Hello everyone here at MOBAfire. The name's Acropolis and I have been playing this game for about 1 year now. From the beginning of my experience with this game, I have been extremely passionate and have been striving to understand not only the basics, but advanced tactics, builds and concepts of this game. Here I am, with my very first guide on MOBAfire, concerning the brand new champion, Volibear . It's brimming with potential, as I describe Volibear's full potential, Tanky DPS, HP/AP and as a jungler. I will be focussing on Volibear as a Tanky DPS, that's why you'll learn the most about that build.

Please vote on the guide and let a (constructive) comment on what you think that needs rework or clearification. Thank you.

If you have tested this build and found success with it, I encourage you to send me a picture with your score which I will post. Also before you begin reading this guide, please consider it is one of first Volibear guides out here. So without any further ado, let's get into more information about the champion.

Pros

Tough to kill mid game
Almost invinsible because of his passive.
Multiple tasks (Tanky DPS/AP/Jungler)
Can easily catch up too enemies.
Well, duh, he's the Thunder Bear.

Cons

Harrassable early game
The build is on the expensive side.

Most of the runes are pretty self-explanatory, but as I try to make this guide as complete as possible, I'll explain it all.

We start with the Marks, I've chosen Greater Mark of Attack Speed for two reasons. First of all, too get your faster. Secondly, it's just nice for Volibear since he's a full melee. You use these for Tanky DPS and Jungle. For AP you use Great Mark of Insight basically for the early AP advantage in your lane, which you desperately need.

For the Seals I take Greater Seal of Resillience as a jungler. You always want to take these when you Jungle. Merely for the extra durability early game. I take Greater Seal of Vitality for the Tanky DPS and the HP/AP and HP/AS build. These scale great with your Watmog's build, and with your W [frenzy] but the armor seals are always a good choice as well.

Now the Glyphs, I take Greater Glyph of Magic Resist or Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist When my role is Tanky DPS or Jungler. They give the extra MR you WILL need late game, especially when they have a heavy AP caster. But, if you play as AP Volibear, I highly suggest: Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power as an extra bit of AP is always welcome, especially since these scale in late game.

Last but not least, the Quintessences. I'll just do this one quick for you, if my walls of text are too long to read.
Tanky DPS: Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed
AP: Greater Quintessence of Ability Power
Jungler: Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed or Greater Quintessence of Desolation

Just like most of the runes, the masteries are self-explanatory. The difference in the masteries depend on the role I play. I'll just list the roles, and then explain which masteries I use with that role, and why.

Tanky DPS : I go 9/21/0 for a little bit of damage, but mainly focused on being beefy and tanky. As the Tanky DPS role usually goes Top lane in our current Meta-game you want too be able too stay in the lane long, without taking much damage and lose much experience, but still deal or trade damage with your enemy, which is why I choose these masteries. The same applies too the HP/AS Build, focus on staying alive with a bit of damage added.

AP : Being an AP Volibear you want too have a nice amount of CDR with quite some AP. You may be asking, why would you even build Volibear AP? Well, I based my build off of other tanky AP's like Chogath and Singed, and from what I've seen this is an interesting way to play Volibear. None of Volibear's attacks scale off of attack damage, but his E scales with 60% of his AP and his ult scales off of 30% of his AP. His W scales off of your health and how much health the enemy is missing, so his abilities benefit the most from building Health and AP items. The masteries give you CD reduction, magic pen, and increased % damage dealt while also focusing on reducing the damage Volibear takes so he can stay in the middle of a fight as long as possible. 12/18/0

Jungler : As a jungler, you want too have a high amount of armor at the start of the game, so that you can finish your jungle route as fast as possible, and can gank as fast as possible. I've chosen the 0/21/9 because the Utility mastery tree gives you a longer duration of buffs, and gives more movement speed. Also self-explanatory.

I will sort this Chapter the same as the Masteries, by role.
Tanky DPS: Starting items Regrowth Pendant and 1x Health Potion or: Boots and 3x Health Potion and for the final alternative: Cloth Armor and 5x Health Potion
I take Regrowth because that can be turned into a Philosopher's stone, boots too avoid skill shots and cloth armor + pots if you have too go against a heavy damage lane.

Mid Game goal: Wriggle's Lantern and Wit's End with Mercury Treads or, Wriggle's Lantern and Warmog's Armor with Atma's Impaler and Mercury Treads Wriggles will give you sustain along with philosopher's stone in lane. Wits end compliments your ultimate and your W. Warmogs + Atma's is good for the extra beefiness and, ofcourse, your W scales with your bonus health which is why we take the 'Watmog's' at the first place.

Late Game: If your teams need more tankyness you will build: Force of Nature Frozen Heart and/or Thornmail
If you feel like your team needs more damage you'll build: Madred's Bloodrazor with Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Trinity Force You want Madred's for the extra AS and anti-tank damage, Rylai's for a bit of AP and more Health. And lastly, Trinity Force for the Sheen proc.

