Volibear · Jungle

Volibear Abilities and Combos

Abilities & combosData-drivenEasyPatch 16.19.1

7.3KUpdated 23 hours ago

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This guide is assembled by the site from match data and the game's own information — nobody wrote it by hand. Official and community guides appear alongside it when they exist.

Overview

This guide goes through Volibear's kit ability by ability. The kit brings crowd control (stun) with Thundering Smash, mobility with Stormbringer and sustain with Frenzied Maul. Its ultimate is Stormbringer.

Strengths

Crowd control: Thundering Smash applies a stun to set up kills.
Mobility: Stormbringer lets you reposition, engage or escape.
Very durable: Riot rates it 7/10 in defense.

Weaknesses

Falls behind if the early ganks fail: every wasted trip is lost farm.
Predictable if you always play it the same way: adapt your build to the enemy team.

Build cheat sheet

Pick the build that fits what you want to do this game.

Standard buildBalancedRecommendedThe default path: Black Cleaver, Trinity Force and Spear of Shojin give the health, attack damage and on-hit effects this class relies on. Pick it when you have no reason to adapt. Built from Riot's item tags and the champion's class; Riot publishes no build statistics.

Builds

Standard build

BalancedRecommended

Open build

When to use it

The default path: Black Cleaver, Trinity Force and Spear of Shojin give the health, attack damage and on-hit effects this class relies on. Pick it when you have no reason to adapt. Built from Riot's item tags and the champion's class; Riot publishes no build statistics.

Where it's played

Picked before the game: the main lane first, then the alternatives.

Summoner's RiftRed side · bottom leftBlue side · top right

JungleMain54% of matches
TopPriority 246% of matches

Jungle priorities

StartRed buff

1Voidgrubs
2Gank top
3Rift Herald
4Scuttle Crab
5Dragons
6Baron Nashor
7Atakhan

Guideline, not a measurement: an early skirmisher starting red side. Take the void grubs and look for ganks while your early damage is ahead, then Herald and dragons.

Starting items

Gustwalker HatchlingHealth Potion

Core items

1Black Cleaver
2Trinity Force
3Spear of Shojin

Boots

Ionian Boots of Lucidity

Situational

Death's DanceAgainst heavy physical damage.Mercurial ScimitarAgainst heavy magic damage.Guardian AngelAgainst burst and assassins.Chempunk ChainswordCuts the enemy's healing.Lord Dominik's RegardsAgainst tanky teams.

Runes

Primary· Precision

Secondary· Resolve

Shards

Summoner spells

Flash
Smite

Abilities

The Relentless StormPassiveVolibear's Attacks and abilities grant Attack Speed, and eventually cause his Attacks to deal bonus magic damage to nearby enemies.Passive — hits an area. It works on its own: play around it.
QThundering Smash12/11.5/11/10.5/10s50 mpVolibear gains speed towards enemies, Stunning and damaging the first one he Attacks.
Cooldown
12·11.5·11·10.5·10
Cost
50
Range
300
Basic ability — applies a stun. Save it for priority targets or to interrupt a channel.
WFrenzied Maul5s20/25/30/35/40 mpVolibear damages an enemy, applying on-hit effects and marking them. Casting this ability again on the same target deals bonus damage and Heals Volibear.
Cooldown
5
Cost
20·25·30·35·40
Range
325
Basic ability — heals. Time it for the enemy's burst, not for chip damage.
ESky Splitter16s50 mpVolibear summons a lightning bolt at a location, dealing damage and Slowing enemies while granting Volibear a Shield if he's inside the blast radius.
Cooldown
16
Cost
50
Range
1200
Basic ability — slows, shields and hits an area. Time it for the enemy's burst, not for chip damage.
RStormbringerUltimate160/135/110s100 mpVolibear leaps to a target location, Slowing and damaging enemies beneath him while gaining bonus Health. Enemy towers near his landing location become temporarily disabled.
Cooldown
160·135·110
Cost
100
Range
550
Ultimate — slows and moves you. Keep it to escape unless the kill is certain.

Strategy

1The kit

The kit brings crowd control (stun) with Thundering Smash, mobility with Stormbringer and sustain with Frenzied Maul.

The Relentless Storm — Passive — hits an area. It works on its own: play around it.
[Q] Thundering Smash — Basic ability — applies a stun. Save it for priority targets or to interrupt a channel.
[W] Frenzied Maul — Basic ability — heals. Time it for the enemy's burst, not for chip damage.
[E] Sky Splitter — Basic ability — slows, shields and hits an area. Time it for the enemy's burst, not for chip damage.
[R] Stormbringer — Ultimate — slows and moves you. Keep it to escape unless the kill is certain.

2Skill order

Put a point in Stormbringer at levels 6, 11 and 16. Between the basic abilities, max first the one that does most for your lane — usually your main damage or wave clear — and keep the utility one for last.

3Combos

A simple sequence that follows from the kit: open with Thundering Smash, follow with Frenzied Maul and Sky Splitter and finish with Stormbringer. The disable first means everything after it lands.

4Using your ultimate

Stormbringer is the ability the enemy plays around. Use it where it changes the fight, and remember its cooldown: after using it, you're a smaller threat for a while.