Volibear Build Guide by Shvihka

Introduction

Hi summoners, I'm Shvihka and this is my jungle Volibear guide. This is my first guide and I'm open to constructive criticism but please don't downvote the guide just because you don't like my build or without giving a good reason, much appreciated.

Pros/Cons

Pros
[*] Very fun
[*] Good ganker with cc in form of an AOE fear and a flip
[*] Good sustain in the jungle and decent control
[*] Godlike passive
[*] Reliable escape and potential chase ability
[*] Very tanky while doing good damage especially early and mid game
[*] He's a motherflipping bear

Cons
[*] Quite blue buff dependent early
[*] Not the fastest clear speed
[*] Hard to comeback if really behind
[*] Weak to kiting in some cases (explained later on)

Runes

Seals of armor and glyphs of scaling m.resist are pretty much standard on any jungler IMO i use AD marks and quints for more damage but attack speed marks and quints as well as movement speed quints are very viable.

Masteries

I take Summoner's Resolve for the extra gold from Smite as you're going to be the poorest hero on your team except the support most of the times.
Perseverance synergy with your passive is too good to miss on.
Durability and Veteran's Scars are good because they give HP which is the most important stat for Volibear.
Hardiness helps with the jungle early on.
Relentless and Tenacious are good to reduce cc on Volibear especially as I don't build Mercury's Treads most of the times.
Juggernaut increases your health even more.
Honor Guard reduces damage and is a good mastery to have.

Items

Hunter's Machete and 5 pots is essential for every jungler in s3.

Boots of Mobility is a great item which I either rush after Spirit Stone or after Spirit of the Ancient Golem, you ask why? Well it pretty much removes Volibear's weakness to kiting if a sticky champion like Diana or Xin Zhao are after you just Majestic Roar and run with your Q you will outrun your enemy in most of the cases + it gives a lot of mobility and insane jungle control especially early on.
Boots of Swiftness is viable but doesn't give the mobility and jungle control it does make slows even more useless against Volibear though.
Mercury's Treads are viable as long as the enemy team has insane amounts of cc and/or magic damage. Think something along the lines of Elise top lane, Fiddlesticks jungle, Veigar mid lane, Taric and Tristana bot lane.

Spirit of the Ancient Golem is a good early item for Volibear, it gives 500 health + some armor and HP and mana regen and it gives tenacity which makes boots of mobility an even stronger choice.

Warmog's Armor is just too good 1000 hp? YES PLEASE!

Spirit Visage is OP on Volibear it enhances your passive by 20%, gives HP and some needed m.resist for the mid game fantastic item on Volibear.

Frozen Mallet now this is an item I wouldn't get if you're losing or generally behind the enemy team, it's not exactly cheap and the gold would be spent somewhere else for example on wards.
If you're ahead though don't hesitate this gives a whooping 700 HP and some AD plus the slow passive is great for chasing.

Runic Bulwark is the most powerful item in the game. Get it of your support doesn't want to get it.

Sunfire Cape is situational and is better in lane but it is good for sustained fights which you would want to achieve with Volibear, not the best option.

Trinity Force gives you everything, a bit of damage, attack speed, movement speed and HP I would get it if your top laner is very tanky as well or if your team needs more damage.

zeke's herald is OK but not recommended as there are better choices.

Locket of the Iron Solari is another aura item which is good and you should get it if your support didn't.

Randuin's Omen is probably the best contender for 6th item slot gives a lot of HP and armor + the passive reduces attack speed and movement speed of auto-attackers like AD carries, junglers and top laners.

shurelya's reverie is excellent if your team has no engage pop it and have fun with your q charging like a maniac.

Atma's Impaler is a good 6th item as well, as it gives some armor and AD based on your max HP if you follow my build you will get 65 bonus AD which is a nice amount and can keep you relevant in the very very late game.

Skill Sequence

Chosen of the Storm is one of the best passives in the game, a lot of people underestimate or forget about it and pay with their lives for it. It also gives Volibear some sustain and the ability to duel in the jungle thus, shrugging off early counter jungling from most junglers.
This becomes OP after you buy Spirit Visage so prepare for your enemies saying : "OP PASSIVE VOLI PLZ NERF". Yeah, but just ignore it it's our little secret, isn't it?

