Jungle mains I need your advice (Want to improve my jg game)

One thing I struggled with for awhile was falling really far behind and becoming nearly useless 20 minutes into the game, it took me forever to realize why. If you're playing a champ that ganks well like Diana, be aware of what you're doing at all times and ask yourself "is this productive?" I found myself roaming and looking for ganks, spending way too much time walking between lanes not getting exp or gold. Go for those ganks when you see the chance, but if your first one or two fail focus on clearing your jungle and keeping up vision. I would fail a gank or two, panic, then keep trying and failing ganks in an attempt to catch up. My jungle game improved vastly when I kept my mind on grabbing as much gold as I could to stay relevant. If you see a great gank/countergank opportunity go for it but don't look for ganks that aren't really there.

You don't always have to searching for ganks, take opportunities that present themselves like if an enemy is really pushed or is low on hp and you feel you can dive and kill them. I see a lot of people just play as if killing the enemy is the most important thing but it's not. Taking objectives is better and you can take those more easily if you have gold and xp from killing jungle camps. But also don't afk farm the jungle if a lane is in need of help.

Counter ganking can be just as helpful if not more for you team. Look at your team and where they are positioned. Imagine you are the enemy jungler. You haven't seen the enemy jungler gank in a while and ally top lane is pushed? The enemy jungler will probably go top to kill him. You go top too to be close by in case that happens and what was potentially your teammate giving a kill could be a kill for you too or at least preventing him from dying.

I try not to counter jungle unless I know exactly where the enemy jungler is unless you know for a fact that you can beat them in a 1v1 and there is little chance a teammate will come to their rescue.

The most important part of jungling is time management.

If you're taking a creep camp then you're not ganking, losing that potential gold / xp If you're ganking you're not taking camps, losing that ensured gold / xp for potential gold / xp, and also meaning that you'll have to wait longer to farm the camp twice. If you're covering a lane, you're sacrificing the inflated jungle gold and xp for laner gold and xp.

.. The list goes on, but the point is pretty clear. The jungler makes a sacrifice somewhere to do anything and everything - something which laners only face when they roam. But this comes with the power of unpredictability and freedom.

The two biggest and non-specific tips I can give you are pretty simple, but stuff that a lot of junglers don't seem to have a handle on.

First and foremost, always be active. Whether that's invading the enemy jungle to snipe a camp, farming your own jungle, ganking a lane or cover one doesn't matter. Just always be doing something. Falling asleep in a bush hoping for a gank opportunity is rarely going to yield the results that you want, and will often allow you to fall behind.

Secondly, always gank from unconventional paths. This is a simple trick that will make you much more slipper and much more dangerous. If you're on blue side and ganking bot lane, don't bother with the tri brush. Just walk near raptors, slip into river, and gank from the river. If you're blue and ganking top then cut through the enemy jungle and tri brush, don't bother with the river. This will allow you to bypass early ward spots and (especially at lower levels) start the snowball rolling. And if the enemy wards you out even on these paths then you're controlling where their vision goes, which is good.

Other than those are a few other generalist tips which can vary depending on who you're playing with and what bracket / rank you're in.

1: Never count on your allies to be intelligent and act appropriately. This might be hoping someone will respond to a threat in your jungle, praying that your adc will respond to a dragon attempt after sweeping botlane, or expecting your laner to walk forwards and bait the enemy just as you come into gank. You can't count on your team to be intelligent. If they are then great, enjoy it. Just don't expect it and play accordingly.

2: The inverse, don't expect your enemy to be as incompetent as your team. I realize that these two tips sound really cynical, but in the long run you'll save yourself a lot of grief by just thinking this way.

3: Watch how people play on both sides. If someone seems overly aggressive, take it into consideration. If they're super safe, the same thing.

4: If you see the enemy jungler at the other end of the map doing something, capitalize. This can be as simple as taking the crawler safely or dipping into their jungle and sniping the large mob from a camp. While not the most crippling of blows, playing like this can very quickly stack up and help you mitigate the other jungler making gains elsewhere.

5: Keep in mind that jungling is the most decision making heavy role on the game. You will make the wrong call a lot. Don't dwell on it, but be honest with yourself and learn from your mistakes.

6: It's always the jungler's fault.

https://www.youtube.com/user/foxdropLoL

I learned how to be a jungler by watching his videos

I'm not a jungle main, but I have a small piece of advice still from the times I've had to fill the role. Despite what some laners seem to think, you can't be everywhere at once. Some games you'll get people who want you to basically camp their lane. This is usually terrible advice, but sometimes you just have to not listen to your allies if you know it will hurt your game. And grow a thick skin, people love to blame the jungler.