It's dangerous to go alone. Take these gankers.
One of the most important jobs for a jungler is ganking the lanes. This can give your laner a serious advantage against their opponent, giving them a boost in XP, gold, and farm. But the jungler isn’t the only one who can gank a lane. A roaming solo laner or even the support can also gank a lane.
But being able to get that sweet, sweet kill on the enemy laner can be a challenge. Even if you do get them to use their flash, sometimes you just won’t be satisfied until you know they’re looking at the game in black and white. Below are listed ten champions that are great for ganking in order to get a kill, and how to best utilize them in-game.
10. Bard
Bard Bard
Bard is a support mage that focuses on slowing and stunning enemies while keeping his ADC healthy through his healing shrines. His ultimate, Tempered Fate, is notorious for being equally helpful and harmful. While he may not be the first champion that pops into your head when you think of ganking, his kit is actually pretty useful for such an endeavor.
- Bard can easily surprise the enemy by bringing his entire team through terrain with his E: Magical Journey
- Once in the lane, he has ample crowd control (CC), slowing enemies with the meeps from his autos, and being able to proc a double stun with his Q: Cosmic Binding
- His ultimate can be used to lockdown the enemy laner(s) until his team can get into a proper ganking position.
- Alternatively, if the gank results in a tower dive, Bard can use Tempered Fate to either disable the enemy turret or allow his teammate to drop turret aggro.
Tips on how to play Bard and win games with him:
- The meeps from Bard’s P: Traveler’s Call is a primary source of damage for Bard. Make sure to trade while it is up during the early game, and to auto-attack as much as possible during late game team fights.
- Remember to angle your Cosmic Bindings so that you can stun your target or targets. It can proc off enemy minions, so use that to your advantage when the enemies try to hide behind them.
- Your Shrines take ten seconds to fully charge. Make sure you place them early so your team can grab it for max healing when they need to. But be sure to use them directly on an ally if they’re in trouble.
- Allies travel faster than enemies within the Magical Journey. Your allies can use this to reposition in team fights and allow you plenty of time to land a crucial Cosmic Binding.
- Use your Tempered Fate ultimate with care. Use it to engage, peel, or pick off an enemy. A bad Bard ult can bring ruin onto your team.
9. Kayn
Kayn Classic
Kayn is a versatile jungler that can be an assassin or a fighter, depending on the transformation path you choose. As an assassin, he can deal massive amounts of damage in a short time. As a fighter, he can heal off his abilities and deal bonus damage based on the enemy’s health. Whichever path is chosen, Kayn is great for getting kills through ganks.
- He can appear out of terrain with his E: Shadow Step, allowing him to come into the lane from unexpected positions.
- If he has transformed into the Shadow Assassin, he can blow up the enemy with huge damage in an instant. And his W: Blade’s Reach slows by 90%
- If he transformed into the Darkin, Blade’s Reach knocks up all enemies hit for extra CC.
- Kayn becomes untargetable when he uses his R: Umbral Trespass. This can be used to smoothly rotate aggro during a turret dive.
Tips on how to play Kayn and win games with him:
- Look at both team comps. This will help you determine which transformation will be the most useful. If the enemy team has a bunch of killable squishies, then Shadow Assassin might be your ticket. But if the enemy team has a beefy front line, or if your team doesn’t have one, then Darkin might be the way to go.
- Once you determine which path you should go, repeat gank lanes that will allow you to transform that way. Attack ranged champions for Shadow Assassin; melee for Darkin. But don’t use this as an excuse to feed an enemy champion or ignore a snowballing ally.
- If you don’t get access to the path you want right away, you can keep collecting orbs to reach your desired path sooner. Each orb you collect lowers the timer of the corresponding path by five seconds.
- Both of Kayn’s damaging abilities are AoE. This allows you to clear out your multi-spawn jungle camps very quickly. Plus you can ignore terrain with Shadow Step and get to the next camp as soon as possible. The faster you clear, the faster you can get to ganking.
- When using Umbral Trespass, cast it on enemies with high max health when on the Darkin path, to ensure maximum damage and healing. When on the Shadow Assassin path, wait to use it on your target after your initial burst to reset the bonus damage timer from your passive.
8. Pyke
Blood Moon Pyke
Pyke is a support assassin. Yep, you read that right. He’s a support assassin who has great lockdown potential and an execution ultimate that resets on takedowns. Sounds fun doesn’t it? All of this, plus the fact that his W: Ghostwater Dive grants him a camouflage and movement speed, gives him a great knack for ganking other lanes.
- The speed and camouflage from Ghostwater Dive allow Pyke to enter a lane without the enemy knowing exactly where he may be coming from so that he can position well in order to land his CC.
