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Dr. Mundo Build Guide by Double_E

Tank MUNDO SMASH: an In-Depth Jungle Dr. Mundo Guide

Tank MUNDO SMASH: an In-Depth Jungle Dr. Mundo Guide

Updated on November 24, 2015
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Double_E Build Guide By Double_E 94 4 2,954,184 Views 44 Comments
94 4 2,954,184 Views 44 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Double_E Dr. Mundo Build Guide By Double_E Updated on November 24, 2015
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Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Dr. Mundo
    Ghost Jungle
  • LoL Champion: Dr. Mundo
    Exhaust Jungle

Introduction

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Hi everyone, I'm DoubleE, I'm a Silver I ranked player, and I play a lot of jungle on the EUW server; by far my favourite jungle champion is Dr. Mundo. There are a lot of very good guides on this site for jungle Mundo which really helped me when I started out, but none of them quite fitted my play-style or gave enough information on how to jungle well, and are mostly out of date.

This is an attempt to bring all that information to you in one go, as well as share my opinions on Dr. Mundo and a bit of advice on how to jungle effectively with him. Hopefully I add something here that you can't find elsewhere.

This guide has one build, but talks about two different styles of play, what I call a 'Ghost Jungle' and an 'Exhaust Jungle' guide; the first style of play will keep you farming the jungle creeps until level 8 or so before you start to gank the lanes (unless you're counter-ganking), and the other 'Exhaust Jungle' is aimed at a level 3 gank, and further, fairly regular, ganks and pushes in lane.

This guide is generally aimed at unranked and low-mid Elo players, who are either learning to jungle with Mundo or just want to hear a different approach. In no way do I claim this is viable as a high Elo or pro-level guide, so please bear that in mind when you're reading (and voting).

PS I'm British, so some words will be spelt 'wrong', such as armor/armour.

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Pros & Cons of Mundo

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Pros

  • Very good sustain after level 6, extremely tanky
  • No need for AD items due to Blunt Force Trauma
  • Infected Bonesaw is a brilliant slow & jungling tool
  • You can hold the entire team together during fights
  • An inbuilt, more powerful Tenacious due to Heart Zapper
  • You will ALWAYS pick up assists in team-fights
  • The first clear is very hard for you
  • Your ganks are reliant on your skill with Infected Bonesaw
  • If you become under-fed then you will struggle a lot
  • Your Ultimate, Maximum Dosage is countered by the commonly used Ignite, which will hurt
  • You can be very prone to counter-jungling early on if you're not aware

Cons


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Runes

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Runes

Precision
Fleet Footwork
Phase Rush

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greater mark of hybrid penetration

Hybrid Penetration Marks


I go for Hybrid Penetration on Dr. Mundo because by the end of the game you will be a doing a lot of damage with both Infected Bonesaw and Heart Zapper, which both do Magic Damage, and the more magic penetration you have, the more these will really hurt your enemies. However, I also quite like having the extra damage on your auto-attack from plain armour penetration, which has synergy with your Blunt Force Trauma which boosts your Attack Damage. For more info see the spoiler.

Spoiler: Click to view
greater mark of hybrid penetration

I realise this set-up isn't for everyone, and if you wish, instead of 9 Hybrid, you can use 9 Greater Mark of Armor Penetration or 9 Greater Mark of Magic Penetration. Don't use a mix of the two, you'll end up with less penetration values in both magic and armour than if you use full Hybrids. All three choices are viable, full Magic Pen. will lead to far more damage with your abilities and full Armour Pen. will lead to your auto-attacks being stronger. A final option is Greater Mark of Attack Speed, which works well with your Blunt Force Trauma and helps your early clear speed.
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Armor Seals


Flat Armour is great on Mundo (as it is on nearly all champions), as it will massively reduce the damage you take from the jungle creeps, meaning you can stay in the jungle longer and get more gold. Unlike the song, mo' money means no problems in League of Legends. It'll also mean you survive better in early game ganks, where the majority of damage you receive from champions will be Attack Damage. All in all, you have no real other choices.

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Scaling Magic Resistance Glyphs


Again, nothing out of the ordinary here, Scaling Magic Resistance will give you the most benefit in late game, where AP carries often deal vast amounts of damage and you'll need as much Magic Resist as possible to stand up to them. Flat Magic Resistance will help more early game, but I don't think it's that viable as you don't face that much AP damage early on. But hey, it's personal choice, if you want to take flat Magic Resist, then go ahead.

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Movement Speed Quints


I go for Movement Speed because more speed is never a bad thing. All junglers will benefit massively from movement speed, as you can get about the jungle faster, gank better, chase more successfully and it'll give you crucial edge in escape. Tied in with your Maximum Dosage and you can get up to some serious speed when he's zipping about the jungle. With Movement Speed Quints you can really help Mundo to GO WHERE HE PLEASES.

Another option is Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed. When combined with the passive you pick up from the Krugs, you'll clear much quicker and take much less damage. It's a good choice, and, like Movement Speed, is never a bad option.

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Masteries

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Defensive


I take Tough Skin and Bladed Armor to help you with your early clears. Two points in Enchanted Armor is definitely worth it for late-game, and also improves your early clears by boosting the Armour you get from your Runes. Four points in the two health masteries are very helpful early on in the jungle, as are the three points in Hardiness Personally I prefer the Armour tree rather than the Magic Resist. tree, as the extra armour is better against jungle creeps, and Reinforced Armor will reduce a LOT of the ADC's damage later on. One point into Swiftness for 10% reduction in slows is great, especially when combined with the CC reduction from your Heart Zapper.

Three points in Perseverance are almost worth the whole tree. With this you boost your health regen. to, frankly, ridiculous levels. With your Goes Where He Pleases passive, you will be regenerating 2.5% of your max. health every 5 seconds, even after the Patch 4.2 nerf. In the first two levels this will be roughly 4 health per second. As the game progresses, once you buy your core items, this will easily reach ~40 health per second. You also put a point into Second Wind, as it synergises really well with your role in team fights (get low, pop Maximum Dosage, heal up and never die) and will help you jungle for a little bit longer. Definitely worth the one point.

After that you put two points into Legendary Guardian to boost your defensive stats in big team-fights later on, and the final 21st point in Tenacious , which will also tie in with your Heart Zapper CC reduction.

Offensive


I like to put one point into Butcher , just to increase your early clear time. I prefer to put four points into Fury , as I find the early Attack Speed boost will improve your clear time a lot faster than 5% Cooldown Reduction. Your main damage spells for clearing don't really require a lot of CDR, as Heart Zapper is a toggle, and Infected Bonesaw has a 4 second cooldown, so 5% will really not do a lot. You finish off this tree with Brute Force and Martial Mastery to increase your Auto Attack damage and help your clear time and early ganks.

I go with 9/21/0 as opposed to 0/21/9 because I find that, as Mundo doesn't need mana, he doesn't benefit so much from the Meditation option in the Utility tree, which are the two major benefits from that tree and the reason many mana-intensive champions (like Fiddlesticks) take it.

If you want to go for a really aggressive Mundo then the alternative 21/9/0 is a good option, there are plenty of other guides on this site that have decent ones, so I won't run through it here.
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Summoner Spells

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Absolutely Required


Smite


This kind of goes without saying, if you're jungling then you really need to take Smite. It deals massive damage to monsters, and you can use it to 'secure' the dragon, Baron and your major buffs in the jungle (or steal them from the other team: more on that later). Securing means you wait until Smite will do more damage than the health the monster has remaining. Basically, you use Smite to last hit. It gives you a much faster jungle clear and will benefit you massively. If you don't take Smite while you're jungling with any champion then you're going to have a very tough time.

You'll also get fancy bonuses from your Smite by using it on the Jungle monsters. More on that in the Jungling section.

