[Champion] Volibear

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Slusher

United States19143 Posts

June 26 2012 23:30 GMT

Volibear, The thunder's roar.

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season 2 guide
Abilities:

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Passive - Chosen of the storm: When Volibear's health hits 30% or lower of his maximum health, Volibear heals himself for 30% of his health over the next 6 seconds. Chosen of the Storm has a 120 second cooldown.

This is a very effective skill for a couple of reasons. It can be deceptive in trades early game, it also if available, makes tower diving for a kill possible at very low levels, because of his passive it is very hard to 1v1 Voli at low levels with it not on cd.

Passive also makes it possible to be extremely greedy on your first pass through the jungle, Vamp Scepter and Regrowth openings are viable if your team is ok with no gank potential before first back.

internal cd starts when the regen begins not ends. if it comes off of cd when Volibear is below 30% it will not trigger unless he takes further damage. The cd does not benefit from cdr.

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On June 27 2012 09:47 R04R wrote:
His QWE all synergize to catch someone and make sure they don't live to tell about it. I don't think the guide places enough emphasis on how great of a ganking skill Q is. Like.. his Q repositions your opponent behind you, that's like lengthening the enemy's flee back to turret by ~500 range after animation delay and E. OP should include that it's not necessary to open your gank by pressing Q if you can intercept your opponent by just walking up to them, saving Q for after they burn an escape summoner.

W - Frenzy: (Passive) Volibear gains bonus attack speed after an auto attack. This bonus stacks up to 3 times and stays active for 4 seconds.
(Active): If Volibear has 3 stacks of the passive he can use the active, although it does not consume the passive. The active is a bite doing damage based on Volibear's bonus health and the missing health of his opponent(1% increased damage for every 1% of missing health), this combined with it's 18 sec non scaling cd, makes it best used as an execute if possible.

Physical Damage: 80/125/170/215/260 (+15% of bonus health)
Mana: 35
Range: 400

This is Volibears most damaging ability any way you slice it, the attack speed bonus is substantial even if the active didn't exist and the active is amazing for kill stea.. Securing. Volibear is not a support jungler (if you subscribe to such a role) he scales as well as any champion in the game, and if a gank results in no kill it can set you way behind, what I'm getting at, is if W will kill use it.

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E - Majestic Roar: An Aoe Slow/fear with 425 range dealing magic damage, slowing champions and fearing minions, monsters or pets.

CD: 11
Mana: 60/65/70/75/80
Magic Damage: 60/105/150/195/240 (.6 ap)
Slow: 30/35/40/45/50%

Volibear's other utility. It also does a fairly good amount of base damage so even building ad bruiser the damage isn't negligible. Generally leveled first to increase the slow, and to help with jungle clear speed.

As mentioned earlier it has no cast time so it can be used during other activities mainly it can be used during q dash. also good for trading in lane as you will take less minion damage due to the fear.

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R - Thunder Claws: For 12 seconds Volibear's auto attacks gain an on hit magic damage that can chain up to 3 additional enemies with 0 damage reduction (all targets take the full damage)

CD: 100/90/80
Damage per attack: 75/115/155 (.3 ap)
Chain range: 300
100 mana

Not much to add here, it's free damage, obvious utility for teamfights as well as shoving before a back. I've seen it used to get that last bit of damage on a fleeing opponent by attacking a near minion for the chain but I'd call that lucky. My advice activate in situations you would use Riven sword or any other steroid ult.

GUIDES

Jungle Volibear
Summoner Skills: Flash/ghost + Smite. Not much to say about smite you don't really have a choice so I'll touch on the second summoner. Mobility summoners are best for ganking on Volibear, between his q and his e, movement is going to do you more favors than exhaust. Personally I've been falling in love with ghost lately on a lot of melee champions and Volibear is no exception, but a definite argument can be made for flash.

Masteries: 9/21/0 (10% arp)

Runes:
Marks: Armor Penetration
Seals: Flat Armor
Glyphs: Scaling MRes
Quints: Movespeed.

Nothing to controvercial here, movespeed quints I think benefit a jungler in almost every way. clearspeed and gank potential are both increased by having them, and movement quints compared to other stats and the items that provide them just have such a huge opportunity cost advantage over say health or ad quints.

Some people might tell you to go attack speed reds or perhaps mix in ad reds, but I disagree and I will elaborate when I get to starting items

Skill order and Starting items are all very closely related for jungle Volibear in my opinion and the choice is largely based on champion select.

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I'll be honest here, I haven't done the Regrowth open in a long time, I almost always go Vamp Scepter if I don't plan to gank level2, but I'm still a major fan of Wriggles as I'll get into later. the idea of getting Philo rolling asap is appealing, but to be honest I don't know what happens. However if you start Vamp Scepter I suggest you start blue, and open with W, the passive attack speed is what lets even the nerfed version of vamp scepter keep you alive indefinatly even on your first clear.

This is a very greedy build so it requires two conditions,
a)I do not reccomend vamp scepter open vs CV
b) I do not reccomend vamp scepter open vs Shaco, you will be very low when doing red and will trigger your passive clearing it.
your team must also be aware that you will not be ganking before first back, which can go all the way back to wolves if you like, but after first back you can have boots1 a scepter and a longsword at a point in the game that makes you an untouchable duelist with passive available.

