Volibear Build Guide : Iorek Byrnison: A Rys Aberdeen Guide

Iorek Byrnison: Your Inexhaustible Ranked Companion

HEY GUYS THIS GUIDE IS IN DANGER OF BECOMING EXPIRED. I NO LONGER HAVE TIME FOR UPDATES SO IF YOU ENJOYED THE GUIDE AND WOULD LIKE TO SEE YOUR KNOWLEDGE FEATURED LEAVE YOUR SUGGESTIONS IN THE COMMENT SECTION AND I WILL GO THROUGH THEM WEEKLY TO MAKE VALID UPDATES. THANK YOU AND ENJOY!

All credits to JhoiJhoi for the awesome banner.

Introduction

// Hey guy’s this is R33s3th3b3ast back for another guide. If you dont remember me I wrote a Fizz guide two weeks ago. I like bubble baths, long walks on the beach and giggle water. Anyway, enough about me how about you? Oops I get lonely sometimes... Without further ado I’m proud to present my ranked jungle build for volibear. A very viable bear.

// I do build him as an Atmog tank , but I am working on an AP build as well.

//His damage and survivability is maxed out with the items I advise however this is a personal play style and hasn't been determind by a computer so feel free to change it a bit :) Course I will include situational items.

This build will offer:

A 1400 Elo player’s advice on ranked play
An aesthetically pleasing guide
Some good in-depth information
A Jungle and Lane Build

Special thanks to:

Apotheosis - For the warding section, Check out Your Tryndamere Resource, by Apotheosis!
JhoiJhoi - For the line dividers, and awesome banner, Check out her Guide to Making Guides
Pink Munn - For help with the calculations :)
Karano77 - For more help with calculations :P

A Note about Synergy: Why this Build Works

EDIT: Ok I realize the calculations are wrong. It's supposed to be based off bonus health, not max. W.e. I cant really be bothered to change it considering people probably wont appreciate it anyway and I have a lot of school work to do.

Here is why this build works so well. It focuses on the synergy of rolling thunder , frenzy , chosen of the storm , Warmog's and Atma's There is no other atmog tank as good as volibear This is why. Also note all calculations dont even take into account runes and masteries. This is base and item health and damage.

MID GAME
Base health lvl 14 = 1644 Hp
Fully Charged = 920 + 450 Hp
This core part of your build leaves you at 3014 health.
Now at this point your buying which turns 2% into attack damage.
3014*0.02= 60 Bonus AD

Now Frenzy Deals 290 + 671 = 961 Dmg
Now Rolling Thunder Deals [(3.3*16) + 54] + 60 + 23 + 125 = 308 Dmg
My gawd. Mid Game at lvl 14 you are dealing 1269 on JUST two of your abilities. You have 3k health at this point and you can regen 30% of that. Meaning you have 3900 effective health.
Note for : 0.30 * 1.15 = 34.5% of max hp from passive

LATE GAME
Base health lvl 18 = 1988 Hp
Fully Charged = 920 + 450 Hp
= 700 Hp
This core part of your build leaves you at 4058 health.
Now at this point your buying atma's which turns 2% into attack damage.
4085*0.02= 81 Bonus AD

Now Deals 290 + 810 = 1100 Dmg
Now Deals [(3.3*18) + 54] + 60 + 23 + 125 + 20 = 362 Dmg
Late Game at lvl 18 you are dealing 1520 your two abilities. You have 4k health at this point with 5200 effective health.
Will heal for 0.35% of max hp/sec. That is 4000*0.035= 70hp/5

You also have around 200 MR with 30% CC reduction and a cleanse for ignite. GG.

Pros/Cons

Pros / Cons

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Pros

+ Extremely overpowered at the moment
+ Great Offtank
+ Passive that would make Mundo Cry
+ Abilities and scale with health
+ Atmogs will increase your health and damage to the point of insanity
+ Has good CC and AoE to top it all off
+ Did I say OP?

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Cons

- Bad AP ratios, however working on a build for AP anyway
- Weak escape mechs
- Low health and damage early game
- Weak sustain means jungle is hard without proper masteries
- Has an unhealthy obsession with Annie
- PEDOBEAR :)

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// While your reading you may realize is a lot like Nasus or Olaf and scales extremely well into the late game while being somewhat weak early game. What you need to realize is that scales very well off health and AD. By building Warmong’s warmong’s armor you will be almost indestructible but after Atma’s atma’s impaler your damage will skyrocket.

// You can see that many cons that I listed do not really apply to late game. The fact is hes OP right now. No way around it. And this is due to the build I am showing you - the ability and item synergy is simply ridiculous.

Base Stats

Damage 54 (+3.3 / per level)
Health 440 (+86 / per level)
Mana 220 (+30 / per level)
Move Speed 320
Armor 14 (+3.5 / per level)
Spell Block 30 (+1.25 / per level)
Health Regen 1.4 (+0.13 / per level)
Mana Regen 1.4 (+0.13 / per level)

Summoner Spells

Recommended Summoner Spells

// These summoner spells should be your common picks because I think that they fit Volibear best. This is just my opinion and thus I also have a list of viable summoner spells that I will also explain to you after I explain to you what the recommended summoner spells are and why they should be common picks.

