Talk:Varus/@comment-31.205.26.46-20130308140229

I have been playing AP Varus infrequently over the last months but I think he's better in S3 since MR has been nerfed. His item build can be a little wonky but if you find that sweet spot you'll be melting people so fast they won't know what hit them.

Magic pen reds, armor yellows, CDR blues (if you want max CDR) or MR, MS quints (or MPen or AP all work fine.) AS reds or Quints are also viable provided you also get MPen in either slot.

Items: Sorcs, Lich Bane, DFG, Nashor, DCap, Void Staff. Malady is good for early,mid game replace it during late game. Liandry's could work from your slow from E but I'm not a fan. Abyssal is bad and the same goes for Athene.

With the above items you'll be sitting at around ~750 AP and 40%CDR(or 35% if not CDR runes). Your combo will go AA->DFG->AA->AA-> Q or E. With that around 70-80% of your target's HP is gone. Throw your ult to finish them off. Alternative you can AA->DFG->Ult->AA->-AA->Q or E. This will most likely guarantee a kill.

Your blight will detonate for ~60-70% of the target MAX HP. Include the DFG and your 1.0 AP ratio ulti and almost any target will die.

The cons: Once your combo is done, you are also done. You can't duel anyone without it, you have no escape. Nonetheless you ulti will be around a 1 min cooldown which is fair, your passive will be hitting for an extra 175 magic damage ON HIT and your AS from Nashor (runes+masteries) will compensate your DPS up to a certain extent.

I haven't tried Runaan's yet on AP Varus yet since I find it difficult to replace any item from my standard build. You could go Runnan's instead of Void Staff I suppose but that would mean getting full MPen runes/quints. However in teamfights Runnan's would in theory work extremely well although a test is needed. The range of Q is good but it requires people to line up since it's width is relatively narrow. E fares better but has a shorter range. If you have a good AoE CC in you team (Mumu, Malph, Galio) I suppose you could go for Runaans.

AP Varus has atrocious farm early game however your W will help up to a certain point. Max order is R->W->E->Q. AP Varus also has another perk of clearing super minions faster than anyone else in the game with detonating blight.

Go for Nashors/DFG as the first core items and take it from there. Lich Bane should be the next major item followed by DCap. If you want Malady then get it before DFG but sell it after DCap.

Overall AP Varus is really fun to play, especially since it a whole new playstyle deviation from the way he was meant to be played but he has the same drawbacks as all APC who rely on their burst, since without it you'll be sub par. But with enough AP your W will start to hurt a little provided the enemy doesn't stack MR.

Go out and have some fun!