Jungle Tier List Breakdown (part 4)

Riven


Speed A - Riven has strong single target damage along with strong AoE damage. She combines this with no resource requirements (outside of cooldowns) and easily melts camps with no issue.

Resilience C+ - Riven does have the advantage of not relying on resources so she doesn't get completely screwed if harassed but she's deceptively vulnerable at the start. To compound that issue, she has to keep up with the jungle in order to handle it. If she's constantly harassed, she might find it difficult to balance farming and clearing. Her ganking is the "all-in" type of ganking and, if she's crippled, she will find the risk of ganking to have increased dramatically.

Build A - Riven is limited to offensive builds but has great leeway on how to build towards them. Her ultimate and base values on her abilities allow her to take an early defensive route (though she'll need to build damage for late game) if she needs to. She can go full glass cannon and assassinate mvp targets early. Anyhow, Riven is able to migrate in between builds from ease and maintain a strong offense by simply taking hybrid offense/defense items like phage and hexdrinker.

Sustain C+ - Riven has no way to maintain her health (her E doesn't help) and takes damage from the camps even beyond the first clears. Simply put, while her combo means she slaughters the thing, she doesn't kill the monsters before they've all taken a few swings.

Ganking A+ - Riven's ganking is amongst the best in the game. It combines multiple gap closers with a stun and extremely high damage. It is rather all in so she has no real disengage right after but she's usually torn the target a new one by then. Simply put - she can single handedly take down a target with or without her teammate's help. Them helping usually guarantees a kill if she caught the target. When she obtains her ultimate - well the damage just goes through the roof as well her chances of finishing off the target.

Dueling A - The same thing as ganking is applied here except she loses points in that she will receive no help during a duel. While she's ganking a target - if she has a teammate around, the target will likely run and not try to fight back. In the case of a duel, the target will fight back so Riven's mobility is shot if she wants to use the full power of her kit during a fight or vice versa.

Invasion A - She easily clears camps and has no resources. She's also a strong duelist as previously stated. Her only issue would be that she uses her abilities in order to clear the camps but their cooldowns aren't unreasonable and she can just scamper off (though probably a bit wounded) if she's caught.

M. Transition A+ - Her itemization is great for a bruiser jungler currently and thus her mid game benefits as well from that. It's always been very strong for a jungler but now it's even better. She can basically nuke down the mvp and deal extreme amounts of damage even with an early budget build as long as she uses her ultimate appropriately. There isn't much to say here other than her massive steroids, high mobility and high damage are what make her very powerful during mid game compared to other junglers. She is arguably one of the best junglers to use for Solo Queue because of this.

L. Transition B+ - The same thing as before except now she has much more difficulty in doing it and is likely to die or get kited. Unless fed, most junglers won't have the builds to do either damage or survive a late game carry's onslaught. At the very most - she can hope for an opening and jump on top of the mvp and let loose - hopefully she took them down before she's brought down.

Jax


Speed A - Jax has a weird speed curve. At first he's rather fast but then starts to slow down before reaching level 6. It's actually quite noticeable when you compare it to other junglers. Then he hits level 6 and picks right back up. It's very likely because of the cooldowns and mana sustain from blue.

Resilience D+ - Jax is very easy to shut down. Stealing his buffs takes him down heavily (especially blue) and constant harassment takes him out of the game. He needs too much farm, doesn't have the mana or health sustain early to clear, is slow before level 6 (with no blue), can't duel anyone, the jungle will scale beyond his means to clear it and his ganking is haphazard. He's a very risky jungler early.

Build C+ - He is very item reliant so he must obtain his gold either through farming or murdering. While he does have the option of having some niche tank builds - his best builds, including the tank builds, require much more gold than the jungle can hope to even provide outside of getting some gank money. Jax is already forced to dump some gold into Wriggles (pending he didn't get murder gold) setting himself behind.

Sustain C+ - It has already been detailed in the resilience part. The only thing I'll add here is that after level 6 he easily maintains a strong pace and doesn't need to use any abilities outside of low cooldown empowers.

Ganking B+ - Jax's ganking is haphazard but high damage. He has a hard stun and a gap closer. His ganking is basically two abilities used for the purpose - fail one and you likely failed the other. The problem with Jax's ganking is that he is forced to burn his crowd control and gap closer at the start in most cases making his chasing weaker and thus having to rely on his teammate to properly follow up. He may get another leap in to secure the kill though.

Dueling C/B+ - Jax is one of the few junglers who's dueling takes a gradual increase in power once he obtains level 6. It was already stated how weak he is early. He's very easy to kill but at least he can handle the average jungler and maintains an average score. He is able to dish out more damage and bruise a few of the stronger duelists after he obtains his ultimate but Jungle Jax is nowhere near as potent as lane Jax. Without items, Jax will lose to most of the better duelists and if you factor in JUNGLE items, Jax's power isn't increasing as much as his opponents. It doesn't mean he ca'nt break most opponents in a straight up fight though - his ramp up is what hurts him.

