Experimentation with off-meta picks can be one of the most enjoyable parts of League of Legends. Despite how much fun it can be to play champions in a different role than intended or to try out weird builds, it’s rarely a practical way to play the game. And when a champion is successful in a different role, it tends to be a rather unhealthy and unfair experience for people playing against it (Karthus cough cough). Take the recent Soraka Top Lane fad as an example; seeing a Support being played Top is definitely a fresh experience. However, the gameplay pattern of doing nothing but soaking up Spellthief’s Edge Gold in the laning phase and then becoming an unkillable headache in the late game is much less refreshing.

Due to these unfair experiences, Riot’s balance team tends to discourage unique picks or builds. That’s why the recent effort Riot has been making to bring new champions into the role of Jungle is a very exciting, albeit confusing, change of pace. It may signal that Riot is becoming more welcoming of experimental gameplay experiences. And in my opinion, that’s a very intriguing prospect. But just because getting new Junglers to play is exciting, that doesn’t mean they’ll be good or even healthy to play against. In this guide I’ll provide clarity on which of these new Junglers are quite solid, and which are troll picks.

Darius - (Patch 10.4 & 10.5)

A 175% increase in damage to monsters is no small amount. I also don’t think that the 10.6 nerfs affect Darius as a Jungler that much. Despite that, Darius’ lack of mobility and long-range CC holds him back from being a top-tier Jungler. But that doesn’t mean Darius is always a bad pick for the Jungle. If he’s paired with a team that has great gank assistance, or against a team with low range and mobility, Darius has the potential to really shine as a Jungler. So if you’re looking to dunk on some Monsters, go for Darius Jungle when the circumstances are right, but don’t play it every single game.

Garen - (Patch 10.4)

All of the things that hold Darius back from being a strong Jungler also apply to Garen. Even though his nerfs in 10.6 shouldn’t affect Jungle Garen, weak mobility and lack of lockdown CC make him a much stronger situational pick then a one-pick-fits-all-games type of Jungler. But just like Darius, Garen can be viable enough when paired with a CC-heavy team.

Mordekaiser - (Patch 10.4 & 10.5)

Mordekaiser is plagued with the same problems that Darius and Garen suffer from as Junglers. So as I’ve said twice before: Mordekaiser could work as Jungler if he has enough gank assistance but otherwise, you should avoid Jungling with him.

Yorick - (Patch 10.6)

Yet another champion is inducted into the group of Juggernaut Junglers that Riot is trying so hard to make viable. Yorick struggles as a Jungler for the same reasons that the other Juggernauts struggle; lack of mobility and CC will forever plague these champions. However, out of these four very immobile champions, Yorick could potentially be the most effective due to his good scaling and decent lockdown.

Brand - (Patch 10.6)

With follow-up buffs to either Brand’s early game health or damage, he could become a great Jungler. Despite these buffs allowing Brand to clear camps rather efficiently, he will be too susceptible to invades and won’t have enough early damage to have effective ganks.

Morgana - (Patch 10.6)

Some of you might remember back a couple of years ago when Morgana was one of the best Junglers in the game for a few patches. When that was the case, it was due to ridiculously over-tuned numbers more than anything else; and when those numbers were lowered, she completely faded away as a Jungler. That may be indicative of Morgana not being a viable Jungler unless she has crazy numbers, but she has the potential to be quite strong without them. She does suffer from the same problem other mages like Brand have to deal with, which is vulnerability to invades. But, unlike Brand, Morgana has a few tools to escape sticky situations.

Morgana’s Black Shield as well as her Root provide her with enough self-peel to at least not die when the enemy Jungler invades, but still having to surrender Jungle camps. However, Morgana makes up for this weakness through efficient AOE clearing capabilities and potent CC-heavy ganks. Out of the Mages being buffed as Junglers, Morgana should be your best option; but you should only pick her against Junglers with weak invading capabilities.

Zyra - (Patch 10.6)

Mages and Juggernauts seem to share the similarity that Riot wants them to be Junglers, despite their inherent weaknesses as classes that get in the way of that. While I do think that Zyra can have very strong Jungle clears with this buff, her passive relies too much on just sitting down in one lane and asserting dominance. As such, the philosophy of Zyra’s kit comes into direct conflict with what a Jungler should do. So unless you plan on either hard camping a lane or only farming, I would not recommend playing Zyra Jungle.

Diana - (Patch 10.4)

While this may be a small buff, Diana just needed that little push to bring her back to her old place as a viable Jungler. This by no means makes her a top-tier Jungler, but it’s enough to give back the success Diana Jungle players had on her before her rework. Diana’s lack of CC pre-six does mean that she’ll be much better when paired with laners that have good gank assistance, but you should still be able to make her work without that. Praise the Moon!

