Ap Varus mechanics/viability

Hello

I wanted to create a thread about the mechanics of AP Varus and its viability.

I'll start with a pro/con list:

Pros: Extremely high burst One of the best tank-killers in the game Unexpected, many people don't understand it AOE nuke and cc bundled in one

Cons: Low mobility (same as AD Varus) Takes a more skilled approach to deal damage Low poking ability

Looking at the pros and cons of AP Varus, what situation would you pick it? Well the reason AP Varus is a fantastic pick some games is when the enemy team has some mega tanks that are complete beasts to actually take down. I'm talking about your Dr. Mundo, Nasus, Zac, Garen, Volibear, and even high HP mages like Vlad and Swain. The reason AP Varus excels at demolishing targets with high HP is because his %HP based damage. His W places stacks on his target which can be detonated by his other abilities for %max HP on his target. Obviously, the higher health the target, the more damage this deals. Each basic attack on his target places a stack of blight on them. Blight can stack up to 3 times on each target. For each stack of blight on the target the damage they take when hit by one of varus's abilites increases. I will include the exact amounts below.

Varus' basic attacks deal bonus 10 / 14 / 18 / 22 / 26 (+0.25 per ability power) magic damage and apply Blight for 6 seconds (stacks 3 times). Varus' other abilities detonate Blight, dealing magic damage equal to 2 / 2.75 / 3.5 / 4.25 / 5% (+2% of ability power) of the target's maximum health per stack.

What this means is, for every 50 ability power you have, each stack of blight deals 1% more max hp damage to his target. So just some simple math here, at rank 5, with 600 ability power, one stack of blight deals 5 + 12 =17% max hp damage to his target. At 3 stacks thats 51% MAX HP damage dealt to his target! These are applied with his basic attacks so just three basic attacks on your target and one ability and you are dealing that much damage. Don't forget about your basic attacks as well. You get bonus magic damage from your W too which also scales pretty nicely with AP. With the same amount of AP as before (600) your basic attacks are dealing 26+150 = 176 bonus magic damage! Not too bad.

Now what about his ult? Well this is the other reason for picking AP varus. Here is the description:

Varus flings out a tendril of corruption that deals 100 / 175 / 250 (+100% of ability power) magic damage and immobilizes the first enemy champion hit for 2 seconds.

The corruption then spreads towards nearby uninfected enemy champions, applying the same damage and immobilize if it reaches them. The corruption will continue to spread until there are no further unaffected targets in range.

Targets rooted by Chain of Corruption gain 3 stacks of Blight over the duration of the root.

Yes, you read that correctly. It has 100%ap scaling. His ult also spreads to other targets as well as having a significant root on top of it. Again, with 600 AP, his ult is dealing 250+600 = 850 Damage, with a root, that also spreads to other targets! ON TOP OF ALL THAT, each target hit builds up 3 stacks of blight. Not only does his ult deal TONS OF DAMAGE, but it allows you to follow it up with even more.

What does this look like in practice? Lets just imagine for a moment that we get off a combo with 600 AP. We shoot our target with 3 aa, they take 528 magic damage plus 286.2 physical from his base damage. We then throw our R at them, they take 850 flat damage + 1,275 from blight (Assuming they have 2,500 HP). We then AA one more time for 176 +95.4 and use a Q or E and they take another 1,275 from blight and 205 from E (base damage). Altogether this is a total of 4,690.6 damage in ~3 seconds. NOW THAT is some damage. That amount of damage does not factor in damage from items, or other bonus AD. Also, the more HP the target has, the more damage our blight deals. **This also does not take armor/mr into consideration.**Yes, I did not forget about that. You can do the math on your own for whatever % damage reduction you want to apply. But just remember, that was just from ONE initial combo that does not include his FULL combo or any additional damage from masteries and items.

In conclusion? Depending on the team comp, AP varus is more than viable. Do I think he is the best in class AP mid laner? No. Am I claiming he beats all? No. I simply am trying to inform people on the mechanics and including some basic math on his abilities for the people who either don't understand and/or think AP Varus is not viable. He is deceptively good, and his blight stacks are detonated by his Q,E, and his R, so it doesnt matter that his Q and E don't scale with AP, they have the added damage of his blight stacks on W so they might as well. You will have a hard time finding a champion who can shred tanks better. In my opinion, AP varus has the highest potential to obliterate tanks than any other champion.

So when should you pick AP Varus? It's simple. If their team has several big tanks. Most champions will ignore the tanks and go after the carries. Not AP Varus. Your job is to absolutely demolish that confident tank running at your team. Just from my personal experience, There is no tank in this game that will be able to reach your backline and survive if AP Varus is focusing them. You absolutely have the ability to one shot any squishy as well, believe me. The amount of people I have left completely shocked at their computer because I one shot them when they were playing an ADC or assassin is countless. But any AP mid laner can deal with squishies, I believe AP Varus shines next to others when it comes to shredding those pesky tanks.

So go out and give him a try. He definitely takes practice, and has a high skill ceiling and floor. So don't give up because you don't do well right away. Varus is naturally a very vulnerable champion if you don't position carefully and are not familiar with his capabilities. For anyone interested in trying, here is the build I have found most effective in that order. You can sub out gunblade for depending on the situation, but I believe this set to be the best. It gives you full CDR if you have which you will need for using abilities to detonate blight. The bonus damage you get from your AA from Nashors and Lich bane is also extremely nice and effective based on the nature of him being an ADC. The attack speed also is a good amount for getting those stacks up.

Enjoy playing AP Varus, don't underestimate him, and have a great day summoners!