Guide is in Patch: 4.

4d

Basics

Introduction

Hey there folks, I wanted to share my knowledge about Varus with you, and might
inspire someone to pick him up as a new main (or just new playstyle). I made a guide
https://wildriftguides.gg/guide/1623/varus-a-flexible-adc in the past, which I can't
update regularly because of the updates on the Website, so i wanted to create
something which is easier to share and it is easier to keep on track with updates
here. Why do I put so much effort into this? I honestly like to give people some
inspiration to try out new stuff. Additionally, and let's be honest here, I don’t enjoy the
quality games currently (writing this around patch 4.2a) have. A lot of people have no
clue how to build any champion and so i want to give a small guidance for at least a
few.

Changes compared to last patch (4.4c => 4.4d)

We get a nice new skin.. yea that's mostly it for us. Items like Twinguard keep their
niche position and Maw is now better on Ability based builds.

Pros and Cons

Pro Con

higher than average AA range (600) no escape tool (immobile marksman) => he
needs good positioning

long range abilities are great poking tools if you miss/waste your ultimate you can get
(especially with Lethality build) dived very easily. On AP builds you also
lose a good chunk of your damage.

flexible playstyle between high dps or burst. The ultimate can be cleansed which also
there are like 5 different viable builds for stops the blight build up
different situations with on-hit, AP, lethality,
 crit caster and normal crit AA

Varus has one of the strongest neutral Varus kit is full of skillshots => you are bad
games. One catch with his ultimate also at aiming, you miss out a lot of damage
might turn the game entirely in your teams
favor

good champion to blind pick (really strong picking one style can’t be changed
laning phase on AD builds). He can also be midgame. you are bound to it
flexed to mid lane (AP build)

Pre-game/champ select

When to choose which build?

The biggest question each match is "Which build should I pick" for Varus, since you have a
couple of options.

First of all, look at your team. Do you have AP champs? No? => AP Varus, works
great against long range enemies and teams with 2-3 tanks. No need for Giant
Slayer.

If your team has AP then look at the enemy team. Are they close ranged? No?=>
Lethality. If they have long range that means their champs are squishy and you will
mostly be able to 1-2 shot them with arrows.

Another look on the enemy team to answer the following question: Does the enemy
team has high burst/ won't you be able to constantly AA? No? => On-hit. Varus has
one of the highest dps potentials in the game due to his passive in combination with
Blighted Quiver + Piercing Arrow to pop the blight. Overall on hit can work great
against decent burst as well but crit would be better in other situations.
Runes
Domination, Precision, Resolve, Inspiration

Cookie-Cutter Setups
On-Hit: Lethal Tempo / Kraken Slayer
Main: Triumph, Giant Slayer, Legend Alacrity.
Secondary options: Overgrowth (vs lots of assassins)
Perseverance (vs lots of CC)
Eyeball Collector (snowballing)
Transcendence (generally solid rune)

Crit: Lethal Tempo

Main: Triumph/Brutal, Coup de Grace, Legend Bloodline
Secondary options: Overgrowth (vs lots of assassins)
Perseverance (vs lots of CC)
Eyeball Collector (snowballing)
Transcendence (generally solid rune)

Lethality: Summon Aery or First Strike

Main: Scorch, Cheap Shot, Eyeball Collector
Secondary options: Coup de Grace (generally squishy teams)
Giant Slayer (generally tanky teams)
Transcendence (generally solid rune)
Manaflow Band (more Mana to poke with)

AP: Lethal Tempo

Main: Gathering Storm, Coup de Grace, Legend Alacrity.
Secondary options: Eyeball Collector (snowballing)
Transcendence (generally solid rune)

Keystones
Lethal Tempo: Best Keystone for On-Hit and Crit builds. I also liked to use it
for AP so you can quickly apply 3 stacks, this works especially well if you
already got a takedown to get additional speed from your passive to quickly
stack LT. Important here.. LT can exceed the attack speed cap!

