How do I jungle as a beginner?

EvilUnicornLord·Apr 10, 2017·6 votes·79,021 views

Let me start off I SUCK at jungling.

I'm absolutely terrible at it, I can't clear camps fast, I can't gank right, I can't counterjungle. My KDA almost every time I play jungle is appalling and no champ seems to work for me at it. I can do top, support, mid, but not jungle. Typical of an Unranked noob, I know.

I just don't even know where to start. How do I begin to play as a jungler? Who's the best for a beginning jungler? How do I use jungle tactics? I would avoid jungle like the plague if I could but whenever I team up with friends, it seems like all the other roles get picked first.

Some examples of match history as a terrible jungler:

Master Yi Poppy Olaf Jarvan IV Yorick

27 Comments

EndlessSorcererApr 10, 20177 votes

I'd recommend trying Volibear, Xin Zhao and Amumu if you are new to jungling. They are all rather simple, have useful clearing tools and are rather potent when used properly.

Runes are fairly important for clear speed/health. I would recommend prioritizing armor and attack speed runes if possible for clear-speed until you are more experienced.

Master Yi Game:

You didn't take W until level 8. You need this for jungle sustain in the early-game. I'd recommend grabbing it at either level 2 (if you lack runes or don't mind a slower clear), 3 or 4.

Jarvan Game:

Enemy team was squishy, so I'd recommend building Tiamat -> Cinderhulk -> Titanic Hydra for better clearing and burst damage.

I would suggest watching videos by high-ELO and/or professional junglers (i.e. Valkrin, Meteos, Stonewall008, Nightblue3, and FoxdropLOL). They will typically provide a lot of useful tips while playing and you can often see or hear their decision process and some optimizations throughout the game.

Off the top of my head, some basic optimizations may be:

Use hard-CC when the monster camps are about to attack you to cancel that attack and delay their next.
Attack Speed is extremely efficient at clearing on most junglers. I'd recommend using about 15% on champions when you need to speed up their clear even if they don't use the stat much later (with a few exceptions, such as Nidalee and Evelynn).
Keep a control ward out (or in your inventory) whenever possible. This is important for every champion, but I thought I should emphasis it. There isn't really a good reason not to.

As far as ganking is concerned:

When possible, conserve your gap-closer while ganking. If you can get to the enemy champion without using your mobility spell(s), then you can save it to catch them after they try to escape (Flash, dash, blink, etc).
You should should try to stay between the enemy and their escape route. You should be trying to move backwards (towards their escape) in-between attacks so that you can body-block them and slow their escape. This also leaves you closer to them if they try to dash or blink past you.
It can be risky to gank top-lane while Dragon is up since the enemy team can just group and take it 4v3. I'd recommend ganking top-lane early if possible (after your initial clear) and when Dragon is down; that lane can be quite snowbally due to isolation, so you want to get your ally ahead.
Learn to recognize the general times when buff camps spawn during games. If you see the enemy gank bottom lane while their top-side buff is up, you can go steal it from them.
Watch when top and bottom lane initially go into lane. If that lane has leashed for their jungler (missing health, mana, or showed up to lane a bit late), then you know where the enemy jungler has likely started and where they will end their clear (where is closest for them to gank).
If you have killed the enemy laner, you can either allow your laner to freeze or shove the lane into the enemy tower. If you shove the wave under tower and the next minion wave is coming up, it can be helpful to proxy it to ensure that the wave fully resets and the enemy laner misses as much as possible. This is very situational though and you will have to learn when through experience.

Other tips:

Whenever possible, walk up to the enemy champion during a gank and save your gap-closer for after they use their escape abilities.
Watch the enemy laners when they go into lane. Whichever lane shows up later and/or missing mana will likely indicate which side of the jungle the enemy jungler started on (which is useful for predicting gank paths and for counter-jungling).
Watch the minimap to see when and where the enemy goes to ward, which laners are pushing, which laners are vulnerable
Know, roughly, how most laning matchups go so that you can prioritize which lanes are the easiest to gank or require an early gank to decide the matchup.
If you have blown an enemy's Flash during a gank but haven't killed them, swing back around immediately after an gank them again. Many people don't expect it
If you've killed an enemy during a previous gank in top lane, kill them again immediately after they return to lane. They likely won't have wards up yet and a second back-to-back death can be enough to completely crush any chance that opponent has to recover the lane.
Top laners rarely bother warding the lane bushes. As such, lane ganks can be quite surprising and effective.
When you kill an enemy laner, shove the minion wave into the tower so they miss gold and experience and so that the minion wave will reset to the middle of the lane. If you can get away with it, clear the upcoming minion wave as well to ensure the reset and maximum missed minions.

