Why would I play Nunu?

-If you are a low level or have no jungle runes.
-Best Counter Jungler in the came, no questions asked.
-You don't have to start Hunter's Machete, which means you can gank early effectively.
-High base movement speed with Blood Boil.
-Decent damage even with mostly support/tank items.
-Is easy to get a hang of.

Nunu always has been and always will be a top tier jungler. He is currently the greatest counter jungler by far, has great sustain through Consume, decent clear times and good ganks. Now with the new jungle changes, Nunu is even stronger for a few reasons for one he can still clear the jungle without losing a ton of health even without starting Hunter's Machete and now that early ganking is relatively dead counter jungling is very strong; making Nunu an ideal choice in almost any game.

Pros
-Best Counter Jungler in the game.
-Has Very High Sustain.
-Stupid CC.
-Two AS Slows.
-Pretty Decent Clear Times.
-MS and AS Steroid.
-Built in Smite.
-Does decent damage even with support items.



Cons
-Cant fight enemy junglers to well(you have to just steal buffs to counter jungle)
-Clear times are good but aren't top tier Olaf Dr. Mundo
-Support build doesn't scale to well into late game.
- Absolute Zero is easily disrupted.
-Not terribly tanky early.

Utility Tree:
Summoner's Insight-Pretty Simple, gets a shorter cooldown.

Wanderer-Isn't the greatest mastery ever but it can help you with map control and ganking.

Meditation-This can be helpful once you start giving your blue buff to your mid lane cause you will need some mana regen.

Expanded Mind-I honestly don't find this mastery that useful it's pretty much only taken because you need to put a point in something but I guess the mana can be nice.

Greed-Although this may look small, this is actually a great mastery. Since Nunu is a support jungler you need to have quite a bit of Gp5, this with Kage's lucky pick,Philosopher's stone and will give you a decent amount of gold income.

Runic Affinity-This is a very useful mastery for very obvious reasons. You're a jungler you want your buffs for a longer duration as it enables you to gank more often (thanks to a longer red buff duration). It also helps your clear times if you are going for a longer route (because of a longer blue buff duration).

Wealth-This mastery is used just so that you can start with sight wardx2 or sight ward and . Since you will probably be counter jungling, wards are your best friends since they will tell you if some Dr. Mundo is coming with his stupid amounts of AD. And if you don't counter jungle then you can use the wards to ward a teammates lane, or ward your jungle if your expecting an invade from their jungler.

Awareness-This is a pretty good mastery, it allows you to level up a bit quicker, but even though this is useful I only put two points in it since maxing out is a lot more useful on Nunu for the CDR.

Intelligence-Best utility mastery on Nunu. Since you want to be able to spam Ice Blast at the highest rate possible we want to get all the CDR we can get and this mastery does just that.

Nimble-Free movement speed! You're a jungler you want a lot of movement speed so this helps you out with ganking,counter jungling and everything else that jungling involves.

Defense Tree:
Durability-We get this cause we want health, health is good, health makes us die a bit less. But seriously this may not look like a lot but it really helps out, especially early-mid game when every bit of health means a lot.

Tough skin-This helps with jungling, yeah Nunu does have a ton of sustain but taking less damage from camps is always fun and can also help when your trying to run away after stealing the enemy junglers camps since you will have more health you would without this mastery.

Hardiness-Very useful mastery, I only put in one point since you need three points for and but you can invest more in this mastery if you want to give up and . Since also effects champions, it would be smart to put more points into it against fast and dangerous junglers such as Dr. Mundo, Olaf, Shyvanaetc.

Bladed Armor-This does damage back to monsters that attack you, this speeds up your jungle by killing monsters faster and by doing this also increases your survivability since the quicker they die the less they can attack you.

Veteran's Scars-Same reasoning as we all like health,health is good it helps us live, easy enough to understand.




Greater Marks of Attack Speed-These are mostly used for speeding up your clear times and for counter jungling, these are a absolute need DO NOT replace these with anything.

Greater Seals of Armor-Take these cause you will need them if you get caught counter jungling, you need them to jungle without dieing and cause there isn't really anything else to take.

Greater Glyphs of Magic Resist-Take these cause you will need them for ganking magic damage lanes and they are just nice to have in general. You can take , but I personally prefer flat MR over scaling MR.

Greater Quintessences of Gold-These are nice because your a support jungler and should be giving most of the kills from ganking to your laner so this with some items will help you get some gold. You can replace these with if you would like for better ganks and just being faster, but honestly Gp5 quints are A LOT better.

Start Boots+ Health Potionx2 with a sight ward. Get Boots over Hunter's Machete as the sustain from Consume makes the Health Potionx5 unneeded on Nunu and Boots build into more useful things than Hunter's Machete. On top of this Boots allows you to gank,jungle,counter jungle and just roam the map more effectively.

Kage's lucky pick Hopefully you can grab this on your first time back, but if not try to at least get philosopher's stone on your first back. Never the less Kage's lucky pick is useful for a number of reasons, for one you need to have to at least have a bit of AP and second of all as I have stated before your a support jungler; you need Gp5 cause you should be giving the kills to your laners. So grabbing Kage's lucky pick helps fix both your AP and gold problem. On top of that it also builds into Shard of True Ice which not only gives you more AP and keeps the Gp5 passive, but it also gives you another annoying slow and mana regen that can deal with any mana issues after you give your blue buff to your mid laner.

philosopher's stone Grab this item (if you dont have it) after your Kage's lucky pick, it gives you some delicious Gp5 and helps out with mana problems after you give your blue buff to your mid laner.It also give you some nice health regeneration and builds into Shurelya's Battlesong later in the game.

These are easily the best boots in the game, it gives you some tenacity to deal with their annoying CC and gives you a decent chunk of MR to deal with their casters or any other magic damage dealer they have. Ninja Tabis are also a very viable option especially early if your ganking a lot of AD champions, but late game its 9/10 smarter to switch them out for Mercury's Treads just because they are better and you will have Frozen Heart which gives you plenty of Armor.

Aegis of the Legion has always been a good item, but in the season three patch it has gotten even better now that it upgrades into Runic Bulwark. It gives you a number of stats health,armor,MR and health regen not to mention it gives some of those stats team wide. But as a whole Aegis of the Legion is just a all around fantastic item and should be gotten by at least one person everygame.

