Hi, I'm Telloth and this is my first ever guide. So be nice! :)

I decided to make this guide because I feel like the way in which I play Udyr works quite well for me, and wanted to share it with others.
When I was learning Udyr I read ScienceXReason's guide, and it helped me immensely to understand the mechanics of Udyr, so I feel like I must definitely credit this guy for making a superb guide. You can find his guide here: http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/sxrs-in-depth-look-to-udyr-updated-june-29-2011-56684

Now I am not claiming to have a better guide than SxR, I merely found a way to build Udyr that better suited my playstyle and wanted to share it. Which is why I'm linking his guide as well, so you can perhaps try both my build and his and see which one works for your playing style. There are so many ways to play Udyr, and that is one of the reasons I'm making this guide.

Udyr is a Norwegian word that means 'beast'. That is a perfect description of Udyr
When someone is pushed quite far up a lane, and they hear the roar of a bear, and then see an enemy Udyr come tearing out of the grass, blocking off the escape to their tower, they will shake with fear. Udyr is a very intimidating champion.

Udyr, as a champion, is very different from the rest, but a huge threat when played well. That is the best way to describe him, in my opinion.
For starters, he doesn't have an ultimate. Straight away this causes people to turn their heads in the other direction, but what he lacks in a big scary epic skill, he makes up for in having four very solid stances that are essentially like different tools in a toolbox.

Udyr is also what you would call a bruiser, which means that in team fights his role is to be tanky enough to withstand a fair amount of damage but also to have enough damage to not be ignored. He can be played purely tank, but I think that's inefficient and really only making full use of two of his stances (Bear and Turtle). This guide builds towards a bruiser Udyr, but in the second slot you will see the way I would build a more tanky Udyr (although he is still not fully tank).

This guide will focus solely on jungle Udyr. Quite simply, this is because I haven't played Udyr in lane, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, while I have heard positive things about Lanedyr (Udyr in lane :P), the majority seem to think that he is so much stronger in the jungle that it's pointless to lane with him. Secondly, I started with Udyr in the jungle, and it has worked for me so well that I don't really want to try Lanedyr. And thirdly, his turtle stance was nerfed recently (which I will get into below) which I imagine would affect his sustainability in lane quite substantially.

Another thing to note is that this guide focuses on a Phoenix Udyr, with a bit of Tiger added in. I build him as an AD/AP hybrid. Phoenix Udyr jungles faster than Tiger Udyr, and while many argue that Tiger is better for ganking (which is true to an extent), I put a level in Tiger early on to utilise the damage from both stances.

Note: There are two other builds at the top of this guide, each with different runes, masteries and items. One of them is a tanky build, and the other is an attack speed build. For the sections where the other two builds are different (runes, masteries, items), I have included notes at the bottom about them.

So, without further ado, lets get on with the guide!

Monkey's Agility (Passive)

Entering a stance grants Udyr 10% attack speed and 3% dodge for 5 seconds. This effect stacks 3 times, which caps at 30% attack speed and 9% dodge.

This passive is a nice one, especially late game, where in a team fight you will be switching in between stances usually once every 3 seconds on average. Also you will rarely find that you are running out of mana due to switching too much, so changing stance all the time will not be a problem.

Tiger Stance

Cost: 55/50/45/40/35 Mana

Activation: For up to 5 seconds after Tiger Stance's activation, Udyr's next attack will deal 150% attack damage, and additionally will deal 30/80/130/180/230 as magic damage over 2 seconds. Also, Udyr will gain 15/20/25/30/35% attack speed for the next 5 seconds.

Persistant Effect: Udyr's attack speed is increased by 20/25/30/35/40%.

You might be surprised that I level it up so early (level 5), considering most people wait for at least level 7 or 8. I do this because I find it really helps do that extra damage when I'm ganking, I'll explain more in the ganking section below.

