What are the pro's and con's of ganking early

Hallbuster·May 10, 2017·1 votes·978 views

From what I've seen, high Elo players seem to want ganks asap. But is it always the best thing to do in all scenarios?

7 Comments

Starcraft243verMay 10, 20173 votes

Pros : you snowball the lane, you secure first blood or a summoner, you still have your red buff. Cons : If it's a fail and you do not accomplish anything you set yourself behind compared to the other jungler who just farmed. If you get counterganked it can be catastrophic too.

S0kaXMay 10, 20171 votes

pros : early snowball cons: your laner won't have all their abilities if ganked before level 3

I am PacmanMay 10, 20171 votes

I'm not saying you are stupid, but "what is the always the best thing to do in all scenarios?" is a stupid question, especially for jungle.

What jungler are you using? what is the opponent? who are the champs in lane? are there even matchups you want to swing? can laners help with dmg or cc? do you know if the enemy warded? is counterjungling worth it at this stage? are you a strong duelist?

AgentBlackMay 10, 20171 votes

Pros:

Less vision on the map, especially with VERY early ganks (say level 2-3)
Laners tend to unlock their defensive abilities last
Laners are greedier with their summs early game; either they blow them in early all-ins or try to survive ganks without using them
Gold is worth more the earlier in the game you are. A kill for the laner at level 6 is nice, but a kill at level 2 or 3 basically decides the lane
If you're ganking successfully, farm-oriented junglers want to match your pressure instead of farming. The earlier you start this, the better

Cons:

You and your laner may not have all abilities. Depending on your synergy and the Champion you're targeting, things can go unexpectedly bad. Never tower dive that early
If the gank fails, the other jungler can have a consistent farm/level lead throughout lane phase
Reveals your position to the other team, and whether you succeed or fail, you almost always have to base or go back to farming. Now the two lanes you didn't gank can be as aggressive as they want, or try to set up a successful gank for the other team. Or maybe the other jungler counter jungled you for a net gain, or worse, finds you in your jungle

dominusxMay 10, 20171 votes

There is no con to spamm ganking as long as you dont fuck every gank up. The amount of kill xp you get from kills is retarded. You can go watch some tarzaned videos and he talks about it alot.

You can be 50cs down from the enemy jungler and still be the same level or outlevel them thing that wouldnt happen even if you were 10-0 inprevious seasons.

Only con i can think off is

One: If you are a hypercarry type of champ and needs the gold more than the xp two: counterganking if the enemy jungler adapts to your playstyle

Sp33d Zer0May 10, 20171 votes

Pro: You can force summoner's and then return gank. Very few things in the game as effective at winning as intentionally tilting a player by hard camping their lane and ganking 7 times in 12 minutes, Con: You risk falling a little behind on farm, and you will likely not be full health for the gank, thus making you open to be killed and possibly transferring double buffs to the opponent, especially in a counter gank scenario.

Ganking regularly is great, but it is still not as consistent as hard farming. Hard farming is consistent for you, but your teammates may fall behind because you aren't helping. It is a juggling act.

PaquayMay 10, 20171 votes

Another con I haven't seen anyone mention is it reveals your position to the enemy. A LOT of information can be given based off of when and where you are. Other lanes could hard press if there is a favorable matchup or they could go for jungle invades, take camps, and deep ward.

For an early gank to be considered a success, you need at least one of 3 things:

kills. This one is obvious. You want first blood and the gold and exp that comes with. It also sets the enemy behind and can help snowball th lane.
summoner spells. If you can get the enemy to burn flash, heal, ghost, exhaust etc. then that gives your team a huge advantage in lane. You can also return gank them shortly since their ability to fight off ganks has great diminished.
relieve pressure on laners. A lot of people think you need to get kills or flashes in order for a gank to be effective but that's not true. If your lane is pushed under turret and is constantly being pressured, a successful gank could really just be getting the enemy to push back so that you can push out the lane and allow your ally to back.