- His E: Phantom Undertow can easily stun an unsuspecting champion, and his Q: Bone Skewer can follow up to make sure they stay put.
- The execution from his R: Death From Below can guarantee a death from all but the sloppiest of plays.
Tips on how to play Pyke and win games with him:
- Pyke's P: Gift of the Drowned Ones allows him to heal for an amount of damage he has taken, but only while unseen. Make sure you step into bushes after trading to make use of this. It's also a clever way to check if the bush is warded. If you're not healing, there’s a ward.
- If you land a close-range Bone Skewer, the enemy will be pulled behind you. This allows for an easy backtracking Phantom Undertow and some serious lockdown.
- Positioning is super important for Pyke. Be sure to use Ghostwater Dive to get the right angle on a Bone Skewer pull so you don’t accidentally hit a minion, or to get the right angle on a Phantom Undertow so you can stun efficiently.
- Pyke excels at cleaning up fights with Death From Below. Be sure not to engage in the fight too early, or else you might die before popping off.
- Even if you know it won’t hit, casting Death From Below as an enemy dies ensures that you get the bonus assist gold.
7. Evelynn
Safecracker Evelynn
Evelynn is a jungle assassin that deals major magic damage to a target. While prowling the jungle, her P: Demon Shade can heal her up to a certain amount and makes her camouflaged after level 6. This natural stealth, coupled with a charm for some CC, and an ultimate that deals bonus damage to low health champions, makes her a prominent lane ganker.
- The stealth granted by Demon Shade lets her easily enter a lane without the enemy even realizing she is nearby and allows her to position herself to ensure the target’s death.
- Her W: Allure, can charm a target once she attacks or hits them with a spell after a short delay. This ability also reduces the target’s magic resistance, allowing her to be even more deadly.
- To finish the target off, her R: Last Caress, deals bonus damage to targets below 30% health. This ability also blinks her away from the target and turns her untargetable, making her adept at turret dives.
Tips on how to play Evelynn and win games with her.
- Demon Shade only makes you camouflaged, so you can be seen by enemy champions if you get too close. Keep your distance so that you do not reveal yourself too early.
- To truly catch your target by surprise, try to proc the charm from Allure with her Q: Hate Spike. Otherwise, you will have to get close and reveal yourself to auto or use E: Whiplash. If you miss, don’t panic. You can still proc it from one of the follow-up attacks from Hate Spike
- Whiplash becomes refreshed and empowered after entering Demon Shade. But don’t worry about using it first upon exiting. The empowerment will remain until it is used.
- Be aware that when the charm delay from Allure is complete, the enemy will be given an indicator of your direction, so try to land the charm as soon as you can so the enemy has little time to respond.
- Last Caress teleports Evelynn backward from where she cast it. Make sure you don’t blink where you don’t want to be. Alternatively, you can use this for an escape rather than damage. Blink out after stealing dragon so the enemy team doesn’t make you pay for it.
6. Hecarim
Crimson Knight Hecarim
Hecarim is a jungle fighter who literally rides down opponents. His unique passive, Warpath, allows him to turn his speed into damage. This speed gives him a talent for surprising enemy laners. Couple this with the CC from his E: Devastating Charge and R: Onslaught of Shadows, and you’ve got yourself the recipe for a fine ganker.
- Devastating Charge grants Hecarim bonus movement speed over time. This lets him cross the map quickly and get to a lane unusually fast. Even if the river bush is warded, Hecarim’s speed can still surprise the enemy.
- Devastating Charge also comes with a free knockback on his next attack. And if more lockdown is still required, then Onslaught of Shadows is an easy follow-up to fear enemies and keep them in place.
- Because of Warpath, the attack from Devastating Charge will be naturally, well, devastating. Add on some damage from his Q: Rampage, and you can be sure the enemy health bars will take a dive once Hecarim arrives on the scene.
Tips on how to play Hecarim and win games with him.
- Because of Warpath, it’s important to keep speed in mind when playing Hecarim. The rune Predator and summoner spell Ghost synergize greatly with his kit.
- Also because of Warpath, Hecarim’s damage output is greatest when Devastating Charge is at its peak. Make sure to time your entrance so that you hit when you are at your fastest.
- The duration of Devastating Charge is paused during Onslaught of Shadows. Feel free to burst onto the scene with it before knocking back a specific target.
- Hecarim’s speed makes him able to enter the battle quickly from any direction. This allows you to skirt around the battle and dive the enemy backline, potentially deleting that annoying carry during a team fight.
- Remember that the fear from Onslaught of Shadows procs at the end of the charge. Don’t cast it too far and miss the CC.
