As someone who enjoys old udyr, I agree with the stances being abilities point. Old Udyr, for league of legends, is kind of like a long sword of a champion, very simple, but also versatile. You can go Full AD or AS, you can go bruiser, you can go rank, hell you can play him as an ap assassin, but the new one is so focused on his passive that the riot devs shorted his stances

"Next September, when the Skarner VGU releases" I'm pretty sure that each time someone asks when that VGU is gonna get released, Riot pushes it back by another week.

Been watching Nicky since he coached Ross, can't wait for yet another flawless upload.

The Udyr rework reminds me of the first time I played Nunu after his. It was a complete redo of a character's fantasy to make them feel how they are presented in lore. I'm starting to wonder if this is just a "Frejord" thing since no other rework has done this for me, but Udyr is, so far, one of my favorite reworks to date. Next to maybe Fiddle, Nunu, and Galio, I think this is one of the better ones. Definitely better than Kayle's, that's for sure lmao.

As an Udyr main I must say, all of Udyr's skins and visuals look amazing, the colour consistency is a little weird but they all still look great. His gameplay looks really enjoyable and seems to add a whole new level of skill expression, though lane Udyr does seem a little worse now cause you have to constantly spam stances making his sustain much worst in terms of mana, not to mention the scalings could use some tuning. And there are some more gripes i have with his animations and his literal bare back, but overall they did a great job.

Nicky. I just wanted you to know that it took me 35 minutes to finish an 18 minute video. This just goes to show how filled with details and care those videos are. Cheers mate, you are amazing.

Full stop, the Spirit Guard VGU, is by far my favorite i've seen from Riot in a WHILE, absolutely fucking love this, and I really can't wait to get onto the rift with updated Udyr

I love that the spirit guard skin is not only a nod to the old udyr but is also actually canon

Thank you Nicky, for including one of the greatest weight lifters from Georgia - Lasha Talakhadze. It really hit the spot when I got the chance to saw him on your channel. Thanks to you, again!!!

I have an idea for the stances, like a mini awakened stance, Every 3 autos While Q and W are is active, you gain the same effect as old ones, E can stay the same But R, can be every third auto he ganes A storm that last for like a second, it appears and deals 2 tics of damage Just my thoughts tho

It’s because there’s no seal sister passive isn’t it ?

Damn this man ruins his sleep schedule for pop out tons of masterpieces back to back But seriously dude get some well deserved rest my guy

The old passive was personally the most fun just it made it feel like an fighting game, so I hope it will comeback cuz I do agree the 2 aa speed with no ms increasing it feels meh.

i like the idea of the stances having permanent buffs when you are in it!

12:37 I think the reason that they swoped the coolers on tiger and bear is so new players wouldn't be confused that the volibear stance was stunning them.

I'd say the greatest advantage Riot had with the Udyr rework is a great starting point and clear direction. His lore was cannon, his visual idea was already present for everybody as a rugged, mid-aged brawler shaman, and a playstyle so iconic and usable, they didn't need much direction with that either (and don't go down on me with how difficult was this and that - I get that, but atleast they could skip some thinking regarding what his abilities should be). But next - I fear what they will do with Skarner who has absolutely nothing going on.

While I agree that the loss of stances is a sad thing I can understand why Riot did this. As already said it doesnt matter in the jg but as a laner the stance thing is conceptually really broken since it means that the windows to abuse Udyr would be very small (if he was ever to become a good laner). This means (theoratically) that he can be allowed to be a solid laner

I love your editing man. Literally the first 1:30 minutes It felt like an entire video went by with funny editing and quips and I was delighted to see that I still had 17:14 minutes left.

1:20 holy shit I chocked with that hahahah Mordekaiser dragging you to Brazil will never get old

15:48 that veigar trying to steal the jungle camp LMAOOOOO

14:26 I like how he used the volibear stance on volibear

As an Udyr main... I've been nodding my head 90% of the time, you've said it all. Well done man, well done.

