Varus ARAM Mayhem Build
The Arrow of Retribution. A below-average pick in ARAM Mayhem on patch 26.21: #121 of 173 champions.
Tier CPatch 26.21MarksmanMageNo runes in Mayhem
- Tier
- C
- Win rate
- 48.0%
- Pick rate
- 9.5%
- Rank
- #121 of 173
- Games
- 2,203,962
- Patch
- 26.21
How to play Varus in ARAM Mayhem
Varus is a below-average pick in ARAM Mayhem on patch 26.21: tier C, #121 of 173 champions, with a 48.0% win rate over 2,203,962 games. It is also one of the most picked champions, showing up in 10% of games, so expect to see it on both sides. Riot rates it 2/10 for difficulty: easy to pick up when it lands on your bench.
Varus's damage is mixed (59% physical, 37% magic), which makes it awkward for the enemy team to itemize against.
Most Varus players go Crit (15% of games), but the On-hit path, on-hit attack speed items, is ARAMKit's top-ranked build: Statikk Shiv, Guinsoo's Rageblade and Terminus, with a 50.4% win rate. For boots, Gluttonous Greaves are both the most bought and the top-ranked pair.
The cards that do best on Varus are Draw Your Sword, BEES!!! and Weapon of Destiny. Cards built around movement speed fill most of the top of its list, followed by attack speed and on-hit. Most of its S-tier cards are prismatic, so a prismatic offer is often the pick that shapes the game. Skip Pandora's Box and Pinball when you can: they do worst on Varus. A pair to look for: Draw Your Sword with BEES!!!.
Take Flash and Cleanse (1% of players); Ghost is the common alternative. Max Q (Piercing Arrow) first, then E, then W.
Varus ARAM Mayhem build
ARAMKit groups every Varus game by build path. The top-ranked path comes first, with the items most players start with, buy first and add later.
On-hit build · top ranked
50.4% win rate · 10% of Varus games · 186,226 games
Start
Pickaxe
Dagger- Dagger
Core items, in buying order
Statikk Shiv
Guinsoo's Rageblade
Terminus
| Boots, best first | Players |
|---|---|
 Gluttonous Greaves | 41% |
 Berserker's Greaves | 26% |
| No boots | 25% |
Situational, after the core
Jak'Sho, The Protean42% buy it
Runaan's Hurricane11% buy it
Nashor's Tooth3% buy it
Wit's End10% buy it
Blade of The Ruined King24% buy it
Kaenic Rookern3% buy it
Other build paths
| Path | Core items | Games | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| HybridVoltaic Cyclosword, Statikk Shiv, Shadowflame |   | 0.2% | 46.6% |
| CritThe Collector, Infinity Edge, Lord Dominik's Regards |    | 14.9% | 47.1% |
| APDusk and Dawn, Nashor's Tooth, Rabadon's Deathcap |   | 11.8% | 47.0% |
| ADHubris, Manamune, Lord Dominik's Regards |   | 2.4% | 45.0% |
Games: the share of all Varus games that went this way.
Most bought items
- The Collector51% of games
- Manamune38% of games
- Hubris36% of games
- Blade of The Ruined King30% of games
- Berserker's Greaves26% of games
- Runaan's Hurricane21% of games
- Nashor's Tooth21% of games
- Infinity Edge20% of games
- Shadowflame18% of games
Serylda's Grudge16% of games
Best augments for Varus
Every card with enough Varus games, by tier and best first within each tier. Tiers are Varus's own: a card can be S tier here and C tier on another champion. As Riot's policy asks, cards are shown by tier and order only, never with a win rate. Click a card for its own page; the augment tier list ranks them over all champions.
