Breaking the Meta: unconventional jungle picks

I'm going to be completely honest here, I'm tired of jungling this season. I've played the majority of my games in the jungle and this season just has me locking in the same kind of champions over and over again. What I want to do is make a list of some oddball jungles to mix up you casual play. If I get any requests I may write an individual guide out for any of these champions but for now we'll stick with a light pros and cons list.

 

Fizz
One of my favorite mid champions whom I love to take into the jungle every once in a great while. Seastone Trident makes clearing the jungle easy and combined with Playful Trickster can make clearing jungle camps a joke. You don't drop a lot of health in early clears and can build a pretty successful bruiser build just working with the shred on the passive from his Seastone Trident. Upon hitting level six is where the real fun starts. Initiating ganks with Chum the Waters is so extremely satisfying when it lands.

Some down sides would be your decreased usefulness as the game drags on. Fizz is exceptional at bursting carries and it kind of depends on how easily you can get to the enemy teams back line just how well you're going to do that game. We don't have Alpha Strike to get in and out we have our Playful Trickster which is consequently also used to close the gap to drop your damage. After that gap is closed it can be hard to get out from behind the enemy team with your only escape down and if you can't get the kill, well you're out of luck. Fizz does work extremely well at picking people off or helping your team catch some one out with Chum the Waters so keep that in mind while playing him. Clear wise I don't think there are many negatives as he starts off with a pretty decent clear and it scales about the same as other junglers as far as how fast he can get it done.

Blitzcrank
Yeah, I said it. Blitzcrank is hilarious to jungle as, and isn't an amazingly viable option in competitive play, but with a well coordinated team makes ganking your new favorite activity. Your clear is not the greatest early and you'll need some help taking down your first blue but once you get that golem running it gets a little easier over time. I mostly play this just as a roaming Blitzcrank that runs in and goes for a Rocket Grab and if I miss I'll stick around to soap up some experience then off to another lane to rinse repeat. You have to play to your strengths in that ganking with some unexpected grabs is your only strong suit.

There are a lot of reasons why this can't work and I wouldn't recommend unleashing it on some unsuspecting random players. You can get counter jungled fairly easily and if the other jungler knows what they're doing you should be. It's all in the hook. Some players call it the god hand and if you can't consistently land those hooks I wouldn't even attempt it. Blitzcrank overall is a very quirky pick but is a great amount of fun if you have some friends who'd feel comfortable with you playing it.

Singed
Here we have a champion that is extremely farm dependent to do what he does best late game. That doesn't go to say you can't have an extremely successful jungle game on Singed but it does go to warn you that if you fall behind you're likely not coming back. However, with Singed you just do the same thing you do in lane but instead inside the jungle. You farm and then you farm some more. While playing in the jungle you need to be very aware as to which lanes are actually gankable for you. Some times running at full speed with your Insanity Potion just isn't enough to catch up to some one and hit your Fling and you have to be aware of that. Get a good rotation going to constantly clear your jungle and keep an eye out for gank opportunities as a second in priorities.

When jungling Singed it can be hard to get to that point where he just annoys the enemy team and you can run straight in, throwing their carries behind you and spamming laugh. High risk and high reward comes to mind just his reward isn't as high as it should be for the difficulty you'll probably face playing him. He is obnoxiously fun in the jungle so hopefully you'll give him a shot anyway.

Alistar
I hate to include him next to an almost novelty list of junglers but its been a while since he's been competitive after the nerfs and jungle changes so I felt appropriate to include him here. Long gone are the days of Alistar flash, Headbutt, Pulverize combos terrifying your mid lane from feeling safe anywhere near their wraith camp. Our minotaur friend does still do some work around the jungle he's just not as dominant as he used to be. Your clear is not the greatest but with Pulverize it's not terrible either. You play Alistar in a very roam heavy fashion like the Blitzcrank I mentioned earlier. It's all bout getting that pick on the champion you're ganking and if you miss it grab some experience then promptly leave to rinse and repeat in another lane.

Negatives are this ward friendly meta in which there is just an overabundance of ways to keep the jungler out of your lane. So an oracles pick up may be necessary or you can get creative with your ganks like going through lane or flashing over walls to knock enemy champions out of position. You can get counter jungled fairly easily as well because Alistar is not the best at taking a champion head to head in the jungle. It's another pick where I'd suggest a group of players you feel comfortable with to play him.

Pantheon
When you want to drop the damages upon unsuspecting lanes this guy is your man for the job. We come in with a pretty decent clear time and you sport a pretty decent amount of damage early game that is begging to get you to snowball it. Running in with Aegis of Zeonia up to drop your stun and close the gap is essential in getting your ganks to go well. When they drop low enough chuck your Spear Shot and walk away from the exploding enemy champion. This is all you're really good for as this again is another gank heavy champion.

Your goal is to snowball as quick as you can and to stay ahead of the enemy team. Your Heartseeker Strike gives you your clearing power while your Spear Shot is your single target burst for ganking. Find a balance between leveling the two when you're ganking or farming a lot and that can help you stave off his falling off.

Counter jungling isn't extremely easy against Pantheon as his damage potential against a single enemy champion is pretty good. However, not getting your buffs for a while will cripple you pretty badly so try to keep your team aware of that and maybe ask your support pretty please to ward your red buff. All in all Pantheon is just an extremely all in champion and while playing him be aware of your damage potential and your potential fall off as the game goes on.

Mixing up your champion pool is great with how the meta has been slowly sinking its teeth into us junglers and so try out some of these picks with your friends. If you like them enough bust them out in ranked with an obvious disclaimer in chat to how you'll need to work very closely with your team. These are more for your normal queue casual players who just want to have a good time and possibly destroy some enemy champions with very gank heavy champions.