One thing they could do to fix the issue with his "stances" not actually being stances is to re-use the old udyr's Bear cooldown mechanic. Old Udyr (Although new Udyr's Ram stance might also do this) use to have a per-champion internal cooldown on his stun. He could stun any number of times he wanted, up to the number of champions on the enemy team he could hit, but no one person could get stunned more than once every several seconds. I think they should do something like this with ALL of his abilities. Alter his 2-hit passive to instead active his current stance's on-hit effect whenever he attacks a champion, up to *once* per champion globally. That is to say, not once per stance per champion, but once *per champion* period. Because if you just have each stance's effect be its own separate cooldown, you loop right back around to the same core problem with the false stance design: There is no actual choice being made. The only question you have to consider is whether or not you've gotten your current stance's value or not. if you have, you switch, if not, get it fool! This is true with New Udyr, and would remain true with this suggested change if his stance's on-hit cooldowns were independant. Instead, make them more powerful, and make the cooldown very short. Probably 2 seconds, maybe 3. Alternatively, make it auto-attack based, such that its every Xth auto against the same champion. I prefer the cooldown being in raw seconds, however, because it keeps it consistent throughout the game and encourages him to share the love instead of focusing down a single target- thereby maintaining the push in the Bruiser/Tank direction. Could have each attack lower the cooldown by a tiny bit, but not a whole lot, to ensure that a raw AD assassin setup is still competitive. This way, the question an Udyr player must ask themselves is not "Have I got my two attacks with this stance over with so I can switch to a new one for more value?" but rather "Which Stance would be optimal *right now*?". The difference is sort of subtle, but the key is that with the first question, the answer is NEVER "My current stance." Because you can't get value out of a stance you're already in unless you're using the Awakening effect, which is very much its own little thing and not particularly attached to the decision (Which, by the way, is a good mechanic which also asks the latter question. Again because it's a single "shared" cooldown between all its possible effects). With the second question, the answer CAN just be "My current stance". And due to the way the champion works, it'll never *always* be the right decision. Sometimes you'll need waveclear, sometimes you need healing and to not die, sometimes you need to run away, sometimes you need just that little bit more single-target DPS to take down an objective or, well, a single target. Forcing an Udyr player to make that decision every few seconds is exactly what old Udyr did, and Old udyr did occasionally sit in a stance for several seconds just because its passive effect was more valuable than the switch at that particular moment. But current udyr doesn't have that. He has no passive effects. In a weird way, Udyr who was THE champion all about switching between passive effects with a bit of a boost between swaps, became a champion who *literally has no passive effects*. EVERYTHING he does requires pushing a button, even his "passive".

(AD) udyr is still kinda playable, I personally play him on lane and found some nice ways to survive and win trades so (AD) udyr its hidden away in white text, the (W) gives lifesteal and the awakened one a ridiculous amount. People seem to ignore this part of his kit a bit. His (Q) on itself is not a big burst of damage early but you can get more damage out of it than you think. You can play arround this (W) lifesteal strength and make his q pretty scary. (see more text below) For the current AD udyr i'm still experimenting: I go 2x Vampiric Scepter -> boots -> Deathdance This may seem a little ridiculous but it works pretty well, you can trade pretty wel and even longer fights work good. Also when you get poked wel all this lifesteal from his (W) keep you full hp while farming. So all the items I use, stil haven figured out the rest of the order from the point you read above. DeathDance Boots Imortal Shield Bow / Goredrinker Spirit Visage / Force Of Nature / Maw Of Malmortius / Titanic Hydra Manamune Blade Of The Ruined King Maybe this is something idk see it for yourself, I personally like it.(AD) udyr is still kinda playable, I personally play him on lane and found some nice ways to survive and win trades so (AD) udyr its hidden away in white text, the (W) gives lifesteal and the awakened one a ridiculous amount. People seem to ignore this part of his kit a bit. His (Q) on itself is not a big burst of damage early but you can get more damage out of it than you think. You can play arround this (W) lifesteal strength and see more text below make his q pretty scary. For the current AD udyr i'm still experimenting: I go 2x Vampiric Scepter -> boots -> Deathdance This may seem a little ridiculous but it works pretty well, you can trade pretty wel and even longer fights work good. Also when you get poked wel all this lifesteal from his (W) keep you full hp while farming. So all the items I use, stil haven figured out the rest of the order from the point you read above. DeathDance Boots Imortal Shield Bow / Goredrinker Spirit Visage / Force Of Nature / Maw Of Malmortius / Titanic Hydra Manamune Blade Of The Ruined King Maybe this is something idk see it for yourself, I personally like it.

Thats one hell of good video. Thanks for love for traditional skins!

Nicky showing Ronnie Coleman in his montage of powerlifters right after saying that bodybuilders don't reach the same level of strength as powerlifting is one of many reasons why Ronnie remains the king.

