We all know the situation, you've been ganked successfully by the enemy jungler four times in a row and you're desperate to get some help from your jungler, but nothing you try seems to work out for you. This can very quickly escalate and become one of the most frustrating experiences in League of Legends, and very often players will take it out on the jungler. However this guide will be focused upon you, the laner, and what you can do to help your jungler to help you out in your time of need.

Vision is OP

75 gold for 3 minutes of safety when farming your lane. 100 gold for potentially permanent safety and denying the safety of your opponents. Just thinking about the prospects of these items should be every MOBA player's dream. What better feeling can there be to know that you don't have to worry about that pesky Vi coming behind you and ruining your fun time farming minions? All of your jungler troubles can be removed by buying a single ward every time you recall and actually placing it. As the old saying goes, "A ward in the bush is worth two in the inventory. Or maybe more."

All jokes aside, buying a ward and placing it in a position that gives a good amount of vision in an area can essentially completely shut down an entire path that a jungler would take to surprise you. Even a stealthy character such as Evelynn will be fooled for just a 25 gold upgrade. Placing wards to cover your own hide is vital to successful laning, as it keeps you safe from harm, and also gives you the knowledge of when you are able to play aggressively; and Riot was nice enough to give every single summoner who enters the rift a free, re-useable ward trinket, how nice of them! Now it's up to you to buy your own wards, place them effectively and use the information that they give you. Which brings me on to point 2:

Using the interface efficiently

So you start playing a game of League of Legends. What do you see in the bottom right (by default) corner of your screen? A mini-map. This little square should be regarded as the holy grail of all in-game knowledge, but only you can help yourself to drink from the wonderful gooey success that lies within it.

A minimap littered with wards is a beautiful thing, one that you should look at as often as possible and take in the information it's throwing at you. For example, say you placed the ward that point 1 convinced you to purchase, great! You placed a ward in the top river bush, and you see the enemy jungler approaching your lane. When that happens to be the case, it's probably best to back away for a little while until they go away, or at least so that you waste some of their valuable time that could be used farming camps, ganking lanes or pushing for objectives.

Alternatively, if your own jungler is in the area, and you feel as though you're stronger than the enemy, call to him to come and counter gank, and try your best to bait the enemy jungler into unknowingly engaging into a surprise 2v2 fight in which they have the disadvantage. However, if the enemy jungler is closing in on you, you probably don't have much time to type a long, heartwarming essay to your teammate to ask him if he would perhaps come and join you to engage in a jousting match with the enemy. "So RustyTron," I hear you call "How do I ask my teammate for help if I don't have time to type a message to them?" Well, let me tell you about point 3..

Pinging

Knowing your ping shortcuts and using them correctly provides a huge advantage to you, as, ever since the new pinging system was introduced by Riot, communicating with your teammates couldn't be simpler! See the enemy jungler coming to your lane looking to hit you with a towerdive? Use the "Assist me" ping.

See a roaming enemy mid laner which your teammates may have missed on the minimap? Use the "Danger" ping. So now as well as your standard "Target" ping (ALT+Click) and "Careful" ping (CTRL+Click), there is a total of 4 additional pings which you can use to communicate with your team quickly and easily, and dont worry about having 4 new shortcuts to memorize, for if you hold down the "G" key and click and drag your mouse, you get a neat little wheel of pings that can be used to tell your teammates that you need some assistance, or to assure them that you have their back.

Making good use of these pings can provide you with the communication that you need to survive your lane. One little trick that is always useful is that, if your jungler is coming to gank for you, don't make him waste his time; use the "Warning" ping on enemy ward locations so they don't back away early and make you miss out on a kill.

I can't describe how awkward this screenshot was to take...

Now that you're all set to survive your lane and ask your jungler for assistance, let's look at some of the top champions for each position that a jungler would love to gank for, and would most likely be more than happy to come and gank for you again.. and again.. and again... The type of champion that a jungler would prefer to assist in lane would preferably be one that a) has the tools to lock the enemy in place or help to chase them down should they try to escape, or b) have the burst damage available to them to ensure that they will end the gank with a kill.

Please note that this is not a tier list of junglers, but of laners who I feel are some of the best in their field at helping a jungler to successfully gank their lane.

Let's start off with the top lane.

1) Renekton.

The Butcher of the Sands is what is known in League of Legends as a lane bully. His job is to make sure that his enemy has a miserable time in the lane against him, and to get himself as beefy as possible so he can be a nuisance to the enemy team later in the game. However, what makes Renekton such a pleasure to gank for is that he can gapclose onto his enemy twice, stun them in place, and then bring a huge amount of upfront damage to the table while the jungler can provide some additional hurt or lockdown onto the enemy. Being able to get on top of your target and stop them from escaping as your teammate comes in to assist you will definitely leave a jungler feeling a sense of achievement and most likely a bit of extra gold in their pocket.

