Hello everyone!

I am a five-year League of Legends player who started playing ranked the past season. My first rank was Bronze 2 and I ended in Plantinum 2 within a couple of months and have accumulated just over 1 million mastery points. This is my first ever MobaFire guide and I aspire to climb even higher in ranked to become a better player and make more guides. I also wanted to make this guide as I tried many different champions while climbing but none interested me quite like Volibear I have come to love him and I want others to as well. Because of this, I wanted to create a guide to playing volibear in different ways so that they too can come to enjoy the bear and reach whatever rank they desire. If you like the guide it would be great if you upvoted it so it can reach more people!

Many people, when they first start with Volibear are unsure as to which role to play with him - jungle or top? Well, I believe that every Volibear player should master both as it allows them to fit into a larger variety of team comps and allows you to not have to play him as a tank every game. However, if you have tried out both playstyles and only prefer one of them, then you don't have to play the other one.

Jungle - The jungle role allows Volibear to be more unpredictable with ganks and allows for more playmaking potential early to mid-game. Voli also has pretty decent clear speeds and is a great skirmisher.

Top lane - This role is a bit safer for newer players and is also easier to master but is still dominant in the mid-late game. Top lane also requires volibear to go more of a bruiser/tank build so if you don't want to play these keep that in mind.

Keep in mind that mid-lane is also in option if you enjoy it.

Strengths - Very strong early game jungle, high variety of builds and runes that are all very good, turret diving, good ap/ad/health ratios, great snowballing, tanky. Great playmaking potential, three ccs. If voli gets ahead by even 1 item then it is game over for the other team, at this point he can 1v9 with ease and becomes a one-man army no matter what build you are going.

Weaknesses - dmg falls off quickly if you're building full tank, kinda low movespeed till boots if he misses e or second w then he might not last in early 1v1s or team fights. Kinda weak against kiting champions. If you fall behind in lane/jungle you are pretty much useless, only the best volibear player can make a comeback.

Volibear Passive - The Relentless Storm

Volibear gains a stack whenever he damages at least one enemy with a basic attack on-hit or ability, stacking up to 5 times and lasting for 6 seconds. This refreshes on subsequent damaging abilities or attacks, stacking up to five times. Each stack gives Volibear bonus attack speed, and upon reaching five stacks, Volibear gains "Lightning Claws." Lightning Claws causes Volibear's basic attacks and on-hit abilities to deal bonus magic damage to the target and the closest enemy, chaining up to four times depending on the level. Also, volibear gains attack speed when at max stacks that scale with AP. This can be used as a poke to remove things like Malzahars passive. This is also volibear's main wave clear.

Q-Thundering Smash

Volibear becomes ghosted and gains movement speed doubled when moving toward a visible enemy champion. Volibear's next basic attack deals bonus physical damage and stuns the target for one second. If Volibear is immobilized during this effect, it ends and refunds the cooldown of this ability. In addition, this ability also resets voli's auto attack. This ability is volibear's main way to set up ganks and chase down low-health enemies, it scales with AD and amplifies crit with the fact that his ability has a massive 220% AD ratio.

W-Frenzied Maul

Volibear strikes an enemy dealing physical damage and applying a "Wounded" debuff to the target. Volibear can recast Frenzied Maul on a wounded target to deal additional physical damage and heal for a flat amount plus a percentage of Volibear's missing health, this healing is halved against minions. Frenzied Maul also benefits from Omnivamp. This ability is very useful as it sustains volibear and when paired with Spirit Visage it can heal for a lot. It scales with AD and health and has a 150% AD ratio and 9%/16% Health ratio on the empowered (second/recast) W.

E-Sky Splitter

Volibear summons a circle of lightning that strikes after a two-second delay. If Volibear is in the circle as it strikes, he gains a shield for a percentage of his maximum health for three seconds. If an enemy is struck by Sky Splitter, they take a flat amount of magic damage plus a percent of the target's maximum health and are slowed by 40%. This ability is volibear's other form of sustain after his W and scales with AP. This ability also gives true sight of an area so can be useful to check bushes or objectives. Volibear can also use this for poke in the lane phase and this ability can produce quite a strong combo when paired with the stun on Voli's Q.

