Welcome, everyone!
. In this post we'll be covering all the basics
you need to get off to a successful start
with the Jungle role,
And, to be super clear--this is a post for
players who have little to no experience Jungling
at all and just want to know how and where
to start with the role.
In this guide we'll be covering how to pick
a champion to learn Jungling with, the basics
of Jungle itemization, how to have a successful
first clear, essentials for when and how to
gank, your goals and priorities for the later
parts of lane phase and mid game, as well
as tons of beginner friendly tips throughout
the whole thing that will give you a much
higher chance of succeeding.
Beyond all of that, throughout the video we'll
be referring you to our other guides where
you can find more intermediate and advanced
information on specific topics so you know
exactly where to look to keep improving in
the future.
To start, let's dive into everything you should
know and have set up before you hit "play."
First, we recommend picking 1-3 Junglers max
that you'll stick with for a bit while you
learn the basics of the role.
Constantly changing champions and having to
relearn abilities, combos, playstyles, etc.
will distract from mastering the basics.
So, which champions should you play? Well,
the main thing we recommend is playing champions
that you enjoy and WANT to play.
If you're new to the game copying pros or
high ELO players is completely unnecessary--just
stick with what stands out to or interests
you as long as it's a "real" Jungler who can
actually clear camps.
But, if you want specific recommendations,
here are some great, beginner friendly Junglers
who clear well and have easy to understand
abilities.
And, if you find yourself dying in the jungle
or getting really, really low on HP, these
are beginner friendly champions who also sustain
like crazy.
Anyway, once you find a champion that you
want to play, we recommend heading over to
probuilds.net, which is a great resource for
basic info like build paths, skill orders
and rune setups.
If you don't see your champion there, which
can rarely happen, you can fall back to using
op.gg or leagueofgraphs for aggregate data
on how to build your champ. This might not
always be optimal, but it's unlikely to be
completely trolling either
As long as you copy a common build from any
of those sites, you should have a really good
starting foundation for your champion.
Ok, now that we know which champion we want
to play and how to get set up on them, let's
quickly talk about Smite and Jungle items.
Smite is the summoner spell you will absolutely,
without question take every game you Jungle.
It is a core part of how you clear and sustain
while clearing the Jungle.
You can get two stacks of Smite on a 15 second
cooldown with a 90 second recharge time per
stack.
At the start of the game you'll only be using
this to kill Jungle monsters or the scuttle
crab.
However, you will start the game with either
a Hunter's Talisman or Hunter's Machete. Talisman
is more for champions who cast a lot of AoE
abilities, while Machete is more for Auto
attackers.
Anyway, you can upgrade these items into either
the Skirmisher's Sabre, referred to as "red
smite" within the community or the Stalker's
Blade.."blue smite" which will allow you to
cast your smite on enemy champions as well
as monsters.
"Red Smite" will cause your target to deal
20% less damage to you for 4 seconds and making
your attacks on them leave a damage over time
effect.
This is a really strong spell for dueling
other champion's and should be used right
away at the start of a fight.
"Blue Smite" will do a small amount of damage
to your target, slowing them and speeding
you by a small amount.
This is a great spell for ganking allowing
you to catch your target, and slowing them
so you can land your abilities more easily.
For example, let's say you're ganking at level
5 on Amumu. You can walk in, blue smite them
to slow them down, then use that to land your
Bandage Toss and stun them.
We're not going to talk about the enchant
upgrades for these in this video because that
will just come from looking up the build--this
was just to let you know what Smite does and
how to use it.
Ok, the last thing I want to quickly mention
before we jump into the early game is Jungle
timers.
Throughout the game you will see these small
icons appearing on Jungle camps, the scuttle,
or monster objectives like like Herald, Dragon,
etc.
When the Gray icon shows, that means that
thing will spawn in 60 seconds. At 30 seconds,
the icon will turn yellow.
However, this will only happen for things
that you had vision of since they were killed,
such as your own camps that you took or any
camps you or a teammate actually got vision
of.
Either way, these timers are HUGELY helpful
for newer Junglers as you can always just
glance at your mini map to see what's spawning
soon--so keep a very close eye on these.