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Recommended


Ghost


Ghost gives you a massive movement speed boost and lets you ignore collision with other units, so you can run straight over creeps and other champions without getting blocked. It's the more passive Summoner Spell choice, and if you pick it I advise you focus slightly more on farming than ganking. Having said that, it'll let you get about the map to quickly gank or counter-gank if you choose, and will let you chase escaping enemy champs down fantastically. It's good at all stages of the game, early on for ganking, mid game for pushing towers and chasing escaping champs, and late for initiating/escaping team fights. One of my favourite things to do is to have Maximum Dosage running and then pop Ghost, giving you a double speed boost and will let you escape or tower dive fantastically (more on that in my Tips & Tricks section).

Exhaust


Exhaust places a massive slow on your target and reduces their Attack Speed. If you're going for the more aggressive play-style then I strongly recommend you take this. While your Infected Bonesaw also places a slow on the enemy champion you are ganking, if you miss then this is a great backup. The other alternative is to lead with Exhaust, hit them with as much damage as you can, and then launch a Cleaver once Exhaust runs out to keep them slowed and take an easy kill.

When choosing between these two, as well as taking into account what you need to take to fit your build, consider what the others on your team are taking. If, for example, the support and the ADC are running an Exhaust/ Ignite or Exhaust/ Barrier combo and the top is also taking Exhaust then you can safely avoid it, so maybe go for Ghost.

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Other Summoner Spells to consider


Flash


Flash is probably one of the most popular Summoner Spells in the game at the minute, as it gives an instant blink to champs who don't have one. It's an all round fantastic choice on most champions, as it gives you great initiate for ranged burst or melee damage, you can escape over the scenery or into the safety of a tower. This is still a good choice on Dr. Mundo, and I used to use it very regularly. On the whole, though, Ghost gives you greater chasing and escaping ability, especially when combined with your ultimate Maximum Dosage, as you can initiate with your cleavers. But if you're still learning Mundo then this is a very good choice; it's always nice to have a PANIC! GET ME OUT OF HERE button.
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Ignite


Ignite is another very popular option, giving a fairly strong damage over time (DoT) that can really turn the tables in a fight. On any champion it's useful for securing kills or causing a lot of damage to an enemy. However, if you're jungling then it really isn't that useful, as you'll have to sacrifice either Smite (which will cripple your jungling ability) or your other utility spell (which may have a negative effect on your kill score). With Mundo you want to outlast and pursue your enemies, not kill them with outrageous damage, so I prefer to take Ghost or Exhaust for the reasons listed. But, if you want to play an aggressive jungle Mundo then there's no reason not to.
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Cleanse


Cleanse is a spell that isn't seen very often, but it can be fairly useful for removing stuns and ults that would otherwise leave you very vulnerable or quickly dead in a team fight ( Warwick, Malzahar etc.). In particular it is useful for getting rid of Exhaust, which can kill your escape; it does not, repeat NOT, completely remove Ignite, which cripples your Maximum Dosage. It will get rid of the Damage over Time part, but will not remove the heal reduction, so your ultimate will only heal half of what it should. This WILL make the difference between MUNDO SMASH PUNY ENEMY and MUNDO HAS TO RESPAWN. However, if the opposite team isn't rammed with crowd control then it's probably more viable to take a different spell and build a Quicksilver Sash leading into a Mercurial Scimitar instead, which also gives a (much better) cleanse. For more information on this item, see my Items section below.

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Why, God, why, no, never, please don't


This section isn't really necessary for you to read, just my explanation on why you definitely shouldn't take several Summoner Spells.

Spoiler: Click to view
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Early Game Items

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Well, goodness me, Season 5 really changed up the Jungle, didn't it? There's only one viable option for you, and that's to go Ranger's Trailblazer. Anyway, here we go.

Your starting items are:

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Hunter's Machete is the standard start for any jungler, as it gives improved damage against creeps, which is exactly what you want at low levels. A very good choice for all champions that will be doing auto-attack damage against the jungle monsters, and you won't find many other guides for any champion, especially Dr. Mundo, that don't recommend this.

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You want to take as many Health Potions as you can, which in this case is 2. This is key to maximise the amount of time you can stay in the jungle before heading back, which will give you more gold and thus better items on your first trip back to the shop. Again, very standard stuff.

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I've found that Stealth Ward is absolutely the best choice of Trinket to take at the beginning of the game if you're jungling, as it allows you to ward your jungle to stave off the enemy trying to counter-jungle you, gives you early warning of approaching champions when you're counter-jungling the enemy & helps you ward the dragon and Baron.

On to the fun stuff!

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Early game Items


You will be able to buy Ranger's Trailblazer on your first back, as it's incredibly cheap, unless you've been invaded or didn't get a good leash. It's the best of the new Jungle items for you. It turns your Smite into 'Blasting Smite', which does Area of Effect (AoE) damage to Jungle monsters, stuns them briefly, and restores 15% of your Health (and Mana, if you used it. Which you don't. Because you're Dr. Mundo). It also gives the lovely bonus of giving you 30 more gold when you kill large monsters. It's just the best. See the spoiler box for my explanation as to why you don't want the other items.

Spoiler: Click to view

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If you can, get Boots on your first back too. Very useful, will let you zip about the jungle and get to your jungle camps quicker. If not, then when you can.
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Out of the upgrades you can get for your Jungle item, Ranger's Trailblazer - Cinderhulk is by far the most useful one on a Jungle Mundo. It gives you a really good chunk of health, a nice health multiplier (which is fantastic for you, as you'll be stacking health) and it adds an AoE burn effect, like Sunfire Aegis, which will really improve your clear speed, and give you fantastic AoE damage when combined with your Heart Zapper. You should rush this as fast as you can. It will help with your sustain massively, as you'll have more health, regen health faster, thanks to your passive, and lower cooldowns on all your abilities.
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Again, you absolutely HAVE to rush Ranger's Trailblazer - Cinderhulk. However, all of these other items are useful, but don't necessarily have to be taken in this order. Get them when you have the money. If, for example, you have enough to buy Giant's Belt, then go for that over Boots.
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Ninja Tabi are probably the best boots to get, as you will have more than enough magic resist from your other items, particularly early game, especially when combined with the CC reduction from your Heart Zapper. The armour will help immensely with your jungle clears, and it blocks 10% of enemy basic attack damage, which is great for early ganks and in the mid to late game when their Marksman (R.I.P. AD Carry) gets rolling. If the enemy team has lots of very nasty CC then you can get Mercury's Treads instead.
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With an extra 400 health, a Giant's Belt is a reasonably pricey, but very useful, item. There is no such thing as too much health on Dr. Mundo, especially not early to mid game. It builds into Warmog's Armor, one of your key items, and a bunch of other really nice items as well, like Randuin's Omen and Sunfire Aegis.
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OR

I would recommend getting one if you can during the early game. Kindlegem is a nice health item, and it gives you some cooldown reduction so you can throw Infected Bonesaws like the true Madman of Zaun you really are. But really this is interchangeable with Spectre's Cowl at this point, take it situationally. Are their AP champions doing well? Are they an AP heavy team? Go for Spectre's Cowl. You want one piece of Spirit Visage heading into Mid game, so take the Cowl or go for Kindlegem. The Cowl is more expensive, but both are very beneficial; personally I will build Spectre's Cowl first if I'm at 1600 gold or above, as you can always buy the Ruby Crystal with the remaining gold for most of the extra health bonus from Kindlegem, you'll just be missing the CDR.
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If you are playing very aggressively then you may, depending on how successful you are with your ganks, end up having a lot of gold fairly early on. In that case, don't worry about building each item on this list before going for the mid game items, jump straight to them. If you come back to base with 2300 gold, Ranger's Trailblazer - Cinderhulk and Boots, you should ABSOLUTELY buy Spirit Visage, don't worry about getting a Giant's Belt and Kindlegem and upgrading your boots first.
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Mid Game Items - Absolutely Core