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Heal: Heal is a great spell for Volibear. Honestly I wouldn’t take this spell on any other champ but once again, Riot overlooked the synergy between all the summoner spells and items with Volibear. The reason this spell is so amazing is because of Volibear’s passive because most of the time by the time the passive kicks in, Volibear will be close to death and will be nuked down before he can heal his health back. WIth this spell, as soon as Volibear falls below 30% health this will bring him back up high enough to avoid dying and heal for the full amount of the passive (30%). This is an invaluable tanking technique as well as baiting method. It will be very difficult for people to judge your health and eventually you wont be focused at all.

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Smite: This spell is no longer mandatory with the new jungle however it prevents the enemy from stealing your buffs/dragon/baron and it speeds up your jungling a lot. Generally useful too because it helps to steal enemy buffs and clear their jungle quickly as well.

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Cleanse: The fact is not many people realize but if you play a ranked game with a regen champ or heal champ like volibear you will end up ignite-locked the whole match. While this dosen't happen often in normal games it always does in ranked and no that cleanse can rid you of ignite it is a viable spell on volibear in ranked games where you want to actually use your passive.

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Viable Summoner Spells

// This is a list of summoner spells which I find viable on Volibear, however I do not find myself using them very often.

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Ghost: This is a very useful spell on really any champ in general. What is good about using it on Volibear you can catch any enemy and CC/Finish them off for your team. Also can be used to escape sketchy situations and keep you alive while your passive kicks in. Honestly my preference is definitely heal. It will keep you alive much longer and more consistently than ghost, also you already have a build in ghost on your fling that you can use to catch people. Heal also gives you an element of surprise and will support your team.

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Exhaust: This spell will save peoples lives and win ganks. It may save you or it may save a teammate but it really comes in handy. It lowers damage output and Movement speed, which helps you to solo an enemy, or keep your team safe during a teamfight. It will also give some good CC during ganks. The fact that this ability can only target one enemy and only allows you to neutralize a target for 2 seconds, however, seems somewhat silly. In a 1v1 situation you should be winning without exhaust late game and if you wish to support your team, you can save them with your fling - or heal Also you have a decent amount of CC early game for ganks so it shouldnt be too much of an issue.

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Flash: This spell is great for ganking and escaping. If you want to pull a clutch flash initiation you can snowball teamfights pretty quick. Also activating once your passive kicks in is an instant escape but also allows you to come back into the teamfight on your own terms you wish it. The problem with this spell is mostly the insane CD which will never end. Also you can use heal to keep you alive and fight longer - while supporting your team. Also Volibear isnt the greatest initiator in the first place so initiating would better be left to a true tank with better CC e.g. Alistar

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Surge: This spell is amazing. With the easier jungle route you can switch this for smite However from experience, I advise only ganking if you have 21 points in defence Otherwise you will be too low all game. This spell has a relatively low CD and will be useful all game. It offers early game jungle speed, ganking potential and synergizes amazingly with your ultimate late game The only thing about this spell is it cannot be used defensively e.g. cannot replace heal or ghost or flash and also cannot be used to finish buffs. In ranked games smite is a necessity for dragon and baron. If your in normal though this is a great spell.

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Recommended Summoner Spell Combinations

Jungle/Lane True tank: and
Use your heal to sustain the jungle.

Jungle Offtank Support: and
Basic role. Use your smite to get buffs and heal during fights.

Jungle Offtank DPS: and
This will allow you to enter the fray without getting ignited so you can heal.

DPS: and
If you don't jungle and want to go DPS.

Offtank DPS and
Best if your going into lane. Good spells for your team and yourself.

Masteries

I take 21 points indefence and 9 in utility for a few important reasons. The early game damage from offensive masteries and 6% bonus on low health targets is bad on volibear. The fact is that volibear is pretty weak early game and should not be trying to kill enemy champions in an aggresive fashion. Gank and work with your teammates. Dont be a solo hero. The 6 % bonus on low health targets is not as beneficial as juggernaut because you can activate your frenzy stacks to finish off a target or just chase them down with your fling

Defense

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Summoner's Resolve : Will improve your early game gold farm as well as greatly increasing the amount of health you heal (15%). This mastery is mandatory almost regardless of circumstances.
Hardiness : This will be useful all game. Whether saving tons of damage in the jungle or giving you the advantage on AD carries late game its a generally useful mastery.
Durability : With Volibear's health scaling you should be counting on getting into late game with warmong's warmong's armor and atma's This mastery grants ton's of late game health that will synergize with your build and abilities
Veteran's Scars : They buffed this mastery to be one of the best masteries in the defense tree, it offers 40 health for just 1 single point.
Indomitable : Offers survivability in jungle and is a generally useful mastery.
Initiator : Volibear lacks gap-closers other than his fling. He is also painfully slow. This will help him close the gap between him and his enemy for kills or initiation.
Tough Skin: A jungle mastery. With little sustain in the jungle you are going to need all the damage reduction you can get.
Bladed Armor: Great mastery. It will deal so much damage in the jungle it really ridiculous. Combined with all your damage reduction masteries the minions will practically kill themselves. It speeds up your jungle almost 20% as well.
Juggernaut : Absolutely amazing on Volibear . With around 4000 health late game 3% of that is 120 bonus health. Not so great but the 10% CC reduction stacks with mercury's treads to give 20% CC reduction. You can now tank and initiate like no other.

