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Bramble rush early and take short trades, Aatrox will generally win longer trades due to his built-in healing. Try to move more diagonally instead of back and forth, that way he has a harder time hitting with q dash.
Akali
Akali is weak at this stage, if she shrouds you can drop e on yourself to mitigate most of her damage, bait her q by walking up and back unpredictably. Angle yourself so that there is always allied minions between you and her, that way she cannot shuriken flip to you. Be careful of her level 6 all in, especially if you are below 60% health.
Camille
Camille is a harder matchup due to her ability to short trade with you and not take any damage back. Bramble rush is good against her healing from w and grasp. PTA is the best setup against Camille, you will start with Doran’s ring so her hybrid will be a magic damage shield, hence your q autos and w will bypass the shield. Always try to play around her shield and bait her w by walking up and back unpredictably.
Cho'Gath
Be unpredictable in your movements so he can't land Q knock up. Take short trades from level 3 with e into q stun auto and w. Be careful of his level 6 all in.
Darius
Do not let him get to 5 stacks of bleed, don't take all ins unless you can burst him, he will win extended trades with q healing and raw damage. Be unpredictable in your movements so he can't land Q. Take short trades from level 3 with e into q stun auto and w. Bramble rush into tier 2 boots helps with dodging q and reducing his healing. Early health stacking will be beneficial as his R true damage is a flat number.
Fiora
Fiora is a champion that can keep her spacing really well, which against Volibear can be a pain. You can trade with her early and the level 3 works well as you can negate some of her damage. The main points for this matchup are, do not stun onto her parry, if you want to bait with it, run at her with q but don't use it until she's parried. Also make sure you don't get hit by the parry at all, it does 110 magic damage at level 1, reduces your attack speed and movement speed. You can fight fiora early until about first item, from this point put your strength into teamfights as you can provide more for your team than she can. Fiora is a split pushing/dueling champion, just make sure she doesn't have that opportunity. Bramble rush is good against her early game, but eventually her true damage is the main issue, be careful stacking health as her true damage is % max health.
Gangplank
As with most "ranged" matchups, use the bushes to avoid auto attacks or in this case Gangplank's Q. You can start Doran's Shield if you're worried about sustain but generally you can survive laning phase. Just bide your time, take what farm you can get, XP is the most important factor early game. Once you're level 6 you can force an all in, make sure that he uses his orange for your ult rather than your Q. Place your E behind him if he starts running that way he's slowed again. If you're farming or fighting gangplank and he places a barrel, try to either last hit the barrel or walk unpredictably that way he has a harder time aiming the second/third barrel.
Garen
The most important notes for the Garen matchup are that your passive lightning will keep his passive from activating, try to use this to your advantage. Try not to use all of your abilities at once unless his W is on cooldown. It reduces his damage taken and grants tenacity. Building early health pre 6 is very good into Garen as his R does flat true damage plus missing health. Just a ruby crystal will be enough to tank that flat true damage at level 6. If Garen starts spinning on you, try to position an allied minion between yourself and him, his spin deals 25% extra damage to the nearest target. If he is running at you with his Q and you know it's going to get you, use W on him before he gets to you, it'll cast even if you're silenced as your W cast time is very fast. From here you can auto attack trade and drop E and if he commits you'll be able to get a W2 cast.
Gnar
The Gnar matchup is only difficult because he can kite you very well, he has slows and a jump to get away from you if he needs to. Building bramble vest early will help with his auto attack poking and reduce his healing if he has grasp. Once you have a phage/health item, you can start to trade but it's up to Gnar to make a mistake for you to be able to get a solo kill. He has too many tools to get away and survive.
Heimerdinger
Take a few early points into your E so that you're able to farm and clear his cannons. He'll most likely keep you pushed into tower so just try to farm as best as you can and avoid walking up to the wave near his turrets as he deals a lot more damage than expected. Second wind, early boots and health are all very good into this matchup. At level 6 you can try to go for an all in, just make sure you've poke him down to at least 60% with your E. That way you can kill him in one rotation of abilities. If he flashes I'd take the flash, let your jungler know and don't be greedy.
Illaoi
The most important thing in this matchup is to avoid getting hit by her E (Soul Rip thing). If you can avoid this most of the laning phase you'll do fine. Build bramble vest early, boots to help with dodging her q and tentacle slams. At level 6 you can all in if she's at about 60% health. As long as you have bramble vest and in this matchup Press The Attack is much better than Conqueror. That way you can take short trades and your all in is much more explosive.