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Let me just make this clear, these are items you MUST get on Dr. Mundo. Both the items are brilliant, they synergise well with his passive and ultimate and I have never regretted taking them. The enchantment is up to you, but I really, really like it. They don't have to be bought in this order at all, you should buy them according to how the game's going and how much gold you have. No matter which of the two builds you are following, you should be getting these items.
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So, in the early to mid game, Health is King. And Warmog's Armor is King of Health. You match that up with Dr. Mundo being King of Health Regen. and you get a formidable combination. With your passive regenerating 0.3% of your maximum health every second, that means a Warmog's gives you an extra 3 health a second, and THEN gives you more from its passive health restore. If you have this by level 9 or 10 then the enemy champions will be so unhappy to see you.
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This is probably my favourite item to get on Dr. Mundo. It gives you a lot of Magic Resist, which is great, a chunk of health, which is nice, it also gives you 20 cooldown reduction. With this you can spam your Infected Bonesaw so much that opening a gank with one and missing won't be the end of the world. It also means your ultimate Maximum Dosage comes back faster, so you have all the health in the world. But its passive is the real star of the show. It increases your heals, regeneration and drain effects by 20%. So your normal health regen. is more powerful. Plus the regen. from Warmog's. Fantastic. But let's talk about how it affects Maximum Dosage. Once fully maxed, Maximum Dosage normally restores 60% of your health. With Spirit Visage, it will heal a massive 72% of your health. Which is ridiculous. I grab this as early as I can, at low to mid levels it is fearsome.
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After you hit Level 9 you should start thinking about replacing your Stealth Ward with Greater Lens, as you'll find it more useful for jungle objective control. You can use it to clear the your buff camps, dragon or Baron of enemy wards, as well as clearing bushes that you'll need to gank through. The support may have beaten you to it and got a Greater Lens as well, in which case it's not mandatory, but still a good idea.
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Late Game Items

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The two types of items you will be getting from this point will be either offensive or defensive, and I've split good items to get on Mundo into those sections to talk about them.

When considering what balance of offensive and defensive items to get, it really depends on how your game is going and what your team composition is. If you have a very tanky support like Leona and your top is an absolute bruiser like Gnar or Jarvan IV and your team is pushing all lanes hard then you don't need to become an unstoppable wall of health, so go for two (or even three) offensive items. If everyone's quite squishy and you're on the defensive, get three defensive items and be the meat-shield you were born to be.

A good rule of thumb for an average game is to go for two defensive and one offensive item, make sure they give you a decent amount of health between them. At level 18 you want to be on at least 4000 health end-game build, unless you're going for full offence, then around 3500 is a good level.

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Offensive Items


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Frozen Mallet is a very good item to get if you're looking for more damage with good utility. It gives you a LOT of health, 30 attack damage (which isn't to be sniffed at), and your auto-attacks will give the same level of slow that your Infected Bonesaws do, so an enemy champion will not be able to get away, nearly guaranteeing a kill or a wasted Flash. Very good to get if you don't have many team-mates with a slow or root, or if you just want to make their lives absolutely miserable.
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Liandry's Torment may seem an odd choice for Mundo, but it's a very good item. The health bonus is nice, but the big thing is Magic Penetration, which means your Infected Bonesaw and Heart Zapper will do much more damage to the other team. The passive will add to this, meaning you can be doing serious damage without having to stack loads of AD items. Combined with your Blunt Force Trauma, you will really hurt in a fight unless the other team has stacked Armour and Magic Resist. I wouldn't recommend it unless your team is fairly poke-focussed.
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Atma's Impaler will give you a LOT of Armour, making you incredibly tanky. The critical chance will make your auto attacks do heavy damage when you have Blunt Force Trauma running (making your critical hits huge). If you decide you are going to build this then make sure you get Avarice Blade fairly early on to take advantage of the extra gold it will give.
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As I mentioned earlier in the Summoner Spells section, Quicksilver Sash has an absolutely fantastic cleanse active ability, which will remove nearly all crowd control from you. Mercurial Scimitar is the upgrade, granting you a big attack bonus as well. If you are going to get this I would buy Quicksilver Sash first, then buy the other items you want for your endgame build before coming back to finish it off, as it is really expensive, and you don't NEED the extra AD, it's just nice.
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I never used to get Wit's End, but I bought it on a whim once and loved it. It gives you a lot of nice attack speed, good magic resist for the price, and gives your auto-attacks a big flat magic damage bonus; it will make your auto-attacks really, really hurt. The added bonus is that it's relatively cheap. Definitely worth trying out a few times to see if you like it. Don't get this if you're playing a poke-focussed game where the enemy team will retreat and stay out of your range, as most of the benefit comes from the auto-attack upgrade.
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Defensive Items


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With the removal of Runic Bulwark, you now upgrade your Aegis of the Legion into Locket of the Iron Solari, and it is a fantastic item to get if your support won't get it. In fact, you could offer to get it instead early game to free up one of his slots. In team fights the +20 Magic Resist aura will save a few lives. It gives a bit of health, which is nice, and the defence bonuses will make you a beast. Not essential, but a nice change of dynamic. Plus the active shield is incredibly useful. Pop it as soon as everyone engages, as you want it to be as efficient as possible and cover your entire team.
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Do you like clearing the jungle and creep waves in seconds? Do you like getting assists in every team fight? Do you like lots of Armour and Health in one item? Then Sunfire Aegis is for you. The passive from this item is a weaker version of your Heart Zapper, only it doesn't cost you health. With it you can bolster your area-of-effect (AoE) damage to scary levels. If you have this and Heart Zapper up at the same time, the enemy will be scrambling to get away from you. Plus, one tick of damage from this counts as you dealing damage on an enemy champion, so if they die, you get an assist. I don't get this much any more, only if the laning phase is continuing for a long time. If the lane phase breaks down and ends around level 8, it's not really worth your time. It is still fun, but there are other items out there.
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With this on, Dr. Mundo moves from being a regular tank to a Challenger II. Randuin's Omen gives you lots of health and a metric ton of Armour, as well as having a passive that is great against enemy ADCs. If they basic attack you then their attack speed and movement speed get slowed. The active, which gives an AoE slow, is fantastic for stopping escaping teams or giving you a few seconds to get away yourself. This is one to get if they have an ADC who is getting ridiculously fast auto-attacks. Or if you want to laugh as Renekton fails to do any significant damage to you. One of my favourite items to get, and I actually recommend rushing it after you finish your core items.
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Guardian Angel is great for the tank who wants to initiate. Dr. Mundo shouldn't really be initiating fights, but with Guardian Angel it gives you that ability. It resurrects you after death with 30% of your maximum health, and gives you a decent amount of defences; with your high levels of health and already beefed up defence, this will make you very, very annoying. If you go to my Tips & Tricks section I'll talk about something fun you can do with Maximum Dosage and Guardian Angel.
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Thornmail is the ADC killer. For the highest amount of Armour in the game, and a passive that returns 30% of auto-attack damage you take against the attacker, this item is remarkably cheap. Take this if the enemy ADC is stomping all over your team and they only have one strong/fed AP champion. Otherwise you might be better off going for something a little less specialised.
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Banshee's Veil is definitely a very late game item. The Magic Resist. is great, and the extra health is very nice, but the passive is the real reason you get this, as it is invaluable in team-fights. It blocks one spell, which will hopefully be a major CC initiation spell, such as Death Sentence or Cease and Desist. With this you stand in front of your carries and block all these nasty spells, so you guys can engage when YOU want to.
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Enchantments


