The purpose of this guide is mostly to show you this unique way to play udyr and prove there isn't only one way to do things.

This technique is based on the fact that tiger and phoenix stances synergize with each other (see the skills section for more details).


The main points behind this guide are:

- Tiger does high damage in a short time and can be "loaded" .

- Phoenix is best for jungling.

- You can get tanky with items.




PROS

- Strong passive late game.
- Safe Pick.
- Extremely Fast Jungle Clear.
- Strong 1vs1 and counterjungler.
- High MAGIC damage (without items).
- Reliable skills (no skillshots).
- Good dragon control.

CONS

- Reliant on the first blue buff.
- No ulti.
- Easily Kited (only melee and only 3 points in bear stance).
- No gap closers excluding flash.
- Less tanky early-mid game.
- Our rage is beyond your control !

Mana cost of all stances decreased to 47/44/41/38/35 from 55/50/45/40/35

I think this is the biggest buff of udyr, he is so mana hungry and waste most of his mana just by using bear stance around the map. So it greatly helps him with hs roaming and jungle path.


Monkey's Agility
Now grants 5 Movement Speed per stack instead of 4% bonus Armor and Magic Resistance

It's a nerf, clearly. Most people think it's a good thing that he received some movement speed bonus for "easier" ganks. But you could take boots of mobility or swiftness if you wanted movement speed before...
12% armor and magic resist was so great on udyr before, made him so tanky early and mid game to compensate the fact that he could be kited in teamfight. Movement speed buff won't help him as much as this resistances were.

Turtle Stance
No longer returns mana when dealing damage
Shield increased to 60/100/140/180/220 from 60/95/130/165/200
Udyr can now critically strike in Turtle Stance

This skill hasn't really changed, since you gained ap with phoenix stance before, it made your shield stronger anyway. It's just a buff for tiger udyr and a more reliable skill.


Bear Stance
Udyr now ignores unit collision while the movement speed bonus is active
Udyr now performs a slight dash toward his target on stunning attacks while the movement speed is active
Bear stance attacks can no longer be self-interrupted mid-attack
Movement speed increased to 15/20/25/30/35% from 15/18/21/24/27%
Movement speed duration reduced to 2/2.25/2.5/2.75/3 seconds from 2/2.5/3/3.5/4


The unit collision is the best part, it was really annoying to try to lane gank and be creep blocked all the time. The dash is really usefull aswell for more brutal ganks and stun people who would wait that you were in range for flashing out.


Phoenix Stance
First attack after activating Phoenix Stance now immediately procs the fire cone in addition to every 3rd attack
No longer grants bonus Ability Power and Attack Damage when activated
Ability Power ratio on the fire cone increased to 0.45 from 0.15
Updated the fire cone's spell effect to be more visible

This change, made me so sad, they cut the synergy between tiger and phoenix which was really op, now you don't gain ad that would be usefull to tiger and your autos aren't really strong anymore, tiger is the best damage udyr has and it was nerfed.
This is a nerf, cause now udyr does almost full magic damage, so he is easier to tank. He just gain a little more damage in aoe but that's not worth it in my opinion cause he didn't had any problems in the jungle.




CONCLUSION

Udyr is easier to play but does less damage and is less tanky, so for me it's a nerf.

My name is AHTEmbraz and I have been maining junglers as long as I can remenber !

I got two diamond accounts season 2:







And one diamond account S3 :





Udyr isn't my main but is one of my top tier junglers if I want to tryhard.
Before the jungle changes, udyr tiger was stomping everyone. After the jungle changes Jatt introduced his jungle phoenix in competetive play, everyone made their way to the udyr phoenix and they forgot about tiger.

I was never a big fan of udyr phoenix because I always liked the brutal ganks of tiger. One day FYA Umashi released a unique udyr's guide of one of his friends (but it's no longer available) which talked about using both tiger and phoenix stance. So I decided to look into it and tried my own way with a better itemization based on the current meta.


I understand most of you will be skeptical as I was at first. But try to read this with open mind and understand my logic alongside this guide.