EDIT: Thanks for Karano77 for the correction. (10% CCr) and (35% CCr) lead to exactly 0.415% crowdcontrol reduction, as it's not calculated additive, but multiplicative ( 1-(1-.35)*(1-.1) in this case)

Utility

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Good Hands : Reduced death time, as an offtank this is less useful but if you are true tanking, chances are you will die. I mean who has 0 deaths in a match? Generally useful mastery.
Improved Recall : Awesome, 1 second less casting time on recall? Lifesaver when robbing enemy red buff.
Swiftness : Increased movement speed is pretty standard. Your a big a***ed bear who moves and hits like a truck. This will offset the difference in speed between you and your enemy.
Runic Affinity : This is actually why I go utility. Simply a must for junglers. There is no point in letting you take the buffs if your just going to lose them as fast as your teammates really.

Alternate Masteries

Offence

Masteries

If your willing to sacrifice the improved buff duration you may like to take some extra points inoffence. With very little Arpen and a weak early game, these masteries can increase your jungle speed and the 10% Arpen will come in handy late game.

Masteries

Now if your someone who just hates utility and defence and really wants to kill stuff it IS possible to go about your jungle with 21 points inoffence. So long as you take tough skin and bladed armor you will be able to pull off your normal route and completely own your ganks. The final point in offence will come in handy late game but you are definitely an offtank now.

Recommended Runes

Runes

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HP/Lvl Quints: I think these are pretty mandatory. My other choice was armour pen quints but I realized even late game they don't necessarily pay off. The fact is this build does not take much armor pen with good reason. Most damage comes from Madred's, sheen, frenzy and thunder claws. Only about half the damage comes from basic auto attacks. Having runes that give 49 health at lvl 18 will yield around 147 health. This will combine with your masteries and greatly benefit your passive and frenzy.
Flat Attack Speed Marks: These will increase your early game jungle speed to keep you over leveled. The fact is you are a late game champ and want to get to your higher lvls asap. Being able to clear the jungle faster will yield more money and give more exp. Also this will increase your damage on frenzy throughout the game.
greater seal of vitality HP/Lvl Seals: Same reasoning as the health quints. Absolutly amazing synergy with your abilities and Volibear is a late game champ anyway so health/lvl is perfect.
MR/Lvl Glyphs : As a late game champ you want the stat gain per level runes. Shielding will keep you alive late game against pesky AP carries who would otherwise nuke you before your passive could even activate.

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Alternative Runes

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Flat Attack Speed Quints : These runes are great for the early game advantage. They will definitely improve your jungle speed and ganks but they really drop off in the late game.

Flat Armor Quints : These runes increase your survivability by a high amount , this can be very useful when jungling.

NEW Move Speed Quints : These runes can increase your jungling speed and will give a nice speed bonus to an otherwise pretty slow champ. I find that having initiator and keeping above 70% health gives me enough move speed although many have suggested these and so I'm putting them in.

Flat Armor Penetration Quints greater quintessence of Desolation : These runes are great for the late game. Originally these were my first choice because in a build with relatively little ArPen your auto attacks don't hit as hard as they could. Unfortunately most of your DMG actually comes from your Madred’s, sheen and Frenzy meaning that ArPen won’t give the returns in would on a flat AD carry

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Armor Pen Marks greater mark of desolation:  I use these marks for the great late game advantage. Your damage from basic auto attacks will drop off due to the fact people will have stacked armor late game. However, though they are helpful, without the runes of attack speed, your jungle speed will drop pretty drastically.

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CDR Glyphs : These glyphs give some nice CDR on rolling thunder and ultimate. The thing is it really wont increase your DPS, survivability or really help you in a noticeable way. People often advise these but I don't think that on Volibear they are very useful. Sure they are good if you want to more of an offtank though. Drop some survivability for damage.

Flat Magic Resist Glyphs :  These glyphs give an early game advantage against AP carry's but because AP carry's aren't that strong early game I recommend MR/lvl. Being in the jungle you wont have much use for these till late game so getting flat MR seems counter-intuitive

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Flat Armor Seals : These seals will greatly benefit your early game jungle giving you insane durability. Your ganks will much safer and you will be able to jungle longer. As with most of the flat runes, however, they drop off a bit late game. While they are still useful, they wont give as much survivability as health/lvl and wont give any damage.

