THE JUNGLE BOOK (Guide to Jungling in League of Legends)

Jungling is possibly the most complex role in LoL. Junglers can completely snowball a game out of control and win almost any game for their team. Season 3 was when junglers started getting the power needed carry a team, and it has just been uphill from then.


After the release of Feral Flare, the jungle role opened up immensely. We're now seeing champions who were not played before. Champions such as Nocturne, Xin Zhao, Aatrox and Shyvana are seeing much more play. The addition to Feral Flare has created a more in depth champion pool of junglers. There are many Meta champions out today such as: Vi, Wukong, Pantheon, Lee Sin, Shyvana, Master Yi, Xin Zhao, Nocturne, Elise, Evelynn and Kha’Zix. Some junglers that aren’t in the meta and are still to be considered would be Jarvan IV, Fiddlesticks, Aatrox, Mundo, Tryndamere, Nunu, Kayle and Olaf.


Many of them are the Meta champions because of either their great ganking capabilities, extremely clear or team fight potential. Many of the highly contested jungler picks currently have all three of those aspects, for example Lee Sin has one of the highest pick/ban rates comparing to any of the other junglers, which is simply because he has an extraordinary clear time, great ganking capabilities and a presence that cannot be ignored in team fights.


Does the enemy jungle champion affect you decision? Or the team side (Blue or Purple) affect your decision?
When choosing a jungle path you have to take a few things into account, are you stronger than the enemy jungler? How are your solo lanes like? What lane do you need to assist first? Often times if you’re weaker than the enemy jungler you’d want to be on the opposite side of the map, say he starts Red buff on the Blue side then you’d want to start Red buff and work your way down the map. While playing weaker junglers with weaker lanes you should always look to avoid the enemy jungler as much as possible.


On your first back you should ALWAYS pick up pink ward, pink wards have no timers on them and therefore are extremely cost efficient. While grabbing your first pink ward you should look to place it into the brush across Red buff to have vision over mid lane roams.An alternative spot for your ward would be in the singular brush near baron pit, or dragon pit. You will always want to have wards in your inventory for when you roam across the map. A well placed ward will keep your lanes safe as it’ll tell your team where the enemy jungler is located on in the map. A gank prevented can result into a game won; I say this because while preventing ganks you have multiple options on how you’ll react to it:

1. You’re able to bait the enemy jungler and force them into a 2v2, if executed well you’ll be left with free objectives
2. You're able to waste the enemy jungler's time, by making them attempt ganks that have no chance of succeeding, wasting them time which they could be spending farming and ganking other lanes. While not noticable at first, if this happens you'll see a large difference between your levels and items, and the enemy jungler's.
3. You’ll have free time to place wards, or head over to another lane and catch them off guard.

The next few sections will be mainly about Vi, just a warning.


Vi jungle is an extremely well rounded champion, she simply has everything you could want in a jungler. She has an extremely strong early to late game though dependent on landing her Q early game, granted that you land your Q you’re guaranteed to win trades vs. other junglers, or burn summoners of those who you gank. Build paths for Vi are exceptional as you can build to carry or to tank during team fights. There is never a time where it’s a poor decision to grab Vi, she’s able to fit into every single team comp there is due to her kit and varieties of play style. The only con that I am able to think of for Vi is how she is unable to have a strong presence at level 1.


Vi’s passive “Blast Shield” creates a shield equivalent to 10% of her maximum health for 3 seconds once you hit a target with a spell, the cool down for blast shield varies by level starting with 18 seconds at level 1 and 8 seconds by level 12.


Playing Vi you should always start with (W) Denting Blows as it’ll give you the fastest clear time possible, as soon as you hit level 2 make sure to level up your (E) Excessive Force, this way you’ll have the fastest clear possible and gives you that slight advantage in duels at your secondary buff. By level 3 you should have all 3 of your skills.


