With the release of Preseason 5's jungle, plenty of experienced junglers are falling like flies to the stronger, more sophisticated creep camps.
While I haven't had the chance to do extensive testing on in the new jungle, North American challenger tier player Nightblue3 recently put together a quick guide detailing his thoughts on new jungle paths.
Check it out below!
Smiting RED gives HP back, smiting BLUE gives mana back
Sustain Junglers:
- Fiddlesticks
- Warwick
- Pantheon
- Elise
Start first buff(leash) -> second buff(smite it) -> camp afterwards
SSJ: I believe he means you can start at either red or blue as you have the sustain to polish off either one the second buffs by yourself, and then head to any other jungle camp after you get both buffs. I'm a little confused why he considers Pantheon a sustain jungler, but I guess it's because of his shield?Non-sustain/low sustain junglers:
- Rengar
- Kha'zix
- Wukong
- Udyr
Tentative Tier List (A-Z Order)
SSJ: Take the below with a grain of salt, while Nightblue3 is indeed a very good jungler and his guesses are a good starting point to go off of, feel free to test and develop your own strategies! Personally I have won't have any idea what I'm doing until at least this weekend, so this will be where I'm starting from as well.
* = More likely to get this item
Strong Junglers:
- Elise - (Rangers->Juggernaut)
- Fiddlesticks - (Stalkers ->Magus)
- Kha'Zix - (Rangers->Warrior, Max W Evolve W every game? ) ** be very careful pre level-3 **
- Lee (*Rangers or Poacher->Warrior)
- Nasus - (*Rangers or Stalkers -> Juggernaut) *try juggernaut into trinity force (maybe finish trinity before juggernaut)*
- Nunu - (Rangers->Juggernaut) 9-21
- Pantheon - (Rangers->Warrior)
- Rengar - (*Rangers or Skirmishers->Devourer) ** be very careful pre level-3 **
- Shaco - (Rangers->Warrior) ** Will do more testing for tank shaco (full tank after Warrior) & DPS shaco (shiv/tiamat) ** *test ap quint shaco*
- Shyvana - (Rangers->Devourer)
- Sion - (Rangers->Juggernaut)
- Udyr - (Rangers->Devourer) ** need to test Rangers->Juggernaut ** Skill order: R,Q,E,W Max Order: R>W>E>Q make 2 rune pages: 1 attack speed runes/masteries | 1 cdr runes/masteries
- Vi - (*Rangers or Skirmishers(if they have invis champ)->Warrior) ** be very careful pre level-3 **
- Warwick - (Skirmishers->Devourer)
- Wukong - (Rangers->Warrior) ** be very careful pre level-3 **
- Zac - *ap quints* (Rangers->Juggernaut)
Other Misc Junglers:
- Aatrox - (*Skirmishers or Rangers->Devourer)
- AP Amumu - (Rangers->Magus)
- Diana - (Rangers->Magus)
- Gragas - (Rangers->Magus)
- Hecarim 21-9 - (Rangers->Warrior)
- Jarvan - (Rangers->Warrior)
- Maokai - (Rangers->Juggernaut)
- Nautilus - (Rangers->Juggernaut)
- Nocturne - (Rangers or Stalkers or *Skirmishers (still needs testing)-> Devourer
- Sejuani - (Rangers->Juggernaut)
- Skarner - (Rangers->Warrior or Juggernaut(Still needs testing)
- Tank Amumu - (Rangers->Juggernaut) * if you are going to play amumu go AP quints or clear will be hard *
- Trundle - (Rangers->Juggernaut)
- Volibear - (*Rangers or Skirmisher's, still needs testing -> Juggernaut)
Needs More Testing:
- AD Malzahar - (Rangers->Warrior)
- Cho'Gath - (Rangers->Juggernaut)
- Eve - (Stalkers or *Rangers-> *Warrior or Magus (still needs testing, try warrior then trinity force)) *Save chilling smite for ganks*
- Master Yi - (*Skirmisher's or Rangers-> Devourer)
- Mundo cloth start - (Rangers->Juggernaut)
- Rammus - (Ranger's -> Juggernaut)
- Xin Zhao - (*Rangers or Skirmishers -> *Warrior or Devourer)
Timers:
1min 40s spawn
- Raptors
- Gromp
- Wolves
- Golems
3 min spawn
- Crab
Razor Sharp(Oracles) lasts for 1min 30s
TESTING Jungle Clear Speed/Routes with Jarvan:
Blue Side:- Red start (no smite leash) -> blue buff camp -> back afterwards Level 2: 2:18 Level 3: 3:14 Ganking Time: 3:14 with 3/4hp
- Golem start (no smite leash) -> red buff wraiths -> go back and straight to blue Level 2: 2:28 Level 3: 2:54 Ganking Time: 3:45
- Gromp start (no smite leash) -> blue buff -> wolves ->go back and straight to red Level 2: 2:08 Level 3: 2:54 Ganking Time: 3:48
- Alternative options (still needs testing): smite your blue after leash -> gromp -> wolves after : smite gromp after leash do blue wolves after
- Blue start no smite leash to red buff camp afterwards Level 2: Level 3: Ganking Time:
- Gromp start no smite leash to blue buff wolves go back and straight to red Level 2: Level 3: Ganking Time:
- Golem start no smite leash to red buff wraiths go back and straight to blue Level 2: Level 3: Ganking Time:
XP Table (Coming Soon):
First camp gives 300 xp, buff gives 200 xp. second gromp gives 160?DOs & DONTs:
DOs:
- Counter Jungle
- Leave one little monster
- Clear buffs completely if you have time so you can get the timer and xp
- Smite Wraiths
- Smite enemy Wolves
- Try to save smite for wraiths if you don’t need it to kill buffs
- Start bot side (on the golem camp/gromp) with carry junglers (rengar,kha’zix)
- Ask for strong leash (to 10-20% HP on first camp)
- Buy Skirmisher if they have invis lane champ (akali,talon,rengar,shaco,vayne) if you can afford to (not talking about gold, talking about jungler needs)
- Juggle (run back and forth to reaggro dragon while it’s charging up it’s auto attack) dragon (very easy to do now)
DONTs:
- Smite Crab (unless contested)
- Buy Stalkers on carry junglers who farm (Rengar, Kha’Zix, Jarvan)
- Try to do risky barons
- Early dragons with non sustain junglers
- You can smite any camp if you are going to back afterwards, or wraiths are not up
NOTES:
- Harder to maintain vision control & start dragons in this patch
- Tank Junglers are a lot better in this season due to itemization, scaling, and carry junglers having a tougher time early. (Does not mean tank junglers are better than carry junglers)
- If you are playing a feral flare (devourer) jungler, buy it ASAP to start stacking
- Hybrid (AD/AP) champions highly benefit from first dragon, securing it becomes priority
- Hard to make poacher’s effective because of the long respawn timers of camps
- If you are playing a carry jungler and don’t get a good leash on your first camp (golems/gromp) just do your first buff after and go back (level 2) straight to your second buff
- General Statement:Efficiency of jungle items (best to worst): Rangers>Skirmishers>Stalkers>Poachers
Thoughts? What has your experience in the new jungle been like? Comment below!