Hey guys! My Summoner name is ARTHEO and my name is Bear! Most people know me by Artheo Bear on Twitch and other social medias.

What does my gaming name mean??? ARTHEO - God-King Bear-man!

They need a God-King Volibear skin! Now that would be epic!

Anyways, I main Volibear Toplane and just wanted to share with you guys my guide on how I play him and how I dominate the toplane with this guide and work around difficult counters. I hope you try this guide out! If you are curious about my Volibear gameplay be sure to follow me on Twitch @ArtheoBear

We all assume the source of Volibear's power is his [R](Thunder Claws), which is true, but the most critical source of his power is health.

Health is the source of Volibear's damage and survival through out the game. It is critical that Volibear builds health items that scale with his [W](Frenzy) and his passive:(Chosen of the Storm).

Volibear is not meant to be an assassin or a tank. Many people want Volibear to be a front line tank "a wall" for the team. That is not how you play Volibear!

Volibear is a Juggernaut who charges in causes destruction! The key to playing Volibear is survival and destruction! Taking out the source of the enemy's damage which is the marksmen, mages, and assassins. They are the most vulnerable to Volibear's [W](Frenzy).

Health is the primary source of Volibear's damage, but it is not the only damage source that is critically important!

Volibear's secondary source of power is attack speed! The faster you can land your attacks, the more [R](Thunder Claws) will burst down your enemies! Also the faster you can get your 3 hits to active [W](Frenzy) the easier it will be to kill your enemy before they escape!

Volibear's third source of power is Attack Damage! There are a lot of damage + health items that go well on Volibear along with attack speed. The faster you attack, the more on hit damage you can apply. When Volibear uses his ULT [R](Thunder Claws), he unleashes magic damage, which makes him deal hybrid damage of AD and AP

Keep this in mind, Volibear's 3 sources of power: Health, Attack Speed, and Damage is what he lacks so therefore, runes and items should be focused in these areas while [R](Thunder Claws) should only be thought of as bonus magic damage! Without the other attributes, Volibear won't survive or apply as much damage potential.

Precision and Sorcery

Since Volibear focuses mostly on building health + damage items and some defense items, he doesn't have time to build attack speed, which is his secondary power source! Without it, you won't be able to apply as much damage because your attacks are too slow. You want to boost Volibear's attack attributes on his Runes.

Below I explain why these runes are the best for Volibear.

LETHAL TEMPO - Attack speed BOOST! Allows Volibear to exceed the attack speed limit once you damage your enemy. This is great at winning 1v1 fights and team fights because the faster you attack, the more you apply the lightning chain that reaches all enemies nearby.

TRIUMPH - Survival! Great for situations if you are able to kill an enemy while being ganked, you will be able to restore some health and pick up a double kill! Also great for team fights because kills or assists restores Volibear's health.

ALACRITY - Attack speed! Gives Volibear permanent attack speed when Lethal Tempo is not active, which is great for farming and split pushing.

COUP DE GRACE - is great on Volibear because his health is greater than most enemies and this syncs well with Volibear's [w](Frenzy), which also deals more damage to low health enemy champions.

ABSOLUTE FOCUS - is what gives Volibear bonus adaptive damage when starting a fight above 70% health. Pairs well with Warmog's Armor and Titantic Hydra because of Warmog's Armor's unique passive: Warmog's Heart, having at least 3k health will regenerate Volibear's health to 100% if out of combat, allowing you to apply the bonus adaptive damage.

GATHERING STORM - is an important rune for champions that focus on health or defense items. Over the course of the game you increase amounts of adaptive damage!

Ignite - Secures kills and reduces healing. Great vs a lot of toplaners that have regeneration or lifesteal or grow in size. If you want to win your lane, take this item!

Ghost - Boost of movement speed for 12 secs. Most champions run from Volibear when they take too much damage from [R](Thunder Claws). The more you can keep ontop of your enemy, the more you can apply it. Also secures kills after the enemy uses flash. Great for tower diving! Ghost is so fast that it can keep up with Master Yi's ULT!

Ignite vs Teleport

Teleport only helps you secure your tower from being taken, but that's only if you don't get killed, ganked, or waste it trying to help your teammates...

