The Top 10 Junglers of All-Time

Top 10 Junglers of All-Time With almost five years of professional League of Legends having passed now, let's take a look at some of the greatest junglers of all-time, and how they can be ranked.

Top 10 Junglers of All-Time

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With almost five years of professional League of Legends having passed now, let’s take a look at some of the greatest junglers of all-time, and how they can be ranked. The criteria that will be used for ranking these junglers will take into account the region that they played in, the competition of junglers around them, the success throughout their careers, and a 1-10 ranking of the different aspects of the jungler that will be put at the end of every ranking. Other factors to be considered would be how important the jungler was to the team they were on, the role they played in their team and how they lived up to it, and for a select few, how influential they were to the jungling role in itself. With this all being said, let us begin.

10. Saintvicious

Notable Accomplishments:
IEM Season VI – Global Challenge Cologne (1st)
2011 MLG Raleigh (1st)
IEM Season VI – Global Challenge Guangzhou (2nd)
IGN Proleague Season 3 – Atlantic City (3rd)
National ESL Premier League Season 2 (1st)
IEM Season VI – World Championship (3rd)
IGN Proleague Season 4 – Las Vegas (2nd)
IPL Face Off (2nd)
Lone Star Clash 2 (2nd)
LCS North America Season 3 Spring Playoffs (4th)
All-Star Shanghai 2013 (4th)
LCS North America Season 5 Spring Playoffs (5th)

The oldest player on this list in terms of how long they have been in the scene, Saintvicious takes the #10 spot for the best junglers of all-time list. The most popular jungler in the western scene in the prehistoric days of League of Legends, Saint helped to popularize and create the role that was not about playing against another living opponent right in front of you, but to outsmart the man on the other side of the map by helping the rest of your team get ahead.

Saint’s career started in Season 1 as an original member of Team SoloMid, but as a top laner. He then left TSM to join CLG as their starting jungler, replacing Kobe24. After placing 5th at Riot’s Season 1 World Championship, he continued on a hot streak with CLG during the Preseason of 2012 before they began to fall off in terms of skill compared to teams like TSM on a local scale, and international teams such as Moscow 5 or MiG Blaze, whom Saint and CLG lost to in the quarterfinals of Spring Champions 2012. Saint was then a major part of one of the most famous transfers in League history, where he replaced Curse’s jungler, Crumbz. He would then be a member of Curse throughout a majority of his career, the only exceptions being where he would play for Gravity in the 2015 NA LCS Spring Split as their jungler, and now where he is the head coach of Team Coast, currently playing in the NA Challenger Series.

A jungler that has participated in nearly every single meta of jungling, Saint is one of the most experienced players in League of Legends history. With a preference towards control junglers such as Shyvana, it is no surprise that Saint thrived in the counterjungle-heavy year of Season 2. To the newer audience of League of Legends eSports, it would be surprising for them to see a name such as Saintvicious on a list of the top 10 junglers of all-time, but for older players, Saint’s influence, game knowledge, and ability to take over a game and carry from the jungle was something that was hardly seen from any other Western jungler. It was not until the uprising of the Russian powerhouse in Moscow 5 and their legendary jungler Diamondprox that a player similar to Saint would be found again.

Overall Rating:
Vision Control: 7/10
Jungle Control: 9/10
Teamfighting: 7/10
Ganking/Counterganking: 8/10
Mechanics: 8/10

During a time where Saintvicious was playing with little to no competition in the jungle role, Saintvicious in his prime was only challenged by a select few junglers before players like Diamondprox or Cloudtemplar made their way onto the scene. Saint’s career spans through highs and lows with his placings and achievements dropping lower and lower as the years went on. Regardless of this, he is still a legacy player and began to pave the way for the greatest junglers of all-time to begin their careers. Saintvicious is the original innovator of the jungle, and was touted as the best jungler in the world or at least his region throughout different spots in his early career. With all of that in mind, he should be respected as a top jungler of all-time, even if the bar of excellence for jungling has been raised drastically.

9. Bengi

Notable Accomplishments:
OLYMPUS Champions Spring 2013 (3rd)
HOT6iX Champions Summer 2013 (1st)
Season 3 Korea Regional Finals (1st)
Season 3 World Championship (1st)
PANDORA.TV Champions Winter 2013-2014 (1st)
All-Star Paris 2014 (1st)
OGN Masters 2014 (2nd)
SBENU Champions Spring 2015 (1st)
2015 Mid-Season Invitational (2nd)
SBENU Champions Summer 2015 (1st)

Definitely one of the most controversial placings on this list, Bengi of SK Telecom T1 comes at #9 on the top 10 all-time junglers list. Bengi has one of the most difficult jobs in League history, and that is being the right-hand man of the best League of Legends player to exist in Faker, Bengi’s teammate on SKT since the beginning. One of the best support junglers in history, what Bengi lacks in mechanics and champion pool, he makes up for in game knowledge and superb vision control.

When SKT came onto the scene in the Spring of 2013, no one knew what to expect from this team. They had a former Xenics support coming to play top lane for them, an untested jungler in competitive play, a mid laner that was only known for his solo queue prowess, an ADC that was rejected from many other top Korean teams, and a support that was only known for playing a cheese fast push strategy with Heimerdinger. No one predicted them to place 3rd in their first season of OGN, much less become the best team to ever play the game. In their first season together, Faker was the star and the team relied on him to carry every single game. This clearly was not enough since they lost to the eventual tournament winners, MVP Ozone, and it was then that their strategy had to change. Piglet and Impact became much more versatile and better mechanically, allowing them to carry games if a team had managed to put Faker behind, Piglet and Pooh became a stellar bot lane that the rest of Korea feared, but yet Bengi remained the same. He played as the backbone of the team, while Faker remained as the main carry of SKT. Bengi played junglers to get Faker ahead, such as the popular Bengi/Vi and Faker/Ahri combo that the world would be exposed to during the Season 3 World Championships. Bengi warded Faker’s lane and blind spots for him and a synergy was built between them that is considered to be the one of the major keys into SKT’s dominance over not only Korea, but the World.

