Welcome to my guide for Trundle. In this guide, you'll learn how to effectively jungle with one of the most underplayed and underrated champs in the game. The most common misconception about Trundle is that he's bad. This is 100% not true! Let's take a look at the pros and cons of Trundle.

Pros

• Has the highest overall base stats in the game
• One of the best 1v1 duelists due to his ability to sap the enemy's AD, Health, Armor, and MR, while simultaneously giving himself increased movespeed and Tenacity
• High mobility from Frozen Domain
• VERY fast clear times
• One of the best disengagers in the game due to Frozen Domain and Pillar of Ice
• Can easily melt even the tankiest champions with Subjugate
• Very tanky, while still capable of dealing excellent damage
• Extremely hard to gank/chase/kill due to his overall tankiness plus the speed from Frozen Domain and the ability to block pathways/slow enemies with Pillar of Ice
• Counters Yorick, who is notorious for being one of the safest and hardest to counter picks for top lane

Cons

• Dependent on team to follow up on ganks/initiates
• No hard CC
• Deals only single-target damage
• Outside of his ult, Trundle's only damage ability is a melee-range basic attack
• Subjugate is difficult to use and requires good team communication
• Generally outclassed by the more popular CC junglers
• No boobs

To be honest, there's no good reason to think that Trundle is bad. One look at his kit should tell you that he's incredibly powerful. Most of the misconception stems from the fact that Trundle is one of the least-played champs in the game, so people automatically tend to assume that he's bad. Use this to advantage in order to take people by surprise. Oftentimes the enemy won't realize how powerful Trundle is until it's too late. In the right hands and with a good team that works together, Trundle can be extremely powerful. His issues and perceived weakness stem from his difficulty to play effectively and his need for communication from the team. Trundle is a very high-skillcap champion that requires a lot of patience and knowledge. If you're the type of person that enjoys a challenge, Trundle can be a very fun and rewarding champion if you put in the time to learn how to play him well.

Runes
For my runepage, I use a standard jungle setup. Attack speed reds, Armor yellows, Scaling MR blues, and MS quints. You can also use AD/Armor Pen quints, but I prefer MS.

Masteries
Standard defensive masteries for tanky junglers.

Items
Trundle has a lot of options for his items. For boots you should get either Mercury's Treads or Mobility Boots for extra ganking potential. There are a few items that you absolutely MUST buy for Trundle.

Core Items
Hunter's Machete - One of your starting items. Cheap, helps with clearing, and builds into Spirit Stone.
Mercury's Treads - Now that Frozen Domain no longer gives Tenacity, Mercury's Treads are pretty one of your only two options on Trundle, next to Mobility Boots. Berserker's Greaves and Ionian Boots of Lucidity are also decent pickups if you're going for a more damage-oriented build.
Spirit of the Ancient Golem - Great item for Trundle because it gives him everything he needs. Pick up a Kindlegem after boots/spirit stone.
Locket of the Iron Solari - Standard for tanky junglers. This can give your team an edge in a teamfight, and the cooldown reduction is great as well. Again, make sure you pick up the Kindlegem first.

Other Good Options
Once you've got your core items, you get a little more flexibility in your build. Here are some items that are a good idea.

Frozen Mallet - Helps to lock down opponents. Combined with Trundle's other slows, it will be very difficult for enemies to get away once you've latched onto them.
Trinity Force - If you're looking for a more damage-oriented build, pick this up instead of Frozen Mallet. Trundle makes excellent use of all three procs, and it's an even better pickup now since he doesn't necessarily need the 100% slow from the Frozen Mallet.
Randuin's Omen - More tankiness and CC. Always a good pickup.
Runic Bulwark - Great item if you have a tanky team and/or your support isn't getting it. This could give your team the extra durability it needs to put yourselves ahead of the enemy. Definitely a good idea.
Blade of the Ruined King - Good if you're already stomping and you don't need more tankiness. This will help you melt bad guys even faster. Helps a lot with 1v1 dueling.
Shurelya's Battlesong - The active is very good for chasing down enemies or running away. Combined with Frozen Domain, Pillar of Ice, and Randuin's Omen, it will be almost impossible for the enemy to chase you down or escape.
Warmog's Armor - Gives you a ridiculous amount of health. If you weren't already unkillable, you will be after you buy this.
Black Cleaver - Extra armor shred for damage builds, plus health and CDR.

Situational/Experimental Items
These are items that I personally don't build, but could prove useful in certain situations. Feel free to test these out and let me know what you think of them.

Youmuu's Ghostblade - A nice item, but doesn't do much for the cost. Much better to get a Black Cleaver.
zeke's herald - Doesn't give much health, and Trundle doesn't really make use of the stats other than CDR. Could be useful if you're building completely tanky/support Trundle and your team has a lot of AD champs.
Ravenous Hydra - This has potential to be really useful under the right circumstances. I simply can't justify giving up an inventory slot for this when there are usually much better options.
Statikk Shiv - See Ravenous Hydra.

Sample Builds

Tank

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Off-Tank DPS

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Skill Order

Max Chomp first. This is your main damaging move, and is what makes Trundle such a high sustain/fast clearing jungler. Has low mana cost and almost no cooldown time. Excellent for 1v1.

Max Pillar of Ice second. This is what makes Trundle such a terrifying force in the jungle and in teamfights. It has a significant slow and can block off certain pathways. You can also use it to sandwich enemies between the pillar and a wall, guaranteeing either a kill or a blown Flash. Use this skill to disengage, gank, trap a fleeing enemy, split up a teamfight, aid teammates who are running away, or to check bushes.