Irelia
This matchup is pretty easy, you can take Conqueror if it fits better against the enemy team, but Press The Attack will make short work of Irelia. Take short burst trades with E, Q, W. Bramble vest early is very strong as her main damage source is auto attacks. Be careful of her level 1, make sure to watch her passive stacks, it's okay to lose a few minions as long as you're within XP range.
Jax
I'd suggest starting E into jax that way when he starts spinning you can place E on top of yourself. It's either going to mitigate damage and damage jax, or you're going to take some damage and jax will too. Your W doesn't go through his spin at all, so don't waste the cooldown, same as your Q. You can take short trades against Jax but but even at least 6 he wins a straight 1v1 if played correctly. Try to take short trades early and get jungle assistance. Otherwise try to farm and use your power in teamfights, late game he'll be stronger than you so avoid the 1v1.
Jayce
Early levels he'll try to abuse the fact that he has ranged form, auto attacking you and trying to zone you off the wave (at least he should). Use the brushes to avoid giving free auto attacks, if he ever switches to hammer form and jumps onto you, drop E on top of yourself and use Q stun as fast as you can. He'll most likely jump onto you and knock you back after a short trade. Bramble vest early is good against jayce as majority of his damage is physical, at level 6 if his knock back is on cooldown or you've got flash advantage, you can all in quite easily.
Kayle
Abuse Kayle early before she becomes ranged, at this point it can be very hard to get onto her, as she has a slow, a movement speed buff and she's ranged. Taking the unflinching rune in this matchup will actually help quite a lot, due to the slow resistance. Bramble vest early will be good as her auto attacks don't do that much damage early. Early tier 2 boots will reduce how much she can kite you at 6+. From this point it's up to her to make a mistake, use brushes to avoid auto attacks and if she's using Press The Attack, try to avoid giving her the 3 auto attacks.
Kled
In this matchup try to avoid extended trades, as his Q (bear trap hook) reduces your healing by 60% if it pulls you. Which severely reduces your W2 heal. From level 3 onwards you can win short trades, but before that if he does catch you with a Q, try to walk away and break the tether. I usually use Press The Attack in this matchup due to the fact that you need to burst him if you want kill pressure.
Malphite
In this matchup I put 3 points into my E before maxing W. The reason behind this is that you can't really get good trades against Malphite because of his E (ground slam) reducing your attack speed. He will use Q to poke you all of laning phase so use brushes to avoid this. If you're ever going for an all in, make sure you only use your Q after his. Malphite's Q steals a % of movespeed from the target. I use Press The Attack in this matchup, because when you do take short trades, if you use the standard short combo, you'll win every trade. Early health is best against malphite as all of his numbers are flat (no %'s)
Mordekaiser
In this matchup you can only take short trades, Mordekaiser is a walking stat ball, basically if he has more items/higher level, he'll win. Building bramble vest early is actually good against Morde even if he deal magic damage. Simply because it reduces his healing from his W (shield) and Conqueror as well. Early game avoid letting him get 3 stacks and activating his passive, it grants him movespeed and % damage. At level 6 if you have the reaction time, you can cancel his Ultimate with yours, if you time it correctly. Otherwise only use your Ultimate after his, as his Ultimate steals your stats. If you Ult first, he'll gain a portion of that bonus health.
Nasus
Pressure Nasus early as you have higher base damage and even with his sustain you can punish him. I usually take Press The Attack against Nasus to further punish him during laning phase. Bramble rush is really good against Nasus as his passive grants him lifesteal. At level 6 you can generally beat him with an all in as long as he's under 70% health. Once he finishes Divine Sunderer, you need to be very careful in 1v1's. During his Ult his Q cooldown is halved and that means more Divine Sunderer spellblade hits.
Ornn
This matchup can be a little bit difficult, but the main points are to only use your Q stun after he's used his W (Bellow's breath) as it makes him unbreakable. You can avoid the knock-up from his Ult by casting yours after he headbutts the ram towards you. Ornn actually deals a lot of mixed damage, so building health is the best thing to do, although his W deals % max health magic damage.
Poppy
Poppy is only a little harder than even because of her Q being spammable. It deals % max health physical damage and slows. Her W cancels your Q because it's coded as a dash. But sometimes if you're close enough to Poppy it will still stun. I'd recommend building health against Poppy so she can't burst you down, yes I know she's a tank, so is Volibear :))
Quinn
The reason this matchup is so hard, is because of Quinn's mobility first of all. But her E also completely cancels your Q, no stun, no reset, it just goes through the attack animation and that's it. Quinn's usually max W, which grants movement speed and attack speed every time she auto attack's with her passive (Harrier). Build bramble vest early against Quinn and early boots are good to help with her mobility. If you're both level 6, the best way to catch her off-guard, if you can time it right. Is to Ultimate where she was, as she uses her E (Vault). This means she'll arrive back at her original position with a Bear stomping on her head. Be very careful if you decide to fight her, even if you disengage, she can chase very easily with the movespeed she gets from her W.
