7 replies to this topic

[Romanticide]

Beginner to jungling, not to the game.
I really really want to start ranked but I'm really lacking in runes and jungle champs. I'm tired of being stuck with the jungler role and only having one champ I know how to do: Naut. Right now he's really boring to me and I need someone else if he ever gets picked first or banned.

I don't own most popular junglers. Lee Sin, Udyr, Skarner, Shyvana, Nocturne, Warwick, Trundle, Maokai, Sejuani...
But I own a lot of other jungle-capable champs like Alistar, Riven, Mundo, Jarvan, Rammus...

Also, runes. I need them, like bad. My AP and support rune pages are left unfinished and my jungler page is poop, but idk what runes to use, I've researched and I've heard ATK Speed for some and Flat AD for others, MS quints, etc...

[DestructoX]

If you have basic runes I suggest watching Stonewall008. Generally he'll give decent paths with a variety of item starts, masteries and rune choices. Watch some of his videos and then experiment yourself. Each champion is better with certain runes, however there are generic set ups that the majority of the cast can function with.

[Zdragoon]

Stonewall is a great way to see how things work. He does show the "optimized rune build" for each one for clearing the jungle, but not always the ones he actually uses.

A decent rune set up is all AS red, armor yellows (very popular and a must for most junglers), blues are open (though flat MR or MR/lvl is popular), and arpen quints. This gives you decent AS, decent survivability, and decent penetration. Flat AD would also work well instead of Arpen. MS is usually for gank heavy champs and ones that don't need quints for clearing the jungle (udyr a great example of this). This is a decent page for any jungler that clears jungle by AA'ing a lot.

All the jungle champs you mentioned would be fine with this set up. Best, no. Decent, yeah. I won't go into builds or routes, cause it's late right now and I don't know why I'm even on. But cloth+5 pots and wolves then blue then rest of jungle is pretty standard.

Oh, and each of those junglers are pretty strong right now and with that list you can fill multiple roles. Rammus might be considered one of the "weaker" ones right now, but he's still awesome in my book.

[ScienceXReason]

basic runes for jungles that will work on all DPSing champs, but may not be optimized for all champs:
ATS Marks
Flat Armor Seals
MR/Lvl Glyphs
MS/ArPen Quints

For Tanks sub out quints for Flat Armor.

easiest jungler to start out learning is definitely WW.

since you have rammus, that could be a good place to start though. he's very reliant on proper positioning and timing, which is key for ganks.

Now for tips on jungling.
1. Always be watching for ganks once you can.
neutrals can't keep up to lane past lvls 3-6, so once you can gank, and you see an opportunity, go for it.

2.Don't be impatient.
don't always gank the moment you get there, give your teammates times to let the lane push a bit, reset cooldowns, heal a bit/regen, etc., etc. if they need to.

3.Warn your teammates
they may be real focused on last hitting at that time. it's happened to me where i got in the zone and was last hitting every creep for the past 4 waves and missed when my jungler ganked.

4.Watch the minions
Minions hurt a lot early game. let your teammates thin them out a bit if they need to or they can die to creep AA alone.

5.Offer buffs when you can.
if you're a non-mana using jungler. give blue buff away at lvl 1, and keep giving it.

6.ignore stupid criticism
you don't have a 0sec cd, 0sec cast time, global teleport. and when top lane keeps blaming you for his deaths when you have ganked his lane twice already and the other two lanes as well, let him know so. you have to be watching/be at 3 lanes without pushing/taking farm, so call him a twat when he blames you for his mistakes. he should've warded and not pushed so hard.

7.Sometimes you have to sacrifice a lane
sometimes there are lanes where ganking them is pointless, like when you and the persons in lane won't be able to even catch them do to jsut your skill set versus theirs. tell the person in that lane jsut to survive and focus your efforts on the other 2 lanes.

[SolidFake]

Take Jarvan. He is easy enough for beginners and still effective.

Riven, Mundo, Rammus need all a certain gameplay which needs a bit of experience with jungling in generell.

[SolidFake]

Like it wouldn't be super awesome perfect timing, Stonewall just made a guide for jungle starters on what champs/runes to purchase

[malphitethewise]

The most common set of runes that seems to be popular are attack speed reds (although for certain heroes flat ad or armor pen are recommended, however this only applies for certain heroes, most higher level players take AS reds), For better clear times with heroes with high AD, AS reds work really well with shyvana especially at level 2.

Armor yellows (this is pretty standard and almost no variation), Nothing really to say here, gives you reduced damage vs nuets.

Either Flat MR or MR/lvl blues (again pretty standard for like 8/9 of my jungler pages, the last one i have atk speed blues for my nocturne page for faster clearing), Gives better resistances when ganking and scales pretty well into late game.

and finally, for most champions, it's either going to be flat attack damage or armor pen quints, i've seen a few variations, you can use either armor or MR/lvl quints if you like, Maokai is the only real exception in that he can use Flat AP quints. Again, gives easier clear timing and makes jungling/ganking a bit better. However, some higher level players will take MS quints to get to lanes faster and better ganking.

Also, let me bring up points that SxR missed,

8. warding

It's important to always keep a couple of wards with you at all times, you should get your first after you go back to pick up madreds/philo/HoG/boots or whichever. You want to keep the entrances to both jungles warded so you have a general idea where the enemy jungler is. Popluar spots for wards are: Ramps, tribushes, Baron's little bush, Mid river bushes, Top/bot River bushes, and Dragon den. These locations will generally give you a good idea of what the enemy jungler is doing and where he is/will be going. This opens up good opportunities for counterjungling.

9. Dragon/counter jungling

It's important to know where the enemy jungler is at all times and taking advantage of that information. If he's top and you know it (i.e. warded or failed gank) help yourself to his double golems or wraiths (of course depending on which side you're on). Also, if the enemy jungler is top, you have an excellent window to do dragon, call your mid down to help as well as bot, a 4v3 is an almost guaranteed dragon especially since you have smite and they don't. But just make sure that your teammates are in a position to help, if they're at their towers, it's an excellent time to gank.

Just spreading some good knowledge.

Edited by malphitethewise, 06 May 2012 - 03:31 AM.

[Rapid99]

Rather than any of the more complex gameplay tactics that come into play as a jungler, I hope at the very least my personal experiences can be of help.

When first learning to jungle myself I found the two things which made me most comfortable in my new role when starting out were as follows:

1: Runes. Runes are interesting in the jungle, as lacking the offensive runes for your chosen jungler results in a sluggish jungle / underperforming early and lacking the defensive runes not only makes your jungle feel risky but also limits the jungle routes you can take (cause early camps whip yo ass on some junglers). The runes have already been mentioned so I won't mention them again but pick them up asap, runes pretty much make or break the jungle.

2: Routes. Learn a reliable route / early item selection for a jungler and then get comfortable with it. This was probably the thing eased me into jungling the most. While at some point you're going to have to adapt your jungle route to deal with counterjungling or early ganking opportunities, having the security of knowing a set path of gold and experience at the beginning of the game gives you something nice to fall back on if all else fails. It also gives a nice foundation to begin experimenting from. Once you have a nice set path down you usually are aware of your junglers limitations. Once you've come to grips with them you can begin trying out new paths and getting more comfortable with early ganks and messing up the enemy jungler.

Good luck.