I imagine Philo first would put you in a similar situation only slightly later in the game, however now we are talking very mediocre gank potential on a character with pretty strong ganks, his dash is the same, his throw is the same and his slow is the same, but I personally prefer the clear speed and the ability to man mode you get out of wriggles on Voli. LIfesteal interacts really well with his W passive, combined with passive and the armor/longsword damage, as well as the ability to ward for your mid, and Dragon control, I just think Wriggles is the total package for Voli.

if you start with the greedy build I reccomend going

W>E>E>Q, into R>E>W>Q

-Tested out Regrowth open in a normal, first clear actually higher on life than with vamp, went E>W>E>Q open and I was able to buy boots1 and finish philo on first back. However unlike vamp open in which you sit at 100% hp while clearing from here on out, with this build I was constantly sitting at 50-75% while clearing, I went Philo > HoG and finally bought a 2nd regrowth for my eventual warmogs which finally kept me topped off at all times. I transitioned into the full tank build mentioned in the item portion of this guilde, which while hilarious 366 hp5 w/Baron it re-enforced my feelings towards the build vs. my standard build, that being said Regrowth open into wriggles, has a lot of potential with a slightly later power curve than vamp open, but it will push back your gank potential a little more.

on a final note before moving on from skills, if at any point you feel like either your lanes are too far behind, or too far ahead, or just playing to aggressive to gank for. swap W and E, W will benefit you personally more in the long run than E.

Core
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I actually consider boots2 to be a core item on junglers because of the importance of movement speed. you could make an argument to get phage which will be talked about in the next segment, before boots2 but I disagree. obvious order is to get your gp10s rolling as soon as possible after wriggles, I prefer philo first as it will allow you to give 2nd blue without seeing as much of a dip in your clear speed. Finish up your core with either Merc's or Tabi.

What Next:

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pretty self explanitory. more damage, more stick, and health for tankiness and his W. basically more of everything Voli benefits from including some double dip.

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The order of these two items is more nebulous both are very good for Volibear but which will benefit you more at the time is very game dependant, if you are ganking a lot or fed shurelya's can exasterbate that fact. If you need the MR Wits can be strong. Sometimes if I'm feeling greedy I'll go Bow > Reverie > Wits for maximum personal benefit.

Why wits end? I think it's important to touch on
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as an alternative to Wit's end here. if you go Philo opening and skip wriggles, this might be a better option or if the other team is double ap and are doing good/well in lane. Wits scales better with his w and life steal which is why I consider it the standard build but this is an option if you want to go the regen route, and opens up the door to a warmogs where wriggle's would have been. This is a very strong build, but I feel it is situational mainly because volibear is not a true tank, I mean to say he has to create a reason for the other team to focus him in teamfights because he has no hard cc or taunt. For that reason I think the damage you get out of W passive + Wits+ Ultimate is more useful than the extra longevity this build would give, thats not to say it isn't useful and thats why I bring it up, but again, you give the other team the option to ignore you with this build in my opinion.

My Standard Final Item Build
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When you get Mallet and Randuin's is really up to you, like with all things Volibear it can be volatile you aren't building any armor after wriggles until randuin's so you cercumstances might dictate you have to build it much earlier than you would like to. despite the fact that it brings the least personal benefit to clear speed and kill potential. You will be getting plenty of health so you can usually get away with it.

Frozen mallet is nice because it alllows you to hit confirm your q with e, because frozen mallet Volibear is a one touch kill, Frozen mallet means a fight to the death, which because of Voli's strong duels is almost always a good thing for him.

Lastly I'd like to touch on:
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I'm not a huge fan of Oracle's on Volibear, but it definitely not out of the question. he definitely is tanky enough, and he definitely has the gank potential to benefit from removing wards from the map, but I feel Volibear's item scaling makes it a really hard pill to swallow. that combined with his ability to not give a shit under towers with his passive available, sometimes Oracle's can remove that killer instinct. Never a bad choice, but if you do buy it, you can't play like a pussy because you have it or you will be a terrible Volibear.

I'm not going to delve too deep into jungle playstyle, I'm actually not even a jungle main but when my team needs a jungler I like to break out the Volibear from time to time, because I think the lack of familiarity the community has with the character hides my inexperience as a jungler, by allowing me to take advantage of things they don't know I can do.

If you want to know more about jungleing in general I begrudingly reccomend T_D's Jungle guide:
Two_Down Jungle guide.

ty to Mogwai used your Panth thread as a template
ty to anyone who's ever edited the wiki, used it for ratios and exact damage numbers.

WIP

Jungle Guidelines by Slusher and Requizen

Intoduction by Requizen
Let’s talk about roles for a second. Melee characters can have a few roles. They can be heavy damage dealers like Talon or Akali. You can be an unkillable tank that disrupts and supports like Shen or Nautilus. Or you can be somewhere in between, a tanky sonovabitch who also happens to do a respectable amount of damage, like Olaf or Darius.

I feel that Volibear fits in the latter. Thanks to your good AS from W’s passive, your bite execute, and your ult, you will end up doing both a good amount of single target burst and decent sustained to both your target and the nearby enemies. With a couple health and resistance items and perhaps a single AS item, you become pretty tanky and are still threatening enough to scare a squishy AD or Mage.

However, you need to know your limits. You do not have an instant gap closer like Jax or Irelia, and you can’t ignore CC like Olaf. So sometimes diving straight to the back as the first initiate on your team means you get CC’d and locked down before you reach that target. You don’t have a lot of front-loaded burst, so you can’t expect to go in and kill something instantly, you need to stick to your target as long as possible. And finally, your escape is minimal and has the same mobility and CC issues as your initiate, so a lot of times when you’re in, you’re in.

You aren’t a hyper carry like Jax or Irelia, you aren’t an unkillable wall like Singed or Shen. You’re somewhere in between, and it makes you very strong as long as you recognize your downfalls and play to your advantages.

