User blog:StrategicMagic/Jungle Caitlyn - Because AD carries can jungle too

If you read the title (hopefully you did), then you'll know what this is about. Hi. I'm a 1.1k elo player. I'm really don't like playing AD bot, but I do like to jungle.

It all started a few months ago. I was talking to a (much more experienced) friend about jungling squishy champions. The majority of junglers tend to be at least a little but tanky and the squishiest jungler I had seen was Fiddle. Even then, he has that HP drain. I had tried out jungling Annie and it worked surprisingly well. E acts like Rammus W, you have aoe, aren't too reliant on blue buff as you can last-hit with Q and your stun can make for some pretty strong ganks. After this, he suggested jungle Ashe. It worked quite well. At this point, I thought "are there any more AD carries that can jungle well?" Caitlyn came to mind. And that's how I came to discover this rare gem. == Runes  == '''Truth is, I haven't been playing all that long, and only one of my 3 runes pages is finished, and that's my specialist Singed page. I'll outline my current page, but then outline my finished page which is specifically for junglers.'''

Reds - Flat AD x3, Ar pen x6 (got 6 lvl 1 by accident)

Yellows - Flat armor

Blues - Flat MR (later going to become MR/lvl)

Quints - Flat HP x2 (currently at lvl 1 as they are enough at this current time) and I'm not sure what to get for the last one. I may get AD, AS or Arpen. I have a movespeed I can use for the time being.

Masteries
I don't run your usual page. I don't like 9/0/21 or anything like that. I've used every variation of that pattern, they're just meh... I run a 1/14/15 setup. This is for all my junglers, not just Cait.

I take 1 point in Summoner's Wrath. It helps out in ganks. Previously, that one point was in Butcher for slightly higher damage in the jungle.

In the defensive tree, I take my first point in Summoner's Resolve for Smite. I get the increased Armor and reduced minion damage. I also get Bladed Armor for the damage return. I put 4 points in Durability allowing me to spend 1 more in Veteran's Scars. My last 2 in this tree go into Indomitable.

As for Utility, I get the one point in Summoner's Insight. I add 3 to Good Hands and 3 more in Expanded Mind. That allows me to spend ONE point in Meditiation. I add one point to Runic Affinity. The rest go to Greed and Wealth, maxing both.

The reasoning behind this page is that I, personally, prefer a safe jungle compared to a faster one. I spend a lot of time jungling champions that aren't designed to go into there at an early point in a game. At the same time, I don't lose any utility bonuses and can even get an extra health pot or two early on if I need to, depending on who I'm jungling as. I find pages like 9/0/21 are too kill-orientated. Those masteries are useless if you don't take action that use them. A more defense/utility based page means you are getting those mastery benefits more often.

Why Caitlyn?
Caitlyn can actually be a strong jungler. The main reason for this is her passive. For those of you who don't know, Caitlyn's passive allows her auto attack to deal additional damage every (n)th attack. The attack counter is doubled in brush. Every one attack ads 2 to the counter, doubling the speed she gains the bonus damage. This is 150% damage to chamoions and 250% to minons and monsters. This can help her clear remarkably quickly. See why now? Take a close look at every single neutral monster camp. Blue and Red buffs can be killed from range while standing in brush right next to the camp. Wolves can be kited to the same brush you kill Blue from. It's right on the edge of leash range, so it takes a little practice. It is possible, though. Wraiths can be kited to the brush nearest to them between the two mid turrets. Once again, this at maximum leash range for the larger wraith and the one furthest from the brush. Double golems have a brush directly opposite. You don't even need to kite, like Blue or Red. All that's left are Baron and Dragon. Sadly, Baron is too far from any brush and can't be kited either. Dragon on the other hand, can. As you go towards mid lane from Dragon, there's a tiny brush. If Cait stands right at the very edge closest to the Dragon spawn camp, you can still kill it without it resetting. As with wolves and wraiths, it is at the edge of leash range. I've done it. You can too.

Enough about her passive. At level 1, you want to put your first point in Q. It's basically an aoe, and we all know aoe helps you clear camps faster. You're gonna NEED Cloth Armor. Get as many health pots as you can too. Due to having no sustain, you'll need them. At every camp, you want to open up with Q, hitting all of the monsters. Then, either kite to brush or use the initial Q from brush, depending on the camp. If kiting, auto attack as you kite, it makes it easier. At level 2, take E. It actually makes kiting a little easier as you damage your target(s) and move to brush at the same time if you line it up right. There's even a little burst combo you can do for kiting camps. Auto attack the camp, line yourself up so that E knocks you towards brush. Use E, immiediately followed up by Q. The fast damage should keep creep aggro. The only problem is that this does use up a lot of mana early. Also, I haven't managed to do it with 100% success. Might be me, or it just doesn't work all the time. I don't really know the answer to that.

As for your build, just go for your typical Caitlyn build! The only difference is you will be getting a fairly early Wriggle's Lantern. Don't worry too much about your damage output. Ideally, there will be another AD carry on your team. Getting Wriggle's Lantern can be more beneficial than you think. It CAN proc at the same time as her passive. The resulting damage can be greater than a Smite regardless of the level Smite is used. Her passive also procs with crit. So, if you're lucky, you can get some incredibly large damage out in a single strike. That's potentially 1500+ damage on an objective monster like Baron*. It totally counteracts any kind of Smite steal the enemy team may be planning.

Even with Wriggle's, your damage output can still be rather high. I carried a game 15/3/9 one of the first time I played jungle Cait. For someone who hates AD carry bot lane like I do, I'll do better in the jungle and be able to carry whereas if I was bot, chances are, I'd lose. Hard.

If I've managed to convince you so far, that's good. For those more experienced players or people who know Cait really well, you are probably worried that her ganks won't be great, right? They're not as good as say, Amumu or Trundle, but they're not bad. Not bad at all. Unless you have Phage/Frozen Mallet (which, being a jungler rather than full AD carry, I reccomend as an item), you are gonna need red buff. But then, who doesn't? The only jungler I can think of who doesn't need red is Fiddle. Oh, and Annie. But that's just me jungling mages again. For ganks, you have a few options. You can Teleport gank into brush to get the immidiate effect from your passive and the element of surprise. I would say this is Caitlyn's best form of gank, alongside lane ganks. If those are a no-go, then that's not much of a problem. You can use E to propel yourself over a wall, or right into the lane if you want. You could just choose to run in the lane if you want. How you enter really depends on enemy positioning. Personally, I would run straight into the lane. Especially if it's been pushed hard to my ally's turret. Once you're seen, the enemy will run. Once you can guess where they're running, E them. Be sure it pushes you back towards the escape route you predict your target will use. If they're going for their turret, give them an E to the face while moving backwards as a result, forcing them to take a couple more of your auto attacks. Once they're slowed, you can predict movement easier. Place a trap from W as close to them as possible, while still being able to proc the stun. 2 seconds ahead is about right. They should hopefully walk over the trap as they have little time to react, they're also slowed, so avoiding it should be harder. From there, it's constant auto attacks, followed by Ignite if you choose to have it.

Obviously, each gank is unique. The positioning you take, and the positioning the enemy takes aren't gonna be exactly like how I described. Using the above passage as a baseline, react to the current situation. I can't really say any more than that regarding ganks.


 * That's calculated as Infinity Edge 250% crit dmg, on a crit, while getting the passive and Wriggle's Lantern proc at the same time. You can expect to see over 500 damage in a crit. 250% from the passive will boost that to 1250 ish. Now add the Wriggle's proc. We're looking at possibly 1750 damage. It all depends on stats. This is a very rough estimate. You can get more, you can get less.

A Little Note Regarding Dragon
As I mentioned before, Dragon can be kited. The benefit of kiting Dragon to this brush is more than just the benefit from your passive.
 * If your enemies have Clairvoyance, Dragon will be out of CV sight range if they use it in the middle of the camp. If they have no wards (hence, using CV on Dragon) and are not paying acute attention to the minimap icon (which can be expected), then they are likely to simply assume Dragon is down and won't bother to contest it.
 * Smite steals often come from behind, near to blue team's red buff camp. It will be out of range for a Smite steal. The only way to try that is to come from wraiths or from either side of red team's blue buff. Or, mid lane would have to come down. However, with the above point, it is less likely to happen if the enemy team doesn't realise you're doing Dragon. Especially if you do it solo.

As some final words, I'd like to say jungle Caitlyn is a viable choice. It's a good way to learn how to play Cait in a basic sense without having to go through all of the difficulty and pressure of bot lane. It's a different take on her and I have a lot more fun playing Caitlyn this way as opposed to any other way. Other than myself, I've never seen a jungle Caitlyn either. It'd be nice to see more. Well, that's me done here. If you've read my previous blog about a different teamcomp, then perhaps you can understand that teamcomp a bit better now if Cait is used jungle. Anyway, on to you guys for the comments.