It's the calm before the storm as League of Legends players got a full glimpse of Volibear's imminent rework this evening. Following several model previews and teasers in the past few months, Riot's latest livestream displayed the new and improved Volibear's abilities. Over 8 years after joining LoL, the Thunder's Roar finally becomes the savage demigod he was always envisioned as.
Volibear was originally released on November 29th, 2011 as the first new champion after Season 2 began. But over the years, Volibear's outdated kit and gameplay didn't live up to his fantasy like other newer releases would. As a result, Volibear was voted alongside Fiddlesticks in 2019 by the community to receive a rework this year. While fans were anxious to see what remains of the old Volibear, most of his original kit survived the update while adding some new tricks to the Relentless Storm.
Volibear's new passive The Relentless Storm is a combined version of his old Frenzy spell and old ultimate, Thunder Claws. Volibear gains attack speed after using abilities or auto attacking and will eventually empower further attacks with chain lightning that strike additional nearby targets.
The new Q - Thundering Smash mostly resembles the original Rolling Thunder. Volibear drops on all fours to hunt his enemies, gaining movement speed in the process. But rather than flipping the enemy with his next attack, Volibear instead brings his arms down in a brutal overhead smash that stuns the unfortunate foe, preferably an high-value target like Miss Fortune.
W's new iteration Frenzied Maul retains the bite from Frenzy, but also adds another requirement before Volibear can chow down. Using W the first time on an enemy will cause Volibear to slash, apply on-hit effects, and mark them. The next time Volibear attacks them with W, he will do his signature bite that does bonus damage and heals him too.
Volibear's Majestic Roar has been completely replaced with his new E - Sky Splitter. Volibear marks an area with a runic sigil that calls down a bolt of lightning several seconds later, dealing damage and slowing enemies caught inside. However, if Volibear is inside the AOE, he will gain a damage-absorbing shield.
Finally, Volibear's new ultimate Stormbringer causes him to leap to a targeted area and deal AOE damage to nearby enemies. Volibear also grows in size and gains temporary bonus health. Most importantly, any nearby turrets will also be temporarily disabled for a few seconds just like how the removed League of Legends item Ohmwrecker used to work.
At first glance, the new Volibear will still be played primarily as a top laner or jungler. Q remains the best option to chase down and engage enemy champions before mauling them with his chain lightning passive as well as the slash and bite from W. However, Volibear's E adds an interesting ranged harassment tool that can be used to poke, zone enemies from minions, or cut off part of an escape route during allied ganks while the shield will help survive trades, enemy ganks, and tower diving. Furthermore, Volibear's new ultimate is another way to get to important targets if he gets kited and the turret-disabling aspect all but assures Volibear will be pick or ban in the pro scene once he is available.
Since League of Legends players finally got a good look, they can expect Volibear's rework on the PBE soon before coming to the live servers later this month or in June. Remember that anyone who owns Volibear or buys him during the patch with his rework will also receive the eldritch horror-themed League of Legends skin "Thousand Pierced Volibear" for free. But until then, players can queue into ARAM right now for the chance to glimpse Volibear's massive form in-game and possibly earn an exclusive emote for the next few days.
League of Legends is available on PC.
Source: League of Legends