Along this same line of thought, you can always
hit "tab" to check the countdown on exactly
when red and blue buffs will spawn--both yours
and your opponents if you've had vision of
them--as well as Baron, Dragon, and Rift Herald.
Ok, with all that covered, let's now talk
about how to have a first successful clear
of your Jungle that fits your champion's strengths.
There are two primary, basic types of paths--a
3 camp, level 3 clear or a slower full clear
for level 4.
This super simple three camp,level 3 clear
consisting of both buff camps and Gromp is
great for aggressive early game champions
with strong ganking tools who want to start
killing opponent's asap.
And, just in case you don't know, the red
and blue buff are given to the player that
kills these monsters for two minutes. Red
buff causes your auto attacks to slow your
target and burn them for damage over time.
Beyond that, while out of combat with enemy
champions or epic monsters, like Dragon, it
significantly increase your health regeneration.
Blue buff, on the other hand, provides you
with essentially limitless mana for its duration
as well as 10% cooldown reduction. It also
provides some passive energy regen if you're
playing an energy champion.
Anyway, now that we know what those buffs
do, you can see how powerful you can be off
of a level 3 clear with double buffs, ready
to kill some laners.
And, the other option that we mentioned was
a full clear route for level 4.
A route like this is usually done on champions
who aren't as strong at ganking at level 3
and want to farm up to hit level 6 and unlock
their ultimates or just to scale for late
game.
Now, of course there are champions who can
do both--for example Vi and Sejuani both have
great ganking power at level 3 but also have
super strong ultimates that they want to unlock...so
you could do either with similar champions.
And, remember, we're not trying to teach you
the fanciest, most cutting edge routes that
are situational--the goal for this video is
to give you simple, repeatable routes that
are proven to be viable.
Now, as you've seen with some of these route
graphics, you can do them starting at either
red or blue buff crossing to the other side
of the map.
If you're super new and struggle to clear
your jungle without losing a lot of HP, you
can always just start bottom side to hopefully
get a better leash from your bottom lane.
Otherwise, once you're comfortable you can
start thinking about which lane you want to
gank for after your route.
For example, let's say you're playing Warwick
here on the blue side with these lane matchups.
In this game, you might want to start top
side at your blue and clear toward bot lane
to gank there after your route because Leona
and Draven have CC and a lot of damage onto
the immobile Soraka and Ashe while Garen can't
do anything to lock down Gnar.
Again, if you're not comfortable clearing
or analyzing matchups like that, just start
out bottom for the leash and that'll be just
fine for a beginner who is learning the role.
Now, speaking of leashes, one of the most
important things you can learn to do early
in your Jungle journey is watch who on the
enemy team leashes.
For example, in this game Kindred is starting
out at blue and, while doing this, is watching
the mini map.
At 1:43 the enemy Kled arrives top while the
enemy bot lane doesn't show until 1:53.
What this almost always means is that the
enemy bot lane leashed their Jungler at Blue
and that he will be pathing up to the top
side of the map.
This is super valuable information. If you're
headed for the opposite side of the map, like
in this game, Kindred can gank bottom or move
around in the river without worrying about
Warwick interfering.
Alternatively, let's say Kindred had started
red this game instead of blue and warwick
still started blue.
This would mean both Junglers are headed for
the top side and could run into each other.
And, if you're a beginner Kindred and took
a lot of damage clearing, it might not be
safe to gank or go into the river since Warwick
could be there.
There's a lot of intermediate to advanced
strategies that can be used off of watching
a leash, so it's a great habit to build early
on even if you aren't fully utilizing that
information.
Alright, moving on, one thing that we haven't
mentioned yet is every Jungler's best friend,
the Rift Scuttler.
This 'lil buddy first spawns at 3:15 in both
the top and bottom river and provides significant
amounts of both gold and xp for how easy it
is to kill.
Beyond that, they don't fight back and give
you quite a bit of health and mana when they
die as well as leaving a speed and vision
shrine in the river for 90 seconds.
So, the scuttle is a great way to regen health
and mana while also accelerating your gold
and experience.
If you can, you'll always want to get at least
one of these when they spawn at 3:15.
