Every champion in League of Legends has it's strengths and weaknesses and while certain picks can be stronger than others just by themselves, many champions release their real potential only when paired with certain partners. Synergy can come in many ways. Champions with inherent mobility problems, as Kog’Maw or Twitch, synergize well with abilities like Wild Growth (Lulu R) or Monsoon (Janna R), covering their weaknesses. On the other hand Alistar and Miss Fortune synergize because of the AoE wombo combo they can pull of; they further increase each other’s strengths. With way more than 100 different options there are plenty of pairing possibilities, way too many to cover them all, yet there are some exceptional cases we know and love, like Lucian Braum, Zyra Ashe or Kog’Maw Lulu. In this Guide, I want to introduce another neat pair with a lot of potential: Varus and Morgana.

The three mentioned relationships are pretty extraordinary but, while no pair can ever even come close to the outrageous Ezreal and Taric, the marriage between Varus and Morgana has a beautifully gothic flair to it. The fallen bride and her corrupted groom, shackled by tormented chains, cast upon their enemies a Hail of Dark Bindings and Piercing Arrows. To understand the reasoning behind this combo we have to take a look at what both champions have to offer individually and how these aspects match together.

Varus

Varus is a very unconventional Bot Laner. Due to his lack of mobility and his ability to poke from afar, he is mostly played in mid lane. His Q, Piercing Arrow, is a long range skillshot with low cooldown and devastating damage, if featured by a flat armor penetration build. Combined with Hail of Arrow (E), which is a mid range AoE ability that deals damage and slows, as well as his rooting ultimate, Chain of Corruption, he is able to catch enemies from a safe distance and slaughter them with his spells. This however leaves another aspect of Varus’ kit often forgotten and unused: His W, Blighted Quiver, is a magic damage on-hit passive, also adding marks which add %-health damage dealt when triggered with one of his active abilities, and his passive is an attack speed steroid, triggered after killing minions or champions. These attack steroids offer a lot of DPS, but his lack of mobility makes it too dangerous to use them effectively despite his rather high attack range of 575.

Morgana

Morgana, the fallen Angel, is mostly known for binding you and never ever letting you leave again. Said characteristic ability stems from her Q, Dark Binding, which is a long range skillshot rooting the first enemy hit in place for what are supposed to be 3 seconds but feels like a telephone conversation with your grand-parents – eternity. Morgana’s ultimate, Soul Shackles, creates chains between her and all enemies in range and, if not broken before 3 seconds, stuns every enemy still chained for another 1.5 seconds. These two abilities are what give her the air of being an overly attached girlfriend, or enemy in that case, whom you’d better avoid. However, what really differentiates her from other supports is her E, Black Shield, because for the time being, Black Shield remains the only spell in the game offering cc-immunity to allied champions.

Synergy

Varus and Morgana have a very similar playstyle in mind; both of them thrive off poking with long range skillshots and then binding several enemies together while killing them. In lane the two are very good at zoning enemies with to their superior range. Varus’ high auto attack range provides him with safe positioning and his Piercing Arrow allows him to farm from a distance if needed or can also be used to poke without having to trade damage. Morgana can support her groom with Dark Bindings, basically guaranteeing all of Varus’ abilities to hit while also dealing significant damage with her W, Tormented Soil, a deadly combo. When the enemy tries to engage upon the immobile Varus to stop the Hail of Arrows and Binding, Morgana can prevent them from disabling him by using Black Shield. Free to move, Varus and Morgana can use Hail of Arrows to slow the enemy down and Dark Bindings to keep them in place. With this protection in mind, Varus can is way more free to put in auto attacks in lane and in teamfights, improving his DPS a lot and allowing him to use his whole kit to its maximum potential. From level 6 on, Varus and Morgana can unleash a gigantic wave of cc, theoretically keeping an enemy in place for up to 6.5 seconds, in practice though any targeted fool will already be bodied by then. In teamfights both Varus and Morgana offer high impact AoE ultimates with the potential to keep every single enemy in place or even stunning them.

Not only do they look like a perfect match, Morgana and Varus cover each other’s flaws and perfect each other’s strengths so efficiently that they create a force to be reckoned with. The high range poking cc machinery from bot lane can not only tilt AD Carry foes but also turn around whole fights and games. With their high impact abilities and immense damage, as well as Morgana’s peeling power, they pose a significant threat to any unaware summoner on the rift.

Another Possibility

With Jhin finally entering both the Rift and the hearts of countless players over all the regions, I also want to highlight his possible synergy with Morgana. Jhin in many ways demands a similar playstyle as Varus. Though he lacks the same cc abilities, he has a bigger damage output and an even bigger range with his abilities. His W is a long range skillshot going through enemy minions and rooting the first champion hit, if said enemy has previously been attacked by either Jhin or one of his allies. In other words, whenever Morgana hits a Dark Binding, said enemy is about to be rooted for about 4 seconds, if none of his allies decide to block Jhin’s W. This creates huge pick opportunities, neat lane dominance and incredible utility in siege situations. When paired with a burst-heavy Mid Laner such as Le Blanc, Lux or Corki, this duo can set up incredible mid game pick and siege powers, snowballing the game completely out of control.

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