Since your damage are really high with runes and stances , no need to invest in the offense tree.
Since you won't have the early mana sustain of the turtle stance, having 9 points in utility will help a lot for that.
Moreover in the defense tree the % armor/mr and hp will scale and be usefull all game will scale with items aswell.
Taking 9/21/0 for just 12 ad lvl 18 when a long sword cost 400 gold for 10 ad it's not worth it.

I use flat ad marks and quintesences for the ratio on tiger stance (1.5 per attack damage). You don't need attack speed marks because the tiger stance and your passive will already give you some.
You could use flat mr for a better tanking early game, but I will mostly rush mercury threads after my heart of gold anyway.



Movement speed or attack speed quintescences can works very well on udyr too if you don't ad quint.

Those summoners are a "must have" for my udyr :

- Stronger ganks

- Safe counterjungling

- To go over walls

- To steal Baron or dragon

- To catch an enemy

Health 427 (+99) : One of the lowest base hp, so it justify the 21 masteries in defense.

Lvl 18 Health 2210 : One of highest late game hp, so udyr is tanky late game.

Attack damage 52.91 (+3.2) : Medium base ad.

Lvl 18 Attack damage 107,31 : One of the highest late game ad stats, with the bonus ad from phoenix stance = yay tigers !

Health regen. 7.45 (+0.75) : Medium base and late game stats.

Attack speed 0.658 (+2.67%) : One of the lowest base and late game attack speed stats. That's why phoenix udyr need attack speed. But with the gain of attack speed of tiger and udyr's passive is enough to cover this flow.

Mana 220 (+30) : The important thing to remenber with udyr is that all of his skills mana cost are decreasing each time you take one lvl more in it. So udyr becomes less and less mana hungry throughout the game.

Armor 14.75 (+4) : One of the lowest base armor, this is why you need 21 points in defense masteries and a good pull at blue !

Lvl 18 Armor 83.6 : One of the highest late game armor, good thing late game is about ad carries !

Magic res. 30 (+1.25) : Udyr benefits from the magic resist/lvl something some bruisers still lack.

Mov. speed 320 : Medium base movement speed, but your runes and bear stance will make you faster !




In more details if we look at the 30 most popular junglers/bruisers and all their general stats :

(red is higher stats and yellow is worst ones)

If we add each lines of all those stats and we divide them by 30 (number of champions counted) we obtain the average value of the general stat. Then we can compare it with Udyr's stats :


If we do that for each of the champions we can see that Udyr is in the top 10 of bruisers/junglers :

Each time Udyr switches stances, he gains 5 movement speed and 10% attack speed for 5 seconds. This effect can stack up to 3 times.



This is why you don't need attack speed runes on udyr, combined with the bonus attack speed with tiger stance.
The bonus movement speed is good especially with my way of playing udyr cause you can spam damage when chasing so it's perfect.
Note : If you have blue buff you can try to spam your skills to keep your passive up.




Activation: On his next attack, Udyr swipes at his target, dealing normal attack and dealing 30 / 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 (+1.5 per attack damage) extra damage over 2 seconds as magic damage. In addition, It increases attack speed 5% less than passive for 5 seconds.

Persistent Effect: Udyr's attack speed is increased by 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%. Half of this is persistent, the other half is activated for 5 seconds.

Cooldown 6 seconds
Cost 55/50/45/40/35 mana



This is one of the best bruiser skills in the game, and the reason why I couldn't entirely use only phoenix stance. This skill does a ridiculous amount of damage ON FIRST HIT. Use it as your main source of damage.

But more importantly it synergize with the phoenix stance in both way :

- Udyr can gain attack speed from tiger and use it with phoenix stance.

Note : While Udyr is blinded, the Tiger Stance DoT will not activate.



Activation: Udyr gains a temporary shield that absorbs 60 / 100 / 140 / 180 / 220 (+50% of ability power) damage.

Persistent Effect: Udyr's attacks cannot crit, but he restores 10/12/14/16/18% of his damage as health and 5/6/7/8/9% of his damage as mana.

