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Best Early Game Junglers in League of Legends

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Best Early Game Junglers in League of Legends

Junglers are crucial to winning lanes and winning the game. Right now, early, skirmish heavy Junglers are very strong and are preferred in Solo Queue. We recommend that you play these champions as they will increase your chances of winning.

However, who are the best early game Junglers in LoL? In this Mobalytics guide, we will discuss some of the best early game champions to play in the Jungle to help you climb.

Pick some of these and add them to your champion pool for instant gains in LP. To give yourself the edge over the enemy, sign up for a free Mobalytics account to help you improve your climb!

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1. Nunu

Nunu may not be the first champion you’d think of as he isn’t played as much anymore, but rest assured he was one of the most frustrating champions to play against at his peak. Nunu is a strong early game champion as he can repeatedly gank his allies or gank one allie and then another lane straight afterwards.

He can quickly move from lane to lane and gank his team thanks to his snowball. He can also repeatedly gank a lane over and over if he wishes, and if he can kill the enemy, that’s even better as he can abuse their lack of Summoner Spells.

Nunu also has great invades and can steal away camps or fight the enemy Jungler on his own. If he can’t invade, he can just take objectives easily and without his team as he can bite them with his Q and take them down without fear of them being stolen away.


Tips and Tricks:

  • Channel your W from afar to make ganking easier. Begin rolling out of sight, and then run it down the intended lane.
  • As your R is a channelled ability, make sure you activate your R after the enemy has used their CC to increase the chances of a lengthy channel.
  • Try to take an early Dragon as soon as your bottom and mid lane have priority. Taking an early Dragon is quite easy for Nunu and very important.

2. Graves

His early game damage can’t be dealt with in many scenarios. His high base stats and E allow him to take down targets who try to fight him. This, combined with his W, makes it hard for someone to fight him alone.

Graves has good invades and can invade the enemy Jungler frequently. However, he does need to reposition when fighting inside the enemy’s jungle, so he doesn’t hit the camps instead. If he can hit the right target, he will be a real threat to them.

If Graves can get one or two early kills, he can snowball quickly and take over the map. Early AD items will make him a real threat, and he can get his mythic item fast if he can get an early gold lead. Once this item’s completed, he can just look to constantly fight the enemy team.


Tips and Tricks:

  • When duelling an enemy champion, position your Qtowards a wall so it explodes quickly.
  • You can cancel auto-attack animations with your E. Never use your E if you have 2 auto attacks available as your E will reset 1 auto.
  • Your E and Ultimate can be used to chase or escape sticky situations. You can also use both of them to get over walls.

3. Rek’Sai

Rek’Sai used to be an extremely obnoxious Jungler, and while she has received quite a few nerfs as of late, she is still a strong early game Jungler. She can gank very early on and if she can blow an early Flash, she can repeatdaly gank a lane.

She has very strong objective control and can fight anyone who tries to stop her from taking the objective. She can solo the objective without the need of her allies either, which is excellent for Solo Queue as not everyone helps their Jungler.

Rek’Sai also has unique gang paths. She can gank lanes by using her Tunnels to get over walls and dodge wards. Because of her unique paths, she can be slightly challenging to ward against as it’s hard to track her once she is out of vision and away from her camps.


Tips and Tricks:

  • Rek’Sai excels at skirmishing during the early game. Use this opportunity to dominate the jungle and assist your lanes.
  • When out of combat, always remain Burrowed W. This is vital as it allows you to have a much higher vision range with Tremor Sense which can be the difference between living and dying.
  • Be creative with your ganking patterns and avoid the linear gank path. Rek’Sai Tunnel can go through any wall in the game.

4. Lee Sin

Lee Sin is one of the most popular champions in the game. Fans love him, one tricks love him, but every allied Lee Sin is always..well, not very good. Anyway, Lee Sin is a strong early game Jungler who needs to get ahead early by ganking his allies and earning gold.

With only a few kills early and some gold, he can quickly complete his first component item and take over the map. As he usually builds AD items instead of tanky items, he will snowball quickly and get a lot of additional damage to aid him in getting kills.

Lee has a very healthy clear and can clear quickly thanks to his Q and E. He can also gank lanes with ease with unique ganking routes with his W, which he can use to hop over wards or close the gap to his allies.


Tips and Tricks:

  • Just because you hit your Q, it doesn’t mean you have to go in. Refrain from following every Q.
  • Try and initiate ganks with your W rather than Q. If you use your Q and miss, it is going to result in a failed gank. It will also be harder for you to land your Q the further you’re away from the enemy.
  • Flash kick the enemy carry or squishy champion into your team. Do not kick the enemy tank or engage the champion as you’ll do more harm than good.

5. Elise

The last champion on our list is one of the strongest AP, skirmish heavy Junglers in the game. Elise can start ganking her allies from level 2 onwards if she decides to take E at level 2. Commonly, Elise would gank the mid or bottom lane at level 2 (depending on which side of the map she starts.

One of Elise’s strong points is that she can repeatedly gank a lane over and over again. Her E has a shortish cooldown, so she can gank, run out of vision and then try for the second time. Do this a few times across the map then she is can quickly get a significant lead.

Finally, let’s talk about her objective control. She can easily take the Rift Herald and any Dragon with ease thanks to her spiders which can soak and deal a lot of damage over time.


Tips and Tricks:

  • You can use your E to get over the Baron and Dragon pits in an attempt to steal the objective. Just make sure it’s not warded so the enemy knows you’re there.
  • Get as close as you can to the enemy before using your E for a guaranteed stun. The further away you’re from the enemy, the easier it will be for them to dodge.
  • When approaching a new camp, make sure you’re in human form. Once you’ve used both your Q and W, change into Spider form to finish the camp off.

Summary

Jungling can be difficult, but playing early game champions can make it easier. We hope this guide has given you some tips on playing them and given you the inspiration you need to climb.

Looking for more educational content and guides? Head to Mobalytics!

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