The jungling role in League of Legends is one of the hardest to master. With many different clearing paths, ganking routes, warding locations, and methods of counter-jungling, there is a lot to learn. This guide will help paint a picture of what to do when you are jungling.

Introduction to the Jungle Camps

Credit: Riot Games

All camps are different when it comes to XP, gold and buffs. Only the blue and red buff camps enhance your champion. Red Brambleback gives you Crest of Cinders, a nice damage buff, and Blue Sentinel gives you Crest of Insight, a mana regen buff that also gives CDR for its duration. These camps are the most important to kill for a jungler.

The other camps provide good amounts of XP, with Krugs being the most. Krugs are almost as important as your buffs. They gives lots of XP and gold early and throughout the game. In terms of XP, Gromp offers you a great amount, while Raptors and Wolves don't give much.

The camps that give the most gold are your buffs. Second to those are the Krugs, they give a total of 90 gold when you kill all of them, so this camp is very important early. The gold amount then goes Gromp third, then Wolves and Raptors.

Rift Scuttler is very important to kill. It provides a big area of vision in the river, and a speed boost that can help with ganks. It also provides large amounts of XP and gold, which can be great early. Make sure to take those Scuttlers from your opponent.





Jungle Clearing Paths

Your clearing path is essential to becoming even with the enemy jungler in level and is also a chance to slip ahead of them and get an early advantage. One of the most efficient clears right now sees you starting with red buff, with help from your top laner then moving to raptors, kill wolves, blue buff, and gromp. Complete the clear by taking out the scuttle crab.

This path is a great and simple way to hit level 4 very early in the game. Since there are 5 camps you need to clear, you will need mana, so I recommend picking up a Hunter's Talisman as your starting jungle item. This path is very efficient on Hecarim, Sejuani, and Rek’Sai, but any jungler with sustain can do it.

If you main a scaling jungler such as Kindred, Graves, or Karthus, then you will probably want to stick to this. This path is slower, but it lets you scale and hit a powerspike earlier. You’re going to start at red buff, then go krugs, raptors. After your raptors, go to your blue buff, then gromp, wolves, and finally scuttle.

If you have to back after raptors, don’t worry. This clear is slow, but it is worth it for all of the XP you will obtain. You won’t be able to contest scuttle without knowing where the enemy jungler is, so try to get some early wards in the enemy jungle to track their movement. Getting behind early on a scaling champ makes for a hard comeback.

If you are looking to rush level 3 and put up a fight for the scuttle crab, then the following path is for you. Champs like Lee Sin, Elise, and Jarvan IV take this path as they can fight at level 3. This path targets the camps that won't leave you at low HP. The path is as follows: red buff, krugs, wolves, blue buff, and then scuttle.

This path lacks the XP of the other paths, but if you know which scuttle the jungler will be at, then this path can really pay off. If you fail to take the scuttle or execute a successful gank, you will fall slightly behind, so keep that in mind.

The fourth path is for champs that clear raptors first and want to get a quick item advantage. People experienced with Olaf, Hecarim, and Gragas should try out this path. The path is as follows: raptors, red buff, krugs, and then back. With this back you can pick up boots, and if you want to gank, now is your time for a nice early gank. If there are no opportunities, then continue your clear and finish your camps.

Ganking Tips

Before you gank someone, you need to know a few things about the enemy laner and your laner. Here is a list of a few questions you must ask yourself.

Which summoners does your laner and the enemy laner have?

Are there a lot of minions? Is the lane pushed against you?

Does the enemy have any disengage abilities? (Ahri ult, Fizz E, etc.)

Are there any ultimates available? The enemy’s ult or your laner?

Is their CC ability on cooldown?

Try to sweep for wards before planning a gank. Any vision from the enemy can spoil your gank and cause you to lose XP and waste time. If your teammates put down Control Wards, plan your gank entry from around that bush.

If the enemy is pushing your top laner in on top side and you have a Control Ward in your tri-brush, then go through the tri-brush and walk up river. Since the enemy pushed the lane, they will be caught out by your gank, and there is a high chance you get a kill. Warding is very vital to ganks. Without vision, your ganks will have a high chance of failure.