You should always grab Smite if you’re jungling, it’s pretty self-explanatory for a jungler - without Smite, and you’re unable to secure Dragons/Barons without killing the enemy jungler or acing their team. It also greatly increases your clear time! As a secondary summoner, I would grab Flash, as it’s by far better than Ghost and you need that extra push of initiation and escape.


Though Vi is able to duel most junglers throughout the game, granted she lands her (Q) Vault Breaker, there aren't many actual counters to Vi. The hardest champion for Vi to face off in the jungle would most definitely be Elise due to having similar clear and similar strengths, Elise is not only able to stop Vi’s (Q) Vault Breaker with her Cocoon, but she’s also able to dodge and put Vi’s Ultimate Assault and Battery on cool down with a well-timed rappel. While playing Vi you shouldn't be too worried about finding Elise in the jungle, as long as you catch her off guard and land the (Q) Vault Breaker you’re guaranteed winning the trade with double buffs. Vi counters many champions in the game due to her CC and ability to hold a target in place.


Vi is a very strong duelist and because of that you go 21 in offence and 9 in the offence, grabbing everything that is necessary to maximize your damage. Grabbing attack speed quintessences allows Vi to proc her passive from (W) Denting Blows much quicker than without, that being said attack speed quints maximize your damage output and clear while doing jungle camps. We grab attack damage marks because without them we wouldn't be much of a threat to enemy junglers that decide to brawl it out with us! Flat Armour seals are standard for junglers, as jungle camps do a ton of physical damage and when using base stats you‘ll be taking quite the beating. For glyphs we actually have a few choices here, we’re able to grab flat magic resist, magic resist per level or flat cooldown reduction. It’s a must to grab magic resist against heavy AP teams, taking per level or flat is a preference as they're both good, I myself would take per level vs. stronger APs late game and flat magic resist vs. early game teams. Cooldown reduction is extremely handy as you’ll be able to use Vi’s (Q) Vault Breaker and (R) Assault and Battery that much quicker! I only recommend grabbing cooldown vs. full ad teams.


You should always be building items that best suit your team and or against the enemy team. If they have multiple AP champions you would want to build more towards the magic resist side and if they were to have more AD champions stacking armour would be exactly what you should do. Champion counters shouldn't affect build path, make sure to think about skirmishes and team fights, you won’t often 1v1 the enemy jungler.


Though Vi is able to duel most junglers throughout the game, granted she lands her (Q) Vault Breaker, there aren't many actual counters to Vi. The hardest champion for Vi to face off in the jungle would most definitely be Elise due to having similar clear and similar strengths. Elise is not only able to stop Vi’s (Q) Vault Breaker with her Cocoon, but she’s also able to dodge and put Vi’s Ultimate Assault and Battery on cool down with a well-timed rappel. While playing Vi you shouldn't be too worried about finding Elise in the jungle, as long as you catch her off guard and land the (Q) Vault Breaker you’re guaranteed winning the trade with double buffs.


In a counter situation you still want to run a build path that accommodates to the enemy team. If the enemy team is running Elise, an AD Top, AD Mid and of course an ADC then you would still want to go full out onto the armour path grabbing yourself Randuins Omen, Thornmail, and Ninja Tabi! There are many more strong armour items that are compatible on Vi but those are just a few. A situational build vs. an AP heavy team is in the next section.


While behind it is almost always a better idea to build defensive items because you’ll be taking a ton of damage from the enemy, therefore I suggest following the 2nd build, although you could have a Brutalizer from the early game and just keep it at that until you’re tank enough.




You should always start with a Machete and x4 Health Potions. After doing your first clear and possibly getting a gank off you’d want to build a Spirit stone and a few longswords if your team is requiring you to put constant pressure on the map, if not I highly recommend building Wriggle’s Lantern and farming up until you get Feral Flare. Depending on how the game is going you should decide to start building tank or build a few damage items early, examples of damage items are Brutalizer, or Bildgewater Cutlass. Brutalizer seems as a more common damage Vi build path as it gives cooldown reduction, a much needed stat on Vi, I myself prefer the cooldown over other items but the others are to be considered. If you were to build tank items you should definitely complete your jungle item, most commonly Spirit of the Elder Lizard after having the item complete I recommend grabbing a Giant’s Belt as this will allow you to tank at the first dragon fight extremely well. Make sure to also switch out your Warding Trinket into the Sweeping Lens.