Another newly added item, Shard of True Ice is an upgrade from kage's lucky pick that gives you 45 AP instead of kage's lucky pick's 25 AP which doesnt seem like much but considering nunu's high scalings it makes a big difference, on top of this it also lets you keep the Gp5 passive from kage's lucky pick and gives you some mana regen to help with any mana issues. Here's the best part it gives you an active slow, you know what nunu needs? Another ****ing slow and this gives you it so you can make the enemy team hate you even more.

Runic Bulwark is pretty much just an upgrade from Aegis of legion, similar stats just higher Health,Armor,Magic resist and health regen. The upgrade from Aegis of the Legion to Runic Bulwark is relatively cheap, around 1,000 gold so getting this as your first full item is a smart idea as it's cheap it's very VERY good and it helps your team fun times for all. I like to get Glacial Shroud and then Negatron Cloak (assuming your getting Abyssal Mask) after I get my Shurelya's Battlesong. As the three items along with Runic Bulwark give you a ton of resistances and health.

Shurelya's Battlesong is pretty much a must have support item, it gives you health,mana and health regen CDR and an active that lets you move fast so you can throw some balls at people or so you can run away from those people after you throw your balls. As I said in my Runic Bulwark description I like to get Glacial Shroud and Negatron Cloak (assuming your getting Abyssal Mask) after I get my Shurelya's Battlesong.

Frozen Heart is easily the greatest item to get on Nunu. It gives you a metric **** ton of armor,some tasty CDR,some mana and then theres the passive;Nunu already has two AS slows now lets add another 20% from Frozen Heart's passive and guess what? THEIR ADC CAN BARELY ATTACK so now you can proceed to punch their testicles/ovaries in cause a dead enemy carry is a good one. Now needless to say this item is a must have on Nunu and honestly every team so GET IT you will be happy once you do.

Abyssal Mask is a great item on Nunu and its more than likely going to be my last item, it gives you AP which is helpful cause we have a shortage of AP, gives us some Magic Pen to do more damage with that AP and it gives us some nice MR so that we can take some hits from their caster or any other magic damage champion they may have.

Randuin's Omen is a great item but on Nunu Frozen Heart is a lot better in my opinion since Nunu benefits from the CDR and the ensured AS slow. But this doesn't make Randuin's Omen bad, you can still get it if you prefer it or if they have VERY VERY heavy AD you can get it along with Frozen Heart.

Sunfire Aegis is okay it has decent stats; some health and some armor but the passive is next to useless later in the game. This item is okay but I wouldn't recommend it only get it if they are for some reason all AD and you want to go Frozen Heart, Randuin's Omen and Sunfire Aegis.

Now on paper Rylai's Crystal Scepter seem like a perfect item for Nunu now it is a good item if you were going AP Nunu but if you want to do that go top lane nunu, we are running a support build and the extra slows from it are unneeded since the normal slows from your Ice Blast and Absolute Zero are far enough for your team to pounce and kill the enemy and there are just simply better health items. This item isn't bad necessarily its just mediocre.

I haven't used this item to much but I can say one thing it is pretty good. It gives you some MR makes any mana problems nonexistent and then there's its active it is amazing it's essentially a target-able Quicksilver Sash active and a pretty damn good heal all in one active plus it's not that expensive, its only 2200 and for the benefits it gives you, if you're in a situation where this item is optimal and you dont need to buy Abyssal Mask then I would get this item in an instant.

This is a meh item, yeah it makes your Consume heal more and gives you a decent amount of MR and an okay amount of health but late game the passive hardly makes a difference and there are just simply more useful MR items you can choose from ( Abyssal Mask and Mikael's Blessing).

DO NOT GET THIS ITEM. yes it gives you a decent amount of AP and a good amount of health but the passive has literally NO use late game and at that point Rylai's Crystal Scepter would be A LOT better. And as I said this is a support build so Rod of Ages is a huge waste of money since its not cheap either.

This item is alright the aura is nice and the AP is too but we need to get Health and resistance items, let the support or APC grab this.

This item is actually pretty good, it has a slow, some AP and a decent chunk of MR I personally like Shard of True Ice early just because of the Gp5 but if your at full build feel free to switch it out for this item as it gives you more AP some MR and a slow that is pretty good as well. This item can also help out if you're going late game Ninja Tabis and you need some extra MR if this is the case then I would definitely get it if you are not getting both Abyssal Mask and Mikael's Blessing.

Zeke's Herald Pretty good item, but there is better it gives you an okay amount of health and gives your ADC a little boost but it doesn't do a whole lot for you I would honestly let your support take it instead.

I haven't used this item and for good reason, it's way to expensive for what it gives you once it hits late game its passive loses most of its use and you will have to sell it since even Sunfire Aegis would be better honestly it's to expensive for an item with a passive that loses its use late game and has lower armor values then some of the other higher priced armor items. The health is good on this and the mana is meh but there is just simply better items to get, this item only seems good because of the passive but its really just a hyped up item do not get this. On top of this if anyone is going to pick this up it should be your top laner or support. The reason for this being is that roles who actually push towers would get more use out of this and APCs and ADCs need to buy damage items.

This item has kind of lost its use the spell shield is easily destroyed with one spell, the Health and and Magic Resist rates are good but Mikael's Blessing and Abyssal Mask are just better items if you need MR.

Visionary-Not the greatest passive in the world, it helps when jungling without blue buff.That's it





Consume-This is what makes your jungle fast,what gives you sustain,what allows you to counter jungle so well in other words it's your jungling tool get it at level one but max it last since Ice Blast and Blood Boil are far more important for ganking and you can still jungle and counter jungle very well even with only one point in Consume.

Notes about Consume:
-It is melee range so if you plan to steal Baron or Dragon with it you will probably have to Flash on top of the objective.
-It has a channel time, while as smite does not be aware of this when fighting over objectives.



Blood Boil-This is an AS and MS steroid that you can cast on allied units. It is one of the reasons why you are able to run a support build on Nunu and still be effective. I max this second after Ice Blast because you want the buff to be stronger while jungling because it speeds up your clear times,makes ganking more effective and roaming the map faster is always good.