Bengi has had his problems however, mainly regarding champion pool and mechanics. In Season 4, Bengi had a slump so terrible that it is arguably the worst a professional player had ever fallen from grace, and it seemed to be out of nowhere. A meta switch in the mid lane led to more zone/control mages being picked up and it did not give Faker the opportunity to carry as much from mid lane as he used to be able to with picks like Riven, Zed, or Ahri. With that switch, Bengi seemed to fall as well. This situation burdened the question of, “Was Bengi only good because Faker made him look good?”. Bengi has his faults as a player, and is not able to transcend metas as well as other players can, but his vision control and supportive jungling is superb and some of the best this game had ever seen. He is Faker’s right-hand man, the Alfred to Faker’s Bruce Wayne, the Archangel Michael to God himself. That is not a task any professional jungler can do, and Bengi does it as well as he possibly can. Bengi’s resurgence in Season 5 proves that, and with a set of new teammates besides only a superstar mid-laner, he continues to impress on champions such as Rek’Sai, Gragas, Evelynn, and his superb Nunu. Even with his slump in season 4, Bengi remains strong, and claims the #9 spot on this list.

Overall Rating:
Vision Control: 10/10
Jungle Control: 10/10
Teamfighting: 8/10
Ganking/Counterganking: 7/10
Mechanics: 6/10

Bengi is the true definition of a support jungler, a man who could always adapt to what his team or what Faker needed at the time. His vision control is only matched by one other jungler on this list, and his jungle control with champions such as Rek’Sai or Nunu is what helped bring Bengi’s name back to relevance when talking about SK Telecom. For a jungler, Bengi’s teamfighting is good, but not to the level of players like Clearlove or Spirit, while his jungle pathing and gank patterns all normally revolved around how well he was controlling the jungle at the time and what power-spike that Faker was currently at. Bengi has the best resume out of any player on this list, but it is difficult to take that into account when his partner-in-crime is Faker. Mechanically Bengi never showed much prowess except on Lee Sin at a point in time, and he was drastically outmatched in Season 4 when he was matched up against other junglers such as Spirit, DanDy, KaKAO, or even Watch in the Season 4 Korean Regional Finals. Overall, Bengi has proven and is still proving to this day to be the best support jungler in the game, but in the other aspects of a jungler, he still lacks in comparison to this very day.

8. InSec

Notable Accomplishments:
OLYMPUS Champions Winter 2012-2013 (3rd)
OGN Club Masters (3rd)
2013 MLG Winter Championship International Exhibition (1st)
All-Star Shanghai 2013 (1st)
Asian Indoor-Martial Arts Games 2013 (1st)
HOT6iX Champions Summer 2013 (2nd)
PANDORA.TV Champions Winter 2013-2014 (3rd)
IEM Season VIII – World Championship (1st)
2014 LPL Summer Playoffs (3rd)
2014 Season China Regional Finals (2nd)
2014 World Championship (2nd)

One of the most aggressive junglers to ever play the game, InSec, the legendary KT Rolster B and Starhorn Royal Club jungler claims the #8 spot on the top 10 Junglers list. InSec is one of the few players to actually have an in-game technique named after him, the Lee Sin InSec kick. The idea behind it is that Lee Sin will land a Resonating Strike onto a squishy target, then kick towards them, ward jump behind said target, then Dragon’s Rage them into his team for a quick kill. InSec popularized this technique during the 2013 All-Star tournament where he represented Korea as their jungler, and kicked the enemy ADC, Yellowpete on Varus, into his team which led to a quick teamfight victory. InSec became a worldwide name after that moment, and his legacy as a carry jungler will never be forgotten.

InSec first started gaining popularity as a jungler for CJ Entus back before CJ had bought Blaze and Frost from Azubu. Originally teaming with another later on superstar in Dade, InSec brought a style of jungling that was thought to only be found in solo queue. Known for his Zed jungle, InSec would rack up solo laner/ADC levels of CS in the jungle and then assassinate enemy carries in a style that was never expected from a jungler. CJ Entus almost had their big breakthrough in OGN Winter 2012 where they nearly defeated Korean powerhouse Azubu Frost, but lost 2-3 in a stunning series. Nevertheless, the team disbanded soon after and InSec was picked up by one of Korea’s telecommunications and eSports giants, KT Rolster, where he was assigned as the jungler for KT Rolster B. In their rookie season, InSec as the aggressive carry jungler helped lead KTB to a 3rd place finish during their first season of Champions. He then went on to be voted as Korea’s jungle representative at the 2013 All-Stars tournament, where Korea took home the gold over China’s LPL which was considered the best league at the time due to the dominance of World Elite. After an erratic switch to the top lane when the KT organization decided to move InSec to a solo lane in favor of KaKAO in the jungle, it wouldn’t be until OGN Spring 2014 that we would see InSec in his primary role. KT moved KaKAO to KTA and then InSec became the primary jungler for KTB. InSec and KTB had a rough season together after the roster changes, getting knocked out of the quarterfinals by the hands of NaJin White Shield, but had a resurgence after they went undefeated at the IEM Season VIII World Championship.

InSec’s time in Korea was filled with the taint of defeat and tells a story of “so close, yet so far away” and his time in the LPL seems to have made history repeat itself. After qualifying for the 2014 World Championships with Starhorn Royal Club, not many people expected them to get past the quarterfinals, especially not with having to face their Chinese overlords in EDward Gaming straight out of groups. With a stellar performance from InSec and Uzi, and a great focus on keeping NaMei from taking over teamfights, SHRC advanced to face OMG in the semi-finals. With an incredible performance by InSec, especially in games 3 and 5, SHRC made the finals, with much of the credit going towards a man who was once called a “washed-up Korean jungler”. Despite being dominated by Samsung White in the finals, InSec and his aggressive jungling style showed that it still held up to this day despite many changes to the game itself. Although InSec was not blowing up carries with Zed anymore, or making as many game-changing kicks on Lee Sin, he still showed he was able to be a massive threat with Kha’Zix, Pantheon, and even Fiddlesticks. InSec’s place at #8 stems from how he played the role and the influence he gave out to the rest of the world, showing that jungling did not have to be only a supportive role, it could have the carrying potential people have always wanted from it.

