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Spells:
Smite
Ignite
Ability Order
Stone Skin (PASSIVE)
Wukong Passive Ability
Introduction
Wukong is a bursty AD champion that's been given a lot of slack recently for being "underpowered." Well, I've had a lot of success and fun with him, and in the place everyone seems to think he's no good at - jungling!
Wukong is not the fastest or most survivable jungler. He is, however, an amazing roamer and ganker. He is also very capable of achieving many amazing jukes, kites, and out-of-the-*** kills when you fully master Decoy. Let me just put it out here right now - if you can't master

In this guide I will explain my jungling route, build, and gameplay tips. The plan is gank early, level fast, take early towers, and maybe even counter-jungle a little. So lean back, take a sip of your drink, and enjoy my guide! Hopefully I'll help improve your games and maybe even make a dent in the popular attitude regarding Wukong :D








The rest of the summoner spells have no place on Wukong.
Marks and Seals are self-explanatory. AD and Dodge are inferior in my mind but acceptable alternatives.
Glyphs, I feel, are best spent in flat CDR. It's the only offensive stat that glyphs give a decent amount of, and while MR is a fine alternative it doesn't help much in the jungle. I've died and lived on many split-seconds, so while MR is an acceptable alternative I think you're best served going flat CDR for the eary advantage.
Quintessences can literally be any of those listed. With the debuff from
Crushing Blow, you're almost always going to be attacking with zero damage reduction before anyone buys armor items. Armor reduction effects are applied before penetration effects, meaning the enemy's base armor is reduced by 30% BEFORE your 21 arp from marks & masteries is applied. An additional 10 from Quintessences will be overkill on champions until later in the game, so what I would recommend most is flat AD Quints.
All the same, any of the quints I listed above are acceptable. Movespeed, AS, flat health, crit %, and even arp will all work well for you. Wukong is a bursty assassin, so build him accordingly.
Glyphs, I feel, are best spent in flat CDR. It's the only offensive stat that glyphs give a decent amount of, and while MR is a fine alternative it doesn't help much in the jungle. I've died and lived on many split-seconds, so while MR is an acceptable alternative I think you're best served going flat CDR for the eary advantage.
Quintessences can literally be any of those listed. With the debuff from

All the same, any of the quints I listed above are acceptable. Movespeed, AS, flat health, crit %, and even arp will all work well for you. Wukong is a bursty assassin, so build him accordingly.



NOTE: % armor reduction effects, such as








Also, if you know that an enemy ward or cv is revealing you in your little hiding place, they're probably just looking at you on the minimap. Use that to your advantage - a decoy looks the same on the minimap, so you get 1.5 seconds of free time where they actually think you're holding still!








Then your enemies will be expecting you to press "s" instead of actually popping







Keep in mind if the enemy team has an Oracle's, this strategy becomes a lot less safe. In the franticness of a team fight, one or two enemies will probably still hit your decoy. But you're going to take damage if they can see you, so you should either just let your tank initiate or make sure you can survive the burst.




NOTE: If the enemy targets you with a single-target ability, like Taric's stun or Annie's Q, using








When using to kill or gank, make sure to combo with


NOTE: Just like Garen's

Same as Phreak's. Bringing
Crushing Blow to level 2 so its CD matches
Nimbus Strike is a good idea. You only need one point in
Warrior Trickster, although bringing its cd down is a helpful thing. You want to max
Nimbus Strike first, of course, since your focus here is burst damage. Grab
Cyclone when it's up - it's an amazing ability. This build gives you the best skill progression for your role.





