(If I'm behind with 1000 gold at 14 min. I will go clear another 2-3 camps recall sell the tracker and immediately get my gunblade so I can fight people again.)

In the end we lost the game. My team managed to give 7 kills away in the first 9 minutes. Being Akali there is nothing I could have done to prevent that. (They pushed even when I warned them to wait for my level 6 before getting aggressive) This is the curse of the jungler. I got blamed for not helping them even after getting a dragon at minute 9 and securing multiple kills later on against extremely fed opponents. But your back when you jungle is not big enough to carry a whole team. Even in the lower Elo. Having a team who will not feed in the first 9 minutes is crucial if you plan to jungle Akali as she does poorly against fed opponents.

And then we have these games where everything is in your favor. My Yasuo was winning hard on mid and didn't need help. I ganked enemy top Malphite because he was extending and harassing my Nasus. (If you go past the river in lane against Nasus with no vision on where the enemy jungler is - You are just asking for it mate.)
After that I put deep wards in their jungle on bot side and made a play there by catching the enemy bard while he was roaming for chimes and warding. We got the dragon from that and then I went bot again and caught Gragas on his Krugs killing him (thanks to vision from my Tracker wards) and then chaining it into a kill on Jinx at bot lane.
Generally if kills are even at minute 9 on both teams and then you manage to get 2-3 ahead by minute 14 the game becomes extremely tilted in your favour.

You should know what smiteing gives if you want to jungle!
Now lets look at the EXP table for leveling up in the rift:Now lets look at jungle kill monster rewards.These are stats for LVL 1 Monsters.
They will gain HP and DMG on level but not Armor or MR!

EXPERIENCE:

The EXP shown in the table above is for what they give if they are the same level as you or less than 3 levels bellow you!

If a monster is 3 levels bellow you it will grant 10% less EXP.

Monsters that are 1 Level above you give you 50% more.

Basically the EXP modifier works as following:

-10% XP for each level greater than two above monster level (minimum -40% XP <=> 60% base XP)

+50% XP for each level under monster level (maximum +250% XP <=> 350% base XP)

Monster level is decided on the moment they spawn and remains static.
All jungle camps spawn at lvl 1!

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The only exceptions are Baron and Dragon. They level up every minute.
Also dragon is the only monster that gains armor/mr. It start getting it every minute after 9. If you want an early dragon it needs to be before that otherwise he becomes tankier and harder to take under the nose of the enemy.

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And after being killed jungle monsters respawn with the average LVL between all the champions currently on the rift. (At the moment of respawn)
So 5 champions that are level 5 and 5 champions who are level 7 will result in lvl 6 monster spawn.

This is meant to keep you in the game even if you fall behind but falling behind is not a good strategy bonus exp or not.
The boost means that if you fall 2-3 levels behind everybody else a recently spawned jungle camp will give you 200% of the base EXP = 532 EXP (no jungle item).
The reduction means that 1st clear monsters give you less EXP as soon as you hit level 4. Regardless of how you hit it (early successful gank + tax or just monster camps)

Being a jungler you will have +15 EXP (and after 2nd jungler item component +30) for each big monster you slay. (This EXP gain is static and not affected by jungle camp level VS yours)

And while we are on the whole EXP section lets cover what kills give since your main objective early (levels 3 to 9) will be just that:
So now that we know how EXP from kills and assists works we can conclude that giving the Kill to the lower LVL teamate will result in Max Exp for the team.
Example:
So if you are level 4 your top laner is lvl 6 and their toplaner is level 6:
Level 6 champion kill gives 50% of level 7 EXP = 780/2 = 390 EXP.

• Option 1 you take kill:
  2 levels bellow so 14% extra => 390 + (390x0.14)= 390+55 = 444EXP for team so 222EXP each
• Option 2 your level 6 laner kills:
  Same level as victim so no bonus exp. EXP granted is 390 split between you so 195 each

Now you are ****ting your pants thinking "OH MY GOD GANKING GIVES LESS EXP THAN A MONSTER CAMP!"

