, and tricks over the time. Please let me know what do you think about the sheet.

Hey dudes i play this game for quite some time,and i have to say ap varus is one of the most fun builds of all time(for me) and i would appreciate if you guys could send runes and builds for me to live this dream again

So, after experimenting a bit, I think I found a really good Build and playstile for Varus.
Runes: Dark Harvest - Cheap Shot - Eyeball Collection - ULTIMATE HUNTER
2nd tree precision: Legend Alacrity - Coup de Grace.
AS+AD+Armor on the small ones.
Items: Yommu's - CDR boots - Draktharr - Edge of Night (or Sanguine blade)- GA - Situational.
You take TP with this build.
What makes this build REALLY good its how often you have your ult, and how it sinergises with Cloud drake.
If I remember correctly you have ULT every 35 sec on late game. Which is insane.
Early game you just wanna play pasive while poking as much as you can to try and get a lot of DH procs. Once you get Serrated Dirk you want to start playing more agressive. Your Qs will do some STRONG damage thanks to all the AD, DH, cheap shot (if you throw E before), and coup de grace.
Mid and Late game your R will come back up faster (thanks to the CDR and Ultimate Hunter) there will be no fights where you don't have it. Even without Cloud Drake. Thanks to this, assasins have a HARD time killing you because of Edge of Night/GA.
TP will help you get your items faster, and make surprising attacks with your ult and Dark harvest.
You can even build Steraks as last item with this build since you already have so much damage.
Give this runes and build a try and tell me what you think of it :)

Biscuit is used in nearly every single Varus rune page. Now it's been hit by a lot. One less biscuit in lane might make it pretty bad.
Is it now better to maybe switch the secondaries to Domination for Cheap Shot/Taste of Blood + Eyeball Collector, or Sorcery for Nullifying Orb/Manaflow Band + Gathering Storm?

hi all, so i've been toying with different combinations of items and runes with the goal of keeping the godlike poke of ad caster varus, with the %hp burst potential of ap varus.
runes: hybrid pen reds, hp/lvl seals, cdlvl glyphs, 2x hybrid pen quints and 1 cdlvl quint
deathfire's touch

• black cleaver or yuumou's ghostblade? clearly ghost blade will provide more upfront damage, and a very solid item active. black cleaver on the other hand provides more overall team utility (shred), health for squishy varus, and movement speed passives. with the runes mentioned above, black cleaver caps your cdr while ghostblade stays at 30%. thoughts?
  
• core: tear, black cleaver, boots 1
  
• if path 1, rush liandry's, sorcerer's shoes > into path 2
  
• if path 2, rush manamune, executioner's calling > into path 1
  
• final items: mortal reminder, and hextech gunblade
  

-- build: black cleaver, muramana, mortal reminder, liandry's, sorcerer's shoes, and hextech gunblade
what 'hybridizes' this caster varus build is the combined effects of adding liandry's torment's passive and deathfire's touch, with a total flat magic penetration of 39 (unless tanky, most basic champs will not have any MR higher than like 30,42,48). each blight stack will deal ~ 9℅ of an enemy champion's max hp (27% with 3 stacks). the important part to note is that you still maintain the poke damage from a typical ad caster varus (~ 800 dmg Q's that inflict grievous wounds, and deal 2℅ of current hp/sec for 3 seconds)
welcome constructive criticism, my original post went on /varusmains but that shit's a ghostsub. i am looking for discussion on viability etc. thanks!

i'm a new varus player and i take Lethal tempo with sorcery secondary for nimbus cloak and gathering storm. i haven't tried out comet varus yet and i might try it out at some point, it just feels better to pick LT for me.

So I'm mainly a Support player, I break even or go positive (usually one or two kills, about 5 or less deaths, and around 6+ assists on a positive game, and 0/X/X on even games (x being the same number, often times less than 5 deaths and 5 assists, so average "going even game" is around 0/3/3).
Anywho enough about that. Due to some recent provisional games, I'm stuck in Bronze 2 (season 3 and season 4 I was silver 3 and silver 4 respectively) but rage quits, afks, and trolls dropped my MMR down (mainly because of those lost games).
So essentially I need resources to help me climb my way out of bronze into silver (planning on silver, eventually I plan on gold for victorious rewards, but that's for later)
I've got all champs aside from aatrox cass corki donger naut darius skarner varus. Runes, I don't have much, so preferably I'd want some kind of tanky-ish bruiser that can contribute to a fight while still also holding their own. My play style is mostly passive (I won't trade if I can help it).
Safest champs for me are Vlad, Rumble, Shyvana, Panth, Shen, Taric, Leona, Thresh (to an extent, I'm not going to aggressively hook and waste all my mana), Lulu, Ziggs, Xerath, Caitlyn, Jinx, Karthus, Kha, J4, Vi, Maokai, and Gnar.
I know that Rumble is Freelo, but I'm still working on runes for him (unless someone has a rune guide for Hybrid pen reds, M.Pen quints, flat armor yellows, and/or flat Mscaling MR blues). My only "complete" rune page is my support one (all else are generic pages).
I'm not asking for boosting service, DuoQ service, or other "could get me, you, or both of us banned" services, just looking to get some insight on how I can use my current resources.
EDIT: If the need arises, I'll include what runes I do currently have. I have 2 rune pages I can spare (if they're for specific champs, if they're generic, I can replace my other pages).
EDIT 2: Its not that I'm blaming my team outright, we had LOTS of winnable games. Its just that we had either no one directing objectives (like taking Tower X or pushing lane Y) or someone went full tilt and became a liability. Mostly the first part.
TL;DR: I'm not a bad player, its my team coordination that got me into bronze (lack of communication mainly, ragers/afks/trolls second) and I'm looking for advice that I can use to climb.