R-Stormbringer

Volibear transforms and leaps to the target location with CC immunity. Volibear gains bonus health, attack range, increased range on Frenzied Maul, and bonus size, and he becomes ghosted. On impact, Volibear slows all enemies within a radius for 50% of their movement speed. Enemies caught directly underneath Volibear take large physical damage. Volibear also disables all turrets in the area of Stormbringer and deals the same physical damage to them. Volibear can use this ability to turret dive with his team or finish off low-health enemies. He can also use this ability to set up ganks or does huge damage in team fights. In addition, he can use it to get away if he is being chased, and/or the team would get shut down on him if he died. This ability scales with AP and AD and has a massive 250% AD ratio, so make good use of that.

Main Keystones

- Press the Attack:

Primary keystone of choice for a great early game presence. It synergizes well with voli's animation canceling and auto-attack resetting and allows for one of the strongest early-mid-game potentials. If you are ever in doubt about what keystone to pick for any build, just pick Press The Attack. Can be used in the lane and jungle.

Conqueror:

Secondary keystone of choice for a great scaling option. Great choice in games where Volibear has very poor ganking prospects. Against bruisers and tank compositions, conqueror will also be favored due to your advantage in extended fights. The early game will not be as optimal as PTA but overall the mid to late game will be very rewarding. Conqueror is also a good choice if you don't know what keystone to pick. Can be used in the lane and jungle.

Lethal Tempo:

Volibear has a crazy AS ratio of 0.7, one of the highest in the game.AS Ratio is not the same thing as base AS, AS ratio modifies the amount of Attack speed that you gain from all sources of Bonus Attack speed. It means that Volibear gets significantly more Attack speed from Attack speed Runes and items. Lethal Tempo overall works well with a tanky build as you live for a long time in fights which means that the usage time of max-stacked Lethal Tempo is high and we can milk a lot of damage out of it. Can be used in the lane and jungle.

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Alternative Keystones

Predator:

An alternative keystone for jungle if the enemy team is more mobile and harder to chase down. This tends to lean on a 5 camp clear into rift scuttler for an early recall Boots purchase. Counters lanes that have good follow up damage and/or crowd control.This keystone is better than Phase Rush as it closes gaps between you and enemies and doesnt require you to close the gap and then get movespeed. Predator increases Volibear's early game ganking potential while giving up damage. Be careful of invade ad you will lack early one versus one potential.

Grasp Of The Undying

This keystone is best when going tank but synergizes well with his bruiser builds as well. Very fun keystone to play around with, the sustain is really useful, if you aren't confident or against a hard lane pick this instead of anything else. This keystone also allows for voli to make trades more one-sided instead of equal which adds to his already strong early game prescence.

Aftershock:

Aftershock is not as good as it used to be due to chemtank being made a normal item but is still viable if youre going full tank. Keep in mind, you can be quite aggressive with this keystone due to the extra resistances and damage.

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NOTE:

After your keystone and runepath after that, you can use any runes for your secondaries, my personal favourite are resolve and sorcery. Just read their descriptions and choose.

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Runepath After Precision Keystone


Legend:Alacrity - Alacrity is a great rune on voli as explained eariler, he has great attack speed ratios so this really helps and can be used in both jungle and lane. My favourite legend rune of the 3.


Legend:Tenacity - Tenacity is for either tank voli or if the enemy team has heavy cc. This will probably be your main rune to choose between the 3 legend runes.


Legend:Bloodline - Bloodline is only for certain situations or if you're going full AD but is still viable.


Triumph - Triumph is the best rune out of itself and the other 2. The healing it provides allows voli to stack health with his items and keep him alive.


Presence of mind - Just like Legend:Bloodline this can be used in select situations or if you're going full AD/AP.


Last Stand - This is easily the best final Precision rune to pick on voli mainly due to how its activated and how often. This is because last stand will be activated more often and allows voli to finish off low health target after he runs them down with his Q.


Coup de Grace - This rune is more niche and can't be built all the time as it wont be activated often. This rune works best when you're going full AD/AP or if youre skilled and/or very confident you can use it for early game presence if you're agressive.Cut down should only be used if going full AP/AD or against tanks that stack health more than you like Sion or Cho'Gath.

