Some League of Legends champions are just too overpowered to let slip through the draft—and Varus is one of them.
Through the first four and a half weeks of the 2020 LPL Summer Split, Varus has been banned in each of the 131 games, according to Leaguepedia. Varus is the only champion to be involved in every draft this split, with the next closest being Aphelios, who’s been banned 91 times and played 19.
In the Spring Split, Varus was a commonly-used champion in the bottom lane. In fact, LPL teams chose Varus 149 times last split, which made him the second-most picked champion in the entire league, only behind Miss Fortune.
But he’s been a huge target in the LPL and abroad this split. Even with the LCK and LPL playing best-of-three matches, Varus has been picked nine times and banned 240 times across the four major regional leagues this split.
This past weekend, 100 Thieves AD carry Cody Sun became the first—and only—person to play Varus in the LCS. He’s been banned in the other 29 games this split. In the LCK, which has been similarly wary of letting Varus through, he’s been played just three times and banned in the other 51 games in the Summer Split.
The LEC is the only major league to have a game without Varus being picked or banned. In week two, Fnatic and MAD Lions chose to completely ignore Varus and instead featured a bot lane matchup of Soraka and Nautilus vs. Senna and Wukong.
In response to the massive wave of bans across the world, Riot said it will nerf Varus in Patch 10.14. The developer is specifically targeting his Q maximum damage AD ratio, his Q minimum damage, and his E base damage.
