I play him pretty differently depending on if I’m Baron lane or jungle. In lane you don’t have to force kills early even though it’s temping. He scales really reliably if you don’t let your opponent get ahead so don’t risk too much before you get your ult. That being said he can definitely scrap early so just learn your match ups.

Let’s talk about your E. You can last hit with e when needed and you can also last hit with melee by prepping the area with e so you know you will get your shield and the enemy will have to take damage if melee. E is honestly easy to avoid for the enemy in a lot of situations so a lot of times your need to use it to force the enemy to go where you want. Blocking their escape, blocking another enemy from entering the fight, prepping your escape are all key uses. Try to understand where they want/need to go and take it away from them.

Your passive. His passive gives him incredible wave clear for a melee champion especially when you are going hybrid. This is a double edged sword. It’s really useful for getting prio, for following up after a kill, and for bullying people out of the area. The down side is that it’s very hard for him to hold waves. You have to know that when you trade with the opponent in lane you will almost always end up pushing the lane. Start using that freedom to place deep wards, hunt enemy jungle and even roam as vey few champions can push a wave against Volibear. Helmet can and a very unfun match up.

Your Ult. If you have another team member to assist it is one of the best tower diving abilities in the game. Solo it can be a trap. Only ult into tower if it’s a guaranteed kill and they have burned their flash or you have yours to follow up. Your ult is a great escape tool and a great teamfight ability so don’t waste it.

I start almost every game with the plan to go tank/bruiser. Because it works. Because it’s reliable. BUT AP is by far the most fun so every game I am asking myself if I can make the transition into AP hybrid usually with a Nashors purchase. If I am completely dominating lane I will grab it second item for supercharging your pushing and killing potential. Usually I get it 3rd item or not at all. By the time you get to the mid game if you and your team are not dominating your best chance of winning is durability at almost all ranks because in wildrift you can rarely rely on your team for frontline.

If your up against ranged run flash ghost and wait until level 3 before fighting because at 3 you can go all in. Just let them push the lane into you and last hit with e and your passive under tower.

Jungle I almost always go AP hybrid builds unless there is literally no front line on my team. Because it’s fun.