Renekton
In this matchup Renekton will try to hit you with his Q at level 1. Try to move unpredictably to avoid this. At level 3 you can short trade, just keep in mind his empowered W will break your E shield instantly. At level 6 you will win the all in if you have bramble vest, I'd suggest building this first item. All of Renekton's damage is physical except his Ult DoT which is low anyway.
Rengar
In this matchup he'll look to stack his passive and abuse his ferocity empowered Q damage early. Try to pull the wave away from the bushes before they crash. Build bramble vest early to stop him healing through your damage with his W. At level 3 you can take short trades quite easily by timing your E on top of an allied minion about to die.
Riven
In this matchup you need to respect Riven's cooldowns. At level 1 she can hard outtrade you with Q >> AA >> Q >> AA >> Q >> AA. Especially if she's running ignite. At level 3 you can take short trades, try to avoid using abilities on her shield and like I said play around her cooldowns. Build bramble vest early as she AA's a lot but also to counter her conqueror healing. At level 6 you can win the all in as long as she's about 70% health.
Sett
In this matchup Sett will generally start E first and walk up on your ranged minions to get an E >> AA >> AA. You can start with E and as he walks up drop it on yourself within the wave. You can definitely win short trades around level 3, just make sure to either avoid his W or move to the side so you don't take the true damage. At level 6 you can win the all in, just build bramble vest first and you can actually cancel his Ult with yours.
Shen
Shen deals a lot of damage, the main points for this matchup are to use your E if he uses his W (blocking field), your W damage won't go through the field, but you'll still get the mark and the heal from W2. If shen is ulting from under his tower, don't be afraid to ult onto him and stun to cancel his teleport. His ult cooldown is higher than yours anyway. You won't initially win short trades because of his W (blocking field) but if you mark him and continue to fight him, you'll end up winning the trade once you use Q to stun and W2 for the damage and heal.
Singed
Don't chase the singed. The main points are to avoid the poison, try to use your E to mitigate damage, you probably won't have kill pressure until you get jungle assistance. One important thing to know is that you can't use cast your Ultimate if you're standing on his goo, because it has a grounding effect, so you can't flash out of it either.
Sion
The reason this matchup is difficult is Sion's ability to space himself from his opponent. If Sion starts charging his Q, it's generally a better idea to use your Q and run towards him, that way you get the movespeed and when he stuns you, your q will rest and you're able to get to him. Things to watch out for are his shield, try to either break it as soon as he uses it, because he can't recast to blow it up for roughly 1.5 seconds. Try to avoid getting hit by his E, because this makes it a lot easier for Sion to land his Q. Another thing is if Sion ults, you can avoid the CC by ulting just before he hits you. Divine Sunderer is very good against Sion if you're able to build it. As Sion stacks health throughout the whole game and your Divine Sunderer will be dealing more and more damage.
Tahm Kench
I haven't had a lot of experience with this matchup, but I'd suggest building health as his Q base damage is very high, 280 at max points. Try to position behind your minions that way he can't hit you with his Q. You can short trade with Tahm Kench once you're level 3 but only short trade when you have your E up. Otherwise he'll definitely win the trade.
Teemo
Starting Doran's shield and pairing this with second wind will make this matchup a lot easier. Use brushes to avoid auto attacks and I'd recommend switching to sweeper either on a level 5 recall or as soon as you recall after level 6. That way you can clear shrooms or use sweeper to avoid them during an all in. Your w damage is blocked if you are blinded but your "wounding" still marks teemo through the blind. Your W2 also grants you the heal if you're blinded, the only thing that doesn't go through the blind is the damage. Early boots and health are best against Teemo as he will try to poke you out of lane, his W gives him a lot of movespeed, so respect that.
Trundle
Bramble vest rush is really good against trundle as majority of his damage is from auto attacks. He steals AD so be careful of extended trades. Take short trades from level 3 onwards working around your E cooldown. When level 6 comes, you can all in trundle, but make sure you use your ultimate after his, otherwise he'll steal the extra health that your R gives you.
Tryndamere
This matchup is fairly easy, from level 3 onwards you can take win short trades, even extended trades with your W2 healing. Just watch out for RNG crits and if he takes ignite, you need to respect that. Level 1 start E and you can take a short trade, but once your shield has worn off, I'd recommend not trading auto attacks because he'll win those trades especially if he crits you. Bramble vest early, level 6 you can't exactly all in, but if you can make him waste his ult for yours, you can dive him with your jungler. Tryndamere struggles with killing you after level 6 due to your "death delaying" potential with Q stun, W2 heal, E shielding and R health gain.
Urgot
If Urgot is using Press The Attack avoid trades before level 3. He will most likely start with his dash which gives him a shield and he will definitely win the trade. Bramble vest early works very well against his w, short trades are best against Urgot, but try to trade when his E or W are down. Before level 9 his W has a cooldown and he can't turn it on and off until it's maxed. At level 6 you can all in, but be aware of his R as he can execute you, make sure he's about 60% health before you commit to an all in, as he can burst you faster with the R execute.
Vayne
Vayne.. She will most likely be using Press The Attack, try to avoid giving her the third auto attack and same goes for her silver bolts, if they both hit you at the same time early game, you'll probably be 50-66% health, no joke. Use brushes to avoid auto attacks, build bramble vest early, once you're level 6 you can all in vayne, with your base damage, you will be able to 100-0 her. I recommend taking Press The Attack in this matchup, due to the fact you're unable to fight her for extended periods of time and short burst trades work best if you play around your E cooldown to mitigate potential damage.
Viego
Viego's Q is a low cooldown, so he will poke you with it all of laning phase, I'd recommend taking second wind into this matchup and try to position yourself so that allied minions are between Viego and yourself. Early game you can take extended trades, as always Volibear's level 3 trade is really strong. Bramble vest early to negate his healing, his q has a passive where if he damages anything with an ability, his next auto attack on them deals extra damage and heals Viego for a flat amount.
Vladimir
Treat this like any other ranged matchup, avoid taking negative trades, use the brushes to avoid auto attacks. Definitely avoid letting Vlad use his empowered Q on you as it deals a lot of damage and gives him a huge heal and the heal is based on his missing health.
Yasuo
Be careful of Yasuo's q range, if you're walking up to cs try to position allied minions between Yone and yourself, that way even if he hits you, it's pushing the wave. If he ever tries to dash onto you, just drop E and use your Q on him at the same time, Volibear has much higher base damage early game than Yasuo. Bramble vest early is a strong counter to this champion and try to avoid getting hit by his tornado, either walk back (but within XP range) or position allied minions between the both of you, that way he's pushing the wave. Your jungle should be able to punish him if he's pushing constantly.
Yone
Be careful of Yone's q range, if you're walking up to cs try to position allied minions between Yone and yourself, that way even if he hits you, it's pushing the wave. At level 3 he may try to go for a trade, as soon as he uses his E (Soul thing) drop your E on yourself and Q, W and auto. Bramble vest early is really good against this champion, his level 6 is very strong so be careful of that, you can use your ultimate to avoid the CC from his ultimate. He will try to poke you early with his W (slash). Try to either walk unpredictably or stand on top of your own minions that way he pushes the wave. Then you can call for jungler assistance.
Yorick
Not enough experience against Yorick to give a detailed breakdown of the matchup. All I can say is bramble vest is good against him as it reduces his Q healing and conqueror healing. It also deals damage to his ghouls and your passive lightning deals full damage to the ghouls as well. Avoid all ins if he has the maiden (His R) as his damage is very high. Try to dodge his E if you can, it does % magic damage and his ghouls leap to you.
Alistar
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Amumu
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Annie
Hard Engage.
Ashe
Easy Follow Up and Hard Engage.
Bard
Hard Engage.
Diana
Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Elise
Strong Ganks and Pick Potential.
Fiddlesticks
Strong Ganks and Hard Engage.
Galio
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability
Hecarim
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Ivern
Strong Ganks, Super Disruptive In Teamfights and Lots of Shielding.
Jarvan IV
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Kai'Sa
Very High Damage and Easy Follow Up.
Karma
Lots of Shielding.
Kayn
Disruptive Teamfighter.
Kennen
Easy Follow Up and Hard Engage.
Kled
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Leona
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage, Disruptive Teamfighter and Lots of CC.
Lillia
Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Lissandra
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Lulu
Super Disruptive In Teamfights, Lots of Shielding and Move speed Buffing.
Malphite
Easy Follow Up and Hard Engage.
Malzahar
Good lockdown although only on one enemy.
Morgana
Pick Potential, Super Disruptive in Teamfights and Able to make you CC immune.
Nami
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage, Super Disruptive in Teamfights and Move speed buffing/ability and attacks slow.
Nautilus
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Neeko
Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Nocturne
Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Nunu & Willump
Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Olaf
Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Orianna
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage, Disruptive Teamfighter, Lots of Shielding and move speed buffing.
Pantheon
Pick Potential, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Poppy
Pick Potential, Hard Engage, Good Survivability and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Qiyana
Pick Potential, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Rakan
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Rammus
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Rell
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability. Strong Ultimate Synergy.
