This guide is still under construction as I will be adding more champion threats, synergies and more to the guide in general over time. So come back every now and then and check if anything has changed!

Udyr is a pretty basic champion on paper, but using the abilities in the most efficient way takes some thinking power. Since Udyr has his stances and no Ultimate Ability you have to gauge when to and when not to fight. Do you have the damage and sustain to save that Yasuo who decided to 1v3? If yes, then it's run and stun time. If not, let him die. It's not your fault and you're much better off not feeding alongside him.

You have to understand Udyr's stances to be able to put him to full use. I won't be going over the entire kit in too much detail here but I will explain the mindset I have when I came up with this build, if you want a full explanation of the abilities feel free to hover over the Ability icons in the guide to have a read.

Monkey's Agility

The best way to think of Bridge Between is a super passive, since all the individual abilities have their own passives (when used) too. Put as simply as required to really explain this, Bridge Between gives you a single stack that gives a 10% bonus to your attack speed and 5 bonus movement speed for 5 seconds every time you switch stances, capping at 3 stacks. So you can utilize this to get more attack speed to dish out as much damage as possible as quick as possible, you will probably use this without even realising you're using it simply by switching between Blazing Stampede to stun and Wilding Claw for the damage output in fights.

Tiger Stance

The most important stance for this build is his Wilding Claw, or in other words his Q, because every auto attack grants you a Tiger Stance stack - and at 3 stacks you will deal a large amount of damage based on your total AD. At Wilding Claw level 1 alone every third hit will deal 30 damage plus 110% of your total AD. At level 5 every third hit will deal 150 damage plus 170% of your total AD.

And to make things even better, when you first activate the stance you gain 30% up to 70% bonus attack speed for 5 seconds. This alongside the Kraken Slayer dealing 60 + 45% total AD every third hit just melts people, and even then: ALL OF THIS alongside the critical strike chance you will have built by now means every hit has a chance to deal even more damage.

Bear Stance

The second most important aspect of our build, and every Udyr build out there realistically, is the stun and movement speed boost from the Blazing Stampede (or the E). We use this to close the gap to our targets and stun them, or to escape dangerous situations. Don't forget that last part! If you were to build Abyssal Mask the stun will also trigger the 10% bonus damage for 4 seconds, helping you deal even more damage.

Turtle Stance

Third but definitely not least is the Iron Mantle, we use this mostly when clearing our jungle camps but it can still be used in combat. If you activate the ability and wait for the cooldown to switch stances to end, you can effectively give yourself a bit of extra health and still use Wilding Claw to deal the damage.

Don't forget the healing from Iron Mantle will stack along with any other life steal we have, like Bloodthirster for example. As well as the increase in healing from Spirit Visage, which will also increase the amount of shield you get from activating Iron Mantle in the first place. Also, Kraken Slayer will obviously still be dealing it's extra damage even when in Iron Mantle. So you will get the extra damage and the extra healing. Which is great for clearing camps whilst keeping your health, but I wouldn't recommend doing that whilst fighting another champion. You definitely want to use Wilding Claw still.

There is a fourth ability, Wingborne Storm, but we don't use that in this build since it is AP orientated and we aren't using any AP. Don't put any levels into it or you're just wasting them, as the ability won't scale since we don't have any AP.

Laning

I don't do it often but I do enjoy taking Udyr top sometimes, the early game can be a difficult lane because most champions you won't effectively be able to out damage pre-power spike - and some lanes are just incredibly difficult, for example going into a Mordekaiser lane on top and you will find that you more or less can't do too much if they are even half good. This is because of Mordekaiser's passive, three hits (ability or auto attack), activate his red ring of death and it becomes very difficult to out damage him since Udyr is all close quarters combat. You can of course build Mercurial Scimitar to render his ultimate ability obsolete, but then you still have to worry about his damage in general.

There are definitely other champions that can be difficult to lane against, but Mordekaiser is the one that has given me the most trouble so far. Otherwise, just focus CS until you at the very least get your Berserker's Greaves and Noonquiver before starting fights. When you get the Kraken Slayer however, you should have a good bit more damage and be able to win more fights in lane as long as the opponent hasn't been fed.

A little tip based on my own experience: if you are laning against a Tryndamere and they try to fight you level 1, stand your ground with Wilding Claw and the Doran's Blade and you should win that fight. Tryndamere is a pretty easy fight this way.

If your opponent is poking you a lot, use your Iron Mantle whilst farming the creeps to keep your health up. Keep a close eye on the enemy and when you see them coming towards you for an all in, use your Blazing Stampede to get away safely. If they use all of their abilities, run back in and stun them and punish them for it. That's the way you have to play this lane the majority of the time, safe and secure. Wait for them to make a mistake and punish them for it, otherwise you can go all in if you end up fed. Just remember to still play it smart.

If you really want to win lane on top, make use of the herald. Your damage and attack speed means you can usually secure the herald relatively quickly, and then with that you can push your lane and put some pressure on the map.

Ganking

So as Udyr, when ganking, speed is key. Using our Blazing Stampede to initiate the gank is the way to go, because you will close the gap between you and your target faster and then all you have to do is get that first auto attack and they are stunned. If you have to you could even use your Chilling Smite to steal 20% of their movement speed for 2 seconds, meaning you have more time to deal damage to kill them.

As soon as you have stunned them, switch straight to your Wilding Claw and go ham. If your ally in the lane you're ganking helps you should be killing them before they can do anything to retaliate or escape, if not they most likely Flash away which means at least you know they won't have Flash if you return for a follow up gank before it comes back off cooldown.

I'd also like to point out the power of a gank from a level 2 Udyr thanks to our Blazing Stampede, it gives you such an advantage in the start of the game. My usual go to strategy is to start with the topside buff, have the ally top laner leash with you - Smite the buff to get as much health back as possible and take Blazing Stampede at level 2, then go to top and get the level 2 gank. They will either die, or flash away.

Team Fights

You need to be extremely careful in team fights, whilst you can deal a very high amount of damage very quickly. You are still relatively squishy even with the defensive items we have built, and in my experience the enemy team will prefer to focus you in a team fight and you will die very quickly. By all means, run in and stun with Blazing Stampede and smack them around a bit. But don't be afraid to back off a bit if they start coming for you.

It has happened to me several times where I've ran in and stunned an enemy and the entire enemy team has either instantly killed me, or I've managed to get away thanks to the movement speed bonus from Blazing Stampede and the whole enemy team have just abandoned the fight to chase me. In doing so, my team have just taken them out one by one whilst they were too busy chasing me. Try it out, it may work it may not.

Thanks for taking the time to read my guide, I hope it helped you if you used it. Leave any feedback, be it good or bad, in the comments and I will try my best to get back to you!

temple1997