The reason I level this up only once until level 17 is because the 170% does not go higher when you level the stance. It's only the magic damage and attack speed that increase, and because Phoenix stance does more magic damage, and the attack speed isn't enough to level it up over other stances, it stays at 1.

I activate Tiger Stance for the extra damage, it's as simple as that. The only reason you will be using this is for the activation effect, not for the persistant effect, because by the time those 5 seconds are over, you will have already switched into another stance, maybe even 2, and the extra attack speed that you gain really isn't worth sticking in the stance for when you have Phoenix and Bear Stance to switch into.

Another thing to note is that this skill is essentially your AD skill. It does do magic damage, but the main magic damage that you deal will be from Phoenix. The main damage from this will be the 150% attack and the attacks following it, before you switch into a different stance.

Oh and one last thing. When you are attacking turrets, activate this. You will destroy them with Tiger Stance.

Turtle Stance

Cost: 55/50/45/40/35 Mana

Activation: Udyr gains a temporary shield that absorbs 60/100/140/180/220 (plus 50% of AP) damage.

Persistant Effect: Udyr's attacks cannot crit, however he restores 10/12/14/16/18% of his damage as health and 5/6/7/8/9% of his damage as mana.

This stance has been nerfed quite substantially in the Talon patch. The shield didn't get a nerf but the health return is 2% less each level than it used to be, and the mana is much lower. At level 5 you used to return 15% and it's now at 9%, which is what you used to get at level 1. This has affected his jungling quite a bit, as I found that with this build there is only one way to jungle otherwise you have to recall one time more. I will explain this further below.

Because of this nerf, I haven't leveled it up as much as I used to, putting a point in it at level 2 and then leaving it until level 12. The reason for this is purely because I deem the other stances more important. Turtle is very useful late game if you're low on hp but out of your base, cause you can just go into the jungle and activate turtle and your health will come right back as you hit creeps.

In battle the shield can be useful but I prefer to destroy my enemies quickly rather than waste time in activating it. I would usually only use turtle when I'm being chased and am low on health and in danger of dying from a hit or two. The shield is a very good tool for helping to reduce the damage of certain abilities, like Karthus' Requiem .

Bear Stance

Cost: 55/50/45/40/35 Mana

Activation: Udyr's movement speed is increased by 15/18/21/24/27% for 2/2.5/3/3.5/4 seconds.

Persistant Effect: Udyr mauls his target with such force that they are stunned for one second. This effect cannot occur on the same target for 6 seconds.

This stance is amazing. That's the first thing I have to say about it. It has so many uses, from chasing a fleeing enemy, to running around and stunning every enemy in a team fight so your carrys can bash them to bits.

I level this up as second priority, after Phoenix. The extra speed that each level gives you is great for both chasing, and running. And the stun is great for ganks and stunning enemies that you are chasing so that they are caught by you and the team.

I take a level in this as early as 4 because of how good it is for ganking, and it is about level 4 that you will start ganking. The extra speed it gives you for catching up to enemies is awesome, and then the stun obviously speaks for itself.

Phoenix Stance

Cost: 55/50/45/40/35 Mana

Activation: Udyr emits waves of fire that deal 15/25/35/45/55 (plus 25% of AP) magic damage to nearby enemies every second for 5 seconds.

Persistant Effect: Udyr's ability power is increased by 16/24/32/40/48 and his attack damage is increased by 8/12/16/20/24. On every third attack that Udyr makes, he will engulf enemies in front of him in flame, which deals 50/90/130/170/210 (plus 25% of AP) magic damage.

Now we come to Phoenix Stance. This is your main stance, and it is absolutely awesome. This will allow you to jungle faster than 80-90% of junglers out there, it will give you great damage in late game when combined with Tiger, and when you farm, it will clear out minion waves quicker than you can say "BURN BABY BURN!"

So, you level this up first, and max it first. I'll talk about how to use it well with Tiger later, but for now all I'll say is that staying in this stance when fighting is usually a good idea. Tiger gives you some great AD, but if you want magic damage, this is what you turn to.

