Volibear Build & Rune Guide

Volibear is a fairly strong jungler champion that can hunt down and finish enemies while shielding himself simultaneously. He’s also amazing at tower dives, as he can literally disable turrets temporarily. Playing him can be thrilling as long as you know your limits, as once you're behind, it can be really hard to claw your way back. Take a look into his build to see to do it too.

How To Play Volibear In League Of Legends

Volibear does not require too much skill expression or outclass macro. He’s quite dependent on his abilities, plus sustaining damage long enough for his teammates to pick off enemies. Preferably, you’d like to stay away from 1v1s against most matchups unless you’re far ahead of your opponent. Otherwise, Volibear thrives in taking down towers and assisting other teammates in kills around the map, making his presence known.

How Do Volibear’s Abilities Work?

If you are wondering what his abilities do to make him so powerful, it is mostly a combination of his kit that allows him to tear through enemy champions and monsters alike. Volibear’s Q helps him gap close onto his foes and stun them on contact. This is quickly followed by his W for additional damage that can radiate to nearby enemies as well. The defining ability for Volibear is definitely his ultimate through which, as we’ve mentioned before, he can disable turrets.

The Relentless Storm (Passive)

Volibear’s passive, Relentless Storm, is a stacking ability. Each time Volibear damages an enemy via a basic attack or ability, he gains a stack of Relentless Storm. These stacks can go up to 5 stacks and linger for 6 seconds before going away. At max stacks, Voliber gains the Lightning Claws status effect.

Each basic attack is empowered, and deals bonus magic damage to the target and nearby enemies. Volibear also gains bonus attack speed per stack, allowing him to fire off these lightning bolts with more frequency.

Thundering Smash (Q)

Thundering Smash is Volibear’s only movement speed boost ability that allows him to get on top of his enemies before they escape. When activated, Volibear gains bonus movement speed and Ghosted status effect for 4 seconds. This buff is doubled if there is a visible enemy champion in a 2000-unit radius.

He also empowers his next basic attack to deal bonus physical damage and stun the enemy for 1 second on contact. This is a great ganking tool and can stop enemies from escaping.

Frenzied Maul (W)

If you want to shred through your enemies immediately after engaging with Thundering Smash, use your Frenzied Maul as soon as possible. Volibear attacks the target, dealing physical damage and applying all on-hit and on-attack effects with 100% effectiveness.

Targets also gain a wounded mark. The next time Volibear uses Frenzied Maul on a target that is Wounded, he does 50% increased damage and heals himself. If you are 1v1’ing someone, make sure to constantly use this ability for extra damage and lifesteal.

Sky Splitter (E)

When going in for the kill, you need some sustain to back you up so the engage doesn’t backfire. For that, Volibear has Sky Splitter. When activated, Volibear calls down a lightning strike at the targeted area, dealing magic damage and granting him a shield if he is inside the radius.

This ability does have a 2-second delay before occurring. Enemies hit by the bolt are slowed by 40% for 2 seconds and take magic damage. Sky Splitter can really turn the tables in any engage for your team.

Stormbringer (R)

Stormbringer is the ability we’ve talked about all through the article, the only ability in the game that can temporarily disable turrets. Volibear can activate this ability to gain Stormbringer status. During the duration, he leaps towards the target location, becoming immune to crowd control effects. He also gains a Ghosted status effect, bonus health, 50 bonus attack range, and a 35% increased size.

On slamming down, he disables all turrets in the target radius, slows enemies by 50%, and deals physical damage to enemies near the center. Volibear becomes extremely tanky and can be used as a secondary tank in teamfights during the duration of this ability.

Volibear’s Build Path (Items + Runes)

Volibear has numerous different builds, all capable of winning you the game, However, since his tank build gains the most traction, that is what we will be discussing. This build allows him to soak up more damage as his kit makes him a great engage. Let’s see what he builds for this.

Items

Starting Item: For a starting item, Doran’s Ring is a great choice primarily because Volibear does a lot of AP damage and needs mana regen.

Core Build: His core builds consist of a Frostfire Gauntlet into Frozen Heart. Frostfire Gauntlet slows all enemies passively when any ability is cast near him. The frozen aura damages and slows enemies, making it harder for them to escape. The Spellblade passive gives him a damage amp. Frozen Heart helps reduce AD damage taken whilst also reducing attack speed, rendering ADCs useless.

Situational Items: Hullbreaker, Spirit Visage, Thornmail, or Force of Nature are all great pickups for Volibear, depending on the game state. All of them allow him to get tankier, buffing his defensive stats.

Boots: Volibear can buy either Mercenary Shoes or Plated Steelcaps, depending on the enemy team composition.

Runes

Primary: Your primary runes are Grasp of the Undying into Shield Bash, Unflinching, and Bone Plating. Grasp of the Undying heals you throughout the lane phase, simultaneously increasing health, while the other runes provide more sustainability and crowd control reduction.

Secondary: You can take Presence of Mind and Last Stand as your secondary runes. Presence of Mind keeps refreshing your mana pool, while Last Stand helps deal more damage the lower your health is.

Final Thoughts

The champion design for Volibear should definitely be commended. Designing a kit that so eloquently fits with his lore is amazing. If you want to try him out, make sure to do a few practice runs first, as his mistakes are punished a little harder compared to some of the alternatives. After that, go and wreak havoc on your enemies with this giant polar bear.