So as we all know, the jungle in Season 5 got revamped and was packed full of mean monsters that pack a punch. The Spirit Stone recipe tree and Feral Flare were taken out and all hell broke loose while the community tried to figure out what's what in the Season 4 off-season. During that, many champions were tried and tested using the new, but now familiar, four variations when upgrading the Hunter's Machete. I still have nightmares of the infamous, "Warwick One Shot" era. Never has a nerf been so necessary. But away from the popular picks, away from all the annoying Shacos, I have a selection of champions that are capable of surviving the jungle, and then some!

(Art source: http://yumekaze.tumblr.com/post/72801441322/lunar-goddess-diana)

1. Diana: Scorn of the Moon

The lunar sister is my first, and favourite, of the three champions I shall discuss. With the combination of her passive and Pale Cascade (W), the jungle is no match for her. Despite being an AP champion, Diana has great sustain with the shields from her W, which makes her first clear incredible. Unlike some champions, I feel Diana can start either red or blue buff and sustain all the way through to the opposite. Start W, and begin by smiting either Krugs or Gromp, and head to the respective buff. I like to use one health potion for one buff, and pop my second one while fighting the other buff, regardless of which champion I play. Head to your second buff and clear it, and then return to base, as this has given you more than enough for your first Machete upgrade. Ranger's Trailblazer (purple smite) is my go-to choice, as I like to farm, but for people like Diana, who have a super fast jungle clear and lack of gapcloser before level 6, the Stalker's blade (blue smite) fits better. With the Stalker's Blade, you can smite enemy champions to slow their movespeed, which really helps Diana when ganking pre-6.

Itemisation for Diana is an open area, as she works well with a lot of things, dependent on your style of play. For the maximum burst using your abilities, you'll want to build the Magus enchantment on your upgraded smite item. Then start building the generic AP carry build path of Sorcerer's Shoes, Zhonyas Hourglass, Rabadons Deathcap, Void Staff and perhaps one defensive item. However, if you prefer to be the front line, peel for your carries and being an annoyance, perhaps build into Rod of Ages, Iceborn Gauntlet and Zhonyas Hourglass. This build allows you to be safe after you've used both charges of your ultimate, but also survive a little longer after using your Zhonyas Hourglass active. A third option for building Diana is a more auto attack focused build. With Nashor's Tooth, Rabadons Deathcap and Lich Bane, you can become a split pushing menace! Again, it's all dependent on your style of play, but I highly recommend giving Diana a try.

(Art source: http://float-cloud.deviantart.com/art/Twisted-Fate-334401742)

2. Twisted Fate: The Card Master

If you keep to up to date with the European LCS teams and it's junglers, this pick may be familiar to you. "Twisted Fate jungle" may make you rub your chin, or take a step back, or whatever you do to question an off meta pick, but here are some tips to help you make it work!

Twisted Fate (or "TF" for short) is generically a mid laner, renowned for his great global pressure and his ability to lock down a single target (or accidentally throw a blue card). Combine that great pressure and lock down with an area of the map where you stay unseen, and that leads to a great jungle presence. This does come with a price, as Twisted Fate scales with AP, so he has no sustain. However, he is a ranged champion, therefore he is able to kite the jungle camps around to avoid damage. Unlike my previous recommendation, I think Twisted Fate is suited for starting red buff, primarily. I personally like to start with W to get some crowd control down on the first jungle camp, but always max his E, then W, avoiding putting any points in Q as you'll be building no ability power. His abilities are not much use for clearing, so if you smite the Krugs for the stacking stun, then you will find your first clear much easier. With TF's clear being pretty abysmal, I highly recommend the Ranger's Trailblazer as a must-buy. I avoid buying Stalker's Blade even though the smite works well with TF's kit, but I will explain why soon. Despite being an AP champion, the enchantment you will want to aim for is the Devourer. This helps your DPS a lot by adding 50% attack speed, but also adding magic damage per auto attack - what's not to love!

As mentioned, the build path for a jungling Twisted Fate is to focus on attack speed. Avoid AP at all costs, as you won't be using your Wild Cards (Q) as your main source of damage. After the Devourer upgrade, I always try to buy a Blade of the Ruined King for some sustain, which TF needs. Then some more defensive items with on-hit effects such as Wits End and Iceborn Gauntlet.

Twisted Fate brings great objective control, which ties in well with the Season 5 jungle. Dragons bring important benefits for your team, so if you're ever unsure if the enemy team is on it and you have no vision, Twisted Fate is your guy! Who wouldn't want an ability which allows you teleport and grant vision of every enemy champion? Now that I mention teleporting... that will lead onto my next pick.

(Art source: http://clowkusanagi.deviantart.com/art/Shen-the-Eye-of-Twilight-298903674)

3. Shen: Eye of Twilight

This lovable ninja has been quite hidden away, ironically. The last of him is probably seen top lane, but there are but a few. At an attempt of reviving him, and teleporting him back onto the rift!

Shen is renowned for his in-your-face tankiness and that's the exact approach you want to take when jungling with him! His Vorpal Blade (Q) and Feint (W) are just what a Season 5 jungler needs to survive. Like Diana, Shen's passive gives him bonus damage to help clear faster, and his W is a shield, so despite not having a direct healing ability, he can survive well against the fierce jungle. With Shen's kit working so well against the early jungle clear, I think either Krugs or Gromp are a good start for his jungle route. If you're a ganker, perhaps aim to end by clearing your red buff so that you can use it for a longer duration. Shen is only an auto attacker, so I would definitely recommend buying the Ranger's Trailblazer, as the smite helps clear camps twice as fast.

With a taunt as ability, you don't want to be using Shen for much, other than being a tank. His abilities are built for helping other survive, so you ideally want to be helping yourself survive along the way by building defensive items. The Juggernaut enchantment is a must, it suits Shen the best and the others give no real advantage when compared to it. After that, have a look what your enemy team consists of; if it's mostly AP, build items such as Spirit Visage, Banshees Veil, Warmog's Armour or even a Wits End; if it's mostly AD, build items such as Randuins Omen, Sunfire Cape, Ninja Tabi's and my own personal favourite for Shen - Thornmail! Thornmail sends back 30% of auto attack as magic damage, so anyone you taunt is just going to be hurting themselves!

Similarly to Twisted Fate, Shen's ult offers a lot of global presence. If you're ever struggling to find the enemy jungler, and he suddenly appears in one of your lanes, you can easily counter his gank by ulting an ally. It gives a great shield to help your teammate survive, plus it gets you in the action! A great tool for a jungler made for helping his team.

Now it's your turn!

These are only a few off-meta picks that I have stumbled upon to help me through the rough & tough of the Season 5 jungle, but there could be many more you're unaware of. Hopefully, you take some of the tips and tricks I have shared into consideration and learn to love the jungle again!