Ever since Riot Games reworked Volibear, players have been inventing all kinds of builds for him. From the standard tanky build to the full AP Volibear build – this champion is bonkers with any set of items!
However, one of the strongest builds you can go for in S12 is lethality Volibear!
Lethality Volibear is all about one-shotting enemies with Prowler’s Claw > Q > R. The build has an insane amount of damage and it allows you to 1v1 anyone in the game.
It’s also great for split-pushing and tearing down turrets all over Summoner’s Rift.
Aside from being a good build for solo queue, lethality Volibear is one of the most fun playstyles in League of Legends. And I’d recommend you try it!
In this post, I’d go over all the info you need for playing lethality Volibear in LoL. I’ll explain the runes and items of this build and how they synergize together.
So, let’s start!
Lethality Volibear Build – Runes (Explained)
- Press the Attack
- Presence of Mind
- Legend: Tenacity
- Last Stand
- Demolish
- Conditioning
PRESS THE ATTACK has been the go-to keystone for all Volibear builds for a very long time. It matches Volibear’s ability kit perfectly and allows him to do crazy amounts of damage.
With Press the Attack, you deal bonus damage after striking an enemy champion with 3 consecutive attacks. And it’s easy to do this on Volibear since you can proc the effect with any combination of auto-attack, Q, and W.
Another reason why Press the Attack is the perfect keystone for Volibear is that it increases your target’s damage taken. Combined with the active of Prowler’s Claw, you’ll be able to assassinate your enemies.
PRESENCE OF MIND is a very convenient rune for champions that don’t build mana items. It gives you a bit of mana regeneration when you damage an enemy champion.
But the biggest benefit of this rune is when you score a champion takedown you get 15% of your missing mana back instantly. And this is extremely good for team fights!
LEGEND: TENACITY is another useful rune you’ll definitely need on lethality Volibear. Simply put, Legend: Tenacity gives you tenacity.
And it’s a useful stat to have because this build makes Volibear very squishy, so you’ll need to get out of any CC effect as soon as possible.
But the amount of tenacity you get from this rune is based on how many Legend stacks you have. Once it’s fully stacked, Legend: Tenacity grants you 30% tenacity.
LAST STAND synergizes with the whole idea of building lethality on Volibear. As I mentioned already, this is a very squishy build for Voli and you’ll often have less than 70 or 60% HP.
However, Last Stand allows you to deal bonus damage when your health drops to low. It’s perfect for 1v1 fights and finishing enemies off. So, definitely take it!
DEMOLISH is a must-have in every game, especially as a top lane lethality Volibear. For jungle, it might not be as useful but you’ll still get a lot of value out of it when you attack the enemy turrets with Herald.
With Demolish, you’ll be able to literally one-shot the enemy turrets. And combined with Voli’s ultimate, this rune becomes a nightmare for your opponents.
CONDITIONING is the defensive rune you take to help you out in the mid and late game. It grants you a bit of armor and magic resist after minute 12 and also increases both of those stats.
You mainly pick Conditioning to remain durable for team fights later on.
Read Also: Lethality Lee Sin Build Guide
Lethality Volibear Build – Items (Explained)
- Ionian Boots of Lucidity
- Prowler’s Claw
- Hullbreaker
- Yoummu’s Ghostblade
- Lord Dominik’s Regard
- Serylda’s Grudge
IONIAN BOOTS OF LUCIDITY are the perfect boots for lethality Volibear. They’re one of the cheapest boots in LoL (950 gold) and they grant 20 ability haste.
PROWLER’S CLAW is the only lethality mythic item that makes sense on Volibear. It has great stats (attack damage, ability haste, and lethality) and an amazing active for one-shotting enemies.
When you activate Prowler’s Claw, you dash behind your target, dealing damage in the process. However, you also put a debuff on them that allows you to deal 10% increased damage for 3 seconds.
In other words, once you activate Prowler’s Claw you can assassinate your opponents with your other attacks.
HULLBREAKER is a must-have item for top lane Volibear. It’s the best item in League of Legends for split-pushing and dueling enemies, so you need to purchase it as soon as possible.
Hullbreaker grants you armor and magic resist when you’re alone as well as more damage to enemy turrets. You can use it to quickly push towers in the top lane and even slay your opponent in a 1v1 fight.
However, if you play lethality Volibear in the jungle, you might want to switch Hullbreaker for something like Axiom Arc.