Notes about Blood Boil:
-Always use Blood Boil on your ADC when in team fights as he/she will benefit of it the most.
-Casting this on allies also applies it to you so there is no reason not to use it on your allies.
-When jungling make sure to use this while moving from camp to camp to clear faster.
-If possible, use Blood Boil on your laner when ganking and when bot lane use it on the ADC.
-Blood boil your teammates when they are dieing.
Brought to you by the land of "Who ****ing knew?'.




Ice Blast-This is your best skill outside of Absolute Zero, its a MS Slow and an AS slow which allows you to chase,escape,gank and also make it so AD Champions auto attack a lot slower. I max this first because it is your main damage your main CC and its needed for ganking.



Notes about Ice Blast:
-In teamfights use this on the enemy ADC because they use auto attacks a lot in case you didn't know.
-This is spam-able as hell so don't think your wasting it.



Absolute Zero-This is yet another AS and MS slow except for the fact that it's AOE, has a 250% AP scaling and at level three has a base damage of 1125 this is useful for many, many things ganking,damage,catching people late in the game,making ADC's cry all of it is what this ult is used for on top of that it also has a 90 second CD at level three and with 30% CDR (how much this build gives) it drops the CD down to 63 seconds.



Notes About Absolute Zero:
-In teamfights you need to be able to position yourself, you want to get the enemy ADC and you don't want your ult to get interupted by stuns,silences,knock ups,knock backs etc so try to start channeling it when you can hit them when they either don't have their interrupting CC up or when you can channel it in a bush or around a corner where they cant see you or your team is blocking you.

-In teamfights you want to try to get Ice Blast and Absolute Zero off of their ADC so that with Frozen Heart he/she will attack VERY VERY slowly.

-Late game don't be afraid to blow this to catch a important part of their team when they are away from their team. Having some Diana dead in exchange for a 63 CD ult is very, very worth it.

-When ganking it may be smart to start channeling this after they have burned their Flash.

What you should take:
If you ask why should I take flash uninstall this game.It's the best escape,chase and ganking tool any champion can get it goes over walls creates/gains distance it's just the best summoner in the game there's a reason why almost every champion runs it.



If you ask if you can go in the jungle without smite, once again uninstall.NO YOU CAN NOT JUNGLE WITHOUT SMITE, IF YOU DO NOT KNOW THIS BY NOW GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD.
you need smite because:

-Securing buffs and objectives.
-Because in season three you will die to buffs without it.
-Because you need it to counter jungle effectively.

So if you asked why do you have to run smite stop asking.



The Somewhat Viable-
This is good on some junglers, but I wouldn't run it on Nunu because you have enough slows and you have no shortage in CC and because flash is needed for counter jungling in case you need to get out of their jungle fast. But never the less if you want stronger ganks then i suppose you could take this.


You can run this instead of flash if you like it more but there really isn't any good reason why you would.



What I will slap you for using-
Heal you need smite and flash, heal has to long of a cool down to be useful for jungling.

Ignite this summoner is not good on any jungler, let alone a support one DO NOT TAKE IT.

Clairvoyance the next person who runs this in solo queue is getting murdered, exhaust is better on supports and CV will never be good on junglers.

Surge No.

Promote this actually isn't a bad spell if you can pull off a late game push strategy but lets be honest, that's not happening.

Revive OP.

Clarity The next person who even argues this is good is getting forced down a meat grinder.

Cleanse You're not an ADC do not take this.

Teleport You're not a top laner and you need smite and flash,

Rally Best summoner in the game.

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Warwick (Difficulty:Easy)

You should win this easily. You can gank before level 6 (unlike him, he cant gank effectively until he gets Infinite Duress). Plus you have more lane presence then he does.

This match up is mostly won through who ever gets ganks off first. Since denying him his red doesn't completely stop him.

You can get ganks off earlier as I said, so if you manage to do this you should be able to easily win this.

If you can get your team to invade his blue he will be useless; a Warwick without a blue buff is useless, and always will be, all game. If you cant do that just take advantage of your early presence and get early ganks off and counter jungle him whenever you can.

When you see him go in for a gank, try to help out if you can. He will start to channel Infinite Duress and his lane will start to whale on yours. Now unless your laner is an Olaf or something that can break CC, you may have to just save your laner.

When you counter gank a Warwick please note that after Infinite Duress ends he is not very strong at all, which means if your lane is at a high enough amount of health you can turn things around and fight and probably get a kill or two out of it.

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Maokai (Difficulty:Medium)

Your best bet is to try to get your team to help you invade his blue buff since he relies heavily on it.

If not you may be able to snag his red buff. Just watch out, you cant win a fight with him if you are at equal health or even if he is a little lower than you since his early game burst is very good compared to yours.

Ganking wise he is stronger, his ganks are ridiculous with Twisted Advance which means he will has a lot of presence.

You may be able to get a level four gank off at top if he jungles until six, but I wouldn't count on it.

All in all try to deny him his blue buff and if not take his red and try to keep him behind so your laners don't have to deal with his **** to early. It also helps to try to get ganks off preferably when he isn't there.

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Lee sin (Difficulty:Hard)

With the season three jungle changes Lee Sin is forced to start machete(unlike Nunu) and now his clear times are very, very VERY slow.

Regardless of this he still remains the same ******** all in one jungler he is, just minus the clear times part. He has great early-mid game damage,great ganks and decent survivability.

The level two Lee sin gank is still do-able and effective with exhaust, I would recommend warding top and if you see him coming in for a level two gank either try to steal his blue or if you cant do that just counter gank him since an unsuccessful level two gank means that he is forced to jungle without Safeguard and without any kill or assist gold which puts him behind.

When Counter jungling; if he gets close to you get out of there as fast as possible, he will win almost any fight you have. It will most likely result in you running away,burning flash or dieing. Make sure to use your wards when invading him.

Expect to see him when you come to gank since you are both early gankers, and although a lot of the time it depends on the health variations and matchup of your laners, more often than not Lee Sin will win just because his early game is so strong.

So all in all try to deny and counter gank him, if you get ahead you can put a lot of pressure onto lanes. If you don't get ahead you will have to counter gank him quite a bit. if he isn't in the same lane as you, you can gank it but if you aren't sure, I assure you it isn't wise to risk getting counter ganked by Lee Sin. Wards are your best friends here; you want to know where he is, as often as possible.