Yep it's true. Until the enemy is level 9 Ganking statistically is detrimental to a jungler EXP even if you kill a higher level enemy than you. Unless you get solo EXP (no assists but this hurts the Team gold)
You know people who started jungling and doing it seriously eventually found out about this the same way I did. By doing the math!

This is why Taxing was invented.
If you do pull of a gank take a few minions from that lane to make it worth your while.
Killing someone in lane means your teamate can push it into the tower making 5-10 of your teams minions die to tower withoult giving any EXP/Gold to the enemy laner.
So in all fairness you can take up to half of what he can smash into the tower without hurting his lane.
When taxing always take caster minions as they are faster to kill and meanwhile your laner can still focus on last hitting the melee ones. People in the higher Elo know about this but you may need to explain it to lower Elo players.

Meanwhile if he can't push the wave all the way to tower tax him less as the enemy might actually be even with your laner if you taxed more than half of what the enemy lost.

That being said taxing when your gank didn't kill the enemy or force them to back the lane will hurt your teamate a lot so don't do it.

If after a successful gank your teamate needs to recall/died and you are not low on HP(know the enemy jungler won't kill you) push out the wave to the tower for him. (Taxes become very good)

Meanwhile assists give 50% of Kill gold split between all the people assisting.
If the fcker who you just ganked for says something like: "OMG you ******! KS report! You took all the gold!"
Immediately mute the guy and carry on playing without going to help him anymore.
Seriously anyone dumb enough to say this is not worthy of jungle help.
(So if only 1 person assists it's 50% kill gold for him but if 2 assisted it's 25% kill gold for each of them.)
Killing with assists generates more gold for the team and is a good gold income tool.

crest of cindersBasic attacks or abilities that apply on-hit effects from the holder of this buff deal an extra 8 + (2 × level) true damage twice. The enemy is also slowed by 8/16/24% if the attack is melee, or by 5/10/15% if the attack is ranged. Also heals buff holder by 1% of their maximum health per 5 seconds.

Duration: 2:00 minutes. Duration with Runic Affinity : 2:24 minutes.

If the buff holder is slain, the buff transfers to the killer, and the duration is refreshed.

It can be identified by red rectangular runes circling a champion's mid section.
The reason we take Red 1st is that it gives you True DMG DoT + slow on AAs and 1% of max HP regen in 5 sec! So 0.2% Max HP in 1 sec. (You will have ~590-770 Max HP 1st clear) so 1.18 to 1.54 HP/sec regen.
Smiteing it gives you back 20% Max HP.
This makes staying healthy in the jungle or punishing a laner that pushed very early possible.

Meanwhile:

crest of insightIncreases your mana regeneration by 25 + .5% of your maximum mana. Increases your energy regeneration by 1.5% of your maximum energy. Grants 10% cooldown reduction.

Duration: 2:00 minutes. Duration with Runic Affinity : 2:24 minutes.

If the buff holder is slain, the buff transfers to the killer, and the duration is refreshed.

It can be identified by blue rectangular runes circling around a champion's mid section.
If you start blue side the blue buff only gives you 6 Energy/sec regen and 10% CDR.
This is insanely strong for you when you are over lvl 13 but not before that.
Having the extra energy when the CD on your Crescent Slash goes down bellow 1 sec will increase your 5sec burst combo with an extra spell.
(It's not 3 energy but 6 I can assure you of that. I'm not sure if it's because you regen energy every half sec or the wiki is wrong)

Smite-ing it is a complete waste as you are not a mana champion.

When starting on blue side you will also have:

The DoT from gromp helps a lot in fights when you are tanky and have a thornmail + rylai in the build. (So remember to smite it before fights if it's near) However on 1st clear it offers a lot less survivability and not enogh clear against monster camps.
Meanwhile the Krugs offer 2sec stuns which help a lot more with survival on 1st clear. In general starting blue side is bad. But from 2nd clear it does not matter where you go so be where your team needs you.

Essencially unless you have a lot of AoE DMG (which akali doesn't before E scales with atleast 80 total AD and you buy Hunter's Talisman) there is a golden rule to what you focus in the camp first.
Watch this video by: foxdropLoL - Be a Better League Player

If you are too lazy I will sum it up for you.

