PsiGuard's Jungle Tier List Patch 9.22

's Tier List
Last updated on

58 Votes

Description

This is a jungle tier list for solo queue aimed roughly at platinum level, based mostly on stats as well as my opinions. Keep in mind that if you main a champion, even if it's in a lower tier, it's still worth playing something you're experienced on rather than a "strong" pick that you're not experienced on. Whatever you decide, make sure you practice your picks!

If a champion does not appear on this list, I either consider them to be a poor jungler or haven't had enough experience with them in recent patches to accurately judge their viability. You can make most champions work in the jungle, but I'll be sticking to the stronger, more common picks.

Pick/ban Tier 1

Popular. Easy. Strong. I recommend banning these champions if you aren't going to play them, unless you have a higher priority ban in mind.

Strong Tier 2

These champions are strong and reliable picks, but not as highly contested or dominant as Tier 1 picks.

Good Tier 3

These champions may be more situational or more challenging to play than the above tiers, but they can work if you learn them thoroughly.

Viable Tier 4

These are viable junglers but are outshined by the above picks. If you don't like any of the stronger picks or you're just really in love with one of these champions, it's okay to play them. Your climb might be a little more difficult but it's doable.

New Comment

You need to log in before commenting.

(3) |

How good is Pantheon jungle? I've seen him to be very fun in the jungle

(1495) |

Clear's bad, ganks are good, dueling is pretty good, falls off kinda hard. It's tough for me to place him in a tier since I haven't seen one in ages. He could probably go among the Decent junglers in tier 4.

(3) |

Alright, thanks! I know this definitely isn't meta, but how is Urgot jungle? I personally haven't tried him, it sounds like a good idea purely for fun.

Load more comments (5 more replies) →

(1495) |

I've actually never seen one. Sounds bad to me but I guess maybe would work well with his W, so maybe he can clear okay? No idea really lol.

(3) |

What are your thoughts on Olaf?

(1495) |

Oh, didn't realize he wasn't on here. I can probably fit him in somewhere in tier 2. He's pretty easy to play.

(3) |

Thanks! Would you recommend him for solo queue carrying?

(1495) |

He should be fine if you like him. Run , , and any of the last three, then get + secondary. Build pretty tanky with Cinderhulk, and defensive items (, , ). Maybe if you're feeling bold.

There are probably better solo queue picks at the moment but he's solid enough you should be able to win with him if you practice.

Kayn needs his own tier called like, "If you're playing Kayn and are on my team, I'm probably going to hate you by the time the game is over."

He's like the perfect storm of having very situational to use skills and looking "cool" enough for all the nubs to dedicate their lives to playing him.

(1495) |

Haha, I can definitely see that happening. Fortunately for me, I'm usually the jungler so I don't have to worry about that too much. :P

Kayn can be quite strong (I'm not very polished with him but am still pretty effective) but he has a number of weak matchups like where he just loses 1v1 at virtually every stage of the game. If you can get past his weak early dueling and get to his transformation then he's quite a good champion. Like you said though, he can be pretty challenging to master, so you'll only really see Kayns who carry if they're at least somewhat experienced with the champion.

No Twitch? That guy is at least guaranteed to get first blood and once he gets the ball rolling, your team ends up with 2 ADCs, one of whom can stealth. I imagine that at highers ELOs he might get countered hard, but in low ELO where people would rather lose a limb than buy a control ward, he's a god.

(1495) |

Twitch's ganks are quite strong (especially level 2 after starting red buff) but he's a pretty weak duelist. A ton of junglers have winning matchups against him which is why I don't personally play him. Haven't seen very many this season but I imagine he's all right if you're able to avoid the enemy jungler.

(10) |

This might just be the best tier list I've seen so far, states exactly how things are right now with the junglers. Glad I peeked!

(1495) |

Thanks Razsagoth, I'm glad you agree haha. People tend to be pretty opinionated about tier lists so it's nice to have some positive feedback. ^_^

(10) |

Well yeah , pretty much everyone has their own opinions about how things are but in reality I must say you hit the "meta"on the head with this one. (pun intended)

(21) |

PsiGuard, I've got a question about your Tier 4 (Decent) junglers.

Some of the champions (, , , etc.) do a lovely job in the top lane, but a few of them are played exclusively in the jungle.

What type of changes would need to be made to move junglers like , and (to name a few) up your list? Would just a shift in the Meta do it? A change to some Jungle items like the bloodrazer? Would the champions themselves need individual kit changes or buffs to their stats? Or maybe the jungle itself would have to change? I imagine the answer is probably different for each of the different champions you listed there, but I'm still very interested in hearing what you think about the topic.

(1495) |

Just fyi I edited the list a bit just now, so a couple champs you mentioned are in different spots now. Also I had Jax a lot lower than I thought, oops.