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Runepaths after Domination Keystone


Cheap shot - Cheap shot is the best rune here as paired with its 4 second cooldown and volibear's 3 cc abilities Thundering Smash(Q) , Sky Splitter(E) and Stormbringer(R) ,you will be able to use this rune multiple times when fighting. This runes gives a lot of burst with your standard E>Q>W combo and against squishies can even 100-0 them after first back or first item.


Taste Of Blood - This is only good when going full AP/AD as those builds are quite squishy.


Eyeball Collection - Eyeball collection is just a lot better than the other 2 but Zombie ward and Ghost Poro are still viable.


Relentless Hunter - Relentless Hunter is probably the best of of the final domination runes as voli benefits from the movespeed a lot more and will use the movespeed more often ofc.


Ingenious Hunter - Ingenious hunter is useful if you want to get your Q and W off more in fights as it can give a lot of item haste.


Ultimate Hunter - Ultimate hunter can push out more ultimates in a game and can be very useful if you need to turret dive often.

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Resolve Runes


Shield Bash - Shield Bash is a a great damage rune. It synergizes very well with Voli's kit and build paths due to voli being able to get off extra damage in his combos. Also,combining it with Fimbulwinter, you can have consistent shield bash damage and combining with Gargoyle Stoneplate can lead to a walloping 600 damage auto-attack. The shield recieved from Sterak's Gage can also be useful but is only activated at low health so isn't the best.


Revitalize - Revitalize is a necessity if you choose to take resolve. Buffing healing and shielding on voli is huge. Every game you will get tons of value out of this rune, no matter what build you decide to go.


Second wind - Second Wind is also a safer laning rune that you take into poke matchups such as Teemo, Aatrox or possibly Jayce. Can be useful against ranged toplaners as well.


Bone Plating - Bone Plating is a safer laning rune that you take into matchups where there will be heavy trading.


Demolish - Good rune for voli as it allows him to splitpush and do a lot of damage to towers.


Conditioning - This is overall a solid rune for the bear. After 12 minutes you get a boost of free defensive stats. Resolve secondary in situations where survivability for mid-late game is more important than early game speed when jungling. This can include games with all late scaling laners. Can be used for lane and jungle.


Overgrowth - This is probably my favourite secondary rune alongside Demolish as you can use it both in jungle or in lane and when paired with event decent cs it really shines. The extra health really helps in tight situations and so this rune is very useful throughout the game. Early game it helps build up some quick health over your opposing laner, Mid game it provides more surivability in teamfights and skirmishes, Late game it makes you a good bit more tanky especially if you have a lot of cs.


Unfliching - A powerful rune that provides free slow resistance and tenacity, scaling up to 30%. It is good to run Legend:Tenacity in combination against team comps with lots of cc.

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Sorcery and Inspiration Secondary Runes


Nimbus Cloak - Works well with voli as well as Scorchclaw smite , Mosstomper smite and Gustwalker smite as it helps to close gaps during ganks as well as helping in disengages. This is really useful in the early game.


Waterwalking - This rune is useful early game as it allows for mobility as well as extra stats in the river where there is a lot of skirmishing early game, allowing to easily disengage or engage and outputting more damage.


Transendence - A great rune to take for extra ability haste. At level 11 the extra 20% cooldown on basic abilities (Q, W, E) upon kills, takes off an extra second or so which can keep voli alive and in the fight for longer. The haste from this rune can compensate in builds with not much haste.


Celerity - This rune can be extremely useful paired with other runes such as Predator , Nimbus Cloak and Waterwalking as it gives voli even more movespeed which is all around great. Every source that gives you movespeed is buffed by 7% which can make you move quite fast especially when running with voli's Q.


Absolute Focus - Only for when you are confident as the extra adaptive damage is only active when you are above 70% health, so only go for this rune when you are confident you'll be at that health the majority of the time or you're going Full AP/AD and going for quick oneshots. Otherwise it is a really fun rune.


Gathering Storm - The obvious rune for scaling, the more time , the more adaptive damage. Quite good on volibear, can build it in any build.


Scorch - Recently been playing a lot with this rune and have come to like it a lot. Can be really annoying for the enemy laner as you'll be doing extra burn damage so they'll avoid trying to trade with you especially when you have ignite up as you'll be doing a lot of damage through the double burn. Scorch and ignite can also be combined with Scorchclaw pup and Demonic Embrace to do two more burns and really burn through health bars and be super annoying!