Cooldown 6 seconds
Cost 55/50/45/40/35 mana



Good skill that I mostly use for tanking late game.

Note : - does not work on structures.



Activation : MOVEMENT SPEED BONUS: 15% / 20% / 25% / 30% / 35%
MOVEMENT SPEED DURATION: 2s / 2.25s / 2.5s / 2.75s / 3

Persistent Effect: Udyr mauls his target with such force that they are stunned for 1 second. This effect cannot occur on the same target for 6 seconds.

Cooldown 6 seconds
Cost 55/50/45/40/35 mana



Your main source of cc.
You can combine it with tiger stance, you can "load" tiger then switch to bear, it will stun the target and apply tiger damage. Once the stun is over you will have tiger available again. You can basically do two tiger with only on stun.

Note : - Udyr can still stun with Bear Stance while blinded, but the hit will do no damage.
- You can stun all targets one after another, but you can't stun the same target more than one time before 6sec.




Activation: Udyr sends out pulsing waves of fire dealing 15/25/35/45/55 (+25% of ability power) magic damage each second to nearby enemies for 5 seconds. In addition, Udyr's ability power is increased by 16 / 24 / 32 / 40 / 48 and his attack damage is increased by half of that amount.

Persistent Effect: Every third attack, Udyr engulfs enemies in front of him in flame, dealing 40 / 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 (+25% of ability power) magic damage.

Cooldown 6 seconds
Cost 55/50/45/40/35 mana



Good skill that I mainly use for jungling and spamming while chasing.
This skills is the only "unreliable" one of udyr cause you need to do three hits to do all the damage of this stance.

Note : Udyr will still do aoe damage for 5sec if you switch stance after using phoenix.

( NEED TO REWORK ON THAT SECTION BUT IM WAITING FOR NEXT PATCH WHERE UDYR WILL BE CHANGED AGAIN"

equal > > .


When you lvl up you can choose if you wanna gank in a few seconds, or you can lvl if you want to continue pure jungling.

Taking tiger is the safe choice because it will be both usefull in ganks and jungle. When taking phoenix will most benefit for your jungle.

Max after for tanking.

Max last for mobility.



REMENBER THAT AND SYNERGIZE WITH EACH OTHER.

This section is the most important after the skills explanation.

This way to play udyr is based on the fact that udyr have all the damage he needs without items. So you should focus on tanking first.

After your first clear you should straight buy and/or for mobility and better jungle clear aswell as good sustain for jungle (mana and hp regen)

Your next goal is to focus on mobility for using your stun easily for strong ganks : choose or according to enemy team.

Then I like to focus on tanking and supporting my team with : .

Your next item will matters a lot, either you are behind or you don't feel tanky enough, take a . If you are ahead and enough tanky go for .

Because of udyr short range and because I take less points in bear stance, you should focus on or for adding some cc to your team.

Finally you can focus on damaging items like against ap team or against ad team.


The main point of this build is his perfect synergy between stances and items , and will synergize with your tiger stance.
When and will synergize your phoenix stance.

AND SINCE TIGER AND PHOENIX STANCES SYNERGIZE WITH EACH OTHER, ALL YOURS SKILLS AND ITEMS WILL SYNERGIZE TOO.






I like this item if I get tabbi and still want to have tenacity and be tanky.
the dot damage with your Q are insane, if you are very fed and enough tanky it's a really good item to get with udyr.
: Interesting item who can work very well on udyr, but it's kinda expensive !
> : but both are really good on him.
: I like the new spirit visage, combined with hexdrinker you can survive any burst !
: If enemy team have lots of magical damage.
I like the new oracle, if you lose it you don't care because it would had end anyway and you gain way more gold without farming so it's not horrible to lose it in a fight if you bought it.
if you need another alternative to replace wit's end as your attack speed item. Only buy this under very specific circumstances as otherwise it's very cost-inefficienct for what it offers. Buy this when their team is stacking hp and you need more armor than you can get from other items.
Can be a really strong item for udyr if you are ahead, but it's really situationnal and your goal is to cc or tank first. It's more for a solo top udyr.
if you want to support your ad carry and you need the cdr to hit cdr cap.
It can be good because if you're doing your job right you'll die before your carry in a teamfight and you'll be useful when you come back to life. But it's a "luxury" item.
It's a good item for udyr but it's soooooooo expensive, I won't buy it unless i'm 15/0 in 20 min.
A better choice than because you can choose what cc or summoners spells to cleanse ! But this item isn't really good for udyr because 95% of the times you will take mercury.
Why not ? It can be good early game but you can't upgrade it into anything late game so I don't suggest it.
Even with his recent buff I still don't like this item because there is better ones with better utility.
Late game is about ad carries, enemy tanks will mostly build armor. So madred bloodrazor would enable you to do damage to everyone in their team.
It's a really viable item especially on udyr, but it cost a lot for not crazy stats. I wouldn't recommend building it.
Huehue






