Hey all of you LoL players, I'm here for my first time to present my take on Udyr , The Animal Spirit. Udyr is easily one of the most flexible characters in the game, and he can be played a variety of ways. I find that usually I am required to play a tank because of my team comp, so that's exactly what I do. In this guide, I will be showing a Phoenix jungle guide as well as a tanking item build. In the item order above is my standard very late-game build. I do not show the item order so you may see my end game stats, but I will be discussing them in detail later on.

Udyr in general:

Pros

-Top tier jungler
-Flexible champion
-Slippery
-Great ganker

Cons

-Mana starved
-Needs CDR
-Player needs "know-how" to play effectively
-Does not have any ranged abilities

As a tank:

Pros

-Great mobility
-Can stun multiple targets in succesion
-Is harder to shake off than most champions
-Can life/mana steal ( Iron Mantle)
-Spammable shield
-A lot of dodge
-Can hit and run effectively
-Can easily help the team run away

Cons

-Not a lot of single targeted CC
-Very weak natural magic resistance
-Very CDR heavy for intesive fights

Don't let those Cons make you dislike Udyr, they're easily made up/solved by practice/blue buff and he's a very great champion to use.

Here's the thing, I don't get any attack speed runes, even when I'm jungling. Why is that?

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration - Magic penatration helps Wingborne Storm. (Well, so does attack speed!) Attack speed is "meh" for runes. With magic penatration, you get do a little bit more damage to those tanks, and remember that the more magic resistance you get, the reduction scales less and less, so for those that don't get magic resistance items will be blown away, and you're a tank anyway.

Greater Seal of Evasion - Dodge with Udyr is always a good thing to have, against AD users and in the jungle. With Bridge Between alone, that's 9% dodge at three stacks. Bought Ninja Tabi? that's up to 21%. With the mastery in the defense tree, you go up to 23%. you go up to about 30% with these runes, which will make you really survivable against that Nocturne when he does that Duskbringer Shroud of Darkness Unspeakable Horror combo, right?

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist - As said before, Udyr's magic resistance makes me sick to my stomach. This will give you the extra 'umph' per level. It nearly doubles your natural magic resistance at level 18. 'Nough said.

Greater Quintessence of Health - You're jungling, right? Self-explanatory, but I'll go ahead and say it anyway. The extra health makes you more survivable in the jungle, and you should have no problem keeping enough health to gank after you get that red buff. Don't ask questions, you just need it.

I go with a 0/13/17 build, and there's a few things I wanted to go over.

Perserverance - ...
http://community-na.static.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=219077
Get Good Hands . (But you shouldn't die!) Most likely, you're going to die. If you take this, you shave 7 seconds off of the 70 second counter at level 18. If you die in a team fight, chances are that at least one or two others died to. You need to get back quickly so you can defend, and it's not like you have Revive... right?

Veteran's Scars - I feel that it's better to get the movement speed in the utility tree over this extra health.. You're ridiuclously fast, why not make you faster? If you grab the Greater Quintessence of Healths, you should have no problem with early game health.

Greed - If you want to jungle fast, get this. I would go as far as to say it's required. If you jungle fast enough, you'll recall and go to buy that Long Sword and will be angry that you're about 20 gold away. It's one point, please take it.

As for the rest, it's pretty standard. Extra magic resistance, armor, exp, dodge, movement, survivability, and all that good stuff. I took a while thinking carefully about these masteries, I feel they're optimal for Udyr's style.

Recommended - Smite, Ghost

Smite - It's definitely possible for you to jungle without this, but very highly recommended for you to get it. Increases your jungling speed, ensures you don't get your buffs stolen, help you steal buffs... it's worth it.

Ghost - Movement speed and ignored unit collision will get you out of anything with your Blazing Stampede. The only champion you won't be able to outrun is Rammus, but he has to build up speed while you can sprint away.

Viable - Exhaust, Flash

Exhaust - Yes, you can slow somebody and cancel out a lot of their damage, but is it worth it? Your Blazing Stampede will stun people, and in team fights they'll most likely be slowed anyway. It helps for early game ganking, but I think Blazing Stampede with Ghost is enough for you to catch them off guard.

Flash - I feel Ghost surpasses this spell, but it has its moments for sure. Low on health doing Baron and the enemy comes up behind you? You can flash up into the jungle to escape. Slowed and you won't make it? Flash over some trees or up a hill where they can't reach you in time before the slow wears off and you book it out of there. But, again, I feel Ghost is more helpful.

