What are the characteristics that a champion should have to jungle?

Question

In general, what characteristics should a jungling champion have?

Answer 1

You can actually "jungle" with anybody who is able to full-fill these requirements:

1. Clear the jungle in a decent time and with enough health left, so you can efficiently gank the lanes and don't get behind in gold & experience.
2. Be able to duel the enemy jungler in case of counter jungling. This is crucial in higher elo levels, because you will get counter-jungled 8 out of 10 times in platin or higher. (for example: Amumu is considered a decent jungler in lower to mid range elos. In high elo play he is a dead fish in the water because he can't duel till lvl 3-4 or later. Decent teams will abuse that to make you fall behind.)

And thats it. The rest is up to your preference. Keep in mind that you only truly jungle during the laning phase, after that its team-fights and free roam ... In other words: Your skillset should be be useful in this phase as well.

Answer 2

I disagree with some other answers, "great ganking potential" is simply optional. When Shyvana was becoming popular in the professional scene, it was a shock to many people because her gank potential is terrible. However, she had a fantastic clear speed and great mobility, making her great at taking her opponent's jungle camps and therefore denying them experience.

A jungler needs:

1. The ability to clear jungle camps (relatively fast to be useful as a jungler)
2. Survive the jungle, which many champs have a hard time with, even with runes.

Strong base armor or health stats can help your survivability, and many champs have passives or abilities that either:

• A. Give them health back per hit/ability, extending survivability.

  B. Deal area of effect damage, making it easier to clear creeps quickly.

Answer 3

A jungler should be able to:

• Clear the jungle fast
• Be able to survive the jungle (obvious, but important point)
• Be able to gank well

Another thing to consider is how well they can invade the enemy jungle, and how well they can deal with being counter-jungled.

Some junglers specialize in one area (Ex. Alistar is not the best at clearing the jungle but can gank VERY well). Other junglers can do everything good, but not the best (Ex. warwick can clear the jungle good but not the fastest and can gank but has trouble with it until he has his ultimate).

Here is a tier list of junglers used http://rog.clgaming.net/tier-lists/46-jungle/latest

Here is a GREAT guide that can give you more information http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/who-is-your-jungler-and-what-does-he-do-114118

Answer 4

I created my own metrics for calculating the efficiency of junglers.

I grade every aspect from 0 to 10. Than add them up and compare junglers. The grading part can be subjective especially if the person doesn't have enough experience in the jungle.

The metrics are:

• Lvl1 fight: The ability to fight at lvl1, amumu cant do anything, while riven can deal massive damage or aatrox reviving. Add these: (AoeCC=5, aoedps=4, sustaineddps=3, somecc=3,bushcheck=3,aura=2,utility=1)
• Lvl2 gank: The ability to gank at lvl2, this wins solo ques, you need to throw people offguard with a lvl2 gank. xin zhao would get 10 in this field. Add these: (Easy to perform CC=5, Harder to perform CC=3, Displace=5,High damage=4,Sustained damage =3, Easy dash=4,Hard dash =2,Soft CC=2, Chasing potential=2)
• Lvl3 gank: The ability to gank at lvl3, some champions can not gank before 3, some can gank at 2, but their 3rd skill is useless. Riven for example, good at lvl1, better at lvl2, even better at lvl3. While a master yi gets heal at 3 which does nothing for his ganks at 3. Add these: (Easy to perform CC=4, Harder to perform CC=2, Displace=4,High damage=3,Sustained damage =2, Easy dash=3,Hard dash =1,Soft CC=1, Chasing potential=1)
• Lvl6 gank:The ability to gank at lvl6, some champions get in god mode at 6. Warwick lvl6 gank is pretty much guaranteed kill, udyr 6 isn't gonna do much difference than 5.
• Mid-game teamfighting: presence in mid-game teamfights. Bruisers like leesin, khazix shine in this part, 2-3 man teamfights.
• Late-game teamfighting: presence in late-game teamfights, aoe like malpite, amumu shine in this part.
• Jungler clear time: 10 = Fast aoe, 8 = good aoe, 6 = slow aoe/ no aoe high damage, 4 = good damage, 2 = ok single damage
• Buff clear time: Ranking from fastest to slowest
• Dragon clear: 10 = Early solo, 8 = mid solo, 6 = late solo, 4 = can tank, 2 = meh damage
• Counter jungle: Add 2 for each ability, Dueling, Fast clearing, Escape, Assasinating, Extended vision, Crowd control, Sustain
• Sustain: 10 = Always full life, 8 = Usually full life, 6 = Shield and damage reduction protection, 4 = Clears fast, 2 = Some damage reduction

Here are a few results: Kayle: 7,9,9,8,8,10,10,8,8,10,6 = 93 Amumu: 3,4,6,10,10,10,8,8,6,4,6 = 75

I am a diamond solo, challenger team jungler from s3 and ex semipro player.

Answer 5

1. Their jungle clear times.

2. Their ganking potential. How strong are they in controlling the lanes around the map.

3. Objective potential. Can they secure dragon or baron with ease.

4. Their counter jungle ability. How strong are they in controlling the enemies jungle.

For the most part a good jungler has 3 out of these 4. (With a few exceptions e.g. Maokai).

When these are factored in you can get a powerful jungler.