16:20 oh my god nicky, you really hit me in the feels with this, I remember this show going on my grand parent’s Tv 15 fucking years ago or something

”bodybuilders are strong, just not as strong as-” *shows ronnie coleman, one of, if not the goat of bodybuilding*

This one is your best video so far, your growth with timing, editing, delivering and confidence has really improved since the time you had 10 k subscribers. Nice

If each stance at least had a STAT increase to make it feel different like attack speed, Omni vamp, move speed, and attack range I would be content, also to give him a seal sister passive just add after 3 hits, regain mana, speaking of 3 hits, boosts the ability effect from 2 to 3 because it further increases his first passive decrease while also helping the stance portion I just talked about have more value if you decrease your passive more with even one stance. I made a Reddit post about this but linking it would be kinda shitty, since it’d be riding off a successful KZfaqr…

Really enjoying the editing and script for this one

his passive is related to the Seal Sister though, the way he Awakens his stances is strongly indicated to be the blessing she granted him after that shitty ass meal he ate

Im so glad that spiritguard keeps the old stances, i was missing turtl, i love turtle.!!!!!!!!!

Very well edited and presented video. It's my first time on your channel and won't be my last. Well done and thank you NickyBoi

I love these videos thank you Nicky

As a thicc boy enjoyer I think this new Udyr is definetly one I am excited to see come to the rift. I like how they made his dragon oracle skin look so fantastic too, with the R form having winter wyvern wings! It is so cool!!! Also rip Udyr's one old joke line: IF PETA ASKS THIS FUR IS FAKE!

Honestly I think the udyr rework is as good as it could be. Added more depth to actually playing him while keeping his feel the same and making him look amazing.

I now HEAVILY regret disenchanting my Spirit-Guard Udyr skin shard 2 months ago

Loved the Mundo one, loved this one. Keep it up!

Im glad u mentioned about Udyr's body. I also made video about it just after his trailer was released becuz I hate it when so much ppl think he's fat

i really do hope riot swaps the colors on tiger and bear for spirit guard udyr

Absolutely loved hearing pats thoughts on how the new "stances" work

I think it lacks the "stance" thing to me, not that before you remained a lot in a stance, but now, you HAVE to change, I used to go ad tiger and use Q and proc the tiger 3 hit passive as much as I could before changing, now that doesn't exists anymore, kinda lame, but I hope he is fun to play

To be exact : Spirit Guard Udyr is the representation of Udyr if he stayed in Ionia to train with Lee, like if he never came back to Freljord and mastered the spirits of Ionia instead

Honestly, after that lore segment, I'm convinced that Nicky can edit/narrate something like a nature documentary and I'd still be entertained the whole time.

The just for laugh ending got my canadian laugh real good

18:20 "either next september when the skarner rework will probably release" riot: yeah... about that...

Incredible editing

Thank you for talking about the death of stances. As an udyr main it felt weird seeing everyone ignore it.

the thumbnail looks awsome ngl. Want this as a screen saver

I really enjoyed the editing

Amazing! Well done!

This is literally perfect

Man love your editing as much as the rework

i pulled spirit fuard udyr from a level up capsule 3 years ago. since then ive always wanted to play udyr but he was so jank. glad to see him become chad

its great, only thing i wish was different was the ram stance being elbows down fist up to mirror the horns

Seliana's theme for udyr is so fitting, nice one NickyBoi

The edits are so funny man, props! Lost my shit at the ww scene.

Man, this guy actually has all of my thoughts about the rework, amazing how similar they all are. I also wish they add LoR udyr skin, mainly because of the pelt, they can make it change based on the stance just like old udyr

OMG the definitely not Udyr jump scare XD I can totally feel the torment behind those beady of his

Maybe if they make udyr stances like kha's evolution where we can chose which stance to be in perma awakened state. It can even connect to the seal sister lore where she blessed udyr, like we chose which stance to "bless".

I hear that Dr Crankcase theme Nicky, you sir are a man of culture

I dind´t know about this series, I LOVE THIS SERIES

personally, even though i could never get into old udyr's gameplay because of the clunkiness and i much preffer how smooth the new one feels, i agree that there should be something that happens in a stance beyond 2 empowered aa, maybe voli stance could give you a attack spee buff as long as you're in it, boar stance could give you half the on-hit healing and life steal it gives on the first 2 hits, ornn stance could give you additional movement speed as long as you're in it, anivia stance could give you a mini nashor's while you're in it however personally i don't think anivia an ornn stance need that much additional stuff as voli and boar, who do literally nothing after 2 aa another idea that would probably be easier to implement is that while you are in a stance, besides the first 2 aa, your aa slightly cut the cooldown for the stance you are in, so if you continue being in a stance after the main effect run out, you can stay in it to get it back quicker, that in itself would be a massive buff to voli stance, which feels the most underwhelming rn, as the bonus attack speed it gives you would mean you could get the stance back faster than any other

Thanls for the monster hunter theme in the back. Very nice

lmao the jokes in this are so funny. subbed

18:20 "next september" yeeeeaaaaah about that...

