What to do when your Jungler is MIA

Let me preface this article with a little description of the the jungler. The jungler is, in my humble opinion, the most unique role in League of Legends. You have a lot more freedom when you're not confined to a lane. This is less true in the higher leagues where your laners live and die by your ability to read the other jungle, ward the map and countergank, but for the most part junglers can be separated into two categories, gankers and farmers.

Gankers live for the interaction with the laners, sweeping in from the sides to (hopefully) secure a kill through sheer strength in numbers and crowd control abilities. Junglers like Elise and Lee Sin exemplify the ganking style with abilities designed around getting into lane, locking down the enemy laner and dropping their health to 0 before they can reach the safety of their tower. In the lower leagues, this is mostly compromised of the junglers trading kills back and forth in different lanes. If you succeed in netting a kill top lane while the jungler on the other team fails a gank bot lane, you're now ahead in momentum and gold difference (assuming equal CS).

Farmers like to amass a CS lead through killing jungle monsters. More often than not, these are champions that buy Feral Flare such as Udyr, Nocturne and Master Yi. They farm the jungle so quickly and efficiently that they have as much gold as the laners by the time team fights begin. Often called carry junglers, they usually go for damage focused builds and attempt to carry teamfights through pure DPS and insults in all chat. Farmers farm, plain and simple.

As a laner, it's very comforting knowing your jungler is nearby, ready to come rushing to your aid. But what about when your jungler is on the other side of the map? Or he's playing a farmer and refusing to gank? What steps do you have to take when your jungler isn't around, but the enemy jungler could be?

 

Tip #1: Warding

The first step is, as always, warding. A massive part of League of Legends is vision control. When you have wards covering the entrances to your lane, you can play a lot more comfortably knowing that you will have vision of the enemy jungler approaching your lane for a gank. When your jungler is not there and the enemy jungler is, you are at a disadvantage. Ward up, see him coming, avert the 2v1 scenario.

Tip #2: Know your limits

Do not underestimate your enemies. Eight abilities are strictly stronger than four. Sure, if you're fed already and the enemy is intent on tower diving, feel free to convert that gank into a double kill for you. But if you're caught out away from the tower, the enemy has the clear advantage. Play it safe and run away.

Tip #3:  Play safe.

Always presume that your opponent is as smart as you are. If you have the clear advantage but your jungler isn't around, you have to assume that your enemy is staying in lane for a reason. The reason could be an obvious one. Maybe you have the CS lead and the lane is frozen. Maybe their tower is already at half health and you could push in the lane before they get back. Or maybe they're baiting you into a 2v1 with your jungler on the other side of the map. If you don't have the vision, play safe.

Tip #4: Freeze

If you don't have wards, you're a lot safer sitting beside your tower than in the middle of the lane. A lot of people think freezing a lane is a lot more complicated than it really is. Simply put, if you are doing more damage to the minions than your enemy is, you will push the lane. If you want to freeze near your tower, do less damage than the enemy until the lane pushes towards you, than match the enemies damage to keep the lane frozen. At this point, you're safe under tower and your enemy either has to risk your jungle showing up for the kill or they have to let you farm safely.

Tip #5: Keep Calm

Don't blame your jungler for not ganking! Your jungler has a game plan. If ganking your lane doesn't fall somewhere in that game plan, you play safe until it does. If you find yourself falling behind, ask your jungler for a gank and hope for the best. But if he doesn't gank, don't insult him in chat and proceed to go AFK. That doesn't help you or your team. Do your best and ask politely for help. You'll be surprised at how much more likely someone is to help you when you're asking politely rather than telling him how stupid he is.

You will get the occasional game where you don't get any ganks at all. You'll get the games where the enemy jungler camps you and your jungler doesn't leave the jungle once. It happens, and it sucks when it does, but theres nothing you can do about it except do your best to contribute to the team. So let's recap. When your jungler is on the other side of the map, follow these easy steps. Ward up, don't fight 2v1, play safe, freeze your lane and don't rage. If you can avoid feeding your enemy laner and their jungler too many kills, who knows, maybe the Udyr with 300 CS who hasn't said a word all game will surprise you.

 

If you have any comments, feel free to let me know on twitter @xNovacursed. 

Good luck, summoners.