Post 7: Jungle Overview

"Yum Yum...Veigar garnished with Blue Buff!" - Shaco

Unlike the other four primary roles, the Jungler does not reside in a particular lane. Instead, they take advantage of the spaces between the lanes known as the Jungle, hence the name Jungler. While other lanes  gain experience through minions, Junglers level up and obtain gold from monsters that spawn at specific points. Alternatively, they can resort to ganking, or ambushing, the three primary lanes: Top, Middle, and Bottom. According to Stonewall (2012), ganking revolves around fighting an enemy on unequal terms leaning towards your team. 

Nocturne about to **** this guy up

*Whistles* Hot Female Rengar

Similarly to the Support and AP Carry roles, Junglers are distinguished by two factors: jungle clearing and ganking. While one champion may excel at farming in the jungle, another might have superior ganking potential. However, some mediate a balance between both. A prime example of a well rounded Jungler would be Udyr. Wyby (2013) points out that Udyr's Turtle into Phoenix stance combo allows him to quickly clear the jungle 

while his Bear stance acts as both a gap-closer and stun, thus providing ganking potential. 

Due to the jungle location on both sides of the map, the Jungler can gank all three lanes. Through successful ganks, you can put your team at both a gold and experience advantage or exhaust your enemy's resources such as their summoner spells. Additionally, it strikes fear into the opposing side, thus enabling you to play mind games with the enemy team. By forcing the enemy to play safely, they tend to lose out on experience and gold. 

In League of Legends, situations tend to snowball very quickly. An example scenario: The enemy level 2 Anivia steps out of her safe zone to farm. Through coordination and teamwork with your fellow level 2 Orianna, the former falls victim to a gank and dies. While Anivia remains dead, the latter continues to farm, eventually putting herself two levels ahead. Eventually, she revives and returns only to die again and repeat the whole situation. Therefore, while Anivia sits at level 2, Orianna has already risen to level 6 and obtained her ultimate. 

"This is all I'm good for." - Teemo Squirrel for President 2016

 

References:

Information
1. Xenasis (2012, July 24). Jungling 101 - What You Need To Know! Messaged posted to http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/jungling-101-what-you-need-to-know-77704
2. Wyby (2013, April 16). Mastering the Jungle - How to call PETA. Message posted to http://www.solomid.net/guides.php?g=18634-wyby-udyr-build-guide
3. StonewallROG (2012, August 25). The Types of Ganks. Message posted to http://www.reignofgaming.net/blogs/stonewall/21421-the-types-of-ganks

Pictures
1. Narm, Serious Shaco, 2012, retrieved from: http://www.fanup.com/league-legends-champion-shaco/guide/shaco-guide-hot-new-presentation
2. scriptKittie, League of Legends: GANK, 2011, retrieved from: http://scriptkittie.deviantart.com/art/League-of-Legends-GANK-202450028
3. Varuna00, League of Legends Gank Teemo, 2012, retrieved from: http://www.deviantart.com/morelikethis/344120235/fanart/traditional?offset=10&view_mode=2

Videos
1. GenDoukeshi, (2013, February 24), How to Gank - A Detailed League of Legends Guide for Beginners, retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL9nJuQ1VUk