League of Legends is reworking a character once again. Reading this has left MeinMMO author Mark indifferent. Not because they don’t do it well, but because he hasn’t cared for the last 5 years. However, when the developers showed Mark the “new” Udyr in an exclusive presentation, he wanted to come back immediately.
My League career: I have played LoL a lot and for a long time in my life, but never really well. I started in October 2010 and spent many, many thousands of hours glued to the game. One position has always fascinated me the most: the jungle.
However, at some point, after well over 10,000 hours, I really got fed up with the jungle and League of Legends as well. After 7 very active years, I left the league in 2017 and ultimately uninstalled the game.
The 5 years after: When I played, it was unfortunately never in the jungle. My beloved jungle was changed by the developers so often over the years that I was completely overwhelmed. Also, my two favorite junglers, Jarvan and Udyr, somehow disappeared from the meta, which was a shame.
More than 3 or 4 rounds over the years, I could never play without leaving the game behind for many months.
You can see the new trailer for Udyr in this video:
I return like the Phoenix form
Back to the Rift: Everything that Riot has brought in the last 5 years in terms of new champions and changed in old ones did not interest me. Because the desire to engage with these new things was lacking. Until now. Because what the developers of LoL have done with Udyr is simply genius.
The character can actually still do exactly the same things that made him great back then. Agile and brutal, he lets me act in the jungle and dominate the lanes for my team.
He still fulfills the same role in the Rift as before, but now much better. And he looks cooler and is not actually a six-pack-packed extreme athlete, but rather the wild guy from the woods – I like it!
You can instantly tell the character’s origin, and I can say at first glance that Udyr lives in the wild and is strongly connected to the spirits from there. As a belt, he wears a souvenir from Ionia, where he trained with Lee Sin. The new look of Udyr is simply well done and gives me exactly what I wish from a champion with a lot of character.
The new, old Udyr: Anyone who has ever played Udyr knows that he functions fundamentally differently from all other champions in LoL. The spirit walker relies more on communication with the demigods of Freljord and takes on their forms in combat, which change how the agile melee fighter strikes.
In this regard, you do not have any abilities that deal direct damage or even an ultimate. Instead, you choose a form with your skills that influences your next auto-attacks and gives them specific effects.
This peculiarity remains with Udyr, but he can now awaken his respective forms, allowing him to reactivate them and trigger a second, stronger effect.
When you cast an ability or awaken an active one, your attack speed increases by 40% for the next two attacks. So the spirit walker retains his original flexibility and speed as well.
You can find a technical overview of the new Udyr in this video:
Everything as before, only better
What can the awakenings do? Primarily affected is his new R-skill, or his ultimate, which is not an ultimate. While you are still a phoenix, this time not of fire but of ice, you are also able to slow down opponents around you.
Every skill effect is significantly enhanced by the new awakenings and gives Udyr more room to maneuver for almost all situations and builds.
What the awakenings can do:
- Q: By awakening, your attack speed increases again, and your next 2 attacks unleash a chain lightning that can jump up to 6 times. If no other opponent is nearby, all 6 attacks hit the same target and deal enormous damage to isolated enemies.
- W: You gain another shield that can be increased. Additionally, you restore part of your maximum health over the next 2 seconds.
- E: Increases your movement speed and gives you temporary immunity to CC effects.
- R: The ice tower chases the last attacked enemy and deals area damage. A bit like a mobile Anivia ultimate.
In this, your Q-skill scales with attack damage and makes Udyr a good melee damage dealer. Similarly, your R scales with ability damage, which also opens up the possibility for him to go more towards mage.
The developers revealed to us in the interview that Udyr is still designed as a tank. He should be able to roam in the jungle and possibly on the top lane, enduring a lot. Nevertheless, Riot wanted to keep the doors open here to experiment with his builds.
This extremely agile set allows Udyr to play both tank and AD or AP. This not only hopefully brings the spirit walker back into the meta, but also brings me back into the jungle.
By the way, the new Udyr also has voice lines that interact with the monsters in the jungle. This is for the first time and is meant to solidify his role in the Rift. A small detail that exudes a lot of love.
You can play the new Udyr starting today on the PBE server and presumably from August 23 on the live servers, along with update 12.16.
Why exactly this champion? But why does Udyr draw me back after such a long time? Numerous new champions have appeared in the past 5 years, and similarly many have been reworked during that time.
But Udyr feels a bit like coming home. I had been averse to LoL for a long time simply because I did not feel like constantly learning something new. I would of course have played a League Classic right away, but due to all the changes in the game, I didn’t think I would ever come back and take the time to really stick with it.
The new Udyr, who is also the old Udyr, changes that drastically. He is simple enough in his basic mechanics to quickly get into the concept of “Udyr.” This way, I can quickly find my way around my champion and focus on the jungle and the game itself.
His new skills still make him even more versatile than before. Thanks to the new Phoenix form, which also brings ranged attacks, and his stun, during which he is immune to CC, I could even imagine trying Udyr as a damage mage in the mid lane.
I can also imagine the new Udyr as a sort of tanky support, although not quite optimally. He is extremely adaptive and can adjust even better to his opponents and the match thanks to the rework.
The new Udyr gives me what I already know, only refreshed and adapted to today’s versatile champions. He is exactly what I have always wished from Riot, even though I have never articulated it – a reason to come back.
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