Invasion B - At least when he's level 6 - Jax can rend camps without using his abilities so he's always ready to fight or escape. Other than that, he's at least fast.

M. Transition C+ - He likely doesn't have the best items to do much here yet. He either sunk it into a jungle build or hasn't finished a full item yet. At least his ultimate can help him survive somewhat and he has reasonable damage and crowd control. Still, he's nowhere near his full potential yet.

L. Transition S - Jax often reaches his late game faster than most characters as his power rockets with every complete item he obtains. He feeds into his ultimate and becomes harder to kill and is able to pounce on the mvps and wreck face. His abilities gain strong cooldowns to the point of spammability. He is dealing hybrid damage at strong burst levels and high sustain levels. If he isn't easily taken care of - he'll likely survive the entire fight as he'll heal himself up through spell vamp and lifesteal. He's a wrecking ball late game even as a jungler.

Special - Jax is one of the games most hyper snowballers even in the jungle. If he gets fed through ganks or some means - all his weak scores become irrelevant and he can utterly crush any jungler in the game. The point of jungle Jax is to become fed enough to ignore your weak early jungle.

Darius


Speed A - Darius has always had a pretty fast clear time. He simply does too much damage to camps with or without items. Not much to say here.

Resilience C+ - Darius, even with his speed, is easy to shutdown. It is largely attributed by his atrocious starting sustain and his mediocre ganking. He has no real means to force recovery outside of attempting to farm back up. He is saved by his build options though (explained later) so all he really needs to do is farm up enough for one complete item and rely on his abilities to carry him after his crippled jungle.

Build B+ - Darius has tons of build options including offensive and defensive builds. Why does he end up scoring less than champions that have the same amount of builds? His "damage" builds don't help his "Chinese Kite" issue and, largely thanks to his lack of tankiness issue, he cannot transition well between builds if he's already delved deep into one. Still, to his benefit, most of this tank builds bestow him with cooldown reduction which actually increases his offense.

Sustain C+ - Aside from having a strong pace even if harassed and with no items, Darius lacks any form of sustain even beyond his first clear. It levels out later but he is very vulnerable early because of this. He has no real mana issues as his spells cost next to nothing and he only really has to spam his Q.

Ganking C+ - Darius's ganking is very lopsided. He only has one chance to engage on an enemy - a short ranged pull - but the cooldown on his engage is staggering and he has no mobility or means to disengage if he's counter ganked. He does, however, have some extreme damage to the point where he utterly melts his target. If he catches someone, which rarely happens vs smart players, he will utterly annihilate them. Once he obtains his ultimate, being caught by Darius is a death sentence. Still, the best he can usually do are ambush ganks. His mobility is atrocious.

Dueling S - Everything about ganking applies here except they're forced to face you now. Darius outright melts almost all of the jungle cast. He even beats the best duelists in the game if he has even a slight advantage over them. In the duels between the best junglers - it is often whoever makes the first move that wins. Darius just deals too much damage and is able to use the bushes to prepare ambush ganks.

Invasion A+ - He clears fast and no one wants to fuck with Darius. His cooldowns are also amazing on his abilities (except his E which he doesn't use to clear anyways) so he'll always be prepared for a fight. Don't mess with Darius unless you have a clear advantage.

M. Transition B+ - Darius will forever be kited. If he grabs someone, tank or otherwise, he at least knows he can murder that person. His power lies in that his damage scales with cooldown reduction which is often found on tank items. He can become tanky, survive the kiting and rely on his teammates to help him close the gank. Whoever he grabs will likely die.

L. Transition B - It's the same thing as before except now Darius's damage hasn't improved because of the lack of offensive items (damage Darius tends to be unreliable from the jungle) and he's heavily reliant on his passive and ultimate. However, to make matters worse, the more health the opponents have the less likely he is to be able to execute them. At this point everyone has plenty of health to deal with his true damage. Darius will likely be dealt with before he is able to do much. He has to rely on a fortunate use of his E.

Leona


Speed D - She's a slug and it doesn't improve by much either as the game goes on. Some may argue that she gets faster. The truth is, she does but her speed barely compares to the speed of average speed junglers.

Resilience D+ - Here is where things get touchy. She is used as a support character so it is accepted that she can make due with just a support build which most junglers would end up taking if they're harassed to hell and back - but she loses a lot of points because, as a jungler, she won't be able to do anything if she's harassed to hell and back. The jungle camps will outscale her, she'll be vulnerable to constant harassment, her ganking will be shot. She really just can't deal with harassment compared to other characters. Her transition will still work because of her initiation powers but harassment can cripple her to the point that Support Leona would have ended up stronger.

