User blog:Fistful of Force/Counterganking logic

Counterganking Logic

By Fistful of Force

When you are faced with a strong early game ganking jungler such as pantheon or shaco it may seem impossible to accurately countergank. However, counterganking is not a question of luck, but instead a question of logic.

While it may seem like the enemy ganker may gank any lane at whim and move however he wants, he is, in fact, bound by several factors that cause his movements to become restricted, and thus, predictable:


 * 1) Experience: The enemy ganker is pressured to keep up in levels or it will be increasingly harder and harder to gank. In order to do this, he must take the occasional creep camp, adding another 10 to 15 seconds to his jungle route. One important thing to note is that Red and Blue alone will not propel a player to level 3, he still must get some experience from somewhere in order to get to level 3.
 * 2) Health: Even with three health pots and sustain passives, the ability of a jungler to STAY in the jungle is heavily restricted by his health at early levels. By paying great attention to his health when the enemy jungler ganks, it is possible to guess accurately when he backs to heal and buy. He will usually have around 400 gold + 300 per kill + 200 per assist.
 * 3) Movespeed: The enemy jungler must still MOVE from one gank spot to another, and so his route becomes predictable. The constraints of leveling and gold farming force him to become extremely efficient, and so he must “hit up” spots along his route, making his route become like a giant “connect the dots” game.

It may also do to realize that all gankers are huge opportunistic bastards. When you are counter ganking, take a good look at your lanes and ask yourself this: Would you gank that lane if you were him? How would you do it? Great experience in the jungle is important for counter ganking.

Also, camping. If you guess that someone is getting camped, get there immediately. A good camper will not leave the lane until he severely screws up the lane for your teammate. You cannot allow this to happen and must head there to counter gank him immediately.