Varian Abilities and Strategy

• When playing Taunt Build, remember that Taunt can be used to interrupt enemy channels (for example to stop Carrion Swarm by Mal'Ganis).
• When going for Colossus Smash Build, always make sure to use Colossus Smash first and other Abilities after in order to increase all damage dealt thanks to the Armor reduction on the enemy Hero.
• When choosing Twin Blades, do not go too far from your team so that they can focus the same enemy Hero as you and/or help you to survive.
• If your team desperately needs a Tank, do not insist on taking Colossus Smash or Twin Blades of Fury at Level 4 because a Tank is really important to have in team.

Lion's Fang (Q) Varian

• Mana: 50
• Cooldown: 8 seconds

Create a shockwave that travels in a straight line, dealing 150 (+4% per level) damage and Slowing enemies by 35% for 1.5 seconds. Each enemy hit heals Varian for 35 (+4% per level), increased to 140 (+4% per level) against Heroes.

Lion's Fang provides decent waveclear and self-sustain, furthermore it deals a good amount of damage to enemy Heroes and Slow them as well. Slowing an enemy Hero from the distance will help you have them within Charge range. As a result, this Ability should be used to quickly damage Minion waves in order to relieve lane pressure, to keep Varian healthy during a team fight, to engage thanks to the Slow provided, or to secure a kill thanks to the damage it deals. When you want to heal as much as possible, remember that the healing provided is about 3 times higher when it is being used on enemy Heroes, therefore you should prefer hitting a single Hero instead of 3 non-Heroes.

Parry (W) Varian

• Mana: 30
• Charges: 2
• Recharge Time: 10 seconds

Parry all incoming Basic Attacks for 1.25 seconds, reducing their damage by 100%.

Stores up to 2 charges.

Parry completely prevents all damage from Basic Attacks that would hit Varian for the duration. It has 2 charges that can be used in quick succession or in different moments. Remember that hits coming from Structures (including the Core) and Summons (for example the Hydralisk created by Zagara using Hunter Killer) are considered Basic Attacks as well.

Charge (E) Varian

• Mana: 45
• Cooldown: 12 seconds

Charge to the target enemy, dealing 50 (+4% per level) damage and Slowing them by 75% for 1 second.

Charge provides Varian with a much-needed gap-closer that can be used both offensively and defensively. If used offensively, Varian can damage and Slow his chosen target to either take them down by himself or allow his teammates to follow up. If used defensively, Varian can escape dangerous situations by charging an enemy target who is far from the main action. This type of Ability does not allow the Hero to pass through impassable terrain and Structures, instead the Hero will try to go around that obstacle. Since there is a maximum distance that can be travelled, the Hero will eventually stop the animation without reaching the target.

In this section we discuss how this Heroic Ability works and give some tips on how to use it. If you are looking for a detailed explanation on when and why you should pick it, check out the dedicated section in the Talent Build page.

Taunt (R) Varian

• Heroic
• Mana: 20
• Cooldown: 16 seconds

Silence a target Hero and force them to attack Varian for 1.25 seconds.

Passive: Maximum Health and Health Regeneration increased by 40%.

Taunt turns Varian into a Tank by increasing his maximum Health and giving him crowd control for engaging and/or peeling. As a side note, it can also be used to play Varian as Offlaner.

In this section we discuss how this Heroic Ability works and give some tips on how to use it. If you are looking for a detailed explanation on when and why you should pick it, check out the dedicated section in the Talent Build page.

Colossus Smash (R) Varian

• Heroic
• Mana: 40
• Cooldown: 20 seconds

Smash a target enemy, dealing 185 (+4% per level) damage and lowering their Armor by 25 for 3 seconds, causing them to take 25% increased damage.

Passive: Base Attack Damage increased by 100%.

Passive: Maximum Health and Health Regeneration reduced by 10%.

Colossus Smash turns Varian into a Melee Assassin by highly increasing his damage output and providing him another gap-closer next to Charge. By picking this Heroic Ability, he becomes capable of dealing a large amount of damage within a short period of time to take down his target as quickly as possible while also increasing the damage output of his teammates at the same time thanks to the Armor reduction. When you want to unleash all your power on the enemy, it is advised to use it as the very first Ability to maximize the value you get from the Armor being reduced for a few seconds. Despite it being an Heroic Ability, it can be used for non-Heroic targets (for example to help your team taking down a Boss a bit faster than usual) thanks to its relatively short cooldown.

In this section we discuss how this Heroic Ability works and give some tips on how to use it. If you are looking for a detailed explanation on when and why you should pick it, check out the dedicated section in the Talent Build page.

Twin Blades of Fury (R) Varian

• Passive
• Heroic

Basic Attacks reduce Heroic Strike's cooldown by 9 seconds, and increase Varian's Movement Speed by 30% for 2 seconds.

Passive: Attack Speed increased by 100%.

Passive: Base Attack Damage reduced by 25%.

Twin Blades of Fury turns Varian into a Bruiser who can deal a lot of sustain damage if he can stick on the target, and the Movement Speed provided slightly helps with that. The one-dimensional design of this Heroic Ability makes Varian stronger in duels that happen while playing as Offlaner and weaker in team fights where many enemy Heroes can peel him away from his target. The damage reduction on Basic Attacks is compensated by the cooldown reduction on Heroic Strike.

Heroic Strike (D) Varian

• Cooldown: 18 seconds

Every 18 seconds, Varian's next Basic Attack deals 125 (+4% per level) bonus Spell Damage. Basic Attacks reduce this cooldown by 3 seconds.

Heroic Strike increases the damage done by Varian's Basic Attacks by adding a Spell Damage component to them. The cooldown reduction basically helps you get the second activation earlier than usual. Try to start a team fight when Heroic Strike is ready, otherwise your damage output will not be the best.