Rolling Thunder is the skill which makes Volibear well, Volibear makes Volibear charge with increased movement speed and flips the next target Volibear hits behind him. This is your ganking power and you should really save it in case of a flash or an escaping enemy. This ability has a rather long CD and doesn't scale all that well so I get 1 point in it at lvl 4 and leave it there.

Frenzy is an excellent skill, used mainly to jungle faster. The active on Frenzy scales with maximum HP and the enemy's missing HP in % which is very effective on targets which are low on HP( not squishies, but targets which already have a portion of HP missing). It has a long CD and could be used as a mini smite although smite is going to do more damage to creeps most of the time but hey, it's still good for stealing and securing buffs, dragons and even barons. I max this first as it does the most damage and also gives an AS steroid.

Majestic Roar is an AOE fear which helps clear the jungle in a healthier way as feared creeps won't be able to attack you, moreover it slows everybody and can save your *** or secure a kill from a gank, it scales moderately well so I max this second.

Thunder Claws is Volibear's ultimate and a pretty powerful one, it bounces to nearby targets and basically does nice AOE damage in a teamfight, it won't do insane damage as it scales with AP and jungle Volibear doesn't build AP or very little. It does however do decent damage especially early and a mid game. Your ultimate is the most powerful ability so take a point in it at lvl 6,11 and 16.

Spells

Those are the two summoners I use most of the times while jungling. Of course Smite is a must
as it allows for securing and stealing buffs etc.
Flash and Ghost are both viable I feel that Flash has a better surprise factor to it while initiating with it but ghost is very useful for chasing and or running away.
Every other summoner instead of Flash or Ghost leaves Volibear with little to no escape and I really do not recommend taking anything else.

Creeping / Jungling

When jungling with Volibear you would want to start at the blue buff regardless of the side of the map. Starting with red buff is perfectly viable but it forces you to gank at lvl 2 which would mean you take a point in Rolling Thunder at lvl 2 instead of Majestic Roar. Usually I gom through the jungle completely before I gank, meaning you start at blue (ask for a leash from your teammates) then go to wolves. Later you clear wraiths, double golems, red buff and wraiths again and you're ready to gank. Use potions after your passive kicks in as it is better to have it on CD early on (usually it will kick in after wolves/first wraiths clear and will be up already when you gank).
When clearing jungle camps auto attack the biggest creep in the camp once and then use your Majestic Roar and continue to auto attack that creep, wait for Frenzy to kick in use it and simply auto attack until you're finished.

When ganking make sure to ask your teammates if there are any wards before that so you can plan your route to the lane you're ganking to prevent failed ganks. Now, when you show yourself in lane don't Rolling Thunder immediately just walk up to the enemy and auto attack him if he starts to run away start running after him, flip him behind and then Majestic Roar when he hits the ground to maximize the duration of your CC. Remember if you gank and force a summoner spell from your enemy but don't kill him/her it is still a successful gank.

Try to gank lanes which are having trouble and/or are pushed hard to one of your towers as there is less chance the enemy can escape if they're pushed even with wards.

Teamfighting

In teamfights you generally want to go for the enemy AD or AP carry - the squishiest targets Rolling Thunder into the enemy team and flip him behind + Majestic Roar when he lands. If your teammates are decent the flipped guy is dead after 1,5 sec (make sure you ping it before and make sure your teammates are around you and ready to follow up your engage). Rolling Thunder + Flash is a very strong initiation tool which can surprise and catch opponents off guard so use it if you're confident enough you'll get a kill or two. Pop your ultimate when in the middle of the fight to hit as much enemies as possible, the damage is very good and don't hesitate using Frenzy on a low opponent to secure the kill, just please, don't kill steal.

Summary

To sum it up, Volibear is a strong, very fun and extremely viable jungler with nice damage and a lot of survivability, a good initiator and damage soaker. A good early game for you can mean disaster for the enemy team so pick your early ganks carefully and try to make the most out of them. Remember to give your 2nd or 3rd blue to your mid laner and if it comes to late game give your red buff to your AD carry. Use wards and pink wards for dragon, lane and baron control, vision is one of the most important factors in LoL and can turn a game on it's head. If you're confident enough Oracle's Elixir is a good buy to clear the enemy wards, it is also good if the enemy team has an Akali, Evelynn , Twitch or other stealth champions, just try not to die as it it is quite expensive.

I hope you have fun with playing Volibear don't forget to vote for this guide and please give constructive criticism regardless of your vote as there are many ways one can improve at all times.

Cheers, Shvihka.