Concept - Udyr Rework
The idea behind Udyr was the he is more than a man; he is a vessel for the untamed power of four primal animal spirits. When tapping into the spirits' bestial natures, Udyr can harness their unique strengths. His kit does not really lend to feeling like you are using the strength of any animal. You're just spamming skills and running around. Udyr has also shown to be extremely hard to balance.
First we have to think of what core concepts make Udyr, well Udyr.
- Of course he is know for running down another Champion, the idea bear forum is staple of this champ.
- Lore wise he has the power of animals, but the animals selected play in no way to any lore connected in the world.
- Udyr actually has a lot of "in and out" play when playing in late game. This feels extremely satisfying when it works, and makes the character feel almost unusable when it doesn't.
When these ideas in mind the first thing I thought about is the animals he could represent. This lead me to thinking of the areas in the game. Instead of picking one why not embrace his already Hermit-ish look and make him a traveler. Who travels around the world and learns from animals in the area. After reading up on each area I ended up thinking of Kumungu, Shurima, Mount Targon, and Freljord. I will explain the reasoning for each area as I explain the areas for each ability.
Q - Basalik's Bite
The first area is the Kumungu jungle. One noted creature in League lore here is the Basilisk. So for a core ability that was more than just clicking Q and getting attack speed I wanted to think of a skill that helped with running down champions and worked well with the other abilities I had in mind later. I didn't want to just give him a dash, but Udyr desperately needs a gap closer, so I thought why not a dash that also works as a pull. So it cant be used from mobility when running away, only offensively and allow for counter play potential from the opponent.
Skill Description: Udyr Jumps forward a short distance hitting in a small square shaped hit box, the furthest corners will have additional circle icons. After landing Udyr will pull back to his original location taking along any enemies hit by the Q. Enemies in the circle portions of the hit box take additional poison damage over time. Think "a bite, and fangs".
W - Serpent Strike
The second area is Shurima. Originally I thought of Rek'sai's race, and they are pretty creature. I ended up going against it and using the snake influence of the area. I wanted this ability to really help with Udyr's "in and out gameplay" that I thought many people who play him really enjoy.
**Skill Description: **Udyr dashes sideways in a crescent shape quickly and returns to to a similar path he was already headed. Distance traveled forward should not gain any more distance than normally running. This ability while a dash, should not really add mobility to the champion, the movement of the skill should be designed a dodge mechanic, and give no forward movement. Each dash always alternates in the side he dashes (starting the game with a left Dash). The ability icon will glow on the side that your next dash will take. Enemies hit by this skill will take damage. During this sidestep Udyr gains a small shield. This side-step will also come in useful with the idea I have for his new R.
E - Yeti Winds
This skill is representative of the area Freljord. The idea behind Bear is a great concept, but just having a turbo button that makes you run into people and stun them can be tricky to balance and offers little utility to the rest of the team once the stun is used.
Skill Description: Udyr Chills the air around him in a small radius. Enemies in this radius are slowed. If an enemy remains in this area for an extended period they will become frozen and be stunned. Udyr's new Q can help keep people inside this radius, while allowing for a bit of counter play from the opponent. This could also lead to stun engages later in team phase increasing his teamfight presence to more than just pushing side lanes and running away.. If a stun is too strong for this ability it can always be converted into a snare.
R - Phoenix Fires
Last area is mount Targon. With the area's lore I don't think the idea of Phoenixes is far out of the question. However the current ability lacks any "umph". Since the bear stance I thought of now slows and doesn't add movespeed Udyr will need a way to stick onto people.
**Skill Description: ** For the next 5 seconds Udyr's basic attacks will burn the target, stacking up to three times. Each third hit releases a Phoenix feather on the opposite side of the target. Udyr can pick up this feathers to gain a short burst of move speed. This means the movespeed bonus will be mostly offensive as the placement of the feathers will not allow for Udyr to reliably use them as an escape outlet. But they will still help him stay on his target. if your target is not moving a lot you can also use properly timed W's to pick these feathers up.
Passive - Animalistic Stance
**Skill Description: ** Udyr embodies the animal of the ability last used gaining a small buff depending on the stance. Basilisk - Udyr's skin hardens gaining Armor and MR scaling with level. Cobra - Honestly I cant think of a great one for this one. You could give lifesteal to keep it similar to his current turtle stance? If its not OP you could reduce the damage that Damage over time effects have on Uydr by a %, due to becoming use to venom or something. I am actually at a lose for this one. Yeti - Udyr's body has become use to the cold. Slows will be less effective against Udyr when in Yeti stance. Phoenix - Moving builds up energy. After enough energy is stored Udyr's next attack will deal additional fire damage, and consume all burn stacks on the target doing bonus damage for each stack consumed.
I know that the ideas are not perfect by a long shot and would require a whole visual change to the champions forms. This was written for fun as I had fun thinking of what I would do I could rework Udyr. I hope you enjoyed.