Abilities:

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Passive - Chosen of the storm: When Volibear's health hits 30% or lower of his maximum health, Volibear heals himself for 30% of his health over the next 6 seconds. Chosen of the Storm has a 120 second cooldown.

This is a very effective skill for a couple of reasons. It can be deceptive in trades early game, it also if available, makes tower diving for a kill possible at very low levels, because of his passive it is very hard to 1v1 Voli at low levels with it not on cd.
internal cd starts when the regen begins not ends. if it comes off of cd when Volibear is below 30% it will not trigger unless he takes further damage. The cd does not benefit from cdr.
Scales off of Voli’s max HP so it synergises well with HP items, most notably Visage which gives HP and better self heals (more on this later.)

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Q- Rolling Thunder: Volibear gains a 15% movement speed increase for 4 seconds, if you are chasing an enemy champion the speed increases to 45%. His next auto attack will then deal bonus damage and flip the opponent behind him similar to singed.

CD: 12/11/10/9/8
Mana: 40
Range: 300
Bonus damage: 30/60/90/120/150

This is Voli's gank tool both as a jungler and for gank support Voli, usually leveled last because of the far higher damage increase on w and the slow utility on e. In combination with the slow on his E, it creates very high % gank sucsess if the q is hit.
The speed boost does require vision so if you are ganking a side lane and they run into the brush you will drop to 15% move speed, try to maintain vision if possible

you can use e while the dash is active to ensure that you land the q, for obvious reasons e second is superior but don't get stingy and let them get away for free, if you need to e to catch them, do it. After Phage/Frozen mallet this becomes more of a no brainer.
It’s important to remember that not only is this an attack reset but it will do the bonus damage to towers as well as provide an extra stack of frenzy to quickly get you up to 3, if at all possible always try to get to your opponent, BEFORE using this ability, but in a lot of cases it won’t be feasible, above all, don’t get greedy, if you can’t clutch it, don’t clutch it.
The Dash speed lasts for the full 4 seconds even if you have used the flip, keep this in mind for escapes, but also keep in mind that the bonus movement speed is far smaller when moving away from opponents

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W - Frenzy: (Passive) Volibear gains bonus attack speed after an auto attack. This bonus stacks up to 3 times and stays active for 4 seconds.
(Active): If Volibear has 3 stacks of the passive he can use the active, although it does not consume the passive. The active is a bite doing damage based on Volibear's bonus health and the missing health of his opponent(1% increased damage for every 1% of missing health), this combined with it's 18 sec non scaling cd, makes it best used as an execute if possible.

Physical Damage: 80/125/170/215/260 (+15% of bonus health)
CD:18
Mana: 35
Range: 400

This is Volibears most damaging ability any way you slice it, the attack speed bonus is substantial even if the active didn't exist and the active is amazing for kill stea.. Securing.
This is similar to what I touched on with Q, if at all possible use the active try to hold on to it as long as possible without waiting to long as it is an execute mechanic and does substantially more damage than if used up front. The CD does not scale with rank so you will most likely not get to use it twice in the vast majority of teamfights, make it count.
Because the damage from this ability scales with health Volibear has become quite a bit stronger with the season 3 health changes this and his passive easily make health THE priority stat on Volibear.

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Jungle Volibear
Summoner Skills: Flash/ghost + Smite. Not much to say about smite you don't really have a choice so I'll touch on the second summoner. Mobility summoners are best for ganking on Volibear, between his q and his e, movement is going to do you more favors than exhaust. Personally I've been falling in love with ghost lately on a lot of melee champions and Volibear is no exception, but a definite argument can be made for flash.
I would strongly take opponent team comp into consideration, thinks like Jarvan/Anivia/Janna/Lulu can make flash highly advantageous. I also like flash as an advanced technique, with enough experience playing volibear you can use flash to aim your toss, flash flip away from ad I’ve used countless times as well as the more situational flash flip into nunu ult (only once but it was lol)

Masteries: 9/21/0 (10% arp) at the end of season 3 I was using Magic pen (which I think is stated earlier in this thread) I’ve gone back to armor pen mostly because of the new calculations, and your best burst (W) being Physical, I also felt that having to spend 4 points in ap was a stealth nerf to taking this talent on ad champions.

Runes:
Marks: Armor Penetration/Attack speed
Seals: Flat Armor
Glyphs: Scaling MRes
Quints: Movespeed.

Nothing to controvercial here, movespeed quints I think benefit a jungler in almost every way. clearspeed and gank potential are both increased by having them, and movement quints compared to other stats and the items that provide them just have such a huge opportunity cost advantage over say health or ad quints.
I’ve started using attack speed reds will provide you with a better first clear of the jungle, as well as more AoE damage in team fights, if you want to get that situational, Arp reds are most likely still superior for lvl2 ganking and not that much worse than aspd reds once you have built up a couple of levels, up to you.
Split pen reds sound sick, but I don’t have them (the ip on those is “you gotta be kidding me” territory) but if I get them I will update the guide I can promise you.

x3
You have three basic options on Volibear here are some questions you want to ask yourself
Purple side: Top matchup, does my team have a snowball top? does opposing top have low mobility lvl2 or Blue side the same thing for the bottom matchup, if you think you can do it, start boots3 and do wraith>red>gank. if it is top you can do golems, but not bottom, it is imperative you get there before wards or you potentially put yourself way behind. Mid is also an option regardless of side volibears lvl2 ganks are extremely strong, however most cases you just get a flash mid this early, unless your mid has strong gank support lvl2.
This option is significantly riskier in season 3 than it was in season 2, if the gank fails you will might find yourself not being able to do blue before backing , I don’t like to do it as much (it was my standard open if top was gankable in s2) but it’s worth mentioning because few can do it better than Voli, it’s still a solid reason for choosing him.