Rengar
Easy Follow Up, Pick Potential and Disruptive.
Rumble
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Samira
Very High Damage, High Mobility with Dash Resets and Easy Follow Up.
Sejuani
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage, Disruptive Teamfighter and Good Survivability.
Seraphine
Pick Potential, Hard Engage and Lots of Shielding/Healing.
Sett
Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Sivir
Hard Engage.
Skarner
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Sylas
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage, Disruptive Teamfighter and Good Survivability.
Taliyah
Pick Potential, Strong Ganks and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Taric
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter. Ultimate grants temporary damage immunity.
Thresh
Pick Potential, Disruptive Teamfighter, Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Tristana
Very High Damage, Jumps Resets and Easy Follow Up.
Varus
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Poke Damage.
Vayne
Very High Damage, Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Veigar
Pick Potential, Very High Damage, Easy Follow Up and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Vi
Pick Potential and Hard Engage.
Viego
Disruptive Teamfighter.
Volibear
You checked thinking there was actually a synergy... You can't have two Valhir's on the same team!
Wukong
Very High Damage, Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Xin Zhao
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Yone
Very High Damage, Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighting.
Yuumi
Strong Healing, Damage Buffing, Good Amount of CC, No risk of dying unless Yuumi detaches. You're almost unstoppable with a Yuumi.
Zac
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighting.
Zilean
Move speed buffing and Free Revive.
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Alistar
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Amumu
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Annie
Hard Engage.
Ashe
Easy Follow Up and Hard Engage.
Bard
Hard Engage.
Diana
Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Elise
Strong Ganks and Pick Potential.
Fiddlesticks
Strong Ganks and Hard Engage.
Galio
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability
Hecarim
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Ivern
Strong Ganks, Super Disruptive In Teamfights and Lots of Shielding.
Jarvan IV
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Kai'Sa
Very High Damage and Easy Follow Up.
Karma
Lots of Shielding.
Kayn
Disruptive Teamfighter.
Kennen
Easy Follow Up and Hard Engage.
Kled
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Leona
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage, Disruptive Teamfighter and Lots of CC.
Lillia
Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Lissandra
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Lulu
Super Disruptive In Teamfights, Lots of Shielding and Move speed Buffing.
Malphite
Easy Follow Up and Hard Engage.
Malzahar
Good lockdown although only on one enemy.
Morgana
Pick Potential, Super Disruptive in Teamfights and Able to make you CC immune.
Nami
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage, Super Disruptive in Teamfights and Move speed buffing/ability and attacks slow.
Nautilus
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Neeko
Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Nocturne
Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Nunu & Willump
Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Olaf
Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Orianna
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage, Disruptive Teamfighter, Lots of Shielding and move speed buffing.
Pantheon
Pick Potential, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Poppy
Pick Potential, Hard Engage, Good Survivability and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Qiyana
Pick Potential, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Rakan
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Rammus
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Rell
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability. Strong Ultimate Synergy.
Rengar
Easy Follow Up, Pick Potential and Disruptive.
Rumble
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Samira
Very High Damage, High Mobility with Dash Resets and Easy Follow Up.
Sejuani
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage, Disruptive Teamfighter and Good Survivability.
Seraphine
Pick Potential, Hard Engage and Lots of Shielding/Healing.
Sett
Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Sivir
Hard Engage.
Skarner
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Sylas
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage, Disruptive Teamfighter and Good Survivability.
Taliyah
Pick Potential, Strong Ganks and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Taric
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter. Ultimate grants temporary damage immunity.
Thresh
Pick Potential, Disruptive Teamfighter, Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Tristana
Very High Damage, Jumps Resets and Easy Follow Up.
Varus
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Poke Damage.
Vayne
Very High Damage, Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Veigar
Pick Potential, Very High Damage, Easy Follow Up and Disruptive Teamfighter.
Vi
Pick Potential and Hard Engage.
Viego
Disruptive Teamfighter.
Volibear
You checked thinking there was actually a synergy... You can't have two Valhir's on the same team!
Wukong
Very High Damage, Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Xin Zhao
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Good Survivability.
Yone
Very High Damage, Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighting.
Yuumi
Strong Healing, Damage Buffing, Good Amount of CC, No risk of dying unless Yuumi detaches. You're almost unstoppable with a Yuumi.
Zac
Easy Follow Up, Hard Engage and Disruptive Teamfighting.
Hi my name is Kaizin, I'm a Volibear Top OTP, I have an informative twitch stream and I create content for YouTube as well. I have been playing Volibear ever since his rework, I love his powerful feel and his godly thematic. I played Volibear a little before his rework but I wouldn't say that I was a Volibear only player. May I ask that if you do enjoy this guide or it has been of any help, feel free to upvote, it really does help!
