Feel the Rhythm #1: Jungling 100

Hey guys! Drummer here, and this is my first analytical piece. I chose to do it on a role I'm very comfortable with, and one that has (in my opinion) the largest impact on solo queue play. Most of this will probably be known by the majority (~60%) of junglers, so this is more targeted at the people who enjoy it but don't fully understand it yet, or those who would like to get into it.

Please, feel free to ask any questions you might have. So, heeeere we go!

 

Jungling - Why?

Having a character in the jungle frees up another lane to have a solo in: it gives you an edge via giving another champion more farm and experience than they would otherwise have by being in a duo lane.

The jungler tends to create the flow of the game. Very agressive junglers lead to shorter games, while junglers who farm and play passively lead to long, drawn out ones. In essence, you are the one manipulating the entirity of the game from a very, very early point. Of course, that takes much more skill and ability than we have now, but it will come with practice!

It also allows you (the jungler) to put pressure on the enemy lanes. An unseen jungler coming in for a gank often changes the tides of a skirmish or saves a teammate thus denying the enemy team free gold and experience. Junglers who are constantly pressuring lanes are also denying experience in gold, in that the enemy must stand further back to avoid being ganked, and won't be able to farm.

 As a jungler, this represents your domain.

 

Okay, fair enough. What kind of champions work best in the jungle?

Generally speaking, you want champions with above-average sustain (ways to regen your hp), or a shielding mechanism. Some examples I would give here are Nautilus, Trundle, Udyr, Fiddlesticks, and Lee Sin. However, there -are- junglers that do very well simply because their AoE (area of effect) damage is so high. Champions like Kayle, Udyr, Maokai, Alistar, and Skarner fit here.

There are also niche junglers: champions played in the jungle solely for their incredible pre-6 ganking power. These are champions such as Shaco, Pantheon, Alistar, and Lee Sin. Notice how there are quite a few champions that fit into multiple roles, and that's for very good reason. Some champions (Lee Sin, Udyr, Maokai, Skarner) are a much higher tier of jungler because of all the things they bring to their team.

 

You mentioned ganking. What is the difference between a successful and a failed gank?

This is one of the easiest questions of all time. Now here's a scenario: You come in for a gank, but the enemy champion seemingly escaped because he used his/her flash. Although it may not seem like it at first, this is a 100% successful gank. You've given your teammate an advantage, in that his flash is still available for escape or pursuit.

Basically, if you give your teammate an advantage, even a slight one, such as making the enemy lose cs and experience, it's a successful gank. There's really only two ways to fail: do nothing, or worse, you give your laner a disadvantage. This is done by (normally) underestimating the enemy's damage output, and giving up a kill, or forcing your laner to flash.

 

Okay, I have a bit better of an understanding now. What kind of mentality do I need to be a successful jungler?

Here's where it gets a little hazy. There are two very different kinds of players who jungle. There are carry junglers (like myself) and support junglers. The best examples of players I can think of are Saintvicious and OddOne for these roles, respectively. However, regardless of your style of jungling, your mentality has to be this: I want to get every possible advantage for my team. If you want to do that, jungling might be for you.

Carry junglers are very agressive. They are constantly farming their jungle, and when their camps are down they force objectives or skirmishes, or at least attempt to. These players tend to pick characters with strong clearing abilities. They are able to clear their jungle incredibly fast in order to apply more pressure on lanes, and even invading the enemy jungle for counter jungling in an attempt to cripple the enemy jungler. Characters that fall into this category are Nocturne, Shyvana, and Darius. Generally these characters posess a lot of damage early, but little to no crowd control (CC), so they are a bit more reliant on their laner to gank successfully.

I won't say support junglers are passive, as they are (of course) expected to gank and have some map presence. However, the support jungler generally focuses on clearing their camps, and then providing map control. These junglers generally get an early Oracle's Elixir, and clear wards for their team while placing wards of their own. These players pick characters like Nautilus or Alistar, champions with heavy CC abilities in order to make ganks much more successful. While agressive junglers will build in order to be able to deal damage and be tanky, these support junglers tend to build very similar to a bottom lane support character.

Now, regardless of the style of jungle you play, you have to have one thing in excess: Map Awareness. If you're jungling and you don't know what's going on in all lanes at all times, you're doing something wrong. You don't need to micro to clear camps (except at the very beginning of the game, perhaps), so you should constantly be looking at lanes.

Map awareness, got it. Anything else I need to be a good jungler?

LOOK AT THE MAP! And what do you do after you're done with that? Nothing, because you should never be done. Constantly look at the map.

Um, yeah, we covered that. Anything besides looking at the map?

Absolutely, you need to be able to communicate. Let your laners know you'll be ganking, or how long it will be before you're able to. Ask if the enemy's flash (or ghost, depending [mostly flash]) is up, and if it's not, how long it will be down for.

You also need to know timers on objectives and your jungle in general. This is now incredibly easy, the only thing you actually need timers on are red and blue buff, because Baron and Dragon are listed in the chat box automatically (assuming you have vision).

The last thing you need is practice, of course. You're not going to be a top-tier jungler your first time. Watch streams, read guides (which I will be posting soon), and know which route is going to be best for your chosen jungler.

Here are the general timers:

Small Camps: 1 minute
Wraiths: 50 seconds
Buffs (Golem [blue] and Lizard [red]): 5 minutes
Dragon: 6 minutes
Baron: 7 minutes

These camps are the key to a jungler's income.

 

Now, guys, this is just a general overview of the jungle; its purpose and why it's important! I'll be doing this particular column weekly, and hopefully we can all learn to be better at understanding jungling, and the game in general.