Start with
Doran's Blade. For jungling, you say? Trust me, it's all you need for your first item and it's going to help more later. Skip down to the jungling section if you just can't wait to find out why I would recommend going into the jungle with a DB.
My goal when playing Wukong with this build is to have two
Doran's Blade, a
Berserker's Greaves, and a
Zeal as early as possible while still dropping wards and carrying potions. Since your early game damage is strong, this build enables you to apply that damage and his other talents quickly and effectively.
I nearly always pick
Berserker's Greaves over
Mercury's Treads for three reasons:
Generally, if you do get caught, 35% of less than two seconds is unlikely to make the difference between life and death. Attack speed, however, will help you basically every time you're attacking. 'Serker's is cheaper anyway.
Ghostblade is my favorite item to follow up with because it's easy to build and provides some intense burst damage. You'll have huge MS, AS, AD, cit%, and 100% arp when Ghostblade is active, which spells out some quick death for whichever poor soul you Nimbus Strike onto. The arp can be a bit of a waste, but against towers and against champions later in the game the stat is immensely helpful.
My preferred, full build for a game going well is
Doran's Blade
Doran's Blade
Berserker's Greaves
Zeal
Youmuu's Ghostblade sell a DB
Bloodthirster a second
Zeal and then whatever defensive item would be most helpful. Nothing wrong with a GA here, being that
Warrior Trickster will most likely be up when you revive if you need it.

My goal when playing Wukong with this build is to have two



I nearly always pick


-
AS can increase the number of hits you land during the Crushing Blow debuff
AS helps you jungle faster
With Decoy and high MS, you should never get caught out of position
Generally, if you do get caught, 35% of less than two seconds is unlikely to make the difference between life and death. Attack speed, however, will help you basically every time you're attacking. 'Serker's is cheaper anyway.
Ghostblade is my favorite item to follow up with because it's easy to build and provides some intense burst damage. You'll have huge MS, AS, AD, cit%, and 100% arp when Ghostblade is active, which spells out some quick death for whichever poor soul you Nimbus Strike onto. The arp can be a bit of a waste, but against towers and against champions later in the game the stat is immensely helpful.
My preferred, full build for a game going well is








There are a lot of viable item builds for Wukong, the Monkey King. I believe the Greaves, double Doran's Blades, and Zeal are core on him. After that my favorite item is
Youmuu's Ghostblade, but there are several ways to go.
I like to buy this after Ghostblade if the game is going well. Proper use of your abilities, especially Decoy, will usually mean you have the fewest deaths on your team. Infrequent deaths means a lot of stacks on your BT, which can mean up to 100 damage and 25% lifesteal from this item alone. Massive and cost-effective, it also fits well with your role as the jungler.
Straight for the big stuff, going with
B. F. Sword and
Pickaxe first will give the easiest transitional bonuses and lead you into big damage fairly early in the game. I feel IE is too slow for my Wukong playstyle, and even in long games I usually don't get one. It is still the strongest AD item so it's completely a viable option.
This can often be overkill in the arp department against squishies, but Cleaver is a strong option on Wukong that synergizes with his kit well. Definitely consider this if the enemy team is stacking armor.
An item with useful bonuses for Wukong, but I feel inefficient for your needs. It doesn't give much damage, and the slow is less effective since Wukong is designed for burst damage. The health is good, but not needed. Your survivability should come from using Deocy right. That said,
Frozen Mallet can be great if you're new to playing Wukong or if you're carrying your team. One damage advantage to FM is that it can be followed up with
Atma's Impaler, making for strong damage and survivability. I dislike this route because, as stated earlier, Wukong has a different role to play in your team and I feel your items should focus on boosting that role instead of helping him fill others. The FM/Atma's route takes a long time to give you the damage you want.
Good and easy to build, but not quite exactly what fills your needs. Nothing wrong with building one in the very late game, but I feel you're better off taking my advice over Phreak's on this one.
Yes, sword of the occult. If you're 6-0 early game and rocking faces with ease, a
Sword of the Occult can make your victory all that much more certain. Being a champion with a great escape mechanism, it's also not hard to imagine keeping your stacks. However, I think the snowball items are too risky of an investment for almost any champion, meaning Sword of the Occult, while having huge potential, is probably best skipped on Wukong.
DEFENSIVE ITEMS
I recommend prioritizing your burst damage first when buying items, however nearly every game is going to require you to build some durability when team fights become more frequent.
My favorite defensive item on Wukong. Should you meet an untimely death you will rise again, this time with Decoy off cooldown. Armor and mr are always helpful as well. Keep in mind, however, that much of the cost of this item is in its effect. The armor/mr you get from this is not efficiently costed, so if all you want is a little more durability then I suggest something else.
An obvious choice. The mana will usually be unnecessary, but this item is a popular go-to in the competitive meta for a reason.
MS and MR are both very helpful. The regen won't help much, obviously more if you've bought a
Frozen Mallet. FM, Atma's, and FoN make for a tanky Monkey King, but of course this would be building your Monkey King for a role for which I think he's not suited. He's an assassin, not tanky-dps. Every game is different, however, so be prepared to consider it.
I don't like this item because you have to be in an "oh ****" situation for it to be worth its gold. The AD and MR bonuses are weak, thus gimping you until you're low and about to die, in which case you need to run away anyway. I think it's too narrow in its uses for my money, but I know a lot of players who think this item might as well be the ******* of Jesus. I'll put it here because he's an AD champion and a lot of you like it.
For armor, you're better off getting
Wriggle's Lantern or
Atma's Impaler than any devoted defensive armor items. Atma's is still going to give 40+ damage with only the two
Doran's Blades, and cost-efficient double duty on defensive items is a good thing.
I think
Wriggle's Lantern is an outstanding choice here, especially if the enemy team has strong physical damage early in the game. Feel free to make Wriggle's a part of your core, but the reason I skip out on it most of the time is because I want more burst damage from my early gold.
As usual, Thornmail is a great idea if the enemy team's damage is nothing but autoattacks. This usually shouldn't be the case, so very rarely should you find the need to grab Thornmail. Not to mention, the plan with Wukong is hit-and-run. Sustained combat should usually be avoided. This is also true for
Randuin's Omen and
Frozen Heart.