Talon - (Patch 10.4)

Talon doesn’t seem to have any reasons why he shouldn’t work as a Jungler. But it also doesn’t seem like he would be particularly remarkable. Talon in the Jungle has a lot in common with Blue Kayn: Strong map mobility, good single target burst, and solid AD AOE damage. Try and imagine if you started as Blue Kayn right away but were just a little weaker in almost every aspect, that’s about what Talon Jungle is like. This specific case may be a matter of personal playstyle; so if you find Talon Jungle appealing, give him a try.

Zed - (Patch 10.4)

Zed has the potential to be a great Jungler but is slightly held back by his lack of dueling power, making it hard for him to contest camps. However, a build has surfaced that provides a great remedy to this: Taking Conqueror and Black Cleaver after Warrior gives Zed some much needed early beefiness as well as solving his dueling problem. Zed is definitely a viable Jungler with Conqueror and he could still work without it, just not as well. So if you’re itching to play some Zed Jungle, take Conqueror and build a Black Cleaver and you should have a pretty good time.

Gnar - (Patch 10.4)

It’s relatively hard to gauge Gnar’s strength as Jungler, as he is two different champions regarding clearing and ganking. Playing Gnar effectively as a Top Laner requires a mastery of managing his Rage Bar to use his transformations properly, but in the Jungle it’s a very different story. You won’t have anywhere near the same level of control over Gnar’s transformations as a Jungler that you would in the Top Lane. That being said, Mega Gnar has some great tools for ganking and clearing camps. So if you can manage your Rage Bar just right, Gnar could certainly work as a Jungler (He is also one of the most fun champions to play in the Jungle out of these picks).

Poppy - (Patch 10.5)

There have been plenty of points in League of Legends history where Poppy was a strong Jungler. Even though these buffs were sectioned with the new Junglers, Poppy has always been a viable, yet weak Jungler. With these buffs she has once again become quite a solid Jungler!

Shen - (Patch 10.6)

Oh boy here we go! The return of the fabled River Shen. Shen has the potential to be a very strong Jungle pick, with a lot of pros but also a fair share of cons. Shen’s strength as a champion is based around two points, his ultimate and his excellent early game trading. Shen’s ultimate allows him to pressure a side-lane or certain part of the map without sacrificing the ability to help out his team in teamfights or laning scuffles. The other huge strength of Shen is his lane dominance in the early game; you will seldom find a Top Laner that Shen can’t out-trade pre-level six.

The interesting thing about Shen Jungle is that one of those strengths becomes amplified, and the other loses its relevance (or so you might think). There’s a reason Junglers don’t tend to have global ultimates, and when one does have a global, it’s extremely unbalanced and hard to deal with. His ultimate is where Shen Jungle would shine, his ability to come up with new paths and gank plans while also not losing out on opportunities or objectives on the other side of the map is an extremely powerful tool for a Jungler to have. That being said, the fact that Shen Jungle would lose out on his incredible trading power is a pretty rough hit to his general effectiveness in the early game.

There is a remedy to this weakness though - play him as an invading Jungler. If you play Shen as an invading Jungler (like Shyvana or Trundle), you will still be able to utilize his incredible talent for early game one versus ones while still having that incredibly useful ultimate. All-in-all, if executed correctly with a strong knowledge of the champion, Shen can be an incredibly potent Jungler. You just need a little practice on him first before going into Ranked with it.

Teemo - (Patch 10.6)

Before we dive into this one, I’ll slightly allay your worries. Teemo Jungle is not good - most of the time. Similar to Shen, Teemo could become an extremely aggravating Jungler to play against if it’s played to perfection; but if it isn’t, it’s quite garbage. Teemo’s lack of mobility, on top of his only movement-impairing CC being his Mushrooms, makes for pretty horrible ganks. To make Teemo a viable Jungler, don’t play him like a conventional Jungler, play him as a cheese pick. Make your entire purpose to make the enemy Jungler’s life a living hell. Cover their Jungle with Mushrooms, steal every camp you can, and take every Scuttle Crab. In most situations, the enemy Jungler will not be able to win a fight against you due to you finishing your clears with full health because of your ridiculously long Blind on Monsters. So play Teemo Jungle exactly how Teemo should be played, and you should do alright.

While playing off-meta or funky picks may be fun and refreshing, the conventional picks are almost always going to be better options. However, that does not mean the right bizarre pick can’t be just as good as the meta ones with enough mastery of it. So, if you are looking to win as much as possible, none of these picks are optimal. But if you are looking to master a very specialized and unique playstyle that can still be successful, you could do a whole lot worse than playing a few of the higher-potential Junglers. With enough practice and understanding, a few of these champions can make effective Junglers. So go out there and experiment with these new Junglers!