What junglers are best for invading?
The preseason has brought new changes to the jungle but the same general principles still apply: pull of great ganks and out farm your opponent. One of the best ways to get ahead and stay ahead is to invade the enemy jungle. The best invaders can navigate quickly through the jungle and kill any straggling opponents they find. We’ve compiled a list of the top 5 best junglers for this upcoming season.
Nidalee
I'd let Nidlaee take me down
This is one cougar you don't want preying on you. Nidalee is one of the most difficult champs to master due to her transformation mechanic, but she can be hugely rewarding if you take the time to learn her. She gets a speed boost when moving through brush and her ability to jump over walls in her cougar form help her navigate the jungle effeciently. If you can get very fluid mechanically, Nidalee has the potential to win the game early and snowball hard. Her long range Q takes huge chunks of health from opponents and her cougar form will give you the speed and execution power to hunt them down and finish them off.
Invading Effectively
- Use alternative ganking routes by jumping over small walls with your Bushwhack / Pounce W to ignore commonly placed wards.
- Nidalee is an early game dominant Jungler. Look to gank as frequently as possible to get yourself ahead.
- Using Javelin Toss that will kill a low health target and then immediately changing form to use Pounce will reset Pounce’s cooldown. This is useful in chasing or escaping when you have weak camps nearby like wolves or you’re in lane around minions.
- You can use your pounce to navigate quickly around the map by jumping over walls. Just make sure to practice so you don’t end end up folding in a high pressure situation.
Winning Games
- Poke down the enemy with long-ranged Javelin Toss / Takedown Q’s and then switch to Aspect of the Cougar cougar form to chase down Prowl Hunted targets.
- Nidalee’s Passive gives her increased movement speed when moving in through brush so use this often to increase your effectiveness, especially in team fights.
- Use your Bushwhacks to scout brushes. Never face check bushes when you can just use your traps.
- Using Primal Surge on your ADC before team fights could be the difference between winning and losing.
See one of the better Nidalee builds in the new meta.
Graves
Tommy shot gun...what?
When I first started playing League, Graves was still an ADC. Now he’s in the jungle harassing the enemy with his incredible dueling potential and a passive that stacks defense. Quickdraw helps him stick to targets or escape if necessary and the knock back on his autos helps keep him healthy in the jungle. Graves excels in early skirmishes so you should look to press the issue to continue building up your lead. He’a a powerful dueler early game so look to harass and deny farm whenever possible.
Invading Effectively
- True Grit gives you bonus armor that can stack up to 8 times, making you deceptively durable especially at the beginning of the game.
- The second proc of Graves’ Q happens faster if it hits terrain so fighting in the jungle is ideal for graves since there is abundant terrain.
- You can dash through walls with your E, allowing you to set up unexpected ganks.
Winning Games
- Graves gains more armor and magic resistance if he dashes towards his enemies, but it doesn't have to be directly. He can dash diagonally and still get the extra stacks but not expose himself to as much danger.
- You don’t have any CC besides your Smoke Screen so try to gank when you have Red buff for the additional damage and slow.
- Dropping your Q End of the Line, following up with your R Collateral Damage, and then having the return portion of Q proc is a deadly combo mid/late game.
The best Graves build is up for debate, check out this one.
Hecarim
Hecarim fan art at its finest shout out to Dante Liu.
This speedy pony is proving himself to be a very strong pick for season 11. AD assassins have been having their way on the rift so building a tankier Hecarim isn’t such a bad idea with the new item Divine Sunderer. However, the most standard build is still to rush a Trinity Force because the new passive gives you additional passive attack speed for every legendary item in your inventory. Hecarim has very solid damage output while being annoyingly tanky. You’ll be able to duel most champions after you’ve finished Tri Force so you should be able to invade confidently. His kit allows for effective ganks and reliable escability.
Invading tips
- Pre level 6 Hec’s ganks are effective if you can charge into your opponent and knock them away from their tower. With a red buff it’s going to be hard to escape from you.
- Hecarim’s W gives more sustainability if their are more enemy champions around so forcing early skirmishes can work to your advantage.
- Getting Wind dragon’s will allow you to fly around the map allowing you to steal camps and counter gank whenever possible.
Winning Games
- Devastating charge deals more damage based on the distance traveled. Use it with summoners spells like flash or ghost or with your ultimate to maximize its damage.
- Hecarim is best played as an off-tank with some sort of spell blade since you’ll be spamming your Q during fights. With good itemization and an early lead you’ll be able to kill squishies quickly while also being extremely tanky.
- Hecarim has great team fight potential if you can hit 3 or more of the enemy champions with your ult. He doesn’t fall off that hard late game so as long as you play smart you can be an asset to your team.
Kindred
I wanna see a ballerina Kindred skin. Put wolf in a tutu!
Kindred is a great choice in most metas. Their ganking potential is very strong with W allowing for big damage output and the mobility of her Q allows you to chase opponents after they Flash. She is very mobile and a great duelist especially against melee champions she can kite. If you get an early lead, you can wreak havoc by constantly invading the enemy’s jungle. Her passive will occasionaly marks enemy jungle camps to encourage you to invade but don't over extend or die for them.
Invading tips
- Kindred is one of the few champions that’s kit actually makes you invade when your next mark is in the enemy jungle. It’s important not to die for the marks because you can still stay relevant without them.
- Kindred has incredible dueling potential early on and the ability to dash over walls with her Q so don’t be afraid to be aggressive and harass your opponent.
- Use E Mounting Dread when your opponent is low on health during a 1v1. The damage increases the lower health they have and also crits to execute them.
- From Red side, you can easily start your red, Q over the baron pit, and then steal the enemy blue. From here you can look to gank top or mid or take scuttle and then move onto your Blue. Do wolves and gromp first to not overlap the buffs.
Winning Games
- If you’re not very head, stay with your carries to save them with your ult. This will allow them to deal damage to get the enemy’s health down so you can finish them off. But if you are ahead, stay away from your carries. If the enemy focuses you, you can ult and your carries can deal damage and if they focus your carries you will be able to kill them.
- It’s best to save your mark for when you are about to gank. If you see the enemy laner extending, get close enough and mark them. You’ll have enough time to kill them and they won’t be able to react.
- Kindred is the only ranged champ that has % damage, which makes her an optimal pick when playing against a tanky team.
Kayn
Kayn chan what's gotten into you?
Both red and blue Kayn are proving to be viable options in the current meta. Eclipse’s hot fix means that it’s still a good choice but you don’t have to feel married to it. Kayn’s ability to literally run through walls allows you to gank from unconventional locations and do the same for your invades. He has very high damage output and his ultimate can buy you time for your allies to assist you during skirmishes. If the enemy team is very tanky, say you’re going against an amumu, running Gore Drinker on Rhaast can be extremely effective at taking down those durable opponents.
Invading Tips
- Make sure you don’t cast Shadow Step too early before you’re able to pass through walls.
- Only auto attacking will end Shadow Step’s effect. This allows you to use abilities for free poke before darting back through the wall.
- Though you’re fairly weak before you’re transformation, you still have solid damage output when fighting with allies. The more aggressive you are in the early game, the quicker you’ll be able to transform.
Winning games
- Staying inside your opponent during Umbral Trespass will not increase the damage against them so don’t stay too long if the enemy will have time to reposition or get help.
- The general rule for picking blue or red Kayn depends on if you need to be more of an assassin or a fighter. The new season’s items allow you to be flexible.
- Reaping Slashe’s dash speed scales with movement speed so it combos nicely with Shadow Step.
