Some champions in League of Legends are just much stronger than others.
For junglers, there are multiple considerations when weighing which champions are better. The most important thing to look at, and the most obvious, is whether the champion would be good at ganking and either securing kills or aiding their teammates in doing so. Behind the scenes, though, is where things get complicated.
Clear speed, invasion pressure, and macro mobility are all factors that need to be evaluated for keeping up with the enemy jungler. The best jungle champions are the ones that can do it all.
This list of top-tier champions can change depending on a number of things. Sometimes the meta shifts for no apparent reason other than players’ tastes, but usually there’s some kind of balance update, small or large, that’s behind the sudden change. It can be difficult to keep up with the flavor-of-the-month champs, so let us do it for you.
Here are our top five junglers for League’s Patch 12.19.
Master Yi
Pros
- Mobile
- Can carry the game on his own
- Deals true damage, which is amazing against tanks
Cons
- Squishy
- Horrible when he falls behind
- Vulnerable against hard CC
Who could’ve expected that a day when Master Yi is once again one of the best junglers in League of Legends would return? Nevertheless, here we are, with the Wuju Bladesman being extremely powerful after recent buffs, which brought him back onto this list.
Item build
Master Yi’s kit remains unchanged, though, with two of his main strong points still being auto attacks and attack speed. Therefore, to boost those two a bit, it’s best to pick Lethal Tempo as the main rune when you’re choosing Master Yi. This will enhance his attack speed with every basic attack, granting you a bit of extra range once you’re fully stacked. In a game where you’re ahead, Lethal Tempo is crucial to solo carrying the game.
Furthermore, players should pick runes that empower Master Yi even more. Triumph will help him greatly in teamfights, since it allows the champ to restore some health every time he scores a takedown. Legend: Alacrity will make him collect stacks that provide additional attack speed. Last Stand, on the other hand, makes a champion deal more damage while he’s low on health. And looking at Master Yi’s gameplay, that could often be the case.
Instead of grabbing some extra utility from the Inspiration tree, it makes a lot of sense to go for the Domination tree. Eyeball Collection and Treasure Hunter will enhance Master’s snowball potential by gifting him some more gold and adaptive damage.
Ability priority
There’s one proper ability priority on Master Yi: R>Q>E>W. Alpha Strike is his main source of damage, especially in the jungle, where you want to start every camp with this ability. You want to get it to level five as fast as possible since then it has a low cooldown and deals tons of damage. At the same time, it can serve as a tool to dodge some targeted abilities coming your way. Next, players should put points in Wuju Style (E) to increase their damage even more.
Game plan
As Master Yi, players should try to start the snowball as quickly as they can. The Wuju Bladesman is one of those champions that can single-handedly carry the game if they have all the tools that are needed. At the same time, it’s important for you to stay ahead or at least even. If you fall behind, you are easy to shut down, and coming back into the game will be one of the most challenging tasks in your League career.
With no hard CC on your own, you should pick lanes that are easy to gank either by some CC tools from your laner or by a lack of escape mechanics from the enemy champions. Wasting time on mobile, hard-to-gank champions just doesn’t make sense.
In teamfights, Master Yi is resistant to slows thanks to his ultimate, which at the same time gives him additional movement and attack speed. Players should try to use Master Yi’s abilities to get behind enemy lines and eliminate the squishy targets, though that doesn’t always have to be the case. Remember that while your Wuju Style is active, you deal additional true damage, which allows you to focus on bruisers, tanks, and so on.
Elise
Pros
- Strong early game
- Swift escape tool
- Good sustain in jungle
Cons
- Squishy
- Not that easy to master
Throughout the years, Elise has been one of the strongest early-game junglers in League of Legends. And now, she’s once again one of the best picks in the role. With her diversified kit and high damage, it’s easy to skyrocket your team to early advantages, which will often win you the game. Still, doing so requires some knowledge about how to navigate this champion.
Item build
As we said, Elise is incredibly strong early, so it only makes sense to fully accelerate her snowball potential from the get-go with Dark Harvest. This major rune allows champions to deal adaptive damage if an enemy they hit is below 50 percent of their health. Furthermore, it allows you to collect opponents’ souls, which increases your damage even more, making you a foe to be scared of very quickly.
Elise has an easy hard CC tool in the form of her cocoon, which should always come first in skirmishes and ganks. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to pick Cheap Shot, which enhances the damage dealt to champions with impaired actions. Eyeball Collection is another rune that will boost your snowball potential, while Relentless Hunter allows you to make quicker roams throughout Summoner’s Rift.
To increase your survivability and damage a bit more, it’s wise to pick Triumph and Coup de Grace from the Precision tree. The former helps with sustain since it heals you with every kill. The latter, on the other hand, makes you simply deal more damage to champions with less than 40 percent health.
Ability priority
On Elise, the ability priority is: R>Q>W>E. Your Neurotoxin/Venomous Bite (Q) is Elise’s main source of single-target damage, which will shred through bigger monsters and enemy champions. Afterward, it’s best to continue enhancing her damage by putting points in Volatile Spiderling/Skittering Frenzy, her second damage tool. And while Cocoon/Rappel is great for trapping enemies or escaping from them, it’s not really worth putting points in it instead of the other two abilities.