Overall Rating:
Vision Control: 6/10
Jungle Control: 8/10
Teamfighting: 8/10
Ganking/Counterganking: 8/10
Mechanics: 10/10

InSec was one of the very first carry junglers to play the game, and was being touted as the equal to Diamondprox during his rise to glory on KT Rolster B. During a time where vision control was a job mainly put on the support, it did not mean that a jungler was given the ability to be lazy with their vision, which InSec seemingly was, as he would funnel his gold towards items instead of establishing control for his team. Regardless of this, InSec controlled his own jungle very well and applied pressure to the entire map at all stages of the game. He places at #8 on this list not only for his performance in Season 3 before moving to top lane to give the jungle crown to KaKAO, but due to his performance at the Season 4 World Championships as well. Although they had an easier path to the finals what with playing against two teams in the knockout stages that they have played against all year long, he outplayed two of the greatest junglers of all-time in Clearlove and Loveling in order to make the finals, before ultimately falling to DanDy and Samsung White. InSec’s aggressiveness and ability to initiate or counterinitiate fights it top notch, and his mechanical prowess in champions such as Zed and Lee Sin is what grants him this spot on the list, but the other areas in which he lacks such as vision control, or a portion of his career’s greatest achievements being as a top laner, keeps him from moving up anywhere past #8 on this list.

7. Jing

Notable Accomplishments:
GIGABYTE StarsWar League Season 2 (4th)
2013 LPL Spring Playoffs (2nd)

Jing is a name that even older players might not recognize, but he is incredibly important for he was once the shining star of junglers in China’s LPL. Back in a time where very few Westerners knew anything about China, Jing and Positive Energy were attempting to put themselves at the top of the LPL. Most people will remember Positive Energy as the team where NaMei came from, but the second star of the team was Jing, the man who ensured that his solo lanes stay protected and that NaMei was able to function in the many situations that he was put in.

Positive Energy was mainly known to be the sister team of Team WE, who had taken China by storm after their victory at IPL5. Team WE put China in the discussion for the best region, and with the talent they were able to produce due to the sheer number of people living there, it was an argument that could be made over time. Of the many talents that China produced, a man that would become underappreciated in the Western regions would play jungle for a new team called Positive Energy, and his name was Jing. Able to play a number of different styles in game, Jing’s champion pool was seemingly unbannable, which allowed Positive Energy to open up their draft phase very well. Although Jing’s career is short, it is impressive. Jing’s selfless play and ability to judge teamfights and skirmishes allowed Positive Energy to make the finals of LPL Spring Playoffs in their rookie season. Jing showed amazing growth over the course of the season and even though they lost to OMG 1-3 in the finals, Jing looked to be ready to take over the LPL first, and then the world afterwards. Unfortunately, Jing’s girlfriend became pregnant and he decided to retire early on in his League career, where he was already a legend in the Chinese scene.

Jing’s short time in the LPL and as a professional player compared to the rest of the players on this list is incredible considering how he is highly regarded as the best jungler to ever play in the LPL, and that he has no tournament victories domestically or internationally under his belt. But what Jing brought to the table was a selfless and supportive play with many of his champions, but then a high gank/low farm style with many others. If a player could name a jungle champion, Jing could play it and fit it into a team comp based around him and NaMei. Jing’s versatility allowed Positive Energy to play without stress from their jungler, for they were able to rely on him to finish the job that he wanted to get done. Be it Evelynn, Vi, Lee Sin, Jarvan IV, Elise, or Nocturne, Jing was able to lead his team to victory. Early game ganks or pressure, supportive jungling, vision control, or late game teamfighting, anyone can name it and Jing will take the role and carry the game through it.

Overall Rating:
Vision Control: 9/10
Jungle Control: 9/10
Teamfighting: 8/10
Ganking/Counterganking: 9/10
Mechanics: 8/10

Jing was a very jack-of-all-trades type of jungler that was able to do whatever job that Positive Energy asked of him. His vision control with champions such as Lee Sin, Evelynn, or Jarvan IV was excellent, and his ability to carry a game with Elise or Nocturne was always a strategy that Positive Energy could pull out of their hat as well. A very intelligent and consistent player, Jing seemingly had no weaknesses as a jungler during his time as a professional player. Unfortunately, his career was by far the shortest out of anyone on this list, and it is difficult to place him higher than 7th when his career was so short and the brilliance that we saw from Jing was not going to be able to undertake the test of consistency, or how he would fare in a changing meta, or how he would place in an international tournament. He was the enabler of Positive Energy, and helped one of the greatest players of all-time in NaMei make a name for himself, but even with a short career, making #7 on a list of top junglers of all-time is still incredible in itself.

6. Lovelin

Notable Accomplishments:
2013 LPL Spring Playoffs (1st)
StarsWar 8 (1st)
2013 LPL Summer Playoffs (2nd)
2013 WCG Grand Finals (2nd)
Demacia Cup Season 1 (3rd)
All-Star Paris 2014 (2nd)
2014 LPL Spring (3rd)
2014 LPL Summer Playoffs (2nd)
2014 Season China Regional Finals (3rd)
2014 Season World Championship (3rd/4th)
2015 Demacia Cup Summer Season (2nd)

One of the most talented players to ever play League of Legends, Lovelin’s control of the jungle for OMG was a major factor in OMG’s revolution in China. Both a support and jungler, Lovelin broke onto the scene by finishing 1st in the LPL during his rookie season with OMG. Lovelin claims the #6 spot on this list due to an array of skills at his disposal, along with a staggeringly impressive resume. With an innovative mind and the thinking process of a general at war, Lovelin was able to help lead OMG to domestic victories across multiple seasons.

