Is Varus gonna stay like that for long?

RTX Warnoise·10/8/2014, 1:32:51 AM·28 votes·5,879 views

So i have been playing Varus for a while now, the champion concept is pretty good, the design is cool as well. But man, he is soooo underpowered. Whenever i get to fight popular adc like Lucian or Tristana, if the enemy is decent player then itll become a hell in bot.

He is supposed to be a long range marksman, but his kit obliges him to be at AA range in order to do dmg. His only dmg ability is his Q, it indeed has a very long range, but unlike Nidalee spear, it doesnt feel rewading hitting it because, first, i need to charge in order to do a decent dmg, secondly, secondly if the target happens to be behind minions, the dmg is absolutely horrible.

So i suggest to make landing his Q more rewarding for it is his only dmg spell with high mana costs. For an immobile champion like him, he should dish out a considerable amount of dmg to make up for his lack of mobility and survivability.

106 Comments

Hayaishi10/8/2014, 1:40:51 AM9 votes

Riot needs to give him a niche.

Because people complain that Ashe sucks but atleast she has an unique niche that no other ADC fulfills.

At the moment Varus can't be a DPS marksman, doesn't have enough utility to be considered the utility marksman, and doesn't have enough range to be considered a poke marksman and his Q has too much mana cost and CD for it.

He's not even strong in lane anymore, he's just there, if somebody asked who's the worst ADC it'd be Varus for me because at the moment you have no reason to pick him.

As a Varus main i'd like to see Riot give him some attention because it also seems like they don't care, every ADC gets solid buffs while Varus is left there.

Meep Man10/8/2014, 6:36:54 PM5 votes

I think we need to look at Varus' Q damage compared to basic attacks. He needs 2 seconds to use his Q. He can basic attack about two times if he wasn't channeling this. Lets say he has exactly 100 attack damage for this situation.

If he channels and uses the Q after channeling for the full duration, Varus deals (with 100 AD): 235 + 160 = 395 Physical Damage If he basic attacks twice (at least) instead, he deals: 200 = 200 Physical Damage

This does not include any damage coming from his W. Varus needs to get stacks of his W on his target to be meaningful in battle, but his entire kit is about staying at a distance which is closed when he has to basic attack an enemy. I suppose a change to his W since his Q does deal great amounts of damage if it directly hits an enemy. I also think the reduction per unit hit for his Q should be decreased since it is incredibly huge compared to other piercing abilities. Finally, his basic attack range should be increased to match his play style of "the hidden arrow that is about to come out of no where and kill you" type of archer.

Basic attack range increased to 625 from 575

W- Blighted Quiver Reworked Varus' concept of a long range, hybrid, ability Marksman is hampered by his need to basic attack his targets. Due to this, his ability's should apply Blight as well and all Blight stacks be consumed at 3 to deal the bonus magic damage. His basic attack range should also be increased to match his concept and play style. The bonus magic damage on basic attacks may or may not still be applied.

Varus' basic attacks apply 1 stack of Blight. Upon reaching 3 stacks, the marks will be consumed, dealing 6/9/12/15/18% of the targets health in magic damage
Varus' abilities now also apply 1 stack of Blight, but the amount of stacks applied can be increased based on the ability's method of increasing the stacks.

Q- Piercing Arrow It didn't feel good enough to 360 snipe a target with a huge, fully charged arrow so Piercing Arrow should be able to be fully charged amd proc 3 stacks of Blight to automatically be proced and deal the extra damage. It also now deals more damage if 2 minions counter you in lane. The base damage is also decreased due to this huge buff in damage when fully charged.

Now applies 1 stack of Blight. After 1 second of channeling, it will apply 2 stacks of Blight. After 2 seconds of channeling, it will apply 3 stacks of Blight and immediately proc the stacks to deal the maximum health damage.
Damage reduction per enemy reduced to 10% from 15%
Minimum damage increased to 50% from 33%
Maximum base damage decreased to 15/60/105/150/195 from 15/70/125/180/235

E- Hail of Arrows Similar to Piercing Arrow, Hail of Arrows applies Blight in it's own way. Varus can now have a reason to try and trap ANY enemy inside his desecrated ground through his ultimate or anything else. To compensate for the big buff, the slow has been slightly nerfed to avoid really overpowered situations with immobile carries.

Now applies 1 stack of Blight. Enemies inside the desecrated ground are now applied 1 stack of Blight every 1.5 seconds.
Slow decreased to 15/20/25/30/35% from 25/30/35/40/45%

I think this should be what Varus should be looking to do in lane. Lane bully the hyper carries out of lane by shooting deadly arrows at them.

Drukyul10/8/2014, 2:15:31 PM4 votes

Suggestion: Give Varus his passive when he hits a champ that is affected by his ultimate.

The5lacker10/8/2014, 2:40:24 PM4 votes

The problem is Varus has no reliable steroid, so he's really, REALLY bad a trading. He can clean up a teamfight pretty well but that's about it. He needs a small-scale rework, mostly just to move around his abilities. Like, make Blighted Quiver his passive, and make his W an AS steroid that increases in strength based on how low his health is and has its duration extended whenever he makes a kill. Bam. Passive ability is put in the passive slot and Varus gets more control over engagements.

Arch Mage Magnus10/8/2014, 7:31:18 AM3 votes

Agreed. He does damage if you AA and then land an attack, but really... how often does that happen? I also find his ult a little lacking in comparison to other ADC's. I know his has useful applications, but damn.... sometimes you just wish you had a flat out damage ult like jinx or Lucian to finish people off.