Kraken Slayer: Ok I tested recently a lot with this rune and gotta say On-Hit is
pretty fun with it. You will get about max attack speed with your passive Living
Vengeance and a couple of items like Blade of the Ruined King and Runaan’s
Hurricane. This way you actually get a lot of AA to stack up Krakens true
damage. If you look for the best DPS, then still stick to LT.
 First Strike: Pretty good rune if you run Lethality. You want to hit the enemy
from the Fog of War so he can’t disable the rune. The extra damage is pretty
good and the gold you get on proc will help you to snowball.

Summon Aery: Only for the Lethality build. It is a great poking tool and more
reliable than First Strike.

Domination
(Tree for snowballing)
Scorch: Extra poke damage for the Lethality build to add up to its early game
strength.

Mark of the Weak: Marking enemies with an ability for extra (from other
abilities, NOT auto attacks). Pretty great in combination with your ultimate or if
you slow enemies with your Hail of Arrows, so your charged Piercing Arrow
deals more damage.

Cheap Shot: Some true damage after impairing enemies movement. This
works with your Hail of Arrows and ultimate. Due to the low damage i suggest
it only in Lethality builds to snowball.

Eyeball Collector: Great default secondary rune for all non Lethality builds
(since it is a main rune there).

Precision
(Tree for scaling)
Gathering Storm: great rune for AP build. Free additional scaling for extra
max health damage. At minute 12 you get stats equal to a free Amp Tome
and it just gets better from that point.

Brutal: Tbh.. not a fan of the rune since it just adds a bit extra on-hit damage
which falls off compared to the other options you have in this tier.
 Triumph: Since the changes in 4.3 this rune also gives you Mana on a
takedown. Since Varus already has a pretty strong laning phase (besides AP)
you probably can ensure a takedown and regain some mana to clear the rest
of the minions to shove the wave in or gain an additional takedown in a gank.
The extra damage on low hp targets was moved to Coup de Grace.

Last Stand: If you usually stay auto attacking in fights, chances are high you
get targeted and drop low on HP, so this rune will increase your damage in
these cases and helps you to take down the person targeting you and further
deal more damage to other targets. Crit and On-Hit mostly profit from this.

Giant Slayer: Extra damage when enemies buy health.. actually pretty good,
but unnecessary on Varus. You passive from Blighted Quiver gives you
stacks, which deal max HP Dmg on popping them with any other skill while
the active part does missing HP dmg.. you can take down tanks even easier.

Coup de Grace: Great default rune for everything besides On-Hit (cause you
profit more of last stand). Helps you a lot against squishy teams for quick
takedowns.

Legend Alacrity: Must have with On-Hit, optional for the other builds. This
helps you to get easier to max attack speed without Lethal Tempo (meaning
that Lethal Tempo will definitely exceed the attack speed cap on a takedown).

Legend Bloodline: This is a great pick for this tier because you have more
freedom to buy other boots than Gluttonous Greaves (even armor boots if
really needed).

Resolve
(Tree for tankiness)
Overgrowth: Great rune to have against 2 assassins when you play On-Hit,
cause in this situation you also can buy an additional armor item (usually
Amaranth Twinguard) and the enemies will have a way harder time to take
you down.

Perseverance: Enemies have a lot of CC if you really need the tenacity.

 Boneplating: When the enemy duo-lane has 2 really strong all-in champions
(Draven/Samira + Nautilus) this rune is great. If you feel confident you may
choose another rune but Boneplating is really strong here.

Second Wind: If the enemy duo-lane has heavy poke (Caitlyn + Karma) this
helps you to stay in lane.

Inspiration
(Tree for creative rulebending)
Transcendence: Got to in most cases. Additional Ability Haste lets you ult
more times in later stages of the game where you might need it in a crucial
fight.

Nimbus Cloak: Good defensive option which lets you maybe escape some
sticky options, but overall Transcendence is the better option.

Manaflow Band Extra Mana to spend on spells.. Great for lethality Varus since
you wanna spam those high damaging arrows as much as possible. Since
lethality items give Ability Haste you are less dependent on Transcendence
so you take the extra Mana. Also gives you a little bit more AD on Muramana.

Item Crafting: It seems like not much, but this rune is basically a taxed version
of the Orn passive and now imagine this: a big fight is coming up for the first
Baron. You can’t farm the item to get a recall off in time, but you can kill the
wave after to get those 150 extra gold and prepare the objective with your
team while buying your Infinity Edge just while warding the Baron pit.

