(Champion Rework) Volibear, Demigod of the Warring Storm
GOALS Volibear's current kit is strange. There isn't many huge issues gameplay-wise with it outside of being outdated. However, the main issue of his kit is it's so painfully generic. Nothing feels powerful with the slight exception of his VO when he uses R and his W bite if he is ahead. With Volibear's new identity as a kind of "Angry, Blood/War/Storm Demigod of the Freljord", his current kit just doesn't do his character justice. His attacks are rather lackluster overall and could have some power and WOW added into them.
List of What Is to Come:
- Volibear's current Passive needs to be replaced if he isn't going to be a moving ball of stats. It is essentially just a combat boost that scales off stats that you don't pay attention to outside of "is it on cool down or not" which is rather poor for a passive. It doesn't make play a certain way or encourage you to do anything you wouldn't be doing otherwise. So, his Passive is being replaced by a modified version of his current R (chain lightning attacks) so that we can knock two birds out with one stone: Volibear is a stat check champion and Volibear doesn't feel like a storm god unless he has his ultimate.
- We will be reworking his Q, but keeping the use the same. Volibear is becoming the definition (in a little bit of a literal sense) of a "Shock and Awe" character with this rework I got for him, so the more terror inducing his Q the better. Having a Volibear run into your team should feel like a storm god being shot out of a tank at you.
- We will also be reworking his W, but once again keeping the same general use of it. By this, I mean it will still be a single target ability that you use to rush down one enemy with a flurry of attacks (you maul them basically). You will still be using your basic attacks a ton as Volibear, or at least modified versions of basic attacks.
- We will be ditching his current E in favor of a more fun and exciting ability. I aim to have it serve the same purpose (extra stick), but have it be completely different. His current E just doesn't feel cool to use, although the fear effect can be entertaining at times if there are a ton of minions around.
- Of course, we will be ditching his current R in favor of something truly breath taking and heart racing. When Volibear decides he wants to fight, there will be no escaping his wrath. The thunder clouds will roll in and the entire Rift will know that a demigod of war is on his way to devastate the enemy. This will be an ultimate that might be familiar to a few champions, but on an entirely different scale that makes Volibear truly the leader of his team. When the lightning comes crashing down, you will realize why Ornn tells his allies to seek shelter when he senses Volibear's presence.
Without further delay, this is the spicy kit I baked up for our new god of the storm.
KIT Volibear, Demigod of the Warring Storm Main Role: Diver Secondary Role: Vanguard Health- 640 (+100 per level) Health Regen.- 9 (+0.8 per level) Mana- 270 (+40 per level) Mana Regen.- 7 (+0.75 per level) Armor- 31 (+3.75 per level) Magic Resist- 32.1 (+1.25 per level) Movement Speed- 355 Attack Damage- 57 (+3.75 per level) Attack Speed- 0.685 (+2.65% per level) Attack Range- 125 (Melee)
Passive- Wrath of the Storm Innate: Every 5th/4th/3rd basic attack, Volibear will cause his target to be struck by a powerful lightning bolt, dealing 25 (+5 per level) (+5% bonus health) additional magic damage and briefly stunning the target for 0.35 seconds. A jolt of electricity will then bounce to up to 3/4/5 nearby enemy units, dealing 10 (+2 per level) (+2% bonus health) magic damage to them and briefly slowing them by 65% for 0.35 seconds. Levels: 1/6/11 Bounce Radius: 450
Ability 1- Rolling Thunder Active- First Cast: Volibear begins to channel for up to 4 seconds. During this time, thunder will increasingly roll over ahead, warning of the approach of a powerful storm. This ability is automatically cast again after 4 seconds. Active- Second Cast: Volibear is struck by a powerful jolt of lightning that grants him from 20/22.5/25/27.5/30% to 60/67.5/75/82.5/90% increased movement speed for the next 5.5 seconds, increasing in strength the longer that Volibear channeled the ability. Volibear's next basic attack will cause him to lunge at his target and bite into them, dealing from 10/25/40/55/70 (+40/45/50/55/60% AD) to 30/75/120/165/210 (+120/130/140/150/160% AD) physical damage based on how long Volibear channeled the ability. Volibear will then fling the enemy behind him over 0.75 seconds. Cost: 35/40/45/50/55 mana Cool Down: 10/9.5/9/8.5/8 seconds Lunge Range: 350 Fling Distance: 500 (towards Volibear)
Ability 2- Blood Sacrifice Passive: Volibear's attacks that are enhanced by Wrath of the Storm will increase Volibear's Attack Speed by 30/45/60/75/90% for 3 seconds and heal Volibear for 1/1.25/1.5/1.75/2% of his missing health for every enemy damaged by Wrath of the Storm, increased to 2/2.5/3/3.5/4% of his missing health if Wrath of the Storm damages an enemy champion. Active: Volibear lunges in the target direction, dealing 40/80/120/160/200 (+100% AD) (+5% bonus health) physical damage, applying on-hit effects, and stunning the first enemy unit hit for 1 second. This ability can only be cast if Volibear's next attack would be enhanced by Wrath of the Storm. If this kills the enemy hit, the cool down of this ability is reset and Volibear's next basic attack is automatically enhanced by Wrath of the Storm. Cost: 55/60/65/70/75 mana Cool Down: 18/16.5/15/13.5/12 seconds Lunge Range: 500
