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I have some laning advice I can give for low elo solo players

Raemnant·11/16/2014, 8:21:33 AM·51 votes·8,711 views

TLDR; If your jungler isn't ganking, or his ganks suck just play it safe and farm

I see all of these posts about raging to your jungler, people blaming them for their loss, and all this other stuff, but I believe you should keep your jungler out of it, most of the time. I have learned that when you're in lane, it is best to not rely on your jungler. Don't expect him to come in and feed you, don't expect him to come in and save you. Yes, that's a junglers job, and they SHOULD do that, but don't expect it.

Treat your lane as a 1v1, or a 2v2. Its you versus your enemy, and its your job and your job only to overcome, and defeat your opponent. The jungler is a wild card. He may or may not show up, may or may not die, or get you kills, so play as if he isn't there, until he actually shows up. The only time you can blame your jungler is if he runs straight at the enemy when he should not have, and feeds them a free kill, fighting something he shouldnt be, or trying to dive.

If he isn't ganking for you, play more defensively. If his ganks are failing, try and poke the enemy more. Adapt to your situation. As long as YOUR opponent isn't ahead of you significantly, you can still win. Keep your own lane warded, stay aware of THEIR jungler, and do not die. If you want to say "/all hurdur my jungler sucks. No ganks bot lane while xxxxx has been down here 7 times" well tough luck. At least you're still alive, and your jungler is probably just farming the jungle for gold. He'll be an asset mid-late game. Not to say he shouldnt try ganking, but if he isn't, then he isn't that type of player, and you have to accept that, and play accordingly.

You don't need to kill your opponent to win the game. You don't earn gold just by killing the enemy champions, the game isn't about which team kills the other the most. Just farm, ward, stay alive, and make plays later on, when the team groups up. That's all you can do

42 Comments

Lowvyr11/16/2014, 11:21:44 PM7 votes

As a jungle main, let me clarify something: I won't ALWAYS get you a kill. If I don't, don't whine and bitch at me. I might need the kill more than you, or I might just blow their flash. Be grateful that I took the time out of my jungle route, sacrificing precious gold, and opening up my jungle for counter-jungling, to come up there and help you. If I feed them a kill, then yes, tell me to stop coming up there, and I will. If I get you a kill, I'm taking a few minions. It's called "Minion Tax". Also, if I'm playing a champion such as Warwick or Rengar, and I rely on my ult to gank, don't bitch and complain at me if my ganks don't do shit when I'm below 6. If you know that I'm that kind of champion, or if I state before the game-of-record actually happens that I'm going to hard farm to 6, play safe until I hit 6, and then ping when you want me to go in.

And another thing that pisses me off: If you ping the enemy laner, and tell me to go in, but then don't go in, and I die, don't blame me. You should have went in when I did if you pinged them. I'm tired of laners seeing jungling as the easiest role in the game. In all honesty, it's the hardest. Not all too many people are actually great at it. Some jungle champions are very hard to play (Elise, Lee Sin), some are a little difficult (Kha'Zix, Rengar), and some are super easy (Warwick, Master Yi), but in the end that's not the actual issue. The issue with jungling, is that you are responsible for ganking, objective control, map pressure, and setting the enemy jungler behind enough as to take him out of the game, or at least force him to farm and not gank. It's not that easy to do all that at once. Just go try jungling if you've never done it before, or barely ever play it. It's not as easy as it looks.

LupusNox11/17/2014, 4:32:36 AM7 votes

I really hate when people expect the jungle to be a part of their lane

Playing a lane means that you are playing vs your opponent(s) and your jungler/their jungler is just a wild card. Your main job is to win that 1v1/2v2, and if your losing, thats your fault, not your junglers.

When I play jungle and I see a lane losing, I tend NOT to gank them, simply because the risk of it backfiring is so much higher. I will get the lanes that are even or winning an even further advantage so that they will snowball and make up for our lane that is behind. If the player is behind in lane has any sort of game knowledge, he will play defensively and try to just stay even somewhat in farm. I'd rather have someone that is behind 20-30 or even 50 farm mid-late game than someone or is behind that same amount of farm but is also down 2-3+ kills in lane.

Jungling isn't just about ganking for your lanes; there are many facets to a good jungler. Farming your jungle, ganking, counterganking, knowing where their jungler is so you can countergank, warding, objective/buff control, knowing where their wards are and when they expire, invading, etc.

Saying that "my jungler noob no ganks GG" is such a bad way to play off the fact that you don't know how to play your lane

FiendOfOne11/16/2014, 7:11:57 PM5 votes

As a jungle main: Also remember that a successful gank isn't just if you net kills. Forcing summoners, forcing out of lane, taking an objective, are all successful ganks. Sure, the kill is preferable, but anything that gives your team the advantage to pull further ahead is successful. And, yes, sometimes this means not ganking. I tend to pick up a Sweeper, and if I show up and kill a ward (especially a bought ward!), I'll leave for a bit (unless the enemy lane stays out of position), but I just gained money for our team while denying money they spent, and forcing them to have to play more carefully, allowing my team to zone them/force them out of lane/whatever.