Lovelin joined the team that would become the powerhouse of OMG back in September of 2012 during a time where the only Chinese teams most fans knew of were World Elite and Invictus Gaming. World Elite went on to establish themselves as one of the greatest teams to ever play the game by winning IPL5 and then going on a streak of domestic prowess that has only been matched by teams such as SK Telecom T1. No one expected a dark horse such as rookies OMG to take down the kings of China, but Lovelin and strategic mind managed to overthrow World Elite and establish themselves as the team to fear from the LPL. Innovating picks such as Aatrox and even Yorick jungle, Lovelin went on to win his first season of the LPL in a 3-1 victory over Positive Energy. OMG then qualified for the Season 3 World Championships as the 2nd seed for China, while OMG’s kryptonite, Royal Club, managed to snatch away the first seed. OMG was placed into a group with SKT T1 and managed to take down the Koreans in the first game they played, mainly due to Lovelin’s seemingly impeccable early game pressure and vision control with Lee Sin. Although OMG could not defeat Royal Club in their quarterfinal birth, Lovelin managed to show the entire world his jungle prowess.

With the rise of EDward Gaming the next season, Lovelin and OMG went through some problems. Although they qualified for the 2014 All-Stars tournament, they were slaughtered by SKT T1 K while Lovelin played support and Pomelo played jungle. After Pomelo retired, Lovelin moved back to the jungle position and tried to reclaim OMG’s former glory in China. Although EDG proved to be too far ahead of the rest of China at the time, Lovelin still remained strong. His hyper-aggressive playstyle mixed with the vision control of a supportive jungler remained to be threatening to all teams OMG played against. Even after champions like Aatrox and Yorick fell out of flavor, Lovelin was able to fall back on meta champions like Kha’Zix or Lee Sin. Although Lovelin seems to be overshadowed by Western fans in favor of Cool or Gogoing, Lovelin’s strategic mind is what led OMG to the domestic prowess they had, and the constant threat they were to any team that they played. He supplied the vision, the early game pressure, and the strategies to let his teammates shine.

Overall Rating:
Vision Control: 8/10
Jungle Control: 8/10
Teamfighting: 9/10
Ganking/Counterganking: 8/10
Mechanics: 9/10

Another all-around great jungler that made the list, Lovelin could seemingly do it all. In comparison to his LPL brother, Jing, who holds the previous spot on this list, Lovelin is someone that Jing could have been had his career not ended as short as it did. Jing may have been the better overall player compared to Lovelin given the eye test, but Lovelin’s resume and achievements in both domestic and international play give him the edge. Good vision control with his famous Lee Sin, a fantastic ability to teamfight with an assassin like Kha’Zix, or creative ganks with Elise, Lovelin was a great jungler with the accomplishments to back it up, which grants him the #6 spot.

5. Clearlove

Notable Accomplishments:
Ultimate Game Tournament (1st)
World e-Sports Masters 2012 (1st)
International e-Culture Festival 2012 (1st)
GIGABYTE StarsWar League (1st)
Enter the Dragon (1st)
Season 2 World Championship (5th-8th)
Tencent Game Arena Grand Prix Winter 2012 (1st)
IPL 5 (1st)
Han Pro League (1st)
G-League 2012 Season 2 (1st)
GIGABYTE StarsWar League Season 2 (2nd)
NVIDIA Game Festival 2013 (1st)
All-Star Shanghai 2013 (2nd)
2013 LPL Spring Playoffs (4th)
IEM Season VIII – Shanghai (1st)
National Electronic Sports Tournament (2nd)
2013 LPL Summer Playoffs (3rd)
International Esports Tournament 2014 (1st)
2014 LPL Spring (1st)
2014 LPL Summer Playoffs (1st)
2014 Season China Regional Finals (1st)
X Championship Season I (1st)
NVIDIA Game Festival 2014 (1st)
National Electronic Sports Tournament 2014 (2nd)
2014 National Electronic Sports Open (1st)
Demacia Cup Season 2 (1st)
G-League 2014 (1st)
2015 Demacia Cup Spring Season (1st)
2015 LPL Spring Playoffs (1st)
2015 Mid-Season Invitational (1st)
2015 Demacia Cup Summer Season (1st)
2015 Season China Regional Finals (1st)

One of the most under-appreciated and criticized junglers of all-time, Clearlove takes the #5 spot while boasting the most tournament victories as well. Clearlove has always been considered to be the “PawN” of the LPL and the jungling role overall. He has played with such a wealth of talent, many of his teammates being some of the greatest players of all time, that it’s always been incredibly hard to judge Clearlove’s overall skill and talent. The greatest herbivore jungler of all-time, Clearlove created a style of jungling that most would equate to Meteos back in Season 3. Clearlove has been a fantastic player for over 4 years now, and it is just now in Season 5 that Clearlove is finally getting the respect he has been fighting for even with the teammates he currently has. Having only one real slump in his career, after the fall of Team WE during Season 3, Clearlove looks to be the most consistent player to ever play the game when looking at achievements and placements alone.

Having started for World Elite in the jungle position, Clearlove played alongside legendary players such as Misaya and WeiXiao during his time on WE. Clearlove created a herbivore style of jungling because his team could draw out extended laning phases, so Clearlove was able to powerfarm the jungle without any real threat of pressure being exerted back onto him. Clearlove was criticized for this style of jungling when Team WE started to fall off, and their mid and bot lane weren’t winning a majority of the time. After being offered to join the new EDward Gaming, Clearlove left Team WE in hopes of being able to reclaim his place at the top of China, regardless of being a great jungler or not. Winning two LPL splits back-to-back, EDG claimed the #1 seed for China off the back of Clearlove’s newfound early aggression with champions such as Evelynn or Lee Sin. Having shown to grow greatly as a jungler, Clearlove looked to be a focal point for EDG’s victories at the 2014 World Championship. Having been placed in a group with tournament favorites Samsung White, EDG had everything go wrong for them this tournament. NaMei was sick throughout the entire weekend of the group stages, Samsung White seemed to be too strong to come close to defeating, and Clearlove made claims that he was much too nervous during the entire tournament thanks to Samsung White. After being knocked out in the quarterfinals by Chinese brothers Starhorn Royal Club, Clearlove was the topic of ridicule by Chinese fans and even other audiences around the world. After such a disappointment at their first international tournament, Clearlove had to bounce back in order to win the hearts of his fans back, and to prove to himself that he is not a player that only gets by while on the back of his teammates.

