Hey guys, this is my first guide. I've seen everyone playing Volibear as straight tank or tanky dps like Lee Sin and I decided to show off my alternate idea. I based my build off of other tanky AP's like Chogath and Singed, and from what I've seen this is an interesting way to play volibear. None of volibear's attacks scale off of attack damage, but his E scales with 60% of his AP and his ult scales off of 30% of his AP. His W scales off of your health and how much health the enemy is missing, so his abilities benefit the most from building Health and AP items.

Not really interested in making a super detailed, extremely explicit guide. This is just a quick explanation of my alternate build idea.

The masteries give you CD reduction, magic pen, and increased % damage dealt while also focusing on reducing the damage Volibear takes so he can stay in the middle of a fight as long as possible.

Building Rod of Ages early is crucial since it builds over time the health and AP bonuses you get. Mercury Treads are almost mandatory because since all of his attacks are melee or really short range he suffers greatly from any type of CC. Rylai's adds more AP and Health, and procs with your ult. So whenever you autoattack using your ult, you'll slow them as well. The rest of the items are much more situational and depend on who you're facing. Hextech can work very well since volibear attacks in a mix of physical and magic damage and gives you some nice Life Steal/Spell Vamp.