When you don't have lots of AoE DMG and you won't smite the camp the order of killing things is:

Wolves: Big

Raptors: Minis

Krugs: Minis

Buffs: Big

Gromp: Gromp doesn't have any bloody minis

Bottom Scuttler: His dragon mini

Top Scuttler: His Herald mini

(please don't take the last 2 seriously... this night shift is getting to me)

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Important thing for junglers: AGGRO RANGE OF A MONSTER IS EXACTLY 700 RANGE AROUND IT'S SPAWN LOCATION!

Aggro will start dropping the moment you leave this distance.
Doesn't matter if the monster is still in melee range AAing you or 400 range away and chasing you.
It takes about 4 sec for them to loose aggro after you leave the range so you can actually pull further away from aggro range if you can return withing 4 sec or kill it.

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Rocks Kung Fu

Go for the Ancient Krug 1st with pull if possible. Don't smite immediately as you want to set up your AA stun for the 2nd camp. This will require practice.


Immediate Q proc when rocks spawn.

When getting leash ask them not to overstay past 4AA(in total).
(As the buff will have to low HP to set up a stun properly)

Run away after your 2nd Q is cast but not during a stun. Finish any AAs while they are stunned and stay withing aggro range when you run away.

When you start taking DMG start drinking a potion. (If the pull you got was weak - no stuns/tanking of hits - otherwise save the pot till camp 2 start)

Smite and AA will do 470 DMG to the Big rock and stun him for 2 sec.

All AAs will do ~80DMG at lvl 1 to Big rock. Q will do 90DMG (Since they have -10MR you do +9.1% bonus magic dmg to them)
(+ or - 3 for AA I will calculate exact amount later)
If you want to set up a Stun for the next camp (and you do) taking into account that the small rock dies in 5AA + Q proc.

You need to Smite +AA when the Big rock has 950HP (that is 470 + 5x80AA +90Q)

Ideal is bellow 950 but above 870HP.

Now calculating this while you have random DMG leashers is impossible so tell em to buzz off when camp is 1030HP-ish.
Literally 400 DMG leashing or 30% of Monster HP.
This will include Q+2xAA from you so you need them to at least do exactly 150DMG which is a lot for them
~3AA assuming average 50DMG on hit which is hard with no mastery for last hits or AD in runes) if they do more than 4AAs(combined) it will Screw things up. So don't let them AA 5times. (3AA for a Braum bot lane leash or Thresh hook.)

Alternatively you can smite immediately which depending on the pull you got will leave you at 2-4 hits stacked. (not suggested unless you are getting a one man pull)

Generally if you do it right you will clear the camp while taking little DMG and have 5 Hits stacked so your next AA will be a stun.

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Raptors Kung Fu

(Updated 27/12)
After getting this camp you want to ward your River (to be prepared if counter jungle)
This is not something to be ignored as it's safety + time for smite to come back up.Ward at the green circles if you still have a big CD on smite (good pull/clear of rocks) or ward the yellow ones after clearing the Razorbeaks if you had a slow clear (weak or no pull). This is because we want to time our Red start so we can do it safely and with smite available for the heal.

Die to counter jungle as akali early and your game is over!

So after you are lvl 2 with a ready AA stun your river is warded start your Crimson Raptor.

The big one has 1200HP and 15Armor (1st spawn) and the small ones have 250 HP and 5 Armor.

As lvl 2 with my build you will have 69AD and 5 AP. Hunter's Machete will give you 20 bonus dmg on AA. 10 Armor Pen.
Combine this with Savagery , Twin Disciplines, Assassin and Double Edged Sword will mean you can delete the small raptors with 2xE + 1xAA.
(103 DMG AA to monsters + 76DMG E to monsters and 10 Armor Pen = true dmg to small raptors)

Stand almost in the middle of them but positioned so you can AA the big one and run off without being blocked. Start drinking potion when fight begins.

BB-Big bird, S1- 1st raptor, S2-2nd raptor and S3-3rd raptor.

