Roaaarrr!.

For those of you unfortunate inferiors who do not speak bear, a rough translation:

I'm currently a Silver 1 Gold 4 EUNE supp main scrub that hates playing meta supports. I love offmeta and playing engage tanky supports that can also bring some damage of their own to botlane and not be purely on mercy of adc.

The guide is in-depth, it's best part being synergies & threats - check the section out, each champ there is provided with some explanations.

Also pay attention to runes and spells - there's more then one set! Success with Voli support leans heavily on proper preparation for unfavourable matchups.

Now if you're ready, it's time to learn how to bear your bear to overbear the enemy!

We all know how low elo looks like - regular no damage supports get stomped by their room temperature Iq adc's feed, while going "carry" supports deprives your team of tank they need. Good luck getting a toplane or jungle tank when every second game is teemo top, and junglers wanna play Yi or Kha...

Enter volibear - the juggernaut support that sports tankyness, mobility, high damage and well balanced, respectable cc, that is equal part good at engaging as it is at peeling threats off.

Tank or juggernaut - choose your own path, but know this guy is here to stomp his lane, make kills happen and finish the game before it turns into post 40 min clown fiesta!

Pros:
+ tanky
+ good early damage
+ solid engage and peeling (especially vs enemy dashes)
+ good mobility
+ low mana costs
+ passive that baits enemies into bad trades
+ better at escaping then most tanks (read: not feeding)
+ easy to learn with simple, straightforward kit

Cons:
- no 5v5 teamfight ult
- no heals, shields etc utility for adc
- no ranged engage - you have to run up to them
- not as tanky as pure tanks (no shield, no resistance buffs)
- enemy slows can really make your day rotten
- easy to get on adc's bad side (non-meta, easy to ks them, not a carebear support)

Ok, so you picked your bear, picked your support lane, got first items...now what?

Well, in general your role is be the aggressive tank (although you're actually a juggernaut) support, that provides engage, damage and peeling for your adc and later other teammates. Your main job is to make kills happen and wreck their tower with your Demolish rune. The main difference of Volibear support vs more classic cc supports like Leona or Nautilus is that while your cc is not as potent as theirs, you have good mobility they lack, and much more damage as you level your skills allowing you to make some riskier plays.

Level 1 jungle invades:

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This is the very reason you start with q. Voli has solid presence in level 1 teamfights, being able to pick off a target with his flip, or peel an enemy off with it, saving allies from giving first blood.

Moreover because of unpredictable nature of your cc (you can change targets at the very last second) if enemies are afraid of your team and then a rabid volibear starts chasing them down, a lot of flashes can happen! Most of regular skillshot cc would probably get only one if at all.

Laning Phase:

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Voli shines in early game and it is at that time you should seek opportunities to get off a good engage and get kills for your adc (or self if "accident" happened, har har!). Generally your job is to stomp that lane early and start a snowball, as this "tank" has some big nasty teeth and numbers to back'em up.

That being said remember that you're a melee support, that has to literally run into their face to get his cc off. You need room to start chasing them and eventually catch them! So camping enemy tower is a waste of time and potential kills, while making yourself easy pickings to enemy ganks from jungler and/or midlaner.

Shove waves into their tower only when you won a fight and want to take that tower or drake, or if you're getting major support from other teammates for full team lane push!

Also remember the golden rule - dying is more damage to your team, then getting a kill is good! Looking for aggressive plays and kills is Voli's forte, but make it a habit to do it when opportunity arises, and not blindly!

Early game Blitzcrank missed a hook? Good, now's the time to look for engage. Leona landed her e, but her adc is way back or low on hp? Yup, time to go to town on them!
Tresh is just calmly sitting on his adc doing nothing? STAY BACK. Engaging is not everything you do, you can also peel. Sometimes it's better to stay passive and just be threat enough so the enemy don't try to go ham on your own adc. These things will come with experience, just be aware that forcing engages at all costs usually ends up with someone getting a new bear rug..

Midgame:

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You're a big, mean bear, and if you played it right with the rune setup I provided enemy tower should be down, and your botlane won. If not , that's a setback but not the end of the world.

If your adc is fed (ty Volibear support!) then just stick with him and help him get objectives, push lanes or assist in teamfights - your damage is no joke if you're not behind and together with fed adc you can really do a number on them.

Contrary if your adc fed hardcore and is generally useless - don't waste your time and life on them - go help other teammates. Your strength is chasing enemies, making picks with your flip, peeling dash champs off allies and commiting damage to team fights. Oh and not so honorable but...making escapes where other tanks would surely die.

Generally this is the time you should think about closing the game, as late game is not as kind to Voli as to regular supports (no 5v5 mass cc ult). By now you should have your support item, boots and first tank item fully completed, and now is the time to ask yourself what's next?