Future’s Market: Is on paper a really good rune, BUT I think Wild Rift is too
fast for this rune to be really efficient.

Summoner Spells
Flash: Must have. You have no mobility in your kit to use otherwise.

Ghost: Great for additional kiting + helps you to run down enemies in lane.

Exhaust:Great if the enemy has 1-2 assassins which quickly dive you.

Barrier: Can help to prevent burst, but overall worse option than Exhaust.
Ingame

Abilities
First 3 Levels: 3 > 2 > 1
Order to max skills out (AD Crit + On-Hit): 1 > 2 > 3
Order to max skills out (Lethality): 1 > 3 > 2
Order to max skills out (AP): 1 > 2 > 3

Passive: Living Vengeance

If you kill a minion you gain attack speed. If you kill or assist in a champion
takedown you gain a greater bonus to your attack speed.

1: Piercing Arrow
Long range skillshot in a line. Holding the button will slow your own
movement speed, but increases the damage and range.

2: Blighted Quiver
Passive: Your Auto attacks apply a stack of blight and deal Magic On-Hit
damage based on your AP. Using another skill (Piercing Arrow or Hail of
Arrows) on a target with blight stacks will pop those stacks and deal a % max
HP damage based on your AP. Popping stacks will also refund the cooldown
of your Piercing Arrow.

Active: Double the On-Hit damage and your next Piercing Arrow will deal a %
missing HP damage, which increases based on channel time of your Arrow.

3: Hail of Arrows
AoE which leaves a corrupted ground. Enemies inside of this ground are
slowed and have a 40% Grievous Wound debuff.

Ult: Chain of Corruption

Skill-shot that throws out a root. If you hit someone and other enemies are
nearby, the root will spread to other enemies. During the time rooted enemies
generate up to 3 Blight stacks based on the level of your Blighted Quiver.
Itemisation

With “Core” for each build I mean items that most likely will be present in the first 3 items in
the game. There are some alternatives like exchanging Phantom Dancer in the Crit build for
Runaan’s Hurricane or Blade of the Ruined King for a Wit’s End against AP heavy team
comps.

Lethality

Core:
Muramana, Youmuu’s Ghostblade, Serylda’s Grudge/Mortal Reminder
OR Muramana, Essence Reaver, Collector, Mortal Reminder
Boots: Boots of Dynamism

Why is this your core?

With Lethality you wanna poke the enemies as much as you can with fully charged
Piercing Arrows since the ability has a really great AD scaling. With AD items you get
a lot of AD and Muramana also increases the damage on your abilities as well as
giving you more Mana to spam your abilities. Youmuu’s Ghostblade on the other
hand is important because channeling your Piercing Arrows slows you, but the
passive of the item will give you extra movement speed to counter this self CC. To
round the core out Serylda’s Grudge gives you %armor pen as well as an additional
slow this combined with your Hail of Arrows slow is really nasty and will slow them
definitely enough to hit your arrows. If the enemy team has healing champs like
Mundo or Soraka rather pick Mortal Reminder.

Last items/other options

Duskblade of Draktharr is a great pick for high burst since they removed the “out of
vision” part. Got due to its buffs even better in 4.3D and rivals Youmuu’s Ghostblade
as choice for first item. It greatly amplifies your damage and is a good choice as 4th
or 5th item.

Edge of Night is pretty good due to the spell shield. Enemies have to be careful to not
accidentally waste one of their key abilities on you when the shield comes up again.
Solid choice and a good option for the last item.

Serpent’s Fang is only really a great pick if you play against shielding champions like
Karma or Shen. Else the shield from Edge of Night comes in more handy in some
situations.

Collector is imo a bait item. Only buy it if you wanna try a build with Essence Reaver
for the crit chance.
Essence Reaver is great to amplify your damage by a lot whenever the Essence
Flare is ready. The damage is actually better than from another lethality item that’s
left to choose.

How to play in the stages?