Build C - Once again this is where it gets controversial. She can survive on a pittance of gold so theoretically she should be able to do well with a crappy amount of gold. Well it's a yes and no here. It's yes in that she will obtain more gold than support (probably) but no in that she'll be forced to spend it on a few items that may not fit her properly. She'll be forced to buy a wriggles and some form of regeneration as she is not a health and mana sustained champion. She will be forced to take AD centric runes - which admittedly aren't too far out - but pretty much force herself into an AD build. She's a crappy farmer and will force herself either to accept a very mediocre ad build or a stunted support and/or tank build. The support and tank builds are stunted because she needed to make two gold sinks before working towards it.

Sustain D - She suffers in every factor of sustain. She can't maintain her health, her mana is quickly drained (god help her if she lost blue) and her clearing pace is flimsy at best.

Ganking A+/S - Her on redeeming quality is her godlike ganking. There is no doubt that she's a powerful ganker as soon as she gains her three skills. She risks everything on this. If her ganking goes well then she can make up for her atrocious aspects. If her ganking goes wrong, then she's forced into the role of a gimped support. She has no mobility outside of her gap closer but at least it's a strong one with a stun follow up from her Q and good burst damage from her W. If Leona's teammate properly follows up Leona's initiate then the teammate with proc Leona's passive for a high increase in damage. Once she obtains her ultimate, she can pretty much pin someone down for a kill with a lot of ease. Her damage begins to drop off at some point but not her control. Junglers with plenty of control have not had their lack of damage held against them or their reliance on teammates anyways.

Dueling D+ - She has some damage and CC but other than that she'll just die. Her abilities are not made for 1v1 duels let alone vs strong jungle duelists. Just avoid fighting.

Invasion F - Unless the you're in the area because you are ganking/were ganking/just ganked and it is very open to you and no one can retaliate or you have back up - she is probably one of the worst invaders out there. She can't do it alone due to her weak-ass dueling vs other junglers and her weak clearing and sustain.

M. Transition B+ - Regardless of what happened or that she might die right after - she's an initiation beast. Her mid game transition as a jungler isn't that great compared to other similar junglers like Amumu or Nautilus because at least they have more control over their crowd control and have likely obtained the means to survive the first seconds of a fight. Still - cc bots are great.

L. Transition S - If I can fear a late game support Leona then I can fear a late game jungle Leona. At this point, even a gimped jungle Leona has obtained the means to increase her tanking powers. She doesn't have to build damage to be effective - she's a cc bot. Even if some advocates of Jungle Leona are pushing for her to have an offensive build - experienced junglers know that defensive builds are what pay off the most and tend to be safer. Late game Leona with cooldown reduction and survivability (like health) is very difficult to kill all the meanwhile she's spreading her passive like aids and sticking to the carry like an obsessed girlfriend. That spammable stun is glorious and gap closer are glorious.

Pantheon


Speed C - He's slow. At least he doesn't get much slower. There is no speeding up for him and wriggles doesn't help him.

Resilience C - If it wasn't for his obscene ganking - he'd be even lower on this. He's easy to shut down and you don't even have to try very hard. Take his blue and he takes a huge hit as he relies heavily on mana early. Take his camps and keep him experience screwed - he doesn't clear camps fast enough so you'll outpace him. At least his glorious stun saves him.

Build C - Pantheon is a poor jungle farmer and he won't obtain his core offensive build unless he gets fed. He doesn't have many build options and can't take deviate from an offensive build early or he severely screws over his own jungle. Admittedly - after his first purchase he can deviate into a tank build perfectly or take an offensive build that really works for him...if he can farm either.

Sustain D+ - Pantheon has absolutely no forms of sustain. His blocking passive helps pad the damage he receives even early into the game so that helps but other than that he greatly suffers from mana shortages, poor pacing and health sustain. The jungle beats him pretty badly early and in subsequent clears.

Ganking S/S+ - Pantheon is one of the best gankers in the game (not just jungle gankers) and that's largely due to his high damage and his godlike stun. There isn't much to say about this except - sweet jesus you're dead. Then his ultimate pretty much makes it so he can gank anyone without them being able to predict his ganks. If he does it poorly he'll die of course but hopefully his teammates react. Simply put - all his other aspects may suck, but his ganking is god status.

Dueling B+ - Pantheon is very strong 1v1 thanks to his strong damage and his passive working on the jungle population. He doesn't deal as much damage or have as many options as the other junglers and LoS screws him over. So there's that.

Invasion D+ - The guy can barely clear his own jungle, aside from looking to kill someone, he shouldn't bother entering the enemy jungle.

M. Transition B - He pretty much needs to be fed in order to do some godlike murdering. He's basically a bruiser assassin so he works out anyways. He deals less damage than lane murdering Pantheon.