This Guide is a constant WIP, as new patches rollout I'll be updating this guide to stay current with the live patch. The threats and synergies will also constantly be a work in progress as my own opinion/skill changes and I get more and more experience. The reason there is no low/no synergy champions is because Volibear is so versatile there really isn't anything he can't pair with, it's more about whether the champion itself is good or not. If you'd like to ask about my playstyle or my thought process feel free to drop into my stream when I'm live or check out my discord server!
Below you will find Volibear's ability stats, a detailed breakdown of each ability and the interactions they have within the game.
Abilities
P: The Relentless Storm
Innate:
Volibear gains a stack of The Relentless Storm for 6 seconds whenever he damages at least one enemy with a basic attack or ability, stacking up to 5 times, with the duration refreshing on subsequent damaging attacks and abilities. At 5 stacks, Volibear gains Lightning Claws .
The Relentless Storm
Volibear gains 5% (+ 4% per 100 AP) bonus attack speed per stack, up to 25% (+ 20% per 100 AP).
Lightning Claws:
Volibear's claws ignite with lightning, causing his basic attacks on-hit to deal 11 − 60 (based on level) (+ 40% AP) bonus magic damage to the target and the closest visible enemy within 450 units of the target, chaining up to 4 subsequent targets.
Volibear drops on all fours, becoming ghosted and gaining bonus movement speed for 4 seconds, doubled when moving towards visible enemy champions within 2000 units.
For the same duration, Volibear's next basic attack becomes uncancellable, pounces (coded as a dash) on the target, deals bonus physical damage, and stuns the target for 1 second.
If Volibear becomes immobilized by an enemy while Thundering Smash is active, the effect ends prematurely and the ability's cooldown is reset.
Thundering Smash resets Volibear's basic attack timer, benefits from life steal at 100% effectiveness and is affected by critical strike modifiers.
Interactions:
Thundering Smash's empowered attack scales with Volibear's attack speed.
Unlike most spells that empower a basic attack, Thundering Smash does not have an increased range.
Thundering Smash deals basic damage, but also triggers spell effects by dealing an additional 0 spell damage.
Thundering Smash will still apply its effects to the target even if the dash is interrupted, but not if he goes into resurrection.
Thundering Smash's attack triggers against structures dealing its bonus damage, if applicable.
Volibear's next attack after using Thundering Smash will come out faster.
Despite being an empowered attack, Thundering Smash does not draw minion aggro.
Volibear strikes the target enemy, dealing them physical damage, applying on-hit and on-attack effects at 100% effectiveness, and Wounding them for 8 seconds.
Against a Wounded enemy, Volibear instead bites the target, dealing 50% increased damage and healing himself. The heal is halved against minions.
Frenzied Maul benefits from life steal at 100% effectiveness.
Interactions:
Volibear will be ordered to basic attack the target after casting Frenzied Maul.
Frenzied Maul deals basic damage, but also triggers spell effects by dealing an additional spell damage.
Frenzied Maul's bite heals even if it is blocked by a spell shield.
Frenzied Maul's strike can be dodged and blocked, but it cannot miss if Volibear is blinded. The Wound is applied regardless.
The bite can be blocked but Volibear still heals. It does not heal nor deal damage if the bite is dodged. The bite cannot miss if Volibear is blinded.
If the target becomes untargetable, dies, or Volibear loses sight of them during the cast time, Frenzied Maul does not deal damage nor apply the mark but its cooldown and mana are refunded.
Despite being single target, Frenzied Maul does not draw minion aggro.
E: Sky Splitter
Target Range: 1200 Effect Radius: 325 Damage Radius / 425 Shield Radius Cast Time: None Cost: 60 Mana Cooldown: 15 Magic Damage: 80 | 110 | 140 | 170 | 200 (+ 80% AP) (+ 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15% of target's maximum health) Shielding: 15% of his maximum health (+ 80% AP)
Active:
Volibear summons a lightning bolt to strike at the target location after a 2-second delay. If Volibear is within the lightning strike, he shields himself for 3 seconds.
The lightning bolt deals magic damage to all enemies struck within the area, capped against non-champions, slowing them by 40% for 2 seconds, and grants sight of the area for 1 second.
Interactions:
Enemies cannot see the location of the cast for the first second, but they can already tell that the spell is underway by noticing Volibear's cast animation.
Volibear will receive the shield even if he is untargetable.
Volibear gains Stormbringer for 12 seconds and leaps to the target location with immunity to crowd control as well as granting sight of the area in a 500 radius during the travel.
