Udyt Gameplay A --> Z

Ability Explanation!

At the same equal rank, all abilities cost the same amount of mana and have the same base cooldown. Keeping this in mind, knowing what stances to use at what times, and managing your mana AND stance cooldowns are all key to playing Udyr effectively. Learning how to switch stances is also important. Of course knowing what your passive and abilities do helps learn as well, soo that's what's below :)

Monkey's Agility

Passive: Udyr can level any ability at any time, and they all have active and persistent effects. Using an ability prevents him from using another for 2 seconds. Udyr gains movement speed and bonus attack speed for 5 seconds every time he uses an ability, stacking up to 3 times.

Tiger Stance

Active: Grants Udyr bonus attack speed for 5 seconds, refreshes your dot count to 3. Persistent: Udyr’s first and every third basic attack after that while in Tiger Stance are Tiger Strikes, applying the stance’s damage over time effect as physical damage (30/60/90/120/150 over 2 seconds). Successive Tiger Strikes against the same target will instantly deal all remaining damage of the previous instance in addition to applying a new one.

Turtle Stance

Active: Grants Udyr a shield for 5 seconds, amount scales off of his ability power. Persistent: Udyr’s first and every third basic attack while in Turtle Stance heal him for 2.5% of his maximum health, increasing to up to 5% based on Udyr’s missing health

Bear Stance

Active: The most broken ability he has, in a nutshell. Gives him a burst of movespeed, and during so he ignores unit collision. Persistent: Auto attacking a target stuns them for one second, however the same target can only be stunned each every 5 seconds.

Phoenix Stance

Active: Activating Phoenix Stance releases flames around him which damages enemies around him over 5 seconds. Persistent: Every third basic attack sends out a cone of flame in front of Udyr. Activating this automatically enables this "cone" to be available again; basically an empowered auto attack. Scales off of ability power.

Keep in mind that you are only able to achieve 18 levels in a game, and each ability requires 5 levels to max. That is why most Udyr players choose to max either Phoenix Stance or Tiger Stance first, then they decide to fully max Turtle Stance and Bear Stance last. Throwing a few leftover points into either Q or R is the most optimal option, when you decide what stance/ability you are going to max first.

Guide Top Stances: Choosing, Using and Maxing Them!

Make the Decision: Maxing or !~

Both Tiger Stance and Phoenix Stance are amazing options, neither is "better" than the other, there are just better choices for different situations. However when choosing to max either Q or R, there is a different playstyle you need to adapt to when choosing. Tiger stance is the best way to pressure an early lead similar to what Lee Sin and Vi provide while ganking/snowballing, so building the Warrior jungle enchantment is very effective when going tiger stance. Runic Echoes is a nice choice as well for Phoenix Stance when you know what you're doing. Cinderhulk is a fine option for both; allows you to become very tanky for your team and is the best option to choose when behind. Just keep in mind that Tiger Stance scales off of Attack Damage, and Phoenix Stance scales off of Ability Power.

Maxing and + When To get Q!~

Maxing Turtle Stance second is the most optimal in situations when you face a lot of damage, this allows you to tank more and have options to peel for your team. Maxing Bear Stance second is great when you play a lot of games on Udyr: this is due to the fact that you learn how much damage you can soak up at different points in the game and when to abuse your power spikes. Throwing your few leftover points (levels 14, 16 or 18) into either Q or R is the most optimal option, after you decide what stance/ability you are going to max first. When playing Phoenix Stance, throwing an early point into Tiger Stance for the attack speed and extra physical damage can be worth it to delay maxing Turtle Stance or Bear Stance completely, but that is something you will definitely get a feel for and learn over time. Learning how to efficiently switch stances takes practice, but doesn't take forever! It also depends a lot on your Udyr playstyle and the champions you face:

For example with Tiger Stance I prioritize Bear Stance as of now because of the huge burst of movement speed to catch up to targets and dip out of sticky situations, however while doing this I would lose out on the extra sustain. Be sure to check out the videos I posted in the Introduction section of this guide, it will help you out a ton with decision making, maxing orders as well as more Udyr mechanics & content on the way :D Alrighty, now it's time to get more in-depth into the playstyles, item builds and jungle items!

Guide Top Pros / Cons

Pros:

• Really fun champion overall
• Strong in every phase of the game; early, mid and late; doesn't fall off depending on your build.
• Great objective control
• AMAZING Build Paths. Check the notes in this guide to check out great itemization options & explanation!
• Insane clear speed, which makes jungling/counter jungling a breeze
• Great dueling potential especially with Tiger Stance
• Amazing waveclear with Phoenix Stance
• Fast as hell, Bear Stance offers him a lot of movement speed and a good stun
• Great scaling shield with Turtle Stance, allows him to be a tanky DPS champion
• Has VERY high sustain, probably one of the best in terms of junglers in the game; can clear camps easily and stay very healthy in the jungle in most cases
• Not hard to pick up and play, takes time to master completely

Cons:

• Keeping your mana pool up can be difficult, especially when new to Udyr
• Getting early ganks off can prove to be difficult versus champions who have reliable escapes
• Udyr has no dedicated escape or dash; so he can get kited VERY easily
• A good jungler can abuse his "weak" early game (not the strongest compared to other junglers) when starting Phoenix, when he gets outpressured early on by champions like Lee Sin or Elise, it can be a bit difficult for him depending on the players' knowledge
• As I said before he can get kited easily, so champions with multiple dashes and escapes are a bit tougher to gank and catch up to, usually I avoid putting myself in these situations when ganking lanes.