L. Transition C - Same deal just he doesn't fare too well with the jungle gold as he wishes he could. He just won't do as much as a jungler unless he was fed. He's much stronger in a lane.

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/stonewall008

41

Comments

  • #42 A2ZOMG

    Stonewall, I really think you should relook at Jungle Pantheon, just simply because Spirit of the Elder Lizard is extremely good on him, and extremely cost efficient and inexpensive.  He's still reliant on snowballing the game with ganks, but the jungle no longer outscales and kills him, because he actually has efficient itemization for jungling.

  • #41 Cynnan

    Based on Riven's latest round of nerfs and the changes to jungle mob's hp, I've really struggled with her in the jungle. Her natural hp regen is nowhere near what it was, which leaves you lower on hp throughout your clear. Also, her kit was always reliant on mowing down the camp before it hurt her too much, and with the large monster getting an hp buff while the smaller ones got nerfed, it means that strong mob is going to be alive long enough to beat on you significantly longer.

    Have these nerfs changed your rating of her, Stonewall?

  • #37 WayneX

    nice work! keep it up! waiting on nocturne

    ideot nobs makieing me loose gams, NOOBY PLS!

  • #34 Annomania

    Hello Stonewall, i really wantto know what do youthinkabout Eve in the jungle, i tryed her some times, and she worked very good.

    OFC i have some Problems about the startbuild, but her passiv is so strong cause most ppl need to play very def or get raped hard. Also they need the expensiv pink Wards or have no clue where iam.

     

    Hell even if i theres no option to gank i can time the buffs and can steal them easy and can come away with my speed (gone like the wind ;) )

    So what did YOU think about her, does all theese thinks just work cause the oppents i got sucked  ( iam not high elo) or does she is quite nice?

  • #33 Elzam

    Mundo look forward to Mundo. 

  • #30 CrazedMcCrazy

    Very nice, well done. Lovely series.

  • #29 ckychris

    I JUST WANT FIDDLESTICKS!

  • #28 EYEtriforc3

    Great post once again. Looking forward to your Nocturne and Chogath build part.

    Darius isnt popular in the jungle cause he takes the kills, ive had super great games with Jungle Darius beeing around 10kills and low deaths ect but still you loose the games since of his ultimate he pretty much has to take the kills or suffer a loong cooldown, and ofc especially in teamfights he has to get that resett going and thus he takes alot of economy from the team onto himself, as a toplaner it works in alot of teamcomps but a jungler that is a big money spounge for the team...nah not good.

     

    Last edited by EYEtriforc3 on 1/14/2013 11:10:42 PM

    Oldschool gamer, gamer since birth

  • #27 Enkidux

    Stonewall, have you tried jungling Leona with Spirit Stone instead of Madred's/Lantern?

    It's (as you have said) basically a philosopher stone, so it helps with your regen, especially mana. But the big reason I consider it superior for Leona is you are already using your W in the jungle to take less damage, why not give the damage an extra 20% and help with clear times. Q as well, for that matter (and E if you have blue buff and can spam it).

    Granted that I run cdr blues for my 'choice' to help with her Q cooldown in the initial clear, and that I almost have to run 21/9/0 instead of the 9/21/0 you used in your s3 clear, but lets face it, most support Leona builds will run 0/9/21, so it's not a huge tradeoff.

    I realize that at platinum elo where everyone starts with a ward and you don't get to hold onto blue/get heavily invaded you won't be able to W on every camp, that the armor from the Madred's becomes just as attractive as the proc, but really are you going to be playing a defensive Leona at those times anyway?

    I'm in no way saying you are doing it wrong, I'm just curious if you have tried a Sprit Stone Leona and factored that into your ranking of her. Thanks for all the work you do for the community.

  • #39 Ardames

    well she has super slow clear times, and without wriggles you clear HELLA slow.

     

  • #40 B3hr7

    To be fair, Leona's not the kind of jungler that spends 50% of her time actually jungling, even though nowadays it's risky to ignore ur jungle most of the time. Her ganking is what makes her viable, might as well take advantage of that.

  • #26 Yaamahri

    Heh, Darius vs Trundle, my bet is on Trundle.

  • #24 exacerberus

    Thanks for part 4, waiting for the next one.

    The only thing I disliked was horizontal whore Leona pick...sure, she's gloriously bad-ass, yet not a calendar Miss-Fortune bitch champ. Would you like to see naked fireman Jarman with his nice red helmet but not pants? I mean, I'm not questioning his manliness and talent in dunking girls with his big flag and increased penetration... but would you find honourable to exhibit such a gross display of prowess?

    Last edited by exacerberus on 1/14/2013 9:32:31 PM

    Mongol General: Conan! What is best in life?

    Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women.

    Mongol General: That is good! That is good.

    - Conan the Barbarian -

  • #31 0625403

    its just a picture

  • To post a comment, please login or register a new account.