General Guide by Xenasis
Build Guide
Discussion (527)
|
|
| Health | 3909 |
| Health Regen | 20.95 |
| Mana | 760 |
| Mana Regen | 14.5 |
| Armor | 169.44 |
| Magic Resist | 138.86 |
| Dodge | 0 |
| Tenacity | 35 |
| Movement Speed | 415 |
| Gold Bonus | 5 |
| Attack Damage | 110.51 |
| Attack Speed | 56.257 |
| Crit Chance | 0%S |
| Crit Damage | 0% |
| Ability Power | 0 |
| Life Steal | 0% |
| Spell Vamp | 0 |
| Armor Penetration | 7.68 |
| Magic Penetration | 0 |
| Cooldown Reduction | 7.47% |
Recommended Runes
Ability Sequence
Mastery Tree Is Outdated
WARNING: These masteries are still using the old tree and have not been updated to the new tree by the guide author. As such, they will be different than the masteries you see in-game.
Masteries
Introduction
Bah, I somehow accidentally changed the original Introduction to be exactly the same as the Jungling Routes part. Yeah I have no idea either.
It went a little something like this (the original was better) -
What this guide WILL give you -
A basic introduction into jungling, for with a jungler on your team, being a jungler, and being against a jungler
10 Very basic builds for some of the more popular junglers right now
Some essential knowledge about junglers
Basic Jungling Routes for use on most champions
Some tips and tricks for jungling, and how to do better than the enemy jungler
What this guide WON'T give you -
In depth guides about every single jungler - however, I will brush upon where the odd one excels, for example, 
Olaf, he has one of the fastest jungle times in the game - but has poor ganks.
Jungling routes specific to one jungler only, for example, the "Reginald Shaco Red Route"
Tips on how to improve your >9000 Elo Jungle
Anyway, I made this guide because I LOVE jungling, but some people have never even tried it - and some people clearly don't know how to play with/against a jungler. I hope this helps almost everyone! I'd advise anybody to give jungling a go, and hopefully this can set you upon the right tracks!
Hopefully my time spent on this guide won't be wasted. As long as I encourage just one more player to pick up a jungler and start jungling, or for their team mates to help them in their jungle, this guide is a success. To this day I have 12.5k words in this guide, a figure I was surprised with myself!
I'm constantly updating this guide, too - don't think it might be out of date! You can see my latest update on the Change Log section, and the latest update to the tier list on the tier list itself's chapter. Hopefully it all stays relevant, and you get the most up to date information you can :)
As of 4/11/11 (UK date format), I've started up a jungling based blog on this very site! It will contain shifts in the jungling part of the game, buffs, nerfs, new champions, titbits of information and more! If you want to check it out, the link is below! -
http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/blog/xenasis
What this guide WON'T give you -
In depth guides about every single jungler - however, I will brush upon where the odd one excels, for example, Olaf, he has one of the fastest jungle times in the game - but has poor ganks.
Jungling routes specific to one jungler only, for example, the "Reginald Shaco Red Route"
Tips on how to improve your >9000 Elo Jungle
Anyway, I made this guide because I LOVE jungling, but some people have never even tried it - and some people clearly don't know how to play with/against a jungler. I hope this helps almost everyone! I'd advise anybody to give jungling a go, and hopefully this can set you upon the right tracks!
Hopefully my time spent on this guide won't be wasted. As long as I encourage just one more player to pick up a jungler and start jungling, or for their team mates to help them in their jungle, this guide is a success. To this day I have 12.5k words in this guide, a figure I was surprised with myself!
I'm constantly updating this guide, too - don't think it might be out of date! You can see my latest update on the Change Log section, and the latest update to the tier list on the tier list itself's chapter. Hopefully it all stays relevant, and you get the most up to date information you can :)
As of 4/11/11 (UK date format), I've started up a jungling based blog on this very site! It will contain shifts in the jungling part of the game, buffs, nerfs, new champions, titbits of information and more! If you want to check it out, the link is below! -
http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/blog/xenasis
Woah, Xenasis, Where Did All of the Chapters Go?
Well I deleted a lot of the irrelivant ones and changed some of the relevant ones since the jungle change. I've kept them safe, though, don't you worry about that! You can view them all here, along with everything I delete or overhaul in the future.
http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/jungling-101-archive-not-to-be-public-158988
I plan on changing a LOT more things in the future regarding the change (namely the tier list) - though I need to see how everything falls into place, first. I can't simply put everything where it should go as soon as the change happens.
If you see anything out of place, or ripe for a change still, please let me know, I'll get round to fixing it, though there's going to be a lot of changes happening soon!
Pros/Cons of Jungling
So, what's the point of a jungler? Is there any reason not to have one? Why do you have a jungler in the first place?
To be honest, there aren't many cons, there's just a bunch of pros!
Pros -
+ You have someone on your team who's unpredictable, the enemy doesn't know where you are unless they've warded really deep into your jungle (which you should never let them...)
+ You can help gank lanes that would otherwise be struggling
+ More global XP - due to having TWO solo lanes!
+ More global gold (due to two solo lanes AND the jungle creeps regularly being killed and not wasted) with control over dragon
+ Extremely high map control
+ You can ward as you're roaming the map, instead of people having to leave their lanes to ward vital spots
+ Statistically proven that teams with junglers have a higher chance of winning than teams without
Cons -
- You need a half decent person to solo top, some people just get stomped up there...
- If you're new to jungling and can't stop a good counter jungle, you might be seriously underlevelled, and be missing out on your buffs
What Makes a Jungler?
You've likely asked yourself this at least once before - why can X champion jungle but Y champion can't?
There's quite a few factors, I'll briefly go over each.
Ganks -
If you can't gank well, you might not be the best jungler in the world, this means some sort of decent CC usually, or some sort of awesome way to enter a lane. A perfect example of a jungler that excels here is 
Shaco, stealth, slows, and really early ganks! 
Nocturne is another good example, who has an AMAZING gank post level 6, and pretty decent ganks before 6 with a speed boost for chase downs, fear and spell shield to block any stuns that happen to go his way.
I have a convenient list of good gankers you might want to check out on my ganking section, see there if you'd like to know other good gankers!
