Whenever new champions are released, or old ones revamped, the perennial question is, "Are they a good jungler?" It's not an easy question to answer for any number of qualities makes a jungler good. As I'll be releasing a few new jungle videos over the next few days I thought this would be an excellent time to discuss how I evaluate junglers.
The primary test for any jungler is their ability to clear the jungle safely and securely. A jungler's mobility, ganks, and utility hardly matter if they can't take on the jungle itself. While you can always run Cloth Armor and 5 Potions and be essentially guaranteed a safe clear, I prefer to test using boots and sustain items. If a jungler can clear with out the "crutch" of Cloth Armor, they have a high chance of being strong and effective.
Once a jungler's basic competency is verified, the more time-consuming task of developing a build begins. It can take many, many runs to zero in on an optimal build due to number of independent variables. Runes, masteries, skill order, route, and execution all play a significant part, and minor changes to any of them can give significant returns. The effort doesn't always pay off, but it's gratifying to find a setup that takes an otherwise "okay" jungler and makes them strong.
Only after finding an "optimal" build do I begin testing the jungler in games, assuming they seemed viable. Keeping everything in context during this phase is important, as it's easy to draw bad conclusions from games where you were outright amazing or horrible. It's also easy to overestimate a jungler by forgetting the intrinsic benefit of being new and unfamiliar. This stage is the most fun, especially if the jungler turns out to be strong.
Those are the basics of evaluating a jungler. I'll go into more depth tomorrow as I discuss my setup and build choices for Hecarim.
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