Hey guys, let me start off by saying that volibear is one of the most amazing champions that most people dont know how to play correctly. He is a very dynamic champion, dominating a top solo as well as the jungle. I prefer to play Volibear as a top solo, as his ridiculous survivability is almost unmatched by anyone. His combination of high health and resistances coupled with his ability to obliterate an enemy champions health make him a severe threat on the battlefield.

I chose these runes for a very specific reason, the perfect blend of damage and health at low levels. This setup will allow volibear to dominate his lane against the other top solo. I decided to pick up armor pen reds to allow myself the ability to easily throw damage on the enemy champion. I also chose armor yellows to increase volibears ability to take damage especially early game. Blue attack speed runes are used to increase his attack speed which stacks with the passive on his frenzy spell. Finally, I choose health quints to increase the damage, and survivability that volibear has early game in order to assure and easy laning phase.

Masteries, I chose these masteries because personally i like the early survivability it gives me as well as the damage. These are completely preference, he can go 9/0/21, or 21/0/9. All these masteries allow volibear to maintain himself, it is all just preference of damage, sustain, or utility. All that being said, these are the masteries i choose to run when I play volibear.

Items are ultimately situational, but your core items should include warmogs, atmas impaler, and frozen mallet. These three items give you a ton of health as well as a sizable amount of attack damage. These three items are key to a succesful volibear and should be bought immediately. The other items such as merc treads, sunfire cape, and banshees veil, are subject to change based on player preference. Merc treads, personally my favorite for volibear, can be changed to lucidity or berserker greaves, it is all dependent on your playstyle. Sunfire cape, is my preference for armor as it gives volibear that extra health for his frenzy, and it gives him armor which is crucial to offtanks. The same thing goes for banshees, i pick it up for the magic resist as well as the health it gives from catalyst the protector.

I choose my skills based on their ability to help volibear. Maxing his frenzy first dramatically increases his damage and attack speed. For that, i max it first, picking up his other spells on the way. The skill hiarchy should look something like this;
R>W>Q>E, This is to maximize the damage that volibear puts out.


Also, summoner spells are a huge asset to Volibears effectiveness. I personally choose Heal and Flash. Heal in my opinion is a must, because coupled with his passive, he is returned to almost full health in a second. Flash is also preference, ghost can be taken just as well.

As I have said before, I play Volibear as a top solo purely based on his ability to control a lane. It is crucial to farm, as his items are very pricey and he will need those creep kills to stay in the game. It is very important to remember not to be overly aggressive, as he is not the best champion until level 4. At level four, he can dominate the enemy champion without overextending, by simply tossing them back and using all his spells, saving his w for the last possible moment. As volibear is a very agressive champion, the enemy top solo will very often ask for ganks, make sure to ward the bush, as well as the river to make sure you can see a gank coming before it actually happens.

Volibear excels at his ability to initiate a fight. Pop his rolling thunder, and flag down their carry, if they flash or ghost use your majestic roar to slow them down, allowing you to catch up to them and fling them back. The enemy team will surely come in to help, at this point you and your team will start the fight, with you leading the charge again. Pop your ultimate when the team fight starts and attack the lowest health champion, also keep in mind your ultimate chains to other enemies, so you will be doing a massive amount of damage to all players. It is crucial that you stay with your team and not chase until the main fight is over, chasing is the deciding factor between winning and losing a game.

Volibears superior ability to initiate and dominate a lane make him a force to be reckoned with. It is important to remember to farm and harass if you want your lane to go in your favor. He is a character full of preference, and this build was meant to show you my favorite way to build Volibear. I hope this was helpful and I hope you use it! Thanks.