VARUS
The Arrow of Retribution
IDENTITY
MARKSMAN
ON-HIT
POKE DAMAGE
DARKIN
ARCHER
ANTI-TANK
UTILITY
PLAY-MAKER
Abilities
Blighted Quiver
Passive
Varus’ basic attacks apply an on-hit effect called Blight which deals magic damage scaling with his target's maximum health.
Notes: Moving the passive on-hit effect from his W to his passive slot gives Varus more room for impactful active abilities. His old passive granting attack speed on kill was fine but didn't meaningfully contribute to his gameplay or fantasy. This new passive defines him as a tank-shredding on-hit marksman. His old on-hit effect also did max health damage but you needed to stop attacking and fire an ability to activate it, which made him clunky, this new version streamlines the gameplay allowing you to just pepper enemies with arrows
Piercing Arrow
Q
Varus charges up an arrow with Darkin power over a short duration before firing it in the target direction, dealing physical damage scaling with his attack damage and the enemies' missing health to all enemies hit. The rate at which this ability charges scales with attack speed and this ability applies on-hit effects. This deals reduced damage to all enemies hit beyond the first and applies on-hit effects with reduced effectiveness too. The range and damage of this ability increase over the first 1.5 seconds of the cast time and this ability can be held at full charge for 4 seconds after which it will be cancelled, refunding half the mana cost and cooldown.
Notes: Varus' old Q did not fit in with his on-hit playstyle at all and was largely only used to pop blight stacks unless you went for a full AD poke build, leaving him torn between two playstyles. By making his Q now apply on-hit effects and having its cast time reduced by attack speed, we marry the two playstyles together, ensuring that even when building on-hit and attack speed, his Q is still a useful source of long range poke. The missing health damage which was previously granted to the Q by activating the W has now just been added to the Q baseline, once again streamlining the gameplay and allowing for more finishing sniper shots that we all love.
Living Vengeance
W
Varus leans into his Darkin fury, granting himself moderately increased attack speed for 10 seconds and causing his on-hit effects to deal 50% bonus damage for the duration.
Notes: As mentioned earlier, Varus' old W was a passive on-hit effect and an active buff to his Q rather than its own impactful ability. We have taken both of these elements and put them in the passive and Q slot where they belong, so we need a new W altogether. To do this I took Varus' old passive attack speed steroid and made it into an active ability. If we left it at that it would just be the same as Tristana's Q so to spice it up and double down on the on-hit focus, this new W now also buffs the damage of on-hit effects.
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Hail of Arrows
E
Varus fires a volley of arrows into the air which rain down in the target area for the next 3 seconds, each wave slows enemies hit, applies grievous wounds, deals minor physical damage scaling with Varus' attack damage and applies on hit effects but at reduced effectiveness. The duration of this ability is constant but the frequency with which it effects enemies in the area scales with Varus' attack speed.
Notes: Once again we run into the issue that Varus was previously torn between two playstyles with his W, ultimate and passive steering him towards on-hit, attack speed and AP and hit Q and E promoting AD and CDR. Just like with his Q, we can marry these two playstyles by having his E apply on-hit effects and having its damage scale with attack speed. This means that Varus can go full AD and CDR and focus on slow but hard hitting abilities, or he can invest in attack speed and on-hit effects for fast firing attacks and abilities dealing many small increments of damage.
R
Chain of Corruption
Varus releases a tendril of corruption in the target direction that infects the first enemy champion hit, dealing them magic damage scaling with Varus' attack damage and rooting them for 2 seconds, during which they are revealed and inflicted with on-hit effects every 0.5 seconds. Upon impact, the tendril roots into the ground from which it seeks out other nearby enemy champions. If they do not leave the tether's range within 2 seconds, it infects them as well. Tendrils will spread from them again until there are no champions in range that have not already been infected.
Notes: Allowing Varus' ultimate to apply on-hit effects and scale with AD allows it to deal meaningful damage without having to go for a cheesy AP build, ensuring that it is clear to the player that an on-hit, attack speed and AD build is the intended path. Other than that, the ability is unchanged. This ability is a great capstone to his kit, allowing him to lock down groups of enemies in fights and shred through their defences with his mixed damage types, max-health and missing health scaling and on-hit effects applied both with his attacks and abilities. With all the changes laid out in this rework Varus would be a much more smooth character to play with a clear build-path and identity.