Varus vs Kog’Maw Counter Pick

Varus starts with the longer weapon on paper, 575 attack range to 500. Bio-Arcane Barrage cancels that edge by giving Kog’Maw bonus range plus on-hit magic damage scaled to a percentage of the target’s maximum health. The bottom-lane results back this up: Varus has a 38.6% win rate over 272 games on patch 16.13.1.

Neither marksman can just walk away, because both run at 330 base movement speed and both rely on Mana. Caustic Spittle strips Armor and Magic Resist while boosting Kog’Maw’s attack speed, a combination that hits hard against 24 Armor at level 1 and 92 at level 18. Varus has his own tools, though. He enters with 600 health against Kog’Maw’s 635, then ends at 2,385 against 2,318 by level 18. Piercing Arrow charges for extra reach, and Hail of Arrows slows enemies and corrupts the ground he has to hold to keep his attacks flowing. Chain of Corruption roots the first champion it hits and jumps to nearby targets, which is the easiest window for a support to capitalise on. Kog’Maw even makes the kill costly, since Icathian Surprise explodes for true damage four seconds after he dies. Void Ooze lays a slowing trail that makes repositioning mid-trade painful, and Living Artillery deals more damage to low-health enemies from far outside either champion’s attack range. Difficulty ratings of 2 versus 6 suggest the easier champion is the one falling behind, which points to a mismatch in the kits rather than in execution. See Kog’Maw.