Volibear Build Guide by Bloodvayne

Introduction

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Welcome.
This guide is intended for new players to both the League of Legends game itself and the indomitable Champion Volibear.

I have been playing this Champion very successfully using this setup and I hope this small guide can help you achieve the same success.

Why choose Volibear?

Volibear is capable of tanking, dealing damage and initiating battles, making him a great all-round Champion.
All his skills are useful including his life-saving passive and he's tremendous fun to play.
If you like being in the thick of fighting and chasing down enemies, Volibear is the one for you.

Volibear Profile

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Volibear - The Thunders Roar Tank / Fighter / Jungler Melee Physical Damage Pros + Tanky + Good damage output. + 2 Crowd Control Abilities. + Great at chasing down enemies. + Health items increase Frenzy damage. + Fun to play. + Excellent default character model. Cons - Item dependant. - Crowd Control will shut you down HARD. - Easy to poke. - HUGE target. - Bad lane partners will ruin you. - NOT a scantily clad lady. space

Skills

Passive

Chosen Of The Storm
A life-saving heal.
This activates when you're low on health and will save you from dying countless times.

• It will not save you from burst damage, but it's very handy for when you're running away
• Used in conjunction with Health Potions you can stay in lane for a very long time.

Standard

Rolling Thunder
Your tool for initiation and chasing.
This skill is not only hysterical to use; it's also very versatile, enabling you to knock back an enemy into your team-mates, chase down fleeing enemies and also escape bad situations.

• Use to initiate team-fights.
• Excellent at chasing down fleeing enemies.
• Can be used to help aid your escape.
• Use on enemies that are chasing your team-mates to create distance between them.
• Do not use on enemy Tank Champions, if anything this will aid them.
• Be careful of how your flip will place the enemy, especially if used if coming at enemy from behind or flank.

Frenzy
Attack speed passive with execution style activate.
The passive is very nice for farming but the real gem is the bite, which deals more damage the more bonus health you have and additional damage the lower the enemies life is.

• Use this when your enemy is at around 25% or less health.
• Good for finishing off minions, but be wary of mana / enemy presence.

Majestic Roar
Area Of Effect Slow
A nice quick slow that will help keep enemies where you want them.

• Handy for giving a small advantage to your minions whilst farming and ensures.
• Use when trying to land your Rolling Thunder if you're not chasing and enemy is faster
• Use when fleeing to give yourself some space from enemy Champions.
• Effective when used in tandem with Thunder Claws for clearing towers of heavy minion presence.
• Will reveal a clone/mirror image as the real Champion will be slowed whilst the clone will be feared.

Ultimate

Thunder Claws
Volibear's Ultimate
Adds extra damage to your basic attacks and extends the damage to enemies nearby.

• Always use in team fights
• Very effective at clearing large numbers of minions.
• The relatively small cool-down means you can use this in most engagements.

Skill Sequence

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Skill Acquisition Order

> > >

First acquire Rolling Thunder for the fantastic early ganking potential.
Then Frenzy to aid your farming and to keep enemy champions at bay with the Bite.
Next is Majestic Roar for the Slow and help with farming.

Then max out Frenzy; this will be your big damage dealer, remember to use it when your enemy is at 25% or lower health for maximum damage.

Always take Thunder Claws when you can, otherwise focus on Frenzy then Rolling Thunder and finally Majestic Roar

Summoner Spells

Ghost is very flexible in it's use; it can be used defensively to avoid premature deaths or offensively to secure the premature death of an enemy.

Exhaust Nothing shuts an enemy AD down like exhaust, and is extremely useful in lane and team-fights.
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Why not Flash and Heal?

A good question; when starting out with Volibear I highly recommend this combo for your first couple of games, but after this I suggest switching to Ghost and Exhaust as they offer the most flexibility of all the spells.

This combination also gives you a great panic button if things go wrong, just slam D + F + Q if you panic and 90% of the time you'll escape.

Runes

The above selection of runes cover your magic resistance, armour and damage.
With these you'll stay in the fight a tiny bit longer and also ensure that your damage is not heavily mitigated early game when it's important to have the advantage.

Playing The Game

Volibears Roles

• + Solo top (With Jungler support)
• + Standard Bottom/Top Lane
• - Mid-Lane
• ~ Jungler
• + Team-fight Phase

SPACESPACE

Solo top (With Jungler support)
Volibear is perfectly capable of soloing the top lane, although you may find that you're pushed back to tower a lot.
You're job is to defend the tower whilst gaining XP, farming gold will be difficult but that's where your Jungler support comes in.

Focus your attentions on a single enemy, if your opponent is also solo top then this is a no-brainer but if there's two enemies focus on the carry/squishier Champion.
If you keep using your abilities and rely on your passive health ability you should be able to do considerable damage, when the enemy is low on health call in your Jungler to gank, or if the focused enemy decides to go back to base to heal your Jungler can come in and help you take down the solo enemy, leaving you to farm.
SPACESPACE
Standard Bottom/Top Lane
Again, focus the carry/squishie.
If your enemy pushes hard to your tower punish them by flipping them back, stunning them then beating down on them.
Purchase Sight Wards to place in the closest bush and river bush to avoid nasty suprises.
If you're against a stealth enemy like Twitch, Shaco or Teemo also purchase a Vision Ward - this may seem costly but will make it so much easier to kill them and avoid ganks it's worth far more than the initial cost.
SPACESPACE
Mid-Lane
Don't do it, you'll be poked to death.

Jungler
There are much better Junglers out there. Avoid the Jungler role if at all possible.
SPACESPACE
Team-fight Phase
You will be the teams fight initiator, if an enemy strays a little ahead of his team-mates then pop Ghost and Rolling Thunder and attack that enemy, flipping them behind you - follow up with a Majestic Roar and if possible a bite from Frenzy.
At this point the enemy team will focus you, so it's a good idea to run out of range if you think you'll be annihilated in 2 seconds flat.
Once out of range run straight back into the fight and use all your abilities including Thunder Claws, focus on softer targets.

Remember you don't have the defensive abilities of some other tanks, so don't throw away your life recklessly as you'll just help the enemy team with gold and XP.
Be prepared to fall back and re-engage, you have great damage output so let your passive heal kick in then jump back into the fight!

Summary

I hope this guide gives you a little help regarding how to play Volibear, I shall continue fleshing this guide out as I learn more subtle strategies and discover interesting tactics.
If you feel I'm missing something out or you have another inquiry please feel free to comment.

As a final note I really love playing as Volibear, I know you will too and if this guide adds anything at all to your experience, I'm glad I could be of help.

Good luck out there!

Special Thanks

Thanks to jhoijhoi for his fantastic guide to making LOL guides.
Also thanks to the other guides here that first helped me get acquainted with Volibear.

Changes To This Guide

05/12/2012
Updated Items to reflect Season 3 Updates.
Removed Atmas Impaler.

22/05/2012

Mark of Desolation removed in favour of Mark of Strength.
Boots of Swiftness replaced by Boots of Mobility.
Cleanse replaced with Exhaust.
Giant's Belt added before Atma's Impaler to compensate for the recent nerf to its damage.