Hello, the purpose of this guide is to make you into a better Volibear player. I have played several hundred games as Volibear (over 300 in ranked) and feel as though I have a good sense of how to play this champion. In the right hands, Volibear can be a huge threat to the enemy team and can be a hard carry. He has a crazy amount of damage and is still incredibly tanky.

Ignite is a great summoner spell to use in a lane where kills will happen often. It is great for finishing off low health targets throughout the game and it is common to find enemy champions with lots of life steal top lane. In duels, ignite keeps this to a minimum, which is very beneficial to you in a fight.

Flash is a summoner spell that should always be taken on Volibear. He has no natural instant escapes or gap closers, so it basically takes the place of one. It is great for escapes and a Flash into a Thundering Smash can make or break a team fight.

Thundering Smash is a great skill to take first because it supplies an escape from enemies early game. Many times, unexpected level 2 (or rarely level 1) ganks occur which can really mess up your lane. Taking Thundering Smash first makes it safer overall. Plus, it provides a nice amount of early damage and the option to throw the enemy champion into your minions wave (when it hurts the most).

Frenzy is Volibear's main source of damage in lane and is a great execute. It should be taken whenever possible, except when you have the option to take your ultimate, Stormbringer. It is a great way to harass enemies and it hurts more and more the less health that they have.

Sky Splitter is a good way to stick to your opponent, or to get away from sticky situations. It also provides a decent amount of damage to harass your enemy or to take kill some minions from a distance. Plus, it fears enemy minions so it takes away some damage from the minions if you are trying to attack your enemy.

Stormbringer is gives Volibear a large amount of damage and should be used even in duels for the extra damage that it gives. If the enemy champion escapes your reach, you can still hit him by attacking a nearby minion. The bouncing lighting can still hit him for some extra damage (many times even giving kills from far away).

PROS:
- Instakills squishies
- Great 1v1
- Very Tanky
- Nice "stickativity"
- Lots of damage
- Lots of sustain in lane with his passive

CONS:
- No instant gap closers
- Can be kited easily
- No ranged abilities (I don't count Sky Splitter)

Crystalline Flask is an excellent item to get first because it provides sustain and mana to continuously harass your opponents.

Doran's Blade is really good for domination in lane. It provides health, and extra health on auto attacks. Not to mention the large amount of early game attack damage that will make the opponent think that Volibear is crazy OP.

Blade of the Ruined King is great on Volibear because it gives him extra speed, health, attack speed, and a whole lot of damage for those champions that stack health top. It provides a tool for great initiation and extra speed for getting away from sticky situations. Duels become a breeze with this item.

Sunfire Aegis provides armor, health, and AoE magic damage over time. The health is great on Volibear, making him more tanky and increasing the amount of health returned to him through his passive. The extra damage that come with it helps to push your lane and do a lot of extra damage to the enemy champion.

Mercury's Treads provides tenacity which helps to make CC less of a threat to Volibear. In team fights, CC keeps Volibear away from the enemy carries, so taking Mercury's Treads will help you to get to them.

Warmog's Armor provides a lot of extra health which is always good on Volibear to make him more tanky and provides more health from his passive.

Frozen Mallet provides a lot of extra health which is good for Volibear's passive. The passive on the item, which slows down the enemy champion on hit, is great for extra "stickitivity."

Spirit Visage is a good way to get some magic resist. This mids that try to take you out will have a lot of trouble when they barely scratch you because of all of that magic resist.

Guardian Angel provides armor, magic resist, and rejuvenation. Plus, while being given health back through the item, your passive also is given a chance to work in case you got bursted before it could fully take place.

Randuin's Omen is a good choice because it provides armor, health, and a slow for extra "stickativity," which is very important for Volibear. Couples with Blade of the Ruined King the enemy champion will almost never get away. Plus, the passive AS debuff that this item gives to the enemy champion is great when fighting champions like Tryndamere or overly fed AD Carries.

Some tips and tricks to farming:

- It is easy to farm as Volibear under the turret. You can use your Sky Splitter to get several low health minions. You can use Thundering Smash on a single minions to kill it. You can use Frenzy on cannon minions to kill them from a little bit underneath half health.

- If your wave is pushed, you should be productive and farm your golems. Once you have your Doran's Blade and Vampiric Scepter you will actually gain health while you kill them.

At the beginning of the game, Volibear is an "average" top champion. He doesn't have a particularly strong level 1, so you won't generally be wanting to engage the opponent at level 1. Your main goal is to farm until around level 4 or 5, occasionally harassing the opponent with a standard Sky Splitter, auto attack, Thundering Smash, two more auto attacks, then Frenzy . This will generally do a nice amount of damage, especially once you get your two Doran's Blade. At around level 4 or 5 to 8 or 9, you will generally be at your strongest. At this point you want to try and use that power to zone out your opponent as much as possible. Whenever they come near you, try and use your combo on them to do a lot of damage. Remember that Volibear is great in duels. The extra damage that he gets from his Stormbringer wins many fights for him. So don't be afraid to use his ultimate, even if it won't secure a kill. It isn't on a very long cool down so it won't inhibit your ability to lane very much while it isn't up.

By mid game your should have your Mercury's Treads and start to roam. Volibear is a good roamer because of his Thundering Smash and the slow from his Sky Splitter. The more that you can help your other lanes while Volibear is at his strongest, the easier the game is going to be later on. Mid game is where you are at your strongest as Volibear, so unless you are behind, you should generally be on the offensive during this portion of the game.

In the end game, you will be very important in team fights. People generally think of Volibear only as a peeler and a tank, but that wouldn't be taking full advantage of his devastating damage. In general, Volibear's job in a team fight is to rush the enemy AD Carry (or AP Carry depending on who is the biggest threat to your team) and finish them off as quickly as possible. Don't be afraid to flash and then Thundering Smash to them. It can catch them off guard and can decide the fate of a team fight pretty easily.