Check both team's stats, gear and champs before making the call. If you got good damage dealer on your team that is not feeding, consider going further tank to soak up damage for them while they dps. If your team is a bunch of monkeys that sit in the jungle instead of pushing their lanes - Titanic Hydra + leveling Frenzy earlier may be the answer. If you're not concerned with waveclear, but want more damage under belt + more sustain for duels and taking towers - Sterak's Gage is the answer.

The good thing about Voli is that you aren't ball & chained to your adc's failure or success - later in game if you yourself did good vs **** adc, you can take matters into your own hands, to a degree. Far bigger one at least then most tank supports or enchanter supports!

Late game:

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Well if things got here, you goofed. Or your team goofed. This is not the best scenario for Voli. If you played good, got kills, and didn't feed much - you should be quite tanky/juggernauty and able to soak up a lot of damage.

Sadly other then that you don't have great 5v5 presence. Your a good offtank, but not main tank. You can't cc lock 5 ppl at once, or ignore being focused. You don't have epic damage vs drakes or barons like let's say Brand or Nunu, and if you went full tank - well raw base damage from skills can only get you so far vs enemy champs in late game.

Voli is about being mobile, and winning skirmishes with catching enemies off position, hard damage and good peeling. Mass 5v5 slugfests where no one is trying to run away, their backline is well protected, and huge AoE ults are flying all over the place aren't his domain.

Sill everyone makes mistakes and if you manage to catch a mispositioned enemy and secure a kill for your team, that's turning 5v5 into 4v5 and that usually means a beginning of a bloodbath and game over screen for them very soon!

Remember to stay calm and look for opportunities - from minute one to the game over screen. But keep in mind that it's the early and mid game where your presence and influence on game are biggest - try to get your teammates fed, throw them a banana under enemy tower so they go siege it instead of monkeying around in a brush and commit to the early game bloodbath by making picks and tearing them to shreds with your non-support damage levels!

Chosen of the Storm

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- No big essays to write about the passive, save to keep in mind it's healing over time. This mean it's great for baiting typical adcs into trades the thought are won, while you refuse to die, but at the same time will be your doom if you go against someone with good burst (like Kai'Sa, Lucian, Kalista, Twitch)

Great synergy with Revitalize, Spirit Visage, Mikael's Blessing if you build it.

Rolling Thunder

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This is what makes volibear scary. While seemingly simple, its a powerful and versatile tool for engaging, peeling, bursting, baiting flashes and other escapes, or just plain making a run for it yourself.

Skills description gives you the gist of it, i'll share with you little secrets it does not.

1. Skill is an auto reset. Normally that means damage, but good luck finding someone stupid enough to just let you normally walk up to them, auto then activate q, lol.
However it's viable as damage boost vs structures and golden for ward takendowns, especially with Frenzy's passive attack speed.

Once you find an enemy ward - auto, q, auto. If it's normal ward we're already done here, and now you get bonus movement speed and bonus attack speed from both q and w, so you can move on to next enemy ward faster and break it quicker, before you lose vision of it.

Another part of "auto reset" is that...well it's an auto attack! that means champs with auto attack blocks, or blinds will nullify it's effects - no damage, no flip. Keep this in mind when facing guys like Pantheon, Teemo, Shen, Jax and whatnot.

2. Flip part does not end movement speed boost
Unlike some similar skills and items, landing your empowered auto on enemy does not instantly shut down the movement speed bonus. While the 4 legged run animation and heavy breating do end, the actual speed is still boosted until 4 seconds are indeed up.

This is good news for carebears that want to peel for their adc. If you walk up from behind enemy attacker(or from the side if you can't afford being fancy) and flip him away from your teammate, you will still have plenty of speed boost left for your own escape after you did your good deed for the day!

3. Speed changes based on direction As you should know, this skills has two levels of speed boost - faster one when running at enemy champs and other when you're not. But what happens when you switch from one of these boosts into the other? Well...it's not exactly consistent.

When you charge at enemy champ and then turn tail, the empowered movement speed will quickly decrease over time to the regular speed boost value from this skill.

If however you're not facing any enemy champion and then change direction to charge at them, you will instantly gain maximum movement speed boost, without any build up period! This can be nifty for baiting a flip when they think you're retreating, however you need good judgement to know when such daredevil move is not plain suicidal.