Early
With this build you try to poke constantly with Piercing Arrow and hold your enemies
away from your minions, so they can't last hit or get exp. Don't engage in long trades,
because Summon Aery is basically for poke while a lot of ADC pick Lethal Tempo
and out damage you then in a few seconds. Due to your high range and poke rune
they should barely be able to get close and stack LT which can get you ahead pretty
quick and might end up in few kills during laning from which on you wanna go and
snowball.

Note: On first base you wanna get a Serrated Dirk + Tear of the Goddess.

Mid

This is your peak in the game. You can decide the claim of many objectives with this
build. If you hit few Piercing Arrow and the enemies are low HP, they can't contest
Drakes/Shelly/Baron and you claim these for free, but if they still decide to contest
them while already chunked out/outnumbered because someone recalled you take
the objective + some free kill, nice. Try to win the game in this stage, because further
on you get outscaled by other Crit ADC's.

Late

You basically are weaker than any crit ADC now. Try to poke them off of objectives.
And secure them with your team to end ASAP.
Crit

Core AA:
Immortal Shieldbow, Phantom Dancer, Infinity Edge
Boots: Berserker’s Greaves, Gluttonous Greaves

Why is this your core?

Immortal Shieldbow is an overall great option as a first item since its introduction and
has way more benefits for you than Stormrazor. The lifeline is a great safety to
ensure you can keep DPSing in teamfights. Phantom Dancer then will add enough
attack speed with Lethal Tempo to ensure you will deal enough damage with Infinity
Edge.

Last items/other options

Blade of the ruined King is for me actually more of a core item. It offers great early
game with Varus high base damage and his execution mechanic from Blighted
Quiver.

Runaan’s Hurricane has more attack speed and you can apply stacks of Blighted
Quiver on multiple enemies in a team fight. The item is even better now due to its
added “on-hit” dmg and the AD you get, sadly you lost the crit chance but you get
100% anyway.

Stormrazor is not a great first item, but later on fits really great. The slow makes it
easier to hit the enemy with your Chain of Corruption or lets you apply another stack
of blight which you then can pop with another ability.

Mortal Reminder is great to round up the build, especially since it gives crit chance
since 4.4. % armor pen is a must in the later stages of the game no matter if you play
against a tank or not and in my opinion it’s good LDR was removed so people buy
anti-heal (cough Soraka or Mundo cough )

Bloodthirster is a strong item with its added AD from Patch 4.4. I wouldn’t
recommend it early but to close out the build it’s perfect.
Core Caster:
Essence Reaver, Navori Quickblades, Infinity Edge
Boots: Berserker’s Greaves, Gluttonous Greaves

Why is this your core?

As you can guess on this version of the Crit build you will spam a lot of abilities,
which means you run out of Mana really fast if you don’t buy Essence Reaver to
constantly get a portion of it back with each attack. After having ensured the base to
sustain the spell spam you can get Navori Quickblades to significantly reduce the
cooldowns of your basic abilities with each auto attack. You will round out this with
getting Infinity Edge for the additional crit damage amp on your auto attacks, but
before you get this rather secure you get some attack speed with either Phantom
Dancer or Runaan’s Hurricane, because Lethal Tempo alone will be a bit dangerous
to stack up without an AS item.

Last items/other options

Phantom Dancer / Runaan’s Hurricane either is good as I mentioned before, because
you will need an attack speed item else your DPS will fall off in later stages of the
game.

Mortal Reminder because armor pen.

Notice: yes the caster crit version is sadly straightforward and does not leave a lot
of options for other items since you want IE for the amp on auto attacks, Navori is
mandatory to spam spells and Essence Reaver is needed or else you run out of
Mana in 5 seconds of a fight.
How to play in the stages with crit (AA or caster)?
Note: On-Hit and Crit are really similar in the stages of the game, so don’t be
confused cause it is kinda the same besides different items.

Early
Farm the first 1-3 lvls save. Start with the first point in Hail of Arrows (slow can help in
some early trades) and follow up with Blighted Quiver. At lvl 2 you want to poke the
enemy with 1-3 auto attacks and hit them with Hail. Once you poke them a bit in
these short trades you can trade more aggressively and usually ensure kills around
lvl 4-5. Important here is to always keep track of the enemy engage skills like hook
abilities from Nautilus or Blitzcrank. If you play against heavy poke lanes (Caitlyn +
Karma f.e.) try to preserve your HP and all-in at lvl 5 while you counter poke with
Piercing Arrow.

