Currently in Season 3 Volibear is considered one of the best Junglers.

[[Volibear has a great early game and has very strong ganks if you played correctly.

His passive is very useful for early ganks and has great CC.

I would recommend strongly playing Volibear Jungle/Top for anyone who wants to give Jungling a try or wants to compete in ranked with Solo Top.

In Season 3 Volibear has been my most played champion in Ranked. I feel out of all the junglers he can really make games in 5v5 Ranked Solo Queue. This Bear has brought me to Silver 1 so far and I expect playing him more will soon get me high ranked into Gold.

Though the northern reaches of Freljord are some of the most unforgiving lands in Valoran, the Ursine have survived upon the region's barren, stormy tundra for centuries. As a fierce and respected warrior of the Ursine, Volibear devoted his life to the protection of his people and loyalty to his elder brother, the tribe's chief. When his brother was killed during a hunt on the tundra, the tribe looked to Volibear as his successor. It was an honor and a burden that Volibear had never expected, but he shouldered the charge with pride. However, by Ursine tradition, the tribe could not recognize Volibear as chief until he returned from a journey to the peak of their sacred mountain, a place forever shrouded in a thundering maelstrom. There, Ursine chieftains must speak to the storm itself, gaining clarity and wisdom to empower them as mighty leaders.

Donning the chieftain's traditional armor and enchanted gauntlets, Volibear began the long and perilous climb up the slopes of the mountain. When he reached the peak and gazed into the raging storm above, he saw a horrific vision of a Freljord utterly consumed by war. Amidst the carnage, the Ursine fell dead upon a bloody battlefield. Believing the vision to be an omen of things to come if he did not act against them, Volibear traveled to the capitol of Freljord. The Ursine had not ventured across the southern mountains in centuries and his appearance was met with unease. However, Queen Ashe recognized Volibear as a wise and powerful ally. In what Volibear considered the first step against a war-torn future, they forged an alliance. As part of their agreement, he joined the League of Legends in the name of a unified Freljord, representing the primal might of his nation on the Field of Justice.

''Few can weather the storm that follows in the wake of Volibear's roar.''
-- Ashe, the Frost Archer

If you want to hear more about his lore then here's a league of legends video about it = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BYRDBjS5lM

The route I go is = Wolves, Ancient Golem , Wraiths, Lizards (If lanes are pushed after Lizard then I will go gank a lane), If lane isn't pushed I finish with Big Golem and then recall.

Volibear is great for ganking any lane.

I start ganking at Level 3 after i have leveled Thundering Smash (Flip) and have Red.

I usually will go top first for a gank at 3 since it is the closest lane to Red.

How to gank as Volibear? Well you rush the enemy by surprise and flip them over your head as the enemy hits the ground you use Sky Splitter to slow them and then after two more hits you use frenzy on the enemy to do that extra bit of damage.

If you are comfortable with Volibear a useful tip is that if you Flash at a enemy and have Thundering Smash's ready you can completely surprise them and hardly ever fails.

3x Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed =This is perfect for Volibear since that extra bit of movement speed might just be what gets you a successful gank kill.

9x Greater Mark of Attack Damage: Volibear has got a low basic attack damage with this mark we push his attack damage to a great level.

9x Greater Seal of Armor and 9x Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: These are the best for Volibear early game since it gives him initial tank stats perfect for jungling and ganking.

Masteries = 9/21/0 = lots of health, bonuses for armor pen, attack speed, armor, and magic resist.

Volibear is good against=

Top 5 Good against:
1. Olaf
2. Irelia
3. Jax
4. Xin Zhao
5. Rumble


Volibear is countered by (bad against)=

1. Teemo
2. Kennen
3. Jayce
4. Kayle
5. Elise

More counters can be found at = http://www.championselect.net/champ/Volibear


I would advise not to pick Volibear if you know the enemy team has Teemo already because he is quite hard to catch and there are more viable junglers/tops who can easily beat Teemo.

Oh teemo you silly yordle!

You must first assess the enemies team compilation.

So.. If their a heavy AD team use the first build I linked or if their heavy AP then use the second build I made.

Volibear's job is to be a tank and build lots of health always. This is also great for Frenzy since it does more damage the more health Volibear has.

Also at the start of the game ask the support if they are building Aegis of the Legion/ Bulwark because if they aren't you definitely need to build it because it is crucial for buffs the team when team fights happen.

Passive: The Relentless Storm

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

120 second cooldown.

Explanation:


This passive is crazy. Useful for baiting 1 on 1 or 1 on 2, useful for team fights. I have baited several times with this and killed two of the enemy who try to tower dive me. 30% HP is a lot of healing, and it is affected by Spirit Visage. Spirit Visage is a great item and essential when the enemy had a AP heavy team, just perfecto for Volibear. Endgame you will heal for about 1500 HP when this goes off.

Remember the long cooldown on it, however (120 secs). Try to keep it on watch because when you have it ready you can be more reckless but wait until then if you want to be safe.