You will learn a lot through experience, but these tips should help you at the start.

MalfectiousApr 10, 20173 votes

This...Just read this over and over until you can JG...

nanogibbonApr 10, 20176 votes

Warwick's also built to be a beginner jungler, and side bonus: he's really fun. Can build cinder or razor.

GibberwattApr 10, 20173 votes

My friends call me an ass jungler, but we always end up winning when I jungle, so here goes:

Farm. Literally, the laners can screw themselves until you feel like ganking.
Ganks. half the time, your laners are just whining for a gank, and if you ganked, the enemy would be getting a kill. So, wait. Wait until you feel like a gank is good. Even if you feel wrong, you will learn to feel better, which you won't if you are just following your midlaners commands.
When you gank, you gank for a kill. you are not a supp, and you want the monies. If you get their flash, that works. just go clear a camp, and come back. They will overextend again, and this time without flash
Farm. This is your job. I saw with your master yi game you had 65ish farm. not acceptable.
Dragons. With most junglers, you can solo the moment you finish your jng item. I want to see you running at the dragon the moment you get that.
Farm. With a lot of jnglers ( ), you do the best late game. lots of farm gets you to your personal late game fastest.
Have fun. Maybe your idea of having fun is killing all of kindred's marks b4 she gets them, and then waiting for her to come and ambush her. Maybe it's stealing every dragon (dangerous game, but u do u), whatever it is, do it, as long as it isn't trolly. Most of the time, it will knock an enemy out of the game, either through tilt or starvation.

JhomasTeffersonApr 10, 20172 votes

Pick mechanically easy jungler(xin xhao, yi, ww, mumu, fiddle, so on. Ideally someone with sustain and a little aoe, but the 2nd isnt necessary. ) 1a. get skin 1b. Make sure you have the right runes and masteries. This is probably the most important thing. R&M are important in lane, but theyre almost essential for jg. You can survive with the wrong runes/mastery in lane. Not so much in the jg. And the runes are very important. Armor yellows and attack speed quints are almost standard for 60% of jg, and will work on almost all jgler. Ad reds and whatever blues are good too. On ap jg, you might want armor yellows, ap quints and blues, and mpen reds, or as quints. Look up a guide, but, remember, runes are essential.
Take smite
Get leash
ward. When ahead, in their jg. When going even, river and their jg and your jg. When behind, your jg.
keep up with other jg in farm
Gank lanes, especially ones with summs down, low hp, low mana, and pushed
Smite mercilessly, paying attention to how much damage it does
Get good map awareness 9.?? 10.Profit

Something like that.

420 gramsApr 10, 20171 votes

Try xin zao. He's easy, has a forgiving clear, ganks wells, and can make good plays.

You don't always have to do a full clear. I like to clear blue side plus red buff and go for a level 3 gank when available.

You don't always have to gank from river. It's worth it to go the long way around to flank.

Kai GuyApr 10, 20171 votes

Play some champions who have sustain in their kits, practice in bots. Check your runes and masterys if your taking to much damage from camps.

EvilUnicornLordApr 10, 20171 votes

I've been trying that, but it's only taught me how to clear camps at a mediocre level (clear camps at a snails pace and not die while doing so). Because there's no AI for a jungler or avoiding ganks, I can't realistically gank or counterjungle.

Kai GuyApr 10, 20171 votes

If your clear is super slow even with fast clear junglers then your likely not using ability's properly or have incorrect runes n masterys, are you getting a leash from teammates to kick start ya? The AI bot game is more to give you an idea about what levels you hit from clearing camps and how much damage you can put out when you get off a gank (bots are dumb and easy to gank.) Like others said some youtube guides for a champ you wanna learn can help a good deal.

ScissorsNstuffApr 10, 20171 votes

first, find a champ that can clear the jungle without help. Every champ can clear just find one that works for you

second, just find a guide that shows you how to jungle as that champ

third, ask questions and practice

fourth, find another champ, play them anywhere and learn how that relates to your jungle game.

do it all again

oSEXYPLATYPUSoApr 10, 20171 votes

what role do you normally play ?

EvilUnicornLordApr 10, 20171 votes

Top.