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This is something you don't have to get, but if you have spare gold from a few successful ganks then it is such a good investment. With Enchantment: Furor you gain a temporary speed boost every time you attack a single target with your auto-attack or an ability. Which includes your Infected Bonesaw. With Furor, as long as you are good at aiming, you can chase down nearly every champion in the game, and you can escape them as well. If you have Maximum Dosage (and its speed boost) running, then you are the Juggernaut. You will Jugger their nauts (sorry Nautilus). I have escaped 5 man ganks with this and Maximum Dosage. Mundo will go where he pleases.
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Enchantment: Homeguard is the absolute best choice to get if your team is being bullied massively, and you're pushed right to your base. The few seconds you will save from the instant heal and the speed boost off the recall pad will turn the fights in your favour.
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Replacing Boots


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In the very late game you might find that your team needs you to pump out a decent level of damage in team fights just as much as they need you to tank. So I suggest you sell your boots and buy Zephyr, as the Movement Speed multiplier will still keep you moving about almost as fast as if you were still booted. I suggest you buy this as a replacement for Mercury's Treads, as it will make up for the loss of Tenacity (although between your Masteries and running Heart Zapper, CC won't be on you for very long anyway).
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Abilities

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Mundo has some incredible abilities which make him very well suited to the jungle. This will be a run through of the abilities, a few pieces of advice on how to use them, before running through the order to take them in and why for both the Sustain and Gank builds. For more detailed advice on how to use them see the Tips & Tricks section.

All of Dr. Mundo's abilities cost Health. Again, so you don't forget: HEALTH. If you're not careful then these will drain your health MASSIVELY early game, particularly Heart Zapper.

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Adrenaline Rush: Passive


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Mundo's passive restores 0.3% of his max. Health every second. Goes Where He Pleases is what makes Health items so damn efficient on Mundo: you're not just getting raw Health, you're also getting a good amount of Health Regen. At 4000 HP that means you're getting 60 Health Regen every 5 seconds just from this passive.
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Infected Cleaver: Q


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Cleavers are great. Everyone loves a good cleaver. Except the other team. This gives you range, and is your primary damage dealing ability. The key thing about Infected Bonesaw is that it does damage based on a % of the target's Health. When jungling you want to use it as your opening move on the 'boss' of each camp: the large golem, the big wolf and wraith, and definitely the buff lizard and buff golem. This maximises the amount of damage you deal with it. The slow it applies is also great, and you should be opening all your ganks with it, or lobbing them at escaping champions. Remember to 'lead' (aim at where they will be, not where they are) running champions.

Due to the incredibly low cooldown (which will only get lower as you pick up CDR items) the only excuse you have to not be spamming these while attacking the dragon/Baron, in team fights or while chasing champions after level 9 is that your Q finger is cramping. Try and always hit something, even if it's just a minion, to get half of the cost back. You'll max this ability second or first, depending on your style of play, in order to hit that 25% damage to targets as soon as possible. You get good at Cleavers, you get good at Mundo. They can be game-changers.
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Burning Agony: W


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Heart Zapper is what makes Mundo such an effective jungler and ganker. When you attack a camp you should pop it and attack the boss creature (after leading with your Infected Bonesaw and popping Blunt Force Trauma, of course). While you attack him, Heart Zapper will whittle down the smaller creatures while putting more damage on your target, leading to a very, very fast clear time. The crowd control reduction it gives while running is invaluable, and you should be running it all the time during team fights to avoid getting CC'd for too long (as well as bringing the hurt).
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Masochism: E


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There are AD steroids, and then there are AD STEROIDS!!!1!1!! Blunt Force Trauma is the latter. 40 AD for one skill point is brilliant, and the basic level of this is what keeps you competitive in ganks, duels and team-fights. It'll help your jungle time as well. Depending on how the game is going, I max this second or last, as each further level in Blunt Force Trauma only gives you 15 extra AD, which is nowhere near as efficient as the basic rank.
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Sadism: R


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Maximum Dosage is the ability that makes Mundo incredibly annoying to play against. He never needs to go back. The heal is vast, and the movement speed bonus means he can escape at his most vulnerable. If you're on low health, my advice is not to go back straight away, just hang around in the jungle killing the wolves or wraiths, and just wait for Maximum Dosage to refresh. At a maximum wait time of 75 seconds, which becomes closer to 60 very quickly with items, you can stay there as long as you want.

The skill is knowing when to pop it in team fights. As it costs 20% of your CURRENT health, activating it when you're on full will lose you a lot. My recommendation for new players is to pop it at around half health, as long as you're not being focussed. If you are, then hit it as soon as possible. There are a whole host of tricks to using Maximum Dosage really well, and I'll go into these in the Tips & Tricks section.
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Skill Order


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Ability Sequence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
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Maxing your Infected Bonesaw lets you be as aggressive as possible while giving you the easiest clear. Your first point goes in Infected Bonesaw to maximise your damage against the big buff monsters and make sure you aren't counter-jungled. Second point goes into Blunt Force Trauma, to help you clear your next camp quicker, and your third point goes into Heart Zapper so you have all your abilities and maximum damage for an early Level 3 gank, as well as helping you avoid some CC during that gank.

Level 4 and onwards you are going to be maxing your Infected Bonesaw, as it will give you a huge damage spike in early ganks (as long as you land your Cleavers). Your second priority is to max out Heart Zapper for mid-game jungle farming excellence, before putting points into Blunt Force Trauma for the late-game damage in team fights. This path doesn't sacrifice clear speed massively for your increased gank damage.

Obviously you put a point into Maximum Dosage whenever you can.

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Early Game: Jungling

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With the changes to the jungle items introduced with the start of Pre-Season 4, I've had to eliminate the second 'Gank Jungle' build, as you lose out on far too much gold. However, you can still play the jungle in the same two different ways, one will be a 'Farm' focussed game and the other will be a 'Gank' focussed game. If you read my guide in Season 3, the farm relates to the 'Sustain' build.

Assuming you are the friendly team (playing from bottom left):


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Red - Red Brambleback camp (Red Buff monster)
Blue - Blue Sentinel camp (Blue Buff monster)
Black 1 - Wolf camp
Black 2 - Raptor camp (the Chickens)
Black 3 - Krug camp
Black 4 - Gromp camp
Green 1 - Location of Baron and a Rift Scuttler (the Crab)
Green 2 - Location of dragon and a Rift Scuttler (the Crab)
Orange - Locations for wards

Vital Camp knowledge - LEARN THIS!

Smaller Camps Advanced Camps Dragon Baron Nashor
Spawns at: 1:55 1:55 2:30 15:00
Respawns after: 0:50 5:00 6:00 7:00

The Rift Scuttlers will spawn at 2:30, with the dragon.

