Overview

So far at Worlds 2016, 11 unique champions have been picked in the jungle. Many of these champions have been staple junglers for the entire season while some have risen to prominence on the world stage.

Patch 6.18

Before I discuss Patch 6.18, I must mention a large change in Patch 6.17. Gragas who had been one of the top tier junglers for most of the season has been nerfed out of viability. In this patch, Gragas received a large cooldown nerf to his E, Body Slam, which hurts his jungle clear. His ultimate also received a .5 second travel time which makes his engage very easy to avoid. On Patch 6.18 Lee Sin, Nocturne, and Rek’Sai received minor but impactful changes. Lee Sin received a 5% lifesteal and spell vamp increase at all levels for his W, Iron Will. At level 1, this 5% increase is a major buff to his early game sustain. Nocturne received a .25 second duration buff on his E, Unspeakable Horror, which is a minor buff but is a buff nonetheless. Rek’Sai received nerfs to her base armor and armor per level, which hurts her early game clear and makes her popular Tiamat build leave her slightly less tanky until she builds defensive items. These changes have led to Lee Sin rising to prominence and Rek’Sai slightly falling out of favor.

Lee Sin

Lee Sin has been a niche pick for most of the season, as he has been outclassed by junglers like Nidalee, Graves, Gragas, and Rek’Sai. Now that all of these champions have been nerfed, he has risen in popularity. Also with the end of the lane swap turret trade meta, his early game power can be utilized to its full potential. Lee Sin has incredibly powerful early game ganks and dueling which allows him to invade his enemy's jungle. When team fights begin, Lee Sin can engage at any time with a Fast “Insec” Kick to catch out an enemy. I have included a clip below from the Worlds quarterfinals between SK Telecom T1 K and Royal Never Give Up. This clip highlights the power of Lee Sin’s engage when Liu ”Mlxg” Shi-yu is able to knock Bae ”Bang” Jun-sik’s Ezreal into his team, securing a quick kill. Lee Sin’s weakness lies in his inability to scale into the late game. If Lee Sin and his team cannot end a game quickly, he will end up being only useful for his engage which can be risky to attempt later in the game with high death timers. Lee Sin has been built with a Tracker's Knife with the Warrior enchantment followed by situational tank items. MlXG Insec Worlds 2016

Elise

Elise has suffered similar problems to Lee Sin in that she has been outclassed by better junglers for most of the season. As an early game jungler, Elise differs slightly from Lee Sin in that she is known for her very fast jungle clear speed. Proper use of her crowd control can make a gank performed by Elise impossible to react to. Elise can rely on her high burst damage for most of the game, though it falls off after the 35-minute mark. If her team is behind, she does not provide much to her team as she only possesses one crowd control ability, Cocoon, which affects one target. Elise is usually built with a Tracker's Knife with the Runic Echoes enchantment followed by a Rylai's/Hextech Protobelt and a situational tank build.

Olaf

Olaf has been popular since the nerfs to Gragas, replacing him as the premier tank jungler along with Rek’Sai. Olaf has everything a jungler would want and more: fast jungle clear, strong early game ganks, strong dueling, good teamfighting, and he is much stronger late game compared to most of his jungle counterparts. Olaf’s bread and butter ability is his ultimate, Ragnarok. This ability passively gives increased armor and magic resist and when activated, it removes any crowd control and gives Olaf crowd control immunity for the duration, a huge movement speed increase when moving towards enemies and, to top it all off, an attack damage steroid. His ultimate combined with the summoner spell Ghost allows Olaf to simply run down his opponents with 500+ movement speed and no way to stop him. Olaf’s weakness lies in how strong his ultimate is. If Olaf is caught without Ragnarok, he can be kited fairly easily. Olaf is built with a Tracker’s Knife with the Cinderhulk enchantment followed by a situational tank build.

