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Volibear Update Suggestions (Version 2, updated based on feedback)

OyddAWqJ5r·10/29/2017, 11:57:49 PM·10 votes·1,328 views

Updated after all the feedback I received from the last post. Hope this one does a better job. Main changes from the last post are E is now a line attack instead of a PBAoE (and no more silence) and Q now has a recast effect to boost his movement speed and gain CC immunity for 0.5 seconds for a quick CC parry.

Overall goal is to add more interaction for both Volibear and his opponents. Q has less MS but has an activate-able short speed boost. Heal is now a conditional active rather than a passive and E is dodge-able but more impactful.

I fully intend for him to be the premier rush-down Juggernaut (Off-tank Fighter) with the trade-off being conditional survivability, which why his passive is moved to his execute.

On a side note these changes are also aimed towards making Volibear a viable top laner as well.

Note: All damage numbers, cooldowns, mana costs, movement speed buffs, etc. are all mostly unchanged from current Volibear. I wasn't going so far in depth as to calculate those rather they are just placeholder numbers. Only completely new effects have new numbers on them. Here's the wiki link if you wanna compare.

#Passive - Frenzy (Old W passive, tenacity added)

Innate: Volibear's basic attacks grant 3-20% attack speed and tenacity for 4 seconds, stacking up to 3 times.

(Level)% + 5% = current passive value. Let's him stick once he's actually in. Still has to find his way in but there are plenty of itemization options + Flash to that end. Tenacity compensates for his damage drop off as the game goes on. As he gets comparatively weaker, he gets stickier.

#Q - Rolling Thunder (Now recasting Q will grant a 0.5s movement speed increase and CC immunity. Persistent movement speed bonus reduced from 15-25/30-50 => 10-20/20-40. Fling duration massively cut down but adds a 1 second stun instead)

ACTIVE: Volibear gains 10%/12.5%/15%/17.5%/20% bonus movement speed for the next 4 seconds, doubled when moving towards a nearby visible enemy champion within 1800 units of him.

RECAST: Volibear gains CC immunity and doubles the total bonus movement speed for 0.5 seconds.

For the duration, Volibear's next basic attack deals 30/60/90/120/150 bonus physical damage and slams his target over and behind himself, stunning it for 1 second.

Rolling Thunder resets Volibear's autoattack timer.

More savage, fits the lore better. Q can now be used to dodge CC briefly and dive the backline. Doesn't change much from fling vs stun since a quick slam with a 1 second stun is almost the same as his current fling's airborne time.

This gives him alot more skill expression to dodge CC if used at the right time.

#W - Combination of W bite and Passive, no name still.

ACTIVE (requires 3 Frenzy stacks): Bites target unit, dealing 60/110/160/210/260 (+15% bonus health) physical damage, increased by 1% for every 1% of the target's missing health. If this ability kills a unit or damages a champion, he heals 30/55/80/105/130 (+15% of his missing health) over 6 seconds (20% immediately, 80% over 6 seconds).

If he kills a champion with this ability, the healing amount is increased to 75/140/205/270/335 (+40% missing health).

Cooldown is halved if it is used on a non-champion.

The cooldown halving effect was always there, I just added it affecting minions as well for laning since he won't have access to his old passive.

#E - Tempest Roar (AoE => Line attack. Charge-able to increase range. Name changed as well cuz "Majestic" doesn't really suit new Volibear Lore)

FIRST CAST: Volibear charges a deafening roar for up to 1.5 seconds, increasing its range as it charges (max charge at 1 second).

SECOND CAST: Volibear unleashes his roar, dealing 60/105/150/195/240 (+60% AP) in a wide line and slowing enemies hit by 15%/17.5%/20%/22.5%/25% for 3 second. Non-epic monsters and minions hit by this ability are feared for 3 seconds.

If the ability was fully charged, the slow is increased to 30%/35%/40%/45%/50%.

Damage unchanged, charging does not increase damage. He can perform any action while it's charging. Full charge range is 1000 units. Snap cast is 500 (current E is 425 for reference). Width is similar to Aurelion's Ult. E now has a short cast time where he stands still and roars (talking like, 0.25 seconds)

#R - Thunder Claws (Unchanged. W now procs it and amplifies it when it does)

Unchanged. W also procs Thunder Claws and benefits from W's missing health amplifier.

Overall, I think this adds much needed skill expression in his kit while also offering him more options and his opponents more things to play around rather than fight a statcheck.

