Practice: The Hard Way

I've been asked a number of times, often critically, why I practice jungle routes without a leash. To many players such practice seems pointless, as you'll almost always get a leash. The problem is the word "almost", you will play games where no one leashes or some other hardship occurs. Being prepared for these adverse circumstances is essential to jungling.

Consider the first oRb vs TSM game at yesterday's Curse Invitational Tournament. oRb's crazy five-man push mid reversed the advantage TSM had gained from a jungle invasion. However, that advantage was quickly lost because Warwick, possibly the safest and easiest jungler in the game, failed to properly jungle immediately afterward. oRb's early game faltered almost entirely because their jungler did not properly gauge their ability to jungle after taking significant damage in a skirmish.

You can't practice every conceivable adverse scenario, but you don't have to. With a few simple practice exercises you can develop knowledge that applies universally.

SETUP:

• Create a custom game without bots.
• Pick a jungle champion to practice.
• Restrict yourself with one of the following conditions, going as far as your health will take you before recalling:
1. Instead of starting at Blue, start Red and clear twice without taking Blue.
2. Simulate a Smite-stolen buff by using Smite a little prematurely, backing off, and then jungling as though the buff were gone.
3. Take two tower hits shortly before minions spawn, and then attempt to jungle normally.
• Do not use Cloth Armor as your starting item.

These three exercises focus on two critical points, the jungler's resource-dependence and their durability. Exercise #1 focuses on the former, imitating an uncounterable invasion at Blue, while Exercise #3 focuses on the latter. Exercise #2 is a mix of both, and is easily the hardest of the three. By practicing these exercises you can develop a strong sense of what a jungler can or cannot do in abnormal circumstances.

Do not be discouraged if your chosen jungler can not clear in these circumstances. The goal is not to clear the jungle, but to obtain the ability to judge whether you can clear a few camps or should immediately recall. Dying or nearly dying to creeps is a natural part of this process, and nothing to be ashamed of.


This practice is not a daily routine, but something you can do when you have fifteen or twenty minutes available. You'll want to execute multiple runs in order to get the best sense of a jungler's capabilities. The more you practice this, the easier it becomes to understand new junglers and setups.