Q(BB)+E(all)+AA(BB=stunned)+AA(S1)+AA(S2) + Run yellow line + AA(S3)+E(Triplekill)+Q(BB) + AA(BB)+ run blue line+AA(BB) + AA(BB=Stunned) and then slay the beast. (Updated 27/12 after a few jungle runs)


Doing it this way clears the camp with least dmg taken and reasonable time.
Doing AA on small birds with stun stacked is unfavourable so avoid that.
If you had 4 stacks AA(S1) and then BB doesn't matter as long as you remember to AA small birds only once and E in the begining and after running.

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Now you need to choose:

Gentleman do the Rift Scuttler on your side of the jungle before Red buff if you want to play it safe and go for your wolfs (as you will kill red with more HP that way for the level up) but if you are going to invade do red 1st and then the crab(to save time).

Red Buff Kung Fu

Up next on the menu is the Red Brambleback.
Q+E+AA+AA...(AAstun)+AA and you pull back for about 300 range(as the stun wears off) then walk back in to AA+AA+Q+AA and when E comes off CD do that as well.
(When you run off and run back in you are filling up your CD-s while taking minimal DMG but you want to run back in fast enough to keep the Cinderlings in your E range.)
After your 2nd E you generally pull back/kite as far as aggro range starts dropping. This is difficult to see as the line for the buff aggro is very thin thing (Thanks riot...)but if you look hard at the health bar you will see it and generally any jungler will eventually learn the camps aggro ranges by heart.

then again Q AA and Smite. (The heal will feel very good)

Also start drinking 1 potion as soon as you started the fight with the buff.

This way you will clear red with minimal DMG taken.

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After taking Red Access the lanes.
(you can do it while AAing crab as well but keep an eye on minimap so you don't get afk killed by enemy jungler)

Is a lane close to you pushed by enemy laner?
Did anyone go overly aggresive and traded with your teamate till they are both bellow 50% HP?
Has anyone burned summoners?
Where is the enemy jungler likely to gank? (Yes think of what you would do if you were to gank for the enemy team and warn your team! Chances are they will ignore you on low elo and die but sometimes they listen and live to see another wave.)

Generally higher elo your team will inform you in the lane phase if someone used up a summoner and is pushing and being aggressive. (it's rare on low elo as they just wait to loose the lane and then blame you but you can ask them if you see an enemy at 50% HP if he has his summoners and where has he warded)
Make your decision if you want to go to a lane but don't go somewhere just to apply pressure (sure going top when your teamate is pressured into the turret and denied farm to give him some breathing room to get those CS withoult being poked is good but if you do this you sacrifice your own Exp/gold as you will have to recall if you take to much DMG. Generally if someone is loosing a solo lane leave him to it and pray he doesn't die but gank for him when you get lvl 6)

The least you want for going to a lane is to burn summoners while taking little DMG at best a kill/assist+tax=2-3minions. (Don't tax if they are behind on CS by a lot compared to their oposing laner as this will hurt them further when dueling them without you) Avoid going bot lvl 2-3 unless your team told you they used up summoners and they are still pushing.

Going bot is a death sentence if the enemy support has hard CC and your allies are too low on HP and don't manage to engage them properly before you waltz into the probably warded river (if you just walk in and flash agressively the best you will achieve is loose 50% of your HP and make them use a flash) Counter jungle is also a way to loose your entire game as it will result in 2-3kills for them and they can even do dragon with a sturdy jungler.
The worst thing if you are akali jungle is that you have less gold unless you pull of the ganks. If your team gives them any kills early you will have a hard time.

1st ganks will be a lot harder but you will have to try them because otherwise it will go even more downhill for that lane

2nd Catching up is taxing (you will have to itemize very defensively and do a lot less DMG)

Speaking of dragons:Don't atempt them unless you had successful plays (killed jungle/bot/mid lane and enemy top has no TP.) Always keep it warded and ask your team to intercept them when they start it if possible.
If top has TP and you go for early drag you will die because before lvl 8 you can't properly solo a dragon (tank it) so both you and whoever is helping you take it around lvl 5(earliest you can try with less than 3 people) will be forced to go very low on HP.

Early dragons help the team a lot more than you think (as the % will suddenly scale to something decent as the lane phase is going on)

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To invade or not to invade?

