Basically how did you learn to jungle effectively? Ganking, counterjungling, jungle path, etc.
Also, what champion would you recommend that is overall good in all those categories but extremely easy to play....
Thanks for all replies. I am so terrible at this role!
watch nightblue3
Udyr is who I learned on. No skill shots, skill build paths, multiple item build paths. He is extremely versatile. He farms efficiently, has moderate sustain,can counter jungle, isn't limited by having to be level 6 in order to jungle properly. His only flaws are his obviousness on his ganks and how susceptible he is to kiting due to a lack of gap closing.
Fiddledix is also easy. Drain and auto attack. He is great at team fighting but requires blue buff to function early on. Can solo dragon very early.
Shaco, Eve and Lee Sin are the three hardest in my opinion.
Jungle was my weakest role for a LONG time. I got better by watching jungling videos online, reading up on tips and tricks, and practicing a LOT.
The champions that got me into jungling were 
and 
, because i tend to gravitate towards initiating bruisers who have strong ganks. Their kits are fairly simple and straightforward, and Jarvan especially can clear camps like a boss. You may want to give those a try (
is similar, but tends to be more fragile and more focused on early game ganks).
There are tons of guides out there for jungling; I recommend watching the stream (or archived youtube videos) of nightblue3. He's one of the best streamers on Twitch, and goes through all the basics of jungling and explains every decision (and mistake).
I started jungle alistar, and basically my instinct from back then was to always watch which lane I get to steamroll, because Alistar jungle did exactly that. Its a habit now to keep watch for any out of position laners, and try and head that way. I spend a decent amount of time in custom games doing leashless jungle clears, trying to maximize my efficiency, and try things out. Rek'sai is a good counterjungling champion because you get to see people in the fog of war, which is pretty freaking awesome. She is definitely not as strong as she used to be, but I think if you put her counterjungling abilities to use, she will definitely shine nowadays
Surprisingly... 
.
Sure, she has been nerfed to the ground.
Sure, Riot hates her with all the fiber in their beings.
Sure, she's not that strong or snowbally unless you know how to play damn near-perfect.
But she's fun. And her clear is different. And I could build her how I played because of her stat diversity. And I could be like a rogue from WoW and gank some mofos.
She's a fun go, but don't expect much seeing as she's being nerfed until she crawls in a hole and dies.
Junglers can be broken down into three types: control, ganking, and farming. Control junglers control the jungle and objectives, as well as fast push turrets. Ganking junglers exceed at killing the laners. Farming junglers farm the jungle at a very fast pace and generally come out of the jungle as a powerhouse. Nunu is the best example of a control jungler. Warwick is the best example of a farming jungler. Alistar (arguably anybody with a level two all in) is the best example of a ganking jungler. Play each to see their strengths and weaknesses. It helps!
Volibear was my first champ I jg on. I found him very easy and his passive will help with the learning curve. His ganks are solid and he is a great tank for engaging team fights. I then went to Shaco...So fun.
Just like the other comments say, vision is key. Watch your mini map for which lanes are pushing. PING before you go in for a gank..please. If your laners dont know you are coming.. prob not going to get a kill. Dont wait for a lane to ask for help, and watch the objective/buff timers. Be there and ping for help for dragon/baron.
I can't even remember who I started to jungle on, it was so long ago.
However, I learned by trial and error. Watching other people's videos will give you an idea on what to do, but finding what fits your play-style can only be done through hard learning. I do a lot of my initial learning on my alt account and here is how I do it.
I play that champion until I've won roughly 25-30 Games in that role as a bench mark. Why? I've found that I can get the routes down fairly easily after a couple of successful games and by the time you've won 25-30 games on that champion, you've typically played around 40-50 games unless you won every single time, which doesn't typically happen if you're playing at your level. I spend the first couple of games trying out different routes and starting points for each jungler and when one works, I try it again the next few games to make sure it wasn't a fluke. If it continues to work well for me on that champion, I continue to use it.
