In league of legends I've been noticing a definite trend of poor junglers. Its a shame really. Everyone sees the jungle role as an important part of a team, which arguably it is. It takes more than just a character who can be self sustained vs the creeps in those woods. Its not just PVE till team fight time either. A bad jungle can cause everyone the game. Its happened to my own matches a TON. The part that bugs me the most is the people who aren't fulfilling their role seem to act like everyone's' short comings are due to: everyone else is bad. Sometimes this is true. But a lot of the time its not that. This game is team based. (Duh) If you can't work together than your bound to fail. So what does a jungle need to do?
Well they need to first of all: be able to not die in the jungle and kill creeps quickly and level fast. The less time it takes to hit lv 4 or so the quicker you can fulfill your next role.
GANKING! This is where most people fall short. Sure you can kill the golems and lizards and all the wolves you want but that wont win you the game. As a jungler you should be using your freedom as a way to cause fear. Imbalance lanes. Take out towers. You know you can't win a match with out taking down a tower.
I have seen so many junglers just wait till lv 7 and then join the team fights after we were already at a disadvantage due to early game. That jungler could of jumped at bot and got a double kill. Maybe he could of raided top lane and took out a tower with the solo laner. Gank on mid lane is always appreciated too. However choosing to do none of these isn't a good idea. Usually I keep moving around. At lv 4 i make my self a threat. Constantly trying to gank or get into the enemies faces. The more I can move around the better.
A big part of this is to help when helps needed. Your best bet may not be to always gank bot or mid. Always look for over extended enemies or team mates trying to make a push. Assistance around that is always good.
Try to mix things up. If you keep doing the same thing over and over then you may run out of chances to get kills. Ultimately wasting you and your teams time. The enemies aren't dumb (usually) and can pick up on your behavior if its basic enough. Hopefully people are warding. If low Elo they probably aren't but you can never be sure. Regardless being random or showing up and wreaking havoc then fleeing into the shadows is always good. Keep the enemies on their toes. Make them uncomfortable. They'll waste gold on excessive wards or potions. Any gold they can spend on trying to avoid you is better than them building that Infinity edge or rod of ages. Psychology is one hell of a weapon in this game.
So what makes a good jungle champion? If you need to kill minions then a lot of people can do that. But effective ganker champions are a bit different. Personally I look for guys who can close the gap (warwick), CC enemy champs for easy kills (olaf comes to mind here with the axe throw. Very nice move), or people with good escape skills. Things that hinder enemies from getting away are good qualities to look for in your champion selection. Currently (September 2011) I am loving olaf for the jungle role. He can escape (ultimate = non-cc able), slow guys down (axe throw), regen health with damage boost (w), and do a nice chunk of true damage (e). He doesn't need a lot of AD so you can build slowing items like a frozen mallet and get some health too. Armor pen is really nice on him and his ultimate gives passive armor pen too. He can shred people up easy due to that. Olaf is my current choice for when i go jungle.
I hope this helps some people up their game in the jungle. If anyone has tips or ideas just toss me an email or put it on the comments. Always welcome to new ideas too.
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