Guide · ADC

Varus Guide

the Arrow of Retribution

Marksman

Mage

Tier C ADC

Varus, the Arrow of Retribution, is a marksman and mage champion that is easy to pick up. Across our 608 analysed ranked games, Varus is mostly played as ADC (67% of its games), and more rarely in Top (33%), with a 46.2% win rate in that role: tier C among ADC champions (#29 of 36, ranked by win rate). Varus's damage is mixed (57% physical, 41% magic): stacking a single type of resistance is less efficient against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 56.2% in long games (over 35 min, 48 games) versus 43.8% in medium-length games (25 to 35 min).

Updated Oct 10 2026 · Patch 26.22

Averages measured over 405 ADC games played with Varus, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

How to play and combo preview

Varus is a ranged marksman-mage: his passive gives him attack damage and power after a kill or an assist, more on a champion. Piercing Arrow charges for more damage and range, Blighted Quiver applies Blight (damage based on max health), Hail of Arrows blights the ground, and Chain of Corruption roots and spreads.

Harassment

W › AA AA › AA AA › Q

When: An enemy is within range.

Blighted Quiver empowers your next Piercing Arrow and your attacks apply Blight; abilities trigger Blight for damage based on max health.

The blighted zone

E › Q › AA AA

When: Enemies are near a chokepoint.

Hail of Arrows deals physical damage and blights the ground: movement speed, healing and regeneration are reduced.

See all 3 Varus combos: key order, when to cast them, cooldowns →

Laning phase

Your attacks apply Blight: your other abilities trigger it and deal damage based on the target's max health. Charge your Piercing Arrow for more range and damage.

Common mistakes

• Releasing Piercing Arrow with no charge: damage and range increase with charge.
• Not using Blight: it makes up a large part of your damage.
• Casting the ultimate without its nearby targets being caught.

Riot's official tips for playing Varus

• An early point in Blighted Quiver helps harass enemy champions and get killing blows on minions.
• During short range fights it's sometimes best to fire Piercing Arrow quickly, rather than charging it to full power.
• Try to take advantage of Piercing Arrow's very long range to snipe at enemy champions before a fight or as they're trying to flee.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Statikk Shiv, Guinsoo's Rageblade, and Terminus (162 games, 54.3% win rate).

Statikk Shiv+Guinsoo's Rageblade+Terminus

162 games · 54.3%

Statikk Shiv+Guinsoo's Rageblade+Jak'Sho, The Protean

79 games · 54.4%

Guinsoo's Rageblade+Terminus+Jak'Sho, The Protean

76 games · 52.6%

Skill order

Max order : Q > W > E54.5% · 33 games

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Q			●	●	●		●		●
W		●						●		●		●	●
E	●													●	●
R						●					●

The order shows which abilities reach rank 5 first; the grid shows the most-played level-up sequence with that order (measured over 68 games).

Starting items

Doran's BowHealth PotionHealth Potion46.3% · 41 games

Doran's BladeHealth Potion50.0% · 18 games

First completed items, in order

Statikk Shiv›Guinsoo's Rageblade›Terminus

15 games · 60.0%

Laning phase (averages)

At 10 min: 3985 gold, 76 CS, 3448 XP. At 15 min: 6728 gold, 117 CS, 5749 XP.

Summoner spells

Flash + Barrier49.0% · 263 games

Exhaust + Flash51.9% · 52 games

Flash + Ghost35.6% · 45 games

Cleanse + Flash38.5% · 26 games

Most-played runes

Lethal Tempo + Inspiration

47.3% · 258 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph42%

Legend: Alacrity86%

Cut Down93%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Cosmic Insight72%

Cash Back55%

Shards

Attack speed98%

Adaptive force100%

Health90%

Arcane Comet + Inspiration

43.5% · 62 games

Primary tree · Sorcery

Manaflow Band100%

Transcendence95%

Scorch97%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Cash Back89%

Triple Tonic81%

Shards

Attack speed97%

Adaptive force100%

Health94%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Varus's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team48.1% · 104 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Statikk Shiv 47.5%