Frenzy

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This is your "**** you adc" button:) So kinda the reason you're reading this guide *evil grin*. It's passive stacks attack speed for you, while active acts as mini-execute on low health targets. Normally i level this skill last since damage from Majestic Roar and movement speed + lower cooldown from Rolling Thunder are far more important in my role as support. However if your adc is ****, then the huge damage this execute provides when leveled might be worth taking over more stable, but less bursty benefit of Majestic Roar. Whichever path you choose, keep in mind that while frenzy's active is very prone to taking the kill from your adc, if things look too dicey, this is your button to end it fast.
Remember - it's better for your adc to get an assist then a gray screen. They'll be thankful, and that stream of curses and wishes of death to your family are just their way of coping with difficulties of expressing gratitude ;)

Majestic Roar

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This skill is why support Volibear is a thing. While q acts as your primary engage, Roar is your primary peeling tool, but also (much like Rolling Thunder) can be used in reverse scenario - as engage assist.

The first big thing about it is that it'll shut down enemy dashes in it's range. Enemies will be stopped dead in their tracks, knocked back, take extra damage and you get just about easiest activation of Aftershock this game has to offer. Mind you this skil is instant and not over time effect, like Poppy's Steadfast Presence. You will need to time your roar right to stop enemy from dashing onto you or nearby ally.

Asides from all that, this skill also inflicts aoe slow on champions and aoe fear on monster and minions, both lasting solid 3s from level 1.
A well known voli trick is to use this skill when flipping enemy, as at that time they are considered airborn and take extra damage. Use it wisely however, as it also knocks them down. You don't want to stop your own flip halfway through, because you used Roar too early - best use it at very end. If you used it too late, no harm done. Little damage lost, but in exchange enemy will be knocked behind you even further by Roar's knockback effect.

Another typical use is to Roar at enemies right before you reach them with your q and flip them. If it's someone like Tristana you can stop her attempt at escaping with Rocket Jump to secure a flip or force out her flash/ult.

It's also great vs Sivir - Roar the spellshield off right before you flip her over and then watch the pure panic happen.

For less slippery adcs it's a small (but crucial) assist in landing q. They eat damage, get slowed and get flipped sooner.
That "sooner" may seem a tiny deal, but these few inches of distance cut short may be the difference between a kill, and them getting to safety of their tower before your botlane can off them.

Also keep in mind the minion fear factor! if you engaged flat inside their minion wave, having it feared for next 3s is a huge saving grace for your and your adc. And if you're strolling through jungle an occasional fear vs a bigger monster might save your teammate a bit of hp. Sadly this will not work on drakes or barons. They have yet to be taught to fear bears!!

Thunder Claws

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And here we are, down to the ult. Much like the passive it's pretty straightforward, and a another solid reason voli support is deadly. Your autos now create chain lightning that will bounce of multiple targets including enemy champions ofc. There are few cool uses for it.

Firstly, and obviously to make your engage really deadly. Damage from flip, roar + frenzy is already scary. Thunder claws make it almost guaranteed kill vs a squishy if they're not far ahead of you.

Next in the line is executing a fleeing target. If there are enemy minions around you can just send them to Valhalla with some real thunder, rather then watch them escape and curse inwardly.

Another good use case if clearing out minion waves. The cooldown is not so great nor impact so huge that you absolutely must save this skill for special occasions. You just beat your enemies but wave is under your tower and adcs clear is not great? Activate lighting claws, shred it to pieces then both of you go drake or take their tower! Time is of essence and you just saved some!

Enemies sieging tower and it's not looking pretty? Shred their minion wave and discourage dives until help arrives! Thunder claws may not me most awe-inspiring ult out there, but they can be pretty handy if you don't treat your R button like a Holy Grail that mustn't be touched unless situation is most dire.

Aftershock

Since we're playing Voli as engage tank, the choice of keystone is obvious. It's very easy for him to trigger it, and as his kit does not provide shields or resistance boosts, this rune fills that gap in his defenses.

Demolish

We're here to stomp our lane and that means turret takedown a.s.a.p. And the one after that too, and another...you get the picture.

Bone Plating

Level 1 invades and teamfights around them are Voli's bread an butter. Having efficent hp raised by 75 for such engages along with his passive helps ensure he won't end up being first blood for enemy.

Revitalize

This rune has strong synergy with passive and that passive is a major lifesaver. Extra oomph for it is always good, unless you're expecting major cc coming your way, in which case Unflinching is the way to go

Magical Footwear

300g in your pocket will be needed for that Dead Man's Plate so why not spoil yourself with a pair of free shoes with nice extra 10 ms on top?

Biscuit Delivery

Voli rarely struggles with mana shortages, but his melee range and run-in engage style leave him open enough to getting punished. The extra healing these provide (along with his passive) may mean your bear will soon be ready for another brutal engage, while their side is left ravaged by the last one.

7th december 2018 - first time i log an update here:> Added Lux to threats and Yasuo to synergies. Updated intro for guide and it's title - from "bite their heads off" to "Overbear your enemy botlane!".