Udyr is getting a new rework and VGU after winning fan vote

William Davis Published 01/02/2021

This year’s champion update and skin thematic fan vote results are in, with Udyr and Crime City Nightmare winning out globally. 

During a recent fan vote, Riot Games gave the League of Legends community the chance to decide which champion will get an upcoming visual gameplay update. Riot also gave fans a chance to vote for the upcoming skin thematics, where Crime City Nightmare came out on top followed up by Debonair 2.0. Both of these skin thematics are expected to hit Summoner’s Rift in 2021, while Udyr will be the first champion to get a VGU in 2022. 

Udyr to receive new VGU in 2022

For the fan voting this year, Riot gave fans the option to vote between five champions who are all considered to be old enough that a visual gameplay update would be beneficial. The five champions were Skarner, Nocturne, Quinn, Shyvana, and Udyr. 

While it would be nice to see all five champions updated, Riot only has time for a few every year, and that’s why a fan vote was necessary. At the conclusion of the vote, Udyr won by a landslide with 37.2% of all votes globally. The other champions were way behind in the voting, with Shyvana coming in at second place with 18% of the votes. 

This means that Udyr will get a VGU, but it won’t arrive before 2022. Before his update, Riot is planning to release a VGU on Dr. Mundo which has been teased for a long time. This update will hit at some point during 2021. 

Crime City Nightmare and Debonair 2.0 skins to arrive in 2021

Besides the VGU fan vote, Riot also gave the community a chance to have a say in some new upcoming skin thematics. Riot is planning to release a lot of new skins in 2021 and some of them will be from completely new skin lines. Up for voting were Monster Tamers, Debonair 2.0, and Crime City Nightmare. 

Taking 49.6% of the votes was Crime City Nightmare, which will therefore be Riot’s first priority of the three. Luckily, Riot is working more quickly on new skins and has already confirmed that Debonair 2.0 skins will hit live servers before 2021 has ended. For Monster Tamers, Riot will continue thinking about the thematic further down the line. 

The exact release date for the Crime City Nightmare skin line is still unofficial, but fans can expect more news about it later this year.  

Is Udyr good in LoL?

Udyr has been considered outdated for years at this point and hasn’t been a viable meta pick prior to 2021. From the start of Season 11, Udyr has suddenly seen a rise in popularity in both solo queue and professional play. It started out as a surprising pick in pro play, but now that all of the world’s top leagues have started up for the 2021 season, Udyr is a highly contested pick in the jungle. In solo queue, Udyr is sitting at an impressive 53.86% win rate as of patch 11.2. For patch 11.3, Riot will provide some nerfs for Udyr to get him into a more balanced position.  

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