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Dr.Mundo (Difficulty:Hard)

Dr. Mundo is a very annoying jungler to face. He has the fastest clear times in the game and if you happen to run into him at the wrong time he will probably destroy you with a combination of Exhaust, Heart Zapper and Blunt Force Trauma.

However despite this he is very vulnerable to invasion since he does not have pre-6 sustain. Plus Heart Zapper combined with jungle camps will run his health down fast A LOT early game.

if you see him low enough you can probably kill him if hes doing one of his buffs, which will put him behind and give you a lot of free time to put on lane pressure.

But once again its Dr. Mundo. You may mistake him having below half health as you can kill him when really your about to find out how much the 55 AD at level three Blunt Force Trauma gives you hurts. He will use Exhaust and proceed to chop you to bits, so watch out.

When counter jungling him use wards. Because he is so fast at clearing you cant feel safe without vision cause he can come out of nowhere, and chances are; he will.

Lanes should still fear the level two Dr. Mundo gank. Although it's not guaranteed first blood on anything pushed up past the middle of the lane anymore, it is still very strong. I recommend warding top in case of this and counter ganking if it happens.

don't try to steal his blue while he level two ganks. This is because stealing a Dr. Mundo's blue buff doesn't do a ton if hes slaughtering your top laner while you do so.

Pre-6 you can put on a lot of lane pressure since mundo is easily killed by two or more people before level six.

Post-6 though watch out he can take a few hits and do a lot of damage and will most likely pressure the lanes hard, just try to counter gank,counter jungle and don't start a gank if you know he is near.

Same as lee sin; wards are your best friends you want to know where this purple monster is at all times.

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Nocturne (Difficulty:Hard)

Nocturne has become very very strong in the recent season three patch for various reasons.

He has fast clear,great sustain and his post-6 ganks are mental. On top of this he is a big counter to Nunu & Willump due to Shroud of Darkness.

Don't try to invade him unless you know it's safe. If he is level four he will Shroud of Darkness your Ice Blast and proceed to cut you into yeti meat.

Most good Nocturne's will try to farm the jungle until level six unless its urgent. The reason for this being is because Nocturne has very strong level 6 six ganks and he scales well with items. Therefore once he hits six expect him to start ****ing up all your lanes.

You may want to put on early lane pressure to get lanes ahead fast. Because once he hits level six he can gank nearly any lane with Paranoia.

A lot of the time Nocturne will like to hit six,instantly go bot lane after he recalls,fly through the sky onto your ADC and proceed to murder and rape him while you can do nothing about it.

Like I said try to get your lanes ahead cause counter jungling doesn't work well against Nocturne and once he hits level 6 your ****ed.

Oh and one more thing, DO NOT PICK THIS MATCH UP.

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Skarner(Difficulty:Hard)

Now here's the thing about Skarner, you can crush him early. He's slow at clearing and his pre-6 ganks are kind of lack luster.

Set him back before that bug hits six, cause when he does; your laners are going to cry.

Here's what you have to do; try to counter jungle him as much as possible. If you can invade his blue with your team great, now he's slow as hell. Can you steal his red too? If you can then DO IT, FOR GODS SAKE DO IT.

You can out jungle ,out gank and counter jungle him pre-6. The only thing you need to worry about is if you run into him 1v1. He will win any and every fight you ever have with him, cause he is strong duelist and will tank most of your damage with Seismic Bastion. If you find him when he has red buff you are probably going to die.

For the most part just pressure and gank lanes and hope they can press a lead if you give them one. You should be be having smooth sailings early game.

And then he hits level six......... he gets Impale.

He will walk up to your laners, press R and walk backwards as they get murdered brutally.

The most you can do is try to prevent this from happening by counter ganking and knowing where he is at all times.

You can still counter jungle aswell if you know it's safe. If it's not then don't even try.

You can gank if its completely safe cause if you get counter ganked your screwed. Skarner is going to see a squishy nunu, pull you into his Rengar and get a free kill while your top lane sits there,watches and says "I like turtles".




So, pre-6 easy as hell. pressure everyone and gank everyone, but don't fight Skarner without help.

Post-6 Step 1:Start to Cry, Step two: Know where he is as much as possible by warding around your lanes and try to counter gank and counter jungle cause your nunu and it's what your best at. Only gank when skarner isn't near. cause if it's not and you try to gank, your dead.

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Amumu(Difficulty:Easy)

Amumu is an odd match up for a few reasons.

If you shut him down enough you have a free day of ganking,counter jungling and warding.

If you don't he stun locks your teammates until they all die.

The easiest way to shut down this mummy is to deprive him of blue buffs. They will expect you to do this cause it's what everyone does to Amumu but regardless if they expect it or not you should full team invade him if possible.

If you manage to take his blue, ward it after that to see if you can take the next one and starve him of his precious mana even further.

However if you cant take his blue buff try to take his red to deny him any early lane presence.

It's not to hard to do since Amumu is not a extremely fast clearer nor does he do a notable amount of damage

Once he gets Curse of the Sad Mummy his ganks are going to be very annoying. Regardless is he has red buff or not.

So if you cant get ahead of him just counter gank him whenever you can. Also try to invade his jungle whenever possible since invading Amumu is how you beat him.

Only start a gank if you either know he is not there or if you are ahead of him.

But I have already said if you want to win this matchup easily take his blue and deny him from there, it will be the easiest match up you will ever play if you can do this.

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Fiddlesticks(Difficulty:Medium)

Fiddlesticks has become a lot stronger after the season three patch for a few reasons.

For one sustain junglers have an easier time now since the jungle is now tougher to kill making sustain junglers more viable.

And two jungle farming until level six is actually viable since early ganks are less common and less needed than before due to the increase in income from jungle camps and the fact that most junglers no longer start Boots.

If you want to beat Fiddlesticks you will want to deny him his blue buff. This will slow down his jungle speed and keep him from hitting six for as long as possible.

Pre-6 you have the map to yourself mostly. Fiddlesticks pre-6 presence isn't exactly scary at all. This is mostly because his ganks are simply put; not good. He cant make a big use of red buff, and Terrify doesn't have its long duration yet.

As a result you can pressure lanes pretty damn hard and probably get some ganks off. If you can get your lanes ahead you will make everyone's life a lot easier.

However post six it's a little harder.