I'm wondering what I should be saving for atm. I could honestly go either way, just looking for which we help me out more.
Champs I own
Amumu, Anivia, Annie, Ashe, Blitz, Cho, Corki, Garen, Heimer, Janna, Kayle, Leona, Malphite, Maokai, Master Yi, Mordekaiser, Poppy, Singed, Sivir, Soraka, Taric, Teemo, Tristana, and Varus
Rune pages I own
~AP, ~AD, ~Top, and ~Top/AD
I mostly don't jungle so I'm not thinking about venturing in there just yet. What would you have me do?

Hi all,
After careful consideration; I've decided to pick up Varus again (I mained him in Season 7). Just purchased the new Infernal Varus skin - which is an amazing skin by the way -. I'm set up and good to go!
However... I was wondering which runes you prefer on Varus? I'm doubting between Dark Harvest (when AP mid, build Gunblade/Nashers etc.), Hail of Blades or should shift my focus towards the precision three and look at PTA/Lethal Tempo.
Can you guys advice me on this matter?
Many Thanks.

Taliyah, Xayah, and Jinx. I don't know where to find rune sets outside of MobaFire, which I've heard is kinda… not good. So even just a link to a website where I could find ideal Rune sets would be very much appreciated. Like I said, I need them for Tali, Xayah, and Jinx.

Been a Varus main since season 7 and my go to runes were Dark Harvest with a Side’o Yellow. However, it does feel like lethality plus DH is very strong right now. Could just be me, but I wanted to see what you fellow Varus Mains are taking on the boy in these troubling times.

What runes are better for adc varus now? and what build?

First time I’m doing something like this so eh yeah w/e I’m here to talk about AP Varus and what I think is the best Rune to go + my recommendet Item Build and some (hopefully right) calculations. For me the best keyrune to run AP Varus with is definetly press the attack, it just sounds perfect that you need to do 3 aa's, wich you normaly also need to do to get your 3 Stacks onto someone, to than deal 12% more dmg. The normal combo with AP Varus would be to do 3 aa's - proc W Stacks with R - Prock another 3 Stacks with Q/E. With press the attack the whole combo except for those first 3 aa's will do 12% more dmg. Let's see what the difference is. I'll go throught it as if Varus had 100AP and is level 6 (Calculation without MR or Armor) with max points in W and E, 1 Point in R against an enemy with 2.5k Health
Normal Combo lvl 6/100AP: 3x aa - R - E (E after the 3 marks stacked up)

 3x aa + W passive (18 + 25% AP) 3x 74.8 + 18 + 250 = 224.4 + 18 + 25 = 267.4 224.4 + 18 + 25 = 267.4 dmg 224.4 AD and 43 AP damage 267.4 (3 x aa) -> R 267.4 + W1% (Flat W Stat) + W2% (AP W Sclaing) + R 267.4 + 15% + 6% + 200 267.4 + 21% + 200 = 992.4 – Due to R stacks go up -> 3 Stacks again 992.4 + W1% + W2% + E 992.4 + 21% + 210 (No scaling since we do not have bonus AD) 992.4 + 525 + 210 = 1727.4 

Now with press the attack: 3x aa - R - E (E after the 3 marks stacked up)

 3x aa + W passive + press the attack dmg (let’s say it does the minimum of 30 dmg) 3 x 74.8 + 18 + 25% + 30 = 297.4 297.4 -> R 297.4 + [W1% + W2% + (12%)] + (R+12%) 297.4 + 23.52% + 224 297.4 + 588 + 224 = 1109.4 1109.4 -> E (after the 3 marks appeared) 1109.4 + [W1% + W2% + (12%)] + (E + 12%) 1109.4 + 588 + 235.2 = 1932.6 

As you can see the difference is around 205.2 dmg, let’s compare it to other runes (way easier to calculate that) Aery: Proc amount 3x (should be acceptable)

 Normal 1727.4 damage + Aery damage 1727.4 dmg + Aery dmg = 1727.4 + (30*3) = 1727.4 + 90 1727.4 + 20 Base dmg + 10% AP Sclaing = 1772.4 1727.4 + (30*3) = 1727.4 + 90 1727.4 + 90 = 1817.4 dmg 

