Mowzer’s Solo Q Jungle Tier List for Patch 5.3

Hey everyone. Mowzer here. I am a diamond jungle main on both the Korean and NA servers. I have been playing since closed beta and I love theory crafting. Here is my fifth tier list for junglers for Solo Q. This list is for patch 5.3 and focuses on Junglers in general. These are the champions, I feel, are strong in Solo Q, but that does not mean that everyone else is trash. I have spent a great deal of time thinking, playing games (on both NA and KR), testing champions, reading guides, and watching games to develop this list.

This patch was not a big change to the jungle. There are five changes that I would like to point out:

• Diana received a quality of life change and a faster spinning pale cascade. This will help her while clearing, but this isn’t a massive change to her or her kit.
• Fiddle Sticks got a range nerf on his W, 700 to 650 range. This affects him, but it’s not a massive change. The impact on his W range can be felt mostly in the early-mid game. His strength comes from his kit and not just off of the range of his W. This means his power is still left intact.
• Gragas got a bit of love with his barrel now slowing more at max change and having a lower base slow. He has a very strong early game presence and this will only help him and his ganks.
• Nidalee got a bug fix and it somewhat nerfed her. Her prowl still roots jungle monsters, but it will no longer stun-bug them like it was before.
• Greater Stealth Totem now stores up to two charges. This could mean there are more wards going around your jungle. It’s a nice buff to counter-jungle junglers, such as Nunu. Keep this in mind when enemy lanes are missing/go missing when you’re roaming around your jungle.

The following are listed from strongest to weakest, but none of these junglers are remotely under powered. Also, at the end of the list I have included what I feel are the 11-20 junglers, in no specific order. Attention!This is a top ten tier list, not a complete tier list. I will say that again, this is NOT a complete tier list of every champion that can jungle.

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Top 4 jungle bans: Jarvan, Lee Sin, Nidalee, Vi.

Top 5 – The big hitters: note (5th to 1st) means that I ranked the champion on my list at 5th last time and now is placed 1st. Unlisted means they were not on the previous list.

1. Jarvan the IV (1st to 1st) – The son still keeps shining. He might be the prince of Demacia, but his E makes him the king of assists. Jarvan has a solid kit. He has an armor shred that helps his ADs do more damage, high base armor with E, solid damage to tank ratio, and good initiate. His ultimate combos well with others, escpecially Gnar. He can be built pure tank, damage tank, or just pure damage. His power comes from his ability to get into the positioning he wants and force the team into a bad position. Remember, Jarvan’s kit can easily work against him and his team. E + Q can get you far ahead of your allies and R can work against your team. Also, there are abilities that can cancel E + Q, so it’s not a move that is guaranteed to work. His clearing isn’t the most amazing and strong invaders can make short work of him. Make sure to ward against junglers such as Lee Sin and Pantheon, Trending item on Jarvan in diamond on the KR server, sightstone. Suggested jungle enchant: Warrior. Pros – Strong ganks, solid team fight. Cons – being invaded, mana issues.

2. Vi (5th to 2nd) – Falcon punch! VI works well against the IV. A great pick against Jarvan and with him being banned or picked all the time she’s not hard to get. Her kit is great for mobility and locking onto the target she wants. She has a rather high damage to tank ratio, and her passive keeps her alive more than you’d think. Her % HP and armor shred does well against tanks and squishies, alike. Decide between when to rush damage and when to rush tank. Rushing damage when behind can be an early death sentence for you. Q and R are great for initiating and gapclosing, but watch where your team is. These abilities can put you far ahead of your team and leave you alone without help. Don’t spam Q without blue while jungling to save mana. Suggested jungle enchant: Warrior. Pros – Solid CC, shred. Cons – poor disengage, mana issues.
3. Lee Sin (4th to 3rd) – Amazing vision for someone who can’t see. Mobility and playmaking are at his core. He has an amazing early game and terrifying invades. His power comes from his kit, but it requires a certain level of skill and mechanics to pull off perfectly. Crush the enemy early to secure a strong lead for your team. Manage your cooldowns and land your Q to maximize your effectiveness. Remember, your R can help or hurt the enemy. Kicking a carry over the wall to safety or kicking a full HP tank into your team doesn’t usually have the best results. Sightstone and the buffed Greater Stealth Totem can not only give you more vision, but it also gives you more mobility. Suggested jungle enchant: Warrior. Pros – Lots of utility, great invading. Cons – weak late game, skill cap.

4. Nidalee (11-20 to 4th) – Claw or spear, your end’s the same. She is the queen of sniping and mobility in the jungle. She is able to move around the map quickly and jump a great deal of walls. A well placed trap and spear allow for her to chunk and harass the enemy. Her Q in cougar form is a scaling, lower cooldown version of a Garen ultimate. However, she has no CC and is rather fragile. She needs to be able to land Qs to be effective. Learn to kite the enemy and go in when the moment right. Go in at the wrong time and you could just end up exploding. Suggested jungle enchant: Magus. Pros – high mobility, damage. Cons – No CC, skillshot dependent.

5. Pantheon (3rd to 5th) – They disgrace the art of war. He’s always dreamed of becoming a baker, but he’s no cupcake. His power comes from his ability to crush the early game and mandrop across the map. He is a very strong dualist with his auto-attack blocking shields and his 100% crit chance when the enemy drops below 15% hp. His aggressive play style isn’t for everyone , but does well on those that aren’t afraid of charging into their own death. Balance is the key to Pantheon. You have no escape so know when it’s worth going in and when it’s not. Your ultimate does damage, but that is not the main purpose of it. Use your ultimate to cut off the enemy, force them into a weak position, or burn their cooldowns. Keep track of your passive stacks to optimize damage negation. Also, balance your build to keep in line with the enemy team. Rushing damage items when behind won’t help keep you alive. Suggested jungle enchant: Warrior. Pros – strong ganks, powerful early-mid game. Cons – weak late game, poor escape.

