Be a God of the Jungle - Part 1

Upon entering God Select both Mid and Solo lanes are quickly snapped up. Two players in a duo queue are wanting the long lane together. Congratulations, you are now the designated jungler. A feeling of disappointment sets in, you wanted to solo lane, but your allies - who have already locked in - have decided your fate. At this point you could do something crazy, but if you do that you’ll probably get reported.

You pick Fenrir because, well, you’ve seen him played in the jungle before. As you get into the game you do the traditional start: double harpies, damage buff, and give mana buff to your duo lane. You clear the jungle decently, but the enemy jungler, someone with more experience, cleared your opposite mana buff. Since the opposing solo laner has the mana buff, your teammate is losing.

By this point your duo lane has died because they were pushed to the opposing tower and got ganked and mid lane is yelling at you because you’re not on top of the double harpy timers; which is getting him behind in gold and exp. At 15 minutes your team throws out the F6’s. What once was a team is now a lynch mob jumping at your throat because,“you lost us the game, noob”. Defeated, you sit back in your chair making a silent vow to never jungle again.

 

I am OnlyPlayLoki and I am a jungle main. Yes, I’ve played and have had success in other lanes, but I primarily prowl the jungle. If you’ve jungled before, you’ve probably experienced the hate and frustration of other players commenting on your performance. I know I have. Heck, even when I lane I heckle my jungler for not being perfect. All of this aside, playing in the jungle is one of the hardest, but most rewarding, positions to play in and my goal is to make you not fear the forest.

"Why does my team need a jungler?"

I've been asked that before (yes, playing with level 30 players) and I was shocked. I thought junglers were a core part of Smite, but I assumed too much and now I want people to understand why having a jungler is vital to victory.

As odd as it might sound, the jungle is just another “lane”. You might not think of it that way, but that’s what I’m here for; I’m here to convince you that the Jungle is the fourth lane.

But back to answering my initial question, “why does my team need a jungler?” You need a jungler for many reasons, but the first is because you need more than one person getting solo experience. For example: say your team runs a 2-1-2 comp (two people long, one mid, two short) and my team runs a 2-1-1-1 (two people long, one mid, one short, one jungle). If no one dies, you’ll notice that the enemy solo laner will level up faster since he is not sharing exp. This makes their solo laner deadlier, faster. As we know, having an ultimate is a huge deal, it could be the difference your team needs in a fight. Now think of it like this, if two characters are behind in exp, so much so that they don’t have ultimates for a teamfight, what are the odds you win that fight? As a jungler, if I get a good clear, I will hit level 5 just after mid lane does. From there, my gank and damage potential skyrockets. Knowing that I have my ultimate and BOTH of your duo lanes don’t is a huge advantage for my team with the jungler, all they need to do is decide which lane they want to take down first.

The second reason that you need a jungler is buff control. Buffs are unignorable factors that provide bonus stats for two minutes. Whether you’re facing off against someone with damage, movement/attack speed, or cooldown reduction/mana buff, they have a significant advantage over you in stats alone. Now, since your team doesn’t have a jungler, I just doubled my real estate. If your team goes for a buff, they leave their lane exposed and communication about missing players is easy to relay and abuse. If I was jungling, I would make sure your team didn’t have a buff to claim; that way, if you wanted a buff, you’d have to come into MY jungle and trust me, you don’t want to do that.

The third biggest reason you need a jungler is map pressure. A common way to keep people in check is to pass through a lane. Call it a reminder, but a little stroll through a lane can make your presence SEEN and stop unchecked aggression. However, just because you were seen doesn’t mean that people will respect you; ganks are the most threatening and game changing events that can occur in the laning phase. A proper gank can get a teammate to snowball, an event that means you’re work as a jungler just got easier. But don't think there aren't drawbacks to consistent ganks.

There are problems, they're called experience and gold. Whenever you’re not jungling is time you are losing experience and gold; you're falling behind. You’ll notice that when a jungler comes to gank, even after a failed gank, they usually try and push the creep wave. This is to substitute the experience and gold lost from the time devoted to giving a gank. Remember, even if a gank is unsuccessful you’ve still done a service to your laning counterpart. If you shoved the enemy out of lane, it was worth it. If you killed or picked up an assist, it was definitely worth it. If you shoved the wave to tower and denied farm to the opposing laner, it was worth it. What you cannot do is fail a gank and do nothing afterward. If you choose not to shove, to not take experience and gold, you are the ultimate loser in that situation. Make your presence count.

Those three core reasons are why you need a jungler, but when I see people jungling I notice bad habits that lead to directed blame and harder games. Granted, as a jungler I can’t be everywhere, but we junglers must be the most goal oriented players on the map. Whereas farming and winning the lane is most important for your allies, there is much more to be concerned about when jungling. Things that I get concerned about when jungling include: double harpy (mid harpies) spawn timers, jungle buff donation, lane positions, ability cooldowns, experience, gold, clear times, enemy jungler position, and mana consumption. This is a list I pulled from the top of my head, and there is plenty I’m forgetting.

I want to be clear, there is no “right” or “perfect” way to jungle, just more optimal ways. For example, if you see that your lanes are pushed or the enemy team is playing very passive, logic would dictate that it would be better for you to farm rather than assault the enemy forces under a tower. As a jungler, a perfect clear (I’ll go over my “perfect” route later) can let me hit level 5 just after mid lane. A successful gank can expedite your experience gain, but successful ganks are a possibility rather than guarantee, thus, I don’t factor them in to my “perfect” jungle route.

Thank you for reading part one of a multiple part series where I explain the jungle to players. Next time I’ll talk about jungle routes, items, and what to look for when ganking.

Best luck in the Jungle,

Ciaran “Naraic” White, a.k.a. OnlyPlayLoki