Invasions -
How you can invade the enemy jungle, how early you can do it, and how successful it will be.
A good example of a good invader/counter jungler would be 
Nunu, his 
Consume means he can start the invasions at level 1 if it suits him. Another good counter jungler would be Shaco, he has a wall jump stealth to jump over the blue/red wall to steal, whilst being stealthed in 
Deceive and essentially free wards with his 
Jack In The Box. These are still potent in the new jungle, just not quite as potent as they were before!
I have a convenient list of good counter junglers you might want to check out on my counter jungling section, see there if you'd like to know other good counter junglers!
Speed -
This part is pretty self explanatory, it's how fast you kill the jungle mobs. This gives you more XP, more time to gank, and overall a better jungle. If you're slow, you might not be able to gank as often, and might get under-levelled if you do gank too much - and makes it so much easier for the enemy to counter jungle you. A good example of a speedy jungler would be Olaf, 
Udyr, 
Skarner, 
Shyvana or even 
Karthus. It's important to note that Speed usually goes hand in hand with Survivability, if you kill them before they have a chance to do anything to you, you're laughing!
Survivability -
How your jungler survives well in the jungle, they usually need some sort of half decent regeneration, resistance, or extremely high damage output on mobs. This will help their general jungle times, because they can stay there longer, their ganking health, resistance to counter jungling (for two reasons, you can 1v1 better, and can usually take on more mobs and aren't restricted to very strict routes), and counter jungling yourself, since you can 1v1 better with more health. A good example of a jungler with good survivability is 
Warwick, 
Fiddlesticks, 
Cho'Gath, or Udyr.
How it fits in with your usual build -
Basically, this means that your 
Madred's Razors might build into something, or whatever, Karthus is an example of where it's bad, as he obviously doesn't usually build 
Cloth Armor, and can't build a Madred's Razors as it doesn't fit in with the rest of his build. There are some junglers, for example, Cho'Gath who are EXTREMELY item independent, and can jungle with almost anything, he is a good example of a jungler that fits in well with a usual build - as with Warwick, who, needless to say, needs no real items to be sustained in the jungle, although a 
Wriggle's Lantern is usually favoured on him.
Some junglers can overlook their terrible aspects if they excel in other areas of jungling, like Olaf, who really isn't that great elsewhere, but has ridiculously good speeds when it comes to jungling. This translates to lots of aspects things too, excellent ganks and counter jungling but not great survivability or resistance to counter jungling would bring Shaco to mind. However, a good mix of them all makes the "best" junglers, like Udyr, Shyvana or 
Trundle.
Junglers Suited for Summoners Not Level 30/Runeless
I had an issue similar to this when I started LoL, I LOVED jungling, but I just didn't have the runes/masteries to support a lot of them. I'd like to give a few people some advice on where to start and which champions to start with.
A little tip I'd suggest is to buy Tier 3 Armour Seals as soon as you can, these are 
Greater Seal of Armor. Why these runes? They are only half the price of normal runes (for example, 200 IP for the tier 3 ones rather than the 400 IP that you usually see for Seals) and work kind of well on all junglers, and for a lot of them, they're the best rune you can take. Sure, X rune might be better for Y champion, but they are extremely cheap and work on anyone at least a little well. You'd be surprised how good just a few of these runes can actually do. Believe me, if you want to jungle, there's just no reason not to invest such a tiny amount of IP for a breezy jungle, and runes that work instead of the usual MP5 runes that go in that slot for champions without mana - without you having to buy anything fancy. These runes actually work extremely well when you're not in the jungle too, and are an extremely common pick for AD carries, solo top laners, and other champions like that.
A few junglers you can use really easily runeless include -
Warwick (His sustainability is amazing even without runes!)
Udyr (I'm pretty sure BOTH Phoenix Stance AND Tiger Stance builds work. I'd recommend Phoenix Stance any time, but ask for a pull on both!)
Olaf (As long as you don't try anything heroic you should be good, great clear times and good sustain)
Shaco (With a blue buff start you'd be fine, just stack boxes and you're cool! Might want to start with Cloth Armour rather than boots, though)
Cho'Gath This guy doesn't much to jungle whatsoever. He's incredible when it comes to survivability!
Trundle (One of the most sustainable junglers in the game, period.)
Shen (Dat sustain, bro)
For ANY of these though I'd recommend trying them in a custom game first, it's 10x less embarrassing to die at blue in a custom than elsewhere! Remember that not all of these will start at blue, but the majority will, try them out first to make sure that your route isn't too dangerous or anything. You don't need to kill blue buff first every single time for every single jungler (contrary to popular belief). It might be worth noting that you don't have to do the route that each guide suggests/recommends. Remember, always try it out in a custom game, but remember, you don't HAVE to do the route that a guide with runes suggests!
Obviously, there's a LOT of junglers that work at low levels, I just listed some that I know almost definitely do, some I have even tried myself, naturally, I can't list every single champion here, and I'm not going to come back to this with every new champion that comes out - but I'll add the odd one or two.
Smite.
EVERY
JUNGLER
NEEDS
SMITE
There is NO jungler than can "Jungle without 
Smite", and don't let anybody tell you different.
I know, I know, junglers like Warwick and Fiddlesticks can kill stuff WITHOUT Smite, but that isn't the reason.
Advantages of Smite -
+ Securing of buffs/dragon/baron
+ Much harder for you to be counter jungled
+ Faster (in some cases, by a huge amount) jungle times
+ More ganks, due to needing less time in the jungle for XP
+ Ability to counter jungle a LOT easier, you can steal their buffs with Smite
+ You only need a lower level to kill Dragon
+ More/faster gold, for items
So called "Disadvantages" of Smite -
- They know you're a jungler?
Well, this isn't really true, it's kind of obvious that if don't see a Warwick (for example) in a lane and there's only one top, that you're a jungler.
- It's "useless" late game
I don't see securing Baron as being useless at ALL, sure, 
Exhaust might be a slight bit better, but to be honest, the time period you'll be jungling or using Smite will be a LOT more than not using it.
It's only one small spell too, it's not like having to go without an ultimate.