This is the most crucial part of the game to have the right build. Often times, you instantly blow up while initiating with an early damage build, but if you were to add some health on top of the damage the results would be very much different. Mid game you should be looking to build a Banshee’s Veil and a Randuin’s Omen. These two items are extremely strong as they provide you with protection from being picked off as well as the initiation required to completely nullify the enemy team with proper follow up. Mid game is often times where baron fights become an option which is why we upgrade our Sweeping Lens, into a Greater Sweeping Lens. Make sure to always have wards around to gain map control as well.


Ideally if you do not have a tank top, (ex. Jayce top) you would be better off having an entire build set to defences. Though unlikely being the sole tank of your team you should opt. into having a similar build to this, Ninja Tabi, Spirit of the Elder Lizard, Banshee’s Veil, Randuin’s Omen, Trinity Force, and Black Cleaver. This build seems to be your best bet at being an unstoppable force while also being able to tank a few members for quite some time. Vi’s kit forces her to hard engage therefore items such as Trinity Force, Banshee’s Veil and Randuin’s Omen allow you to stick onto the enemy carries extremely hard! In the unfortunate events that lead your team to not having a single tank you should build a ton of armour while keeping your health and magic resistance decently high. Ideally you should have Ninja Tabi, Spirit of the Elder Lizard/Ancient Golem, Banshee’s Veil, Randuin’s Omen, Thornmail and a Guardian Angel this build will have you being that monstrosity tank that seems to never die or give up.


Enemy picks are highly build altering, though I recommend building those set of items it would be best to alter a few of the items vs. certain team compositions. You should grab Mercury's Treads over Ninja Tabi vs. heavy AP teams or teams that have a ton of CC. The items listed above are essential in building VI, there are other items that work well with the champion such as Blade of the Ruined King but since the item doesn't offer and Health/Armour Penetration would you really replace Trinity Force for it? I would think not, therefore you should really opt. to choose the strongest items possible aside from niche items.


Generally the squishier the enemy team will be, the more effective damage builds become. I highly recommend building a Brutalizer and a trinity force as fast as you could. With a higher damage build you’ll be able to literally take out anyone if you land your (Q) Vault Breaker if you do decide to build damage (granted you’re both on equal standings). After having two of the best damage items on VI you should pick up a Randuins or Banshee depending on their team comp and continue to build items that give you more defensive stats. You would never want to go overboard with damage items.


When you see a number of enemies with CC you should swap out the elder lizard for Ancient Golem or if you are snowballing ahead swap your Ninja Tabi to Mercury Threads. Aside from some tenacity there’s little impact on the build.


You should be looking to make your first gank at level 3 when you have all your skills, but make sure to not waste any time. If you’re afraid the enemy jungler will gank your teammate’s lane just ping him in the sign of danger and make sure to be nearby to react. If the enemy jungler wastes time in bushes and you’re farming instead that just completely changes the game, as soon enough he’d waste 5 minutes and you’d be up 20 cs.


Mid and botlane are by far the best lanes to gank early game and to snowball. Getting a kill on midlane offers you a chance at roaming down and killing bot lane with your midlaner, or contesting dragon while on a power play of 4v3, or even 4v2 if the enemy jungler is out of position. The only chance you ever get to gank top lane is before 6 minutes, once the junglers back for their first time you've lost your privilege of ganking that lane because of the ability of the enemy team to grab the dragon without your smite being around to stop it.


Why and why not? You shouldn’t often look to gank losing lanes because if the enemy jungler catches onto the gank then you’ll for sure lose the 2v2. Ganking losing lanes allows your teammate to catch up but it could come with extremely high risk. I advise you to only gank a losing lane when the enemy jungler isn’t around to counter gank, and to only gank the losing lane to secure an objective.


