Who is the best champion to learn how to jungle with and why?

RecklessDevil·8/19/2014, 3:03:34 PM·2 votes·1,060 views

So I've decided to branch out and try a different role and come out of my safe-haven cave of support and I really really want to learn how to jungle I just do not know who to start with. I am open to suggestions and comments for who and how to play them. Pls and TY

19 Comments

Teddie8/19/2014, 10:17:50 PM2 votes

Learning to jungle is as subjective as choosing a top lane. There are so many variants that it's hard to say which would be best for you.

I say Lee Sin is the best for beginners because over-all he has a good kit and no mana usage to worry about. You have escapability and ganking with your shield (to get closer and farther from the fray) - your Q is also great for initiating. He teaches a decent amount about skill shots and melee fighting. Over all a great pick for someone new to Jungling.

MrSc0tty8/19/2014, 4:21:40 PM2 votes

As a support player id say either go for Fiddlesticks or someone super tanky like Amumu.

Reason being that Counterjungling is very tricky and fiddle/tanks do less of that, being more gank focused. Nothing really captures the joy of being a jungler like pulling off the perfect fiddle ult (just try to hide in a bush channeling it without chuckling evilly) and he's got a very simple point-n-click combo. Get behind enemy, fear, drain, throw crow before they get away.

I say Amumu because if you've got any familiarity with Leona his play is near identical. Besides not going through minions bandage toss works exactly the same as Leona's E, and he follows a similar "chain stuns while staying in range to proc my AOE damage" playstyle. His clear is easy , his ganks are strong throughout and though he is skillshot dependent, once you get in you're just mashing AOEs.

Willahelm Fulber8/19/2014, 3:22:41 PM2 votes

I'd love to help you some time if you want to add me on NA. My username is the same as my Boards username: Willahelm Fulber.

As for one champion, I can't really say there is simply one; each jungler has its own strengths and weaknesses, for example a lot of AP jungles (Karthus, Fiddlesticks, Casseiopeia) are really mana hungry in jungle, but have great clear times and (with the exception of fiddlesticks) pretty poor ganks unless the laner has hard cc. On the other hand, there are the ADC Jungles (Jinx, Vayne come to mind as the excellent adc jungles) who aren't really blue reliant but can easily get killed if they run into an enemy. There are the "mainstream" junglers: Udyr, XinZhao, Rengar, etc. who all have great farming and ganking potential, and then there's champions like Nautilus, Maokai, Blitzcrank, Amumu, who can gank really well on DPS lanes but can't duel really well against most other junglers.

To be honest, it is probably better to pick a champion you already know really well who can jungle (yes, a lot of supports -can- jungle, but no, not squishy supports.) and learn the mindset of a jungler from there, which is a pretty complicated thing.

bbbbates8/19/2014, 9:12:46 PM2 votes

I would say J4. He's pretty versatile so you can go multiple builds with him, its hard to have one that's "wrong" and his kit is pretty straight forward. He has decent ealry stats so you arent screwed if someone counter jungles you and you only get 1 buff. And he has phenomenal gank potential

HunterOrion8/19/2014, 9:49:58 PM2 votes

I learned to jungle as Rammus . He remains my #1 go to jungler for a few reasons. By maxing your taunt first, there is nothing more enjoyable than ganking any melee champ, and walking them into your allies abilities (can do with ranged, just not as fun).

You can do significant damage just by building armor, which in turn makes you even more impossible to kill.

Super low cooldown ult that damages structures, You can use it to take literally any objective, and it will probably be up the next time you need it.

Full ap is just stupid funny. (100% ap ratios on powerball and ult)

With thornmail you can make the ADC kill himself.

Khodexus8/20/2014, 4:26:29 AM1 votes

I've had a similar issue. Only champs I own that are considered decent junglers are Fiddlesticks and Diana. And I suck with both of them jungling.

It's been suggested I try Master Yi. But I'm a bit uncertain how well that'll go.

RecklessDevil8/20/2014, 2:39:04 PM1 votes

Thank you guys for all the help! Hopefully i can pick this up!

2000boxes8/19/2014, 3:09:19 PM1 votes

Evelynn It's really easy to gank with her She has very decent clear times And she has great dueling potential

Dom1nati0n8/21/2014, 2:33:52 AM1 votes

Lee sin. For a multitude of reasons.

  1. Easy in the jungle (hard to die to camps with W/Lifesteal bonus)

  2. He's like playing a rhythm game. Ability-Attack-Attack-Reactivate-Attack-Attack-Ability-Attack-Attack, ect.

  3. He has great mobility even to the inexperienced. I've escaped plenty of bot lane botched or countered ganks simply by tagging dragon with Q and leaving through river.

  4. Eventually if you main him for a while you will have an awesome time playing him. As you grow in the jungle and your confidence lee sin will show you doors and opportunities that are hard and sometimes impossible to achieve in the jungle and out of the jungle.

  5. He's a monk.

Wheatloaf8/19/2014, 5:43:27 PM1 votes

Just go Warwick. It's nearly impossible for him to die, either to camps or counterjungling, and you only have a responsibility to gank when your Ult is up. Any time it's down, feel free to ignore your team. For build, max W, then Q, then E, and build Flare + BotRK before going into straight tank. You won't be terribly loved for it (point-and-click champs are often the target of rage), but he's the best easy/safe jungle I know of.

Baron von Jiggly8/19/2014, 6:50:48 PM1 votes

i would say WW, Yi, or trundle since their jungling is relatively safe.

MrBuffington8/19/2014, 8:27:19 PM1 votes

(Phoenix) Udyr was the champion I first played jungle with. His clear is super quick and safe, he's pretty simple mechanically so there's not much room to mess up. He's pretty beefy and deals a surprising amount of damage if he can get close to the enemy, he also has a okay gap closer and stun, and he can kite/chase people for days. He can be a bit mana hungry if you spam your abilities, but if you follow Trick2g's advice (and/or build madstone) you should have a pretty easy time in jungle. I really liked Udyr since he can basically take anyone 1v1; for example Amumu is a great, easy jungler to learn, but he's notoriously vulnerable early; Udyr is basically an immovable object; the only way to beat him is not to fight him (or have some other advantage).

Almorada8/20/2014, 2:59:14 AM1 votes

I would recommend Nunu jungle, with no skillshots he is very easy to pick up. You can build tanky or ap, depends on how the game is going. His passive makes it easy to control mana and he can always be useful to the adc. Once you get the rhythm of Nunu, counterjungling becomes easy and objectives are almost always guaranteed if you keep things warded. Besides the added bonus of being able to support when needed so it won't be hard for a self procalmed supprot main to pick up.