For lvl2 gank, E > Q, followed by E>Q>W>E, into R>E>W>Q

Then you have the well rounded option, and the greedy option.

x2
or

x5

the two other opens possible are the “standard” machete open and the double bead 3 pot open

double bead open replaces the rejuv pot open from s2, you have a lot of options here, you can go into a lot of things, philo, belt buckle and locket all use a bead, this is a good start if you don’t want to buy a machete item

I imagine Philo first would put you in a similar situation only slightly later in the game, however now we are talking very mediocre gank potential on a character with pretty strong ganks, his dash is the same, his throw is the same and his slow is the same, but I personally prefer the massive clearspeed boost from Madreds with his W passive. Wriggles combined with passive and the armor/longsword damage, as well as the ability to ward for your mid, and Dragon control, I just think Wriggles is the total package for Voli.

For those of you that remember my season 2 guide I no longer recommend vamp scepter as you cannot buy it level 1 for that reason I no longer recommend skilling W level 1 for farm opens.
E>W>E>Q, into R>E>W>Q

Items
Core
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This is my open in pretty much every game I play on every wriggles(Claw) jungler, it’s very flexable with the exception of I guess buckle which is a commitment to Aegis. The reason I include buckle is because in most cases I’m not looking to complete wriggles early and this is my sustain. I feel that shoes, especially on a jungler who’s gapcloser is speed based are essential. And lastly kindlegem is just a godlike item on Volibear, literally every item it builds into is useful in some ways on him, not to mention because his E and W do not scale with rank, 10% cdr translates to over 1 second on EVERY ability on Q last builds.

A look at spirit stone with Requizen
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I understand that the W AS boost synergizes with the Wriggle's/Razor proc for good single target clearing, but something that only affects your jungle clear (which doesn't really matter past like 10 minutes once you have enough health for W to crush jungle creeps and enough ranks in E to clear the little ones) doesn't feel nearly as useful as getting Health, Armor, and Tenacity on one item. The Tenacity means you don't have to get Merc's, and, while I understand hesitation at getting Swifities[Editor's note: his argument here you can apply to all boots really, even Tabi which I prefer], the slow reduction + tenecity really helps to solve Voli's giant problem of being kited super easily, and you finish both of those together super early. I could see not getting Swiftness if you went Wriggle's, but if you have SotAG, I can't really see the reason not to.

Boot choices
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Ninja Tabi
Personally these are my favorite shoes, the unique passive makes these one of the most powerful damage reduction items in the game, combine that with the fact that they are the cheapest shoes in the game, it makes it pretty hard to argue.

Boots of Mobility
I can't say much here I hate mobiles but a lot of people (Including pros) have a lot of success with mobiles so they are here, but I feel like all 3 other options are better on Volibear

Boots of Swiftness
I think these are the route to go on Voli in the situation you would go mobiles on other junglers, you get the extra speed when in combat, combined with the slow reduction, it make that bear on all fours a lot more dangerous. on teams with no snares, and mostly slows, these are arguably better than mercs

Merc treads
Let's face it Merc treads are the least interesting shoe, if all other tenacity items weren't super expensive and or role specific, you would never see these bad boys. That said, those things are true and Tenacity can be very important in certain match-ups as melee (or anyone really) so you will need these in some games.

The Rest of the options...

Health
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The cost nerf kinda hurt this as a jungle item a bit, but on a character that scales well off of health, while the game is currently very rewarding to health items, it's still really really good. There is basically no teamcomp/situation when this item isn't worth a look.
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This item is really good on Voli it has a lot of what he needs, health, some damage and that sticking power for throwing down the damage once w is stacked, I don't build this item nearly as often as I did in season 2, but it is still a reasonable purchase on Voli

I actually put this item here just to take a shit on it. I don't like sunfire cape on champions who don't build magic pen, and Voli has other options for AoE clear and Wave pushing. If you want to split push you chose the wrong champion, the only real benefit of this item is your chain vest and your giants belt only take up 1 slot, please just don't make this.
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This item is really good health, armor, CDR and a great active, this is my go to first full item if I am not in immediate need of MR when combined with your passive it makes your eHP extremely deceptive.

Armor Options

Both of these items are really good on Volibear, at first glance it might look like Randuin's is the obvious choice because it has health. While in most cases this is true I still think it's worth taking the hit and getting Frozen heart if your team isn't otherwise building one.
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Really like the only bad thing about this item, is slot effeciency at 475g this item is a absolute beast and a really good bridge to late game if you want to put off blowing dough on armor until late game.

MR Options

This item is pretty good on Voli but at the same time it has just a hint of noob bait to it. at first blush it looks really sick when combined with his passive but in reality you are paying ~672g for a 6% max health heal every 2 min, still at 50 mr, 200 health and 15% cdr it's worth a look if your team is flush on aegi. (plural for aegis)
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imo the best mr item for Voli, even if the support is building one, I feel like it's still a great item for the double stack, it would pretty much take top and support having one for me not to build aegis, it's just a great item all around.
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In Season 2 I built this item almost every game on voli but in s3 it feels like a distant 3rd to the other two, it's worth mentioning because it does provide a decent damage increase without having to build a full on offensive item, if zephyr didn't exist I might still make it from time to time, but I'd rather have a stinger and one of the other two mr options than this item.

