LoL Udyr Rework: Release Date, Info & more

Udyr is the next champion to receive a Visual Gameplay Update in 2022, but what do we know about the changes coming to the champion?

Udyr is going to be getting his long-anticipated VGU in 2022. Players have been asking for this update for over a year, and it couldn't come soon enough for those jungle mains who love to slap their enemies over and over and run at them with full speed.

Sure, we've got Bel'Veth to do those things for us as well with her unique four dashes, but Udyr is the OG, and he is going to roar and run straight at you from the jungle when he's coming in for a gank and finally Riot has revealed all information we need about Udyr.

LoL: Champion Roadmap for 2022

LoL Udyr VGU: What is Riot Reworking?

Udyr is one of the most outdated champions in the game, which is why Riot is going to rework his abilities without sacrificing the essence of who Udyr is as a champion. Even if he is outdated, he's an iconic champion to the game and the team wants to keep him feeling like the same champion.

In 2020, Riot reworked Fiddlesticks and the VGU was well-received since the kit was updated to fit into modern League of Legends, but it wasn't too different from his old kit, keeping the essence of the Runeterran scarecrow. Similarly, Riot is approaching the Udyr rework.

Udyr Reworked Abilities Revealed

The first person to reveal the rework was known League of Legends streamer Trick2G and now Riot has also confirmed the new abilities. So let's check out what new Udyr can do compared to old Udyr.

New Udyr Abilities after VGU

Udyr Abilities	New	Old
P	Awakened Spirit: Instead of a traditional ultimate, Udyr has four basic abilities that swap between stances. The champion can re-cast his stance during its cooldown to Awaken it, refreshing it with bonus effects. Monk Training: After using an Ability, Udyr’s next two attacks within four seconds gain 30% increased attack speed and refund 5% of Awaken’s cooldown on hit.	Udyr gains stacking Move Speed and Attack Speed after using an Ability. Udyr has four basic Abilities that he may use to swap between Stances. Changing Stances immediately ends both the passive and the on-hit portion of the previous Stance.
Q	Wilding Stance: Udyr gains 25% attack speed for four seconds. His next two attacks in this stance maul the target to deal a bonus of 3.2% max health physical damage. Awaken: Grants 34% additional attack speed. During this time, Udy’rs next two attacks call lightning to strike six times, each dealing up to 10.6% max health magic damage to isolated targets.	Tiger Stance: Activation - Udyr's Attack Speed is increased for a few seconds. Persistent Effect - Udyr's first attack and every third attack after will deal a high amount of damage over 2 seconds.
W	Mantle Stance: Udyr gains 63 shield for four seconds. His next two attacks in this stance additionally gain 10% life steal and restore 12 health on hit. Awaken: Shield increased to 178, and Udyr regenerates 89 over four seconds. Stance Life on hit and life steal bonuses doubled during this time.	Turtle Stance: Activation - Udyr gains a temporary shield that absorbs damage. Persistent Effect - Udyr's first attack and every third attack after heals him for 2.5% of his maximum health.
E	Stampede Stance: Udyr gains 30% move speed, decaying over four seconds. Additionally, Udyr’s attacks in this stance lunge at and stun targets for .75 seconds. This effect has a six-second cooldown on each target. Awaken: Grants immunity to immobilizing and disabling effects and an additional 32% move speed for 1.5 seconds.	Bear Stance: Activation - Udyr increases Move Speed for a short duration. Persistent Effect - Udyr's basic attacks stun his target for 1 second. This effect cannot occur on the same target for several seconds.
R	Storm Stance: Udyr surrounds himself in a glacial storm for four seconds that deals 20 magic damage per second to nearby enemies inside and slows them by 15%. Udyr’s next two attacks in this stance deal 14 magic damage to enemies in the storm. Awaken: Unleash the storm, causing it to seek a nearby. [Sic] Deals an additional 9.4% max health damage over the remainder of its duration.	Phoenix Stance: Activation - Udyr unleashes pulsing waves of fire, dealing damage to nearby enemies. Persistent Effect - Udyr's first attack and every third attack after engulfs enemies in front of him with flames.

With these ability changes Udyr looks to be in a much better place. He will still have the same melee fighter flavor older Udyr players know and love, while new LoL players get to feel like they're playing a freshly released champion. Hopefully, he lives up to the hype.

Udyr Visual Rework

Of course, a huge part of the VGU is also to refresh and renew a champion's model. This means, some champions will go through a complete overhaul by Riot. Udyr went through various phases according to the rework team, at first with antlers which were later taken away because the team "couldn’t get them to not look goofy because of how hunched over [Udyr] is."

So, goodbye concept of giant antlers and hello a well-proportioned mountain man. The team focused on making him look like an older man living in the mountains, giving him long, thick hair. Once again, this is what he looked like in essence before, but his character model will be able to reflect the stances much better and just look much cleaner once the rework is live.

According to Jason “OOYOO” Namgung, Udyr's character artist, the base body was easy to create, while the four stances were the hardest part.

His base body was pretty straight forward, but his four stances were a major hurdle. Not only were there four of them, but we also had to make sure each one amplified the fantasy of the animal spirit they’re associated with.

Reworked udyr — This is a concept we can get behind. | © Riot Games

Re-Working Udyr's Skins

Of course, as with every champion rework, we will also be receiving some new, reworked skins. The skins themselves are getting a glow-up, as well as the splash arts, which in Udyr's case is pretty important since he is one of the oldest champions in League of Legends.

Which Udyr Skins Are Getting Reworked?

Udyr doesn't have too many skins in his inventory, but one of them is an ultimate skin. Reworking an ultimate skin is going to be the most difficult part when it comes to visually enhancing his cosmetics, since it is one of the most expensive skin tiers in the game and therefore Riot will have to make sure that the new look is worth the price.

All New Udyr Splash Arts View gallery

These are all of Udyr's skins getting reworked

Black Belt Udyr (520 RP)
Definitely Not Udyr (975 RP)
Dragon Oracle Udyr (1350 RP)
Spirit Guard Udyr (3250 RP)

When Will Riot Release the Udyr Rework?

The Udyr rework has been confirmed to hit the PBE server for League of Legends Patch 12.16. Many fans had hoped that Udyr would be making an appearance at the beginning of August, but he will likely be announced along with the upcoming League of Legends Roadmap which should come in the second week of August.