PrismaticBest prismatic cards
- 1
Draw Your SwordTier S - 2
Mad ScientistTier S - 3
Urf's ChampionTier S
GoldBest gold cards
- 1
BEES!!!Tier S - 2
Weapon of DestinyTier S - 3
Still HereTier S
S- and A-tier cards for Varus
10 S tier and 28 A tier, best first.
| Augment | Rarity | Tier | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draw Your Sword | Prismatic | Tier S | You are now melee. Gain 24% Attack Damage, 24% Health, 20% Attack Speed, 20% Lifesteal, and 20% Move Speed (each further increased based on… |
| BEES!!! | Gold | Tier S | Every 15–10 (by level) seconds, your next Ability hit against an enemy champion throws a beehive at the target. Upon arriving, the hive… |
| Weapon of Destiny | Gold | Tier S | Your first Legendary Item becomes the Weapon of Destiny. When a champion you damaged within the last 3 seconds dies, increase the Weapon of… |
| Mad Scientist | Prismatic | Tier S | On each Revive, you grow large (gaining 30% Adaptive Force and 20% Health) or tiny (gaining 70 Ability Haste and 40% Movement Speed). |
| Urf's Champion | Prismatic | Tier S | QUEST: Score 18 takedowns. REWARD: Gain The Golden Spatula. |
| Still Here | Gold | Tier S | Gain 2% Attack Speed and 0.35% Lifesteal for each 1% of missing Health. |
 Homeguard | Silver | Tier S | Gain 100% Movement Speed, disabled for 6 seconds after taking damage. |
 Totentanz | Prismatic | Tier S | Replace a Summoner Spell with A Dance with Death. A Dance with Death: Become Unkillable for 5 seconds and blink forward. If you get a… |
 Giant Slayer | Prismatic | Tier S | Become tiny, gain 20% Movement Speed, and deal between 10% and 30% bonus damage to champions based on how much larger they are than you. |
 Omni Soul | Prismatic | Tier S | Gain 3 random Dragon Souls. |
 Hand of Baron | Prismatic | Tier A | Gain 25% Adaptive Force. Nearby allied minions are greatly empowered. |
 Back To Basics | Prismatic | Tier A | Your Ultimate Ability is sealed. Gain 35% Ability Damage, Healing, Shielding, and 70 Ability Haste. |
 The Boom and the Bass | Gold | Tier A | After casting an Ability, your next Attack within 6 seconds is faster, deals Melee (50–200 (by level) +50% Bonus Attack Damage+30% Ability… |
 Final Form | Prismatic | Tier A | After casting your Ultimate, gain a 50% max Health Shield, 20% Omnivamp and 30% bonus Movement Speed for 10 seconds. (20 seconds Cooldown). |
 Dual Wield | Prismatic | Tier A | When you Attack, fire a bolt that deals 40% damage and applies your On-Hit Effects On-Hit effects at 40% effectiveness. Gain 10% total… |
 Heavy Is The Crown | Gold | Tier A | Gain 10 Attack Damage, 25 Ability Power, and increase your Bonus Attack Damage, Bonus Ability Power, and Total Attack Speed by 10%. Decrease… |
 Warlock Juicebox | Gold | Tier A | Gain (10%+3.5% Ability Power) Omnivamp. |
 Ultra Hydra | Prismatic | Tier A | Gain a Tiamat when completing a Hydra Item. QUEST: Possess Titanic Hydra, Ravenous Hydra and Profane Hydra. REWARD: Get Ultra Hydra. |
 Tooth Fairy | Gold | Tier A | When you deal more than 25% of an enemy champion's Health in less than 2.5 seconds, they drop a Tooth. 4 seconds cooldown per target |
 escAPADe | Silver | Tier A | Convert Ability Power to Bonus Attack Damage and gain (15%) Attack Damage. Converts at a rate of 0.6 Attack Damage per point of Ability… |
 From Beginning To End | Gold | Tier A | Gain the First Strike and Dark Harvest Keystone Runes. First Strike: When you initiate champion combat, deal 10% extra damage for 3 seconds… |
 Big Brain | Gold | Tier A | Gain a (300% Ability Power) Shield. Resets on death or 70 seconds after depletion. |
 Ominous Pact | Prismatic | Tier A | Gain 75–150 (by level) Ability Power, 50% Movement Speed, and 20% Omnivamp based on missing Health. Spell casts cost 5% of your current… |