Smite Bonuses


In Season 5, smiting the Large Monster in each camp will give you a bonus passive ability, depending on the camp. Make sure you know which one you want, they're incredibly useful.
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Red Brambleback
This will restore a significant amount of your max. health. Very useful, especially on your first clear.
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Blue Sentinel
Well, functionally useless for you. It SHOULD restore a significant amount of your mana, but, well, you know. Mundo.
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Krugs
Smiting the Krugs will cause your Auto Attacks to stun a monster every 6 attacks. Doesn't work on champions. Very, very useful for your first clear.
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Raptors
This is probably the best Smite bonus skill once you're past your first clear. It gives you the ability to spot one enemy ward. As soon as you're spotted by that ward, a little exclamation mark appears above your head, and you're granted True Vision for a brief period so you can find it and stomp it. Not only does this tell you where the enemy HAS warded, but where they HAVEN'T, so you can counter-jungle or gank safely.
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Wolves
This spawns a little ghost that will go and hover around the Blue Sentinel camp, and will provide vision of that area, as well as following enemy champions it spots. Great if you can do it to the enemy wolf camp, and also great if you're pushed back or the enemy jungler invades a lot.
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Gromp
Gromp gives you a damage similar to the Quill Coat from Season 4. If you're attacked, you cause a poison effect to start ticking on your attacker. Great for early clears.
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Rift Scuttler
Ok, this is a lie. The Rift Scuttler doesn't give any bonuses. However, if you kill it then it will run up and act as a mini-ward outside the Baron/dragon areas. It doesn't fight back, it just runs away from you. Try and stun it with your Smite or the bonus from the Krugs, as you do massively increased damage when it's stunned.
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'Farm' Jungle Route


This is generally the route I'd advise you take if you're just learning how to play Dr. Mundo or if you're learning how to jungle, as it keeps you away from any serious danger while you settle into it, from the Blue Side. If you just want the route:

Krugs -> Red Brambleback -> Raptors -> Scuttlecrab (optional) -> BASE AND BUY Ranger's Trailblazer -> Blue Sentinel -> Gromp -> Wolves -> Krugs

Rinse and repeat through the smaller camps.

For a more detailed explanation of the route and how you should go about it, it's in the spoiler.

Spoiler: Click to view


Keep this going until Level 6 or 7. At this point you should have most of your Early Game items and be very useful in a gank (see the Ganking section below).

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'Gank' Jungle Route


If you just want the route:

Mini camp on bot lane (Krugs or Gromp) -> Advanced camp closest to bot lane -> Advanced camp closest to top lane -> Gank on top OR mid

The detailed explanation is pretty much the same as the first three steps for a Sustain route, so lead with Smite and use your Infected Bonesaws to chunk down the large monster in the camp quickly. You start with the bottom lane camps because I feel you get more help taking the monster, which you need as you are at your weakest at Level 1 (obviously). If you're on the Red Side then this will be a bit risky, as the Brambleback will do a LOT of damage to you, especially with your abilities costing health and you won't have any help from your laners. Use your trinket ward to make sure you're not being invaded, because they WILL kill you and take your red buff.

If the top lane has already pushed hard and forced the enemy top to go back to their base then come into the lane and do a two champion push for the tower. But, if top isn't in a good position to gank, ie. they've pushed the enemy top to their tower but not forced them to recall) then move down the river for a gank on mid, or stay top for a counter-gank.

What I aim for when I'm playing a Gank game is to spend at least 1 minute in a lane either ganking or pushing for every time I clear the jungle. After you leave a lane, clear the jungle and try and spot a good opportunity to get involved in a fight.

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General Jungling Tips

  • Keep an eye on the mini-map. Look at it every 10 seconds or so, get used to checking off champions, friendly and enemy, and get an idea of where they're moving.
  • Monster camps show up on the map. If you can't remember what time you killed one of the buff monsters or the dragon then keep checking the map. When they respawn the icon will reappear.
  • Always, always kill all of the monsters in each camp, as this resets their spawn timer. If you leave one alive then the other monsters will NOT respawn. If you have to abandon a camp halfway through to help a lane, then come back as soon as you can and finish it. By not doing so you're losing gold and XP.
  • Press Tab to bring up the score, and see the timers at the top of the screen for when your Red buff, Blue buff, dragon & Baron respawn. If you have vision on it when one of those dies, it's respawn timer will be added.
  • If you see the enemy jungler in a lane and you're far away, then join in the opposite end of the map (ie. if they're ganking bot then gank top).
  • If you see the enemy jungler ganking a lane and you're close then go in after him. This is counter-ganking, and can turn a death on your team into a double-kill.
  • It's ok to use Smite on the large golem in the golem camp and the large wolf, as long as you have roughly 40 seconds until the buff monsters respawn. It lowers your clear time and will keep your health up.
  • If you're afraid of being counter-jungled (when the enemy jungler comes onto your half of the map and takes your buffs) then place wards at the Grey circled locations on the map.
  • If the support isn't warding the dragon (Green 2 on the map) then either ask them to or do it yourself.
  • Take the dragon whenever you can. If the enemy Jungler is ganking in top lane, you should try and take dragon.
  • Use the active ping system to tell the lanes you are on your way. They should start to play defensively and let themselves be pushed back, making the enemy over-extend; or they should let you know if the enemy team has placed wards. If they don't tell you, ask them.
  • When ganking, lead with an Infected Bonesaw, then land an Exhaust after the initial Cleaver slow runs out.
  • If ganking bot (or a lane with two people in), make sure you use active ping to 'target' one of them, so the team-mates you're supporting can attack them too.

This is also the stage of the game in which you excel at Counter-Jungling, see the section below for more details.

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Mid Game: Jungling, Laning & Team Fights

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This is the section of the game where lane discipline really breaks down, you'll often get individual or groups of champions roaming around the map trying to take down towers and get kills on lone enemies.

Dr. Mundo is really good in this phase, especially if you pick up a Spirit Visage early on. After Level 11 you can be surprised by a group of champions and escape. I've personally got away from entire teams before (rarely, but it happens). In general, though, if you are surprised by 3 champions then you should be absolutely fine, as long as you activate Maximum Dosage.

I've broken this part into three sections to explain what your role is in three major aspects of the mid game, and how best to go about filling it.

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Jungling



Jungling well during the mid game is what will separate a winning team from a losing one. If the jungler spends all their time in lanes, pushing and doing team-fights, and running from one end of the map to the other, they will get under-levelled and under-fed. By wasting too much time getting about the map, you miss out on XP and gold you could be getting from clearing jungle camps.

Here are a few key things that you must make sure you keep doing during this phase of the game:
  • Keep getting the major buffs from the Red Brambleback. Offer the Blue Sentinel to your mid character whenever it's up, they will need it FAR more than you do. If they don't use mana then you can take it, as the experience, gold and cooldown reduction will be very helpful.
  • Farm. A lot. Your clear speed is exceptional, compared to most junglers, at this stage in the game. You can actually full clear every camp in your jungle before the first one respawns, maintaining close to perfect efficiency.
  • Ward the dragon if your support isn't, and keep an eye on when it will respawn. It will take 6:00 minutes to come back. Every time you get a dragon kill, it gives you one stack on the Dragon Buff, to a maximum of 5. Each stack brings new permanent bonuses. The 5th buff isn't permanent, but is the strongest, giving you a burn on your attack and a boost to AD and AP.
  • To make sure you have an exact timer on when the dragon and Baron if it dies when you don't have vision on it, go into your game settings by pressing Escape in-game and turn on time-stamps for your chat. Type 'dragon' or 'd' or whatever when it dies. Then add 6:00 for dragon. BOOM, instant timer.
  • Start going into the other team's jungle. At this point in the game, unless you're incredibly under-fed or the other jungler is the opposite, Dr. Mundo will have very few problems in a 1v1. If you're worried about it, watch the mini-map. When the enemy jungler is in lane, go into his jungle and try to take his major buffs. They might be there, they might not, you might be pleasantly surprised.
  • When people start getting to level 13-15, if no-one else does, then ward the Baron (Green 1 on the map provided in Early Game: Jungling section), preferably with a Vision Ward, not a Stealth Ward, to reveal the enemy team's wards.
  • Keep ganking and counter-ganking. They can and will give you a large advantage.
  • Use your Stealth Ward to place wards at the entrance to your jungle or at points on the river to help your laners keep vision on the enemy jungler; alternatively use your Greater Lens to clear wards out of bushes and around dragon.

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Laning



A lot of how successful you are at having a good lane presence will come from your jungling skills. Because you're keeping an eye on your mini-map (I hope), you will see when a lane is being pushed, split-pushed, or empty. These are (broadly) the three scenarios you will have to react to.