Magical footwear - this rune is rarely taken but I thought I should include it as it can have a place with jungle volibear and essentially replace Celerity with the extra movespeed.


Approach Velocity - the only other inspiration rune used on voli, it can actually be quite useful for even more movespeed. When combined with Magical Footwear it can stand in for Predator. I've also seen Approach Velocity and Magical Footwear used with First Strike and Glacial Augment if anyone is interested in trying that out.

Jungle starters

Mosstomper Seedling - this is the most reliable new jungle starter, the shield it provides can be the difference between a 1v3 and an int. I think it is all-around the best new jungle starter. If ever in doubt just grab this. However, all three jungle starters work well with all of voli's builds and runes so mix and match how you want and try out to see what you find best for you.



Scorchclaw Pup - This jungle starter is only for select situations and/or builds and is the starter you will be probably using the least. It works best when going Full AP/AD and works decently with bruiser builds. Again, all three jungle starters work well with all of voli's builds and runes so mix and match how you want and try out to see what you find best for you.



Gustwalker Hatchling - I enjoy this jungle starter the most as the movespeed it gives you in the brush is useful and fun. This is because it allows you to move around the map faster and set up unexpected ganks or get to objectives/teamfights quicker. Works well with most builds as voli isn't the fastest champion. Remember, all three jungle starters work well with all of voli's builds and runes so mix and match how you want and try out to see what you find best for you.

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Lane starters

Doran's Shield - This is the safest option when going into lane as it provides early sustain but I only really take it into harder matchups/poke or ranged laners. However, it works with anything built on voli and if you don't know what to pick for lane, pick this as it may not be the most optimal in some situations but it the most reliable lane starter.


Doran's Ring - This is probably my favourite lane starter due to the early pressure it gives from your E. This is due to the fact that voli's E has AP scaling so early on it will do a lot of damage and give you a larger shield. This is basically the only reason why the ring is the best in my opinion as the poke,damage and shield is unmatched by everything else.


Doran's Blade - Even though Doran's Ring is better typically Doran's Blade is may more fun and due to the omnivamp it gives it can be used in almost any matchup. The omnivamp and bonus ad,though little,can make the difference between an even trade to a trade in your favour through the use of your Q,W and possibly R. Again, the omnivamp is much more useful than you might think.


Corrupting Potion - though the not the most common option, it isn't bad at all. The health regen is good for obvious reasons but the mana regen is the cream of the crop. Early game volibear can find himself typically low on mana against hard lanes so the mana regen can be really useful to keep him sustained through his E and W till he recalls.


Cull - Cull isn't used often but when an opportunity arises take advantage of it. As mentioned previously, volibear dominates the game even if he gets 1 item ahead and cull really assists this due to the extra gold it grants. Keep in mind, it should only be taken in easy lanes or games where you feel confident you wont fall back. If you fall back with this item just switch as it becomes useless for volibear.


Dark Seal - I haven't used dark seal in many games but in the game I have it hasnt been half bad, in fact it was actually quite good. The extra ap given once you kill someone can be really good with voli's E over time. However, like with Cull, do not take it unless you are going into an easy lane or you're confident because otherwise you won't get kills.


Tear Of The Goddess - This is a lane starter that I have rarely seen used on volibear but I still thought I should include it. This is because it is good when rushing Manamune/Muramana or Winter's Approach/Fimbulwinter as they need need to stack up tears.

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Mythics

Divine Sunderer - My absolute favourite mythic on voli,it gives everything he needs: AD,health,haste,spellblade and healing. The spellblade on it it great for outputting damage and the healing it provides keeps voli in the fight for longer.It also gives armour and magic penetration for every legendary ,allowing volibear to do even more damage through all of his abilities. Works best with bruiser builds,can also build it when going full AD. This mythic allows volibear to play aggressive or safe and is great overall, but it's not the safest option for newer players. Can build tank,bruiser,AD or even AP with the armour and magic penetration.


Iceborn Gauntlet - This mythic is one of my favourite this season and definitely in my top 3 mythics for voli. It was already good and then it became better. The health,armour and slow were already great. But now with an additional spellblade,tenacity and slow resist it is even better. The spellblade makes you do pretty good damage as well as being tanky which can surprise people. The slow is also really useful as voli's biggest weakness is that he can be kited easily. This makes it one of if not the most viable mythics on voli right now. Tank and bruiser are best,full AD might be viable with this,haven't tried it.


