Welcome to my Udyr guide. Udyr is the best jungler in the game. He is also the most versatile champion since he is the only champion where you can customize the ranks of your abilities. By this I mean you are able to put a point even in your ult first, as well as choosing how many ranks in each ability. I am going to show you how I play Udyr with a combination of his two jungle techniques to maximize damage and typically bring in a lot of kills.

Pros
+Udyr is a great jungler, possibly the best.
+Udyr can take significant amounts of damage allowing him to turret dive for kills and survive.
+Udyr can perform multiple roles, from damaging offtank to full tank.
+Udyr can stun opponents allowing easy ganks.
+Udyr has a significant advantage when fighting enemy champions one on one because of his extremely low cooldowns.
+Udyr can take on multiple champions at once of similar level.

Cons
-Udyr will get harassed relentlessly early game if you lane.
-Without buffs he loses his full potential.
-Udyr in Tiger Stance is extremely distracted by humping Nidalee.

Monkey's Agility (passive)
Entering a stance grants Udyr 10% attack speed and 3% dodge for 5 seconds. This effect stacks 3 times.

All of Udyr's abilities have persistent and activated effects. In order to maximize your damage you need to be switching stances constantly to keep Bridge Between active throughout entire fights. With the blue buff on (which Udyr always should have) you are able to spam your moves with their reduced cooldowns and mana regen.

Tiger Stance

Activation: On his next attack, Udyr swipes at his target, dealing normal attack and dealing 170% of his attack damage + 30 / 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 extra damage over 2 seconds as magic damage. In addition, your attack speed is increased by an additional 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35% for 5 seconds.

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

This is Udyr's most damaging move. It becomes most beneficial mid to late game with your increasing attack damage. It is possible to start off using Wilding Claw as your primary damaging move, but in doing so you make Wingborne Storm obsolete.

Turtle Stance

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

Persistent Effect: Udyr's attacks cannot crit, but he restores 12 / 14 / 16 / 18 / 20% of his damage as health and 9 / 10.5 / 12 / 13.5 / 15% of his damage as mana.

This ability will save your life time and time again during matches. You not only gain a shield but while Turtle Stance is active you restore health and mana.

Bear Stance

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

Persistent Effect: Udyr mauls his target with such force that they are stunned for 1 second. This effect cannot occur on the same target for 6 seconds.


Blazing Stampede is what allows Udyr to be an incredibly strong ganker. Bear not only speeds you up but every six seconds stuns a target. Bear should always be used for the speed boost and the initial stun. Every six seconds make sure you activate again to get a stun in on the enemy. There are very few champions that can out run Udyr. Like most stun moves, it is the least beneficial move to put five ranks in. The stun is 1 second regardless.
Phoenix Stance

Activation: Udyr sends out pulsing waves of fire dealing 15 / 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 (+25% of ability power) magic damage each second to nearby enemies for 5 seconds. In addition, Udyr's ability power is increased by 16 / 24 / 32 / 40 / 48 and his attack damage is increased by half of that amount.

Persistent Effect: Every third attack, Udyr engulfs enemies in front of him in flame, dealing 40 / 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 (+25% of ability power) magic damage.

Wingborne Storm is Udyr's best early game damaging move. It allows you to clear monster camps quickly as well as lanes you may be covering for recalling teammates. To maximize Udyr's damage, put five ranks in Tiger and Phoenix. When fighting enemies always activate Phoenix first to do area damage. Then activate Wilding Claw to tear them down.

Ghost

Ghost has several practical uses for Udyr. In offensive scenarios you can use it to chase down enemies that flash/run away. Defensively it can be used to escape. For a tough champion like Udyr using Ghost is more practical then Flash. By using Bear Stance for speed and Turtle Stance for your shield, Ghost typically allows an escape.

Smite

Smite is the essential jungling summoner spell. Although it is possible in some cases to jungle without it, I would advise against it as Udyr. Smite drastically increases the efficiency of early and mid game jungling and is especially handy mid game against dragon. Late game you can use it against baron, as well as against summoned minions such as Tibbers.

