Dawngate Jungling General Guide

Dawngate Jungling General Guide by lynkfox

Hi there. My name is Lynkfox. For the past month or so I’ve been playing in the closed Beta of Dawngate and Jungling almost exclusively. This by no means makes me an expert, but I like to think I’ve learned a few things here or there.

One thing I’ve noticed since I’ve started playing more often is that there are two types of junlgers in Dawngate so far. Those who have a wide ranging path and make sure to invade often, ganking when they cross lanes, and those who hit all the mini camps and roll into lanes. I have seen both work, though I feel the first works better (which might be my playstyle and the fact that I tend to play ganking junglers like Freia)

Note. Take Vanquish and Hunter role. If you don’t, that’s just not making full use of the bonuses you can have. I have been giving thought to using Freia with Predator as a secondary Jungler, if someone is comfortable 2v1’ing a lane, but haven’t had the time to try it out (the idea is to invade and kill spirit well workers every chance you get, stealing buffs and being a nuisance)

1.0 – Important Lesson

The Leash

What is a leash? A leash is where the nearest lane to where you start come in and throw a few hits down. This term comes from other MOBAs – where in the beginning it was literally as if another Shaper were to put a ‘leash’ on the camp and drag them around so the jungler wouldn’t get hit while DPSing it down. Now a days this is far less efficient than for everyone to pound on it then the laners to peal off before the end and let the jungler finish.

If you do not get a leash it is not the end of the world. Hit the big mob and use a potion and go on. You’ll be a little slower but it is still doable and your lanes may have an advantage that means you wont have to gank as often.

If you are leashing for a jungler, please do not kill the little mobs, and try to leave the area before they die so as not to steal any XP. Getting level 2 from that first buff camp is rather important. Its not the end of the world if the Jungler doesn’t get it, but it does slow them down.

2.0 – Jungle Path

The path you take through the jungle is the most important thing you can have. But this path is not static.

First in learning to path the jungle you have to understand where the camps are, and the most important ones.

This graphic is very good to have on hand while learning to jungle.

There are four main camps for the Jungler to control, and worry about the enemy Jungler. Orange, Green, and Blue Buffs, and Money Pigs.

I have seen a few guides say to start at Blue and clear the jungle in there before moving out. This is the second method I listed above – clearing a full jungle. this will get you to level 2 and possibly 3 (depending on your clear time, Loadout, and if your leash snagged any xp) and able to gank a lane for certain, whichever one needs it more. This is a slightly safer method of jungling, but hardly effective in my eyes.

My preferred path:

Ward enemy orange.

Green Buff > (Enemy Orange if they didnt take it) > (Gank lane) > Blue > (Gank lane) > My Orange > Money Pigs

This is just an example path. It should be fluid and you will have to play around with where you are going depending on the enemy jungler and your lanes.

For instance. When you run down there and ward the other sides orange and they dont take it, likely they either took your orange (it would be awesome if your other lane would ward to let you know!) or they are in blue. If the lane you are near is pushed, stopping in the well to kill workers could be worthwhile to draw some pressure. Just don’t stay too long! If you happen to still be on this side of the jungle by the 3 min mark, get the money pigs!

By the time you’ve made your way across the entire jungle to the other side, ganked each lane at least once, you can go back, buy, and gank a lane or put pressure on a Spirit Well. the five minute respawn mark will be coming up around that time and you can start on the path again. Usually you will only need to follow this path 2, maybe 3 times before its better to start just freehanding it and going where needed for your lanes, taking (or giving buffs) whenever it makes sense.

You’ll notice this path does not take any of the little camps. I often leave those for my laners to take a camp or two to get a small boost if they are behind, or only take them if I was exceptionally fast on clearing for some reason (good fast ganks or no need to gank). The little camps are good for cash and xp if you find yourself behind, but then you aren’t ganking. And ganking will start the snowballs if you can get them off. Its a trade off, but one that I find is usually a loosing proposition.

Time your Buffs

After watching many pro League of Legend Junglers, I have seen something I have attempted to adapt for myself. I’m not perfect at it, but certainly helpful.

When you kill the last mob at a camp, say in chat ‘og 722’ (for instance) – this is ‘our green’ (og) 7:22 (5 minutes after you killed it by the timer) – even if you don’t look at chat very often this will help give you a timing feeling about it, and be able to go back. I haven’t yet seen any Apps for iPhone or Android like there are League Jungler apps, but if someone ever makes one these can be useful too. I find it better practice to use the chat so your teammates know too, but whichever is more comfortable.

2.1 – Ganking

Because of the 2 lane configuration and the buffs outside of lane, you will be passing between lanes often. Gank them every single time you do. The Jungle is your play ground and roaming between lanes and keeping them back to allow your laners to farm, or even to get some kills is important. I’ve seen plenty of Junglers who seem to always be ganking from the middle jungle – coming out of the path between the 2 camps and getting ineffective ganks because there is always a ward there. Not only is this predictable, its hardly useful – coming out of the side jungles gives you 3 lanes to come down, two of them with bushes to hide in, and you can even come around between the towers and catch a fleeing low health Shaper, killing them under the tower if you are confident (or your laners can take tower aggro for you)

PING

Ping your target. The low one, the squishy one, the one further up, whatever, but PING the target you are aiming for when you get ready to gank a lane. This will help your laners concentrate fire and more likely to take him down. Ping ‘On My Way’ when you are getting ready to come to a lane so your laners can know to either pull back to draw them out of position, or to stay in lane even if they are loosing a little. Pings are stupidly helpfull in a game where you don’t have voice chat.

