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What is the point of a jungler? (Noob question)

Elwynn ƒ·8/17/2017, 6:05:16 PM·3 votes·1,034 views

so ive been playing league of legends for just about a day now, and I cant for the life of me figure out why people jungle, I feel like double top lane seems like a much more effective strategy, its always a 2v2 because not every team has a jungler, and if MY team has one, and the enemy team dosent, its a 2v1 and I'm stuck defending my tower for 15 minutes while I pray my team can win a lane and carry me. I have played maybe 25 games total and ive lost 5 of them, all 5 of them MY team had a jungler, and the enemy had double top. and I guess the jungler could come top to assist, but that just makes it a fair 2v2 and there is a 50/50 chance you can still lose it. also, if I want to recall to purchase items, with a partner top side, he can just kill the minions and save our turret, but if I'm alone versus 2 people, my turret is going to either take a severe beating or its just going to fall.

18 Comments

Vilgax8/17/2017, 6:44:04 PM2 votes

In addition to getting the extra xp and gold in the jungle, the jungler is also what tries to keep your team either back in the game or ahead of the other team. For example, even though your 2v2 top is winning, let's say your mid and bottom lanes are losing. That would mean only you and your partner top would be the only ones who can carry your team which is basically a 2v3. If you had a jungler, he/she would be able help out any lanes that are losing in order to balance the game until team fights. You may or may not understand the long term effects of a jungler now but the more you play, I guarantee you'll notice how slight changes can make a big difference in the end.

dunder kill8/17/2017, 6:20:26 PM2 votes

There is a lot of gold and XP in the jungle. If a team just let's that sit there then they're losing out on all those resources while the enemy team is not, hence putting the team without a jungler at a disadvantage. You have to remember that apart from the gold, XP is very important because you gain roughly 500g worth of stats everytime you level up

ValyrianBlade8/17/2017, 6:40:11 PM2 votes

So the main idea is efficient use of resources. There's only a limited number of lane minions to provide gold and xp to your team. Without a jungler you split 3 Lanes among 5 players, with a jungler you split it across 4 players, and your 5th player is just as strong as your first two.

A late game level-line (when no one is getting kill xp) may be something like: Top and mid: level 16 Jungler: level 15 Adc: level 14 Support: level 12/13

Without a jungler that would be: Mid: 16 Adc/one top: 14 Support/second top: 12/13

That's like 4-5 levels of advantage ignoring all kills and the extra gold.

Now as to the other reasons: Smite is useful all game in the jungle, but relatively useless for a laner. Yet it's an important summoner spell for securing dragon and Baron (getting the last hit to get the buff for your team, rather than the enemy stealing it). Objective control is very important and is the junglers job. A team that's clear in the lead can lose the whole game by letting Baron get stolen.

Early game you can handle a 1v2 Lane. It SUCKS i agree. However the tower is strong so you're relatively safe there early on. You'll level up faster so it's not as bad as a 1v1 Lane where you're equal and then he randomly gets an ally that's also just as strong. Experienced players are willing to sacrifice the feeling of winning themselves so that the team can win.

The most important reason is to have a player "hidden" or missing on the map. It forces caution on the other team. You can't go too aggressive on your Lane opponents because the enemy jungler could be hiding in a Bush nearby ready to turn the 1v1 or 2v2 in to a 2v1 or 3v2 and beat you. So even if your allied bot Lane is worse than the enemy, the enemy may be unable to get anything out of it because they're afraid of your jungler tipping the scales in your favor. When they do eventually make a risky play to try to get a kill, the jungler being there can turn 2 kills for the enemy team in to 2 kills for your team.

Of course, in completely new play most of this is entirely unnecessary. Players struggle enough 1v1 let alone 1v2. Junglers don't know how to pick when and where to gank, and probably let the other team see them just running into a Lane to pick up a creep or two as they play. Skill levels are likely so different that a jungler may not make a difference in that 2v2 / he'll be needed in more than one spot at a time. Finally, you lack runes and masteries that add lots of stats early game to help a jungler stay healthy while he does jungle camps - preventing him from getting sufficient gold and xp early in the jungle and causing him to steadily fall farther behind. Thus double top can work a lot better for most new players. Eventually it will be clear that having a jungler is really important though. I'd suggest watching a few higher level games if you're really interested.