In other words: Capitalize, lanes. Play as if the jungler wasn't there, keep yourself aware of the enemy jungler, ward ward and ward some more, and take every advantage your jungler does give you - because even something as small as a ward clear gives you an advantage. And that's something a lane can always use.

Alljoy11/16/2014, 8:24:34 AM5 votes

Take my upvotes.

Just take it.

KilljoyX11/16/2014, 4:14:28 PM4 votes

As a jungle main if a lane is pushed up for 3 minutes but hasn't fed kills and you don't gank you deserve to be fired... out of a cannon into the sun. Seriously. It may as well be bart simpson waving his butt in your face saying "Ha ha can't kill me!". If you don't gank and lose the game it really is your fault.

Spacesuit Spiff11/17/2014, 10:47:41 AM3 votes

To put it another way, if you want to climb, you need to be able to win lane without the jungler's help because if you rely on a random factor than that, you're not going to consistently win. Doing ok while getting camped is even better, and forcing the top/jungle/mid to be constantly converging on you and not getting any kills out of it means you're going to climb extremely quickly.

Here's a tip for top laners, since it's usually top that complains about lack of ganks: when you see the enemy jungler come to your lane, ping it and tell your jungler it's safe to go bot/do dragon. Then try to keep the enemy jungler top as much as possible, so as to keep him away from dragon/bot. If I'm against a top/jungle duo that needs to gank a total of 9 times just to get 2 kills off me (I really have no idea what those 2 were doing, but I can confirm that deep wards are OP in that situation) and dragon is still up at the end of that, my jungler really isn't doing his job at all. Also, in the current jungle the junglers are ALWAYS looking to gank top at level 3 because they'll just have finished their topside buff. If you die to a simple level 3 gank, you probably don't deserve to climb.

Junkο11/16/2014, 1:58:55 PM3 votes

In low solo queue it's actually better to tell your jungler TO NOT gank. I have seen so many junglers give double buff to lane opponent by making terible ganks(at low hp when i was low hp and enemy laner had more than half) and then made the laning phase an absolute hell for me, so i just started telling them to not gank.

Combined with /mute all i managed to climb my main from high Bronze to Gold 5, sadly it was still a terrible experience.

RiotRiot MechaMoose11/17/2014, 6:59:47 PM3 votes

When I play top lane, sometimes its fine if my jungler never shows up. As you said, it's up to the laners to adapt to the situation. Maybe other lanes need more help? Maybe the jungler is being harassed in his jungle? I'm fine with a quiet lane, where I can just farm farm farm.

That being said, if you are jungling and you won't gank a lane, or are thrust into a situation where you can't gank, let the lanes no so they can adjust their play accordingly.

Great post, thanks for the insight!

HexTechBomber11/17/2014, 7:06:55 PM3 votes

Love your post OP, advice that is' just perfect for people in low elo and all elos.

I find it easy to do so, always assume too that you're going to be ganked and play accordingly. If you do this you will find you will do better, watch for enemy laner ques for knowing when the enemy jungler is there and what side they are coming from if you have little/no vision.

I main mid but do jungle and i always make sure my team knows when I'm going to gank and to be aware when I'm coming so they can be ready to setup or tell me if not to. Forcing ganks is bad, if you have to force it, you're going to fail 100% of the time.

I've made my share of mistakes, lets be honest we all have numerous times.

But this advice couldn't get any better! Its like perfection.

Other things that lanes should be doing really is communicating ward placements as well so their jungler is aware.

As a mid laner if I'm facing a specific champion who can snow ball easily (akali, fizz, katarina) I'll make sure to notify them that it'd be best to probably focus them down more to help prevent roaming.

Siachi11/17/2014, 7:09:35 PM3 votes

Maybe it's because most of my top laners are relatively safe in case of a gank (Rumble can turn it into a double kill if he places his ult right, Gnar can hop away or chain CC them, etc.) or maybe it's because I've picked it up from a friend of mine, but usually, when the enemy jungler comes up top, I try to let my own jungler to make stuff happen in bot lane (Gank bot, try to get dragon, maybe get some wards in their side of the jungle, etc). "I'll be fine on my own, if I need you I'll call, but there are other places you can attend to right now"

Raikutamer11/17/2014, 1:25:57 AM2 votes

I see all of these posts about raging to your jungler, people blaming them for their loss, and all this other stuff, but I believe you should keep your jungler out of it, most of the time. I have learned that when you're in lane, it is best to not rely on your jungler. Don't expect him to come in and feed you, don't expect him to come in and save you.** Yes, that's a junglers job, and they SHOULD do that, but don't expect it.**

Umm no that is not a jungler's job. His job is to farm the jungle, like how the Mid's job is to play mid Also your b1... idk if this is an alt or not but judging from this simple comment you should not give advice. Not to mention you completely contradict yourself.

