Theory: Donating to Junglers

It is currently normal, even expected, that junglers will donate their Wraiths and even the rest of their jungle to the lanes as the game goes on. This is because it's generally assumed that the lanes, not the jungler, will carry the game later. However, it's mathematically possible, and even practical, for a jungler to achieve or exceed solo lane levels of farm by reversing this relationship.

The math is pretty simple. A jungle clear of the small camps is worth 154g and 441exp before scaling and can be done approximately once a minute. Two creep waves, one minute's worth, are worth 228g and 529exp before scaling (and without siege minions). Donating as few as four creeps to a passing jungler is enough for them to surpass both the gold and exp potential of a solo lane who nails every last-hit. Even if we take into account scaling this remains true throughout a game.

First and foremost this illustrates the importance of coordinating recalls with your jungler. Even if you are only going to miss a handful of creeps while you are gone, having the jungler there to collect them boosts a jungler significantly. More often it's the case that many creeps will be missed, and giving them all to the jungler is enormous. Junglers like Nocturne, Udyr, or Shyvana, who thrive on farm, go from decent to powerful if they can cover for lanes.

But simply covering lanes isn't the point of discussing this topic. Rather, the point is to suggest that instead of having a farm-dependent champion top or mid and a tanky/support jungler feeding them jungle farm, it's entirely possible, even safer, to have a tanky/support champion top or mid feeding a farm-dependent jungler lane farm.

There are many tanky/support champions perfectly capable of holding their own in a lane, but who don't make quite as good use of the farm as a carry. Having them roam or recall frequently to allow their jungler to quickly clear a creep wave before returning to the jungle has the potential to provide the carry with more farm than any solo lane save those rare cases mid where it's safe to clear both Wraith camps repeatedly.

The big advantage to this strategy is that it's very hard to counter directly. So long as the relevant jungle entrances are warded or the nearby lanes keep tabs on their opponents, the jungler is perfectly safe even if their jungle is warded. Only an extremely concerted counter-jungling effort could threaten the farming jungler, and only at great risk. It's really the easiest way to guarantee a given champion will be farmed.

The disadvantage is that it's much easier to track a roaming mid or top lane than it is a roaming jungler. With the jungler tied up in farming, and conspicuously mid or top when their ally is absent, there will generally be fewer ganks or at least far more predictable ones. This can be offset in various ways, but in general the lanes will have to be significantly more self-sufficient than normal.

At the same time, having Smite on a carry is awkward. It's not impossible to work around, and there is the potential to have some shenanigans with Smite on your mid champion, but it is a difficult adjustment that teams will have to deal with.

Ultimately, however, this is the best alternative to the current meta I'm aware of. As it stands junglers are almost always tanky, while carries in the lanes take their farm. Many underused champions might see the light of day again if we reverse this relationship.