I figured that because most top champions can easily transition to jungle, I wouldn't do all that bad. I was dead wrong.

oSEXYPLATYPUSoApr 10, 20171 votes

ok well lets start you with an easy jungler

Nunu run 12-0-18 taking stoneborn pack...

work on map awareness , no skill shots, has decent clear, slows, tanky as fuk, can heal with Q if you take exposed weakness in the 1st tree everytime u slow someone with E if your ally follows up they do 3% more damage.

you can take attack speed reds, hp seals, armor quints and cdr blues

ps: if you know how to support you can play tank cc supportive utlity based junglers cuz all you are doing is supporting your team with map awareness and being there to feed your laners

EvilUnicornLordApr 10, 20171 votes

Alright, I have Nunu so I can work with that.

oSEXYPLATYPUSoApr 10, 20171 votes

by taking stoneborn pack you can heal your teammates as they damage the enemy that you E

and if you take exposed weakness like i said... they do more damage... and he is really good control jungler, counter jungler. he is really hard to punish in the jungle if someone invades you just hit them with E and use W on yourself and run away spamming laugh

btw im a lvl 7 nunu player have played him since season 2 i love that fukin yeti ( damn you rito if you fuk him up in a rework ) i play him top, jungle , support

i have a 9-1 win loss on him this season

RNTtvUB0wfApr 10, 20171 votes

stick to 1-2 champions and get use to planning out routes based off of experience. Legit just keep playing games.

AwhegarkApr 10, 20171 votes

First off all you need to understand that jungle is a brutal role even if you know how to do it, a mistake can make you be behind in levels and make you want to AFK after you realize that your support is more powerful than you.

On top of this certain champions have it way easier than others. If you play master yi don't waste your time ganking unless it is to clear up a low health enemy, you will just fall behind other wise. The other champions you mentioned are not exactly great or beginner friendly at at all. While Jarvan is good his lack of sustain makes him not a easy for a beginner. A very easy champion to me is Volibear, I feel he can clear all camps pretty fast and without losing much health and gank almost always when needed.

EvilUnicornLordApr 10, 20171 votes

I can see Volibear most likely working (at least better than most other junglers I've tried) since I usually play tanks.

AwhegarkApr 10, 20171 votes

Yeah you can build him tank and he will still clear the jungle very fast due to his Passive healing him when he gets low on health, his W giving him attack speed bonus the more he fights, and his E which makes all the jungle mosters run in fear.

SexualsaurusApr 10, 20171 votes

I Dunno if this guy will help but here is a Diamond EUW Jungler main. He is a bit click bait with his video titles but he can educational. I suck at jungling myself, i mainly play sejuani when i do though.

Here is one of his videos, hope it helps. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFOwDuOZEZs

Arcus DiabolusApr 10, 20171 votes

I would start out with WW. Take Warlord's Bloodlust as your keystone and just sustain through the jungle. Once things drop below half health, WW will just slaughter it.

Your passive will tell you when and where to gank. If no one in lane is low, its their jungler, so try sniffing them out if you think you can take em while they are half health. You'll either effectively counter gank, or be able to steal a buff in the process and set them back.

You can start and/or max either Q or E first depending if you want damage or tankyness. Either way your clear will be simple, but you will need to keep it in mind so you can maximize the effectiveness of your ganks.

yesnobananaApr 10, 20171 votes

If you are a starting jungler don't take champs that are ult reliant like MasterYi Olaf Fiddlesticks .you have no early pressure and you have one chance with your ult so try mechanically junglers like XinZhao Warwick MonkeyKing

grugApr 10, 20171 votes

farm/gank one step at a time

6SfoolApr 10, 20171 votes

Generally the easiest junglers are the ones with decent mobility, strong clear, and good cc. Warwick, Vi, and Udyr are good for that. But ouch, Yorick jungle is hard. I get rusty after like 2 days without playing him. He's too hard to micro if you don't have your routes planned out and your ganks well coordinated.

KuwabaramulberryApr 10, 20171 votes

Play zac. These kids are all wrong, zac is the way to go. I run gold per 5 quints and tank runes. The clear is perfectly fine with his spells all being aoe, and if you're used to playing tanks anyways, his whole job is just being a cc bot. And his engage is great with the slingshot. Plus his passive is a great bait and a great safety net if you fuck up. The only thing that's rough is taking the epic camps, like dragon. And running in circles as you clear to keep picking up your blobs of health.