Q: Thundering Smash

Volibear drops to all fours and runs faster. This bonus speed increases when chasing enemy champions. The first enemy he attacks is thrown backwards over Volibear.
Volibear drops to all fours to hunt his enemies, gaining 15% Movement Speed for 4 seconds. This bonus is enhanced to 30/35/40/45/50% Movement Speed while moving toward enemy champions.

Volibear's next attack during this time deals an additional 30/60/90/120/150 physical damage and flings the target behind him.
Cost
40 Mana
Range
0

Explanation:


Volibear's Q is like Singed's Fling and Rammus's Powerball rolled into one, without being better than either. It's a unique short toss, but the speed boost is awesome utility for engaging team fights, running away, or catching prey. You can use this every 5 secs or so with max CDR....quite a bit of tosses in a fight. Peel the assassins off your squishies, throw someone who is ulting (WW, Mal, Kat for example).

One thing to be careful of is your position; the bear will always toss directly behind him. Don't mess up ganks because you are out of position for a worthwhile toss.



W: 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 is what makes a tanky HP Volibear scary. I've done up to 1900 damage with the active of Frenzy . The more health you have, the harder it hurts. It's a lot like a mini Garen ult, but sometimes can do more damage to champions. It is an assassination skill, so you will do more damage to champions with lower HP.

The passive makes jungling a breeze, as the AS stacks are nice. Activating Frenzy on a buff or dragon with smite can do a ton of damage.

While laning, build up stacks and use W to harass champs. It hurts the whole game. In team fights, it's best to save the active to target a squishy AP or AD carry when they are missing more than 20% of their health.

W scales with HP, and boy does it hurt. For every 1000 HP you have, you will do 200 more damage with it, at full enemy champion health.


E: Sky Splitter

[[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:


Sky Splitter is a great skill to get at level 1 if you are jungling because you can get a few free hits in at a camp, since it fears minions. It's best to max it last because there is no cooldown benefit from leveling it, It doesn't do a ton of damage but it is useful for last hitting, chasing, slowing down the enemy, and ganking as minions will be feared. A solid skill, but still his weakest.

His E scales with AP, but not enough to warrant building AP.



R: Stormbringer

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:



This skill is great for long, sustained damage in a team fight, as well as pushing lanes. It synergizes very well with [[Frenzy and [[Wit's End. Use this in a team fight,or when there are a ton of minions around and you need to push/farm. The cooldown is fairly low -about 50 seconds at max CDR.

This skill, coupled with Frenzy , makes you a threat in a team fight.

R scales with AP, but not really enough to warrant building AP.

This picture shows how dominating Volibear can be (Bearing in mind I have double assists then kills, that is what a Jungler is supposed to aim for in ranked)

If you notice the enemy have a AP heavy team so in this game I have gone for my AP Heavy item build.



In this Jungle Volibear game I have gone a balanced build since they have a mixed team.





This next screenshot is of me playing Volibear Top Lane, wrecking faces ranked. I counter picked Irelia Top as Volibear.

Lead the charge with Thundering Smash and slow enemies with Sky Splitter.

Volibear benefits a great deal from additional health and cooldown reduction.

You must attack three times in rapid succession before Frenzy can be activated--having the toughness to survive for a long time is one way to accomplish this goal.

Patch history

v3.05 Balance Update - March 29th 2013
Volibear was both an extremely powerful duelist as well as an almost guaranteed initiator for early skirmishes. In order to preserve his presence as a threatening fighter, these changes instead reduce Volibear's ability to force engagements early on.
Thundering Smash Movement Speed bonus toward champions adjusted to 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50% from 45% at all ranks

v3.01
Base attack speed increased to 0.658 from 0.625

v1.0.0.152
Base Movement Speed increased by 25.

v1.0.0.151 - 2012-11-12

Sky Splitter now fears minions and monsters for 3 seconds instead of 2

v1.0.0.139 - 2012-05-01

Fixed a bug where Sky Splitter was reducing Minion movement speed to 0 at rank 5

v1.0.0.134 - 2012-02-14

Fixed a bug where Sky Splitter could reduce minion movement speed to 0

v1.0.0.132 - 2012-01-18

Base armor increased to 20 from 17.5
Thundering Smash Damage increased to 30/60/90/120/150 from 25/50/75/100/125
Volibear now gains 15% Movement Speed for the duration. This bonus increases to 45% Movement Speed when moving toward enemy champions.
Fixed a bug where Thundering Smash's attack would sometimes cancel against fast moving targets
[[Frenzy bonus health to damage ratio reduced to 15% from 18%
Sky Splitter damage increased to 60/105/150/195/240 from 60/95/130/165/200
The Relentless Storm (Passive) cooldown no longer resets on death

v1.0.0.131 - 2011-12-13

Frenzy base damage reduced to 80/125/170/215/260 from 90/140/190/240/290
Frenzy bonus health scaling reduced to 18% from 20%

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRK84zU4pcU

Thanks for reading my guide.

If you want to contact me on League of Legends my name is The Fallen Saint (EU West Server).