I need some jungle advice

Raemnant·Nov 14, 2014·1 votes·1,110 views

Okay, so I can play all roles, but jungle happens to be my 3rd favorite, after support, and ADC. My junglers are Wukong, who I almost always play, Vi, Alistar, and Skarner(Who I used to main).

I usually find myself in a tough spot, when it comes to ganking. When I'm purple side, I like to clear blue>wolves>red>golems>wraiths, then gank top or mid, When I'm blue side, its Red>Wolves>Blue>Wight>Golems, then gank for mid or bot. However, the large majority of the time, the lanes haven't really gotten advantage on each other yet, and the enemy team usually isn't in any position to gank. I always have the mindset that "Even if you cant kill anyone, you should still gank simply for fear and lane pressure" But I arrive, and of course, I cant do anything yet. 4/5 times, no kills happen. When the enemy jungler shows up, it always seems like they ALWAYS get kills. Is that on me? Should I wait a little longer to gank, maybe let the enemy get a bit lower, or let my team build up a bit more damage?

Its not like I show up out of nowhere and charge right in when my laner is pushed, I sit and wait for the right moment, and I wont gank at all if our lane isnt at least even, or being pushed on us. I come in stealthed, or whatnot, use my dashes, use my CC, all that stuff. I just dont know why its so hard for me to get my lanes kills so early

12 Comments

KoukamiNov 14, 20141 votes

It sounds like your jungle routes are a little stretched out and not optimal for the sake of clear speed and being in an advantageous position. I tend to take things in a sweep with minimal running between camps, so Blue>wolves>wraiths>red(Smite will just be coming up by then) and if healthy enough golems, then search for gank. If no immediate gank, back to buy and regen, and either farm the respawns, counter jungle/invade, or prep a camp until advantage presents itself.

On that note, whether or not ganks are available really depend on your jungler and as you've noted, your lane's presence. If your lane has dominance and is pinning the enemy under their tower, ask for wards in their lane brush. If there's no lane brush wards, walk in from the back of the lane and camp the brush, letting your guys bait an engage or pull back their push.

Best case: Enemy team pushes back out, leaving them wide open for an engage, you guys engage and snag a kill hopefully on advantage.

Worst case: Enemy jungler catches wind of your lane's pressure and moves to punish them. It's a good thing you're here, you can either fight them off with your team, or if things go in your favor get a kill anyways.

From your currently listed junglers, I think Vi and Wukong are your strongest ones. How do you fare with Ali/skarner?

RaemnantNov 14, 20141 votes

I think one of the reasons my routes are so stretched is because I hate to be low, and show up for a gank with half, or less HP. Its happened to me a lot in the past. My team pinging for ganks, complaining, and I finally show up, but I get hit too hard from Wraiths, and I'm like 30% HP, and then end up dying to their lane opponent. I guess from that I tend to stay on the safe side.

I had a 70% winrate with old skarner, but I havent gotten use to new skarner yet, so I dont play him. I'm extremely good with Alistar(Jungle and support), but usually people see him as a troll pick these days, and want someone who has more damage, so I go with Wukong. I've only jungled with Vi maybe about 3 times, however.

8WFX1Yji4ZNov 14, 20141 votes

This is understandable. Ive been in the situation before. Sometimes your best bet is to just put lane pressure on (camp river bush for a while) or go in. If youre low health make sure you have an escape. So engage with something that wont prevent you from a quick escape. Say you go in with wu. Make sure you engage e but you have your escape with w. That way you can always retain flash for an escape if need be or for potential ganking purposes say a minute from then.

If this isnt an option then just ask your lane to camp their tower for a minute while you back so you can succesfully gank their lane. **Even if you gank after and theyve died. At least you can kill their lane and when they get back they can free farm for a while. **If this happens, the enemy top will probably rush or panic and use tele rather than saving it and when they tele back theyll push back that wave and you could gank again assuming you feel comfortable with the conditions. Im not a good jungler by any means nor do i play the role often but these are the things ive seen the most succesful junglers in my games do. ****

RaemnantNov 14, 20141 votes

I did try lane ganking, camping top lanes brush against Udyr one match today, but as soon as I went in with our Gragas , their jungler Diana shows up our of nowhere, and kills both of us. We saw her coming up, but it was too late, we were already fighting Udyr, and she just jumps in, and destroys us. This is another reason I gank, even when there are wards. Sometimes the enemy just cant do anything about it, and you can get a kill anyways, BUT IT HAPPENS SO LITTLE FOR ME. We ended up winning that match though, 4v5, with our fed AP trist AFK half the game. http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/1630956070/37826015