Without Smite, you're not jungling at all. You're simply roaming around the map and killing creeps along the way. Smite is THE jungling spell, you'd be a fool not to take it. Without it, you'll have your creeps, dragon, and baron stolen, will be under-levelled, and can't properly counter jungle. Take Smite. No exceptions.
Viable Junglers - With a Rough Tier List
So, not everybody knows viable junglers, and there are some pretty strange but effective ones (E.G. Karthus) that actually work surprisingly well. Here's a list of ones that work kind of well. I've sorted them into a sort of tier list, now this is NOT a 100% best tier list ever list, but this will show you ROUGHLY how good a jungler is. I don't claim to know the ins and outs of every single jungler ever and I don't pretend to play for a top team like CLG/TSM or whatever. This is in MY OPINION.
This list ONLY reflects their jungling prowess, and nothing more.
To find out more about my thoughts about the current jungle champions, how they're affected by buffs and nerfs, new champions, and more, check out my blog on this site! -
http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/blog/xenasis
THE CHAMPIONS INSIDE THE TIERS THEMSELVES ARE IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER (HENCE THE WORD ROUGH)!
THIS TIER LIST IS ONLY FOR THEIR ABILITY TO JUNGLE, NOTHING ELSE LIKE LATE GAME!
Last update of tier list (for reference) - 24/7/12 (UK Date format, by the way)
Tier 1 (The God Tier) -
These junglers excel at pretty much everything (such as
Lee Sin), or are so good at something it's hard to ignore (such as Shyvana's speeds and counter jungling prowess). These should be your top choices for a jungler and are USUALLY a good starting point for new players.
Tier 2 (The Demigod Tier) -
These junglers are just not quite hitting the mark when it comes to the best of the best, but there are some fearsome junglers in here that are really amazing. These are essentially either really good at one or two things but lacking elsewhere (like
Rammus), or "jack of all trades - but master of none", like 
Tryndamere, for a quick example.
Tier 3 (The Average Tier) -
These junglers really aren't that shabby at all. Don't come under the delusion that these are bad, they're just not as good as others really.
Tier 4 (The Kind of Meh Tier) -
This tier is self explanatory, these are OK, just not optimal at ALL. They can do the odd thing pretty well (E.G.
Sion with his pretty good ganks) but they lack in too many areas for me to consider them as good as the previous tiers. This is a good tier to look if you're looking for a fun choice - though obviously it won't be the best.
Tier 5 (The Last Resort Tier) -
These can jungle. It's just not really very optimal AT ALL. Using one of these will be better than having no jungler, but it's better for some other champion to jungle than one of these to jungle.
And most likely a few I forgot. I know, you weren't expecting some of them, but they do work!
If you want to test a jungler's viability or if you can play them very well, remember to ALWAYS do it in a Custom game, creeps don't change, there's no harm in just trying, especially when it just screws over your team if you do something or don't have the right runes or something. I'd recommend always starting in a Custom if your runes don't match ones recommended or you don't have any good rune pages yet.
Tier List Changes! -
14/12/11 - Tier list changed for the new jungle. See the archived "guide" for any changes earlier than this one.
22/12/11 -
Warwick and 
Yorick moved down to 4 for the same reason. Both aren't anywhere near how good they were. Sustain kind of sucks now.22/12/11 -
Soraka added at tier 5.22/12/11 -
Wukong moved up to tier 3. He's a lot better, now. Farm junglers are good, and he's a farm jungler.22/12/11 -
Olaf moved down. More sustain = slower speeds. Slower speeds = bad. He was a bit high in the first place, anyway.#27/12/11 - Ok, ok, I jumped on the
Maokai bandwagon and moved him up. He's basically the tank version of Shaco.27/12/11 -
Twisted Fate added in at tier 3. I gave him a shot and was pleasantly surprised! Potent ganks and surprisingly good clear speeds.27/12/11 - Casseopeia and
Ezreal added at tier 4. Bad ganks, bad survivability, but surprisingly fast and have decent control.27/12/11 -
Evelynn is moving on up to tier 4! The sustain helped her a lot!27/12/11 -
Twitch and 
Blitzcrank moved up to tier 3. Both were too low.30/12/11 -
Singed added. Surprised isn't a word to describe it. Dyrus has been doing well with him recently for good reason.22/1/12 -
Jax moved to tier 2 due to buffs.22/1/12 -
Dr. Mundo moved up due to buffs.22/1/12 -
Sejuani added.26/1/12 -
Shaco moved down. Nerfed for no particular defensible reason.1/2/12 -
Dr. Mundo moved up.9/2/12 -
Alistar moved up. He's basically like Blitzcrank.9/2/12 -
Ziggs added in. Better than expected.16/2/12 -
Ezreal moved up. Was pleasantly surprised that he could clear the jungle with full health with a 
Vampiric Scepter alone, with a leash.16/2/12 -
Warwick moved up. Can duel even better and clears a little faster due to the buffs.16/2/12 -
Nautilus added in at tier 2.3/3/12 -
Gangplank moved down. No idea why he was so high. Still a good champion but he gets very low in the jungle.3/3/12 -
Fiora added in at god tier. Woah Nelly this is going to be controversial. Now, I see her as a sort of Lee Sin that can counter jungle a little better but gank a little worse. Other than that they're pretty much the same in what they do, speed, survivability, transition to late game, all of that is practically equal. I see no reason why she should be lower.11/4/12 -
Olaf moved up. Not sure why he was so low.11/4/12 -
Fiora moved down. She is still a very good jungler, but her lack of general viability holds her back.11/4/12 -
Dr. Mundo moved up. He's proven himself time and time again as a potent jungler, people are starting to find the right runes, etc, for him now.13/4/12 -
Olaf moved up. He's REALLY good, surprisingly. One of the fastest clears in the game, good sustainability, Wriggle's independence, doesn't depend on blue, and good ganks, especially from the brush.13/4/12 -
Pantheon moved down. He's too blue dependent.13/4/12 -
Xin Zhao moved up. I underestimated him, and the amount of routes he can take. He can easily do the red route.7/5/12 -
Hecarim added in at tier 3. Not fast enough and very mana dependant in his jungle.7/5/12 -
Alistar moved up to tier 2. Amazing ganks and stuff.26/5/12 -
Darius added in at tier 2. Pretty good clear times but nothing spectacular like Dr. Mundo or Shyvana, mediocre ganks due to lack of a proper gap closer, and limited ganking paths (E.G. if he came from the back of mid then used his pull, the enemy would be closer to their turret).26/5/12 - Finally remembered to add
Lulu. In there at tier 3 for now. She's used in the jungle because she can jungle but is amazing elsewhere, not because she's an amazing jungler.19/6/12 -
Nunu moved down. Had him too high because I overestimated a buff a great while ago.19/6/12 -
Draven added in at tier 3. He's like Ezreal but with worse clearing and better ganks.24/7/12 - It makes me really, really happy to be able to move
Nunu up. In my opinion, the glory days of LoL's jungling was when Nunu was the best jungler in the game. He makes stuff happen, and that, in turn, makes me happy. I hope I can proceed to move him up in the future.24/7/12 -
Jayce added in at tier 3. Nothing shines out from him in my eyes.24/7/12 - Some Tier 3 champions have been moved down a bit because of all the new blood and improved junglers to shake it up over the past months.