AP Caster: Starting Items: Doran's Ring or Boots and 3x Health Potion

Mid Game Goal: Mercury Treads and a Rod of the Ages and start building towards your Rylai's Crystal Sceptere or Rabadon's Deathcap. You can also choose to build more tanky inmediantly by getting Force of Nature or Frozen Heart depending on wether they have more AD damage or AP damage.

Late Game: Once you reach late game your target is too go in, deal damage, back off, get your cooldowns and repeat the proces. So, you want CDR, with AP and HP. The items you want for this are: Frozen Heart Morello's Evil Tome Banshee's Veil for more HP/AP and being able to initiate harder. You also want to have your Rabadon's Deathcap and a Hextech Gunblade. Other situational items can be: Abyssal Mask Thornmailand Warmog's Armor
Now I'll explain the AP build, as many people have question about out it: Building Rod of Ages early is crucial since it builds over time health and AP bonuses. Mercury Treads are almost mandatory because since all of his attacks are melee or really short range he suffers greatly from any type of CC. Rylai's adds more AP and Health, and procs with your ult. So whenever you autoattack using your ult, you'll slow them as well. The rest of the items are much more situational and depend on who you're facing. Hextech can work very well since volibear attacks in a mix of physical and magic damage and gives you some nice Life Steal/Spell Vamp.

Jungler: Starting items: Cloth Armor 5x Health Potion once you finish your route, go base and buy Madred's Razors or Wriggle's Lantern if you have the money for it, or get Boots and a Long Sword or a Vampiric Scepter.

Mid Game Goal: Mercury Treads Warmog's Armor Atma's Impaler and a Phage

Late Game Goal: Trinity Force or Madred's Bloodrazor Force of Nature and Randuin's Omen or Shurelya's Battlesong


HP/AS Build:Starting items: Boots 3x Health Potion or Doran's Shield then you should get Wriggle's Lantern and get your Mercury Treads. If you get highly farmed or get a free kill you start building towards your Wit's End.

Mid Game Goal: You MUST get Warmog's Armor and Atma's Impaler. Why? These items are the main source of damage and HP for Volibear. If you find you need more CDR and MR in mid game go and grab yourself a Spirit Visage. It's on a reasonable price and gives good stats.

Late Game Goal: For the late game you have two ways too go. You can go with more Attack Speed or go for more survivability and CDR.
If you decide to go for more Attack Speed (Only do this of your team needs more damage) you should build: Madred's Bloodrazor and Guinsoo's Rageblade, Bloodrazor to do more damage too equally high HP enemy's and Guinsoo's Rageblade for more AD and AP. with Attack speed. There's one other great item for HP-AS Volibear, which is Zeke's Harbinger
If you decide to build for more survivability your last two items are situational. If they have a lot of AD Damage, build Frozen Mallet and Frozen Heart or possible even a Thornmail. If they got a lot of AP damage, get Banshee's Veil and Force of Nature. One more situation, if they have equal amount of AD and AP Damage, go and grab yourself Frozen Heart and Force of Nature. They give alot of Armor and MR with CDR and a bonus slow, which is always welcome.

Skill Sequence is, yet again, sorted by your role. First I'll explain the actual skills:

Passive: Chosen of the Storm

Heals volibear for 30% of his Maximum Health over 6 seconds when he drops below 30% Health.

120 second cooldown

Explanation:
A pretty good passive IMO, its kind of like a mini Mundo ulti, and can bait someone into a turret dive that they don't have the dmg to pull through on,(unless they have ignite/grievous wounds)

: Rolling Thunder
Volibear gains 45% Movement Speed while moving toward enemy champions. Lasts 4 seconds.

Volibear's next attack deals an additional 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 physical damage and flings the target behind him.

12/11/10/9/8 second Cooldown

Costs 40 Mana

Explanation:
This is similar to singed's fling, and can be used for ganking and initiating, you can force a fight with it or force someone to flash away. at level 1 the bonus movement speed is greater then ghost.

: Frenzy
Passive: Volibear gains 8% Attack Speed with each attack. Stacks up to 3 times.

Active: When Volibear has (3) stacks of Frenzy, he can bite an enemy to deal (90/140/190/240/290) (+20% of bonus Health) physical damage, increased by (1)% for each (1)% health the target is missing.

Cooldown 18 Seconds

Cost 35 Mana

Explanation:
Frenzy gives Volibear a passive-like skill that, when it reaches max stacks (3), makes you able too hit an enemy once, for a great amount of damage. The stacks are lost over time, but, which this build rebuilding your stacks isn't any problem.

: Majestic Roar
Volibear deals (60/95/130/165/200) (+60% of ability power) magic damage to nearby enemies and slow them by 30% for 3 seconds.