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Skills

Chosen of the storm: // Volibear heals rapidly for a few seconds when his health drops to a critical level. When he drops below 30% he gains 30% of his max health. This is why he can be built so successfully with flat health, to both tank and deal damage. Eventually the enemy will stop focusing you as well because during a very close duel, the enemy may thinking that hes winning when suddenly you now have more health than him and it will frustrate them to no end. This ability should not be relied on for sustain, however as it does have a rather long cooldown of 120 seconds. Though 30% of your health being regained is nice, since it has an ultimate like cooldown length, think of like Anivia's egg.

Rolling Thunder: // Volibear drops to all fours and runs faster if chasing an enemy champion. The first enemy he attacks is knocked into the air. Volibear gains 45% Movement Speed while moving toward enemy champions. Lasts 4 seconds. Volibear's next attack deals an additional 25/50/75/100/125 physical damage and flings the target behind him.

Tips and Tricks

// This can be used to mess with the enemy positioning and initiate a teamfight in your favor
// Deals a high amount of damage from level one, and is probably the best move to have when someone is fleeing at level one.
// Also, a single toss into a tower early game pretty much spells death for many champions, especially those without a blink or flash
// If you combo this with flash you can pull some very surprising intiations
// Can be used as an escape mech if an enemy is coming at volibear diagonally
// Does damage to turrets

Frenzy: // Volibear's repeated attacks grant him additional Attack Speed. Once Volibear has repeatedly attacked four times, he can perform a vicious bite on his target which deals increased damage based on the target's missing health. Passive: Volibear gains 8/11/14/17/20% Attack Speed with each attack. Stacks up to 3 times. Active: When Volibear has 3 stacks of Frenzy, he can bite an enemy to deal 90/140/190/240/290 (+ [20% of bonus Health]) physical damage, increased by 1% for each 1% health the target is missing.

Tips and Tricks

// Use this when you think you can do enough damage to kill the enemy and it will catch them off guard. Especially because of the late game damage on this ability. This spell is the reason why we will be building those health items and attack speed.
// Can be used to harass an enemy in lane by getting stacks on minions.
// The attack speed on this ability will help your farm and jungle.
// Not really much to remember, just save it against squishies and spam it against tankies.

Majestic Roar: // Volibear lets out a powerful roar that damages and slows enemies. Minions and monsters are feared as well.
Volibear deals 60/95/130/165/200 (+0.6) magic damage to nearby enemies and slow them by 30/35/40/45/50% for 3 seconds. Minions and monsters are feared as well.

Tips and Tricks

// Majestic Roar basically is an AOE slow against all kind of enemies and is very usefull too initiate or too slow your enemies down.
// Baiting your enemy into a 1v1 fight with minions can give you an advantage as well, since you can fear the minions stopping them from attacking you as well as regen from your passive.
// Combo this with rolling thunder to initiate and immediately leave a member of the enemy team at a disadvantage in positioning and health.
// Use discretion however because aside from rolling thunder (situational) this is your only real escape mech.

Thunder Claws : // Volibear channels the power of the storm causing his attacks to blast his targets with lightning that bounces to other nearby enemies. Volibear channels the storm, causing all basic attacks for 12 seconds to deal 75/115/155 (+0.3) magic damage, which chains to 4 nearby enemies. This pwns late game as you build attack speed and health. The AoE damage combined with your massive health will make you a one man initiator.

Tips and Tricks

// Use with rolling thunder or majestic roar to safely do some AoE damage.
// Otherwise wait for someone else to initiate and the enemy team wont notice if you activate this spell and will usually just leave you to auto attack doing 5 times as much damage as you normally would. Instant teamfight win.
// If there is that one champion running away from the group who is low on life, it is possible to attack an enemy close to you finish him off with the bounces like pyroclasm

Skilling Sequences

Jungle

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Being a Jungler you want too max Frenzy for jungling and Rolling Thunder for the fling. However an early point in Majestic Roar will save you damage from the minoins. It is also just for some slow when chasing. Good for ganking but you will rely more heavily on your Q.

HP / AS

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

When you decide too go for the HP/AS build you want too max Frenzy first for the base attack speed bonus. You can decide too get your Rolling Thunder or Majestic Roar whenever you want as it doesn't really matter which one you max first, they're both good spells with good CC. Level your ult Thunder Claws first.

Starting Items

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Cloth Armor: This will build into Madred's razors and will increase your survivability while jungling. Buying 5 potions with the full defensive masteries will leave you at high health your whole time throughout the jungle.
- Vampiric Sceptre Vampiric Sceptre: So originally I started saying to only jungle when buying this first. I got downvoted a lot. I realized most people dont have all the proper jungle runes and masteries making this a risky choice. You only want to take this is you know you will survive through lvl 3. Once you hit that point it becomes much easier. This will get you to wriggle's more quickly and make your sustain cheaper by making pots unnecessary by lvl 4. I always take this but I realize some feel more comfortable with Cloth Armor.
- Regrowth Pendant: This will allow you to last hit while in lane. With little sustain and health laning with volibear can quickly become a pain. Especially if you die because you are actually a pretty gold reliant champion. Regrowth will allow you to tank harass to give you last hits without having to turret hug and will build into a quick Warmong's.
- Boots of Speed: Some people who lane prefer boots and three potions. Potions do give a LOT of heath early game and so the gold really is worth the amount of health you get to regenerate. I don't personally recommend this on Volibear but it is definitely viable.