Ignite wins you the lane most of time. Also can counter the enemy jungler since they are usually behind in lvls and don't have their items yet. Great way to pick up a kill or even a double kill if you play it right. Counters tanks and reduces healing, which can help win team fights.

I don't know about you, but ignite sounds yummy!

Ghost vs Flash

Flash - is good if you know you can land your skills and secure the kill. Also great for escaping, but difficult to escape champions who can dash up to you afterwards. Great for escaping through walls. A great way to surprise attack the enemy or get behind their back line and get the marksman.

I find this spell to be very wasteful on Volibear since he is a very mobile champion, but can be disrupted by slows after flashing, which causes him to miss his target and get slayed by a crowd of enemies because he wasn't able to reach them.

Ghost - Even if the enemy slows Volibear down when Ghost is active, they have 12 secs to get the hell out of there before he is able to catch one of them. The more you keep the enemy running, the more you can attack and apply damage. If you can't keep up, they will kite Volibear and poke him down.

Ghost sounds way better!

However! Situations do come up! I tend to take flash if the enemy has a gate or a prison ability. This comes in handy for champions like Yorick, Jarvan, and Veigar.

Start Items

Starting with a Long Sword and 3 health Pots is way better than Doran's Shield!

Doran's Shield is nice but when the enemy is constantly hitting you, the heal is not as effective as 3 doses of Health Potions with extra damage from the Long Sword that does basically the same thing Doran's Shield does to minions, but you can also damage the enemy!

The reason I start with a Long Sword and 3 health pots is because it pairs well with his runes, Precision and Sorcery, which gives him attack speed and damage. He starts the game with 90 attack damage and with Lethal Tempo, they don't stand a chance!

The problems with Doran's Shield on Volibear is when you are against a champion who is always poking at you, the healing effects don't do much and causes Volibear to sit back and wait for the heal to activate every 5 secs... Potions are way better! I found starting with whether it is a Long Sword or a Cloth Armor or Boots with a lot of health pots perform better than a Doran's Shield and 1 health pot.

Doran's Shield might be good when you are facing someone who is not ranged. Most cases you will be facing someone who counters you. I think Doran's Shield performs better on ranged champions like Gnar, Jayce, Gangplank, and etc.

Laning Items

Volibear deals a lot of damage from health items early game so buying a Giant's Belt will make [W](Frenzy) hurt like hell!

Early game is all about focusing on health items!

Mid-Late game Volibear depends on damage items, but during the early phase you want a little damage to sit on so buying Tiamat second will help you farm and deal tons of damage. Then focus on building Warmog's Armor.

Core Items

Warmog's Armor - Highest health item in the game. This is important because the higher health Volibear has over his enemy, the more bonus damage you apply with [w](Frenzy). Once you reach 3k health, you activate Warmog's Heart, which allows Volibear to regenerate to 100% health out of combat.

This item allows you to enter back into fights or split push the lane and keep adding pressure because you can regenerate whatever damage you take if you escape and allow yourself to heal.

Avoid champions with Blade of the Ruined King, which is a health shredder item. Try to focus on split pushing or ambushing those who are a threat to Volibear.

Titanic Hydra - Unique Passive: Damage based off Volibear's percentage of health, which might help balance those with Blade of the Ruined King since you can kill them with this item before they shred Volibear's health down.

Item Builds

Deadman's Plate - Great armor + health item that gives a boost of movement speed. Great for split pushing and chasing down enemies.

Spirit Visage - Best magic resist item and syncs well with Volibear's Passive. Increases all healing. The more health Volibear has the stronger his passive becomes. Warmog's Armor and Spirit Visage makes Volibear almost unkillable. The two items together make it difficult for ignite to work against it.

Sterak's Gage - Damage + health item. Unique Passive: Taking a large amount of damage grants a shield based off Volibear's percentage of health, making him very difficult to kill. Great item to survive team fights with heavy AP or AD.

Situational Boots

Boots of Mobility - Gives 115 movement speed out of combat. This allows Volibear to roam the map quickly, arrive to team fights quickly, rush to split push between lanes, and engage the enemy with a boost of Movement speed from [Q](Rolling Thunder).

Mercury Treads - Tenacity and magic resist. Good if you are losing the lane against AP or if there are way too many stuns and slows on the enemy's team.

