Why you suck at Jungle

Or how to stop my attempts to murder Junglers with my mind

We play a lot of games that are decided by the 10 minute mark.  Its not entirely apparent that we have lost, but the cancer has set it, will soon metastasize and we will be on our way to the 20 to 30 minute surrender depending upon how stubborn I am.

This isn't always the jungles fault, but its the jungle who has to attempt to fix this.  All too often the enemy jungle is doing their job while our jungle takes an extended forest stroll.  As these events have demonstrated your collective immunity to experience, I have decided to bless you with a guide on how to jungle.

First the goal of the jungle: to help "win" lanes.  Lanes have direct feedback.  The more gold and experience you earn there, the more advantageous your position in lane becomes, the more this snowballs in the lane and then throughout the entire game.  Unless you are heavily counter jungling you inherently do not have this feedback and it makes the jungle position significantly weaker when played in a non-interactive manner.

This is why its important to gank at level 4 at the latest.  If you can force a lane to go back and heal 2-3 times or  to play more conservatively due to your presence, even if they didn't die, this gives your lane a significant advantage.  They will be in a better position, and as this advantage increases they should  soon be able to kill their opponent without your help. If you sit passively in the jungle until 6 significant damage has already been done and by the time you try to right the ship it is often far far too late.  There is no such thing as a good Jungle who starts ganking at 6.  If you think you need to wait till level 6 to interact with the lanes you are doing something spectacularly wrong.

This feedback is also why Primum non nocere has to be the primary rule of the jungle.  Don't give mid both buffs because you try to force something.  Don't expect a lane incredibly low on life/mana to help you out.  Don't have your only interaction with a lane be to push it back off a tower:  you are forcing a lane with a disadvantage to lose one of the only advantages they have in that position.  Mistakes will naturally happen but if you can try to correct them.

As a Jungle you will have to make Sophie's Choice.  Not all your retard children will survive the laning phase intact, you just need some of them to.  Some lanes are beyond help and it is perfectly alright to abandon them to tower hugging - if you are actively making a difference in other lanes.  When it becomes apparent that you are only helping a single floundering lane it gives an incredible advantage to an enemy team who notices this.  Part of this is looking for the right opportunities to gank and not forcing bad ones.  Bottom lane needs help, but is pushed?  Make your presence felt in a lane that is presenting a better opportunity and try to get back around.

While there are 4 items to choose from as a Jungle there is a single correct choice.  This is the Stalker's Blade.  While forcing an enemy out of lane is helpful you are really there to get your lanemate a kill.  The Stalker's Blade gives you another tool to do so while none of the other jungling items do.  This is also why jungles with multiple stuns/slows are stronger.

Also notice what was said above?  Much like support, the goal of the jungle isn't to rack up a kill count.  If you can, let the lane take the kill.  This isn't glorious and puts you in a weaker position but it puts the lane with direct feedback in the stronger one.

Another common mistake are attempted jungle ganks that come from the direction of your creep wave.  These do not surprise anyone and rarely accomplish anything.  Either flank the lane or attack them from the rear.  While coming in for a gank it is better not to dally as well.  Communicate your intent with pings and enter the lane with initiative.  The longer you wait for the perfect gank the longer you give your opponents a chance to notice you with their wards.

Finally, the dragon.  While the jungle should be attempting to secure the dragon it should be apparent by now that making this your only goal is a flawed strategy.  The dragon is also why mid and bottom are more important lanes then top.  Top is expected to be more independent, there is a reason they take teleport after all.  The best way to take a dragon is through this feedback effect:  kill/force mid back, then the Jungler and Mid can gank bottom.  Once both lanes are disrupted take the dragon.