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Mid Game Items

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Warmog's Armor: This item is mandatory on Volibear. It is absolutely amazing. Not only does the max health synergize with the passive of Volibear and Frenzy, the health regen of Warmong's is nothing to be scoffed at either. As amazing as it is to propel you into the mid-game I don't recommend stacking it as I have seen in other builds because once you are tanky enough to survive, massive amounts of health will only deter the enemy from attack you. In the late game you'll want some utility and damage. Frozen mallet should be your next health item.
Atma's Impaler : Once you are tanky enough to fight enemies while dealing damage your next step should be atma's. Not only will this give armor and crit chance, it will drastically improve your damage throughout the game as you farm your Warmong's and eventually buy frozen mallet. The synergy between this item, Warmong's, Frenzy, and Rolling Thunder is the key to an OP champ and victory.
Mercury's Treads: I personally find the tenacity invaluable. It stacks with juggernaut to make you an unstoppable iniator/offtank. Against smart teams you will be targeted first by AP carries who will try to nuke you down and end your AoE damage spree. Luckily you should have these babies and maybe clease or quicksilver in order to continue dealing damage like a boss.
Spirit Visage: While I don't personally buy this because I feel it delays items to much, and I would never suggest anyone buy it before Warmog (Warmog has to be farmed) I could see it being a fine buy after Warmog because of the bonus it gives on your passive. At lvl 18 when it heals 1200 health, it ill grant you another 15% meaning you will have an effective bonus of 1380 health from Chosen of the Storm alone. The only real issue I have with it is it's a strong early game item but as Volibear it delays your real items a little more then it should and therefore isn't priority in my list of purchases.

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Late Game Items

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Frozen Mallet: As I said before as a health and AD offtank this item synergizes perfectly. It will also allow you to support your team by applying a permaslow. Toss a guy, roar at him and proceed to whack away and ta-da you got your team a free kill. Also by synergizing with Atma's it will further improve the damage on rolling thunder.
Wit's End: This is a pretty amazing item. As AP carries are the main enemy of Volibear this will shut them down while providing you with massive additional damage on Madred's and Thunder Claws. Frenzy Stacks will also cease to be a problem. I take this late game as a counter to AP carries and generally to improve my DPS after building so much health.
Quicksilver Sash: Like I said in the section about cleanse, you will need this in ranked games to stop being ignite locked the whole time. Especially if you take heal, you are going to need cleanse. Personal preference though, some might take an additional DPS item. If you are in a normal game it is not so much of a problem, or if you are fed and have way more health than anyone on your team. If you find yourself getting focused and CCed I always take a QSS.
Madred's Bloodrazor: This baby is something else. As jungler, I no longer take wriggles because the jungle is just so much easier and so I need to build my claws into something else. This will improve your attack speed to boost your Ultimate damage significantly while giving you your frenzy stacks faster. My favorite part about this is the damage based on % health. On a champ that stack's health and attack speed for damage this is the perfect way to make sure your auto attacks are hitting as hard as they should be. Not to mention you will be able to support your team no matter what the situation. If you fling a tank and lower them enough that's still a kill for your team.
Guinsoo's Rageblade: If you are going a DPS offtank lane build, you can drop the Madred's Bloodrazor or another health item for guinsoo's. It's much cheaper and gives almost as much of a boost in DPS (depending on enemy health and MR).
Trinity Force: This is viable however I find when buying frozen mallet the passive of phage is wasted and it lacks overall stat boosts. Giving less health it wont boost atma's as much and the attack speed bonus is small. Sheen gives a good DPS bonus though and I do buy this item when I go DPS offtank.
Shurelyia's Reverie: A quite strong item on Volibear because it makes use of Philosopher's Stone. Generally I'll only buy this item if I build a Philo Stone early on. I buy Philo when I have to b before I have enough for a second Doran's Shield and instead have to buy boots + one of the parts. The reason Shurelya's is so strong is because you can use the regeneration as well as the health but it also gives the movement speed active which can be used to initiate or escape and you have weak escape mechs, if any.

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Recommended Builds

Lane Tank

// If you don't lane and you are tanking you can skip the Madred's Bloodrazor in favor of more survivability items.

Jungle Tank

// As a jungle tank, you will be lacking cleanse however your sheer health should be able to compensate for this. Madred's will give you the late game advantage against champs that have stacked health and armor.

Jungle Offtank

// As a jungle offtank, getting an early bloodrazor is a good way to improve DPS on your ultimate and auto attacks. Maximizing health with atma's will improve your damage and survivability to the point any offtank would be jealous of.

DPS Offtank

// Dropping some survivability to take on the role of more a DPS. Take QSS to make sure that you are not CCed whilst dealing damage. This will maximize the damage coming from your ultimate during teamfights. Situational build, so far however it does seem to have a place in ranked.