Ninja Tabi - Blocks 30 damage from basic attacks. Good if you are losing the lane against AD or if there are way too many basic attack champions.

Situational Items

Thornmail - Reflects back some damage from basic attacks back to the attacker. Works well against basic attack champions.

Frozen Heart - Reduces attack speed - Works well against those who build 2 attack speed items.

Sunfire's Cape - Burns nearby minions and enemies. This item hurts champions that must deal damage upclose. Great item versus champions who get in your face too much! This will back them off.

Frozen Mallet - Great item if there are too many mobile champions.

Start with [E](Majestic Roar) because ever since they reworked the ability, it now has knock up. In the past, Volibear players start with [W](Frenzy).

I find this tactic a lot easier because fearing minions allows you to get a few attacks on the enemy before they become unfeared and apply damage.

It is a great way to jab your enemy down and disrupt the enemy from attacking with the knock up.

Take [Q](Rolling Thunder) second because the extra airborne damage has much more impact and allows you to throw in a few more jabs.

[W](Frenzy) is only strong once you have 3 stacks. Early [E] and [Q] also helps you escape early ganks! After lvl 3 - Max [W](Frenzy)

Use [W](Frenzy) on the cannons and Tiamat to help you farm the smaller minions. That item will help you farm under tower and reach 100 minions by 15 mins or less.

Volibear is dangerous when his [w](Frenzy) is active and at his max attack speed. It is important that you keep attacking minions. Tiamat allows you to auto attack minions and deals enough damage to last hit on its own!

The enemy would be a fool to engage on you!

When Warmog's Heart is active from Warmog's Armor, use it in team fights. If you are losing, pull back to regenerate then charge back in! If you know you can win the fight, be sure your passive is ready and you are not taking damage from ignite. Triumph rune will restore some health for each kill or assist. Use that to your advantage!

Best combo is to [Q](Rolling Thunder) and [E](Majestic Roar) ULT [R](Thunder Claws) then [W](Frenzy) back away from the crowd to regenerate then go back in to finish the job!

After you have Tiamat, you will be able to push the lane in, which will allow Volibear to roam mid or catch the enemy jungler and pick up a kill. Roaming mid and taking the tower will add so much pressure on the top side map. The ultimate goal is to end the game quick!

Volibear may be able to farm well with tiamat, but he is also very good at farming champions! Nothing better than a fed bear!

Once you take down the 2nd tower top lane, roam bot lane and take everything down! Especially if you have Rift. Bot lane will be too weak to stop you! Take it as far as you can! Then go back to roaming the entire map. Keep the pressure and show up to finish off team fights. Try to pick one off if you can because it will allow you to split push more knowing your team can handle 4 vs 4

When you see your team fighting, the best time to charge in is when they have wasted their ULTS and abilities!

Basically the tactic is to dominate top lane then become more of a predator jungler for the rest of the game.

Do this tactic and you will win a lot of ranked games!

Pros

Volibear is durable in team fights because he causes a lot of destruction with his flips and knock ups and crowd damage with [R](Thunder Claws).

Very difficult to kill without teammates to help you.

Cons

Kite-able and easy to ambush.

Vulnerable against champions that can ULT past his passive!

Vulnerable against ignite especially in team fights

How to Play Volibear

You have to play Volibear as a survival champion and what I mean by that is, don't go looking for trouble! Stay where you are and hold your ground! Volibear is a fighter and fends off threats! He has a mission and sticks to it! Following your objectives will make you a very strong Volibear player!

1 vs 1

Your job as Volibear in a 1 vs 1 situation is to be the dominate one. Hurt the enemy until they run! Don't chase them down unless you know you can with the abilities you have. If you have used up your abilities, don't chase the enemy! You will most likely get ambushed.

Winning the fight is what matters! If you are losing the fight, know when to retreat and come back for more!

Team Fights

Play Volibear like he is Wolverine! Go berserk on your enemies then retreat to regenerate your wounds, then show them how indestructible you are!

Remember, Volibear is a Juggernaut! He causes destruction!

His Primary source of damage and survival is health!

His Secondary source of damage is attack speed!

His Third source of damage is attack damage!

Bring down the power of Thor and bolt down that lightning chain!

Warmog it up and go Wolverine on their ***es!