Rek'Sai

Rek’Sai has fallen out of favor recently due to consecutive nerfs but she still remains a top tier jungle pick. She has a fast jungle clear, very strong invade potential with aggressive use of her E, Tunnel, which also gives her unique gank paths and her Ultimate Void Rush allows her to go to any Tunnel she has on the map giving her strong map pressure. On top of all of this, Rek’Sai has unmatched vision control with her Tremor Sense which lets her see enemies in the fog of war. Rek'Sai’s weakness, like many junglers, lies in her relatively weak late game. Besides her knock up, Rek’Sai does not provide much to late game team fights. Rek’Sai is generally built with an early Tiamat rush followed by Tracker's Knife with the Cinderhulk enchantment and a situational tank build with some players completing Titanic Hydra when they get a lead.

Nidalee

Nidalee is by far the best jungler at Worlds, her strength is clear with a 100% pick or ban rate over 53 games. Nidalee is head and shoulders over her competition, with a lightning fast jungle clear, high kill pressure invades, and strong ganks that puts her early game on par with Lee Sin and Elise. Nidalee builds full AP which lets her scale into the late game with constant long range poke and a spam-able heal for her allies and herself. Nidalee’s only real weakness is a weak late game if she falls behind massively but a Nidalee is hard pressed to fall behind because of her strong early game.

Graves

Since Kindred has fallen out of the meta, Graves is the only marksman jungler played currently. He has fallen out of popularity for most of the summer season and has been a rare pick at Worlds so far. Graves has access to a good jungle clear that lets him scale into a teamfighting monster that can easily burst his enemies. Graves can get relatively tanky but he is not as tanky as junglers like Olaf and he has to get into close range to deal damage which can be very dangerous. I believe Graves will stay a rare champion due to being outclassed by other top tier junglers. He is built with a Tracker's Knife with the Warrior enchantment followed by a Phantom Dancer, Black Cleaver, and situational damage items.

Skarner

Skarner has been a strong pick that is valued for his strong pressure with his Ultimate, Impale, and his unrivaled zone control through his Crystal Spires located around the map. He is strong at all stages of the game but suffers late game from teams building items like Mercurial Scimitar and Mikael's Crucible that hard counter his ultimate. Skarner’s weakness is his binary playstyle, He has only one option and that is to engage with his ult and pull an enemy carry into his own team. This is easy to play around and can make a Skarner useless. He has seen a variety of builds going either Stalker's Blade/Tracker’s Knife with Cinderhulk/Warrior enchantment followed by a full tank build with some players building Trinity Force if ahead.

Hecarim

Hecarim is a unique pick in many ways. Unlike most junglers who are picked for their early game strength, he is picked for his strong midgame and teamfighting which can let him snowball into a very high damage threat. His weakness is how easily he can be abused in the early game. He can’t duel any of the meta junglers and can be out-pressured by the likes of Lee Sin, Elise, and Nidalee. He usually builds Trinity Force first, followed by a Skirmisher’s Sabre with the Cinderhulk enchantment and a full tank build.

Zac

Zac is a good early game ganker with his E, Elastic Slingshot, which allows him to initiate a gank from the fog of war. He also has good teamfighting ability with his long range engage and the area of effect knock up on his ultimate, Let's Bounce. He has seen little play due to his crowd control being unreliable. He is built with Tracker’s Knife with the Cinderhulk enchantment followed by a situational tank build.

Nocturne/Kha'Zix

I have included both of these champions in one section because they are niche picks who I doubt will be picked again. They both fulfill the same role as squishy melee assassins who want to one-shot the backline. They simply do not have a place in this meta where a tank jungler is needed and they cannot survive most teamfight scenarios. Nocturne is built with the Skirmisher’s Sabre with the Warrior enchantment and an armor pen focused build with Duskblade of Draktharr and Maw of Malmortius. Kha'zix is built with a Skirmisher’s Sabre with the Warrior enchantment along with a Black Cleaver, Duskblade of Draktharr, and situational damage or tank items depending on what he needs.

Conclusion

The jungle meta at Worlds has been set. I do not expect any new champions to enter the jungle pool. I do expect to see more emphasis put on Skarner who has seen very little play and has only been banned once.

My summoner name is Alexmanpersonguy on NA if you have any feedback or questions add me. Thank you for reading!

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