Goredrinker - Goredrinker is a newer mythic I have been playing around with and hell do I like it. I can see why most bruisers prefer this mythic, the base stats alone are great,combine them with its active and haste for each legendary and it is really good. The omnivamp is great for keeping you in fights for longer and the active can get you out of a tight situation or finish of a kill quickly.The 7 ability haste per legendary is incredible,allows voli to spam his abilties even more. Bruiser and full AD work best.


Riftmaker - This is the final mythic in the top 3 best mythics for voli. It holds the second place for a reason. The base stats are really useful and paired with its omnivamp per legendary and true damage passive, you become unstoppable. It is viable in any situation,you just need to be skilled. No matter what you build after this mythic,you will do a ton of damage. The omnivamp keeps you in fights for longer and the bonus damage/true damage passive is great. The AP also buffs voli's passive,ultimate and E. Can go full AP,bruiser or even tank with this.


Trinity Force - Trinity force is one of the most fun mythics on voli. It gives a lot ot damage through the spellblade,attack speed plus AD and haste per each legendary. It is the ideal mythic for splitpushing and when you pair it with hullbreaker,towers become a joke to you. The movespeed is also useful against kiting champions. It is only for when going bruiser or full AD so keep that in mind.


Heartsteel - This new mythic is BROKEN. Arguably deserves a spot in the top 3 mythics on voli. The base stats are good but the ability you get is the real treasure. When you get within 700 range of a champion you can deal a big damage attack on your next auto that also grants you permanent max health.If you rush this and prock it at least once or twice a fight each fight, you will be hitting 500 damage late game whilst having 6-7k health minimum. Great when going bruiser or tank.


Jak'Sho The Protean - Goofy name I know but it doesn't water down the fact that this mythic gives a lot of armour and magic resist just normally. But its ability makes you almost unkillable for a few seconds as it gives you a large amount of resistances after 8 seconds of combat.Really fun when going tank or even bruiser.


Radiant Virtue - Havent played with it enough to give it a proper review yet but its not too bad.It can be really fun to see the extra health it gives you and your teammates when you ult, so it can be pretty lifesaving for everyone on your team. Otherwise its pretty meh, but the ability alone is quite good. Best with bruiser or tank.


Stridebreaker - Just like Goredrinker I've been using this lately and it is great. The base stats are pretty good but the active that slows and 2% movespeed per legendary is the best thing about this. These two in combination create voli's biggest weakness,kiting against him, a nonexistent thing. This surprises people,a lot and is really fun to play with. The active is also good to get you out of a sticky situation or finish of a kill. Remember that the active can be cast while moving unlike Goredrinker. Works with full AD and bruiser.

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NOTE: For any other mythics, basically every mythic works on voli,test and try out what you find best. For legendaries I have listed a bunch that I find great on voli in the builds at the beginning.Again test and try out,mix and match everything to find what suits you best.

When it comes to early game and initial clearing volibear has one of the best early games and level 3 damage out of all of the junglers, especially when running Press the Attack. He loses some early-game strength in Conqueror and Lethal Tempo and he swaps damage for gank pressure with Predator. Each keystone brings out a different game style in the initial clearing. Makes sure you know which lanes have the best opportunities for early-game ganking. If there isn't any, go for a 4-5 camp clear into scuttler and then hover or counter gank if necessary.

Remember that When moving from camp to camp, kite to your next camp/spot. For example: if you plan to gank top after scuttle, kite the scuttle topside. Every second you save between camps is seconds that can be spent on map pressuring which is important as a jungler. Also, use your function keys to check lane states such as pushing, freezing, or crashing. This can affect what you do next and give you an idea of what to do.

My typical initial clear path with voli is a 5-camp clear into a top lane gank. However, if there are any early ganking opportunities I will choose a 3-camp clear. Also, if there are no opportunities and all lanes are doing good then I may even opt for a full clear, but this is rare. Volibear ganks best into melee enemies or lanes where your teammate has follow-up crowd control. The initial clearing is situational so you don't have to follow what I say but below are some examples you could get ideas from.