Fiddlesticks is actually a very effective counter ganker. If your trying to pull off a gank he can just plop in with Crowstorm and kill both you and your laning partner.

Additionally his ganks in general are now relatively good, they are by no means top tier, but they get the job done.

For this reason it may be smart to ward around all the lanes to check for teleporting scarecrows.

If you see Fiddlesticks trying to gank a lane tell or ping to your lane to get back and wait for his ult to end if he uses it. Once it's over go in for a counter gank if your lane is healthy enough. Since Crowstorm is down you should be able to easily win the fight since Crowstorm is most of his damage.

Fiddlesticks has pretty quick clear time with blue buff. So if you plan on invading by yourself you will have to do it fast cause you have no disrupting CC to help you fight him. Which means you will lose any fights you have with him 1v1.

But as I said Fiddlesticks is similar to Amumu in that you can deprive him of blue buffs and he will slow down quite a bit. He doesn't get completely shut down like Amumu does, but it does leave you with a lot of time to get some ganks off.

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Hecarim(Difficulty:Medium)

Hecarim is rather underrated by a lot of people. He has fantastic ganks, his clear times aren't anything to write home about but they aren't bad either and late into the game he is a very effective tank/initiator.

Early game the only strong thing about Hecarim are his ganks. He is a very poor duelist and he cant really chase you until he gets Devastating Charge. But watch out one he does get it he is nearly impossible to chase or escape from, and his ganks will result in kills more often than not.

I would recommend doing what you do to everyone as Nunu & Willump; counter jungle him. You clear faster than him and he cant really kill you in his jungle before he gets Devastating Charge due to his lack of CC. Try to steal his red buff to make his ganks a little less painful for your teammates.

Once Post 6 or Mid game Hecarim hits be very careful and use place your wards far up into the river, since with devastating chare a near the bush sight ward will be to late to save the poor soul who is about to deal with Devastating Charge and Onslaught of Shadows.

His damage also starts to increase A LOT once he gets a few points in Rampage and picks up a Phage or Sheen.

Do what Nunu & Willump does best; Counter jungle, Counter gank and try to have an idea of where the pony is at all times. His ganks are insane with Devastating Charge and Onslaught of Shadows. He can very well snowball with enough kills or assists therefore he will become impossible to kill, and additionally he will melt you in a second. Key rule here is DO NOT FEED Hecarim

If you want to start a gank by yourself try to do it only when he is either; A:Not there, B:Behind you in levels,items or anything or C: If your lane is crushing their lane, you should be able to easily win any fights you have with them.

So as a whole here is what you do; Counter jungle him early and try to take his red buff so that his ganks are less scary. Try to get early ganks off to snowball your lane. When mid game hits, try to make sure you know where he is and counter gank or counter jungle him when you can. If you can press a lead against him, you can easily win this match up but if he gets ahead of you then you are going to start crying.

Essentially this is decided by whoever gets ahead, you can't fully shut him down by counter jungling as his ganks are just that strong. Just try to get a lead early and press it and you should be fine.

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Olaf(Difficulty:Hard)

Olaf has always been a strong jungler and probably always will be. He has the second fastest clear time in the game (after Dr. Mundo), he snowballs very easily if he gets kills and he has pretty strong lane presence.

Much like Nocturne, this match up usually means your ****ed. Once Olaf gets Ragnarok
he ignores all of your slows and most of your damage becomes non-existent since Ragnarok gives you a lot of resistances. On top of that, between the Armor pen from Ragnarok and the damage from Undertow, Tough It Out and Reckless Swing he will melt your health bar down in an instant without any trouble.

The most you can do to him in jungle is take his red to prevent him from ganking early on, however this is easier said than done. Olaf has the second fastest clear time in the game so you will have to ward his jungle to make sure he isn't coming to slaughter you.

When it comes to ganking Nunu & Willump actually has a slight edge. You have higher CC than Olaf does and he relies on hitting Undertow. However Olaf is very strong all game and can easily counter gank and pick up a few kills. For this reason I would recommend trying to keep your distance from Olaf and just ward to make sure lanes know when he's coming. Only gank when you know he's not near cause he can easily kill you. You can't really counter gank or counter jungle just because he out damages you by a TON and he doesn't give a single **** about anything you do to him.

As I said you cant counter gank or counter jungle him because he will just kill you, your best bet is to gank when he is far far away from the lane because even if he's behind he can still kill you. Make sure to ward for your teammates as you wont be counter ganking unless they are very low and just make sure he stays out of your jungle. Just get your ganks off when you can and try to survive this match up.

Oh and same thing as Nocturne, don't pick Nunu & Willump against Olaf.

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Shyvana(Difficulty:Easy)

Shyvana was a top tier jungler in season two but now that season three brings an emphasis on sustain she can no longer run Boots as a starting item.

While this may not seem like that big of a deal, it is. Shyvana cannot gank without boots. The most she can do to you early is counter jungle, but your Nunu you aren't vulnerable to being invaded at all.

Early on I wouldn't recommend counter jungling. she is still Shyvana she will win any fight you have with her all game. Ward your own jungle and clear it. After that try to get early ganks off, you shouldn't be very scared of her counter ganking since she cant gank early on anymore.

Mid game she gets a bit tougher, I wouldn't recommend counter jungling but counter ganking is in your best interest. She has next to zero CC so counter ganking is very easy. If you can catch her with Ice ball and Absolute Zero (after she burns Dragon's Descent), you can pick up an easy kill on either her or her laner more often than not.

Overall this is an easy match up, just try to know where she is and when she is going to gank and counter gank her whenever possible. Make sure to ward up lanes to know when she is ganking so you can come in for a counter gank.

You can also start ganks even if she is near the lane. This is because once again she has a lack of CC and you can often just kill her laner before she can do anything about it.

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Udyr(Difficulty:Medium)

Udyr has slower clear times in the new jungle, but he is still Udyr. He has good ganks, great early game damage,a good chase and escape he is really just the whole package when it comes to jungling.

However the reason this is listed as a medium match up is because Nunu & Willump is just as good, you have high sustain,great ganks,decent clear times,broken counter jungling and a great counter gank you are also the whole package aswell.

Once Udyr gets Blazing Stampede there isn't a whole lot you can do to stop him from ganking. He just has to much CC and Damage. You can try to counter gank but it wont do a whole lot just try to ward and warn your laners about him ganking if you see him.