DEFENSIVE ITEMS
I recommend prioritizing your burst damage first when buying items, however nearly every game is going to require you to build some durability when team fights become more frequent.





For armor, you're better off getting



I think




This is the most important part of my build. My plan is be level 3 and ganking before 3 minutes 30 seconds into the game. Success with this plan will produce a strong, early advantage for your team, even if you don't end up landing a kill. Forcing the opponent to recall can do just as much damage as death, as well as netting you some free damage on the turret.
Start with Wraiths. 1 minute 40 seconds is when the Wraiths, Wolves, and little Golems spawn. The moment Wraiths spawn,
Smite the blue Wraith and immediately
Nimbus Strike the middle brown Wraith. You should finish them off before Nimbus Strike comes back off cooldown and with 3/4s of your health, but go ahead and
again if the cd comes up.
Move to Wolves.
Nimbus Strike the big wolf and kill it first. Once big wolf dies, you will ding level 2. Learn
Crushing Blow and finish off the wolves. You should have around a third or less of your health left; recall the moment the last wolf dies.
Buy a Sight Ward and 4
Health Potions. Go to little golems.
Nimbus Strike the first one as soon as it's in range,
Smite it, and Crusing Blow it. Make sure to activate a
Health Potion. The first golem should die after only a few autoattacks, then kill the second one as fast as possible. Once the second one dies, you'll hit level 3.
Head toward the nearest lane and gank it. Time on the clock should be right at 3:20 when you get to the lane. Drop a ward in the river along the way (this is important). Your options should be mid, bot if you're blue, or top if you're purple. Purple top is great because 2v1 is an easier kill than 2v3, but blue bot has the potential to make two kills instead of one. Crossing the map to gank the lane opposite from little golems will take more time than its worth, so make sure your team knows to not push to the enemy towers or else they'll screw up your game plan.
Make sure the lane has some kind of cc available to make the kill a success.
/
/
lands a lot of quick damage, but not enough to insta-gib someone from full. Ganks are a team effort.
If you expect the enemy has warded the "gank" bush, grab
Warrior Trickster at lv3. They'll have their eye on you, so when you
Warrior Trickster and run in their reactions will be delayed by 1.5 seconds! The consequences will be 30 less damage and a slightly longer cooldown on
, but that's a small price to pay if it makes your gank work.
After the gank, go ahead and stay in the lane and steal a few last hits. If a teammate or two died in the gank, man the lane until he/she returns. If it's plausible, and you didn't forget to put a ward in the river, go ahead and push the lane to lay some damage on the turret. Nothing wrong with that.
Usually what I'll do here is go grab Wraiths/Wolves again, recall, and buy boots + pots/wards. Ganking mid is an option if he's vulnerable, and if your teammate reveals the enemy jungler on blue with CV then go ahead and gank that poor bastard.
If you do Wraith/Wolves and recall, go kill blue and then gank again. Make sure to leave a ward in this river, too. Usually you'll be level 5 when your blue golem dies, but if you've got two or three takedowns under your belt already then you just might be level 6, which basically means free kills. Just be smart about engaging.
At this point in the game, there really isn't much of a formula anymore. At any point you might need to come help defend a lane, cover for a dead teammate, counterjungle, or just gank all the time. Between entering lanes, focus on clearing the small minion camps to reach specific goals, such as leveling up or gaining enough gold to buy a specific item. You don't stay in the jungle for long periods of time; your jungling serves as a stepping stone to gaining levels and items between ganks and defending lanes. You should be highly mobile and probably not attempt red buff or dragon on your own for a while.
I highly recommend that anyone attempting this strategy perfect your skills in custom games before you find yourself wasting time because you overestimated your ability to clear a camp with low health. You should have a good feel for when you can clear a minion camp and when you cannot before trying my build out in a ranked game.
Start with Wraiths. 1 minute 40 seconds is when the Wraiths, Wolves, and little Golems spawn. The moment Wraiths spawn,