5. Kled
Sir Kled
Kled is a top lane fighter that can deal decent damage while still being fairly tanky, thanks to his trusty steed, Skaarl. However, Kled can be a bit tricky. If he becomes dismounted from Skaarl, he will lose certain abilities until he remounts. While mounted, Kled becomes a decent ganker through his team speed-up, respectable CC, and admirable damage.
- Kled can easily surprise and overwhelm enemy laners with his R: CHAAAAAAAARGE!!!, which grants himself and Skaarl a massive speed boost, along with any teammates who follow behind them.
- CHAAAAAAAARGE!!! also stuns the first enemy encountered. Attaching his Q: Bear Trap on a Rope to them adds for some extra CC. This will pull the enemy closer to Kled after a short delay. The pull also applies a 60% healing reduction debuff to the target.
- Kled’s W: Violent Tendencies gives Kled bonus attack speed for his next four attacks, the fourth of which deals bonus damage. Landing these four attacks can quickly drop an enemy’s health bar.
- When Kled loses Skaarl, he becomes untargetable for a brief moment during the dismount. This can be used to drop turret aggro during a dive. Especially if he led the CHAAAAAAAARGE.
Tips on how to play Kled and win games with him.
- In order to remount Skaarl, Kled must fill up his courage bar. He does this by damaging champions and structures and killing minions. Keep an eye on your courage bar, you could be one attack away from remounting Skaarl and staying in the fight.
- While dismounted, Kled’s Q becomes his Pocket Pistol. This attack launches five “pellets,” each of which will grant Kled courage when they hit an enemy champion.
- The attack from Pocket Pistol will also knock Kled back. Even over certain walls. Use this as a quick escape if you feel your courage bar is too low to keep fighting.
- Violent Tendencies is a passive ability, and will automatically activate on the next attack when off cooldown. Be sure to trade or engage in a fight while this ability is ready to use.
- Kled stuns the first enemy encountered during CHAAAAAAAARGE!!! Which means that an enemy tank can step (or flash) in front of a backline carry to protect them. Keep this in mind when planning your assault.
4. Nocturne
Hextech Nocturne
Nocturne is a jungle assassin that invades the minds of his targets. With a movement speed boost, a spell shield, a fear, and a long-range go in, Nocturne’s kit is all about getting to his target, locking them down, and giving them a nice gray screen to admire. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like quite the ganker to me.
- Nocturne’s R: Paranoia allows him to dash directly towards a chosen target. It has an immensely long range, allowing him to almost teleport to the lane he is ganking and catch the enemy by surprise.
- Paranoia also limits the sight radius of every enemy champion and blocks their ally vision as well. This can create confusion for the enemy team, leaving them unsure as to which lane will be his target, and making it extremely difficult to work together.
- Once Nocturne approaches his target, he can use E: Unspeakable Horror, for a bit of CC. The target will become feared after a short duration if they remain within range of Nocturne.
- Since Nocturne is an assassin, he will naturally deal massive damage to his target. Once he goes in on someone, odds are they won’t be alive to see the darkness lift.
Tips on how to play Nocturne and win games with him.
- It’s always a good idea to throw down your Q: Duskbringer onto a champion during a fight. Even if you might not need to chase them down, it also grants you bonus attack damage to kill them quicker.
- You can cast W: Shroud of Darkness while dashing with Paranoia. This may ensure you reach your target without getting CC’ed.
- Normally, Shroud of Darkness has no effect against monsters. The only exception to this is the dragon. The dragon’s attacks count as spells, which nocturne can block and subsequently gain bonus attack speed.
- Unspeakable Horror isn’t a channel. If you can, keep auto-attacking for the duration.
- Paranoia does not grant you vision of enemy champions. If you want to dash to a target, you will still need vision of them in order to target them. Don’t waste your ultimate if the enemy team can easily get out of vision range.
3. Shaco
Wild Card Shaco
Shaco is an assassin jungler who specializes in ambushing enemies. He lives up to his appearance as a trickster, employing scary traps, invisibility, and even an evil clone. He can literally appear out of nowhere, dealing burst damage while also CC'ing enemies with fear, and adds confusion by tossing his clone into the mix. All of this makes for a not so funny gank.
- The stealth granted by his Q: Deceive is an invisibility, which means he can be standing right next to his target without them knowing. This allows him to position perfectly while ganking and ensures he can make use of his P: Backstab.
- The traps from his W: Jack in the Box fear enemies, giving him CC to lockdown his target while he deals his damage.
