How to Climb from Low ELO to Diamond as a Jungler (Part 2)

Tips to Help You Climb from Low ELO To Diamond from a LoL Coach

Howdy, y’all! Welcome back to the second article and thank y’all for coming back! For this article, I will tackle three jungling concepts that will allow you to climb easier in Season 10. And because you chipper young stars have been so good to me from reading the last article, I’ll even add a secret bonus lesson at the end of this.

So what are we covering today?

• How to clear your jungle efficiently
• When to counter jungle
• How to itemize properly
• The secret to a quick climb to Diamond (Don’t you dare cheat and scroll all the way down!)

Alright, this introduction was way quicker than in our previous article, How to Climb from Low ELO to Diamond as a Jungler (Part 1). If you want to learn about building your champion pool, communicating with pings, and jungle pathing basics, be sure to revisit that first.

Okay… y’all ready to get started?

For more information about my background, be sure to check out my intro from Part 1.

1. How to Clear your Jungle Efficiently

In my time coaching in League, junglers clear inefficiently from all levels of play. Yes, even NA Grandmaster junglers clear inefficiently. So, how do you clear it efficiently?

Firstly, assess what champion you are playing. Do you recall my Kayn vs. Warwick analogy from the previous article? When it comes to jungle pathing the two biggest outliers are if your champion has AoE clear, or single target clear.

However, what most Junglers do wrong is that they do not, what I call, “inch” towards their next camps or flat out kite their camps. League is a game of seconds, it’s a cliché in the world of sports but reign true when it comes to videogames too.

When “inching,” you position yourself at the maximum leash range that a camp has and finish it while ticking down the patience bar. Here’s an explanation of patience from the patch notes from 5.19, when the mechanic was originally introduced:

This allows you to begin another camp much quicker or be closer to rotate to a potential gank or skirmish opportunity.

I highly suggest understanding these ranges and it just so happens that you can find out each of the camps pull-ranges in the Practice Tool to be better acquainted with them for your future matches.

As for kiting camps, inching plays a part in kiting but kiting is used so that you may regen health back if you took Talisman, wait for CDs to help clear, or to save yourself from taking return damage.

Generally, you want to move when you just auto’d, then move the camp towards your next destination. While you move you are letting your next auto attack cooldown come up while creating distance so that you take less damage.

2. When to Counter Jungle

The second most frequent question I get when coaching is, “When should I counter jungle?”. Counter jungling is what sets apart the Chad junglers from the Adam junglers. Don’t be an Adam jungler. The most optimal time to counter jungle comes down to your ability to pay attention.

If you’re actively watching the map and tracking the jungler you should be able to know what side of the jungle your opponent is on. For example, you spot the enemy Lee Sin gank top with both red and blue buffs level 3 with 16CS at 3 minutes and 15 seconds.

Which camps of his are still up? Most likely Raptors and Krugs since he has a single target clear levels 1 & 2. So, are you on a champion that can steal his Raptors quickly? See my point?

Always take advantage of your positioning and contrast it to the enemy. Generally speaking, a concept I teach everybody about jungling is that more often than not, junglers are frequently on opposite sides of each other on the map.

You’re bottom. They’re top. You’re top. They’re bottom. I’m keeping this relevant to the early game of course. You can path in a way so that you intentionally end up clearing across to the same side as your opponent, but this concept I will cover in the near future.

The best junglers understand how much time it will take for all the champions in the game to travel around the map. Here’s a handy infographic to use as a reference point.

3. How to Itemize Properly

Itemization is a silent killer in League of Legends. Buying the wrong items, buying certain items at the wrong time, or even buying items that have no impact on your game will lose you fights and games due to not having optimal stats.

When it comes to junglers, completing the jungle Item is your number one priority when building. It is crazy to me people will build Tiamat on Kha’Zix, Vi, or even Rek’Sai over rushing and completing Warriors (or for the AP Junglers, Runic Echoes).

I find myself watching junglers overstaying on the map trying to invade or gank and either get killed or put somebody to 10% HP but couldn’t finish a player off because they didn’t bother to base and gain more stats.

Think about it, 2500g for insane stats that you gain before anybody else. And really, it’s only 2150g thanks to you buying a basic jungling item at the beginning. What about ADC, mid, and top? Their first item is above usually above 3000g. And for somebody who is supposed to impact the map early, gold generally comes quicker thanks to ganks.

When building Stalker’s Blade: Runic Echoes, Stalker’s Blade = 650g for easier jungle clearing and an upgraded Smite Fiendish Codex = 900g for 35AP + 10% CDR. Together = 1550g for easier jungle clearing + 35AP + 10% CDR.

From LoL Wiki.

However, when you spend the remaining 600g this is the bang for your buck. Completed Stalker’s Blade: Runic Echoes = 80AP + 10% CDR + faster clearing. That’s 45 ADDITIONAL ability power! The same can be applied with the Warrior Enchantment as well.

With Warriors being 25AD + 10% CDR when incompleted, and 60AD + 10% CDR when complete. Needless to say, the remaining gold to complete your jungle item is insanely important to have ASAP.

4. Super Top Secret Trick to help you Climb to Diamond in S10…

Just don’t type. That’s it. Unless you are informing your team of Summoners or ultimates that are down or just where the enemy is at, DO NOT TYPE TO YOUR TEAM.

I kid you not, League players, especially in lower elos, will find anything to get mad or offended about these days and run it down the mid lane to see to it that you lose.

Don’t do it!

At the beginning of the season, players are especially on edge during their placements and first couple of games to make sure they start the season off on the right foot. You would think everybody would shape up and act friendlier, but this isn’t the League of Legends it used to be.

Players will grief you and make sure you lose just so that they can move on to their next game quicker because your current game is “unwinnable.” So just do me a favor, playing as the team’s Punching Bag, I mean jungler, just don’t say anything that could “trigger” somebody to lose you games.

Conclusion

There is plenty more for me to cover, but for now, I will leave you with what we’ve covered together so far. I plan on continuing this series and spilling all of the need-to-know information for Junglers soon. Tell me what you think in our comments section of our tier list videos and tell me what you’d like for me to cover next!

Articles will come out a bit slower now that the second semester of University has begun, but please come back next time to see my first streamer/player spotlight and their tips for Junglers when playing around the top side (wink, wink). And as always, thank you for your time and Goodluck on the Rift in Season 10!