For Masteries, I go for 21/0/9. I make sure I have a point in the smite and ghost masteries, and also a point in the monster buff extension.

Udyr can just as easily have masteries of 9/0/21, or some defensive masteries too. My other two builds do this. This main build can conceivably work well with any of the masteries. My advice would be to play him a couple of times with my masteries and see what type of player you are with him. If you find you are dying more often because you throw yourself into fights too much, take defensive masteries.

There is some sort of glitch with the masteries, so that the offensive ones are only showing there to be 18 slots filled, when there are 21 if you count them.

Note: The other two builds have completely different masteries than the main build.
The second build is a tanky one, with 1/21/8. It takes the smite and ghost masteries but goes for 21 in the defensive. As you are going to be playing tanky, these will be very useful.
The third build, the attack speed one, goes with 21/8/1. It takes the Ghost mastery, and focuses in the offense masteries, with some 8 points in defensive masteries.

The runes that I use for this build of Udyr are as follows:

9 Greater Mark of Insight

9 Greater Seal of Resilience

9 Greater Glyph of Force

3 Greater Quintessence of Fortitude


Note: For the tanky build, I chose Magic Pen Marks, Armor Seals, Magic Resist per level Glyphs, and Flat HP Quints. And for the attack speed build I chose Attack Speed Marks, Dodge Seals, Magic Resist per level Glyphs and Movement Speed Quints.

I am going to outline the main way in which I build Udyr, and then list some items I think are also viable for him.

Early Game

When you start, buy a Long Sword and a Health Potion.

This is the beginning of your build towards a Phage. The Health Potion will allow you to stay out in the jungle long enough to come back and buy your next item, Boots of Speed.

These, combined with Bear Stance and Ghost, will allow you to gank with relative ease. When you have enough gold (570 to be exact), go back and buy Berserker's Greaves. The extra attack speed is very good for Udyr when in Phoenix, considering every third attack of his deals a lot of damage.
The next item you will buy is a Vampiric Scepter. This will give you more sustainability in the jungle so you can stay out longer. Eventually you'll build this into a Hextech Gunblade .

Afterwards, you're going for a Phage, which will cost you 900 gold. This is where you start to build into a Trinity Force.

Mid Game

Next, go for Sheen, and then Zeal. A Sheen is 1260 gold and a Zeal is 1195 gold.

These two items will build into a Trinity Force, at 300 gold. Trinity Force is a great item for Udyr. It gives you both AP for Phoenix Stance and AD for Tiger Stance, it gives you extra movement speed for Bear Stance which is amazing when you're chasing people. And then the extra health works for your 'bruiser' role, giving you better survivability. The slow is good for chasing people too, though it's no Frozen Mallet (which I will talk about below). And who doesn't like extra chance of crits?

After Trinity Force I buy a Giant's Belt. This gives you the survivability to be extremely useful to your team in a team fight. This will be built into Warmog's later.

Late Game

After the Giant's Belt, you will build a Phantom Dancer. This item will give you even more attack speed so that going into Tiger Stance and then activating Phoenix Stance will cause you to just rip enemies apart. The speed boost will make sure that you will chase people down so quickly that they will be terrified of you. And you'll be critical hitting like crazy.

Warmog's Armor is next (1890 gold), and this will give you more survivability, which I almost always find I want/need in late game.

Lastly you will build a Hextech Gunblade. It will cost 3175 gold. You will only get to this item if you have been fed, or if the game goes on for very long. But it's definitely worth getting, it gives you a lot of additional ability power and attack damage to make you a killing machine. You've also got life steal and spell vamp, and a very nice active.