Other options
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I love this item on Voli, it has attack speed to boost his ult damage, CDR, Movespeed and Tenacity the only drawback is it has a beastly cost. Much like Requizen's love for the ability to buy boots that are not merc treds are also a huge bonus to this item.

Not something I would build every game but it is a useful item, the active can be good for catching people out as well as making Voli into a strong initiator if your team needs him to be and as always the inclusion of cdr and health is always a plus.
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This item is in a bad spot right now, it's an option if you go the 0 jungle item route as it is a good source of sustain that doubles as an aura item, but very situational.

Lets Invade Iraq!: Items you probly don't need but fuck it, lets get some oi.. I mean turrets
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3 hits at max attackspeed = instant ramp up on w, combined with the crits and the w execute this has the possiblility of letting voli function like an assasin, because Voli has an innate slow he can use it to make sure he gets off all 3 hits (a common problem when building this item is people will just run as the active is very short) Can't say I'm a huge fan of this item on Voli but the theory is sound just keep in mind as your probable only damage item even crits won't be that impressive, and the lack of any stats whatsoever if the blade goes on cooldown makes it real unappealing on a jungle salary.
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I posted this item here to take a minor dump on it, Black Cleaver is still a decent item, and early bruta would be strong on voli, however, Voli might just be the worst brusier for applying BC stacks to the enemy team in the game. All of his AoE is magic damage, he has an attack reset but in teamfights it is best used tactically and has a long cd by attack reset standards. The only redeeming factor about BC on Voli is it has health and CDR two of our favorite stats.
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If you feel like you want to buy a pure damage item on Volibear (I don't count Zephyr as pure damage), this would be my recommended item, it's somewhat cheap, gives you good damage vs the opposing teams tanks which is good, because if you are able to get to squishys in team fights, you most likely don't need a pure damage item anyway.
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I've never made this item but I like what Requizen brings up about it, because the passive lasts "Until out of combat" Voli's passive makes him perhaps the best user of this item in the game, the item is beyond cost effective when the active is on, and it gives some great stats for him. Even pointing out what looks like the wasted stats Voli has AP scaling on his E and R. I won't likely build this anytime soon, but it is interesting in theory.
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I don't think this is a particularly good item on Voli, however there are some things to consider. Avarice blade is actually a significant source of gold in the jungle, and it gives him even more AoE damage attached to his autos in teamfights, again I' not looking to make one of these anytime soon, but there are logical reasons why picking one up would have it's uses.

Summarized thoughts on items

For the most part Requizen and I see eye to eye on the point that Volibear is a strong champion in season 3 because of the current value being placed on health, combined with him having a health scaling defensive steroid and a health scaling offensive steroid, combine that with the fact that he gets a nice chunk of free damage from his R and you have someone that can put out enough damage to force 2-3 people to focus on him despite being built almost full tank.

my ideal build
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I hesitated to include this section because I feel like it's saying fuck the whole last section just make these 6 items, but at the same time I feel like I need to at least give some suggestion and not be so nebulous. So even though I think quite a few variations of the items in the previous section are viable and in fact better in certain games here is my reasoning for choosing these 6 items if there isn't some raid boss in the game I need to tailor my build for.

-I go ninja tabi because as I said in the shoe section, I feel like they are the most cost effective boot, not only are they the cheapest but they scale with the opposing AD
-Runic Bulwark is too stupid of an item right now, it shuts down double AP, it is strong vs most AoE comps, the carrier gets enough mr to ignore all other mr items, I have a feeling I'll be rewriting this someday because it's too good not to be nerfed in the near future
-Locket more armor, cdr, a great passive, combined with bulwark AoE comps are not so scary as they once were
-Warmogs, though I generally build this item last if I get to it, I feel like I might be met with some opposition here (mabye I'm nuts) because I chose not to build randuins but really with tabi, aegis and locket the health here is better, even if W and passive didn't exist and they do so it's even better.
-Zephyr, I love this item on Volibear, it's hard to build when not fed, but it gives you a ton of damage on your ult, cdr and tenacity which is really nice on a character who's gap closer is a speed boost
-Lantern, because of his attack speed boost, claw is to good on Voli, eventually I think it's worth upgrading to lantern for the lifesteal, if the game goes super long I'd sell for wardens/randuin or even Zekes but in most cases my build is pretty expensive to begin with, slot capped is a non issue.

s3 is in it's infancy but it feels like the key to being top tier in the jungle is doing un-ignore-able damage with all tank items, and Volibear does this with strong gank presence to boot. his clear is strong thanks to the consolodation of health to the one enemy each camp and the beastlytness of the s3 razor, he's hard to counterjungle, and he can 1v1 the majority of the cast at low levels making him a threat to invade.

Good times to pick Volibear

Volibear is really good in dive comps, he also is useful in 4 protect 1 comps. he is ok-ish in AoE and strong vs AoE comps. Obviously he decimates low cc teams and squishy teams and he's really good in situations where the other team has chosen a no escape lane dominatior such as Morde, Kayle or Darius as he is able to gank early and often and has one of the most effective lvl2 ganks in the game thanks to his passive. He also synergises really well with strong engages such as Crystal Arrow and Tidal Wave(Nami)

Good things to pick vs. Volibear
[image loading]

Volibear struggles vs hard cc, and strong slows. The best way to deal with a Volibear pick is to avoid picking lane pushing champions and get a ranged slow like Lulu or Janna to help you in teamfights. Also BUILD MORELLOS this item is retardedly powerful against Volibear because his passive triggers at %30, this item is always able to negate his passive, it's arguably more annoying than qss is for malzahar

That's the guide for now [2/24] thanks for reading any input is appreciated and will be considered for addition to the OP, I hope you can find it helpful.

