The storm has arrived on Summoner’s Rift, League of Legends fans. Riot Games’ newest visual and gameplay update for Udyr is finally hitting the live servers, and he’s gearing up to take over the jungle with the power of the demigods.
Since his League debut in 2009, Udyr has been one of the simplest champions to learn due to his straightforward kit. But in an age with releases like Aphelios and Bel’Veth rampaging around with complicated kits, fans began to mock the champion and his outdated design.
With a fresh take on his classic four-stance ability set, Runeterra’s favorite Spirit Walker now has a revamped collection of skills that should help him keep up with today’s recent champion releases.
For those who fear that Udyr has lost his original style, no need to worry. He still has that “chase down” style of play, where he bulldozes through his enemies with his head down to reach the backline. But as an AP bruiser-type champion, he should find some unique builds to help him establish his place in the meta.
Here is the best build for reworked Udyr in League season 12.
Runes
Precision
Conqueror: A lot of Udyr’s power comes from constantly switching forms and weaving his two enhanced auto attacks against enemies, which means that he’ll be able to stack Conqueror quite quickly between the various basic attacks he’ll dish out on top of the area-of-effect damage from his Wingborne Storm stance.
Triumph: As Udyr jumps into a teamfight, he’ll need as much survivability as he can muster while throwing himself into the fray. His Iron Mantle stance gives him a good amount of tankiness and healing, but Triumph still remains one of the best ways to stay strong while taking out any members of the enemy team.
Legend: Tenacity: If Udyr gets bogged down by crowd control, his effectiveness is cut down dramatically, whether he’s trying to find a good flank angle in a teamfight or bulldozing his way through to the backline with his Blazing Stampede stance. The extra tenacity should be a welcome sight for any top laner or jungler, especially against CC-heavy compositions.
Last Stand: Since players will be frontlining for their team and soaking a ton of damage, Last Stand is a great choice for Udyr so that he can maximize his own damage output when his health starts to dwindle.
Sorcery
Celerity: Because he still doesn’t have a gap closing ability like a dash or jump, Udyr needs a way to get the upper hand on his unsuspecting enemies when he goes for ganks. As a result, Celerity is a great rune to combo with the bonus movement speed acquired from Udyr’s Blazing Stampede ability, making him incredibly hard to react to once he’s started running at you with his head down.
Waterwalking: This rune is another great tool to improve his ganking potential since a majority of Udyr’s ganks will come from the river. With the bonus move speed, laners should have a pretty hard time reacting to his attacks, unless they’ve warded really well around the jungle and river areas.
Bonuses: +10 percent attack speed, +9 adaptive force, +6 armor
Items
Starting items: Hailblade, refillable potion
Hailblade is a great option for Udyr since it gives him a way to close the gap between any champion that doesn’t have a reliable dash or jump. Once he is able to upgrade his regular Smite to Chilling Smite, he can run right at an enemy champion and slow them significantly before crushing them with a plethora of different abilities.
Core items: Sunfire Cape, Demonic Embrace, Mercury’s Treads
The item combo that works really well is the double burn damage from Sunfire Cape and Demonic Embrace. By maxing out his Wingborne Storm ability first, Udyr will be dealing a ton of damage over time in a teamfight with his blizzard constantly activating around him and his enemies. The damage from his Awakened Wingborne Storm can chunk down many champions, while the Sunfire and Mercury’s Treads give him a good amount of tank stats to stay alive.
Final items: Dead Man’s Plate, Force of Nature, Spirit Visage, Thornmail
Dead Man’s Plate and Force of Nature can help Udyr by giving him a ton of extra movement speed to traverse Summoner’s Rift in search of a quick gank or pick in the later stages of a game. The former will help him chase down enemies, while the latter will help him power through the toughest of frontline CC to deliver a massive beatdown on the squishier backline.
Spirit Visage, on the other hand, will work in tandem with his Iron Mantle to boost both his self-healing and shielding so he can take a hit while dishing out one in return. Thornmail is a good option against heavy auto-attacking champions who can kite you out from afar.
