Doubts about 'Jungling' in League of Legends

Question

I am new to League of Legends, only played 10 match in total till now. I read the term Jungling in some guides dedicated to champions of League of Legends. If I understood well it is the process of killing forest creatures.

But I have some doubts about it:

• Is there a specific moment during the match where you can or have to jungle?
• In 5vs5 match a player on a lane could be left alone by another that is jungling and therefore became more easy to kill by opponents. Is it correct and how to prevent it?
• Can jungling be done by all champions or some of them should never try it?

Answer 1

You can play any way you want to and do not have to jungle. However, some champs are so good at jungling, that one usually prefers that to normal laning (Amumu, Shaco, Skarner and the like).

You are right, that a jungler means that one other player is left alone against two enemies. However, he has the protection of a turret, which is enough in the early game to survive. Plus, he levels almost twice as fast as his two enemies, so he will very soon have his ultimate available against two level 3 or 4 enemies. Of course, some champions have a hard time to stay alone in a side-lane. Make sure when you have a jungler in your team, that you have a solo-champ that can hold its own without problems.

Jungling can only theoretically be done by all champions (sure, anyone can go into the jungle and attack creeps there). However, most champions are way too slow to make it worthwhile. They would profit much more from staying in a lane. These champions should not try jungling. If you want to try jungling yourself, then select a champion, for which you have one of these jungling guides at hand. Don't just try any random champion out in the jungle.

Finally, the most important point about jungling is one that most novice players often forget. You do not jungle in order to remain in peace and level up on your own. You jungle, so you can level up and at the right moment appear in a lane for a surprise gank. Enemies have to be constantly aware that a jungler may pop out of a nearby brush all of a sudden turning their 1v1 or 2v2 lane into a 2v1 or 3v2 problem. If done right, jungling can very quickly devastate your enemies, because the jungler has the power to turn around any lane. If one of your team's lanes is having trouble, adding another champion to it will devastate the enemies and at least break their attacks. Often, you can even net a kill or two. If you're a good jungler and help out frequently with ganks, then you will soon outlevel your enemies and the game can be pretty much decided in less than 20min.

So in summary, do not doubt jungling. It is a very popular and strong strategy. However, be aware that being a good jungler is not easy. Especially, when playing together with other novices, who may not know how to deal with a jungler in their own team. I suggest, you try to get at least several dozen games of normal lane-gameplay done, before you try out jungling yourself. And then, start with practice games, so you are certain, that you will survive the early jungle farming. It is most embarassing to die to the golem when no enemy was ever present.

Answer 2

The term "Jungling" generally refers to killing neutral monsters in the jungle starting at level 1. Also, at higher ELO play, jungling is almost required. It will be strange for a team in a high ELO ranked game not to include a jungler.

For starting out Jungling, I would recommend Warwick. Warwick is definitely one of the best junglers if not the best jungler in the game. I would almost discourage jungling with other champions until reaching summoner level 30 (for good jungling masteries) and getting some decent jungle runes, since it isn't that easy to jungle with most other champions.

Answer 3

With the changes to the jungle, you can now run almost any champ in the jungle. However the ones that tend to be chosen is because their ability to counterjungle/clear the jungle/gank. The reason to have a jungler is to have 2 solo lanes for experience and gold as well as being able to put pressure on all lanes simultaneously, especially when you have an strong early ganking champion, such as Alistar, Rammus, Lee Sin.

Runes and Masteries definitely help but they are not required for any jungler. The one other importance of the jungler is to have smite for your team to secure important objectives, dragon/baron/blue buff/red buff. Otherwise, the enemy team can take those without you able to do anything about it.

Answer 4

Jungling is the process of killing forest creatures during the laning phase (the first phase of a game, when everybody else is in their own lane, farming and trying to defend their tower).

This is done for two reasons:

• The jungle is a resource. If there's no jungler getting gold and experience from the jungle, then there's one more player getting that from a lane. Since the lanes are three and the champions are five, this means someone else needs to share the lane with more allies than he could, leveling up slower than the enemies he faces.
• To jungle you must roam the map, which means your position is probably unknown to the enemies (unless they counterwarded) and they will need to play it safe, without overextending, because you might be there for a gank. And if they do, you might be able to gank for true, punishing them for their error.

People can farm in the jungle later. Since junglers usually take jungle-specific items and the Smite summoner spell, they can continue jungling and be even more effective at it, but the faster the neutrals get killed, the easier it is to take them down and go back to a lane.

Jungling of course leaves two solo lanes. Heroes in the solo lane should know that they need to be wary because they are alone. Usually, the enemy team would have a jungler too, turning this into a 1vs1. If your bruiser faces a duo-lane he needs to endure, but he'll farm more than his enemies, reversing the advantage and getting the enemy team two underfarmed characters that are very easy to gank.

As for who can jungle, some champions are faster at it and can stay on par with the lanes. Some don't.