Volibear Build Guide by fcuku

Introduction

I bought Volibear a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed him but couldn't find the right build and items for him.
I started expermenting with builds and items and this is what I came up with.
I will be expanding this guide as it goes so expect more details in the future.
It's a Work In Progress

If you like the guide or find it usefull, please rate it and leave a comment :)

Volibears abilities

Chosen of the Storm (Passive)
Volibear heals rapidly for a few seconds when his health drops to a critical level.

This passive is so awesome. It regenerates 30% of your max health in a few seconds. You can lure people into focussing you because they think you are almost dead. I've got dozens of kills this way. Beware for people(mostly AP carries) with Ignite this will kill you!

Rolling Thunder
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 increases to 45% 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.

This is your gank tool! This is absolute a must before you can gank with volibear. You want to use this ability after you run out of the bushes or close to enemey champion you are ganking. Because it only last for 4 seconds, make good use of it and flip 'm over!

Frenzy
Volibear's repeated attacks grant him additional Attack Speed. Once Volibear has repeatedly attacked three times, he can perform a vicious bite on his target which deals increased damage based on the target's missing health.
Passive: Volibear gains 8/11/14/17/20% 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 80/125/170/215/260 (+  [15% of bonus Health]) physical damage, increased by 1% for each 1% health the target is missing.

Use this as a finisher when the enemy champion is at very low hp +/- 30%

Majestic Roar
Volibear lets out a powerful roar that damages and slows enemies. Minions and monsters are feared as well.
Volibear deals 60/105/150/195/240 (+0.6) magic damage to nearby enemies and slow them by 30/35/40/45/50% for 3 seconds.

Minions and monsters are feared as well.

Very powerfull ability! You want to use this when you are almost in range for Rolling Thunder this will slow them down so you can flip them over your back.
This is also extremely usefull when you are fighting in a group of enemy minions, it will fear the minions which leads to not taking damage from all the minions.

Thunder Claws
Volibear channels the power of the storm causing his attacks to blast his targets with lightning that bounces to other nearby enemies.
Volibear channels the storm, causing all basic attacks for 12 seconds to deal 75/115/155 (+0.3) magic damage, which chains to 4 nearby enemies.

Runes

First rune set
This is the rune set I always use. Best overal damage in my opinion.

Second rune set
If you want some extra damage on your Frenzy or extra survivability, swap the armorpen quints for health quints.

Summoner Spells

Recommended


You are jungling with the Volibear, you need this to secure baron, dragon, blue or red buffs. You don't want your buffs to be stolen!


Ghost works better for me, I like to chase enemey champions down. Flash doesn't do the trick. Advantage for using Ghost over Flash is that you can activate your Rolling Thunder later on + you got extra movement due to Summoner's Wrath .

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Viable SS
If you want a different second summoner spell. These are the ones I recommend. Don't swap Smite for one of these, Smite is a must!


I sometimes pick flash it can come handy if you want to flash over walls/hedges maby to steal a buff or a quick getaway.


This is for the aggresive jungle. If your team doesn't have any exhaust pick this over an escape spell like Ghost or Flash.


Same as Exhaust for the aggresive jungler. If your team lacks ignite or healing reduction get this. I do not get this spell often as Volibear

Skill Sequence

First sequence

When you want some extra damage and you have enough CC in your team.

Second sequence

If you think your ganks aren't strong enoguh and they keep getting away or your team is lacking CC. Pick Majestic Roar over Rolling Thunder.

Items

Core

Philosopher's Stone = The first gp5 item you will buy. Reason behind this is that you will be ganking alot. Ganks are not always succesfull there for you will be missing out farm. The gp5 items will compensate this. This items is a must and will help you get to your core items quickly.

= Look for the reasons why to buy this at Philosopher's Stone. Another reason why to buy this is the health on it wich scales great on your Rolling Thunder.

= I always get these boots. I think they are the best boots for a bruiser champion. The magic resist is very nice early game. Later on the stun, snare and slow reduction is awesome. Your goal is to run into a teamfight and focus their carry's. These boots help you to get to those carry's.

= Absolut must on volibear. Thanks to the gp5 items and some ganks you will get this quickly. It scales great on your Frenzy and later on on Atma's Impaler and maby Force of Nature. Great item, that's why it's a core item for my build.

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Situational





Shurelya's Reverie

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Items to consider
= Extra damage with lightning damage + extra HP what more do you want?

= I buy FoN when there is heavy magic damage. A big advantage of is this passive on this item. This increases your HP regen enormous.

= A lot of auto attack champios like Tryndamere, Caitlyn get these.

= Nice passive on GA. I like this item alot. Mostly this item replaces Shurelya's Reverie

Jungle Route

The red stripes are the jungle route.

The blue stripes are the way to gank a lane

1. Start at golem (blue buff). Kill it with Smite
2. Proceed to wolf camp
3. Wraith camp
4. Double golems at bot, use Smite
5. To wolf camp again, they will be respawned
6. Go to wraith camp and clear it.
7. Go to lizard (red buff). Smite will be off cooldown.
9. Gank a lane!

Warding

Warding is VERY important. Try to pick up 1 or 2 wards everytime you go back to shop.
In this video above there are some good spots to place wards.

Also try to pick up a pink ward once in a while. Very handy to remove enemy wards.

Places on the map to place wards




RED DOTS: Priority wards, very important to place wards

BLUE DOTS: Optional wards, when there are enough wards on the map. You can place them here

GREEN DOTS: Just when you have loads of extra cash and everyone on your team buys wards. Place them here as a last resort.

Video guide?

If you guys want a video guide or a gameplay video of me playing jungle voli. Let me know in the comment section.

Changelog

02/05/2012, made the guide.
03/05/2012, made some changes and published the beta version.
04/05/2012, added a ward placement picture to the warding section.
04/05/2012, added item explanation WIP.
04/05/2012, added core items and situational items.
05/05/2012, added some extra summoner spell choices.