If you're doing a fast level 3 clear, you
should have time to gank first then grab this
after,
But, if you're doing a slow full clear you
will be a bit late after 3:15. But, you'll
usually still be able to contest it if the
enemy Jungler is on the other side of the
map or a bit late as well.
Once both scuttles are taken one will respawn
randomly either top or bottom after 2:30 throughout
game and are a nice little mini objective
to take when you can.
The last thing I want to mention about scuttle
is that it will always run away from you so
you can "direcct" it toward whichever nearby
lane is pushing up.
That way, if a fight breaks out, they MIGHT
come help you out or at least stop the enemy
from rotating over.
Alright, and that's it for this section on
your first Jungle clear. If you want to know
more about how to clear as fast as possible
and with tons of HP left over, be sure to
head over to skillcapped.com where we have
a huge course showing you how to clear the
jungle optimally on every single Jungler in
the game.
Also, if you're enjoying the video and have
learned something, be sure to drop a like
and subscribe so you don't miss the next upload.
Now that we've talked about how to get a good
first clear under your belt--let's talk about
what often comes next: ganking.
First off, let's talk about which lanes to
gank--and there are a few different things
we're looking for here.
First off, one super simple thing to look
for is melee vs melee matchups. These are
often trading a lot, getting both sides low
on HP, and are ripe for jungle influence after
your first clear.
Another really simple and easy way to pick
a lane to gank is just to gank lanes that
are pushed up.
But, beware that when you do this sometimes
there will be a lot of enemy minions. Early
game these can do tons of damage to you and
block skillshots from landing.
So, you might want to wait for the tower to
kill some of those minions first unless you're
sure you can land the kill.
Another important consideration for where
to gank is CC and how reliably you can land
it.
So, for example, if you're playing Fiddlesticks
landing CC is pretty much always going to
be easy because you can just press Q which
will then allow Ahri to land her charm while
the target is feared.
But, what if you're playing Amumu who has
to land a skillshot to get CC down? Well,
then maybe instead you could focus top and
gank for your Pantheon. He can guaranteed
land his stun after which you can land bandage
toss.
So, if your CC is a skillshot, try to gank
for lanes that have non skillshot or very
easy to land CC if you have any, like some
of these champs here.
Another factor we're going to consider when
looking for a gank is how mobile our target
is. This is a very simple one--it's easier
to gank a level 6 Lux than a Level 6 Ahri
with her ultimate dashes, right?
So, try to pick out and target immobile, vulnerable
laners when you can--especially if they are
pushed up in lane and you can land some CC.
Ok, the last, crucial piece of info for deciding
where to gank is that you generally want to
gank for your teammates who are ahead.
I can seem tempting to "help out" your losing
teammates, but especially for newer players,
this is often a trap that can go horribly.
Stick to our strengths and try to snowball
your winning teammates.
Alright, now that we have an idea of which
lanes we should be ganking, let's have some
quick, basic tips to improve your execution
and odds of picking up a kill.
First, you want to try to wrap around behind
your target whenever you can. If you can get
between them and their turret, they'll usually
run right to you.
And, the reason this is so powerful is that
it allows you to get in range of your target
without using your mobility. So, if Quinn
flashes away here, you still have E to follow.
And, speaking of flash, if you have the mental
bandwidth, "timing" an enemy's flash and ganking
them while it's down is THE easiest way to
have successful ganks.
If you see an enemy flash you can hit tab
and left click their summoner spell. This
will place it in chat for you and your team
to see.
If you have time stamps for chat on, which
we recommend, you now know when that player
flashed.
Flash is a 5 minute cooldown, so +5 minutes
to that time, and you now have this big window
of time to abuse that player in with reganks.
Another thing you can try is waiting a few
seconds to see if your target uses a key ability
such as CC or movement.
In this clip, Kindred wants to gank Morgana
but waits a second to see if she'll Q to push
the wave, which she does, which triggers his
engage.
You don't always need to do this, but especially
against champion's like these ones with long
cooldown movement spells, if you wait a few
seconds--not much longer--to see if they'll
use it to trade then it can really increase
your chances at a kill.
Alright, now that we have an idea about where
we want to gank and some tips for how to be
successful doing so, let's cover another key
element of the jungle: monster objectives.