Always look to gank your winning lanes, if you can pressure a lane extremely hard that’s already winning you’re guaranteed for that champion to snowball out of control and possibly win you the game. This doesn’t mean you should spend all your resources and time at that lane, after the lane has been won try to move onto some objectives and roam around with your teammate, once of course you’ve taken their tower.


When a champion has a lack of mobility you should always look to come in from behind, that way even though they flash you’d still be able to pick up a kill in some situations. Lane ganking is an extremely easy gank to pull off with Vi as well, the moment they overextend gap close with Vault Breaker then Assault and Battery to pin him down.


You should only do lane ganks when you have your ultimate to gap close further, lane ganks are basically “I hope the enemy laner does something stupid and gets out of position so I can get him.” Lane ganks will NEVER work if the enemy is in position. It is extremely hard to pull off a lane gank pre-6 as well; I don’t recommend lane ganking until level 6.


Whenever you see the enemy’s bot lane recall you should pressure dragon, if they’re oom and or your lane is ahead you’re able to contest dragon. The idea is to stay around mid/bot lane after the 5 minute mark, past 5 minutes it’s crucial to be around those 2 lanes as anything can result into a free dragon (an enemy kill, laners recalling, enemy jungler on the top side of the map, etc.)

Baron calls:


At what baron's health should you go in? Naturally if you’re team isn't around, you shouldn't be contesting baron unless you’re extremely behind and which in that case you should be looking to jump over the wall when baron is at around 2000~ health, as at that point you’re able to do a full combo off with all of their aoe bouncing off of yourself and baron it should drop down to smite range. You should always be looking to come into the pit from purple side as it’s the safest way getting across, doing this you’re able to barricade yourself from the enemy and use your gap closers to get over the wall when you’re ready.


The composition of the enemy team rarely affects your decision in stealing the baron, if your team is desperate you must go and test your luck in the game of smite. Though when the enemy team has very mobile champions such as LeBlanc you should be very careful about walking near the pit as within seconds you might disappear.


If the enemy is squishy you should be able to scare them away, being the jungler you should never sacrifice your life at such a crucial time although if you’re able to stop them by lowering their team in the pit to extreme lows it would come with great rewards as once the enemy team backs your team should be in position to contest baron and or already have cleared the area to grab a pick for their return. If the enemy team is healthy you would have to give the baron up and hope to turtle till your team is able to deal with the enemy, the only other option would be to try to steal the baron where it’s high risk, high reward. Stealing the baron would mean the game to stall out until the baron buff passes, not managing to grab the baron and dying would mean the loss of inhibitors or even the game.

Teamfighting:



During team fights you should always be looking to dive into their backline and completely nullify them from hitting your team, again with proper follow up your team will end up coming on top with hard engage? If you see one of your carries needing help you might as well peel for the time being but make sure to pressure the enemy team’s carries to not be able to assist their frontline. Your biggest goal: stop their backline. During sieges you should be ahead of your ADC so that they won’t take any skill shots and if they do decide to dive in hard you’ll be able to peel for him extremely well or even dive back onto the enemy team though it’s not the best decision in most scenarios.


If the enemy team is heavy on AD the decision to dive their backline instead comes up as you won’t be instantly bursted but if your carries are the winning solution to team fights you should always look to peel for them, diving the enemy backline does peel for your carries but peeling back the tanks and saving your ultimate to turn on the enemy carries would give off the most pressure to the enemy team and their carries.


The squishier the enemy team is the better it is for you to dive into them, although if they’re playing glass cannon champions such as Syndra and LeBlanc it would be best to not take their burst upfront and simply do your best to zone. VI is an extremely hard counter to LeBlanc in team fights, LeBlanc would be almost instantly stopped doing her combo by a VI focusing LeBlanc down once she gets in range of her own carries.


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