Something to think about: Pro Jungle Diversity

Out of all 5 positions, the pool for junglers in pro games always seems to be the most constricted, almost always consisting of 2-3 champions making up the majority of the picks, with another 2-3 back-up junglers when the main ones are banned.

What are the reasons for this?

The first reason is certainly in the fact that the jungler in pro games plays a rather specific role of interacting with his lanes and tilting them in his favor. This is the reason pros prefer junglers that are strong early gankers.

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However, what I'd like to point out is that another reason for the pro-level jungler pool being so constricted lies also in the fact that the jungling itself is basically running on autopilot. Basically, the jungle itself is so easy that the difference between jungle champions in regard to their clear itself and their sustainedness never really is important, effectively removing these two parameters as considerations in the choice of jungler. The only reason that junglers with some form of sustain are still prefered ties again into ganking strength - someone who possesses a degree of sustainability is more healthy in ganks and thus more likely to succeed.

And the reason for the jungle being so easy are we players. Anytime Riot tried to make the jungle more challenging to make clear strength and sustainedness actually impactful parameters in regard to your choice of jungler, Reddit and the Boards erupt in a fury of QQ of jungle players.

So yes, I think that the limited jungle pool in competitive is our own fault.

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Here are the EU LCS and NA LCS jungle picks for 2016.

In both LCS regions, a grand total of 9 champions was played a significant number of time across both splits. In LCK, the number is even lower, with 8 champions being played (Olaf is an LCS pick only).