Is it just me or is varus have a higher skillcap then the one riot gives him.

Moodington·Dec 8, 2015·11 votes·3,106 views

Is it just me or is varus' skillcap higher then the one riot gives him. To me he seems harder then alot of adcs because of the number 1 reason of having no escape which makes it very easy to punish a varus who is out of position or makes a bad play. Also varus is all skillshot based and has no point and click abilitys with the added fact that they are slow and easy to dodge. What do you guys think about varus' skillcap?

14 Comments

EndlessSorcererDec 8, 201510 votes

The difficulty bar on champions doesn't really have anything to do with how hard a champion is to play. It closer to "how hard is this champion to pick and and do decently with if you are a new player?".

Varus doesn't really have many complex mechanics that you need to learn. While you do have to reliably hit skill-shots and watch your positioning, he has a fairly basic kit.

RiotMeddlerDec 8, 201510 votes

EndlessSorcerer sums up our thoughts pretty well here. Difficulty bars are much more a guide for 'how hard is this champion to get started with' than 'what's the skill cap on this champion'. Particularly for new players there are some things that the rest of us take for granted that can be pretty significant barriers when you're trying to figure out the basics of the game. Champions where stuff clearly happens and you understand what and why, even if you didn't necessarily use it well, are good options as a result (e.g. skillshots may be hard to hit with, but something trackable happens, versus on next hits where, if you don't understand you need to follow up with a subsequent auto attack in time may appear to do nothing).

Captain AishiDec 9, 20151 votes

i remember when i started playing in 2011, I was so confused at blitzcrank's E tooltip for the cooldown... i still find it strange that it's the only autoattack modifying ability that says 'cooldown Xsecs after attacking' (so back then I thought you needed to autoattack before being able to activate the ability XD) whereas champions like jax, shyvana, nasus, etc. only state the cooldown of the ability (even though it goes on cooldown after attacking, just like blitz E)

NumptyDec 9, 20151 votes

{quoted}

EndlessSorcerer sums up our thoughts pretty well here. Difficulty bars are much more a guide for 'how hard is this champion to get started with' than 'what's the skill cap on this champion'. Particularly for new players there are some things that the rest of us take for granted that can be pretty significant barriers when you're trying to figure out the basics of the game. Champions where stuff clearly happens and you understand what and why, even if you didn't necessarily use it well, are good options as a result (e.g. skillshots may be hard to hit with, but something trackable happens, versus on next hits where, if you don't understand you need to follow up with a subsequent auto attack in time may appear to do nothing).

Hi. I realize that this is completely unrelated -- I don't mean to be a pest -- and I realize it's kind of rude to seek you out and just shove my questions in your face, but I've always appreciated the level of thoughtful insight and feedback you've given to players who are wondering about the status and identities of champions in game.

Anyway, I posted a question about the recently proposed changes to Gangplank here and I would very much appreciate it if you'd take the time to read over it and give me your thoughts on the matter. Sorry to bother you.

Hayaishi2Dec 8, 20152 votes

It's clearly obvious that faceroll Vayne with no skillshots and no cooldown management and steroids in every part of her kit is 10 times harder to play than Varus.

AnidanDec 8, 20151 votes

To use her really well in a teamfight is actually kinda hard.

You can use her in a teamfight with no skill at all, but you won't be anywhere near peak performance. Plus you can get zoned, and being zoned means no damage whatsoever because she has no damage at all outside her AA range; she provides no real utility unless she stuns, but most players save that for when they're jumped on, limiting her impact in a teamfight, especially when she's behind; she only has things relating to surviving for herself or doing damage.

Varus has a long-range poke, a medium range poke (with GW), both of which can extend past his AA range, and snare that can spread (doesn't always happen, but happens enough to warrant mention), and has decent all-in with his W passive on ability hit. All of these mean that zoning him doesn't mean he's useless, and he can provide utility to his team much more reliably than Vayne. This tends to make someone a bit easier since they don't have only 1 source of damage worth mentioning and a situational CC/peel.

So yes, she's usually a good deal harder than Varus. Just because assassins can jump on him doesn't make him harder than another champion just because they can deal with it - they have issues in other departments. Plus if you don't have split-second reaction speed, Vayne being able to reply will mean nothing if you can't do it yourself.

ExecutorDillDec 9, 20151 votes

Don't make her sound weak. I played vayne for the very first time in my life this weak and got exactly 30kills end game and won, and it was a pretty hard match. Can't remember my deaths but i'm pretty sure they were somewhere under 10.

Having dmg purely through autos means no flipping loss of dmg at all and all you gotta do is get to the point where you think your strong enough to kill them and use your stealth and tumble to avoid any reliation they have and wa-lah double kill. I often despised vayne players until I tried her for my self then I understood the appeal of hardly having to use skills do dmg and saving thought for counter/ defensive play and awareness.

AnidanDec 9, 20151 votes

I never said she was weak. Just that she is generally more mechanically challenging than many ADCs. Her power is literally all in her AAs and in self-preservation. So if she's zoned from the fight, then she can't do damage. Period. Lucian can still use his ult and maybe sneak in a lightslinger with his dash at the ready, for another example, but Vayne can't do even that much if an enemy assassin or bruiser threat is looming over her that can reasonably kill her.

Though, your post sounds like it means to put her on the complete opposite end of the spectrum and make her sound overly strong, like double kills just rain from the sky and the ult is the answer to anything. Anecdotal evidence doesn't weigh in for much, and the evidence for just one game weighs even less.. I've done well on mechanically challenging champions the first time I've played them, too, but that doesn't make them any easier to main (as I found out on subsequent games where I got my ass trounced trying the same type of thing again).

Like it or not, there is a finesse that goes into playing Vayne at a high skill level. She does have a pretty good skillcap, even though her kit makes it look very simple. She has a decently low skill floor, but she has a pretty good skill ceiling, too.

kaltenashesDec 8, 20151 votes

its hard to see a varus who uses his w passive... one change i want in him is trade the w passive with his passive and rework w, so he'd get a bit like S <3 Quinn <3 2

Sightless66Dec 8, 20151 votes

The difficulty rating is not related to their skillcap. Seriously, it isn't even a factor. The difficulty is only a measurement of how easy it will be for a completely new player (as in, new to League of Legends) to make use of the champion. That was Riot's stated purpose when the redid the difficulty ratings a couple years ago. If you are level 30, you might as well ignore it, because it is not designed around you.

Varus has a low difficulty rating because his kit is very straightforward at a very low level of play. Autoattack people, throw large skillshots right at people, no need to predict enemy actions to use mobility skills for dodging (and similarly, no way to get yourself in trouble with mobility skills), and no complex mechanics. That's easy for new players to get a grasp on. It gets harder against more skilled opponents, but the difficulty rating doesn't apply then.

JacctheInsomniacDec 8, 20151 votes

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ExecutorDillDec 9, 20151 votes

I honestly hate passive that only take effect after someone dies. My only exception is Jinx because that burst of mov spd she gets in team fight is OP and very thematic to her design. Varus could really use a change.