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

June 26 2012 23:30 GMT

Lane Volibear by Barbsq

Lane Volibear:
TLDR version:
R > W > E > Q (You need to have all 3 skills by lvl 3.)
Summoner Spells: Ignite + Ghost
Masteries: 21 defense mandatory, then pick either 9 offense or util, whichever is kinda irrelevant.
Runes: Counterspec your enemy (have lots of armor or mres or both) and then have some attackspeed runes thrown in there.
Opening: +
Final Items: [image loading]

sell for

Now the meat and potatoes

Skill leveling:
R > W > E > Q
Note: At lvl 3, you should have all 3 of your normal spells, but it's a case-by-case decision which ones to get when. Q and E are better for lvl 1 aggression, Q if you need to be the one to catch somebody, E if you're the follow-up. If you're not doing anything at lvl's 1 or 2, I usually just open W.

Maxing W first gives you greater burst potential, also, E's mana cost goes up as you level it, meaning your mana spent/dmg ratio is significantly better (on a champion) if you max W.

Optionally, maxing E first will give you stronger pushing power in situations where you're getting shoved to tower or in situations where you want to shove to tower and go all aggro in their jungle. I very rarely do this though, as W is your bread and butter damage skill for a couple of reasons.

Summoner Spells: [image loading]

is what I like most of the time. Volibear is all about sustained damage, and sustained movespeed really helps when you're a melee-range sustained damage type of person, hence ghost. Ignite is pretty much used just because it's really useful to have a strictly offensive summoner in top lane. A number of other options are ok though, like exhaust or teleport or w/e

Masteries: My personal masteries
21 defense is mandatory, The other 9 points are kinda yours to do with as you please.

Runes: Runes are pretty much as flexible as masteries. I typically just counter-spec whatever is top, whether it's an armor page, and mres page, or mixed. A couple of attackspeed runes (usually in the form of a quint or a couple reds) to finish it all off. You can also do just fine with any hp runes you'd like to use as well. Movespeed quints are probably pretty good too.

Items: Volibear's damage scales almost entirely on attackspeed. His ult is basically an extra 155 damage (at lvl 3) on up to 3 targets on every attack for 12 seconds, so it's well worth your while to get as many attacks in there as possible. This is why you want to stock up on a good amount of movespeed and attackspeed as possible, in order to get as much lightning out there as you can in that 12 seconds.

Openings: + x5, alternatively a mass of hp pots, a mana pot or 2, and mybe a ward isn't all that bad tbh. Voli has trouble in the early levels as he's almost completely melee range with limited mobility and no innate sustain outside of his passive, which you can't really rely on as a long-term sustain option. Even when i'm confident i'll roll my opponent, I still run cloth x5. Boots x4 might be doable though, but I've never tried it.

Core: + + [image loading]

Phage and omen are in there because voli absolutely has to be able to stick to people, and simply cannot without items to help him out.

Vamp scepter item is necessary in lane because you cannot rely solely on your passive to sustain properly in top lane.

Options, options, options:
[image loading]

and/or

possibly

I like wriggles. A lot. Sometimes though, I end up just rushing straight for zeke's herald first without grabbing this, though. Also, if your team is really low on cc, and you just want to be a slowing beast, going for bilgewater cutlass first can be OK too. That's pretty much the only reason it isn't core. Very good, and in some lanes, absolutely necessary to survive.

I adore herald on Volibear, it gives him a little taste of everything that he needs, HP, attackspeed, and lifesteal. I get it most games, as it is not only a nice package for voli, it's great for your AD as well.

Bilgewater is situational, to say the least. If your team is absolutely starved for cc, it can be a really good buy, but voli doesn't scale particularly well with AD, so, while it's not wasted necessarily, it's also not boosting your damage by all that much.

[image loading]

and/or

possibly

At least 1 of these is necessary, in addition to herald. Which one depends on a lot of different things. Wits is going to be the safe one, as it is an all-around strong item, and typically ends up being your primary mres item for the majority of the game. Malady is cool if you feel 0 magic dmg threat whatsoever. Additionally, malady can be bought in addition to wits if you feel minimal damage threat and can skimp on a defensive item for an offensive one.

Ionic spark is more an item for amusement's sake, as double-lightning is fucking hilarious. It seems like it would be an item tailor made for voli (attackspeed + hp + lightning = fuck yeah?), but in practice it's honestly not that great.

If you're getting fed out the ass, then you can consider bloodrazor for da big damages.

[image loading]

Voli absolutely needs to stick to people, and these items are specifically designed with that in mind. Due to voli's additional scaling off of HP (both due to his passive and his W's active) mallet is typically the better bet, not to mention voli doesn't really work well with crit.

[image loading]

Most times I go frozen heart, since both towers and ranged AD can be scary. If they have that much magic dmg tho, get FoN. Use your head, I suppose.

[image loading]

I can't remember the last time I got this on voli, but it's a solid option i suppose. It certainly has stats that he would want, and a good active (dunno what to say here really, lol ~.~)

[image loading]

To be blunt, I simply don't like either of these options. Volibear's % bonus hp on W simply isn't enough for me to want to buy these items over all of the other ones listed above. You are free to disagree, however, and while I don't necessarily endorse them, I don't condemn them either.

MindBreaker

United States574 Posts

June 26 2012 23:49 GMT

Great!!! I've been waiting for a good voli guide he is my favorite jungle! I agree with ghost instead of flash it just works so well with his q you get crazy move speed.

little fancy

Germany2504 Posts

June 27 2012 00:12 GMT

Nice job, thanks for this work!

