Where do you start in the jungle?

usul1202·Mar 11, 2015·2 votes·5,113 views

I mainly play in the jungle, and find myself prefering to start golems/red buff depending on my leash. I'm starting to expand my jungler pool though, so I'm asking the boards: where do you start with your favorite jungler(s) and why?

Edit: I'm seeing a LOT of people say to always start bot side for the leash, and it confuses me. Golems are as close to lane as gromp is, so either way your leashing lane is going to be a bit behind. I started jging as shaco though, and frequently go leashless on him. even Diana has a nice first clear no leash. So, ignoring leash states, (or giving a solid reason behind them), why blue side?

29 Comments

Leti the YetiMar 11, 20153 votes

Typically start bot always... "but I need blu-" no, no shut up you, stopping you right there no you dont need blue buff, not yet you dont don't start top when you have a Nasus on your team then get mad cuz he wont leash you

usul1202Mar 11, 20151 votes

Yea, blue buff first just seems like an odd start to me, unless you're riven and need that CDR. As for Nasus, definitely not. gotta get him all the stacks he can get, as soon as possible.

CLG FactorMar 11, 20152 votes

I always start bot lane for a better leash

usul1202Mar 11, 20151 votes

The leash is nice, but as Diana i've found that the golems smite buff will let me destroy anything on the other side without taking much damage. Even starting red i feel like that helps much more than gromp-smiting. Plus, I feel like letting my ADC start in lane is just nice to them, helps get that ball rolling, since i don't like ganking bot much as Diana.

EwokSoldierMar 11, 20152 votes

Hey I main jungle this season and last season. In general I can jungle pretty much anything in the new jungle as long as you know where to start and how to start. Each jungler has different benefits and trade offs but for the most part it is difficult for the non top pick junglers to start a camp without a leash. Hence why I typically start bot half of the map so that you bot lane can leash. If you start top half either top will not leash or top will leash and get to lane at a disadvantage because opponent showed up first and either attained lane control or got an exp advantage.

Overall Krug is better for dmg junglers and gromp is better for tankier junglers at start but you should start bot half unless you are something like shaco or elise or heavy sustain junglers that can start anywhere.

I prefer krugs overall the best esp as ranged junglers such as morgana u can soft reset camps 5 times to avoid taking damage as champs that dont typically jungle.

Hoped this helped! :) summoner 31

M0RDEKA1SERMar 11, 20152 votes

I'm surprised I haven't seen Udyr yet. It actually depends on which side I start on, and if I have teammates who are willing to cooperate.

If I'm on blue team, I rely on bot lane to place a ward by dragon at 1:50-1:55. I solo Blue, then Recall, TP to dragon, and kill him.

If I'm on red team, I wait by dragon myself, place ward at 1:50, run up to Blue, kill them, recall, TP to dragon, and kill him.

Then I proceed to wipe up the leftovers in Blue Camp, and move to Red, kill red, clean up red camp.

After that, I'm usually playing the lane bully and watching dragon timer for second kill at level 5 or 6.

Dragon buffs don't always win games, but they do help.

Edit: I do this without a leash. The Godyr needs no leash.

usul1202Mar 11, 20151 votes

Udyr can lvl 2 dragon with blue? 0.0 how?

M0RDEKA1SERMar 11, 20151 votes

Tiger Stance, Turtle Stance, Rinse, Repeat.

I also don't smite blue so I can save both smites for Dragon.

usul1202Mar 11, 20151 votes

Why must i learn this after godyr free week? -_- now i wanna try it.

Best Darius KRMar 11, 20151 votes

Well in general you always start the minicamp closest to your botlane and smite it I normally smite and kill Krugs/Gromp, do Red/Blue without smite, and kill wolves with smite aswell to be quicker I then back And then proceed to do Blue/Red with smite and ganking as soon as possible

ZìggyMar 11, 20151 votes

Gromp/Krugs

NaixadMar 11, 20151 votes

Amumu is jungle king, and is pretty cheap last I checked. Kayle jungle is a "WTF meta" but I've been testing it and so far so good as long as you figure your route and equipment. Maokai is someone i wanna take into the jungle because of that heal ability every five spell cast but that is a big question mark. Nasus in the jungle would be interesting because of that q and the gank capability is there. Riven is good jungle, but never tried her. I've seen it work well especially because of that gank capability. Warwick because of that sustainability. Volibear because he is a beast. Renekton because of that leap of gank. IDK if that helps but that what I've seen work best for jungling.

usul1202Mar 11, 20151 votes

But where do you start as them? I've at least tried a lot of them in the jungle, but haven't gotten a feel for how they clear really.

MrPerson10Mar 12, 20152 votes

Almost always start by your bottom lane, whichever mini camp is closest, or buff camp in certain scenarios. Pantheon on blue side, for example, wants to start red as it helps him sustain in the jungle 10x more than krugs will.

Amumu is fairly trash tier for jungling as far as early pressure, he has zero - but does extremely well in team fights in terms of hard CC and engage, similarly to Leona. Miss your Bandage Toss, waste your time and give away your position.

Kayle you're generally looking to start at a buff camp, it takes a little bit to get used to her clear as for the first few levels you'll find you burn through mana - a lot, and she's one of the few AP scaling jungle champs you don't build Magus on due to her E being AA based.

Maokai I have no experience to speak on, but he does make for an annoying time to try to escape a gank.

Nasus scales his Q relatively slowly in the jungle and has close to no early presence (lvl 2-4) where a lot of the current junglers shine JarvanIV Pantheon LeeSin , his base damage is fairly low and you can usually duel with him effectively early.

