I'm Beginning To Feel Like A Smite God: Tips For Junglers

It's a jungle out there...

Just like laning, the jungle is only yours to lose. You are the jungler. You can choose to gank a lot, you can choose to farm or you can try to balance between both. You can choose to ward, communicate or you can choose not to do any of that. In the end, it's down to you whether you're successful or not. Now, perhaps you can't find your style. Maybe jungle is not your main role or you are stuck in solo queue, struggling to climb. I am here to help improve your mindset when facing the jungle, and hopefully help you get better at the game.

(Art source: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Lee-Sin-sig-329592877) 

Starting the game well...

Your attitude is equally as important as being a mechanical god. If you're last pick and you don't play jungle, you're going to enter the game feeling unconfident and rather negative. There's a chance it'll pass onto your team mates and potentially leave an ugly and unwanted aura over the team. The best thing to do is just take the role, choose a champion you're familiar with, and follow a few of these tips to help you.

The first 4 minutes...

Now when you enter the game, get into the habit of buying your Hunter's Machete, 2 health pots and your warding totem as fast as you can so you're ready to bolt it out of the 15 second gate. Head to the dragon side of river and place a ward either in the island brush in the river, or in the lower entrance to your jungle. Guard the other side yourself. If the enemy invades, run to your other buff and just assume they are there. Do not risk giving first blood and being behind. Try to start on the side your duo lane is, as they will give a better leash than your top laner. The larger leash will help you survive the first clear. Head to the buff closest to you and pop your first health pot. Knowing when to consume a health pot is vital on surviving the first clear.

Now, you can either just do the last camp on this side of the jungle, or you can do what I'm going to suggest. Head straight to your other buff after clearing the first, and use your last health pot when clearing it. Not only do you get level 3 off your second buff, you will get enough money for your smite upgrade and a couple of pots. More importantly, clearing your seocnd buff so quick puts you ahead of time of your jungler. The majority of junglers will clear one side of their jungle and back to base to be safe. However, clearing your second buff and backing allows you to head to a lane around 40 seconds faster than your enemy jungler, which could be the difference between you getting first blood, or them!

(Art source: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Nidalee-484167693)

To gank or not to gank...

Now, hopefully you've just got first blood, your laner is feeling positive and not blaming you for everything! This is a good start. However, maybe you think you need to gank again to get another lane ahead. Well here's where you're wrong! Always assess your lanes before you gank. Two questions to ask yourself before every gank:

Do I have damage or crowd control?

Does my laner have damage or crowd control?

There's no point ganking your top laner, Maokai, to try and kill the enemy Sion if you're playing as Nautilus. Getting the kill is highly unlikely due to how tanky Sion is, and how very little damage Maokai and Nautilus can output. If you're playing Lee Sin, and it's the same lane, then it's a good lane to gank. Maokai can lock down Sion so you can land your abilities and deal the damage you wouldn't have playing Nautilus. 

Similarly, if there is an enemy Zed in mid lane bullying your team mate, Katarina, it'll be difficult to get a successful gank off if you're playing Lee Sin. Zed has a great escape tool, and Katarina has no crowd control. Despite Lee Sin having a good gap closer, it's a skillshot so it can be missed. However, if you're playing Nautilus and ganking against a Katarina, you can lock down the Zed with your Q, passive or ultimate, so that your mid laner can deal the damage. 

Another possibility is if your lanes are winning or losing. If your bot lane has died twice and the enemy ADC is 4/0/0, there is no reason to focus on that lane. Ganking a losing lane is almost always a bad idea. It will never give your laner an advantage, and might not even balance out the lane at all. Conversely, if all of your lanes are winning, it's probably better off not ganking them. Focus on objectives to help your team, such as towers, dragons and baron if you're really far ahead. Sometimes, ganking a winning lane could result in the enemy getting a kill, which is not good.

(Art source: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Spirit-Guard-Udyr-386361921)

Now you're beginning to feel like a smite god...

So hopefully, you're feeling a lot more confident about jungling. Hopefully some of your questions have been answered and new styles of thinking have been offered. This may take time to show results, but being positive and asking the two questions I mentioned before ganking should improve your chances of getting that first blood.