Blogs
Never Settle for Second: The Rise of the Monkey King, Wukong.
Overview
The start of season 4 has proven to be quite exciting with a myriad of changes affecting solo queue and competitive play alike. Taking the North American League Championship Series (NA LCS) as an example, Wukong has made has been picked or banned in over 25% of games played, whereas last season he was picked a single time in the spring split and never touched again. To understand why Wukong has been suddenly picked up despite no direct recent changes, it's important to have a look at his inherent strengths and weaknesses.
Wukong has been a strong fighter since his release, but has always been looked at as a niche pick for top lane in the previous seasons, as there were always other champions that could accomplish much of the same things the Monkey King brings (armor pen, crowd control and innate tankiness), without having as many mana issues. With the new season 4 masteries, top lane has been dominated by resourceless tanks that are near impossible to kill, pushing Wukong out of top lane even further.
However, Wukong hasn't seen a resurgence in his original top lane role but rather has been picked up as a jungler. So what changed to make jungle Wukong stronger? In short, the changes to spirit stone and other jungle items were a tremendous help to Wukong's early mana woes. Wukong has always had a really strong kit for clearing the jungle, with nimbus strike and decoy both doing a fair bit of area of effect damage (AoE), plus crushing blow for taking down single target camps. Wukong's ganking potential is also very strong, in particular after he gets his ultimate. Even before hitting level 6, Wukong's early damage and armor penetration can often lead to successful early ganks.
What sets Wukong apart from other junglers? Wukong's early strengths and gank patterns are fairly similar to Jarvan IV. A major difference between the two junglers is Jarvan has a stronger pre-6 for ganks while Wukong has faster clear times. As for similarities, both junglers provide early damage and penetration and have gap closers to reach their target efficiently. The main reason Wukong is arguably a better jungler at the moment, however, stems from Wukong's versatility. While Jarvan IV's early game strengths are beneficial to any team, his Cataclysm needs team synergy to be truly effective (like an Orianna or a Rumble). Wukong's Cyclone, on the other hand, is an ability that fits well with just about any team.
Runes, Masteries and Skill order
Due to Wukong's versatility, you have a pretty open window when it comes to Runes and Masteries. For runes, I run 6 flat attack damage (AD) marks, 3 attack speed (AS) marks, 9 flat armor seals, 3 flat magic resist (MR) glyphs, 6 scaling MR glyphs and 3 flat AD quints. These runes give a grand total of 12 AD, 5.1% AS, 13 armor, 4 MR and 0.9 MR per level. I go with this rune page to help my clear time while still leaving me healthy enough to gank after my first rotation of buffs.
For Masteries, I go 9/21/0, with emphasis in AD, armor and health regen. Again, Masteries are pretty flexible on Wukong, but I heavily recommend at least 9 points in the defense tree.
Skill order is pretty straight forward. Nimbus Strike is your main ability as it is your gap closer, main AoE damage source and attack speed steroid all in one little bundle. The only case in which you wouldn't have nimbus at level 1 is if you are caught out of position in a suprise invade, in which you'd probably need to take Decoy to safely get away. After maxing Nimbus Strike, you want to scale Crushing Blow next and then Decoy last. As per most champions, you want to make sure to also scale your ult as soon as you hit levels 6,11 and 16.
The Build
Wukong's versatility extends beyond fighting into just about any team composition; Wukong also has a lot of options when it comes to builds. Wukong boasts the highest scaling single ability in the entire game, with a whopping 4.8 AD on his ult's entire duration while also having a passive that gives him resistances that increase based on the amount of enemies around him. As such, the ideal Wukong build will incorporate a bit of damage to make his disruptive ult deal massive damage, while still being tanky enough to be able to safely use the full duration of his ult.
To start, I always go with the standard jungle start of hunter's machete and 5 health pots. For my trinket, I start with sweeper, as most aggressive junglers should do; the early sweeper will help clear early wards and let you gank more efficiently. In your first back, you ideally want spirit stone, boots and wards. If you can finish more, try to finish the jungle item ASAP and if you have less, try to prioritize the spirit stone.