Anti ad build



Anti ap build



Balanced build



A WORD ABOUT : One of the main nerf of phoenix udyr was the increased cost of wit's end. Buying it would mean you will skip tank or support items that can make you lose the game if you die too fast. I generally buy it as a luxury item if I'm fed or enough tanky. But I don't NEED IT like a phoenix Udyr would.

Remenber DONT TAKE and in the same build it's doesn't stack !


TRY TO SUPPORT YOU TEAM AS WELL AS BRING SOME CC AND DAMAGE TO THE TABLE.

* means use smite

Standard route :


Fast red route (if you want to gank early with red, also a good leash helps a lot when doing this):


"I took their blue while they started red" route (secure your own blue ASAP so they don't take it)" :






When jungling with this technique, you should start blue with a good pull, because you will lack sustain without taking any points in .


BLUE ROUTE :

The main factor of a successful jungle here is to "load" your tiger before you hit a neutral monster so you will gain the bonus attack speed as well as doing damage to them with phoenix.


RED ROUTE :

Note that you will have to keep your phoenix stance to three hits to make the maximun damage before switching to tiger stance again.


At lvl 3 you will have to choose between lvling tiger or phoenix , if you want to continue jungling take phoenix , if you aren't sure if you want to gank at lvl 4 or jungle take tiger.



The spirit stone will enable you to keep good jungle clears throughout the game with good sustain.

For ganking you should try to "load" your tiger then use bear stance to close the gap. When you will stun your opponents he will take the DOT damage of tiger, then you can continue to hit him with phoenix phoenix stance in order to wait the next cd of tiger.


Note that the first tiger will be applied with the stun and the second tiger will be empowered with the bonus ad of phoenix stance.






Load tiger, then stun, then hit with phoenix, then tiger again.
Tiger ganks are better stronger because you do better damage than phoenix in a short time who can allows you to do risky ganks !


Understand that and will do a fucking lot of damage ! :

TOP LANE

Udyr jungle synergize very well with autoattacker champions in top lane :

- : I think udyr jax is one of my favourite 2vs2 combo top lane, they both have great stuns and awesome damage to follow up with. They both tanky and both mobile, great synergy !

- : Once darius slow or pull the enemy, udyr can easily follow up on it and make sure darius will dish out all his damage properly.

- : kayle is perfect for udyr's ganks since her passive will reduce the armor and magic resist of the enemy, so udyr's damage will be crazy. Kayle W combined with udyr E will make him very fast and it will be easy to land the stun. Kayle's ulti is perfect for diving or making udyr unkillable especially with udyr's new passive.

- : Elise is a great ally for udyr's gank, she has a stun and and really good gap closer and burst.

Other champions that nunu jungle synergize with : ,,,,.

MID LANE


- : Anivia's stun, her ulti slow and her wall are all great assets for udyr to get close and stun the enemy. Their double stun can be really deadly to any squishy enmies !

- : Morgana's W will decrease the magic resist of enemies, allowing udyr to do insane damage . Morgana's E will enable udyr to not be kited in teamfight aswell.

- :Ryze is one of the best udyr partner, his cage combined with udyr's stun is really strong. Ryze'E decrease the magic resist of the enemy target so udyr's damage are really huge.