LadyRenly8/17/2017, 6:40:46 PM2 votes

as a 2v1 lane, you have more exp/gold so you're technically stronger. With duo top, you have free jungle, which is bad for them

Schenix8/17/2017, 11:29:19 PM1 votes

The answer is slightly complex. A good jungler is essential, a bad jungle would be better off just clearing camps to deny the other jungler at the most of their capacity to not be negatively useful, or simply camp a lane to death to practically be a third bot or double top. Junglers are a lynch pin in protecting a lane from 3/4 v 1/2 scenarios as well as playing around and pressuring in objectives to be taken. Such as the turret taking a severe beating, a jungler can 2v1 quick and force any lane into that situation as the opportunity presents itself and damage turrets heavily for those without Teleport and who did not see the attack coming. Or another, such as an infernal dragon is spawning in 20 seconds, the jungler can pressure bot lane to back off so dragon is easier. However, the other jungler can do the same, and therein lies the jungler mini game.

Predicting, warding, decision making, risk and reward, calculations, a lot of macro play is involved to be a good jungler that can impact the dynamic of the game. If you know where the enemy jungler is, you can disrupt them, or make their ganks useless -- or even take their camps to steal exp and gold. Even preventative measures to pressure all 3 off of an objective because you played the macro better. There is some luck of course, that situations just pan out to get you fed, but those situations do not happen against a good jungler because that jungler should know where you are around 70% of the time which makes it into the minigame once again.

Teams need objectives and safety measures to roaming, rotations, and map lighting. In essence, a jungler has the capability to do all of this --which is far more intrinsic value when done well than a double top. Of course, if you are against a bad jungler or simply inexperienced players, brute forcing top can work as with most strategies in that realm.

420 grams8/17/2017, 6:06:51 PM1 votes

You get to take advantage of all the extra gold and xp laying around the map. You also get to surprise attack other lanes, and have dragon control.

FioraWillCarry8/18/2017, 2:46:05 AM1 votes

The point of a jungler is to have someone to blame when you feed in lane.

Princess Píxie 8/17/2017, 6:15:51 PM1 votes

The jungler has one of the toughest jobs around. They're usually the shot caller, ward clearer, and ganker. (Ganking: surprise attacking the enemy to turn the odds of the lane in the favor of his/her team.) They usually have to check the health of each lane and choose which to gank carefully all while trying to keep up in CS(creep score). Some junglers are harder to use than others, I'm a mastery 7 warwick main so I've spent a bit of time in the jungle. In featured modes like URF there's no need for a jungler. If a jungler upgrades their smite they can use it as true damage on an enemy champion in a 1v1 or gank. A jungler can make or break again. No jungle presence can strain lanes with enemies knowing they can over extend with no repercussion.

-Jasmine :P

LeDjent8/17/2017, 6:39:15 PM1 votes

As you continue to level both teams will start having a jungler and stop having a 2 man top lane, for the reasons some of the others that have replied to this have said. You have more map control, all the exp and gold from camps and control over drakes/baron/rift herald with smite.

Sohleks8/17/2017, 10:52:12 PM1 votes

If you're in a 1 v 2 if they start to push the wave even a little bit (and they likely will at low level) their wave will be bigger, making an auto push. Especially if they keep pushing you can collect your farm under your tower for basically free. You can easily practice this in co op versus ai. The AI will never attempt to zone you if you stay away out of their sight, and will auto push, don't poke very well and never roam. Most new players will be almost as manageable. They don't know what they're doing and just hit the enemies. You don't need to challenge them, just try to stay within 2/3rds of a screen to one of your minions for exp for just the instant he goes down. Make sure EXP text is turned on to see if you get exp to learn the range. You and your jungler should out level and out gold them because they are sharing a lane and only get 66% exp.

A 2 - 1 - 2 lane setup is not very flexible at making surpise attacks. It's very easy to keep track of all the enemy champions on the map and it's hard for them to gank anywhere. They lose access to jungle exp and gold resources.