When to pick Varus, how good is he, and what meta suits him best?

As an ADC you pick him into botlanes which have low mobility and low harass. As a mid laner, you pick him into low sustain low mobiltiy match ups.

As a jungler, why the hell are you doing this when its not very good?

Varus is good at siegeing and when you need a long range AD harass. His Q hurts... a lot. He's also a decently good pick as an anti-tank since his W can proc max % hp magic damage, so if their tank is building high armor, you can proc the stacks for damage that they're not building too much of and the damage will scale with their increasing hp. His ult is also great teamfight initiation and disengage. his E is not bad, has an aoe ground cast slow that comes with Grievous wound which is rare to have built into a champ and also helps fight hp-regen based champs when they're low. He does lack a bit of mobility, but with a good team comp with peel to help him build stacks and burst someone down he can be really good. Sadly mobility is an abuseable mechanic so people tend to pick champs that have some sort of movement buff or self-displacement skill coughLUCIANcough

I like Ap varus though, no matter how out of meta he is or will always be. Once the combo comes out, you're borderline gone no matter how tanky you are.

I take Varus if I think he won't have his weaknesses abused. E.g. I'd never pick him into trist. He's got great trade ability, but you need to make sure your Support is aware of the situation. For build order, I tend to do this more often than not:

- (starting with ) - - -

BT I'll make 6th if I need somersetting like but for me, Varus needs to make his W's potential, which is why I get Hurricane. I personally love it on him and for wave clearing he's second (in my mind) only to Sivir.

Because as an ADC he is outclassed by the auto-attack/mobility based marksman, I think he is a better poke Mid-Laner.

To efficiently utilize his poke-based kit, I would build him like a Jayce, rushing Manumune into a Youmuu's Ghostblade, Blood-thirster, Last Whisper, and the situational Mercurial Scimitar to finish it off. (Swifty or Ionian booties)

Edit: Furthermore, pick Varus when you know you won't be relying on self-peel to stay alive (even though the ult is really nice), or when you think you will be able to abuse the AD part of his kit early (according to the matchup)

This is a little controversial, but from playing with my Varus maining friend I can say that he is pretty strong with supports with extreme kill potential like AP Alistar, as his arrow can secure a kill from any position without unnecessary risks.

At least, you know, in lower ELOs.

Ive been picking him when the team lacks long range(this is very vague). I only play mid or jungle but for adc i think he is good if the enemy team doesnt have much mobility or CC(which is very rare now days). He isn't that great anymore due to him having no mobility. He needs the right conditions to be useful, like good peel or enemy team not being mobile.

When to Pick Varus

If you are under Plat, you can spam pick him.

How good is he?

I personally rather NOT have Varus, MF, and Corki on my team. He is solid, however, Ezreal, Lucian, Cait do his job far better.

What meta suits him best?

Not current one. ADCs who have an escape have a high chance of surviving. Varus lacks a solid escape and easily blowup into oblivion.

He is a solid Mid laner but if you want to rank up, there are better choices.

Burst ADCs and Right Click ADCs are just superior to Varus. He relies on triple stacks and a Solid Q.

if the enemy team has any sort of a mobile bot lane or assassin picking him isn't a good idea

As a kog main:

fuck varus.

soo.....yeah play him into people with low nobility. that ult really messes with people