Game plan
On Elise, you’ll usually want to start ganking enemies as early as level three. By then, you will have six abilities combined with your human and spider forms. You should try to gank the lanes with the most immobile champions since it will be easy to land your cocoon and then follow up with other damaging abilities and Rappel.
Thanks to your runes and items you will build in most cases, Elise is also tremendous in controlling neutral objectives. You should be able to outplay most junglers in one-vs-one scenarios, and even if you don’t, you still should be able to escape by stunning them and rappeling away. Therefore, after scoring some successful ganks, try to claim some dragons and Rift Heralds so you can put that extra gold and control earned early to proper use.
When it comes to items, Elise will build ones that will enhance her damage, rarely swaying for the defensive options. Night Harvester, Zhonya’s Hourglass, and Rabadon’s Deathcap are compulsory for her. Usually, players should also pick up Void Staff and Lich Bane if they’re looking to go all in, or something like Rylai’s Crystal Scepter or Banshee’s Veil if they need a shield or a bit more health.
Rek’Sai
Pros
- Tank with high damage
- Mobile
- Can easily finish off low-health enemies with her ultimate
- Quick camp clearing
Cons
- Tough to play from behind
- Falls off in the late game
Despite receiving minor nerfs in Patch 12.19, Rek’Sai is still one of the best junglers in the game. Her tankiness mixed with rapid camp clearing and easy-to-execute ganks make her one of the most dangerous junglers in both the early and mid-game. If perfectly executed, you may quickly put your team in the driving seat and allow them to take care of the rest in the late game.
Item build
When playing Rek’Sai, you should prioritize getting through camps quickly and utilizing your high damage early. To further improve it, it’s wise to pick Conqueror: you will gain additional damage simply by attacking enemies by stacking it. Furthermore, once fully stacked, you will heal for some of the damage dealt to enemy champions, which will enhance your sustain in teamfights.
Afterward, it’s best to pick standard runes for AD-based bruiser junglers like Rek’Sai. Triumph is pivotal, since it heals a portion of your health with every takedown, being yet another tool that makes you tough to take down in fights. To finish off enemies quicker, pick Coup de Grace, which boosts your damage to low-health targets. Legend: Tenacity, on the other hand, will make you more mobile in teamfights since you will have more resistance to crowd control effects.?
As for the filler runes, it’s best to choose Magical Footwear and Cosmic Insight to improve your utility a bit.
Ability priority
You should put points in your abilities in the following order: R>Q>E>W. Your Queen’s Wrath / Prey Seeker (Q) is your main ability to clear camps and to also deal decent damage to enemies in early-game ganks. Down the line, you want to continue increasing your damage, therefore, maximizing Furious Bite / Tunnel (E) is the only sensible option.?
Game plan
The game plan is simple when you’re playing Rek’Sai. You want to get to level three as fast as you can by some efficient, quick camp clearing in the first minutes of the game. Once you do that, you should have all the tools needed to start ganking enemies. While it’s not as hard on Rek’Sai, sometimes it won’t be possible or worthwhile to do so, since enemies may be playing under their towers. In that case, focus on clearing the jungle and possibly try to steal some camps from the enemy jungle.
Once you hit level six, you should have the ability to quickly aid your teammates in need. You should also have a somewhat advanced system of tunnels by that point, so navigating through the map should be a piece of cake. Try to take control over the neutral objectives and aim to put your teammates in an advantageous position with successful ganks.
In terms of items, Rek’Sai players should be going for a mix of aggressive and defensive choices. The best mythic item for the champion is most likely Prowler’s Claw, which should be completed first. Next, get yourself Edge of Night, Death’s Dance, and Guardian Angel. Once you get those items under your belt, you may round up your build with defensive items like Randuin’s Omen or Force of Nature, which is up to you.
Fiddlesticks
Pros
- Unique gameplay
- High damage
- Lots of CC
Cons
- Squishy
- Requires perfect timing to use the ultimate
Fiddlesticks is one of the most old-school junglers in League of Legends. In season 12, he’s a rather unusual pick due to low tankiness and gameplay that relies on perfect timing, specifically in terms of when to use his ultimate. Still, his pros outweigh the cons, making him one of the best junglers in today’s meta.
Item build
While playing Fiddlesticks, a player’s ultimate goal is to find the perfect ultimate where they can wreak havoc by dealing tons of damage to CC’d enemies. Therefore, the wisest option rune-wise for him is Electrocute. With that under your belt, you will deal adaptive damage to opponents that are hit with three separate attacks, which your full combo should proc easily.
Afterward, it’s best for you to increase his damage and snowball potential. For that, you should be picking Cheap Shot, Eyeball Collection, and Ultimate Hunter. The second and third rune grant him adaptive damage and ultimate cooldown reduction based on stacks, while the former allows Fiddlesticks to deal bonus damage to those who have impaired actions. And looking at the tools you have, there should be plenty of enemies like that.