One more thing to add. Volibear needs a VU. Not a full VU but rather something more akin to Sejauni gaining a new base skin to match his new lore. In his new lore, he is a savage merciless bear as opposed to the old lore where he is still savage but on the "good guy" side. (Maybe keep the current model as a legacy skin for those who owned him)

Suggestions: Scruffier fur, maybe some gray. Scars. And more armor. Current voice and animations outside his Q still fit.

22 Comments

Oreoox10/30/2017, 1:29:11 AM2 votes

Mained Voli (350k+ mastery) before the W and jungle changes drove his winrate to the gutter.

I've thought about how I'd liked him reworked a few times and the best I've come up with is something along the lines of:

Passive - Every 3rd auto Volibear chains magic damage to up to 8 nearby enemies (based on attack damage or health) and marks every target hit. (Some AoE clear for jungle, interaction with E).

Q - % Movement speed for 4 seconds, recast to charge in a straight line and flip. (questionable if this should be able to dash over walls)

**W **- Same as we have now, too iconic a Voli ability to mess with tbh.

E - Volibear deals magic damage to all nearby enemies and slows them for 3 seconds. Marked targets are also stunned for 1-1.5 seconds (Based on rank of skill).

R - Here's where it gets tricky, the autoheal from our current passive is just to boring (plus non interactive). Depending how much budget we had left i'd turn this into some sort or jax/renek type steroid. It could boost armour, attack damage, MR, health or tenacity, do lightning AoE or even give a short olaf type immunity (though i'd prefer a "can't be slowed" over an "immune to everything"). No point posting numbers without knowing how much budget the other abilities would take up. Hell even the current heal passive that you self activated would be ok.

The interaction between the passive and E give him some gameplay potential lategame (where he's severely lacking right now). Hitting a tank to chain damage and marks to the backline for a flash E in team fights etc. You already have flip to outplay certain dashes too.

Only real downside to any of it is the passive proccing to champs under turrets and drawing aggro but I'd accept that.

And A Real Hiero10/30/2017, 1:46:36 AM2 votes

Voted like. Though I don't like the silence on his roar, Voli is all about that fight me like a mongolian and wouldn't want to have his opponents not able to act. How about it buffs his allies instead?

PopcornBunni10/30/2017, 2:05:18 AM1 votes

I don't have much experience on the character, but he doesn't feel particularly scary for being a lightning-wielding super intelligent wargod bear thing

My thoughts

Stats Armor up and AD down at early levels to make for safer clears. AD growth up to make better use of Sterek's Gage and Sheen items

Base attack 59.5 +3.3 per level (116 at level 18) -> 52.6 + 4 per level (120.6 at level 18) (Base attack break even point: level 6: 72.6 base AD)

Base Armor: 26.38 + 3.5 per level (81.4 at level 18) -> 30 + 1.84 per level (61.28 at lvel 18) (Base armor break even point: level 5: ~37 armor)

(Based on live version. Basing on the PBE, he'd have an additional 8 base AD from this and an additional 9 base Armor)

Chosen of the Storm (Passive) More reliable proc timing and more survival as a "second wind" ability NEW!: When procced, Volibear gains 20 (+10%) Bonus Armor and Magic Resist, decaying over the duration Health threshold to proc: 30% -> 40%, matching other low-health passives, such as Poppy's W

Rolling Thunder (Q) Passively gains speed, can auto attack normally while active is in effect Cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8 s -> 18/16.5/15/13.5/11 s NEW! Passive effect: while moving toward visible enemy champions within a range, gain increasingly more movement speed. At maximum speed, gain 25% tenacity and slow resist NEW! Active: Target a single enemy champion, large monster, or epic monster to gain Rolling Thunder's maximum movement speed for 4 seconds, and throw that unit behind Volibear when close enough, dealing physical damage and applying on-hit effects. Lose Rolling Thunder's passive while on cooldown Maximum bonus movement speed: +15/17.5/20/22.5/25% -> +60/90/120/150/180 flat Continual movement speed ramp-up time: 5 seconds (+12/18/24/30/36 MS per second)

Frenzy (W) More potential attack speed and more uses in each fight, slower attack speed ramp up Cooldown: 18s -> 12s Attacks needed to enable W: 3 -> 5 % Attack Speed gained per stack: 4/8/12/16/20 -> 4/6/8/10/12 (Maximum % attack speed gained: 12/24/36/48/60 -> 20/30/40/50/60 Stack duration: 4s -> 3s NEW!: Heals Volibear for 50% of the pre-mitigation damage dealt by its active