YOUMMU’S GHOSTBLADE is another active item in LoL that works very well on lethality Volibear. Of course, it’s an item that grants lethality but also attack damage and ability haste.
The active of Ghostblade increases your movement speed and gives you ghosting. It’s ideal for catching up to ranged enemy champions. And it can be combined with Voli’s Q for a high burst of MS.
LORD DOMINIK’S REGARD is an armor penetration item that works extremely well against tanks. It allows you to deal bonus damage to enemies that have more max health than you.
Of course, most top laners will be tankier than you when you play lethality Volibear, so the item is super useful.
However, another reason why you want Lord Dominik’s Regard is that it gives you a 20% critical chance. This isn’t much but if you crit with Volibear’s Q, the damage is honestly insane!
SERYLDA’S GRUDGE is the last item you should spend your money on here. It gives you even more armor penetration and it even slows your opponents when you hit them with an ability.
But honestly, you can always switch Serylda’s Grudge with some of the options/situational items you see below. And if you have enough damage already, a defensive item might be a better option for you in the late game.
Read Also: Lethality Aatrox Build Guide
Optional and Situational Items for Lethality Volibear
Besides the incredibly powerful lethality build you see above, Volibear gets benefits from other items too.
For example, The Collector can be a great item for finishing off targets because of its execute mechanic. And Axiom Arc works great for reducing the cooldown of your ultimate so you can use it much more often.
However, you should also think about defensive items too.
Guardian Angel fits very well with this whole playstyle and allows you to resurrect when you get slain. And Edge of Night can help you counter burst mages and assassins in League.
So, don’t be afraid to experiment with different items!
Read Also: Inting Lethality Sion Build Guide
Skill Order and Summoner’s Spells
Unlike the regular build for Voli, lethality Volibear has a different route of leveling up the abilities. Basically, you first want to max out your Q here, followed by W, and then E.
But to make things even more clear, here’s a level-by-level guide for Volibear’s skill order.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| Q | Q | Q | Q | Q | |||||||||||||
| W | W | W | W | W | |||||||||||||
| E | E | E | E | E | |||||||||||||
| R | R | R |
And Summoner’s Spells will largely depend on the role you play lethality Volibear in. So, here’s a quick guide.
Top: Flash + Teleport
Jungle: Flash + Smite
Mid: Flash + Ignite / Flash + Teleport
Support: Flash + Ignite / Flash + Exhaust
Read Also: How to Split Push in League of Legends?
How Does Lethality Volibear Work?
If you have no idea how the lethality build for Volibear works and why it’s so good, let me introduce you to the key points here.
First, lethality Volibear is a solo/assassin playstyle, not a fighter one. The idea here is that you don’t build lethality on Voli so you could be useful in team fights by providing damage absorption and kiting.
Instead, you build lethality so you’re always able to win a 1v1 duel and keep on split-pushing.
All the bonus attack damage makes you a monster when it comes to tearing down objectives in League of Legends while also being good at solo-carrying your games.
And this leads me to my next point – playing lethality Volibear allows you to destroy enemy turrets insanely fast.
As you’ll see in the actual build below, you get benefits from both items and runes for pushing turrets. Tools like Demolish and Hullbreaker are perfect for Volibear and they synergize with his ultimate – Stormbringer.
And lastly, I want to talk about the actual damage of lethality Volibear.
Mainly, your damage with this build will come from Volibear’s Q and R. Both of these abilities are physical damage spells and they have AD ratios too. So, the more lethality you have the bigger the damage actually is.
But how do you do this damage?
As I briefly explained above, you want to combine Volibear’s damage with Prowler’s Claw.
So if you’re looking to assassinate your lane opponent, start with Prowler’s Claw and follow it up with Q, quickly auto-attack, or use W before you activate your R.
You can do all of this during the 3 seconds of the Prowler’s Claw bonus damage effect, allowing you to one-shot your enemy.
That said, here’s the lethality build for Volibear in LoL!
Read Also: Full Lethality Renekton Build Guide
Conclusion
If you need more convincing to try out lethality Volibear in your games, I’d definitely advise you to watch this YouTube video. It’s a nice introduction to this super-fun playstyle, so make sure to check it out.
Also, if you need more goofy picks and builds for this season of League of Legends, make sure to check my favorite off-meta top laners, off-meta junglers, or off-meta mid lane picks!
I promise that you’ll like some of them at least!
Good luck and have fun!