8WFX1Yji4ZNov 14, 20141 votes

Alright. After looking at the stats of that game. Early game your bot lane got wrecked so they probably wanted some help. By the looks of things and sounds of it though your gragas was in need of help with udyr. understandable considering udyr has such sustained damage and he just needed a negatron or null magic in order to subdue gragas and dominate lane. Im not sure if you ganked bot much but the problem they had there. Was when diana ganked **she took the kills.**She might have been able to carry if theyre mid lane or graves had even got somewhat fed. But they couldnt farm because even though diana came and killed them. Your bot lane had dominated too much before and all they would have needed was a tiny farm advantage to stay even or even win lane. 2/4/15 as a jungler isnt a bad score. Its pretty good for the most part. As a wu jungle that game i would have expected maybe a few more kills for you but overall if they went to a carry (which it looked like lucian got them and thats nothing to complain about) theres nothing to worry about. Also. Why you guys won is you had a different comp then they had early. Your teamfight is so strong. The wukong ult with the gragas ult would completely decimate any chances they had of potentially getting damage off with lucian free to pick off anyone he pleased. So ultimately it comes down to how much damage output you guys have. If you know you have enough damage to take out the other laner. Go for it! You either push him out of lane for a while or you kill them. If their jungler counterganks or is also ganking because the lane is at a bit of a standstill. If you dont think you can do it then ping your laner back. If he cant respect that decision **its not your problem.**Bad decisions are made all the time. All you can do is play your best and if someone doesnt like that you play safe because you know what you can and cannot do. Thats their problem. As long as you know you did the right thing.

RaemnantNov 14, 20141 votes

I went bot two times. Once was just like when I tried to gank Udyr, I couldnt get any kills, and they backed off. The second time was as a counter gank for Diana, but bot had already died by the time I finally reached the fight. Thats another thing that gets me. People always like to complain because I wasnt there to help them, but they always die way too soon, and I show up to a graveyard waiting to suck me in as well.

Our late game was pretty sick though. Once I realized Trist wasnt coming back, I started going full tank. I was going to build a item 3074 or item 3071 , but I decided to let the others deal the damage, while I tank/peel/CC

8WFX1Yji4ZNov 14, 20141 votes

Was that countergank at about 15-20ish mins?

RaemnantNov 14, 20141 votes

When I went to countergank bot, it was at the 12 minute mark you see. Diana got me and Gragas at about 16 minutes in

ForFoxSakesNov 14, 20141 votes

Stop sitting in a bush waiting for the right moment. It wastes your time and sets you behind and gives more time for your laner to give away signs theyre trying to bait a gank. If theyre not gankable just clear out enemy vision so they have to play safer or give your laner vision so they know they're safe from that angle. Scan, ward and move on to another lane or clear a camp then consider coming back.

Forcing a bad gank isnt efficient. First 2 jungle paths I do it to rush level 2 jungle item, boots, wards/pots and levels. Jungling after that is dependent on what area of the map needs my help more

Also tell your team where you'll be going. "Wolves then top" will let your top know relief is coming so if theyre even in lane he can poke a bit more to soften them up and ensure that his cooldowns are ready when you're there to gank, or if theyre being pushed he knows he can just farm with a bit more risk to get gold to shop

For ganking junglers you can look for a gank around level 3-4, while more ult reliant ones should look for a lane to help at 6. Waiting around too long trying to gank will end up having the laner being 1 or more levels above you making it much harder to gank

Build wise you don't have to finish a full item most of the time. IE item 3074 costs a lot more when item 3077 is more than enough damage to gank with. You dont need to finish a item 3071 right away, most champs get item 3134 then move to another item, finishing the much later.

If you're finding yourself low HP often in the jung, pick up tough skin& recovery as your first 4 points in defensive tree even if you're not a tank jungler.

RaemnantNov 14, 20141 votes

I wasn't sitting in the bush for long, maybe about 15 seconds before the gank happened. Also, I do call out which lane I'm going to after I clear camps, so they know when I'm coming. I ping as well, when I'm finally on approach. I'll try not to force the ganks so much, and use my teams CC instead of my own, if I'm not 6

SparrowPriestNov 14, 20141 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbr8Rcktsu4 Unless you have some sort of cc you don't try to force ganks. You continue doing your thing in the jungle till you see an opportunity such as either a lane with someone low health or that is overextended. Jungle routes are not something you have to finish before you gank if you see an opportunity or someone needs help you just go straight from where you are at. If you sense their jungler will be ganking a lane you will probably want to be there as well maybe scout passed the bushes and counter jungle or ward their red. Try to defend towers if you have to. No opportunity no ganks just farm until there is one. Also, make sure you keep an eye on dragon the entire laning phase at least. The only time you would want to go to a lane just to harass is if your team mate is getting wrecked and to give him an advantage by getting the enemy lower in hp or sent back.

XDisturbedXNov 14, 20141 votes

Honestly dude the best advise I can give you is make plays, sweep the lanes and counter ward along with ganking. You want to mix it up and try to be unpredictable. My favorite jungle hero is Rammus because his ganking ability all game is top notch. If you start to fall behind in levels don't worry. That's okay your job is to make plays not have the highest farm count. I tend to help bottom the most for obvious reasons there's two people there to kill. Its also in your teams best interest for you to counter ward there junglers blue and red to try to follow his movements to counter gank. This last point is very important to supporting your team as the main roaming hero.

The jungle is the one position that has the ability to affect each lane. Try to support your other lanes by giving them your buffs. Mid gets blue ect..