Not Recommended - Everything else

A jungling Udyr is set in stone with this one, he should definitely have Smite 100% of the time, and Ghost 99% of the time. The other summoner spells will not help you as much as these two, or are not right for your class. I personally will only ever take these two, but I forced myself to add a couple viable ones.

There are many ways you can build Udyr, but I jungle with Wingborne Storm. Wilding Claw jungling is viable, but slower. I hope to make a tiger jungle route as well. More on this later.

Take Wingborne Storm level one, followed by Iron Mantle. At level 3 is the earliest I can see a deviation, but it's risky. You may take Blazing Stampede at 3 if you grabbed red buff for an early gank, but it'll severely hurt your jungling if you die, so do not let this happen. As long as you have a level 5 Wingborne Storm at level 9, you can change this how you want. At level 10 is the major choice for deviation. You can choose Iron Mantle to be extra beefy, Blazing Stampede to be slippery and quick, which I find to personally suit me ('cause Udyr revolves around movement speed), or even Wilding Claw to help with the hit-and-run damage because of the damaage over time effect or use it to quickly kill a tower because of the huge increase in attack speed.

There is one thing though, Udyr has to choose one (or two) skill(s) to be capped at level 3(4). I suggest keeping Wilding Claw at level three, because, being a tank, you need Iron Mantle, you need to keep your mobility with Blazing Stampede, and you need some sort of damage to annoy the enemy team, which is your Wingborne Storm.

Please place a comment below if there are any other skill sequences you would like me to add.

To start, I buy a Cloth Armor along with three Health Potions. I only buy three potions so I can buy a Long Sword when I recall back the first time. At level 5, when I get Blazing Stampede, I buy Boots so I can get a little more speed for ganking. The next time I go back is when I have 285 gold, usually sometime after my first gank. I buy Madred's Razors and head back out. For the rest of the items, I buy them when I get the chance and in order of most importance.

To be continued...

This section is for people that want a few tips to try out and see what works for them. These are a few things I do (usually with blue buff cause I have immense CDR and mana regen) to take the edge or win an entire fight.

While trying to attack with Wingborne Storm on an enemy champion, make sure you hit them, move forward, and repeat. It's a bit of microing, but if you just use it and right click, you won't stay at their pace and you'll most likely be resorted to Blazing Stampede, reseting your 3-hit counter on your Wingborne Storm.

When running away, both Iron Mantle and Blazing Stampede are useful, and both should be used. However, take a second to think: What are you running from? What's your health at? If you're running from a turret and you have low hp, pop the Iron Mantle before the Blazing Stampede. If you have decent health and you're standing right next to it when it starts hitting you, use Bear Stance] to sprint away from it before using [Turtle Stance to stop some of the last hit's damage. In team fights, almost always choose Iron Mantle to run, because you're a tank and you should be taking that damage and not running out of the battle with half of your health left.

Against enemy champions, it's especially important to know which stance to use. For these examples, I will be referring to a 5v5 mid team fight assuming there is no ganking/stealthing. To harass, use Blazing Stampede to run in (but you don't need to stun) and quickly use Wilding Claw to hit them once before popping Iron Mantle to cancel some of the damage and then Blazing Stampede to resume your formation. *Note: The enemy team could initiate at this time, and you should stun any enemy that comes near your team for them to be picked off.* If you're lucky, the enemy will be uncoordinated enough to only have a couple of them run in rather than all 5, meaning the fight should be fairly simple for your team.

To initiate a team fight, use Iron Mantle preemptively followed by Blazing Stampede to run in and stun a couple enemies. Then, use Iron Mantle and/or use Wilding Claw (hit once) into Wingborne Storm (hit and move, see first strategy). The reason that Wilding Claw is used before Wingborne Storm is because the activation effect from Wilding Claw (bonus attack speed) compliments Wingborne Storm's need for attack speed very nicely. Same goes for the other way around, because Wingborne Storm gives bonus AD, which buffs Wilding Claw.

It's finally time for you to learn your jungling route!

Quick Reference:
Wraiths
Wolves
Mini Golems
-recall-
Blue buff
Wolves
Wraiths
Red buff
Mini Golems
-recall-
(Gank)
Enemy Blue buff (if you can)

1) Start out with Wingborne Storm. Buy a Cloth Armor and THREE (only) Health Potions, then go to the wraiths. Stand on the opposite side of the big wraith (next to the little one) and smite the it at 1:40. You should be standing in front of 3 wraiths. Use Wingborne Storm and start attacking the middle wraith. After you finish those up, head to the wolves. Skill order: (( Smite, Wingborne Storm))

