Volibear Build Guide by svampeb0b

Introduction

Hello, I am svampep0b (league name) and on most other things svampeb0b, but anyway this is my first guide, I play Volibear very often and is easily my favourite champion. Please do not down vote because you do not like the build or there are grammar issues, please speak to me if you have any problems. This is only what I recommend, and much of it is opinion,so please use and build on this guide :) thank you.

Runes

The runes I have chosen are because early game, Volibear is not particulaly tanky, but does some decent damage and therefore I have things which will give him an early advantage tank wise.

Masteries

The masteries I have chosen I think are much based on opinion and how you like to play. I like to have mostly defence masteries as he is a tank, but also a few offense which give him some bonus damage and attack speed amongst other things.

Items

The items I have chosen are very similar at the start, as the first thing I like to build is health and health regen. So my start is often very similar because Volibear does not naturally have a lot of health at the start, and with more health he has time to use his combo and deal some damage.

Skill Sequence

The skill sequences are because Frenzy has an amazing passive, at level five granting him 3 x 20% attack speed. Which also has the amazing active dealing quite a chunk of health based mostly on how much health you have. I often choose Rolling Thunder first so I can fling others into my teamates for them to get the kill. I combo using first Rolling Thunder to fling them, then my Majestic Roar which slows champions and fears minions and monsters and by this time hopefully I will have used enough basic attacks to get my bite of Frenzy on them. Beware that you struggle to do your damage if you cannot increase your attack speed with Frenzy and get the Frenzy bite, the bite only works with the 3 stacks of Frenzy attack speed. Volibears ultimate ( Thunder Claws) is excellent for team fights. It is like an Ionic Spark as once used it will deal magic damage jumping to up to 3 other enemies nearby and will attack as many times as you land a basic attack in the 8 seconds it's activated, this is another reason why building your Frenzy is so important. The Rolling Thunder does 15% bonus movement speed when activated, and 45% bonus when chasing an enemy champion, making it very good to engage, but not as good to escape. Oh and of course there is his passive, Chosen of the Storm which once below 30% total health regenerates 30% of total health over a few seconds which is why you do not want to be squishy as the more health you have, the more you gain from this passive. It has a cooldown of 2 minutes which can be reduced by items and/or buffs.

Summoner Spells

Summoner spells I think again are opinion. I no longer use Flash or Ghost as I am not very effctive at escaping anyway and hope to be more of a help to the whole team using things like Heal and Ignite.

Pros / Cons

His pros are that:

He can do a lot of damage in team fights
He is a good initiator in fights
His passive Chosen of the Storm makes him super sustainable in lane and jungle
His Frenzy scales with bonus health and can pick up quite a few kills
His Frenzy passive makes him a much better fighter than other tanks
His Rolling Thunder can be used to escape, as well as initiate team fights
He is often underestimated and when not focused can really help in team fights

His cons are that:

He has low health early on
He needs health items quickly or else he will fall behind and because of this is very slow getting boots later than most
He is in trouble when he cannot take advantage of the bonus attack speed from his Frenzy
He is best played with high damage champions as they need to do most of the damage
He has no sort of ranged attack other than his ultimate Thunder Claws (which is only effective in team fights) and therefore is vulnerable to horas
He takes time to learn and be able to combo properly

Team Work

Volibear is good by himself, and can solo reasonably, but better in a team when he can use full potential of things like his ultimate Chosen of the Storm. His ultimate can also be used to clear minions, but is not recommended unless it will ark to enemy champions. He should be the initiator, but not come without support. He is not a nuke and must time his abilities carefully for them to be effective.

Jungling

I do not often jungle as Volibear and am sure the build for it will need work, but as far as abilities go, it is good to get the Majestic Roar as it will fear other monsters giving you time to build on your Frenzy. Rolling Thunder is not recommended against monsters as it is more of a utility and maxed last, but it can be used for ganking lanes.

Support

Using my support guide you will build well with health, cooldown reduction and auras for your team. When using this build you do not want to be focused as much as when using tank build as you have a high cooldown reduction so you can spam your moves and because of having Frozen Heart you can also slow the other team whilst helping yours.

Farming

Farming is a struggle for Volibear, his main help is to use Majestic Roar with as many of them around you as possible, it is unlikely for you to have enough ability power to kill minions with just that and so this may be why you would want more attack speed or damage. The main thing to do is make sure you are not underleveled by getting xp from killed minions. It is also recommended that you try to farm early game as much as possible as he is a late game champion and not be too aggressive or else you will miss out on the farming oppurtunities as he farms rather slowly. But as long as you don't feed and you do stay in lane, your level should not be too much less than others, only your gold if your not good at last hitting the minions.

Summary

On the whole this is a very reliable tank and the only tank classed as a fighter, because it can actually do some real damage. He is often underestimated and many times I have got double kills because of comboing his moves properly and literally biting through their health. He can solo against squishy champs well because of his good health regen and his strong combo ability. Please enjoy this guide and feel free to make comments (constructive please :)) Thank You. I hope to update soon.