Fiddlesticks needs a bit of help in terms of utility, especially since you’re going to be grabbing some items with active abilities, like Zhonya’s Hourglass and Hextech Rocketbelt, which are core for him. Therefore, Cosmic Insight is pivotal to the champion, with a free Stopwatch coming from Perfect Timing being no less important.
Ability priority
On Fiddlesticks, you want to prioritize abilities in this order: R>W>Q>E. Bountiful Harvest (W) is key in clearing the jungle, especially big monsters. It’s also great for eliminating single-target enemies that aren’t that mobile and can’t escape the range of your ability that easily. When the mid game comes around, it’s important for you to keep your enemies CC’d as long as possible, so you should be putting points in Terrify (Q) instead of Reap (E).
Game plan
Fiddlesticks’ game plan is fairly simple. In the first minutes of the game, your goal should be farming the jungle and getting to level six as fast as possible. Before that, your ganks won’t be that fruitful, especially since you don’t have any gap closers since your Hextech Rocketbelt isn’t yet completed. There are, however, some champions that might be gankable before level six, like immobile ones from the top lane, that should be easy to eliminate if they overextend.
Once you hit level six, the game doesn’t immediately become easy. You still need to properly place your ultimate and yourself so that you don’t get interrupted while casting it and enemies won’t escape the area that you’re planning to ult before you do. Therefore, proper vision control is pivotal for Fiddlesticks. Try to set that up alongside your support and always try to pop in with a surprise element. Usually, his kit is used the best once fighting in the jungle, so try to engage in fights over neutral objectives as much as you can.
Players will probably need some time before mastering Fiddlesticks’ ability order in teamfights. After all, you will need to use ultimate and your CC skills and active items afterward. With so many tasks, it’s easy to mess the sequence up. First, you close the gap with Hextech Rocketbelt, use your Terrify and Reap, start channeling Bountiful Harvest (W) if possible, and then go into stasis with Zhonya’s Hourglass.
Last but not least, it’s best to use Fiddlesticks on the enemies’ back line. Therefore, maintaining great vision control is pivotal. It will allow you to set up proper flanks, which will keep getting harder and harder to navigate as the game goes on.
Udyr
Pros
- Tank with high damage
- Tremendous one-vs-one potential
Cons
- Doesn’t have great engage
- Falls off in the late game
- Tough to play from behind
Udyr was reworked in Patch 12.17 and he has re-entered Summoner’s Rift in stunning fashion. In Patch 12.18, he received some minor updates to his kit, which nerfed him a bit, though, he was again buffed in Patch 12.19. When used right, he’s still one of the best junglers in the game, with huge one-vs-one potential and a few versatile build paths.
Item build
Udyr’s kit was reworked, but the basics of it are still the same. He relies on his powerful, empowered auto attacks, which work differently depending on which ability you’re using. Therefore, as a jungler, you will be aiming to increase the strength of Udyr’s basic attacks. Conqueror helps with that goal since it gifts him adaptive damage with every auto attack while also healing him for eight percent of the damage dealt once you reach maximum stacks.
Down the line, we have standard runes for an AD-based bruiser jungler like Udyr: Triumph, Legend: Tenacity, and Last Stand. The former heals you with every takedown, which is essential when trying to make it out alive from a teamfight. Legend: Tenacity, as the name suggests, will grant you tenacity with every stack you collect. Last Stand will make you more dangerous once you’re low on health, which you often will be.
Udyr will often find himself in the middle of a skirmish, therefore it’s smart to bolster his defensive stats with Unflinching and Conditioning from the second tree. Both runes will increase his tenacity and resistances.
Ability priority
Udyr’s ability priority is vastly different from other champions in the game since he can put as many as six points in every ability. As a result, he can’t maximize all of them. Udyr’s three most important spells in the jungle are Wingborne Storm (R), Iron Mantle (W), and Blazing Stampede (E), and he should maximize them in that order. At level one, however, put your first point in Wilding Claw (Q) to have an easy jungle clear in the first minutes of the game.
Game plan
When you’re playing Udyr, you have all the tools to take control over the jungle, so you want to dominate it as fast as possible. Go for Scuttle Crabs as often as you can, and if you engage with the enemy jungler, you can go for a trade. In the end, with your kit, you’re one of the best one-versus-one junglers in the game and don’t have many unfavorable matchups.
While you’re taking over the jungle, you should also consider ganking vulnerable lanes when you can. Your gap closing isn’t as good as some would like it to be, but with Blazing Stampede with Awaken buff you should be able to catch up to most enemy champions, even if they don’t overextend that much. Udyr’s power spike lies in the mid game, so make sure to make the most of it with powerful ganks and control over neutral objectives.
In teamfights, you should have enough tools to cause quite a stir in the back line, which should always be your goal. Your runes, adaptability, build, and kit should make you pretty versatile, and you should be able to make something out of every situation.
When it comes to the items, nothing benefits you as much as Sunfire Aegis, which should be your first pick-up. Afterward, you should usually aim to gain a bit more offensive stats rather than picking up tanky items, so consider purchasing Demonic Embrace after completing your mythic item. Later on, you can buy tanky items, like Dead Man’s Plate, Frozen Heart, Force of Nature, Thornmail, or Warmog’s Armor.