Other Viable Items for Udyr

Frozen Mallet

This is a great item for Udyr. I build this quite often, as it gives you a lot of survivability and then of course there is the passive. Physical attacks reduce the movement speed of your target by 40% for 2.5 seconds? That essentially means that if you are chasing after someone and then catch them up, they are dead. Build this straight after Phage to replace Giant's Belt, and ultimately Warmog's. If you think you will need the health that Warmog's gives, then build Warmog's instead of Hextech Gunblade.
What it replaces: Giant's Belt, Warmog's

Nashor's Tooth

This is a good alternative to either Trinity Force or Phantom Dancer. It'll be for if you need more AP, and don't necessarily need the extra movement speed that Trinity Force and Phantom Dancer give. Nashor's Tooth works very well with Phoenix. I build it fairly often. You have to start with a dagger instead of a longsword and then build a Stinger, finishing with Nashor's Tooth.
What it replaces: Trinity Force or Phantom Dancer

Mercury's Treads

Buy these when you want to be more tanky, simple as that!
What it replaces: Berserker's Greaves

Hexdrinker

The passive on this is really nice, and then you've got good attack damage and magic resistance. If you're being focused a bit too much in fights by their AP chars, but still want some attack damage, buy this.
What it replaces: Phantom Dancer.

Guinsoo's Rageblade

A good replacement for the Phantom Dancer. I personally prefer the extra movement and attack speed that Phantom Dancer gives, but if you just want more raw power, go for this. It gives more AP and AD.
What it replaces: Phantom Dancer.

Force of Nature

This is obviously for if you are going to be going more tanky, and if there's a scary AP char on the enemy team. Someone like a Karthus who is getting loads of kills through Requiem (though I would go for Banshee's Veil - another good magic resist item with the extra HP, although you won't really need the extra mana), or a very fed Fiddlesticks.
What it replaces: Either Trinity Force or Phantom Dancer, whichever you feel is best.

Thornmail

Got an enemy Trynd who is tearing you up? Xin Zhao knocking you around too many times? If the enemy team has a fed AD carry, then build this, and laugh as they destroy themselves when they start hitting you!
What it replaces: Warmog's Armour or Hextech Gunblade (if you feel like you need the extra health and still want to be tanky)

Lich Bane

Ability power, movement speed, magic resist, what's not to love? The mana isn't really needed, but it's a good replacement for Trinity Force if you need the magic resistance.
What it replaces: Trinity Force, build a Sheen instead of Phage, and then build that into a Lich Bane

Stark's Fervor

Stark's Fervor is an amazing item just because of the aura it gives. Build this instead of Hextech Gunblade if your team is struggling in team fights and needs that extra edge.
What it replaces: Hextech Gunblade

Wriggle's Lantern

I'm not a huge fan of Wriggle's, but it can work well. If the enemy team is more focused on AD, and you feel like having a stronger presence and even better sustainability in the jungle (but less influence later on), you should go for this. It's nice to have early on, but I feel like it isn't great once you leave the jungle. The active is great, by the way, but you have to remember to use it.
What it replaces: Build it instead of the Phantom Dancer, but go the route of Longsword>Mardreds>Vampiric Scepter>Wriggle's. You may decide to replace it with a Hextech later on if the game gets that far.

Madred's Bloodrazor

For if you have too much AP on your team and want to go for more AD. This requires a bit of a changed play style too, as you'll want to be activating Tiger more often, but still using Phoenix to deal some magic damage that you will get from your Trinity Force. This is right at the end of the list because it is more of a Tiger-based Udyr item, and that's not what this guide is about.
What it replaces: Phantom Dancer. You should build Madred's Razors from the Longsword, then build a Phage and then onto a Trinity Force as usual. Then afterwards build the Bloodrazor.


Note: Below I list the items that are included in the other two builds.
The second build is a tanky build, with Mercury's Treads, a Frozen Mallet and then either Force of Nature or Thornmail depending on what you need, finishing with a Hexdrinker (you'll want this more if you bought a Thornmail) and finally a Hextech Gunblade. This gives you a very tanky base, but a good bit of damage too so that you aren't just completely ignored.
The third build is a nice little attack speed based build that works great with Phoenix. You start with a Dagger, then build Berserker's Greaves, then Nashor's Tooth, followed by a Phantom Dancer and a Frozen Mallet, finishing off with Stark's Fervor. You'll basically have insane attack speed and be a very formidable foe.