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Pushed lane

A lane is being pushed, and the defenders are under their tower or forced behind it, probably out-numbered. You need to get there. If they're in big trouble, don't be afraid to pop Ghost to get there in time. If you can, then come in from out of the jungle. You'll be closer, the enemy team won't expect you and you can start a gank, hopefully with your team-mates coming in to attack.

Don't get greedy. I've seen lots of people successfully drive enemies away from the tower and think they can get a kill, so they chase. The enemies then turn and jump on you. Remember, unless you're extremely fed, they won't be scared of you, they'll be scared of the tower. Dr. Mundo doesn't have the damage capacity to chase and kill two or three enemy champions by himself or with a low health team-mate. Obviously there are exceptions, but generally it's best to defend and save the tower.

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Split-push on a lane

A split push occurs when the enemy team has three or four champions in one lane, so you gather to defend. Their remaining champion will be in a different lane, and pushing a tower with a creep wave. This can be a very effective tactic if you don't guard against it. By watching your mini-map, counting visible enemy champions, and being aware of how damaged each tower is, you can guess whether a champion is going to split push and maybe where. You need to defend against it, either by getting to the turret when it still has health, or by ganking the split-pusher and killing him while he escapes to discourage him.

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Empty lane

This is when you get to be the split-pusher. If a lane is completely empty (ie. both your laner and the enemy are missing), and you can locate the enemy that should be there, then you get your crazy purple body up there and push hard. With Heart Zapper you can clear a creep wave very quickly, and once you get to the tower pop Blunt Force Trauma to do a hell of a lot of damage. While you may not kill the tower in one push if it's on full health, you can really hurt it. The reason I recommend split-pushing with Dr. Mundo is you have such brilliant escape potential. Hit Maximum Dosage if you see someone coming, maybe Ghost if you really need to, and chuck Infected Bonesaws at them until you're safe.

When split-pushing at a tower you should have your eyes GLUED to the mini-map. The reason being if you suddenly lose visibility on four champions that were in the next lane, you run as fast as you can because you can bet they'll be coming for you. Either run straight down the lane or get into some grass and recall.

The final thing to say is that kills don't win games, objectives win games. Objectives like towers, inhibitors, dragon and Baron will win you the game. Mid Game is the perfect time to start really hammering these objectives.

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Team Fights



Team fights will start occurring at this point, and by mid-game you're hefty enough to do your job properly.

Depending on your team make-up, wait for the initiator to start (in which case you follow them in) or initiate yourself with an Infected Bonesaw before diving in with your Heart Zapper and Blunt Force Trauma running. You need to be first or second into the team fight.

You have a few different scenarios at this point.
  • It is very dangerous to ignore Dr. Mundo in a team fight, so you may get focussed, especially because you'll be a very attention-grabbing target with Heart Zapper running. If you do get focussed, hit Maximum Dosage and stay in the middle until it runs out or you start getting low on health (below 1/3). You want to be as close to as many people as possible to do the most damage with your Heart Zapper. Hit whoever looks squishiest OR whoever is getting focussed by your team. You should be spamming Infected Bonesaws and hitting Blunt Force Trauma whenever you can. If you have Exhaust then try and land it on the enemy ADC.
  • If you aren't getting focussed then you can try to 'peel' enemies off whoever is. This means you stick to them and hit them with everything you've got until they leave your ADC/APC/support alone.
  • The other option, if you aren't getting focussed, is to zone out their biggest threats. Run right up to their ADC and start hitting them. Spam all your abilities, and keep Heart Zapper running as long as you can. You want to chase them away from the fight. Don't follow them completely, just stay between them and the fight so they aren't doing damage to your team-mates. Have Maximum Dosage running, and keep harassing them with Infected Bonesaws. This should give your team enough extra damage to kill quite a few of the enemies.

If everything goes tits up and your team starts losing and retreating, then you need to be at the back of the group. Throw Infected Bonesaws to slow the chasing team, take hits that would kill your team-mates and be a meat shield. If you still have Maximum Dosage then have it running to keep yourself healthy. Thanks to your Heart Zapper any crowd-control that is thrown your way will have less of an effect on you than it would your team-mates. Hopefully you can get most of your team to safety without dying.

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Late Game

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During the late game your job is just an adapted version of what it is during the mid phase.
  • Upgrade your Stealth Ward if you haven't already. I prefer the Greater Stealth Totem to the Greater Vision Totem as it gives you an invisible ward every 60 seconds. However, if no-one on your team took Sweeping Lens or has upgraded to Greater Vision Totem then you should. This means you can Vision Ward Baron before you start, to make sure you'll be uncontested.
  • At this point you shouldn't be taking the buffs from the Red Brambleback or the Blue Sentinel. Help the ADC get the Crest of Cinders and mid get the Crest of Insight . Start the fights with Smite, don't use them towards the end (you might steal it by accident). Don't use your Infected Bonesaws when the monsters are on low health, again, you might steal it.
  • Keep wards and timers on the dragon and the Baron. Due to your great toolset for jungling, you can take the dragon completely solo and be left with near full health by level 14 or 15; taking Baron solo is more demanding, and I wouldn't recommend it. However, you don't need much help. With the right partner, you can take it with only one other champion at level 16+. Other bruisers like Shen or Jax are great, AP champions who can cause fast damage to single targets, like Fiddlesticks, work as well, and ADCs are also a safe bet.
  • In team fights your role is the exact same as it was before. Take damage, deal damage, protect your squishy characters and zone their heavy-hitters.
  • Protect your lanes from enemy creep waves and split-pushes. Due to your massive clearing ability with Heart Zapper you can chew through minions and push a lane that was previously pressured.
  • Stick with your team. At this point in the game, despite being strong, there is a very real possibility that you will not survive a surprise 3v1 gank. You will do more good staying with your team and protecting them. Unless you know where 4 out of 5 enemies are then don't go off by yourself.

As I mentioned above, you can start thinking about maybe selling your boots. You will probably be an Armour and Magic Resist. monster at this point, so you can trade in Ninja Tabi for a Zephyr in order to do just a little bit more damage with your Auto Attacks.
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Counter-Jungling

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Full credit for this section goes to SmokedCarpenter, who has very kindly written this for me. The only input I've had is the BBCoding to make it fit with the rest of the guide.

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What is Counter-Jungling?



Counter-jungling is the act of going into the enemy jungle and stealing camps or killing the enemy jungler. This is a high risk, high reward tactic. You should choose from 1 of 3 goals when deciding to counter-jungle, and you must stick to that goal:
  • Take a small camp
  • Steal red/blue buff
  • Kill the enemy jungler
It is important to decide which of these you plan to do before going into their jungle. Altering a plan on the fly increases risk of failure. An exception to this rule is if the enemy jungler is already dead. In that case you can have free reign over his jungle until he respawns, but only if you know it isn't warded or have backup nearby in the event a laner comes to kill you.

There are a few things you need to take into consideration before attempting to counter-jungle.
  • Did you bring along any wards?
  • Which jungle entrances and which buffs are warded?
  • Do you have their buff respawn timed or at least a rough estimate?
  • Can your champion counter-jungle effectively, and is their jungler difficult to counter-jumgle?
  • Are your allies close enough to help if you run into their jungler?
  • Are their allies close enough to help if you run into their jungler?
  • What is your escape route?
  • Do you have Smite up? Does the enemy jungler have Smite up?
If you don't have the majority of that information at your disposal before you begin counter-jungling then you are putting yourself and your team at risk.

