Volibear: Everything Riot Revealed About the Volibear Rework

League of Legends. Photo Courtesy of Riot Games. /

Riot gave us a peek into League of Legends’ latest rework for Volibear!

The new Fiddlesticks rework has only been live for a week but fans are already clamoring to get more information about the other champion from last year’s fan vote that is scheduled for a rework: Volibear. While we’re still probably a little ways away from a full reveal of the VGU, today Riot gave us a peek at some of Voli’s effects, sound design, and skins. There’s a lot that they said and implied that reveals what to expect from the new Volibear.

1. His Kit and Playstyle Won’t Change All that Much

Riot Lutzburg says in the peek today that the rework will be a “modern take on his live kit” and he “still runs on all fours and locks down a single target.” They also explicitly classify Volibear as “somewhere between a Juggernaut and a Vanguard.” To me, that indicates that he’ll still largely be the same type of champion who excels in one-on-ones and small skirmishes but is easily kited in team fights.

However, Riot does make it seem like it will become easier for him to act offensively in teamfights, rather than just being relegated to peel duty like he is now. They say that he will be able to “dive and disrupt teamfights, while ramping up his own threat level over time.” So I think there will be flexibility in his build and playstyles whether you’re offensive or defensive in your play.

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He also assured us that several key aspects of current Volibear’s kit like the ramping attack speed, chain lightning, and his bite will remain. However, it looks like Volibear will be able to use bite multiple times in a fight (as an opener) and the lightning now lasts throughout combat.

My guess is that the bite now has some cripple or slow effect and his lightning attacks are maybe no longer tied to his ult, which would be super cool given the changes we did learn about. And, while his flip wasn’t mentioned in the article, given the abilities that Riot seems to be targeting, I think the flip will still remain in his kit.

2. His E and Ultimate are Getting the Big Changes

According to Riot, these two abilities are getting the biggest innovations by giving Volibear “several new utility tools he’s never had before, and aim to give players more to master over time.” That screams some form of targetted ability (probably on his ult given what we will find out about his E) or channel (like Galio’s taunt) that gives players room for skill expression.

Riot also says that they are “pulling out all the stops for Volibear’s ultimate, and we hope you don’t find it too shocking.” If you know Riot like I do, they love to leave little hints like these at the end of each section, so I think we can infer that Voli’s ultimate will have something to do with his lightning effect and it will have some form of hard CC. My guess is some kind of AoE slam effect like Gnar ult that also procs massive shock damage.

Finally, Riot gave us a look at the animation for Volibear’s new E, though they did not explain what it does. However, it clearly looks like a channeled ability that erupts around him. Most likely, it is some kind of slow, taunt, or something that does massive damage when the channel ends.

3. They’re Focusing on the Thunder God Element

Not so much a gameplay reveal, but Riot did confirm where they want to go with Volibear’s lore and thematics. They made it clear that he is meant to be a savage beast, a God of the Storm. Words they often use are ferocious, primal, and chasing enemies down.

From the concept art that they showed and the sound effects, including voice snippets, it really seems like they nailed this for Volibear. His new model and sound design just screams savage beast more so than his current model which is just kind of big buff bear with a deep voice.

4. They Did Test CC Immunity

Riot also confirmed something that we will not be seeing when the rework is released. In describing his gamplay, Riot noted that they originally tested a kit including “perma-unstoppability and slow-conversion.” However, these elements will not be in the reworked kit.

This is probably for the best, as the one main counter to Juggernauts like Volibear is crowd control and kiting. With his kit now seeming to get more CC added, they really need to add windows where he cannot get on top of you to kill you.

5. The Free Skin Looks Dope

During the initial reveal, Riot revealed that they were originally looking at an Eldritch horror-type theme for Volibear before swapping directions to the thunder god theme we will be getting. However, players were so excited by that concept that Riot will be releasing a skin based on this theme, which will be free to anyone who owns or buys Volibear during his release patch.

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Riot gave us a glimpse at the splash art for this skin (above), which looks cool as hell, and gave us the skin name: Thousand Pierced Volibear. Not only is this a cool look, but I love the name of this skin because of those stories in which Volibear is seen as a “terrifying entity…a monster whose back is studded with the swords of lesser men.” I’m a big fan of this concept and art style of Volibear as a monstrous force, so I’ll be eager to pick up this skin when it drops!

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