Mid
At this point you already have most, if not all of your entire core items. Enemies
should be really aware of you and will most likely start to dive you in greater
skirmishes, so always have an eye on the map. You can’t afford to waste Chain of
Corruption easily. Save it for enemy engage or if an enemy clearly oversteps and
your team can collapse on that target, while you are in a safe position against enemy
dive. Try to secure objectives and take options away from the enemy team.

Late
Crit is really strong late game due to the high DPS Varus can have combined with the
high damage from your auto attacks. Once an enemy dies and you get a kill or assist
in a fight it should be over due to the attack speed bonus from Living Vengeance, but
you still have to look auto to position right since you are an ADC and fairly squishy
yourself. Try to communicate with your team so you always have at least 1-2
defensive options (Flash + Exhaust or Stasis) ready.
On-Hit

Core:
Blade of the Ruined King, Runaan’s Hurricane
Boots: Berserker’s Greaves, Gluttonous Greaves

Why is this your core?

Starting with Blade of the Ruined King, as the single item with the highest possible
damage output (due to % current hp dmg). Additionally it gives you movement speed
(Drain ability) after 3 attacks/abilities, which either help you stick to your target or to
distance yourself from it. It also has fantastic synergy with Blighted Quivers active
where you deal extra % missing HP damage on your next Piercing Arrow. I choose to
build Runaan’s as a second item for the on-hit damage that got added with 4.4 and
spreading blight stacks + % hp damage from Blade of the Ruined King to chunk
down multiple targets in a fight.

Last items/other options

Wit’s End is pretty often my 4th item of choice. Attack speed and on-hit damage are
better than Nashor’s Tooth (which is why I don't add the item in on-hit.. it is not worth
it). Additionally the healing when below 50% HP is really great. If the enemy team is
fairly squishy you could ignore an armor pen (LDR or Mortal) item and take Wit’s +
Amaranth Twinguard.

Bloodthirster is a great addition. You gain a lot of extra stats while above 50% hp
while the lifesteal ensures you to stay in that area and benefits from this stat stick.

Amaranth Twinguard seems a bit weird to pick up, but it is really great. You already
have high damage so all you have to do is stay alive and apply this damage and
Twinguard is perfect to ensure this with the amount of defensive stats you get from it.
Additionally if you really pick Conditioning as Resolve rune you get more bonus stats
from the passive of this item $.

Mortal Reminder classic armor pen.

Immortal Shieldbow gives you AD, AS, Lifesteal and a Lifeline (which is basically the
most important part, even though it is really flawed). As On-Hit Varus you will have a
really high DPS, so you will need items that secure you will be able to deal this high
damage even so your risk to get into auto attack range (unlucky lethality or AP Varus)
and Shieldbow is a perfect start to achieve this.
How to play in the stages?
Early
The laning phase is pretty much exactly the same as in the crit variation. Try to lane 3
auto attacks + a spell to pop your blight stacks. Try to harass the enemy when they
try to last hit minions and can’t retaliate. Keep track of their engage abilities.

Mid
Here is where on-hit differs from crit. Crit builds will try to obtain 100% crit rate, while
you are basically free to build around countering the enemy team once you finish
your core items. Enemies try to constantly jump you? Screw a new item and grab
Quicksilver Enchantment or Stasis. That’s not enough? Add Amaranth Twinguard on
top to gain even more defensive stats and go for armor pen item in the last slot. You
are pretty much free in a lot of choices. I for example recently tried Trinity Force due
to the old on-hit Twisted Fate builds (buuuut, it does not feel great on Varus).

Late
You have 3-4 damaging items and some safety mechanism + an enchant and 2
summoners to secure your survival.. you will be the main target of the enemy team
cause once you get a takedown in a fight it is the same like crit build you will win the
fight due to your Living Vengeance passive. If you build an Immortal Shieldbow, keep
always track that you have Lifeline ready and at least one other mechanism to stay
alive. Try to close the game out with some Chain of Corruption catches.
AP

Core:
Nashor’s Tooth, Riftmaker, Rabadon’s Deathcap
Boots: Boots of Mana

Why is this your core?

