Hey everyone. Mowzer here. Diversity comes from people thinking outside the box and trying new things. This tier list is purely my opinion and is not being stated as fact.
: My Jungle Notes – I’ve moved this section to its own article.
Jungle Changes
The list below has the champions listed from 1st to 10th. I feel that 1st is the strongest and 10th is the weakest, of those listed. This does not mean that any of these champions are weak or not viable. I would like to point out that there are far more than 10 viable/good champions. There are, in fact, over 20 junglers I feel are good. Attention! This is my opinion and lists only the top 10 champions. This is NOT a complete tier list of every champion that can jungle. My complete “climbing” tier list will be posted at a later date.
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Top jungle bans: Sejuani, Rek’sai, Nidalee
The big 10: 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.
- Sejuani (1st to 1st) – She makes Elsa look like a joke. Riot did a good job adjusting Sejuani and not just slamming the nerf hammer down. Missing her ult will have higher consequences and her % health shred isn’t as good. Outside of that, she’s still amazing. She still packs a punch while being tanky and has a stack of CC to bring to the table.
She lacks sustain and has a weak early game. She makes up for this by having a stellar team fight and a great mid-late game. Engaging is her specialty, so make sure to capitalize on a poor positioned target, especially the carries. Watch out for invades on your first clear. The aggressive invaders aren’t being picked nearly as much, but don’t let your guard down. Make sure to use your trinket to ensure your safety when you feel like a surprise party is about to happen.
Suggested jungle enchant: cinderhulk. Pros – lots of CC, solid team fight / Cons – no sustain, weak early game
- Nunu (Unlisted to 2nd) – Nunu is enjoying his romp around the jungle. He is in a great place at the moment. Cinderhulk has allowed him to rise above the counter-jungle/objective securer and transition to a solid tank with lots of utility to bring to the team. He can easily control dragon and baron. Having a Nunu on the team means teams can take baron not only easier but earlier too.
He isn’t a damage carry jungle that can single handedly win the game. He does provide a number of other amazing things. The key to winning with Nunu is getting your team the advantage whenever possible, not just yourself. He takes little time to pick up and is easy to jungle with. Remember to not only buff yourself with W. Always try to apply it to other targets to maximize its effect. Getting it onto your ADC when possible can be game changing. Also, counter-jungling with the enemy jungle can be fun too. Using smite right as your Q goes off allows for you to easily secure dragon and baron.
Suggested jungle enchant: cinderhulk. Pros – great utility, easy to secure dragon and baron / Cons – low damage, ultimate canceled easily
- Rek’sai (2nd to 3rd) – This sensual creature has had her fair share of nerfs. This time around she lost a bit of damage on her Q, but now has the ability to use her placed tunnels more often, when ranked up. The damage loss will be felt, but her power and potential is still fantastic.
She has the ability to get the game moving early on and quickly. She comes packed with a kit that makes her a juggernaut and vision while burrowed can be devastatingly powerful. The key to winning with Rek’sai comes from her ability to get around the map and maintain levels with the laners or pull ahead of them. Her ultimate makes her great split-pusher or surprise party thrower. She needs to be built rather tanky in this meta or she won’t survive long in most fights. Unless you are fed, I suggest building an offensive item, such as hexdrink or hydra, later in the game.
Suggested jungle enchant: warrior. Pros – high damage to tank ratio, high mobility / Cons – being kited, iffy CC
- Gragas (unlisted to 4th) – This perfectly sculpted mountain of a man has been bouncing his way around the rift. His kit comes packed with rather high based damage, mobility, CC, and damage reduction. He rarely has a problem, unless he runs out of the good stuff.
He has an amazing early game and does nicely clearing camps. Unlike most tank junglers, his early game is deadly. His ganks are solid and he has the ability to engage and disengage rather easily. His passive scales with health, which allows him to sustain a good amount of health throughout the game. He doesn’t keep up with most of the other tank junglers as the game goes on, but he makes up for that with his power early-mid game and the amount of CC he brings to the table. He is more suited for players who like tank junglers, but prefer to be more aggressive early on in the game.
Suggested jungle enchant: cinderhulk. Pros – great engage/disengage, high base damage / Cons – skillshot dependent, outscaled by other tanks late game
- Nidalee (8th to 5th) – A cougar doesn’t fear getting a little work done. She got a bit of health knocked off of her, but that does not stop her from bringing the pain. Her kit allows for her to traverse the map easily and kite her enemies with ease. She lacks CC, but she makes up for that with an arsenal of other abilities.
She has a high take down potential with her poke and execute. Using the bushes and her abilities she won’t have trouble when trying to chase down enemies or flee. Well placed traps can provide an early warning system, add a bit of damage, or boost her speed some. The bulk of her damage comes from her spears. Mastering them will be key to dominating with her. Tanks are not affected as much by spears as squishes and highly skilled players can dodge skills better, reducing the effectiveness of your poke. Mastering the transition between ranged and melee will greatly improve performance. There is nothing worse than going HAM in the wrong form.
Suggested jungle enchant: magus. Pros – high mobility, great damage / Cons – No CC, skillshot dependent
- Lee Sin (7th to 6th) – The blind playmaker needs the right moves. Lee Sin requires more skill than other other champion on this list to pull off. His early-mid game potential is unmatched in the right hands. In the wrong hands, he’s cannon fodder. Also, every other champion listed outscales him post mid game. These reasons make him a hard champion to place.
He has an insanely strong early game and he can crush most junglers he chooses to invade. His ganks are solid and he packs a punch without needing damage. His skills allow him to manipulate his targets and chose to shove an enemy into death or kick them away from a vital member of your team. He is risky pick in the current meta. He smashes through the tanky meta picks early game, but as the game drags on his effectiveness wears off. A poorly skilled Lee Sin has little to offer the team, especially once the enemy has more than three items. I recommend him for those that are good-insane with him and advise against using him, in ranked, for everyone else.
Suggested jungle enchant: warrior. Pros – Lots of utility, great invading / Cons – weak late game, player skill dependent
- Zac (unlisted 7th) – Green apple or grape flavored, both are delicious. This bouncing experiment was in an odd place for a long time. He’s finally getting his chance to rise to the occasion. He scales well with health, shreds health, requires no mana, a guardian angel-like passive, comes preloaded with lots of CC, and teamfights like a raid boss.
He’s a huge blob of force, literally, with a load of HP.He is a champion that loves to stack health and loves to play against health stackers. Add in the fact that he can initiate and teamfight amazingly well and you have a perfect champion for the cinderhulk meta. He does well clearing and his bloblets allow for him to regain lost health from camps and fights. His passive not only saves him at times, but it can bait the enemy into traps. Initiating fights when the enemy is caught out or ill prepared will go far on Zac. He becomes a tanky monster mid-late game, but he has issues carrying the game on his own. Utilizing his teamfighting is key to winning with Zac.
Suggested jungle enchant: cinderhulk. Pros – strong teamfighting, great initiate / Cons – skillshot dependent, weak early game
- Vi (8th to 8th) – She’s keeps on knocking them down. Vi still is an amazing pick in this meta. She takes little skill to pull off and her W is even stronger now vs all these rising tank junglers. She fits into almost any team comp and has no trouble diving the target she wishes to murder.
Your clearing is pretty good, but avoid spamming Q without blue buff. You will run out of mana quickly and have none left to gank. Don’t rush all damage when behind or you won’t last long enough to do any damage. The trending cinderhulk fury will make short work of you if you don’t have the defense to withstand their onslaught. Diving the backline isn’t an issue for you, but sometimes peeling for your carries does the trick too. Avoid charging into battle without your team near you. You are able to close vast distances with Q + Flash + R and you can end up way beyond help from your team.
Suggested jungle enchant: warrior. Pros – Solid CC, shred / Cons – poor disengage, mana issues
- Evelynn (unlisted to 9th) – She’s got the touch. I will probably get flamed for having her here, but she’s back. Your pain is her pleasure. The buff to her Q seemed small to some, but it does hurt. She’s been making a comeback on the KR server for more than a month and this buff shoved her back into Solo Q.
She’s not afraid of ward trinkets and sighstones. They are just a form of cash for her. She does well roaming the map and picking off targets that haven’t placed pink wards to warn of the oncoming storm. She can magus/warrior/cinderhulk and perform well. Get a BORK and stack tank on her and her early-mid game dishes out the power. She falls off late game without being far ahead, but that’s why people pick her. She’s relatively easy to pick up and takes advantage of the disarray of solo Q. She’s not a safe pick that you can just dig in and hope to win in the late game. Pick her if you like the aggressive playstyle and want to punish those that don’t ward and overextend past the point of hope.
Suggested jungle enchant: magus/cinderhulk/warrior. Pros – invisible to sight wards, snowballs easily / Cons – lack of CC, item dependent
- Sion (contested to 10th) – Choo, choo! All aboard! He has an endless pool of health stacking and that goes well with cinderhulk. He does well clearing, but he can have issues ganking. He ganks are either hit or miss, literally. He can either land all his skills and secure a kill or two or he can miss everything and do nothing. He does better counter-ganking than ganking. He has a rather high amount of CC and his ability to initiate and disengage can have hilarious outcomes.
His gets his damage from his ability to stay alive and not die. Cinderhulk is key to the rise of his power in the jungle and he doesn’t need offensive items to do well. Getting cinderhulk early on will secure faster far. Practice your ult and be careful your pride isn’t the only thing that hits the wall after you miss your mark. Remember, Q doesn’t need to knock up a target to be effective. Sometimes just slowing them is all you need.
Suggested jungle enchant: cinderhulk. Pros – infinite health scaling, lots of CC / Cons – hit or miss CC, damage falls off
Contested champions: Fiddlesticks, Volibear, Maokai, Nautilus, Pantheon
My personal (not listed) good pick(s) – Warwick, Nocturne
My fun pick(s) – Ashe, she’s coming.
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Post any comments below or let me know what you think. Check out my champion cards andcomic series. 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. Special thanks goes to my girlfriend and Nunire for checking my work, input, and helping me with various design projects. You guys are amazing. Have a wonderful day and best of luck you in your games.
TL;DR – The hulk era still continues. The nerfs to cinderhulk weren’t game changing, more of a fine tuning. Be prepared for more Eve in games. Try to think outside of the box. Play what you feel you’ll do best with and not just what the pros play. Solo Q is not the LCS, LCK, LPK, etc. Have fun!
