League of Legends: Sneak peek of new Volibear rework update

Riot Games has revealed some new information about the Volibear rework after revealing the Fiddlesticks rework. Although there is no detailed updates on the abilities of volibear, Riot has given a hint on what to expect from him.

One of the early challenges with Volibear was figuring out how to bridge his personality as he appears in game with how he appears in the stories on Universe. His current voice has a calm resonance that gives him a certain honorable dignity. But he’s also a ferocious, ancient god and a literal bear who can overpower you in a fight with the wrath of a storm. In the lore, Volibear was seen as the terrifying entity with many eyes, a monster whose back is studded with the swords of lesser men.

Riot explored some of these more grotesque-horror visual designs at first, but one common thing they heard—especially from Volibear mains—was that these designs felt like they strayed too far from live Volibear. They decided that, for his VGU, they wanted to show Volibear as he is to himself, in his most prime, original, godlike form.

When Volibear launches, anyone who already owns him gets the skin (or picks him up that patch) for free. After that it will join his collection as a regular, purchasable skin.

As for gameplay, by exploring the idea of “feeling unstoppable”, Volibear will be more like a god of storms, bringing thunder down upon his enemies and the structure they hide behind.

Here’s a sneak peek of Volibear’s current in-game model

"Volibear’s role sits somewhere between a Juggernaut and a Vanguard, allowing him to dive and disrupt team fights while ramping up his own threat level over time," said Gameplay Designer Nathan Lutz.

According to Nathan Lutz, Volibear will still run on all fours and lock down a single target. He will still have a targeted bite, only this time it’s both his opener AND his finisher. He will also have ramping attack speed and chain lightning, only now it will last for as long as he remains in combat.

Riot is not yet ready to reveal what Volibear’s E does, but they have shown what it looks like through its VFX.

Volibear E VFX

"Basically the way these channels work is that anything that’s shown in black is invisible, and anything white is visible. We then run a graph through these channels, and as the value progresses—or goes from light to dark—it reveals more of the texture starting with white and ending with black," said VFX Artist Neal Wojahn.

Roars of Volibear

"I definitely wanted to keep some of Voli’s key pillars within his kit, such as “God of Storms,” “Primal Power,” and most importantly, “Ferocious Bear.” I wanted it to sound like this really pissed off lightning bear is running at you and will catch you. To make him feel more primal and aggressive, I wanted to incorporate some wardrum elements, so I took a few recordings of avalanches and started layering in different drum pieces to accent the cool patterns it was producing" said Sound Designer, Jayvon Rymer.

According to Julian Samal, the VO Designer, Voli has a dynamic emotional spectrum, and that is conveyed across the in-game highs and lows.

Arctic Skin Ops

The team was stoked to work on Northern Storm Volibear, as it’s a vastly different fantasy from base Volibear and felt unique in his skin lineup.

Volibear Skins

The “Eldritch Horror” Volibear skin (which will be given out for free to all players who own or pick up Volibear during his launch patch) now has an official name: Thousand Pierced Volibear.

Stay tuned to find the champion's full kit.