🧬 Who is Varian?
Varian Wrynn, the legendary High King of Stormwind and leader of the Alliance! This iconic warrior from the World of Warcraft universe has lived through gladiatorial combat, royal intrigue, and epic battles against the Legion itself. In the Nexus, Varian brings his incredible martial prowess as the ultimate flexible multiclass hero who can adapt to whatever role your team needs most. Starting as a balanced bruiser, he evolves into either a devastating twin-blade fury assassin, a classic sword-and-board tank, or a well-rounded solo laner depending on his level 10 talent choice. This makes Varian one of the most strategically interesting heroes in the game – enemies never know exactly what they’re facing until it’s too late! ⚔️✨
Main Roles:
⚔️ Multiclass Bruiser | 🛡️ Tank (Taunt) | 🗡️ Assassin (Twin Blades)
🛠️ Abilities (Quick Look)
- Overpower (Trait – D): Every 3rd basic attack against heroes reduces cooldowns by 2 seconds.
- Lion’s Fang (Q): Throw your sword forward, slowing enemies and allowing reactivation to teleport to it.
- Parry (W): Block the next basic attack and reduce ability damage by 75% for 1.25 seconds.
- Charge (E): Rush forward, slowing the first enemy hit by 75% for 2 seconds.
- Taunt (R1): Become a tank with bonus health, force enemies to attack you, and gain Protected.
- Colossus Smash (R2): Become an assassin, reduce enemy armor, and gain attack speed.
- Twin Blades of Fury (R3): Become a fury warrior with fast dual-wielding attacks and mobility.
🎮 Gameplay Guide
Varian is the ultimate adaptability champion who thrives on reading the game state and transforming into exactly what his team needs! Your early game revolves around safe farming and smart trades using your powerful basic kit, while keeping your enemies guessing about your eventual specialization. The beauty of Varian lies in his flexibility – you can scout enemy team compositions, assess your team’s needs, and make the perfect choice at level 10. Whether you need to become an unkillable frontline tank, a mobile assassin, or a sustained damage dealer, Varian has the tools to excel in any role. Master his basic abilities first, because regardless of your specialization, success depends on landing Lions Fangs, timing Parries perfectly, and using Charge for both engagement and escape! 👑
✅ Early Game
- Focus on safe farming and waveclear with Lion’s Fang – preserve health for the mid-game power spike! 🛡️
- Use Parry proactively against predictable enemy abilities rather than reactively.
- Charge can be used defensively to escape ganks or offensively to secure kills – read the situation!
✅ Teamfights
- Your role completely changes based on your level 10 choice – Tank Varian initiates, Assassin Varian flanks, Fury Varian sustains damage.
- Use Lion’s Fang to engage from unexpected angles or escape over walls when things get dicey.
- Overpower proc timing is crucial – plan your basic attack sequences to maximize cooldown reduction.
- Position according to your specialization but remember your base kit remains powerful regardless!
✅ Objective Control
- Your versatility makes you valuable on every objective – adapt your playstyle to what the situation demands.
- Taunt Varian can solo tank objectives while the team focuses other priorities.
- Colossus Smash and Twin Blades excel at burning down objective bosses and immortals quickly.
🛡️ Builds & Gameplay Focus
⚔️ Taunt Tank Build
Level 1: Overpower
Level 4: Shield
Wall
Level 7: Warbringer
Level 10:
Taunt
Level 13: Second Wind
Level 16: Mortal
Strike
Level 20: Glory to the Alliance
Focus: Frontline tanking, Crowd control, Team protection
The Lowdown: This build transforms Varian into the quintessential main tank who can single-handedly control teamfights through superior positioning and crowd control abilities. By specializing into Taunt at level 10, you gain massive health increase, baseline armor, and the ability to force enemies to attack you while gaining Protected status – essentially becoming an unkillable fortress that enemies must deal with. Shield Wall provides crucial early game survivability while you’re still in your vulnerable multiclass form, allowing you to trade more aggressively and survive ganks that would kill other heroes. Warbringer turns your Charge into a devastating engage tool with a 1.25-second stun, creating perfect setup opportunities for your team’s follow-up damage and crowd control. The build reaches peak effectiveness with your Taunt transformation, which not only makes you incredibly tanky but also provides your team with a reliable engage and peel mechanism. Second Wind ensures you can stay in fights longer by providing percentage-based healing when you drop low, while Mortal Strike adds crucial anti-healing to shut down enemy sustain compositions. This build excels against dive compositions and high-damage teams that rely on bursting down priority targets, as your Taunt forces them to waste time attacking an unkillable target while your team freely damages their backline!
The Core Loop & Synergy:
- Overpower reduces all your cooldowns by 2 seconds every third basic attack, allowing for more frequent ability rotations.
