Let's see if the devs manage to surprise us!
Everything We Know About the Udyr Rework
The wait is finally over and Riot has revealed the Udyr rework after a year-long wait. No... we've been patient for over a year already and finally it's been revealed!
The new Udyr rework is going to be making an appearance on the LoL PBE server shortly where players will be able to test him out and give last-minute feedback on his brand-new abilities and look.
Now let's hope that the rework doesn't place Udy back into obscurity, after the novelty of it has passed.
What Will Be Udyr's Rework Lore?
Udyr is a relatively special existence in the world of League of Legends. he is part of a, yet unexplained people, that can communicate with the spirits of the lands, as well as the animals, and channel their powers for their own use.
Udyr himself, however, is a different beast entirely. His forays into the spirit world have him channel the Ancient beings such as the Freljordian demigods, who warp his psyche and, Volibear for example, makes him go into a murderous rage, with his sheer power and bloodlust.
Due to that, Udyr has been spending time with Lee Sin, training in his ascetic ways, to reign in his impulses. He has also fought against Noxus, in their invasion of Ionia, while training with Lee Sin.
Now, he wanders the wilds of Freljord, searching for answers, and himself, Or, that should be the gist of what his reworked lore will be like, once the champion rework is released, according to the information Riot have given out until now.
What Will Reworked Udyr Look Like?
Originally, some fans thought Udyr would look similar to his Legends of Runeterra version, but Riot has revealed that the cards in LoR represent Udyr at a younger time in his life. So, what do we get in League of Legends? A burly strong man that's what.
Originally Riot tried to give him antlers on his back, but they decided against this since it made his model look awkward and clunky. Therefore, they removed his antlers and made him a mountain Shaman from the Freljord and you know what... it kind of fits.
What Will Udyr's Reworked Abilities Be?
Riot recently revealed Udyr's abilities so now we know what he is going to be doing:
- Passive - Bridge Between:
- Awakened Spirit: Instead of a traditional ultimate, Udyr has four basic abilities that swap between stances. The champion can re-cast his stance during its cooldown to Awaken it, refreshing it with bonus effects.
- Monk Training: After using an Ability, Udyr’s next two attacks within four seconds gain 30% increased attack speed and refund 5% of Awaken’s cooldown on hit.
- Q - Wilding Claw:
- Wilding Stance: Udyr gains 25% attack speed for four seconds. His next two attacks in this stance maul the target to deal a bonus of 3.2% max health physical damage.
- Awaken: Grants 34% additional attack speed. During this time, Udy’rs next two attacks call lightning to strike six times, each dealing up to 10.6% max health magic damage to isolated targets.
- W - Iron Mantle:
- Mantle Stance: Udyr gains 63 shield for four seconds. His next two attacks in this stance additionally gain 10% life steal and restore 12 health on hit.
- Awaken: Shield increased to 178, and Udyr regenerates 89 over four seconds. Stance Life on hit and life steal bonuses doubled during this time.
- E - Blazing Stampede:
- Stampede Stance: Udyr gains 30% move speed, decaying over four seconds. Additionally, Udyr’s attacks in this stance lunge at and stun targets for .75 seconds. This effect has a six-second cooldown on each target.
- Awaken: Grants immunity to immobilizing and disabling effects and an additional 32% move speed for 1.5 seconds.
- R - Wingborne Storm:
- Storm Stance: Udyr surrounds himself in a glacial storm for four seconds that deals 20 magic damage per second to nearby enemies inside and slows them by 15%. Udyr’s next two attacks in this stance deal 14 magic damage to enemies in the storm.
- Awaken: Unleash the storm, causing it to seek a nearby. [Sic] Deals an additional 9.4% max health damage over the remainder of its duration.
Instead of random animals, Udyr now has more of a 'Freljord aesthetic' with each stance representing one of the Freljordian demigods. Pretty neat, eh?
Udyr Rework Gameplay Video Confirms New Stances
The rework gameplay video is finally out, and it has confirmed all of the previous information while also giving us more. Udyr's old stances will change to be represented by Freljord Demigods:
- Old Tiger form is now the Thunder Bear form inspired by Volibear, the Thousand-Pierced Beast
- Old Bear form is now the Fire Ram form matching Ornn, the Firebringer
- Old Turtle form seems to be the Iron Boar and the only of the 4 demigods we, currently, don't have in-game is Ildhaurg, the Warden of Sacrifice
- Old Phoenix form is changed to be the Ice Phoenix form matching Anivia, the Frostbringer
His final two abilities have also been revealed. Channeling Ornn allows Udyr to ignore CC, and charge in the same manner as Ornn's own ultimate does, while channeling Ildhaurg is not as flashy, but seems to give Udyr a shield at the very least.
When Will the Udyr Rework Release?
Riot has revealed that the wait is over and Udyr will be released in League of Legends Patch 12.16! So, we just have ot get through Patch 12.15 and the Monster Tamer skins and then we can finally get our hands on the new Udyr.
Though we do wish Riot would bring back his hairy chest that we saw in the original concept art, because a burly mountain man like him would just look better with it, right?