When do I gank? Do I have to follow every assist ping?

Erase Riven·Mar 5, 2019·1 votes·1,672 views

So I went a match ago, and I was doing good early game. I got the scuttle crabs and all the jungle camps. Then my bot and support were 0/3 and 0/2, and asked for assistance, and I went, and I got a kill. I went top to help out. I went, and it was successful. I was now 2/0. By this time I've slayed fire drake. Then after that bot lane kept spamming pings I was confused so I roamed top bottom, top bottom, etc. After that, enemy jungler () started invading and I couldn't do anything about it, because my farming time was wasted and their top was dominating because of the enemy ganks, and now I was stuck at base 6/12 at lvl 14 while enemy team was 15-18, now destroying base with drake buffs and baron buffs. And they blamed me for not ganking lane, and I was flamed. Any tips on it?

9 Comments

ChrisBrownzeMar 5, 20194 votes

Dont listen to laners. They have no clue how to jungle.

ChaosReynMar 5, 20191 votes

As a laner, I can confirm this...begrudgingly. :P

OneMustFallMar 5, 20193 votes

Follow your farm path and gank in between farming. In some scenarios, you may want to camp a lane if you feel the enemy laner is constantly overextending but don't run top to bottom without clearing your jungle first. However if you do see a lane struggling do your best to try to help them out. If they're not in a good position to gank, sometimes just getting a control ward down for your laners is huge so they have better map vision.

ChaosReynMar 5, 20192 votes

Gameplay is a decent board for this.

I'll put it this way: everyone has their own style of play. You do not have to respond to every ping, ever. And if you're getting flame-roasted by someone, I personally wouldn't give them the time of day. They're on high tilt already, and theyre going to blame you for their failures regardless of how you do.

I'm no jungle main, by far (actually, my comrades have effectively banned me from jungling. >.>) but the key to playing a decent jungle game in theory is to be the shotcaller. Don't let everyone else call the shots for you, especially if they're 0/4 and tilted af. You tell people when you're ganking, and they either respond or they don't. You decide who gets the gank, not the tilted adc. You call objectives, and if you think the objective is a bad idea, you ping your team "hell no!" There are a lot of shots to call, and all of them are going to depend on the state of the game, and what you feel most comfortable with. But try to stay in a relative comfort zone...don't go out of your way for someone and sacrifice your game.

I would personally say to work on your mid game...which is ironic, because it's the mid game that's the reason I'm banned by my friends from ever jungling for them. xD

banana boyMar 5, 20192 votes

I'd say it depends on who you're playing.

People like Rammus live on active ganking. That doesn't mean you gank nonstop.

Focus on clearing out your side of the jungle, then if you have time to spare:

Gank a lane NEAR that side of the jungle.
If you know the enemy is not on your side, invade their jungle. It's a good cheesy play.

Don't follow every ping. Only gank if you can actually reach the lane fast enough. You can't live on no farm either. Getting 3 sentinels or scuttle + 2 buffs + raptors is already more gold than one champion kill. Part of jungling is being efficient and knowing when to gank.

If a lane is pinging you for help but the enemies are shoved in under turret, don't go. You'll end up diving like an idiot and dying. Wait till they are overextended.

hope this helps.

heroikcMar 5, 20192 votes

No, you don't have to follow every ping; my experience is that some lanes are deadweight from the getgo, others are cheeseheads who are deluding themselves to "auto-carry" status, and some don't know what to do in their matchup and don't want to learn.