Mid game things get a bit easier, you get a boost through Absolute Zero while he starts to fall off a bit. If you see him try to gank you can counter gank, try to tag him with both Ice Blast and Absolute Zero to lower his AS since that's where all his damage comes from. You may want to focus his laner depending on who it is. This is because Udyr starts to fall off unless he's fed and whoever he is ganking for will most likely be a bigger threat.

Don't try to counter jungle unless it's safe to. He will win any fight you have. If you are going to steal something take his red, as this will make his ganks a lot less annoying to deal with.

As a whole just try to stop him from ganking your lanes during the early game and once it hits mid game take your advantage at that point and counter gank him any chance you can. As with most high damage junglers; don't try to start a gank when he is near as it will often end badly.

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Trundle(Difficulty:Easy)

Trundle was a mediocre jungler in season two, not because he is a bad jungler but because he simply didn't have a use late game.

In season three not a lot has changed with him, but he can gank lanes early thanks to his great amounts of damage and Pillar of Filth. I wouldn't recommend trying to counter gank him early on just because his early game damage is so high.

You can try to counter jungle him but his clear times are fast so make sure to ward his jungle. Don't try to fight him, he has high sustain because of Rabid Bite and Decompose and he has a ton of damage to go with it.

Once mid game hits it is similar to playing against Udyr except even more so. Trundle falls off SO damn hard mid-late game its not even funny. If you see him trying to gank make sure to counter gank his since you can get easy kills out of it, however Trundle is good at getting away with Contaminate so I would recommend trying to take out his laner instead.

As a whole its the same as Udyr just prevent him from getting fed early and then crush him mid game. Try to counter jungle him whenever you can and don't gank lanes early on if he is nearby.

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Kayle(Difficulty:Medium)

Jungle Kayle isn't seen a whole lot cause a lot of people don't consider it good. What some people don't realize is that; even though Kayle doesn't have a ton of jungle speed nor is she a great counter jungler, what she does have is VERY VERY effective ganks.

If she can get her red buff that along with Reckoning and Righteous Fury allows her to gank with stupid amounts of slows. She is essentially a ranged version of Nunu & Willump. On top of this once she hits six and gets Intervention she is able to tower dive very well at early levels.

Now the easiest way to stop her is to deny her red buff. This can be hard, especially if she is smart and gets someone to ward her red. But even if you deny her red buff her ganks are still very strong with Reckoning alone.

Don't try to fight her if you catch her in her jungle, early game Kayle does way to much damage for you to handle and if she has red buff; you're dead.

Early game she will try to gank as it's when she is very strong. If you see her going in for a gank spam ping to your laner and rush in to try and save him/her. If your laner is to pushed up you might aswell consider him dead so try to warn your laners ahead of time.

Mid game Kayle his relatively weak damage wise, her ganks are still brutally strong with the amount of slows she has, but you are just flat out better mid game. If you see her going it for a gank try to counter gank. She wont do a ton of damage at this point so if your laner is healthy enough you should be able to turn it around.

All in all just keep her off your lanes cause she can easily get first blood 9/10 because her ganks are that strong. Once it hits mid game take advantage of her weakness,counter gank and counter jungle the living **** out of her so that she doesn't cause any more **** for your teammates.

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Jax(Difficulty:Hard)

Now lets be honest top lane Jax is better than jungle Jax. But that doesn't mean jungle Jax cant work well cause in all honesty jungle Jax actually works very, very well against Nunu & Willump.

Now first things first lets take a look at Jax. He has good survivability with Counter Strike and the five Health Potions you get from running Hunter's Machete. He has pretty decent ganks with Leap Strike, Counter Strike and red buff. And most of all if you feed him assists or kills; HE WILL SNOWBALL VERY HARD.

He isn't the strongest ganker in the world but if you let him get ganks off you will be sorry. A fed Jax can and will snowball throughout the entire game, so it's your personal goal to stop this from happening.

Like most of the junglers Nunu & Willump faces he cant fight Jax head on, very few junglers can.

Do you what you usually do and take his red if possible. But make sure to bring a sight ward or twp because if you get caught taking his red you will have to burn flash or you will die.

Make sure to ward your teammates lanes. Luckily Jax's ganks arent anything to write home about and can be escaped from so warding for laners will hopefully give them the time they need to not feed a Jax.

You cant counter gank him that well unless your laner is ahead. If you choose to counter gank make sure to use Absolute Zero when Counter Strike or any other disruptions they have are down.

Don't attempt to counter jungle him if he is in his jungle, if he catches you you are going to take a ton of damage and you will possibly die.

It is wise to get the Chain Vest for your Glacial Shroud early on as having something to help you survive his damage is very helpful.

So all in all the wisest course of action here is to ward lanes a lot and put pressure on them before Jax does. Try to get your lane ahead since there isn't a whole lot you can do to Jax as an individual so you will need your lane to have an advantage of some sort.

I wouldn't pick Nunu & Willump against Jax. If you see a jungle Jax coming pick a jungler that can pressure lanes harder than he can because trying to stop him through counter jungling and counter ganking doesn't work to often.

Also if your asking yourself "hey wait a second doesn't Nunu & Willump counter Jax?" If you are think that then yes you are right. Nunu & Willump counters Jax in TOP LANE, Jax gets beaten by most AP tops but in a jungle scenario in which you're running a support jungler you do not counter Jax cause you simply cannot do much to him especially when he has Master-At-Arms up.

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Shaco(Difficulty:Easy)

Shaco has honestly lost his top tier jungle status a LONG LOOOOOOOONGGG time ago when he got nerfed. But I felt it necessary to include him in here just because he does count as a jungler in my opinion.

Shaco can still early gank because he kills buffs so quickly with Jack In The Box and he can early gank quite effectively. But it is after this point where Shaco does nothing but decieve away from you.

Don't counter jungle him because he will more than likely have a lot of Jack In The Boxs and he can win fights against you. Just stop him from ganking until level six and then counter gank him every chance you get.

Once mid game hits you have a huge advantage. If you run into him in a lane you should be able to win the fight unless their laner is ahead or has a very strong mid game. Basically Shaco is easy to counter gank because he starts to fall off very very early.

