Jungling: Efficiency

Jungling is a role where your most valuable resource is time. Because the jungle perpetually respawns every action taken outside the jungle comes at a cost. It is therefore critical that junglers pursue only worthy actions and even then avoid wasting time unnecessarily. Efficiency is the essential attribute every jungler must cultivate.

To understand better, consider the gold and exp value of the jungle. The small camps in the jungle can be cleared once a minute and are worth 154 gold and 441 exp in total, before scaling or banking. That's almost as much gold as an assist and nearly as much exp as two full creep waves. Each minute spent not jungling costs a jungler those resources.

For this reason whenever you leave the jungle being efficient is key. The greatest threats to efficiency tend to be moments of indecision. Running back and forth because you aren't sure which lane needs your assistance, spending a lengthy amount of time in a bush because it isn't clear whether the gank will succeed, sitting in the fountain because you haven't decided what item to buy, all of these moments of indecision waste time and resources. Your goal should be to eliminate waste in movement, action, and intention.

It is possible to go too far in the other direction, endlessly farming without ever having an impact on the game is as grave an error as failing to secure your development by failing to properly farm. Keep in mind that while it comes at a cost, the jungler's role is to establish and maintain map control. The job of a jungler involves leaving the jungle, at cost, in order to give their allies the advantage. Efficiency is leaving the jungle at the right time to perform the right action, not avoiding action altogether.

It's a principle that is universally applicable, not just in the jungle. Learning this delicate balancing act is difficult, but mastering it will propel you into the later stages with a stronger champion and team.