Nashor’s Tooth is a must on every attack based AP champion due to the 25% AP
on-hit damage. It basically lets your auto attacks keep up with AD marksman in the
late game. Riftmaker on the other hand gives you sustain and if you are in combat for
a few seconds some true damage on top of that and Rabadon’s Deathcap just has
the highest AP in one item and also boosts your total AP.

Last items/other options

Infinity Orb is great to add some extra damage when enemies fall below 35% HP.
This also amplifies your auto attacks due to the passive from Blighted Quiver. Its
value even increased after void Staff got removed due to the added 7% pen, but the
other items which are contenders for your remaining slots are also strong.

Mejas Soulstealer gives massive AP if you can stack it. If you get Crown of the
Shattered Queen to ensure you won’t pop like a balloon, it's a great option to
massively increase your damage.

Runaan’s Hurricane more attack speed, spreading blight and now with extra AP? So
in a team fight you can pop Blight stacks on multiple people with Piercing Arrow or
Hail of Arrows. This in return means you get more cooldown refund on your arrow, so
you can pop even more blight stacks? Crazy win.

Crown of the Shattered Queen is optionally great as 4th item. The value is quite
insane actually if you think its a DEFENSIVE ITEM with 90 raw ap. Every time you
deal magic dmg you reduce the cooldown (so basically every of your AA’s ) when the
shield gets triggered. The 70% damage reduction for 1.5 seconds is another thing
which is just crazy. I kinda hope Riot nerfs the AP values you gain from the item and
then it seems way more balanced, but for now it’s great to abuse.

Oceanid’s Trident is an amazing addition. I mean hell yea, not even PC league got a
great anti shield item for AP champs and Wild Rift does now? If you play against
Karma or Shen this item is so good to pick up. ALSO IMPORTANT: Once you skilled
a lvl of Blighted Quiver your AA will break the shield from Crown of the Shattered
Queen.
How to play in the stages?
Early
For AP start lvl 1 with Blighted Quiver to match your enemy in the first lvl waveclear.
Try to survive the lane and farm save (since you have no AD-items the enemy ADC
will most likely win short trades). If you can weave in an auto attacks on them, do so
and remember to use a spell afterwards to pop the blight stacks. As soon as you
have Nashor’s Tooth you stand a chance in trades against some champs. Else just
keep farming save and scale into mid and lategame where your real powerspike
comes.

Mid
At this point in the game you become a big threat, because your combo will mostly
take ppl down at 50% HP already, which means you will get focused by the enemy
team. Always keep track if someone bought the Quicksilver Enchantment. If you ult
them and they use it, they won't build up Blight stacks => you deal no damage, if you
don't AA them and your entire CC/safety mechanism in your kit is gone.

Late
At this point you delete most enemies with your Blighted Quiver + Piercing Arrow
combo. Secure objectives and never get caught. If you have Elder Drake usually 3
AA + your combo is enough to kill them with Elder buff.
Synergies

Best Pairings

Nami
I personally really like having a Nami as support for Varus. Her passive benefits your
lack of mobility greatly, while she also has awesome peel tools (her bubble and ult) if
the enemy team tries to dive you. Combine that with her 3rd skill for extra damage
during the first 3 attacks and you will chunk out a good portion of the enemy health
bar especially with your Blighted Quiver. Nami is perfect for Crit and On-Hit.

Tip for you Nami’s out there: Meja’s is actually really good on you. I mean (you know
this yourself, I know) your heal usually does 15% less heal/dmg with each jump, but
at a certain AP capstone it gives more healing and your MS passive and slow on E
get better as well. IDC if you get the kill as long as we work together fine^^

Karma
Karma is fantastic. Similar to Nami she gives you movement speed, but her poke is
also really strong (especially the empowered version), which makes her great for the
Lethality build as well as the AA based variations. Obviously she has less peel than
Nami, but you trade this for the offensive strength.

Braum
Pure gigachad, which sadly gets played rarely. Braum’s shield is incredibly strong
when you pair it with a high damage ADC like Varus (AA focused builds obviously).
You can fight enemies like Draven toe-to-toe since Braum negates their damage.
Dives against you also get harder due to his ultimate and his passive to stun enemies
with enough attacks (and you have high AS on AA based builds).

