At What Point Do I Not Gank a Losing Lane?

L3GIT MUFF1N·1/25/2015, 4:32:08 AM·1 votes·2,013 views

So I'm a jungle main, one question that I have is how do i deal with a lane that is feeding, say i have a bot lane that is clueless and has fed the enemy adc 3 kills... do i go down there and help to try to get them back on track or should i help someone else to counter their fed adc? My friends always tell me that my job is to help struggling lanes but i feel at a certain point a lane is a lost cause. is this a correct way to view a lane getting wrecked?

7 Comments

Leti the Yeti1/25/2015, 5:24:09 AM3 votes

if they can 1 v 2 your ass you might as well abandon that lane

llamasx1/25/2015, 4:58:09 AM1 votes

You are the jungler. It is your call. Some like to help losing lanes, some like to snowball lanes, some like to just farm and carry late game. Every game has its own situations as well. Ideally you want to do everything, realistically you can't. There is no right answer, and ultimately it comes down to what you want to accomplish.

Ask youself what you want to accomplish, and if you can accomplish it by ganking a lane. If a successful gank, that isn't super high risk will get a lane back on track, do it. If there's a higher chance that your gank will fail / you will die, don't gank. If your allied riven just needs 1 kill to get snowballing and can carry the game, go gank her lane. If you think the fed enemy lucian can carry their team, then maybe you should do something about it. Ask mid lane to come with you if you don't think you can accomplish anything alone but can with another person.

pE4CbxDPQO1/25/2015, 10:43:28 AM1 votes

When your teammate is 0-1. Tell that feeder you don't have time for his shit.

Khell DarkWolf1/25/2015, 11:23:57 PM1 votes

I was playing a ranked game as Sejuani Jungle. My top laner was playing Shen against Aatrox. My mid lane was yasuo vs. fizz.

I had to duel it out against a Shaco that was invading and roaming alot more then me.

Point being, Shen died twice to Aatrox before the 5 minute mark without Shaco being there and my yasuo was about even so I helped him out. He got a lead but he got greedy in overextending which invited shaco to be there when I was doing other things.

All the while my Shen was still dying at top and not even under his tower.

There was no point to gank top because between me Sejuani and him Shen there was no damage to harass him enough to go back or burn a summoner spell. It was a lost lane way before the game started because he couldn't do anything so I had to focus on other aspects to get my team rolling.

Byakuya Kuchiki1/26/2015, 7:12:30 AM1 votes

Depends on both sides laners like in bot lane if you have a Vayne or Draven (people who need kills)ADC getting beat help then ASAP if its someone like lucian or caitlyn (someone who doesnt need kills for damage) then just tell them to play safe and cs if its like a zed mid save him if its like ziggs no need to. and if a lane is losing by just a little risk a dragon that extra ad/ap can win their lane for them. You wont get any credit for the extra ad/ap but it will be because of you they won

The Whamboozler1/26/2015, 8:32:43 AM1 votes

There's no hard and fast rule. You can pick the person on your team who you think has the best chance of carrying you to a win and you work on feeding them. It can be a nasus top, it can be your adc. It can be an uncommonly good mid Zilean. It can be yourself, depending on your lanes and your choice of a jungler. Try to find the person on your team doing the best and/or playing a champion who can really help out come mid to lategame teamfights, and try to feed them.

Sometimes you'll wanna gank a lane JUST to shut down the enemy in it to make sure THEY can't carry. Sometimes you'll need to avoid a lane entirely because it's beyond saving... but that's very, very bad. If a lane is too weak for you to turn the tides, they're gonna shove it hard and take things. Often, this is bot lane. Often, this gives the enemy dragon control. Try to coordinate a two-man gank with another lane. Maybe mid can roam top or bot to help out. Maybe bot can come mid. If you give up on a failing lane, the odds of them coming back are slimmer so always look for some way to help, even if it's "camp top to draw the jungler to you and get pressure off of bot".

Jungle is, I think, the hardest role in the game because of all the choices you have and how much they affect the game as a whole. You can influence a LOT from the jungle, and you have a lot of decisions to make on incomplete information. Do you gank top? Mid? Bot? Just farm? Is their jungler ganking? Do you try to help or is it a lost cause? Can you invade? Can THEY invade? Gotta keep your buffs safe from counter-jungling. Should you try for Dragon? Baron? Where is their jungler? Can you sneak some wards into the enemy jungle? Did the ward River? It goes on and on... and it's a lot of details to track and plans to worry about. Bad or mediocre junglers free farm, gank if they feel like for who they feel like, and maybe keep an eye on Dragon. GOOD junglers ward, counterjungle, snowball lanes, prevent ganks, pressure lanes, RELIEVE pressure on lanes, counter-gank, rally their team for objectives and know who to feed (or prevent from getting fed) and at least 3 different ways to get to them despite the river being warded. It takes a LOT of time, experience and practice.