i like parabolan as a non aromatizing aas -best for strength and size gain in my experience but will shut your nat-test down quickly so hcg is a must for near end of cycle
Cannot say definately, and would differ from person to person, I would just go into it thinking your getting shut down, period, cause that's what var does. Recovery is not hard for me and I take 100mg/day when on var, take a little proviron and you wont have to worry about much, but with var you still have to do pct just the same. I know many that have taken 20mg/day for up to 4 weeks during cutting cycles and it did not shut them down at that dosage, they did not pct, and kept gains during cutting cycle while taking var at a calorie deficit.
As a rule of thumb, any AAS at a dosage of 30mg/day or more will completely shut down your HPTA after about 3 weeks.
It is virtually impossible to run a cycle where you will get any significant gains without shutting down your HPTA. This is why PCT is important.
Progestagenic gear like deca and fina can be especially hard to recover from because of the elevated prolactin. However, the use of dostinex can combat this.