For this video we're just going to talk about
Dragons and Rift Herald as late game objectives
are more of a team or macro topic rather than
Jungler specific.
The first dragon spawns at 5 minutes then
every 5 minutes after its death and can be
solo'd safely by most junglers after their
first base.
If you want to know more about how the elemental
dragon's work we recommend checking the wiki
as we won't be covering that here.
Overall, dragon's benefits are quite low until
you can stack four of them for a dragon soul,
so if you're new to Jungling we wouldn't recommend
making them a super high priority unless you
have nothing else to do or your team really
wants to kill one.
You'll very likely gain more by farming or
ganking and practicing those skills until
you have a better idea of exactly when you
should be taking dragon.
However, the Rift Herald that spawns at 8
minutes and again 6 minutes after its death
if before the Baron spawns at 20 minutes is
a very powerful objective.
To kill it, the first thing you'll ideally
want to do is tag the monster from the front
and walk back out of the pit before dodging
the charge.
This will bring him out of the pit and make
him a lot easier to walk around and to hit
that big, pink glowing eye on his back for
a huge chunk of damage.
You'll also sometimes see him do this big
wind up where he raises both claws which can
be dodged either by quickly moving to the
herald's right
or by simply taking a step back which will
deliver the eye right to you.
When killed it will drop the "eye of the herald"
which you must manually pick up by walking
on it at which point it will replace your
trinket.
For the next four minutes you can activate
this by using your trinket keybind, summoning
the herald to destroy nearby turrets.
For more information on how to min max this
powerful objective, check out this video here
where we give a CRASH course on how to get
huge advantages from it.
Now, the last thing I need to mention about
epic monsters is that, as the Jungler, it
is pretty much always going to be your job
to secure the last hit on the objective with
SMITE.
To do this, you'll need to make sure to check
how much damage your smite currently does,
which will go up with every level you get,
and save it specifically for the objective.
Beyond that, on many Junglers you can combine
an ability with your smite at the same time
to execute from even higher HP.
So, in that clip you just saw, my smite does
480 damage. So, at 619 hp left on the dragon
I smited and Q'd to execute it from there.
This will help prevent the enemy Jungler or
another high damage spell from stealing it.
This can be done on lots of Junglers to varying
degrees like the ones you see here.
If you want to practice just your smiting
without any other abilities, there's this
pretty cool site called smiterino where you
can train!
Ok, we've now covered how to get set up before
the game, how to have a successful first clear,
where to gank as well as some execution tips
to improves your ganks, and the epic monsters
of the rift. To finish this one off, we're
just going to drop a few tips.
First, one of the absolute most important
aspects of Jungling is your map awareness,
much of which stems from watching your mini
map closely.
If you're not already checking your mini map
constantly, we recommend using something like
this video here to build the habit super quickly.
You can find the link is in the description
if you want to check it out. Building this
habit really is a must if you want to succeed
in the Jungle.
Next up, if you're new to Jungling you might
be shocked by the amount of flame and hatred
thrown your way on the regular.
This can be super distracting even for jungle
veteran who has been bathed in the flame for
10 years now.
So, one of our biggest tips to new players
would be to /mute all at the beginning of
the game or at the first sign of rage. You
can still unmute pings if you want to see
those.
We cannot tell you how much tilt you will
save yourself by doing this and how much better
you'll be able to focus on the game and improving.
And, the last tip we have for today is about
how and when to invade the enemy Jungler when
you're new.
This can be a really scary and intimidating
topic for beginners and, if you don't know
when to do it, i can have catastrophic results.
So, the two main triggers we would recommend
building are #1 if the enemy Jungler is dead
then you can run into his jungle and steal
some camps and drop a ward.
And, #2, if you see him on the opposite side
of the map ganking or taking an objective.
Taking this opportunity to instantly either
invade, gank, or take an objective is usually
referred to as a "cross map play" and is a
crucial Jungle habit.
Learning to Jungle is a challenging but rewarding
journey and we appreciate that you let us
be a part of it.
Once again, if you enjoyed the video, be sure
to like and subscribe, and we'll see you in
future videos.