Playing 3v3

Well,sinsorderstosknowshowstosplaysVolibears3v3syouswillsneedstosknowshows3v3sworkssperiod.

(sorry for awkward spacing, I'm using preventative measures to stop people copy pasting this section of my guide)

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Map Control:
Becausesthesmapsisssossmallsandstheresis onlys3splayers thereswillsbesa lot of ganking and therefore map control all but wins the game for you. Knowing when the enemy at the top is coming bot to gank will save your lives and probably keep the game from snowballing away from you which happens so easily on this map. Also buff control is hugely important. With less people on the team both sides will usually be evenly matched because most of the time the whole team of 3 people will stick together which isnt that hard. Having a buff will give you the extra edge which will cause you to win the first teamfight. From there on it becomes easier and easier to kill the enemy as well as control the jungle.

Getting Gold:
Here its all about First Blood, Ganks, Dragon and Turrets. Each stage offers you a way to gauge how far ahead or behind your team is. There will be practically no solo kills here because chasing is incredibly stupid with enemy teammates so close by and people usually do not overextend until they are winning. If they do they will usually just head into the jungle for a bit and take the buffs. If you miss out on one of the listed forms on acquiring money its not a big deal however remember: GOLD WINS TEAMFIGHTS. Apart from certain OP champs everyone is pretty balanced and because no one will make stupid mistakes here, remember almost all the kills will be from teamfights, even a gank can turn into a teamfight here and half the time an overextended enemy is bait for his other two teammates. This basically means you will not get kills unless you have more gold. I know this may sound silly and applies more to late game than early however it is true and this helps me express the importance of dragon and turret pushes. DO NOT GIVE THESE UP. You need turrets and dragon here to be able to win the game, its not simply about team placement and focusing the squishies, you need better stats to win here most of the time.

Laning:
Laning here is somewhat passive and somewhat not. Early laning phase should be renamed early ganking phase. Its the only time you will be able to succesfully fight the enemies in 3v2 or 3v1 without things turning into a teamfight, usually. This is the one exception to the gold rule which says you need dragon or turrets before starting a teamfight to ensure your victory. Careful during the lane phase because although you may be harassing your opponent and they are getting low if you try to finish the kills chances are they will run away and if you chase, their team will come for a free kill. This is why I mean it can sometimes be passive. This is not to say dont harass your opponent in lane, Im just saying dont be an idiot and chase them past half for the kill.

Now for Volibear.
As Volibear it is definitely preferable to take the jungle. Because of the nature of 3v3 however, it is viable to take bottom lane. Going bot with a strong CC partner like Annie or Alistar will almost definitely land you both some early kills. The lanes are tighter here and there are less minions. This means that to last hit you will have to be more aggresive. If you end up losing your lane you will be denyed completely or die very soon. Luckily it means harassing is easier because there are less minions. Catch your opponent offguard when the minions have dwindled for the best results. Make sure to watch the map. Gank whenever it is humanly possible. The early laning phase will pass quickly and make sure you do not have to go back more than once but dont worry too much about farming. At lvl 6 your team is going to want to rush dragon. Make sure it is counter warded first, as otherwise you will end up losing a teamfight. Once this is over the two teams will basically end up taking turns pusing lanes and fighting for jungle control. Getting an early sheen will definitely help you win the early jungle fights. What to do at this point is simply push lanes with a partner if possible and take jungle creeps whenever you can. You shine mid-game however because of you ultimate. This will allow you to initiate a 2v2 gank very easily or even a 1v2. Simply open with your fling and CC the target. If you find yourself in a fullout brawl - fight it. With your ultimate and CC your team should have the advantage. The trick is using your amazing mid game damage to win your ganks and push turrets. The gold from these will help you snowball into your items and continue to carry late game. If you are losing these, not to worry, simply play more defensively and continue to control dragon. Volibear is amazing in teamfights here because there will be less CC, you will get focused, you will deal damage and you have AoE damage. As a tanky bruiser with AoE damage and CC you are effectively OP on this map. Just focus on your teammates survival while dealing damage. Basically a few teamfights will decide the game here. These teamfights are usually decided by team gold, e.g dragon control and turret pushes. Make sure to use your mid game potential to gank and get your team fed. Otherwise you will drop off late game and be unable to survive or deal as much damage.

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Playing 5v5

So for a typical ranked 5v5 this is pretty much how your game is - or should go.

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1 - Take solotop or jungle. In ranked you should always be jungle or solotop. Mid will leave you low health and gold starved. You should probably be defending your blue buff or ganking theirs. If someone CV's and its clear nothing will happen just return to lane or if you think its not too dangerous, leash for your teammate. Now at lvl 1 its hard to harass with abilities because of minion aggro but take advantage of this and just farm. If your in the jungle start your route however you please. (jungle route is in the section below this one)

2-3 - As a weak early game champ try to avoid conflict. Harass with Frenzy and take your Rolling Thunder in case they start to attack you. If you immediately fling them they will start taking a lot of minion aggro and if you auto attack them it may be possible to zone them out.

