Now, I know he's new, and a lot of it may be chalked up to difficulty getting used to a new champion, but for some reason I feel like Varus' is underpowered. He's outranged by other popular ranged carries (Caitlyn, of course). Which makes it difficult to stack blight early without taking heat because of it.

Though his Q is great, it's nothing the other lane can't recover from really quickly, and it's seeming to be really mana draining for me if I want to combo it with my E or even the ult if it comes to it.

Some people are saying his ult is really useful too, but I'm finding it to be the exact opposite. It scales with AP, meaning if you play him as an AD Carry which is how everyone is doing it, it gets no bonus. At third level it's a 2 second root that does a measly 350 damage and chains. Tenacity brings it down to 1.3 seconds.

This just makes me think, why even bother with him over Ashe? Her ult has so much more use in team fights just based on the fact it stuns. I honestly think it needs some form of buff to it to be an actual useful ult. Maybe have it scale somehow with AD? Have the roots last the entire length of the chain? (First person doesn't un-root until the chain breaks.) I don't know. Just something.

I really like the concept of Varus and I really hope I'm wrong in assuming this. So if anyone begs to differ, or thinks maybe I'm just playing him wrong then please tell me. However if you're best argument is "he's amazing when he gets fed", then save it. Apart from that, let me know what you think.

(TL;DR - Is Varus Underpowered? What do you think?)

Well when I saw Varus I began saving up my IP so I could get a new ranged carry to add to my collection of champs. When he came out today I immediately bought him, but with exams coming up I've had a chance to play him twice.

That being said, here's my input:
His AD to autoattack is decent. By far outmatched by Ashe, Cait, and Vayne - even other AD range like Twitch and Teemo are going to have a much better auto than Varus. In exchange, Varus has abilities tailored for burst damage; his W, in combination with an opening Q, can really devasatate an individual opponent. In reality, Varus isn't about stacking damage for a rediculous auto, its about getting damage with some AP to attack in bursts. Unlike Ashe or Cait, Varus can use all of his abilities in succession to burst a single opponent. After applying a few stacks of blight, an opening Q, followed by W, followed by more stacks of blight, another Q, R, etc. allow Varus to lay waste to an individual champion. His autoattack is more of a sustain between abilities - useful for stacking blight, as well as maintaining a steady drop in enemy HP.

That being said, I see Varus as kind of a ranged form of jax; he's got a lot of range, with some stuns and slows, all of which depend on a good balance of AD and AP to deal enough damage before an enemy can get away. However, as Varus is ranged, he's obviously much more squishy than a hybrid like jax, but the tradeoff is that Varus can take down enemies safely from a distance.

I do feel the Q costs a significant amount, especially when its so vital to early lane harassing. That being said, it's also similar to Blitzcrank's Q - if the cost weren't high, spamming it would be OP, and the enemy wouldn't have a chance in lane.

What'll seperate a good Varus from a great Varus is item build; going pure AD and relying on autoattacks won't cut it. The only problem is, where hybrids like Jax can get away with doing a hybrid AD/AP build, Varus is squishy enough to where he has to chose between getting some AP to make stacking blight and his ult worth it, or getting surviveability items like warmong's or banshee's veil. Hybrid builds work well on Jax because of his built in defense abilities, and the fact that he's a fighter with decent health and armor/mr to begin with. Jax can afford to ignore buying defensive items early game; spell vamp and auto vamp aren't enough to save Varus if he gets focused.

It'll be interesting to see what builds come up for Varus, but he's still a fun champion to play and I'll keep tinkering with him until I find the right fit.

I think it was Xyph who said that hes going to be closer to Ashe. Good utility, but lower stats and damage numbers because of it. A good ulti can win a team fight, but you probably won't be able to walk in there and kill everyone like a Kog'Maw can.

just a lot harder to use than ashe

Well my first ranked game i played him i went 17/0. Aint even mad. He seems like any other carry though. dont feed it, and it doesnt smash u. Feed it, and u lost.

that sucks.. i suck at ashe... P:

Has anyone ever tried him as jungler? His ulti will be a killer ganking ability..

I hear lots of people screaming OP, and I can see why, because I personally have had games (vs Intermediate Bots) where I ended up 17/3/8 and 24/5/9, so (at first) it seems that way... however people need to realize two things:

1. Varus is new, so most people still need to practice how to counter him (which is actually really easy because he has not escape ability and long cooldowns)
2. Varus' abilities are specifically built to make him a great champion killer (since all abilities either CC or do % of total health judgement)

So I disagree when they say he's OP because if you get in his face (as with most ranged carrys) he's totally squishy... Just because he's built to kill champions, people will cry... Instead of crying, CC him and focus him and it's over.

I think he will be difficult to play in PvP because smart people will focus him down.

Varus is awesome i havnt lost a game with him yet, only 3 games and I burst with tri force, since it helps him in everyway. Hes fine the way he is, people just need to learn him.

Is your mother underpowered?

(edit: down vote me if you agree)

I can see a lot of guides in the future for varus. I can think of at least 4 different ways to build him and he will still hold his ground equally. His kit is just for different things.

His Q. I dont know what it is but having like 100 ad adds like 200+ damage to his Q.