The Camps Inside the Jungle
Every mob and camp inside the jungle! -
If you are planning to improve and properly control the jungle, the times for when the buffs, dragons and creeps respawn is very important.
| spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace |
Dragon Initial Spawn: 2:30
Dragon respawns in 6 minutes
Total XP: 900
Total Gold: 25 + 190 Global
|
space |
Baron Initial Spawn: 15:00
Baron respawns in 7 minutes
Total XP: 900 Global
Total Gold: 300 Global + 100 Gold to killer
|
| spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace |
Blue Buff Initial Spawn: 1:55
Blue Buff respawns in 5 minutes
Total XP: 280
Total Gold: 80
|
space |
Red Buff Initial Spawn: 1:55
Red Buff respawns in 5 minutes
Total XP: 260
Total Gold: 80
|
Wraiths Initial Spawn: 1:40
Wraiths respawn in 50 seconds
Total XP: Varies depending on time spent alive
Total Gold: Varies depending on time spent alive
|
space |
Wolves Initial Spawn: 1:40
Wolves respawn in 1 minute
Total XP: Varies depending on time spent alive
Total Gold: Varies depending on time spent alive
|
space |
Double Golems Initial Spawn: 1:40
Double Golems respawns 1 minute
Total XP: Varies depending on time spent alive
Total Gold: Varies depending on time spent alive
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Thanks to JhoiJhoi for general formatting and Dante Rebellion's Jungle Shaco Guide - of which I sectioned the idea from.
Starting Items - Which To Buy?
This is often asked or presented to many people, including myself in regards to jungling. Why do some champions want to start with a Vampiric Scepter and some with a Cloth Armor? Why is 
Regrowth Pendant good to start with? Should I ever mix and match? Is there appropriate counter play to each?
Starting items that are, in my eyes, viable on junglers. I'll go through what they're for and how to counter play each below. -
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Why/When Should You Buy It?
Cloth Armor is picked for two main reasons. For one, Cloth Armour and  Health Potions give you the most survivable jungle that you can get, pretty much. The combination of armour and 750 health is quite good reason to get it. Secondly, it is good all around, for every aspect of jungling. You can survive well, if a gank goes badly you can recover, you can recover if someone tries to counter jungle you hard (dropping 400 health from a duel at level 2 isn't as big of a problem), and it builds into a Wriggle's Lantern. It's a very strong start and is the most common start for junglers.How Do You Counter Play It? Simply enough, if you didn't start with a Cloth Armor, don't try and duel them in their own jungle if you can't finish them off for sure or you also started with a Cloth Armor and think you'll come out on top in the duel. You might also find it good to keep track of their potions in the jungle, knowing that they are low at a certain point but still have 3 potions left might mean now is the time to strike.
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Why/When Should You Buy It?
Oddly enough, the people this is best on are those with high sustain. As a rule of thumb, if you start with this and your champion is dropping low in your jungle, then it's not for that champion. Trundle is a good candidate for this because of the fact he has an attack timer reset with AD boost in  Rabid Bite, lots of sustain in  Decompose, and a steroid in  Contaminate. Attack timer resets, steroids, and sustain make it a good candidate. You want to be able to go into your jungle and come out with higher health, if you don't, then I wouldn't recommend buying it - it defeats the whole point of it. If you can, it saves the 'wasted' gold from the Health Potions when starting with a Cloth Armor. If you want to try risky stuff, like early aggressive counter jungling, you may want a lot of health back quickly, and even with high sustain, Cloth Armor may be better. Very good for farming from your jungle.How Do You Counter Play It? This is one of the easiest items to counter play. Try and pick on junglers in susceptible positions, or when low on health, if you think you'll come out on top, or just saw them blow their skills on red buff, or something like that. If they are low (which, if they aren't someone like Trundle, they will most likely be), they should be a free kill, and if they're not, and you can duel them well, then they will find it very hard to recover health if you knocked it down quite far. They will have to refrain from ganking, counter jungling, or maybe even taking buffs for quite some time in best case scenarios.
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Why/When Should You Buy It?
There are very few reasons to buy Boots of Speed to start. This doesn't make them bad, this just means your reasoning for buying them, role and play style should be extremely specific to make the most use out of them. They are bought for a couple of distinct reasons. Reason one would be the most obvious reason. Wanting more speed to improve ganks, mobility, and all that good stuff. Some junglers need earlier speed more than others, such as Udyr, who has no gap closer and needs to be in melee range for his stun. The second is a more simple reason. If you have enough sustain in the jungle already, there's no point getting any more. Starting with Cloth Armor on Warwick, for a quick example, will give you FAR too much sustain. You can get enough elsewhere, and almost always come back to your jungle and gain health. Udyr is the perfect combination of both. Very high sustain and also needs speed.How Do You Counter Play It? The ability to counter-gank well is certainly a very good factor. You should be expecting ganks at level 2, 3, and other early levels (unless they are Warwick). Stay back, expect ganks, and if possible try and counteract those with your own ganks. They can't take much damage due to their lack of sustain, so if you can get in there with your own damage, even if you don't get a kill, you will likely end up better off than them. Junglers starting with boots also require early ganks quite a bit, usually, and are made to enhance them. If they do not get these ganks off, they may end up underlevelled due to being worse in the jungle since Boots of Speed don't increase your ability to kill creeps.
