Ever since Fiddlesticks and Volibear won the community vote for a full-fledged champion rework, the team at Riot Games has been working non-stop to deliver the promised updates to life. Just a few months ago, we received the Fiddlesticks rework which garnered a lot of praise.

Days ago, Riot finally revealed the long-awaited Volibear rework through a livestream that featured the visual changes, updated lore, new splash arts, and reworked abilities that came fresh with this brand new ferocious bear. There’s even a returning mechanic from a recently discarded item. Could you guess what it is?

Find out as we run through the essentials of the Volibear rework, along with my speculations on his power level upon release.

Volibear, the Relentless Storm

Lore excerpt from the official Volibear champion page:

“The thunderous demigod known as the Thousand-Pierced Bear is the battle-spirit of the Freljord. Thousands of years of constant and bitter wars, fought in the coldest winters, have hardened Volibear into a truly indomitable force, hurling bolts of lightning from the highest peaks—and when snowy tempests rage down, it can only mean that he is on the attack once more. Any who dare to face him may find themselves joining his fierce army of Ursine warriors… assuming they do not fall victim to his savage claws.”

If a godly ursine that is ready to charge at full speed at those who dare test his might in battle is not giving you the chills, I don’t know what will. Lore-wise, they were able to deliver on the vision of a Freljordian entity that embodies the harsh winds of the region.

His new abilities have been reworked to meet that standard while paying homage to his original skill set. Here are his new abilities and descriptions:

Passive – The Relentless Storm
Volibear’s attacks and abilities grant attack speed, and eventually his cause his basic attacks to deal bonus magic to nearby enemies.

This is a mashup between the old ultimate’s on-hit effect, paired with his old W passive. This intuitively works with the kit because the idea of an unstoppable bear that will not stop to ravage his target will feel awkward if he has to actively trigger something in his mind to empower his strikes.

Q – Thundering Smash
Volibear gains speed towards enemies, stunning and damaging the first one he attacks.

If his old Q knocked his targets toward his back, this new Q simply stuns them on the spot. I think that this change works marginally better than his old version. Displacing someone to be farther from their target destination when escaping sounds good, but knockback durations typically do not last long to make a significant difference.

W – Frenzied Maul
Volibear damages an enemy, applying on-hit effects and marking them. Casting this spell again on the same target deals bonus damage and heals Volibear.

His old W was a conditional ability where gaining value required them to be low on health and have three stacks applied through basic attacks. As games went longer and enemies became tankier, it becomes weaker.

This new W could operate as an auto-attack reset that fits seamlessly with his new passive and his overall theme.

E – Sky Splitter
Volibear summons a lightning bolt at a location, dealing damage and slowing enemies while granting Volibear a shield if he’s inside the blast radius.

The most unique development in his kit, and the first ability to be teased in a Riot dev blog, has a mechanic that resembles Senna’s dual-effect damage/utility mechanic for enemies and allies.

This ability, just like Syndra’s Dark Sphere, doesn’t interrupt Volibear’s movement and can be cast freely. Landing this ability consistently may require practice in contrast to his old E, which was an instant-cast AoE ability.

R – Stormbringer (Ultimate)
Volibear leaps to a target location, slowing and damaging enemies beneath him while gaining bonus health. Enemy towers near his landing location become temporarily disabled.

His new ultimate looks and feels extremely thematic, and lets you, the player, feel like a true Stormbringer. Once he jumps into the fray, you can feel the thunder about to crash as he is in prime position to engage with his team head-on.

The ability to disable enemy towers in his AoE is massive for early game dives and skirmishes. Interestingly, this ability originally came from an item named Ohmwrecker that was removed from the game around December due to its impracticality and low purchase rate. Giving it for free to a champion that emphasizes rushdown tactics suddenly gives it so much value.

Rework Analysis and Speculations

Riot has recently released some reworks and champions that contain interesting and quirky mechanics to their kits. From Aphelios’ unique skill point allocation to Sett’s conditional stun/pull ability, there always is at least one unique mechanic they will brew that will make the game feel fresh.

Volibear should find his usual home in the toplane. In a meta where toplaners fight for lane priority, having the threat of a tower-disabling ultimate can pressure enemies towards him and relieve other lanes of threat.

Volibear is also a jungle secondary, and he might look to be an average jungler. He has an attack speed steroid and a heal ability, along with a chase ability with a stun. Other similar junglers like Warwick could be friendlier for newer jungler players, but let’s see where he turns out.

Can this be a potential pro pick? It’s hard to say until his numbers come out. All these abilities sound strong, but without the numbers to back them up, he may feel more of a stat check champion like Dr. Mundo. Once they do release the numbers and ratios, it will be the best way to identify how impactful his solo queue and pro play performance may look like.

What are your thoughts on the Volibear rework? Is he going to be broken or balanced?