Now for Summoner Spells.
For this build I always choose Smite and Ghost, which I will talk about in a second. I will also outline below the spells that I think are also viable for Udyr, and the ones I think are not.

Good Summoner Spells

This is a must if you are jungling with Udyr. It will allow you to jungle faster, and plus without Smite you will struggle against the Blue Golem and Red Lizard until level 5 or 6. Considering you need to be starting with Blue, and Red at level 3, this is a must have.


The second spell that I take is always Ghost. The reason I do this is because it works so well with the activation of Bear Stance. For example, when you are ganking early on, you hit Ghost and Bear Stance and no one can run from you. With the stun and a team mate that is ready to do some damage, it's almost a guaranteed kill. It is true that Ghost loses its maximum effectiveness later on in the game (when you max Bear) due to the cap, but it's still great.


Flash is great, I take it for about 80% of the champions I play because of its ability to get you out of tight situations. Flashing over walls if you are ganked in the jungle is very useful as Udyr. For this reason, Flash is a pretty viable choice.


A good spell, which can be used on Udyr, although Flash and Ghost are better for him, and considering the fact that Smite is a must have, you should only take this if you are more comfortable using it than you are with Flash and Ghost.


I wasn't sure whether to put this in the Good list or the Bad list. In the end I put it at the bottom of the good. It can have its uses but in my opinion Ghost and Flash are much better, so like Ignite, unless you are more comfortable with using it then stick with Ghost or Flash.

Bad Summoner Spells

It's good, but Ghost is better than it in every way in Udyr's case. With Ghost activated, you can catch up to two fleeing enemies, and run away from numerous enemies. But with exhaust, you can only slow one enemy that you are chasing, or one enemy that is chasing you. Pick Ghost instead, trust me.


Now I don't hate heal like a lot of people seem to. But you won't need this. Early on in the jungle, when you are going to be needing heal, you will be going back anyways to shop. Later on, you'll have turtle as a temporary shield to save you from death and also regen your health from creeps.


There is probably never going to be a point until late game when you have to teleport to the other side of the map to clear a minion stack or help an ally, and even then it won't happen much at all. It will be a wasted spell slot if you pick it.


Udyr doesn't need this, he's never short for mana in mid and late game, and in early game you'll have blue buff a lot of the time.


You aren't going to be at a tower for a good chunk of the game so you won't need this.


Not as Udyr, please :)


Just......no.

Since the Talon patch, Turtle Stance has been nerfed so that there is really only one way to do jungle as Phoenix Udyr. I used to start at wraiths and then work to Blue (with no pull), but now you really have to start at Blue and have someone pull it. The jungle path is below.

Blue Golem (need pull) > Wolves > Wraiths > Mini Golems > Recall > Red Lizard > Wolves > Wraiths > Mini Golems > Recall

First start with Blue Golem and make sure to get someone to pull it for you otherwise you WILL die. Use your health potion after it has attacked you a couple of times, and smite to kill it. You'll have no trouble clearing out the wolves, wraiths and mini golems. You can use smite to kill one of the mini golems.

When you recall, buy boots and go and do red, smite will be back to finish it.

You should hit level 4 after doing wolves for the second time, which means you will get Bear Stance. This is the point at which you can start ganking, although you might want to wait for level 5 when you get Tiger. Ganking is outlined in the chapter below.

At level 7 you can solo dragon, providing you have Blue buff, Smite and full health. Do it whenever it feels safe enough.

Note: With my third build, the attack speed one, you will be starting with a dagger, instead of a longsword. This is just a note to let you know that the jungle route is exactly the same for that build as it is if you start with a longsword.

I decided to make a separate chapter for ganking just to keep it apart from the jungling chapter for organisation.