As with most other opponents, don't counter jungle Shaco if you have to fight him in the process. Even though Shaco does fall off pretty early, Nunu & Willump is still a relatively weak duelist and the risk of you dieing is very high.

So in conclusion, stop him from getting ganks off on your laners early game as best as you can. Once mid game hits this match up is very easy, counter gank him often because he starts to get weak past this point and you should be able to win a fight with him and his laner if you have your laners assistance. And as usual, take his red buff when you can but don't try to fight him unless he is severely low on health as you will risk dieing and giving him an opportunity to gank freely.

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Extra notes:

-Please keep in mind that I know that there are other junglers that are not in this section, these are just the junglers I consider to be viable or who need some things to be highlighted.

-If you run into below good tier junglers like Xin Zhao or Gangplank just do your regular Nunu & Willump stuff; counter jungle them,counter gank them and avoid 1v1 confrontation.

-If you disagree with anything in this section feel free to say so in the comments, all feed back is appreciated.

There are actually a few jungle routes you can take with Nunu & Willump. This is because of your ability to Counter jungle and gank early on.

Legend: W= Wolves, WR= Wraiths, Blue= Blue buff, Red= Red buff, DG= Double Golems.

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Route one: W - Blue - WR - W - Red - DG (if necessary) - Gank

This is a standard gank at level four route, since your sustain is so high you can gank at level four with a pretty good amount of health left. Make sure to use Health Potions when doing your red and blue buff.

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Route two: W - Blue (don't smite, get hard leash from your top or bot) - Enemy red and Enemy WR (if enemy jungler has slow clear times) - WR - W - Red - Gank

An example of a counter jungle route, make sure to ward the bush by the enemy wraiths to check for the enemy jungler. If their jungler isn't to fast you can take their wraiths as well, just make sure to only take the big blue one.

If their jungler is Lee Sin, Shyvana or Dr. Mundo I wouldn't recommend taking this route unless you know they are starting blue buff over red buff. Pay attention to the enemy laners while in the enemy jungle as their jungler may have asked for them to check the buffs, and in this case if you cant kill the buff in time you may have to run out of the jungle before you die.

Make sure to get your top or bot laner(s) to help you with your blue, just get them to help you damage it down to about 500 health so that you don't lose to much health from doing blue without Smite.

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Route three: W - Blue - WR - W - Red - DG. (Keep on jungling until level six)

I don't recommend this route unless there is absolutely NOTHING else you can do. This is a viable route on junglers like Skarner, Nocturne or Dr. Mundo since they get a huge benefit out of hitting level six as soon as possible, but as Nunu & Willump you are very much capable of early ganking plus more often than not it's smarter to counter jungle.


Never the less if you so choose to run this route the benefits from it are that you get Absolute Zero sooner and you get more gold from farming the jungle which can get you some tasty early items. But as I said there are just simply better things you can do so only run this route if you have no other choice.

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Additional Notes:

-After completing your route, do what you can when you can. For example if you see the enemy jungle trying to gank a lane and you can counter gank it, seize the opportunity and do so. If the enemy jungle has died and you see one of his buffs are up, go take it. etc

-If you aren't going to counter jungle, place your ward in top lane or by your red buff. Either to protect your red or if you are fearing an early gank it is most likely going to happen top lane.

sight wardThis item will always be a junglers best friend. Since you have the ability to roam around freely it is mandatory that you buy some wards to gain map control. Now on Nunu & Willump I start out with a sight ward but this is often used to counter jungle or defend you jungle from enemy junglers. If you have left over gold after buying an item pick up a few wards as placing them for your teammates can and often will change the game.

Other warding related things:

This was often not bought before because buying Oracle's Elixir was better. But now that Oracle's Elixir only lasts for five minutes buying these actually has a use. If you need to destroy a ward early on in the game, but can't afford to spend 400 gold on Oracle's Elixir just for it to fade after five minutes, then pick a Vision Ward up.

This item has gotten significantly nerfed in season three. Instead of keeping it until you die you now lose it in five minutes OR when you die. For this reason it isn't very wise to get this early anymore, regardless if you have a lead or not. However it is still very effective later into the game when you need to clear out a lot of wards, especially those around objectives.

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Ward spots:

Lane wards-


Top lane:

River Wards:

You can place a ward in either of these locations, just don't do it at both. The reason why you should place wards outside of the river bush is because more often than not, if you place it in there when you see their jungler coming in for a gank it will be to late. So to prevent this we place it outside of that bush to have a sooner heads up for when their jungler is coming.

Tri-bush wards:

This ward has a few uses, it is a lot more useful if you are on purple side but it is still a useful ward either way. First of all it helps warn you about if the jungler is coming in from behind you (if you're on purple side) but it also tells you when their jungler is trying to invade.

If you are on blue side this ward is still useful to have vision on any counter ganks or lane ganks that are coming through the tri-bush.

Additional wards/notes:

-It may be smart to ward the bush by the blue side turret. The reason for this being is a lot of junglers like to gank from behind your tower if they are tanky enough but it also helps warn you about counter or lane ganks if you are on purple side.

-Try to not buy all these wards for your top, let them buy some to so you can use some of your wards to help with other lanes or the jungle.

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Mid Lane:

These two wards should be placed at both sides of mid lane, get your mid lane to ward one side while you ward the other. The two of them combined gives you plenty of time to react to ganks and protects you from ganks coming through the side bushes and ganks coming from behind you. These wards also help out a bit with defending/invading so its within your best interest to help out with these.

Additional wards/notes:

If you feel its necessary, place wards in the small bushes leading to dragon and baron. Although these are unnecessary they can help out against junglers like Nocturne and Hecarim who can close the gap between these bushes and mid lane quickly.

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Bot lane:

River wards:

Same thing as top lane place these to watch out for ganks coming through river (obviously). The only difference here is that you can afford placing two wards; one in the river to give you a heads up about early ganks and one in the river bush to check in case they are trying to bait you. The reason why you can do this bot and not top is because since you have a support in bot lane you can afford to ward there.

Tri-bush:

If your support isn't warding this then it may be smart to do so. If you are on blue side then it protects your lane from ganks coming from behind and it helps you defend your jungle from invasion. If you are purple side it helps you check for counter ganks and lane ganks as well as it helps you invade slightly.