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Why/When Should You Buy It?
Easy enough. If you get a  Philosopher's Stone, buy it. Usually you will see tanky champions buying these (to make up for their lack of farm, even though they need to be able to take damage later in the game), and they will already have high amounts of base armour, usually, so the sustain provided should be enough. This is the only reason you'd ever buy it, really. It doesn't turn into anything else that's good for early game, so unfortunately, until a new item comes out, that's its only real purpose. Cloth Armor provides more sustain, and also armour.How Do You Counter Play It? You can expect champions starting with this to dabble with all areas of jungling. It doesn't really specialize in any particular part of jungling. They may not be all that aggressive due to the fact they cannot gain health as quickly as a jungler with Cloth Armor, not forgetting their lack of armour from it (15 hp/5 vs 50 hp/5 from a potion). This makes aggressively counter jungling (ONLY IF YOU CAN DUEL WELL) them pretty good. Even if you may not come out on top in a duel, you may deny them ganks for a bit. Counter jungling them isn't as potent as it is when counter jungling someone with a Vampiric Scepter, for example.
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Why/When Should You Buy It?
This item is, in and of itself, controversial. Not many junglers you will see will start with this item. One or two champions can pull it off, like  Riven and Lee Sin. The reason, simply, is because they scale exceptionally well with AD. Jungling prowess as a whole does not really increase, but ganking will increase a great deal. Even if you're doing but 50 extra damage in a gank, that could be the difference between first blood and no first blood. The bulkiness means you don't get dueled down quite so easily either. I'd not recommend this on any champion that doesn't scale very well with AD. It wastes its potential, and there will be better items to get if you don't.How Do You Counter Play It? For this, it is pretty much the same as boots. The main way to counter it is by being wary of ganks coming out early on and reacting to them. The second way is to counter jungle the opponent in their most vulnerable positions (usually when they hit red buff, though some may not go for it, try and catch them at a creep camp, if you can). They should be extremely low due to their lack of real sustain, and they cannot just waltz back into the jungle and kill things if they get low, like even Trundle can with a Vampiric Scepter. You should bag yourself a free kill if you play your cards right. Don't go in if you're low (below 50%, as a rule of thumb), yourself, however. Champions that start with a Doran's Blade will have a higher damage output than those who don't, and usually hit very hard early on, maybe even bursting you down.
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Jungling Routes
IMPORTANT NOTE/DISCLAIMER - YOU SHOULD NEVER USE THESE ROUTES EXACTLY. A GOOD JUNGLER ADAPTS TO THE CURRENT SITUATION AND AS SUCH SHOULD GANK/COUNTER JUNGLE/CHANGE ROUTE WHEN THE SITUATION DEMANDS IT. THESE ARE MORE 'GUIDELINES'
Most junglers you see will start at Wolves then Blue Buff, kill them, and work their way round through Banshees, Golems etc. This isn't always the best way, though it very usually is.
Also, during all of these screenshots, I could've cleared faster and with more health. Doing screenshots tends to be a pain!
Some junglers, however, start at different locations. Be it Shaco pulling off something crazy with red buff or Fiddlesticks doing a very counter jungle intensive route that he can do really well, some junglers can even start at red for immediate ganks - however for the most part, you'll want to start at wolves then blue buff.
For the most part, this varies for each jungler. You won't see a Fiddlesticks do the famous "Reginald Shaco red route", for example.
The mobs in the jungle have fixed spawn times listed above, this may help you know when your buff will spawn, if you need some sort of hint, say in chat when next one will be up. If you killed Dragon at 27:12, say in chat "Dragon up 33:12", for example.
The Aggressive Route, With Screenshots! -
Remember, this route is only a basic one that you start your game and hit level 4 with, do NOT follow them strictly after this (a good jungler never follows it strictly), you will want to gank whatever you can and just kill whatever you're near to be completely honest. In fact, it might be better to never follow them strictly, and gank at level 2, for example. Lots can happen in jungling, like a very powerful counter jungle, but you will learn to adapt, that's something I, for the most part, can't teach you. Remember, after you get to the stage where you've finished one of these routes, and you have your "ganking ability" (E.G.
Shaco's Deceive) you should prioritise ganking over jungling if a lane is in trouble.
The Aggressive Route
The Blue Golem Route -
The most well known, and usually most effective route, the Blue Buff Route! This route is the most easy to counter jungle from and isn't very sustainable, creeps are down for a long time once you've finished, even since they spawn faster. This is the most well known one, but the one I'd wager you'd be more rune/mastery dependent for.
Start at wolves, kill all of the wolves, then move onto Blue Buff. This is done for faster jungle times without effecting your jungle that much (if at all). Don't use a pot here until the end, if anything, use it a few seconds before you initiate Blue Buff. Faster speeds is always good.
Nothing special to do here, kill Blue Buff, it's important to note that you kill the small lizards LAST! Get a leash if possible!
Simple enough, kill Wraiths, focus the big Wraith first!
Go back and kill those darn wolves again! Not much to say here!
Kill Red Buff, by now Smite will be off cooldown too!
Wraiths are back up by this time, kill them again!
Last but not least, we kill the double golems. These will be pretty easy to kill. Kill the big one first, though this image was taken before there was a big golem.
Now, we can either gank, b, or continue jungling a little bit, remember, gank if ANY LANE is struggling, by now, pretty much every jungler has their "gank ability". Though I'm low in the picture I have 
Mega Adhesive, for example. More sustainable junglers can easily gank a lane at this point since they will be almost full health, Singed just has no sustain, and was honestly a bad example, but whatever.
The Red Buff Control Route
This route is new to the new jungle! It is suited for junglers that love early game control, aggression, and usually is far better on those without mana. I know I was low in this image, though you should get a pull on red and wraiths, plus, taking screenshots doesn't let me use abilities at the same time! You should be far higher, especially with a good red pull!
