How to Knifecat?

Paragon Fury·4/20/2015, 6:03:29 PM·2 votes·355 views

So I've been trying to work on my Knifecat(Rengar ) Jungle, and I've been having a couple of issues.

1: Early clear. I'm used to Shyvana Jungle, so Rengar's early clear seems particularly hard. Tank-style Jungle Masteries seemed to let me clear faster, but hurt the early gank potential. Assassin-style Jungle Masteries let the ganks hurt more, but make clearing seem too dangerous.

2: Build order is typically item 3715 >item 1001 /item 3717 >item 3134 >item 3143> item 3142 > item 3274 >item 3065 > Situational item. (SV and RO can switch obviously, if the need calls for it). Depending on enemy comp I might get item 3153 ,item 3071 ,item 3068 ,item 3035 .

3: Max order. I generally go for Q first, but would W be better?

4: Counterjungling as Knifecat - is it viable? I'm used to Jungle Shyvana, so I'm used to going into and out of the enemy Jungle as I please, but I've yet to try it as Knifecat.

3 Comments

junglerboy164/20/2015, 10:59:08 PM2 votes

Ugh, I hate when it deletes my posts before I'm done.

Anyway...

Jungle Knifecat!

For runes, I'm not really sure what the best ones are because I mostly use the same generalized set on my junglers (since I don't want to spend a bunch of time grinding IP right now), but some of the more beneficial ideas I've seen are something like this:

Quints: 2 AD and 1 flat CDR, or 3 AD, MS, or CDR Marks: 9 flat AD or AS Seals: 9 flat armor seals: 9 flat CDR or 9 scaling MR.

If you take the flat CDR glyphs, take the one CDR+2 AD quints for 10% starting CDR and take the 5% AS from masteries, if you take the flat CDR glyphs and 3 CDR quints, take 5% CDR from masteries to start the game with 20% CDR. Rengar loves CDR because he has no costs and spamming abilities gets his ferocity up faster. Getting to the 40% cap as soon as possible means more spell spam, lower Ult CD for more ganks, and better in fight DPS and utility (I read a guide on Rengar some time ago that detailed just how much Rengar gains, but all I can remember is it is a LOT).

I'm going to talk about a few builds from the perspective of the three different starts: 0% CDR start, 10% CDR start, and 20% CDR start. In general though, even if you want to play Rengar as a fighter rather than assassin, you NEED to have high early damage to be worth anything, so avoid item 3717. It does not synergize with his play style much if at all, so If you want a tank, play a real tank instead.

  • just a heads up, whenever I mention item 3071, it will be in reference to the soon to be released rework of that item, not its current form (because then my advice would be outdated really quickly).

0% CDR start (for the tankiest of Rengars): Starting items: item 1039 item 2003 item 2003 item 3340 First back: item 3713 item 1001 Early core: item 3707/item 3714 item 3274 item 3143/item 3190 (depending on enemy team comp) item 3341 Offensive items: item 3071 item 3074 item 3156 Defensive items: item 3065 item 3083 item 3075 item 3068 Example final build: item 3714 item 3071 item 3190 item 3143 item 3075 item 3274

10% CDR start (can easily go either very tanky or full assassin): Starting items: item 1039 item 2003 item 2003 item 3340 First back: item 3713 item 1001 Early core: item 3707/item 3714 item 3274 item 3142/item 3190/item 3143 (depending on how fed you are) Offensive items: item 3074 item 3031 item 3156 item 3035 Defensive items: item 3071 item 3083 item 3065 item 3075 Example final build: item 3707 item 3142 item 3190 item 3143 item 3074 item 3274

20% CDR start (Balls to the wall assassin Rengar, can go a little tanky in a pinch): Starting items: item 1039 item 2003 item 2003 item 3340 First back: item 3713 item 1001 Early core: item 3707/item 3714 item 3274 item 3142 item 3074 Offensive items: item 3035 item 3031 item 3156 item 3046 Defensive items: item 3102 item 3143 item 3083 Example final build: item 3707 item 3142 item 3074 item 3035 item 3031 item 3274

Key things to remember with any of these starts:

  • Always get Trailblazer and boots first back, unless you are ahead, then skip trailblazer for Skirmishers/Stalkers
  • Always ward up, and don't bother switching to sweeper until level 9 since you gank with your ult.
  • Be wary of the CDR cap; If you start with 20%, don't waste your gold on excessive amounts of it.
  • Warrior is always the best jungle enchant on Rengar, it gives everything you need early (get it even if you are going tanky).
  • Try to snowball an early lead with your high early damage.
  • Remember to itemize for the match, if you start with a lot of damage but need to tank up for your team, do it.
  • When playing assassin Rengar, don't be afraid to take the kills from your ganks so you can snowball everyone more easily.

I hope this was helpful!

Leti the Yeti4/20/2015, 7:33:08 PM1 votes
  1. get all yo shit, spam all yo shit, empower your rawr all day erry day so you don't die
  2. kamikaze knife kat (KKK for short) is best knife kat... till they buy pink wards (it's like being talon, but you can jungle!)
  3. no
  4. your clears are either gonna be fast enough to steal their shit or you're barely hanging on with the heal from empowered rawr being able to leap outa of a bush onto the other jungler is cool shit so why not
Paragon Fury4/21/2015, 2:34:25 AM1 votes

Thanks.