Udyr the spirit walker was picked recently in the LCK. He was chosen by Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon in the second game of a DRX series against Nongshim RedForce.
Pyosik gave Udyr its first appearance in the league in almost 1,800 days. He also delivered the champion its first win of the season.
The champion has not been discussed recently as a potential pick in the LCK, or in any other league’s meta for that matter. But the champion does check a lot of the boxes that current meta jungler picks do as well.
He has a decent clear speed in the jungle, which is great for outpacing your opponent who may be on a champion more inclined to ganking, and Udyr has incredible chase potential in team fights. With the Turbo Chem Tank mythic item, Udyr can chase and slow opponents with ease while also accruing health and magic resistance.
Udyr does have some drawbacks in a professional match. The champion does not have great objective control early, and this was highlighted in the match against Nogshim RedForce. Pyosik only claimed one neutral objective in the first 15 minutes, surrendering a lot of early pressure to the opposing Nidalee.
The champion also has a hard time ganking lanes, Pyosik was frequently trying to gank for his top laner but failed multiple times because of the enemy flashing and using escape tools on Gnar.
In an interview with Ashley Kang following the series, Pyosik explained that Udyr can work within the current meta and that the plan was to always bring out the champion in the second game, regardless of the previous result.
Pyosik has also been playing the champion in solo queue with marginal success and recently brought it into scrims where it saw enough positive results to warrant a pick in a professional match. He highlighted the champion’s high movement speed and its ease of play, even at a professional level. He said that fans should expect to see the champion more in the future.
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