**Ganking **is also a major part of the jungle. You have to know when to go in, where to go in and how to go in.
Shaco, for example, is very good at ganking. However, you have to anticipate the reactions of the enemy. If you're ganking an Ezreal for example, you have to go in far enough behind him to where your box would intercept his E, since you know he's going to go that direction with it once you appear in lane. You also have to debate using your E. If you're close enough to the champion to get an Auto attack off after the box, go for it and get the initial slow and then use your dagger after it decays to keep up on them.
Other junglers have their own varied initiates and a lot of them are situational to the circumstances of the lane.
Lee is a really strong ganking jungler since you can enter the lane to gank from just about anywhere, especially Post-6 with your Ult. Other junglers like Udyr don't have a gap closer so you really have to catch them by surprise or slam into them as hard as you can where you see an opening.
Counter-Jungling is also important to understand. When to do it and how to do it are really strong bits of knowledge that can turn the tides for you and sink the other jungler. If the enemy jungler is going for devourer, counter jungling will be your bread and butter if you know how to do it safely. Buy wards. LOTS of wards. If you can get both sides of the jungle warded for the enemy team, you're going to have a beautiful advantage. This will help you safely counter the enemy. If you have it warded and you see Yi over at his blue and you know you can safely go kill his wraith(Toucan? Raptor?) camp, go take out 3 of those birds and leave a little one. and move to the Krugs camp. Pink wards are also very important here as if they have their jungle warded (Which they most certainly will after you start countering), you're going to need to clear them.
Now, I know I mentioned leaving the camps countered, however, you shouldn't always do this. When should you clear them and when should you counter them? Easy. If you have constant control over the enemy jungle, you should be abusing this and constantly clearing their camps in addition to your own. Take advantage of it. If you take out the enemy jungle, they have to resort to lanes for their gold and exp. If they're siphoning a lane's exp, they're taxing that laner and it builds a beautiful snowball.
A tip I have is to try and play all roles and familiarize yourself with as many champions as you can. Learn their skillsets, their escapes, the moves they can use to stop a gank / counter a gank. If you know the kits, you can anticipate the reactions.
and 
are probably the best to start with. They sustain themselves better than most and have fairly good engages. The flip side is that they don't disengage too well, but for learning jg they're very good.
When I first started jungling, I learned on Malphite. Malphite is strong, scales well with Armor, has an ultimate that allows you to initiate fights or to peel for your carries, and is tough to push off of objectives with his passive (which refreshes incredibly quickly later in the game). I learned jungle paths much quicker with Malphite, since it was incredibly important for me to make sure that my position on the map was always going to have to be spot on. I learned to watch minion waves and champion health (of both sides) to be sure what side of the jungle I should be farming to be available to help if there was an opposing jungle gank or the enemy laner decided to just dive my weaker allies. Even though a gank with Malphite is not nearly as strong before he gets his ultimate, learning the jungle with him showed me that you can make your presence felt on an enemy lane without getting a kill and come back later with your ultimate to secure the kill. You should always look at a used summoner, loss of health, or loss of minion waves as a victory. Not every successful gank is about getting a kill. Chasing into their jungle or diving under their tower could equalize a kill back to them and it is definitely never "worth" if you can keep yourself alive.
Even though the Cinderhulk meta has been tweaked and is not nearly as powerful as it was toward the middle of the season, playing Malphite proved to me that how you play this game depends more on your mastery of the champion and less on how strong they are in the current meta. If you are going to jungle effectively, your focus on how well you know your champion could be the difference between securing a kill in a duel or feeding the enemy. Know your champion, whichever one you pick, and your jungling will be infinitely better.
Good luck in your climb.
the key to effective jungling is map awareness and vision. if you lack both it won't matter which champion you play
Master yi if ur interested in a assassin jg Warwick is a great jg because of his passive and can be built as a tank Rek'sai is also good when vision is in count.
Amumu, easy jungle with decent clears. People can learn to dodge the q's, so learning how to gank is important.
The only thing it doesn't teach you is to kill the small jungle creeps first when doing wolves/raptors/golems.
Though not everyone seems to know, amumu works really well with ap, and it can take them by surprise when you are able to kill them.