- The bonus damage from Backstab and the critical damage from Deceive both mean that the target’s health bar will vanish just like the Demon Jester himself. Plus his E: Two-Shiv Poison deals bonus damage to low health enemies and also benefits from the effect of Backstab.
- His R: Hallucinate allows him to clone himself, adding confusion to a fight for his enemies. They may be unsure of which Shaco to attack, and if they kill the wrong one it will spawn three Jack in the Boxes for more damage and CC.
Tips on how to play Shaco and win games with him.
- The extra damage from Backstab also works on turrets. They have a back to stab as well.
- Using Deceive teleports you a short distance. Use this to traverse the map quickly, or to make a swift exit.
- Casting Jack in the Box does not break the invisibility from Deceive. Use this to your advantage and lay a box down next to your target to ensure getting the fear off. Keep in mind, however, that the box will appear in a puff of orange smoke which will be visible to the enemy, regardless of stealth.
- Two-Shiv Poison has a passive that slows targets on hit. And since it deals bonus damage to low health enemies, be sure not to use it too quickly in a fight.
- Use your R key or Alt+Right Click to control the clone from Hallucinate to make it act like you would. Make it convincing. Don’t just let it run on autopilot.
2. Pantheon
Dragonslayer Pantheon
Pantheon is a versatile fighter who can leap into the fray, get a kill, and come back out alive. But Pantheon requires careful timing, from empowering his abilities with his P: Mortal Will to the launching of his R: Grand Starfall. With his long-range transporting ultimate, point-and-click CC, plus some damage immunity, Pantheon can be a legendary ganker.
- Grand Starfall allows Pantheon to enter the lane quickly for a sudden assault. It also deals decent damage in a line.
- His W: Shield Vault is a point-and-click stun, for all-but-guaranteed lockdown on a target.
- Follow-up damage by his Q: Comet Spear will drop an enemy’s health bar, dealing critical damage to champions below 20% health.
- Pantheon’s E: Aegis Assault grants him complete damage immunity from a certain direction. It even works on turret shots, making him a deadly turret diver.
Tips on how to play Pantheon and win games with him.
- Mortal Will empowers Pantheon’s abilities after stacking from five attacks or spells. Each empowerment is unique, and completely drains Mortal Will’s stacks. Be sure Mortal Will is fully stacked before trading.
- Comet Spear can be used to thrust his spear instead of throwing it. This deals max damage to all enemies in a line, and refunds 50% of Comet Spear’s cooldown.
- Mortal Will’s empowerment of Shield Vault causes your next three attacks to be dealt in rapid succession. These attacks apply stacks for Mortal Will, making it an excellent opening move in a fight, and allowing for a swift second empowerment.
- Aegis Assault blocks all damage from sources in the chosen direction, not just attacks and projectiles. This means it can be used to protect against effects like Ignite and even a Karthus ultimate. (As long as you know which direction Karthus is.)
- Grand Starfall requires a total of 4.5 seconds of channeling before Pantheon lands. Be sure to keep this in mind when planning your arrival at a fight.
1. Galio
Commando Galio
Galio is a versatile tank that excels at peeling enemies and CC’ing them, while still doing respectable damage. If you need to protect your carry from enemy divers, or if you need to make ‘em stay put for your carry to do their job, Galio’s your golem. His long-range protective ultimate, multi-enemy lockdown, and DOT make him the preeminent lane ganker.
- Galio can easily get to a lane fight with his R: Hero’s Entrance. This ability also grants a magic shield to allies within the area, hopefully keeping them alive until reinforcements show up.
- Hero’s Entrance also knocks up surrounding enemies as Galio slams down. Adding the AoE taunt from his W: Shield of Durand means that the enemy team isn’t going anywhere without Galio’s say-so. And if any enemies remain standing, E: Justice Punch can knock them up a second time before they get too hopeful.
- While the enemy is forced to sit still thanks to Galio’s relentless CC, he can also be dealing damage with his Q: Winds of War and P: Colossal Smash to make sure the enemy’s health goes bye-bye.
Tips on how to play Galio and win games with him.
- Make sure to trade when your Colossal Smash is up. This will add a bit more burst to your combo. It also deals damage in a small area, so it can hit multiple enemies. It also works on structures.
- Make sure the enemy stays inside your Winds of War combining it with CC from Shield of Durand and Justice Punch.
- You cannot activate any sort of dash or blink while Shield of Durand is channeling. Get into position first before channeling.
- Justice Punch’s dash will stop once it hits an enemy champion. Be sure to angle it right to get to the target or position you want. It also backs up before going forward, so be careful about enemies behind you.
- Once you target an ally with Hero’s Entrance, that location is your landing zone. It won’t follow the target ally, so make sure the LZ is where you will want to be.
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