The Korean Exodus of 2014-2015 gave Clearlove a chance to show that he is more than just his teammates. Even with a reigning world champion in PawN, and one of the best AD carries in Deft, Clearlove was determined to prove himself to the world. Clearlove became the shotcaller for EDG, and through early game aggression and teamfighting prowess with champions such Rek’Sai and Sejuani, Clearlove was on a path to greatness. After dropping 0-2 to Snake during the regular season, Clearlove had a jungling style that seemed to change overnight, as if a fire lit inside of him. Lee Sin started to become more of a standard pick for him, while he increased the game pace of EDG in order to get Deft ahead in the bottom lane and to synergize with PawN’s style of play more accurately. Clearlove’s champion pool and understanding of the meta evolved immensely and his shotcalling was among the best in the world. EDG struggled in the playoffs without PawN for a couple of games, but Clearlove’s jungling with Sejuani, Rek’Sai, and Nunu was so superb that he managed to carry EDG to a Spring Split victory, a spot at the Mid-Season Invitational, and Clearlove’s 11th tournament win with EDG alone, which was his 22nd victory overall.

Going on to win the Mid-Season Invitational, Clearlove became the MVP of the tournament as well. Boasting a 9.95 KDA, and a 70.37% Kill Participation rate, Clearlove established himself as the best jungler in the world at the time. Bringing out the Evelynn pick to help counter Faker’s LeBlanc, Clearlove showed that he was not restricted to only the meta that other junglers were to follow. With a change in his jungling, and becoming the shotcaller for his team, Clearlove’s true potential was finally able to shine through.

Overall Rating:
Vision Control: 8/10
Jungle Control: 8/10
Teamfighting: 10/10
Ganking/Counterganking: 7/10
Mechanics: 7/10

The herbivore jungler of Clearlove is one of the two junglers on this list with a 10/10 ranking for teamfighting. What Clearlove lacked in the past with ganking, or mechanical strength, he made up for in farming the jungle and coming out of it as a teamfighting God. Although Clearlove has evolved exponentially compared to his past self, becoming a much more complete jungler and truly one of the best in the world, the Clearlove in the past had a strength that very few junglers could match. This strength was very easily punished by better teams, but the consistency that he held with what he was truly comfortable in doing was astonishing. Without Clearlove’s current performance in Season 5, he would be lower on this list, but that does not by any means he was a bad jungler in the past.

4. Spirit

Notable Accomplishments:
2013 WCG Korea Qualifiers (2nd)
HOT6iX Champions Spring 2014 (1st)
SK Telecom LTE-A LoL Masters 2014 (1st)
HOT6iX Champions Summer 2014 (2nd)
2014 Season World Championship (3rd/4th)
Demacia Cup Season 2 (2nd)
IEM Season IX – World Championship Katowice (2nd)
2015 Demacia Cup Spring Season (4th)
International Esports Tournament 2015 (2nd)

One of the two legendary Samsung junglers, Spirit is one of the greatest carry junglers to ever play this game. Spirit was picked up by the MVP Blue organization in June of 2013 and no one expected him to become one of the greatest junglers of all-time. Spirit is able to adapt to any meta and is able to play with teams where he is not the main carry, team comps where he is simply a support jungler, or in team comps where his teammates must all play around Spirit. Highly mechanical, versatile, and great at exerting pressure at all stages of the game, Spirit helped lead Samsung Blue to nearly back-to-back OGN victories, only losing 2-3 to KT Rolster A in the finals of OGN Summer 2014. Spirit has had a very odd career, what with being at the highest of highs with Samsung Blue back in OGN Spring of 2014, and now some of the lowest of lows with Team WE in China. What is the most interesting about his time in China however, is that many people will still argue or agree that Spirit is the best jungler in the LPL, or was for an extended period of time.

Before the roster swap of Dade to Samsung Blue and PawN to Samsung White, Spirit and Samsung Blue were considered a mid-tier OGN team that could not live up to their sister team’s legacy. The moment that put Blue on the map for fans around the world was when Samsung Blue 2-0’d SKT T1 after their returned to Korea with a World Championship title. Thanks to Spirit’s immense pressure and PawN’s solo-killing of Faker, Samsung Blue finally gained some recognition after taking down the superstar Korean team. Regardless of this victory, they still fell to a powerful CJ Entus Blaze and was then 3-0’d by SKT T1 K in OGN Winter 2013. After these losses, a change was to be made in the Samsung teams. Spirit was seen as an upper-tier jungler, but they were not able to pull out the victories they needed to progress in OGN. When Dade came to Samsung Blue, this all seemed to change. Dade’s strategic mindset helped Spirit achieve his potential, with a constantly changing jungle path and an unpredictable mindset of how Spirit wants to play the game, he was able to help carry Samsung Blue to become one of the best teams in League of Legends history. With a champion pool that could adapt to any meta and whatever his team needed, Spirit was a jungler that was to be feared by any opponent. Teams were unable to predict Spirit’s gameplan, whether he was going to farm to become a teamfighting menace, or if he was going to focus on one of his lanes to get them, or if he was going to carry the game himself, Spirit was simply untrackable in the jungle. Spirit and Samsung Blue seemed to be unbeatable past the early game until they ran into the highly aggressive KT Rolster A in the OGN Summer 2014 Finals. Off the back of KaKAO’s aggressiveness and his synergy with the equally aggressive Rookie, KTA was finally able to expose Blue’s weakness in the early game and snowball themselves to a 3-2 victory over Samsung Blue in the Grand Finals. Even in the Spring/Summer of 2014, the most competitive seasons of OGN to ever exist, Spirit was able to outmanuever some of the greatest junglers to ever play the game with a skillset that every jungler should strive to have.