Tips

  • The first buff respawns a little before 7:30.
  • The second buff should respawn a little before 9 minutes, but you should have the exact timer for it.
  • Ward the buff you plan to steal a minute before it respawns.
  • Leave one of the small monsters in each camp alive, this prevents the camp timer from re-setting and the other monsters won't respawn.

So that's the basics of counter-jungling.
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Counter-Jungling as Dr. Mundo



Your Infected Bonesaw is your best friend when counter-jungling. It can:
  • Pull buffs and small camps.
  • Help you stick to and escape from the enemy jungler if you're attacking/running away from them.
  • Kills big monsters very quickly due to the percentage health damage.

It is important to take Infected Bonesaw at level 2 if you intend on counter-jungling, or are expecting to be counter-jungled. This is obviously different to the two builds given, but you won't suffer too much by replacing Blunt Force Trauma.

Remember: In the early stages of the game Dr. Mundo puts out insane amounts of damage and clears quickly, but is incredibly squishy and has negative sustain. For this reason I tend to avoid duelling, and concentrate on stealing buffs and escaping before the enemy knows I was even there.

Your ability to clear camps insanely fast is what makes you such a good counter-jungler. My favorite method of counter-jungling is probably the easiest and most consistent way to get ahead of the enemy jungler.

Method 1


The first step is to determine which buff the enemy jungler is starting at. If they could start at either buff you must have your team-mates help check to see which one they chose. Start at the same buff as them (If they choose blue you start at the Blue Sentinel). Ask for a very strong smiteless leash so you take as little damage as possible and finish your first buff quickly. Then take Infected Bonesaw at Level 2 and run to their second buff (in this example, the Red Brambleback). Pull the buff monster with your Infected Bonesaw into the bush for red or up the path toward river for blue Take it as quickly as possible (You will have Smite, so it should go quickly) and then get the hell out of there and clear your own second buff before they can retaliate.

Method 2


This method of counter-jungling involves a lot more risk and ward coverage. After stealing their second buff you will have the timer for when it respawns (exactly 5 minutes after you kill it). Bring a Vision Ward (pink ward) if you can and get there before it spawns. Simply pink the bush to check for wards then steal the buff ASAP and run, before clearing out your own buff. This process can be repeated throughout the laning phase IF you can keep an accurate timer.

Method 3


If you don't want to just steal their second buff every time it respawns you could try catching the enemy jungler at one of their buffs. If you Smite-steal the buff, then you should have no problem killing the enemy (they will most likely be hurt already, especially in early levels). Warding and team communication is extremely important here. It is a good idea to bring along your mid or whichever lane is closest to help ambush their jungler. Even if you don't kill them, as long as you get out alive you have succeeded. You will force them to recall and lose more xp/gold and you might even burn their summoner spells or ult. In order to catch the enemy jungler you NEED to have the buff timed exactly, decent ward coverage, and preferably a laner to help you.

Method 4


Steal small camps. This is the safest way to counter-jungle throughout the entire game, but also the least rewarding. Wraiths are probably the easiest to steal, then Golems, then Wolves. As Dr. Mundo it is hard to leave a small monster alive to prevent the camp from respawning due to your AoE damage from Heart Zapper, but it's not the end of the world. When stealing small camps it is a good idea to bring a ward along, and make sure that you have allies near you in lane. Also make sure that you have a good idea where their jungler is (If you see them ganking bot then steal a small camp in the top half of their jungle). Dr. Mundo is a fast clearing jungler so you should be able to clear your jungle and at least 1 of their small camps consistently.

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Some things to remember as Dr. Mundo:
  • Don't be afraid to refuse to gank a lane if the opportunity isn't there. They will rage but just ignore them.
  • Counter-jungling is equally important as ganking because it prevents the enemy jungler from ganking as often and makes their ganks less effective if you've stolen their xp, gold, and buffs constantly.
  • Farming the jungle is extremely important as Dr. Mundo. Make sure you're clearing camps at every opportunity, and ward your own jungle to prevent yourself from getting counter-jungled.
  • Your ganks can be very strong due to your perma-slow Infected Bonesaws, but you can't gank a pushed lane very easily like Zac or Lee Sin could. Don't waste your time standing in a bush throwing Infected Bonesaws at top lane when you could be farming or counter-jungling.
  • You are very squishy early game, especially when your Maximum Dosage is down. Avoid getting into early team-fights if at all possible
  • Your Infected Bonesaw is a great way to check if Baron/dragon are still up when you have no wards. A maxed cleaver can also steal dragon fairly easily if they don't have Smite up or miss their Smite.
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If you do want to know a LOT more about counter-jungling in general (not specific to Dr. Mundo), then I'm going to point you in the direction of Mikuroo's Jungle Control and Counter-Jungling Guide here on Mobafire, or the Counter-Jungling section of the Jungling guide on LoLPro. They're both incredible resources than I've been re-reading and trying to apply more and more over the last few months.


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Ganking

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I'm aware that lots of people reading this will know how to gank already, I've included this for lower-levelled people who haven't really learnt how to jungle properly yet, but you might find it interesting.

A good gank is not just one that results in a double kill for your team. A good gank will achieve any of the following, preferably more than one:
  • A kill (obviously this is the best outcome).
  • Forcing the enemy to recall, losing them gold and XP from missed creep kills.
  • Making them 'waste' a Summoner Spell, like Flash, Exhaust or Heal. It is much better to make them use these to stay alive and escape than to let them save it to assist in a kill that they wouldn't otherwise have gotten.
  • Forcing them to 'waste' their ultimates.
  • Pushing a creep wave and champion away from the tower, so it is no longer being attacked.

These are all good outcomes from a gank. Try to avoid 'trading' kills, ie. your team gets a kill, they get a kill. When coming in for a gank, think about how likely you are to succeed. Are you going to have to chase them down? Is this likely to succeed? Will it be more beneficial to force them to recall, then you cover the lane while your team-mate recalls as well?

With experience and practice you'll get the hang of this, as sadly I can't describe every single scenario in this guide.

This next bit in spoilers is to show you the different routes to take when trying to come into a lane for a gank, and the best positions for an enemy champion to be in for a successful gank. Enemies don't HAVE to be in these precise positions, this is to give you a general idea of what a good place would be. A general rule of thumb is the closer to your tower they are, the better; the further they have to run to be safe, the better; the fewer exits provided by the scenery, the better.

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Spoiler: Click to view


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Tips & Tricks

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Right. This is the juicy bit.

All the Tips & Tricks I can give boil down to two subject: Infected Bonesaws and Maximum Dosage.
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Infected Cleavers - Not Just for Hurting


Cleavers are fantastic for checking grass for enemy champions. At low levels I check every single piece of grass I'm going to run into or past with a Cleaver. Try and throw the Cleaver so it goes through as much of the grass as possible (see spoiler), so you can maximise your odds of hitting someone.

This:
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Spoiler: Click to view

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Not this:
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Spoiler: Click to view


After you've thrown it, watch your health bar and listen carefully. If there is an enemy in there that you've hit, you'll see your health go up a bit (Cleavers restore half the health cost if they hit a target, remember?) and hear that delightful SPLATCH sound that indicates you've hit something.

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Secondly, when throwing Cleavers into bushes, be aware that the Cleaver is visible to other champions, and that the Cleaver does not stop in the bush. It sounds obvious and patronising, but I've seen other Mundos forget.

So, when checking some grass near a lane that you are about to gank, do not throw a Cleaver like this:
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This is in top lane, near the Outer Turret. If I threw that Cleaver to check the grass to see if I can gank (going for the Tower Dive gank already mentioned) the champion could very easily see my Cleaver coming out of the grass. This would warn him that I'm coming, and he could run straight away, possibly escaping the gank.

For a better, stealthier throw, try and do this:
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In short, you want your Cleaver to go exactly as far as you need it to.