PLEASE NOTE -
This route is DESIGNED for early pressure in both lanes and the enemy jungle. If you're just going to do this route ALL THE WAY THROUGH every game then you shouldn't be doing it. After you get red you can be ganking, counter jungling, etc, due to red's nature! If you want XP go for the aggressive route!
Some common junglers that can use this route -
Lee Sin, Shyvana, 
Jarvan IV, Riven among many many more.
Start at Wraiths. Kill the big one first. Might as well do this since otherwise we waste time waiting for red. Get a pull here if you can! Takes no real time and saves a lot of health.
Kill red now. Ignore my bad positioning. It's bad for Shyvana. Smite it when it's low and start chugging your health potions before/starting the fight. Get a pull if you can!
IN MOST GAMES - STOP HERE.
By now you have red buff and can do more useful things than run around the jungle and kill stuff. Consider counter jungling or ganking if either of them seems opportune at this moment in time. You could do both, for example, if you gank bot and you started at the topmost side of the map, you can steal golems afterwards. You'd waste red buff here if you just jungled as usual!
Kill double golems. If you have a pull you'll have far more health. Kill the big one first.
Kill wraiths again! Remember, if you had a pull at red you'd have far more health.
Kill the wolves before you move to the golem. Big one first!
Finally take blue buff! Smite it when it's low on health! Remember, you'll be far higher with a pull on red buff and if you weren't taking screenshots all the while!
If you got this far, go back to base double buffed. Remember, you'll be on far more health if you went with a pull on red and weren't taking screenshots all the way through!
Leashing/Pulling Creeps
Now you know all about what routes you should be taking - I'd like to make a little note about leashes in the jungle. I was playing a match a few days ago (thankfully not as a jungler) where I saw a Gangplank badly leash a Trundle's blue buff and take the XP from it. At first, I thought (as you do) "What an idiot...", but then realised, if nobody tells people how to leash/pull things properly, how are they supposed to know what to do?
What is a Leash/Pull? -
A leash/pull is where someone on your team (usually your mid or top, but it can vary depending on where you start) hits some creeps before you do, making it go to them rather than attacking you. A proper leash/pull gets out of range of the camp's XP range almost immediately after they've done some damage to it/pulled it, so you don't damage your jungler's jungle.
Why should I want a Leash/Pull? -
A lot of reasons, really! It gives your jungler a MUCH faster, safer, and easier jungle. The extra damage kills it faster, and the fact that it's not hitting your jungler for a lot of the time also helps, naturally. Even if they go through the jungle with only 200 extra health, it's one less health potion they use, less chance of being killed by a good counter jungler, and all around safer jungle. Please guys, get a leash, even if you think you can kill it without one.
N.B. - Shaco is one champion whose jungle is negatively affected by a leash/pull due to the fact his boxes will go out of range if the buff/creeps runs from them. You can do some damage if you really insist, but don't hit it before the boxes do.
How do I Leash/Pull things? -
You can simply auto attack it if you only want a small pull or if you're mana intensive, but if you're a champion such as 
Annie who can simply throw out a 
Disintegrate (or practically any AP champion's main ability) with it barely hurting her mana even without any mana/mana regeneration items, you might as well auto attack then use your ability for an even bigger help for your jungler! If you're a melee, or happen to have not taken your ranged skill at level one, I wouldn't recommend pulling it if it isn't blue buff, or, more often than it used to be, red buff, that the jungler is starting at. If they're starting at double golems or something, a ranged auto attack or ranged ability would be great, but they die too fast that it could hurt your jungler's speeds rather than helping them! Remember, all you do is hit it slightly then go out of XP range though, don't kill anything or stay too long!
Where should I Leash/Pull for my jungler? -
As I mentioned in the previous chapter, you can pull pretty much anything! If you're pulling blue buff, depending on what lane you're on, you can pull it through the wall if you're mid, or near where the jungler is standing if it's bot/top. Every other pack is simple, all you do is hit it and run - if you're ranged, remember, if you're melee without any ranged abilities at level 1, don't pull anything non-blue/red!
PLEASE NOTE - REGARDING WOLF CAMP! -
Wolf Camp is the only camp (with the exception of Shaco, every camp shouldn't be pulled, his boxes do the trick) in the game that, in my opinion, is detrimental to the jungler if you pull/leash it. The wolves run around and get reset extremely easily. Instead, wait for your jungler to start them, then hit the big one a few times, move from XP range, and hit the smaller ones if you're ranged, or feel confident you won't steal XP. It is a small ask but a big help.
Ganking
Don't just gank willy nilly.
Check if -
A. The enemy is in a position to be ganked (E.G. not tower hugging)
B. Your team is in a position to help (E.G. they don't have 200 health left)
C. You yourself are at the right sort of health for a gank (running into a lane with 200 health expecting a kill isn't smart)
Of course, don't just gank any random lane either, gank ones that want/need ganks, top lane is a perfect example, it can get very tricky up there on your own! Even if a kill is easily obtained on another lane, always consider ganking struggling lanes. Of course, you can't gank every lane 100% of the time, but if you're bottom's 0/2 down and you're top's 2/0 up (for example), it's fairly obvious which one you gank (if you can gank that lane).
It's important to note that a successful gank isn't exclusive to ones that get kills. Forcing the enemy out of XP, creep kills, and forcing them to go back gives your laner a huge advantage. You also give them a short window as you leave where they're worried about getting ganked again.
If a teammate is moaning for a gank at solo top or something with next to no health left, when the enemies have full, DO NOT GANK IT, instead, offer to take the lane over temporarily whilst they go back to base, and gank some time soon after they come back. Ganking a lane in that position will only get you (and most likely the person soloing top) killed. If they whine at you for this, it's their own fault!
It sounded like I was implying to leave a lane if your top is struggling, this was NOT what I was trying to get across! If your solo top is low on health and the enemy/enemies you're against are at full, take over the lane for a bit whilst they go base, return, and come back with full health! Try and harass them a little whilst they're at full health! When your top is back, make it seem like you're returning into the jungle, then you can gank top, just remember not to push it at ALL when your top laner's gone b, so their top has the option of being ganked or getting no XP at all. This is good. What ever you do, don't just ignore people that are struggling on a lane, offer to take over while they go b, then gank when they return at full!