4-5 -At this point, make sure you are farming and not too low health. The junglers will start to gank pretty hard at this stage. Also the gold you get here is most of what you will be using on your first trip B so make your time worth it. See if you cant call in a coordinated gank with your jungler. Otherwise just keep farming and dont die. If you are jungling at this point its time to gank. Make sure to check lanes if someone is low health and go help. Otherwise if someone is asking you to gank because there is a good opportunity, change your jungle to the direction of their lane.

6 - Yes you made it! Now you can start your first trip back. If you mess up finishing your gank no matter really. Just means that on your trip back, you will have less gold. At this point you may want to help out the other lanes a bit or check the jungle for buffs. Stealing the enemy jungler's red or blue would be ideal at this point. Dragon too.

7-8 - This point should be some free farm if your opponent is dead. Otherwise make the best with what you have. Jungle control is important here as are ganks. You are going to want to start roaming. With no sustain you will have to B soon. Gank as much as possible though. Rolling thunder is a gift from the god of ganks. Combine with your roar to ensure your teammates a kill. Whichever lane you gank eventually dragon will be killed and maybe a teamfight will break out. Read my other sections for advice during these scenarios. Between jungle control and ganking try to farm. Just level and get gold. From here on out its all about teamfights really. Showtime baby.

8-14 - By this point you should have at least half of your core build. The fun really starts now. Try as hard as you can to initiate onto an enemy and if a teamfight breaks out use your ulti. There is really no stopping the volitrain now as you should be almost indestructible with high damage and be a frustrating target with your passive and heal.

15 - 18 - Now you have your DPS items take jungle buffs and stick with your team until the tank initiates. Q onto the nearest squishy. The section on teamfighting will explain more on what to do here but basically you kill the enemy carries, carry your team to an ace and proceed to win.

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Jungle Route 5v5

In 5v5

Start at the wolves camp. Fear them and kill them.

Make your way to the blue golem. You may want to activate a health potion early. Make sure you have smite ready. Focus the blue buff and smite him around half health. Hit lvl 2.

Now make your way to the wraith camp and focus the blue one first. Use majestic roar to reduce the damage. Finish the blue wraith with frenzy.

Head back to the wolf camp. Hit lvl 3.

Smite should be up or close to it. Go to red buff. Attack the big lizard and then use roar. Should leave you around half health.

Head bottom to get the two golems. Hit lvl 4. Now if you want to gank take Q. If you want to continue and maybe raid the enemy jungle take another point in W. This route takes roughly 2:40 minutes.

Teamfighting: Role of Volibear in a Teamfight

Teamfights: I prefer to go and protect my carries over going for the other teams, but if you can always take down their carries you should be able to go through them pretty quickly. Team fights can be tricky if you aren't the one to initiate. Volibear is an amazing initiator, so use that to your advantage. Soon you will have the enemy team backing off when they see you at the head of your team.

If you are Initiating: Always find a carry to pull into your team with Rolling Thunder. When they turn tail and run toward their team, stop them with a Majestic Roar, and when they're a little over half health use your Frenzy to finish them to lower them the point where your team will secure the kill. If you've noticed that another carry has focused on someone other than yourself, start attacking them and Rolling Thunder again. Basically continue to support your team while dealing your massive damage. If the Rolling Thunder is on CD and you are in a bad situation then Exhaust on the enemy or heal to reduce the damage received by your teammate.

If you are Not Initiating: It's similar to initiating except that you sometimes have to be protecting your carries at the start, and you don't have any way to pull them all off at one time. Just Rolling Thunder one and Exhaust another at the same time to cut your losses and proceed to focus anyone within attack range with your thunder claws.

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Your role is basically that of an offtank depending how you build. You can initiate with fling or wait for someone else and just cause a bunch of damage with your ultimate. Either way try not to get nuked down by AP carries as they can shut you down and just stick around dealing damage and supporting your teammates.

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In Depth Laning

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When your laning you have to consider your zone. This is the amount of space you control through the potential damage you can output and take in that space. Distance of skills will create a larger zone. Volibear has a small zone because he has no ranged nuke spells. Because of Q however, you can control any zone behind the minions. By using Q as soon as someone walks around there and then fearing them if your damage with the minions is great enough, you can control the entire lane. By keeping the enemy afraid of taking damage when they last hit you are denying them gold. Abilities are not everything though. Bushes create a new zone as against AD carries they cant even hit you here. Minions affect the zone because they can deal A LOT of damage if left unchecked. The point of the zone is not to avoid harass but to be able to last hit safely. People will enter your zone if they can tank the damage while safely getting last hits. To make the best use of your zone you need to be able to last hit. This is simply a skill that comes with practice. Last hitting under a tower is an important skill and very easy to do. Melee minion, you let it tank 2 tower shots, and do a single autoattack on it. Ranged minion, you smack him once, the tower shoots, and then you finish it off with an auto attack.

