Pathing is key for a jungler. Knowing where to go to get the most farm off the map is vital for you to hit your power spikes. Having the right pathing will help your lanes as well if they are getting pressured or getting ganked. We spoke to Anders "Qvofred" Korsbo about what pathing you should be taking and how it affects different aspects of the game.

Early Game Farming War

In the early game, your job is to get as much farm as possible to help get your team ahead and to start to snowball the game in your favour. Getting the right pathing early can dictate key factors like hitting level two and allowing you to get mid camp control.

Qvofred says that, “The basic pathing early on is starting at your speed, then going to either your backs or blue and then the other, and finally to mid. Afterwards, it depends on what is happening on the map.”



Mid will help you clear speed to allow you to start farming quickly

Once you’ve cleared speed, blue, and backs, you will have hit level two. This can be vital to get mid camps depending on what god you are. Some gods have good secure for mids at level two and, if you can take mid camps, it can help you build that early lead. Like Qvofred said, once the battle over mids is over, where the farm is depends on your pathing.



Mid camp control is vital to getting a lead. You should always look to get these as they spawn

Did mid solo red? Did duo do purple? These are things that you need to look at for farm. If both have been done, then you just need to get your backs on duo side. Depending on what farm you got off the map (i.e. if you get both mids) a wave in mid and either red or back camps should give you level three. This is when you could look at ganking duo lane.

Qvofred mentions that, “It's a lot easier to take a risk and gank a lane that is under pressure compared to a lane where you have the pressure and may need to dive a tower or are more likely to be pathing over wards. Having pressure, though, can affect your pathing if you are trying to consistently invade jungle buffs.”

So, if duo is under pressure when you are level three, you can easily rotate over and help relieve some pressure from them. Otherwise, your speed will be respawning soon so you can go back and look to get more farm from the other side of the map.

Eventually the solo laner will be able to clear blue themselves which will allow you to help other lanes out

Now this isn’t always the most efficient path to take in farming, as many different factors can dictate what sort of pathing you take. Qvofred says that, “It really depends on the game situation as well as a long list of other factors. Those factors can include lane pressure, your HP, your mana, and more.”

Many factors can change your pathing. As Qvofred said, your HP and mana can dictate your path, but other things can cause changes as well. For example, is their mid laner putting early pressure on the tower and overextending? You could skip mid camps and look to gank them early. Pressure in your lanes can really change your pathing. If the enemy is overextending, it can be better to gank then to farm. Did their jungler just gank solo while you were clearing blue? You can rotate into lane and help either turn the fight or help get your teammate out of danger.





Counter the Counter?

Counterjungling is a great way to find a lead over the enemy jungler. You’re denying them XP and gold while you're taking it for yourself or your team. Counterjungling can also be beneficial for your team as it gives your team the enemy camp timers. This allows your team the chance to go get the camps as they spawn if you’re not in position. It also allows your team to get parts of your jungle as well, as you’ve taken farm away from the enemy team.

Qvofred mentions that, “If you need to counterjungle, it can force you to stay on one side or have to skip helping your team farm in order to do so. It may also cause you to skip a gank in order to keep control of a jungle buff.”

With this it, depends on the state of the match to determine if it is worth counterjungling. For example, if you’re counterjungling to prevent their jungler getting their speed while they are on the other side of the map ganking duo, it can be beneficial as you’ve taken an important buff off their side. You also can look to rotate to mid and gank there as you weren’t able to help duo out. How the game is playing out will determine when you should look to counterjungle and when you should look at helping your lanes.



Counterjungling is great to take a lead and knowing when it is the right time is key

Pressure in lane can determine when counterjungling can happen, as your team can look for jungle camps to take away from the enemy team if they have pressure in lane. Qvofred states that, “If a lane is losing, it is more likely that they will be invading your jungle on that side as well. That can affect your pathing because you then have to decide whether it is worth the risk to either gank or fight for the farm in your own jungle, or give it up and farm somewhere else or counterjungle.”

If your lanes are losing, you do run the risk of losing camps and farm as the enemy team has the chance to dip into your side of the jungle and clear out the farm. It’s why ganking your lanes when they are getting pressured under tower is even more important. You’re not just helping them keep up in lane or get an advantage, but you are also protecting your jungle from getting stripped away from you.





Knowing When to Back

Backing for key items is important for every role in Smite. Getting a key item for your power spike can be vital to turning the game or snowballing. For junglers, this is even more important but when is the right time to back?

Qvofred says, “Obviously backing will usually slow down your pathing and farming, but sometimes it can be smarter to back and then path to the opposite side of the map. Also wanting to farm for a back to finish a specific item can affect your pathing before backing.”

Backing to get a key item can be better than waiting around on the map hunting for farm

As backing will take you away from the map for a moment it can be better to go back for key items can be more efficient as it will help you more in the match than staying on the map looking for a bit more farm.

We asked Qvofred how your build affects your pathing, he says that, “Needing to farm to finish a major item is the only real way”.

Once you know an item is ready to be bought, it can be better to just back than anything else. If there isn’t any farm on the map and your lanes have pressure on the map, you can look to back to help the team. Use these sorts of backs to get wards and just look to build up those items for when you gank. Sometimes there will be points in a game where you won’t really have much to do, so backing to get wards to help your team and give yourself more coverage on the map can be better for you than trying to force something in a lane when your team has it under control.





Mid, Support and Jungle Combination

Mid, support, and jungle stick together throughout most of the game and having a good core can be more influential than anything else in a match. Early game, it’s important for these three to get as much farm together as possible. Three-way splitting isn’t the best idea so balancing farm for the three of you is important to get a lead over the enemy team. But how does mid and support affect your pathing?

Qvofred mentions that, “It usually only affects your pathing during the early game where most mids and supports need help clearing efficiently.”

Early game, it is about getting a lead off farm and as most mids have low clear early, helping them out clearing camps and waves can be vital to keeping a lead or taking farm away from the enemy team. Same for the support, as both mid and support can clear camps, they aren’t the most efficient at doing so, so helping them farm up and clear camps quickly can allow you to apply pressure in lane and help them and you get as much farm as possible. This will affect your pathing as you will need to make sure that they can get the farm as often as possible. It will also determine where you go next for farm after helping them clear camps or waves.



Mid, Support, and Jungle are known as the core. These three will stick together for most of the early and mid game

We asked Qvofred if certain junglers determine what sort of pathing you take, his response is, “Not a great deal, but it can. Some junglers are safer at counterjungling or need more help solo farming, so you will either be able to take greater risks in your pathing or need to rely more on your team to farm with you.”

Some junglers will need the mid and support to help them clear efficiently so they will affect your pathing with that. Some junglers don’t have the best clear early, so mid and support will need to help you clear efficiently to make sure you can help them out and get as much farm as possible. If the support or mid has helped you will farm in the jungle, they can also rotate to help you gank a lane as well. This can affect your pathing as well as if you can rotate to help them with the gank it will affect your pathing as you may miss out on some farm as you rotate to gank or countergank a lane.

Hopefully this will help with your pathing in the jungle and help you improve as a jungler.

Make sure to Follow Qvofred on Twitter to stay up to date with Dignitas and Smite.

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