- Shield Wall provides 75 physical armor for 4 seconds after using Parry, making you incredibly tanky against basic attack heroes.
- Warbringer adds a 1.25-second stun to Charge, transforming it from a gap closer into a premier engage tool.
- Taunt gives you +40% maximum health, 15 armor, and forces enemies to attack you while granting Protected status.
- Second Wind heals you for 30% of your maximum health over 10 seconds when you drop below 50% health.
- Mortal Strike applies a 4-second healing reduction to enemies hit by your basic attacks after using an ability.
- Glory to the Alliance makes your Taunt affect all nearby enemies and grants 20% movement speed, becoming an area lockdown ultimate.
Key Tactics & Pro Tips:
- Use Lion’s Fang to engage from unexpected angles – you can teleport to it even through walls for surprise initiations!
- Time your Parry just before major enemy abilities land – the damage reduction is massive and can save your life.
- Warbringer Charge into immediate Taunt creates a devastating combo that locks down priority targets for your team.
- Second Wind healing can be baited by enemy teams – sometimes it’s worth dropping low intentionally to trigger the massive sustain.
In short: You’re the Unbreakable Shield. You don’t just protect your team – you become an immovable object that forces enemies to make impossible choices while your allies freely execute their game plan.
⚔️ Twin Blades Fury Build
Level 1: Overpower
Level 4: High King’s
Quest
Level 7: Live by the Sword
Level 10: Twin
Blades of Fury
Level 13: Second Wind
Level 16:
Mortal Strike
Level 20: Frenzy
Focus: Sustained damage, Mobility, Dueling power
The Lowdown: This build transforms Varian into the quintessential sustained damage assassin who excels at extended fights and mobile skirmishing. Twin Blades of Fury completely changes your attack pattern, giving you 100% increased attack speed with reduced damage per hit, but the trade-off creates incredible synergy with your trait and talent choices. High King’s Quest provides permanent attack damage stacking that scales throughout the entire game, encouraging aggressive laning and teamfight participation to maximize your damage potential. Live by the Sword gives you incredible sustain by healing for 25% of hero damage dealt, allowing you to stay in fights much longer than enemies expect and often turning losing trades into victories through superior sustain. The Twin Blades transformation at level 10 not only doubles your attack speed but also grants 10% movement speed, making you incredibly mobile and difficult to pin down during fights. Your faster attack speed means more frequent Overpower procs, leading to constant ability usage and superior mobility through Lion’s Fang teleports. This build truly shines in extended teamfights and objective control scenarios where your sustained damage and self-healing can slowly but surely overwhelm enemy teams. The combination of mobility, sustain, and consistent damage output makes you a nightmare for enemy backlines who can’t easily escape your relentless pursuit!
The Core Loop & Synergy:
- Overpower becomes incredibly powerful with Twin Blades’ increased attack speed, giving you frequent cooldown reductions.
- High King’s Quest permanently increases your attack damage for each enemy hero takedown, scaling your power throughout the match.
- Live by the Sword heals you for 25% of all hero damage dealt, providing incredible sustain during extended engagements.
- Twin Blades of Fury doubles your attack speed, adds 10% movement speed, and changes your entire combat rhythm.
- Second Wind provides crucial burst healing when you drop low, allowing you to continue fighting when enemies think you’re finished.
- Mortal Strike applies healing reduction through your basic attacks, shutting down enemy sustain while you maintain yours.
- Frenzy increases your movement and attack speed by 40% for 4 seconds after getting a takedown, creating incredible snowball potential.
Key Tactics & Pro Tips:
- High King’s Quest stacks persist through death – prioritize staying alive over risky plays to maintain your damage scaling.
- Use Lion’s Fang aggressively in fights – your increased attack speed means more Overpower procs and shorter cooldowns.
- Live by the Sword healing is percentage-based – focus high-health targets to maximize your sustain potential.
- Frenzy turns you into an unstoppable killing machine – use takedown momentum to chain into additional eliminations.
In short: You’re the Relentless Berserker. You don’t burst enemies down – you hunt them relentlessly with sustained fury until they have nowhere left to run from your twin blades of justice.
📊 Final Thoughts
Varian represents the pinnacle of strategic flexibility in Heroes of the Storm, offering unparalleled adaptability that can single-handedly counter enemy team compositions or shore up weaknesses in your own draft. His success depends on game knowledge, situational awareness, and the crucial decision of when and how to specialize at level 10. Whether you’re charging into battle as an unstoppable tank, methodically dismantling enemies as a sustained assassin, or reading the perfect moment to transform, Varian rewards players who understand the bigger picture of team composition and strategic timing. Master his basic kit, read the game state correctly, and remember that the crown weighs heavy on those who would lead from the front!
For the Alliance, and for the glory of Stormwind! ⚔️👑