Move to Wolves.


Buy a Sight Ward and 4




Head toward the nearest lane and gank it. Time on the clock should be right at 3:20 when you get to the lane. Drop a ward in the river along the way (this is important). Your options should be mid, bot if you're blue, or top if you're purple. Purple top is great because 2v1 is an easier kill than 2v3, but blue bot has the potential to make two kills instead of one. Crossing the map to gank the lane opposite from little golems will take more time than its worth, so make sure your team knows to not push to the enemy towers or else they'll screw up your game plan.
Make sure the lane has some kind of cc available to make the kill a success.



If you expect the enemy has warded the "gank" bush, grab



After the gank, go ahead and stay in the lane and steal a few last hits. If a teammate or two died in the gank, man the lane until he/she returns. If it's plausible, and you didn't forget to put a ward in the river, go ahead and push the lane to lay some damage on the turret. Nothing wrong with that.
Usually what I'll do here is go grab Wraiths/Wolves again, recall, and buy boots + pots/wards. Ganking mid is an option if he's vulnerable, and if your teammate reveals the enemy jungler on blue with CV then go ahead and gank that poor bastard.
If you do Wraith/Wolves and recall, go kill blue and then gank again. Make sure to leave a ward in this river, too. Usually you'll be level 5 when your blue golem dies, but if you've got two or three takedowns under your belt already then you just might be level 6, which basically means free kills. Just be smart about engaging.
At this point in the game, there really isn't much of a formula anymore. At any point you might need to come help defend a lane, cover for a dead teammate, counterjungle, or just gank all the time. Between entering lanes, focus on clearing the small minion camps to reach specific goals, such as leveling up or gaining enough gold to buy a specific item. You don't stay in the jungle for long periods of time; your jungling serves as a stepping stone to gaining levels and items between ganks and defending lanes. You should be highly mobile and probably not attempt red buff or dragon on your own for a while.
I highly recommend that anyone attempting this strategy perfect your skills in custom games before you find yourself wasting time because you overestimated your ability to clear a camp with low health. You should have a good feel for when you can clear a minion camp and when you cannot before trying my build out in a ranked game.
Do all the ganking, warding, and map control you can for as long as possible. You're a mobile, lethal assassin with great juking abilities and a powerful ult. Control the enemy jungle. You should be ahead of your opponents in gold and items, being that Wukong has a very strong early game. If the enemy AP carries are built, they can most likely still insta-gib you. So be careful and tricky.
When the gamestate evolves to where everything is 5v5 and about pushes, Wukong's role becomes a little more limited. Your ultimate is still amazing in teamfights, but even with a tank initiating for you you're going to need to Nimbus/Decoy if you don't want to be melted in two seconds. Without your ult or a tank initiating for you, all you can do is try to catch enemies out of position and burst them down.
In a team fight, you'll want to focus the ranged enemy carries. AD and AP alike. That means Annie, Ashe, Orianna, Vayne - any one of the two or three squishy high-dps champions that will usually be on the enemy team. You want them to die and die quickly.
With Ghostblade and a Bloodthirster, you'll also be able to knock down turrets and structures fast. Do it. Even backdoor if you get the chance. And don't forget that if there are enemy minions next to the structure, you can
Nimbus Strike to one and switch back to the turret/inhibitor, taking advantage of the AS buff from Nimbus. You're going to need some armor/health if you plan to tank a turret by yourself, but usually at this point in the game the turrets aren't sitting at 100%.
When the gamestate evolves to where everything is 5v5 and about pushes, Wukong's role becomes a little more limited. Your ultimate is still amazing in teamfights, but even with a tank initiating for you you're going to need to Nimbus/Decoy if you don't want to be melted in two seconds. Without your ult or a tank initiating for you, all you can do is try to catch enemies out of position and burst them down.
In a team fight, you'll want to focus the ranged enemy carries. AD and AP alike. That means Annie, Ashe, Orianna, Vayne - any one of the two or three squishy high-dps champions that will usually be on the enemy team. You want them to die and die quickly.
With Ghostblade and a Bloodthirster, you'll also be able to knock down turrets and structures fast. Do it. Even backdoor if you get the chance. And don't forget that if there are enemy minions next to the structure, you can