 Goldrend | Prismatic | Tier A | Damaging a champion with Attacks or Abilities deals an additional (50–150 (by level) +20% Ability Power +40% Bonus Attack Damage) magic… |
 Zealot | Silver | Tier A | Gain (25%+5% Ability Power) Critical Strike Chance and (35%+5% Ability Power) Attack Speed. |
 Tap Dancer | Prismatic | Tier A | Your Attacks grant you 10 Movement Speed. Gain (10% Move Speed) Attack Speed. The buff stacks and refreshes infinitely but lasts 5 seconds. |
 Blunt Force | Silver | Tier A | – |
 Stats on Stats! | Gold | Tier A | Gain 3 Stat Anvils, with a higher chance of Gold and Prismatic Anvils! |
 Gift of the Drowned | Silver | Tier A | Bonus Health is converted into Lethality. (100 Health to 5 Lethality) Gain 10–25 (by level) Lethality. |
 Ok Boomerang | Gold | Tier A | Autocast a boomerang at a nearby enemy every 7 seconds, dealing (40–200 (by level) +30% Bonus Attack Damage+20% Ability Power) adaptive… |
 Erosion | Silver | Tier A | Damaging enemies shreds 1.5% Armor and Magic Resist for 4s, up to 30% at 20 stacks. |
 Light 'Em Up! | Silver | Tier A | Every 4th Attack shoots 4 missiles dealing (44–320 (by level) +140% Bonus Attack Damage+76% Ability Power) magic damage. |
 Wooglet's Witchcap | Prismatic | Tier A | QUEST: Possess Rabadon's Deathcap and Zhonya's Hourglass. REWARD: Get Wooglet's Witchcap. |
 Take'em Down Down Down | Gold | Tier A | Attacks and Abilities apply a stack to enemy champions for 5 seconds and deal Melee (5–30 (by level) +35% Bonus Attack Damage+15% Ability… |
 Soul Siphon | Gold | Tier A | Gain 25% Crit Chance and 12% Lifesteal on Critical Strikes. |
 Deft | Silver | Tier A | Gain Attack Speed 60% Attack Speed. |
 Ocean Soul | Silver | Tier A | Gain the Ocean Soul, granting high Health and Mana Regen after damaging enemies. |
 Marksmage | Gold | Tier A | Your Attacks deal an additional (75% Ability Power) physical damage. |
Tier B
Average on Varus
48 cards, best first
Tank It Or Leave It
Juiced
Forged By The Master
With Haste
Transmute: Prismatic
Donation
Stats on Stats on Stats!
Shrink Engine
Get Excited!
Blue Barrier
Scopier Weapons
Hextech Soul
Mind to Matter
Twin Fire
From Downtown
Pursuit of Power
Jeweled Gauntlet
Mountain Soul
Firebrand
Infinite Recursion
Transmute: Chaos
Scopiest Weapons
Typhoon
Upgrade Zhonya's
Hellbent
FireFox
Stats!
Transmute: Gold
Infernal Soul
Double Tap
Upgrade Stormsurge
Critical Rhythm
Pursuit of Haste
Symphony of War
Vulnerability
Upgrade Collector
Biggest Snowball Ever
Scoped Weapons
Surge Field
Master of Duality
Magic Missile
Witchful Thinking
Don't Change the Channel
It's Critical
Recursion
Skilled Sniper
Get Jinxed
Upgrade Sheen
Tier C
Below average on Varus
27 cards, best first
Phenomenal Evil
Shrink Ray
Bread And Butter
Overflow
Upgrade Infinity Edge
Hands off the Talent
Nightstalking
ADAPt
Eureka
Rite of Ascension
CRIMSON COBALT
Lich Brain
Can't Touch This
Third Times the Harm
It's Killing Time
Arcane Axiom
Ultimate Unstoppable
Ultimate Awakening
Apex Inventor
Triggered Inferno
Mystic Punch
Snowday
Ultimate Revolution
Shark Tempest
Ultimate Recursion
Holy Snowball
Archmage
Tier D
Weakest on Varus
13 cards, best first
Pandora's Box
Pinball
Double Time
Purist - Caster
Brass Blast
Spin Me Right Round
Ice Cold
Glass Cannon
Big Shot
Snowblast
King MeBest first augment for Varus
Your first card decides the early fights, and a card that is great as a first pick can be a weak fourth. ARAMKit ranks Varus's cards for each pick on its own; these are the top five per pick, with their tier in that pick. For the first pick, Draw Your Sword, BEES!!! and Urf's Champion come out on top.