You go in the river taking the crab and then in enemy jungle to take his gromp.
The condition to do is either:

if you know he started Red as well and he is not a lvl 3 gank jungler (as they normally get both buffs before ganking)

if you know that he definetly started gromp as 1st camp. (gromp has a 100 sec respawn timer. If he did it first camp and you did 3 camps and crab chances are it's there and also pretty safe to go steal)

If you do invade and see that his blue buff is still there hide.


Then you wait till the jungler comes to take the blue (10-15sec for them to show up) and then bully him out/kill him and take his blue. Mind you don't try this if his team is close and can come to back him up.
Keep in mind that you will be lvl 3 with no shroud. While he is lvl 3 and probably has smite. You will not have smite so you need to harras him off when the buff is bellow 50% but not when it's smite-able.
Generally I try to avoid fights this early so if I see the blue i will probably just go Top/Mid and harras the enemy laner and then recall (or just recall).

However if you know they started Red and have no sustain. When you are certain that you will make it to blue before them get shroud lvl 3 to increase chances of success in blue steal and enemy kill. It's going to work only against a jungler who has no sustain and will have low HP by the time blue is nearly smite-able (we are talking under 50% and less here)


Different scenario if I just saw them atempt a gank on a lane (then I will go Hell yeah free blue) and take it. (probably gromp as well if I see the jungler get beaten up to recall HP or killed)

Judging by the enemy jungler (what are his 1st clear times/does he do early ganks with red/how strong is he in a duel) you can gauge if it's worth to try invading. I do it 60% of the time but when you are against a Mundo/Evelyn/Lee/Udyr/Elise/Shaco generally stick to your jungle and ward well (except for evelyn as stealth wards have no effect on that ***** and you need to ward your or her camps to actually get any info on where she is.)

Don't try to do the blue when invading (if you didn't see the enemy jungler somewhere) as it will take more time than a gromp and chances are their jungler will find you with a 300 hp and the buff with 150 then smile and take you both.


Jungle invades will always play out randomly. They are a high risk high reward choices.
Being an Akali as long as you are not against a very strong invading type of jungler it will be possible to make an escape even if you don't win anything from the invade. There is no way to predict what will happen if you go in the enemy jungle with no vision. For instance you can watch this replay:
I'm invading a jungler fizz but he doesn't show up till i start his gromp.
It turned into a full blown teamfight with both mid laners and both top laners joining the fray.
We won it but it could have gone both ways. (they splitted focus early and this lost it for them)
(This replay will only work for windows users and you need to have league client open to watch replays from http://www.replay.gg/search/eune/war7hehorseman# )

Invade starts at minute 4 but check out the early clear of camps. (jungle kung fu)
Also I do get executed by lvl 3 krugs (because i was to greedy and tried the camp withoult recalling first. Krugs hurt a lot more when they level up.)

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When taking the enemy gromp I suggest saving your last potion (if you still have it don't drink it).

Gromp Kung Fu

Go from his North/South side and put a Q on him from max range. Then run away (gromp has only 250 range and will chase you even when aggro starts dropping). As long as you turn back to meet him before he leaves his aggro range you did this perfectly! Run into him (You take 1 AA more for all that running instead of point blank fight start but save 3-3.5 sec on Qs CD which is big) smite as soon as available. Then recall from the bush.

(This can go terribly wrong if their jungler meets you and their bot/top laners are close by. It's a calculated risk that is very rewarding if pulled off properly.)

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Path of the coward (when enemy jungler can kick your ***):

If you prefer to play it safe just take your greater murk wolf after your Red buff.
Start with Q from the wall ridge of the camp.(see picture)
We do it so when they come up to you you can AA the big one and step away slightly back (green line) and the small wolf closer to you is blocked by the others and the wall and has to go around them doing 2AAs less. Then fight and pull back again when the 3 wolfs are on top of you to max aggro range to resume fighting.

Focus the big wolf! (remember the video at the top of the section)
Don't smite the wolf save it for your gromp and drink your last potion.

ACCESS THE LANES!

If no potential ganks do gromp with Jungle kung fu.

After Gromp:

ACCESS THE LANES!
If no opportunities recall.

If you go to a lane that was pushed but they back away (had wards) check for 2nd scuttler and take it then recall.