Recently, I've noticed some pro players (and subsequently regular players) using Doran's Blade to start in jungle instead of Hunter's Machete. When is this a good idea? Is it specific to certain champions or is it situational base on the early game strategy?
Note: This question sounds similar but is not what I'm asking (its also super outdated)
Basically, Doran's blade is a good choice if your jungler is very strong and doesn't need the advantages from the Jungling items, or if your jungler intends to play a very gank-heavy game. The more time you spend jungling, whether because you are a weaker jungler or because you aren't ganking so much, the more valuable jungler items are.
It's important to realize that its not primarily a comparison between hunters machete and dorans, its more importantly a comparison between having a jungler item like wriggles or a spirit of the x versus a non-jungler item in the midgame.
The only two champions I've seen use Doran's successfully jungling are Aatrox and Shaco. I don't understand how it works on Shaco -- I did it once on accident and only did well because of a lucky start. On Aatrox, it works because he has insane built-in sustain with his W. Aatrox literally never HAS to b when jungling and maxing W, you only b because you choose to for item purposes (or post-gank/fight to be safe -- because his W heals double under 50% hp, even if you're really low as Aatrox, you can still farm the jungle with a doran's!)
There are surely other champions that can Doran's start, but I can't think of them off the top of my head. Aatrox not only can start Doran's, but he SHOULD.