2) At the wolves, stand near the edge of the trees you walk around. Use Wingborne Storm and attack the big wolf. Your 3-hit proc should hit at least 2 of the 3 wolves, if not all 3. When the big wolf dies, level up Iron Mantle and use it. Use a Health Potion sometime during this fight. Head to the mini golems. Skill order: (( Wingborne Storm, Iron Mantle))

3) As with the wolves, stay near the edge of the trees and hit the left golem after using Wingborne Storm. You should hit both with your 3-hit proc. Before Bridge Between wears off, use Iron Mantle. Then use Wingborne Storm again. You may or may not need to use a Health Potion at this point. If you feel like you're going to be ganked, use one. If not, try to save it. If you get enough mana, use Iron Mantle again. *Note: If you stay in Iron Mantle long enough after the first Wingborne Storm, you can get a bit of mana back to ensure your safety.* Recall after they are dead. Skill order: (( Wingborne Storm, Iron Mantle, Wingborne Storm, Iron Mantle

4) When you recall, buy a Long Sword (you should have enough because of Greed ) and heal up. You should be level 3. Head over to blue buff. Stand at the edge of the trees between the little minion and the big Golem. Use Wingborne Storm and attack the Big Golem. Your Wingborne Storm should hit two or three of them. Switch to Iron Mantle and immediately back to Wingborne Storm for another three hits. Repeat this until the golem is at 525 health, then smite it for the kill. Finish off the little minions, use your last Health Potion, and head for the wolves again. Skill order: (( Wingborne Storm, Iron Mantle, repeat until Smite))

5) Easy mode. Wingborne Storm and hit the big wolf. Iron Mantle until dead. Go to wraiths. Skill order: (( Wingborne Storm, Iron Mantle))

6) Again, easy mode. Do the exact same thing you did at the wolves. You can use Wingborne Storm a second time to be quick about it. Go to red buff. Skill order: (( Wingborne Storm, Iron Mantle, Wingborne Storm))

7) Start behind the lizard. Make sure you have about 200-250 mana before starting and around 300-350 hp, or you should not do it. Use Wingborne Storm for three hits (should hit two or three of them) and then use Iron Mantle. Keep this up until Bridge Between is about to run out, then follow up with Wingborne Storm. After three hits, switch to Iron Mantle, but this time switch right back to Wingborne Storm. Repeat this until it is at 560 hp, then Smite it. After you kill everything, make your way to the mini golems. Skill order: (( Wingborne Storm, Iron Mantle (wait), Wingborne Storm, Iron Mantle (don't wait), repeat last two steps))

*Note: If you find Smite isn't up by that times, do the mini golems first. You don't level when you do those first, and I barely get Smite back up, but I like having red buff to make sure I survive mini golems.*

8) For the mini golems, do it like you did the first time. Start with Wingborne Storm followed by Iron Mantle. Your health will drop a little quick for comfort, but that's okay. Once you get the first down, your health won't drop too fast. Repeat and recall when finished. Level up Blazing Stampede at 5. Skill order: (( Wingborne Storm, Iron Mantle, repeat))

When you recall, grab a Boots if you're ganking, which I suggest you help out the 2v1 lane. If you don't feel comfortable ganking, grab the Madred's Razors instead. Before you do this part, check for MIAs. If you feel that it's risky to go get their blue buff, don't. I would still try, it's worth it. If they have a jungler, it probably won't be there, but it'd be good to ward it if you grabbed one. If it's there, go for it.

The only thing is, somebody could wait in the bushes for you. to solve this, hit the golem and run into the bushes before using Wingborne Storm. Do what you did the first time. Skill order: (( Wingborne Storm, Iron Mantle, repeat))

At this point, you should gank often (especially when you have both red and blue buff, but blue buff is your best friend and you can gank with only that). You'll be able to fly through the jungle going any path you want. If the enemy does not have a jungler, Use your buffs right. If you have 25% of blue buff yet, and it's up, go for a gank first. Then it will be low, and you can refresh it again. If the opportunity shows itself, always try to take theirs first so they don't have it, but be careful when doing so.

When doing dragon, I usually solo it at level 8. It can be done earlier, but I feel that level 8 is a comfortable level to safely do it. Be careful of ganks, and remember that the dragon slows your attack speed. Just cycle between Wingborne Storm and Iron Mantle, then immediately back to Wingborne Storm. Then Smite when you can. Smite at 700 (for level 8).

Thanks for taking your time to look at my guide, and I will surely be looking out for comments and suggestions. I'll reply as much as I can. If you vote down I hope you tell me why and I hope I can make this guide better for you and everybody. Again, thanks for reading my Udyr: The Jungle Tank guide and I hope you all enjoy playing him. Remember, do not deny your instincts, summoner.