Teamfight Tactics Volibear and Brawlers 101

Volibear has recently been terrorizing Teamfight Tactics, and it’s clear as to why. He has massive AOE on-hit procs, insane amounts of tankiness and a flexible build and composition around him. Brawler synergy gives your team a large base HP boost that increases your overall durability. This in combination with Volibear’s possible utility output makes him a great counter to those pesky Ninja Assassin comps. In addition, few sights can rival that of a big bipedal bear slapping the sense out of an entire army.

Early game consists of picking up any good composition to keep your health up. This can be Gunslingers, Assassins, or any combination of good early units. The item you need the most and should likely play carousel for is a Rapid Fire Cannon. With it, Volibear can attack and charge his Lightning Claws while not being in the front line.

Make sure that you pick up Brawlers any chance you get, as the Brawler power spike is crucial to Carrybear’s transition to late game. You will eventually be picking up Cho’gath, so keep that in mind. From here, what build and supporting units to go for is up to you. Here are a couple of options.

4 Brawler + 4/6 Glacial

This composition relies on massive health bars and CC chains in order for Volibear to slowly chip everyone down and stop the enemy comps from doing the same. Utility items become less useful when it is built into the composition, so try and give your Bear more damage or tankiness. Guinsoo’s, Warmog’s, Dragon’s Claw or Phantom Dancer can be good 2nd and 3rd item choices. Looking for a Frozen Mallet can also be crucial to getting the much improved 6 Glacial synergy.

Sejuani and Braum are useful to make your front line even beefier, while Lissandra and Anivia provide magic damage to your composition. You can use Ashe, but remember that she will likely not be given the usual items. In addition, you could also run Elementalists by giving Brand or Kennen the Frozen Mallet. If you don’t want to go for a full 6 Glacials, you can add a Kha’zix or Kassadin to give you Void synergy with Cho’gath and Rek’sai.

If you find yourself with excess economy, consider re-rolling for a 3 star Volibear. With each star gained, the amount of targets he can zap per auto goes up. Starting at level 6, the rates for rolling a 3 gold unit are worth going for.

2/4 Brawlers + 2/4 Demons + Elementalists

If you want to spice up your Volibear gameplay, consider the Demon Bear strategy. You still want an RFC on him as early as possible, but you also want to secure a Demon class change for him. This will give him 40 starting mana and will allow him to AOE mana burn the unfortunate opposing team. Consider a utility item last, such as a Cursed Blade or Sword Breaker.

By pairing your Demon Bear with Elementalists, he gets at minimum 2 Demon and 2 Glacial synergies. Having Daisy also frees you up to grab more damage and synergy units instead of more tanks. Running Morgana, Brand and either Aatrox or Swain will get your Demon Bear up to a 50% chance to mana burn. You can accomplish this using a 7 man composition, leaving you with the opportunity to get level 9 to add on extra Brawlers, Demons or Glacials.

Remember that what’s listed above is by no means the only way to play. There are so many items that are viable on Volibear carry, such as Hush, Gunblade, Bloodthirster, Red Buff and many more. There are also many hilarious combinations that you can make work with other compositions. You might see an Assassin Bear or a Blademaster Bear running rampant in some games. The beauty of this playstyle is truly in the eye of the Bear-holder.

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