Cooldown 11 Seconds

Cost 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80 mana

Explanation:
Majestic Roar basically is an AOE slow against all kind of enemies, and it fears minions and monsters. Very usefull too initiate or too slow your enemies down. Being in a 1v1 fight with minions can give you an advantage as well, since you can fear the minions stopping them from attacking you.

: Thunder Claws
Volibear channels the storm, causing all basic attacks for (12) seconds to deal (75/115/155) (+30% of ability power) magic damage, which chains to 4 nearby enemies.

Cost 100 Mana

Cooldown 100 / 90 / 80 seconds

Explanation:
I like this ulti, it lasts for 12 seconds which is long enough for any 1v1 situation and synergizes well with on hit effects like Madred's Bloodrazor or Wit's End. It's basically an AOE ult with good damage.

Being a Tanky DPS you want too max Frenzy first, max Sky Splitter second, level Stormbringer whenever you can and max Thundering Smash last. Your skill order should look like this:
W Frenzy -E Sky Splitter-W Frenzy -Q Thundering Smash-W Frenzy -R Stormbringer-W Frenzy -E Sky Splitter-W Frenzy -E Sky Splitter-R Stormbringer-E Sky Splitter-Q Thundering Smash-E Sky Splitter-Q Thundering Smash-R Stormbringer-Q Thundering Smash-Q Thundering Smash

Little bit easier too see: W-E-W-Q-W-R-W-E-W-E-R-E-Q-E-Q-R-Q-Q

Being an AP Caster your skill maxing order is almost the same as being a Tanky DPS: Frenzy first, max Sky Splitter second, Level Stormbringer whenever you can and max Thundering Smash last. Your skill order should look like this: E Sky Splitter-W Frenzy -Q Thundering Smash-W Frenzy -W Frenzy -R Stormbringer-Q Thundering Smash-E Sky Splitter-W Frenzy -E Sky Splitter-R Stormbringer-E Sky Splitter-E Sky Splitter-W Frenzy -Q Thundering Smash-R Stormbringer-Q Thundering Smash-Q Thundering Smash

Little bit easier too see: E-W-Q-W-W-R-Q-E-W-E-R-E-E-W-Q-R-Q-Q

Being a Jungler you want too max W Frenzy for jungling and Q Thundering Smash for the fling. The E Sky Splitter is just for some slow when chasing or for fearing creeps so that you take less damage. Your skill order should go like this: W Frenzy -Q Thundering Smash-E Sky Splitter-W Frenzy -W Frenzy -R Stormbringer-W Frenzy -Q Thundering Smash-W Frenzy -Q Thundering Smash-R Stormbringer-Q Thundering Smash-Q Thundering Smash-E Sky Splitter-E Sky Splitter-R Stormbringer-E Sky Splitter-E Sky Splitter

Little bit easier too see: W-Q-E-W-W-R-W-Q-W-Q-R-Q-Q-E-E-R-E-E

When you decide too go for the HP/AS build you want too max Frenzy first for the base attack speed bonus. You can decide too get your Q Thundering Smash or E Sky Splitter whenever you want. As it doesn't really matter which one you max first, they're both good spells with good CC. Level your ult Stormbringer first.
Your skill order should go like this: W Frenzy - E Sky Splitter - W Frenzy Q Thundering Smash - W Frenzy - R Stormbringer - W Frenzy - Q Thundering Smash - E Sky Splitter - R Stormbringer - W Frenzy - E Sky Splitter - Q Thundering Smash - E Sky Splitter - R Stormbringer - Q Thundering Smash - Q Thundering Smash
A little bit easier to see: W-E-W-Q-W-R-E-W-Q-E-R-W-E-Q-E-R-Q-Q







Q =
W =
E =
R =

Summoner Spells are pretty logic, I'll explain my choices tho.

As a Tanky DPS and HP/AS build I choose and for being able too shut down their AD Carry and for escapes, if they eventually get oblivious enough too focus me.

Being an AP Caster I pick and I pick these too finish off enemies with ignite and flash, being able too escape, or diving a turret for that last hit you need on your enemy, so that you can flash back out of turret range.

As a Jungler I choose and Smite, obviously too jungle alot faster and Flash so that I can escape when I get ganked or for being able too Flash right on and fling your enemy backwards, towards your teammate's lane you're ganking, or when you're in a team fight.

The #1 rule of laning: Win your lane, win your game.

When you're laning you have to consider your zone. This is the amount of space you control through the potential damage you can output and take in that space. Distance of skills will create a larger zone. Volibear has a small zone because he has no ranged spells. Because of Q however, you can control any zone behind the minions. By using Q as soon as someone walks around there and then fearing (Not as in Fiddle fear, but as in scaring them away) them if your damage with the minions is great enough, you can control the entire lane. By keeping the enemy afraid of taking damage when they last hit you are denying them gold. Abilities are not everything though. Bushes create a new zone as against AD carries they cant even hit you here.

