To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Udyr. The mechanics are extremely subtles, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the kill will go over a typical player’s head. There’s also Riot’s nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation- his personal philosophy draws heavily from Bear Grylls literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of those gates, to realise that they’re not just opened- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Udyr truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn’t appreciate, for instance, the humour in Udyr’s existential catchphrase “Our rage is beyond your control!" and his dance which itself is a cryptic reference to Woo-Ping Yuen's epic Drunken Master. I’m smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Steve Mieczkowski’s genius wit unfolds itself on their computer screens. What fools.. how I pity them. 😂

And yes, by the way, I DO have a Udyr tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It’s for the ladies’ eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they’re within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand. Nothing personal kid. 😎

I prefer Flash over Ghost to make the moment you stun and burst someone less predictable, and also obviously to escape behind a wall since it's Udyr's main weakness. You don't need more movespeed since you already have Trinity Force, Zz'Rot Portal and the Blazing Stampede so the MS soft/hard cap is quickly hit. Pretty sure you also run faster than The Flash, though, because everyone does.

Dark Harvest - This keystone is a must have. It allows crazy bursts along with Trinity Force and unlike other runes, it can proc on towers and has no cooldown. Just harvest minions, steal kills and stalk siege minions as they are your crush. If you're doing it great, you should have the 150 stacks at around 20 minutes, and it easily goes beyond 250/300 thereafter. By the way, it's better than Press the Attack even in early game on counter-jungling scernarii.

Cheap Shot - Everytime you stun with the Blazing Stampede you'll have the bonus damages and it has approximately the same cooldown. Unfortunately, Sudden Impact doesn't work which is a shame (as you are as a human being, probably). Let's hope they just forgot about it and that it will get fixed (S11 edit: they didn't). You should also note it works on your teammate's crowd controls.

Zombie Ward - That rune is fantastic, and this build is probably the one that takes the most benefit from it. Basically, along with Oracle Lens and its 24 seconds of cooldown plus Ruby Sightstone, you'll have a lot of Zombie Ward everywhere on the map, guaranteeing vision control. The other options aren't worth it, you can take Eyeball Collection instead if you're a Rocky Balboa fanboy but you would probably have less IQ than this rune gives you Attack Damages (which is a few).

Ingenious Hunter - So, let's go over all the cooldowns we have thanks to this rune and a Ruby Sightstone : 24s on Oracle Lens, 8s on Tiamat or Titanic Hydra, but especially 48s on our boy Zz'Rot Portal, or its alternative Banner of Command. The first one will last 120 seconds while having only 48 seconds of CD, so you can have 2 portals (it's limited, you can't have 3) at the same time. That way, you'll have a lot of mates that are individualy more efficient than your typical one.



Celerity - Do I really have to explain why adding % Movement Speed is awesome on Udyr? Plus, once you have you core build ( Trinity Force and Zz'Rot Portal), it generally gives you around 15/20 Attack Damages or more if your team can boost you. Probably the best secondary rune you can take.

Waterwalking - Faster ganks, Drakes, and you're literally Jesus. People will pray for your arrival.

Hunter's Machete / Hunter's Talisman - Both are good, you clear faster with Machete but you have less mana problem throughout the game with Talisman. You generally don't build Stalker's Blade - Cinderhulk since it slows your core while not providing what you really want (which is Trinity Force and splitpushing items). I like the way the Attack Speed bonus of the Machete can synergy with Dark Harvest, if you steal a monster near someone he's basically dead.

Rejuvenation Bead / Refillable Potion - If you're confident you can start with the Bead and build Tiamat earlier, while the Potion (or Hunter's Potion once upgraded) helps harvesting easier.

Stealth Ward / Oracle Lens - Keep the Totem until your first back (useful for early cheeses), then switch for the Oracle (and buy Control Ward) to start controlling the map. Ruby Sightstone later on to become an unwarding machine.

Tiamat / Titanic Hydra - The Tiamat should be your first item, it improves your minion and monster clearing way too much. The Hydra though should be your last item, it costs too much and you need your core as fast as possible.

Boots - Most of the time Mercury's Treads is your go-to, but of course depending on your opponent strenghts, Ninja Tabi or Boots of Swiftness can be better choices. Use your brain, ffs.

Trinity Force - Movespeed, burst damages, pushing power, CDR... just build it and don't ask questions.

Sterak's Gage - Did you know Udyr had the third highest base AD? Well, now you do. That item boosts your damages by a tremendous amount, especially because Spellblade take account of that base AD and will deal around 450/500 damages in late game.

Ruby Sightstone - I know you're too manly to play support, but you build this item for the reduced active cooldowns. Oh, and for the fact it gives vision everywhere on the map, thus helping your stupid team not to die, plus the combo with Zombie Ward and Oracle Lens.

Zz'Rot Portal - Generally, I build that right after Trinity and before Sightstone. That way I can already put one every 72 seconds and start pressuring all lanes by myself. As you'll have voidspawns everywhere, you'll gain a lot of golds to accelerate your build.

Banner of Command - It's an alternative to the portal, if the opponent team only has magic damages for example. Though, you totally can stack both of them (by replacing Sterak mainly) if you want and play with your new team : voidspawns and minions.

Elixir of Iron - Not much to say. Tenacity is awesome, a lot of things scale with Health, your team needs the movement speed to follow you... The two others are fine, this one is just better.


My usual path is :
Hunter's Machete + Rejuvenation Bead > Tiamat > Boots > Trinity Force > Mercury's Treads > Zz'Rot Portal > Titanic Hydra > Ruby Sightstone > Banner of Command or Sterak's Gage

A lot of game understanding is needed to play this build correctly since you need to always be active on the map, placing portals or wards, putting pressure on lanes and squishies... You should also have a nice level of pathing to Better Harvest Souls.

I suggest you to write "HARVESTED" in the All Chat each time you kill something, to show dominance.

You should also try "Harvester", a Point & Click from the 90's. Except the name, there's no relation with this build in particular, it's just a really interesting (weird) game. I'm just sharing things, you know, you should be grateful. That's for your own culture.

Because I'm egocentric : XIII™

Edit from the future : Sorry my friend, this build is responsible for the removal of splitpushing items... But hey, maybe they will comeback during S12?