I really like Volibear, but he has nothing that is so unique to him that he would be played because of that.

If I want a deadly support jungler, I'd take Maokai or Naut. If I want a damage dealing carry jungler, I'd prefer Mundo or Shyvana or Olaf.
He is more of an allrounder, but then I think WW is the choice to go for a balanced jungler.

It's just that he doesn't really shine with something unique and of course that next to no well-known streamer ever plays him.

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

June 27 2012 00:27 GMT

I outline how to gank at lvl2 in the guilde and you compare him to WW? d'ok.

Didn't mean to come across as a complete dick, but I just don't agree.
Volibear has initiation that does not get shut down by qss,
Volibear does signifcantly more AoE damage in a team fight,
They are both very tanky, but WW probly outlasts him.
Both have good rushdown, but Voli does not require the champion to already be on his deathbed.

I actually really like WW, but I do not like champion comparisons, this game has it's fair share or rehashed mechanics, but I just don't think WW>Voli is one of them

little fancy

Germany2504 Posts

June 27 2012 00:43 GMT

On June 27 2012 09:27 Slusher wrote:
I outline how to gank at lvl2 in the guilde and you compare him to WW? d'ok.

On top side, WW can start wraith -> red with boots, then gank top lvl 2 (which was a pretty common move after the latest WW buffs). It's obv not as strong as a bear gank but since many people still don't expect it can still be deadly.

Apart from stronger pre 6 ganks I think WW and Voli both fit into the allround jungle category (an archetype that has fallen out of favour, see my post above).

You don't have to get condescending like that. I wasn't criticizing the information you give so there is no need to be pissed.

Peace.

R04R

United States1631 Posts

June 27 2012 00:47 GMT

His QWE all synergize to catch someone and make sure they don't live to tell about it. I don't think the guide places enough emphasis on how great of a ganking skill Q is. Like.. his Q repositions your opponent behind you, that's like lengthening the enemy's flee back to turret by ~500 range after animation delay and E. OP should include that it's not necessary to open your gank by pressing Q if you can intercept your opponent by just walking up to them, saving Q for after they burn an escape summoner.

Vaporized

United States1471 Posts

June 27 2012 04:33 GMT

well i was going to try the jungle build but then i saw the next post that said no well-known streamers play him so i guess ill just stick with noct or something.

anyway. i just tried the jungle build (hadnt played voli in months) and it was really fun. i went 9-3-9 and my final build was randuin, fromal, wits, boots, wriggles. shurielias. i sold the wriggles late game for bt (wasnt sure what would be good, but the bt worked out well, i got a triple in the last fight and the other team surrendered).

i used the vamp scepter opening and was a bit concerned at first, but it actually worked out exactly as you said it would.

it was sort of frustrating to play against varus, malph, lulu, veigar, akali who all have slows or stuns. they seemed to all realize that cc'ing me would be real bad (for me, not them). late game i went in after our top lane udyr and we managed to pull out the win. on the positive side voli farms like a beast, once i got wriggles i mowed down the camps.

i went with ghost this game but i think i will try flash next time. if i got slowed i could flash onto someone and use my slow/fromal to stick. ghost wasnt great when i was slowed myself.

anyway thanks for the build. im def. gonna play some more games with him.

Chexx

Korea (South)11232 Posts

June 27 2012 06:44 GMT

I enjoyed him playing as a support because you just wreck people really hard.

Gaslo

Finland951 Posts

June 27 2012 10:28 GMT

#10

Thanks guys! I really love the community here. Someone says that we need a volibear guide, and 12 hours later here it is.

I have like 5500 IP, and i think i will use them on Voli when i get the rest, just because of this guide.

I <3 u all

Vaporized

United States1471 Posts

June 30 2012 04:11 GMT

#11

after some further games, i gotta say voli really needs some kind of cc reduction to be viable.

iCanada

Canada10660 Posts

June 30 2012 05:31 GMT

#12

Wingsofdeathx plays Voli all the time, it top lane though.

Decelea

Australia92 Posts

June 30 2012 06:48 GMT

#13

First off thanks for the guide guys, I think I suggested it in general discussion, I come back in a few days and there is already a very detailed guide for both lane and jungle Volibear. Hats off to the OP.

Personally i'm a bigger fan on lane volibear, i used to play him as a jungler a lot but i never really felt i was using him to his true potential. In lane he trades very well against most melees, is strong at low health, does both physical and magic damage making him hard to itemise against, provides great gank assist and almost auto-wins lane against opponents who don't take ignite to counteract his passive. His only really big weakness in my mind is his weak match-ups against any ranged champs, i.e. teemo, kayle, or an AD top.

My playstyle is to generally play passive until level 3 where i have one point in Q W and E each. Then I try to trade as much as possible. Fling the opponent into minions when they try to last hit and then auto them they should back off as they are in the middle of your minions, so you slow them as they try to leave and use W at the last second to maximise damage. Then wait for W to come off cooldown and repeat. Even if they are able to retaliate with some damage of their own, Volibear should still come out on top because if both of you are at low health you will be the stronger hero thanks to your passive and the extra damage on W. At level 6 you can often go for the kill (or earlier if they're playing poorly) and if not i use thunder claws to push the lane quickly so i can go buy. Always max W unless they do something odd such as rush chain vest, in which case it MAY be better to max E, but a maxed W is just so strong at level 9 i've only done this once or twice.

