The Art of Jungling: Intro

Who is a jungler? In layman LoL terms, it means a player who's role is to kill neutral monsters and gank lanes to help teammates get more powerful. This is true but a jungler is much more than that. A good jungler wins games. Same with other lanes but a jungler just has this presence on the map when they are good that the enemy is wary of their location to avoid being obliterated time and time again. Now I'm not a great jungler myself but I'm trying to get. Now here are a few things I've learnt along the way.

1. Pay attention in champ select. I've won games based solely on the fact that I paid attention to what the enemy picked in champ select. They pick Lee Sin, I go poppy and Lollistomp them. They pick Rammus, I take Diana and Moonlight his way to the other side. So always pay attention.

2. Know the patterns of the jungler you are up against. Do they start at Krugs or Frog. Ward if you have to but you need to know their routines. This also includes watching them after a gank. If they don't b and go in jungle, go after them. Chances are you get a kill or force a flash which is good. If you don't know where the jungler is, ask the last lane he ganked and work your way from there.

3. Change YOUR patterns. Lool. Yes. Don't follow mainstream patterns like after frogs, go blue. Nah. I love Kindred and I usually end up against a Lee Sin. If I do blue after, I'm an easy target so I do wolves instead. Then collect mark on Crab or Raptors, then I do blue. That way Lee can't kill me or if he tries, I end up killing him. So try switching it up a bit to keep the enemy jungler guessing.

4. Never gank when your gut tells you not to. It's a crude method but it's effective most of the time for me. Think before ganking. Don't waste time ganking a lane if it doesn't guarantee a kill or use of summoners. Try to sweep the brush or in the case of mid lane, gank from the side of the brush.

5. Know when to smite. If you are using Chilling or Challenging smite, you need to have one charge of smite available in case of ganks or duels. They may just help you survive and win the duel. Know WHAT to smite. Low on HP, smite red. Want to give blue buff to mid lane and continue jungling? Smite blue. Need to avoid counterjungle in one part of your jungle, smite wolves for vision or smite Raptors to remove one or two pesky wards. Need to survive clearing jungle early without using smite, Smite krugs for the stun. Now if you get krugs and go for a gank, if it is successful, use the buff on a turret. Helps take down turrets pretty fast.

That's about it. I might have left some out, I mean it's 2 am here but if you have any other tips or you want to modify one of mine, just tell me what it is. ^^