Boards›Concepts & Creations

Udyr Needs a Rework and Here's Why

Crucillus Thorn·1/21/2017, 5:52:56 PM·13 votes·2,956 views

Now, I will preface this by acknowledging ahead of time that there are a lot of people that enjoy Udyr as he is either for his gameplay or overall design. I'm not advocating that Riot remove his identity, merely give it an upgrade and a means of having more depth.

As Udyr is right now and pretty much since his release, he is a "Press X button to add on hit effect". That is literally all he is mechanically speaking when putting passive bonuses aside. He lacks any depth beyond running up and striking you with an attack and most of his gameplay revolves around cycling through these abilities. For as bad as a rep that Riven receives for a "mash buttons to make things happy" character, Udyr is by far the worst offender. What makes this particularly bad is that the role is already filled and to a much better effect: Sona.

Udyr is said to be a "stance" based character, but that's really just being generous. Udyr is perhaps the most barebones stance based character I've seen in a MOBA to date... And I think he can be done a lot more justice; be innovated in a way that wouldn't upset fans and would make those disinterested in his playstyle more forgiving.

Let's start with his ability effects. These will not have to change. Running with the reworks Riot has been doing as of recent, the payoff of his abilities should not be changed. One ability will stun, another will cause D.O.T., one will heal him, etc. In functionality is where he needs to be upgraded. As a "Stance" character, make him MORE of a stance character. When he changes styles, make the rest of his abilities mechanics change as well.

For example, his E could normally be a short range skill shot to some degree that stuns on hit. However, if you're currently under the effects of his Q, changing to his E will instead become right click centric and will only stun after a few hits, but during that time he'll be granted attack speed for the duration. Swapping from W to E will cause him to be shrouded in an effect that will stun the next person that harms him.

These are all hypotheticals, but I think this is the general direction Udyr should be taken in. Rather than just cycling mindlessly through his abilities, the stance changes should have legitimate thought put into them before being put into practice. How you cycle through his abilities should change based on the situation. For a character that is supposedly a martial artist, he should reflect it a bit more in practice.

As for his design, his artwork really isn't that bad. Overall, he merely needs a model update and overworks to his Ability Icons and and maybe some splashart edits or updates. In terms of how his model is in its current state, why is a "martial artist" (Yeah, as a martial artist, I will pick on him for this subject) constantly remaining in a statuesque position with his arms at his sides? This makes him look silly for lack of a better word.

These are pretty much all of my main concerns and areas I'd like to see improved upon. I would bring up his lore and how convoluted it is, but League has a running history of wacky lores and I think that adds to the game somewhat.

10 Comments

Brisecou1/21/2017, 11:17:07 PM5 votes

Please don't touch him.

Most of the champions I enjoyed playing were reworked and I never really liked the new kits...

I really feel like I am the only one who had to see his beloved champions disappear and be replaced by some lame strangers.

You took my Shen, you took my Mordekaiser, you took my Darius, don't take my Udyr :'(

At least, Warwick gives me hope.

Dethflash1/21/2017, 6:13:24 PM3 votes

I really like the idea of your previous stance slightly effecting your next stance you pick, makes it almost seem like udyr has 12 difference combos instead of 2 or 3 ( like currently). I think really the only thing that would have to completely change to accomplish this would be his passive, instead of getting extra attack and movement speed from switching stances, getting an extra effect on the stance you switch to, based on what stance you had previously, its a awesome idea of making udyr feel like there is more depth to his gameplay.

6Sfool1/21/2017, 7:32:25 PM2 votes

I'd like to see anything that makes him play less like a coward. He runs in with 800 ms, stuns you, mauls you, and if somehow you manage to outduel him, he just runs away with 800 ms. And if you set him back too far, he just turns himself into a better splitpusher than tryndamere. When Udyr shows up, there should be more of a "shit just got real" vibe than his current look to snag an easy kill. If they turn him into a champ focused on jumping in and staying in, I would like it.

Golden Tager X1/22/2017, 6:13:18 AM1 votes

Sometimes simple mechanics are an absolute necessity, look at wraith king in dota, literally you only need to press q on this guy, yet he is still fine as a character and doesn't seem wrong. And that is in a game with characters like Meepo where you are literally controlling 5 different characters at once abilities and all.

Udyr just needs a VU that doesn't cost 30 dollars.

QMighty1/24/2017, 3:06:09 AM1 votes

If they do rework him, I hope all they'll change is his passsive, since it's not that interesting. I personally can't stand him, but there's a lot of people that love him. Also, he really badly needs a VU.

pappasun3/25/2017, 5:49:25 PM1 votes

Udyr needs a rework imo: The meta is moving to an high mobility/wall jumping roaster where running a bit faster is not gonna be good enough. These days even an ADC can outrun Udyr. He got no ranged abilities, no wall jumps, no ult, the base dmg got several nerfs during the 'Feral flare' times, and trinity force (core item) is way to much expensive for him to be effective early game. Also the scale into late game is not quite enough... i hope riot do something about this soon, every time they create new/reworked champion is getting Udyr in a worst situation...

Shynana1/21/2017, 5:58:27 PM1 votes

hes never going gwt once since hes one of those unique kits like singed

Kenoru4/9/2017, 4:13:25 AM1 votes

Personally i think he needs a rework maybe if people dont stand changing him he could get a little more depht idk maybe getting 30 tenacity with your active on bear stance so you feel you need more mechanics with udyr like reacting with bear stance. because if you think about it the only juggernauts that work in the jg and gank decently are diver/juggernauts: olaf, shybanna, reksai, skraner, but at least they have a game changing something in their kit udyr is might as well a darius with aa buffs. at least a slight jump like illaoi could make a difference. people say that he is fine but fine is not enough in this meta maybe if they can fit more utility his stances made a little bit complicated as jihns passive or something that makes great use of his stances maybe an empower ability like rengar. but we need to start talking to riot because if we dont we are going to get something we dont like at all.

DoktorKaiser1/21/2017, 11:30:51 PM1 votes

How is this upvoted ??? He is very unique and has unique playstyle, can be built in millions of different ways and can carry the game himself and takes a lot of time to master and understand, coming from someone who spent an entire month trying to get into this champion and failed miserably. Fact that people think that he is on par with Master Yi or Garen just because he has no fancy mechanics or skillshots doesnt mean he fucking is. Better spend the time reworking manaless high mobility, % hp true damage cancers that flood the game constantly thanks to RIOT refusing to return to their roots in champ design , but rather trying to pump new Yasuos for $$$... [slayer-jinx-unamused]

3BallWarsaw1/22/2017, 1:32:10 AM1 votes

Look a champion with multiple build paths, no free dashes, no true damage, doesn't have thousands of gold with free built in stats.

REWORK HIM!!!!!!!!!

STOP IT!