The core items you want to have completed should reflect what you want to accomplish in the mid game. If you want something damage-oriented, Spirit of the Elder Lizard, Brutalizer and Mercury Treads should be your core. If you want to be tankier, Spirit of the Ancient Golem followed by a Spectre's Cowl and Ninja Tabi would be your core. If you want to balance your damage and defensive stats and focus on utility, Spirit of the Ancient Golem followed by Phage and Boots of Mobility would be your core. Personally, I opt for the tankier build more often than not. While Wukong's Cyclone does scale really well (as does his Crushing Blow, that has a 1.2 AD ratio), the inherent utility and base damage of Wukong makes a tanky build very effective.
By mid game, your build should be tailored to what kinds of threats the enemy has. Lots of crowd control? Finish Spectre's Cowl into a Banshee's Veil. Heavy auto attack team? Randuins and Ninja Tabi are your best friends. Your team is tanky and the enemy team has no burst? The Black Cleaver and Ravenous Hydra are both effective options. Builds more often than not need to be reactive of what your personal needs are at the time, based on how the enemy is doing, how your team is doing, and naturally, how you're individually performing.
Once you've settled on the stats that are important to you, you want to finish your build accordingly. If you build Ravenous Hydra and Black Cleaver but find that your situation has changed and you need tankier items, don't just blindly build something like a Sunfire as your next item, try to have the items synergize well with each other. For offensive builds, Guardian Angel is a great defensive pickup, as it gives you good resistances while giving you the opportunity to extend your damage through a second life. Likewise, if you've built a lot of health and resistances but need more damage, get an Atma's Impaler or a Maw of Malmortius to use that to your advantage.
Jungle routes and tips
Wukong has a strong clear time in the sense that he clears camps quickly, however, Wukong's first clear can be a little too close for comfort as far as the damage you're receiving goes. An important aspect of Wukong's kit to use to your advantage to clear camps safer is Wukong's Decoy. Neutral monsters will attack your decoy as long as it exists, even in the brief seconds where both you and your clone are visible to the monsters. Since decoy also deals a bit of AoE, it's a good idea to start a camp by casting Nimbus Strike, followed by Crushing Blow, then immediatley Decoy. This will make it so that your opening bout on the camp is free; by the time the camp responds to your attack, your decoy is already in place ready to take the hits.
As for the jungle path, Wukong can start at either buff without much of an issue, though I personally tend to start blue first. Wukong needs to have all 3 of his main abilities before he can even attempt to gank. Obviously, you'd prefer to gank after 6 with your ult so that you can contribute some crowd control to lock down your target, but the enemy team isn't always so cooperative that you can get away with not assisting your team early in the game. After blue buff, I take Decoy at level 2 and then clear wolf camp. Since I take Decoy at 2, the regen I get from the wolf camp plus one health potion puts me at near full health entering the red buff camp. After clearing red buff and chugging another 2 potions, you're ready to look for a gank opportunity.
Ganking pre-6 as Wukong with red buff is deceptively strong. Once you find a lane to gank, start by sweeping the bush you're entering from. If there's a ward there, clear it and wait around a few seconds. Once you know the bush is clear, start moving in on your target. You want to wait to Decoy until the very edge of your opponent's vision on you. This takes practice to get right in the side lanes, but as far as ganking mid goes, you normally want to Decoy in the bush and then start approaching your target. Once you're in range for Nimbus Strike, you want to immediately follow with Crushing Blow. The slow from red buff will allow you to get in another one or two auto attacks, as well as give your teammate enough time to follow up with their own abilites. More often than not, these quick and early ganks by Wukong will force a flash, get a kill, or at the very least give your teammate a sizeable advantage in lane.
The most important thing you can remember is to follow Wukong's own advice: adapt to all situations. Your opponents are bound to make mistakes, so it's key to try and minimize your own misplays and focus on capitalizing on your opponent's errors. If you keep your cool, focus on your own play and try to help your team as much as you can, odds are you'll win.