Season 5 Jungle
I'm going to start off by saying, I'm mostly indifferent about the new jungle. There are some cool features and some things that I could do without. So far I've played in the new jungle with a couple solid picks. I heard a lot about how the new jungle is harder and the creeps hit harder, so I chose champions with decent or high sustain.
My 'thoughts' are at the bottom...
Game #1: Warwick - Victory End score: 3/15 (Enemy surrendered @about 25-30 minutes)
This game happened to be my first game not only in the new jungle, but in the new patch 4.20 so I was a little lost. Started with Hunters Machete and 2 health potions. I had heard that the buffs spawned at 2:30 instead of the previous 1:55, so I started at the Gromp with no leash and smited it only to find that the blue buff had spawned at the exact same time, so I took it using one of my two health pots. Finished first clear by going to the wraiths (chickens/birds?) and the red buff which I also smited. That left me with no health pots and enough health to gank. Ganked middle lane and got our mid first blood. Went back into jungle and cleared the double golems and then ganked bottom, without picking up the kill. Went back to farming for the next minute or so when I recalled.
Warwick seems to be an extremely strong pick due to his incredible sustain, especially if he has blue buff. I managed to clear 6-7 camps and gank twice before recalling. His ultimate did get it's cool down increased, but you hardly notice it if you build CDR early.
Game #2: Fiddlesticks - Victory End Score: 12/19/22
My very first mistake in this game was accidently getting me E at level 1. I started blue buff, and it got me devastatingly low before me being able to smite it, even with a leash. After I got my Drain at level 2, I cleared 3 more camps before ganking bottom lane and I managed to expend both enemies' flash and killing the support. Went back to farming for a couple camps. I ended the game with a negative KDA because I made some really bad plays two or three times and that put me really behind, but even with those mistakes, after I got Zhonyas Hourglass I picked up really hard and made a lot of game changing plays that ended up winning us the game.
Once again, Fiddlesticks seems to be an excellent pick for the new jungle. His extreme amount of sustain can keep him in the jungle forever, even without a blue buff. Pre-6 ganks were a bit complicated, but managed to be successful in the few that I attempted while being able to return to the jungle to secure my buffs. Even with the couple mistakes that I made in team fights/ganks/counter jungling I was able to pick up and be a key part in winning the game. I also secured 3/6 dragons that game along with 1 baron. The enemy secure 3 barons that game, and we still managed to fight it out and pull ahead to victory.
Game #3: Lee Sin - Victory End Score: 11/10/14
I started at red buff, smiting it, then clearing the wraiths. As I was clearing the wraiths, my middle laner got caught up extremely close to the camp, so I helped out and secured a kill at level 2. Then I went on to clear the blue buff and gank top lane, and returning to mid to gank once again. Lee Sin has always been a good jungler, which is why I chose him for one of my few first attempts at tackling the new, harder jungle. My team and I secured 2/3 dragons and 2/2 barons that game, giving us an extreme advantage after each baron buff. We sieged multiple times and pushed to victory.
Like I said, Lee Sin has always been a strong pick in the jungle, but I was a bit sketchy about playing him in the new jungle because he doesn't half nearly as much sustain as Warwick or Fiddlesticks. I relied heavily on ganking early game and some slight counter jungling to gain the advantage over the other jungler, so I had to miss out on some farm until about level seven. After I was strong enough to take camps without losing the majority of my HP, I started to focus a bit more on farm, with less occasional ganks.
Game #4: Rengar - Victory End Score: 12/8/14
This game was a tougher one. I started at the Gromp, smiting It so I could take the blue with the poison buff. Our mid laner and top laner stayed way too long with the leash, so I took a lot more damage than I should have because I was holding off smite until they were far enough away to not get the exp. After getting the blue buff, I went over to the wraiths and was executed! I thought I would have enough time to get enough ferocity for my W to heal me, but I didn't and was murdered viciously by 4 chickens. Thanks to the new "You don't lose your buff on creep execute," I wasn't set that far behind. I got my Hunters Machete upgrade, then went and took my red Buff. I wasn't able to take my camps efficiently until closer to level eight or nine. Until I was able to, I would gank frequently (usually with about 1/4 HP, but still managed to pull it off) and would clear one or two camps before ganking again or recalling to shop.
The new jungle with Rengar was tough. Compared to my previous attempts, Rengar had extremely minimal sustain until slightly later in the game when you could upgrade his W and get the healing buff from that. Ganking was difficult to do early on because I wasn't able to clear more than two camps without losing the majority of my health. Again, I relied heavily on ganks and less on farm until closer to mid-game. I would still say Rengar is a good pick in the new jungle, but you have to focus less on farming.
In retrospect, I realized I should have started with smiting the double golems and getting the stun every 5 basic attacks. With Rengar's auto-attack reset, along with his ferocity bonus on his Q, it would have been much more helpful than the poison coat from the Gromp.
I could probably complain for hours on all the things wrong with the new jungle like most junglers seem to be doing, but I won't. In my experience in the new jungle, you really have to have sustain to be successful. Honestly, I'm quite hesitant to try any sort of the less-sustainable jungle picks like Evelynn, or Diana, or even champions like Darius.
From what I can guess, decently strong picks right now would be: Warwick, Fiddlesticks, Xin Zhao (maybe), Nasus, Lee Sin, and maybe even Irelia and Yorick. I'm expecting to see a lot of them soon.
I chose to put Nasus in that list for a number of reasons. I know in Season 4, he was much stronger in top than anywhere else. Why? Because he could farm better than just about anyone, and was capable of doing it while sustaining himself well. With his Passive Lifesteal along with his Q, which is practically another smite in the early stages, He's likely going to be able to out farm, out gank, and out sustain almost any other jungler. He has the tanky aspect like we see with Rammus, the farming aspect like we see with Udyr, and the Lifesteal aspect (similar to, but weaker than) like we see with Warwick. I have yet to try it, but I can see it being a very viable pick for the Pre-Season.
I think that a lot of the Assassin type junglers are going to be completely un-viable, like Evelynn, Diana, Zed, and Fizz. Of course, they all can be played elsewhere, but it's making the pool of viable junglers quite a bit smaller. Even with all the new paths you can take and items you can build, playing people like that will just crush you first/second/third clear.
I would expect to see some slight changes to the jungle meta, or just a Warwick every other game you play. Again, I haven't tried it and I don't know how well it would work, but with a lot squishier junglers, they could just stay top and get a wave or two of farm before recalling and switching to the jungle as normal. That would hinder the top laner a bit, but it would provide the sustain needed for squishier people like Evelynn. Level 2 ganks could also become more frequent, just clearing one buff and a small camp before trashing the opposing mid laner.
Junglers I have yet to try that I would like to soon: Evelynn, Jax, Jarvan IV, Pantheon, Irelia, Xin Zhao, Yorick, Nasus.
Any one of these could be potential strong picks just due to their kit and (semi)sustain abilities.
Anyway, I do like a lot of the aspects of the new jungle. The Rift Scuttler has to be my favorite. Since you're limited with wards now, having that extra vision in the river is huge. It makes counter ganking and counter jungling easier. Knowing where your enemy is, is key to victory (or just a good mid/early-game).
I have high hopes for Season 5. I want to see how Riot handles the squishier junglers, and if they're going to be any changes (nerfs/buffs) to the jungle or jungle items. There's so much potential for this season, I'm extremely excited to get into ranked play. c:
Thanks for reading, I hope there was something informative here for you. If not, just remember; Early sustain = winning your jungle.