Jungling in League of Legends is done in many ways. Depending on your champion and playstyle with that champion, you can choose many paths and item builds. There are two commonly used Udyr jungling mastery builds. The first will typically feature 21 points in Offense and 9 in Defense. The way I build Udyr is 9/11/10. Junglers are some of the only champions where not maxing out a tree can be useful.

I take 9 points in Offense, allowing me to reach Archaic Knowledge . Yes spell penetration is useful as Udyr if you're wondering. Your early game damage is greatly increased from this boost to Wingborne Storm. Also be sure to take Plentiful Bounty to maximize your gold intake.

I take 11 points in Defense, allowing me to put 2 points in Defensive Mastery . Between taking that and the abilities shown above in the mastery trees, you will take far less damage early game from the jungle monsters.

I take 10 points in Utility, ensuring that I take Utility Mastery , which is essential for jungling. As a jungler, your buffs are everything. They give you an advantage over the laners, which you should be the same level as or higher from taking 4 points in Awareness .

For runes I take 9 Greater Mark of Attack Speed. The bonus attack speed will increase your damage output from Wingborne Storm early game, allowing you to jungle faster. Taking Greater Mark of Desolation are also viable. If you do use these marks do not build Last Whisper. For seals I take 9 Greater Seal of Armor. This extra armor will decrease the amount of damage you take from the jungle monsters early game. Some Udyr players take Greater Seal of Evasion for some extra dodge (on top of what you get from changing stances). I lean away from this because armor mitigates the damage from every hit were as dodge is only a chance not to take damage. For glyphs I take 9 Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist. The reason why you want magic resist to build up late game is you wont have to worry about being nuked by a strong mage early game. Your shield absorbs a significant amount of damage and Udyr will be in the jungle most of the time early to mid game, making straight magic resist less beneficial. For my quintessence I take 3 Greater Quintessence of Health, significantly increasing my starting health allowing the solo of the Ancient Golem.

The most important part of playing Udyr is your ability to jungle. I've seen people play laning Udyr well but that defeats the purpose of playing Udyr in the first place; which to give your team an incredibly strong and fast jungler. Udyr has two jungle types. The first type is Wilding Claw Jungling, which excels in single target burst damage. The other type is Wingborne Storm Jungling, which uses area effect damage based off of attack speed and ability power. Players will argue endlessly regarding which is better and honestly it's a matter of personal preference and play style. I am going to go over my jungling style with Udyr, which is a hybrid of the two.

I take two early points in Wingborne Storm at levels 1 and 3 in order to do area damage to take down the neutral camps faster. With your attack speed marks and its early damage, Wingborne Storm does more damage than Tiger in the early game. At level 2 be sure to take a point in Iron Mantle in order to ensure your survivability through the first five or six levels. At level 4 I take a point in Bear Stance in order to gank early and efficiently. Udyr is a good ganker because of Blazing Stampede and without it attempting to gank is not practical. Then I begin taking points primarily in Wilding Claw. Once the mid-game begins Tiger Stance undoubtedly does the most damage between the two moves.

I like to start at the Blue buff, taking Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potion. With the tier 3 runes that I use I can easily take down the camp, finishing with about half health. Make sure you use your potions and Smite. It is always beneficial for a teammate (most practically mid) to leash the golem for you. If you are worried the enemy team is attempting a gank, have your team station themselves in the grass near the entrances to golem. Your teammates will be able to see the enemies first and with positioning an enemy gank attempt becomes very risky for them. After taking blue head immediately to wolves, wraiths, Lizard Elder (red buff), and finally to golems. Start with Phoenix against the wolves and wraiths in order to kill the big monster of each group. Finish the rest off with Iron Mantle on to preserve mana and health. Your Smite will be up by the time you reach the Lizard Elder, allowing an easy kill at level 3. Take the golems next. After you've cleared your jungle you need to look at your map and make the best call on what action to take. If your health is very low head back and buy Madred's. However with an early point in Blazing Stampede at level 4 you can efficiently gank whatever lane seems most viable. After the gank attmept is complete your wolves and wraiths will have respawned which I then take. I try to hold off that long before going back to ensure I can purchase Madred's Razors and the Boots.