Red side start:
red buff -> raptors -> wolves -> blue buff -> gromp -> try for scuttle -> gank top -> gank mid -> scuttle -> gank bot

Blue side start:
blue buff -> gromp -> raptors -> red buff -> krugs -> try for scuttle -> gank top -> gank mid -> scuttle -> gank bot

Red side start:
Red buff -> Blue buff -> Gromp -> Gank Mid/Top or Invade

Blue side start:
Blue buff -> Gromp -> Red buff -> Gank Mid/Bottom or Invade

Remember to smite, I see too many new junglers forgetting to smite. Use smite on krugs,gromp, blue buff, or red buff.Helps you clear faster, helping you gank/invade earlier.

Standard lane trade combo Play Video The stun from Q prevents damage before the shield from E comes up. Stun makes sure E lands. Most top laners won't be able to out-trade this.

Standard turret dive combo Play Video W before diving allows you to be able to heal quickly so the turret shot won't damage you as much. Q stun makes E+R undodgeable. Can ignite at the end if they aren't dead.

Oneshot/Max damage combo Play Video This combo is quite hard to do as you have to get your R off before the stun from your Q wears off. If done properly the damage is insane. When going full AP/AD you can one shot with this. Don't use this combo all the time, it is only for select situations such as: killing off an enemy with a high bounty on their head, or a high-priority target enemy doing a lot of damage to your team.

Early game it is crucial to not fall behind as volibear will fall off. The most important thing is to focus on your farm, you need to farm fast and efficiently. Remember to ALWAYS have at least one of your abilities up as without them you can end up in bad situations.

Early game in the lane

You also need to focus on staying alive, try not to die but try not to end up with no kills. It is more worth it to be 1-1 than 0-0. Play aggressively but not recklessly. If you can get a kill or two, you can snowball your lead pretty quickly. You can take the lead from your enemy by farming as many minions as you can and don't be afraid to use your skills to last hit minions even at level 1.

Whenever your ultimate is up, you can look for aggressive plays to try and kill the enemy. Your ultimate is a great trading tool that makes you much stronger. Keep the minion wave even or slightly closer to your side of the map early on. This lets you run the enemy down with your Q while protecting yourself from ganks. If you keep pushing when you’re not ahead, you will be unable to run the enemy down but you’ll be an easy target for the enemy jungler.

Against most melee top laners, Volibear is stronger in level 1. This means that we can use Q for sticking on to the opponent for an all-in/extended trade and take a large portion out of their health bar. Volibears's biggest power spike against melee champs in the top lane is when he gets to level 3. Always take 1 point in every ability by level 3 and they are all quite strong at rank 1. Very few melee champions can win trades against a level 3 Volibear, try to force trades/all-ins at this point.

Against melee take Q level 1 to stick with them. This is also good for the few melee top laners stronger than voli in the early game such as tryndamere while in full rage, in this situation you can quickly auto attack then Q to trade and get out.

Against ranged take E level 1 and use your shield to farm safely. If you are being poked hard try to heal off of minions with your W. Normally you farm till level 6 at which point you can try to dive them and all-in. But you can also try to run up to them with your Q if they get too close, if you do this try to kill them or do a lot of damage as it won't be worth it otherwise.

Early game in the jungle

Focus on getting levels 3-4 quickly. Once you have done that, start ganking lanes relentlessly. This should be easy to do on pushed-up enemies.

You will want to take early-game duels and see if you can quickly invade and get some kills. Once you're ahead, it becomes easy to take over the game. Once you get your ultimate ganking will be easier. Try to look around the map for diving opportunities, especially on squishier enemies.

At the very start of the game try to stealth ward the enemy team's red buff if you start on the blue side(top side of the map), or the enemy team's blue buff if you start on the red side(bottom side of the map). This will give you some info on where the enemy jungler starts, and also what clear they're doing. Recall, change your ward to an oracle lens, and go to your starting camp.

After your initial clear, the priority is to look for ganks that are open but don't try to force anything that isn't available. If your lanes aren't set up for ganks, instead choose to shadow and farm. In the current meta, it's much better to look to gank lanes more often than it used to be. Do your best to constantly look for lanes to gank early game because it can give volibear a big lead.