Guinsoo's Rageblade 44.4% ▼

Terminus 46.3% ▼

Youmuu's Ghostblade 56.0% ▲

Jak'Sho, The Protean 47.4%

Edge of Night 52.9%

The item that stands out most is Youmuu's Ghostblade: 56.0% win rate, +10 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team47.9% · 121 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Statikk Shiv 53.0% ▲

Guinsoo's Rageblade 51.2%

Terminus 59.3% ▲

Jak'Sho, The Protean 54.5%

Youmuu's Ghostblade 36.8%

Edge of Night 26.7%

The item that stands out most is Terminus: 59.3% win rate, +6 points versus its usual win rate.

Balanced enemy team43.9% · 180 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Statikk Shiv 44.8% ▼

Guinsoo's Rageblade 52.2%

Terminus 52.0%

Jak'Sho, The Protean 55.8%

Youmuu's Ghostblade 43.5%

Experimental Hexplate 35.3%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Counters and matchups

Who counters Varus as ADC

Jhin Varus: 42.9%21 games

Jhin has the edge in 57% of the 21 ADC duels against Varus. See the Jhin guide.

Caitlyn Varus: 47.4%19 games

Caitlyn has the edge in 53% of the 19 ADC duels against Varus. See the Caitlyn guide.

Kai'Sa Varus: 54.2%24 games

Kai'Sa has the edge in 46% of the 24 ADC duels against Varus. See the Kai'Sa guide.

Yunara Varus: 57.9%19 games

Yunara has the edge in 42% of the 19 ADC duels against Varus. See the Yunara guide.

Who Varus is strong against

Yunara57.9% · 19 games

Kai'Sa54.2% · 24 games

Caitlyn47.4% · 19 games

Jhin42.9% · 21 games

How to play against Varus

• If you are affected by Blight, Varus' abilities will deal extra damage to you.
• When he gets a kill or assist, Varus temporarily gains Attack Speed and is much more dangerous.
• You'll get bound in place if a tendril from Varus' ultimate, Chain of Corruption, reaches you. You can cause the tendril to die however by running far enough away from it.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Varus's matchups.

Varus ADC: what our games say

Laning phase against the ADC average

Measured over 68 Varus games with a timeline; the average covers 49 champions played ADC in our ranked games.

Win rate by game length

Best result: long (over 35 min). Only groups of at least 30 games are shown. A gap of several points shows the phase where the champion is the most reliable.

Varus in another role

Role	Games	Win rate	CS/min	Gold/min	Most-built items
Top	203	48.8 %	7.5	432

Roles where we have at least 40 Varus games.

Abilities

PassiveLiving Vengeance

On kill or assist, Varus temporarily gains Attack Damage and Ability Power. This bonus is larger if the enemy is a champion.

QPiercing Arrow

Varus readies and then fires a powerful shot that gains extra range and damage the longer he spends preparing to fire.

WBlighted Quiver

Passive: Varus' basic attacks deal bonus magic damage and apply Blight. Varus' other abilities detonate Blight, dealing magic damage based on the target's maximum Health. Active: Varus empowers his next Piercing Arrow.

EHail of Arrows

Varus fires a hail of arrows that deal physical damage and desecrate the ground. Desecrated ground slows enemies' Move Speed and reduces their self healing and regeneration.

RChain of Corruption

Varus flings out a damaging tendril of corruption that immobilizes the first enemy champion hit and then spreads towards nearby uninfected champions, immobilizing them too on contact.

Other ADC champions to know

Most played

Jhin48.5 %Yunara52.4 %Kai'Sa49.9 %Ezreal45.2 %Caitlyn50.3 %Jinx51.0 %Tristana50.0 %Lucian48.9 %

Strongest (at least 100 games)

Brand57.7 %Syndra56.7 %Aurelion Sol56.7 %Kog'Maw55.3 %Senna55.3 %Mel54.9 %Vel'Koz53.8 %Xayah53.1 %

Frequently asked questions

Full Varus page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides