User blog:Odisseas25/The mindset of a jungler

Hello, im odisseas25, an average lol player on eu west. This post contains some of my thoughts on jungling, and how i became a jungle addict.

I have started lol about a year ago.I was a little ashe with negative scores. Luckily, some friends of mine were older players and tought me the basics. However, they thought jungling was noobish. I first bought anivia, and couldnt play her at all. Then i got warwick. I searched for a guide on mobafire, and the top rated was DEWO's jungle ww. I was about 15 back then and i started jungling.I got flamed a lot, even by my friends. But i continued jungling. I had mastered ww, i could get to 6 at 4:30 and gank mid with ease. I even got the armor seals to help me jungling (pretty much everyone was saying full AD page would be better).

However, something was bugging me. I didnt like how he needed 6 to gank. So i played some jungle sion. I know it isnt very good, but i liked the idea of those lvl 2 ganks. Then, i got udyr. I was fascinated by the man/bear/tiger/phoenix. I jungled him tiger, turtle, and tiger. it depended on the enemy team. With him i learned the basics of counterjungling and dragon control. With ww i'd just solo him when i got my q maxed. I just loved jungling with him. The versatlity was just too good.

It was April and i had gathered 10.000 ip to get runes. Lee Sin came. I instabought him and took him to the jungle. At first i was doing blue first, but then an idea hit me: what if i let my mid the first blue? That was it. I didnt need blue, so i was giving it to my mid and then i was rushing to enemy red. Then gank. Simple as that. Wriggles, mercs,and then atmogs. YES ATMOGS IM A HIPSTER. I was getting warmogs cause with my setup he needed health to not die. So, how about an atmas to make all that health offensive?

I was jungling with lee and udyr at that time. Once in a draft game, udyr and lee got banned. I said to myself ww is free, sion too. They were their first two picks. I didnt know what to do, so i searched my champions to find a jungler. I got nunu. We won. At that point i discovered the true value of counterjungling and clear speed. I have never played ww as a jungler since then.

Thats how i became a jungler and i learned the basics.I have tried a lot of junglers, i even played jungle evelynn on ranked and won. I could play with not so optimal picks and do good. Jungle karthus is an example, twitch is another. I was trying to make my jungler fit the team.

Then the season two jungle arrived. I took my faithfull phoenix udyr and played about 10 games. The more games i played, the more i realsed i didnt need to spec 21 on utility anymore! So much versatility with those changes. I admit i was qqing about them at first, but after testing them i liked them.

The new jungle is made uniqueness. With amumu i sometimes stole their red and then took the blue path. With udyr i gave my blue to mid. I could start anywhere i wanted, get to level 2 and proceed to gank with or without a buff.

Thats my story. I dont say im a pro jungler, im more of an average one. Here are some of my thoughts about jungling.

The two more important things for a jungler early are Dragon and securing lanes. You can just simply walk in with red, use some soft cc and watch them blow their escapes giving your lane an edge. A good gank wont always be one with a kill. Dont overextend to get a kill when ganking, let them go. Instead kill dragon or steal their jungle and proceed to another lane. Cover a lane when you get asked, and give your buffs to the ones that need them more than you. Dragon ofc is a very simple object. Get it while you have an advantage. if you do it sneaky then its better.

Latter, you will be more concerned about Baron. Oh Baron, what a pain in the ***. Many players underestimate their power and dont go for it early. I have got a Baron with udyr/kog at 20, amumu/ryze/sion at 15 etc. Many times the opponnents wont even notice. However, there are the times when you have the perfect oportunity, and your teammates (even those on voicechat) wont go.

Another very mportant concept for a jungler is warding. you should at least use 10 wards each game. Ward aggresively, Ward their buffs, dragon, Baron, ward to protect your teammates from ganks. Wards save lifes so shut up and buy some wards billy.

The good junglers must have one at least of the three main things:

1. Good early ganking. This not only helps your teammates but also cripples your opponents. Lee, shaco (although i hate him), rammus are some examples.

2.Super ult. This one is simple. Have a very usefull ult that can be game changing. Amumu, karthus, gankplank are very good choices.

3.Late game dominance. They need to be good throughout the game, but very scary at late game.For example ska-ska-skarner, udyr and olaf are unstoppable forces with full builds.

This is my first post, and thats all i had to say. Feel free to comment and ask anything.