Answer 6

1. Ok first of almost any jungler "can" keep up in levels with laners however said champion must have some form of sustain as well as a relatively good clear. Now the way to do this is to farm, farm and farm. Farming and ganking are the most effective way to keep up in levels with your laners and I have actually managed on numerous occasions been able to get ahead of everyone in the game by doing this. The simple trick is basically buy pots both health and mana pots however champions like lee sin riven etc. do not need mana pots and in some cases health pots.
2. Another thing you do is ward especially pink ward encourage your entire team to buy at one because you are limited to one, I normal buy a pink for this area of the map {star 1 in image} and that now {star 2image} depending on which laner I feel is mostly likely to be ganked and which area of the map the enemy jungler Is most likely to be moving around more. While warding does not give you bonus exp it allows you to effectively counter gank a jungler gank or roam gank from either mid and top and rarely bot lane. By keep vision of the map you know where you're enemies are and can safely farm.

3. When you're lanes are either being ganked or being pressured a lot of people make the huge mistake of ganking lanes where the enemy laner is fed or at an advantage it’s a terrible thing to do on account to the fact that they are usually ahead, what you can do to help your teammate is simply:

   • scare them a bit by dealing free damage (basically you will recall and whatever damage you take is irrelevant or they are in a position where they cannot trade with damage with you) and just walking away

   • helping you're teammate push (free exp and gold)

   • hold lane while their back (free exp)

   • Taking down turrets (map control, gold, and exp) or dealing some free damage to the turret.

4. Champions that do not make a good jungler anyone can take shaco who is one of the stronger early game gankers in the game and completely fail by feeding or ganking a lane where you're teammate does not help you or simply getting invaded and give first blood. To avoid all of this you ward and farm up, gank when its safe using wards and paying attention to the map.

5. Sometimes though you cannot farm in your own jungle if that seems to be the case the best decision you can make (this will happen usually when mid and top laners who are counter picked or just not experienced enough to play against xxx champion or player) is to completely ignore these players advise them to freeze lane and try you're best to farm up help out different lanes. I once played a game where my mid did ok my bot was being pressured and my top lane Teemo was somehow losing to a Fiora (Teemo generally crushes AA champions with zero CC) and I was Gangplank so my ganks pre six would have been highly ineffective so I farmed and bought a ward every single time I was home or when they killed my pink, by keep this constant vision on the map and utilizing my ultimate as a utility spell rather than a "KS" or ganking spell we were able to keep all our turrets up throughout the entire game less our top lane and get ahead when the enemy laners became impatient and started to dive and pressure lanes without wards. PEOPLE will do this no matter how good they may be by playing safe and warding you will force them to make mistakes especially in lower "ELO's".

6. So answer your question directly. Any champion that has "moderate clear time relative to the enemy jungle champion", has some form of sustain either by abilities or by an item (vamp sceptre on shaco, lee sin, zed, udyr etc.) and at least ONE hard cc ability (sejuani, zac, and wow basically any tank the down side being of course most tanks have very low clear times however off tank such as shyvana volibear and javarn amongst a few can excel with a few items) will work and FINALLY you're champion must be able to either escape or dual the enemy jungler if that jungler is an invading jungler ALWAYS start red or the buff they are highly unlikely to start at (master yi would normally start blue so he will invade you at red to counter that you will start red) use warding totems on the river in case they do a level 1 invade and IF you see any enemy jungler invading with either top or mid or both ALWAYS go in to steal their buff do not try to fight them as these engages never really end well it’s a huge gamble and solo q is generally well lacking on the team play side if they are invading you then that’s a sign that they agreeing and working together which generally is a good thing but not for your team.

   This season hit jungler's very, very hard however we were also buffed so if you understand the mechanics of a champion you will you are good at exploit the spirit items I have noticed a lot of junglers without one 12 minutes in the game and this completely wrong secondly spirit items are far better than wriggles even with its recent buff the item does not give you heal on smite which a lot of people do not seem to notice, the heal you get from smite with a spirit stone or any spirit item is far better than the ward and bonus damage you get later on in the game from wriggles I have experimented on this and I can safely tell you spirit item > wriggles at nearly every point of the game the only time you want wriggles over spirit stone I would image is if you are absolutely confident you will not need the sustain and you will make better use of the sustain provided by wriggles which scales very well with attack speed champions and items however works terribly on champions that are mana hungry and/ or have low sustain.

   In case you are thinking about it. Doran blade start is highly ineffective in this season unless you get 1k gold PLUS on your first back if you do not then you are immediately behind I say this for two reason first I have tried it second you want a jungler item complete as soon as possible so if you do not get at least two kills early be it you’re on or assists then you will have sustain problems and have to “b” a few times. So starting machete is generally the best.

   I have been playing league of legends for a year and spent 80 % of that time as a jungler. I also watch streams by trick2g, stonewall, nightblue2 and theoddone and am very familiar with every single tactic by most junglers in every elo below gold by personal experience and above by watching streams and reading articles. I may not be a pro but I definitely have experience

Answer 7

My account is Challenger Tier . And from my years of playing this game , 2 reasons why a champ should or could jungle . 1. Sustain . You need sustain as a jungler , You dont want to recall every wraith because 1) You lose level and 2) Your smite is weaker so You can easily get outsmitted or even killed by champs like j4 or lee sin. 2. CC . Crowd control is the reason why junglers are able to grant you kills . If you aren't able to stun or put some type of CC . You will probably never get a kill/assit unless you have a high burst champion .