Reshaos11/16/2014, 4:16:27 PM2 votes

From a junglers perspective, junglers do not HAVE to gank for you in order for you to win your lane. Ever watch players like Faker or Pobelter? The enemy jungler can be camping their lane and they will still come out on top.

That brings me to my next point, if the enemy teams jungler is camping a lane then your other lanes should be pushing and pressuring their lanes since they are safe from jungle ganks. Your jungler doesn't have to counter gank. He can help other lane apply pressure and take enemy objectives.

Problem is people rely WAY too much on their jungler. You don't need a successful gank in order to win your lane. If you are where you're supposed to be and so is your opponent then you should be able to be pretty even in your lane, which there is nothing wrong with that.

Remember you only have ONE jungler and THREE other teammates. The jungler isn't in the game just for you. The jungler has to keep objective control, ward the enemy jungle to help counter enemy ganks, help ALL of your teammates by ganking, AND still farm. I have played too many games where all lanes are screaming at me because they got roflstomped in lane and expect the jungler to completely carry the game.

Fyi, other lanes should be roaming when appropriate to help with ganking AND WARDING. I as a jungler should not be the only person with a pink on the map!

iamthegoatofwar11/16/2014, 4:40:53 PM2 votes

I main jungle and I'm in gold so I feel like I have some pull here. People should play according to their champ. IMO champs like lee, udyr, and elise should constantly be ganking when they can. Champions like warwick who need their ult should really start helping at 6. And if you feed the enemy laner as the jungler or even feed the enemy jungler it's your fault.

Wyenot11/21/2014, 1:23:19 AM1 votes

I have an idea, let's leave the jungler alone and everyone learn how to dodge poke?! Yeah? Yeah? Awesome!

Real talk. So many games I watch my teammates eat poke. Just stop it. You're embarrassing yourselves.

FedAsFuk2/28/2015, 11:15:12 PM1 votes

This is something I see alot of on this account especially. People don't realize it is THEIR job to win/go even in THEIR lane. The jungler simply cannot be at all lanes at all time. Sometimes you get ganked top and he is farming wraiths, you should have either warded to know in advance or backed the hell up because you had no back up nearby. While I may be frustrated with a jungler lacking presence in my lane it isn't their fault, if i messed up and handed an early lead to my lane it is nice for my JG to come help me out however it is my fault, anyone who blames the jungler simply doesn't want to accept the fact they are the ones making the mistakes.

Shinjusuke11/17/2014, 7:51:32 PM1 votes

Something that's somewhat glossed over here is no, it's NOT the "jungler's job" to win your lane for you, and that.. er.. "silly".. mentality is why the jungle has been totally fucked for several seasons. It's the jungler's job to gank, that does not mean it's their job to "come in and feed you/come in and save you". Telling people that reinforces the IDIOTIC mentality that a jungler is supposed to be omnipotent, which THEY LITERALLY CANNOT BE.

YOU need to learn how to handle YOUR lane. There are 3 of them, and all you have to do is beat ONE person, maybe 2 in bot lane (with backup, I might add). The jungler is expected to keep up in farm with less minions to do so, successfully outplay the other jungler consistently, AND win all 3 lanes for the people who are in the lane and can't take care of themselves.

When the preseason comes around and give gank-focused junglers the shaft, all you, I'm sorry bad players who pick a lane and expect the jungler to win it for you are going to be in for quite a well-deserved shock.

It's the jungler's job to gank lanes. It's NOT the jungler's job to somehow camp all 3 spoiled lanes at all times and yet somehow consistently be a threat.

Learn to lane. Keep jungling out of it. A gank is a special case, NOT something you should expect every 2 friggin' minutes.

Whimsic Wicked11/16/2014, 11:54:50 PM1 votes

I love this. Im very new to jungling, so most of my shortcomings have to do with my incompetence. But either way, its no fun to listen to people blame you for the loss

KGB Shakes11/17/2014, 8:38:01 PM1 votes

I think this is being over simplified. Let me give an example to better illustrate.. Lets say im playing as mid lane and my match-up is less than ideal. Im not going to go into detail but there are MULTIPLE reasons this can happen (you are an early pick and no one to switch with, miscommunication ect.. ect..). The opponent has picked a champion that fast/hard shoves lane automatically like Morde or Malz. The champion I'm playing is not well suited for compensating for fast shove or for farming under tower. It IS the junglers job here to punish Morde or Malz for shoving lane and sitting under my tower.