Riven has slower clears now than S4 and takes a fair amount of damage given her relatively long E CD early on and short length of the shield, usually require a hard leash if you want to be able to gank off your first clear.

Warwick has great sustain, little early presence without a gap close, but at 6 he makes a lot of shit happen.

Voli's just great all-around, no argument there to be made there.

MrPerson10Mar 11, 20155 votes

Renekton is just about the worst jungle you can pick, given that riot nerfed his Fury gains from minions and monsters so hard - his sustain is absolute trash in the jungle

usul1202Mar 11, 20151 votes

Oh, i didn't even think about that nerf effecting his jungling. That really would kill his viability. +1 for realizing the hidden nerf.

MrPerson10Mar 12, 20151 votes

That was a lot of the motivation behind that nerf; his jungling presence in the higher half of the ranked ladder with his double gap close + stun, as well as his ability to hit lane minions forever, engage on a champ and delete half their health, rinse and repeat with no consequence or danger.

B3ERMar 12, 20151 votes

This doesn't mean shit, actually. I play Renekton Jungle and his sustain is not a problem at all. He can first clear confidently without a leash, is a strong front liner, duelist and decent ganker with Stalker's.

MrPerson10Mar 12, 20151 votes

That, while true, doesn't make him a good jungle. His clear is slow, he doesn't come out any higher than J4 or Vi does on their first clear, doesn't provide a strong engage or anything like armor shred, if he can't close with e/e then he has no escape, no stun and no gank.

Above all, he falls off extremely hard in the late-game.

B3ERMar 12, 20152 votes

Also bullshit, his clear is very fast. It can rival Nidalee's and Rek'Sai's clear speed. He actually does come out higher than J4, though I haven't compared him to Vi yet. You really don't know jungle Renekton. Furthermore, his E provides an armor shred so you don't know anything about Renekton full stop.

He's not part of the top 5 junglers, I agree, but I do think he has his niche. His late game is weaker than his mid, sure, but with 40% CDR he's still a force to be Renektoned with.

MrPerson10Mar 12, 20151 votes

You have to hit or pass through them with your 50% fury E (untargetted) for the armor shred to go through (removes 50 fury that could've been used for a W/Q combo, providing a LOT more than your E's armor shred will - unreliable and not ideal to use as armor shred over a basic gap close)

His clears aren't on par at all with the standard junglers, taking on average an extra 20-30 seconds to full clear without a hard leash.

B3ERMar 12, 20151 votes

Meaningful choices. You either wanna CC them longer or soften them up. 35% armor reduction by level 13 is nothing to scoff at. If you go full tank, you don't even need to worry about an empowered Q. I don't know what kind of setup you're using in jungle Renekton, but his clears are very fast in mine. Honestly, I don't think you want to admit you're wrong. It's OK to do so, you know.

MrPerson10Mar 12, 20151 votes

It's more opinion than fact either way, he's just not at the same quality as Vi or J4 - you never have to choose between what you want to do on any other champion. Renekton has no reliable sustain without an empowered Q on a gank lasting more than 5-7 seconds, so you're forced to choose between armor shred or a stun. On the other hand, Vi for example, has her passive giving her a consistent shield upon using Q/E/R abilities. Again, you don't have to choose.

And on the note of pure tankiness, why would you take Renekton over Sejuani, Hecarim, Sion, etc who do a far better job of being a pure tank without any regard for a mechanical way to sustain?

At lvl 13, yes, he's great - and the massive armor shred is amazing - but by then everyone is more than capable of clearing the jungle. By then, you're also in team fights and your linear playstyle isn't affecting the laning phase by relying on severe overextensions (given the current overstatement on mobility)

B3ERMar 12, 20151 votes

I specifically mentioned he's not as great as the top 5. I know perfectly well that the top 5 don't have to choose, which gives them their versatility and what makes them good picks all around. All I did was point out a fallacy you made saying that he doesn't clear well. You made this assumption based on the patch notes, but you didn't really play him yourself. You really shouldn't have an opinion on something you have no experience with.

Furthermore, direct comparisons of one aspect of his kit with those of others is meaningless when champions are amalgamations of strengths and weaknesses. Renekton is also just as tanky, if not more, than Sejuani and Hecarim as neither of them have a way to increase their defensive stats (other than the small boosts from Sej's passive).

Final note, his playstyle is not that linear. Renekton has tools to outplay people and can make decisive choices mid fight. Going 40% CDR emphasizes this significantly. His ganks can also be strong whether you extend or not. I suggest you try playing him instead of arguing from theory. There is no validity to some of your claims because of that and in the end it just wastes both of our time. I've already explored both the theory and the practice, you just need to catch up now.

MrPerson10Mar 11, 20151 votes

Pantheon if I have to jungle, start red or gromp.

KapppaccinoMar 11, 20151 votes

i would take attack sped marks and start golemns :D then work my way down (ur pants c;)

101100111000Mar 11, 20151 votes

Sion : I don't need a leash, I just need people around to discourage an invade.

Frank327Mar 11, 20151 votes

When jungling with XinZhao I always start at gromp (next to blue buff) and do a 2 buff route then gank. The reasoning for starting with gromp and doing red buff last has two reasons. First of all, you get health back for smiting the red buff while smiting blue buff only gives mana back. Because you can smite your first and your third camp it seems a good idea to me to do blue second. My second reason is that I keep red buff active longer for ganking.

B3ERMar 12, 20151 votes

The only good place to start the jungle is in the enemy team's jungle. Stealing early buffs is much easier this season, if you know what champ you're up against.