After the Korean Exodus of 2014/2015, Spirit was drafted by Team WE, giving Team WE the hope that one of the greatest junglers of all time could finally help them reclaim their old glory in the LPL. Team WE was in last place for a majority of the split, but Spirit remained feared, even being called the best jungler in the LPL while other names like Clearlove, DanDy, and KaKAO were playing in the same league as him. This is one of the few cases in League of Legends where a player would be considered one of the best in the world, if not the best, while his team was near the bottom of the standings in their league. Spirit’s presence and carry potential with champions such as his now famous Nidalee are still to be feared, even if his team is not up to par. When talking about modern junglers, Spirit is a name that must always be remembered for he is one of the few junglers in the world that has acheived the highest honors of League of Legends, and has seen the lowest of lows, but is still recognized as one of the greatest to ever play the game.

Overall Rating:
Vision Control: 7/10
Jungle Control: 9/10
Teamfighting: 10/10
Ganking/Counterganking: 9/10
Mechanics: 10/10

A nearly perfect jungler in every sense of the word, Spirit has an uncanny ability to carry a losing game unlike almost any other jungler in the world. Spirit’s vision control is the only area that he lacks on when compared to other junglers on this list such as Bengi or DanDy, which quickly became a weakness in Blue’s ability to get ahead in the laning phase. Interestingly enough, he was able to sustain himself in the jungle and control the other jungler in such a way that during the game, you had to play by Spirit’s rules otherwise he could singlehandedly carry the game or get his laners ahead whether it be Samsung Blue Spirit or even Team WE Spirit. Blue’s teamfighting was top-notch and this all seemed to stem from the Dade/Spirit combo that would allow Blue to win teamfights even when down in gold. Spirit was not predictable in any sense of the world when it came to his jungle pathing or ganks, but did not have the seemingly psychic ability that junglers that as Diamond or DanDy ever had, which keeps him from the elusive 10/10 score on the rating. Regardless of this, he still nets the #4 spot on the list.

3. KaKAO

Notable Accomplishments:
OLYMPUS Champions Winter 2012-2013 (3rd)
OGN Club Masters (3rd)
HOT6iX Champions Summer 2013 (2nd)
PANDORA.TV Champions Winter 2013-2014 (3rd)
HOT6iX Champions Summer 2014 (1st)
2015 Demacia Cup Spring Season (2nd)
2015 LPL Spring Playoffs (3rd)
International Esports Tournament 2015 (1st)
2015 LPL Summer Playoffs (3rd)
2015 Season China Regional Finals (2nd)

The most aggressive jungler to ever play the game, an absolute fireball of a player, and the best player to never play on an international stage, KaKAO takes the #3 spot of the best junglers of all-time. A monster of a player in both his skill and playstyle, KaKAO is not only one of the best junglers to ever play League of Legends, but one of the best players to ever grace this game. KaKAO’s name was first heard around the world when he was moved to KT Rolster B, taking star jungler InSec to the top lane and allowing him to take over the jungle. KaKAO is primarily known for his philosophy to “meet the needs of your team during the laning phase” as a jungler, so he adopted a low-farm, high-gank playstyle to constantly apply pressure around the map and to keep the enemy jungler and laners on their toes out of pure fear of KaKAO. In a world without SK Telecom, KaKAO and KT Rolster B would have taken the world by storm and KaKAO could quite possibly have been at the very top of this list.

KaKAO lived and died by the gank, and played the game by applying extreme early pressure in order to have his lanes take any advantage possible. Simply replacing KT Rolster B’s star jungler InSec was enough to bring KaKAO’s name to light throughout the rest of the world. Synergizing well with his solo laners, KaKAO and KT Rolster B advanced to the finals of OGN Summer 2013 where they met with their telecommunication rivals, SK Telecom T1. In what would become one of the greatest series of League of Legends to ever be played, KaKAO and KTB fell to the eventual titans of SK Telecom T1. Regardless of this, KaKAO flexed his muscles with early pressure champions such as Evelynn and Elise that series. Having one of the most fearful Lee Sins in Korea as well, SK Telecom made sure to not allow KaKAO to have his hands on the Blind Monk at all that same series. Even after the loss at the OGN Summer Finals, and another loss to SK Telecom at the Korean Regional Finals, KaKAO’s name was known and was shown to be a threat to junglers all across the world. After a 3rd place finish during OGN Winter 2013-2014, KaKAO was moved over to KT Rolster A, which was seen as a very odd move considering how weak the team has been over the past year. KaKAO swore to the world that he would take down the SK Telecom organization, and he delivered SK Telecom T1 K their first series loss during OGN Spring 2014. Utilizing his new mid laner, RooKie, and his dazzling play-making style, this amazingly aggressive duo had a knack for making plays and demoralizing the enemy team. KaKAO finally picked up his long deserved OGN victory after defeating one of the greatest LoL teams of all-time, Samsung Blue, in a 3-2 series during OGN Summer of 2014 and cemented himself as one of the greatest junglers of all-time.

KaKAO is an interesting jungler due to the fact that he is the type of jungler fans want to see, but there are so little of his kind all around the world. KaKAO rejected the idea that the jungler was to be the “second support” of the team, and instead adapted a playstyle that would focus around snowballing the game from early on and strangling the enemy team of any resources possible as quickly as he could. Even in China, KaKAO’s name strikes fear into opposing junglers for they never know how they can predict what paths he will take, or how KaKAO will affect the game. In a world of support junglers picking up tournament victories, KaKAO remained strong with his roots and continued to impress the world with all-star level plays that could demoralize an entire team. KaKAO earns the #3 spot with only one aspect of his career missing, which is international play. Due to Korea’s point system in the past, KaKAO and KT Rolster B were not allowed a spot in the Season 3 World Championships due to their loss against SK Telecom T1, even though they were widely considered to be the 2nd best team in the world. After missing out on yet another World Championship in 2014, KaKAO has yet to prove himself on an international stage. The most impressive part about all of this is that even without any experience on a world stage at all, KaKAO remains to be one of the world’s most threatening junglers, and time can only tell where this man will go when he is finally able to prove himself on a world stage.