| # | First pick | Second pick | Third pick | Fourth pick |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Draw Your SwordTier S | Draw Your SwordTier S | Hand of BaronTier S | Draw Your SwordTier S |
| 2 | BEES!!!Tier S |  Bread and CheeseTier S | Draw Your SwordTier S | BEES!!!Tier S |
| 3 | Urf's ChampionTier S |  Bread And JamTier S | BEES!!!Tier S | Mad ScientistTier S |
| 4 | Weapon of DestinyTier S | BEES!!!Tier S | Mad ScientistTier S | HomeguardTier S |
| 5 | Still HereTier S | Mad ScientistTier S | TotentanzTier S | Giant SlayerTier S |
Strong card pairs
Two cards that do especially well together on Varus, best pair first.
Summoner spells and skill order
Summoner spells
Flash + Cleanse1% of players · 49.5% win rate
Flash + Ghost68% of players · 48.5% win rate
Flash + Barrier3% of players · 47.9% win rate
Skill order
QPiercing Arrow
EHail of Arrows
WBlighted Quiver
Max Q first. 62% of players use this order (47.9% win rate); put points in R whenever you can.
Varus in an average Mayhem game
Averages per game over every game on this patch.
- K / D / A
- 13.2 / 10.4 / 23.4
- KDA
- 4.05
- Damage to champions
- 41,179
- Damage taken
- 27,153
- Self-mitigated
- 12,949
- Healing on allies
- 11
- Shielding on allies
- 0
- Crowd control
- 28 s
- Kill participation
- 66%
- Game length
- 16:47
Damage type
Physical 59%Magic 37%True 3%
Questions and answers
What is the best Varus build in ARAM Mayhem?
On patch 26.21 ARAMKit ranks the On-hit build first for Varus: Statikk Shiv, Guinsoo's Rageblade and Terminus. The most played build is Crit.
What are the best augments for Varus in ARAM Mayhem?
The S-tier cards for Varus, best first: Draw Your Sword, BEES!!!, Weapon of Destiny, Mad Scientist and Urf's Champion. The full list by tier is on this page.
Is Varus good in ARAM Mayhem?
Varus is tier C on patch 26.21, #121 of 173 champions, with a 48.0% win rate over 2.2 million games. That makes it a below-average pick in ARAM Mayhem right now.
What is the best first augment for Varus in ARAM Mayhem?
For Varus's first pick on patch 26.21: Draw Your Sword, BEES!!!, Urf's Champion, Weapon of Destiny and Still Here, best first. Cards rank differently in later picks; the table on this page has all four.
Other Marksmen in ARAM Mayhem
Get Varus's build and card tiers in your game
LazyElo is a free Windows app that sits next to the League client. In the Mayhem lobby it shows which champion on your bench is strongest; in the game you type the three cards you're offered and see their tier for Varus side by side, with this build in the overlay.
Download LazyElo for Windows
Free plan, no ads. For Windows 10 and 11.
Related
- ARAM Mayhem tier list
Every champion by tier on patch 26.21.
- ARAM Mayhem augment tier list
Every card from S to D over all champions.
- All Mayhem builds
Pick a champion from the full list.
- ARAM Mayhem rules
Augment levels, rerolls and why there are no runes.
- ARAM Mayhem guide
How the mode, the cards and the picks work.
- Varus counters
Its lane matchups on Summoner's Rift.
- ARAM Mayhem overlay
The card picker and build in the app.
Source: ARAMKit, used with permission. Patch 26.21, 23,177,263 ARAM Mayhem games, data of October 28, 2026. Riot keeps Mayhem games out of its public match API, so these aggregates come from ARAMKit. Card tiers are shown without win rates, as Riot's developer policy asks.