Hear me out. Riot should help out the fringe Varus players. (not necessarily asking for mobility)

Yes can be played middle. Yes is picked in pro games (middle only). No, I don't want mid to not exist.

What I think is wrong is that the strongest build for Varus currently is full armor penetration and , taken middle. It's a very non-interactive, one dimensional build that feels so absolutely boring to play. The only reason Riot doesn't want to change Varus' poke is because they want, essentially, an AD-version of . It isn't bad to have AD poke champions and I don't want to leave these things that I've said, without reason.

I play, watch, play against and talk about Varus a lot with other people who play this game. I joke with other Varus players that his compensation for no mobility is having the best skins in the game. He is my favorite champion and will remain so, so long as playing him in roles that aren't ad- "only use q" Varus are still playable. I'm writing this because many trends that Riot's balance team (and statements) seem to point to them wanting to make Varus into the AD-Poke machine that is beyond boring and unsatisfying to play.

1.) AD- "It's a very non-interactive" build.

• Your decision making with this build boils down to "Press Q" and Hit/Miss champion. There is very little interaction between any of his abilities. Blight tickles unless it's the first point at level 2 or the last point at level 18, so the spell-weaving identity of his ADC playstyle (better realized in his AP playstyle) is nearly completely negated. His lack of any sort of mobility, even a speed buff makes his positioning really difficult, especially since his Q charge slows himself. Even , and are given some sort of movement speed buff (conditional is still better than none). His attack speed buff is unreliable and not as powerful as most other attack speed buffs (while we are here, his blight should be his actual passive, but that'll never happen because people have been asking for this for ages) and it can't really help him if he gets jumped on.

2.) "one dimensional build" Every other iteration of Varus has many more options than mid-lane.

• His core build in mid lane (AD) is - .

For AP and ADC, there are many more options.

• As AP, you can go --ANY AP ITEM or -- -ANY AP ITEM. There are more options than this, but these are the most popular.

• As ADC, You have many more options. You can go -( ITEM)- , , Double Item, , , , , . You can also go hybrid with- - (soon to be nerfed, probably a lot less viable)- - /AP Item.

• I've seen jungle and top Varus too (I've personally played support Varus, but his kit is far to far away for that), but they are much less common and I don't want to comment on something I know little about.

3.) Leaving Varus as is, makes all other iterations, other than ad , less viable.

• For ADC, this is because balancing around Q-s poke requires it to be high mana cost (comparative to other ADCs) and have high CD (compare to most non-ultimate abilities [that don't build as much cdr]).

• For AP, he can't have any better bases or CDs on his E or Q (or better yet, a small AP ratio) so that AP Varus can have more in his kit than auto attacks, because it would be OP on a CDR-Mana build.

Lastly, what I think is most important is that his other builds are quite a bit of fun and a lot like when Riot was discussing in the mid-year mage update, just because they want to balance around mid lane , doesn't mean they should neglect his other options. There is a multitude of different ways that this could be done that still preserve ' strengths (engage/disengage, AoE, Duelist (Poke is a lot less strong on ADC, because of preseason item changes)) that don't infringe on his weaknesses (immobile, squishy, many skill shots).

Some examples would be:

• Blight ---> Passive (Obvious).

• W ---> Minor attack speed steroid (Gives him an option when someone jumps on top of/ganks him that isn't conditional and therefore unreliable).

• E ---> Pops blight applied while inside circle after cast, but before circle fades (could remove Grevious Wounds in order to get this; gives him more of an control-zone feel).

• Second blight passive that gives him movespeed for popping blight (more move speed for more stacks popped, capped and nothing too major; this way he can have an option if someone jumps on top of/ganks him).

All of these would be less beneficial for AD than other roles and would make him feel more satisfying to play. Some other ideas for buffs/nerfs that would more directly effect mid Varus would be.

• Nerf Q Damage; but buff blight so that his Q still does damage, but it is through his Blight and not his Q (Makes his W (and in my opinion, his Q) feel more satisfying and would also require him, as an immobile champion to play less safely).

• Make his ult tether chain time lower (makes his ultimate a better disengage/engage, therefore giving him more purpose as a pick in roles other than middle).

• Lower mana costs of Q and make the width smaller.

These are just some simple ideas I've collected over the few years I've been playing League and I'm sure there is more, but the major point I want to be heard is that AD mid Varus shouldn't be the only (if at all) build that Riot balances Varus around.

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What do you guys think is the issue/non-issue in Varus at the moment?