Once you have Madred's, Udyr can easily solo Dragon. I typically like to wait until at least six. Make sure you have a potion and with your two new ranks in Tiger Stance he will drop quickly. If you are fearful of dragon being warded just simply place a ward there and continue your jungling route. The Blue Buff should be coming back up shortly after going back if you waited to the point mentioned previously. I like to typically turn Madred's into Wriggle's Lantern. This is a practical item for many reasons. The lifesteal combined with your Turtle Stance makes your incredibly hard to 1 v 1 in early and mid game. Also, you are able to place a ward every 3 minutes. This not only saves money from buying wards but takes some of the pressure off your support's pocket. Typically I place my Wriggle's ward by Dragon or Baron.

Starting Jungler Route

Key Ward Placement

Jungling provides a significant advantage to your team. You allow a second lane to solo, increasing that champions' experience gain. Good junglers will level as quickly as the two solo lanes. The only problem with jungling is when the other team does not have a jungler. This will cause your top solo to face two champions. However, if your top champion is skilled and plays defensively he will out level and out cs his two opponents. Champions such as Heimerdinger, Cho'Gath, and Malzahar can all efficiently take top 1 v 2. As the jungler you want to ward key jungle spots like Dragon and Baron. If the enemy team has a jungler there are ways to counter his jungling path. One common way is to simply steal the big wraith from his camp. This will reduce the experience he gets from that camp as well has halve the gold he gets. Teams will often try to gank in the beginning if they know the enemy jungler will go for blue buff. If you are concerned about a gank just have your team set up careful around you to have line-of-sight where the enemy would appear. If there is not an enemy jungler you can freely move into their jungles. However, if they are smart they will place wards by key buffs and try to gank you while you take down the camp. You can actively jungle the entire game. Once late game begins, you typically will only want to worry about Ancient Golem, Lizard Elder, and Dragon. Udyr can solo dragon as early as level 5 or 6. This can be risky if its warded. Don't attempt to take a dragon without your team if it is warded or you will die and they will steal your dragon. Hold off on using Smite until you will kill dragon or enemies can steal dragon if its warded with their own Smite or a powerful ability. Late game Udyr can easily take Baron with only one other teammate. Like dragon this is extremely risky without ward coverage. If you have map coverage however, it will allow your team to push as you and your ally get the buff.

Udyr is primarily built two ways: as a tank or as damage. He can be an effective tank because of his powerful shield, area damage, and stuns. However Udyr shines when allowed to build heavily damaging. You will serve as the off-tank as well with that build. I use a standard jungling start for my items grabbing Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potion. I typically try and hold off until I can finish Madred's Razors and Boots. I also buy 2 Health Potion (for dragon) and a Sight Ward since you will not own Wriggle's at that time. I then buy Wriggle's Lantern. This is the best jungling item. I rush Frozen Mallet next to maximize my ganking potential with its slow, as well as giving me a large health boost to prevent dying. At this point as long as your enemies are not fed, you should be able to solo almost any champion of similar level. I then finish off my build with Black Cleaver, Last Whisper, and Bloodthirster. These items increase your damage drastically which makes your Tiger Stance incredibly effective.


This build is one I commonly use but any good player will adapt to the current game. Builds should be based off of the current match. Most of the items would be defensive such as picking up a Banshee's Veil for mages and Thornmail for AD/Attack Speed champs.

I plan on expanding this guide in the near future. I will update much of the text with links as well as provide screenshots for jungling and of good Udyr matches I have played. I hope you find my guide useful and enjoy playing Udyr!