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General Tips for Ganking?

TehNACHO·12/5/2014, 9:18:19 AM·1 votes·1,365 views

So I'm trying to pick up jungling again, specifically gank-centric jungling. Currently, I have three generalized tips that I've either formed or have been taught to me.

If I'm a CC heavy jungler, try to find a lane with good burst damage early on.
If I'm a burst heavy jungler, try to find a lane with solid CC.
If I'm a damage based champ with a form of CC early game ( , ), focus on enemies who can't reliably defend themselves.

As such, that is what I know in terms of how to gank.

Or to rephrase, that's (a simplified version of) all I know about ganking. While I've been having variable levels of success applying these concepts in my recent games (I'm well known among my friends for NEVER GANKING EVER, so I may be biased in terms of 'successful early game gank pressure'), I'm 90% sure that, compared to all the tiny tips and tricks I've learned from playing Mid Lane for the extended amount of time that I have, there's much more to jungling/successfully ganking lanes than simply just three tips.

So, as the Tips & Tricks board, I find it fitting to ask; Do you guys have any tips for a returning Jungler to help improve the quality of my ganks? If it helps, or if you can give more champion specific advice, my jungle roster generally goes as:

8 Comments

City of Toronto12/5/2014, 9:50:19 AM2 votes

Where is the minion wave? If the minion wave is in front of the enemy's turret, then you can't gank safely unless you are certain you can dive and get out. If the minion wave is in the middle of the lane you can go for a river entry gank, but not a lane gank through bushes. If the minion wave is in front of your turret, you can gank when the enemy goes for CS.
How big is the minion wave? If the enemy is pushed up to your side but has a huge minion wave, don't gank. The minions will easily do more damage than either of you pre-6 and the enemy laner could get a double kill should you try.
In which direction is the minion wave pushing? Where is the lane going to push in the next half minute? If the wave is currently under enemy turret, it may push out and reset to the middle of lane in 20 seconds, meanwhile you run up to the furthest bush and pop out when the lane pushes back.
How can I get closest without alerting the enemy of my gank? Based on minion wave and enemy position. River gank if lane is neutral or pushed to you, lane bush gank if wave pushed to them.
Where is the enemy jungler? If you are playing Amumu and are level 3 ganking top and you think the enemy Pantheon is also level 3 and ganking top, don't risk a 2v2 because chances are they will win a 2v2. Alternatively, if you are playing Pantheon or Lee Sin jungle and you think the enemy jungler will gank soon you can wait in the river bush and 1v1 their jungler then 2v1 their top laner.
What level are the laners? If you notice the enemy laner is level 3 and your laner is level 2, chances are your laner needs only a few CS to hit level 3. Don't go before your laner does, wait for him to hit level 3. Otherwise the enemy laner will just kill your level 2 top laner then possibly turn on you with the help of the minion wave for the 1v2 double kill. Same applies for level 6.
PING for god's sake. Sometimes your top laner is too busy looking for opportunities to trade or focusing on getting all the CS without getting harassed too much. He might not realize you're there if you just run in and initiate the gank without pinging first.

BewareTheDragon112/5/2014, 3:50:03 PM2 votes

Make sure the lanes follow up. Many failed ganks happen because the lane either doesn't engage until the jungler dies, or waits until the enemies are half dead before attempting to help. Trust me, I know from experience.