2) Shen

Shen is a champion that isn't particularly known for his strong laning, but more for his splitpushing capabilities later on in the game. He pushes waves slowly early in the game and often this leaves his lane susceptible to be shoved into his tower, which is perfect for a jungler to get behind the enemy and cut off their escape route. Shen also has the capability of forcing enemies to attack him under his own tower, with his Shadow Dash ability taunting enemies, locking them up and potentially forcing them to take a tower shot or two that could prove fatal. And just to put the icing on the cake, Shen's Vorpal Blade ability will mark an enemy target, and any allied champion who deals damage will be healed for a portion of Shen's maximum health. So if the enemy gets a little antsy and tries to take you on 2v1, you will almost certainly have the sustain to pick up the kill without worrying too much about being turned around upon.

3) Trundle

The Troll King is always an excellent choice if you're a jungler and looking for someone whose lane you want to gank. Trundle's Chomp will slow the enemy it hits, as well as giving an autoattack reset, which means that, if you can provide the lock up, he can provide the damage. But that's not all, if they try to escape and flash away from you, Trundle's Pillar of Ice can block off a pathway and force them to take another route or be slowed enough for you to catch up, and once he hits level 6 and gains access to his ultimate ability Subjugate, he can steal a large portion of the enemy stats and, alongside his Frozen Domain, use them to buff himself enough to pick up the kill on virtually any champion.

Honorable Mention: Warwick

Popularized by Gambit Gaming's Darien, Warwick is a champion who, after not seeing the light of day for an immense amount of time, is finally showing signs of life in the sustain top lane meta. Warwick, although not having any form of lockdown until his ultimate is available, was considered one of the weaker ganking junglers in the game, but nobody could deny his sustain was top tier. Now that he seems to have found a home in the top lane, his ability to buff his teammates, rather than CC his enemies, makes Warwick an excellent choice, especially with heavy autoattacking champions such as Vi. Warwick's Hunter's Call gives all nearby teammates a huge attack speed bufff, and his ultimate Infinite Duress can hold them in place long enough for a jungler to get in range to safely land all of their abilities to secure the kill.

He may look cute, but he would certainly still bash your face in. Credit to I-see-no-bottle on DeviantArt

For mid lane champions, the focus is mostly on the burst damage that they can bring to the table to follow up on a jungler's ganks.

1) Gragas

Gragas is currently one of the most highly contested picks in the professional League of Legends scene, and for a very good reason. He is very good at just about everything, he is mobile, he has good poke damage, excellent burst damage, high sustain and is inherently tanky thanks to the damage reduction from Drunken Rage. Added on top of all this is the fact that he can blow the enemy champion back into your tower range from a fair distance away, making Gragas possibly the best possible champion to gank for in the middle lane. Having the ability to displace opponents and make them have an even longer path back to the safety of their own tower is a huge attribute for any character to have, especially on one who can, with the right items, burst down a squishy target in literally 2 spells. If you can stand the stench of alcohol, Gragas is definitely a champion worth considering if you're looking for a champion who compliments ganks well.

2) LeBlanc

An extremely mobile assassin with burst damage which is essentially unrivalled across the League, LeBlanc is an incredibly dangerous champion to face if given into the correct hands. LeBlanc requires a lot of practice and mechanical ability to be played effectively, but, if done right, can do incredible amounts of burst damage to an enemy champion. The only thing that a LeBlanc would need to be able to consistently make use of her cooldowns and snowball the lane into her favour is the support of a jungler who can hold the enemy in place, ensuring that they take both ticks of damage from Ethereal Chains, and more than likely you will find yourself up a kill after visiting a skilled LeBlanc player in the middle lane.

3) Kayle

Kayle is a peculiar champion in that, despite the fact that only two of her abilities directly deal damage to the enemy, she still remains as one of the highest burst damage carries in the game. The bonus damage amplication from Reckoning can easily surprise enemies into taking much more damage than they would have expected, and force them to retreat to their tower. However, when facing a Kayle, a tower will not provide enough cover to stop the incoming attack, as her ultimate ablity Intervention can be used on an ally (perhas a jungler? nudge nudge) to stop the tower from dealing any damage and allowing what would usually be a risky all-in play to be a simple in-and-out function, and to top it all off she can heal you afterwards if you did take a tower shot or two. Kayle is a very pleasant champion to gank for in the middle lane, unless she's on the enemy team. If that happens to be the case, remember that she has very short range, and if you stay out of her range, you stay out of her damage. Unless her jungler ganks and locks in place in which case you should probably refer to my earlier point of buying wards, which you will have a lot of time for since you're most likely dead.

Honorable Mention: Ziggs

High poke, high burst, and the ability to be mind-bendingly annoying to his opponent, Ziggs has a large amount of traits that a jungler would love to come and gank for. His ability to cut off an entire area of the lane with his Hexplosive Minefield can force all but the most mobile of enemy champions to walk in a direction of his choosing, which would be straight towards the allied jungler. And the best part? You dont push them to your jungler, you force them to walk there themselves, as if they try to walk through the minefield, they'll just take a ton of damage and be slowed enough that the jungler will probably catch up anyway.

