Varus vs Olaf Counter Pick

Ragnarok is the centerpiece. Olaf switches it on to shrug off crowd control for as long as he keeps swinging, so Chain of Corruption, an immobilise that jumps between champions, does nothing when it matters most. Varus sits at 40.7% across 167 games on patch 16.13.1.

Mobility makes this worse. Olaf runs at 350 base to 330, and he can pull his axe back with Undertow, which already cuts Armor and movement speed as it passes through. Berserker Rage turns his missing health into attack speed and lifesteal, so a fight he nearly loses speeds him up rather than slowing him. Reckless Swing adds true damage that no defensive item reduces.

Varus does have a real reach edge, 575 to 125, and the tools to use it: charged Piercing Arrow shots, Blight from Blighted Quiver for his other abilities to detonate, and Hail of Arrows, which slows enemies on the ground while cutting their self healing. Still, Olaf starts with 645 health and 35 Armor and climbs to 2,668 and 106.4, so that damage has to land without interruption for a long stretch. Varus’s own 600 health and 24 Armor soak up only a few swings. Difficulty ratings of 3 and 2 place both champions on the approachable end of the scale. See Olaf.