The Spirit Walker has never looked more ethereal--or jacked.
Riot Games has officially revealed the long-awaited rework of League of Legends champion Udyr the Spirit Walker. Udyr’s rework is the latest in a string of visual gameplay updates, referred to as VGUs, to hit the massively popular multiplayer online battle-arena.
While the new trailer doesn’t layout all the changes coming to Udyr, it does offer a pretty impressive first-look as well as a fairly comprehensive overview. According to Riot Games, Udyr now has the ability to commune with “any and all of the spirits of the Freljord,” the harsh and oppressively cold land Udyr and many champions–such as Ashe, Lissandra, and Sejuani–call home. Udyr can also channel these spirits’ ethereal energy and utilize them in his own “wild fighting style.”
Based on the trailer, it seems that Udyr will still have his Bear and Phoenix fighting stances. However, his Turtle and Tiger stances have seemingly been switched out to accommodate two new creatures of the Freljord: the Ram and Boar. More notably, all of these stance’s proper names now reference the Freljord gods Anivia, Ornn, the Iron Boar, and Volibear, adding a lot more continuity to the character.
“With the ability to commune with any and all of the spirits of the Freljord, Udyr channels and transforms their ethereal energy into his own wild physical fighting style,” Riot Games wrote in the rework press release. “Through his growing mastery of this awe-inspiring and versatile power, Udyr seeks to maintain the balance of the Freljord’s mystical landscape, where conflict and struggle is its lifesblood… and where sacrifices must be made to keep peace at bay.”
In addition to his new playstyle, the trailer also showed off Udyr’s beefed-up new look. Let’s just say if his axe and glowing eyes don’t give enemy players a scare, his hulking frame should do the trick.
As of right now, Riot Games has yet to announce when the update will officially go live. However, fans should be able to expect the reworked Udyr to hit servers sometime in the next few months.
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