So, as I said above, you can start ganking when you get Bear Stance at level 4. This will give you the extra speed (combined with Ghost) to catch up to your enemies and also the stun so that your allies can hit them too.

It is good to wait for Tiger Stance at level 5 to gank. Wait in the bushes (check with your ally in the lane if they think there might be a ward first), start Bear Stance and Ghost if you need it, and go to stun the squishy in the lane. Make sure to co-ordinate with your team mate before you gank. Once you have stunned the enemy, activate Phoenix Stance, and immediately afterwards go into Tiger Stance. And then switch back into Phoenix. The activation of these two should do some nice damage, and probably get you a kill if it was a good gank. The reason I say activate Phoenix first is because at this stage in the game your damage will come more from AD, as opposed to AP, so you need to finish on your AD stance while still utilising the activation effect of Phoenix Stance.

Make sure you always are aware of how far each lane is being pushed while you are jungling. You can't wait for your allies to request help before you gank. Always keep watch on who is in trouble and who isn't. If someone needs to recall, specifically the two that are solo laning, go there and ask them to go back. It's a good idea to help solo top a lot, especially if they are against 2 enemies. Udyr is a great pusher because of his ability to clear out minion waves with phoenix.

A very important thing to keep in mind is not to force a gank. Don't think that as soon as you reach level 4 or 5 you have to gank. It's not a rule, so if there isn't a lane that is pushed up far and there is no ganking opportunity, just continue to jungle.

Just a short note on farming. In mid to late game, you will be absolutely excellent at it with this build. All you have to do is activate Phoenix Stance and run into the middle of the minions and start hitting them. You will clear 10-15 minions in 5 seconds, with the AoE from the activation of the stance. If you have an even bigger stack to clear, activate it more than once. You don't even have to worry about last hitting.

Always be wary of a gank while farming, but bear in mind that if you have Ghost up, you are going to be practically be impossible to catch. Even without Ghost, you'll probably be outrunning every enemy. So you should have an easy escape if you are ganked, as long as you are wary, keep an eye on who is missing from the mini map, and position yourself well.

As I stated above, Udyr's typical role is that of the bruiser. This means that in a team fight, he has the job of having enough survivability to take a good amount of the hits, but deal enough damage to cause the enemy problems. You are essentially an off-tank, one that has the potential to deal very large amounts of damage.

One great thing to do in a team fight is to run around stunning everyone with Bear form. If you wait for the initiation of the fight, and then run in and stun the tank followed by the big damage dealers, you can then choose one of those damage dealers to nuke down. Hopefully you will have enough survivability to withstand any damage that was directed your way.

As Udyr you have the perfect rescuing tool in the form of Bear Stance. If you see an ally who is in trouble, and running away from the enemy, run towards them and stun any enemies that get close, being careful not to get caught yourself. There have been countless times where I have saved team mates this way, or even saved myself by just turning around and stunning my pursuers. Always remember this, as you could save team mates countless times in the game.

Pros

-Very strong jungler. One of the quickest.
-Great chase and escape ability with Bear Stance.
-Naturally quite tanky.
-Can be played in so many ways.
-Amazing at farming minions, can clear waves in seconds.

Cons

-Requires a lot of practise to master.
-No team fight winning ultimate ability.
-Zero range, which is only a minor con because you can close that gap quickly.

To summarize, this is the way I play Udyr; it is not necessarily going to work for you, because Udyr is the kind of champion that can change a lot depending on who is playing him. Also, you really have to adapt your items to the type of enemies you are going to be facing.

I really encourage you to try variations of my item builds, perhaps replacing some items with ones on my list of other viable Udyr items. Give different builds a go and see how they work for you; you never really know how well they will work until you try them in the game.

Finally, thank you very much for reading my first League of Legends guide. Give it a rating and leave me a comment to let me know what you think. I would really appreciate any suggestions you might have on how to make the guide better.

Anyways, good luck, have fun, and happy hunting with Udyr! :)