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Thirdly, Cleavers go across scenery. Again, this is probably something you either know or would figure out yourself, but it's so damn useful:
  • You can use it in the jungle to hit mobs across walls, drawing them to you and cutting a second or two off your clear time for that camp.
  • You can steal the dragon with it, which requires very good timing and luck, but is definitely possible.
  • Participate in small fights that you wouldn't be able to get to in time otherwise.
  • 'Lead' enemy champions through walls and into other bushes.

And, my favourite:
  • Steal all your team-mates' kills from miles away.

Nah, not really. But you can give them that little bit of extra support they might need to win the duel.

Finally, you can 'smart cast' (instantly cast a skill shot ability in the direction of your mouse without having to click) your Infected Bonesaws to great effect. Personally, I only use smart casting when I'm escaping, as it saves valuable time you could be spending running away. I like to have that little extra bit of control and perfect timing over them that you get from normal casting when I'm ganking or leading an escaping champion.

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Sadism - Find Joy in the Misery of the Other Team


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Maximum Dosage is such a wonderful ability. It will let you do things other champions only dream about. But, when using Maximum Dosage, always be aware of the 20% of your current Health cost. You will lose a lot of unnecessary Health if you pop it when you're at full.

First, Maximum Dosage will let you tower dive incredibly. Don't be afraid to pop it and dive to secure a kill while ganking. Ping a couple of times to let your team-mate know you intend to do so, and make sure the tower is hitting you by landing an Infected Bonesaw on the enemy as you dive. There is a very good example of this in the Swetards video I've put in Other Resources, where Dr. Mundo tanks the tower through a massive gank on bottom lane, securing a triple kill at level 8/9. It starts at 6:00 minutes, if you're interested.

A nice trick is to combine that with the 'Tower Dive' gank I mentioned in the Ganking section. By charging in from behind you trap the champion between you and your team-mate, and if you're healing through the tower damage with Maximum Dosage, you will almost definitely secure a kill or force the enemy completely out of lane and away from the tower while you take it down. I really recommend this tactic on top lane, anywhere from level 7-12.

As an addition to that, if you're pushing a tower with other champions and you're about to run out of minions, hit Maximum Dosage and stay there punishing the tower. Your team-mates should run away until the tower is focussed on you, and then they can come back in and help you finish it off. This is a tactic I use all the time in the late game when we are pushing to the Inhibitor Towers.

If you have Guardian Angel, and you look like you're about to die, pop Maximum Dosage just before you do actually die. The health cost will be minimal, and when you resurrect you will have the 30% health from Guardian Angel's passive, but you will ALSO have the health that would have recharged during the time it took to resurrect. Again, there's a great example of this in Swetard's video. This is a way of coming back into a fight so strongly that you will literally turn the entire point of the battle.

If you are on low health and being chased by one or two champions who are on middling health, then run towards some grass and pop Maximum Dosage just before you get there. Stay in the grass. By the time they catch up to you, your health will be exponentially higher than it was when they last saw you, and you will probably be able to kill one of them, if not both.
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Conclusion

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Well, this turned out to be a lot longer than I originally thought it would be. I hope you enjoyed reading this, and that you now want to play lots and lots of Jungle Mundo. Have a great time doing so, and please remember this is just a guide. Play him however you want, find something that suits your own play style; I just hope that you found a few things in this guide that will help you out. Please vote, and give me feedback about anything you want in the discussion section, good or bad, so I can make this a better guide. See you all in the Rift.

There are quite a few people I have to say thanks to, this guide would have been terrible if not for them:
  • jhoijhoi and her exceptional how-to on 'Creating a Guide'. This is something everyone should be reading and upvoting. And also for the funky dividers she made that I used in my Runes section.
  • SmokedCarpenter for writing the Counter Jungling section.
  • Laggermeister, for writing 'Ten Commandments of Writing a Guide'. Hopefully I didn't break too many of them.
  • Whichever Mobafire staff members decide to put up their 'Guide Basics' and 'Learning to BBCode'.
  • Most of the people who've made a Dr. Mundo guide: I've read nearly all of them and found at least one really helpful bit from each one.
  • And Tarks and Scott, for putting up with me while I was learning how to jungle properly and missing every single Cleaver.
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Other Resources

If you want to see a really good videos on what Dr. Mundo is about, then I recommend watching the MobaFire video Own With Dr. Mundo in 5 minutes (which came out while I was writing this guide). A very good summary of Dr. Mundo and brief item advice.

Finally, here's another excellent video by my favourite YouTuber, foxdrop: 'How to Escape Elo Hell- Dr. Mundo. This is a Diamond 1 Jungle main playing at a lower Elo (which this guide is aimed at) playing Dr. Mundo very well. It's a great example of how to play when you have a bad start to the game and what to do to keep yourself in the game. I strongly recommend watching, as it's Pre-Season 4 and is still fairly relevant.
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Changelog

10/04/2013 - Made a few cosmetic changes and added in a warning on Spirit of the Ancient Golem
03/05/2013 - Finally worked out how to make an ability timeline properly, and added them in.
21/05/2013 - In celebration of getting 10,000 views, I finally put up a short Counter-Jungling section. Thank you so much to everyone who's read this guide and voted.
16/06/2013 - 20,000 views! Thanks guys, this is incredible. I'm working on updating the Jungle information as we speak, haven't tested it enough to have a solid opinion yet.
16/07/2013 - Made the Counter-Jungling section actually useful, due to a great contribution from SmokedCarpenter. Still working on the big Jungling section update, it's coming soon, I promise.
31/07/2013 - Updated the Jungling Section in light of the changes in Patch 3.10. Waiting on a few games to see how Spirit Visage is affected.
05/09/2013 - Well, I come back from travelling and I'm at over 100,000 views. This is incredible, thanks to everyone who helped out with advice and everyone who's read this guide. I've celebrated by updating the items in light of the patches that happened while I was away.
18/10/2013 - Updated the Example End-game build sections to reflect a more realistic build.
05/11/2013 - 200,000 views! Added Zephyr to the guide. Better late than never.
24/11/2013 - Quarter of a million views, wow. Thanks again everyone. In return I've updated my Masteries and Items section, working on the updated Jungle section now.
06/12/2013 - Updated the Early Game, Mid Game and Late Game sections to include jungle changes, removed 'Gank Build' as an option and replaced it with 'Exhaust Jungle', updated Items sections and Cheat Sheet.
12/12/2013 - Changed the skill order on 'Exhaust Jungle', to make it as aggressive as possible. A very viable path and just as fast at clearing.
05/01/2014 - Wow. 500,000 views. I am amazed. I can't say thankyou enough for everyone's advice, votes and views. Much love. Added in Greater Lens to Mid-Game items in cheat sheet.
07/01/2014 - Banners! Yay! At half a million views I think it deserves to look a bit prettier.
13/01/2014 - Added another video to the Other Resources section.
28/01/2014 - Tweaked the pictures and spoilers in Tips & Tricks.
03/04/2014 - MUNDO SMASH is 1 year old today! It's bigger and better now than I ever thought it could be, and I want to thank everyone who's read, voted and given me feedback over the last 12 months. Much love.
22/06/2014 - Well. 1 million views. I'm amazed. I've tweaked the item section to streamline it, as a few aren't so good any more.
10/07/2014 - Finally updated for the 4.11 patch and the new Spirit of the Ancient Golem. Also went through and did a thorough scrub of any old info.
25/01/2015 - We're back in business, baby! I wanted to wait until Season 5 came out before updating. New items, new jungle route, same old Mundo.
02/04/2015 - Updated for Cinderhulk, now that everything has settled down.
25/11/2015 - WE BACK BOYS. Masteries and item build updated, still have to do main body of text.
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