2.2 Invading, Counter Invading

Now comes the tough part. Figuring out where your enemy jungler is going and where to work around him. You want to steal his buffs, invade if you can, and keep him out of yours. Jungling is an artform in that regard, and a tiny mistake can seal your fate – especially in this beta where getting behind a little can mean you are eternally 2 -3 levels behind as the enemy team snowballs.

If you have good team communication, ask your opposite lane to ward at least the path between orange and green. Its not a bad place for a ward anyways, letting them catch a jungler come out of the side jungle. They should also ward between the two # 2 camps on that above image. Once your ward at orange expires, I like to throw it down at the enemy blue as I pass back through on my return trip between lanes.

This gives you an idea where the junglers are, and gives you some safer invade. If you saw him top and you are in the bottom jungle, go check out his buff, if its up, steal the buff (leaving one of the little minions behind) or his money pigs, or his Spirit Well. Anything to get more vim and xp and take away his option.

I have often found of late that Junglers don’t seem to hit the external jungle often. This means that when I counter jungle their Orange buff (leaving the little guy alive) he is still just the only guy there at 7, 12, 15 minutes into the game. Clear it if you see this, cause it means the enemy jungler isn’t coming out there, giving you free buffs that you can give over to your team or take for yourself.

This also means I’m usually a level or two ahead of them. Counter Jungling becomes a very real possiblity then, using it to destroy the jungler in a one on one fight.

Another useful place for the lane ward is at your orange or green buff. The laners can then react to someone trying to counter your jungle and 2v1 the enemy jungler – This has happened to me often, and I can tell you it’s brutally effective if done well. (Call MIA Laners if you see them leaving lane!!!)

There is no easy way to teach counter jungling and adapting your path. It is about experience and keeping an eye on as many things as possible at once. Check their buffs, try to guess when they will respawn. (you can use the tg or eg (their green, enemy green) method for chat notifications just like og) and keep in mind when you see them on the other side of the map you should take advantage of this and steal away their exp/buffs

3.0 Parasite

Parasite. Parasite holds a special … feeling … for me.

First, as a Jungler you have to understand Parasite.

Between 5 and 12:30 minutes he is just worth xp and vim. Could be useful, but probably not worth loosing the pressure on your lane. If you can 2 man it with a second jungler (with good damage and lifesteal, not very likely) then take it otherwise just ignore it.

Between 12:30 and 20 mins he grants an OK power buff and a small HP regen, plus more vim and xp. This is where he starts to become useful, because that buff can be used to push hard. However, doing so at the wrong time will cost you momentum. Again. if you can 2 or 3 man it take it. But at that point its just a Win More buff – you’re already winning if you can 2 or 3 man Parasite between 12 and 20 mins so …

After 20mins the power buff is twice as effective as is the HP regen, and again more vim and Xp.

The problem I have with Parasite is that taking it means that you can really loose momentum. I have seen plenty of teams push up to the 3rd bindings, then go for parasite, only to loose 2, or even 3 spirit wells and have a binding or 2 respawn, loosing most of their hard work for a short duration buff that they can barely use to take back what was respawned.

When it is safe to take Parasite it usually is, as I said above, a win more buff. You’re already winning, and this just makes it all the more certain. Never a bad thing, because there is always that chance of a miraculous team fight and they push all the way back (done it myself several times) but more often than not taking parasite results in a net loss rather than any sort of gain.

If you have a full 5 man team and are coordinating well, then you can probably make better use of it, but otherwise its more often a trap for uncoordinated teams than any sort of buff.

4.0 – Loadouts

This is still new. And it depends on your jungler. But I have been taking the Rogue buff with lots of Power and Haste filling up the slots (that first hit having extra damage is nice if you are just roaming through lane to take pressure off your laners and don’t plan to stay). Beserker Passive is a good one if you plan to stay in more, and Duelist can sometimes help out a little? That would depend on your chosen jungler.

I can see benefits for either of the movement speed one (Um Scavenger and Adventurer I think?) for getting into position faster, but I’d rather go for a movement style champ (Freia / Moya being my two favorite junglers) and take a damage loadout for bigger burst early on.

5.0 – Final Thoughts

I am by no means an expert. Mechanically I am only so so (I suck at last hitting. Luckily CS scores seem lower do to the MUCH shorter lanes than other MOBAs) and most of the time far to aggressive for my own good, diving when I really shouldn’t. However, in Dawngate so far I am more successful with my Freia Jungle then in other Moba’s, and I partially attribute that to the fact that I take the whole jungle as my playground, not just the middle part. In Dawngate, I win far more than I loose when I jungle, and hope to continue doing so.

Feel free to criticize and ask any questions. I’ll answer as best I can and take whatever advice as well.