As we can see Aery = less damage than press the attack
Arcane Comet: Proc amount 1x

 Normal 1727.4 damage + Arcane Comet damage 1727.4 + 30 Base dmg + 20% AP Scaling 1727.4 + 50 = 1797.4 dmg 

So even if we could proc Arcane Comet 2x it still would be less damage
Electrocute: Proc amount 1x

 Normal 1727.4 damage + Electrocute damage 1727.4 + 50 base dmg + 30% AP Scaling 1727.4 + 80 = 1807.4 dmg 

As you guys can see press the attack can do way more damage but only if you are able to get those 3 aa’s out, if not aery would probably be your best deal I guess
For those wondering what I would recommend for the other runes I’d say: Press the attack – Triumph (great survivability in teamfights) – Legend: Alacrity (obv. You need some attackspeed to get those W stacks onto someone) – Coup de grace Second tree at least for me would be Sorcery: Take the Ultimate Hat since R is really important, most of the time I just get Transcendence because I really love those 10% cdr but most likely you will reach your 40% cdr no matter what so what you can do in exchange is to get gathering storm for more damage. My most used build for AP Varus is probably: Nashors Tooth into another attackspeed item, most of the time I decide between Huricane for W Stacks on multiple enemys (only if you really can get some aa’s of, otherwise take another attackspeed item), Rageblade (it just adds a lot of damage to your kit) or Wit’s End (also adds a lot of damage + with mask and/or boots you can deal some true damage and it gives some mr wich really is important in the current season) When to buy boots is your choice but I definetly recommend Magic Pen or CDR Boots, if you wan’t to deal true damage to squishy’s get the mask later on + the Magic Pen boots but take Transcendence with you as you will miss 10% CDR even with Zhonyas later on. If you wan’t to just stack up cdr early to spam your ability’s get your CDR Boots and think about maybe taking gathering storm except for Transcendence. What kind of AP Items you go after you have finished the first 2 Attackspeed items + Boots is up to you, but here are some items I can recommend:

Zhonya’s - Well as AP Varus you die pretty fast, get this to survive (need to buy Magic Pen boots to not cap CDR) Hextech Gunblade - A really expensive Item but provides Utility + Sustance, helps with its active to escape or chase someone + heals you for 15% of your dealt damage. Even tho it is expensive to build it still isn’t that bad of a buy since the parts for it are easy to get and varus scales with AP and AD Deathcap - If you don’t worry about your life and/or you got someone who peels for you, you can get a deathcap, it just adds so much damage to your aa’s, W Stack Damage and R damage The Mask - Great item to get some cheap magic pen going, get yourselfe a Wit’s end as second item after nashors’s with that to deal true damage to squishy’s in combination with the Magic Pen boots Void Stuff - Should only be bought against 2 tanky champs with some mr on the enemy team to get that W% Health Scaling damage threw Luden’s Echo - I don’t really know about that one, for me it feels like a wasted slot if items since the proc of it does not really feel that usefull. If you love luden’s feel free to get it but be aware that even tho it does give ms you will still die fast Lich Bane - Same thing as for Luden’s Echo + you should only build this in combination with some other heavy ap items, otherwise your sheen proc won't just deal that much damage I guess that’s enough for today, it would be great if you guys could tell me what you think about the stuff I said about AP Varus + if there is something wrong about the calculation please tell me asap and also sorry for the bad grammar I guess 

Edit:Changed R Base dmg from 150 to 100 and E base dmg from 205 to 210

I really like this champion a lot, but, I find it hard to get good builds! Any varus mains out there? help..

(I'm gold btw but loyal to ap varus)
S-tier feet work: great for kiting .outspacing enemies and roaming (bring ghost and flash with adaptive based on ms rune) http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/featured/preseason-update/8000-8021?build=02000147 (for detailed runes)
A-Glacial augment still good for kiting but might be bad idea against kat and other assassins bullies atm (hoping for buffs for this and nerf for dominant champs so this is more optimal. recommend exh/ign on this one) you can get stopwatch for ults like zed's, kat's or syndra's if needed http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/featured/preseason-update/8300-8351?build=41100107 (for detailed runes)
B-rush phase:I gotta be honest, it feels clunky since it takes you a while to get to proc (like a lame fleet work for varus) but you can use this page for late game if you want to play safer (recommend teleport or barrier) you can take ultimate hat or nullifying orb depending on the match up. http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/featured/preseason-update/8200-8230?build=22102030 (detailed runes)
Right now I want to try the last page but switching rush phase for aery summon (I wanted to try utility runes first) and then electrocute but since it's like thunderlord's decree I pretty much know the results(probably high A tier). For builds I've been using: gunblade, swiftness/oionia's boots, nashor tooth and then guinso's or zhonya's. maybe after this testing I try ad varus mid but I kind of doubt it since he looks underwhelmed by the assassin and tank meta.