Udyr is a champion who has consistently excelled in the jungle, placing himself at the top of the meta more often than not. Most of his strength comes from people not having a clue about how his kit works.
To make the most out of this amazing champion, today we are gonna reveal a build used by the highest-ranked Udyr players.
Best Udyr Items
Liandry’s Torment
Currently, the best first item buy for Udyr is Liyandry’s Torment. The AP scaling will feel really nice on our abilities, and the item’s percentage of HP damage will aid us in clearing the jungle much quicker than we would otherwise.
Dead Man’s Plate
The second item we will build is the Dead Man’s Plate. The extra HP and armor will make us extremely hard to kill in skirmishes, and the item’s passive will be extremely helpful when chasing down enemies and ganking.
Jak’Sho The Protean
Jak’Sho is a super powerful Udyr item. Udyr enjoys extended fights and Jak’sho will increase our resistances for each second we spend in combat. Additionally, the item will also grant us generous amounts of armor as well as magic resist.
Thornmail
Thornmail is distinguished by its heavy armor and HP stats, but most importantly, its Grievous Wounds passive. The passive has a huge utility as it will reduce our enemy’s healing by 40% percent.
Force of Nature
After covering our armor bases with the Thornmail, we are ready to build something which will sustain us against AP champions. Force of Nature is perfect for this task, as it will increase our magic resist the longer we are in combat. The item also features a movement speed boost, which synergizes really well with Udyr’s chasing playstyle.
Boots
There are a couple of options when it comes to Udyr boots. We can build Boots of Swiftness, these will facilitate a much more aggressive snowballing playstyle, or we can choose some more defensive options.
For playing against AD or basic attack-heavy compositions, we can go for something like Plated Steecaps. Against heavy magic damage/CC enemies, we can take Mercury Treads, which will give us some magic resist and major tenacity stats.
Runes for Udyr
- Conqueror
- Triumph
- Legend: Haste
- Last Stand
- Magical Footwear
- Approach Velocity
Conqueror is the best keystone for Udyr, it will facilitate higher damage output, as well as some nice healing. Triumph will be really useful for healing after fights.
Next up, Legend: Haste, the rune is great for reducing our cooldowns and allowing us to spam our abilities more often. Since Udyr’s kit primarily rests on his abilities, this is one of the most important runes.
Last Stand is the best rune from its branch, it will give us extra damage when we are low on HP, giving us space to fight back and refresh our shielding cooldowns. Finally, we will take Magical Footwear and Approach Velocity.
Magical Footwear is great for saving some gold, and allowing us to snowball faster. Approach Velocity is great for increasing our movement speed towards impaired enemies, which will help us significantly when we are ganking.
Final Thoughts
Udyr is a phenomenal jungle champion who excels at pretty much every given task. He has a solid gank setup, fast farming speed, and can solo clear objectives. The best way to play him is a tank, with a sprinkle of ability power items, such as Liyandry’s. The best keystone for Udry is Conqueror, as it will allow us to do much more damage, and sustain for longer due to its healing properties.