In terms of item builds i've always used to start boots or cloth, then go into philo + HoG then straight to Wit's End. I realise the problems with this, you have no real lane sustain and it's probably only something you can get away with below 1400 elo. I've also always tended to go phage-less but everyone else seems to suggest it. I've tried it a couple of times but i'm not quite sold yet. I also prefer flash over ghost, simply because flash > fling is really strong in team fights although admittedly i haven't experimented with ghost yet. Other than that i don't really disagree with anything Barbsq suggests, a very strong guide all around.

On June 30 2012 14:31 iCanada wrote:
Wingsofdeathx plays Voli all the time, it top lane though.

I haven't watched many streams lately, does he tend to play him mainly as a counter to certain champs? Regardless i'm glad to hear a high level streamer plays a lot of Voli, I'll have to watch Wingsofdeathx stream more often and hopefully he will make a belated appearance in competitive play soon.

iCanada

Canada10660 Posts

June 30 2012 07:15 GMT

#14

Volibear just strong in general, imo.

I've seen him be successful against like any champion. He wrecks melee champions so hard with good creep control. If Voli pushes the lane he has stupidly good kill potential on everyone at two; picture this, you have two creep waves (10~ creeps) and they only have like 3~ creeps. Other top laner goes to last hit, you auto them then press Q to auto them twice and flip them into the middle of your creeps.... other top laner has two choices 1) get chunked for free by a voli just beating on him with autos and W, or 2) trade back with 10 creeps on Volibears team.

It sounds kinda cheesy, but the only other option (assuming your support loves you and warded your lane/wraiths) is for the other top to push as hard as volibear is, in which case you can get really easy ganks if you buy pinks and counter-ward. Its the same way that singed doesn't just get rolled in every lane, only difference is that Volibear has a slightly harder time pushing the lane in exchange for the fact that he gets like a stupid amount of kill potential and thus snowballs stupidly hard.

Worst come to worst, other top laner successfully survives and is able to farm at tower while you go back and get an item advantage which you use to either zone him indefinitely or kill him with Voli's stupid kill potential. Best case scenario, you get First blood or force him back, making him lose a huge amount of creeps/experience to tower to the point that you just win because you are 2 levels higher and have better stats/skills (and who knows, maybe kill monies too!).

Some of the matchups against ranged champions are kinda rough (Nid, Kayle, Teemo) but Voli's gank assist so strong that you can win these lanes if your jungler gives you an advantage because you have an absurd amount of kill potential and your passive allows you to play rather aggressive (especially against these ranged champs as they dont really have much burst damage) which allows you to snowball pretty hard.

Other thing about Voli is that he scales really well into the late game with little offensive items... just a wits and then like straight HP/tank stats and he is a really strong bruiser with a solid initiate as well.

I might be a touch biased, but I think that Volibear is really really really strong and he should be played more. I rmeember hearing Dyrus say he wanted to play more somewhere, but I dont really recall where.

Vaporized

United States1471 Posts

June 30 2012 16:04 GMT

#15

too clarify i was jungling voli. havent actually tried him top lane.

barbsq

United States5348 Posts

June 30 2012 16:44 GMT

#16

On June 30 2012 16:15 iCanada wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +

volibear is really easy to gank in top lane, doubly so if you're shoving to tower like that. I don't know how you don't just get camped top lane.

@Sickshakes: Thing about philo+hog on top lane voli is that I just don't think that philo is necessary on volibear. The mana regen is very much wasted after abt lvl 6ish or so. I also don't find reverie to be a must buy on voli either (although I suppose that's debatable), which makes philo even less attractive.

RE phage: I get phage because voli desperately needs to stick to people to do damage, his range is very limited, and therefore needs to be constantly in somebody's face, and phage helps facilitate that. If you're running philo+hog into reverie + omen, then you're probably not running into this problem as much, as you already have 2 quite good sticking items in addition to voli's kit, making phage a bit more optional. Basically, I run phage (into mallet) instead of reverie as a sticking tool. Additionally, this is also the reasoning behind ghost vs flash.

also glad u liked the guide. I want to expand a bit more on lane interactions and how to really exploit voli's strengths in lane, but I want to play some more games to A) refresh my voli experience, and B) accumulate more and better experience to condense it into words. Unfortunately my regular computer is away for repairs, so I won't get to play any LoL for the next couple of weeks, so that will have to wait :[

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

June 30 2012 17:00 GMT

#17

I've played lane Voli maybe once or twice, but I don't see how he would be easy to gank. the move speed bonus on q is 4 seconds regardless of when you fling, walk towards the jungler, E> Q him toward his own tower and just keep running.

am I missing something? I mean yea you will die sometimes but thats top lane if you get caught with the jungler behind you.

also like barbsq said, Phage is mainly just to ensure 3 stacks of W before they get away, very important, tho in lane you can charge on minions first, when the lane phase ends you need to hit someone 3 times to realize Voli's true damage potential.

Simberto

Germany11458 Posts

June 30 2012 17:51 GMT

#18

The movespeed bonus ends as soon as you fling someone.

Slusher

United States19143 Posts

June 30 2012 19:41 GMT

#19

just checked in game to make sure I wasn't wrong, fling and movement speed independant. It might feel like you lose it because you will no longer be moving towards a champion so it will only be 15% but you do not lose the speed. You can see clearly that you still have the buff, also if you turn and move back towards the champion you will again be going mach 5.

Simberto

Germany11458 Posts

June 30 2012 19:51 GMT

#20

You are correct, i was fooled by the animation. When you fling someone, you stop running on all fours, but apparently you indeed still run faster.

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