Ability 3- Thunder Strike Active: After a 1.25 second delay, Volibear causes a lightning bolt to strike down on the target area, dealing 55/85/115/145/175 (+55% AP) magic damage to enemies hit, stunning them for 0.75 seconds, and then slowing their movement and attack speed by 90% for 2.25 seconds, decaying over the duration. Enemy minions and monsters hit take 100% increased damage and are stunned for 3 seconds instead. Cost: 55/60/65/70/75 mana Cool Down: 11 seconds Range: 800 AoE Radius: 275
Ultimate- Descending Maelstrom Passive: Volibear demands blood sacrifice to empower himself. On top of it's mana cost, Volibear must kill 100 enemies before he can use this ability. The counter for units killed starts when the game begins, not when Volibear first unlocks this ability. Enemies are warned once Volibear has killed 100 enemies and can use this ability with the sound of extremely intense thunder. Active: After a 6 second delay, during which a maelstrom surrounds Volibear that is visible on the minimap, Volibear temporarily ascends into full godhood, becoming a giant Storm Elemental for the next 16/18/20 seconds. During this time, Volibear gains 300/450/600 bonus health and his abilities are greatly enhanced and cause cataclysmic effects to their victims. Wrath of the Storm- Damage is increased by 20/30/40% and stun/slow duration is increased to 0.4/0.45/0.5 seconds. Rolling Thunder- Flip distance increased by 30/40/50% and now briefly stuns the target for 0.5 seconds after being flipped. Now also grants Volibear 25/35/45 Slow Resistance and Tenacity. If Volibear fully channels this ability, he will ignore unit collision and impassable terrain during the movement speed boost. Blood Sacrifice- Now damages and stuns all enemies that Volibear passes through, the damage and stun duration decreasing by 25% for each enemy unit Volibear passes through, down to a minimum of 10/15/20% damage and stun duration. Range increased by 20/25/30%. Thunder Strike- Stun duration increased to 1/1.25/1.5 seconds and the range is increased to Global. Cool Down is reduced by 30/40/50% and Mana Cost is removed. Cost: 150/175/200 mana Cool Down: 210/195/180 seconds
"None will survive!"
RECOMMENDED ITEMS
Jungle Starting Items
Essential Items
Standard Items
Situational Items
Consumables
Lane (Solo) Starting Items
Consumables
GAMEPLAY EXPLANATION
Early Game Volibear's Wrath of the Storm and powerful ganking potential makes him a prime champion to put into the Jungle and aggressively pressure lanes with. In the jungle, Volibear can quickly clear camps by relentlessly assaulting monsters with constant Wrath of the Storm procs and using Thunder Strike to make sure he stays healthy while doing so. Once Volibear is ready to gank, he has a few options on how can approach the lane. He can either take a slower approach and use Blood Sacrifice to lunge at his target and stun them before throwing them behind him with a snap casted Rolling Thunder, or he can charge up Rolling Thunder and quickly run down the enemy, fling them into his ally, and then finish them off with a Blood Sacrifice. Thunder Strike can also help to lock down fleeing enemies by either forcing them to move around the affected area or be stunned and greatly slowed by braving the storm. Once Volibear hits Level 6, he will gain access to his ultimate, but not really. If he has not farmed enough kills to use Descending Maelstorm, he will have to wait a bit before using this extremely powerful ultimate.
Middle Game Once team fights start, Volibear will want to be in the front line leading his team to victory. Using Descending Maelstrom will allow Volibear's team to start the fight with a huge advantage, but Volibear will have to come prepared. First, it is advised Volibear try and start the fight with Wrath of the Storm ready to use so that once he uses Descending Maelstorm, he can use Blood Sacrifice and Rolling Thunder to begin the fight and, if any enemies are killed by it such as an enemy minion, repeatedly maul the enemy team. Volibear can even start the fight by firing off several long range Thunder Strikes to force the enemy into disarray. Once Descending Maelstrom ends, if Volibear's team has not already won the fight, he can continue mauling enemies by executing them with Blood Sacrifice and killing each enemy champion one at a time.
Late Game By late game, team fights will be almost the only thing that happens so it isn't good to rely on the effects of Descending Maelstrom to dominate every team fight since it likely won't be available every fight. While the late game isn't much different from the middle game if Volibear can use Descending Maelstrom, a normal demigod Volibear is much weaker and will likely have to play more defensively than offensively. Using Rolling Thunder, Blood Sacrifce, and even Thunder Strike to disposition and interrupt enemy Assassins can buy your squishy DPS characters time to unload their full rotations and/or barrage of attacks on those who try to kill them. Holding down the enemy front line is also easy for Volibear if he is on the defensive by attacking rapidly with Blood Sacrifice's passive and Wrath of the Gods. In between fights, be sure to farm as much as possible so that Descending Maelstorm is ready for the next fight.
The goals here were to:
- Make Volibear less stat check (accomplished by adding decision making to his Q, aiming with his W, and timing with his E)
- Make Volibear's abilities feel much more powerful and threatening to go with his new theme and role in the lore (accomplished with his Q and R especially)
- Make him less generic (accomplished by making him a Diver who relies on rapid basic attacks to make chain lightning)
What are you Volibear main's thoughts on this rework? Does he still do what you guys want him to be doing? Be sure to let me know so I (and I guess Riot if they read this) know what you guys want from Volibear in the future when he is eventually given a new kit (and he will since they have already said he is rather lackluster, no offense).
