Know Your Meta: The Double Jungle

The way the game has been played has constantly changed with each season of League of Legends. But one thing has remained constant since mid season 1: there are 2 solo lanes, 1 duo lane, and a jungler. But where those lanes have gone or who has gone to them has changed over time. Right now, the early game meta rotates around a very interesting strategy: The double jungle. Instead of forcing a top laner into a disadvantageous 2v1 situation when teams rotate, the soon-to-be big guy will take off with the jungler into the woods to soak up experience and gold before heading to lane. So why the double jungle? What does it bring to teams who do it? To understand, first we’ll have to look at the history of lane swaps and the evolution of the current meta.

Lane Swaps

There have been small changes since, of course. In Seasons 1 and 2, teams started swapping their duo lanes out of bot and into top lane to zone solo laners with strong late games out of farm and experience. As the game matured, these 2v1 lanes shifted to a different purpose, as teams pushed for earlier towers. China soon perfected diving with their jungler and duo lane, forcing the solo laner to give up more and more experience, lest they be killed at early levels. Eventually, duo lanes got so good at zoning solo lanes that solo laners didn’t even hit level 2 until the built-up wave hit the tower, and the 3v1 kill was almost inevitable.

One Lane Fewer

In response, the Chinese meta birthed the first metagame where every lane wasn’t filled: the 4v0 meta! There was no point in the solo laner going to his lane at all, and so instead he joined the duo lane and the jungle, teaming up to push 1, 2, or sometimes 3 towers in the same lane before heading back to base. However, the 4v0 strategy was not without its weaknesses. The top laner had to jungle with the jungler for the first 3 camps, giving them both level 2. He could not farm for the first 5 minutes of the game. On the plus side, he had a nicely frozen lane, courtesy of the deep push. In response, teams developed better and better minion mechanics until, ultimately, the 4v0 push ended up with a complete reset of the minion wave, leaving the enemy solo laner with nowhere to farm. Ultimately, this disincentivized the early tower push, and changes to tower rewards shifted incentives. Instead of pushing, laners learned to freeze waves from the start of the game. This left one solo laner with nowhere to go. He could go against the duo lane and miss out on all farm due to a deep freeze or he could join the duo lane and take a less valuable tower. Faced with this choice, innovation arose, and so was born the double jungle.

Twice as Nice

The only remaining source of experience and gold was the jungle, and so a number of top laners took to jungling with their junglers. They had already been doing so for the first 3 camps in the 4v0 setting, and so they simply continued, roaming as need be. How does the double jungle affect the way the game is played? The first consequence is obvious: less gold between the jungler and top laner. Many teams have chosen to handle this in different ways. For example, Cloud 9 often opts to offer up the majority of their early double jungle farm to Meteos, while Dignitas splits it between Crumbzz and ZionSpartan. The second consequence is a bit more subtle. Much like with 4v0 lanes, champions who have weak laning phases actually benefit from the double jungle due to the fact that they have no lane opponent for the first 5 minutes. As a result, they can safely get through to the late game, where they’ll shine. Top lane champions with good clear speed like Shyvana also benefit, as they can help their jungler clear more quickly. However, diminishing returns are quickly met; with 2 champions jungling, the jungle gets cleared relatively quickly regardless.

Nowhere to Run

However, now that top laners simply don’t spend much time top anymore, the support isn’t needed to help zone him. Instead, the AD Carry simply freezes the lane, allowing the support to roam as well. Typically, this allows for the support to act as a second roamer, although they can also choose to join the roaming buddy system of the top laner and jungler for ganks. Once support, jungle, and top are all detached from a specific lane, what follows is a more dynamic, rolling laning phase. One moment the support, jungle, and top laner are all roaming. The next, the support and top laner peel off to lane against the opposing AD Carry, who is quickly joined by his own support, while the other ADC lanes against the enemy solo laner in another lane. Both teams have to think on their feet as the laning phase constantly shifts, and the team which makes a mistake first might just lose a tower for it.

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