Early Game is Volibear's weakest stage in the game but is in no way weak Early Game. has some of the best harass in the game and after level six can solo most enemy champions. Try to last hit as much as you can while harassing the opponent by exchanging blows. Only take as much harass back as you dish out. The reason you can take an equal amount of harass back is because your W does more damage the lower they get. In a fight where the both of you are half health they'll take more damage. Now laning is pretty easy. You get three hits off to proc W then use it on your enemy as early as you can. Don't fight 1v1 yet though, its not in your favor. Hit them with W whenever you can and at level 4 get very aggressive occasionally comboing --> --> and maybe two auto attacks. This is great harass and enemies generally will fall back. Often I get first blood at level five, just before ulti's, bursting enemies from just below half health.

HUGE NOTE: Junglers change the zoning hugely. You have to consider the jungler's zone once he enters your lane if he does. Basically this means dont go past half when the jungler is roaming.

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Warding

This section is taken from Apotheosis Guide to Tryn with his permission of course :)

Warding is way too over looked by many teams. I'm going to show you how to ward correctly, or at least how my team and I ward. The ward possibilities are obviously endless for 5s. These are the primary areas that you and your team will be warding each and every game.

Order of priority; Use Sight Ward and Vision Ward where necessary:

Baron/Dragon Wards:
However you decide to set these up with your team, whether it be orderly among the team or supports only buy wards, make sure these are always laid out! Baron and Dragon are what we're primarily keeping an eye on here. Early in the match it's not as important obviously, however, you still need to know whether top, mid, or bot will be set up for a gank when enemy laners/junglers are wandering about. These early kills can help the enemy sculpt the rest of the match and land a victory. We don't want to be allowing the enemy to kill either Baron or Dragon. That's a good chunk of gold that will distribute among their team, not to mention Baron's handy buff. Again, don't overlook these wards!

Note: I would recommend using Vision Ward for these locations, especially Baron mid-late game. If not Vision Ward, then make sure someone, usually the tank, has Oracle's Elixir for discovering enemy wards.

Self Privacy Wards:
There's orange points at top, mid, and bot hiding locations. I would hope that your entire team would try to ward the areas entitled to them. These wards are not entirely important, however, they are lifesavers. Junglers and wandering laners will use these bushes to set up for early kills. If you're pushing your lane, then it would be a good idea to ward the bush(s) that is closet to you.

Team Privacy Wards:
These are crucial wards to put out when the match can go either way by eliminating possible ambushes when pushing minions or entering your own jungle.

Game Changing Wards:
Of course all of the wards posted on the map are capable of changing the outcome of a game, but these wards are placed in a location that both teams will always drift by. Reasons to go through the wards (for both teams): Getting to Baron and dragon, changing lanes, shifting from allied jungle to the enemy's jungle (either by self or team) to steal mobs/buffs, shifting as a team to gank the enemy team, etc. If you just have a ward on either Baron and/or dragon, you can still miss the enemy slipping by into your jungle never knowing it. This allows enemies to set up ganks. Therefore, these wards change the outcome of a game because you know whats coming.

Invading Wards:
I thought it was appropriate to name these wards in this manner because you can enter their bushes knowing whether they're there or not before you attempt to set up a gank. The enemy usually walks through these bushes hoping to freely enter their jungle for experience/gold and/or buffs.

Buff Wards:
Monitor your's and enemy's buffs with these wards. Good to set in your own jungle if they start playing dirty and snatching buffs early game from your jungle. These wards are primarily for the junglers of each team.

Conclusion/Scores (Send Yours In!)

Thanks for reading!
By the way this is just the start! I haven't had much time however I plan on adding much more in-depth sections depending on how the guide is received.

Shout out's to my mates
XRearview
Chris1221
Pink Munn
ap00pnugget
DjPositive
TheShingle

Here is a pic from susarn

[img=http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/228/123gtf.png

Here isa pic from SadenomyGr

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Volibear Build Guide by Rys Aberdeen

Iorek Byrnison: A Rys Aberdeen Guide

Champion Build: Volibear

Recommended Runes

Purchase Order

Ability Sequence

Mastery Tree Is Outdated

Masteries

Offense: 9

Defense: 21

Utility: 0

Champion Build: Volibear

Recommended Runes

Purchase Order

Ability Sequence

Mastery Tree Is Outdated

Masteries

Offense: 21

Defense: 9

Utility: 0

Champion Build: Volibear

Recommended Runes

Purchase Order

Ability Sequence

Mastery Tree Is Outdated

Masteries

Offense: 0

Defense: 21

Utility: 9

Iorek Byrnison: Your Inexhaustible Ranked Companion

Introduction

A Note about Synergy: Why this Build Works

Pros/Cons

Base Stats

Summoner Spells

Recommended Summoner Spell Combinations

Masteries

Alternate Masteries

Recommended Runes

Alternative Runes

Skills

Skilling Sequences

Starting Items

Mid Game Items

Late Game Items

Recommended Builds

Playing 3v3

Playing 5v5

Jungle Route 5v5

Teamfighting: Role of Volibear in a Teamfight

In Depth Laning

Warding

Conclusion/Scores (Send Yours In!)

Volibear

The Thunder's Roar

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