Volibear main here, mostly jungle but also top. Here goes.
Facts About Volibear
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His ideal combo is to wait for you to approach his minions for a last hit, then: auto - Q (into minion wave) - E - chase+auto - W as you run out of range. This combo relies largely on his minions to do a big chunk of the work while he puts you in position and slows you while it happens.
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He has very high cooldowns. W is in the ballpark of 20s if not used on a monster, Q is also around 15s. Finishing his combo leaves him just his autoattacks, so he relies on intimidation and positioning while he waits.
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His level 1 is very weak. Level 2 is okay, level 3 is the power spike. He needs all of his abilities to combo.
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His max HP is lower at early levels, meaning his passive also heals him for less. If it's popped early, it'd much less devastating.
Counter-Picks
- Good examples include: Champions that can ruin his trades (Renekton, Darius), champions that beat him naturally (Pantheon, Garen), and ranged self-peel champions (Quinn, Teemo, Ryze, Jayce). Poppy and Sion should also do just fine against him.
Note: With all the below, poke him down if you can. He has no poke. None. Squat. Zero. Just hit him. Don't die doing it though.
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: If he Q, E into your minions and lay the smackdown on him. You can even use this to wall-stun if positioned well. He can't chase your W with his Q unless he gets out of position, takes way too long otherwise. Use passive and Q to safely farm if his minion wave is big. Passive's shield should also help with the trades.
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: Great at picking good trades with him. If Voli Qs, W - auto - Q - auto - E out - E out, and you're good. At 50 fury, you can also **E in - auto - W (fury) - Q - auto - E out ** before he can react. You can escape his trades and engage yours with little retaliation. Q also goes in his minion wave, so you might even come out with extra HP out of it. Renekton also commonly takes ignite, which is good for Volibear's passive. Note that these combos require an experienced Renekton, so if you still rather new at him, you don't have to auto before W.
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: GG easy. Harass the shit out of his weak 1-2 with Q. Once he hits his 3 spike, you also hit yours, and you dump on him. Q - W - auto - E - auto - Q, standard Pantheon stuff. Your passive even blocks his Q from doing anything. Take ignite for his passive and ult to lane.
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: Bully with Q. Once he pulls you in, Q - auto - W and walk out. Once he bites and finishes his combo, E him back in and get that passive up to 5 stacks, as he can't fight back without his spells. Make him bleed. Ult also owns his passive. Ignite is also fine.
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: Volibear relies on casting and the Garen Q is nice for that. You can also bully him early and have him weak by the time he's 3. Ult works against his passive. Can run ignite.
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: You know the drill. Be a whore. Harass from afar. If he tries to Q in just use your dash+slow/blind/snare/knockback and walk out. Still be careful because he can still Q you if he gets close, even if you CC him or dash out. Jayce and Ryze should also be able to trade with him when played correctly.
Miscellaneous
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His damage is mostly magic in a game, and in every fight where his ult is involved. Keep that in mind when building defensively.
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His bite is worthless if you're not low. His Q is very weak as an escape (boosts if used towards an enemy). His passive cooldown is very long, 2 ults per passive.
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is a perfect item against him. Activates with his passive, basically preventing it from ever going off, ever. I get salty whenever I see the enemy mage get this item.
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Do NOT take
. Not worth it. Get some actual damage to fight him. Killing Volibear requires either: Baiting passive but staying in lane through a great trade; Getting a gank and outdamaging his passive; Fighting him right after he used passive, backed/died, and came back; Using an execute and/or ignite; Or countering him hard and starting the fight at his 30.1% HP and nuking him.
Warnings
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Don't focus on him too much. Farm the minions.
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Farm > poke unless kill is imminent.
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Don't dive when not 100% about the kill. Especially with his passive.
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Don't let him Q you into tower.
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Ward your lane. He's great with ganks.
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Listen to MIA pings. He's great with ganks, seriously.
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If you're like 100 HP and another teammate is finishing him off, seriously, back away. There's nothing more embarrassing than a Volibear smacking a minion with his ult and you dying to his chain lightning because you are too greedy.
#Most importantly, avoid feeding. He falls off. You scale harder.
The reason I prefer him in the jungle is because I can get myself fed, but in lane, you can just stay away from him.
That's about it. Good luck!