Overall Rating:
Vision Control: 8/10
Jungle Control: 9/10
Teamfighting: 8/10
Ganking/Counterganking: 10/10
Mechanics: 10/10

The aggressive menace of KaKAO is a name that is finally getting his hand at international play at the Season 5 World Championships with Invictus Gaming, and his playstyle is still as aggressive as ever. Even so, the same problems that plagued KT Arrows have transferred over to iG as well. As aggressive as KaKAO is, if he cannot find any openings he seems to just sit in the jungle and farm all game long while he prays his team can stay alive. But what makes KaKAO special is his ability to destroy the enemy team’s mentality within the game, and sometimes even with a single gank for a player like RoOk1E that can snowball a lead. KaKAO and his teams have never been the best at vision control or teamfighting, but their aggressive mentality breaks the opposing team down in a way that just seems rude, and with a good international showing, KaKAO could even make his way to the very top of the list in the coming years.

2. Diamondprox

Notable Accomplishments:
IEM Season VI – Global Challenge Kiev (1st)
Kings of Europe (2nd)
IEM Season VI – World Championship (1st)
DreamHack Summer 2012 (2nd)
European Challenger Circuit: Poland (1st)
IGN ProLeague Elites (1st)
Season 2 Regional Finals (1st)
Season 2 World Championship (3rd/4th)
Tales of the Lane (3rd)
IPL 5 (4th)
IEM Season VII – Global Challenge Katowice (1st)
LCS Europe Season 3 Spring Playoffs (2nd)
LCS Europe Season 3 Summer Playoffs (3rd)
Season 3 World Championship (5th-8th)
IEM Season VIII – Cologne (1st)
IEM Season VIII – World Championship (3rd/4th)
IEM Season IX – Cologne (1st)

League of Legends viewers that started watching professional matches in Season 4 or 5, or even late Season 3 will see Diamondprox’s name so high on this list and wonder how a player that has nearly been relegated in the EU LCS twice now could make it to the #2 spot. Diamondprox in the early days of League of Legends was not just the best jungler at the time, he was a legend amongst men. For fans that watched League during it’s earlier days will surely remember the mythos surrounding Diamondprox back when Moscow 5’s Russian dominance decimated the League of Legends scene seemingly out of nowhere. Rumors that Diamondprox would be able to call out the enemy jungler’s position simply based on the current game time, and then would tell the rest of his team that a gank would be coming for a certain lane in anywhere from 15 seconds to a minute would circulate websites such as Reddit, deeming Diamondprox’s nickname to be “The Psychic”. Diamondprox himself invented the concept of counter-jungling, utilizing the fast AoE clear times of champions like Shyvana to clear his jungle as quickly as possible, then make his way to the enemy jungle in order to take their camps or buffs, leaving the enemy jungler with no experience, gold, and a feeling of hopelessness as Diamondprox ran rampant around the map, only showing himself when he feels like he needs to. Diamondprox himself invented the jungle that we see today.

Starting off as only an 1800 elo solo-queue player, Diamondprox joined the team known as Team Empire alongside names such as Alex Ich, Darien, Genja, and GoSu Pepper. An odd pickup due to the fact that 1800 elo was quite low for a professional player, the team stormed through the IEM Season VI Qualifiers, and then won IEM Kiev in a dominating fashion over teams such as SK Gaming, Team Dignitas, and Team SoloMid. Before the tournament began, they changed their team name to Moscow 5, and League of Legends history was being written before everyone’s eyes. Moscow 5 went on to win nearly every tournament they attended, which may have been few and far between, but fans flocked to their computer screens to watch the Russians play. Only losing to CLG.eu in the West, Moscow 5 went into the Season 2 World Championship as the heavy favorites, over other teams such as Korean titans Azubu Frost. Unfortunately, Moscow 5 was upset by the dark horse of the tournament, the Taipei Assassins. Even at this loss, TPA jungler LilBallz went out of his way to commend Diamondprox for his immense counterjungling in that series, and did the same when TPA beat Moscow 5 at IPL5. Already known for innovating the jungle in more ways than one can imagine, Diamondprox entered the very first LCS split showcasing new jungle picks such as Volibear and Nasus, and even a pocket Karma jungle that appeared after her long-awaited rework.

Despite the fall of Moscow 5/Gambit Gaming, Diamond still holds an incredibly impressive resume, a legacy that helped to create the jungling that we see today, and without Diamondprox, we may have never seen the likes of Spirit, KaKAO, or DanDy be as great as they are today. Diamondprox did not create the jungle role as someone like Saintvicious did, but he took it and molded it into a form that other pro players had to adapt with, or risk being left in the dust of the great Russian that is Diamondprox. The psychic of the jungle was one of the only players that the Eastern regions looked up to, one of the few teams that the Eastern teams had to be wary of, and Diamondprox was one of the main reasons why. He combined a playstyle of predictions, aggressiveness, farming, teamfighting, and carry-ability to establish himself as one of the greatest junglers of all-time. Diamond may not have ever had the same 1v9 carry potential as Spirit does, or the fireball early game pressure that KaKAO has, or the level of excellence across all marks that DanDy does, but the legacy that Diamond left in his wake, the innovation, and the mythos surrounding this man are aspects of a player that other professionals can only dream of. Moscow 5 may only be a thing of the past now, and Diamondprox may not be synergizing with Alex Ich to make miracles happen on Summoner’s Rift anymore, but he created nearly every form of jungling that a fan can see and analyze today. Diamond did not create the jungle, he simply took over the throne. The man who created counter-jungling, the man who would innovate a new pick seemingly every week or every tournament, the man that had legends surrounding him, Diamondprox takes the #2 spot on the best junglers of all-time list.