Take one point in Frozen Domain at level 2 and leave it there. Use it to get around the jungle and clear camps more quickly, move/attack faster during a gank, and to escape from enemies.

Take a point in Subjugate whenever possible, as usual. I'll go into more detail about this skill later.

Summoner Spells

As usual, take Flash and Smite for their supreme damage and utility. You can also take Ghost if you feel more comfortable with it.

When you first get in the game, buy Hunter's Machete and 5 Health Potion. Make your way over to blue and guard from invasions. Have mid and whoever the closest laner is deal some damage to blue while you tank the damage and take it down with Chomp and Smite. Make your way over to wolves, wraiths, and red buff. If you're still at a good amount of health and no lanes need ganking, continue clearing camps. If you see that a lane needs to be ganked, feel free to take a point in Pillar of Ice at level three. Once you hit level four, immediately begin ganking. Pillar of Ice and Frozen Domain synergize very well with each other, and if a lane if pushed up, then the gank will most likely end in a kill, especially if you manage to sandwich them against a wall. Ganking mid is a bit harder, but you should be able to at least blow a Flash.

When initiating a gank, put down Frozen Domain as fast as possible, and place Pillar of Ice in such a position that the enemy will have a lot of trouble getting around. As previously stated, it is best if you place it so that they are stuck against a wall, but placing it directly behind them works as well. With your extra speed and their slow, you should be able to easily chase them down and kill them with Chomp. If they try to fight back, they will most likely die because of your superior damage and attack speed.

Subjugate is a very important move for Trundle. Not many people understand how it works, so here is a basic summary:

Subjugate drains the enemy's health, armor, and magic resistance, and gives it to Trundle. This amount increases over time.

With this ability, even the tankiest champs can be susceptible to heavy damage. Using Subjugate requires very good timing and communication with your team. Try to use it on the enemy initiator, or whoever your team is currently focusing. You can also use it as a last-ditch effort to get a bit of damage on a fleeing enemy, as it is Trundle's only way of dealing non-melee damage.

Aside from Subjugate, use Pillar of Ice to aid your team by splitting up the enemy team or to allow a fleeing ally to escape. You can also use this to stop an enemy from escaping. I've already covered the many uses of Pillar of Ice, so this is just a brief summary.

Finally, make sure to use Chomp on whoever is dealing most of their team's damage. This will severely gimp their damage, while also allowing you and your to deal heavy damage to them. You can use this in combination with Subjugate and Pillar of Ice to ensure that the enemy dies.

I had thought this was common knowledge, but judging from what I've been seeing, not many people know how to do it correctly. Trundle isn't as good at engaging as, say, Alistar or Blitzcrank, but it is important to know how to do it properly as you will most likely be the tankiest person on your team.

To initiate a teamfight, you must displace the enemy team.

In other words, you need to make people go where they don't want to go. This will scatter all but the most coordinated teams, which will allow for your own teammates to jump in, pick up kills, and hopefully win the teamfight. Now, one important thing to remember is this:

It is okay for you to die, as long as your team won the fight because you died.

Please don't take this as meaning that you should go out of your way to die. Because you shouldn't. What I'm saying is, if you can succesfully engage a team fight and you happen to die in the process, it's not the end of the world. Don't be afraid to just go in. Remember that you are the initiator. You're the one that has to make the first move, or else your team will just get poked to death until the enemy realizes that they can totally just kill you. Which they can, because you didn't initiate like you were supposed to.

Pillar of Ice is a great tool for displacement. You can put it down in the middle of the enemy team to split them apart, or use it to block off their escape path. Where Trundle really shines, though, is disengaging, peeling, and counter-initiating.

Because of his high mobility and massive tower of ice, Trundle is very good at these things. If you're unfamiliar with these terms, they all have similar meanings.

Disengaging is when your team is getting smacked around too hard and it's time to retreat. Oftentimes it can be tricky to get someone to stop trying to kill you, especially when they're trying really hard to kill you. Thankfully, Trundle comes equipped with a giant ice-tower that is perfect for making people give up. Place it in between the good guys and the bad guys or in narrow passageways for best effect.

Peeling is similar to disengaging, wherein an ally is being chased by a non-ally, and you need to get them off. Much like disengaging, this mainly involves putting ice in front of them until they stop chasing your friends. You can also feel free to attack them, because there's no way that anyone can catch you. The more you mess with people, the less likely they are you ignore you. In other words, just start trolling.

Counter-initiating is pretty self-explanatory. When the bad guys try to initiate, you can put a stop to that. At this point I don't think it's very necessary to explain how. If you still need help with that, please re-read this section. Also, stop drooling on your keyboard.

What I'm trying to say here is, Trundle is very, very good at messing teams up. What he lacks in initiation, he more than makes up for in counter-initiation capabilities. Play him defensively, wait for the opponent to mess up. Then capitalize on it by forcing them out of position and hopefully your team will eat them alive. Don't forget to ult whoever your team is focusing if it looks like they're having trouble.

That's about the end of it. Trundle is a single-target champion with very fast clear, high durability, a lot of utility, and decent damage. He's tons of fun to play, and most teams don't know what to expect when they face a Trundle.

Thank you for reading my guide. If you have any questions/comments/suggestions, my IGN is Halfwaycroox. I will generally accept all friend requests unless my friend list is full. Happy trolling!