Other champions that Udyr jungle synergize with : ,,,,,


BOT LANE

- : In my opinion Varus is the best champion that can synergize with a udyr, varus can initiate from far away or slow the enemy which will enable udyr to stun them pretty easily.

- : In my opinion nunu is one of the best support to have botlane with udyr jungle, he just slow the enemy and use W on giving you crazy movement speed with your E and insane damage with your R procs thanks to the attack speed it will give you.

Other champions that nunu jungle synergize with : ,,,,




Udyr is good vs melee champions and low cc champions.

TOP

,,,,,,

JUNGLE

,,,,,,,,

MID

,,,,,

BOT

,,,




TOP

- : Elise can just stun you and get away, even use E in case you manage to get to her.

- : He is so tanky and can reduce slows and stuns, he is extremely hard to gank.

- : once olaf is 6, he is practically ungankable, even pre 6 he can slow you with his axe so yours won't be usefull against him.

Other champions that udyr jungle have trouble ganking : ,

MID



JUNGLE



BOT

,,,,,,,

Teamfights can be really hard for udyr because of his short range, he can be kitted hard we enough cc on the enemy. That's in my opinion his only weakness.




In teamfight you should apply some cc and damage on the bruiser that try to get to your carries before going on theirs. Then you can try to zone them from the fight ànd going back to help your carries and cc enemy bruisers.



Try to use your cc at good times and on different targets to maximise it. Separating your cc will forbid your enemies to kite you.


If the enemy team engage, hit their front line and cc them until you can reach the enemy carries to use randuins and cc them.



Udyr is really good at killing bruisers with his magic damage so he can free his carries from enemies bruisers and let the carries do damage freely,then you can turn on carries.

In this section I want to explain if you can or can't counter jungle/fight the other junglers and what you should focus on (gank/jungle/control) and the route you should adopt.




Rammus does not have a very strong jungle speed and thus he cannot counter jungle you back. And his skillset doesn't work against you, your magic damage mostly counter him because most rammus will go for armor runes.
Route : Wolves/your blue(keep smite)/his red.

Difficulty: Easy




Ali jungle's main strength is in his ganks and not his 1v1 power or jungling. In jungle you win, in ganking he dominates. If you are caught in his jungle, don't fight him for too long because his cc can enable his allies to get to you fast !
Maybe he will have an early kill at lvl2 but in the meantime you will take all his jungle.
Route : Wolves/your blue(use smite)/his wraiths/his red/your wraiths/your red.

Difficulty: Medium



It's a weird matchup who is really situational. Most of the time it will go your way. Before olaf get 6 you will have a stun over him when he just have a slow. After his ultimate will make him very tanky and he will kill you. So try to make the difference early.
Route : Wolves/your blue(keep smite)/your red/wraiths.




Your jungler clears are pretty much the same, so it's really hard for you to counter jungle him. In a 1vs1 situation you will win most of the time thanks to your stun. Before 6 his ganks are as strong as yours.
Route : Wolves/your blue(keep smite)/his red.

Difficulty: Medium



Lee sin has the advantage to have a free transition and path. He can start blue or red which makes him difficult to find and counterjungle. You will mostly win 1vs1 thanks to your stun but his kitting can be better in ganks or 2vs2 situations so you need to be carefull about him.
Route : Wraiths/your red(keep smite)/your blue/his wraiths.

Difficulty: Medium-Hard



There is nothing he can do against you 1vs1 unless you or someone is under 50% to trigger his e. But his damage aren't enough to sustain yours.
Route : Wolves/your blue(keep smite)/his red.

Difficulty:Easy



Very easy to steal red against, because usually he tries to take wraiths and gets to blue a little after it spawns and does wolves right after which means you can kill the red easily and gank. His ganks are very strong early on with his knock up and snare, he doesn't even need red. He can't fight against you in the jungle.
Route : Wolves/your blue(keep smite)/his red.