It is the junglers job to make a best effort to punish enemy's that over extend lane where your team mate can try all they might but are unable to influence the wave due to that particular lane match-up.

I would say this might be the only caveat, other wise I agree with the majority of the OP post.

RottedApples11/17/2014, 10:34:26 PM1 votes

Don't expect him to come in and feed you, don't expect him to come in and save you. Yes, that's a junglers job, and they SHOULD do that, but don't expect it.

No it really isn't a junglers job to save you when you are being an idiot in lane. Typically when i jungle i try to farm my jungle and get a few ganks in to keep lanes stable and/or I have a good opportunity. I don't always do things effectively because i am bronze and therefore don't play well but i understand how the game works. And i am NOT going to gank you if you are 0/3 unless I KNOW we can kill the enemy because otherwise it's just a free double kill for him and possibly buffs. It's better for the team if you just play safe when you are 0/3 and let the jungler get other lanes ahead so they can collapse on your lane and shut the guy down

Chaotic Reks11/18/2014, 3:06:52 PM1 votes

It would be easy to safe lane if my minions weren't pushing up to a spot where i can get gang-ganked...

OwlMechanic11/20/2014, 1:55:06 AM1 votes

TL:DR - You're only job is NOT TO DIE if you can successfully NOT DIE than you are depriving the enemy jungler of time that could have been spent farming instead of camping you. In this way you do not fall far behind and you will indirectly SUPPORT YOUR JUNGLER

Dark Nephthys11/16/2014, 6:56:31 PM1 votes

Personally I normally don't rely on my jungler, my first main role was support and then now I'm trying to get into Top and Mid lane now. I know I have 1 major issue with my laning (other then last hitting..but a lot of people still suck at that honestly lol) and that is that I'm way to passive. The only champions that I play top lane that I actually go full aggressive is Yasuo and Lee Sin (probably because of their dashes, and no mana). Facing champions top lane that have good sustain is really my biggest weakness for top lane since I'm not really aggressive enough to poke them down more then they can heal. Because of this, I can never really shut down a Nasus...Especially since 90% of the times I face a Nasus, I happen to pick Shyvana which can easily beat him early but then he'll sit under tower with life steal and get back to full from 1 minion wave...And you can't kill/stop him unless you tower dive or have a Jungler (At least with a melee champion like Shyvana).

Then again, being to passive isn't really all that bad. I generally go even in almost all my lanes and if my jungler does come top then usually win it. I also should start to get into the habit of split pushing as well since I pick some champions top lane who are great for it (Yasuo, Shyvana, Warwick etc).

Mid lane, I'm a lot more aggressive once I know I can out-damage my opponent, like when I pick Anivia I'll try to wait for level 6 to all in (unless I actually land my Q).

But anyways, yea I do agree people really do need to stop relying on their Jungler all the time. I think my friends really like when I go top, because since I'm actually passive...I usually don't die against my lane opponent (unless their jungler comes) and most of the time, they push me to my tower so it's easy for my Jungler to gank. Also because I know that if my opponent is stronger than me, play safe and sit under tower until help comes or until they get greedy and tower dive.

Cleepa11/16/2014, 11:11:48 PM1 votes

Upvotes!

MexicosFinest11/17/2014, 8:08:09 PM1 votes

Upvoted. Another common thing in low elo is pushing their opponent under tower and then blaming the jungler because they get camped.

GoldenLeSpoink11/16/2014, 12:50:36 PM1 votes

I think that the junglers have the most important job in laning phase, and that is to keep the enemy jungler at bay. and taking objectives; I never blame my jungler for not ganking cause at the end of the day, I am the one who put myself outta of the position and got killed for it. You don't have things warded? Then expect ganks from the enemy as they continue to see you overextend. Mid/Top/Bottom lanes aren't as important as the jungler as they are the people who make the plays with the Support to help others out of laning phase. I do agree that you should play like the jungler is not going to bank, cause odds are he probably won't...and thats because there are other lanes that may need a little more help than you. Besides, what is the point in helping a lane that is 0/5 versus another lane that is 1/ 2. Would you rather snowball someone that had a lead at one point or someone who is doing terrible and getting a kill for them is just going to reset there gold value.

Minrog11/20/2014, 8:21:26 PM1 votes

If I'm top lane and getting pressured or constantly/dived at my tower by the enemy jungler/top then it's still not my jungler's responsibility. Getting a double kill is a low probability play though, and in those cases it's likely I'm going to be behind and the other players are going to have to use that top pressure to their advantage. If the jungler does gank for me I say ty, sometimes they come back a few times and that's nice to get a huge lead over my opponent. Bitching at jg doesn't win games, and he's likely been looking for easier targets elsewhere.

Some of them,, though, I just don't understand how getting 300 CS and 0/0/0 is going to help the team if he never goes to any lane. :(