Junglers That Excel at Ganking -
Warning - list is not exhaustive. I may have forgot about someone or somebody has come out that I haven't added yet.
Nocturne - Post level 6, with 
Paranoia, his ganks are absolutely deadly, and in my opinion the best in the game at this moment in time, that doesn't mean he should only ever gank after 6 though! Most Nocturnes get their fear - 
Unspeakable Horror at level 4, which you should, to get some CC on lane entrance. Shaco - This guy is a beast at ganking. He can gank as early as level 2 if he opts to put a point in Deceive then, but most do it at level 3. He is extremely deadly, as the enemy doesn't have a chance to react until they're being attacked, due to the fact he can stealth up to them. He can even gank mid extremely easily, with his Deceive as one of the best lane entrances in the game. Riven - Her level 2 ganks (and earlier) in particular are CRAZY. She has FOUR gap closers, TWO CCs, a HUGE burst and ridiculous early game damage. There's not much more you can say about her, but damn is she an incredible jungler and ganker. When she hits 6 her ult can destroy anyone that tries to get away. Awesome ganker. One of the best in the game. Evelynn - Stealth and a 2s Stun. There's no doubt about it, Evelynn has some of the deadliest ganks in the game, if she wasn't bad in the jungle elsewhere she would be kind of OP (like she once was). Most Evelynn get their stealth (W) at level 4, as I would suggest they would, however, getting it at 2/3 is definitely an option if you know the person on the lane you're ganking can nuke pretty hard. Evelynn can even gank mid extremely easy due to stealth, similar to Shaco.EDIT: PLEASE NOTE - THIS WAS PRE-NERF, WHEN SHE HAD A SLOW RATHER THAN A STUN. KEEPING THIS HERE FOR WHEN SHE GETS IT BACK.
Alistar - This guy is renowned for his awesome ganks when roaming. He has a kind of AoE stun in the form of 
Pulverize, and 
Headbutt so he can get your tower in on the action, and if a gank turns sour he can always use 
Unbreakable Will and become nigh invincible after level 6!
Amumu - 
Bandage Toss and 
Curse of the Sad Mummy make for AMAZING ganking tools, assuming minions don't get in the way you essentially teleport to an enemy and have an AoE stun after that. This guy's real ganks start at 6 though, before that his ganks aren't too great. Fiddlesticks - CAW CAW CAW CAW CAWAs most of you know,
Crowstorm usually means a dead gank-ee. Combine that with a fear and a silence and you have an amazing ganker. It's pretty obvious as to why this guy's so good at ganking. Warwick - This guy's ganks are terrible pre-level 6 (BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU DON'T GANK!), after then, his 
Infinite Duress is insane, high damage and a SURPRESS, not a stun, not mitigated by Tenacity even! Xin Zhao - Three Talon Stike means insane damage and a CC, whilst 
Audacious Charge is a charge with a BUILT IN SLOW, what more could you want! He can also gank extremely well at level 2, he has the abilities he needs then, which is always a plus! Rammus - 
Powerball and 
Puncturing Taunt are the HOLY GRAIL of ganking. Doubled speed and a three second CC? Yes please. He should start ganks at level 4, when he has his taunt, his level 6 isn't that good when it comes to ganks, but it does help! Nunu - His 
Ice Blast is great, just great, REALLY powerful slow that hits pretty hard, and he can 
Blood Boil the person in the lane he's ganking for more speed and attacks to really get the damage flowing! His ganks aren't really changed much at level 6, especially when not premade/talking with with the person on the lane you're ganking. Trundle - His ganks are good, but not great, he excels elsewhere to make up for this, he remains one of the best junglers in the game. His 
Pillar of Filth is pretty awesome, but other than that he has no hard CC/slows going on. Sion - High damage and a great stun in the form of 
Cryptic Gaze, not one of the best out there but certainly worth noting. His ganks (at least, the damage side) get a lot more potent when he hits level 6, 50% AS and some decent health to you and the people helping in the ganks is always good!Positions to Gank From -
KEY =
Black - Your standard ganking locations. These are where most people gank from every single gank, which you definitely shouldn't if it's warded or you can get them from somewhere else!
Red - Where you can gank if you have a
Flash-esque ability like Crowstorm, Deceive or 
Spinning Slash (or simply have Flash and think you can take them) and the brush is warded. These are extremely good at killing enemies who're turret hugging with low health! Note the ones that go from Banshees to mid - mid never expects to be ganked by a jungler there and that can make an extremely good gank if they're overstaying their welcome in a lane.Blue - Where you should gank if they aren't at the turret (and accessible by red arrows) but the brush is warded. This should be your go-to ganking location for when it's warded! These do work exceptionally well if you have a
Flash-esque ability, but they work for anyone really!Purple - Where you should usually attempt to gank the enemy jungler, hopefully after you've stole his buff with
Smite!These will USUALLY be the only locations you will be ganking from, so I thought I'd outline them! Most just use black lines normally which you shouldn't do every single time!
Brush Ganks -
These are ganks that derive their name from what they are. Ganks, from the brush. To pull one of these off, you need top/bottom to push their lane out a lot. At that time you sneak into the brush and walk to the second one if you will still be unseen. After that, you simply let your lane get pushed again, and when the time is nigh, you can jump out on the enemy with the lane you're ganking, either using bait, or ganking as you would normally. These can be extremely potent in certain junglers' hands. Make sure they don't go into the brush if you are in it, it may reveal you, or you could get CV'd because the lane wants to see the champions, and NEVER last hit in it!
These will, naturally, need for the brushes not to be warded, and a lot of the time, a lane will ward it if you have just killed them from there, especially bottom. You can't do these all the time, and naturally, you can't simply push some lanes (especially ones you are losing) as well as others. These are niche ganks, and definitely not conventional, though they are regularly used in high level play, and for a good reason. They should be known by every good jungler, they are certainly potent ganks, especially for junglers without any hard CC (like
Olaf).You'll want to be in a position such as this one when the minions are pushed. When the lane starts re-pushing back to your turret or the enemy comes too close to your brush, don't hesitate to go for them! Time you're in the lane and waiting is wasted, so go at the best opportunity and go soon!