Silences. A Soraka that's anal about silencing you will keep you from using
Warrior Trickster when you need it. This is frustrating and disruptive to your gameplay. When this is being a problem, simply learn to anticipate those silences and play around them. Not always easy, but better than feeding.
Pink wards. I've yet to have pink wards used against me, and that's probably because there wasn't a Twitch or Eve on my team. Still, if one of the lanes is using pink wards to see invisible units, that's gonna make it a lot harder to gank them or to ward those spots yourself.
You can, however, punish them for it. Assuming your teammates in lane haven't fed, your presence is still threatening. Meaning you can occasionally come over, attempt a gank, and probably just end up zoning them out a little bit. This will push the lane and hamper their last hits, making the additional cost of Vision as opposed to Sight wards even more damaging. Who knows, you might even still get lucky and make those wards an even greater waste of gold.
Oracle's Elixir. This is a strong counter to your
Warrior Trickster. However, most of your encounters will not be teamfights and will not involve these. Most games you won't see it at all, but the better you're doing the more likely they will buy it just to counter you and kill wards, even if there isn't another stealth-based champion on the team.

Pink wards. I've yet to have pink wards used against me, and that's probably because there wasn't a Twitch or Eve on my team. Still, if one of the lanes is using pink wards to see invisible units, that's gonna make it a lot harder to gank them or to ward those spots yourself.
You can, however, punish them for it. Assuming your teammates in lane haven't fed, your presence is still threatening. Meaning you can occasionally come over, attempt a gank, and probably just end up zoning them out a little bit. This will push the lane and hamper their last hits, making the additional cost of Vision as opposed to Sight wards even more damaging. Who knows, you might even still get lucky and make those wards an even greater waste of gold.


So that's it, my guide on playing Wukong, the Monkey King. Perhaps I was a little too detailed, maybe none of you reading now actually read all of the above, but that's fine. Just skim through the subjects if you only want to read about one or two subjects. I'm glad to have offered help to you and to receive any feedback you may have for me. Feel free to shoot me questions and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible.
Remember, this is guide for how I play Wukong. It's not the only way to play him; namely, he makes a pretty decent top solo. But this guide details what I believe to be his most effective role - as a fast, aggressive roamer that ganks and controls lanes for his team, building a strong early advantage.
So good luck, and have fun!
Remember, this is guide for how I play Wukong. It's not the only way to play him; namely, he makes a pretty decent top solo. But this guide details what I believe to be his most effective role - as a fast, aggressive roamer that ganks and controls lanes for his team, building a strong early advantage.
So good luck, and have fun!
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