Meta shifts and item/rune changes are often enough to make some champions viable that were previously pretty bad. In other cases, champions really need direct buffs in order to compete evenly against standard picks. I think suffers a bit from this, as his kit is a bit outdated compared to other assassins, so even in assassin metas he doesn't abuse strong items as much as someone like or can when played to their potential. also makes his job harder unfortunately.

is someone who's been viable, but not actually meta for a long time. I think he'd also need some kit changes (or extreme numbers buffs) to be considered a top jungle pick. Newer tank champions tend to have more spammable or reliable CC while Amumu doesn't offer much disruption outside his ult.

Theories on how each champion should be changed would get pretty complicated, but suffice it to say there are definitely champions that are out of meta because of current game conditions and others who are out of meta because they're weak or outdated. There's enough overlap that if Riot brought back something like Devourer or Feral Flare, Nocturne could abuse that enough to be strong, but in most cases he'll get outshined by similar champions.

I hope that answers your question. Let me know if you're still wondering something.

(21) |

You answered my question very thoroughly! Thank you!

Though your response got me thinking: as you (personally) know, I've only just started jungling this season. I don't always see in my games (Normals, but judging by portraits, I see a lot of silver and gold, with the occasional platinum... but still normals), but when I do, I generally don't bother trying to gank until it's a or they're pushed way up into our tower. Now, even though I don't see them often in my own games, I see them all the time on streams and in professional play (the recent game between 100 Thieves and TSM had 9 es!).

My question is how you (or anybody else who happens to read this and has an opinion) think the has changed the jungle meta, if at all?

Load more comments (1 more replies) →

(10) |

The jungle meta changed a lot due to the addition of theStopwatch. This is mostly due to the item allowing not only faster purchase of items such as Guardian Angel, Gargoyle Stoneplate or Zhonya's Hourglass but also allowing and encouraging more aggressive ganks and tower dives. However recent changes to the Inspiration path shifted the attention of the jungler towards the magical footwear rune which imo is better and more suitable for a jungler.

(12) |

I dont think that i changed jungle meta that much. Heres a little advice: Dont wain an enemy to use before ganking.
I mean, doing that is kinda greedy but not because of that. Ganking is more to help your allys, not so you could get fed. (though getting
fat in League is much more fun :) ) So gank even if enemy has that stopwatch as a try in forcing them to use it, that will help your teammates quite a lot!
I hope I was of some help! :)

(1495) |

Worth mentioning that there's a nerf coming out tomorrow to that significantly reduces the gold contribution and sell value of the stopwatch you get from that rune. It also now shares a slow with (which also got nerfed) so people won't be able to get both of those runes at the same time.

is annoying but the one from is a Commencing Stopwatch which only works after 6 minutes. This means that stopwatches won't ruin any of your early ganks, since they can't be used that early. Once 6:00 arrives, you'll have to account for which champions have a Stopwatch and keep track of who's used them.

If you have your own , you can use it to tower dive pretty effectively. The stasis will nullify one tower shot and it'll drop tower aggro so you won't die. Just be sure there are minions or a healthy allied champion there to pick up the aggro once you come out of stasis.

If your target has a Stopwatch, it can be tough to dive them, but it's still doable. Ideally you want to be able to blow their Stopwatch and then kill them anyway, but sometimes you just have to get them to use it and then back off and return later. It's a lot like to be honest. Almost everyone has it (or can take it) which means there's just as much playmaking potential as there is counterplay. Also like Flash, sometimes you have to gank to get them to blow the ability, then return later when that ability is no longer there to protect them.

Mostly sucks for assassins, especially ult-reliant ones like and , since they can often have their first ult ganks nullified by a , then they have to wait several minutes for their ults to come back up. Feelsbadman. :(

Hope that makes sense!

(12) |

Even If ther firsth ult ganks are nullified, its worth for braking that stopwatch :)

(21) |

Thank you both for the in-depth replies. I should check out those patch notes to stay more up to date with what's changing.

(3) |

i think your tier list would be better if you also put the last tier in. so the bad tier. that way we can see every champ you have thought off. so for example if i play aatrox jungle and it isnt on your tier 1 2 3 or 4 list. most people will think he is just straight up bad in jungle. while you might not have thought of him as a jungle so you didnt consider him in your list.

(1495) |

Thanks for the feedback. I'll consider re-adding the last tier. I initially removed it because I felt it was misleading to call some champions "bad junglers" when it's certainly possible to succeed with him. This narrower set of champions is a group that I'm much more familiar with and feel more confident about accurately rating.

As for someone like I'm afraid I haven't seen a jungle Aatrox in a really long time, which makes it difficult for me to rate. If I were to add a "bad" tier of junglers, he probably wouldn't be included simply because I haven't played him or seen him as a jungler in quite some time.