The #2 rule of laning: Last hitting.

Minions affect the zone because they can deal A LOT of damage if left unchecked. The point of the zone is not to avoid harass but to be able to last hit safely. People will enter your zone if they can tank the damage while safely getting last hits. To make the best use of your zone you need to be able to last hit. This is simply a skill that comes with practice. Last hitting under a tower is an important skill and very easy to do. Melee minion, you let it tank 2 tower shots, and do a single autoattack on it. Ranged minion, you smack him once, the tower shoots, and then you finish it off with an auto attack.

The #3 rule of laning

Using your abilities in the lane. During the laning phase, you can savely try pushing a bit with your abilities, or, if you're having trouble last-hitting you can use your abilities for that. Just make sure you don't constantly spam your abilities, as you aren't Ryze :).
You can also use your abilities, especially as Volibear, too harras your laning enemy. His combo is really strong and makes you win 1v1's with ease. For example, your are in mid-game and you both have a wave of minions. You bait him towards your wave, then turn back and use your Q too catch up. You then use your E too slow them and too fear the enemy minions, making you take less damage by them. Then, just keek hitting your enemy too get Frenzy. You can also use your ultimate too clear the entire enemy wave rapidly, while steal doing damage too your laning enemy.

So for the route you want too start at blue, ask your teammate to leash as it helps you alot. Than head to wolves - wraiths - golumns - red - gank or go and buy - golumns or enemy blue if it's not taken. With how the new Jungling works you can also decide not too back and do your entire route a second time. With the new Jungling you should be able to be #2 or #3 highest cs if you decide to keep jungling. But please, my fellow Bears, go and gank and help your teammates. Being a Jungler you don't want too farm farm farm like a solo-top Singed, but you want too help your team. If you need any more information on the Volibear Jungle, I advice you to search for Phreak's Champion Spotlight on YouTube, even though Phreak can be quite stupid sometimes, he somewhat knows something about jungling.

I also added this map:

The green numbers are the creeps in your own 'safe' jungle. Red means enemy jungle and orange means the neutral jungle. As you can see, I putted a '2' at the enemy wraiths and add the friendly wolves. If you'd like you can go for a quick wraith steal after finishing your own blue buff. It also contains gank spots, and how too walk too those spots. These are indicated with black lines. (Just switch all the numbers and spots if you spawn on the other side of the map)

In this section I will discuss Volibear's role in team fights. Of course, depending on which role you play (Tanky DPS/AP/Jungler), you have a different role in team fights. I'll be focussing on the Tanky DPS role but I will give a short briefing of the other roles. Being a tanky DPS you want too focus on the enemy's squishies (Ranged AD Carry, AP Caster, etc). You want too use your Q Thundering Smash too catch up too them, fling them backwards into your team so that they can kill them easily. Also, you MUST be the initiator. You have great skills to run in, shut down main damage dealers and run out slowing the tanks chasing your squishy's. All this also counts for the HP/AS Volibear build!

-AP: When you play the AP role (note that AP Volibear isn't for any sort of competitive play) your job is too get close enough for your ability's and deal alot of aoe damage as fast as possible. That's basically all you'll need to do, and try to CC them as much as possible, for your AD carry's too finish them off. Also remind that you don't go in blindly like Dr. Mundo or Singed you should wait for your skills to be up and than run in like an idiot ;).

-Jungler: When you're the jungler your roll would be the same as a Tanky DPS, run in, shut hard damage dealers down, slow the tanks and beefy's. Keep the enemies CC-ed and stay in the fight too tank the damage. Since, you build Jungle Volibear tanky. Use your Shurelya's Battlesong too catch up too enemies and/or your Randuin's Omen too slow them.

I thought I'd just add this in, since being a beefy champion (and possible a jungler) you should be placing down some wards at dangerous spots. Use the Vision wards Vision Ward too clear out enemy wards, giving you the possibility of taking a free Baron or Dragon

'Always have a ward in your pocket'
-Phreak during Season one championships ;)

First of all, I want to thank all of you for completely reading this guide or just taking a glipmse at the items and skills. Please leave feedback below, post your scores (I'll add them too the guide!) and have fun using my build and this guide.

Updates too the guide and build will be placed here.
*Added Zhonya's Hourglass too the AP build.
*Added all the pictures of skills
*Note that the build is focused on the Tanky DPS build.
*Added a 'What your job is in Team Fights' section. It's short and clear, give me some feedback on it ;)
*Completely editing the AP section and adding a HP/AS Build. Basically giving the AP build more tankiness, and just adding the HP/AS for it being an interesting build.
*Adding a few items too HP-AS, suggested by commenters ;)
*Adding a 3v3 and a 5v5 section, too explain that further.