I always thought they would put more active components onto his stances, like one being a sort of dash move and others some sort of fighting techniques (like sweeps, holds and etc.) and they did none of that. His gameplay is barely different

Finally it came out and it was worth the wait

The absolute best part of this rework is that spamming ctrl+4 make him do the drip pose

I lost it at the seal sister bit 😂

i like the udyr rework because it brings new " skill expression " to the guy that used to only walk at you and auto attack but still his back looks wierd

Man I quote the "do you LOVE it?" line daily so happy it's back

Just so you know, if you go full ad on Udyr you can potentially do upwards of 50% max health damage in bear stance then awaken it to refresh the effects on top of the chain lightning. 100% max health damage

6:19 fun fact grizzly (screaming guy) is from my Hometown kavala (Greece) met him in the cinema once

06:10 You know, here in Brazil we have a expression called Fordo, resuming: Its someone thats so strong that have goes fat of muscles

I see the dunkey inspiration, good video

Bear man

That visuals bit alone made me want to buy udyr and the dragon skin for him

Add to his pass, blessing of seal Sister, add old 3rd hit effects after 1st 2, an he can keep gaining lvs pass 18, at lv20 they lower from 3 to 2.

The fact that the stances don't have permanent "every 3 auto attacks" passives doesn't really bother me, since I play him in the jungle and there you're already swapping through your stances constantly. Although, I feel like only 2 auto attacks is far too few, and something like 3 or 4 would make the stances last long enough to actually feel like stances, while still heavily encouraging you to not linger on one for an entire fight.

damn nicky busting out another banger. missed your content. (dont tell sunny but some days i just watch her for you lol) as for udyr i think pats right about abilities vs stances but i think it's pretty good. i never particularly was fond of old udyr but mostly i just never had a great game as him. i haven't had time to try newdyr out tho so im looking forward to it

Man i will miss the "every 3 auto" effect, my old double tiger lvl 1 burst will be gone forever :c

Your videos go hard

I love the rework, but like, it literally took riot a year and a half Not like it's a bad thing, they really polished him to near perfection, but I actually dread that we will see Skarners rework in 2025

the thing with spirit guard is that it was such an insane improvement on old base udyr that it felt worth the price. Now its just a pretty good skin for udyr, not much more. It feels worse even though technically, it got better

The xavier renegade angel reference was a nice touch 😂

"Next september when Skarner rework will probably release" Oh this words... Aged like milk

I've played a lot of udyr, and I freaking love the rework. He's kinda the same, but now you actually have to think about how you play him. You get a decision on what to awaken, and swapping stance to lower the cd on awaken is a nice thing. I do miss the every 3rd attack on phoenix though.

9:00 Man absorbed 5 Katerinas into that Dad bod hot damn

Tbh I think this VGU was phenomenal and did everything it should and more he feels like a champion now when I first tried him he felt unfinished and unpolished now he does and feels so fluid

best soundtrack of the youtube

The Seal Sister is a part of Udyrs passive. She was the one who gave him the ability to Awaken his stances

I really feel the title hits home on this one.

12:07 I am subscribing just for that Xavier renegade angel reference

I haven't played him yet but there is one thing, I really wish for. I hope that Udyr can still be played in every way he used to be played. Like Nicky already said, I love both, AD and AP Udyr. But after seeing a lot of Udyr Gameplay, most of the time people played him as an AP/Tank. This is not bad, in fact, I liked it. Nonetheless I hope his AD/Lethality Build is still a valuable alternative. Thank you again Nicky, for another great and entertaining video. And for the hard work you have put in it.

that ultimate skin compared to the old one is a huge step up

DALE VOLII DALEEE

I wish they'd kept Udyr's old auto attack passives for each ability so it can really feels like stance other than abilities.

I wish they kept the attack speed part of the passive as how it used to be. Also, still having the stances have a passive ability would have been nice.