Most people know about the top tier junglers right now, namely Sejuani, Gragas, and Rek'Sai. While they're currently hogging all of the glory, there are still plenty of champions other than those three that can do a lot of work. In this article, we'll be focusing mainly on champions that either aren't played too often anymore or aren't really known for their ability to jungle effectively. We'll also be discussing the pros and cons of each champion so there will be explanations for each and every pick.

Morgana

Morgana, a champion more known for being a support, is actually a relatively decent jungle pick.

Example Item Build:

Pros

1. Jungle clears

Morgana has an alright time killing jungle camps due to the % health damage on her W (Tormented Soil) as well as her passive which grants her +20% spell vamp. Her early clear is a little bit rough but once you start putting points into her W, the monsters die very quickly.

This is approximately what your health should be when killing blue buff.

2. Early Pressure (Ganks)

Surprisingly, Morgana has decent early game ganks due to her Q (Dark Binding) which lasts two seconds at rank 1. If you can land the skill shot on an overextended target, more often than not, your gank will result in a kill. While the snare will last 2 seconds for awhile (Jungle Morgana will want to max W), that's still a very powerful CC ability. Prioritize ganking lanes that have either high early game kill pressure or CC abilities that you can combo with your snare.

3. Early Pressure (Invades)

If you have a Morgana on your team, it's always a good idea to call for a level 1 invade. Her snare is incredibly powerful for catching people out. Generally, you get all 5 members of your team to follow you into the enemy jungle and look for a pick on an unsuspecting player. Do it on the bottom side jungle so you can have the likelihood of binding a squishy target. This can more often than not result in an easy first blood. As Jungle Morgana, you can even level 2 invade, solo. If, for example, the enemy jungler starts on the same side as you (e.g. You start on your gromp and they start on their krugs), meet them at their buff with a point in your Q and W. Snare them, drop the pool, and spam laugh as they die. This is actually something that you can pull off very easily mainly because a lot of junglers remain fairly unhealthy in their first clear.

4. Teamfight Capability

Morgana has an incredibly powerful teamfight due to the catch potential on her Q, the % health damage on her W, her utility from her E (Black Shield) allowing her to effectively protect any target she wants from CC, and her R (Soul Shackles) which allows for high damage and incredible disruption in teamfights, especially if the Morgana can secure a massive ultimate. Her kit is perfect for initiating teamfights, carrying teamfights, and allowing other people to carry teamfights while targets are CC'd.

Cons

1. Susceptible to early invades

While I did state early that Morgana's early clears are alright, she's still relatively squishy. In her first clear, it's likely she'll be at sub 40% health while clearing blue buff. If the enemy jungler decides to invade you, you're probably either dead or had to burn flash. If you anticipate this though, you can prevent it by warding or even changing jungle pathing (e.g starting wolves, smiting wolves for the wolf spirit, then taking blue -> gromp since the wolf spirit can inform you of anyone going into your jungle).

2. Skillshot reliant

If you're not fond of skillshots, Morgana's probably not your best bet. Her snare is way too critical to miss periodically. Fortunately, it has a fairly large hitbox.

3. Reliant on items

Zhonya's is CRITICAL on Morgana. Without it, using ultimate is basically just you putting a target on your head saying "Kill Me Now!" Once you have Zhonya's, you can go for the more flashy 5 man ultimate initiates but, you have to play a bit more carefully without it.

Jungle Morgana is definitely one of my favorite unorthodox picks but let's move on to another fun one. Jungle Karma!

Karma

Karma's a jungler that's a bit more aggressive if you're interested in a champion like that. She's a lot more focused on her early game due to her damage falling off later.

Example Item Build :

Pros

1. Early Pressure (Ganks)

Karma provides a LOT of damage in her early game and a point and click CC ability so her early ganks are actually fairly powerful. An ideal would look like this: Karma runs in with her E (Inspire) on to speed herself up. Karma then uses her W (Focused Resolve) to tether to and then eventually root the enemy laner. Karma then uses her R (Mantra) and empowers her Q (Inner Flame) to do damage to the rooted target. All the while, your laner is also doing their fair share and eventually, this results in a kill. Her ganks are actually best in long lanes (e.g. top and bottom lane) due to the time it takes for her to root a target.

2. Early Pressure (Invades)

Karma's level 1 invade isn't really worth it unless your team is composed of other champions that can compensate. However, her level 2 kill potential is fairly high assuming you start on the same side as the enemy jungler. This is due to taking Q at level 1 and then taking W at level 2 for the tether. You focus on rooting the enemy jungler at their buff and then empowered Q them for the kill. Most of the time, you'll either get first blood. Or force a flash. Or die horrificly once their team collapses on you but lets hope that doesn't happen to you.

3. Teamfight Capability

Karma's teamfighting is decent, mainly in the mid game, though her damage falls off a bit in the late game. That being said, the utility she provides is great. Her empowered E is an AoE team speed up AND shield. She can root a target. She can also poke people and zone people by empowering her Q and then shooting it to block off locations. She doesn't provide the same level of teamfight prowess that Morgana does but she's still fairly powerful.

Cons

1. Clearspeed

Karma has a horrible time clearing. Her Q and her empowered E are her only abilities that deal a lot of damage to monsters. Her W roots targets and helps with her clears but not too much. This results in a champion that is incredibly focused on early snowballing from ganks. Eventually, you'll do enough damage with your Q to clear camps but the early game is really rough.

2. Susceptible to early invades

If you decide not to go for an invade, you're susceptible to one yourself. Karma is a relatively squishy champion and I would expect to hit sub 40% health while trying to clear with her. If you get invaded on, it's likely you'll be forced to burn a summoner or die for first blood.

3. Damage falls off

Karma's definitely a lot more early/mid game focused. Her damage is very high during these points. However, her late game damage is very lackluster in comparison to most other AP carries.

To be clear, these are just picks that aren't common and are viable to play as junglers atm. I don't believe either of these champions are "top tier" but they're definitely fun if you want to try something new! Thanks for reading!