LoL New Jungle Guide

LoL New Jungle Guide by _L7_

This is a very simple info list about the new jungle for folks that are not jungle mains. This list is mainly oriented towards bronze-silver players (i.e., oversimplified for advanced play), but there is probably some useful information for higher Elo folks as well.

Feel free to add your comments below — this post is meant to start the discussion.

JUNGLE CAMPS

• Camps now respawn at 100 seconds. This is much longer than the previous 40 seconds for wraiths and wolves, and it has some serious implications.
• Since the respwan timers are so long, taking a camp has much more impact on the jungler in S5 than in S4. Specifically, it is not something that a laner should casually take since the impact on the jungler can be significant.
• The small creeps in the camps give more gold and XP than they did at the end of S4.
• From mid-game on, if you need a bit of gold to complete an item, it’s possible to take the river Rift Scuttler for some quick gold, XP, and vision. This should only be done when it can be killed safely and conveniently. Note that kiting helps and CC increases your damage.
• If you really feel the need to do a camp, then take the smaller creeps and leave the large one (explanation below).
• If your jungler is using the Devourer upgrade on his jungle item, the big monsters give him a stack. This is similar to Feral Flare in S4. Leave the big monster for your jungler.

LEASHING

• Your jungler will either start in a small camp or a large camp. Ask him if he wants a leash. If he says yes, ask him if he wants a hard leash (this tells the jungler that you are smart). If he asks for a hard leash, that means that you want to get the targeted jungle monster very low — the jungler will not smite. A hard leash can help a lot of junglers
• If you soft leash or hard leash, do not stick around to steal XP when the jungler kills the monster. This sets your jungler back A LOT.

RIFT SCUTTLER (NEUTRAL RIVER)

[General]

• The Rift Scuttler respawns 3 minutes (180 secs) after you kill it — for 90 seconds it servers as a ward, and for 90 seconds it is on CD.
• The Rift Scuttler will not be easy to solo kill early in the game, but it becomes much easier with boots and an item or two. The first kill is best done in a group or solo by a jungler (esp. with red buff for the CC).
• At higher Elos, there is definitely some finesse to be had in in terms of the timing of killing the Rift Scuttler.

[Dragon side]

• It is ideal to kill the Rift Scuttler 60-90 seconds before dragon. This will give you vision and MS around the dragon before it spawns and a little bit after it spawns.
• If you are in doubt about whether you should kill the Rift Scuttler or not, the answer is “Yes, kill it if you can do so safely and quickly” — while the timing may not be ideal, you don’t want the opponent to get it.

[Baron side]

• For the most part, kill it whenever it is easy to do so.
• For higher Elo players, kill it in advance of when you want to rotate or take an objective (e.g., Baron).

DRAGON

• Get dragon early and often. The stats are REALLY good.
• If the support can plausibly disguise some time away from lane, then it might good to recommend to your jungler that you want to do an early drag.

BARON

• Don’t start baron unless you are certain you will take it down. You don’t want to donate the buff, and you don’t want to get killed in the battle with the Worm.
• If you and/or your team kill Baron, you are entitled to many privileges that will help you siege better — faster recall, faster MS on nearby minions, and better minion stats. Minimize the time spent on minor objectives like jungle camps and get some towers/inhibs.

SMITE BUFFS AND JUNGLE ITEM UPGRADES

• As a laner, smite buffs largely do not concern you. That being said, there are few things you should look for:
• Is your jungler using the Devourer upgrade? If so, leave the big monsters in the camp so he can stack his item.1
• If your jungler takes Stalker or Skirmisher as a smite (i.e., the ones that can be used on opposing players), then he will likely be able to contribute to some earlyish kills.

OP CHAMPS

• The jungler I least like to see at this point is Pantheon. His passive allows him to farm easily without taking much damage. It also allows him to do crazy stuff like soloing dragon by 4:30 (yes, it’s easy to do).
• Sustain junglers like Fiddlesticks and Warwick do well. Both of these really want to get to level 6 as soon as possible, so they may not impact lanes too much early in the game.
• OP jungling champs (for now):

1. Pantheon (sustain when needed)
2. Warwick (sustain via Q and passive)
3. Fiddlesticks (great sustain)