Also his Q has ridiculous mana costs. When I miss it I feel horrible.

NeroUS10/8/2014, 2:45:26 PM3 votes

Varus needs some QoL upgrades. His ultimate has a small hit-box and is easy to miss. I would also like to see a reasonable AP ratio added to his Q so that AP varus scales better.

Acolarh10/18/2014, 6:27:14 AM3 votes

I just want to say that I'm totally for increasing his attack range (and his move speed, which is pretty ridiculous for his lack of mobility).

SticklerMac10/8/2014, 2:48:22 PM2 votes

Idk man... Varus is my best ADC (I do better with him than any others) and I find his burst to be quite high. Hitting someone with QER and a few autos in between is usually death for them. He's actually quite bursty if played properly. Once I get BF in lane I can Q away a good 20-25% of enemy HP.

dialMARK4acti0n10/8/2014, 8:19:03 AM2 votes

I mained Varus in S3 and boy was he awesome... But now, the meta changes just left ol' Varus out...

Snakethrower10/8/2014, 9:30:32 AM2 votes

His w should be physical (at least the %) so it can benefit from LW. (Then we have Vayne for true, Kog for magic anf Varus for physical)

His Q should also have a lower cooldown as well as a faster activation when shot UNCHARGED so he can trigger his W more reliably.

His E could either use a faster activation or to be cast while moving

And for lords sake give his ult at least some kind of AD scaling. Yes it has goot utility, but it neither stops enemies from attacking, nor casting. 350 @18 magic damage on an AD carry without any Mpen or AD scaling is a sad joke.

It feels like they want him to be a hybrid champion, sadly there haven't been fitting lategame DPS hybrid items since the continous gunblade nerfs.

LesbianLesbians10/8/2014, 1:38:14 PM2 votes

i agree more with the people saying that varus is fine and all the other adc's are just absurdly broken it's sad that "no escape, no good" is the way the game works

MistyKiss10/8/2014, 4:11:16 PM2 votes

Moved this to its own comment since as a reply it wasn't relevant.

Ive been playing varus since release. Varus is actually weaker than when he came out and all i can say is if you put in the hours varus will help you get the rewards. Cant play him like a regular ADC. Gotta know his strengths and what not. Its no longer "What items for this matchup" its now "Is varus in the mood" or "does varus approve of this strat".

Varus is a magical creature that is like luck. Fickle and only works with you when you give him a reason so. His kit is weird. His damage output is weird. Even his purple Code Geass hair is weird. But in the end if you put in the work varus will come through like a magical corrupted eagle. America or something. F yeah.

TL;DR Varus is basically your girlfriend.

TL;DR 2: Varus is love. Varus is life.

h0bb1t10/8/2014, 7:23:11 PM2 votes

New Passive: With each spell hit, Varus gains X auto attack range for y seconds. -Varus should be able to capitalize on the "spell-casting marksman" idea. Landing his spells would make him safer to use, especially important since he has no escape. New Q (option 1): Deals reduced damage to minions. Now no longer deals reduced damage for each enemy hit. -Now able to hit enemies behind minion lanes more easily. Last-hitting in lane would matter. New Q (option 2): Now explodes into a cone of arrows after the first target hit. -Just felt like this would be an interesting option, though I do prefer the first more.

Kowe The Ewok10/9/2014, 8:49:16 PM2 votes

Possible Varus improvements: Some of these suggestions might be more of a rework than a buff, yet I'm trying to bring in his lore.

Summary of the official lore: Varus is a temple guardian. He failed is job and swore revenge against noxians, to do so he absorbed the corruption. Passive: Living Vengeance If Varus is near (800 units) of an enemy tower his attackspeed gets increased by 30/37,5/45% If Varus is near (800 units) of an allied tower his attack range is increased by 100/150/200.

Reasoning: The suggested passive is focussed on his lore as a temple (tower) guardian and revenger. While it doesn't benefit him in jungle fights it's helps him to unleash his rage against enemy tower and guard his own ones. He becomes a siege and anti siege carry, focussing more on objectives than teamfight power.

ItsStout10/19/2014, 10:51:19 PM1 votes

Bass, I really don't mean to sound insulting.

But can we NOT compare the mechanics of something like a Jayces, or IDK, Malahars % HP damage to Varus's? Sure, it be 15% HP at lvl 1 possibly. That's 60 damage on average VS an ADC. You know what? Varus has to land 3 AA's and an ability, while all but two others have to just use an ability. The only comparable % HP damages ( Vaynes Silver Bolts and Gnar's Hyper) have other effective bonuses, and in Varus's case he is forced to do so without mobility.

Also, for Varus to deal the mythical 15% max HP, the enemy must be standing still or something crazy like that because its gonna take him 4-5 seconds T get off 3 AA's and an ability.

I'm not disagreeing with you, but Varus' % HP is MUCH harder to pull of than anyone else's.

ItsStout10/20/2014, 4:59:34 AM1 votes

Okay, with that I agree.

However, this isn't so much about numbers for me, so I'll continue a bit of argument.

Its not really comparable to Orri, or Yasuo. Its not so much that Varus has a high skillcap (statistically he has the lowest) but rather that in the making phase its unrealistic that he gats his 3 AA + ability combo off.