The Udyr Visual and Gameplay Update just went live in League of Legends Patch 12.16, but that is a bit too close to the upcoming League of Legends World Championship, which means the new Udyr won't be seen on the biggest stage of League of Legends... yet.
With LoL Worlds 2022 just around the corner, we're hyped to see which champions will be hitting the rift and making an appearance on the biggest stage of lolesports, right? Last year, Akshan and Vex were disabled for the big tournament and the 2022 World Championship will also be missing someone...
The new Udyr VGU has been officially disabled and won't be making an appearance at the League of Legends World Championship. So we're going to have one last hurray for the old version of the champion, but is he actually going to be seeing play? We doubt it.
Udyr VGU Disabled for Worlds 2022
Udyr is the hot new toy on Summoner's Rift and while he has been one of the most talked about champions in a while, we won't be seeing him in pro play anytime soon. You'll have to wait for the 2023 LCS Spring Split if you've got any hopes of seeing him... or maybe even the Demacia Cup in the LPL.
So, if you want high-skilled gameplay, then you'll have to tune in to your favorite streamer and hope that Udyr is going to be picked because we won't be seeing the Udyr VGU in North America this fall. But, are we even surprised? Akshan and Vex both didn't make it to Worlds 2021 due to being too new.
Why is the Udyr VGU Disabled for Worlds 2022?
Last year, when Riot announced that Akshan wouldn't be making it to the 2021 League of Legends World Championship, Tom Martell, Director of League Operations wrote in a statement:
Per our current policy, new champions must be enabled for playoffs in all four of the top regions to be enabled at Worlds.
Sure, you might argue that Udyr isn't a new champion, but due to the visual and gameplay update he's received a whole new kit with reworked abilities as well as new skins and a new model. So... if we're being honest, we can technically count this as Udyr being a brand-new champion.
The LCK will play out their entire playoffs – with finals taking place August 28, 2022 – on LoL Patch 12.14 and the LPL playoffs are going to be played entirely on LoL Patch 12.15. With the Udyr VGU being released in Patch 12.16 it makes sense why he won't be seeing any play during the 2022 League of Legends World Championship in North America.