Lux
Similar to Karma, Lux has great poke (especially since her root does not get blocked
by minions anymore). Sadly she does not provide anything else than damage so she
is only great as a support for the Lethality build.
Janna
She offers amazing peel with her ultimate and tornados, while increasing your AD
and movement speed. Since her rework she can actively apply the mobility buff,
while slowing enemies as well.

Medium Pairings

Shen
Is similar to Braum, with the benefits of him being able to roam, while constantly able
to rotate back to bot with his ultimate. I just feel like Braum is more consistent in the
support role than Shen. even so his Spirit Refugee is a very strong ability.

Hook Supports
I wanted to gather Thresh, Nautilus, Blitzcrank and Pyke all in this group. They all
share the same gimmick of displacing an enemy. I ordered them from most to least
preferred and give you quick reasoning:

Thresh: great engage, can peel with his 3rd skill. His Lantern gives great utility to
escape sticky situations or follow up his engage. The ult is a great zoning tool due to
AOE soft CC (slow).

Nautilus: great engage, strong single target lockdown (hook, passive and ult). You
either kill a target with ult or peel with it. His engage is harder to follow up. Actually
got nice combos (ult > hook > AA?)

Blitzcrank: basically.. hit or miss. If he misses the hook he is a minion in lane, but he
has a good CC chain and can break shields, which is beneficial against Karma, Lux
or Shen.

Pyke: Ok so why is he least preferred? “YOU JUST WANT KILLS, DUMB ADC” -
nope. Pyke has a genuinely nice CC combo with his hook and stun, BUT unlike all
other hook champs he is quite squishy. If his hook misses he is also a minion like
Blitz. His ult looks on paper great, but you don’t share bounties with it (so only you
get the 1k shutdown of the fed enemy Kayn while your carry teammate (idk if it's
Yone, Jayce, Lillia or an ADC) gets ~400 gold. These are enough reasons why I
rather move Pyke as hook champ into the bad pairings.
Engage Sups
This group contains Alistar, Leona,Rakhan, Amumu, Galio and Pantheon

Alistar has great engage, but also super peel options with his Headbut and is super
durable thanks to his ultimate. His heal makes playing against poke lanes slightly
more pleasant.

Rakhan is a bit of a hybrid between enchanter and engage support. He has a nice
heal, really strong engage on his 2nd skill, while he can always get back to safely
with the help of an ally. Also his ult paired with your ult can chain CC the entire
enemy team.

Leona has a similar good lockdown, but due to her pulling towards the enemy
champions it's slightly harder to follow her engage. Still great engage and peel
support.

Amumu has also a good lockdown of enemies but can peel slightly less well than
Leona.

Galio only has his charge and taunt combo which is kinda easy to avoid so, meh.

Pantheon yea he offers more damage than the rest, but well.. that's it. You already
have enough damage in your kit.

Other Enchanters
Soraka, Lulu, Yuumi

Soraka will enable you to play really aggressive and trade your HP to bully the
enemy out of lane, while she herself will help you poke the enemy as well.

Lulu offers some great peel and a bit of poke. She can be really good against dive
but that's pretty matchup dependent.

Yuumi… is meh. She takes time like Sona, to come into the game, and is arguably
still one of the most oppressive champs but eh. Also her boost for AP Varus is poof
since his nerf

Morgana
Some decent poke a great anti cc shield. Only good thing is you can chain CC with
her.
Ashe
Is actually a pretty good support for Lethality Varus (only if it's really Ashe support
and not “I wanna play ADC, but got only support”). Her slow is great and she has a
good hard CC with her ultimate, but what really matters is her poke. Ashe support is
one of the best poke supports to play with. Since she offers not much peel outside of
her ultimate, she only landed in “Medium Pairings”.

Bad Pairings

Sona
Takes too long to scale to be efficient.

Mage sups
Only damage not much utility

Malphite
1 engage at lvl 5, else just some poke with his Shard.

Senna
Only play her in fasting Senna comps. She doesn’t offer much for any ADC