Guide Top Item Builds / Jungle Enchantments

Be sure to read the notes at the top of the guide, I explain how to build Udyr and itemize efficiently.

When your team is behind and you are ahead, having your jungle item and building tanky stats or even a CinderHulk will ensure that you can get through the early game, and the fed *** enemy team will not be able to 100-0 you at crucial times (dragon fights, counter ganks, while sieging for towers, etc). When you aim to snowball your lead, building damage early on is a good choice. That's why Tiger Stance is a very good way of doing that; having a Warrior & Trinity Force is a LOT of damage early on. When maxing Phoenix Stance, prioritizing a Runic Echoes is not necessarily a must (I rush Aether Wisp), just be sure not to get it completed too late. Getting early Towers, Dragons and Rift Skuttlers are very important.

Here is an example of good itemization, this build literally made the enemy team FF every game! A subscriber of mine also asked me a few questions and I decided to cover it all in this video~

Guide Top What Smite Do You Choose?

There are three different smite choices that you should consider taking when playing Udyr. Tracker's Knife is never a bad option for either Tiger Stance or Phoenix Stance, offers a few extra Stealth Wards to get some early vision. Once you are comfortable and experienced farming the jungle with Udyr, Stalker's Blade is also a very good option for either stance as well, offers a very good slow for ganking and helps gap close; which is very good when playing this champion. Skirmisher's Sabre is best when maxing Tiger Stance; use this smite and add it with your DOT to increase your damage dealt to enemy champions tremendously. At the end of the day, making this choice is up to what stance you decide to max and your personal preference!

Guide Top My Preferred Jungle Routes

Udyr can start at any camp and be successful. I have quite a few personal favorite routes that I take:

1. Full Clear:

I start Blue, and then clear the entire blue side of the jungle; Gromp and Wolves, then I begin to clear my bot side jungle. Udyr is one of the few junglers who can do this with ease so that's why I just rush my levels. Depending on the difficulty of the matchup, you can clear the entire jungle with proper vision, just be aware to gank overextending lane opponents.

2. Committing to Early Ganking Pressure (very efficient with Tiger Stance):

I also like starting Blue, Gromp, and then Red. It allows me to gank even earlier and easily results in me being full HP after my clear. Feels great when going Tiger Stance to snowball yourself early and provide early ganks for your team. Also gives you a bit of skirmishing potential. Deciding to gank lane opponents that are overextending early or do not have reliable escapes (flash, dashes, other BS) are good ways of snowballing games with Udyr, and are not very difficult ganks to pull of with him.

It's a good idea to switch up where you start depending on where you want to gank. Keeping your red buff for a longer period of time early on is great for ganking and counterganking, as well as dueling and skirmishing. That's why you see me start blue buff a lot, it provides a lot of true damage and the slow is really nice :) Do what works for you and what you're comfortable with, I personally think this is the best way to clear with Udyr early on.

Guide Top Teamfighting and Splitpushing

For the most part, Udyr can do both very well. Aim to splitpush to pressure the map and gain dominance over specific objectives, never put yourself in a position that you're gaining nothing and losing an objective (trust me your team will do it for you), such as splitting for no reason and giving up a baron or a free, crucial tower. A lot is situational while playing Udyr; you also need to learn to adapt to different playstyles while being in said situations. Teamfighting is optimal when fighting over objectives, vision, map and buff control with the proper build. Practice makes perfect, Ranked is one of your best teachers. When you learn to get ahead and snowball early advantages and create leads, you will begin to win games with ease! If you ever struggle (or your team) buying a ZZ'Rot can be very beneficial; here's why:

Guide Top Summary

In conclusion, Udyr is and always will be a very viable pick in the meta. He can provide a lot of pressure due to his great wave clear. Also can turn out to be a very durable tank for your team with an optimal build and combined with Turtle Stance, he can turn out to be a very powerful front line. Scales well with an insane movement speed steroid from Bear Stance, as well as great damage sources from both Phoenix Stance and Tiger Stance.

If I helped you out with the guide & videos, consider Subscribing to my YouTube Channel to stay updated with new videos if you want to see more of my gameplay and content! Some more helpful content is also posted below. Have fun destroying your opponents on the Rift! :D