Additional wards/notes:

-Ward dragon if your support doesn't it is a huge mid game objective and must be warded.

-If you want you can ward the tri-bush by purple tower. This can help protect purple side from ganks from behind and help blue side with checking for lane and counter ganks.

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Objective wards:



Baron Nashor:



Baron Pit Ward:

This ward is needed, no questions asked. It gives you vision on baron which is the whole point of warding it.


Behind Baron pit ward:

This ward is only needed if you are on blue side. This is because purple team will often try to steal baron by flashing over this pit and Smite steal it or something similar. So ward this so you know if purple team is planning to do this.


Baron River Ward:

This ward is often used because teams like to bait baron and then wait in that bush for your team to arrive. This ward will prevent you from getting slaughtered.


Left Mid Lane Bush Ward: This ward is used for when teams run across mid lane when there are no minions around. It will give you a heads up if they are trying to run straight to baron so that you can do something about it.


Purple Side-Red buff river entrance ward:

This is another ward used by blue team. It lets you know if the purple team is making an entrance to baron through their jungle.


Purple side-Red buff tower entrance ward:

Same thing as the entrance from river. Used by blue team to see when purple team is making an entrance to baron.


Left mid lane jungle bush ward:

A ward used by purple often to see when blue team is making an entrance to baron.


Blue team-Blue side tower bush entrance:

Same thing as the mid lane bush ward; used by purple team to see when blue team is going to baron.


Top lane river bush ward:

Used by either team to have vision on whether or not the opposing team is going to baron through top lane.


Top lane tri-bush ward:

Used by blue team to see if purple team is going through tri-bush from their jungle or top lane. But it can also be used by purple just to see if blue team decides to go to baron from top lane.

Additional wards/notes:

-Purple team can place wards by the blue team's blue buff to see if they will choose that path over the middle lane bushes. I don't usually use this ward though, since it is often smart for blue team to destroy wards near the mid lane bushes with Oracle's Elixir so that you can move through the bushes and get a jump on purple team while they are doing baron.

-You don't need all these wards. These are just some wards that are useful in securing baron. You really only need the baron pit ward and one or two wards in the Baron river or the enemy jungle.

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Dragon:



Dragon pit ward:

This ward is needed no matter what mid game since dragon is so valuable. It gives vision on dragon which is what we are trying to get.


Behind Dragon Pit Ward:

This ward can be used by purple team to check to see if blue team plans on flashing over the wall to attempt to steal dragon.


Bot lane tri-bush:

A ward that is often used by both teams. Can tell purple team if blue team is trying to contest dragon and it can tell blue team if the enemy bot lane is going towards dragon.


Bot lane river bush ward:

Another ward used by both teams. Tells either team if the enemy is coming to dragon through bot lane.


Purple team-blue buff ward

Gives the blue team vision over the purple teams blue buff so that they know when purple team is trying to contest dragon.


Right mid lane river bush ward:

Used by either team to give a general area of vision around the mid lane entrance to dragon.


Right mid lane jungle river bush ward:

Used by blue team to grant vision around another entrance purple team has to dragon.


Purple team-Blue buff side tower entrance bush:

Same as the mid lane jungle ward, used by blue team to grant vision on purple team trying to contest dragon.


Right mid lane Blue team-Red side river entrance ward:

Another ward used by purple team to grant vision on a entrance blue team has to contest dragon.

Additional wards/notes:

-You can place a ward in the wraith bush on blue teams red side if you'd like but you will find it doesn't have a lot of use, as you don't need the early warning like you do while doing baron.

-Once again don't place all of these wards. You only need one in front of dragon's pit and a few wards to cover the entrances the enemy has to dragon.

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Jungle Oriented Wards:

Blue Buff Ward:

These wards are used to keep an eye on your blue buff and to help keep track of where the enemy jungler is and of course to allow you to invade their blue buff easier. If you want vision of the blue buff place it at the edge of the bush that is closest to the golem, if you want vision of the pathway between wolves and blue buff place it at the edge of the bush farthest away from the golem.
If you are trying to steal their blue buff alone place a ward on the edge farthest from the golem so you know when their jungler and/or mid laner is going to turn the corner.


Red Buff Ward:

The wards at red buff are used for mainly the same purposes as the blue buff ones; defending your red buff from invasion and to keep an eye on the enemy's red buff and the area around it. there are two spots you should place wards around red buff. The first one is the usual one where you place it on the edge closest to the camp, same thing as what we do with blue buff. The second ward is a little different though you place it in the bush behind the entire camp, this ward is used for when you try to steal the enemy's red buff. The reason for this is because (unlike blue buff) you can lure red buff into the camps bush to hide it from the enemy jungler. Since we do this it is wise to have a ward behind us to watch our back while we are balls deep in the enemy jungle.


-When you see the enemy jungler trying to do his or your red/blue buff, try to get your team to jump his *** while hes attempting to clear the camp. This will deny him/her the buff and can get you an easy kill a lot of the time.


Wraith Bush Ward:

I use this ward often when your going for an early counter jungle on their red buff, It helps warn you if some Dr. Mundo is going to start coming through chopping your **** up. Later in to the game this ward still has uses for junglers. You can use this to gain vision on where their jungler is and if their mid lane is taking their wraiths you can use the ward to try and pick up a kill on them (with help from your mid).





Tri-bush wards:

Tri-bush wards are not only used for protecting against ganks and counter ganking, It's also used for protecting and invading jungles. A lot of junglers like to go through tri-bush when counter jungling, so warding this will allow you to get your team to help you in slaughtering their jungler for trying to counter jungle a Nunu & Willump. It doesn't help a ton with invading, although it can let you know where their jungler is so you know if it's safe to counter jungle.



Red River ramp ward:

This portion of the map is often highly walked through and therefore it pays off to have it warded and is needed for the entire game. As most jungle orientated wards; It helps you get an idea of where the enemy jungler is at. On top of that its nice for your mid lane as it can them when the enemy jungler is nearby. The last and probably the most effective early use for it is for counter jungling and defending your jungle. The red buff river ramp is easily the most common entrance people use to counter jungle, so if you want to have vision on your jungle at all times this ward is needed. This ward is also very useful for invading since it often tells you when the enemy jungler is going to do his red buff and just gives you vision on where the enemy jungler is at.