Volibear gains ghosting, bonus health, 50 bonus attack range, 25 increased range on Frenzied Maul, and 35% increased size.
Volibear impacts after 1 second, slowing all enemies in an area by 50%, decaying over 1 second. Enemies in the epicentre are also dealt physical damage.
Volibear also disables enemy turrets in an area for a few seconds, rendering them unable to attack, as well as dealing them the same physical damage.
Stormbringer will cast at max range if cast beyond that.
Thundering Smash's duration will be paused for the leap.
Stormbringer will disable any turret that is not the Nexus, even if it is untargetable.
Stormbringer will not deal damage to untargetable turrets.
Volibear grows to his new size over 1.25 seconds, starting 0.25 seconds after landing, and shrinks back to his normal size over 0.5 seconds after Stormbringer's status ends, respectively.
Volibear leaps over 1 second regardless of distance or movement speed.
Volibear impacts immediately at his current location if Stormbringer is cast over terrain he cannot pass through (due to not being able to cover the distance required).
Runes Explained
Below you will find each of the runes that I would take on Volibear, if you're looking for a rune and it is not here, then that is because there is either a better rune to take or it is not worth taking.
Keystones
KEYSTONES
Conqueror
This keystone is good into heavy melee teams, provides great healing and ramping damage (3+ Melee's to justify using it over Press The Attack).
Press The Attack
Easy to proc with (Thundering Smash, auto attack, Frenzied Maul) Or (Thundering Smash, Frenzied Maul, auto attack) Good in all situations and doesn't require stacking like Conqueror. (Very good into ranged matchups)
Grasp Of The Undying
Use this keystone against other grasp users such as Sion and Ornn not Camille as Press The Attack is better, she mostly doesn't allow you to trade back because of her high mobility and trading patterns. Grasp Of The Undying is good for short trades.
Precision
PRECISION TREE
Triumph:
Only take Triumph if you'd prefer to play safer, this rune is better for tank builds as the missing health granted on takedown is higher with higher max health.
Presence Of Mind:
This is your go to rune, your passive lightning procs it in lane whenever your lightning damages an enemy champion, that makes this rune very strong for laning. Each takedown during teamfights grants max mana back and this rune makes up for the lack of mana items.
Legend: Tenacity:
Tenacity gives you more power as a frontline, reducing cc time and being able to use cooldowns faster out of cc.
Last Stand:
You're more than often lower than you are higher health being a frontlining champion and along with items and other runes works out better than any other option (e.g Sterak's Gage pops at 30% max health which is exactly when this rune grants its maximum damage increase of 11%).
Domination
DOMINATION TREE
Taste Of Blood:
This rune grants a small heal when dealing damage to enemy champs on a short cooldown. This can proc off of your passive lightning so it's quite easy to use this rune. It's definitely better than using the other options in this row.
Eyeball Collection:
This rune grants adaptive power per takedown up to 10, once you reach 10 takedowns you're granted extra adaptive power. At max stacks grants either 18 AD or 30 AP.
Ravenous Hunter:
This rune grants Omnivamp based on unique takedowns, so it stacks up to 5 times. Omnivamp applies to any damage that you deal. Whether it is to champions, minions or monsters. Keep in mind when dealing aoe damage the healing is reduced to 33% efficiency. The sustain this rune grants is much better than the other options in this tier. This rune pairs very well with Conqueror.
Sorcery
SORCERY TREE
Manaflow Band:
Hitting an enemy champion with an ability permanently increases your max mana by 25, up to 250 mana, it does have a cooldown and it is more efficient to use ability casts once it's back off of cooldown. That way every time you're spending mana you're increasing your max mana. Once it is capped at 250, you will gain a passive where you regenerate 1% of your missing mana per 5 seconds. This rune basically just keeps your mana higher and helps with laning as well. If you take this rune you won't take Presence Of Mind, if they're stacked it's overkill for Volibear.
Transcendence:
You gain 5 Haste at levels 5 and 8, at level 11 On champion takedowns, reduce the remaining cooldowns of your basic abilities by 20% (Q, W and E). This rune is mainly important for the 10 Haste it grants you by level 8. The passive at level 11 is okay, but for Volibear it's not that amazing, as it reduces remaining cooldown. So you may get a second or two off of your Thundering Smash and Sky Splitter in teamfights but your Frenzied Maul is already a low cooldown without haste.
Gathering Storm:
This rune is okay, it grants scaling potential in the form of adaptive power, granting either AD or AP every 10 minutes and the amount increases per increment. Volibear has very high AD and AP ratios, but the other runes are more beneficial for him, unless you aren't taking Manaflow Band because you have Presence Of Mind, that is when you would take this rune.
Resolve
RESOLVE TREE
Demolish:
Use this rune when you don't want/need the damage from Shield Bash or if you're planning to split push. This rune does great tower damage after a small charge up time being near the tower.
Shield Bash:
This is your standard rune in tier 1 when using Grasp Of The Undying, it gives bonus damage on your next attack after gaining a shield as well as armour and magic resist while shielded, this works with your Sky Splitter and also item shields like Sterak's Gage and Gargoyle Stoneplate.
Second Wind:
Take this rune into heavy poke lanes or matchups where you're consistently taking damage, very good for ranged matchups. This rune is very good against damage over time such as Teemo poison, Malzahar burn etc.
Bone Plating:
Good into burst trading/short trading matchups such as Riven, Renekton, Garen, Kled as it reduces the damage of the next 3 attacks or abilities for 1.5 seconds after it procs including the damage taken to start the Bone Plating.
Revitalize:
This rune increases all of your Frenzied Maul healing, Sky Splitter shielding, item healing and shielding such as Sterak's Gage, Gargoyle Stoneplate, Divine Sunderer, lifesteal, omnivamp by 5%. It also increases healing and shields received from allies, as well as increasing the amount by 10% while below 40% max HP. This rune is amazing for Volibear.
Unflinching:
Take this rune situationally, as Revitalize is almost always better for you. If you're against a heavy CC enemy team comp, then this rune will help you reduce the time of CC taken as you are a frontlining champion. It also allows you to build your core item Ionian Boots Of Lucidity and not worry about tenacity.
Inspiration
INSPIRATION TREE
Magical Footwear:
This rune works best when you want to scale, the bonus 10+ flat movement speed these boots grant are very beneficial for Volibear, it just comes down to preference.
Biscuit Delivery:
This rune grants a biscuit consumable at 2, 4 and 6 minutes. Each biscuit grants healing and mana, as well as a permanent 50 mana. So once all of the biscuit have either been consumed or sold at the shop, you'll have an extra 150 max mana. This rune grants extra lane sustain as well the bigger mana pool helping with more ability casts.
Cosmic Insight:
This rune grants 18 Summoner Spell Haste and 10 Item Haste. The summoner spell haste pairs very well with Ionian Boots Of Lucidity as together they grants 30 Summoner Spell Haste, this will take almost 70 seconds off of your flash cooldown, it will be at 230.77 seconds instead of 300. It will also reduce your secondary summoner spell cooldown time as well. The item haste is roughly a 9% reduction in item active cooldowns and also passive cooldowns. This will help with items like Turbo Chemtank, Sterak's Gage, Gargoyle Stoneplate and many more, any item that has a cooldown of some sort.
Playstyle
Below you will find my strategy and the strengths of Volibear that I use to win my lane and each game. I'll explained the level 3 trading and first bloods, as well as various ability combos you can use.
General Matchup Tips
GENERAL MATCHUP TIPS
If you see that the enemy has the Resolve Tree, you can use your passive lightning to see if they have Bone Plating. If they do have Bone Plating make sure to break it before you go for a trade.
Be careful of your passive The Relentless Storm as it will automatically push waves, it's okay to drop a minion or two to let the passive fade, wave management is crucial to winning top lane.
If you are in a ranged/difficult matchup and you're farming with Sky Splitter, make sure you're positioning it properly and not on top of the whole wave, otherwise you'll push the wave and your enemy can freeze.
If you cast Sky Splitter from out of vision, the enemy will only see the ring form after a second and they will have less time to react and dodge the ability. Volibear has a very "easy to see" casting animation, where he raises his hand to the sky and has specific voice lines for the ability cast. So when you're able to, try to use brushes to cast Sky Splitter, or you can cast it during Thundering Smash because Volibear is down on all fours. But if you're running at your opponent it's a little obvious anyway.
Volibear Combos
VOLIBEAR TOWER DIVE (E >> Q >> W >> 3xAA >> R >> W2 >> 2xAA)
LEVEL 3 SHORT TRADE / PRESS THE ATTACK COMBO (E >> Q >> W >> AA)
LEVEL 6 ALL IN (E >> Q >> R >> W >> AA)
Final Thoughts
I will be adding matchup videos as I play the matchups in the near future, explaining exactly how to play the matchup and what to watch out for. If you have any suggestions or anything you would like me to add to the guide please feel free to either leave a comment or join my discord server and let me know. I appreciate you stopping by to check out this guide and keep in mind that all of this information is based on my own playstyle and experience with Volibear, it may not be 100% efficient but it's what works for me. If I find better ways to play the champion or better builds/items, I'll be updating that in the guide as soon as I can. Thanks again!
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