A Guide to Playing from Behind as a Jungler
How to come back from an early deficit as a Jungler!
So, I’ll set the scene for you. It’s a beautiful Saturday afternoon and the birds are chirping. You decide to load up your favorite videogame, League of Legends, wanting to grind for some LP. The champion select screen pops up and with a smile, you lock in your favorite champion. Everyone loads into the rift and surprisingly nobody is toxic and you’re all joking around. Suddenly, the enemy team invades level 1 and kills you while you’re busy memeing. Now you’re trying to clear your first camp 2 minutes in with no leash, and you spend the rest of the game trying to catch up while you repeatedly hear “An ally has been slain.” Your disappointment is immeasurable, and your day is ruined.
Every jungler has experienced something similar, and it does not feel fun. When you don’t know how to get back in the game, it just feels like the game is lost from the first level and you’re forced to suffer for the next 20 minutes. What we’re going to go over today is how to play from behind as a jungler and turn the game around to get some of that tasty LP.
Soaking Minion Experience
Soaking minion experience as a jungler is something that’s always been recommended. This is more important than ever with the changes to experience that Season 10 has brought along. Rubber band XP has been lowered and catch up experience has been removed. Meanwhile, solo laners gain a lot more experience than everyone else. When you find yourself behind early, it may be a good idea to find ways to soak in some minion experience to catch yourself up.
If you’re a newer player, you may not know how experience in the jungle works, so I’ll give you a brief breakdown. All camps have a level start at 1 just like you do. The higher the level, the more experience the camp will give you. When a camp respawns, its level is equal to the average level of all the players. Since camps respawn quicker after the changes, this results in gaining less experience overall.
Now you may ask, “How do I go about soaking minion experience without getting flamed?” You can’t always control a person’s temperament. We’ve all ran into that player that, if you even so much as touch their minion, they immediately say things so horrid you’d think you’re in a Modern Warfare 2 lobby during the Xbox 360 days. But there are ways to go about this that either help your laner or your laner may not even notice. When you gank a lane, make sure to push the wave with them into the enemy tower while making sure not to take any gold. You can also do something called a transition gank, where you walk through mid-lane to get from one side of your jungle to the other while also reminding the enemy that you exist. Lastly, you can recall in a side bush to both be ready to countergank and take in some experience.
Play to Your Strong Lanes
This is a rule that’s true for jungle for the most part but is vastly more important when you’re behind. If you’re 0/1 and gank a 3/1 Darius, then chances are that Darius is leaving the gank 5/1 while you’re 0/2. Your top laner will also most likely say very unkind things to you. Now, your strong lane doesn’t necessarily have to be a fed team member. You’re not always going to have a fed team member. Your strong lane could be the Veigar in mid with the 15 CS lead and his cage that’s enticingly not on cooldown. Your strong lane is the lane that is not in a severe disadvantage and will actually have something to offer when you gank them.
When ganking these lanes, it’s extremely important to take that lead and press it. If the gank ends in a kill, you have a few options. You can push the wave with them (reference the first section) and get some plate gold, you can get a nearby objective such as dragon/rift herald, or my personal favorite, ask them to roam to another lane with you. If you were to gank that 3/1 Darius before, you were most likely going to feed him. But if you come with your mid laner, your odds are a lot stronger when it comes to taking him down and bringing your top laner back into the game.
Of course, this isn’t foolproof. We’ve all been in those games where the weak side just keeps on feeding and the extremely fed Jinx solo carries the game. Ultimately, this is to increase your chances of winning and claw your way out of the deficit that you were put into early.
Play on the Opposite Side of the Enemy Jungler
When jungling, it’s important to perceive the enemy jungler as if he’s your laning opponent. When making a decision, you must always take into account where the enemy jungler might be. Since you’re playing from behind in this scenario, it’s beneficial to you to play on the opposite side of the enemy jungle. Because of course, they can’t countergank you or kill you in your jungle if they’re nowhere near you.
To accomplish this, you’ll have to put on your safari hat and get to tracking. Pay attention to subtle clues as to where the jungler may be. Did their top laner come late to lane? The jungler is probably top side and just got leashed. Did they show recalling on a botside ward with 12 CS? They probably just cleared their bot side jungle and are going to their top side. Ideally, you want to get deep wards to track the jungle and counter jungle when you can. When you can’t, it’s important to find more creative ways to track the enemy jungler. Keep in mind that every jungle camp is worth 4 CS so when you get really good at tracking you can use this information to your advantage.
Trade Objectives
There are going to be games where you find it extremely hard to get back into the game and get ahold of a lead. When this happens, don’t be afraid to trade objectives because this opens opportunities to snowball. If your bot lane just got ganked and you know that the enemy team is about to take Dragon, it might be a good time to take Rift Herald. Use this Rift Herald to pressure top for plates and help the other side of the map cover up the deficit on the other. The reverse is also true, if your top lane got ganked and they’re going for Rift Herald, it might be a good time to solo Dragon.
Always keep in mind what your win condition is and play towards that to know which objectives to trade and steal more victories. If you have a strong split pusher, it might be a good idea to trade your bot tower for Rift Herald. If you have a strong mid laner, it might be okay to give up Rift Herald if it means taking down mid tower and allowing your mid laner to roam. These decisions come with experience, and that experience will give you the ability to make those decisions at a drop of a hat.
It’s important to constantly think about risk versus reward. Constantly asking yourself questions like, “Should I greed for this CS if it might cost me my Flash”, “I can try to sneak Dragon here, but do I know where the jungler is? Do I have lane priority? If I’m caught do I have an escape route?" This thought process will keep you from playing on autopilot and also give you an edge on your opponents because you’re doing something most solo queue players don’t – think.
Concluding Thoughts
The current state of League is focused on snowballing and closing out games early. Though it may be difficult, it’s possible to bring yourself back from a deficit through good decision making and macro. The takeaway from this should be to take advantages where you can but don’t greed for them. Keep tabs on the enemy jungler and trade objectives when possible. Even challenger players make mistakes, so it’s important to capitalize on those mistakes and snowball leads where possible.
Check out the Energy Pro Dignitas gaming chair for a whole new realm of design and comfort!