Runes For Junglers
WHY DID YOU ABANDON NUNU/FIDDLESTICKS/X JUNGLER?
Well I have included the builds of those two, and that's two junglers compared to the overwhelming majority of junglers that use physical attacks! You'll just have to take my word for those, but I don't want anybody getting confused and using MPen Marks for a physical jungler!
Marks -
Greater Mark of Desolation
These are the bread and butter of physical marks. They do an amazing job - and are at least decent on everyone, but not necessarily the best you can get for every single jungler. These don't give as fast of an initial jungle as AD/AS Reds, but they help more for late game and for ganks!
These make for the fastest jungle possible in 95% of cases. The reason I haven't used them in most/any of my builds is because ArP runes work for a pretty fast jungle as well as a MUCH better late game and ganks, instead of a couple of seconds faster for the jungle. These work, there's no doubt about it, but I'd say it's down to preference.
These also work similar to AS Marks, but only usually work better when your champion has a scaling skill with AD in it, and isn't as dependent of AS! For the most part, AS marks work better for this purpose, but these aren't too bad if you have them!
Seals -
These bad boys work on pretty much any jungler ever. Some runes might be better for really particular junglers (health runes might be better for
Olaf or 
Volibear, for example), but these work on anybody really well, they're amazing!
Work on some junglers, one that pops to mind is
Olaf, due to the health scaling on his 
Vicious Strikes, however, for the most part I'd say that Greater Seal of Armor were better.Glyphs -
Give you quite a lot of Magic Resist to make you a little more bulky as you enter a lane or help a little late game too! They aren't a bad choice at all and are extremely cheap at 200 IP each!
Same as above, but these are better in the late game! It's all really personal preference if you want the flat or the scaling, since it doesn't effect your jungle in any way, shape, or form.
Very slightly faster jungling. It isn't too big of a difference but for a lot of junglers it's the fastest jungle you're going to get out of blue runes, so these are worth mentioning. Usually though, other Glyphs are a better choice.
This is what the majority of people will use, however, due to their high price and the fact that they don't work well for all junglers - especially auto attack based ones or ones that don't use their abilities that much (for example,
Shen, where it's better to auto attack rather than using 
Vorpal Blade when it's rank 1 if the debuff is already up from it) they aren't the best 100% of the time. Always a good choice though!
These runes ARE viable. Two junglers that spring to mind that GREATLY benefit from these runes are
Nasus and Karthus. I'd wager they worked on any jungler with a small mana pool and a bad early jungle - though I've not tested it, they might benefit Amumu too!Quintessences -
Greater Quintessence of Desolation
Faster jungle (albeit slightly), better ganks, better late game presence, most people have these anyway. These are the bread and butter quints like the ArP marks were there!
For the same reasons listed on the marks here really, these usually result in optimum jungling times, but usually aren't quite as good as ArP runes when you stack them up when it comes to ganking/team fights.
Same reasons listed on the marks section of this chapter, they help, but usually not as good of a choice as
Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed when it comes to pure jungling speed! Can definitely be useful on everyone, just not optimum for everyone!
Golden rule = Health quints work on anyone! Usually, there will be a better choice, but if in doubt, use these! They help junglers with low survivability or ones that benefit from high health (for example,
Olaf) greatly! Pretty good choice for anybody, but usually not optimal, even on Olaf!If you want to find out more about the sort of runes you can get or to see the values when stacked up against each other, look here! -
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AiSAUE5pXNC8dF94UlVMai1zQy1Tb0hLY1FHeE5VZ1E#gid=0
It's really great for seeing which stat is max where, and how much better X rune is against Y rune!
For all else rune related, check out Searz's rune guide. It's awesome for finding out which runes are actually good, and which aren't. You can find that here -
http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/rune-tips-what-secondary-and-primary-means-and-more-24255
Wriggle's Lantern and You
Since Wriggle's Lantern's nerf, it's not nearly as potent as it once was. You can ignore it on most junglers with a lot of sustain a lot easier, since sustain is infinite on a LOT of junglers! Even if it is infinite sustain, though, it's a great item on a lot of champions, if they need the Lantern specifically for jungle sustain or not, Lee Sin comes to mind.
Wriggle's Lantern is DESIGNED for jungling (though not to discredit it for top laners or AD carries, Team Solo Mid are notorious for their triple wriggle's strategy). It's such a good item, and can be such a good item to improve your jungling prowess in general. It's best feature is the obvious Madred's Razors proc, which increases your Dragon control a LOT, but that's not all - the free ward, extra lifesteal, and even attack and defence, can contribute towards a happy jungle. Though you already knew most of that.
I would recommend getting Wriggle's Lantern on pretty much ANY off tank or physical carry type champions. For example, I, myself, would get it on Warwick but not Amumu, and get it on Jarvan IV but not Alistar or 
Gragas (needless to say it's pointless to build it on a champion like Fiddlesticks too). It's a great item, but if you're not doing that much physical damage to begin with, and/or your build isn't designed around that, then there's not much point in buying it.
Though Wriggle's Lantern is an incredibly powerful item, some champions that are extremely good junglers, such as Lee Sin, Udyr, or Riven, don't need it. They can, instead, get multiple Doran's Blades and continue just fine (or in Udyr's case, a 
Wit's End) - Saintvicious has been noted for stacking a lot of Doran's Blades on Lee Sin instead of getting a Wriggle's Lantern almost every time he plays Lee Sin now, as a quick example. In general, getting early Doran's Blades is for an awesome early game (and therefore, people who gank extremely hard or need to gank a lot ( Riven springs to mind) can greatly benefit from having both more sustainability in the jungle and greatly improved ganks), or to pick yourself back up from a bad death, and so that you can compete better.
You will pick up when to, and when not to buy Wriggle's Lantern through experience, but 99.9% of the time, if a Wriggle's Lantern is good on your champion (IE they aren't Nunu or Fiddlesticks) then you should get it unless you truly do want an incredible early game.
Playing With/Against a Jungler
The first GOLDEN RULE of playing with a Jungler is to ALWAYS protect them if they're starting at Blue Buff, or to a lesser extent, anywhere, really, if you have 
Clairvoyance, use it to try and spot people that are coming for them, this can really mess up junglers such as