Timing is very important in ganking. You don’t want to gank when the enemy has a large minion wave, as you will tank minion damage and the enemy can turn the gank in their favor. When clearing camps and warding, you should be looking for opportunities to gank. When an enemy laner blows their Flash, you should keep in mind that they are very prone to ganks for the next 300 seconds.

Another thing to keep an eye out for is the enemy's CC and movement abilities. If Ahri has just used her ult on your laner and her CC ability, Charm, then you would want to gank her if you are nearby. Waiting in a bush with no wards can pay off once they use their abilities, but don’t wait too long or you will lose XP and waste time.





Counter-Jungling

Counter-jungling when done right can be very rewarding. When it is done wrong, however, it can be very upsetting as you will be falling behind and feel useless. Counter-jungling requires you to have vision and the ability to track the enemy jungler. You don’t want to be caught in the enemy jungle and give a kill away to the jungler or any of their laners.

You must be aware of the camp the enemy jungler starts at. If you want to steal his camps, you need to know his location at almost all times. You don’t want to be taking their red buff and have their jungler come out of nowhere, Smite it, and kill you because you are low on HP.

Constantly look at your map and make sure the lanes around you aren’t roaming towards you. When stealing bot side jungle, beware of the wards the support puts in river and in their jungle. Top side jungle will have the same problem as the top laner, jungler and mid laner will ward the river and jungle to avoid ganks. You will need to take red trinket and bring Control Wards while you counter-jungle to clear out vision. Vision and map awareness are essential to counter-jungling and tracking the jungler.

Jungling is about farming, don’t forget that, but ganking and snowballing are also important, if not more important, than farming. Stealing camps and ganking the enemy lanes can give you a lot of XP and gold, so try not to tunnel vision on just farming your camps, because jungle is more than just that. Get some deep wards in the jungle entrances and you will be able to steal camps freely with the knowledge the ward provides.





Warding as a Jungler

Warding as a jungler is used as a way to track the enemy jungler. It is best to get deep wards on the entrances to the enemy jungle, as this will help you track the jungler and laners will be able to know if a gank is approaching.

Warding mid lane brush is okay, but there are so many more beneficial spots to ward. Places like either river brushes or the brushes around camps can convey more information and give more time to react to the jungler’s movement. As a jungler you should aim to get informative deep wards in the enemy jungle.

Top side is harder to ward as there isn’t many places that provide a lot of important information. Most wards will be cleared out top side as there isn’t many places to put them. With the addition of Scryer's Bloom, you can obtain a lot of information on enemy wards and with Zombie Ward you can get some free vision. Below are a few graphics of warding locations from Mobalytics.

These wards provide lots of information that you will need if you want to protect your jungle on blue side from invades. In a losing matchup or if you are trying to farm up, ward these locations to protect yourself.

These ward locations are great for getting information if you want to counter jungler and play more aggressive. They are around the camps and the entrances of the jungle. I can't think of better locations to ward if you want to track the jungler and steal their camps.

Switching over the red side jungling, you will need to protect your jungle if you are playing a farm heavy champ, or you are being invaded and want to feel safe. The river wards allow vision of scuttle and roams from mid and the enemy jungler. These ward locations are great for tracking enemy movement in your jungle and may even get you some kills if you catch the enemy out of position.

Still on red side, if you are looking to counter-jungle or you have a big lead, then ward these locations to know the camps the enemy are doing and track their movements to counter-gank, counter-jungle, or gank for your teammates. These locations provide information on high traffic areas and are vital to successful counter-jungling. They let you know when they are trying for objectives or for an engage.





Conclusion

There is a lot of information that junglers must know if they want to get better. Season 9 for junglers is very dependent on counter-jungling and ganking so you can snowball. If you help your lanes win, then your job as a jungler is successful. You don’t need to carry. You want to put the enemy laners and jungler behind, so to do so you must gank and counter-jungle. I hope this article was helpful!