Your next priority is to zone out the drake. Buy a stealth ward and oracle lens early, and look to use them to secure vision on the drake. Volibear isn't the best at killing drakes by himself, but sometimes you can do it early if the enemy jungler shows top. Try to kill the drake after you get a kill either mid/bot lane or if the enemy laners recall.

Mid-game in the lane

If you lose the laning phase focus on farming the side lanes hard to try to catch up. It's much better for your team to lose a 4v5 than a 5v5 as it will give the opposing team a bigger advantage. You won't be able to help at all if behind and will get melted before you can even get into the fight. This is why having a gold lead is so important for volibear. Keep in mind, unless you are going full AP/AD you won't be doing the majority of damage on your team.

So, sitting back and absorbing some damage for your teammates is sometimes better than rushing into a 1v3 and dying without contributing. Too many newer players get reckless and jump into the fight by themselves when they won't do anything, voli is a team player and good at it.

Split push during the mid-game and try to secure objectives, mainly turrets. Avoid grouping if possible, only because it causes you to pressure more. Use your strong dueling potential to fight and duel anyone who tries to stop you from split-pushing.

Although you’re a really strong split pusher, be prepared to group with your team and fight 5v5. You should generally start grouping when there are no nearby objectives to take.

Mid game in the jungle

Keep ganking lanes during the midgame. The goal is to help your team accumulate a lead as well so that you can end the game quick. Work with one of your teammates to get some picks in the enemy jungle, try not to invade with your ADC unless they are fed as they still may be weak at this stage of the game.

This helps a lot when skirmishing and setting up vision before important objective fights. You should try to initiate fights for your team when you get a chance if go tank/bruiser. Your ultimate should help you massively with it, especially when the fight is around choke points.

The next course of action is taking the rift herald. Try to path so that you can take the herald at its 8-minute spawn. If you can get the herald quickly, you can make a play that will essentially end the game. After you have taken the rift herald look to gank top or mid. If you have your first item you can potentially tower dive. If you can get the kill here, you can place the herald, and take a lot of plates or even the full tower.

This puts you and your laner ridiculously far ahead, and if you play well you can snowball and end the game. Only begin the rift herald if you've cleared all vision and if your mid and top laners both have priority of lane, or if you're confident that the enemy jungler is clearing his bot side/looking to gank bot lane.

Getting rift heralds and drakes is extremely valuable in the current meta. Take ganks if they're available, but your job is to control these objectives and not give easy kills. Strive to make your ganks worth the time, and don't spend time in lanes that you don't get a kill or assist out of, you can be doing much better things. And if you help get a kill in a lane, assist your laner, push the wave, take plates and deny the enemy of cs.

Avoid splitting or being away from your team in the late game as the enemy will force a fight while you're gone. Fighting without your ultimate will make the team fights much harder. Delay fights and be prepared to disengage if your ultimate is not up yet.

Late game in the lane

After going in with your Ultimate R, be prepared to fall back and peel for your teammates in late-game team fights.
To make getting on the enemy backline easier, group with your team but stay off to the side. If you flank from a bush without a ward in it, the enemy will find it harder to react to your all-in. You can still split push but only if you're not the main engage/tank.

Late game in the jungle

In the late game, make sure you keep getting kills all around the map, making team fights unfair should be your main goal. In team fights, try to separate the enemy frontline from the enemy backline. This will let your carries play freely, and if you are going tank you will be able to absorb a lot of damage for your allies, otherwise, their backline and carries will be met by a flying volibear of death/

Use areas where the enemy doesn't have vision and choke points to win team fights. Your chances to win a fight will increase drastically as you have many Area Of Effect(AoE) effects in your abilities.

In the late game, you're going to be grouping a lot. One of the main reasons I love volibear is that as the team's main engage you have control over your team's engages. So, you always want to be using your oracle lens and wards to control vision, and always be looking for an opportunity to catch their squishies out. If you're fed or in a decent spot, DO NOT hesitate to all in any squishy who even shows themselves. If your team follows up properly you will probably blow them up any other enemies but if not you have your Q to run away.

You need to look to peel and help your backline out if you're behind in levels/items.

After you win a team fight, even if your team just gets 3 kills for 2 deaths, look to take an objective even if it's just one of the enemy's buffs. One of the biggest mistakes with new volibear players is teams not taking anything after team fights are won.