"Hey... Where'd that bomb go?" Credit to Riot Games

Now for the bottom lane, I will focus more on the choice of support rather than the AD carry, as although each champion in that role has individual strengths and weaknesses which may be of interest for a jungler to give attention to, unless the champion has heave utility such as Ashe or Varus, the playmaking and the setting up of the gank will usually be performed by the support. This being said, let's take a look at the top supports for a jungler to gank for.

1) Thresh

Thresh is without a shadow of a doubt the absolute pinnacle, the god tier, the "HolyCowYouJustPulledMeAllTheWayIntotheLaneWithLanternAndNowWeHaveADoubleKill" of supports. Which, in plain english, is that he is a ridiculously strong support who synergises exceptionally well with ganks. His ability to lock up a single enemy with Death Sentence, pull back multiple enemies with Flay and then hold them in place even further with The Box makes Thresh a support with a ridiculous amount of play making potential. And that all comes before he can pull a jungler into the lane, and do quite a considerable amount of damage with his autoattack modifier and the ability power he gains from stacking souls. The Thresh Prince has almost limitless amounts of flashy plays that can be pulled off, as demonstrated by some of the top level players such as Madlife, Migxa or MeyeA, but even a player who has a solid grasp on the mechanics behind Thresh, and the ability to land clutch hooks in certain situations can make Thresh a deadly force across all skill ranges.

2) Annie

Stemming from the middle lane burst champion pool, Annie found herself a new home in the bottom lane, and is now one of the most hotly contested picks for support. Her presence in lane and the ability to make any player scared of her engages makes her a top pick for setting up a surprise attack from a jungler. Annie herself is well known for her surprise attacks, with the "Flash Tibbers" combo which can potentially catch out entire teams within the stun radius later in the game. However for laning phase, even catching one squishy target will almost certainly provide enough lockdown for a jungler and AD carry to burst down the enemy, making Annie a formidable champion to play against, and an excellent choice of support to create opportunities for your jungler.

3) Leona

With the Radiant Dawn, the holy trinity of supports is complete. You will likely see one or two of the above champions banned, and the rest picked early in high level games, as they all perform their roles exceptionally well with the changes to support income in season 4. Leona, however, I feel is the most situation pick of the top supports, as she has a notoriously weak early game, but once she hits level 6 she becomes a force to be reckoned with for any champion. Leona has 3 abilities that can control her enemies through Stuns, Slows or Roots. Sunlight, Leona's passive, also marks any enemy hit with an ability, which can be procced by any ally dealing damage to them, and dealing bonus magic damage. This makes a level 6 Leona a brilliant champion to gank for, as the lockdown potential from that champion alone can be more than enough for the AD and jungler to finish off the kill.

Honorable Mention: Alistar

Falling out of favour after the season 3 changes to the jungle, Alistar fell from glory as being the highest picked/banned jungle pick to being a niche, somewhat mediocre support who was good at peeling and not a lot else. However, now that supports can get more income with the season 4 changes, Alistar can quickly become a super tank and provide excellent engage for a jungler or even for a teamfight later in the game, with his Headbutt-Pulverize combo acting like a low cooldown Malphite ultimate. As I touched upon earlier with Gragas, having the ability to displace an enemy is a huge factor when setting up ganks, and so you will often see high level Alistar players flashing forwards to land a Pulverize, and then Headbutt-ing enemies back towards their tower, to force them to run even further to reach the saftey of their own tower. The surprise factor of an Alistar flashing, kocking you up and then slamming you back to him own tower is something that would easily catch out a lot of people, and would make life a whole lot easier for a jungler who just has to block escape routes to secure a kill.

Thresh takes the place at the top of the support tier list. Credit to wacalac on DeviantArt

To conclude, there are ways for every single champion in the game to assist a jungler in ganking for them, but the pressure is on you to ensure that your jungler will have a smooth journey from approaching your lane to walking away with the kill. Using the strategies I described above, you will make life much easier for both yourself, your jungler, and your whole team. All it takes is for you to properly set up, and be ready for the gank when it comes. Don't try to force something to happen if it just really won't work. But please do understand that a jungler is not your personal toy, they will be needed elsewhere, and sometimes you will just have to try your hardest to hold the lane as best you can. In these situations, it is better to give up some minion farm to keep yourself alive and safe. However when the gank does come, know what needs to be done to secure yourself the advantage.

Oh, and do not be afraid of flashing aggressively to catch your opponent off guard. Flash can be used to set up an incredible amount of aggressive opportunities which would not otherwise be possible. Just be aware of your surroundings so you don't go too far ahead of your team so they can't follow you.

Mistakes will happen, you will more than likely die from being overly aggressive when attempting to set up ganks, but do not look to blame others. Learn from your mistakes, see why you died, what could you have done better. These are the steps that will make you a great teammate, and in turn, a great League of Legends player.