The position of Jungler is one of the most flexible roles in Smite. A Jungler can be a damage-oriented assassin looking to carry the game for their team, a tanky front liner looking to initiate fights and set up kills, or something in between. Any one of these Jungle play styles can be responsible for a team’s success, particularly in the early game and mid game. Being an efficient Jungler throughout the game will make it easier for your team to gather a lead and push forward to victory. Here are five tips to maximize efficiency as a Jungler.

Draft Phase

Yes, efficiency in the Jungle starts in the draft phase. While you are always free to pick whichever god you want to play, picking your god based on what you team needs will provide you and your team with a higher chance of success. Does your team lack sources of damage? Perhaps picking a hard carry assassin such as Ao Kuang or Ne Zha will help give your team the damage they need during team fights. Does your team need a better front line? Try picking something tanky like Erlang Shen or Fenrir. Or perhaps what your team needs is balance. A god like Thor can offer consistent damage, a good amount of crowd control, and can be built tanky if necessary, making him fit into a wide variety of team compositions.

It is also a good idea to consider early game versus late game. In the current meta, Junglers with early pressure are thriving because they can allow a late game god like Chronos to transition through the early and mid game more smoothly. Other times our team may already have a great early game, therefore you are free to pick a late game monster such as Kali to provide your team with tons of damage later on.

Ne Zha is a late game assassin who has very high single target damage

Working with your Mid Laner

As a Jungler in the early game, your Mid Laner is your best friend. It is important to work closely with your Mid Laner to farm quickly and efficiently. A good rule of thumb to follow is together after you clear a wave, find something else to farm, whether it be contesting mid camps, taking a buff, or invading. Whatever you do, avoid sitting in lane until the next wave. Your Mid Laner should rotate to jungle camps with you during this time to make sure you can clear the camp and be back in time for the next minion wave.

While it isn’t always necessary, having your Mid Laner gank with you is another great idea, giving you a greater numbers advantage on your opponent. With a god like Janus, the two of you can use Janus ult to gank a lane quickly, and potentially get back to Mid without missing a wave.

Paying Attention to Relics

Knowing what Relics your team has available and what Relics your enemy has available to them is extremely helpful, and it is a major step in becoming a better Jungler and player overall. Perhaps the most important Relic to keep track of is Purification. Any time that you know someone’s Purification is on cooldown, it makes them a perfect target for a gank, and improve the chances of the gank being successful. Killing the enemy can open up opportunities to steal some of the enemy's Jungle camps or take an early Gold Fury. Later in the game, an enemy without Purification should be one of the primary focuses for your team to kill since you will have the upper hand on that enemy.

It is also important to make sure you keep track of your own Relics. Naturally, it is safer to fight the other team while your own Relics are available. If they are on cooldown, your enemy may be looking to target you in the next fight, so it is wise to play cautious until your Relics are available. It is difficult to keep track of all of the Relics in the game, but the more you can keep track of the better. Communicating with your team is very helpful in this case.

The Purification Relic removes all Crowd Control effects and makes you immune to new ones for 2 seconds. It has a 160 second cooldown.

Invading

By invading, I don’t mean at the start of the game. If your team has the early advantage, it allows you and your team to start taking the enemy's Jungle camps, stretching your lead and denying farm to the enemy team. The easiest time to do this is when the Buff camps respawn for the first time. While the timer may not be visible, it’s usually safe to assume that the buff will respawn very close to the same time as your own, since you most likely had the same start. If you have strong Mid pressure, the enemy speed and blue buff are the easiest targets for invades. While it isn’t necessary, it is always a good idea to ward before you invade in case the enemy team tries to force a fight. If you invade successfully, the timer for the buff will be visible, to allow for future invades. Stealing the enemy’s Jungle can put the enemy team behind, allowing your team to have the advantage in objective team fights and allow for a smooth transition into the mid game.

Stealing the enemy Jungler's speed buff will allow you to rotate faster than your opponent, while also denying the enemy experience and gold

Communication

Maybe the title should have been “4 tips for Junglers and one for Everyone”. Communicating with your team is one of the most important keys to success. Even if you aren’t in voice chat with your team, using the VGS system can still be an effective tool. As a Jungler, you can call out ganks so your teammates know you are coming, make calls for sneaking a gold fury, and much more. Communicating as much as you can will help your team be more coordinated and function as a unit, especially later in the game during team fights, or after a fight when sieging towers or taking an objective. Also, make sure to talk to your team if something is going wrong and keep things positive. Positive communication will always be more effective than playing the blame game.

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