(3) |

okay got it :)

(1495) |

Changed up the tiers a bit so I could focus on smaller sets of champions. A few viable junglers were cut because I haven't seen them in ages or they're really weak and not worth playing at the moment.

(5) |

GG for the list ^_^ but what you think about Diana ? pro or cons ? :D

(78) |

I played a decent amount in the jungle last season and some this preseason. Last season she at least cleared healthy and quickly as long as she had Blue buff. Her first clear is weaker this season. You get chunked pretty hard doing a three camp clear (buff > wolves > buff). Her 1-3 have never been that strong, so if you meet the enemy jungler at that stage you are just toast.

However, if you make it to Mid game even or ahead you will stomp on kids. Late game will depend on their comp. If they have a lot of anti-dive (, , ) you'll cry, but if they don't have enough CC to stop you and their ADC doesn't buy a you can instantly take them out of the fight pretty much at will and have some chance of walking out.

But IMO really there is no reason to play her over right now. Eve has a weak early game as far as dueling goes, but has healthier clears and has a similar if not better Mid-Late game.

(1495) |

She's not awful in the jungle if you enjoy the champion, but she's pretty weak in the early game and not great from behind. Pretty easy to carry with if your lanes don't lose early and you can get to 6 and get your first couple items, but there will be games where your team falls behind and it'll be really hard to do anything.

I don't feel there's a great reason to play her unless you just love the champion, but she's capable enough as a jungler.

Where is Aatrox? He works great in the jungle for me.

(1495) |

Haven't seen one in ages, so it's hard for me to evaluate, sorry. :/

(1) |

I wish there were a hero name popups on portrait hover, it would make a life of a newbie a bit easier.
PS I still can see the names but gotta look at image url address, which is not that comfortable
PSS thanks for your list, who would you recommend to buy first? A strong jungle, so that i could fill the role when suddenly i'd have play jg in blind pick?

(1495) |

Thanks for your comment Sol.T.Ai. Looks like you're level 14? I recommend and to new junglers. They're both strong, pretty straightforward and especially has a super healthy clear. You should be able to clear the jungle monsters even without a full rune and mastery page.

Thanks for your feedback on the champion names, I'll pass that on to the devs and we'll see if we can do anything to make the tier lists a little more easily digestible for new players.

Let me know if you have any more questions!

(336) |

Feels weird to see Elise tier 2 and Lee sin tier 4. I'd place Lee Sin tier 2 or Elise tier lower for the same reason as Lee Sin is tier 4. Elise isn't as mechanically intensive but one needs more than general jungle knowledge to pull her off efficiently.

Also feels weird to see Dr. Mundo tier 2 because he is sub optimal. I'd also keep Zac tier 1 but I can understand the reasoning for lower tiers for soloQ.

(313) |

While I also think that is placed a little low, I do have to agree with Psiguard that his placement is suitable in Tier 4, based on the definitions of each tier. Elise requires much less skill than Lee on the mechanical level.

I'll bow out of arguing whether requires more jungle knowledge than Lee though, since I don't main jungle.

(1495) |

Zac's win rate is pretty average even in diamond. I wouldn't consider him tier 1 at this point.

Mundo was a bit hard for me to place. I've seen very few and haven't played him much since his buff, but his win rate went up a lot and he's sitting among the top tank junglers right now. I'd have to play more games with/against him to get a better feel for his power level but this is my best guess based on stats.

As for Lee and Elise, Elise is quite clearly prioritized competitively while Lee Sin is much less popular. There's also a staggering difference in win rates. Perhaps it's not fair of me to place Lee so low based on how difficult he is to pull off, when Elise is also quite challenging, but right now I feel there are good reasons to play Elise and not really any reason to pick Lee unless you're a Lee main.

(313) |

@ PsiGuard what brought Zac out of Tier 1? While he's not as strong as , I still feel like he's an echelon above the other junglers in tier 2.

Can you also defend your reasoning behind putting in tier 2? I thought that his early game got nerfed too heavily for him to see play still

(1495) |

still has great ganks but his clear and combat effectiveness got pretty smashed with his last nerfs. Tier 1 is reserved for champions with high pick rate and win rate, which Zac is neither now.

's a lot like in that he's pretty easy to be consistently effective with, even if you can't hard-carry. Most teams simply aren't coordinated enough to prevent champions like and Ivern from stealing camps for free, and Ivern makes his teammates really hard to kill. I don't think he's top tier anymore with the scaling monsters that are and , but I don't think he's bad. I haven't seen very many since his last nerf though.

To put these champions in perspective, Ivern has a roughly 3% higher win rate than Zac in platinum and diamond. Using op.gg for stats since champion.gg seems to be bugged.

Loading Comments...

Load More Comments

PsiGuard's Jungle Tier List Patch 9.22

Description

Pick/ban Tier 1

Strong Tier 2

Good Tier 3

Viable Tier 4

New Comment

League of Legends Champions: