Hey everyone. Mowzer here. I am a diamond jungle main on KR and NA. I spend the majority of my time playing on the KR server. 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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*5 ? 1: 5th last time, now 1st on my list. **New: not on the previous list.
The queen retains her crowns for another patch. Her win rate is around 54% across the board and she’s banned around 90% of the time. Her kit fits amazingly well in this meta and she scales into the mid-late game nicely. She excels at team fights and pumps out a high amount of damage for being a tank. She can shred health and has a great deal of CC. Her weakness comes from her weak early game and the ability to land your skills. Missing an ult can make or break some fights and even some games.
Her early game is rather vulnerable and she lacks sustain. Watch out for aggressive invaders, such as Lee See, Xin Zhao, Trundle, etc. Even if you fall behind in the early game, tank up and make up for it in the mid-late game. Catching targets out of position can result in a quick comeback and you have a stellar teamfight, so use what you have to control the game. You don’t, normally, need any damage items. Going solid tank will deal a substantial amount of damage already.
Suggested jungle enchant: cinderhulk. Pros – lots of CC, solid team fight / Cons – no sustain, weak early game
This beauty queen has been holding her place for some time now. She’s had a number of nerfs to her, but her ability to do work and carry the game is still there. The changes to black cleaver have introduced a new item that, in certain situations, is rather strong on her.
She has the ability to get the game moving early on and quickly. Her kit allows for her to farm, gank, and split push with ease. 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. You can maintain this level advantage by using your ult and tunnels to get to and clear camps faster or split push. 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 black cleaver/hex drinker/hydra, later in the game.
Suggested jungle enchant: warrior/cinderhulk. Pros – high damage to tank ratio, high mobility / Cons – being kited, iffy CC
He’s been hitting the gym. Although, his gut really doesn’t show it. I am guessing he’s been at the donuts a bit too much. Unlike most of the tanky-meta junglers, he has a strong early game. He has rather high base damage, decent CC, playmaking potential, and damage reduction. His playstyle is similar to that of Lee Sin, but with a bit more to love.
He isn’t restricted to taking any one skill in particular as his first skill. His early game is strong and he doesn’t have a lot of issues clearing camps. His ganks are solid and he possess the ability to both engage and disengage. His passive scales with health, which allows him to sustain a good amount of HP 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
Nunu got a bit of a snip, but he’s still a fantastic pick. He won’t have the same amount of health as before, but his ability to control the game and buff his teammates are left intact. Cinderhulk has elevated him from the once support/counter-jungler and turned him into a top tier pick. 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 has no issue taking a 20 minute baron with one or two other helpers.
He has great early game damage, but it will start to fall off around the mid game. Winning with Nunu is more about the team aspect of the game and now about how amazing you are at carrying the game. He takes little time to pick up and is easy to jungle with. Always try to apply your W to strong AA focused carries to maximize its effect. Getting it onto your ADC when possible can be game changing. Counter-jungling is very strong on Nunu too, but make sure to not overextend at bad times and get caught out for a bit. That bit of extra gold isn’t worth giving up a kill or objective for. Also, 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
I hate playing against the champion with a passion. Her damage and mobility are nothing to laugh at. Dodge those spears or you will be losing health. She lacks CC, but she makes up for that with various other abilities. She can gap close, kite, execute, poke, heal, attack speed buff, provide vision, and just be a spear sized thorn in your side.
She has a high take down potential with her poke and execute. Bushes are your friend and can be used for mobility and setting up a deadly trap. Place your traps across the map in key locations to catch the enemy out and provide and early warning system for you and your team. Also, they provide a decent amount of damage and proc your passive too. Spears are her main source of damage, so work on landing those if you want to do well with her. The tanky meta doesn’t get phased by poke as much, but it will still hurt. Mastering the transition between ranged and melee will greatly improve performance. It’s painfully embarrassing to go ranged mode in melee range a spear on accident.
Suggested jungle enchant: magus. Pros – high mobility, great damage / Cons – No CC, skillshot dependent
She keeps punching her way into the back line. Previous changes to her have knocked her down from the top 5, but her place on this list is solid. She does well against the tanky meta and her ability to lock down a target is superb. Also, her passive scales nicely with health and can keep her alive in various situations.
She clears rather well, but avoid spamming Q to clear, especially without blue buff. It is a drain on your mana pool and can leave you oom at the most awkward times. There’s nothing worse than heading into a fight and not being able to catch a target because you lack mana. Q + flash is an amazing initiate combo, but remember that many members of you team won’t be able to cover that amount of space as quickly. Using Q, flash, and R can position you far away from your team.
Suggested jungle enchant: warrior. Pros – Solid CC, shred / Cons – poor disengage, mana issues
Rito, where are his new skins at? I’d even settle for a dollar store knock off of Kool-aid flavor packs. He is a fantastic teamfighter that has the advantage of not needing mana. He has a great amount of CC and is able to initiate teamfights from long range and bait the enemy with his passive. Trailblazer is his greatest item counter when his passive is procced, because it can finish him off with a click of a button.
He scales nicely with health. He, physically, gets bigger or smaller with how much current health he has. Challenging smite allows him to dual a bit better, but his ability to carry the game on his own is not the greatest. His can chunk health rather well with W, but he does not have a lot of upfront damage. Winning with him comes from your ability to catch people out, make plays, and dominate teamfights. Peeling for your carries can be just as important as diving the back line of the enemy team. Learning when to do which can be a bit tricky. Every game has different circumstances.
Suggested jungle enchant: cinderhulk. Pros – strong teamfighting, great initiate / Cons – skillshot dependent, weak early game
The hardest champion to place on this list. He can either be a top tier or not placed on this list. It all just depends on the person behind the wheel. He has insane playmaking potential and his invades are terrifying. All of this comes at a cost though, a weak late game and high dependence of proficiency with the champion.
His level two invade on the enemy jungle is powerful. It can easily catch out almost any enemy jungler with their pants down. He can manipulate the battfield and his enemies. Sightstone allows him to control the map with vision control and get around more easily. Winning with Lee in Solo Q can be difficult. The onslaught of tanky champions that scale well into the late game are everywhere. Securing an early lead or breaking the moral of the enemy team is the best course of action to win with Lee Sin.
Suggested jungle enchant: warrior. Pros – Lots of utility, great invading / Cons – weak late game, player skill dependent
Just because she can’t be seen doesn’t mean she isn’t good. A variety of Eve builds have been popping up here there and she’s been making a comeback on the Korean server for around two months now. It was the buff last patch to her Q that threw her back into Solo Q.
Sigthstones don’t really phase her much. They are just a form of cash for her. Overextended targets are her prey and she does amazingly well at stomping those that don’t buy pink wards. She can be built a variety of ways and use various enchants. Magus and iceborn gauntlet on her are a potent combination. 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. Also, she doesn’t have the best comeback potential. 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. Pros – invisible to sight wards, snowballs easily / Cons – lack of CC, item dependent
I have been back and forth on this cuddly bear, but his place in Solo Q is strong. He takes little skill to pick up and scales nicely with health. Cinderhulk fits perfectly into his build and boosts his damage output. The change to his W really helped him with clearing too. He’s a solid jungler, but could always make a nice rug too.
He loves charging head on into the fight and boy does he move with Q and righteous glory. A combo of righteous + flash + Q can be a great way to initiate a fight. His CC can be hit and miss. Q can get kited out with slows, displaces, stuns, etc. and E is only a slow to champions. He makes up with this with well scaling tank kit that manages to dish out some damage in the process. His passive has a relatively low cooldown and can save your butt a number of times. W is an attack speed steroid and an execute, so using the activate on a full health target won’t do an insane amount of damage. It’s a variation of a Garen ult, but on shorter cooldown. It scales with missing health and your bonus health.
Suggested jungle enchant: cinderhulk. Pros – great damage to tank ratio, scales well with health / Cons – easily kited / iffy initiate
Demotions (Three):
- Nunu – Dropped from 2nd to 4th. Why? His health growth was nerfed a bit and other champions are proving slightly stronger.
- Lee Sin – Dropped from 6th to 8th. Why? Lee Sin is possibly one of the highest skill caps out of every jungler. Without a nerf and in the right hands, he will always be a top tier jungler. In this meta he falls off and gets out scaled by most other picks.
- Sion – Dropped from 10th to contested: Why? The nerf to his detonation timer and lower ranks on W have hurt him. Add in the fact that his ganks are hit and miss and you’ve got yourself a bench from the top ten.
Contested champions: Fiddlesticks, Udyr, Pantheon, Rengar, Xin Zhao, Nautilus
My personal (not listed) good pick(s) – Xin Zhao, Warwick
My fun pick(s) – Garen, Ashe
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Post any comments below or let me know what you think. Check out my champion cards and comic 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 cinderhulk meta is still going strong, but that doesn’t mean that other junglers aren’t viable either. There is a large pool of champions to pull from atm. The changes to black cleaver should help a few on the fence junglers do a bit better. The reign of Sejuani still continues with a high win rate and even higher ban rate.