Bottom 5 – The runners up:

1. Rengar (8th to 6th) – The rift is his litter box. Even a laser pointer couldn’t distract him once he locks onto his target. His ultimate and gank boots allow for him to traverse the map in a hurry. He is relatively easy to learn and pickup. Ganking and being effective with him come down to managing his ferocity. Use bushes to your advantage by either setting up a trap, gap closing, or outplaying the enemy. Remember, your passive, leap, has no cooldown on it. He requires a good amount. Build glass cannon when you have little faith in your team to carry or when an effective tank is present. Even a tanky build on Rengar allows for sizeable damage output. Suggested jungle enchant: Warrior. Pros – burst, manaless. Cons – item dependent, being CCed.

2. Rek’sai (5th to 7th) – Click, clack, hiss, bang, boom. She likes to build her own form of the autobahn. Mobility is the key to Rek’sai. She can easily get where she wants and her unground vision is fantastic for picking out enemies on the move. Her ultimate allows for her to gank, secure, split push, or maintain a level advantage on the enemy. She can dish out a great deal of damage for having very little offensive items. The key to her is to build a network of tunnels and move around at will. A well-placed tunnel can go used and undetected for a reasonable amount of time. Try to avoid spamming tunnels in open and obvious places. The extra gold might seem minor, but it adds up over the course of the game. You don’t have the most solid CC in the game, so balance your above and below ground transitions wisely. Suggested jungle enchant: Warrior. Pros – high damage to tank ratio, high mobility. Cons – being kited, iffy CC.

3. Fiddle Sticks (2nd to 8th) – We wasted the good surprise on you! The party was delayed, not canceled. The recent nerf to W hit him, but it didn’t knock him out. It mostly hindered his early to mid-game. His power comes from his kit and he only really needs one item, hourglass, to use it. His ganks are solid all game and his ability to easily solo dragon early can give his team a slight advantage. He scales well as the game goes on and has a phenomenal team fight. His greatest downfall is the enemy having vision of him when he is vulnerable or starting his ultimate. Make sure to clear areas of wards before preparing to unleash hell. Suggested jungle enchant: Magus. Pros – Lots of CC, solid team fight. Cons – being CCed, vision of him.
   
   
4. Hecarim (7^th– 9^th) – The horse of the Apocalypse. He’s prancing through the top lane and the jungle alike. His mobility allows for amazing map control and it’s easy for him to roam between the jungle and the lanes. Snowball your lanes and gallop your way to an early lead. His kit allows for him to dive the backline, but make sure you build according to your situation. Don’t rush damage when you’re struggling to get gold. You won’t last long enough to survive the fight and inflict further damage. Hecarim has no ranged abilities, so sometimes you are forced to take a tankier build approach to be effective. Don’t spam your skills in the jungle without blue if you plan on ganking. Watch how you use E, because you can easily push your target out of harm’s way. Suggested jungle enchant: Warrior. Pros – initiate, high mobility. Cons – item dependent, mana issues.

5. Sejuani (contested to 10th) – Let it go, let it go! Can’t hold it back anymore! She is the only champion on this list I will build juggernaut on a majority of the time. Her kit brings a lot CC and damage to the table. She is a fantastic team fighter that gets more damage as she gets tankier. She can initiate and disengage a fight with ease and has no issue sticking to her target. She has mana issues early on and has no sustain. Avoid spamming spells needlessly or else you will be out of mana to gank. Suggested jungle enchant: Juggernaut. Pros – Lots of CC, solid team fight. Cons – no sustain, mana issues early levels.

Contested champions: (these are champions I wanted to place in top 10 but felt others did slightly better): Nunu – possibly the best counter jungle and dragon/baron securer in the game. He has no qualms with walking into the enemy jungle and taking whatever he wishes. Shaco – a demonic joker that thrives at outplaying and destroying his enemies. A top notch split pusher and assassin in the right hands. Wu Kong – Another stealthy trickster, but focuses more on the team fighting aspects and has a solid damage to tank ratio. Cho’gath – A tanky ap that brings a lot of CC to table and great damage to tank ratio. Kha’zix – the evolving hyper carry that can easily reset his way to a killing spree.

11-20 Junglers: This section was added by request and will not be explained in detail. They are in no specific order. Wu Kong, Shaco, Kha’zix, Cho’gath, Nunu, Udyr, Amumu, Evelynn, Xin Zhao, Master Yi.

Honorable mentions – every champion in the game not mentioned above.

God-tier – Urgod, don’t ask questions.

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Post any comments below or let me know what you think. I am currently working on another tier list. This one will focus on five specific champions, I feel, are good for climbing in bronze, silver, and gold. I will include possible runes, masteries, builds, etc. If you are interested, let me know. I hope everyone is enjoying these tier lists. Thank you for all the support, feedback, and criticism. I greatly appreciate it! My social sites are Facebook, Twitch, Youtube, and Twitter. Have a wonderful day and best of luck you in your games.

TL;DR – This patch didn’t shake up the jungle too much. Fiddle Sticks got a mild nerf, but it wasn’t enough to knock him off of the list. Jarvan still sits upon his throne.