Overall Rating:
Vision Control: 7/10
Jungle Control: 10/10
Teamfighting: 9/10
Ganking/Counterganking: 10/10
Mechanics: 10/10

The legendary Diamondprox had very few weaknesses. His prime was in Season 2 where vision was not as prioritized as it is today, so it is difficult to dock him points for simply playing in a time where it was not as recognized. His jungle control was top notch, with him being able to fin resources in his own jungle, through gank pressure, or through counterjungling as someone like Shyvana. His teamfighting was stellar, being able to utilize his love of diving the back line of the enemy team with Alex Ich by his side which helped to make Moscow 5 the greatest teamfighting team in the world even when their game plans began to expose weakness. As said before, his talent was unmatched and was able to always read the enemy jungler based on the time in-game or where they had just shown themselves on the map. He was one of the only mechanically capable junglers during a time where Snoopeh, CloudTemplar, and Helios all ran a support system for the true carries in game, but Diamond had a different strategy, a strategy based around carrying a game on his own and would soon be incorporated to influence some of the other greatest junglers of all time such as Spirit, KaKAO, and DanDy.

1. DanDy

Notable Accomplishments:
OLYMPUS Champions Spring 2013 (1st)
HOT6iX Champions Summer 2013 (3rd)
PANDORA.TV Champions Winter 2013-2014 (2nd)
HOT6iX Champions Spring 2014 (3rd)
SK Telecom LTE-A LoL Masters 2014 (1st)
HOT6iX Champions Summer 2014 (3rd)
2014 World Championship (1st)

DanDy. The name resonates throughout any competitive League of Legends fan, to the point where players that only pay attention to the Western scene will recognize the name of the greatest jungler of all time. An OGN champion, and a World Champion, DanDy’s greatest strength as a jungler comes from the fact that there is a bar of excellence that he will never drop below. The master of the counter-gank, DanDy took Diamondprox’s “psychic abilities” and increased them ten-fold. Be it with Rengar, Lee Sin, Evelynn, Jarvan IV, Elise, or any other jungler that DanDy decides to put under his belt, DanDy will become a master on said champion. With DanDy, it is not only limited to his in-game mechanics, or the flashy plays that he creates, for DanDy is one of the few players with an overly impressive domestic resume, and an international tournament victory under his belt. Even during the nightmare tournament that MVP Ozone had during the Season 3 World Championship, DanDy remained consistent while the rest of his team fell apart. Predicting ganks, changing up his jungle pathing, and being able to both support and carry games, DanDy is not just a jungler to be feared, he is the king of the jungle himself.

Starting on MVP Ozone, DanDy shocked the entire world after his Lee Sin demolished Xenics Blast with a 5-man Dragon’s Rage that instantly won MVP Ozone a late-game teamfight. Before this, DanDy was a well-known jungler in Korea, but that play let the world know that the throne at the top of the jungle was in danger, and DanDy was on his way to take the crown for himself. Coming into OGN Spring 2013, the MVP Ozone squad was considered to be a team with great potential, but no one expected them to win it all. Dismantling the CJ Entus Blaze squad from macro play all the way down to pure mechanics, DanDy and MVP Ozone simply outclassed their opponents. DanDy was able to utilize an extremely wide champion pool in order to always be a valuable asset during each and every game he played. Banning DanDy’s champion pool seemed to be a worthless idea, outside of his Lee Sin, for whatever he played, he could make it work at any point in the game and during any situation. DanDy is the greatest jungler at understanding the flow of the game, and he is able to read other people and their patterns incredibly well, which helped dubbed him to be the Master of the Countergank. During the 2014 season, Samsung Blue was the only team able to keep Samsung White down for two OGN seasons in a row, which was partially due to the fact that Spirit was very difficult to keep track of so even he was able to stump DanDy for a good portion of the year. The tables turned at the 2014 World Championship, where Samsung White and DanDy in particular completely destroyed Samsung Blue 3-0 in the semi-finals. DanDy wanted revenge, and he demolished his sister team with his famous Rengar. DanDy went through two of the greatest junglers of all-time in Spirit and InSec at the 2014 World Championship in both the semi-finals and finals respectively, and defeated both of them in stunning fashion. Be it Lee Sin, Evelynn, Rengar, Jarvan IV, Elise, etc DanDy will find a way to win the game and carry in any way possible.

DanDy is not only the greatest jungler of all-time, in a world without Faker, this man could be the greatest player of all-time. Looking at his in-game skills, his mechanics are nearly unmatched besides by players like KaKAO or Spirit, his shotcalling and vision control are the greatest on this list, with Bengi and Clearlove falling right behind him, his predictions and ability to read the other jungler are simply unparalleled, and his domestic resume is the best on this list, while internationally he is only beaten by Bengi. DanDy is the greatest jungler in not just a simple aspect of the game, he is the best or nearly the best in all categories of being a jungler. He was a main part of the 2nd greatest team of all-time in Samsung White, who were also World Champions, where he dismantled every other jungler that tournament. In DanDy’s prime, no one held a candle to him, and the one person that may have, KaKAO, did not have a chance to square off against the greatest jungler in League of Legend’s history during that period of time. DanDy is one of the few junglers on this list to play with such all-star talent such as Dade, Mata, and Imp and still deserve the recognition that he receives, if not even more. He took the jungle role and mastered it, he may have not innovated it as much, but he mastered every aspect of it and every style. DanDy by that definition should be called a Jack-of-all-trades in the jungle, but he is not, he is the Master-of-all-trades, and that is what grants him the #1 spot on this list.

Overall Rating:
Vision Control: 10/10
Jungle Control: 10/10
Teamfighting: 9/10
Ganking/Counterganking: 10/10
Mechanics: 10/10

The most complete jungler in every sense of the word, DanDy is a master at nearly every single aspect of the jungle. His vision control is the best out of any jungler on this list, and when paired with Mata, it was seemingly impossible to pull out any sort of unexpected strategy against Samsung White. His jungle control was absolutely stellar, leaving no resources for the enemy jungler to pull from due to his very unpredictable ganking or farming style. In a sense, DanDy was the absolute complete form of Diamondprox in a sense that he had all the traits of what made Diamondprox great, but he took them and mastered them in a way that DanDy seemed to be unbeatable. The competition that DanDy had was much more difficult compared to Diamondprox, and that is a factor that truly makes DanDy transcend over every other jungler on this list. His skills were not shown against weaker junglers that only played a supportive role for their team, he played against the best of the best and almost always came out on top. DanDy was nearly perfect, and is truly not only the greatest jungler of all-time, but one of the greatest players of all-time.


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