Reign of Gaming

Since there weren't many changes this time around I decided, since season 3 jungle is coming soon, to give a throw back to my oldest surviving tier list. Remember that this is largely opinion and it is not based on the best jungle PICKS. This list is taking into account the potential of characters to jungle on their own regards to make measuring their capabilities easier.

Tier 1 – Lee Sin, Dr. Mundo, Maokai, Nunu, Skarner, Nocturne, Udyr, Shyvana, Trundle, Jarvan IV, Cho`Gath, Amumu, Shen, Nautilus, Alistar, Malphite, Hecarim, Olaf

Tier 2 –Diana, Elise, Riven, Rengar, Darius, Sejuani, Kha`Zix, Jax, Warwick, Volibear, Rammus, Shaco, Gangplank, Xin Zhao, Tryndamere, Fiddlesticks, Master Yi, Zyra, Kayle, Gragas, Wukong, Evelynn

Tier 3 – Singed, Jayce, Garen, Twitch, Galio, Fizz, Pantheon, Renekton, Rumble, Karthus, Syndra, Fiora, Twisted Fate, Janna, Blitzcrank, Kennen, Taric, Sion, Ezreal, Soraka, Cassiopeia, Lulu, Ziggs, Leona, Heimerdinger, Brand, Yorick, Mordekaiser

Tier 4 – Nasus, Katarina, Caitlyn, Corki, Veigar, Poppy, Karma, Irelia, Malzahar, Draven, Sivir, Akali, Nidalee

Tier 5 – Viktor, Graves, Varus, Orianna, Ahri, Talon, Annie, Urgot, Kog Maw, Ashe, Sona

An old tier list made at the time Renekton is below. I felt just like showing how far things have come.

Tier 1- Udyr, Shaco, Nunu, Trundle, Warwick, Master Yi, Shen

Tier 2 - Olaf, Fiddlesticks, Cho Gath, Rammus, Gragas, Irelia, Malphite

Tier 3 - Dr Mundo, Sion, Xin Zhao, Akali, Tryndamere, Evelynn, Amumu

Tier 4 - Mordekaiser, Jax, Nasus, Taric, Ryze, Pantheon, Ezreal

Tier 5 - Tristana, Corki, Malzahar, Cassiopeia, Soraka, Garen

For tiers 1 and 2 - the placement is more important towards indicating "who is better" but less so for tier 3. In tier 3, just think of it in brackets as the champions here are more flawed and harder to argue. You can say that the higher tier 3 champions are better than the lower tier 3 though. For Tier 4 and 5 it's pretty much wishy washy.

Tier 1 is based more on general all around high quality junglers. Tier 2 is based on junglers with great aspects and a few flaws but being able to fill a niche that gives them some validity. Tier 3 is taking what Tier 2 is based around and basically pushing the importance on niche a lot more. The other two tiers are just throwaways.

Some people seem to be getting confused with the ranking. It should be obvious by seeing who gets the S scores that S means higher than A. The Lane and Jungle scores give a rough look into what level of laners/junglers they can deal with. A high lane score means they high success at ganking powerful laners and a low score means they have little chance of ganking powerful laners. Amplifiers are how well they get buffed up by variables such as buffs, leashes and summoner spells.

S scoring is just some video game thing used to say things like “Oh man you are amazing” etc etc. It’s most commonly used in arcade type games.

What changed this time around-

Jayce - Too much assistance required from the team and even then he basically crumbles in the jungle. He also does need a lot of farm. Admittedly I praised him a little too much and the nerfs are starting to head his way.

Rengar - His ganking is great but the nerfs are starting to take their toll on him. As a jungler he's starting to become less appealing (less farm) and it is starting to relegate him to a tank position rather than a murder machine. Riot doesn't like assassins.

Skarner - Yeah he got nerfed but at least not to the point of useless. He went up because he's a lot more dangerous than Nocturne and pretty much will tear any other jungler apart in a 1v1 situation.

Darius - While there is some favoritism there this guy just has incredible build versatility and deals damage even when built tank. Hell if he builds damage then he deals monstrous amounts. That means if he's doing well he can become a major damage dealer for your team but if he's doing fine or a bit poorly he can fall back on conservative items. Also there are very few characters that can fight him 1v1 and he has some very grossly positive jungle match ups. There are a few junglers that cannot do anything to stop him if he finds them in their jungle. It's basically a guaranteed kill if he finds them.

Nautilus and Alistar - The combination of nerfs and the favoritism of speed junglers have brought these two down. Yes Alistar gets banned a lot but he can be a great TEAM pick but as a jungler he's pretty lackluster aside from his godlike ganks. The nerfs pretty much destroyed his ability to do things in the jungle without having his hand held and we've all seen those games where Alistar gets slapped in the jungle and then he just runs around doing very little. Nautilus is similar too. He gets easily slapped by other junglers and the nerfs (along with everyone just amassing wards) have made him less effective. Their crowd control and tankiness still carries them through the game but they were taken down in the tier list as a result of everything else.

Evelynn - Yeah she's not too bad of a jungler but man does she need to be babysat. She is so damn fragile and requires the cooperation of her teammates in order to gank successfully from the jungle. As mid she at least has two summoner spells to work with but from the jungle she either sacrifices an escape (flash) or killing power (exhaust/ignite).

Elise - This may be pre emptive but from what I've seen she's a fusion of a lot of nice things. Her level 1 needs a jump start from her team but then she takes off and is actually quite fast. Her W is wickedly strong and she has some sustain. That said her ganking is rather strong thanks to her ranged skillshot stun in combination with her spider gap closer. Her spider spells also don't cost mana.

Her ganks will work in two ways. One way is that she will walk up to her opponent and use her Q to deal damage and then use her E to stun them (or in the opposite order) then transform into a spider and close the gap and start going to town on them. The other way to gank is to run at them as a spider and close the gap with her E then become a human and get a better shot in with your E. The first gank type allows her to deal more damage and may get her a use of her stun twice though the enemy might burn their escape to avoid her first stun. On the other hand the second gank type allows her to force the enemy to burn their escapes immediately and now she has her stun in pin them down after their escapes are gone.

Then one of the best things (at least in this jungle) is that she's a functioning AP jungler. That means she's able to take a very conservative build like gold items and utility AP so she's got economics down. In short, whether she works in the lane or in the jungle better and whether she's a good champion pick or not - she will definitely work as a jungler. I don't know whether I'll prefer her over Diana yet though.

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