Udyr has been a prominent jungler since the beginning of League. His strength lies in the versatility he provides with his abilities. He can be played as a disruption tank or frontline bruiser. I’m going to explain to you the different ways Udyr can be played as a jungler and even some of the optimal clear paths.

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Udyr has many strengths, including his ability to adapt to the games he is in, becoming a tank or a high damage bruiser based on small changes in his build and runes. He gains a large amount of stats early on from his passive and abilities that make him one of the fastest jungle clear champions currently in the game. This also assists in him in dueling potential should you find yourself in a skirmish with the enemy jungler.

Udyr has some issues in regard to his vulnerability to being kited by some champions. His stun also leaves much to be desired as it is on-hit rather than a spell he can cast at a distance. This means you have to run into the enemy and smack them in order to stun them. This forces you to come up with perfect timing or routes to be able to pull off successful ganks.

Bruiser Build:

OR 

 OR 

Runes:

 OR    

Ability Progression:

Q --> W = E

W and E are equal as it depends on your preference of adding to the bruiser strength with a bigger shield/heal or being able to chase enemies down faster. My suggestion for people new to Udyr to take W so that you stay alive longer and heal for greater amounts.

Win Condition:

The purpose of this build is to become the damage dealer that can be in the front line. The best course of action is to focus on ganking or disrupting the enemy jungler at any given opportunity. Your strength will lie in securing objectives often and early such as Dragon and Herald.

Tank Build:

 OR 

 OR 

The only time you take Wit's End is if you want to do consistent magic damage as you attack and the enemy has little magic resist.

Runes:

Ability Progression:

W = Q/R -->E

W if you’re more prone to ganking and diving early. Q if you are more set to power farming a lead and maintaining Dragon control. Also if you find a lack of magic resist on the enemy team you can max out R instead and play the same way but with a stronger jungle clear later on. The only thing is making sure you start Q first. Starting R will result in a slower buff kill. In some cases, if you are confident in your ability to take second buff and additional camp with minimal damage, take R instead of W at level 2 then take W third.

Win Condition:

The main point of this build is to become an un-killable menace to the enemy team to soak up most of the damage. Most of your shine will be from being able to shift into your Bear Stance and disrupt the enemy as much as you can by stunning them as much as possible. Your strength with this build is fighting with teammates often and early as you will have strong shields early and often. The added bonus of fighting with teammates is when you stun a champion, the rune Font of Life will heal teammates who auto-attack the stunned champion based on your maximum health.

Early Jungle Tips:

Start with Hunter’s Talisman and Refillable Potion. This is due to the fact you will be changing stances constantly to maintain Udyr’s Passive. The Talisman helps with mana regeneration leaving you free to start Red without consequence.

Level 1 is the same between both builds as you take his Tiger Stance first. This is due to the fact that it is the strongest and fastest method for clearing the red or blue buff first. Level 2 take Turtle Stance to ensure you remain healthy as you progress through the jungle. The trick with swapping stances is changing right before the buff expires so that you can proc your Stance's ability twice in each rotation. A small counter will show in Tiger and Turtle Stances, going up to three after the third hit will proc the damage over time or heal respectively.

The benchmark to recall is at 650 gold or 950 gold in order to complete the jungle item or complete it and buy boots as well. The second is to obtain 1200 gold so that you can buy Tiamat which will greatly increase the speed of your jungle clear. From this point depending on your build path and the pace of the game, you build accordingly. One tip is to not complete Tiamat into Titanic until the very end as it is not strong enough to warrant an upgrade early on.

Fighting Tips:

When pushing into enemy territory to fight, prime your Turtle Stance or Tiger Stance in order to double proc when needed. This enables you to burst enemy champions or heal twice as much in a short time. This is especially useful when invading enemy buffs and when they walk into you unknowingly. Your Tiger Stance burst will leave them confused on how they lost half their health.

As a bruiser, you are more concerned with doing damage before being taken out and pushing an enemy priority target out of a fight. Pushing an ADC or mid laner out of the fight will push the fight in your favor but, if you are devious, you can set up a trap for roaming. As a tank, you are more concerned with stunning multiple targets as quickly as possible and allowing your team to heal off the stunned enemies with Font.

Final Thoughts:

Udyr is notorious for being a nuisance so this set-up lets you do just that. Always fun to watch an enemy team chase an Udyr through their base and eventually give up when they realize they can’t catch them. I’d love to see your success at Udyr so take the time to tweet at me on Twitter!

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