Majestic Roar (E) Mechanical rework into an aimed cone effect, making it better for chasing opponents down Cooldown 12s -> 16s Mana cost: 60/65/70/75/80 -> 50 at all ranks Cast type: instant -> aimed Cast range: Cicular with /r/ 425 -> Cicular segment (cone) with /r/ 640 and /a/ 67.5 NEW effect: Affected units also have reduced attack speed equal to 50% of the reduced movement speed

Thunder Claws (R) Cooldown up early to open up power budget elsewhere in his kit, with a little bonus added while in effect Cooldown: 100/90/80 s -> 120/100/80 s NEW!: While active, gain +50 attack range

Kaeblen10/30/2017, 2:11:56 AM1 votes

I'm still not sure why people think this guy needs a rework. His kit is very simple, but it still seems effective in MANY cases.

Honestly, the only thing I see in his kit that does not make 100% perfect sense is the the desire for attack speed on a tank. His W gives attack speed as part of its ramp up before he can bite (I really like that he has to ramp up before that bite), and his R deals more damage if you can attack often. There's really no item for attack speed that is "good" on Voli that I know of. Really, these don't register as a big problem to me, just unusual. I can't think of another legitimate complaint against him other than being highly consistent.

Perhaps someone can enlighten me. Why exactly is voli such a high candidate for being reworked?

Chumpzi11a10/30/2017, 1:13:13 PM1 votes

The thing I don't get about Voli and his kit is the ult. Yeah, lore and story stuff, but it sucks for the kit theme. How about dump the lightning thing and go with R: Bear Hug essentially old WW ult, except melee range (also executes Tibbers).

doubleguac10/30/2017, 1:48:00 PM1 votes

I do think Voli needs more tools for sticking and closing the gap, but tenacity, plus CC immunity, plus a ranged slow might be overkill. I think picking one or two of those would be fine. Volibear is a juggernaut: being kitable is an intentional weakness.

If I were going to change one thing about Voli, I would give him some % health or true damage. If you look at any of the other juggernauts, they each have some tool that makes them threatening to other front liners (with the understanding that they wont be able to target the backline reliably). Volibear needs to be able to have an impact when he can't reach a squishy, because he SHOULDN'T always be able to reach a squishy.

Maybe give a small %health value to the primary target of his ultimate. Adjust the flat value as needed.

LordGeovanni10/31/2017, 1:37:41 AM1 votes

Meh ive had enough of gated melees gated more though having to charge up spells or having long delays on spell activation while marksmen which if you want to talk about game play fantasy is more long range set up for the perfect shot in a squishy basicly ranged assassin get all the quick actiavation spells with shit ton more damage layers and cancels out the animation without lowering the damage . while fighters game play fantasy is supposed to be quick strong and reactive and a slugfest versus any other fighter or when withering down a tank get stuck with the lock out channels and long delays and cant jump walls but a sniper who cant hold her gun steady when shooting more powerful rounds can blow her self clear over a small hill backwards without killing her self instead of having to set up and lay down to shoot her more powerful shot and get back up to resume regular attacking.

Bjørnetjenesten11/3/2017, 12:58:05 AM1 votes

Dunno if you have noticed but riot tends to design newer champs to be either jungle or top, not viable in both. Champs like illaoi, camille, ornn, kled and gnar cant really jungle, while reksai, zac and sejuani have a hard time laning top. So i think you should choose 1 role and design a kit that specializes in that particular role. If you dont, he will probably be "viable" in both roles but also kinda "meh" in both roles.

If you want him in toplane as a lane dominant juggernaut i think you need to add some % max health damage to w or r, so he can be viable vs other tanks or juggernauts, without sacrificing tankiness for damage. Maybe some kind of reset mechanic on w, so he can be played more agressive and "in your face". This would mean you have to cut out some of his cc but make him more about sustaining in lane and being the unkillable grizzly that make people shit their pants.

If you want him more in jungle you, probably need to add more cc or reliability for his ganking, so he can compete with todays meta junglers (Cho, sej, j4, mao). Maybe some specialized/unique mechanics around the junglepaths or jungle clears. (Your new q here fits well, but he needs more tools to close the gap or lock the target).

Also according to Ornns bio, he is described as a thunder demigod, so his entire kit should be about him controlling thunder and lightning strikes. Would be awesome if they could make a modern juggernaut, that built around tanky AP items instead of AD items (Cleaver, steraks, titanic..), but that would ofc require new ap items that cant be abused by meta mages... sigh.

530k voli main, so i have played him for a while, really sad about his current state and how every other jungler/top laner is more viable.. hope they rework him soon.