Jungling

Jungling is the act of killing neutral monsters in the jungle. It is mainly used for getting buffs, gold, and experience. From a strategic point of view, the rewards are very high, especially during the early game. For that reason, some teams pick a jungling champion, who spends his early game in the jungle instead of laning. Most jungling champions will level up slightly faster than the duo lane, which enables them to gank without falling behind in experience.

Effective Applications
At any stage of the game, champions can choose to go in the jungle to slay monsters for their rewards. In early stages, the strategy is to quickly leave the lane, preferably while another champion covers it, slay the monster and hastily return to the lane to gain a temporary advantage. Monsters that grant buffs ( or ) or team-wide rewards are obviously the most common targets: for example, the champions in the bottom lane are often responsible for slaying the on Summoner's Rift, which will result in global gold for the team. At mid to late stages of the game, if a team has poor map control over enemy movement, carries and under-farmed champions will choose to jungle as opposed to taking a risk of trying to farm a lane.

Another strategy for jungling is to have a dedicated jungler. This champion will jungle in the early phase of the game instead of laning, helping the team whenever possible with ganks or by covering the lanes that need protection. Using this strategy, the team will have an extra solo lane, resulting in more total experience and gold for the team. This, of course, will require a member of the team to play in a 1vs2 lane (assuming the enemy team has no jungler), which will obviously be more difficult than 1vs1 or 2vs2 standard lanes. As such, the jungler role should be announced while picking champions, to decide who will get the 1vs2 lane, as some champions can handle that lane better than others. The jungler should also try to help that lane more often, as it will be the one that requires the most protection. Since the bottom lane is responsible for the dragon, the 1vs2 lane is usually top.

If done efficiently, early jungling can be an advantage to your party: more experience and gold that 2 solo champions on the team will get (opposed to just 1 with no jungler) and the frequent ganks of the jungler. If done poorly, jungling can result in falling behind, dying repeatedly to the enemy team, and/or losing control of an unprotected lane.

Jungle Monsters
At certain champion levels, there are neutral monsters that can be killed with smite alone:
 * Level One
 * Wolf
 * Wraith
 * Lesser Wraith
 * Young Lizard
 * Level Six
 * Giant Wolf
 * Level Sixteen
 * Golem

Depending on the champion level and point in time of the game, melee minions and caster minions may also be killed by smite alone. In mid to late game, when a jungler is typically in lane more often than early game, knowing what monsters you can smite in passing is helpful in gaining a few extra gold and a sliver of experience without taking the time to clear out an entire camp.

Choosing a Jungler
As said, many champions can jungle from level 1. Some champions will jungle because they have difficulties in farming in a lane (for example, ), others will jungle because they are great gankers ( or ), while others will jungle because they are particularly fast at it, resulting in a more experience/gold gained than while laning. Another difference between junglers is how safe they are while jungling: some champions will stay most of the time at low health (for example ), which can expose him to ganks in the jungle to shut him down; others, like, will stay relatively safe thanks to their life steal, stealth or movement abilities.

Another factor to consider when choosing the jungler champion is how fast he can gank and how effective his ganks will be: is able to gank a lane at level 2 with just the  buff, others like  or  are great gankers only when their ultimate ability is available. A ganker champion can play in a lane, but the enemy will be alerted when he leaves his lane to gank, and as such his ability to pull out effective ganks will be compromised. On the other hand, if the ganker is jungling, the enemies will never be sure on where he is and either play safely, reducing the amount of farm they get, or play aggressive, exposing their flanks to ganks. The only effective tools to combat a jungling ganker are wards strategically placed on the lane access points and.

Jungling for the first time
When trying to jungle with a particular champion for the first time, it is recommended to create a Custom Game to test out different builds and their efficiency. If you barely stay alive at a certain mob with a particular route, you should attempt said route multiple times to make sure that you are consistent: be sure to be able to clear the jungle without relying on lucky critical strikes or dodges, for instance. Also remember that in a normal game, you could be ganked in the jungle; hence, being able to kill a mob with very low health remaining is particularly risky. While making a mistake and dying during a bot game is inconsequential, doing so in a real match can put you very far behind in gold and level, and could even cost you and your team a victory.

Masteries, Spells and Runes
The jungler will often require the summoner spell, mostly as it will allow him to slay a sigil monster at level 1 (the hardest level for the jungler, having only 1 skill). After that, Smite is still useful, as it speeds up the jungling, provides added security against counter-junglers who will try to steal the buffs from your jungle, and can be used to secure/steal the kill on the or. While it helps a lot in jungling, it will restrict the jungler to only 1 'combat' spell, and it also notifies the enemy team that he will be jungling in the early game, which can result in ganks at level 1. As such, defending the jungler (without stealing experience from him) at the beginning of the game is often required at higher level of play. While it is greatly discouraged by experienced junglers and higher ELO players, a few champions (, and  in particular)  can be replaced by another summoner spell for additional ganking potential (for example,  or ) as they don't strictly require it, but they still benefit from it for the reasons stated above.

The important Masteries for any jungler are, , and. allows junglers to keep pace with the lanes in levels. No matter who you jungle as, is always worth the mastery points. allows junglers to maintain their much needed buffs longer for better sustained jungling and better ganking opportunities. reduces the cooldown of by a little bit and gives 5g for each use so the jungler won't fall too far behind in gold. and can be useful for any jungler that goes deep enough into the defense mastery tree by adding extra bulk for the early levels.

It is important when jungling to use Defensive seals as they will keep you alive in the jungle. The only junglers which do not require defensive runes would be the ones which have high sustainability for example and even. It is also recommended to obtain at least 10 armor penetration in the jungle as most of the jungle monsters have 10 armor.

Items
The 'standard' item choice is to buy a and five s. The  will grant the jungler 18 armor, which mitigates a lot of damage in the early levels. It is also bought because it's relatively cheap (allowing for 5 or 2  and a ) and it can be upgraded later on into a useful item for every jungler -, an item which speeds up the jungling considerably.

Runes
While rune set-ups are not set in stone, there are still commonly used ones. These are the ones you'll come across most often as a jungler.


 * Quintessence
 * Armor Penetration
 * Attack Speed
 * Health
 * Mark
 * Armor Penetration
 * Attack Speed
 * Magic Penetration
 * Seal
 * Armor
 * Dodge (Mainly for dodge champions like )
 * Glyph
 * Attack Speed
 * Magic Resistance (flat and per level)
 * Choice (Relevent to champion outside the jungle)

Jungling route information
Killing the and  first grants the jungler enough experience to level up (with at least 1 point in ) and nearly endless mana/energy to keep using his abilities in the jungle without having to recall. Starting at the Golem however is pretty risky, so champions that don't really need the additional mana regeneration are better off starting elsewhere. Another factor to consider is whether the champion needs significant mana regeneration during ganks. If so, then it might be wise to delay getting until right before the gank (for example, if planning to gank at level 4 getting the Golem at level 3 is a good idea since you will still have the buff for the gank.)

Common paths
Aggressive (fastest ganking with buffs, most common) Sustained (more jungle experience, less ganks)
 * Blue Golem (Smite) - Wolves - Wraiths - Red Lizard (Smite) - Small Golems - Fountain - Gank
 * Wolves can be done before blue with almost every champion if a good leash on blue is provided, increasing jungle speed slightly.


 * Small Golems (Smite) - Wraiths - Wolves - Blue Golem (Smite) - Fountain - Small Golems - Red Lizard (Smite) - Wraiths - Wolves - Gank
 * The alternative path you would take to recover from an invasion at your blue.

Other relevant information
In general junglers need to have extremely good map awareness, and they need a strong team to support them. It is the laning champions responsibility to inform their jungler whether bushes are warded or champions have used their summoner spells before a gank. It is also important to attempt ganks so long as you are not over extending your attempt. A failed gank is not a complete failure if you force the enemy champion to use escape summoner spells, leaving the enemy open to a future gank or to dying to the allied champion in the lane. While ganking make sure you do not burst out all your cc as this allows your enemy to escape when you have no cc left to give chase.

It is also wise to ensure that the summoners who are controlling champions in the top, middle or bottom lane are not pushing their lanes out too far towards the enemy turret. Having your lane pushed out too far will inhibit your jungler from making an effective gank as well as giving the opposing jungler a better opportunity to gank.

Prioritizing ganks is extremely important as well. Watch the CS count in the game panel to see which champion is starting to get too farmed. You must force enemy champions to be uncomfortable in their lanes. You do not want an AP carry or an AD carry to sit top lane or middle lane and free farm for the first ten minutes and accumulate a lot of gold.

Leashing
Aiding a friendly jungler by providing a few hits before going to one's lane can be very useful. Almost all designated junglers start at the Blue Golem. As some junglers can only barely clear the golem with little health remaining, particularly at lower summoner levels, an extremely effective strategy called "Leashing" allows them to kill the Golem quicker and with less health cost.

To leash correctly, a friendly non-jungling champion should be the first to hit the Golem. Doing so allows the jungler to get in a few hits on the Golem without its retaliation, as it will be chasing the one who first attacked him. The free damage to the Golem will save the jungler time and health.

Ranged, mid-lane champions should stand on the opposite side of the trees behind the Golem and provide one or two hits or a spellcast to get the Golem chasing him. Keep in mind that the Golem will typically wander into the brush, removing sight of him if no one is in there with him; move inside the brush to retain sight and make sure that it doesn't regenerate health. Once the Golem reaches a certain distance away from the camp, it will turn around and begin fighting the jungler. For the Blue team (bottom part of map), side-lane leashers should position themselves in the area above the golem, provide their hits, and proceed to the top lane. For the Purple team, it is the opposite. It is very important that the Golem is not allowed to walk too far after losing interest in the leasher, otherwise it'll regenerate a large portion of its health.

If the jungler is weakened and low health from a level 1 fight (for example an that got  instead of  for the fight) yet needs blue for jungling, a strong leash can be provided by hitting the golem from behind the camp and walking back and forth between the brushes, switching directions every time it turns around. With this method the jungler will take no damage from the golem.

After all this is done, leashers should have returned to their lanes before any enemy minions in their lane have been killed (meaning no lost experience) and the jungler should have an easier/faster time jungling.

Tier list
Some champions are better suited to jungle than others. As such, some people have created a jungle tier list, to display which champion is more efficient as a jungler. It is important to note that this is only some user opinion, and therefore should not be taken as an absolute.

Elementz tier list
It's considered by many the most accurate list. Keep in mind that the list only takes in consideration pure jungling aspects, and not overall champion strength. The list is available here, last updated on October 21, 2011. The aspects considered are:
 * Speed/Survivability
 * Invasion
 * Ganking
 * Sustained
 * Pathing

Champion Basics
The jungling in the first 6 levels is the most crucial part of the game for the jungler champion. The successful execution will define whether you come out ahead of the enemy team or behind. The following section will focus on giving tips on jungling in order to help new users figure out how to start jungling with a particular champion. Keep in mind that these are only guide lines and not rules set in stone. Note: Use of smite is optional at all times and is noted in parentheses because of that.


 * Starting Items:, x5
 * Skills progression: >  >  >
 * Jungling order: Blue Golem (Smite) - Wolves - Wraiths - Red Lizard (Smite) - Small Golems - Fountain - Gank


 * Starting Items: ,
 * Skills progression: >  >  > (optional) >  >
 * Jungling order: Blue Golem (Smite) pot after 2nd drain - Wolves - Red Lizard - Small Golems - Wraiths - Enemy Blue Golem (Smite) - Enemy Wolves - Gank / Fountain


 * Starting Items:, x5 OR ,
 * Skills progression: >  >  >
 * Jungling order: Blue golem (Smite) - Wolves - Wraiths - Red Lizard (Smite) - Small Golems - Fountain - Gank
 * Can gank as early as level 2


 * Starting items: OR, x5
 * Skills progression: >  >  >  / > (Whichever you haven't gotten).
 * Jungling order: Wolves - Wraiths (Smite) - Small Golems - Fountain - Blue golem (smite) - Wolves - Wraiths - Red Lizard (Smite) - Small Golems - Gank


 * Starting Items:, x2
 * Skills progression: >  >  >  >  >
 * Jungling order: Small Golems (Smite) - Wraiths - Wolves - Blue Golem (Smite) - Fountain to buy (optional) - Small Golems - Red Lizard (Smite) - Fountain (optional) - Gank


 * Starting Items:, x5 OR
 * Skills progression: >  >  >  >  >
 * Jungling order: Wolves - Wraiths (Smite) - Mini Golems - Recall - Blue Golem (Smite) - Wolves - Wraiths - Red Lizard (Smite) - Gank
 * Advanced Alt Route (with ): Enemy Wraiths (Smite, leave 1 mini wraith) - Wolves - Wraiths - Mini Golems (Smite) - Recall ( and or ) - Blue Golem (Smite) - gank or continue jungling

Alternative jungling method with high-level masteries and runes:
 * Starting Items:, x5 OR
 * Skills progression: >  >  >
 * Jungling order: Small Golems (Smite) - Wraiths - Wolves - Blue Golem (Smite) - Fountain (optional) - Small Golems - Red Lizard (Smite) - Gank
 * Starting Items:, x2
 * Jungling order: Big Wolf (+ a couple of melee hits to kill) - Blue Golem (Smite, leash recommended) - finish Wolves - Wraiths - Small Golems - Lizard (Smite)
 * The Big wolf is taken out first because of the down time between the Wolf camp spawn and the Blue Golem spawn. This saves a few seconds and allows to hit level 2 after the Blue Golem dies.
 * Good runes to use are Flat Armor Seals, Attack Speed Marks, CDR or AP Glyphs, and flat Health Quintessences.
 * Masteries should either be 9/0/21 (getting the Smite mastery and CDR+Magic Pen in offensive), 0/9/21 (getting the armor, MR and regen in Defensive), or 0/21/9.


 * Starting Items:, x5
 * Skills progression: >  /  >  > (Whichever you haven't gotten)
 * Jungling order: Small Golems (Smite) - Wraiths - Wolves - Blue Golem (Smite) - Fountain (optional) - Small Golems - Red Lizard (Smite) - Gank

jungling path differs very much depending on how soon you wish to gank.
 * Starting Items:, x5
 * Skills progression: >  >  > optional from here on.
 * Jungling order: Red Lizard (Smite) - (Gank) - Small Golems - Wraiths - Blue Golem (Smite) - (Gank)


 * Starting Items:, x5 or
 * Skills progression: >  >
 * Jungling order: Small Golems (Smite) - Wraiths - Wolves - Blue Golem (Smite) - (Gank)

Udyr has several jungling styles, this style heavily relies on to clear the jungle quickly. He can also jungle with for better single target damage.
 * Starting Items:, x5
 * Skills progression: >  >  >
 * Jungling order: Small Golems (Smite) - Wraiths - Wolves - Blue Golem (Smite) - Fountain (optional) - Small Golems - Red Lizard (Smite) - Fountain (optional) - Gank
 * Starting Items:, x5
 * Skills progression: >  >  >
 * Jungling order: Blue Golem (Smite) - Wolves - Wraiths - Mini Golems (Smite) - Fountain (optional) - Red Lizard (Smite) - Gank


 * Starting Items:, x5 OR ,
 * Skills progression: >  >  >  > (optional - recc: Hungering Strike) >
 * Jungling order: Blue Golem (smite) - Wolves - Wraiths - Red Lizard (smite) - Small Golems - (Fountain / Gank) - Wolves - Wraiths - Small Golems - Wolves - Blue Golem - Wraiths - Red Lizard - (Gank) - Fountain at lv 7 - Dragon (assumes having )
 * Note: another set of starting items could be, 2x, . The ward is almost always used to ward your own Blue Golem or Dragon, so if an enemy jungler attempts to take it, you can set up a gank. Alternatively, you can place the ward at enemy Blue/Red to try to gank the enemy champion trying to obtain the buff. Use after the 2nd attack in order to gain the most healing efficiency with.


 * Starting Items:, x5
 * Skills progression: >  >  >
 * Jungling order: Wraiths (smite) > Wolves > Blue Golem (Smite) > Small Golems > Red Lizard (smite) > Gank