Difficulty: Easy



Mundo can start blue or red so you won't be able to counterjungle him easily at first. But his ganks are weak and he can't fight you 1vs1 so you will still be ahead of him. Most mundos takes exhaust so you should be carefull about that when fighting him.
Route : Wraiths/your red(keep smite)/your blue/wraiths.

Difficulty: Easy



This matchup is really equal, shyvana has a really strong clear and mobility. When fighting her you should be really careful. Most of the time you will win but if she find you in a bush she will win this fight. She is a strong and tanky counterjungler that you shouldn't underestimate.
Route : Wraiths/your red(keep smite)/your blue/wraiths.

Difficulty: Hard



Shaco is really weak against your burst, most of the time you will win if you time it right. Most shacos take exhaust or ignite so you really need to be careful about your positionning when you fight him (to avoid the boxes).
ROute : Wolves/your blue(keep smite)/your red/wraiths.

Difficulty: Easy-Medium



Nocturne isn't tanky early game, if you time your cc and tiger right (dodging his shield) you will win easy. Your jungle clear is faster early game, so you should try to contest his red.
Route : WOlves/your blue(use smite)/wraiths/wolves/your red.

Difficulty: Easy-Medium




Gangplank is doing single target damage for the most part. It means is jungle is really slow early game, you can steal his red easily and you can kill him really fast.
ROute : Wolves/your blue(keep smite)/his red.

Difficulty: Easy




With the recent popularity of malphite. This matchups is really good for you because you don't rely on attack speed with tiger's damage. Malphite has low early cc so you should be able to contest his jungle. But his jungle clear is pretty strong so you will have to get a good pull to be ahead.
Route : WOlves/your blue(use smite)/wraiths/wolves/your red.

Difficulty: Easy



He has a slow jungle and mainly relies on ganking which makes counterjungling him easy. Jarvan can't fight you at all, his early game fight is really weak and his damage lower than yours. FIGHT HIM ALL DAY.
Route : Wolves/your blue(keep smite)/his red.

Difficulty: Easy



Riven can start anywhere she wants that's the main problem. She is hard to counterjungle and really mobile in her own jungle. You will win in a 1vs1 fight but she can kite you and get away easily. You should focus on counterganking or farming.
Route : Wraiths/your red(keep smite)/your blue/wraiths.

Difficulty: Easy-Medium



Easy steal and counterjungle, you can camp his red after you take it or gank. You gotta beat him early on or else his lategame will be dangerously strong due to his cc and tankiness compared to yours.
Route : WOlves/your blue(keep smite)/his red.

Difficulty: Easy



Slow jungle. You will outfarm him all day long. He can't fight you but his cc can enable his allies to get to you fast. His tanky shield can negate most of your damage so you should be careful when you decide to invade.
Route : WOlves/your blue(keep smite)/his red.

Difficulty: Medium-Hard



Like gankplank shen is a single target damage dealer, so his jungle will be weaker. He cannot 1vs1 you. But his lvl6 pressure is way better than yours.
Route : Wraiths/your red(keep smite)/your blue/wraiths.

Difficulty: Easy



He is very weak early. His jungle speed is ok. But once he get 6 he can easily win a fight against you because of his mobility and his e.
Route : Wolves/your blue(use smite)/wraiths/wolves/your red.

Difficulty: Medium-Hard



Nunu is a well known counterjungler. You should try to start red to avoid encounter him early in your jungle. If you know he tried to take your red(which is gone) just take his. He can countergank you pretty hard since you are really melee dependant his slow can really hurt you and shut your ganks down. In teamfight your job is to stun him while he does his ultimate.
Route : Wraiths/your red(use smite)/your blue/his red.

I tried to do a short, very understandable and meaningfull guide for those who want to choose between tiger and phoenix udyr. Well the answer I give you is : try both !

Try it and modify it with your playstyle because learning by ourselves is the best way to evolve in this game.

So in case you still asking yourself why you should try this, let me tell you again why it's a good way :

- High jungle clear.

- Insane 1vs1 damage.

- Stronger ganks.

- Better dragon control.

- More support to your team.

Give me some feedback on this guide since it's my first one.

Peace.

PS : Binu op !